"All right X, it goes a little something like this." Zero tapped his finger twice on the lit up map screen beside him. "There are eight badass ex-Spartans -- or Mavericks, if you will -- who are on the rampage and are having lots of fun kicking people in the bum. According to my spies, each one of the nasties has vital information on finding Siggy's fortress...."

X narrowed his green eyes at the map before him. "Spies?" He echoed dubiously. "Are you sure your 'spies' always have their informationstraight?"

X saw an offended shadow splash over the alien-green light that glowed on Zero's face. "My spies are only the best, X my boy. I pick them all myself. The information I just told you came from my top man, Bill!" Beaming proudly, Zero jabbed a finger at the dark, far left corner of the computer mainfraime where a greasy-haired, alcohol-soaked slug of a human male lay snoring loudly. "Bill's NEVER wrong with his information! Right, Bill?"

Snore.

"I said, RIGHT Bill?"

Snort.

A white hot plasma shot fired by a certain irrate crimson reploid screamed through the air and ferociously burned the wall just inches from Bill's rolling head. The human merely scratched his rear and murmured "Yeah Martha, I'm getting up...ah hell, we're not playing cards again with the Wilsons tonight, are we....?"

Zero stormed over to the corner where Bill had quite literally made himself at home. He picked up the so-called spy by the flabby scruff on his neck like a firey red cat with an unruly kitten. Throwing the door open, Zero booted Bill out into the hallway. The human rolled down the corridor for a few feet but still did not wake up. The door slammed shut again and Zero walked towards X, brushing off his hands. "Okay, let's forget about Bill. But anyway, I know for certain that this information on how to find Sigma's hideout is correct. I suggest that you start by taking down Chill Penguin first. He has a base on the Alaska-Yukon border..."

X shook his hands with his palms outwards towars Zero. "Whoa, wait a second. I'm going alone?!"

Zero pretended to look surprised. "Why, yes. This is strictly a one man job." He moved behind X and started to give the blue Hunter little pushes on his azure plated shoulders, prodding him towards the door. "I would go, but there's far too much to be done at MHHQ as it is...organizing armies, filling out equipment orders, doing laundry...those kind of schlepps. Off you go now." Zero gave his friend a cheerful, final shove out of the computer mainframe and leaned grinning on the doorway.

Distressed, X slowly looked around him. "Where's the base? Where doI go?"

"On the Alaska-Yukon border," Zero repeated as he slid the door behind him again. "here's a tip: head north." A few ominous thunks and thuds were heard from behind X as the entrance to the mainframe was locked. The corridor would have been silent if not for Bill's thick snores.

X tapped the human lightly on his sagged shoulder. "Um, excuse me...do you happen to know which way is north?"

Bill roused himself, pryed one sticky eyelid open and tried to focus on X. "Ask the bartender in the pub," he rasped. "He knows all. He gave me tips on weaseling out of my third wife's child supportpayments."

X was disgusted. "Oh, isn't that just nice. Never mind, I'll find Alaska by myself, thank you."

Bill laughed harshly; his throat to his stomach was coated in a lovely beer-induced mucus. "Don't throw a hissy fit, Astro Boy. That base Chill Penguin took over used to be one of ours, and the radio frequency still seems to be up. Just go to the teleporation capsules on the third floor and ask the crew there nicely to beam you to the old base and they'll do so. Just don't ask them to teleport you to Disneyland, cuz they'll do something cute like teleport you to Death Valley, or put you in the middle of a crowded city street -- minus your clothes." A tiny hint of soberity seeped into Bill's bloodshot eyes. "Trust me...It's happened. Not at all a pleasant experience."

Genesis wearily removed his helmet and combed his shaggy fingers through the sea of flattened fur atop of his equally shaggy head. He inwardly pined for a cup of coffee as he regarded the wailing human in front of him.

"Mrs. McTreggor, we're doing all you've requested," the reploid fox rumbled. "Your daughter, Celeste, has been locked in room 215 of the infirmary, which is a private room. We will keep her under observation for as long as you wish...but you must forgive me when I say that I REALLY think you're overreacting..."

The young woman in front of Genesis promptly sunk further into rage and worry, carving haggard lines in her modestly smooth features. For an instant, she strongly resembled a rustled mother hen. "Genesis, I have every reason in the world to 'overreact' like this. Celeste came to visit me in the refugee camp earlier today...just by the way she was acting and talking you could tell that she -- oh hell, why am I explaining this to a reploid. You probably don't know the first thing about maternal instinct." Silvia McTreggor bit off her sentence with a choked sob.

Genesis fell silent for a few seconds, slightly offended. He had worked for months with injured humans. He prided himself in being an expert on the species, and thoughtless remarks like Silvia's often burned him up. Of course he knew about maternal instinct.

Silvia grabbed the stage again once she had regained her composure. "I'm sorry, Genesis," she apologized, reading the fox's mind. "I'm just so scared. The way Celeste talked to me today...it was almost as if she were saying goodbye. She had a distant, preoccupied look in her eyes." Celeste's mother began to stumble clumsiliy over her words again. "She looked the exact same way my husband did before he went after Torrent Leviathan and got himself...got himself..." The words 'Torrent Leviathan' escaped as a puppy's yelp. Silvia broke down again. "I just know she wants to go after Torrent. I think she wants to avenge her father. Please...keep her locked up and don't let her go anywhere, at least for tonight!"

By now, Genesis was damn sick of melodramatics. "All right...all right. We'll keep our eyes on Celeste. Now please return to the refugee camp...quite frankly, you're scaring the patients."

"You've got dat right!" An unidentifiable human voice chimed from a nearby bed hidden behind a drawn privacy curtain.

Silvia complied with a silent nod of thanks. Zero, who had been talking to Genesis prior to Silvia's outburst, stepped back up beside his ex boss and laughed. "Holy crow, what a woman. I can see so much of Celeste in her, and at the same time they're as different as night and day. Celeste's jammed packed with energy and youth, and her mother looks so tired and serious."

Genesis did not share in Zero's humour. He slowly shook his head. "Give her another 15 years or so, and Celeste will be exactly like hermother."

Genesis' unhappy remark slowly quenched Zero's amusement like a tall drink of water. "Are you serious?"

Genesis laughed lightly in his turn. "You've still got a lot to learn about humans, Zero. How old did you say Celeste was?"

"She'll be 20 soon."

"Ah yes. She's in the prime of her life now. She'll hunt tirelessly and recklessly, given the chance. But she's also at an age where she'll begin to seek out serious, life-long companionship." Genesis narrowed his eyes at Zero. "That reminds me, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh goody," Zero sighed, hardly enthused. The sigh was more of a reflex action from his days of working in the Medical Unit than anything; the words 'I want to talk to you about something' were once dreaded bell chimes that preluded a lecture from Genesis about the latest screw-up that Zero had pulled.

"Zero, if I'm not mistaken, you're quite in love with Celeste."

"Hell," Zero snorted. "It ain't much of a secret, especially since X announced it in the middle of the training gym not long ago."

Genesis grinned teasingly. "Oh, don't be so bitter. I'm personally fascinated by this whole thing. It's quite rare for a reploid to fall in love as deeply as you have, and it's especially rare for a reploid to fall for a human. Is your love based on...how should I put this...physical attraction?"

The room all of a sudden became unbearably stuffy for Zero. "Yeah...part of it, I guess..." the scarlet Reploid stammered.

"Ha!" Genesis clapped his soft paws together. "Rarer still! Most reploids are lousy at judging a human's physical beauty. Do you know what makes a human appear 'beautiful' to another human? It's merely an instinct that subcontiously tells the observer that he or she has stumbled upon a potential mate that is healthy and fertile. Of course, we reploids have little use for such an instinct, so it isn't nearly as strong in us as it would be in a human. Yet, you're breaking a lot of reploid stereotypes by falling in love with Celeste. You're a strange little 'ploid, Zero."

Zero did not really appreciate being stuck in centre stage as an example for a report on the latest breaking biology news story. "I thought you wanted to tell me something, Genesis," he huffed. "Let's go. More matter, less art."

Genesis growled faintly and melted back into his grumpy, serious self. "Very well, let's dust off the sugar coating. You're spending far too much time with Celeste. There's a great chance that she's in love with you, too. Sure, it sounds sweet, but as I said before, she's probably beginning to look for a mate. In the short term, you would appear to be a prize catch. As much as I hate to admit it, you're a great guy...protective, fearless, blah blah blah. But you're still a reploid. If you were to do something radical like marry Celeste, a lot of sacrifices would have to be made by both of you, including the potential of children. I just can't see it working out in the long run. Humans are meant to spend their lives with other humans, not advanced machinery. I'd hate for either of you to get hurt like that. In short, try not to be so affectionate towards Celeste. It'll pay off down the road."

Zero's gears twisted, knotted and collapsed with each of Genesis' seemingly harsh but true words. Deep down, frozen solid inside him had been the very same concerns, but until now he had been to selfish to thaw them out. Now that they were exposed, they were raw and sore, painful to touch. They could not withstand the onslaught of Genesis' advice. Zero realized he could never tear himself away from Celeste, at least never completely.

"You're right Genesis," the Hunter announced. "As corny and awful as it sounds, a human probably couldn't prosper in the arms of a metallic. Nevertheless, I don't think I could ever stop thinking about her. Thanks for your advice, though."

Genesis raised one furry eyebrow behind his opaque shades. "Being in love must be something else," he remarked with a smirk. "No wonder the human population is somewhere in the zillions. I'm happy to give you advice at any time...whether you follow it or not is your own damnbusiness."

Zero suddenly slammed his open palm against his forehead. He had completely forgot about X in Alaska. "I'm going to check up on X," Zero assured Genesis who was leering uneasily at him. The hunter flipped on his wristcom.

"X? How's it going up there? X? Where are yooooou?"

At first, there was nothing but the fuzzy cheer of static. Then: "IT'S FRICKIN' FREEZING UP HERE, MR. BIGGLESWORTH!"

"X! You're alive!" Zero howled with laughter for no reason whatsoever. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm fine so far." Even through the bad reception, Zero could hear X's teeth clacking together. "I'll be meeting up with Chill Penguin soon enough. I'm admittedly taking my time, I've met some nice people up here. Remember that innocent little bunny-type Maverick you tried to get me to kill back in training? I've been having a real nice conversation with one of them. He showed me the Northern Lights and some pretty icebergs. Too bad he tried to shoot me in the back at that time, and I had to kick him into the Arctic ocean. He was a really funny rabbit." X ended his sentence with a preoccupied giggle. "Here's a joke he told me before I offed him. Jack and Rose were standing together on the bow of the Titanic, when suddenly Jack says --"

"Whoops, got a call on the other line," Zero drawled apologetically. He had little patience for jokes that day. "Sorry, X. I'll contactyou soon!"

The bare-walled room was as windowless and friendly as the Death Star. There was only one exit and it was guarded religiously by a lanky reploid nicknamed 'Roadkill'. Celeste was not discouraged; something deep from within called to her, lulled her. Calmed by the sweet nature of the summons, a hardly-noticeable current of yellow fear told that Torrent had run out of patience. She had not gone to visit him in the sewers as he had requested of her several times before...so now he was taking matter into his own claws and calling her to him instead.

Going over her escape plans one more time, Celeste plucked Matzah (now a good size) from his nap on the drab hospital bed. Matzah cuddled in her arms, completely content and trusting. Unfortunately, that trust would not last very much longer. She tucked her lightsabre handle into her pocket; she had been allowed to keep it while under observation. To be disarmed was considered dishonourable. She did not have her titanium vest with her; she would have to make do with fighting in street clothes.

Celeste poked her head out of the hospital room's door ("Wow, unlocked, how brilliant."). She thanked her lucky stars that Genesis had picked the lackluster Roadkill to 'guard' her. Roadkill was down the hall a bit and had his spiky back to Celeste, talking to a fellow Hunter about boring matters.

"I'm sorry about this, Matzah," Celeste whispered to the cat seconds before she wound up and hurled the screaming tom down the hallway. Roadkill and his friend exchanged 'What-in-the-hell' looks as they took off towards the commotion. Celeste slid out of her prison and pounded down the hallway, unseen.

Ah, so Celeste, you are on your way at last. Torrent cut off his flow of sweet mind-drugs.

Celeste stopped abruptly in the middle of Maplemain's crowded nightlife, earning her strange stares and plenty of breathing room from the passerbys. It was as if she had suddenly woken up from a sleepwalk and realized where she was.

Come now darling there is no reason to be scared, Torrent assured her, sensing her wildly mixed emotions and feeding off of them. I only wish to...talk to you.

A sleepy grey mist swathed Celeste's brain again and took over. She unconsciously plodded down a sleeping side street. The haze lifted, and the Huntress found herself before a sewer-manhole with the cover removed. Had she done that?

Come on down, Celeste. The potatoes are boiling, the kettle is singing, and I dare say that I'll catch us some fish.

Staring down into the black abyss, Celeste did not feel at all brave or heroic. She felt as if she were going insane. Over and over again, she recalled the feeling of her mind turning a sickly green from too much of Torrent's mindspeak. Over and over again, she saw her father die at the Leviathan's feet. Those images and feelings were the fuel that propelled her as she descended down into the manhole.

Darkness. Cold, slimy water closed in around Celeste's ankles. It took every ounce of will she possesed to keep from screaming like a doomed maiden in the Minotaur's Maze.

Thrilled with Celeste's terror, Torrent's howl rattled in her head. Ha! Daughter of Jake! Where do we go now? Where do we go?

Two clammy paws landed on Celeste's shoulders with a cold that seeped through the thin materal of her T-shirt. An unseen, damp reptilian snout nuzzled the back of her neck affectionately.