Ch.03 - Bittersweet Homecoming

"So you found him like this, X?" Doctor Light asked, confusion evident in his computerized tone.

"Not at all. You saw the distortion field, the one you guys couldn't clear. That was his. He came in through town, blew through every Maverick within the block, then proceeded to thrash Sigma like it was nothing. The power wasn't affecting me at all through his entire fight, but I get the feeling it's learned to separate it's targets from what he's fighting, and what he's not. Hell, for all I know it's targeting something else, like the Sigma Virus itself. Either that or he's somehow worked it into his mental facilities to the point where it acts off of his subconscious and doesn't immediately lash at those he knows are friendly." X talked as he set the unmoving form of Zero down on the table Dr. Light had brought up.

"Very strange, and very intriguing. And you said it never affected you at all? We couldn't see into the field the least bit till he collapsed."

"Only time it did is when he realized he'd let it go completely unrepressed and it wasn't affecting me. Then when he got ticked about that, then it actually affected me. Which somewhat debunks the idea of it targeting the Sigma Virus since it's not in my system anymore. Dropped me straight to the ground. Which is confusing as it is, since I don't recall it ever doing that to Sigma either, tho it seems to have a more solid effect against Sigma anyway." X shrugged as he offered what explanation he could.

"Then we'll just have to get him fixed up and woke up. Then, after a certain someone has torn a few strips and possibly more than a few hairs out of our good man here, we'll have to question him about it." Light intoned, glancing off in the direction of a very agitated and anxious redhead who was being gently held back by Roll.

"Speaking of which, Doctor Light, why'd he collapse anyway? It's not like we suffer from exhaustion due to lack of food or anything." Alia asked, looking up from her station, pausing in a moment with her part in the scanning.

"System overload, most likely. Just like how a normal human can become overwhelmed, so too can a Reploid. At least one that's been appropriately programmed. Since the Reploid mind is designed to only be faster than a normal human being's, they can still become overwhelmed in the case that they try to handle too many emotions at once, or too many details. Though the chances of that kind of situation arising are far less than of a normal human being. The only problem is the possibility of burnt-out circuits in such an occurrence. Which is why we're scanning him so thoroughly. He may or may not wake up any time soon, whether we find burnt circuitry or not. Currently it's looking like nothing is fried, but at the same time, he did just spend over a year hopping around the country, with no time to rest, all the while keeping that power going. Even if he was keeping it repressed, it's bound to have had some sort of impact on his systems. Besides, you do have a finite amount of energy you can store for use. X and Zero both just seem to store more, and produce energy nearly as fast as they use it. Most likely an alteration of the same evolution that keeps them both increasing their power capacity."

Zero woke to a pounding skull and sat up, one huge hand immediately going to his forehead as he groaned at his discomfort.

"Ugh, note to self, no more playing with whatever I played with last." He looked around, squinting against the harsh lights focused on him. "Alright, either I'm having a dream, or I'm back in the lab. Either way, I can't see a damned thing."

The lights moved away from the table, allowing Zero to see further around him as he hopped down off the table and stood.

"Okay, seem to have all of my motor functions intact at least. Now to find out where I'm-" Zero was suddenly interrupted as his large frame was rocked off-balance by a fierce tackle from someone significantly smaller, his breath leaving him as the impact knocked him over. He rolled with the hit as the assailant immediately bounded away, coming back up to a three-point stance, one hand reaching for the handle of the Z-Saber only to find empty air. "Well that's not good, to say the least."

"You're a liability to all of those around you." A feminine computerized voice intoned from seemingly every direction around him.

"SO BE IT!" He shouted back defiantly, the air around him suddenly brightening as the energy crackled to life once more in his systems, his armor immediately recoloring back to black, his eyes shifting to the purple of his focused rage. Still the darkness surrounding that ring of energy remained. "As long as it makes this world safer for my kid, for my family. If I'm the only danger left, then I can live with that result. Better that my kid grow up never seeing me face to face than to not grow up at all!"

"Can you truly believe that? How can you protect something if you're never near it?" The same computerized voice asked. Zero glanced around, trying to make out more details, powerless to use his systems to their fullest without his saber. Something about the situation was nagging at him as he realized that somehow his systems were actually being far more limited than they should have been.

"So you've taken my saber, and somehow locked me out of a good portion of my suit's extra functions. And yet you still can't lock down this power that makes me such a danger. Somethings tells me that you're not quite as knowledgeable as you want me to believe." Zero responded angrily. His eyes began to waver between purple and red as he glanced around, still unable to pierce the black veil that seemed to limit his vision. As he looked he noticed a strange sort of glow begin to take form in front of him. Readying himself as best as he could, he launched into the attack, bashing his fist down swiftly through the space where the glow started, instantly spinning as the glow split into four distinct pieces, kicking out to trip what would've normally been someone's feet, only to see the lower two glows bob up just over the range of his foot. As they 'landed' Zero swung again, his uppercut moving through the point between all four glows, only to see one move in and slap his arm aside. Hopping back he took up a defensive stance.

"Something about this is nagging at my memory, if only I could figure out what. Your turn either way." Zero thought to himself as he waited for the glows to go on the attack. They didn't disappoint, launching into a spinning trail of light, assailing Zero from multiple directions. "Okay, seem to be following normal humanoid limitations, no more than two directions of attack at once, balance being maintained. Something about this is still familiar. Far more hand-to-hand training than I've ever seen out of any Maverick."

Zero continued blocking the attacking glows, occasionally getting caught as the speed of the attacker began to increase. His eyes widened as suddenly all of his defenses were blown open and a solid kick threw him backwards, violently slamming into a wall and forming a small crater. As he dropped back to the ground he quickly brought his hands back up, only to be swept off his feet, his midsection again taking the brunt of an assault as he was kicked into the ground before he could start to fall.

"Ya know, this isn't even nice." X commented, watching a screen. "I mean, we just brought him back into the base, he's not even woke back up in the three weeks since, and the moment you detect mental activity, we throw him in the training area?"

"You know just as well why we're doing this, X" Light replied, his face showing up in a corner of the screen X was watching. "Mostly to detect how exactly his systems are reacting with the usage of that power, which is actually a lot more stable right now, and stabilizing even more as we speak. And also, to test our newest convert."

"I still can't believe you converted her that fast. You had this planned out before, didn't you?" Roll asked from where she was standing behind the 'boys'.

"I've had quite a few months now to work on the designs as she requested, and also to scan her in preparation. That's what takes the most time when converting humans anyway, is scanning their body to make sure the biological functions all line up correctly." Light responded, wincing as Zero took another nasty impact with a wall.

"I'm more surprised how well she's moving already. She reminds me of when we woke Roll up. Except possibly scarier, considering she's actually far surpassing Zero's current speed, even if we did handicap him a good deal by taking away the saber, and throwing him up against her the moment he woke back up. But then you actually went and managed to program the simulator to repress his full detection functions, a small percentage of his overall speed, and his visor so he can't see past that black area around him. At least it's somewhat appropriate who he's getting his ass kicked by." Zenton commented, Toronto chuckling lightly behind him.

Zero ducked under a high kick, only to have another sweep knock him to the ground, before his breath was explosively knocked out of him by yet another axe kick dropping down on him. He rolled as quickly as he could to avoid another, moving to one knee and watching as the glows all seemed to fade out.

"Ugh, it's like waking up from being asleep for far too long, I can't get anything to respond as fast as I normally can. Movements are all sluggish, and this attacker actually has an edge on me in terms of speed right now. Hell, more than an edge. If only I knew where my damned saber was." Zero closed his eyes for a moment, seeing the glowing spots had reappeared, taking on slightly more focused appearances now. As they came back on the attack he focused on each and every attack, his body falling into a pattern of blocking them. His eyes widened suddenly as he flowed around one of the kicks into a spinning elbow strike where the head should've been. His arm impacted with nothing more than air as he suddenly felt full contact on the rest of his body.

"Well, husband, while we did handicap you a touch, I'm more than a little disappointed that it took you this long to remember how those katas went. Even if they were on a slightly more lethal speed level." Zero looked down to see a helmet similar to his own with a long tail of red hair coming out of the back. He could only stare openly as the helmet lifted, Crystal's face showing, tears slowly running down her cheeks. She sniffled slightly as Zero's fingers brushed a tear away. "So, do I pass my initial combat test?"

"But...you...how...when...what?" Zero's brain tried to comprehend everything at once, accomplishing nothing in the end as Crystal began to break down into a full wail, throwing herself against him. She flashed out of her armor as he set her down in front of him, dropping down with her, holding her tightly.

"Okay, no more letting him out of the base for extended periods of time," X remarked, grinning. "That poor girl is gonna go into a full system lock I think if we ever have to do this again."

Zenton and Toronto both laughed, Signas smirking as well while both Alia and Roll were sniffing slightly and wiping away tears.

"It's sweet how much she loves him. Besides, I know how she feels. She's just a bit less...reserved than some of us." Alia finally replied, walking over and placing her arms around X from behind him. X's face grew bright red and he started digging a trail in the non-existent dirt at his feet, only to have Alia's arms tighten more around him."And about Crystal, she only does this I think if she's separated from him and doesn't know when he's coming back. It wasn't very often, but occasionally when we were watching the scanners, you could just catch a hint of it in her eyes. Not to mention how tired she's looked lately. Roll probably noticed it as well."

Roll suddenly yelped and ran out of the room at full speed just as Alia finished, causing the others to look at where she'd been in confusion.

"The kid just woke up," Alia supplied, tapping the side of her earpiece.

"Has his father's timing for dramatic moments then it seems," Signas quipped, causing yet another laugh from everyone.

"By the way, how come no one mentioned she could fight like that?" X asked. "Put some weapons on her gauntlets or something and she'll be a force all on her own. Let alone with the rest of us."

"We actually did mention it when she first appeared. No one bothered to actually check on it though, and then she was pregnant. If I had to take my guess at things, I'd say she's been practicing when none of us are looking. Except for Doctor Light, who keeps his mouth shut on all of our private activities anyway. But she's actually a damned freaky hand-to-hand fighter. Apparently some style passed down in her family, even if only from one side of it. Japanese roots on her father's side, from long before the Robot Wars, let alone the Maverick uprisings. Somehow they've managed to keep that in the family line since. Her other side apparently is from Scotland, which is where she gets her hair and eyes from. I think I heard her mention it was known to show up randomly in her father's side too, the hair at least. Makes for a devastating combination in that girl though, Japanese will and fighting spirit, backed by Scottish stubbornness. She got the best of both sides. She was always one of our home base defenders. Some of the rest of us went to attack somewhere, she was one of the ones we left in charge of defending the camp." Zenton supplied, rambling on for far longer than most were used to hearing from him.

"That's right, you've known them both for quite some time, haven't you?" X asked, rubbing at one side of his helmeted head. "Not sure how I forgot about that. Too much on my mind I'm sure."

Zero waited as Crystal began to calm down, hiccuping slightly as he rubbed his hands up and down her back.

"You almost done? You're gonna dehydrate yourself if you get me any wetter," He asked gently, only to chuckle as she awkwardly punched him in the shoulder. He flashed out of his armor, only to panic slightly as she started to wail again. Wrapping his arms tightly around her he waited once more, smiling gently as she finally sat back. Her slight sniffles echoed in the now lit chamber, as she stared into her lap, only to look up as Seero pulled her chin up with one hand. "I said I wouldn't leave you. I hold to my promises. I'm sorry I took so long to get back."

"You jerk," she finally stammered out, her eyes red, her cheeks soaked with trails of tears. "Do you know how worried I've been? All we had to go on was those holos you kept managing to leave."
"I know. I wanted to make sure you had some way to know I was still coming back. I didn't think it would take me so long. Nor did I think that Sigma's armies would be so relentless." He felt tears slide down his face as he saw the depths of the hopelessness she had been holding back.

"I was afraid I'd be raising our child alone. I was afraid you'd never come back, that you'd just keep finding one excuse after another, or that you'd never learn to control it." A new torrent of wails broke from her as all the fears washed back in, crashing over her anew.

"Shhh. I know, and I'm sorry. Nothing I can ever do can bring back that lost time. And I regret that far more than I can say."