Me: Alright… This story has been going around my head for the last few years, so I decided to write it down and post it. Unfortunately, I haven't posted any stories online in quite a while and a lot has changed: my pen name, my interests, thought patterns, etc. Anyway, I didn't like how X became such a whiny bitch in X7 (Srry X's fans, but ya gotta admit, he was pretty whiny) and stopped being a hunter and, also how Axl's defect from Red Alert was lightly skimmed over, so I decided to do my own story on how Axl joined the Hunters. The problem is: Axl is my favorite Megaman character (Forte is a close 2nd) and I about cried when I was thinking about some of the scenarios that I could put him through. WHY AM I BEING CRUEL TO MY FAV CHARACTER?

Axl: As long as you don't kill me or any of my friends, I forgive you.

Me: *glomps Axl* Then I profusely apologize for all the stories I write in the future.

Axl: *sweatdrop* Why did I just get a massive chill down my spine?

X: *flipping through a notebook titled 'misc. yaoi scenarios'* You…um…you really don't want to know.

Zero: *walks in with a large stack of notebooks* Hey, Nami. Where you want these?

Me: Over there on the desk. Does Emma have the rest?

Zero: She'll be here in a bit, she said something about tweaking a possibly 'deviously yummy and delicious situation' or something like that in a notebook labeled 'X and Axl'

Emma: I love it! *voiced from far away along with evil laughter*

*X and Axl pass out from shock*

Me: …*evil grin* Thank you Emma. Emma Gold is my beta reader and one of my best friends. So now, on with the story… Zero, stop poking X with a stick.

Zero: Aw, but it's fun

Me: Don't make me call Spazz, she knows exactly how to deal with you.

Zero: You wouldn't dare!

Me: Do the disclaimer and I might reconsider.

Zero: HikariNami does not own anything in this story except the plot. All characters and places from the Megaman series are the property of Capcom. Thank you and enjoy the story.

Me: Good boy. *pets Zero*

Zero: I hate you so much right now.

Emma: No you don't *voice moving slowly towards group with evil laughter still sounding*

Zero: *shudders* Fangirls

Chapter 1: Grumpy Puppy

"X, what are we still doing here?" a red reploid with long blonde hair asked, with more than slightly irritated tone. "The mavericks are gone and I will not be happy if any Red Alert scum find us roaming around this dump," To emphasize his point the blonde swordsman kicked an empty bin that skid across the floor of the hallway they were walking down until it was stopped by a wall.

The Blue Bomber next to him sighed and chided his red partner, "Zero, the only reason the mavericks attacked this branch of Red Alert and the surrounding area was because of the large energy surge that came from within this building."

"Doesn't mean I have to like being in enemy territory," The blonde muttered under his breath, but his blue comrade heard any way.

"I don't like it as much as you do, but we need to make sure there are no mavericks hiding in the building and to possibly find out what caused that energy surge, so either you start helping me look for anything worth reporting or shut up and continue following me like a lost puppy," X replied in an 'I'm irritated and you don't want to anger me farther' tone. This left the crimson swordsman to grumble under his breath. The blue reploid was an excellent comrade even when angered and he almost made the decision to quit the hunters, but thankfully didn't. X was the only person Zero saw worthy of being his partner, as no one else could keep with the swordsman's hectic battle style.

The building they were currently searching was a small branch of the infamous group of reploids called the Red Alert Syndicate, a band of bounty hunter reploids who took payments for any type of job involving Mavericks, anything from stealing information to assassinations. Based on what data the hunters had on the vicious faction, this building was in charge of research and development of new weapons and decoding of encrypted information for the members of Red Alert. Roughly 30 minutes prior, an enormous surge of power had emanated from the base and had attracted several mavericks, both large and small, to the small concrete building they were searching.

"X? Zero? Do you read me?" came a female voice over the communication line.

"Loud and clear, Alia. Despite being a small building, this place has a lot of area to cover. Do you have a location pinpointed for that energy surge?" X questioned the female and heard some typing coming over the line.

"We've managed to narrow down your search perimeter. The only thing we can tell that could possible emit such a high level of energy are one of the six generator stationed in the east wing. Take a left at the next intersection," Alia relayed.

"Roger," X said, cutting the connection and addressing his still grumbling partner. "Let's go, grumpy puppy."

"X…"

"Yes?"

"Don't make me shove my saber up your ass."

The generator rooms were heavily spaced apart and most of them were empty save for the bare minimum equipment that couldn't be removed without heavy lifters. However, something about the emptiness was beginning to bug them.

"Is it just me, or is this place lacking heavily in both equipment and staff?" Zero chirped, having finally quit his nearly inaudible complaining and focused on analyzing his surroundings.

"I noticed that too. As a place of research, there should be more activity then there currently is. Alia, do you copy?"

"I'm here. Seems you've already noticed, but we just got some data from our intelligence team. Apparently, all the research taking place in that building was moved roughly three weeks ago, about a week before that encounter you had with Red Alert at that energy plant when you caught them acquiring data from and assassinating those two mavericks," The navigator spoke.

"Thanks, Alia," X replied before cutting the connection once more. "Well that was informative."

"Yea and one of the loveliest encounters I've ever had," Zero commented sarcastically.

X frowned, "I know what you mean, but what bothers me the most is that, while we've run into Red Alert members before, we've rarely ever see Red among them. And usually it's never a good thing that he's there."

The red swordsman nodded, "Then there was that young-looking reploid with them. I don't remember ever seeing him with Red Alert before and we've cross paths numerous times."

The blue bomber frowned and began listing characteristics out loud as they searched yet another empty generator room. "Black and red chest armor, helmet, boots, and arm gauntlets with a hint of navy, red conduit lines on his stomach, white gloves, white ear comms that kinda remind me of cat ears that have red accents, grey body suit…"

Zero continued from there, "mostly likely male judging from the structure and movements, 'X' shaped scar right between the eyes, white attachments with red accents on his boots, mostly likely for hovering capabilities, light auburn hair, a blue head gem and a blue chest gem, both guarded with a protective covering, a white pack on his back with white blades protruding from them… That's everything I remember. What about you, buddy?"

X's body tensed and stopped walking, causing Zero to stop as well. Looking into his blue-armored comrade's eye, he saw immense sadness and raging fury dancing in those deep emerald eyes. Arching an eyebrow, the yellow-haired reploid waited for X's response, which didn't take long as he watched the bomber take a deep breath and managed to relax a bit before answering.

"His eyes…they are the one thing I remember quite vividly."

Zero's felt his eyes widened in surprise. When they saw him, the boy would not look at anyone, instead the black-armored child had keep his eyes firmly glued to the ground and followed Red around like a slave would to their master. He didn't know that his partner had made eye contact with the young reploid.

"When did you see his eyes?" he questioned, "I remember the kid kept them fixated on the ground."

X shivered, "He did. But when Red ordered him to pick up that suitcase that held the data they were after, I noticed how badly he flinched. I think you were too busy glaring at Red to notice, but it was when he was picking it the case that he looked up at me. That's when I looked into his eyes."

Zero didn't miss the shudder and wondered just how bad it was. While he did remember glaring viciously at Red, it had been because of how he was treating the boy. And he did remember seeing the boy flinch, that's what had made him glare at Red so badly in the first place.

"What about his eyes, X? What was wrong?"

Again, Zero didn't miss his partner's actions: clenched fists and tense shoulders. Whatever it was must have been really badly to get the usually optimistic, happy brunette to become such a high-strung ball of tense rage and unbridled fury.

X took another deep breath and released it slowly, "They were a deep green color, just a shade or two lighter than my own. But that's not the problem. There was nothing but pain and fear in those eyes, Zero! Nothing! The kid looked so broken and ready to burst into tears like he had done something terrible wrong! My eyes had only met his for a split second! But that was more than enough to know that that kid has been ruthlessly tortured and more than likely by Red's order!"

X was panting by the time his rant was finished. Staring at Zero with raging eyes that were just begging to rip something apart, the blonde could tell his comrade was extremely pissed off. Not much got under X's skin, he could handle mavericks attacking cities, he could deal with reploids having massive programming malfunctions, but seeing a reploid that young with such broken eyes angered him to the point of shouting at his best friend in frustration. To be completely honest, Zero could compare X's angry demeanor to that of an angry mother's with how mad he looked. And as quickly as the anger welled up, it just as quickly disappeared with deep sigh.

"Sorry, Z. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I just…" the buster-wielder was cut off by a gentle hand on his shoulder. Looking up into icy sapphire eyes, he saw Zero had a small smile on his face.

"It's okay, X. It's in your nature to feel like this, so don't beat yourself up over using me as an outlet. I mean, come on, how many times have you listened to me rant and rave after training sessions because of a rookie's stupid mistake? I think you're overdue for a rant with how much you deal with me alone," This earned a smile from the blue reploid and a nod as a silent thought went through both their heads.

Maybe, if they got the chance, they could save that auburn-haired boy from Red and help him. Neither of them doubted that the boy would care one way or the other, as long as he got away from the torture that X saw in his eyes.

"Come on, X. We still have a couple more rooms to search."

"Right."

Me: So, there's the first chapter. Originally, it was two, but with how I had it before, the 1st chapter would have been really short, so I combined them. Please tell me what you think and…ZERO! What are you doing?

Zero: *who had managed to get the passed out X and Axl to cuddle like a mother would her child and started taking photos* What? They're cute like that.

Emma: So Kawaii! Can I have some copies?

Zero: Sure.

Me: When did you get here Emma?

Emma: Bout halfway through the story and…D'WAAAAAAAAAA! Axl is snuggling into X's chest! SO CUTE!

Me: *facepalm* What am I going to do with you two?

Zero & Emma: *too busy squealing and taking pictures at the cuteness to answer*

Me: *deep sigh* Emma, close us out when you get the chance, please. Thank you. I need to find Spazz, maybe she can help me with the insanity.

Zero: Wait…WHAT? Nami, get back here. Don't bring that halo fanatic here, she'll rip me to shreds…and not in the battle sense either. In the…*shudders* fan-girl sense. NAMI! *runs after me in an attempt to stop the horror that was sure to happen*

Emma: Please read and review. Thanks! *continues taking photos of the sleeping pair* X is such a mother….hehehehehe, uke…