Brothers

So many times Zero had to stop to untangle his hair from low tree limbs. He almost cursed his hair at times, but while he was fighting it was an advantage. It threw his opponent off seeing such a long tail swish and move with him. But right now it was just getting pretty damn annoying. And what the hell does that bot think she's talking about, anyway? Songbird? At night?! He scanned the trees and cursed. They're all asleep, and it'll take a while before he finds a nocturnal one. He jumped up into the tree he was beside and stood on one of the branches that would support him. His ears strained to hear something, anything, that might lead to this mysterious songbird. Suddenly his head turned and glared in one direction. That couldn't be... He turned and began racing towards what he hoped was the 'infamous' Songbird.

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As he got within hearing range, he matched the sound that had caught his ears to an instrument of some sort. Maybe that damned girl was playing tricks on him. In a quick flase hae had his Z sabre out and ready to slice that wretched girl's head off once he saw her. The noise got silent when he neared a bush, and when he jumped through he found himself staring down the barrel of a buster cannon. Red, unlike his blue friend's, and those cool shades gave him away to something resembling a... Pilot?

"..." Zero smirked even though in the face of danger. His beam sabre, as he noticed, was pointed right at the other's chest. Slowly hessedssed it forward to cut lightly into the armor.

"..." Blues returned the smirk, his yellow scarf flapping in the breeze lightly and he began to charge the buster.

"..." Zero's eyes seemed to relay the message that he was serious by glaring even harder. His smirk disappeared.

"..." Blues let his smirk disappas was well, and now his buster was completely charged. His face lacked the means to express his emotions, which was just fine with him. He didn't want anyone else to see them.

"..." Zero lowered his sabre and Blues charged down just then. They came to some silent agreement and both chose a tree opposite of each other to lean against. Neither trusted the other. Blues didn't care if he had someone following him, and Zero had found his 'Songbird'.

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

X opened his eyes quickly at the sound of something in the room. When he looked over, he noticed the dragonet flying out the window witsmalsmall squeek. He sat up and moved quickly to the door, and tried it. Unlocked. The blue bomber opened it slowly and poked his head out. A growl from ground level made him look down and he stared at the purple wolf-hound that guarded his door. It took a few steps back and hunkered down, ready to pounce. As if reading it's mind, X closed the door quickly and leaned against it. He was jostled forward by the impact of Gospel hitting the door and he cringed at the loud piercing barks it gave when it landed back on it's feet. He bolted the door from the inside and went shakily back over to the bed and slumped down on it.

"Great..." He muttered. "Gospel... I shoulda saw that comming."

X felt as though someone was watching him and turned quickly to look at the window. There sat the dragonet with a sneer on it's muzzle.

"Get away, did you think?" The little creature cawed at him and he shook his head to see if it really was talking.

"What-?" X whispered then peered at the little lizard. "You can talk?"

"Blueberry pie..he dhe dragonet squawked using the name Forte calls the blue reploid. X felt hurt.

"That't vet very nice..." He said, trying to correct the scaled one.

"Blueberry muff'n..." It nearly sang in that scratchy barely audible voice.

"C'mon...stop that." X almost pleeded, and the dragonet took to the air to take it's place back over the doorway.

"Two to come... So slow..." It crooned to itself, almost regretfully and hunkered down to sleep with it's eyes half open. Always vigilent.

X was about to ask, but something softly tapping against the door caught his attention. He heard a soft growl from the other side and got up to investigate. Slowly he made his way to the door and the growl intensified as if the hound-beast on the other side could smell him approaching. 'It probably can...' He thought to himself as he released the latch and opened the door slowly, expecting the wolf to pounce the door. Nothing came, not even the growling at this point. Slowly he opened the door and peered outside. Gospel was sitting not too far from the door, glaring at him with his teeth showing. X remembered the noise he heard earlier and looked down. On the floor was a can of energy. He kneeled slowly and picked it up.

Gospel began to growl deep in his throat and X stood and closed the door quickly. He was rewarded with vicious snarls and a few scratches on the wood. He knew for a fact that the wolf could easily bust open the door and rip him apart, but his master wouldn't like that. He bolted the door and took the can into the room with him. A desk adorned one wall and he sat in the chair in front of it. The drink can was opened and he downed it with a sigh and wiped his lips on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Thanks..." He whispered, staring down at the can. He thought for a momand and his face went bright. "That's it!"

X stood and went to the door. Gospel was still there, no doubt, but instead of opening the doorway, he looked up at the snoozing security camera with wings. His green eyes went down the the can in his hand and he tried to compare the distance between them. He took aim, and threw the can at the small creature. It squawked and fell off it's perch ungracefully. Quickly, X tackled the creature before it could right itself, and wrestle it to the ground. He recieved a deep gash on his cheek, but it didn't matteinalinally, he had the creatures claws and long neck in one hand. He picked himself and the dragonet off the floor and went over to the bed. Outside the door, he could hear Gospel barking and growling menacingly. He opened the sheets with his free hand then gathered three corners of the cloth. The dragonet in his hand squawked loudly in protest, swinging it's tail and buffeting X with it's wings.

"Stop it already." X muttered and placed the dragonet on the bed while still holding onto his appendages. 1...2...3... He let go and grabbed the other corner quickly. He tied the corners together and left the tied up dragonet alone in the makeshift bag. He went to the door and sighed. This was the risky part. He reached out for the doorknob slowly then took it. A chill ran down his spine as he listened to the irritated wolf bot on the other side. Suddenly he pulled the door open and used it as a shield. His plan worked, the wolf lunged into the room and landed on it's feet nearby. Gospel looked around then turned and watched as the door closed and locked, leaving him and the bound up dragonet alone in the tower. He scratched insistantly at the door, hoping his master would come to let him out.

X nearly skipped down the stairs, but he knew it was bad for his health so he didn't. He hopped up onto the rail and skidded down dangerously. He didn't mind, as long as he got out of here fast. His armor was recalled, but his hand wouldn't change into the buster. Obviously Forte had disabled it.

"I'm free..." X whispered as he reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. "Now to get out of here." He took a few steps and stopped when he heard footsteps around the corner. He looked around for anything that'll give him cover and found a tall plant growing in a pot by the wall. It looked mostly dead but it'll work. He ducked down behind it and waited. Two guards rounded the corner and kept walking. X watched them in fascination, then felt something crawling down his face to his nose. The initial shock was overridden by a sudden sneeze that blew over half of his cover off the dead plant. The guards whirled around, and watched the fleeing blue bot for a second before chasing after him themselves. HALTHALT!" One screamed raising his arm-mounted cannon and firing. The blue bomber dodged them easily and continued running down the halls trying to descifer the maze he was in.

"Great... How...do...I...get...myself into...these...messes..." He panted as he ran around a corner, only to go flailing backwards when something black hit him.

"Watch where your-X!" A female voice hissed at him, but he was to his feet and running the other way as fast as he could.

"Mistress Fortissimo, are you alright?" One of the guards stayed behind to help her up but she swatted at his hand.

"What are you doing here?? AFTER HIM!!" And both of them joined in the chase.

X passed a door that had a couple guards inside and they came out to join the chase. 'Great. Now what?' He passed by an intersection where the halls crossed and another guard gave chase. Blasts were flying everywhere and it took all X had to avoid them all. One of them grazed his arm, but that was the closes they got to him. He lunged down the hallways collecting more and more pursuers as he went. He saw a light up ahead and it looked like daylight. Quickly he raced for the light, but a well aimed blast hit him on the back of his head. He stumbled forward slightly, but caught himself. With his vision blurry, he continued to run towards the exit. Suddenly, something black jumped in his way and he felt a force on his throat stop him, strangling him and knocking the wind out of his chest. His hands went up to the hand around his neck and he tried weakly to pull it off. He stared, fearfully and panting into a pair of glowing red eyes, and he knew who this was.

Forte was pissed.