Hunters HQ, R&D Wing

[endless_azure]

Well, this could've been worse I suppose.

There was no getting Gate out of his own little R&D domain these days; just about every other staff member had finally adjusted to the fact. X had beaten them to the punch years ago, of course ~

Poor bastard. I remember when he did this because it was convenient and vaguely amusing.

In you go ~ Gate

Comments

[_megaman_x]

Quite suddenly, there was a downdraft of very chill displaced air from directly above X. This was accompanied by a thrilled bugle of triumph as a two-foot long bronze firelizard appeared directly above X's head.

Zanzibar backwinged in place for an instant before swooping around the room with a trill. Both to get a better idea of the place he'd arrived, and to figure out who all was here.

[endless_azure]

With a yip of startlement, X plunked a hand down on his half-drafted notes to keep them from gusting away in the sudden chill breeze. He was more than a little surprised to see Zanzibar when he glanced up, but offered the bronze a smile nonetheless.

"Hello again --"

Zanzibar had arrived in a rather cluttered area filled with cool ceramic and metal instruments of various kinds, two or three flat bedlike things and a good deal of workspace. There were bits of strange-looking metal things, and shiny working-tools.

At one of the work-places was the person he was looking for, the X with the long curly hair; not far away another person was curled-up and sleeping in a funny-shaped bed, with almost colourless hair and not as long.

[_megaman_x]

Zanzibar trilled and swooped over to examine the other person in the room. Was he like someone he knew back home? The bed-nest-thing looked comfortable.

Zanzibar backwinged and landed on the edge of the bed-nest with a chirrup. Who was this? It was no one Zanzibar had seen before. Was he asleep? Would he wake up and give the best bronze ever scritches? Did he have treats?

[endless_azure]

Whoever this person was, he was pale and curled up tight and very very asleep in that not-waking-soon way that X and people like him had. He looked lighter than many other people, the way greens were put together lighter than other firelizards.

X, watching Zanzibar, padded over to the bed-nest and reached out to give the bronze a skritch.

"Shh, careful now; he's tired, and upset and needs to sleep .."

The words were backed up by a feeling of worry about the pale sleeper.

"So, little fellow, why did you follow me back here --?"

[_megaman_x]

Zanzibar had gone straight from the other X's world to his own X. True to his message, X was waiting in the Nexus in a low traffic area. It was fairly secluded, but still within the AV field. He was sitting on a convenient Nexus couch with a couple thermoses of coffee from home sitting on the small table next to the couch.

When Zanzibar arrived and flitted down to land on his shoulder, X set down his cup to fuss over the bronze. He pulled out the return message and read it over as Zanzibar chittered about what he'd seen where the other X had been.

X frowned at the reply. Then he turned to Zanzibar and prompted him to relay any emotions he'd picked up from the other X when he'd read and written the notes. The feelings of alarm and urgency Zanzibar echoed back to him only made X frown more. He shifted to cradle Zanzibar in his lap and fuss over him while waiting for his alternate to arrive.

[endless_azure]

Within short order another version of himself was approaching X; with worn black cotton shirt and work slacks, and a labcoat being pulled off as he approached at a brisk pace. This was certainly the same individual Zanzibar had encountered in the Nexus earlier; there was no mistaking that hair.

Trotting up to the unoccupied end of the couch, he nodded a greeting.

"Shall I get myself seated, or is there anything you'd like to cover first --?"

No mistaking the look in his eyes, either. That was the 'we're having another Uprising' look.

"Or questions, for that matter?"

[_megaman_x]

X shifted to sit up more as his alternate arrived, noting the look in his eyes. He gestured to the couch. "Have a seat. You want coffee?" He gestured to the thermoses. "From home, so LOL-free."

X absently scritched Zanzibar with one hand as he got to the matter at hand. "Questions and a heads-up are why I thought we should talk."

"First of all, he's been in the Nexus. Secondly, he knows you've been here too. My fault that. Sorry. He showed up looking like Axl and mentioned his X had long hair. I told him Zanzibar had seen a long-haired X in the Nexus."

"Perhaps most importantly, he's after your Harpuia." X fixed his alternate with a level gaze. "He wants him back. That's what his question was about. From the sound of it, he's already made up his mind to find and convince Harpuia."

[endless_azure]

X plunked himself onto the couch with a grateful sigh, and reached for a thermos.

"Coffee, sweet death-nectar that keeps me conscious -- thank you muchly --"

Pouring a cup of coffee, he scrubbed one hand through his hair and sighed again.

"So he's here. Which means that either he was a doppleganger, or we have a doppleganger in stasis back at HQ. Great."

"And using his old shape as a cover ... You know, I'm mildly surprised he hadn't tried that before. It's interesting --"

"Was he hostile towards you?"

His eyes froze into emerald ice at the mention of Harpuia.

"... Bastard. It's not the first time he's tried to play on my son's affections, either."

[endless_azure]

"What, a 'proper' name? Blues has mentioned he'd heard I was intended to be named Xavier, after our father, but he's not certain and no name was attached to the pod Cain hatched me out of. It works well enough, though."

He shook his head, obviously upset by this recounting of another Gate.

"Obsession, yes, that I can see; he's always fixed on things and the Nightmare didn't help. And the deaths of his children are similar in both our worlds -- though it was the government and the Daidalos Commission who ordered the executions, and very nearly carried out his sentence as well ... or let him expire of overshock while they debated. They very nearly brought in Alia as well."

"But revenge? Causing that much agony? I can't imagine it."

"... You do realize that if you carry out your offer to help Alia, my Alia, you'll be dealing with him?"

[_megaman_x]

"I was wondering if we had a name difference as well. I was, somewhat, named after my brother Rock. The public name he took on after his initial rebuild, at least. 'Megaman X' was in my design notes, though Father only referred to me as X in the message left in the pod. Some of my alternates are named after the variation of Rock's second name as well. They're Rockman X rather than Megaman X." X shrugged. "In all, name shifts seem to be one of the more superficial differences in realities

[endless_azure]

"For me, it was always simply X; Rock became 'Rockman', but that name didn't carry over. Perhaps an indication of the degree of change

[_megaman_x]

X shrugged slightly and murmured, "Perhaps." He took another sip from his mug, holding the cup in both hands.

As his alternate continued with the explanation of the differences in their world's pre-Fourth Uprising, he stared into his mug, his fingers clenching around it. Zanzibar shifted to climb up and drape across X's shoulders, his eyes still whirling red-orange as the bronze wrapped his tail around X's throat.

Once his alternate finished, X carefully unclenched his fingers before speaking up. "At least tell me that Commission was taken apart since then?" He sighed softly and looked down at his mug again. "I think your Gate suffered more abuse than mine had. But at least he wasn't left alone to let the hurt fester and worsen."

X sighed and rubbed a hand over his mouth. "Thank you for telling me this. I can't say how he'll react to me. My being there won't be the most ordinary thing itself, after all. But I don't intend to blame him for what my Gate did." Unspoken was the fact that X also wouldn't have to feel awkward