Archive of Our Own ^beta

Everything was peaceful at Maverick Hunter HQ. Each individual takes care of his own affairs during one of those rare days of vacation that was offered to them.

X decided to surprise Zero, the surprise, take him to a dinner party. He knew it wasn't Zero's style, but he wanted to eat at a restaurant so badly, it had been weeks, and with the Mavericks constantly bombarding the city, X could only dream of relaxing.

Then knowing Zero, he would love any gift or outing that X gave him, saying in his deep voice, "just your presence is enough for me X", although X would like him to express his ideas more clearly.

Despite all the perfect conditions, one problem persists, Axl, as much as X adores the young hunter, he wants his outing to be only with Zero. He wanted the vibe to remain calm and romantic, which is the exact opposite of Axl, who he said was rather rowdy, and will surely want to scream from the rooftops to go to McDonald's instead.

Not that X didn't like the place, but still. He then had to find a solution to keep Axl at thr HQ. X immediately knew that he had to go buy him a game, so he could play quietly with it tonight, and then sneak away, without the young man realizing it.

But then someone would need to make sure Axl stays at HQ nicely, and even just keep him, because the boy would be able to burn the base with water. But then, there came the last question:

Who's going to keep Axl?

X thinks of Alia, but she, Layer, and Palette are out on a girl's date tonight. There was Signas, but the poor man was already not taking any break to make sure that the hunter's vacations did not impact the safety of the city. Knowing him, he wouldn't say no, but X knew deep down he wouldn't end the day with Axl on his back.

X knew that there were many other people. But they would have to be about the same strength as the Axl (S-rank at least), or someone who has his respect, who aside from the three girls (who could scare anyone, even Sigma ), and X and Zero, no one else had.

It was getting complicated. Massimo? No, he would be too scared to say no to Axl. Cinnamon? No, she would let him do everything and even join him, plus pull him out of any situation. Gaudile? No, he would be too wrapped up in his research to notice what Axl is doing.

There was only one person left, Marino, her unwavering calm, her ability to spot Axl and follow him thanks to her speed capable of competing with the fastest beings, and even tired an elephant, she would be perfect for the job.

Now that all the steps were complete, X just had to put his plan into action.

X then called Marino through her communicators, loyal as she was, she got to X in no time.

Marino greeted him, "Hey X, do you need me? Or maybe this is to take a picture of Zero~."

"No! Of course not! It's to keep Axl!" X bellowed, shouting. Marino laughed, "Sure! I can keep him, I know this kid well enough to know that without supervision, he's a war machine!" Marino laughs.

"But why should I keep him, what is it for?" she continues. Then X blushed, twisting his fingers. "I wanted to go to a restaurant with Zero. I would like to spend a quiet night alone with him…" he said dreamily. Marino quickly understood, and she accepted. The two manage to meet again this evening at 7 p.m.

X decided to go to the store, he had some snacks for Marino and Axl, then went to the games section." Doom? Call of Duty? Warcraft? Oh no, it was too violent for the kid." (In his mind at least).

While X was debating which game he could buy, he saw a cute game with little animals on an island. “Yeah, that could be fun,” he thought, the pictures looked cute, then walked back to HQ, not forgetting to grab some treats for himself.

When X had returned, he rested then decided that he was ready to join Marino. He felt like he was making a big deal out of it, but Axl was just too scary for him at times. He then approached Marino.

"Well X, it's not your habit to be late." she mumbled, X showing her the game bought for Axl. "I'm going to give him this game I just bought him. It should keep him calm for the evening." X replied, ignoring Marino's comments. Marino nodded before following X to Axl's room.

They were surprised to find Axl in his charging pod. X looked at Marino pityingly, as she stared at him in dread. Axl is going to be 100% tonight.

Marino was still lamenting her fate while X got on his hunter ride with Zero, he waved his hand at Marino before leaving. Marino turned around leaving for the HQ kitchen to swallow an E-Tanks, before exhausting herself just thinking of the evening ahead. Marino decides to leave Axl asleep as long as possible.

Marino tries to hide the evidence of X's departure as quickly as possible too.

"What are you doing?". Marino shouted, seeing Axl outside the door. Marino had to recognize Axl's undercover skills at the time, because she hadn't seen him coming.

Marino stammered not knowing what to say before quickly pulling out the game X had bought for Axl, he screamed in excitement, and Marino saw stars in his eyes. He took the game out of Marino's hand and ran to his room.

Marino, relieved that this is going smoothly, goes to watch TV, happy that Axl does not ask where X was.

Slowly, her eyes closed, and, despite the E-Tanks, she hardly saw the TV anymore, then ended up falling asleep.

Noises? pencil noises on a blackboard?

Marino slowly opened her eyes, noticing that she was strapped to a chair, and in front was Axl, wearing a commander's outfit similar to Signas's one. "So Marino, are you up to something with X now?" Marino, now completely stressed, tried to free herself, but it served to nothing. Axl leaned towards her, "If you help me, I promise you all the gold and silver in the world." He said with a deep voice.

"I would create an empire, and avenge myself for the betrayal of X and his sidekick Zero!" Axl continued in a dark voice, Marino refused, "I would never be with you demon, you will not have me behind your back, I can see clearly in your little game." finished Marino with an angry but secretly playful air, recognizing Axl's "come on let's play a game" tone.

"But-! I had feedback from your exploits! If you join my ranks. I will give you this." Axl pulled out a packet of candy, Marino's favorites. She looked at him sharply, "Alright, okay, tell me your plans, and I'll see them through." She says.

Axl revealed to her that his real intention to appropriate the base, he would steal all the rooms, then sell them, to pocket enough money, and create his own fast food chain.

Marino was totally up for the idea, so Axl untied Marino, and gave him the candies.

They created cardboard armor to put on top of their own one, and Axl baked his sweetest cakes for the toughest of situations.

Then, just like that, the two of them conquering the HQ with the help of Nerf gun and soda and cardboard weapons, Axl entered Alia's room.

"Ok Marino, I'm in front of Alia's room, the door is unlocked. I'm going to secure the perimeter, and hopefully give you the signal." "Very well." Marino asserted. After Axl gave her the signal, she stepped into the bedroom. She approached the bed, then Marino gently put a small flag on top of it ,with her head and the one of Axl in the form of a drawing on it.

They then left to conquer each room without getting caught with the gift of speed from Marino, who was putting up flags everywhere.

But as everything was going perfectly, Axl saw a shadow creep dangerously close to Marino. He leaps up, then brandishes his cardboard sword in front of the suspicious individual.

Palette.

It was a palette, but what was she doing there? While Axl expected a tough fight. Palette made a deal with them.

"You and I, Axl, have one enemy in common, Signas." Axl told him to continue, so Palette voiced his concerns. "Yes, Signas, he got all of our lands, every place we walk is not ours. Seeing your unwavering bravery that allowed you to claim my room, I wish to walk with you. In return for that, my room comes back to my rights, but also you'll add the whole hallway. If you do me this favor, I will offer you the maps of the base plus my skills as a navigator. "

"How did you know that so soon! I just checked out your room!" Axl cried. "I am a professional, I have all the basic info and I hear everything. So I was saying, I will give you my most precious possessions. So?" Palette proposed.

After not too long of a thought, Axl agreed and then shook hands with Palette honoring the Pact. Our perfect trio, formed from a leader, a melee fighter, and the other at long range. Nothing stopped them, they were advancing twice as fast thanks to the navigation and the plans of the whole base. The poor reploids who walked in the corridors, all didn't know about the secret attack that was gonna happen on their commanders. Axl, Marino and Palette left for their final and most important mission of all.

Stretching out, their weapons prepared, even Palette's, a huge crash was heard. "What was that?" Marino turned to find the door's keeper:

Massimo

Carrying proudly, looking great with his huge axe, capable of being carried only by a colossus like him, he finally announced, "It's easier for you to surrender! Ignorant! You think you are overpowered, but I have been watching you all the time, and I can certainty say that you are not stronger than me! "

Axl felt the stress build, his foam armor was much more powerful than theirs cardboard because it blocked all hits without shock. Our three characters were prepared for the worst, as they were still tired of their expedition from earlier.

But then the colossus fell flat, his head directly facing the ground. Palette raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I must have scared him." Cinnamon stepped out from behind the form of the Colossus, laughing calmly. "Can I play with you?" she asked. Axl took the lead, "It's not a game, it's a duty for freedom!" he cried.

Cinnamon then decided to follow them, a determined look on his face. A caregiver had now joined the team.

They then advance towards the room where Signas is. Slowly little by little they entered one by one. The place will send goosebumps to anyone who dares cross it. Here was therefore Signas, his back facing them, without speaking. The four slowly advance, taking their time to detect the slightest attack, as the boss in his perfectly groomed waxed metal armor gave them a look that seemed more exasperated than anything else.

Taking the lead, and not hesitating about his steps, Axl jumped on Signas, closely followed by his teammates, Clinging on to Signas more in the form of a bear hug than anything else. Even Marino was there. But the mission was not only to immobilize the colonel, it was also necessary to remove his commander's hat.

Signas didn't react, leaving the younger ones to have fun on his back and grab the hat over his head. As soon as Axl put the hat on, his three teammates kneeling in front, Axl spoke up, "I promise as much fast food as I can in this place, also huge rooms! And 15 sofas per hallway.!" Axl's team members cheer him on and applaud, while Signas gives an exasperated but affectionate sigh.

Axl's audio sensors have recorded noise, from 4 people to be exact. The muffled noise came closer and closer to finally see the door open. Then giving way to an exasperated alia, a surprised Layer, an embarrassed X and an amused Zero.

Then Alia cut Axl off before he said anything and then focused on Palette. "You said you were going to ask them to calm down! Not play with them! We shouldn't left you with Axl so often, you'll get his nonsense Palette!" Alia growled. Palette looked at the time, then removed her fake cardboard plate, and walked away from the others, before rushing into her apartments, saying that she had to hurry because her show was about to start. Yeah, she was ignoring Alia.

Cinnamon would never get yelled at, especially with his angelic face and her priceless innocence. So she politely greeted Alia, Layer, X and Zero, before heading back to the medical bay letting known that she had a great time with them, only Marino and Axl were left coming down from Signas' back. The poor man now had his back stuck and disheveled hair.

X approached Signas profusely apologizing, while Zero walked towards Axl and Marino, X soon joining them.

"You could have stayed calm. Look at poor Signas, he can't stand up anymore." X growled. Axl approached them with an indescribable look on his face, "You didn't have to leave me here alone!" he said.

Marino spoke up, "But Axl, they just wanted to hang out together."

"Oh."

.

.

.

"Well! Y'all just could've told me!" Axl laughed, scratching the back of his head. X, Zero and Marino fell to the ground. “Seriously…” Marino muttered.

X looked at Marino and thought, 'I would have known Marino was so chaotic, I would have taken Axl with us, he would have had fun around the games… "X sighed, he just wanted to go lie down with Zero and not move anymore.

The evening had been so perfect with Zero, except for his system and Zero's one alarming them over and over that someone had entered their rooms.

Frankly the kid should be careful if he doesn't want to stumble upon something that will later regret.

But for now X was just thankful that everyone had played along and let Axl have fun.

Or maybe they just hadn't noticed, who knows?

Marino was already starting to falter, she told x it was because she was tired, but he knew it was from the E-Tanks. It was always because of the E-Tanks. X should stop her from drinking the strawberries, she liked them way too much, but maybe that's what influenced her to play with the children despite her maturity.

As Marino left, emitting "eep!" X turned his gaze to Axl and…

"Wow !!!" Zero used his dash to catch Axl, “Is he asleep already ?!” Zero pointed out. He only had 20 percent left, "And Signas too ?!" cried X.

"What time is it?" Zero asked, X's eyes widening, "4am, oops…" he replied.

The two lovers had no idea they had been gone this long, but they were having such a good time together. This therefore explains the tiredness of Signas, who had to prevent the alarms from going off all evening to avoid general panic, while making sure each time that it was indeed Axl and not an enemy.

X handed a portable charge to Signas, who thanked him before falling back to sleep on his desk again.

Frankly he almost wanted to get angry at Axl, but the little one looked so peaceful when he slept, he would see this with him later... or maybe never… he'll see.

As Zero takes Axl to his room, his arms and legs do not let Zero go, then looking at X in distress, X smiles in amusement.

"Very well." he started, "he will sleep with us tonight.". Zero smiled back, carrying Axl to their shared bedroom.

X and Zero lay down in their bed, while Zero kissed X on his gem making him giggle. As they both fall asleep.

Waiting a few more minutes, Axl's wakes up.

"I got them~ I could still last through the night, but of all the HQ places, this one is my favorite" Axl muttered to himself.

Axl ultimately stretched his arms out, then positioned himself comfortably under the snug blanket, and fell back asleep with both of his foster parents.