Gate rushed around his lab not unlike a headless chicken, his mind going frantic. Alia had contacted him that morning, informing him that she'd managed to swing an official Maverick Hunter Review for his work, and X, Zero, and Octavia would be giving his achievements the once over before penning their opinions. He knew he'd never be able to thank Alia enough for that, since a positive review - which he was certain he could get - would guarantee him the funding he needed to complete all pending projects, and enable him to work on the final project he was working towards.
Then Alia had told him they were coming that day, and the panic had set in.
"Sir," a massive turtle shaped Reploid cautioned him gently, "don't you think you're stressing out a bit too much over this?"
"Don't you understand, Rainy Turtloid?" Gate shouted out. "I've got hours, maybe minutes, to be fully prepared to show off all of my greatest works to two of the greatest creations of the 21st century! The works of Dr. Light were my inspiration, and now his most vaunted son is coming to give me a review! Everything has to be perfect!" He raced to his prep chamber. "Is my lab armor enough? Or should I wear my battle armor, so I can show I'm prepared for anything that might go wrong in the lab?"
"Your battle armor might imply that you expect something to go wrong, sir," Rainy Turtloid cautioned, his voice soft as always. "Beyond that, you can summon it to you at need, remember?"
"Right, right," Gate agreed as he donned his lab armor. The purple armor plates with silver and gold trim were built more for handling errors in construction than any software errors resulting in rampages, and could only take one or two heavy hits before structural integrity was compromised. That's why the blue crystals at chest and forehead were designed to summon his battle armor, the golden set, either at sign of great danger or mental command. "But which creations should I present first? The earlier ones? The more advanced? The incomplete ones?"
"Perhaps you should show them the lab at work?" Turtloid offered. "And let them explore and see what they feel they need to see?"
Gate started to calm down as he threw his lab coat on over his armor. "Maybe that would be best," he decided. "I'm more in my element when at work than when trying to show off."
Rainy Turtloid sighed as he sat back. He had been designed to explore areas of high toxic contamination to help clean up the environment and acquire new resources, but until such time as an area actually required his high defensive parameters - heaven forbid - it seemed his primary task was to keep his maker from flying off the handle. Part of him wondered if exploring heavily toxic areas that taxed even his defensive parameters might be less of a headache.
At that moment, the front door of the lab irised open, and the Maverick Hunters they'd been expecting entered. X and Zero walked in calmly, glancing around and taking in the state of the lab...only for their eyes to lock on Rainy Turtloid's knees before trailing up to his face. Turtloid sighed, being used to this reaction from human sized Reploids.
Octavia, however, smiled up at him. "I didn't know Gate had built a Reploid Gamera," she joked.
Turtloid chuckled indulgently. "Oddly accurate," he murmured, kneeling down and lowering his hand so Octavia could climb up and get a closer look at him.
Gate managed to get control of himself and move to greet his guests. "X, Zero," he greeted warmly. "Thank you for coming. I hope you'll be pleased with my work. I admit, I wasn't expecting you today, so I haven't cleared my schedule-"
"Quite alright," X interrupted calmly. "I'd actually rather see you at work."
Noticing Turtloid's smirk, Octavia shot him a wink.
"While X looks over your current works," Zero spoke up, "I'm going to be looking over the data recorded regarding your active creations' capabilities."
As Gate glanced over in confusion, X smiled reassuringly. "It's how we've decided to divide the workload of the review, letting each of us focus where we're most perceptive."
"And what is your job, my little pony?" Rainy Turtloid asked softly.
"Social interaction," Octavia replied. "I will be investigating current interactive functionality of all active Reploids Gate's completed."
Turtloid let out a soft chuckle. "Right to work, aren't you?" he teased.
After about an hour, X, Zero, and Octavia met back up at the front of the lab. "So what's the report?" Zero asked.
"He certainly knows what he's doing," X replied. "His technique is nothing to be sneezed at, but at the current time the very idea of actively causing a Maverick incident is anathema to him. What about you?"
"The data's all sound," Zero confirmed. "And from our own experience, I'm able to get an idea of what the real capabilities are of those that can't be analyzed as data. While certainly not weaklings, nothing we couldn't handle if they became a problem." He turned to the last member. "So will they become a problem?"
Octavia chuckled. "Not in the slightest. Short of an overwhelming viral infection - and I do mean overwhelming, their viral safeguards are top of the line, even if they encounter an unknown viral type - they aren't about to go Maverick. To varying degrees, each and every one of them was putty in my hooves after I'd talked with them for a while. The only ones who might be a concern are Blaze Heatnix and Infinity Mijinion. Both of them have a bit of a problem with limits. However, I don't think either issue should be considered a serious problem. I've already suggested Heatnix challenge Colonel some time to prove his strength, which should keep his obsession with his own power in check. Mijinion is a bit more of a concern, as he doesn't quite understand the concept of teamwork. It's my recommendation he be commissioned to create his own teammates to test with, which should help him recognize his issue."
"But other than that, no problems?" Zero clarified.
"Other than X leaving Alia hanging, no," Octavia teased, making X facepalm and Zero burst into laughter.
"I'll talk to her about that as soon as we've penned our official reviews, alright?" X groaned. Seeing Gate's worried look, he smirked. "Don't worry, Doc. With all we've seen, that paranoid committee will have to eat crow over our review."
Gate let out a sigh of relief. "My thanks," he replied gratefully. "Good luck balancing parenthood, romance, and saving the world."
"I'll manage," X replied jokingly, walking out with the others.
Slumping against the wall, Gate let out a sigh of relief. "That went better than I could have hoped," he groaned. "I was worried Blaze and Infinity would make a bad impression...and Yammark's paranoia might have been a problem-"
"Not even an issue," Turtloid reassured him. "It's going to be just fine now, sir."