XerØ "The Soldier: Book 2": The story opens with a young Trent contemplating suicide, to avoid the torture which would precede death at 0ne's hands. That, and to escape the guilt over getting Trane killed...he's not convinced Six is really Trane...or even if it's the right body, if it's his brother in there. Trane, for his part, needs Trent. Maybe he won't admit he needs Trent as a brother, but he *does* need the jerk as an ally against 0ne. It's only a matter of time before Trane poses a serious threat to 0ne's position, and when that happens, well, there can be only 0ne. The help Trent gives comes in the form of some nasty practical jokes, designed to show that 0ne has weaknesses and generally get Decker looking to side with Trane instead. Using a trick later to be borrowed by 0ne, Trent goes in drag in the place of a Target Warrant subject (who was killed earlier and replaced with Folger's...wait, no) while a disguised Trane slips something onto 0ne's suit to make his sensors think it's the target. Shows how 0ne's too impulsive, doesn't check all the angles on the way in, trusts the mission statement too much. The second prank uses a solidgram (the kind of hologram Decker has around the house...it's solid and can do things like hold guns, bleed, etc) to sucker 0ne into a pointless fight against a fake foe. By showing they can play 0ne like a cheap guitar, the pair proved their worth and got promoted to Xer0. Yeah, *they* did. It's not said out loud, but when you think about it, Trane is not Xer0, the team of Trane and Trent is Xer0. 0ne is just one, but Xer0 is two. So, having heard the story, Gwen goes and sets up a trap in the bathroom, climbs out the window...and runs into Trent. He knew a woman was gunning for him, so he sent his son out to troll for assassins. In other words, the brash "Young Trent" act was just an act...be as big a jerk as possible and hope to scare off any sane woman not determined to get close to dad. And Gwen was indeed determined to get close to dad...he was her dad too. The "disposable babe" from last issue was her mother, and she was simply out for revenge, not a Closer. An interesting story which may never be told (I doubt Priest ever planned to do more with this future era) is about what Gwen decides to do once Trent finishes writing his book and decides to let those trying to kill him do so. Will he give her first crack? Would she want to take it, knowing now what she does? Would it almost be a comedy of errors like the attempts to kill Clouseau? Hmmmmm. In lieu of a lettercol, we get a text piece by Trent, obviously published prior to the writing of his book, about Trane the bad-boy Bball player. Oh, it's definitely worth noting that while Xer0 may not be getting great support from the boys in Corporate, the editors are certainly backing Priest to the hilt. To wit, page 10, panel 2...Decker ain't sayin' "noogie," eh? Finally, so Priest doesn't think I missed a major (if not THE major) point of this issue, there *is* a resolution to the recurring question of "Am I your brother?" from Trane. Dave Van Domelen, "His name was Xer0. And he was my brother." - Trent's book, final lines we see in #8.