The Suite Life X

20 - Twin Truths

Yet again, Zack found himself separating from the main group, this time heading to the Armory to blow off some steam. Right now, he wanted to be as far away as possible from the look Cody had on his face...and the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do to take it off.

Leaving him with Bailey had been sort of a knee-jerk decision, but he actually didn't regret it. After all, aside from their bizarre habit of breaking up about every 30 minutes or so in different parts of the world (that last part being a luxury that the "School at Sea" program they were all a part of afforded them), the two were pretty much inseparable. True, their "intellectually stimulating conversations" should be classified as a form of torture, watching them play chess was a pretty good cure for insomnia, and their lovey-dovey stuff made him want to hurl over the side of the boat every time, but...

...compared to this, he'd sit through it all day, every day.

As for what he was doing now, through some creativity on his part (pretty much involving semi-randomly hitting buttons on futuristic-looking computers until something good happened), he'd stumbled upon what he thought was the "training dummy" setting. It sure looked like it, judging by the results.

He'd just gotten through experimenting with his new "Stag Rush" ability (it was really wierd grabbing things with your head...) A voice stopped him.

"Well then, can't say I've seen that one before."

He didn't catch who the owner of the voice was first, and, assuming it was his so-called "mentor", was about to tell him precisely where to shove that glowing green toothpick of his, the dummies deactivated and disappeared, leaving him alone with a person he barely recognized.

It was a dark-colored reploid, but it wasn't Axl or Black. His more laid-back disposition and overall "military general" theming said as much.

"You're... Wait, who are you, again?"

He chuckled easily. "I'm not surprised you don't remember me, Zack. I'm Signas. I watched you guys wake up when you first got here."

The boy relaxed, but raised an eyebrow. "...and where have you been, exactly?"

"Around," he answered simply. "I'm technically a General by rank, although practically speaking, I don't need to keep too close of an eye on X and Zero. They've saved the world countless times, even before I ever signed on. As for Axl..."

The man chuckled again. "...well, he's an interesting story all his own. Anyway, I was keeping tabs on things, and was kind of curious as to where you were."

The twin was skeptical. "Really...?"

Sighing, Signas shook his head, still smiling, though now a little guiltily. "Okay, you got me. Alia was kind of wondering where you were."

The darker red reploid sighed heavily. "If she's expecting me to just 'kiss and make up' with Zero..."

"Nobody was expecting that," he walked closer until he was face to face with the boy. "That said, you realize that we all have to work with people we don't like, right? Believe it or not, there was a time that X of all people didn't like Axl."

It took Zack a second to remember who he was. He had been so focused on the blue and red Hunter that the third barely came up in his mind. He had been paired with London, right?

He shook his head. Regardless, he knew, he couldn't just hide here. Not with his brother taking this the way he was. He needed him.

"I'm coming," he finally said emotionlessly.

Signas, probably knowing that he wasn't completely sold on his little talk, added, "You know, you might discover that Zero isn't such a bad guy after all..."