Hunger

Training

Iris might have arrived a bit too early for training the next day. There was still a stunning lack of Reploids upstairs at this point of the day; did anyone actually come up here or was Zero so high and mighty that he was the only S Class Hunter in HQ?

"Zero, you can't authorize this!" someone from inside the training room cried, stopping Iris dead in her tracks. "Colonel, no, Repliforce, needs to know that she's here and undergoing offensive attack procedures!"

"X, chill." came the calm, emotionally distant voice of Zero.

"But-!"

"Could you just listen for once? Look, there's something about Iris- I can't explain it yet, but I know it's there. I think she has some fighting capability left over from her extraction from Colonel. It's rare in an Eve Reploid, sure, but not too uncommon. I want to see what her limitations are. I want to push her to her limit. If it all works out, either Colonel will let her take field, or we'll all know for sure if she's no better than a common pencil pusher."

There was a pause after this. It was the small voice of X that said;

"I think you like her."

Something about Zero's immediate laughter made Iris's skin crawl until he suddenly stopped.

"You're... not joking. Are you?" Zero then questioned. There was something in his voice, a small thing that Iris was just barely able to detect, that seemed to have broken through the red Reploid's emotional armor. The extended silence only confirmed how serious X had been.

"X, I..." Zero started but faltered. He eventually started up again with, "We can discuss this later. She's supposed to be here soon."

"Oh... okay." X slowly agreed. "Just... remember what I said? If she gets hurt, and Colonel doesn't know where she is..."

"I get it. Thanks X."

Iris took a step back as X came out of the training room, looking far too perplexed than what should be possible for a Reploid, before puffing up her chest and walking into the room herself. The Reploidic woman didn't have time to realize that X hadn't even noticed her before she saw the Ride Armor Zero had found for her.

"So I take it you like it?" Zero teased, having seen her reaction from next to the Ride Armor.

His only answer was an absent nod as Iris made her way to the Ride Armor for a closer look. The armor was a deep purple with large bat-like wings on the back. The armor was sitting on the ground, waiting to be activated, currently making its overall body just a little taller than Iris. She could have been able to climb in if she wanted to dive right into it, but it never hurt to ask.

"How do I get in?"

"You hop in." Zero answered with a shrug.

Iris turned to Zero and raised an eyebrow. "Literally, or...?"

Zero pursed his lips together and gave a slow nod of acknowledgment. "It's... situational." he admitted. "For now, no; not literally."

"Is there any special way to get in it?" Iris then asked.

"No."

"Then help me in." the female Reploid told him. "We're not going to get anywhere just staring at the thing."

Zero agreed to this with a gruff nod. Getting in the Ride Armor was fairly easy, barring the smallest of boosts from Zero despite not needing it, and Iris carefully situated herself to get comfortable inside. The red Reploid took a step back and attempted to not be amused by her shuffling.