"I can NOT believe you did that! You're lucky we trusted you as much as we did. What were you thinking, attacking your guards?"

Theta and Omega exchanged looks as Zero ranted furiously at them. X was standing off to the side glaring with a frown on his face. Zero had been on in this vein without pausing for breath for a good 15 minutes. One of the downsides of dealing with reploids, the two were finding out. Theta finally got sick of it.

"Shut up." She shot irritably. Zero froze mid-word and turned an incredulous glare at her. "We didn't attack them."

X frowned more deeply and turned to the computer interface on the wall, activation it. Zero threw his hands up in frustration.

"Then who did?"

"How should we know? It's not like we sat down for tea! We never got a good look at whatever it was- much less get their name." Theta grumbled bitterly. "So stop pinning it on us." She settled backwards against Omega and glowered at the hunters. "We could have escaped. We didn't. End of story."

"You were found in the forest." Zero pointed out.

"Not close to the end of your grounds though. And we weren't exactly 'running for it' when you got there, now were we?" Theta spat. "Maybe we just wanted some time to ourselves without half the base breathing down our necks."

Zero opened his mouth but X stopped him by reentering the conversation. "She's right. The cameras detect a third presence. The didn't attack out hunters- they appear to have used the chance as an excuse to relax." X shook his head as he sidled next to the larger hunter. :They didn't do anything wrong."

Zero turned back to the captured Mavericks, who were watching. The female looked smug.

"Fine. But I want them kept to their quarters for the rest of the day." With that Zero stormed off.

X watched him with a knowing expression, then glanced back to Omega and Theta. "I'm inclined to agree with him. You're to stay in your rooms for the rest of the day." Theta made to protest but Omega's hand on her shoulder stilled her words. She merely scowled at the blue hunter.

X noticed the exchange before finishing his thought. "Follow me." He led them back to their rooms and locked them in. After double checking and notifying the guards of the status, he went to go find Zero.

"I hate this…" The tempermental red hunter paced in one of the rec rooms. "They're hiding something. But what IS it?" He startled and looked over his shoulder as the door opened and X walked in.

"Talking to yourself again?" He teased gently.

"Was I being that loud?"

"Not particularly." X folded himself onto the couch by the windows and watched the trainees outside passively.

"Did they go quietly, at least?" Zero pressed.

"Yeah," X said distractedly, "They went just fine."

"Hey, is something wrong?"

X looked up surprised by the question. Zero stared back until X's gaze returned to the outside. "No, not really… it's just…" Suddenyl his eyes widened and he jerked upright.

"X?" Zero yelped as his partner darted across the room.

"They're outside!"

Omega leaned against the door of a shed at the edge of the training field. Only the vague threats coming from within it spoke awkwardly of the situation- the trainer they had displaced was stuck inside. He had gone to fetch some materials when Theta and Omega had come upon the scene, and decided to make the best of the situation. Omega was making sure the trainer couldn't get out of the door, while he watched Theta zip around the trainees in a blur. She was using just basic physical maneuvers, martial arts, to spar with or disarm them.

She grinned up at him as she disabled one effortlessly. He nodded back. This was taking care of her boredom nicely- and providing some nice "training" for the inexperienced hunters. Blasters and swords aren't the only viable weapons, after all- and she wasn't actually harming them.

The Hunter in the shed had given up and was apparently sulking in a far corner.

Omega glanced back towards the doorways and saw X and Zero yet again running towards them. He almost sighed. Looked like the game would be ending soon. But not immediately. He moved away from his reclined position and approached the two Hunters.

"What the hell do you think you're doing out here?" Zero scolded the towering cyborg as X made to go 'rescue' the trainees. Omega reached out and held X by his chest plate.

" Hey! Let go!"

Omega ignored X's order. "We're playing." He said simply, as if it explained everything. His tone conveyed more- not to interrupt.

"Let go of X." Zero ordered sternly, trying to help his friend. His hands were itching to reach for his saber. Omega completely disregarded the hunters and turned his pale eyes back to watch Theta's 'game'.

The last trainees finally fell or forfeited to the red blur, and Theta stopped zipping around. She turned to flash her partner a gleeful grin and thumbs-up. Then she saw X and zero and the grin was replaced with a frown. Seeing the game at an end Omega released his grip on X, who immediately started back towards Theta and the fallen trainees.

The trainer had heard Zero and X's voices and had come out of the shed, and was already helping the 'younger' reploids away.

"You're not supposed to be out here." His voice was quiet, but clipped. His eyes betrayed how livid he was, even if his voice did not.

"How did you even get out?" Zero demanded when it became obvious X wasn't going to. Theta winked condescendingly.

"Our secret."

"Rooms. Now." X's voice was firm. Theta shrugged and started back towards the building, Omega in tow.

"God! They're worse than kids…" Zero grumbled. X's response was an incoherent sound of frustration. Zero sympathized. "How the hell are we supposed to train them?"

"I have /no/ idea…"

"You'd think we were slaughtering them…" Theta complained the next morning, sitting in an armchair. "I was just sparring…"

Omega agreed with the barest of nods from his place by the window. He was dressed in his uniform still, but Theta had changed into coveralls and a long t-shirt. They hid her mechanical parts well- she almost looked human.

"They overreacted." Was his opinion, since she seemed to expect one.

"Yep." Theta sighed and reached back to snag a book off a nearby shelve. "God, a comp manual." She tossed it aside and grabbed again. "Agh! A blasted robotics magazine!" She flung it across the room just as X opened the door. It hit him squarely in the face and he stopped to glower.

"Bored?" That was Zero, who came in behind X and picked up the fallen magazine.

"Hells yes!" Theta glowered at the blonde hunter. "All you have in this damned place are manuals and mechanics-based magazines!"

Zero tossed the magazine back at the cyborg-maverick with a shrug. :Almost everyone here is a reploid.

"I don't give a damn." Theta muttered loudly. "Don't you people have anything else?"

"Yes." X interjected before Zero could retort. "But we're not here to relieve your boredom." This got Omega's attention and he glanced sideways at the hunters from behind his white hair. "We came to fill you in on your situation."

"We're prisoners of war on a Maverick Hunter main base. What more could there be to know?" Theta scoffed. Omega hid his thoughts with a slow blink.

X and Zero found places to sit, trying to stay as far away from the Mavericks as possible. Even unarmed they could be dangerous, as they had proven to the trainees earlier.

"Simply, you have two options." Zero seemed agitated by being enclosed in the same room as the prisoners. "Either accept reformation by us, or be permanently disabled. Or rather, executed."

"Gee, and here I thought we'd be comfy here forever." The hunters couldn't actually tell if Theta was being sarcastic or not.

"Are you saying you'd rather be executed?" X asked, a bit surprised. Omega remained silent but Theta scowled.

"The choice between being a traitor or being dead isn't exactly an appealing one to make." She muttered. "And though some of us might take the cowards way-" she shot a dark look at Zero. "- I prefer loyalty."

"Loyalty to Sigma?" X nearly spat. He was beginning to grow frustrated. How could they even consider it? He was offering them a chance at life! The ultimatum came from Signas himself- X couldn't change the conditions if they decided t throw the chance away…

"At least think it over." He instructed, turning and leaving with Zero close behind.

When the door shut Theta groaned in frustration and sank back into her chair. "God I hate hunters…" She glanced up at her partner, who stared back with a silent message. "Yeah, yeah, I know… but at least im making it more believable for hen we pretend to defect."

"X is growing… exasperated." Omega observed slowly. Theta laughed.

"Don't worry, I wont get us killed. We supposedly have orders from Sigma to obey. That means he wont be killing us." But an unspoken word was clear.

Yet.