X drifted along on Tinky-Winky. It occasionally flashed YAWN on the screen. X was really getting annoyed at it.

The glider cautiously flew over to the chain of domes now stationed at port around Elysia. Technically, the Mavericks were not besieging the city, since trade and transport of goods was still going through the ports, but they prohibited any movement of people in or out of Elysia. So far, only the main dome had a forcefield, but X knew that it was only a matter of time before forcefields were set up in all the domes, and then the Mavericks would come for some much-delayed smashing-up of things.

Remembering his last experience of flying into Elysia, X kept a careful distance and made notes of the enemy’s formation from far above. There was no way to rush at them from the narrow road leading to the island, and an air strike was highly risky as well as dangerous to the inhabitants. The only option left was a naval battle. Unfortunately, the chances of penetrating the formation before the forcefields were set up were nearly non-existent. What he needed was a way to disable the forcefields. As well, the attack would have to be swift and severe to reduce the risks to the human inhabitants of the island. After all, he wouldn't have much of a fan club if he didn't keep the members alive.

He noticed a small clump of dots near the centre of Elysia, and dared to inch forward for a better look. Realising that he would have to inch forward several hundred times to get a better look, X remembered that he had brought along some binoculars. It was a group of Mavericks, apparently a number of technician reploids among them. He wondered whether the Mavericks were finally going to build that huge tribute to Sigma as rumoured. Sweeping around the group, he saw the small purple figure of Theta with her plume of black hair pointing the reploids here and there. She also had on a bright yellow scarf which clashed hideously with her purple armour. Next to her was a large glare of light. X blinked and realised that it was the shine from Zero’s overly-pampered hair.

"Zero!" X cried in shock. He caught himself in time, glad that he was too far away to be heard. Charging to him right now would mean a friendly blast in the face from his buddy.

ZERO? The console flashed. HA, I KNEW HE WOULD SURVIVE. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? LET’S GO!

"No, you crazy machine," X whispered rather loudly. He struggled to keep the glider from dashing to both their doom, "do you have some kind of death wish?"

BUT THAT’S ZERO. COME ON, HE’D BE GLAD TO SEE US.

"Tinky-Winky, he’s a Maverick now. He’d be even happier to use our heads to prop doors open. We’d better go back to Headquarters to organise an attack. Maybe Dr. Cain would have a way of reverting him to his normal self."

YOU’RE SUCH A COWARD. BESIDES, I DON’T HAVE A HEAD.

"Yes, and that would also explain the lack of a brain." X thought that the glider had set itself up quite well and congratulated himself for the witty retort. "I’m only thinking logically and reasonably. You go down there and you’re coming back in several little packages."

ZERO LIKES ME, HE WOULDN’T HURT ME. BUT I SURE HOPE HE’LL BLOW OFF YOUR HEAD.

X sighed. It was like arguing with a three year old brat. He search for the manual override as Tinky-Winky struggled forward. Unable to locate one, he invented one of his own and repeatedly bashed the console as he jerked the controls up. When he saw the console blink off, he transported the two of them back to MHHQ.

Zero glanced up at the sky, "he’s gone."

"Yes, I’m aware of that," Theta responded. X had subtly manoeuvred his craft so that its shadow had laid directly in front of Theta. "If you should ever see X again, tell him to watch more spy movies and brush up on his skills."

"Are you sure it’s no problem for him to fly around checking on what we’re doing? I mean, you don’t want me to blow him out of the sky or anything?" Zero asked hopefully.

"No, I’m quite sure it’s all right. We’re at a very tense moment right now. I don’t want to trigger a battle until we are prepared."

"But did you see the way he rode that glider? It was horrible! It perfectly disgraceful how law-abidingly he flew! Oh, my poor baby...at the hands of that slow driver...It hurts me right here..."

"Zero, please," Theta said coldly, clearly unmoved by the sight of a man (reploid, whatever) with a broken heart. "Control yourself until the plan is all set. Remember, this is a tense moment. I don't need you to be trigger happy and getting the Hunters all geared up. You'll get your chance soon enough."

"Really?" Zero's head popped up. "What say you and I pop on over to Hunter HQ and grab that glider back. Maybe blow a few holes in the wall?"

"Zero..."

"Yeah, sure...tense moment, wait, wait, wait...Strategy sucks," Zero said. He sat down in a pile of snow and went through some complicated blueprints half-heartedly.

"I’m sure it’s great fun to be a one man blitzkrieg, but this is the age of technology, my friend, and we’ve got to finish the forcefield generator before we can take the offensive." She turned her attention to the workers who were building the dome.

"Why? We’ll just charge in there. Even if the Mavericks missed every single target, there’s enough of them to stampede every human to death."

"Do you know how the Mavericks lost every single time before? They rush out of their base, pick off a few humans, then X pops into the base, destroys said base – thereby eliminating their power source and leaving them without any backup or organisation – and then proceeds to defeat the confused Mavericks running around – mass destruction without any organisation is not the most effective way to gain ground – thus earning himself another medal of bravery for his already very full trophy case." Theta took a deep breath after her long sentence. "Makes you wonder about the intelligence of the Mavericks. I mean, did nobody stop and wonder why they kept getting trampled by X every single time and in the exact same way every time? The strategy this time is different. We protect the base first. Quality of attack over Quantity of attackers."

A tall figure draped its shadow over her. Theta sensed from its aura of self-importance that it was Storm Eagle. She turned and confirmed her guess.

Storm Eagle ruffled his wings. He was extremely irritated to be assigned to help build a dome. True, he was in charge of the technicians, but he was also under Theta’s command. "The techies can’t construct the dome as you ordered. There’ s a part which doesn’t fit."

"Thank you for your report. I’ll go see to it at once. You may return to your duties," Theta dismissed him with a smile. She could tell that behind his calm exterior, he was fuming. She strode off with Zero beside her.

Eagle glared at the small purple figure. All brains and no brawn, she has no idea what she's doing. She's never even fought in battle before. I wonder how much she bribed Vile to put her in charge. But, I’m far superior in battle. Then we’ll see who Vile values more.

Toxic Seahorse bobbed up to Eagle. "Ouch, that must have hurt. Don’t take it personally, let the nerd have her fun. The battle is the important thing."

"That Theta annoys me to no end! She and her irritating ‘assistant’ Zero. She reprograms the guy and Vile thinks she’s great. So she can build a few gadgets and gizmos, so what? She hasn’t attended a single training session or practice battle, she hasn’t even destroyed a single building let alone a living human, what makes her think she’s better than me? For all we know her arm cannon's there for decoration! What made Vile think she should be in charge of me?"

Toxic Seahorse crouched fearfully nodding or shaking his head at the right moments. Eagle’s bursts of pride were always dangerous moments, and the thin Maverick had no intention of offending Eagle. A few other Mavericks had drifted closer to hear what the commotion was about.

"I don’t trust her at all. Sure she reprogrammed Zero, but what if she turns him against us? This battle depends too much on her technology, and I don’t like it one bit. She doesn’t even seem like a Maverick!"

At this point, Eagle leaned over conspiratorially towards the small group now gathered around him. "For that matter, I’m not even sure if she is a Maverick," he said in a low voice, "have any of you noticed anything strange about her?"

This was answered by a chorus of questioning murmurs and shrugs. Eagle continued, "she gets fatigued." He said the words as though he had just accused her of cannibalism (or perhaps the reploid equivalent). "And, don’t quote me on this, but I thought I heard her sneeze."

Some more questioning and non-committal murmurs ensued from the small group. "Don’t you see what I’m saying, you idiots?! Since when have reploids been able to sneeze? Some of us don’t even have noses, let alone a nasal cavity!"

Toxic Seahorse ventured a question. "So what are you saying?"

"I’m saying, she’s human."

Onwards to Chapter eight
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