X’s right hand transformed into his arm cannon. "Come on, Zero. We’ve got to protect those humans."
"Hold on, X. The Maverick forcefield prevents you from transporting in," Dr. Cain stated.
"Well, let’s take the bike, then," Zero suggested eagerly. He loved their motorcycle.
"Actually, X, I’ve got a new vehicle I want you to try." So saying, Dr. Cain hobbled out of the room. The Hunters shrugged and followed the old man.

"It’s still a little incomplete, so if you’ll wait an hour or so…"
"Know what? That’s all right, Doc. We really ought to hurry, right X?" Zero interrupted.
X shrugged, "well, if Dr. Cain thinks we should try his machine, I guess he has a valid reason."
"We wouldn’t want those poor suffering humans to wait, right X?" Zero said, elbowing X to make his point.
"Well…" X replied, rubbing his side.

Dr. Cain turned into his lab. "Here it is. I just have some finishing touches to make. While you wait, X, why don’t you read over the background information on the Maverick camp?"

Before the Hunters was a black glider of some sort. It looked like a mutated motorcycle, with engines large enough to suck in many a birds. Dr. Cain had also taken the liberty of adding flashy and unnecessary stuff such as "aerodynamic" flaps and impressive-looking but completely useless circles of neon light on the bottom. It was large enough to seat two people (coincidentally matching the number of Hunters in X and Zero’s partnership) and had a wing-span of about way-too-wide.

X raised his eyebrows at the contraption and whistled. He could have sworn the thing’s light winked back at him.

Zero was already stroking the machine and cooing at it, as though it were his child. "You’re a beauty, you know that? Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you, you’re in good hands, baby…" He addressed Dr. Cain, all the while unable to tear his eyes from the glider, "all right, we’ll wait, but what’s there to fix? It’s gorgeous…"

Dr. Cain walked up wearing a pair of gloves and carrying several brightly coloured spray bottles. "Well, I’ve still got to paint it. You want to destroy the enemy in style, right? I was thinking maybe streaks of fire or something like that." He then attempted to pry Zero off the glider.

"Actually, Doc…I’m sure we’ll do fine without stylish streaks. I mean, aren’t we already cool and stylish enough?" X said, putting on a quasi-stylish pose.
"Well, X, if the good Doctor thinks it’s necessary, who are we to disagree?" Zero said, still caressing part of the vehicle. To Dr. Cain, he said, "while you’re painting my baby, do you think you could maybe add some furry dice?"

X had enough of this. He saw no reason why a glider should be taking the spotlight for most of this chapter, "enough, you two! Forget the thing! We’ve got to hurry to Elysia. Dr. Cain, you can send the information to my drive, I’ll read it on the way there. Zero, let’s go!" X thought the glider flashed him a dirty look.

Zero sighed helplessly, "joy-killer. Fine, but I’m driving." X started to protest. "You drive like an old lady, X. And there’s no way I’m putting the life of my baby in your hands." X shrugged, but inwardly, he was terrified at the thought of Zero flying him far above the ground.

The glider dropped down to the level of the high-rises and slipped through between two particularly large ones. Zero jerked it up and over a tower.

"zerowatchwhereyouregoingzeroareyoulookingzeroohmyNNNOOOO!AAAHH!!" Despite being tightly strapped into the glider, X maintained a rigor mortis grip on his seat.

Zero neatly ducked under the incoming helicopter. He especially enjoyed the rush of air as the helicopter zoomed by overhead. "Listen, X. I have no idea why you’re so worried. You’ll get there in one piece," he commented as he zigzagged between the buildings. He turned his head back at X. "Why don’t you download the information on the Maverick camp?"

"zerodontlookatmelookatwhereyouregoingohnoohnoicantbelievethis…" X trailed off into a murmur of curses and prayers.

Zero shrugged. Well, if X doesn’t appreciate the joys of flying, I might as well make things easier for him. He reached the shore line; a short while away laid the island of Elysia. The glider dived once more so that it nearly touched the water’s surface. Zero held the craft steady as X tried to breath at a normal rate again.

"So, X, what’s the good Doctor got for us?"
"I’d love…to read the…info…but your hair…is in…my face," X wheezed in between breaths of (h)air, "please…remove it."
"Sorry, bud, but I never compromise the hair."

X pushed the yellow stuff out of the way as he squinted at his arm console, "Mavericks…camp…yeah, stuff we already know…oh wait! Check this out. They’ve got a new Maverick working in the camp. It’s assumed that whoever this new Maverick is, she’s downloaded a good deal of technology into her system and that’s why they’ve got all kinds of new gadgets."

"She? The new Maverick’s a female? That’s odd, they’ve never made a female reploid before." Zero pondered this. "Any stats on her?"
"Hold on, checking…no. She hasn’t fought yet. However, she is equipped with an arm cannon of some sort."
"What’s the model?"
"It says…unknown. I guess it’s a new model. We better expect the unexpected."
"Great! I love surprises!"

Zero flew the glider over the dome, hoping to land on the shore of the island. Unfortunately, he failed to acknowledge the presence of several tracking cannons mounted on the top of the dome. They were right in the path of a cannon beam when the glider jerked itself to one side, sustaining much less injury. Smoke started to plume out of the right wing, and the glider brought itself none too gently down through some particularly painful evergreen trees.

"zerozeroyoufoolyoucouldhavegotuskilled!" X screamed. He took several deep breaths and finally pulled himself from the glider. He immediately rammed his face into some pine needles, "OW! Stupid conifers."

Shortly afterwards, two Hunters could be seen trudging through the snow towards the Maverick camp. They had left the glider in the forest while it minimised the damage to its wing. Bits of their conversation floated through the air.

"No, Zero, YOU shut up. Just shut up about the glider." X was still upset about the difficulty he had in releasing Zero’s grip on the glider.
"Yeah well, I’m sure Dr. Cain is going to be delighted to find his precious creation smouldering among a bunch of pines. Oh, my poor baby."
"Hey, don’t make it sound like it was all my fault. You were the one who had to do those crazy stunts and nearly get us killed."
"I’d love to see how well you can handle a glider WITH CANNONS TRYING TO SHOOT YOU DOWN!"
"All I can say is, you screwed up royal. And you nearly ripped my head off when you jerked over."

"Excuse me, but that saved your miserable life…" Zero paused and pondered for a second.
"Yeah, well…"
"Shut up! I’m not done! What I was going to say before you so rudely interrupted was that…I think the glider jerked itself out of the way, not me."
"You’re telling me the glider was flying itself? I can’t believe this."
"Yeah, X. Now just shut up, okay? We’re almost there."

Onwards to Chapter Three
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