The Suite Life X

28 - A Bond Broken

The Blue Bomber's fears were confirmed upon entering the Navigation Room. Serious injuries to Hunters in the line of duty weren't uncommon, so you learned to live with the risks and learned to pull through for long enough so that the mechanics at the Base could deal with anything that built-in auto-repair systems or the pods at the Repair Bay couldn't fix.

Unfortunately, the entire scene before him reminded him yet again that he wasn't dealing with hardened warriors. Zack barely looked up from London's barely functioning body which he was cradling, and Bailey looked terrified. He had barely even registered Ruby fleeing the scene with her blue-haired sister in tow.

Oh no...

The boy he'd been training was taking it little better, eyes widened and shaking his head, as if in blatant denial of what was laid out in front of him.

"Z-Zack? T-Tell me that isn't who I think it is..."

The defiant, protective teen that had been quarreling with the Hunters not long ago was completely gone, replaced by a unsettlingly quiet introvert. Actually, looking closely, X noticed him trembling.

Zack's voice barely registered above a whisper, though for how quiet it was otherwise, it might as well have been the loudest thing in the world.

"I...I..."

Cody's next shaky words were directed at his brother, but were far from what was expected. "How could you?!"

Everyone in the room, excluding the twins, were floored that he could make the logical leap of blaming the shorter twin for this. The gray reploid spoke for them all.

"What the heck are you talking about, Cody?!"

Cody kept on with his rant, regardless of Bailey's words. His tone grew more desperate with every syllable. "L-Let me guess...this is just him goofing off again, right? Y-Yeah! How'd you screw up this time, Zack?!"

Alia, being the more neutral party here, decided to interject. "Look, I don't know how things are for you back in your world, but that's not what happened here!"

Axl, wearing an uncomfortable smile, added in, "Y-Yeah, she's pretty banged up, but the mechanic guys on staff can--"

The shorter twin barely acknowledged Axl, or Alia for that matter. They wouldn't understand. His brother's accusations rang through loud and clear. To be honest, he wasn't sure who he hated more at this point: himself or...

"What does it matter?!" His interruption was a sharp, bitter hiss as he chuckled humorlessly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth. Heh, why would anyone believe a lost cause like me, anyway? My word means NOTHING!" His voice dropped down from its jarring shout. I should have stopped her... I might as well have killed her myself!"

That statement finally got through to the taller twin, whose anger and fear vanished as quickly as it arose... How badly had he misread the situation?

He watched his twin, his brother, hand London over to X. "Take her." The lighter blue Maverick Hunter did so, carrying her to what he knew to be the Medical Bay.

He then turned back to Cody with an attempt at a glare that oozed hatred, but at the same time didn't seem entirely aimed at him. A desperate fear arose from within the taller teen, a desire to fix what he'd apparently just done, and he spoke quickly.

"I...I'm sorry, Zack. I didn't mean to--"

"Shut it," the shorter blonde spat, starting to sound more on the verge of breaking down than anything else. "I hate you," He then turned his attention to the entire room. "I hate all of you! Just...stay away from me!"

Without another word, Zack stormed out of the room.

Once Cody eventually peeled his eyes off of the now closed doors, he looked towards his girlfriend, whose disappointed look served as the icing on the cake for this fiasco.

"Well... Are you finally ready to listen now?"

He nodded in shame as the two girls gave him their best rundown of the events...

---

Honestly, Zero was barely paying attention to the infighting around him the second he realized the scene he was in front of. The sight of a red reploid cradling a girl's body whisked him away to a time long ago...

To a certain Reploid war for independence...

To a certain event during that war aboard a space station...

To a certain murder he'd committed involving a girl he loved...

It didn't help that what he could catch of the shorter twin's words sounded terrifyingly familiar.

He could've saved her...

"Zero? Zero!"

"Huh?" The long-haired Reploid was snapped back to the present.

"You kind of scared me a little bit there with how out of it you seemed. Are you okay?" Axl chuckled, but it was clearly nervous, and his eyes looked horrified.

Not that Zero would blame him. Though he was fairly close with the comparative rookie ever since he joined the Hunters (X kind of resenting him for being a vigilante at first as well as all the trouble his former group, Red Alert, had caused), he'd never seen Zero even particularly surprised, let alone whatever this side of the warrior was.

He forced a poker face as he interrupted the Hunters' main Navigator while she was talking with Cody.

"Alia, I'm heading after Rhino. I'll be back in a bit." She, not really focused on him, waved him off.

His voice, as he talked, sounded stiff and robotic. He knew it too. He had to get out of here...

"Hey," The navy blue reploid interrupted "I'm coming with."

The smile had vanished, replaced with a look of genuine concern.

Zero didn't object, only warning his apparent partner not to slow him down as he plugged in the coordinates and they took off.