Mega man Battle Network: Virus mutations

Chapter 15: Sluggish

"Your doing better Megaman." Tadashi nodded approvingly, running a hand through the soft, tan strands of hair atop his head and slipping a pin mounted behind his ear into his hands. Then he began scribbling notes on a clipboard in his other hand.
Megaman simply lay there on the soft, padded examination table, his body stripped down and completely bare, it was enough to almost make the former navi blush slyly. Connected to him were small, round electrodes, linked by wires to other devices, quite a few of them. A pair were placed across his forehead, another atop his nipples, two more on his stomach, his legs, his feet, and just about every opening on his body was connected to something. The port behind his neck was of course the first to be linked to one of the devices, but there were connections in other openings, openings that did infact make Megaman blush when he thought about them. And the pointlessness that would have come of wearing even a pair of boxers with them connected, so he found it best to keep his mind blank and think as little of it as possible. It wasn’t hard since his mind was a computer.

Green eyes scanned absentmindedly over the room, the calming off white walls, the matching tiled floors, long white florescent lights mounted across the ceiling, cabinets holding unknown supplies lined the ground against the left and north walls. Computers, nodes, machines lined the others, few of which Megaman knew their specific purpose.
Megaman wasn't generally the claustrophobic type, but something about this room made him feel uneasy, closed in. It wasn't small, not at all, but with all the machines and needles, it made him feel like a test subject somewhere. It would have been unbearable had not Tadashi been here with him, The older man with his reassuring words, his friendly smile, his simply overall comforting demeanor made everything just a little more warm, more open. "Really?" He asked, green eyes blinking questioningly.

"Yes." Tadashi repositioned the pen behind his ear and set the clipboard aside on the white counter, looking over Megaman with a silent scrutinizing expression, contemplating silent ideas Megaman wouldn't understand.

"So you figured it out?" Megaman asked, more out of simple curiously then anything else. Not that he wasn’t wondering what could possibly come from sticking certain instruments in very sensitive places. ‘Just don’t think about it, stop thinking about it…’

Tadashi shook his head disappointedly, his own inner conflict struggling in his mind as he tried to do the same thing he'd been trying to do for a little over a month, figure out Megaman. He wanted to know why, why Megaman became dizzy and nauseated when he tried to physically exert himself, why Megaman was having all these odd glitches. A mystery that seemed to evade him every time he thought he had it at lest partially figured out. "Unfortunately no."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you more." Megaman offered apologetically. He stared at the ceiling almost blankly as he felt a small breeze from the air conditioner wash over his exposed body, causing a soft shutter to ripple up of spin and a chill to come to his skin. Simple things, simple touches like that were what amazed him the most. Hard contacts like blows or otherwise didn't surprise him nor fascinate him like the soft ones, he expected his body to pick up things like that. But the softest, trace amounts, the barest of contacts, it was interesting that he even detected those. Infact he seemed to be the most susceptible to those, they brought out the most reactions, those played the most on his skin's sensitivity.

"You shouldn't apologize, your the one going through this for me." Tadashi's eyes softened from the concentrated look to the friendly concerned one that put Megaman at ease, almost sympathetically his gaze fell on the bio-machine. He was putting Megaman through every test and trail possible to figure out the answers to his curiosities , the former navi was connected to more machines then Megaman knew about, some connections... harder to go through with then others. "Thank you Megaman." He told him gratefully, resting a hand on Megaman's shoulder

He was sure of it now, the answers he sought after didn't lay with Megaman, but with the virus that caused all of this in the first place. He needed to study Zero, maybe then he could figure out why the integrated part of the virus within Megaman made the bio-android react so improperly. Not to mention a few other questions he had.

"Mr. Hikari..." Megaman looked up reluctantly at the man again, a self-conscious blush spreading across his cheeks as he forced himself to keep his gaze on Tadashi. This wasn’t exactly the way he wanted the man seeing him "Are we done?"

Tadashi receded from his thoughts with a quick expression of surprise flashing over his distracted face, snapping his attention back to Megaman, at first he wondered why he was blushing. Then he remembered he was completely naked with things linked to him in rather compromising ways. "Oh. Yes." The man nodded. “Thanks again.” He reached over to the counter and retrieved the clipboard that resided there, giving one last menial glance to Megaman before he began writing something.

“Alright.” Megaman was starting to suspect he was only getting put through so much because of Lan, this could be Tadashi’s way of getting back at him for his sudden relationship with his son. He was gonna take him apart or embarrass him to death trying. ‘Stop thinking about it!’

! - ! - !

It was a bright day outside, the golden sunlight shined brightly through the open window, illuminating the whole room and making the white walls and floors seem surreally bright. Small breezes drifted in from the open frame, blowing the white curtains outwards and letting them gracefully flow back into place like water taking the shape of it’s container before poring out again.

Enzan contemplated going out the window once.

The boy laid silently on the familiar hospital sheets and covers, his elbow resting on the railings surrounding the upper portion of the hospital bed, his head resting in his elevated hand. Enzan stared at the window as if it were his lifeline, he was in the damn hospital! Again! ‘I’m on the seventh floor, there’s no way I could get out the window.’ He thought hopelessly.
It wasn’t nearly as easy to get out of the hospital as he thought, it was like the first attempt was given to him for free, giving him a taste of freedom before locking him in .He probably wouldn’t have had to see this room again if it wasn’t for his own faults. As it seemed he wasn’t as healed as much he had thought that day, sure he was a little weak, and he had a headache, and his eyes were kinda glassy as Tadashi pointed out. But he thought he was fine, until his breathing grew heavy for no reason and his heart started pounding, then he blacked out.

And he woke up here, in this room, again. They told him he must have been contaminated with something, presumably back when he was escaping the island, which caused all of those side effects. And now he was sitting here, connected to an IV of who knew what, waiting for his blood test results and anticipating a batter of other test they probably didn’t think of doing yet. He was stuck here now.

‘?’ Enzan let his eyes fall from the window on to the P.E.T in his lap, Zero was here again as he usually was, and Blues seemed thoroughly annoyed at his presence. But that didn't mean much in the broader picture, Blues was easily annoyed anyway.

Blues was fixed on the ground, sitting with his legs crossed and his arms folded, staring outward with a silent irritation. Zero stood over his shoulder, both pairs of black and white wings fully outstretched on his back, looking down at him with a child like curiosity. “How long are you gonna sit here like that?” Zero asked, resting his hands on his waist and leaning forward.

“No.” Blues immediately retorted to a question that had yet to be asked, but he knew it was coming.

“Aw come on.” Zero sighed, Blues was really staring to figure him out. “Come on, come with me.”

“Hell no.” Blues snorted, simply and decisively.

Enzan watched the interaction with slight interest, he had to admit, the two of them made his stay considerably more bearable then if he had been by himself. Blues alone wasn’t much for socialization, but with Zero here they were a pretty interesting combination, not a very compatible one but an interesting one none the less. Honestly Enzan didn’t know why Zero kept returning, Blues didn’t hide the fact he didn’t want the virus there in the least, infact he exerted it every chance he got. They hadn’t had a civil conversation yet, since Blues wasn’t much of a talker and Zero was a little more so, there was extensive confliction.

But there were a lot less augments then there used to be, and hardly any yelling anymore, there was even silence some times.
“Come on Blues! Come with me.” Zero grabbed him by the arm and tugged at him softly. “It’ll be fun, I guarantee it.”
Blues sat immobile, barely deviating an inch from where he’d planted himself. “Tch, I’m not going anywhere with you.” He replied callously. “For all I know I might get infected.”

Enzan paused, more like froze, with a sudden onset of nervousness rising. An uneasy tenseness never failed to swell within him when Blues entered the topic of Zero’s existence as a virus, it was a sensitive subject for him, since he clearly reviled that side of his being. It was enough to easily make him fall into a self-loathing depression, since he had on several-occasions.

“Yeah right! Your just scared!” Zero shot back, watching an infuriating look on Blue’s face grow at the insinuation with satisfaction. If there was one thing Blues hated, it was when Zero called him scared, but it was fair game it seemed.

A small breath was released he hadn’t realize he’d been holding in and Enzan relaxed. On second thought, maybe this wasn’t a completely inconceivable co-existence, there was something, possibly an dysfunctional aspect, but something to this. A small smile crossed Enzan’s lips as he heard Blues’s lose his temper and an augment broke out between them, “You two bicker like children.”

Almost automatically Blues snapped at him. “Are you calling me a child!” The navi growled angrily.

Enzan lifted his hands in concession, “No, not at all.”

Blues’s glared invisibly behind the visor, folding his arms. “He’s the child!”

Zero bared over Blues, his eyes narrowed and fist raised. “You’re the one being a child! Your just scared!”

Dysfunctional, Enzan nodded to himself, there was no better word to describe it. At lest it wasn’t boring, as hard as it was for Blues to endure Zero, he couldn’t see this situation being any better with anyone else. He couldn’t see this going better with anyone else, Blues would be miserable with out a doubt if there was someone like just like him there with him, it would be nothing but silence, boring silence. At the very least Enzan was convinced Blues enjoyed the change of pace Zero brought if nothing else.

‘Heh.’ Enzan sat upright, scratching the bandages on his left arm softly as he slowly shifted his legs and eased them over the side of the bed. Holding on to the railing for support, he pushed himself upright. If there was one thing he could say he missed about the hospital, it was being given an IV, since whatever pain medication they had been feeding to him intravenously made the pain dull considerably. He never realized how much burns ached, even now there was this sensation of heat across his skin.

Enzan set the PET upon the bed and softly paced over the white tiled floors, his left leg visibly pained him when he took steps so a slight limp came into his form when he walked. ‘Damn leg.’ Enzan closed his eyes indifferently, shoving his hands into his pockets and heading with a slow rate toward the door. “I’ll be back.”

! - ! - !
! - ! - !

“Annoying…” Blues mumbled angrily, placing himself back down on the ground and folding his arms again, his back to the red clad Navi. There had to be a word better then annoying, how about aggravating, Zero certainly was aggravating. Better yet,
Infuriating, his presence always seemed to reach Blues last nerves with out fail. Blues could see him through his fairly developed hindsight, Zero stood there, staring angrily at the back of his head, then folding his arms in a similar manner and turning away with a clear anger.

“I’m not annoying, your just mean.” Zero responded, imitating Blue’s cold, callousness as best he could. He was starting to feel a good deal of frustration himself, dealing with Blues wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world. He was cold, introverted, and had no patience for Zero beyond the half navi’s first words.

And they sat there, both with their backs to each other. “Shut up.” Blues replied with authority. He always had a commanding aspect to his voice that demanded compliance or at lest attention.

Zero growled in visible anger, then finally just turned away again and folded his arms, unable to think of anything worth while to speak of. ‘He is mean.’ He thought to himself… “!” Zero suddenly flinched, his face cringing, a shuddering chill shooting up his spine hard enough to make his body go tense and rigged. ‘What…what the hell?’ Zero looked around himself when he couldn’t contemplate a reason for the reaction, finding nothing different, nothing that would warrant that type of feedback.
Blues glanced over his shoulder when he heard hiss of a the sharp intake of air coming from Zero’s direction, turning back just in time to see the jolt and stiffing of the half navi’s body. By the way Zero was looking around, he seemed flustered by it. “What?”

“Nothing.” Zero said discardingly, dismissing the spasm as any number of irrelevant things. He was half a virus, it could have just been that… “…Actually…” Zero started down at the ground like a nervous child who had to admit to a crime, his finger subconsciously interacting with each other in his lap, a clear uncertainty coming in his voice and form.

Blues was confused at the sudden chance in demeanor, Zero wasn’t the type of person to change moods quickly, it was always a gradual process. It made him uneasy, “What?” His arms lowered slowly to his sides and turned around fully.
“Does… this place feel different to you?”

What? What the hell did he mean by that? Blues looked at Zero’s back for a moment, he couldn’t seem to under stand why something like that would cause such a reaction. Maybe there was a deeper meaning in that?...Blues’s mind exhausted all the possibilities he could think of and couldn’t figure out why he would get so shy over that question. “No. Why?”

“I don’t know.” Zero shrugged, “It just seems like…I don’t know, nothing feels the same anymore.” He said. It was odd, almost numbing, that was the only way to describe it. It was a subtitle thing, like the feelings and sensations that came from all of his usual places were dulled slightly. ‘It’s just me. I wonder why…’

“Whatever your talking about, it’s probably nothing.” Blues retorted indifferently.

“Really? How do you know?” Zero shot back with anger, more at the fact Blues was just disregarding his concerns as nothing.
“Because you don’t even make sense.” The annoyment returned to blue’s voice again when he spoke. He clearly was sick of him again.

Zero grunted again with annoyment, glaring at Blues, about to shout angrily at the navi…but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, a thought crossed his mind, simply thinking it over made him smile a little. “You know, your pretty mean for a scared guy.”

Blues immediately looked back with an angry stare at Zero, his eye twitching slightly. “I’m not scared of anything.” He said, his voice in dangerously low tones. Any normal person would have noticed the hazard in this line of actions and quit now, maybe even apologized for the insulation, however Zero never did before, and he saw no reason to start now.
Zero grinned, pointing accusingly at Blues. “You are, I can see it clearly now.” He said, with apparent amusement. It was so clear to now, Blues was scared! He was afraid of him, normally the realization would have been a completely depressing to him…actually it was depressing when he thought about it, but it was also finding this out about Blues was like finding out one’s weakness. Wait, was what it was right? ‘Yeah, that’s it…wait, it is right?’ “Your afraid of me!” Yeah, that was it…he was afraid of him, Blues was afraid of him.

“Afraid!” Blue shouted, rising to his feet and turning toward Zero mincingly. “Of an idiot like you?”

“Yeah!” He didn’t know what he was expecting but that reaction wasn’t it, maybe more along the lines of surprise that he’d realized it, or some denial of the clam, something. Zero glanced up thoughtfully, maybe he had the wrong- “Ahhaa!” Zero yelped in surprise as Blue’s foot slammed into his chest and he was sent falling to the ground, hard. ‘!’ Before he could even open his eyes, Blue’s was on top of him, pinning him down, his hands only inches away from strangling.

“Afraid!” He shouted loudly, the audacity! What the hell did he mean he was afraid! He wasn’t scared, he wasn’t scared of anything! “I’m not afraid you!” He yelled, looking strait into Zero’s wide,… ‘Huh?’… trembling eyes that were filled with uncertainty… ‘He’s seirous…’… and depression that shouldn’t have been there. There was no reason for him to doubt him, there was no reason to start getting sad, there were plenty of things he felt about Zero, fear wasn’t one of them, and he was going to be damn sure Zero knew it. “I’m not afraid of you!”

“…” Zero only rolled his eyes and looked away, his eyes narrowed, feigning annoyment.

Zero wasn’t exactly the best actor in the world, at lest not to Blues, the Navi was starting to read him better then he’d like to admit. ‘Damn liar.’ Zero shouldn’t lie, he didn’t strike Blue’s as the lying type. “I’m not afraid of you.”

Zero slowly turned his eyes back towards Blues, a slow, silent pause that meant to much to be awkward. Zero finally blinked, his expression remaining firm, but a small hopeful inquiring came to his voice. “Your… not?”

“*Hell* no.”

Zero grabbed Blues’ shoulders, slipping his knee underneath Blues’ torso and then kicked the navi off. “Ow!”

Blues landed on his back, the armor around his body sounding with an audible clatter when he hit the ground. “What, you’re a whiner now too?”

Zero rolled on to his stomach and launched on to his feet, diving forcefully on top of Blue’s hard enough to knock the breath from the navi’s lungs before grabbing a hold of his shoulders and pinning him down. “No, what would I whine about, you don’t even hit hard.” Zero smirked, looking down at Blues with either amusement or victory, it was hard to distinguish.
It was still much to smug for Blues’ liking.

Blues reached up and slammed his head into Zero’s forcefully, their helmets smashed together with a loud clash, knocking Zero backs off of his body and on to his back. Almost immediately after he lifted his hand to the point of impact with a sharp hiss of pain, maybe that wasn’t a good idea, a little too brash then his normal actions. ‘Owww…Damnit!’

“Uunnn.” Zero landed on his back and rolled over with the sharp pain throbbing through his body, slipping his fingers underneath the helmet and rubbing his forehead. “Damn.” With a wince of pain, Zero lifted the helmet half way off the golden strands of long hair, revealing his forehead.

“Huh?” Wait…something wasn’t… why did he feel wetness? ’What…What the hell…?’ He dipped his fingers into the wetness and slowly lowered it to eye level, it was blood, blue blood…Navi’s didn’t bleed, the only thing that bled was… that monstrosity the ‘201102’ virus, it bled that same blue blood.

It wasn’t really blood, it was damaged and corrupted data that fragmented after the virus was attacked, and it streamed out, it was lost from the virus, and appeared as blood.

This is what was happening now, navies didn’t do this. “Oh…oh crap.”

Blues didn’t quite see what Zero was looking at, but he did see that look on his face, and hear those words. ‘What’s wrong with him? There’s no way I hurt him that bad.’ “What?”

Zero slowly raised his hand to his helmet and pushed it back down into place, wiping away the small amount of blood discreetly, moving as normally as he could so he didn’t allot suspicion. This wasn’t a big deal, this wasn’t a big deal at all, he already knew he was half virus, his shouldn’t surprise him. ‘This shouldn’t surprise me.’ It really shouldn’t have… “Nothing, nothing.” Yeah, it was nothing.

! - ! - !

Lan pushed opened the door halfway and peeked his head inside, glancing around the familiar room, the familiar empty room. “Huh?” Lan stepped inside and looked around, as if maybe he’d see Enzan the second time. “Where’d he go?” Lan sat down on the bed, beside the oddly silent P.E.T Enzan has left. It was…unusual, there was always some argument between them, some disgruntle disagreement. Not this time, it was just quiet. “Blues? Zero? Are you guys alright?”

“Fine.” Blues said directly and simply, as he always did.

“Lan.” Zero smiled when he saw the boy had arrived, clearly happy to see him. He was always happy to see Lan. “Have a good day?”

Lan shrugged, slipping his hands behind his head and letting his back fall on to the soft bed lazily. “It was ok, I guess.” He shrugged, his eyes fixing themselves on the white tiles of the ceiling. He didn’t even feel like recanting it to himself, it was that lifeless.

Zero scratched his head absentmindly, “What, was it boring or something?”

“Yeah, it was.” Lan sighed, he lifted his hand and scratched at the fresh bandages wrapped around the gash that spanned his forehead. These bandages were always itchy, especially the new ones, eventually they became soaked with blood, inevitably sinking into the wound and seemed to grow attached, and the itching stopped. But by then they had to be replaced, Lan hated the tedious task. “My dad made me go to the doctor…”

“Because you passed out the other day?” Zero asked, as soon as the subject was mentioned a worry rose up in him that peaked his attention beyond what was warranted.

“Yeah.” Lan retorted with annoyment, “My dad was working on Megaman, and Enzan was stuck here. Thanks for coming with me Zero.” Lan barely had to ask Zero to come with him, he seemed intent of going with Lan most every chance he got. It was like he was a typical Navi, though it didn’t feel that way to Lan, it felt different from that. Which was probably because it was different.

Zero had a freedom that was unfounded in complex programs such as navies, he could leave the P.E.T any time he wanted to and move around to practically anything. Though so far he only went to one place, which was to Blue’s P.E.T. Which came to the next reason Zero felt different then a normal navi, Zero was deathly afraid of moving about, even though he could contain himself without infecting anything, he was always afraid he might. Zero was amazingly adamant on not going when Megaman wanted to show him places of interest on the Internet, or show him around so he could learn about things. To the point where he became depressed about it.

‘It must be tough having two sides of yourself that naturally hate each other.’ Lan thought to himself. One side that destroyed, maliciously altered and corrupted data, and the other that created and pacified malicious data. ‘I don’t even wanna know what must be going on in his head.’ Or his body for that matter, he really felt sorry for Zero, it was surprising the only thing that happen to him was a few phases of depression.

“No problem.” Zero said. “What’d they do anyway?”

“Ran some test or whatever.” Lan said, waving his hand dismisatively , “They took some of my blood and gave me new stitches.” Even as he spoke he was scratching his bandages with an audible rustling, damn things, there were so annoying. ‘What do they make these things out of anyway!’ “Boring.”

“As long as your alright, right?” Zero said cheerfully, “There’s no harm in doing a few tests.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Lan took in a deep breath and yawned, his eyes drifting closed lazily. “Where’s Enzan?”

Zero glanced over at Blues, who only sat there silently, which could only mean he didn’t know. “I have no idea, he left a while ago.”

Enzan left his room, Lan knew that could only mean that the stoic boy was just as bored as he was. When Enzan was bored he tended to wander around aimlessly, he paid less attention to where he was going when he was thinking, which he also tended to do when he was bored, and Lan couldn’t help but notice how massively large this hospital was, and that was on the outside. “Oh great, I’ll never find him now.” Lan clinched his head with a small whine, Enzan had an infinitely better sense of direction then him, he’d probably just get lost… “Zero, Blues, you guys have a good memory, can you guys come with me so… I uh… don’t get lost?”

Zero of course nodded without hesitation, then looked inanely looked over to Blues with a smile, but some how personified smile. “Blues?”

“No.” The navi said simply and without contest.

“Aww, come on.” Zero move behind him, peaking over Blue’s shoulder. “It’ll be better then sitting around here.”
Blues folder his arms and pulled away. “Says you.”

“How’d you know, you never wanna go anywhere.” Zero slipped past Blue’s side and planted himself in front of the Navi. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“You know what will really be fun?” Blues asked with a sarcastic friendliness. “If you went and left me the hell alone.”
Zero sighed in an subjugated slump, throwing up his hands in defeated, “Alright, I’ll make a deal, if you come with us this time, I’ll leave you alone for a whole week.” He said, his voice quirking in an enticing manner.

Blues seemed a little more interested now, and his face showed it. “…Fine.”

Zero grinned softly and rested his elbow on Blues shoulder, leaning towards him happily. “Great.”

Lan laughed softly to himself, picking up Enzan’s P.E.T and setting it on his waist.

! - ! - !

“Alright…” Lan pulled the door to Enzan’s room shut behind him and leaned against it, where was he suppose to go from here? “Where would he go…” Lan thought aloud, looking around the familiarly white hallways bright with florescent lights and clean with hospital standard scrutiny. The sheen was so clear Lan could see a distorted and blurry image of himself looking back. “I don’t even know where to start!”

Lan felt like he should give up already, what would the purpose be?…until an idea came to mind. He looked down at the P.E.T on his waist, his face bright with enlightenment. “Zero! You can find him!”

“Huh?” Zero flinched at the sudden and excited mention of his name, and he immediately knew what Lan meant when he said
that. Which was why it startled him. “What? Me?”

“Yeah.” Lan nodded, picking up the P.E.T and looking down at the half-navi with an inspired look crossing his features. “There’s cameras everywhere, if you go-“

“No way.” Zero shook his head firmly, his expression adamantly firm but his voice was unsure.

“Huh?” Lan’s face became puzzled and he scratched his cheek with his own uncertainty. “But why?”

“No.” Zero denied again, closing his eyes, his head downcast. “I cant...”

Lan still didn’t quite understand it, why didn’t he want to do this? Why was he so…serious all of a sudden …“But you did it back on the Island, can’t you do it again?”

“Yeah but…” Zero’s voice trailed off, and he stared at the ground, avoiding Lan’s eyes. “Those…that system was already infected, I don’t…I don’t want to-“

“Tch, your whining again.” Blues’s voice intervened, it seemed like he was thinking out loud rather then making a direct statement, sounding as if he was amused by Zero’s reluctance, or just annoyed again by it.

Zero slowly lifted his head and looked towards Blues, the full navi standing beside him with that usual calm, indifference he always had about him. “I’m not whining.” Zero snorted, looking away with anger.

“You are whining.” Blues smirked. “Heh, and you called me afraid.”

“I’m not afraid!” Zero growled back at him, but that energy that had flared up in anger seemed to be fade away as soon as he tried to explain himself. “I’m just…”

“Making excuses. You can’t seriously be afraid of infecting anything can you?” Blues spoke in a somewhat condescending tone, asking a rhetorical question that he would except no answer too even if it was given.

Zero glared at the Navi angrily, he never understood it, how with out fail Blues could make him feel like a rambling idiot who couldn’t string together a simple sentence. It was partially right at lest, he hadn’t said a complete sentence yet. “You don’t understand, I-“

“I’m completely aware.” Blues snorted indifferently, “You can’t go in this system do this but you can come in mine and bother me? Your just scared.”

“Me!” Zero shouted, leaning toward Blues offensively, his face contorted in fury. “I’m not scared!”

Blues rolled his eyes and turned away. “Your stalling.”

Zero’s hands clinched into tight fist at his side, glaring at the back of Blues’ head, growling furiously with no attempts to hide his discontent. “What! I am not-…” Zero paused in the middle of his own defense, and for the second time that look of anger gently faded into an impish smirk. “Alright Blues, I’ll make you a deal, I’ll go and do this if you come with me.”

“What?” That wasn’t a question Blues was expecting to hear, but immediately snorted and looked away in denial. “No.”

“Huh?” Zero immediately ran pasted his side and slid to a stop in front of him, smirking with his own amusement. “What’s wrong? Your not afraid are you?” He asked sarcastically.

Blues glared back at him, pushing Zero aside and walking past him. “You idiot, of course I’m not afraid.”

Zero, as always, wouldn’t give up so easily, he went after Blues, a fully smile showing at the sight of how flustered the navi was getting. “Really, then prove it. I’ll show you just how afraid I am if you show me.”

Blues sighed exasperatedly, his steps slowing to a stop with a small pause before turning back and looking fully at Zero. He didn’t say anything at first, he just glared at the half navi angrily. But then…

“I knew it, you are afraid.” Zero replied, seemingly satisfied proving himself right, at first glance at lest. Blues was about to yell at him for making the insulation, again, but Zero immediately snorted indifferently and walked away, dropping it completely.

‘Damnit…’ Blues mentally kicked himself and groaned with annoyment, why did this have to be so damn hard. Annoying bastard, why couldn’t things be simple, why couldn’t he just leave him alone, he’d be fine then, he wouldn’t have to deal with all of this. ‘Damn kid.’ He snorted to himself before turning around. “Fine.”

Zero stopped, looking back over his shoulder questioningly. “Huh? Really?”

“Yeah.” Blues sighed in defeat, fine, he’d do it, and Damnit, Zero better be happy with it.
And he was.

A small smile edge at Zero’s lips and he rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh. “Alright then.” As if a vale was lifted, both pairs of Zero’s wings appeared on his back, the black ones and the white ones overlapping, stretched out to full length.

Blues started off in to the empty distance with an angry annoyment as he felt Zero’s chest press against his back, his chin resting on his shoulder, and his arms wrapped around his waist. “What are you doing?”

Zero rested his chin on Blues’ shoulder, an impish smirk forming when he saw how uncomfortable it made him. That was always fun, making the stoic Blues shifty and awkward to the point of near embarrassment. “I have to carry you some how.” He whispered, repressing a small laugh when he heard Blues groan angrily, but remain still when he usually would have resorted to violence.

Both pairs of wings flapped with one hard beat, ascending sharply into the air with Blues in toe. Blues didn’t shout or make a single surprised sound as Megaman would have, it would have been satisfying, but Zero expected nothing less from the stoic navi.

“Hmm…” Lan scratched his bandages questioningly, staring down at the blank screen, “What was that about?” He felt like he was missing something here… “Zero…”

! - ! - !

“…” Blues was speechless, he didn’t know what to make of what he was seeing, where he was, what he was actually doing. He was surrounded in a surreal blur, the same world, only so distorted that the only thing that really resided was light and shadow.
Mixing together with the bare images of the walls and floor in a swirling reality, as if everything had been poured together and stirred in a melding pot. And Blues was in the middle of it, feeling a sense of weightlessness and nothingness, a void around him. The only thing anchoring him down, keeping his senses from scattering was the feel of Zero’s embrace. “This…This is…”

“Pretty cool eh?” Zero said proudly. “What’s the word for it, when you don’t have cords?”

“Wireless?”

“Yeah that’s it, completely wireless.”

Blues nodded distractedly, taking in everything, “And you can…you can do this anytime you want?”

Zero smiled, looking curiously over Blues face, he’d imagined such an amazed expression could exist on the usual cold slate. “Sure can, I can take you anywhere you wanna go.” Zero said. “Complete Freedom.”

“This is…I’ve never seen anything like this.” Blues couldn’t describe it, it was as scary as it was astounding. “If you can do this any time you want, why don’t you, there are millions of places you can do, and see.”

“I can’t go into other systems without permission, that’s what viruses do.”

Blues looked around, it was all the same yet different at the same time. ‘Virus huh…” Damn, why was Zero so strange? “Yet you come in and bother me all the time? Isn’t that hypocritical?”

“Heh, heh, well, not for a while after this it’s not.” Zero said. “Your rid of me for a week, remember.”

“I can’t wait.”

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