Brothers

"Commander." An assistant saluted the blue bomber ask he walked briskly into the control center. He looked around and saw Zero in the corner and Alia trying to talk to him. His eyes look up and X could have sworn he saw sparkles.

"Commander?" A voice asked softly beside him and X jumped slightly.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to zone off there. Where's the new recruit?" X smiled hopeful that the assistant didn't notice his nervousness.

"Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you. Their transport hasn't arrived yet." The assistant looked nervous, as did the rest of the crew.

"They were supposed to have been here a half hour ago." Another chimed in and a murmer settled over the room. X waved his hands to quiet everyone.

"Alright, everyone. I'll personally go out and take a search party. Zero's in charge until I get back, everyone understand?" He smiled ng tng to ease the tension, but everyone nodded and muttered their agreements. "Alright then. Where was their last known-"

"Commander!" One of the communications officers stood up quickly. X was over to her in a flash.

"What's wrong?" He asked, worried about their current situation as a good commander would.

"Sir, we had brief radio contact the the transport. It..." The officer hesitated then looked down sadly. "It doesn't sound good sir. It sounded like a serious struggle."

"Oh no..." X looked down sadly for a brief second, then turned towards the doorway and rushed out. The communications officer turned back to her consol and began pushing buttons on it quickly.

"Alpha team rendezvous with Commander X at gate..." She turns her head and one of the radar officers who holds up two fingers. "At gate two, copy?" She waits for a second, she presses a few more buttons and speaks up again. "Commander X, do you copy? Alpha team will rendezvous with you ate ate two. Good luck. Control out."

In his corner, Zero closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. "Alright. Let's make this a smooth run, shall we?" He seemed abnormally uneasy about this assignment. Of course, unknown to him, he goodgood cause to. (If I had my way, he'd have alot MORE to worry about...and I do have my way in this fic...muahahahaaa.)

_---=====---_

X turned corner after corner, only to barrel into three cadets and two scientists on the way towards his destination. 'Please hold on... We'll be right there...' he thought to himself over and over as he raced down the corridors towards the second gate. A large door began to bustle open slowly, but at this rate he was going to run right into it. He forced himself back and skidded under the almost open door and stood up quickly. The Alpha Team were already on their hover bikes, and looked up when he entered. At once, engines started and he lunged for the only one that was open. The moment he turned his on, he took off with the Alpha Team right behind him.

The outer gate had barely enough time to open as the team ducked low under it to avoid getting injured. X was given the coordinates just prior to turning on his bike and now he motions for the others to follow close. He turns towards the coordinates and guns it.

Soon, X could hear the unmistakable noise of combat. He boggled at how close the mavericks were attacking to the base. Suddenly, a chilled wind passed over his skin, giving him goosebumps under his armor. The feeling passed as quickly as it came, but it left him puzzled and looking for the culprit. As his eyes searched the trees around him, the Alpha team swerved off to the sides. He watched them go, but when he looked forward he screamed as a tree trunk came into view. His bike hit it with full force, throwing him straight through, yes through, a medium sized oak tree. (That'll hurt in the morning... Especially if...) The tree cracked dangerously and he looked up just in time to see the trunk heading straight for him in ironic retribution.

The others didn't hear the tree fall, they heard the scream though, but an influx of Mavericks kept them from searching for their commander. One of the soldiers jumped off of his bike and landed safely in a tree as a monkey-type Maverick hung from it's tail right in front of him. His bike was lost to the impact, but so was the Maverick. A wo los loss. He readied his weapon, but reached up and pressed the side of his helmet.

"Control, this is Alpha 2. We have a man down, I repeat. We have a man down." He rose his cannon and fired at a lizard-type Maverick.

"Alpha 2, this is Control. Which man is down. I repeat: Which man is down?" They can lock onto his number and beam him back to the base if he's too injured. Slowly two monkey-type Maverick's made their way behind Alpha 2.

"Control, we lost sight of-AAAHHH!!!" His scream echoed through the forest as his helmet went flying and landed in a small earthen area under a tree.

"Alpha 2 please repeat that. Alpha 2, please come in. Alpha 2? Please respond!" His helmet was silenced as a boar-like Maverick stamped heavily on it. A couple more screams echoed through the forest and drifted along dying winds. It reached the unhearing ears of X as he lie in a painful unconscious heap half under a fallen tree.

_---=====---_

Zero cursed under his breath and plucked the headset from the unsuspecting communications officer. She squeaked and rolled her chair away from her consol as Zero took over.

"X? Come in! Answer me damn you!!" He growled and pushed another button. "Alpha one? Respond!" Another line, and another line. He tried them all and after he recieved no word from any of them, he threw the headset at the consol and turned away. Everyone gawked at him for a moment then one braved to break the silence.

"S-sir..." It was a soft whisper, but to Zero it was like a knife.

"WHAT??" The red reploid screamed furiously at the officer, but recieved silence in response. He had taken this hard. He looked down and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. "Look, how long until we can get a full squadron out there?"

"A full squadron? About an hour, sir. We lost one of our teams, and the teachers will have to filter out the better performing cadets to fill-" The officer was grasped by the collar of his shirt and lifted into the air by Commander Zero.

"LISTEN!! We don't have that kind of time!! We need something NOW!!" Zero felt a small pinprick on the back of his neck and he turned quickly to glare in the eyes of one of the many doctors they had stationed there. "YOU!!" He dropped the officer reluctantly and began making his way towards the doctor. His legs were numbing, and he stumbled to his knees. His arms felt like jello, but he pulled himself towards the doctor. "I'll rip you...apart..." He reached out and grasped one of the doctors legs just before submitting to the sedative.

"I'll take over." Alia pulled up a chair to one of the many consols and began negotiating with the officer who controled it. The doctor nodded and waved his hand to Zero as two big guards heaved him up and half dragged, half carried him towards the sick bay.

_---=====---_

X felt a cold encase his body, and the relief of the weight of the world off his chest. He couldn't remember when he felt like this last. It felt so good to be free. It almost felt as if he could leave his metal based body behind. Gentle tendrils of warmth wrapped around his body, holding him close to an even more comforting warmth. How he wished he could never wake up. Just be by this warmth for all time. It felt so protective and caring as well. But each time he tried to look at it, he could see only darkness. It wasn't just darkness, it was a reflective darkness, like tinted glass. It sparkled slightly in his eyes, though that could be just stars. The warmth withdrew and he almost cried.

'Don't leave...' he thought to his reflection, a tear rolling down his cheeks. 'Don't leave me, please...' He could feel the pain returning to his body as the shadow drew further and further from him, but it turned and came back, probably seeing his tear. He wanted to hold it close as it wrapped those warm arms around him, but his body wouldn't respond. It merely sunk deeper into oblivion.

_---=====---_

Darkness had fallen since X had his little accident. His fellow officers had either been destroyed or they had fled. Of course, he didn't know which.

Something in the bushes nearby snorted and the boar-like Maverick ambled from them with it's snout to the ground. When it spotted X lying on the ground, it's eyes went red. Even gh Xgh X was incompacitated, it still wanted to rip him to shreds. It pawed at the ground dangerously, hunkered down, then lunged. In mid flight, however, it was shot to pieces from a mighty beam shot. Then everything went still, as if waiting for the end of the world. The silence was broken as a reploid stepped from the shadows. His armor was darkened and dented from previous combats. The colors have faded, and peeled in some places. Around his neck is a singed and stained scarf that's tattered and torn on the ends. On his helmet is a visor, though the visor seems cracked, and chipped in places. The battle worn reploid walks forward and looks down at the commander. He kneels, placing a delicate armored hand against X's cheek, then stood and looked around.

The tree trunk is pretty big, but not big enough to stop him from moving it. Sure, it'll give a good ammount of resistance, but it would seem by his armor that he's seen plenty of resistance. He turned his back to the tree and bent his knees. His hands came down and he took a deep breath. He pushed with all his might and the tree rolled off of the small blue reploid slowly. When he knew it wasn't going to roll back, he let go of the tree and returned to X. Both arms wrapped around his torso and he pulled him close into a tight hug.

"Welcome home...brother..." The battle speckled robot crooned and held X close. X opened his eyes slightly and stared into his visor. He could see the pain in those green optics, and he cursed himself for being too late. A rustle in the bushes farther off pulled his attention away from X and he set the boy down for a moment to check what it was.

"We at least need to find Commander X." A Maverick hunter said just beyond the bushes.

"Oh gods..." A cadet, no doubt, turned back from looking in one of the bushes. He looked green, and rushed off to go be sick. One of the other Hunters moved to the bush and peered inside.

"Well, he found a part of Alpha 2." He commented, placing a hand over his mouth to ward off the stench of death.

"Sir, I found another part of Alpha 2, over here." One of the other hunters said as he stepped through a bush. "Who could've done such a thing?"

That's all the reploid needed to know as he went back to X. A tear was making it's way down the side of X's face as he approached. He stopped and went pale as X seemed to look straight at him as he cried. The reploid heard someone scream and wasted no more time. He scooped X up, and whisked him off into the forest with no turning back.