Author's Note:

   Welcome back to episode #17! It has been decided that the season will end at #30 and then resume again sometime in November. I finally managed to get over my ego, so you guys have nothing to worry about. I'm pretty late this time, and I've noticed how slow the series has been going lately. I'm really trying to keep up, but my life is going through a lot right now. Well in this eppy, Anyi visits the planetarium and then has some dinner with X. This is a MAJOR recap episode and definitely important if anyone has never played any of the Megaman games or wants to understand a bit more about the characters'past history. This is also something for all those Anyi fans (of which I seem to have plenty).

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"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." -Keven Arnold, "The Wonder Years"

Petersen Apartment Building
Cluster One, Australia
November 18th, 2093
The Present

   X finally reached the top of the stairs, letting the black steel door close behind him. He walked slowly down the short hallway. There were a few doors for the power equipment which kept the penthouse apartment running. The slow dimming light lit up the old brown carpet, giving a cheap look to what was certainly an expensive and old style apartment behind the green metal door at the end of the hall. It was then that X noticed a small brown package at the foot of the door. He reached down and opened the package even though it didn't have a note addressing it to anyone. He ripped the paper and let it flutter to the floor. Now resting in his hands was a rather expensive bottle of wine.

   ***

Cluster One Planetarium
Cluster One, Australia
November 18th, 2093
The Present

   Anyi stepped off the bus. She looked around and took in a deep breath, finally being able to calm down after such a hectic day. She watched the black sheeted bus drive around the marble fountain and pass through the stone archway with the letters, "Welcome to the Cluster One Planetarium". She always turned to look at it every time she got off the tour bus. She turned around and her eye caught the clear sheen of moonlight from the full moon. The rays fell across the dome in front of her in a dancing pattern. The clouds were clear and the stars were shining brightly, their pattern falling across the ripples in the bay behind the planetarium, overlooking a number of small islands. The view also held part of Cluster One across on the other side of the bay, three or four kilometres away. She sighed again, watching the wind pick up in the leaves in a row of trees which outlined the parking lot to the planetarium. The end of the fast pace to her day caused her to smile warmly as she began to walk up the steps to the main entrance. The cool crisp ocean air filled her lungs, as it always did when she was standing outside the familiar building. The low hum of the machines in the dome began to push gently against her ears; she brushed her hair back and delighted in the familiar sensations of the area. It was then she saw the electronic sign on the door, "Open Until - Time: Wednesday - 23:30". Anyi glanced down at her watch and saw it was already nearing eight thirty.

   'I hope Ivan's gonna have enough time to set this file up tonight.'

   The doors opened for her as she walked through the doorway into the large waiting area. It was nearly empty, except for a few kids running around with a mother chasing after them. The whole place looked exactly the way she had seen it last. The grey carpeting chased to the stainless steel edges, and a balcony overlooked the area. On the first floor were "Science Stations" and a demonstration theatre. It certainly was a large planetarium, however she probably still had it all memorized. She continued walking until she passed underneath the balcony and came into the white marble tiles which patterned the floor. She stood in the seating area to the demonstration theatre, looking around for a familiar face. Of course, it was difficult to make anything out along the edges of the room because the room was about the size of an olympic gymnasium.

   "Anyi!" the deep voice behind her drawled out the last syllable. She turned in time to match the hug by her good friend in the beige trenchcoat.

   "Hi Ivan," she replied warmly. The man simply stood at arm's length quickly and smiled. He was obviously full of energy to see Anyi, as always. His greyish brown hair had white edges along his hairline. His face had a serious and aged look, even with the many laugh lines.

   "Oh, I haven't seen you for a long time, welcome back!" Dr. Saunders chuckled when he saw his assistant running from the back office section. The tall, lean young man was waiting behind him, fidgeting nervously.

   "This is Allan, my assistant," Ivan gestured with his arms wide open. "Allan, this is Dr. Anyi Solieu, an associate of mine."

   The tall, gangly assistant pushed his wire-rim glasses up higher on his nose to get a better look. Allan was fairly nervous, and had trouble holding onto the DVD document case in his hands. His hair was red with a short cut, which seemed to detract from his overall nerdish look in a buttoned up white labcoat.

   "H-hi Dr. Solieu," stuttered Allan. "I-uh, please to m-meet you! My name is Allan...with-uh, t-two As."

   "Hi Allan, I'm Anyi...with only one A."

   She extended her hand and Anyi noted he had a stuttering in his handshake as well as his voice. Dr. Saunders smiled and clapped his hands together.

   "Allan, I believe you should be familiar with her work," a twinkle formed in Ivan's eye.

   Allan stuttered for a bit trying to remember. Suddenly, his eyes got very wide.

   "Y-you're the-um, the one who w-was t-trying to-uh, figure out the t-teleportation thingy, right?" asked Allan, his composure starting to tense even further. "I-uh, didn't recognize you in tho-- uh, without a, um, a labcoat."

   Anyi laughed. She had left her coat in her laboratory and now all she had on was a work stringshirt and a pair of torn jeans. She could understand his inherent confusion at her waylaid appearance.

   "I've...had a hectic day," she mused. Ivan lauged loudly and Allan shrank back a bit, trying to keep a firm grip on the DVD case.

   "Well," started Ivan. "I heard you came back in town a few weeks ago. Already found another project to keep yourself busy?"

   Anyi looked down a bit with a bit of a blush. Ivan started chuckling again.

   "I knew it! I knew it!" Ivan turned to Allan. "She's been working on that teleportation theorum for a few months now. I was starting to miss my best customer...and my best employee!"

   Ivan patted Allan on the back. Allan simply stared on in confusion. Anyi could see that he didn't know if he should laugh with Ivan or not. She felt the same way for a long time when she had first got to know Dr. Saunders.

   "So, did you find anything?" asked Ivan. He started pacing back in forth in anticipation of hearing a long drawn out theory.

   "Well..I," Anyi stopped to think over her past research. "I found that working with a confinement beam would probably be the best way to do it without affecting the atmosphere."

   "Of course, of course!" Ivan exclaimed to no one in particular. "But did you manage to solve the Higg's Particle Complex?"

   Anyi just shook her head. "We were going to start working on that, but I got called away because of the funeral."

   Ivan had one hand on his chin in deep thought, nodding at the memory of Dr. Caine's passing. Allan was shifting his eyes quickly between the two, but he was starting to calm down.

   "So you don't have a conclusion on the revised Merithas Teleportation theory?" asked Allan, obviously his voice was a lot calmer now, although still a little jumpy.

   "Oh, I do, but they won't be published for a few weeks still. They're going to name my confinement method of non-mass particles after me," Anyi smiled sheepishly. "The ...um, Solieu Field, go figure huh?"

   Allan's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "They're gonna..."

   Ivan was also surprised, "You managed to get your name on a popular theory?"

   Both scientists were speechless. Anyi just smiled, a bit embarrassed.

   "Um, yeah. I don't know how I'm gonna top something like that," Anyi finished.

   "Well...that's certainly amazing. Congratulations!" Ivan shook her hand vigorously. He was obviously very proud of her. He had been her very dear friend for most of her life, although she was sure he would start on his annoying habit of pride stories any minute now. He was always happy to "share" her planetarium stories to anyone who would listen.

   'Poor, poor Allan. He's going to have to sit through quite a lot of stories for the first few weeks of work here,' she thought amusedly.

   "Wow, with teleportation back in action, we might be able to start running efficient cargo schedules again! That would really boost the Terran economy!" Allan was very happy to be meeting a well known scientist in the Cosmology field and he opted to shake her hand again.

   "Well, there will be a lot of uses for teleportation if we can ever figure it out," Ivan was ecstatic. Anyi giggled a bit at the attention. She knew that X and Zero would never be able to grasp what she had done in the USE, and knowing that a few scientists could recognize her for her previous work was gratifying, and it certainly brightened what was left of her day.

   "And at such a young age too! Certainly luck and skill go hand in hand with you, young lady!" Ivan lead the two into his back office with his arms around their shoulders. "Come on, let's get re-acquainted over some coffee."

   The three walked towards the back office, Allan still holding nervously onto the DVD case.

   ***

Planetarium - Dr. Saunder's Office
Cluster One, Australia
November 18th, 2093
The Present

   Anyi was sitting in the office nursing a cup of coffee with her head down looking at the floor. She was blushing a bit, simply because Ivan was once again sharing his story about her with anyone who would listen.

   "You should have seen the mess she made when she knocked over the water cooler in the gift shop!" Ivan was laughing into his own cup of coffee. Allan was actually being attentive while trying desperately to hold onto the DVD case as usual.

   'Why doesn't he just put it down?' thought Anyi, not really listening to the story. Of course, she knew it already. She just smiled and looked around the office a bit. Nothing had really changed in the office at all. The chattering teeth were on his desk, as well as a bunch of action figures and newspaper clippings from obscure newspapers, claiming that the Virgin Mary appeared in a taco. Dr. Ivan Saunders was certainly a unique individual. Having grown up as a scientist during the Terran War, he certainly admired the Venus terraforming project during the time. Anyi assumed he had probably worked on it when he was younger, but he never did tell her if he did or not.

   "You should have seen her! Always looking at the stars...her parents were forced to bring her around here twice a week ever since she learned to walk," Ivan was chuckling. "Her father had done some work for me in the past, doing construction work for the first floor and setting up our theatre. Needless to say, she's been fascinated by this place ever since!"

   "Wow, that's a lot of time! I'm surprised she never worked here," said Allan, obviously urging him to continue. Anyi sighed and took a sip of coffee. She could only thank God that Ivan was giving him the short version...for the moment.

   "Actually, she did work here part time after school. I can remember the days when she was the one holding onto my DVD records. She'd be taking notes from anything that crossed the lenses even if it was only a close speck of dust," Ivan grinned nostalgically. Anyi couldn't help but think about those times. It was true that she practically lived at the planetarium her whole life, which was probably why she didn't have any school friends. Ivan used to pester her to bring some friends to work up some interest in the place, but she just kept dodging the question. In fact, Anyi never really felt comfortable at all with the kids her age. She found them too materialistic to really have had a decent conversation with them. Also, it didn't help matters much that she was so much younger than the rest of her classmates, skipping so many grades.

   "...It was here she found her interest in Cosmology. She went on to get a degree in the area and was offered a research position as an assistant in the USE. You obviously should know the rest of the story if you've been keeping up with Terran Science Weekly," Ivan finished. Allan had already finished his coffee, which didn't help his jittery mannerism at all. Anyi smiled when Ivan reached the end of the story.

   "What I don't get, is why you're back!" Ivan exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Not that you'll get a complaint from this old man, but I'm surprised to see you back in town so soon!"

   "Well, I managed to finish my research at the accelerator in Paris," Anyi took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "I wrote up the article on Solieu Fields and gave it to my, um, assistant. I was know I was sent there as an assistant myself, but after a few months they gave me my own research position. It was a bit of a surprise, actually."

   Ivan gleamed happily in his response, "With intelligence like yours? It surely didn't go unnoticed. I'm sure you managed to help speed their research into an alternate method of teleportation quite a bit!"

   Allan finally put the DVD case down and refilled his own coffee mug. Anyi smiled and continued.

   "When I heard about my old professor Dr. Caine and his funeral, I decided to come back. I used to work for him during his research at Caine Laboratories. I was helping him determine a way to stabilize Reploid intelligence so it was immune to the Maverick virus...I never did get into it much though. I was still working here at the time as well, after all."

   Ivan smiled and replied, "And what work you did do here! I tell you, this place hasn't been the same since you left a few months ago! Hopefully, you're back in town long enough to start coming around here again! Allan here was supposed to replace you, and he's actually doing quite an excellent job," Allan smiled and stayed silent. "But, it took so long to find someone to replace you, so he hasn't been around long enough to know how everything works quite yet."

   Anyi giggled and put her empty mug down. It was her old white mug with the pink flower lettering which said, 'I'm much easier to deal with when this is in my hand.'

   "So, you helped try to figure out the Maverick virus with Dr. Caine even if it was a futile attempt. Then you went to Paris to help revolutionize the economy with teleportation. I don't see how you're gonna be able to top yourself after that!" Ivan guffawed and took another sip of coffee.

   Anyi calmly looked up while he was drinking and replied softly, "Actually, now I'm looking to uncover the mystery of Dr. Light's secret laboratory."

   Ivan spit his coffee out over the DVD case which was lying on the floor. He put the mug down and gave Anyi a look of surprise and wonder. Allan was stunned and actually stopped shaking altogether.

   "You..." Allan started, but couldn't finish. Ivan looked like he was also trying to figure out a response to what Anyi said. She couldn't help but smile, since it wasn't often that her older friend was speechless. Ivan just shook his head with sarcasm.

   "My dear Anyi, if you keep doing this, you're gonna leave no major discoveries unturned for the rest of your scientist friends!" Ivan laughed and sat down in his chair. He was still in disbelief. "I knew that Caine was looking for the fabled secret laboratory, but I always seriously doubted him. He always came in here, asking me for my archaeological expertise...even if I have little experience in the field, that man had none at all. Yet, somehow he managed to track it down, eh?"

   Anyi responded with a quick nod. Allan was busy wiping the DVD case clean with a napkin from his small plate.

   "In his will, he asked for me to continue his work," Anyi responded quietly. "I...didn't really know him that well, but he was very fond of me and my work. Also, I was one of the few scientists working on the Reploid Free Will Design Project that actually made any progress. I shared his love of the Reploid History and we spent a lot of lunches together discussing it...but I never expected this. I knew he didn't have any family and not too many friends, especially none with my interest."

   Ivan started chuckling again, "Couldn't turn the opportunity down to look into the mist of history, right?"

   "Right, I guess that's how it started," replied Anyi. "But I got a chance to meet X, and he was my reason for starting work in the Labs in the first place. His remarkable human qualities sparked me further into the research I did there. Then I actually met him...I had no idea that he really was so human. Even his friend Zero...it's uncanny how well they go unnoticed by society. I was expecting to just help them out, I didn't think..."

   Ivan's smile faded into a serious expression, "You always did get along with machines better."

   "Yeah, I guess so...," she glanced at Allan who she could tell was starting to feel uncomfortable. She sat upright in her chair and put the DVD she was carrying on the table. "Ivan, that's kind of the reason why I came here."

   Ivan also sat up and picked up the DVD. He then turned to Allan, "Allan, why not go put the DVDs in my car and go home? I have a feeling Anyi is going to keep me here after my shift."

   Allan nodded and took the case with him outside the office.

   "You caught me on my way home, it's a good thing you showed up before I left!" exclaimed Ivan.

   "Oh, well you don't have to worry about doing it tonight. I'm sure it will take longer than a few hours to set up the program anyway, and I promised a friend I'd eat dinner with him."

   "A 'friend', huh? I'm sure he's happier than I am that you're back," Ivan grinned. Anyi smiled a coy smile.

   "Very funny, Ivan. I'm staying with X until I can find my own place!" Anyi said. "He's just a friend helping me out, that's all."

   Anyi couldn't really think of anything else to say, so the two remained in silence. Ivan was inspecting the label readouts which Anyi had put in the case. The DVD cases had electronic labels which recorded the library information for use of anyone experienced with programming computers. It was also a top-of-the-line compressed to nearly one complete terabyte. The new DVDs were useful as small handheld discs.

   "I take it you found Dr. Light's laboratory already?" mused Ivan as he continued his inspection.

   "Well, Dr. Caine had found it before he died but never managed to inspect it in person. He did send an excavation team before I arrived there and we inspected the lab before it..." Anyi stopped, she wasn't certain if she wanted to get Ivan involved in the situation at hand.

   "In what?" asked Dr. Saunders.

   "Well...we were attacked at the site," Anyi whispered. Ivan looked up from his inspection immediately.

   "What? Why?"

   "I don't know. X is looking into it...and to be honest, I find this whole situation confusing. I want to talk to him about it tonight, because I just don't understand what's going on..."

   "This is a memory file for a Reploid, isn't it? Something to do with Dr. Light's lab I take it?" asked Ivan.

   "Yes..." Anyi paused to catch her breath. "But it's an Android memory file. It's for an original Dr. Light creation!"

   It was Ivan's turn to catch his breath. "You mean, there's another one? Hmm...If something drastic happened during the last few moments at the lab, the government may be trying to cover something up."

   "That's just it!" Anyi was glad to finally get something of her chest. "X doesn't believe the government is really involved! He says the reason I'm staying at his place is so he can make sure I'm safe. This whole expedition started out as fun...but it's gone to hell recently..."

   Ivan nodded, he knew that she didn't act like this unless she was really worried. She also had very good reason to be this way.

   "Well, I'll see what I can do," Ivan leaned forward to look directly at Anyi. "Hey, don't worry about it, okay? If you ever need help, you know where to find me."

   Anyi stood up from the chair, on the verge of tears. She managed to regain a bit of her composure. Ivan hugged her and then took his coat off and slung it over his chair.

   "Looks like I'll be pulling a late shift after all," Ivan smiled warmly. Anyi thanked him and turned to leave. "Oh, and Anyi? I should have this done for tomorrow morning. I wouldn't mind taking a look with you if that's alright. You could probably use some help."

   Anyi smiled and nodded before leaving. He shouted as she left, "Have a good time with your 'friend'!" He made the last word as suggestive as possible and started chuckling as he turned on his computer back on for a long night's work.

   ***

Petersen Apartment Building
Cluster One, Australia
November 18th, 2093
The Present

   The building had been fairly odd so far. The shades of green, brown, and yellow all meshed together to produce a very old and very strange looking hallway. Anyi had checked the apartment list in the lobby a few minutes ago. X had given her a key before the two androids took off with that young reploid Zinc. She checked the number against the apartment listing, but found that the number on her key matched that of a Mr. Arnold Layne on the top floor. She approached the door at the end of the hall, noticing the very strange smell coming from behind it. It was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on what was in the air. She fumbled with the key a bit to open the door and when it swung wide open, she was simply astonished.

   The apartment was enormous, larger than her old home with her parents. Everything was in the one room, the livingroom set being next to the left wall. Of course, it wasn't much of a wall, since the left side of the apartment and half of the ceiling was really just one large curved window, panelled across the bottom where it met the floor. Stairs led down and segmented the livingroom from the kitchen by three or four levels. The full moon shone in from overhead, lighting up the chairs next to the birdcage. The kitchen itself was amazing. An old 20th century set for sure, just like her mother had when her parents still lived in Cluster One. Beyond the wooden counter was X, dressed in his blue jeans and white polo shirt. He was pulling something out of the old fashioned oven, which brought more of the immediately delightful smell towards the door.

   "Hi Anyi, I'm just pulling some bread out of the oven. Do you like Asiago?" X asked, setting the pan down on the counter with his bare hands.

   "Um...is that some sort of bread?" asked Anyi, putting her purse up on the coatrack next to the door.

   "It's in the foccacia bread," X smiled in his reply. "Here, I'll cut some of it for you."

   Anyi walked in and took another look around. It was certainly much more expensive looking than the rest of the building. X took a knife from the hangers overhead and began slicing the fresh bread. She turned to look at him from the livingroom.

   "This is your apartment?" she was asking the blatantly obvious. "Who's Arnold?"

   X smiled and carefully took the bread out onto a large ceramic plate. "Yeah, this is my place. I'm the one who's Arnold."

   The answer did nothing but confuse Anyi further. She decided that perhaps she had better sit down for this one.

   "So your name is Arnold?" asked Anyi. That got a chuckle out of X.

   "No, but that's what the government would have you believe. It was given to us so that we could actually fill registers without getting into the Reploid spotlight. That's why I don't have a yellow stripe either. Any Maverick Hunters exonerated in their duty was given fake IDs and are now treated as human beings," X took the plate and walked over to Anyi. "It hasn't really helped solve any media problems, but it's easier to avoid attention this way after the war. At least for the lucky few of us."

   Anyi looked at the bread and saw X set down a small dish with some oily liquid in it.

   "It's balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Goes very nicely with the bread," he said, walking back into the kitchen.

   "Well, it's a really nice apartment," Anyi said. "How can you afford all this? First the jet, and now an apartment that rivals the house I grew up in?"

   X laughed and came back with a bottle of wine, "You'd be surprised what the government is willing to shell out to keep you quiet about things. Still, I do have a job doing seminars at the university. I only do it about once a month though."

   "Really? What have you been teaching?" asked Anyi. X walked out and came back with two expensive-looking wine glasses. X smiled and winked as he pour the glasses.

   "I've been giving lectures on Computer History, what else?" He filled both glasses. Anyi just looked at the white wine sitting in the glass.

   "Uh, what's this for?" asked Anyi.

   "Well, I figured that with all the fast pacing that these last few weeks have been, you might want to celebrate. I mean, you did make one of the biggest discoveries of the century, you know," X smiled.

   "Yeah, so big that the government doesn't want anyone to know about it," Anyi replied sarcastically. She took a sip of the wine and was immediately surprised at the richness of the taste. "Yikes! What's in this stuff?"

   X picked up the bottle and showed it to her. "It's a Penfolds Yattarna Chardonnay, 1996."

   "Wow, where did you get this?" asked Anyi.

   "I got it in a package outside my door. A bit surprising, given that this year was supposedly sold out nearly a century ago. Technically, this bottle shouldn't even exist. It's one of the first wines in Australia, yet still produced in a traditional Grange. I assure you that there is no finer wine from this continent."

   "Is...it expensive?" asked Anyi.

   "Well, it's certainly something that I wouldn't be able to afford, that's for sure."

   This bothered Anyi quite a bit. Not just because it cost a lot to a man with his own jet, but because it meant that someone must have given it to him who had even more resources.

   "D-do, you...know who gave it to you?" asked Anyi.

   "I'm going to assume it's the same person who gave us a bad scare back at the site a few weeks ago," X replied in a whisper. He finished his first glass of wine and ate some more of the bread. Anyi shuddered, but tried to put it out of her mind for the evening. In any case, the government was probably not involved, unless they had recently bought a winery.

   "So, where did you learn to bake bread?" Anyi tried her best to change the subject. X smiled and leaned back, putting his arm up to the birdcage behind him in order to drop a piece of bread for his new bluebird.

   "Oh, a friend of mine taught me. She used to own a bakery called, 'Candy & A Current Bun'. Remember that place we went to for lunch?" X turned to Anyi who nodded. "She used to have it there until she passed away."

   Anyi looked down at the bread on the plate in silence. It was a bit of an awkward situation, and she wasn't certain what she should say next, if anything. A car passed by overhead and caused a slight wind to pass outside the window. They both stared out at the city lights below them for a little while. Anyi felt as if she were on the rooftop of one of the highest buildings in the city. It was more of a high balcony than a livingroom, although she was glad that she was warm inside, because it had become a fairly cold night. That in itself was odd for summer weather.

   "So what are we going to do next?" asked X. Anyi turned back to him from the window and shrugged.

   "Well, I was going to go to the planetarium tomorrow for Roll's file and see if I can't get her fixed by tomorrow night. I suppose I should also visit Mrs. Lee, the one who gave me the card."

   X nodded, "I'll be around after lunch, I have some things to do tomorrow. I've got a class to teach in the morning, so we can share the cabfare."

   Anyi looked up in confusion, "Don't you drive?"

   "Yeah, but I've still got some work to do on my bike. I tore the clutch out a week ago on the track at the school," X smiled when Anyi widened her eyes in surprise.

   "You're one of the drivers for the UCO Crosser Club?" asked Anyi. She used to watch them with Ivan when the club started a few years ago. They always went to the track together on the weekend. She didn't really mind, and actually really liked watching them work on the complex machinery. She had always loved working with machines and never objected to watching them race eachother. Still, it was Ivan who always got so worked up watching them zoom by.

   "Driver?" asked X in amusement. "I started it three years ago, and I'm still the president!"

   Anyi laughed and finished her second glass of wine, "I just can't see you on a cycle...well I guess I did, because I used to watch the races! I guess you have to do something in your offtime."

   "Well, what else did you used to do before I showed up and wrecked your social life?" asked X with a bit of a chuckle. Anyi gave him a mock glare before continuing.

   "Well, before I left for my research in the USE, I worked part-time at both Caine Labs and the planetarium," she replied. X went back to the kitchen to slice some more bread.

   "Really?" he said loudly from behind the counter. "I don't recall seeing you at Caine Labs during the war."

   "Well...I was one of Dr. Caine's lackies in the basement," Anyi replied. "I do remember seeing you quite a few times though. We never did meet, I usually tried to stay out of the way."

   "Working on the Reploid Free Will Design Project, I take it?" X noted Anyi's surprise at mentioning the 'secret'. "I knew about it ever since it started. Pretty ambitious to try and figure out the flaw which allowed the Maverick Virus to take over...too bad it didn't work."

   X finished the last part silently before cheering up a bit. "Well, what's done is done. I'm glad you're here now to help me with Roll and some of my more unpleasant past."

   "Dr. Light's lab must have been important. I'm kinda sorry we never got the chance to get any real information from there," Anyi took another sip. "All we managed to salvage were a few diagrams, some early notes, and a few security tapes. And your...um 'sister', of course."

   "Ah, don't worry about it. We found enough...I just hope we figure out who seems to be so adamant to stop us from finding out too much," X replied silently, filling his glass for a third time.

   "Did you and Zero manage to figure out anything else?" asked Anyi. X shook his head.

   "Right now, everything is pointing to Yaven Enterprises, but the info was too easy to figure out. I'm pretty sure the government isn't involved either way, but I don't think that whomever attacked us at the site intended to kill us at all. Just to scare the military into shutting the place down so that we couldn't get any information from it. I guess someone that knows about my past got worried about us figuring something out. That's the working theory right now, anyway," X paused at times to take a sip from his glass. He offered to fill Anyi's glass for a fourth time, but she just held her hand over the glass.

   "Forget it, anymore and I won't be doing much of anything tomorrow," she chuckled a bit. The wine certainly did manage to relax her, and she felt like she would soon be heading off to bed. "I just wish that Jhuah Lan didn't get caught up in it...I barely knew him, and yet..."

   Anyi felt the familiar lump in her throat like she did in the hospital when she found out about her older assistant's death. It bothered her, since she had never seen anyone die before. It wasn't exactly a normal occurence in her life, and she wasn't sure how to deal with it. Suddenly, a loud knock came from the door. X stood up quickly and walked over to answer it. Anyi decided that maybe a fourth glass of wine wouldn't be so bad after all.

   "Why hello Mr. Layne! I managed to find that mattress for you!" the old landlord smiled as she looked up at X. She motioned for someone outside the door to bring the mattress through the door. Mrs. Petersen saw Anyi and nudged X. X smiled politely as her husband and his friend put the mattress down on the floor. The landlord was beside herself with happiness and winked at X knowingly before dragging her husband out violently.

   "Come on, we have to leave those two alone!" she yelled. Her husband yelped when she grabbed him. The friend shrugged and followed behind them, closing the door. X just shook his head at the odd display.

   "Don't mind Mrs. Petersen, she was looking for a mattress so that I could replace the one in my bedroom," X picked up the mattress with one hand and moved it next to the bedroom door. Anyi started laughing just from the absurdity of the last few moments.

   "What's so funny?" asked X, turning back around. Anyi just shook her head.

   "Nothing," she replied, filling her glass again. X took the now empty bottle and gave her a quizzical look with a raised eyebrow.

   "Hey, X," Anyi started, taking a large sip again. "How did you and Zero meet, anyway?"

   X put the empty bottle on top of the kitchen cabinet with the rest of his empty wine bottles. He turned back around to face Anyi, who seemed to be a little tipsy from all the drink.

   "I..ah, met him about ten years ago. Sigma was the first Maverick Hunter leader and brought Zero in as an unidentified reploid. After Dr. Caine ran some tests on Zero, Sigma contracted the Maverick virus and went completely nuts," X paused to put the two empty glasses away on the overhead rack. "I dunno, it all went to hell after that day. Zero and I were assigned to work together and I was chosen to replace Sigma as the Beta Epsilon squad leader. The day I met Zero was the day the war was declared."

   Anyi stayed silent for a few moments, "The war was never on the news except when a few skirmishes happened in Cluster One. I don't even think the news made it to the other countries. I think it's kinda strange that they would try to keep the war out of the media when Rock was practically a legend as Megaman!"

   X shrugged. She knew that he was uncomfortable with the issue, but she thought it was important to talk about it, so she pressed further.

   "X, what was it like?" asked Anyi.

   "I dunno. I had a lot of questions during the war, such as why humans hated Reploids so much. I guess they felt threatened and were afraid of us. It's funny to think the war was between reploids. One side trying to stop the other from hurting humans...when the humans were against both of us," X paused again and picked up the dirty plate with the vinegar on it. "Pretty weird, huh?"

   Anyi shook her head and felt a little dizzy from doing it. "No, it's not weird at all. I never really heard a lot about the war myself, until I started working at Caine labs. That Maverick virus sure was tough. It shut down and took over reploid systems as if it was more of a possessive protocol. I wonder who designed such a thing..."

   X shrugged and went to put the mattress in his bedroom. He disappeared for a few minutes, giving Anyi time to resume her gaze out at the moon. Personally, she couldn't understand the war. Sigma had apparently started it as a civil war against the slavery which humans imposed on all reploids. The reploids who didn't agree with the war and wanted to take a peaceful route to end their slavery fought against Sigma in a government funded group known as The Maverick Hunters. It must have been a crazy time for X, and Anyi probably would never understand it. She kinda hoped she never would either. She realized that the stars looked rather fuzzy and decided that she must be tired. Yes, that was it, just tired, that's what always happened when she stayed up this late. Especially with that much wine in her system.

   "I managed to get your bed ready for you. You look tired, so we probably should call it a night," X said, stepping from his bedroom. Anyi stood up and immediately stumbled into the nearest couch. She started giggling uncontrollably, trying to make it up the stairs to the bedroom. She nearly fell over and probably would have if X hadn't managed to grab her arm before she collided with the wall.

   "I think I'm gonna have a headache tomorrow," she said with a giddy attitude. She hugged onto X for support. X was surprised by this motion and gently dragged her into the bedroom.

   "Alright, Anyi, you're gonna stay right he--" he was interrupted by her loud sigh. She was already asleep. He smiled and put her down on the bed. He walked out into the livingroom and made sure his bluebird was alright before he lied down on the couch. Just before he shut off his systems, he wondered if perhaps he should mention the electronic message that was attached to the wine bottle label. The one that set a very specific meeting place and time for him, and him alone.

   ***

   Author's Comments: Yay! It's finally done! Geeze, that was probably the longest chapter I have ever written. It took a hell of a lot longer than I expected it would. I'm gonna have to start earlier on these chapters! ^_^

   Anyway, hopefully I managed to catch everyone up to speed on the current situation. The next chapter is a...well, that's a secret! Until next time!

Michael Raymond Vendittelli (LimousineDriver)