Hello, my little hatchlings! This is your friendly neighbourhood narrator with a wee interruption. I just want to thank a fellow dragon, Neon Tiger, for allowing me to use her character, Torrent Leviathan, who is mentioned in this chapter and will be appearing in the flesh further on in BNF. Thanx, Neon! :) And now, the beast--er, beat goes on!

Skysheen hoisted his bulk up from the swivel chair he had seated himself in and made his way to the door. Prior to exiting the room, he looked over one of his winged shoulders and said "Well, Zero...I'll get you that application for you to fill out. I'll be back in a sec. Until then, you and Red can become better aquainted!"

Zero gulped as the metallic slam of the heavy doors echoed and re-echoed in the small chamber. He and Red were alone now...and judging by the way the mechanized dragon was observing Zero intently and bemusidley with narrowed yellow eyes, that wasn't really a great thing.

Alarm shot though Zero as Red suddenly began to silently paddle her swivel chair closer to Zero's own using a particularily nasty looking lance - type weapon. Instinctively, Zero started up a conversation to save himself for whatever Red had in mind for him.

"So, uh...that's a whole lotta humans you guys have in that refugee camp."

Red stopped her stalking abruptly and shrugged her leathery wings. "So Skysheen showed ya the camp, eh? Yeah, when a human's home is destroyed by Mavericks, they're invited to stay with the refugees for a bit, and maybe become a Hunter. It's all part of Dr. Cain's FTH program, which stands for 'Free The Humans', although most of the Mavericks seem to call it...uh...'Something-Else The Humans'."

"Ah." Zero got the hint.

Uneasy silence reigned again. Red began to propell her chair towards Zero. Hastily, Zero's voice sprang up.

"Er...nice weapon you have there." Zero motioned towards the silver lance that Red held.

Red grinned with pride. "Thanks! It's called the Deltawyrm Lance. Care to have a closer look?" With that, the draco tossed the formidable weapon into Zero's lap. Zero picked it up. It was suprisingly lightweight. Its sleek shaft travelled upwards until it reached the head where it seperated into two wicked looking prongs. Additional spikes were lined up near the head, to assure that the strike would be costly to the enemy.

"Pretty." Zero remarked as he handed the lance back to Red.

Red beamed as she slipped the lance into a sheath that was located on her back. "Isn't it, though?" By the way, what Maverick Hunter Unit do you hope to get in to?"

"Maverick Hunter Unit...?"

"Oh, I forgot! You're new here. Anyhoo, the Maverick Hunters are split up into three units. There's the Night Vipers Unit, which consists almost totally of humans and rookie reploid Hunters. There's the Regal Dragons Unit, which is led by Yours Truly and Skysheen. It consists mainly of experienced reploid Hunters and some of the more vicious humans. Finally, there's the elite Spartan Unit, which is composed entirely of the best reploid Hunters we posses. Siggy himself heads that unit, and thus he heads all the Hunters."

"So there's no humans in the Spartan Unit?" Zero inquired

"Actually, there used to be one. Jake McTreggor. One of the earliest Hunters. He was pretty damned good for a human. Too bad he came to such a nasty end."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You see, there's this one very nasty Maverick who skulks around in the sewers below the city. His name is Torrent Leviathan, and he's one of the few formidable fighters the Mavericks have. Jake got a little over-confident about his skills, and he attempted to take on Torrent by himself. Torrent got ahold of him, however, and--" at this point, Red silently drew a finger across her long neck.

Zero grimaced. "You mean..."

"Jake got his throat slit." Red finished off Zero's sentance and nodded. "Aye. With all due respect, it was dumb of him to go off and try to assasinate Torrent single-handedly. I guess he was trying to prove that humans could fight just as effectively as reploids. Very noble, I suppose, but he should have thought of his family."

"He has a family?"

"Had." Red corrected Zero patiently. "And yes, he did. A wife, A teenage girl and a wee male hatchling who would be about 5 or so by now. Don't know where they all are right now, but I hope they're gettin' by all right without Jake there."

"Block...block...parry....slash...."

These commands flashed madly through Celeste McTreggor's fevered mind as she kept her eye fastened on her opponent's darting wooden blade.

"Block...TWIRL!"

Celeste swiftly veered to the right as the blade came crashing down next to her, narrowly missing her shoulder. Seeing her chance, Celeste automatically swung her own blade, driving it into her opponent's exposed ribs. The enemy doubled over with a howl, dropping his weapon. A cheer rose up from the spectators that surrounded the victor. Oblivious to the praise of those who had been watching the match, Celeste moved her shoulder-length brown hair away from the back of her neck in an attempt to cool off a bit before she dropped her stick onto the ground and walked over to her opponent, who was painfully moving his hand along his side, checking for any broken ribs.

"Sorry, Josh. Didn't know my own strength."

Josh managed to offer his friend a half smile. "Don't worry about it. That's what I get for trying to compete with someone who can fence like a bloody Jedi Knight!"

Seeing that the display of fencing was over, the crowd of kids who had been watching broke up and began to shuffle back home reluctantly. One girl broke off from the rest of the mob and joined Celeste and Josh. "Nice going, Cel!" She called. "Good work, considering that Josh is nearly a foot taller than you."

"Oh, shut up Tess." Josh growled, clutching his bruised ribs as he did so.

In unison, Celeste, Josh and Tess all hopped up and sat on the old stone fence behind them that overlooked one of the many sidestreets that wound its way through their crowded neighbourhood like a concrete river. After the excitement of the match, things seemed rather subdued at that point.

"What a boring day." Tess commented with a sigh. "Wish something would happen."

Tess' last words promptly demonstrated the old saying, 'Be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it!' Almost as soon as she had spoken, the heavy clatter of many metal-plated boots marching rang through the air as a platoon of nondescript military reploids peeked over the horizon and came trooping down the street with a rythym that was steady enough to sing to.

Celeste's heart leapt into her throat. "Mavericks?!" She whispered hoarsely around the block in her windpipe.

Josh patted Celeste's shoulder reassuringly. "Nope, no need to get all worked up. They're Hunters."

And so they were. As the troop rang by the trio, Celeste could see that each reploid wore a circular badge on their arm. Enclosed in the circle was an emblem that bore two rampant Welsh Red dragons flanking a silver shield that was stamped neatly with a gold crown.

Only Tess was excited to see the reploids. "Cool! Hunters from the Regal Dragons Unit, right in our own neighbourhood!"

Josh frowned. He, like Celeste and Tess, had gotten used to seeing Hunters patrolling the area. "That's not really a good thing, Tess. There must be some heavy activity going on near here. Regal Dragons usually don't handle the minor issues."

"I've heard rumours that Mavericks are going to attack this area," Tess chimed in. "This neighbourhood is densly populated, which makes it a prime target."

"Oh, lovely." Celeste muttered. Ever since her father had been killed by Torrent Leviathan all those months back, she didn't like to hear anything that had to do with reploids. In her opinon, their creation was a huge mistake.

Tess flipped her black ponytail over her shoulder. "I'm not so hot on the idea of Mavericks leveling our neighbourhood," she declared. "I don't want to end up in that stuffy refugee camp."

Zero forced himself to stay calm as Red, who was directly behind him, tickled a claw slowly down the side of his neck while emitting a kitten-like purr. It was highly unnerving.

"Uh...Red? I...I, uh, just met you and all..." Zero gulped as he observed Red's barbed tail entwine itself gently and playfully around his left leg. Red's only response was a high-pitched giggle.

Relief washed over Zero when Skysheen entered the room again. The blue reploid dragon was holding some documents in one claw. He rattled them. "Hey Zero! Here's that application you need to fill out, and...Holy Mother Tiamat! RED!"

Taken completely by surprise, Red jumped away from Zero. However, she had forgotten about her tail, which was still in it's love-grip around Zero's leg. As a result, Red went tumbling. Her sparse armour clanked about as she made contact with the floor. Zero barely kept his balance.

Skysheen helped his sister up whilst he shook his head. "Red, Red, Red...PLEASE pay attention to your work." He pleaded. "And leave Zero alone. He may not be one of those 'touchy-feely' types, you know."

Red pouted as she was hauled to her feet. "I don't like my job! It's boring."

"Why, what's your job?" Zero inquired curiously.

Red motioned a hand towards the computer behind her. "When I'm not Hunting, I'm supposed to be keeping track of the human casualties and birthrate in the city. It's important that one compliments the other. Balance is a must here. If the casualties skyrocket and the birthrates plummet, then we and the humans are pretty much screwed. But, my word, it's a BORING job."

Sky then gripped Zero by one shoulder and guided him to a nearby table in the room. The draco set the paper down and plunked a pen in front of the crimson wonder. "There you go, Zero...that application shouldn't take too long. While you fill that out, I'm going to have a wee talk with Red about curbing her artificial hormones." With that, Skie left Zero on his own.

Zero mumbled to himself and chewed on the end of his pen as he regarded the application, which stared right back at him. The black type on the milky surface of the paper jumped out at him. Zero frowned. The application asked a lot of questions about his past. And, of course, he wasn't going to tell anyone who he really was. Nevertheless, Zero DID manage to fill out the application without giving anything away. The paper looked a little something like this once Zero had finished with it: