SUMMARY
Within the ruins of an Maverick Hunter Base, a mass of wires coming from a single aircraft is laid out leading within the building. Inside the building, Zero attempts to uncover X's details but discovers that they are all sealed away. As he continues searching for clues, Zero's arm suddenly switches to his buster as the surroundings light up, with a familiar face appearing on the screen nearby who orders Zero to go to Point Z-O-R-X. Zero rushes back to the ship, and flies towards the given coordinates.

Zero arrives at the Airport, realizing the entire place covered in scattered remains of machines. X wonder what happened here as X lands in front of him, knocked out. Zero helps X up, as he hears a familiar voice. Zero looks up, and sees Storm Eagle on top of a control tower. Eagle flies down as Zero rushes to him, but is stopped by Eagle's buster shot hitting the ground in front of him. Eagle says whether Zero intends to shake hands and have a happy reunion of sorts, and Zero asks whether Eagle is still holding a grudge due to "that incident". Eagle says that all that talk as a man is pitiful, and that he's here to deal with X and for Zero to get out of the way. Zero switches to his buster, saying that X is their "hope" and that he would not allow Eagle to do the deed. Zero and Eagle stare each other down, and Eagle strike off Zero's cracked helmet with a single strike. Zero falls to the ground as Eagle walks away, saying that Zero's unqualified as a Hunter if he hesitated to open fire on a Hunter. Zero attempts to tell Eagle to wait as he falls unconscious, and hears Eagle say that he's chosen to go with Sigma.

As Zero struggles to regain consciousness, a flashback shows a Hunter Trainee Zero shooting down targets in a virtual space training room. After clearing training, Zero thinks to himself that he wishes to see some real action instead. Zero is followed through the base by fans saying that he's even cleared Rank D's simulation, but is annoyed by the attention as he thinks to himself that he's not a celebrity. Zero comes across Eagle, who's telling his own group of followers to stop following him around and go back to training. The other Hunters following Zero identify Eagle, saying that he's the top-class B-Rank Hunter, and he's the only other person to have cleared Rank D of the virtual training course. Zero and Eagle cross paths on their way, and call each other names and are held back by their followers before they wreck the place with their fighting.

Zero having good memories of the old days, the flashback continues showing Eagle and Zero chasing after a bank robber Maverick who fires missiles from his back, stunning Eagle but is stopped by Zero's punch. Eagle catches up as Zero tells him that this makes 17 times he has saved Eagle, who responds back that he saved Zero 14 times. They continue bickering, but is stopped by Teal who says she has heard a lot about Zero from Eagle. Zero takes Eagle aside, asking who this is as Eagle reveals Teal to be his girlfriend. Zero continues to embarrass Eagle in front of Teal as she looks at them confused.

The flashback again continues as Zero starts remembering the events that ended him and Eagle's friendship. Hunters were called to intercept aircraft 017 bound for the North Pole after it was hijacked with a female Hunter also taken hostage. The hijackers check on their Hunter hostage, revealing Teal bound by cords designed to hold down Maverick Hunters. Teal retorts that their plan has failed as the best Special-A Hunters are bound to show up and put a stop to their plans. Sure enough, Eagle is flying towards the ship while holding up Zero by his arms. Eagle says that the hijackers cannot be forgiven as Zero thinks that he's feeling sorry for the hijackers themselves for incurring Eagle's anger. Zero tells Eagle to keep watch outside as his judgment is hindered by Teal being captured hostage, and to let him handle things. Eagle agrees as Zero enters the aircraft. Zero dispatches one of the hijackers easily, and makes fun of Teal (who is revealed to be an A-Rank Hunter now) for being caught so easily. Eagle notices that the plane is flying towards a heavy thunderstorm and is unable to follow. He retreats, saying that he's going to entrust Teal to Zero. Zero shoots down several hijackers as Teal prepares to open a door with Zero ready to fire at what's behind it. Teal opens the door, but reveals a small walking robot toy walking through it. Zero looks at Teal in confusion, but realizes the toy's head contains an explosive as Zero jumps over it, containing the explosion with his own body. The remaining hijacker reveals himself covered in dynamite, saying that he likes strong women and especially their screams. Teal aims her buster at the hijacker, but the hijacker says that shooting him would cause the explosives around his body to go off. Zero gets up, and aims his buster at the hijacker, saying that he's serious. Zero fires and hits the top of the aircraft, causing the rain outside to pour straight down on the hijacker causing all of the explosives to become unusable. The sealant system of the aircraft activates, patching up the hole in the roof as the hijacker slumps down defeated. Zero tells the hijacker that he doesn't want to kill him and that he's to be taken back for repairs, but the hijacker refuses and pulls a time bomb out of his mouth. He says the bomb will go off in 10 seconds, and Zero had no choice but to shoot him in the head, defeating him. Zero grabs the bomb, but falls down after attempting to run due to his injuries earlier. Teal grabs the bomb and rushes away. As Teal prays to have Eagle protect her, she attempts to throw the bomb out of the an open aircraft door but the storm causes the aircraft to sway, forcing her to lose her grip on the door and fall out. The bomb goes off mid-air, and Teal is destroyed.

Zero wakes up from the dream, and remembers that shortly afterwards Eagle transferred to a different unit as a result of the incident, and that Zero had no chance to apologize to him for it. Zero receives a call from X, who says he's headed to the airport once again and that he's going to defeat Eagle and obtain the parts he came for. Aboard Eagle's mother ship, X is struck down by Eagle's Storm Tornado. Eagle says X is incapable of being the "hope" Zero says he is, and that it's laughable that X's current strength would be capable of defeating him. X fires several shots, retorting that he may be inexperienced but he'll continue growing stronger by fighting. Eagle prepares a gust of wind with his wings, saying that X's wisdom and bravery is insufficient and he's still weak because of it. The gusts of wind dissipate X's buster shots, and Eagle taunts X by saying that whatever Special-A Rankers X defeated with his limited wisdom and bravery are nothing more than mere fakes. Angering X, Eagle turns his back on him saying he'll show X true strength by allowing X 5 seconds to shoot him, revealing his weakness as his back. As Eagle counts down, X is overwhelmed by the pressure Eagle gives off in addition to the self-doubt caused by what Eagle said. As X snaps out of it, he notices Eagle has vanished. Eagle dives towards X, hitting him while saying he's foolish for losing sight of his opponent during a fight. Meanwhile, Zero gets back onto his aircraft and heads towards X's location, saying he hopes to make it in time.

Back to X's fight against Eagle, X's right arm is impaled through an antenna as Eagle tells X he can no longer move, and that the ideals of wisdom and bravery are nothing more than foolish illusions. Eagle continues by saying wisdom and bravery is like a weak glass cane hitting a strong steel axe, and that none of X's opponents up to now are comparable to the latter. Eagle shoots X down from the antenna, as X falls down thinking he is unable to win despite knowing Eagle's weakness. X thinks of a way to get behind Eagle, and attempts to reach him with a dash jump. Eagle retorts by saying he wants to see a Reploid commit suicide, X realizing he would fall off attempts to stop dead in his tracks. Eagle continues mocking X, calling his wisdom primitive as he fires more Storm Tornado attacks at X. X dodges them but is struck down as he is cornered at the side of a ship. Eagle lands, stomping on X as he says that X is fated to fall off after all. Eagle says it is fitting of X to die this way as he doesn't even need to fire a single shot to finish him, befitting of the weak. Eagle continues to tell X that his reliance on bravery and being their "hope" is a joke, and that he's no more than a self-righteous "fake hero" because of it. X gets back up, attempting to fire a shot at Eagle telling him that Eagle is wrong. Eagle takes flight again as X gets back up, as he sees the sun emerge as the clouds part. Eagle notices X's eyes aren't void of life, as X makes a dash jump right behind Eagle, shooting him in the back. Eagle is damaged badly, but calls X a fool as his dash jump would cause him to fall 5000 meters to his death. However, a massive gust of air blows through the hole in the clouds, pushing X back to safety on top of the mother ship. Eagle realizes X had it planned out as clouds parting in such a way means a strong gust of wind is approaching. X tells Eagle that his "wisdom" is for survival, and "bravery" is to overcome any odds, and that they make up his own strength.

X prepares to fire another shot at Eagle, but Zero arrives and throws X a helmet, calling it a medal from Eagle. A weakened Eagle tells Zero to stop saying unnecessary things, but Zero tells him that it's enough. X asks what's going on while Zero tends to Eagle, telling X that this was just a test to see if X was worthy. Zero continues by telling X that Eagle had to be the "villain" in order to prevent execution by Sigma, and it was all an act. X looks down at the helmet, shocked at what he had done. Eagle tells Zero again that talking isn't very manly, and Zero agrees softly. X's old helmet falls to the floor as Eagle and Zero look towards him, saying it looks great on him. Eagle tells Zero that he's got a great subordinate, and Zero says that X is everyone's "hope". Eagle reaches out to Zero with his hand, having forgiven Zero for what happened before as Zero looks happily but before their hands meet, Eagle dies.

Later on, a funeral is held by X and Zero as Eagle's body is launched into space by a small space pod. X cries as he tells Zero that he killed his friend, but Zero responds by saying that this is what Eagle wanted, and asks Eagle's pod the same thing. As the space pod goes out of view, Zero tells X that it's time to go. But in Zero's mind, he envies X for his ability to express emotion through tears, and the fighting is not over.

COMMENTARY
With not one but two major plots going on at the same time (albeit at different times in-story), this chapter probably has the most content in this series. Not only are we given lots of characterization with all the major characters, but we are also given a lot of backstory involving Zero and Storm Eagle and their early days before Sigma's uprising, making this chapter on-par with (or even surpasses) the Armored Armadillo story arc. The main story of X's fight against Eagle was not only a trial of strength, but a psychological one as X's convictions are being tested by Eagle's strong will. Eagle's show of self-confidence and talking down on his own Special A Rank Hunters may come off as arrogant, but unlike most of them it arguably comes off as justified as he proves he's not all-talk either. We are also given the first look of Zero without his helmet, and this version of him is human-like and not just exposed mechanical parts underneath like with concept art of him from games and toys at the time. By extension, does that mean X can also take his helmet off at will? Also unlike the previous scenarios there is little to no elements of Storm Eagle's stage being shown here, though this was exchanged in favor of the backstory between Zero and Eagle, which I was fine with as it meant having more pages to focus on X's struggle against Eagle as well.

The backstory of Zero's interaction and Eagle starts off light-hearted as shown by having their squabbles drawn in a comedic style, which gradually becomes more serious as the flashback reaches the moment Zero and Eagle go their separate ways. Prior to that, their interaction was fun to watch which include immature bickering to friendly one-upping each other with how much one owes the other something which reminds me of Isamu and Guld's tongue-in-cheek interactions in Macross Plus. Given their time working together, it really played on the drama when Eagle gets himself mortally wounded and dies just before he and Zero finally reconcile (even though the intention still gets through to him). Being a fan favorite, I like to think that this series' portrayal of Eagle does him justice, and given the sequence of interactions I am quite convinced that later appearances of him such as the "Day of Sigma" OVA (2005) takes some influence from this version of him.

Speaking of which, Teal is the second original character introduced to this series and plays the tragic figure role that becomes the catalyst of Zero and Eagle's falling out. Much like Marth in the Chill Penguin story arc, her inclusion served the intended purpose of the story. Visually, Teal's design is very 'human' and has an 80s mecha-musume feel to it due to her slim leg and arm proportions unlike more obviously mechanical characters like Alia or Cinnamon. Incidentally, the part when the sealant repairs the aircraft hull reminds me of the ball sealant used by space colonies and ships in First Gundam, again showing some of this series' influences when it comes to small details.

Now that X has three out of his four upgrades, we can assume that he would be obtaining his last upgrade from Zero like in the original game given the fact that the buster upgrade was skipped in the previous arc. With only two more boss characters left, we would see how that scene would be handled.