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The New Hands is the eleventh chapter of Mega Man X: Unit 49's Season 2.
The chapter introduces the five new members of the 49th Unit that joined thanks to Elika's efforts: Red Thunder, Trickster, Falsetto, Ying and Illusion. Elika gathers them with the rest of the [Maverick Hunters]] at the Mission Center and updates them about the status of the war and all the information acquired about Saturn and the Neo Maverick Army. Elika points at how vulnerable is an organization made of untrustworthy people, so Saturn would need to indoctrinate them strong enough to make his troops loyal and resist the temptation of the bounties offered by Earth's Government to leak information. It would be easy to infiltrate a Maverick Hunter in the ranks of the NMA with a New Generation Reploid. However, there was no one available for that task. Illusion and Falsetto suggests that they should take every opportunity to force the enemy to spill intel through fear.
Elika is annoyed by Red Thunder's behavior.
Elika also shows the data acquired from the blacklist of Kerbekeros, who became interested in Saturn's plans during their blackmarket deals, the mission report from the Iberian Castle and his conclusion about Kran's real story. Red Thunder became extremely angry towards that idea, since he was almost a victim of Maestro and his two colleagues were killed by Dikho. Of all people, Elika knew the feeling of seeing his friends being murdered in front of him, so Red Thunder could not believe he could ever say that. It did not matter if Kran was stupid enough to fall into Maestro's talk and was innocent in the beginning, he was a threat as soon as he got his hand dirty and so he was just like any other Maverick.
X interrupts him to explain that the point was that the lack of caution from their decisions could have triggered several Reploids to become Mavericks. Red Thunder is filled with even more anger and blames X for the disaster at the Iberian Castle and adds the fact that several Maverick Hunters could have survived the Maverick Spring if X had not left the front lines to solve things through peaceful means, and the Mavericks that appeared in that time will now destroy the world. Falsetto breaks up the fight and Zero gives Red Thunder a look of contempt as he passes by him.
X goes outside and begins thinking about his own acts and what had been said to him. Alia approaches trying to calm him, but what was really afflicting X was Widhalm's fierce determination and belief that he was right in supporting Saturn. When X was in despair about to give up, he was suddenly refilled with strenght and remembered about his duty, and so his hand began to glow just like in the very beginning of the Maverick Wars when he confronted Sigma for the first time. Alia proposes to investigate X's hidden mechanisms, but he is convinced that he must learn to deal with his own problems and become resolute by his own, since that is what Dr. Light would want.
Saturn in a throne room that belongs to the Mysterious Man.
Meanwhile, Saturn questions the Mysterious Man about the need of buying so many Jammers and Repeaters. He justifies with the war advantage of blocking teleports and communication whenever they please. Once again, the Mysterious Man manifests his concern about the amount of power given to Kerbekeros and that sending all the resources to the Arashiha Citadel was a dangerous idea, since he can try taking over the army. Saturn is aware of the danger, but reminds him that it is a risk too great to do the jobs themselves, no matter how much damage they could cause together. However, if the NMA gets out of their hands, the Earth Army will be allowed to become strong enough and destroy them. They suggest the use of nuclear weapons and the help of a ghost in the next phase of their plan.