(Untitled)

[final_number]

He was pushing his dash jets as fast as he could roll energy through them; less than a quarter-click from X's position and closing fast. He had to get there to back his partner up before the Maverick went ballistic...

Then he skidded around a corner...  and near-collided with a white wall abruptly thrown up in his path. Only quick reflexes stopped

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[plays_it_loud]

Zero probably has even less time for the snort and guffaw from over here, but it's not like Forte cares. Someone showing up in mid-dash only to almost make an indent of their face on the wall? Good stuff. Or maybe it was just getting harder to find actual entertainment around here.

"Nice one, blondie!" A peer and a double-take followed up the snark, however, as Forte suddenly realized exactly who he was looking at. Not someone he'd seen active before, that was for sure...

"...Hey, what the hell? Aren't you that girly bot the old man was building?"

[final_number]

Zero whirls on the newcomer as his audials pick up the snarky commentary. His hand goes to his shoulder, drawing down the saber and lighting it quickly, a reaction that's swift and near-automatic at this point.

'the old man'... meaning what, exactly?

Zero's eyes narrow. "Name's Zero. And you are..?"

[plays_it_loud]

"Oh gee, he's just as imaginative with names as ever. Who'd've guessed?" But there's a touch of wariness in Forte's eyes as he puts a hand on his hip, meeting Zero's gaze with a frown of his own. The girly-bot that Wily had boasted would outdo Forte didn't even know who he was? That was... unsettling. His other hand shifts to buster mode, just in case blondie there tries anything with that saber.

"Forte. Just for the record, I don't care what the old fart says, or if you know who I am. I'm still a better robot than you'll ever be!"

[final_number]

His eyes flick immediately to the weapon change- the robot's unfamiliar, but he sure as hell knows what a Buster is!- and his grip on the hilt of the saber tightens.

"If you come at me with that, I'll cut you down. How about we both just keep our distance until I figure out what's going on here?"

The words are stern and authoritarian, but his eyes show hints of confusion.

[plays_it_loud]

"Tch..." Forte, surprisingly, bites back the snippy "I'd like to see you try" that leaps to mind, though he keeps the buster out. He's not pointing it at Zero yet, but he's not letting his guard down either.

"What's going on here? No one knows. You're welcome."

[final_number]

"Hn. I see."

After a brief consideration, Zero shakes his head and straightens up slightly, releasing a level of guard. A rather dry smirk forms. "And I was just getting used to the other place."

Still, Forte's words about 'the old man' nag at him in the back of his head. He thought he'd stopped caring about those dreams, that question...

Well, just because someone says something doesn't mean they really know anything.

[plays_it_loud]

"If you've been trapped in crazy-ass fortresses with no way out and multiple copies of the most annoying robots known to man before, you're better off than the rest of us." The snideness hasn't left his tone, but he relaxes his own stance a bit in response.

His own questions are gnawing at him now, however, and Forte is the type to doggedly chase down what he wants.

"Just one question. Year you were activated. Now."

[final_number]

Zero's eyebrow raises below his helmet. He tenses up again, for a moment, mostly in the eyes, but then lowers his head and fixes Forte with a sharp look.

"You first."

[plays_it_loud]

"20XX, what's it to you?" Forte scowls, aware he's admitting to being an older model but too proud of his ability to care that much. Anyway, he's still cutting-edge where he's from! Kind of.

"Now spill!"

[final_number]

Zero turns his head.

"21XX." This is dragging him back to old, resented memories- awakening in the capsule, head-splitting pain, lashing out at the first things he saw, feeling deranged laughing in his throat and in his head...

The silhouette, reaching toward him. Destroy him. That's an order.

Zero grimaces. "What's the point of this question?"

[plays_it_loud]

"Shit, Wily's gotta be dust by then..." Not to mention himself, if Zero's lack of recognition of him meant anything, which just made Forte hot under the collar. He SAID the stupid girly-bot would never outdo him, and he MEANT it!

"Whatever. I sure as hell hope you've wreaked as much havoc as he wanted you to THEN, 'cause there's no way I'm letting your girly ass replace me here and now!"

[final_number]

"Don't concern yourself. I'm not here to replace anyone."

But he's starting to think this 'Forte' knows something about him that he doesn't. And Zero doesn't like that. Not one bit.

"I'm a Maverick Hunter. Whatever you think, my mission doesn't involve you."

[plays_it_loud]

"Yeah right. The fuck's a 'Maverick Hunter?'"

Forte, meanwhile, is just getting more aggravated. Here's his chance to prove that he's STILL better than anything else Wily can cook up, and the guy doesn't even want to fight? What gives?

"No, on second thought, don't answer that. Some stupid future thing, I bet. All I care about is proving that I'm stronger than you, so don't you dare back out of it, pretty boy!" And that would be the click and whine of a buster being readied.

[final_number]

And that would be Zero going immediately to Defcon 1, raising his internal threat level and electronic counter-countermeasures, and bringing his saber up into attack position, lit - in the space of two seconds. Threat perceived; he can defend himself with a clear conscience and total justification. He widens his stance, legs bracing, and enters his combat subsystem.

"You can challenge me, but I guarantee you'll lose."

[plays_it_loud]

He probably will. Scratch that, he definitely will, especially without Gospel around for backup. Not that it would stop Forte even if he bothered to acknowledge this.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to bring a sword to a gunfight?" With that, and a devilish smirk, he went immediately into a side-dash, starting to circle Zero with a strafing blast of rapid-fire buster shots.

[final_number]

Zero smirks at the question and bats the shots away at angles with quick, clean swings of the saber and blurring fast arm movements. He jumps up and toward the ceiling, grabbing on and dangling easily upside down, then flicks a few quick slashes toward the direction Forte's moving- aiming some thick ice-saber blasts to intercept his movement. He's shooting for tripping up Forte in his path and cutting off his mobility.