The instant the pair hit the ground, they were on hover bikes hurtling towards the city that would become a crater if they didn't stop its instigator as soon as possible.

Between this and his fury at the faker cosplaying as his twin, it didn't even occur to Zack to mention how cool the idea of this was.

Right now, they were weaving in and out of roadways, trying their best to evade the enemy bikers on their tails as well as the lasers they were armed with. The bike's weaponry could only do so much to thin out the numbers when for every one down, several more seemed to take their place…

When they found themselves separated, he radioed his partner. "How do we shake 'em off?!"

X was silent for a moment, clearly thinking through his options on top of trying to deal with things as they stood. "Uh… I've got it! Did any of your pursuers have particularly good aim?"

The elder twin took seconds to glance around himself and his vehicle as far as he could see, noticing that despite them having him within headshot range a few times and him nor being anywhere near 100% to begin with, the best they could manage was to graze and tag him with a few laser shots that he currently had filed away into the "feel later" category.

"Nope. What's the plan?"

"I'm heading towards an intersection. I'll send the coordinates to you. We're going to cross paths and have these guys smash into each other. They don't seem very smart, and this is the best way of getting rid of them in one fell swoop."

"Risky," the teen commented.

"I'm open to better ideas!"

"Don't have any. Just making an observation."

They lured their respective convoys to the intersection they had in mind, barely avoiding a collision with each other as they went past and got far enough away to avoid the resulting chain of explosions.

In the aftermath, they heard what sounded like clapping coming from their communicators.

"That's not you, is it, Zack?"

Before the boy could answer, they heard a voice, instantly knowing who it was.

"I'd stop dawdling and head for the launch site."

It was then that the Blue Bomber realized something. "There was no launch. Then those readings… What're you playing at?!"

"No launch?" Dark Cody sounded genuinely confused for a moment before his tone morphed into the epitome of a cruel smirk. "What are you talking about?"

All too soon, the two saw and heard the telltale sights and sounds of just what they feared.

"Zack, tell me you have some energy left for Speed Burner!"

The boy in question gritted his teeth, not liking the answer he was going to give anymore than the receiver would. "Sorry, not happening. I used all of that up trying to get away from Zero when he went crazy!"

X's mask of control slipped a bit in favor of fear and frustration, but he quickly sipped it back on. "Ugh! Well, follow me! Just do what I tell you when I say so, got it?!"

Thankfully, there was no argument…mainly because even the blonde could admit he was way out of his league here.

They both burned rubber as fast as they could as the missile slowly went through takeoff procedures. When they got to the building and the Azure Hunter called for it, he charged up a shot as far as he could, telling the boy to grab his hand.

Launching a shot behind him, X propelled his partner in a rocket-powered leap before tossing him upwards towards the airborne and rising ballistic.

Getting the picture, Zack pierced the rocket with a punch, blowing him back onto the rooftoop and knocking him out cold in the explosion.

-000-

X was quick to rush over and try to help, but not without issue: manly getting up there past another stream of enemies with no real firepower and three usable limbs due to his overheated systems due to the stunt he'd just pulled.

It took a great deal left in him to claw his way up to the roof.

Waiting for him, arms crossed, was the tanned parody of his protege with a look on his face that X would give anything to knock off.

"Magnificent, X! Truly magnificent!"

Seeing that X wanted to go for his not-quite twin, Dark Cody projected an energy sword from his arm, pointing it at his neck and taking sadistic pleasure at the infuriated grunt the action elicited from his enemy.

"Move." The words lacked their usual force given the Blue Bomber's physical state and outright exhaustion. Here, it sounded more like a plea than a demand.

The smile that crossed the false teen's face was sickening. "No. I don't think I will. In fact, you're going to sit DOWN!"

X barely registered himself get viciously kicked to the floor, but wasn't in anywhere near the condition necessary to dodge or counter the small blast that knocked him on his rear-end.

He casually sped back into his former position before opening his mouth again. "Now, then... I would like to have a little chat with my Dear Brother..."

As hard as he could, he stepped on one of Zack's hands, causing him to wake back up with an agonizing scream. He knelt down face to face with the fallen boy to savor his reaction.

"Rise and shine, Zacky!"

Once he came to and realized what he was looking at, the older twin's features immediately darkened. He took a weak swipe at the doppelganger, but both knew that she didn't have the slightest bit of strength left to defend himself with.

"Shut up. If you're going to kill me, then just get it over with. I know you're not Cody."

"You're right about that. I'm not that weak-mined fool, though I am interested to know whether that inferior copy has forgiven you yet…"

X, who strained to hear what was being said from his vantage point, called out. "Don't listen to a word he says! You know he's lying!"

The Hunter got grazed by a knife-like projectile shot from Dark Cody's blade in response.

He turned back to his intended subject. "What a rude little bucket of bolts, though admittedly less chatty than the walking, taking insurance policy."

Had he been human, Zack would have spit in this monster's face, and if he were physically able to move, he'd be making a certain obscene gesture right about now…

Indeed, he had to settle for his usual tack of fleeing into his head to escape the lectures of his brother or whatever authority figure was in front of him.

Unfortunately, the evil twin seemed to have been expecting this, hoisting him by his face and throttling him until he was forced to look eye to eye with the dark Incarnation of his younger brother.

"Ah, ah, ah… Don't go daydreaming on me yet. I want you to know something before you die, as difficult as learning is for you…"

"Shut up," The shorter twin groaned. Though, in the very periphery of his senses, he noticed something. He couldn't make the creep in front of him aware of it, too, so he had to pretend he didn't.

"You know he hasn't forgiven you for forcing him to work for every one of his meals on that pathetic dinghy?"

Oh, he remembered. Burning all their meal money away on a misguided shot at impressing a few girls was far from his proudest moment. His brother hadn't talked to him for a couple weeks in the aftermath No amount of begging Mr. Moesby to look the other way would fix it, either.

"Actions have consequences you cannot simply rid yourself of with an apology...and they affect more than just you."

He wouldn't think much of those words until much more recently, when they would become just one of the things haunting his dreams.

The teen feigned gasping for air, about to say something, prompting his assailant to sadistically bring him closer, as if expecting to be let in on some grand secret.

It was great for Zack that he wasn't looking at the gathering tidal wave engulfing his left foot until it was too late.

"What—"

With a grunt the two were separated, the (figuratively) flesh and blood human being forced to roll along the ground as his victim was sent flying off the roof of the building.

Forcing himself upright, X stumbled his way over to his fallen comrade to help him up. He did so just in time for their enemies to lift himself back on the rooftop, having clung to the building using his blade.

Zack moved to get back up only for X to motion him back down.

"I'll handle it."

The boy wanted to yell at him, but his lack of energy crippled his voice. Truthfully, he felt as if he'd run a marathon. He would have thought he'd be used to being so dead tired by now. "You're barely moving! How—"

A determined, serious look crossed X's face as he motioned him back down. "Rest now. I'll take care of this."

The twin couldn't have expected what went down next. The blue Hunter's head crest began to glow a bright orange as he rushed towards his opponent with energy reserves the black and red Hunter could've sworn he didn't have a few seconds ago.

A brawl ensued, with the evil twin initially having the upper hand.

"So this is why he has his eye on you… Too bad you're not my main target."

"Don't play games with me, Maverick! Where's Lucien hiding?!"

"Now why would I tell you that when wiping the board clean of all those innocent lives would be so much sweeter?"

The fight had reached a lull by this point, with X feeling increasingly uneasy at the twisted bent Dark Cody's words and tone. Just what was he playing at…?

Reaching for his own comms, the dark twin said something he wished he'd never heard.

"Fire at will, Signas…"

"Roger dodger," came an unnaturally gleeful yet at the same time unmistakable voice, especially for the legendary Maverick Hunter.

Unable to do much of anything, the two could only cringe as five more missiles began their ascent.

"With that, my work here is done. I'd get home quickly if I were you…"

With a dark sneer plastered on his face, he just…deactivated, the light going out of his eyes permanently as he dropped to the ground They would have no time to process this reality given what was happening around them.

Acting quickly, X threw himself at Zack, grabbing an arm and forcibly warping them both away just as the explosives hit their mark.

They had been set up.

They had failed.

-TBC-

I'm certain that this isn't how missile launches/missiles work in general, but I wanted to go the anime route on this one.

To clarify, the "Dark Cody" we see at the end of this chapter is a copy reploid simply posing as him. As for the genuine article, we've seen him at the end of the last chapter, and he'll reveal his real scheme soon enough. First, though, we'll be seeing what the others are up to, including two certain someones that are making their grand return to the main story…

On your way out the door, be sure to ask questions, comment, review and show your support in any way available if you liked what you've read here. Also, keep tabs on this story and profile for more. Goodbye until next time!