Chapter 34: Shining
The reunion at Headquarters was partially awkward, despite the overwhelmingly good news of Gate’s demise. Zero had apparently gone on a semi-berserk rampage when X snuck out, and only after seeing his lover would the blond quiet down and leave the isolation prison unit without acting like an animal. In fact, according to Lifesaver, it was like watching a lion going insane until its keeper came, and suddenly all was normal.
Delia found Axl in the medical wing, but he wasn’t willing to speak of what happened when she had left him behind. He also refused to leave the medical area with her, saying he needed to be checked over; Delia offered to do it, but he said he wouldn’t want to keep her. Now that the threat had passed, Delia really had no reason to stick around outside of the Engineering offices, and Douglas had immediately began to hound for her when he was alerted she returned safe and sound. She wasn’t happy to so easily be tossed aside back to her usual manual labor, but she couldn’t refuse direct orders from her superior, so she left the medical wing with a swear she’d visit Axl. Axl said he was looking forward to it, but it was in a sort of dazed, faraway tone that indicated he didn’t really hear her.
With X placating Zero, Axl withdrawn, Delia sent to work and Layer vanishing because she hated reports, Alia was left on her own to face Signas and tell him what all happened. Staring at him as he sat behind his desk, knitted hands covering the bottom half of his face and his eyes peering from under his hat, Alia could see why Layer didn’t want to do this. Signas was an incredible man, but he was also incredibly intimidating when it came to work.
Alia saluted. “We entered the laboratory at the given coordinates, and with a bit of difficulty managed to elude all of Gate’s traps. We found him in the inner sanctum, of which he revealed his last attempt to stop us. I was unable to record any real data about it, but it was incredible, only damaged by its own dispersed attacks. Layer and I—”
Signas actually cut in, something he never did, “Gate is defeated?”
Alia fumbled to gather her suddenly broken thoughts. Why did he have to do that? “Y-yes, sir. His lab self-destructed, assuming he had it set so should he… perish.”
“And the Nightmare, High Max?”
“High Max was destroyed upon X’s interference; the Nightmare is still at large, but the majority of it has been destroyed.” Her eyes lowered a bit. “According to Gate, the Nightmare was to fuse with the Sigma Virus…”
“Creating a supervirus,” Signas shook his head. “What a sad waste of genius… thank you, Alia. You did an incredible job—you, Layer, Delia and X. Here is where I ask you a question,” he lowered his hands to rest on the desk so she could see his entire face. “Do you want to return to your status as the S-Rank General Navigator, or would you be interested in enrolling as an official Hunter? By this mission alone, you would start at B-Class.”
Alia winced. “Navigator, sir. The battlefield isn’t my place. I blundered through, barely kept myself up. I had to rely—”
Signas held a hand up, making her stop. “Alia, have a bit more confidence. For someone with no battle experience, you did incredible during this crisis. Thanks to you and your determination, we were able to put a stop to Gate and Red Alert. Once more we have a chance for peace.”
Alia was pretty sure he was just being nice, but didn’t push her luck. “Still, sir… I much prefer Navigation.”
Signas nodded. “Understood. Please make sure you return your Hunter’s code when you uninstall your programming at Engineering. Also, if you see them, I would like Layer and Delia to make report as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Formalities aside… how are you, Alia?”
She wanted to smile, even if it was a forced one, but she just didn’t have the willpower for it. Instead she hung her head and sighed deeply. “I don’t know,” she muttered. “I think I’m still sort of… shocked.”
The larger Reploid nodded again. “If you need a few days off, Alia, don’t hesitate to ask.”
She forced herself to laugh, and it sounded bitter even to her. “Can I have a few days off?”
Somehow, Signas’ little smile made her feel just a bit better about the whole thing. “Permission granted, Alia.”
~*~
A week passed with little activity resulted from the battle; the Nightmare remained elusive and under the radar, and no members of Red Alert, if there were any left, made any appearance to avenge their fallen leader. It seemed like the threat had fully passed, and everyone could breathe soundly. Alia took only half the week off, and once her mind began to drive her crazy she returned to work to have something to do. Rumors flew like birds through the Headquarters as Signas more or less assigned her errands and jobs that required her to be around him all the time, but neither commented when questioned.
Zero and X’s recovery period was still in place, and Lifesaver estimated another month of running the Recovery Program and light work before either were deployable for heavy hunting. Axl bounced back from his ordeal quickly enough, seeming to forget about Red completely and helping his parents where he could, take over their hunting shifts and playing keeper at home should either attempt connection again. To help avoid temptation, Signas placed Zero back on the re-activated Jakob Project patrol at the higher levels, and once he was given his own clearance, X would patrol the lower levels. Lazy, easy work to pass the time, it seemed.
The Light family made use of it when they were all at home. Given the rifts that formed prior to Gate’s insanity, X finally decided to let bygones be bygones and apologized to Axl for his behavior. Axl actually had his own little emotional moment, apologizing for his own behavior, and Zero stood over them beaming as they made up.
However, despite the apologizing and what not, that didn’t stop the day Axl walked in the house, walked up to his parents watching TV and announced, “Delia is my girlfriend.”
X immediately clicked the TV off. “What?”
Axl didn’t back down. “I asked Delia out. She said yes. We’re dating now, officially.”
The staring contest that issued made even Zero uncomfortable, who put a hand on X’s shoulder. Before he could say a word, X actually sighed and broke eye contact, wearily stating, “I guess it was gonna happen sooner or later. Whatever, Axl. Just be careful.”
Axl blinked. “You’re not…?”
“What, you want me to throw another tantrum? I’m not up for it,” X actually smiled, although it was a tad forced. “Although honestly, I still have half the mind to scream at you.”
“Surprisingly enough, that’s his half,” Zero teased, earning a healthy glare from his lover.
X half-heartedly elbowed Zero in the chest, making him cough and let him go so he could stand. Crossing his arms, X gave Axl a level stare, one Axl met with his own. The gunner even crossed his own arms, adopting the exact stance.
“There are rules.” X stated plainly. Axl opened his mouth to protest, but X held a hand up. “Even if it weren’t Delia, there are rules. First, you cannot bring her here. This house is our private residence and no one save Signas and Alia should know of its whereabouts. Two, don’t let this interfere with your job. Signas bitches about it, I will raise hell.”
Axl glowered. “I get it.”
“One more: I know you’re a teenager and all, but Delia is known to have the pregnancy program. I suggest you don’t get intimate.” X shook his head at the look Axl gave him. “Otherwise, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell me anything about her.”
“I know,” Axl dropped his arms, looking a bit to the ground. “I just want you to… not…” his face scrunched, trying to think of a way to say it.
X waved a hand in the air before sitting back down with a thump, narrowly missing landing on Zero’s thigh. “Get in the way? Yeah, just know I will seriously kill her if she pulls the same bullshit.”
“That makes two of us,” Zero affirmed, but he smiled at Axl. “But we’re going to put our trust in you. You said she changed? We’ll trust your word.”
Axl wasn’t used to Zero being the smiling, faith-filled parent with X being the crotchety one, but they were still in recovery, so he just smiled. “Whatcha watchin’?” he asked, going to sit next to Zero.
The blond threw one arm over each of them as X clicked the TV back on. “Absolutely nothing,” And truth be told, despite Axl trying to pay attention to what was on the screen, he found himself just enjoying the company of his family and not caring what was on.
It felt far too normal for him, and he relished it. After the whole Red Alert thing… he needed normalcy, needed the family. Axl looked away from the screen to look at his parents, studying their half-smiling faces as Zero leaned his head against X’s, partially cuddling. He saw no wire between them, but really, did they need it? Axl wondered if he’d ever be that close to someone, and if so, if that someone was Delia.
“Your data extraction can help create something awesome… incredible, powerful, intact and complete… completely erase Sigma’s Virus.”
Axl looked at his parents again. He had refused the man’s offer, naturally. But the more he thought of it, the more tempted he became. Erase Sigma’s Virus? Erase the origin point of the Maverick Wars and let this wonderful normalcy continue? Who wouldn’t be tempted? The true question was, would Axl give in to the temptation and contact the Professor… or try to figure it out on his own.
“We got somethin’ on our faces?” Zero’s voice made Axl blink. “I promise there’s no hidden wire or something.”
“Sorry,” Axl looked back to the TV. “Just wondering how Alia is doing. She took those days off, but now she’s back and all…”
X glanced at Axl, and the boy knew he was being analyzed. Still reforming himself or not, X still had the amazing foresight of a father to know when his child lied. And even if Axl was only his kid in name, they were close enough that it didn’t matter.
Did it?
“She’s fine,” X grunted. “Would have been better if she let me shoot the bastard, but hey, whatever helps her I suppose.”
Zero scowled immediately. “You’re never doing that again.”
“Oh please, you do the badass lone-wolf thing all the time.” X retorted. Before a possible spat could occur, he turned back to Axl and said, “Signas will take care of Alia. In fact, they’re going out on a date.”
“… they are?”
X wasn’t going to admit he was texting Alia with the idea just now, but he still grinned. “Yup.”
~*~
Alia stared at her external cell phone, completely frozen in the hallway with wide eyes as if the phone was a bomb and she had shut down in a panic. Hunters stepped around her in their hurry to their jobs, lower ranked Navigators giving her the critical eye. But she ignored all of that, because the mere thought of asking Signas on a date was so insane she was seriously contemplating it. Maybe it wasn’t appropriate to do such—she did just assist in killing her ex-fiancé about a week ago—but she always did like Signas… and he really kept her close now. But that probably wasn’t anything to read into yet…
Alia snapped the phone shut and went back to taking the reports back to the Navigation Unit. These days have been completely strange to her; she felt she should be in more mourning than she was. She should feel guiltier, worse, but she felt as if in those short days she was recovering far too quickly. Alia did love Gate, truly did… but didn’t she do her mourning, her internal guilt trips, years ago when the incident happened and Gate was considered Maverick?
She dropped the folder of reports in front of Layer, who looked up from her own cellphone. It was the popular thing for females to have external cellphones for some strange reason, perhaps because they were accessory items to Reploids. Alia caught that she was busy texting Axl, and she frowned at the purple-haired Navigator.
“Don’t tell me,” Alia started.
Layer was too excited to let her finish. “A date with Signas? Really? Aw, you two would be so cute!”
Alia groaned, falling into her chair and dropping her head into her hands. “No, Layer, we’re not going on a date. X just tried to tell me to do it.”
Layer made a lady-like version of a snort as she clipped her phone shut, dropping the device into her duffle bag at her feet under the desk. “C’mon, Alia. What are we, in medieval times? If you’re over Gate, you’re over him! He was the insane Maverick that tried to kill you, I wouldn’t hold it against you to not feel bad for too long.”
“But I do feel bad!” Alia protested, looking at her friend.
“Tch, you want to feel bad,” Layer chastised. “But weren’t you crushing on Signas way before this all started? Puh-leaze, you are so over Gate.”
Alia would have never guessed Layer was the valley girl outside of the combat field, but at the same time, it was rather fitting. “It’s fine if I crush, but it kinda needs to be both ways.”
Layer rolled her eyes—well, Alia only saw one roll—and she leaned back in her chair with her arms folded behind her head. “That’s the point of the date, to get him to crush on you. What’s the harm in asking? If he says yes, bonus! If he says no, no harm no foul.”
“But then things will get awkward.”
“Are you always this under-confident?”
“Yes, haven’t you noticed?” Alia frowned, resting her chin in her palm as she gazed over to where Signas usually sat. “I just don’t want to make the work place… awkward, you know?”
Layer leaned forward, dropping her arms to rest on the desk as her monitor beeped. As she input commands, she commented, “Yeah, but you giving him the puppy-love eyes and thinking no one sees is awkward for us. So do us the favor and just ask.”
Alia groaned. Before she could make a comment, the door to the Navigation Unit opened to reveal Signas himself, striding in with a folder under his arm and looking every inch the intense, professional Commander he was. Alia could feel the aura of authority from him, and even if it was intimidating, it was also awe-inspiring.
She blinked when the folder was suddenly under her nose, and she went cross-eyed looking at it. “Did I miss something?” she asked.
“No.” Signas said, the same usual gruff way he spoke. She took the folder, and he shocked her by suddenly smiling. “Make sure you fill out the appropriate paperwork and return it to me.”
Alia was dazzled. Signas’ smiles were rare, and she always loved how much more friendly he looked with one. Layer had to kick her shin under the desk to get her to yelp, “Y-yes sir!”
Signas nodded to both of them and went back out the door, where Palette in her laboratory uniform was waiting with her tablet. Immediately she launched into some speech about specialized metals and how they can be refined, the chatter of her voice ending as the door shut. When she finished rubbing her aching shin, Alia flipped the folder open. Immediately her eyes narrowed, then she blinked.
“The hell?” she murmured, opening the brochure. “Layer, call Signas back, I think there’s a…” a little paper note, so old-fashioned, fluttered out.
She picked it up, reading the note. Layer noticed she immediately blushed, and unable to help it, she snatched the note out of the shocked Alia’s hand, reading it with a huge smile on her face.
‘Alia, I noticed we happened to have the same day off next week. Would you be so kind to accompany me during such time? -Signas’
“Is that what I think it is?” Alia whispered.
Layer gushed as she threw her arms around Alia. “How cute, he wrote you a note to ask you out! Who knew Signas was so old-fashioned and young at the core? Argh, this is adorable.”
Alia snatched the note back, looking down at the brochure and various pamphlets to different restaurants and places of interest. There were concerts, movie show lists, anything from casual outing to serious dating. Another piece of paper, printed out with all of the places listed, was under all of the leaflets. The generic ‘Circle three’ instructions were written at the top, and Alia’s blush deepened, much to Layer’s delight.
Wouldn’t it have been better if he asked her directly? But that would have really put her on the spot, and Alia wasn’t the type to enjoy an intense spotlight… Alia smiled at the note and turned to Layer.
“I don’t know half these places,” she admitted. “Help me pick!”
Layer’s wide grin made Alia’s smile bigger, and the women huddled close as they browsed through the booklets.
~*~
Zero had been promoted, in a sense, once he returned to the Jakob Project. Instead of staring at the streets in the middle, he now was much closer to the top, nearly to the moon base itself. Signas had separated him and X to help with the Recovery, and as Zero found himself strangely fascinated with the construction on the moon surface and the allure of the stars, he found himself rightfully distracted. Which was a good thing, since he didn’t feel the usual ache of wanting to feel the caress of X’s soul; it was bad, however, because Zero started to deeply daydream as he gazed out into space and his job performance was less than stellar.
“Snap out of it!” the overseer barked, making Zero jump and whirl around from the massive window he was looking out of. “That’s four trains I had to check because you’re not at your station! I don’t care if you’re some hotshot Commander on Earth—you’re a checkpoint officer here!”
Zero wasn’t used to having authority other than Signas over him, and it made him frown a bit. The part of him that wanted to scowl and make a snarky remark fought to the surface, but that lingering ‘X’ part of him politely reverted his eyes to the ground and he apologized.
The overseer snorted as he wheeled his large body toward a console, which was watching the incoming traffic. “Since you’ve done next to nothing this shift, you’ll get the job of opening the private road.”
Zero groaned. He hated that stupid private road. “Why?”
“Because the director is coming down!” the overseer boomed. “And for your insolence, you do it alone! Open up sector L, area ten-eight for the director. You got four hours.”
Zero this time did characteristically scowl, but he knew better than to snap back. The patience he inherited from X soothed him as he walked away toward the workers’ lift. Gathering the needed tools and clearance, the blond began to lonely journey to sector L.
When he hit sector I, the windows closed up in favor of thick support walls. Cut off from the dreamy atmosphere of space and encased in dimly lit tunnels, Zero felt his apprehension steadily rise. A gloomy tunnel would be perfect for an ambush, and despite putting the most recent threat down, Mavericks still rose on the occasion. Zero remembered the last time he was attacked on the elevator, the memory making him freeze for a moment.
“You brought the Maverick Virus upon us, you son of a bitch!”
Zero shook his head slowly, trying to ignore the echoing memory. But even as he shoved the bit of data aside, it seemed to override his master control and replayed. The shaking of his head grew in intensity as the memory grew louder, blocking out the hums of the traffic around the tunnel and starting to seemingly take over. His ponytail was coming a furious whip as Zero shook his head faster, hands dropping his tools and rising to grasp the sides of his helmet.
“It’s entirely your damn fault!”
Shut up!
Zero gave out a short cry as it felt as if a jolt went through his head, like a severed wire, the pain forcing him to his knees. He folded himself into a ball, gripping his helmet as his head began to throb; it was a slow trickle of pain, sprinkling over his systems until it felt as if his entire body as pulsing. The file began to play again, a little after the first one. Then again, a little before, until it was like a chorus chanting at him, spewing the same words at him from all directions. Why couldn’t he turn it off?
Among the two lines being sputtered over and over, Zero swore he could hear another phrase whispering in the shadows of the chorus. Something much darker, something hiding just under the radar. Or was he going insane?
Was he going Maverick?
A touch made Zero roll away, his saber drawn as he assumed a crouching battle stance. His eyesight was hazy from clenching his eyes shut so hard, but they sharpened quick enough to reveal the wide-eyed, slightly trembling New-Gen Reploid worker standing frozen over where Zero had been.
Zero breathed out. He was far too jumpy. “S-sorry…” the blond muttered, putting the saber back into its power pack. “I’m on edge.”
The New-Gen frowned a bit, not understanding. So instead, he reverted to what he did know. “Overseer felt a bit sorry for you, so I’m here to help you open second L.”
“Oh.” Zero went back to his fallen tools, picking them up. The New-Gen took a few from him, and side by side they continued the trek. “That’s cool; I’ll need someone to operating the strips.”
“I don’t have that clearance,” the New-Gen replied. “But I can do the menial work.”
Zero shrugged. “Fine, I’ll operate the strips.”
“It’s your fault, after all.”
Zero froze, staring at the again confused New-Gen. “What did you say?”
The Reploid blinked. “It’s your job, after all. Right? Since you have the clearance, you work the console…?”
Zero frowned a bit, but resumed walking. He didn’t even bother to answer, wondering if he was going insane and hearing more insanity. It might have been part of the Recovery thing…
~*~
X gazed up at the sky, following the Orbital Elevator with his eyes. Jakob Project, the mass human migration… did they really think they could escape the wars so easily? Maybe so, but even X wasn’t too sure if this was really a good idea.
His eyes gazed past the elevator, toward the moon. Although he was at a fairly high altitude, it was still amazing he could see the black spec of the moon base without amplifying his optics. X frowned a bit—would he always have to see that ugly thing when he wanted to enjoy the beauty of the moon?
A shadow passed over the luminous pearl and X sighed. Ah yes, the Space Colony Eurasia… the only successful, thriving colony thus far, but it could only hold so many occupants. It served as the living base of the director, where he could observe the Orbital Elevator as the colony did its circuit around the Earth. X had never been to the Eurasia Colony, but he had heard of its incredible wildlife and nature stimulation systems. Supposedly it was one of the few places left to have real nature… how ironic it was no longer on Earth.
X’s quiet musings were interrupted as a streak of violent fire shot from the Elevator, streams of smoke following the disconnected train car down into Earth’s atmosphere and plummeting. X jumped from his perch on a beam, staring at the falling car before jumping onto his Chaser and bulleting for the lift. Halfway down he heard the sirens go off, and he could only assume the thing already crashed.
“There has been an accident on board the No.4 descending container car,” the alarm system intoned. “All personnel, report immediately…”
The alarm system was drowned out as the lift finally made it to the first Plate, where X sped off toward the smoldering remains of the container car. The Chaser screeched to a stop, and X jumped off of it, letting it crash to its side as he activated his communication unit.
“This is X,” he said once the operator picked up, racing toward the car. “I’ve encountered the accident while on patrol of the Orbital Elevator. The accident is on Plate One, sector V, area ten-five. Dispatch rescue Machaniloids immediately!”
The groan of bending metal made X skid to a stop, eyes wide as the crumpled door of the broken train car began to move. Before he could call out to whoever could possibly have survived such a drop, the door was shoved aside and a massive figure began to stumble out.
X took a slow step backwards, eyes wide and mouth dropping open as Sigma slowly approached him. Astonishment became actual fear when just behind the massive Reploid… another several dozen Sigmas poured from the train car. All of them ambling right for X. The miniature army stopped just a few feet away from the frozen X, standing and staring him down with their cold, emotionless eyes.
“Si…” X’s vocal box barely could function above the shock. “Sigma?!”
His hand became the Buster canon when the Sigmas began to again move, and he brought it up to point as they shuffled toward the sides. In the middle of the bodies, now no longer blocked, stood a much shorter Reploid; X could not make out the person’s face, the flames casting a sinister shadow over them so that only the power orbs of their armor glittered with any brightness. Regardless he kept his Buster aimed, even as the smaller Reploid began to speak.
“To protect ourselves from damage during the accident…” the Reploid slowly raised their head, opening their eyes. The golden orbs shed just enough light, along with the fires and the armor orbs, to show the plain, unassuming face of the speaking Reploid. “We had to copy a sturdy Sigma body.”
Reading the look on X’s face, now set in a determined grimace, the Reploid lifted a hand up in a sign of peace. “We New Generation Reploids enjoy complete and total immunity to all viruses, thanks to our recent perfection.”
As the purple-haired Reploid spoke, the Sigmas around him flashed with light, shrank, then donned their original basic manufactured forms. X slowly lowered his Buster, staring in amazement as the army of Sigmas became nothing but harmless worker Reploids.
“So,” the obvious leader Reploid went on, “even copying something as dangerous as Sigma provides no risk.”
X slowly straightened himself out of his combat stance, eyes narrowing. That Reploid looked vaguely familiar. “Who are you?” he demanded.
The Reploid smiled. Although it seemed to be meant to be a gesture of good-nature, it only made X feel more on edge. “I’m Lumine; I’m the director in charge of the Elevator, and of the Jakob Project.”
That’s it. X felt like smacking himself—he had met Lumine once, when the Project began so long ago! “Lumine… sorry. It’s been a long time.”
“That it has, X,” Lumine placed his hands on his hips, surveying the area. “I’m glad my fellows and I are unharmed.”
That put the blue armored Reploid off a bit. “As we all are. What happened?”
Lumine tilted his head as he heard the sirens of the coming security. “The private road I was meant to travel on… it was inadequately prepared. Or, perhaps, purposely sabotaged…”
The lift with the rescue Mechaniloids and units appeared, and Lumine’s smile at X grew a bit. “Regardless, despite the… unassuming situation, it was good to see you, X. Do give my regards to the rest of the Hunters, and pass along to Signas now that I’ve returned to Earth I will be seeking his company.”
X was going to affirm his request, but the rescue unit swarmed them. Lumine was surrounded by concerned workers and Elevator officials, leaving X with the only thing left to do was going back to his Chaser and getting out of there. He knew he should have stayed, but the whole incident just gave him the shakes. To see that many Sigmas… it sent thrills of disgust down his spine, and X wished his shift was over already.
As he rode the lift back to his position, X looked upwards absently. If the private road was sabotaged, who could have done it? If Lumine was taken out, the Jakob Project might not crumble completely, but there would be severe consequences…
For all their complaining… X thought morbidly. The fact the humans entrusted their migration progress to a Reploid is ironic and amusing in the darkest ways.
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