//------------------------------// // CM: And Flames // Story: Melody of the Future // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Once Axl managed to disentangle himself from the two ladies clinging to him - and Cinnamon's embarrassment reached the point she dropped out of her Hyper Mode - he hopped over to Octavia and the others. "Good to see you again, Mom, Grandpa," he greeted warmly. "What brings you here?" "We picked up a Hunter signal here," X explained. "We knew that meant it was either you or Zero-" "Zero," Axl clarified. "I've set my signal to the Red Alert wavelengths for while I'm here, since I'm not here as a Hunter." He rubbed the back of his head. "While I haven't seen Zero, I know he's here somewhere. I was looking around for more information regarding the origins of my A-Trans, keeping on the down low so no one noticed, but the alarms went off. Has to be him." "Then we should go find him!" Massimo offered eagerly. "He might need help." X, Axl, and Octavia exchanged glances, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. Massimo contrived to look hurt. When Axl noticed, he paused his laughter. "Wait...he's serious?" He proceeded to laugh harder. Rolling her eyes, Octavia walked over to Massimo. "Trust us when we say the day Zero needs combat assistance is the day Satan buys ice skates. He's one of - if not the - most powerful beings on the planet. Going all out, he could obliterate this entire city with a single shot, or shoot an Extinction Level Incident asteroid out of the sky." "While that's accurate to his specs," Spider spoke up, "those abilities derive from his binary ether core, right? What if something's happened to damage his etheric circuits, making him unable to access his white mode?" Axl immediately stopped laughing. "C...can that happen?" he asked worriedly. "In theory," Spider continued. "No idea how it would happen beyond overuse, but Zero's much less combat capable without that aspect. Not enough to be worried about him being terminated by standard security...but if he got overwhelmed or faced off against a flying opponent-" "Like Mach Jentra, the barn-swallow based Reinforced Light Armor Aerial FM Reploid in charge of this factory?" Octavia asked nervously. "How do you know that?" Marino asked incisively. "I've been in the city a while," Octavia responded calmly. "You meet very interesting people that way." "But it's a good point," X spoke up, shifting the conversation. "Zero would be at a distinct disadvantage against someone like that without his white mode, or Timbre. We need to find him, now." "Then what are we waiting for?" Cinnamon asked eagerly. "Let's go!" The next part of the factory led through the freight area, where materials were transferred to the various parts of the factory that needed them. This led straight into the artificial caldera, which was walled off in segments to maximize power usage and resource management. As this area was only maneuverable via conveyor belts, there was some difficulty getting past as none of them were fast enough to run the length of a conveyor belt going the wrong way. Thankfully, it didn't take the group long to get past that. Once they did, however, they came across a great many disabled security drones that had been cut down quite viciously. "Yup, this is Zero's work alright," X concluded. "They're still sparking, so we must be close." A quick race forward and up two lifts led the group to the computer monitor room, where Zero was facing off against Mach Jentra. As Octavia had described him, he was a barn swallow based Reploid with a predominantly red and blue color scheme. He was presently floating in the air, wielding a staff with a glowing green top as he attempted to hit Zero...who managed to dodge every strike coming his way even if he wasn't able to land a hit of his own. "Hold still, damn you!" Mach Jentra barked out angrily. "That's my line, Maverick!" Zero snapped back. "You're going down hard, one way or another!" "I'm not finished yet!" Mach Jentra snapped out. "If I can't take you out myself, I'll just overwhelm you...one way or another!" With that, Mach Jentra shot up into a ceiling panel that sealed behind him, heading to another part of the factory. "You're getting rusty, Zero," X spoke up as the group entered. "Time was you'd have been beating him over the head with his own jet wings by now." "And you're getting slow," Zero countered. "I started making a ruckus after hearing about Tianna Camp over an hour ago. What took you so long?" "It wasn't just me," X pointed out, gesturing to where Octavia was watching Axl awkwardly avoid Marino's aggressive come ons only to come face to face with Cinnamon being adorable. "There are...complications." "Oh, hey Tavi, Axl!" Zero greeted. "So have you found someone for your boy yet?" "Two strong possibilities," Octavia observed as she watched the scene play out. "Couple of cuties there," Zero observed appreciatively. "Showing any preference yet?" "Not being caught between them," X joked teasingly. "Doesn't wanna choose yet?" Zero concluded. "Why make him choose? He's probably man enough for both." Axl instantly vanished as he activated his stealth mode, realigning his A Trans circuits to shift himself into another phase state. "Well, you see what he thinks of that," Octavia groaned with a roll of her eyes. "So he's awkward at first meeting," Zero shrugged off. "He'll come around once he knows he's got a sure thing." "So you think he takes after you then?" Octavia quickly quipped. "Hey!" Zero complained angrily as X laughed. "Here you go!" Cinnamon offered helpfully, offering Zero a bottle of ice water. X laughed harder.