The Sins of the Fathers... AA[PGK+] (MMZ, spoilerage?)

[TheWebbuilder]

O-kay, this is a sequel to my other MMZ fic, Either Learn from History, which can be found here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2296629/1/

You are highly encouraged to read that one before continuing this one. Otherwise you probably won't understand a thing that is going on. But for the sake of trying, I'll do a quick summary.

In Either Learn from History, Weil revives and updates the X Hunters and sends them out to hunt down Original X. Things get even more complicated when Leviathan in severely injured in what can only be called a Maverick Attack and the blame is laid on the Resistance, causing Fefnir to attack and destroy the Resistance Base. Harpuia seemingly goes evil and joins Weil's side. He then captures Ciel and unknowingly imprisons her next to a centuries-old Alia, who is just barely surviving in a Neo Arcadian prison. Weil brings Ciel to his lab to gloat and to reveal a rebuilt Sigma. As it turns out, Weil needed Original X's memories so that he can recreate a perfected version of the Maverick Virus, intending to use it and Copy Sigma to set Neo Arcadia and the Resistance at each other's throats in order to weaken both parties. Well, we can't have that so Fefnir comes to his senses and joins Zero in taking Weil out to avenge Leviathan. However, Fefnir balks when Harpuia throws his lot in with Weil. With X's help, Zero frees the REAL Harpuia, revealing the fact that Weil had been impersonating the Thunder Guardian with a Copy-Harpuia duplicate. Much fighting, mass explosions, etc. Zero rescues Ciel and they leave Neo Arcadia, but not before Zero makes a side trip to the Digital World to revive Passy.

Whew...

The Pairings are: FefnirxLeviathan, XxAlia, and mentioned ZeroxIris (Iris will not be resurrected for these fics).

Also, please don't hold ELfH against this fic. My writing style has changed a lot, and I mean a LOT since I wrote that one.

So now the sequel begins: The Sins of the Fathers.

Prologue, Part One: Jailbreak, Alia.

The red warrior silently dropped to the roof of the structure, his golden hair falling into place behind his back. The figure stood to his full height, and looked back up at the sky he had came from.

“Right on target, Hess.” The red-clad figure muttered into his com-link.

“Roger that.” A voice replied over his headset. “Be careful Zero, if you get into trouble there‘s no way we can get you out… unless you get outside of the perimeter. We‘ll be back here in exactly thirty minutes to extract you, so be on time.”

“Acknowledged.” Zero bit off the conversation and turned to examine his surroundings. There wasn’t much else on the roof, and nothing that even resembled security or tracking cameras. So far, so good.

Zero…

The crimson warrior turned slightly, to find the miniature form of Original X hovering behind him.

Zero, once again, I thank you for taking this risk.

“Don‘t mention it.” Zero replied, slightly more warmly than usual. “But any further conversation should wait until I get her out of here.”

Original X nodded once, and then vanished.

“All right, let‘s get started.” The swordsman turned on his heel and sprinted across the roof towards the entrance to the building. A quick slash of his saber took care of the lock, and a swift kick snapped the door to the stairwell open.

Without another word, Zero plunged into the stairwell. The Hunter’s right hand lashed out and latched onto the stairwell railing, and a quick vault over the handrail sent him plummeting down between the rows of stairs in free flight.

101010101010101010101010

Pantheon 123 wasn’t that thrilled with his job. True, as a Neo Arcadian trooper he didn’t have much by the way of feelings in the first place, but what little emotions he did have hated his job. Day in, day out, it was the same thing: trot around the complex and make sure that all of the prisoners were still in their cells.

And since a breakout in Prison 12-03 was unheard of, there wasn't much by way of job variety. The prisoners were safely locked away, he would report back to the warden and begin another round of inspections.

The sheer monotonicity of it was enough to make Pantheon 123 want to stick his head down a blaster cannon and pull the trigger just to liven his life up. But since his loyalty and obedience to the Neo Arcadian empire was hardwired into his life, he went about his job without a complaint- which wouldn’t have changed even if he had the ability to complain verbally.

And so Pantheon 123 was going about his job with the usual vim and not so vigor. He had just finished checking the Alpha Corridor and stepped out onto the B Stairwell when he got the shock of his life.

Something big and red plummeted down the stairwell before his eyes.

A hesitant thrill surged through his being. At last, something unusual was happening. The pantheon rushed over to the handrail and peered over the edge, trying to discover just what it was that had dropped past him.

As Pantheon 123 looked over the handrail he was rewarded for his initiative- with a blaster shot to the face.

Pantheon 123 fell backward from the force of the blow, and stopped functioning even before he hit the floor.

1010101010101010101010101010

Zero reached the bottom of the stairwell, hit the ground, and slid his Buster back into his belt.

Without a thought over his kill, the crimson warrior marched over to the door and made quick work of the lock.

The Hunter’s foot snapped forward, sending the door flying open- and crashing into the two Pantheons on the other side. The force of the impact sent the two robots tumbling to the ground in a daze.

Zero’s blade was on them instantly and in seconds it was over.

“Nice work, Merge.” The crimson warrior looked over at the blue cyber elf hovering over his shoulder.

“Merge does the best Merge can.” The elf shrugged. “Merge just glad that Merge finally learned to detect Pantheons, which Merge couldn‘t do before now.”

“It does make the job easier.” The swordsman nodded. During his previous adventure, Zero had come across the unique cyber elf known as Merge. The little blue elf had the ability to detect and locate beings with which he was fairly familiar, no matter where they were. After extensive work on the elf’s part, the blue sprite had finally learned to detect the generic foot soldiers used by Neo Arcadia.

Zero turned back to the task at hand, examining the hallway in which he found himself. As he had been told there would be, he found the corridor lined on both sides with occupied holding cells for Reploids.

Each one of the captives wasgaping at him in astonishment. If they had a say in the matter, they would have broken out, rather than in.

The warrior didn’t even spare them a nod of acknowledgement, he merely moved on down the hallway, his eyes flicking about in search of…

Two Pantheons entered the hallway from the other side. Instantly each one had their blasters out and was locking onto Zero, at the same time they began to send signals out over their own com-links. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that they were reporting an intruder.

Zero growled slightly over the fact that his cover was blown. Instantly his hand whipped out his Boomerang Shield and activated the barrier, the Pantheon’s shots ‘pinged’ off of his defense and ricocheted away. Not wanting to prolong the battle for fear of an innocent Reploid getting caught in the cross-fire, the crimson warrior snapped his arm forward, discharging his shield. The weapon rocketed down the hall and cleaved through the two soldiers.

The Hunter’s disk circled around and came back to it’s master. Zero plucked it out of the air just as the Pantheons shattered into two halves and fell to the floor.

1010101010101010101010101

Prisoner Alpha Twenty Twenty-four sat with her back against the wall. Another sigh escaping from her lips, memories of days gone by spilling through her mind.

It wasn’t as if she could do much else besides remember the past since she didn‘t have any future. She’d learned the news this morning, the government had finally decided that she had suffered enough and had destined her for ‘retirement’.

In about an hour she would be dead.

The back of Alpha Twenty Twenty-four’s mind wondered just how they would terminate her existence. Over the course of her long life she had seen many ways of retiring Reploids, some humane, others downright barbaric.

It was strange, Alpha Twenty Twenty-four had always thought that the end of her life would be filled with anxiety, fear, and nervousness over dying. But all she felt was this strange sense of… disappointment and regret over the things left unsaid, undone, and unknown.

A creak sounded throughout the cell.

She looked up to find four Pantheons entering her cell, each one had a blaster leveled at her chest.

“Prisoner Alpha Twenty Twenty-four,” The lead drone barked. “You have been scheduled for termination. Comply with us and we guarantee you a painless end.”

“No.” The prisoner’s eyes narrowed. “I was a Navigator, I was a Hunter, I won‘t go down quietly. If I go, I‘m going in battle… just like my love did!”

With a snarl befitting a beast, Alpha Twenty Twenty-four leapt forward to the drone nearest her. Amazingly, she reached the Pantheon before the guard pulled the trigger. Latching onto the Pantheon’s arm, she wrestled it to the side just as the robot fired his weapon. His shot went wild and slammed into the drone beside him.

The drone bucked as a nice-sized hole appeared in its chest.

Alpha Twenty Twenty-four dropped to the floor, her right leg snapping about to catch the guard’s ankles.

And then a stun bolt hit her in the back of the head, startling Alpha Twenty Twenty-Four and knocking the feeling out of her body. With a soft moan she dropped to the ground, unmoving.

“How humane…” Alpha Twenty Twenty-Four thought bitterly. “They can‘t kill me here, they have to keep me alive for my retirement.”

“Hands off the lady, fellows.”

The prisoner blinked in surprise as the Pantheons that were supposed to escort her to her demise went to pieces and their parts collapsed to the floor beside her.

A face slid into her field of view, a hardened detached face, one that had seen more than its share of sorrow and heartbreak. A face with blue eyes framed golden hair.

“Are you all right?” The newcomer stretched out his hand to help the prisoner to her feet.

“I‘m a friend.” The crimson warrior explained. “A friend of a friend actually. We need to get you out of here.”

“That‘s the best suggestion I‘ve heard in years.” The prisoner managed to stand upright with her saviour's help. “My name‘s Alia.”

“Zero.”

Alia’s mouth dropped open in amazement. There was no way that this red clad Reploid could be the legendary Zero, the A Class Maverick Hunter, her ally, her friend… He had to be a reproduction, a copy, he couldn’t be the original…

“Don’t worry about the other prisoners.” Zero didn’t appear to recognize her shock. “Before I came I introduced a computer virus into the system, in about ten minutes the all of the doors to this compound will ‘accidentally‘ unlock. That‘ll give them a chance at freedom.”

The female Reploid nodded slightly, and followed the Hunter out of her cell and down the hallway.

“Mr. Zero! MR. ZERO!” Merge exploded into existence behind the Hunter’s shoulder.

“What is it?” The crimson warrior whirled around to face the elf.

“Many Pantheons are coming Mr. Zero‘s way!” The elf screeched. “Merge detecting many Pantheons!”

“We don‘t have time for this.” Zero glanced at his chronometer. He had less than seven minutes to get outside of the compound so that the others could pick him up via shuttle. It would be a much simpler matter to just beam out with the Trans Server, but the last thing that the Resistance wanted was to leave an ion trail for Neo Arcadia to follow, hence the tremendously involved restrictions they were operating under.

The Hunter glanced up, and spotted a supposedly shatter-proof window at the far end of the hallway. An almost unperceivable grin passes across Zero’s lips. In his experience, anything ’proof’ rarely was. And that window just might be his ticket out of here.

Zero!

“Not now, X.” The crimson warrior hissed under his breath. Already the Pantheons were swarming into the hallway with guns blazing.

There wasn’t any time left, Zero had to act. Grabbing Alia about the waist, the Red Reploid burst into motion, carrying the female Reploid.

“What are you doing?” Alia gasped, “There‘s nowhere down here to go!”

“There is.” The crimson warrior muttered. “That window.”

The former captive‘s eyes went wide. “But we‘re almost ten stories up!”

“I‘ve survived worse.”

“You have, but what about me?”

“I‘m sure you‘ll live.” The warrior muttered as he hunched forward, shielding Alia with his shoulder.

Impact.

The Red Reploid slammed into the barred window with amazing force, so much force that the supposed ‘shatter-proof’ window had shattered. Zero and his captive flew through the now open window and began their long descent to the ground below.

Ignoring Alia’s frantic scream, the crimson warrior looked past the Reploid in his arms to the ground flying up to meet them. About a fourth of a story above the terrain, Zero twisted about and kicked his legs out so that his heels dug into the side of the building. Pushing off from the structure, the Hunter turned his downward plunging into a controlled leap which carried him away from the building and in a wide arc to land on the dusty ground safely.

No sooner had Zero deposited his charge on the ground, than the ground exploded open beneath his feet. The crimson warrior hastily pulled himself into a back-flip, evading whatever it was that had come out of the ground. He landed with saber ignited and ready to attack.

Zero had battled many things during his multiple lives, from robots, to mechaloids, to Mavericks resembling everything from rabbits to sunflowers. Never before had he battled a snake-like being. But in this case, that was just what he found himself facing off against.

A red and black serpent-like robot was looming over him. The robot’s lower half was still buried below-ground, supporting it’s upper body and head.

“I am Night Strike Serpent…” The snake hissed. “And you‘re dead!”

“That‘s what they all say.” Zero sized up his new opponent. The snake was huge, at least one-fourth as tall as the building behind the crimson warrior, which the last time Zero had checked was ten stories high. Top that off with the fact that he had less than four minutes to defeat this guardian and get outside of sensor range, and Zero had a mess on his hands.

“Let‘s go!” Not wasting an instant, the Hunter leapt at Night Strike’s throat, his saber primed and ready.

“It will be a pleasure!” The serpent snapped its head back as four of openings on it’s metal-plated hide appeared. Four missiles exploded out of the openings in Night Strike’s body and ripped through the air towards Zero.

A grunt slipped from the crimson warrior as he twisted neatly in mid-air and planted his feet against side of the first missile. Zero leapt off of the projectile just seconds before it detonated and flipped over to the second rocket before hopping up to the third. A bound from the third missile to the fourth and a dashing jump later, the Hunter was closing in for the kill.

Zero’s blade sliced through the air, scoring a perfect hit on Night Strike’s neck.

His jaw dropped in amazement as his blade shattered into a thousand pieces and Night Strike escaped unharmed. The snake’s hide was a lot tougher than it looked.

The giant snake turned it’s head earthward and rammed into the ground, burrowing down out of sight.

The Hunter twisted in mid-air, beginning his descent to the ground below. As he did so, he switched his blade off and reignited his Saber, resetting the blade back to it’s previous unharmed condition.

Two minutes.

Night Strike rocketed out of the ground. His jaws were open wide and his intent was plain- to swallow Zero alive.

A smirk passed over the Hunter’s face for afraction of asecond. And then the crimson warrior threw himself forward, straight past the beast’s jaws and into it’s maw.

Alia gasped in horror.

Night Strike’s jaw snapped shut, trapping the Hunter. A self-satisfied smirk appeared on the Neo Arcadian’s face- and then vanished as Night Strike felt an odd sensation building up in his tail.

Glancing at his posterior, Night Strike was shocked and horrified to find an intense glow building up around his tail. Stray rays of light and energy were radiating through the tiny cracks between his metal scales.

And then Night Strike Serpent’s rear half exploded into a mass of flame, smoke, and twisted wreckage. And out of the said explosion came an unharmed Zero.

The crimson warrior dropped back to earth, hit the ground and snapped to his feet. As the mangled form of Night Strike Serpent crashed to the ground behind him, the Hunter grabbed Alia and raced towards the compound’s outer perimeter. He had to get outside of their sensor’s range so that the others could beam him out.

“How much time, Merge?” Zero continued his mad dash for freedom.

“Thirty seconds!” The small sprite replied. Merge glanced over his shoulder, eyes widening in disbelief. “Mr. Zero! Pantheons behind us!”

“They‘ll have to wait,” Zero maintained his breakneck pace. “We‘ve got to get out of here, fast.”

And then a line of Pantheons appeared before him, cutting off the crimson hunter’s escape.

“I really don‘t have time for this.” Drawing his saber as he ran, Zero muttered under his breath.

And then a high pitched whine filled the air, a familiar screech that Zero and Alia recognized immediately. A shuttle.

The Hunter’s head snapped to his right, spotting the Resistance’s aircraft coming in at a low angle. Instantly, Zero realized what the pilot was planning and acted accordingly.

“Hold it!” The Hunter threw out his left arm, stopping Alia in her tracks. Zero’s right hand flashed down, pulling his Shield Boomerang off of his belt. The green disk ignited, forming a circle of defense in front of the Hunter and his charge.

The Pantheons opened fire, filling the sky with bolts of raw energy.

Not one pierced through Zero’s shield. All he had to do was hold them off for a few more moments… The crimson warrior dug his feet into the ground, steadying himself as the blaster shots increased in intensity and frequency. A few more moments were all that he needed…

And then the Resistance’s shuttle arrived. The pilot swooped in so that the aircraft was hovering over the Pantheons attacking Zero- and then cut the power.

The Pantheons behind the Hunter opened fire. Their target was anything that moved.

The shuttle came down, smashing the attacking robots flat with it’s underbelly. A split second later, a narrow doorway slid open on the shuttle’s side. Ciel and Dande appeared in the opening, beckoning for their allies to join them.

“That‘s our ride!” Zero snatched Alia’s wrist and began racing forward, ducking between the bolts of fury hurled by the Pantheons behind him. Quickly, he raced over and almost literally threw his companion into the aircraft.

The warrior jerked his head to one side, just barely avoiding a stray Pantheon shot. Curbing his desire to turn and wipe the squadron attacking him, the red Reploid braced his hands against the shuttle’s doorway and vaulted inside.

A scream pierced the air- a human scream.

Zero’s mechanical heart almost stopped as he watched Ciel fall backward into the shuttle, a victim of a random bolt of energy.

A scowl materialized over his features as Zero ripped his Buster out of it’s holster and cut loose- blowing his attackers to kingdom come. How dare they…

“GO! GO!” Dande shouted to the pilot above the chaos.

The shuttle’s door snapped shut, and a roar filled the cabin as the pilot fired up the thrusters. A few seconds later and they were airborne and fleeing from the Neo Arcadian compound. They had succeeded in their mission.

And the Hunter’s eyes drifted back to Ciel, who was propped up against the back wall with Dande and Alia hovering over her. The blond woman’s right hand was clasped over her left shoulder, trying to cover the wound she had received. Between her fingers, Zero could see the damage.

“Ciel…”

Ciel’s eyes drifted up to meet his. “It‘s O.K., Zero. I‘m fine. The shot just grazed me.”

The hunter allowed himself a small sense of relief. But he didn’t allow himself to forget that he had failed to protect Ciel, failed in his vow to safe-guard her. Nothing like this would ever happen again. That was a certainty, not a promise.

“Alia,” Ciel looked up and smiled wearily at their new companion. “Welcome to Resistance.”

End Chapter!

Comments and Criticisms would be very much appreciated, especially along the lines of writing style, characterization and plot development.
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

Begin Chapter!

“It‘s been quite a while since we‘ve had a human injury…” Cerveau muttered under his breath as he gathered up his instruments and tools for the job ahead. Behind him, Alia and Ciel were reclining on the repair tables. Farther back, Zero was standing against the back wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his face was nothing more than a blank mask.

The Researcher shook his head to toss his fragmented thoughts out of his mind. He had to focus on the task at hand, get Ciel patched back together and Alia checked out.

As the Resistance’s expert in Weapons Development and Reploid Repair, it had fallen to him to take care of the injured Ciel. For once in his life, Cerveau was glad that he had taken that Human Physiology and Repair course way back in…

The Reploid walked over to the human, and began to examine the shoulder wound. Thankfully, it just barely qualified as a graze, and Cerveau decided that it would be fine with a thorough cleaning and bandaging.

“She‘ll be fine Zero.” The Researcher/Doctor replied without taking his eyes off of the task at hand. “But she‘ll be sore for more than a few days. I‘ll have to see if we have any pain killers in our storeroom.”

Silence.

Cerveau risked a glance over his shoulder, the crimson warrior was still there. His face was still dead, devoid of all emotion.

As much as Cerveau didn't want to admit it, he was more than a little unnerved at the Hunter's lack of emotion. The Reploid finished bandaging Ciel, helped her to slide off of the table, and then moved on to Alia.

Although Alia was not in the best condition, for a hundred and twenty year old Reploid she was in fairly descent shape. And when you consider the fact that she had spent the last seventy-plus years in prisons, labor camps, and the like, she was in amazingly good condition.

Nevertheless, Cerveau found himself shaking his head in exasperation.

"I know it's bad,” Alia muttered from her reclined condition, "Just tell me how bad."

“It doesn‘t look good, I'll admit. But it‘s nowhere near as bad as some cases I‘ve seen.” The Researcher replied, throwing a meaningful glance at Zero.

“Tell me honestly, what‘s the extent of the damage?”

“Your circulation drive is almost completely gone. The motor units are in good condition, but I wouldn‘t want to have them a few years from now. Your internal processors are corroded, but your skeletal, AI, and memory systems are in good working order.”

Alia shook her head but didn’t make a reply.

“Is there anything you can do, Cerveau?” Ciel stepped forward so that she was standing next to Alia.

“There might be.” The researched studied the maze of diagrams and information flooding across his visor. “Finding parts to replace the ones that she has now would be almost impossible given their age…”

“I didn‘t think that there was anything that could be done.”

“Don‘t worry, Alia,” Ciel hastily soothed the Reploid’s uneasiness. “Cerveau is a miracle worker. If there‘s a way to repair you, he‘ll find it. Right, Zero?”

The trio of allies glanced back at the Hunter, or rather, where the Hunter had been.

Zero’s spot by the back wall was empty.

10101010101010101010101

“Life just isn‘t fair…” D’niel grumbled as he trudged down the dark Neo Arcadian street.

D’niel had had it. Everybody and his brother had been riding his case lately. Was it his fault that he’d just had a major shout-out with his wife? Was it his fault that he’d been so rattled from the experience that he’d messed up his company’s chances of resolving the Gutter’s Contract?

Life just wasn’t fair, and it was frustrating D‘niel that nobody understood that. Maybe when he got home things would take a turn for the better. But he doubted that idea, his life had always been a wreck, a disaster waiting to happen. It wasn’t likely that things would change overnight.

All he needed was just a lucky break, for something to happen that would give him just one shot at making it big- and then he’d be able to put everything right.

Who was he kidding? Things like that never happened in real life.

CLINK CLINK

D’niel paused in mid-step as the soft metallic sound reached his ears. The sound was something he wasn’t familiar with, it almost sounded like metal scraping against metal.

CLINK CLINK WHIIIIRRRRRRR.

Now there was the undertone of machinery and gears- that too was out of place.

Curiosity began seeping into D’niel’s mind. He’d never heard that combination of sounds before, what was causing it?

The man paused, waiting for the sounds to repeat themselves.

CLINK CLINK WHHIIIRRRRRR CLINK.

Funny, it almost sounded like the sound was right behind and above him…

D’niel turned around- and his breath stopped in his throat. Towering over him was a huge Reploid-like creature that was easily twice his height. And since D’niel wasalmost six feet tall, that was impressive.

Impressive enough to send chills down D’niel’s back. Instinctively, he took a step back.

“What, who are you?” The man queried.

The only answer he received was a storm of blaster-fire.

10101010101010101010101

The crimson warrior studied the horizon as if trying to find the answers that he sought there.

Zero was standing on the outside corner of the Resistance base’s left tower, the spot that he habitated when he needed his space to think and question himself.

For months he had gone through his new life with no memory of his past. All he knew was that in the past he was Zero, X’s ally, a Maverick Hunter.

Now he was Zero, rebel hero and the thorn of Neo Arcadia’s side.

Aside from that, he didn’t know anything; he had always tried to find the links to his history, the memories of his past. And now they were within his grasp, surely Alia could explain who he was, what had been his purpose…

That should please him, excite him… yet it did none of that. Instead… he seemed to be dreading learning who he was. That realization annoyed Zero, dread was linked to fear, and uncontrolledfear was not something that he was accustomed to. He had felt it before, but in the past he had been able to suppress it, to bottle it up and store it away. Now, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t keep it in check.

Annoying. Simply annoying.

But when push came to shove, there was only one way to conquer this fear. Talk with Alia and learn the truth about his past.

Just as soon as he found out what the source of that massive explosion in the distance was.

The second that the mushroom cloud appeared in the distance, the warrior was in motion. Vaulting over the railing, the Hunter began his descent to the ground below. Zero burst forward the second that his feet hit the ground.

“Merge!” Zero barked over his shoulder.

Instantly the blue elf appeared just behind the warrior.

“Go find Ciel, tell her were I‘m going and to get all troops out of that sector. Have her contact me over the com when you do.”

“Merge do that right away, Mr. Zero!” With a quick nod, the sprite vanished from sight to begin his task.

Zero turned his attention back to his run. Unless he was mistaken, those explosions were coming from Neo Arcadia.

10101010101010101010101

“Rough day, Harpuia?” Leviathan noticed the Thunder Guardian entering the room.

“It was as expected.” The green reploid replied. His voice was deadpan, giving away nothing about what he really thought about his ordeal.

“Meh, you‘d think those Senators would get out of your hair.” Fefnir muttered as he moved over to join his two companions. “You were impersonated, big deal.”

“If only it were that simple, Fefnir.” The Thunder Guardian explained. “The Senators are not as apathetic as the general citizens. They make it their business to examine and review the actions taken by the Head of Arcadia. The fact that I was impersonated does nothing but open the door for them to perform more probing.”

“I wouldn‘t worry about it,” Leviathan placed a hand on Harpuia’s shoulder. “The Senate‘s never been able to gain a handhold over your office, don‘t think that they will now.”

Harpuia closed his eyes and contemplated the idea. “As much as I‘d like to believe that, we must guard against becoming complacent, just because of their past fail-”

At that moment, all chaos broke loose.

Lights of all colors exploded out of the walls, at the exact samesecond that sirens and horns started blaring.

“What? What’s going on?” Fairy Leviathan spun around, her eyes darting about in bewilderment.

“Red Alert!” Harpuia exploded into motion. He dashed over to a nearby computer monitor and began punching in commands and queries.

In seconds, data began pouring across the screen. Each Guardian was leftspeechless over the situation being revealed on the monitor before them.

“It‘s impossible…” Leviathan gasped in shock.

“Evidently it is not.” Harpuia’s eyes narrowed as he analyzed the information. “We‘ve got what can only be called a full scale Maverick Attack on our hands.Atleast a dozendifferent attackers were reported within minutes. Reploids have appeared in the city, and they‘re attacking anything and everything that moves…”

“Then what are we standing around here for?” Fefnir snapped. “Let‘s get out there!”

Instantly the three were racing out of the control room and out into the hallway. It only took them moments to reach the roof of the Neo Arcadian capitol and assess the damage.

The city was in chaos.

No matter what direction they looked, they saw mushroom clouds of smoke, ash and debris. Screaming and panic were everywhere. Buildings were collapsing and exploding into flames all over the place.

“What in the name of X?” Fefnir gazed out over the city in bewilderment. Never had he seen anything ravage the city like this.

“What could do something like this?” Leviathan wondered aloud. Horrid scenes and images were already burning their way into her memory.

“There‘s only one way to find out.” Harpuia hands whipped up and snatched his daggers from their sheaths. “We‘ve got to go and find out. The foot soldiers obviously aren‘t effective against this unknown threat, and so the lot falls to us.”

“Together or separate?” The Ice Guardian queried.

“It‘s a four pronged attack, we know that much.” Harpuia recalled the information he had previously skimmed from the data screen. “Our best course of action would be to split up and meet each attack and stop it where it is now.”

The other two Guardians nodded in agreement.

“I‘ll go East.” Fefnir replied.

“West.” Leviathan nodded.

“I‘ll take the Northern force then.” Harpuia pushed off from the roof and shot into the air.

“Harpuia, what about the South?” Fefnir called after the Thunder Guardian.

“We‘ll have to hope that they can hold out until one of us gets there.” The green Reploid looked over his shoulder. “Or... hope that someone else appears to help.”

The Ice Guardian nodded, and then turned to her remaining companion. “Good luck, Fighting.”

“You too, Fairy.” Fefnir nodded back. “And stay safe.”

“Don‘t you die on me either.” Fairy Leviathan then turned and bounded off the roof and took off through the city.

Fighting Fefnir turned and slammed a fresh energy clip into his massive cannon. With an angry gleam in his eyes he leapt out into the city and began heading east.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to go too far to find those responsible for the attack on Neo Arcadia. As the BatRing flies, the Fire Guardian met up with the attackers only six miles away from the Neo Arcadian capital.

As he arrived on the scene, the red Reploid slowed his dash to a stop and stared in disbelief. Strange beings were moving over the entire area, attacking and murdering any human unfortunate enough to cross their path. The… beings were obviously mechanical, but instead of following the modern almost-human robot designs of the present day, these creatures were blocky and barely qualified as humanoid.

Although the colors varied on each opponent, they were of identical design. Each being was bi-pedal, supported by two thick legs that were jointed backward, like a ‘V’ that had been rotated ninety degrees to the left. The legs were connected to a rod of some kind that was supporting a massive cylindrical area that looked like a thorax that was topped with a rounded dome. On each side of the thorax were two thick arms, the right arm ended with a massive cannon, the left with a huge fist.

Another thing that Fefnir noticed, was that whatever armor/metal those things were made of, it was effortlessly reflecting the defending Pantheon’s blaster shots and saber slashes.

The Fire Guardian performed a quick head count. There were four of these monsters. Four of these things had come in and were ravaging Neo Arcadia, and there was nothing the Pantheons could do about it.

The carnage and destruction before him burned it’s way into Fefnir’s memory, igniting his anger.

With a scream of fury, the Fire Guardian locked his cannon’s sights on the nearest creature and pulled the trigger. A blast of firepower exploded out of his gun barrel and shot through the air towards it’s target.

Fighting Fefnir growled in annoyance as his shot ricocheted off of the beast’s hide without causing a shred of damage.

10101010101010101010101

“What are these things made of?” Leviathan hissed under her breath as she snapped her staff about in a sharp twirl, knocking the three… creatures… she was facing away from her.

Following up on her previous move, the Ice Guardian hurled herself into a back-flip to put some space between her and her opponents. As soon as she came out of her gymnastic, Fairy Leviathan snapped her staff forward, discharging a series of ice crystals.

The creatures didn’t even try to dodge the ice, evidently they had become so accustomed to shrugging off attacks that they probably thought themselves invincible.

They thought that right up to the time that the Ice Guardian’s crystals exploded on contact with each creature‘s knees. Almost instantly a think casing of ice grew out of the explosion and spread out to encase each being’s lower half in a solid layer of ice.

A grin passed over Leviathan’s lips as she dashed forward at her trapped opponents.

A grin which vanished as the creatures took a step forward, effortlessly shattering the ice layers holding them motionless.

“Not good,” The Ice Guardian gripped her staff in a defensive posture. “If I don‘t find a way to stop these guys soon, then I could be in serious trouble.”

10101010101010101010101

Harpuia slipped to his left, avoiding the punch that the creature he was battling had hurled at his face. As the being’s massive fist swept through the now vacant spot, the Thunder Guardian rushed in and performed a devastating ‘X’-shaped slash with his twin daggers on his opponent.

As the Guardian had come to expect, Harpuia’s attack hadn’t even scratched the creature.

As the creature snapped it’s left arm around to bring it’s cannon to bear at the green Reploid, Sage Harpuia leapt backward and out of harm’s way.

The Guardian againperformed another double-slash, this time unleashing twin crescents of energy from his blades. The attack swept forward and shattered against the mechanical being’s tough hide.

As he ducked the retaliatory laser blast from his adversary, the back of Harpuia’s mind was trying to figure out why these creatures devastating Neo Arcadia were faintly familiar to him…

The green Reploid rushed in and swept his dagger against the creature’s hide. No effect.

The creature launched a punch at it’s opponent. Harpuia danced away from the blow.

It registered. At that moment the Thunder Guardian recognized the thing that he was fighting. Although the creature had been modified from it’s original look and design, it was still similar to the ancient armor that had been used during the Original Maverick War.

They were fighting against unknown beings in Ride Armor.

Even as he continued his onslaught against the mechanical Ride Armors, Harpuia’s mind was working away, digging up everything he knew about the Armors.

The Ride Armors were the Maverick War’s equivalent of tanks. Each one was piloted by a single Reploid and since they were constructed of a rare alloy, they could take a massive amount of damage before the finish even scratched. The last time Harpuia could recall them being used was during the ‘Erasure’ incident, almost a century ago. Eventually the high cost of maintenance and production, as well as a shortage of alloy, had put an end to Ride Armor production.

101010101010101010101010

“Everything in order?”

“That it is,” Burgan, a medium-height, blue-robed, red-haired human leaned back in his desk chair and nodded to his female companion, who went by the name of Clio. “The bills of lading have been altered, receipts changed, and records ‘tweaked’. I can guarantee you that nothing will be missed.”

“You do realize that if we‘re caught it‘ll be the last thing that we ever do.” Clio, a slender brunette human, looked over her partner’s shoulder and studied the computer display mounted on the said desk. Various documents and bills were laid out on the screen, but the mass of numbers was too overwhelming for the female to make sense of it.

“That I do.” Burgan said. “But it‘s a chance we have to take. We know what‘s right, now we have to act upon it.”

“Then we are agreed.”

“That we are.”

“Have I ever mentioned how annoying your way of phrasing everything is?” Clio muttered.

“That you have.” Burgan grinned mischievously. “But enough of that, let‘s get this project started.”

“Beginning transmission.”

1010101010101010101010101

Whatever those things were, they just kept coming; and so Sandra and the other humans just kept running.

How could this happen? Neo Arcadia had always been free from Maverick interference. An attack on Neo Arcadia was unheard of, unbelievable, the concept was just plain… wrong, almost morally wrong. This was Neo Arcadia, they had the right to be free from such interference.

But whatever those mechanical things chasing her were, they obviously didn’t feel the same way about their actions.

And so they were forced to run.

Sandra glanced back over her shoulder, gauging the distance between her and her pursuers. The mechanical creatures were closing in fast. If they were given another few minutes, and they’d be on top of her… She needed a miracle to escape.

A soft crunching sound came from behind her, causing Sandra to look back over her shoulder.

A red Reploid had come out of nowhere, and was now standing between Sandra and her pursuers. The robot’s right hand twitched slightly, pressing the activation switch of a green Saber in his palm.

Her miracle had arrived.

“Back off,” The Reploid commanded the onrushing mechanical beings. “Now.”

Sandra slid to a stop, there was something in that Reploid’s voice… Something that sounded like approaching destruction, or a natural disaster that was about to erupt, whatever it was, it made it clear that he wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with.

Evidently, the mechanical beings didn’t detect what Sandra had. They continued to advance.

“You made your choice.” The Reploid muttered, his tone clearly said: “It‘s your funeral.”

The lead monstrosity rushed forward, intent on pounding this new obstacle into the dust.

The red Reploid flicked his Saber around in his palm so that his blade was pointed toward the floor. When the monstrous creation snapped it’s fist forward to crush the warrior, the Reploid bounded upward over the attack. The robot’s momentum carried him down the length of the monster’s arm and onto the top of it’s barreled torso, right in front of it’s domed ‘head‘.

The robot’s arm lashed out, his saber raking along the top of the dome. A scarred rip in the ‘head’ appeared down the length of the Saber’s course.

“Some things never change, no matter what century it is. The weak spot is always in the head.” A small grin passed over the Reploid’s lips as that thought appeared in his mind.

In one smooth motion, the Reploid drew his right hand back, depositing his Saber into his holster. The next second and his hand wasexploding forward and piercing through the wounded dome.

The robot hauled a screaming Reploid through the holed dome and out of the mechanical creature’s torso. With a flick of his arm, the warrior sent the attacking Reploid flying through the air. The attacker slammed into the side of a nearby building.

An audible snap sounded as the Reploid collapsed to the ground in a limp pile. It was obvious that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

“Who‘s next?” The warrior turned to the other creatures and ignited his blade.

101010101010101010101010

Harpuia slid to his right, evading the storm of blaster-fire that came exploding out of his opponent’s cannon. As he continued to weave and circle out of harm’s way, the Thunder Guardian racked his brain in an effortto come up with some weakness that the Ride Armor possessed.

The Thunder Guardian snapped his swords through the air, discharging a twin crescent of energy on his opponent. The attack just bounced off of Ride Armor’s hide.

A growl slipped from the Guardian’s throat.

“It has to have a weak point.” The green Reploid dropped to the ground and took up a defensive position. “Some place where it‘s vulnerable.”

“Harpuia, do you read me?”

“What the-?” The Thunder Guardian blinked in surprise. “How did you get this frequency, Ze-”

“You need to encrypt your Pantheon‘s communications controls better. Enough about that. These things have a weak point- their domed heads, anything can get past that spot. Over and out.”

“The head…” Harpuia’s eyes narrowed as he took in this information.

The lead Ride Armor’s left arm snapped about, bringing it’s cannon around to bear at it’s opponent.

A storm of blaster-fire erupted from the Armor’s weapon. With incredible speed the energy bursts shot towards the Guardian.

Harpuia’s blades were faster, however. Launching himself directly at the attack, the Thunder Guardian’s weapons became a blur as they cut through the air and intercepted every single blaster shot. When he got in close, Harpuia shot into the air, just barely skinning past the punch hurled by his opponent. Another second and he was directly above the beast’s metal dome of a head. A blast of thunder energy later, and the Ride Armor was exploding from the inside.

The Thunder Guardian hit the ground and set his sights on his next opponent.

101010101010101010101010

Leviathan snapped her staff about, blocking the hailstorm of plasma energy that had come screaming from her opponent’s cannon. She’d already been informed by Harpuia about the Ride Armors and their point of weakness, it was just a matter of getting in a position to exploit that weakness that was the majorproblem. But once a solution to that problem was found, the Ride Armors went down in seconds.

The Ice Guardian launched herself into a high front-flip and landed atop the roof of a nearby building.

The Ride Armors followed her move and started firing at the Guardian.

Leviathan danced away, leaping off of the building and over to the building across the street. Again the attackers tracked her, and adjusted their aim to target her.

Taking a breath to steady her nerve, Fairy Leviathan leapt off of the building and shot down into the teeth of the plasma fire. Twisting and bucking to avoid the bolts of energy, the Ice Guardian sailed down, unscratched, towards the lead Ride Armor.

She twirled her staff above her head to build up momentum and then Leviathan brought it down, carrying all of her strength and speed, into the Ride Armor’s head. As the tip pierced through the dome, she pumped out three quick shots of her elemental Ice Energy.

Razor sharp icicles exploded out of the Ride Armor’s skin- from the inside.

Back-flipping off of the demolished Ride Armor, Leviathan soared over to the next attacker and began putting it out of it’s misery.

1010101010101010101010101

Fefnir gasped choked as the huge finger’s tightened around his chest. In trying to overpower the Ride Armors he had been facing, the Fire Guardian had inadvertently left himself wide open to an attack from behind.

And one of those blast Armors had taken advantage of that opening. The beast had clamped it’s huge hand around Fefnir’s torso and proceeded to slam him into the side of a building repeatedly.

Now it was trying to crush the life out of him.

Fefnir groaned as he felt his outer shell beginning to creak from the force wrapping tighter about him.

The Ride Armor snapped it’s arm about, ramming the trapped Fefnir against the wall again. The Fire Guardian’s head snapped forward and backward, rocked by the violent motion.

“Get a grip!” Fefnir chided himself. “There‘s no way you‘re losing to some stupid Maverick, now get out of this mess and fight!”

The Ride Armor drove him into the building again.

Fefnir willed himself to block off the pain and agony coursing through him. Forcing himself to focus, he distanced himself from the punishment he was receiving. It was happening to someone else, someone far away…

And then the thing’s fingers tightened again.

Fefnir’s eyes widened in shocked pain, his focus lost, as the painful, crushing force nearly doubled in intensity.

Then he knew, knew from the bottom of his heart, that this was it. He was going to die.

The Ride Armor sent his hand forward again, slamming the Fire Guardian against the building yet again.

Fefnir didn’t care, he was beyond feeling or caring at this point. No matter how hard had he strained against the giant’s fingers, he hadn’t achieved even one-fourth of an inch of space. It was over, he had fallen.

The Guardians would be down to two.

His only hope was that Harpuia and Leviathan would be able to carry on the fight with his absence.

Leviathan…

“Fairy,” Fefnir mumbled, “forgive me…”

Don’t you die on me.

The Fire Guardian blinked.

Stay safe, Fairy.

Don’t you dieeither.

What was he thinking? Fairy was still out there, was he just going to turn over and play dead?

NO!

Fefnir’s eyes narrowed. He wouldn’t give in. Failure was not an option.

Gathering himself, the Fire Guardian began pushing back against the giant fingers that were trying to grind him into pieces. A sharp whine filled the air as his servos increased their power output in an attempt to out-battle the Ride Armor’s grip. The sound began building in intensity as Fefnir’s effort doubled, tripled.

Even though it was encased in a metal robot, it was obvious that the Reploid piloting the Ride Armor was shocked by Fefnir’s sudden defiance.

Screaming in rage, the Guardian put even more power into his mad attempt at freedom. Was it his imagination, or were the beast’s fingers starting to tremble slightly? It was hard to tell since Fefnir was pouring so much of his own strength into the task at hand that his body was shaking and rattling in the Armor’s grip with tremendous ferocity.

And then a spark lit up on Fefnir’s armor, then another. And yet another. Slowly but surely the sparks began igniting more rapidly, until a full-fledged fireball erupted around the Guardian as he summoned his element to help him escape.

The Ride Armor jerked it’s hand away, holding the Fire Guardian at arm’s length in stunned disbelief.

And then Fefnir shattered the fist.

Or more accurately, he sent the fist flying in every direction as it exploded into thousands of metal fragments and pieces of wiring. The debris rocketed away, slamming into whatever was unfortunate enough to be it’s path and burrowing into all obstacles.

“Let‘s go!” Fefnir snarled at his opponent. “Let‘s GO!”

But, after that impressive display, the Ride Armor had no intention of going toe-to-toe with Fefnir. Instead the beast turned and began chugging away as fast as it’s blocky legs could take it.

“WHAT!” The Fire Guardian bolted after his tormentor. “Running away? You COWARD!”

As he ran, Fefnir locked his cannon’s sight on the retreating Armor and cut loose. Fireballs filled the sky as he pumped shot after shot after his opponent.

Several bolts struck the Ride Armor, but failed to do any serious damage.

Fefnir leapt into the air, rebounded off of a nearby building, and slammed into the ground in front of the retreating Ride Armor. Without giving his opponent a second to react, the Guardian launched a flurry of firepower at his adversary.

The attacks slammed into the ground in front of and behind the Ride Armor, and exploded into clouds of thick, choking smoke. Lost in the midst of the black clouds, the Ride Armor slowed to a halt and began looking around in bewilderment.

And then a rush of motion caught the Armor’s sensor. The metal being looked up to see Fefnir exploding through the swirling mist, and in the Guardian’s free hand was the sparkling orb of energy known as the ‘Earth Breaker’.

With a roar, the Fire Guardian slammed the destructive sphere into the Ride Armor‘s domed head, and grinned in triumph as the world exploded around him.

1010101010101010101010101

Harpuia glanced around, his eyes checking out the area in an effort to locate any more hostiles.

Nothing.

He had cleared the area of these Mavericks and wiped out the attacking Ride Armors. The battle was over, but he had this uneasysuspicion that the real war was just beginning.

Turning around, the Thunder Guardian’s eyes landed on one of the injured Reploids that he had forcibly ejected from the attacking Ride Armor. Harpuia stepped over to tower over the Maverick, there was nothing else that he could call that Reploid.

“Who are you?” Harpuia glared at the Maverick at his feet.

“A martyr,” The Reploid smirked. “A fallen soldier of Delta…”

“Delta?” The Guardian processed that name. “What is Delta?”

“You, traitor, won‘t know- ever.” With those words, the Reploid jerked and went into a split-second spasm. Once the seizure had passed, the robot collapsed to the ground in a limp pile.

Warily, Harpuia knelt and studied the fallen Maverick.

“He destroyed his own processor…” The Thunder Guardian stood and stared at the empty shell before him. “Whatever he knew is gone. Along with his personality… and essentially his life.”

1010101010101010101010101

“We have a lock.” The TransServ Operator commented and glanced at her companion. “Recall.”

The two Reploids looked up at the TransServ came to life, filling the room with a soft glow. A few seconds later and the form of Zero began to materialize on the pedestal. when the warrior’s form was completely solid, the brown ring retracted back into it’s platform, signaling that it was finished.

“Welcome back, Zero.” The Operator waved to the warrior. “It looks like you had a time over at Neo Arcadia.”

“Perhaps.” The deadpanHunter stepped down off of the platform and headed for the back door. Without another word he stepped through the portal and exited the room.

The crimson warrior slipped out of the doorway and headed off down the corridor. In the end, the situation at Neo Arcadia hadn’t been as bad as it had first appeared. Once the Guardians knew to target the Ride Armor’s domed head, the attack had been wiped out in minutes.

As toward who was behind the attack, that was still unknown. And since all of the Reploids that Zero had dragged from the Ride Armors had killed themselves, the warrior suspected that they wouldn’t be getting much by way of information from them.

But there would be time to wonder about that later. Right now, he had to track down Ciel and explain what had happened.

The crimson hunter strode down the corridor, and then worked his way down to Ciel’s lab. Within minutes he had arrived at the blond woman’s lab and had pushed the door open.

Empty space greeted him.

Allowing himself a brief moment of displaying his emotion, Zero raised an eyebrow. Ciel rarely left the lab during the daylight hours, and if she wasn’t here then that meant that something was going down somewhere on the base.

“Merge,” The Reploid spoke aloud, knowing that the Cyber Elf would be at his side unless he was running some errand or attending to business elsewhere.

“Yes, Mr. Zero?” The blue sprite materialized behind the Red Reploid.

“Where‘s Ciel?”

“Ms. Ciel in communications room.”

Zero nodded his response and then left the room. A few minutes later he arrived at the aforementioned room and opened the door.

Sound and light poured from the opening, announcing that someone was in the middle of a live transmission. The Hunter slipped inside the room and took up a position in front of the back wall.

The warrior’s eyes flicked about, taking in the scene before him. Ciel and Cerveau were talking with two humans, one male and one female.

“Yes… we‘ll accept your offer.” Ciel was saying. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank us.” The woman on the other end of the transmission commented. “We believe in your cause. This is the least we can do.”

“How do we make the exchange?” Cerveau wanted to know.

“We‘ve fixed up an abandoned air strip on the South Continent.” The man replied. “No one‘s around that area and the patrols don‘t pass by it very close. We‘ll send you the coordinates and expect a rendezvous in one week, third day. You can set the time, although dusk would be preferred…”

“Dusk will be fine…” Ciel nodded.

“Then we have agreed.” The man nodded back. “Over and out.”

“This was unexpected.” The blond woman placed her hands on the console and then leaned on the station. “Who would have believed that they have supplies that they want to donate to us?”

End Chapter!
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

Guess what? I finally got around to updating this shoddy fic.

Begin!

“Are you sure that you’re up to this?” Ciel studied the rebuilt Reploid standing before her.

“I am.” Alia replied with conviction. “Cerveau‘s almost completely refurbished me, and if you‘re going to the South Continent then you‘ll need someone who can speak their language since it‘s different from Basic. I used to be a Navigator, and as such I‘m fluent in all of the world‘s dialects.”

“I just don‘t want you to push yourself too hard too fast.” The blond woman replied. “You‘ve been through a lot in the past few years… No one would blame you if you spent some time recuperating.”

“Don‘t worry, I‘ll be fine.” The Reploid countered. “And you’ll need me.”

Ciel sighed in defeat. “All right. We‘ll be leaving in about two hours…”

1010101010101010101010101

To say that Ariel was skilled in the art of Ride Armor combat was an understatement. The truth of the matter was that the guy was the best of the best, and he knew it. When he was wasn’t rubbing that fact into everyone’s faces, or writing short fictional works that stank worse than the unknown goop that had been in the fridge for who knows how long, he could be found working on his Ride Armor. The guy was fanatical about keeping it in prime condition.

That was were Ariel was now, flat on his back in the Delta Ride Armor Core East Hanger, tweaking the jet thrusters on his Armor.

He could almost taste the thrill of the fight again. Until their little attack on the city of Neo Arcadia, he’d forgotten just how good the thrill of combat felt.

It irked him slightly that he’d been ordered to retreat when the Guardians had discovered their only weak point, but he could live with it. It would make the thrill of revenge that much greater.

A sound grabbed Ariel’s attention. Turning his head, the orange Reploid’s green eyes spotted one of the limited-AI robots scurrying across the floor towards him. The tank-like messenger chugged to a stop beside the Ride Armor, and proceeded to speak in a mechanical, poorly synthesized voice.

“The Master wants to know how long until you will be ready to launch the assault.” The robot said.

“You‘d think that ‘The Master‘ would understand that I just lost four-fifths of my assault team.” Ariel growled. “I‘m the only one left, it‘s going to take me a while to make sure I‘ve got the needed firepower for this mission.”

“Time is not something that we have in abundance.”

“I know that.” The orange Reploid hissed. “I‘ll be ready to launch by nightfall. The target isn‘t that far away, I‘ll make it there in plenty of time.”

“If you fail-”

“When have I ever failed?” Ariel grabbed a nearby screwdriver and momentarily considered hurling it at the annoying robot. “I won‘t disappoint your precious Master. Not again. And you can tell him that odds are I‘ll be bringing back a couple of bonuses for his pleasure…”

101010101010101010101010101

“They‘re on course and on their way.” Burgan turned from his screen to face Clio. “This is it, the point of no return…”

“We passed that point weeks ago.” Clio muttered as she sat down in the chair beside her companion. “I just hope that we‘re doing the right thing.”

“That we are,” The man replied. “Going to the Resistance is the only thing we can do.”

“Here‘s hoping.” The woman stood and headed towards the doorway. “How long until they arrive?”

“Approximately two hours.”

“Glad to hear that.”

101010101010101010101010101

A smirk danced across Ariel’s lips as he slid into his Ride Armor and closed the hatch. With a flick of a few switches, the beast he was in came to life and rose off of the ground.

Ah, yes, combat… fighting, the power one had on the battlefield… soon he would be enjoying all of that again.

Fingering the com switch, Ariel spoke into his mike. “I‘m ready, report.”

The Operator‘s voice came back over the link. “Put simply: Search and Destroy. Anything you come across is a target of opportunity. Nothing is to be left standing.”

“That‘s all I needed to hear.” The Reploid muttered. Relying on Artificial Intelligence units to pilot his Armor was unreliable, and no one knew just how effective that they really were until they were put to the test. Therefore, Ariel spent several moments triple checking the guidance and propulsion systems.

At last, everything was in readiness.

“Let‘s get this party started!” The Reploid activated the booster units on the back of his Ride Armor, and savored the moment of lift-off. Soon he was rocketing through the air towards his target...

1010101010101010101010101

Alia glanced over her shoulder, studying the figure known as Zero. For the past few days, as well as most of the shuttle flight, Zero had kept his distance from her. That in itself wasn’t unusual, even back before he vanished the crimson warrior had been distant from and cold towards most people.

But the fact that he hadn’t approached her about his past was unnerving. It had been a running joke back at the old HQ about Zero’s lack of emotion- but could that joke actually have a grain of true? Did he even care about, or want to know his past? If not, what kind of creature was he?

The gently thump of the shuttled touching down on the runway brought Alia out of her reverie.

“We’re here.” Dande hauled himself out of the cockpit and worked his way back to the shuttle’s stomach. Upon his arrival he immediately opened the side doorway and extended the stairway ramps.

Ciel and Alia removed their individual seat-belts, while Zero just let go of his handhold on the wall. Together the quartet of allies made their way down the boarding ramps and to the ground below and took in their new surroundings.

The island was completely barren- no growth of vegetation, no houses or buildings. It was just a drop of desert in a bucket of water. The only thing even remotely resembling civilization was the large black house-like structure a few feet away from them.

A door broke away from the rest of the warehouse’s frame, and dropped down to form a bridge between the ground and the building.

Subconsciously, Zero’s hand moved to rest on the hilt of his Saber as he watched two figures appear in the doorway.

1010101010101010101010101

Passy hovered in her usual place, just over and behind Ciel’s shoulder, as she watched the events of the meeting unfold. Two humans, one male and one female were stepping out of the hovercraft and heading down the stairs towards the group of Resistance members.

The female, Clio, if Passy remembered right, approached Ciel and spoke to them in Basic. “Welcome, you‘re Ciel, I presume.”

“Yes.” The blond scientist nodded.

“I‘m Clio, and this is my partner, Burgan.” The woman gestured to her partner. “We‘re glad that you decided to take us up on your offer, we believe in your cause.”

“We can always use peaceful support.” Ciel replied diplomatically.

“Which we are happy to provide.” Clio in turn replied. “I apologize for asking you to come all this way by shuttle, but it was necessary for security reasons.”

“We understand.” The blonde replied, although there was just a hint of bewilderment in her voice.

“If you‘ll join us, we‘ll show you where the supplies are.” Burgan spoke up for the first time. While he was speaking, he started moving back up the steps as if certain that they would accept the offer- truth be told, they didn’t have much choice, if they didn’t accept then they’d lose the offer of supplies.

Passy watched Ciel and the others share a look, before turning and heading for the boarding ramp. The pink sprite shot a look at Merge, who just shrugged and continued to tag along after Zero.’’

10101010101010101010101010

A wicked grin danced over Ariel’s mouth. He was almost there.

The pilot checked his instruments, so far he was on course and on time. In a few minutes he would be ready to go.

With a flick of his favorite red switch. The Reploid dropped the Ride Armor’s main weapons into their combat positions.

10101010101010101010101010

“Computer equipment, cybernetics, spare parts, even foodstuffs…” Dande trailed behind Zero, glancing about in amazement. “Is there anything you don‘t have here?”

“This is just the tip of the iceberg…” Burgan smiled coyly as he headed deeper into the building. “There‘s much more ahead.”

“I really didn‘t expect this much.” Ciel, positioned right beside Dande, looked about in awe. “How are we going to get this all back to the base?”

“We‘ll find a way.” Clio replied, hastening her steps to catch up to her partner. “We always find a way to do what we want.”

Ciel and Alia traded a nervous look at those words.

“Maybe we should start loading these supplies into the shuttle.” Burgan muttered, “That way we‘ll have a fair idea of just how much of this stuff we‘ll have to arrange other means of transportation for.”

“Sounds good to me.” The man’s partner nodded.

Without waiting for a reply, Burgan snatched up a fair sized crate and began hauling it towards the exit door.

Dande shrugged in a bewildered fashion, and then selected a crate. Easily heaving the large container over his head, the Reploid carried it out the door.

Zero stood still for a moment, something about this entire situation was bothering him. There was an undercurrent of… secrecy behind the two humans, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on concrete evidence to back his uneasiness.

While the crimson hunter was lost in his thoughts, Alia had also pulled out a crate and had begun taking it to the shuttle.

Deciding that it was best to get done and get out of here, Zero grabbed the largest container he could find and carried it out the door, just a Burgan reentered the warehouse.

The trio of Resistance Allies were completely unprepared for what happened next.

The instant that Zero had stepped outside of the building, Burgan spun around and sent his left palm flying into the switch that rested beside the door. Instantly the doorway retracted from the ground and snapped back up into place- sealing Zero, Dande, and Alia outside of the building and Burgan, Clio, and Ciel inside.

Ciel’s breath stopped in her throat as she realized that she was trapped inside of a foreign building with two complete strangers. Two complete strangers that had apparently planned to separate her from her friends from the very beginning.

“What- Why did you do that?”

“We‘re sorry, we really are.” Clio circled around to place herself directly behind the blond researcher, trapping Ciel between herself and Burgan. “We don‘t want to do this, but we don‘t have any choice in the matter.”

1010101010101010101010101

“What-?” Alia stared up at the closed doorway in bewilderment. “Zero, Dande, we might have a problem.”

Dande hastily set his crate on the ground, then rushed over to the female Reploid to assess the situation.

Zero just tossed his box aside, not caring that it shattered upon contact with the ground, and dashed over to the other two, mentally berating himself over leaving Ciel alone.

“Why‘d they lock us out? We‘ve got to get in there!” Dande reached out and ran his hands over the doorway in an effort to find some way to open the portal. Pushing and pulling on any available outcropping in the wall produced no result. In desperation, he even tried to ram his right hand through the door.

The Reploid jerked his hand away from the wall and cradled it with his left hand. Dande’s entire body was shaking from the pain racing through his limb. “Ow…. Ow… Ow!”

Trying to hide her disbelief over Dande‘s incredibly stupid stunt, Alia put her hands on the Reploid‘s shoulders to comfort him. “Be careful, Dande, you might have damaged that hand more than you think.”

“That‘s the second time I‘ve done this…” The green-clad Reploid admitted sheepishly.

A sharp roar filled the air.

Zero’s head snapped around, tracing the sound of the noise. Off in the distance, but closing in fast, was a dark spot in the sky. The Hunter strained his visual sensors, trying to find out what the thing was. In a few minutes, he had his answer. A single Ride Armor was approaching the warehouse. And that could only mean one thing: trouble.

A split second later the approaching Ride Armor had swooped in and crashed straight through the warehouse wall, and disappeared inside.

“Get back in the shuttle.” The crimson warrior’s voice left no room for Alia or Dande to argue. “Have it ready to go, I‘m going after Ciel.”

Dande and Alia nodded in agreement, not having any better ideas, and rushed off to carry out the order.

“All right, Cerveau,” Zero turned back to the closed doorway. “Let‘s put these Knuckles to the test…”

Zero exploded into motion, racing towards the closed door. With a battle cry, he sent his right hand slamming into the door’s metal surface.

For a long moment, nothing happened. The Hunter just stood there with his right hand braced against the doorway.

And then the metal door screamed as it tore free from it’s hinges and dropped backward into the warehouse.

“Oh, sure,” Dande groaned, disbelief filling his voice. “ the door opens for him.”

Without another word, the Hunter plunged into the building.

10101010101010101010101010

“What are you two going to do?” Ciel swept her gaze from Burgan to Clio.

“Ciel, listen to me.” With that statement, Clio seemed to become less… eccentric… and more of a human being. “We have to talk to you- and you only.”

“There are human lives on the line,” Burgan spoke up, also dropping his strange persona. “And you‘re the only one that can save them.”

“If you needed to tell me about this, why not send a transmission?” The blond scientist leveled her gaze at the other two. “Why separate me and the others and then trap me here?”

“Because transmissions can be intercepted, but there‘s another factor you have to consider.” Burgan muttered, uneasily, “We couldn‘t risk involving the Reploids, there was a very likely chance that they would have sided with the others.”

“What others? Wait, you mean that Zero wouldn‘t fight to protect humans as well as Reploids?” Ciel couldn’t help herself, she involuntary raised one eyebrow in puzzlement. She knew Zero- in all of his battles he’d never taken a human life. And on more than one occasion he had gone out of his way to protect them. The idea that he wouldn’t defend humanity was absurd- he had been a Hunter in his past life, it was his duty to protect mankind.

“There is a chance.” Clio nodded. “But if action isn‘t taken, the attack on Neo Arcadia will look like a picnic by this time next month… And we need your help to stop that from happening.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s like this, Laguz Island- AUGH!”

Ciel screamed and dropped to her knees, shielding her head with her hands as Burgan collapsed to the floor- dead. A round of plasma fire had come out of nowhere and ripped into the man.

“Burgan, BURGAN!” Clio rushed over to her partner and dropped to her knees. Any hope of finding a sign of life was quickly lost when she saw the extent of the damage.

“Humans…” A strange voice shot through the air- followed by several rounds of plasma.

Clio slumped to the floor.

Ciel looked up, tracing the path of her attacker’s voice. It lead to a large mechanical contraption, a Ride Armor if she wasn’t mistaken.

“I never did like making my kills that way…” The domed section of the Ride Armor parted, allowing a slender orange Reploid to emerge from the mechanical body. “It takes all of the personal satisfaction out of it.”

“Who are you?”

“Me?” The Reploid indicated himself by touching his chest. “I‘m Ariel, of the Nation Delta. It seems fitting that you should know that.”

“And you killed Clio and Burgan… and you feel no remorse over that.” Ciel couldn’t believe this… thing… in front of her.

“I really don‘t feel like going into yet another metaphysical discussion over that point.” Ariel shrugged. “I‘ve had too many of them in my life as is. But since I‘m in a good mood, I‘ll give you a fighting chance at escaping me.”

The blond human blinked, still struggling to accept her present situation as real.

“I never liked easy kills, so I‘ll give you to the count of five before I come after you.” The Reploid produced a small dagger. “That way it gives me a bigger thrill and gives you a chance at freedom.”

“You‘re insane.”

“Maybe. One.”

To Ciel, it felt like she was in a dream. She had no choice but to run, even though she knew that she’d never get far enough away to escape before the Reploid finished his countdown.

“Two.”

She bolted, rushing madly down the hallway.

“Three.”

It was hopeless, she just wasn‘t fast enough...

“Four.”

Ciel felt her muscles instinctively tightening, bracing themselves for the fatal blow that was sure to come.

“Five. Pity, this won‘t be as satisfying as I‘d hoped.”

Ciel looked over her shoulder, to find Ariel’s dagger sailing through the air towards her back. This was it, the end… if she had time to reflect on the situation, she might have found it strangely ironic to have been killed by a Maverick Reploid.

Nothing could save her now…

Nothing except a rotating green shield that whipped past Ciel’s shoulder and curved around behind her. The disk easily caught the flying dagger and sent it harmlessly pinging off to one side.

The shield raced back down the hallway, where it was retrieved by a familiar red-clad Reploid.

“Zero!” Ciel couldn’t help herself, she screamed the name of her protector as reached the crimson warrior. “Thank you…”

“Don‘t mention it.” The Hunter kept his eyes trained on the orange Reploid just down the hall. “But you should get out of here. This is going to get ugly.”

“My, my, maybe this will be interesting after all.” Ariel studied the newcomer. “The little blonde didn‘t mention that she had a bodyguard.”

By this time, Zero had already assessed the situation. It was plain to see that this Reploid before him was a killer.

“Shall we?” Ariel reached behind his back, and pulled another dagger from his belt.

“If you want to die.” The crimson warrior ignited his Saber. “I have no mercy for the likes of you.”

“That‘s a chance I’m willing to take.” The orange Reploid smirked, and then rushed at Zero, his dagger sweeping through the air towards the Hunter’s head.

The Hunter flicked his Saber up and easily deflected the dagger’s assault. However, what happened next caught him by surprise. Using the momentum of his forward slash, Ariel leapt upward and went into a high roundhouse kick that connected solidly with Zero’s head.

As the crimson warrior’s head rocked backward from the force of the attack, the orange Reploid went into another mid-air twist and sent his other foot rocketing into Zero’s stomach.

The Hunter went flying backward and slammed into the unyielding floor.

“Interesting.” Ariel folded his arms over his chest and studied his opponent.

Zero grunted and then snapped his legs underneath him. Pushing off from the floor, the crimson warrior shot forward, his blade pointed forward to impale his opponent.

“Brute force won‘t work against me.” The Reploid chuckled as he slipped to one side, allowing Zero to explode past him without landing a hit. Instantly, the orange Reploid launched into another devastating kick, timed to strike his opponent in the back of the neck.

Ariel’s attack met nothing but empty air. Zero was gone.

“What the-?” For several long moments, the Maverick glanced about, trying to figure out just where his opponent had gone.

Ariel sensed a burst of movement behind him. Instantly he leapt into the air, as a result Zero’s blade missed completely.

“Well, well, looks like I underestimated you.” The orange Reploid muttered.

“You did.” A light grin passed over Zero’s lips.

And then a wall of heat, flame, and debris shot through the hallway, and around the two Reploids.

“What?” Ariel instinctively snapped around to brace himself and cover his head with his arms.

“That,” Zero hadn’t budged from his previous ram-rod straight position. “was your Ride Armor.”

Ariel’s stared at his opponent for a long moment, as if it was taking an extra moment for his brain to comprehend the meaning of that statement.

“You destroyed… my Ride Armor…”

“I did.” The Hunter flicked his blade into existence and rushed forward at his opponent. “And you‘re next.”

“I‘ll kill you for that.” The orange Reploid drew yet another dagger from his belt. “No one messes with my Ride Armor.”

With a flick of his wrist, the Maverick sent the dagger flying through the air at Zero. The Hunter merely swiped his blade and cleaved the knife in two, forcing the orange Reploid to perform a high leap to avoid sharing the same fate as his dagger.

“It‘s your lucky day.” Ariel commented, as he landed on the ground. “Very lucky. Delta has just recalled me, and since I have to make other travel arrangements since you destroyed my Ride, your demise will have to wait until another time. But mark my words, Zero, I will kill you for what you‘ve done today.”

The crimson warrior didn’t reply, he just raced down the hallway after the retreating Maverick.

1010101010101010101010101

“Come on, Zero…” Dande stared out of the shuttle’s cockpit at the warehouse, waiting for some sign of the hero’s return. He didn’t doubt that the Hunter would succeed, ever since Zero had rescued several of his friends from Neo Arcadia, Dande had complete trust in the warrior.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel antsy.

“Zero, you can do it.”

“I disagree with that assessment.”

Dande’s eyes widened in disbelief. According to the reflection in the front window, there was a strange orange and yellow Reploid standing just behind him.

Two things tipped Dande off that this new Reploid wasn’t friendly. The evil glint in his eyes, and the knife that the newcomer had poised over Dande’s throat.

10101010101010101010101

A wash of heat and exhaust greeted Zero as he exploded out of the warehouse. Shielding his eyes with his free hand, the Hunter tried to find the source of the commotion.

It was coming from the Resistance’s shuttle.

The crimson warrior watched as the aircraft leapt off of the ground and shot straight up into the air as the pilot activated the vertical thrusters. A split second later, it was racing off into the horizon with it’s passengers.

Puzzled, Zero’s eyes flicked about the area- and landed on a severely beaten Dande.

The warrior raced to the Reploid, and knelt to examine the wounds that Dande had suffered. Although he had seen years of bloodshed and killing, he couldn’t help but be taken back by the wounds inflicted on Dande.

“Zero-!” Dande’s voice was so weak that Zero had to move in close to hear him. “Don‘t worry… about me… Ciel, Alia, on shuttle… with Ariel!”

“What?” Zero refused to believe his ears. He had to have heard that sentence wrong.

“We were… waiting for you…” Dande gasped. “In shuttle… Reploid attacked… me… Ciel must have… ducked out of sight…”

“Take it easy.” The crimson warrior interrupted the story. Once Dande was reclined on the ground, the Hunter whipped his head around to glance over his shoulder. “Merge.”

“Merge here!” The Cyber Elf popped into view.

“Find Ciel. Where is she?”

The blue sprite closed his eyes and concentrated for a long moment. Abruptly his eyelids snapped open as Merge finished his analysis, hastily the Elf pointed in the general direction that the stolen shuttle had taken. “Ms. Ciel going that way! Ms. Ciel ten miles out, moving fast!”

“Keep tracking her- and Alia too, if you can.” Zero added the last half of that sentence as an afterthought. The crimson warrior stood up, turning the situation over in his mind. There wasn’t much he could do here on this barren wasteland of an island… there wasn’t anyway to catch up to the shuttle since Merge’s coordinates wouldn’t be accurate enough to feed into the Trans Serv- the last time they had tried that, Zero had accidentally wound up in the Panda Exhibit of the Neo Arcadian Zoo.

Besides that, he had to think about the injured Dande. The Reploid wouldn’t be able to survive if he was dragged around on a wild-goose chase.

In short, the only real option was to pull back to the HQ and reassess the situation.

The Hunter’s teeth grit in frustration, he didn’t like not being able to take action- and that was exactly where he was at the moment.

“Operator.” Zero activated his communications link. “Bring us back.”

“Roger that.”

Zero, Merge, and Dande vanished in a blast of light.

1010101010101010101010101010101

Alia pulled herself back around the corner, and turned to Ciel.

“I don‘t think that he knows we‘re here.” The blond Reploid whispered. “Have you received any word from Zero or the resistance?”

“Nothing.” Ciel shook her head. “Something‘s interfering with my communicator, we‘re on our own.”

“What about Merge?” Passy popped back into existence and fluttered in the air between her companions. “Wouldn‘t he be able to track us?”

“I don‘t know,” The blond scientist shook her head. “Whatever is interfering with my communications could be affecting his tracking ability, or it might not. There‘s no way to tell.”

“But either way,” Alia commented. “until the cavalry arrives, we‘re on our own.”

101010101010101010101010101

“Welcome back.”

Zero blinked as the world cam back into focus. As he had expected, Cerveau was already there and in motion to help the wounded Dande.

The researcher also had two other Resistance members with him, gently but efficiently they rolled Dande onto a stretcher and began carrying him down to Cerveau’s lab/repair shop.

Blood.

The crimson warrior blinked, confused. There was… something… flicking about on the edge of his mind, like an elusive memory that one couldn’t grab hold of… What was it?

Blood… Blood everywhere… Even in her hair…

Slowly the dream, if that was what it was, began to solidify in the Hunter’s mind.

A female Reploid… lying on the floor. Blood was everywhere… He leaned over her, as she slowly opened one eye… The female lifted up her hand weakly, her lips parting as she tired to speak-

“ZERO!”

The Hunter snapped to attention, slightly annoyed at himself for becoming oblivious to everything around him. Zero turned to find none other than the not-so-focused Perroquiet hovering behind him.

“And they say that I‘m the day dreamer.” The scientist chuckled.

Zero just turned his gaze on Perroquiet and waited for her to continue.

“Er, anyway, Cerveau told me to help you while he‘s trying to get Dande patched back together… What’s the situation?”

At that prompting, Zero recounted his misadventures.

Perroquiet’s eyes almost popped out of her head in disbelief.

“You‘re telling me that Alia and Ciel are trapped on board of a shuttle with a- a Maverick?”

“Yes.” Zero replied, his voice emotionless.

“We‘ve got to find them!” The scientist was rapidly losing control over herself. “There‘s no telling what could happen to them! Wait, what about Merge? Can‘t he find them? Why haven‘t you used Merge? ZERO!”

The warrior contained the sigh that threatened to emerge from his throat. From the looks of things, he was going to have to calm Perroquiet down. And counseling emotional humans and Reploids had never been his strong point; his idea of talking someone down was telling them to shut up and deal with the situation, but past experience had proven that that tactic rarely, if ever, worked.

Nevertheless, he did have his methods.

“Perroquiet!” The Hunter snapped, his voice rock hard. His outburst had the desired effect, and caused the distraught Reploid to turn and look at him in surprise. “Zip it. I need you to trace Ciel so that I can go and bring her back.”

“Right, right! I should have thought of that! Seriously, I really need to develop some more self-control…” Perroquiet launched into another rambling exposition as she bent over the Trans Server’s control panel.

Zero just hovered in the background, waiting on her to finish her job and track down Ciel’s location.

The Hunter waited, for several long moments… which lengthened into minutes, and then almost an hour.

1010101010101010101010101

“We‘re landing.” Alia realized as she felt a familiar bump run down the length of the shuttle. “This is strange, we haven‘t really been in the air that long…”

“I wonder why.” Ciel wondered aloud, puzzled by the events of the past few hours. “Does Ariel have other transportation ready to carry him on from this point, or is this where he was going all along?”

“We can‘t be that far from the South Continent.” The blond Reploid commented. “Maybe that‘s where he‘s going.”

“I just wish that we had some way of finding out what he was up to.” Ciel sat back against the shuttle’s wall and closed her eyes wearily. “Then we‘d know what to do…”

As soon as she heard that, Passy blinked as a thought struck her. It was crazy, but so crazy that it just might work. She could go ahead and check things out! Due to her small size, and ability to drift through various obstacles, she would be able to go anywhere she wanted to and the odds were that she wouldn’t be seen.

“I can go find out!” The small sprite exclaimed, slightly more loudly than either Ciel or Alia would have preferred.

“Shhh…” The blond Reploid quickly shushed the Cyber Elf in annoyance.

“It would work.” The Elf quietly pressed on. “I‘ll slip up there and find out what Ariel‘s up to, then I‘ll come back and tell you.”

“Passy, are you-”

“Come on, Ciel, I know I can do this.” Passy said. “It would be just like those hide and seek games we played as kids…”

Alia and Ciel traded a long look and then the woman gave in.

“Go ahead, Passy, but be careful.”

After nodding gravely, the sprite fluttered up over the two’s heads and vanished through the front wall.

Passy drifted forward, being careful to stay concealed behind something solid at all times. As a Cyber Elf, she was capable of traveling through or in most solid substances. A few solids she couldn’t bypass, but none of those were found in this shuttle.

A few moments passed before the Elf spotted her target, the Maverick Ariel. The wiry Reploid was stepping out from the cockpit and heading for the side exit.

Passy stayed out of sight, watching from her nook in the wall as the Reploid popped the side door open.

Wondering what would happen next, Passy drifted out of her hiding place and slowly worked her way over to the door. There she paused for a moment to gather her nerve; then she poked her head out of the doorway to see what was happening.

Passy froze as her mind tried to comprehend what she was seeing.

Out there were Reploids… LOTS of Reploids. Passy had never seen so many of the mechanical creatures, not even at the Resistance HQ. She watched, enthralled as events began unfolding before her.

“Not bad, Ariel…” A tall, lean purple and gray Reploid stepped up and greeted the Maverick. “Not bad at all. This shuttle could very well be useful to us later.”

“Glad you think so, General Vortex.” Ariel smirked. “I told you that I‘d succeed.”

“The threat has been neutralized?”

“That‘s what I said. There was some resistance and a few unexpected twists” The orange Reploid replied, glossing over his failures. “But Clio and Burgan are dead, and I know for a fact that they didn‘t share their knowledge.”

“Excellent.” Vortex nodded. “The master will be pleased to hear this. Have the clean-up crew go over that shuttle and then meet me in the main Conference Room, we have details to discuss.”

Passy pulled herself back into the shuttle and beat a hasty retreat, she had to warn Ciel and Alia!

1010101010101010101010101

Zero ran his mind back as he waited, trying to bring that fragment of a memory back to his conscious mind… So far he wasn’t having that much luck. All he could remember was that face framed with brown hair- hair that had been matted with Reploidic blood.

The entire thing was unnerving at the absolute least.

“I don‘t get it!”

The Hunter looked up to see Perroquiet throwing up her hands in frustration.

“I‘ve tried everything I can think of, and I can narrow it down to a large area,” The scientist bemoaned her fruitless efforts. “But I can‘t find Ciel. Something has to be blocking our transmitter or scrambling it… I wonder if it’s possible to find a frequency that bypasses the jamming, if I can narrow out the wavelength and then-”

Zero tuned out the long speech he knew was coming. There wasn’t any point in listening to all of this.

Thankfully, Zero was saved when the doors parted and Cerveau stepped into the room.

“Cerveau!” Perroquiet instantly noticed her mentor and way out of her current predicament. “Just in time! I can‘t find Ciel! They‘re scrambling the transmission on the wavelength level and I can‘t break through or bypass it. It‘s like they’re scattering the readings so that we pick up multiple targets.”

“Let me take a look.” The researcher walked over to the console and shooed Perroquiet aside. Cerveau then bent over the instruments, taking measurements and gauging their accuracy.

For a long moment, the only sound in the area was the sharp tapping of Cerveau’s typing.

Finally, the Reploid shook his head and stepped backward.

“Seinar Class scramblers.”

Zero waited, knowing that more of Cerveau’s explanation would have to be coming.

“It‘s virtually impossible to bypass/pierce a Seinar Cloaking Unit.” The researcher didn’t disappoint. “And trying to pin down the source of the cloaking is a fairly futile exercise.”

The Hunter couldn’t help himself, he raised an eyebrow in surprise. If Cerveau was saying that something couldn’t be done, then it had to be impossible.

“Although…” Cerveau muttered, his mind picking up the problem and beginning to unravel it for possible solutions. “It might be possible to pierce through the barrier if… No, we don‘t have the satellite capabilities for that to work…”

“What are you thinking?” Perroquiet wanted to know.

“It‘s possible that Merge could get through that scrambler.” The scientist explained. “Very possible; however, to do so, he would have to interface with a communications system that can reach all over the globe. We just don‘t have those kinds of resources available to us.”

“You‘re saying that if Merge can merge with an extensive satellite system he‘ll be able to find Ciel.” Zero clarified his understanding.

Cerveau nodded the affirmative.

“Then fire up the Trans Server.” The crimson warrior stepped forward and began walking towards the aforementioned device.

“Zero, what- where are you going?”

“To enter politics.” The Hunter grinned for a split second.

1010101010101010101010101

“Those fools!” Fefnir slammed his fist into the tabletop. “We just got attacked and they want to decrease our standing army! Now‘s the time to attack, not retreat!”

“True, that is not the result that we had hoped for.” Harpuia removed his helmet and sat wearily on a nearby chair. “However, it was expected given their past actions.”

“This does leave us with a problem.” Leviathan entered the room, “How are we going to protect humans who don‘t want to be protected anymore?”

Harpuia sighed and then raked his fingers through what little hair that he had. Their meeting with the Senatorial Committee had not gone well, to put it mildly. The humans had convinced themselves that the Guardians were incapable of fulfilling their duty, and so they had refused to listen to any of them and instead trusted that outcast, Dr. Weil.

“It doesn‘t matter what we have to work with.” The Thunder Guardian replied. “What we must do is protect the city and humans of Neo Arcadia, regardless of the other circumstances.”

“Which would be a lot easier if that blasted Weil would get over himself...” Over the past few months, Fefnir’s already low opinion of the scientist had dropped to an even deeper level. “And stop trying to undermine us. Harpuia, I tell you, it‘s only a matter of time before he turns on us and does us in.”

“I don‘t doubt it.” The green Reploid wearily replied. There were so many forces in motion, so many new dangers appearing and political shifting that were in motion, how was one supposed to keep up with it all?

“We don‘t have to worry about Weil at the moment.” Leviathan turned the subject back to the task at hand. “We really have to take care of that Ride Armor attack we suffered a few days ago. We don‘t have any idea who carried it out or why- We need some answers.”

“Answers that I can provide.”

Startled by the new voice that had interrupted the conversation, the three Guardians leapt to their feet and drew their weapons.

“Relax. It‘s me.” Zero stepped into the room, his hands empty. The Hunter made no move to approach the Guardians, instead he settled himself in against the doorway and waited on the other Reploids to acknowledge him.

“Zero?” Harpuia couldn’t believe his eyes. “How did you get in here? … Don‘t answer that, I don‘t want to know.”

“I’ve got a proposition for you.” The crimson warrior cut straight to the chase. “One that benefits both of us.”

End...
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

“Let me get this straight.” Fefnir shook his head in disbelief. “This Ariel guy snatches your shuttle along with Alia and Ciel. And odds are that this nitwit has ties to the organization that raided Neo Arcadia…”

“But you can track them with this Cyber Elf of yours,” Leviathan picked up the recap. “If you can patch into our satellite system.”

“Which in turn would allow you to go and rescue Ciel, but also provide us with the location of our current enemies.” Harpuia finished.

Zero just nodded the affirmative.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” The Fire Guardian looked across at his allies. “We get a chance to show those Senators that we‘ve got things under control and they get Ciel back. Let‘s go for it.”

“Whoa, slow down there, Fighting.” Leviathan chuckled nervously. “Things aren‘t that simple anymore. We can‘t just say ‘this is what we‘re going to do, let‘s do it‘ we have to come up with some way of making this look legal.”

“Looking legal won‘t do anymore.” The Thunder Guardian sat down at the table, placed his elbows on the table, and then rested his head in his hands. “We have to come up with some way to make it legal. The Senators won‘t be fooled by our surface deceptions anymore…”

Fefnir and Leviathan looked at each other and sighed. Harpuia was correct as always.

“This isn‘t going to be easy.” Fairy Leviathan shook her head.

1010101010101010101010101010

“This won‘t be easy.” Alia moaned slightly. “If there are a dozen Mavericks out there, we‘d be in big trouble if they found us.”

“I know, we‘ve got to do something quick.” Ciel thought for a long moment.

Abruptly, the human blonde looked up and eyed her companion. “Have you ever flown a shuttle before?”

“Over one hundred and twenty years ago.” The Reploid replied. “And that was your basic training model that all cadets had to learn back in… Hunter Training…”

A tear crept up in Alia’s eye, abruptly she blinked it away. There were so many memories. There were so many faces… So many faces that she couldn’t put a fate to… It was difficult for her, not knowing what had happened to her friends. People she had lived and fought for… and now she didn’t even know how they had died…

She was one of the two lone survivors of a generation…

The blond Reploid shook her head in an effort to clear her mind. This wasn’t the time or place to wax nostalgic.

“… is similar to our shuttles…” Ciel was saying. “If we reach the cockpit, I could do most of the flying… That might be our best chance.”

“Right, let‘s go.”

“Go where?”

Ceil and Alia froze as that all too familiar voice came through the air… Slowly they looked up to find none other than Ariel and three other goons standing a short distance away from them.

“Looks like I did bring back some bonuses after all.” Ariel smirked. “A human and a Reploid… Not bad…”

Ciel leapt to her feet and turned to face their captor.

“You‘re that girl that was with the others,” A smirk crept over the Maverick’s face. “The one that that other Reploid saved… fate has a nasty sense of humor doesn‘t it?”

“It would have to,” The blond woman shot back. “If it were to have spawned you.”

Ariel merely chuckled as if he had been complimented.

“I take it that these two were with your targets.” The tall purple Reploid standing behind Ariel, Vortex, muttered.

“Yes. Although I presently don‘t know why.” The orange mechanical being replied. “But I figure that a few rounds in the Chamber would get her to explain everything.”

“That would prove effective.” Vortex nodded. “Being human, her resistance is nothing compared to ours…”

“You idiots seem to be forgetting something.” Alia stepped forward so that she was standing just in front of Ciel. “Before you can do anything to us, you have to catch us.”

Her statement immediately grabbed the attention of the Mavericks, who turned and stepped forward menacingly.

“Seems to me,” Ariel snapped, “that we‘ve already caught you. All that‘s left is to cart you away…”

“I disagree with that assessment.” Alia’s eyes hardened.

To this day, Ciel still couldn’t figure out what had happened. It had occurred too fast for her to fullyfollow the following events.

Alia’s right hand glowed for a split second and vanished, replaced instead with an instrument that looked remarkably like a centuries old Buster. Before the Mavericks could react to what was happening, the blonde had raised her weapon and unleashed a titanic burst of energy.

Left with no room to dodge the attack, Ariel and Vortex took the full force of the attack. The two were hurled backward into the rest of their allies.

“Ciel, GO!” Alia grabbed onto her companion and vaulted for the nearest window. Alia’s hard metal body easily shattered the window and shielded Ciel from the leftover shards. Together they hit the hard ground outside of the shuttle and rolled over.

They were battered, bruised and weary, but for the moment, they were safe.

An extremely short moment.

Ciel worked her way to her knees and then she tensed as she heard an all-too-familiar sound behind her. The blonde threw herself over onto her back.

A plasma burst sped through the place where her heart had been a mere second ago.

Scrambling upright, Alia grabbed onto Ciel and helped her to her feet. The two glanced around and spotted a patch of forest a short distance away, without exchanging a word, the two turned and ran for the foliage.

“Get them!” Ariel leapt out of the shuttle and hit the ground. The next second he was on his feet and racing after the two fugitives.

He also had a new hole in his chest.

“GET THEM!” The orange Reploid demanded as he continued his chase.

He was soon joined by a flood of plasma bursts, laser fire and buster shots. All of them were aimed at Ciel and Alia.

1010101010101010101010101010101

“I‘m sorry, Zero.” Harpuia shook his head. “But until we can find some way of justifying this action, there is no affirmative answer that we can give you.”

“We‘ll do everything we can.” Leviathan shook her head sadly.

Fefnir just groaned and slammed his fist into the table. Being held underneath some else’s control was not something that he particularly enjoyed, and their present situation was just plain torture.

“I understand.” Zero stood upright and exchanged a quick handshake with Harpuia and Leviathan. “You know how to reach me when you decide. Until then…”

The Hunter turned and strode out into the corridor.

“Sage…” Fairy Leviathan turned to face her companions. “Isn‘t there any way we can help them?”

“It‘s doubtful.” The Thunder Guardian placed his palms on the table top and stared at it’s smooth surface. “Considering the restraints that the Senate has placed on our freedom… And I‘m almost certain that the majority of the Senators are in Weil‘s pocket. The method that they used to circumvent the Limitations Statute and gave him almost dictatorial powers is a powerful argument for that idea... They would be certain to refuse any move that would aid the Resistance, no matter what benefits such a move would provide for us.”

“I say we forget them.” Fefnir growled. “We‘ve seen that the Senators don‘t care about the general population. Forget them and do what‘s got to be done for the good of the people.”

“He‘s got a point.” Fairy nodded slowly. “Master X once violated a direct order to save a coastal town way back in the Maverick Wars.”

The three Guardians fell silent, each one pondering the dilemma before them.

They never noticed the small spider-like being that turned and skittered across the ceiling and out into the hallway…

101010101010101010101010101010101

To one it was home.

To several it was a necessary evil.

To all it was a place of fear.

This place was the lair of the infamous Dr. Weil, deranged scientist, ex-banished criminal, and the current dictator of Neo Arcadia.

The human turned Reploid studied the flow of information working it’s way across the bank of monitors along the southern wall. Each monitor was displaying a video feed of Zero’s meeting with the Guardians, all of which had been dutifully recorded by the small ‘bug’ that Weil kept in constant watch of the Guardians.

“Most interesting…” The shadowy form of Weil muttered as he watched the conversation for the third time. “Almost fascinating. I knew that these cretins had sympathies for the rebellion. But for them to consider out-right defying Neo Arcadian law with no justification? It‘s almost amusing.”

“However,” The aged researcher turned and pondered the events of the previous days. “This could prove beneficial to me. And whoever these creatures are that attacked us, they must be fairly well organized- and until their motives are known, they could prove to be some threat…”

The man paused, considering his options and weighing his variables. Finally, he arrived at a single conclusion.

“Zen’an!” Weil turned and stared down the length of the corridor leading up to his room. Moments passed, and then a Reploid appeared in the distance. The Reploid was of medium height, a wiry build, yet obviously contained some measure of strength. He was composed of three colors. His forearms, chest, head and forelegs were gray, while the rest of his body was black. Silver rings marked off his upper arms, lower legs, and the sides of his chest.

“Yes, Master.” The Reploid, Zen’an, stepped forward and dropped to his knees.

“Zen‘an, I am in need of your particular skills.” Weil commented. “I am concerned that as the Guardians might be tempted to provide aid to Resistance. You know as well as I do what this would mean to us.”

“I do, Master.”

“This cannot be allowed. You are to continually monitor the Guardian’s actions and keep me informed on their actions. Do not reveal yourself unless you see something that presents and immediate threat to the Neo Arcadian empire or my power. You are allowed to do anything covert you deem necessary to slow or stop their actions, unless it involves killing them.”

“Understood, Master. I will do so.” Zen’an stood, then took advantage of his special powers to fade away from sight.

Weil cackled, then turned back to his other business… That peon Kraft was asking for direction again…

1010101010101010101010101010101

“Interesting…” Zen’an thought as he took another bound to stay within sight of his present target: Harpuia. Taking care not to hit the ground too hard since he didn’t want the dust to betray his presence, the wiry Reploid touched down on all fours and took another leap.

The moving of the desert dust was the only thing that Zen’an had to worry about giving his position away. He was a stealth model, equipped with the absolute latest in cloaking technology. With his camouflage mode activated, he was completely invisible and undetectable. A fact which made it easy for him to fulfill his duty to follow Harpuia undetected.

Zen’an raised and eyebrow as he realized where the Thunder Guardian was going. He was headed straight for the Resistance base.

This was intriguing. Just what were the Guardians planning?

Zen’an slowed his movements as he pulled up to the side wall of the building. He would have to be much more careful now that there were others about.

The Reploid cocked his head, still following Harpuia’s flight. The Thunder Guardian landed in front of the main entrance and waited.

“He‘s probably certain that the others noticed his arrival…” The wiry Reploid muttered. “And that they‘ll be certain to roll out the red carpet for him.”

A few moments passed, and then Zen’an watched as the front entrance parted and slowly moved aside. Out of this new opening, the one Zen’an knew as Zero and another Reploid appeared and slowly walked towards the green Reploid.

“Zero, Cerveau.” Harpuia nodded at the two.

“Harpuia.” The Hunter returned the curt greeting. “Have you decided?”

“We decided long ago. But we‘ve been stopped from lending our assistance due to the limitations placed on our official powers” The Thunder Guardian replied.

“So you‘ve found a way around that?” The one known as Cerveau asked.

“Not yet. But we don‘t have the time to waste trying to discover a loophole. But we have hit upon a solution.”

“And that is?”

“Cerveau.” Harpuia glanced at the researcher. “What would it take for this Elf of yours to pinpoint Ciel’s location?”

The Reploid stopped and pondered that idea for a long moment.

“About five minutes integration with the satellite network. ” Cerveau slowly answered. “Five minutes with no restrictions.”

“Five minutes, full access. That’s all?”

“Yes, I‘m fairly positive that he‘d be able to lock onto her location after he leaves the system.”

“Impressive.” Harpuia genuinely looked awed at what they were saying. A moment passed as he regained his composure and continued the conversation. “I’m afraid that we cannot give you official clearance to the Sat Relay. But we‘ve come to the unanimous conclusion that we must help you for the good of the Neo Arcadian citizens.”

“You sure you want to do this?” Zero entered the discussion. “If your part in this is discovered, then it could be the end of you.”

“We have discussed the matter thoroughly.” The Thunder Guardian nodded once again. “We are in agreement.”

“Cerveau, if you can create something that would cloak your elf‘s actions, we can get you access to the Sat Relay.”

“I should be able to do that.”

“Then it‘s settled. We‘re going to do this, for the good of the citizenry.”

“Is everything in order?” Harpuia traded looks with Fefnir and Leviathan.

“We‘re set.” Fairy Leviathan nodded. “Fefnir and I will keep an eye on the drones while you feed the DD containing the Elf into the satellite system.”

“Merge does have a name!” A high-pitched voice exploded from the Data Disk hidden in Harpuia’s palm. “Merge’s name is Merge, not ‘Elf”!”

“Noted.” Harpuia shook his head in slight annoyance. “Merge, remember to stay quite. We can‘t afford any mistakes to give us away.”

“Merge know, Merge not slip up.”

“And that includes talking.” The Thunder Guardian finished up his instructions.

Not another sound came from the Disk.

“El- Merge, do you understand?”

More silence.

“Merge,” Fairy spoke up, slightly concerned over the sudden silence. “Merge! Are you there?”

A sigh slipped from the disk followed up by a hasty sentence. “How Merge supposed to keep quiet and answer?”

The three guardians stifled their groans of annoyance.

“Very well then, let us begin.”

With those words hanging in the air, the three guardians stepped forward into the Sat Recon Room. As they had expected, about a dozen or so mechanical robots were dutifully watching their instruments and checking the information pouring out of the intricate satellite system.

Not one of them so much as looked at Harpuia, Fefnir or Leviathan.

“This is going to be easier than we thought.” Fairy Leviathan muttered in uneasy disbelief.

10101010101010101010101010101010

Zen’an was almost convinced that his vision receptors were malfunctioning, the events he was witnessing were so far removed from reality that it his vision being impaired was almost a plausible theory.

The Guardians were actually defying the Senate and aiding the rebellion.

Unconsciously, Zen’an tightened his grip on the ceiling. He had chosen the best spot possible for observing the treason playing out before him- he was currently hanging upside down on the ceiling. His clawed hands and feet easily latching onto the horizontal surface and helping him to defy gravity.

Craning his neck, the dark Reploid watched as the Thunder Guardian casually made his way over to one of the information terminals. Right on his heels, Fefnir and Leviathan followed the Green Reploid. Once they were in position, the Fire and Ice guardians turned around and started playing lookout.

Zen’an could just barely make out Harpuia shoving the Data Disk into the terminal.

Turning his Audio Sensors up to their full power and homing them in on his target, the Dark Reploid began eavesdropping on his unknowing victims.

“Do it, Merge.” Harpuia cast a quick glance over his shoulder. The observation robots were still ignoring them.

“Right, Mr. Harpuia…” A tiny voice came from the terminal.

10101010101010101010101010101

“Aye, aye, aye…” Merge circled about quickly in an effort to regain his orientation. Things were so different in this computer, the information, the data, all of it was just swirling and dancing around him. Lazily the information cuddled and swept around him, beckoning for him to join it…

Hastily the blue elf shook his head. He didn’t have time to get lost in the maze of information… but he felt so… full… so endless… it was like data was just spilling through him, satisfying him yet leaving him craving for more…

“MERGE!”

The elf blinked as he was jerked back to reality.

“Right, right. Merge looking!” The blue elf spun around, gathering the information around him like a cloak and using it to expand his senses. Within moments he had discovered the link to the satellite system and was tapping into it’s awesome power.

Reality exploded around him…

Merge gasped as he was swept up and into a torrent of information. His senses were expanding and stretching out to cover the entire earth… He was limitless, endless… he could look anywhere and see anything he desired…

MS. CIEL!

Again Merge shook his head. He had to keep his focus, Ms. Ciel and Ms. Alia were counting on him…

Ms. Ciel… Ms. Alia… Slowly but steadily, Merge shifted all of his focus onto his friends. It was difficult, and almost painful, but the elf was able to gather the storm of information around him and pinpoint it’s power on the task at hand…

Merge closed his eyes, letting his mind rocket the distance between his body and his friends. Water… sand… trees… Water… Fire… Lava… Ice… Water… More water… The Shuttle!

Merge almost popped his eyes open and nearly lost all of his progress as he ‘saw’ Zero’s shuttle. From there he ‘ran’ forward, skidding past rocks and trees… grass…

MS. CIEL!

Merge fought to keep from screaming in joy as he ‘found’ Ms. Ciel and Ms. Alia.

Abruptly his body turned cold.

Reploids… Many Reploids… there was something evil about them… some kind of… opaqueness that was opposite the friendliness that Ms. Ciel and Mr. Zero carried with them.

The Reploids had found Ms. Ciel and Ms. Alia…

One of the Reploids raised his blaster and pointed it at Ciel’s chest…

A shot tore free of the barrel.

“NOOOOOOO!” Merge jerked away, losing the connection that he had worked so hard to establish. The world turned crazy, whipping around him as his senses recoiled from the suddenly jolt and then tried to bring themselves back in line with his mind…

1010101010101010101010101010

Zen’an’s eyes went wide as the Data Disk almost exploded out of the disk drive. So violent was the ejection that Fefnir had to grab onto Leviathan and knock her out of the way.

The wiry Reploid watched and listened as the three Guardians hastily conferred with each other. After a few moments of hasty debate, the three Reploids left the room, declaring their intention to go down to the hanger bay.

Silently, Zen’an dropped to the ground below. He quickly walked over to the nearby disk drive and began punching in a string of communication codes.

In moments, the hideous form of Weil appeared on the screen.

“Master Weil, the guardians know the location of our current enemies. They are in route to meet up with the resistance and most likely launch an assault on our enemies.”

“Exactly as I predicted…” Weil mused for a moment. “Very well, continue to tail them, and keep me informed.”

“As you wish, Master.” Zen’an cancelled the connection and then burst into motion to catch up to the Guardians.

1010101010101010101010101010

Zero maintained his vigil on the roof of the Resistance’s base. Ever since his encounter with that Ariel Reploid and Ciel’s kidnapping, the Hunter had frequented that spot.

While his outer body was still, his inner mind was rushing about in a mad frenzy.

Memories. Fragments, bits, tantalizing threads… all of them there, yet hanging just beyond his reach.

It was almost maddening.

Again the Crimson Warrior let his mind run over the pieces of memories that had come back to him. Blood, Reploidic, but still blood. A face… brown hair…

Iris…

That name…

What did it all mean?

Colonel!

Zero blinked in surprise as the voice rocketed through his mind. The voice was familiar, fitting, it almost seemed to be a part of him…

“COLONEL! It’s not too late! Stop the coup now!”

“I cannot.”

“If that is your decision… Prepare yourself!”

A blade of yellow shot through the air, only to be met by a cool greenish-white sword. Slowly a form began to materialize out of the blackness… The owner of the yellow blade was tall, imposing, and sported white armor…

“Brother, no!”

Blackness.

It was all that Zero could do to keep from punching the floor in frustration. Again the memory had ceased, just as suddenly as it had come. It was there, he could feel it, but it refused to surface at his command… Questions began to fill his mind over what he had just witnessed.

Who was the owner of that yellow sword? And why did that first voice sound so… fitting?

A slight ‘hiss’ brushed against the Hunter’s ear, interrupting his thoughts.

Instantly Zero’s head was whipping around to find a Neo Arcadian issue shuttle heading in his direction from the east. They had company coming.

Unconsciously, the warrior’s hand moved down to rest on his Saber.

Cries of alarm from the base alone began to drift upward to Zero. But the Hunter just stood there, resolute, as a trio of Resistance Reploids burst onto the roof and began mounting defensive weaponry.

“Hold it.” Zero threw the words over his shoulder at the Resistance Reploids.

“What?” The lead commander looked up in confusion.

“You‘re wasting your time. They aren‘t here to fight.” The crimson warrior turned his attention back to the rapidly approaching shuttle.

“How do you-?”

“I just do.”

Zero never wavered as the aircraft swooped in and came to rest beside him on the top of the building.

Slowly the hatch opened, revealing Sage Harpuia, Fighting Fefnir, and Fairy Leviathan.

1010101010101010101010101010101

Zen’an released his hold on the outside of the shuttle and hastily worked his way around so that the shuttle was between him and the other Reploids. Even though he couldn’t be seen, he still like the extra protection.

1010101010101010101010101010101

“Your elf- Merge claims to have tracked down Ciel and Alia‘s locations…” Harpuia commented as the aforementioned Elf drifted back over to Zero and Allouette.

“Claims?” Zero wasn’t sure that he liked the way the Thunder Guardian had worded that sentence.

Harpuia opened his mouth to explain, but Fefnir beat him to the punch.

“The squirt says that he found Ciel out in the middle of nowhere.” The red Reploid snapped in anger. “We looked up the coordinates that he gave and the only out there is a lot of water and that‘s it. All that trouble we went through was for nothing.”

“You‘re sure?” Cerveau’s right eyebrow rose in disbelief. “Merge has never been that incorrect in the past. He may be off by a handful of meters, but he‘s always in the ballpark.”

“Then this must be a large ballpark.” Fefnir growled back. “All of that was useless!”

“Enough, Fefnir.” Harpuia dropped his hand on the Fire Guardian’s shoulder. “The crux of the matter is that we still need each other- the Resistance has the best means of finding our attackers and we have the capabilities to make that means a reality.”

“Merge sorry,” The Cyber Elf dropped his head as the memories of the events that he had witnessed began to flood his mind. “Merge sure that he saw…”

“Saw what?” Allouette looked up as the Elf’s voice trailed off. “Merge, did you see Ciel?”

“Merge… Merge did…”

“What was happening? Was she alright?” The young Reploid girl trained her gaze on Merge, her eyes pleading for answers.

“Ms. Ciel- Reploids… It…”

“Merge, what is it?” The small Reploid begged for answers. “What did you see?”

“Ms. Ciel… the gun… Merge…” The Elf’s head began bucking about in overwhelming grief. “”Merge saw Ms. Ciel- then Reploids shot Ms. Ciel!”

A collective silence took hold of the Reploids as they digested this bit of news… and then the grip was broken as Allouette ran from the room, leaving a trail of tears in her place.

For a long moment no one moved as they struggled to accept the idea that their beloved leader, Ciel, could actually be gone forever. Even the Guardians seemed slightly downcast at the thought.

Abruptly Zero turned and left the room, heading in the general direction that Allouette had taken.

“It… can‘t be…” Cerveau’s voice finally found his way out of his throat. “Ciel… she… no…”

“Gone… forever…” Dande whispered.

“How can we possibly continue now?”

10101010101010101010101010101

Allouette collapsed onto her cot, burying her face in the soft caress of the fabric. Tears were already staining the white sheets, the tears of a young Reploid girl who had lost her adoptive mother…

They were two separate… beings… Ciel was human, she was Reploid… yet… that difference seemed unable to destroy the bond they had developed. Ciel was her mother just much as if she were human, and now that she was gone…

What would happen to her now?

Allouette’s eyes flooded anew as her trembling, spasming fingers brushed against the bunny doll that Ciel had made for her a few years back… It wasn’t fair! Why did Ciel have to be killed? WHY?

A light touch appeared on her back.

Puzzled, Allouette turned her head… through the blur of water in her eyes she could just make out a pale face… two blue eyes… and what had to be a long ponytail…

“Zero…”

“It‘s all right, Allouette.” The warrior’s usually impassive mask had been discarded, allowing his concern to show. “I promise you it‘ll be all right.”

“Zero, I- I-”

“Don‘t talk…” Zero whispered, “I understand, just let it out.”

Allouette threw herself around the Reploid’s neck, hugged tight, and let the tears allow the grief and sorrow to escape…
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

“Is she O.K.?” Cerveau glanced over his shoulder as Zero re-entered the room. The researcher was slightly concerned that Zero had taken it upon himself to comfort Allouette after Merge’s dis-heartening revelation. After all, it was well-known that Zero had a bed-side manner that could accurately be compared to that of a rock.

“She‘ll live.” The Hunter settled his back against the doorjamb and glanced over the Reploids in the room, Cerveau, Leviathan, Harpuia and Fefnir. “Any luck tracing Ciel or Alia?”

“We just might have some of that… and heaven knows we need some good luck at the moment.” Cerveau pointed at the large screen resting in front of the room. “It took me a while to realize why Merge failed to accurately trace Ciel- he can‘t distinguish between the real and digital realms.”

Zero’s left eyebrow rose slightly. “You‘re saying that Ciel isn‘t in our world, but in the cyber-realm.”

“Exactly.” Cerveau’s finger’s danced over the keyboard while the Guardians watched in slight amazement. “That would explain why Merge could detect Ciel, but we couldn‘t. You know as well as I that he‘s never completely wrong- in a big ballpark, maybe; but never wrong.”

“How can you be sure?”

“It’s simple, really. Something about the way Delta was jamming our signals didn‘t feel right,” Cerveau continued his explanation. “So I triple-checked the readings. The fact of the matter is that they weren‘t scrambling the signal, it was cyber-space interference that was wrecking the tracker. Once I was able to compensate for the interference, we tracked Ciel‘s signal down within minutes- and it is coming from the digital world.”

Leviathan shook her head in complete bewilderment.

“Are you getting any of this, Harpy?”

“Yeah, you might want to put that in English for those of us who aren‘t walking encyclopedias…” Fefnir agreed as he rubbed his forehead in confusion.

“There‘s an alternate dimension to ours,” Harpuia broke the researcher’s discussion down for his comrades. “It‘s simply known as the ‘Cyber World‘ because it appears to be composed completely of digital data. How it came to be or how it continues to exist, we don‘t know- but it is possible for physical beings to enter this world through portals that occur naturally. What Cerveau‘s saying is that Delta is hiding out in the Cyber World and that‘s why Merge supposedly failed to track her.”

“I still don‘t get it.” Leviathan tossed her head once, “But if they know where those Mavericks are, then we need to go clean them out.”

“Right.” Fefnir agreed. “Let‘s gather some forces and-”

“Now hold on a moment.” Harpuia thrust out his arm to silence the other two. “Given the state of our political situation, we must be certain that this is where Delta‘s hiding. If they‘re wrong, then it could ruin any chance that we have of upsetting Weil‘s grip over Neo Arcadia.”

The Fire and Ice Guardians exchanged a quick look.

“And, as much as we may not want to admit it, we do owe Zero and his comrades in more ways than one.” The Thunder Guardian shot a quick, meaningful glance at the Crimson Warrior. “It would be best for all parties concerned if we go scout out the location of Delta and then report back to the Senate… We might also need stumble across a certain captive human who needed our help…”

10101010101010101010101010101

“Ughnnnnnnn….”

“Easy, Ciel… Don‘t push yourself…”

Ciel slowly opened her eyes to find a blurred mess swirling through the air before her. Bewildered, she tried to shake her head- and promptly went limp as her head exploded into pain.

The blond woman laid there for a moment, waiting on the nausea and pain to pass. Several moments passed before she felt safe enough to try and open her eyes again.

The second attempt was much more successful than the first, and a painful blink brought the world around her into focus. Not that there was much world to see- a brown thatched roof was about the only thing she could see at the moment, and she didn’t dare turn her head to look around.

“Don‘t move any more than you have to, Ciel.” A strangely familiar voice reached her ear, as a matching face slid into her line of sight. “You‘re still extremely weak.”

“Al.. lia..” Ciel forced the word out from between her stiff lips. “Wha…”

“You got shot… they hit your injured shoulder.” The blond reploid explained the situation. “And they must have put some kind of drug into that bullet, your system didn‘t react to it very well. I‘ve been doing my best to keep you alive ever since.”

“Where… where are we?”

“Delta caught us… we’re currently locked in one of their makeshift prisons until they decide what to do with us. But that’s not important right now- you need to rest and gather your strength.”

Too exhausted to reply, Ciel dropped back into a merciful slumber.

1010101010101010101010101010101

“… and now the guardians are preparing to launch a Resistance shuttle to investigate.” Zan’an finished dictating his report to Weil.

“Interesting… extremely interesting…” Weil’s voice came back over the intercom. “Alright, Zan‘an, I want you to continue, but I want to stress that it would be in our best interests if none of the guardians were to return from this expedition…”

“I understand, and you have my word that they won‘t return.”

“Your word doesn‘t interest me, I want results.”

“I’ll make sure that you have that too.” Zen’an closed the communication and prepared to sneak aboard the shuttle.

101010101010100101010101010101

“Zero…”

The Hunter took his eyes off of the Trans Server and looked over his shoulder to find Allouette standing behind him. The young Reploid was clutching her usual toy even tighter than usual.

“Zero, please… find Ciel…” Allouette looked up at the crimson warrior, tears staining her cheeks. “I don‘t… care if… I just… have to know.”

“Allouette,” The warrior dropped to one knee and rested his hand on the Reploid’s right shoulder. “I promise you that I‘ll find her, for better or worse.”

“Thank you…”

That done, Zero stood and turned his attention back to the communication room. It looked like the preparation was finished, for the Guardians were standing there waiting on him.

The Hunter strode over to the Trans Server, stepped aboard, and took up his customary position in the center.

“Said your good-byes?” Fefnir shot a look at the Hunter.

“At least I had good-byes to say.”

“Before you two get into that…” Fairy Leviathan cut into the conversation. “We need to get this show on the road.”

“Indeed.” Harpuia nodded once, “Let‘s proceed.”

Cerveau shook his head in agreement, muttered something about house guests overstaying their welcome, and then flicked the switches that would activate the Trans Serv. Within seconds, the three Guardians and the Hunter had dissolved into streams of light energy, and vanished.

1010101010101010101010101010

Zero straightened quickly, and took a quick look around to get his bearings. He was familiar with this place, it was the spot where the Mother Elf had healed Allouette after their last adventure… which strangely enough seemed to be mirroring this one…

Reminding himself to stay on focused on the matter at hand, the warrior turned to find the portal to the Cyber Word exactly where he remembered it being.

“So that‘s it, huh?” Fefnir’s voice drifted over the Hunter’s shoulder.

“It is.”

“And nobody knows how these things work or what causes them to appear?” Fairy inquired.

“That would be correct.” Harpuia replied. “Nor do we know what triggers their appearance. But that does not really matter at the moment. What we need to focus on is getting in there, finding Delta, and getting out.”

“And finding Ciel somewhere along the way.” Zero reminded them.

“That would be ideal, yes.”

Without waiting to hear more, the Hunter strode forward and stepped into the portal. Reality seemed to stretch and waver for a moment, as was often the case during the transition between worlds… if Zero had the stomach for it, he could have looked at his hands and seen his fingers bending- where joints didn’t exist.

What seemed like hours passed, everything further stretched out, it was as if the world itself was becoming paper-thin. But things continued to thin and stretch… until they were at their utmost limit…

And then the world collapsed…

Everything restructured itself…

And they arrived.

Zero shook his head slightly to regain his sense of feeling. That had actually been one of the easier trips through to this realm…

“Whoa…” Fefnir gasped weakly. “That… was some trip…”

“You O.K., Fighting?” Leviathan steadied the Reploid with her free hand, “You look a little green…”

“I‘m fine.” The fire Guardian straightened up, “Just fine… and we all know that Harpuia‘s the green one.”

“Are they always like this?” The crimson warrior shot a look at the aforementioned Thunder Guardian.

“Not usually… it seems to be something of a trend lately.”

The Hunter shook his head once, and then tapped his com unit to check in with the Resistance.

“Are you there, Cerveau?”

“We‘re here, and your signal is coming through loud and clear.” The reply came back. “Alright, Ciel’s location shows up to the immediate west of your present position, you’re roughly fifty miles away. ”

“Roger that, stand by.” Zero closed the connection and turned to his companions. “Did you guys get that?”

“We heard.” Harpuia nodded once, “lead on.”

As soon as those words reached his ears, Zero turned to his right and began what was going to be a long walk…

None of them noticed the shifting sand behind them… the shifting sand caused by a spying Reploid… one equipped with the latest in stealth technology.

101010101010101010101001010101010

“Please!”

The Hunter blinked once. That slightly familiar voice was echoing through his head again…

“Please! I beg you, don’t fight with my brother!”

“Someone… someone must stop them…” That voice… the one that felt fitting replied. “I don‘t want to fight your brother… but if I must then I will…”

“Zero! PLEASE!!”

IRIS!

There she was… brown hair… soft eyes… that beret, the one that she never took off… She was Iris… she was his friend… No… more than a friend… she was his… love…

Colonel… her brother… the owner of that yellow sword… they had fought… Colonel lost… and paid the price with his life…

Iris…

“I can‘t forgive you!”

There she was… lying on the floor… slain by his own hand… He could see it once again… that final blow… Her cry… the anguish… The pain in her voice… the pain that was swiftly filling his being…

“I wanted to believe it… I wanted a place… just for… us… Zero”

She was dead… at his hand…

“No… No...” Zero stopped short, completely unaware of the fact that the other guardians were staring at him in bewilderment. “It can‘t be...”

But it was…

He could feel it… a familiar pain ripping into his heart… the void he had been living with since his reactivation was suddenly filled. Anguish and pain cementing that hole, taking up their former place in his life.

Iris… his love… he had killed her…

“No...” The Hunter found his palms pressed flat against his ears in an effort to stop the thoughts and memories from filling his mind… Once he had fought to regain them… now he would do almost anything to be able to forget them. “IRIS!”

“Iris?” Leviathan shot a look at Harpuia.

The Thunder Guardian didn’t respond, he just watched the crimson warrior, his face devoid of emotion.

“Iris…” Zero blinked once, the back of his mind registering the fact that he was on his knees.

“Move it, you idiot!”

The breath leapt out of the Hunter ‘s lungs as Fefnir slammed into him. The force and weight of the blow sent both Zero and Fefnir tumbling over each other…

The spot that Zero had just vacated exploded into chaos. Dust, sand and ash filled the air, while the putrid smell of discharged energy filled the crimson warrior’s nostrils.

Something had just tried to fry him with a highly focused beam of energy.

And that did not make him happy.

Faced with this new, currently unknown threat, the Hunter’s mind automatically shelved his grief to deal with later and clicked into his attack mode. On pure instinct, the warrior drew his Saber, pushed off of the tumbling Fefnir, back-flipped into the air, and hit the ground feet-first and weapon at the ready.

He wasn’t sure what to make of this… thing before him. It was extremely long, and vaguely resembled a green sea snake. The being turned around and shot skyward, vanishing into the suddenly cloudy atmosphere.

“What is that thing?” Fairy held her staff at the ready.

“Whatever it is, it‘s not friendly.” Fefnir growled as he rolled to his feet. “You owe me one, Zero. So don‘t go getting yourself killed.”

“I‘ll keep it in mind.” The Hunter kept his gaze trained upward.

In seconds the serpent appeared again. It barreled out of the clouds and came rushing down on them at intense speed.

Zero turned around as the serpent swept overhead- and then his mind registered that being. He remembered where he had seen it before, it was the guardian that he had defeated while rescuing Alia- Night Strike Serpent.

And apparently, this serpent had learned a few new tricks during it’s time in the digital world.

Harpuia, Leviathan, and Fefnir scrambled to dodge the attack, each one just barely managing to avoid the onslaught.

Enraged by his failure, Night Strike turned skyward and shot back into the clouds. A moment later he reappeared and repeated his previous maneuver.

“Traitors!” The serpent snarled as he tried to ram his opponents. “You sacrificed me for some… filthy Reploid!?”

“You‘re kidding me!” Fefnir leapt away from the attack and clicked off four quick shot from his cannon. “This guy‘s… dead! How‘s he still exist?!”

“Fefnir, shoot first, ask later!” Fairy called back, unleashing ice crystal after ice from her staff.

Neither of the attacks so much as scratched the armor covering the lethal serpent. And again it vanished into the clouds.

“I‘m going up there.” Harpuia propelled himself into the air and rocketed upward. The Guardian drew his two daggers and held them at the ready, who knew what he was getting himself into?

“That idiot…” Zero hissed as he sheathed his Saber and drew his Buster in it’s stead. There wasn’t much he could do, he couldn’t risk firing wildly with no idea of what he’d hit; and as long as Night Strike stayed up there in the clouds, that was exactly what trying to attack him would be.

“I‘ll destroy you for betraying me!!” Night Strike’s voice shot out of the clouds, promptly followed by multiple blasts of flame.

Harpuia didn’t bother to reply, instead he focused on avoiding the fireballs currently heading straight for him. A few quick twists carried him around the blasts, and within seconds he was face to face with Night Strike Serpent.

That was the good news, the bad news was that the fireballs had a secondary target- the Guardians on the ground.

Fefnir and Leviathan scrambled back and forth, narrowly avoiding being roasted.

“Fefnir!” Leviathan’s eyes filled with terror as she took in the scene before her. “Watch out!”

The Fire Guardian looked up, and his face went white as he spotted a stray fireball bearing straight down on him.

Then Zero intervened.

The warrior appeared overhead, his Ice Saber at home in his palm. A quick slice later, and the Hunter had split that attack in two, effectively sparing it’s target.

“I believe that we‘re even.” Zero remarked as he sheathed his weapon.

“Yeah…”

Overhead, the Thunder Guardian was stunned to find himself evenly matched with the former weakling, Night Strike Serpent.

“Surprised?” The snake hissed. “I‘ve learned much during my captivity in this realm!”

“Your capabilities have improved drastically.” The Guardian was forced to admit.

“Improved?!” Night Strike cackled. “They have increased ten-fold! Increased enough to destroy traitors such as yourself!”

Even as he spoke those words, the serpent unleashed his next move.

A dirty move.

The snake flicked about, snapping it’s tail around to blindside Harpuia. The move was successful and the connection was solid.

Harpuia recoiled as his mind lost itself to the shock of the blow. Dazed and bordering on unconsciousness, the Guardian dropped for a second, and then lost his flight altogether. The Thunder Guardian began the long drop to the unforgiving ground below.

“Harpuia!!” Zero, Leviathan and Fefnir shouted in unison. As one, The Hunter and the Fire Guardian broke into a mad dash in a feeble attempt to intercept the Thunder Guardian’s fall.

They knew that it was no use, Harpuia was too far out for them to have any hope of performing a rescue.

However, fate decided to intervene in Harpuia’s certain death. Fate can take several forms, some so small that they’re negligible, others larger, and some downright terrifying.

As terrifying as a certain Reploid that had been dead for years…

This Reploid appeared out of nowhere, as was often his custom. He deftly sailed through the air and effortlessly plucked the Thunder Guardian from his certain doom. After depositing the unconscious Harpuia on the ground, the Reploid turned and shot upwards, riding on a familiar spiked instrument.

“It can‘t be!” Fefnir looked like he was seeing a ghost. “That- that‘s PHANTOM!”

Indeed it was.

Phantom shot skyward, his attention focused solely on the serpent above.

Night Strike glared at the newcomer and sent four new fireballs rocketing downward.

The Ninja deftly slipped between the attacks. His arm lashed out. A dozen Shuriken went flying.

It was over.

Ninja Phantom dropped back to the ground, and landed at the same instant that Night Strike Serpent’s lifeless body slammed into the sandy surface.

“There‘s no way…” Fairy Leviathan stared at her partner and friend in disbelief. “You… you‘re alive! Phantom!”

The silent assassin crossed his arms over his chest, and studied the rag-tag group before him.

“It would seem so.”
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

“You joined with him.” Phantom kept his arms crossed over his chest. “The one who slew me and Master X.”

“That would be correct.” Harpuia didn’t hesitate in framing his reply. “This alliance is temporary, we need Zero‘s strength to destroy the Delta and remove their threat from the Neo Arcadian society.”

The five Reploids were silent for a long moment as Phantom considered the points brought to his attention.

“Duty demands that I assist you.” Phantom nodded slightly. “But I am not indebted to the Maverick.”

“Good.” The Thunder Guardian felt the tension of their meeting drain away. “And Phantom… it is good to see you again.”

10101010101010101010101010101

Darkness…

There was a certain peace in the night, a peace that Zero found no where else. He was a warrior, always had been and always would be. It was his fate and destiny. War was his way and his life.

But even warriors needed times of peace.

The Hunter cast a wary eye back at his comrades. They were still back at the make-shift camp talking and getting caught up with Phantom. It looked like they hadn’t even noticed that he was missing, and that was how he wanted it. He had no business being at that reunion, and he needed time to think and sort out the fragmented mess of his mind.

Zero turned away from the camp and cast his gaze out across the eerie black-green sky. Here and there brighter green splotches of stars were able to pierce the blanket of darkness…

Why? Why had it been necessary to kill Iris? What had possessed him to do so? It was bizarre, the fact that he had slain Iris caused a centuries old pain to reawaken… yet he had no idea who Iris was… he had no connection to her at all…

Except in her death.

None of this made any sense. He needed answers… he needed to know who he was and why he was here… He didn’t need to be told, he didn’t need to read books to discover his past… he needed to know his past. To remember it. Nothing else would suffice, nothing else would fill the void in his mind.

But that would never happen, the only two creatures that even claimed to have knowledge of his past were gone. And since the people of his world had the most appalling lack of historical knowledge, he might never know.

It was enough to drive him crazy.

“Iris, you’re right. I do look angry when I‘m thinking.”

Zero’s eyes snapped open as he spun around to face the speaker of that strange voice. Instinctively his hand flashed down to the hilt of his Saber, ready to draw it and strike.

However, his blade crashed to the ground as his fingers went slack with disbelief. This was impossible, there was no way… he couldn’t be…

He was looking at himself.

There, in front of him stood two Reploids. One was as ancient as he was claimed to be, his limbs were red, trimmed with yellow and defined with gray and black. Cubed shoulder pads rested on each side of his red and yellow torso, and his helmet was white with red fins… and the required yellow hair pulled back into a ponytail.

The other was also unbelievably old. She was red, blue, and white. Her armor was styled so that it resembled a blouse and skirt, and a red beret rested on her brown hair.

“What…?” Zero stepped back in disbelief, unable to believe his eyes.

“Sheesh, Phantom‘s alive in this realm.” Another form appeared. This one looked even older than the other Zero, he was lacking shoulder pads, his helmet was nowhere near as stylized, and his hair just spilled out the back of his helmet in a messy tangle. “What makes you think that your past selves couldn‘t as well?”

“We all exist as data ghosts in cyberspace.” This time the words were spoken from an ancient form of X, he appeared to be from the same time period as the stylized Zero. “With the exception of Sigma, of course. Turns out that he was using this place to come back from the dead every other week.”

More forms appeared around the modern Zero. As they appeared, the Hunter’s mind slowly began to register and remember them… who they were, what they did, how they related to them… the battles that they had fought, the victories they had celebrated… and the defeats they had weathered.

Doppler… Alia… Douglas… Signas… Iris… Axl… Cinnamon… Massimo… Marino… Layer… Palette... They were all here…

“I‘m here too.” A Reploid that Zero placed as Spider appeared on the group’s edges. “And don’t worry, I made short work of that Redips for impersonating me.”

He remember them all.

“You‘re the only one of us left.” The ancient Zero said. “The only one who survived. ”

“It‘s up to you, Zero.” Iris spoke up in her soft voice. “The fate of the entire world and it’s future rests on you. Others will rise up and join the fight, but only if you give them the time to do so.”

“We wish we could have done this earlier…” The older Zero shook his head. “You need to know, you need to remember… we‘re here to give you the chance to do so.”

“For you, my old ‘comrade in arms..’” Cinnamon grinned as she leaned forward and touched her hand to Zero’s helmet crystal.

“This‘ll help you take them out.” Axl mirrored Cinnamon, placing his hand over hers.

The others did likewise, each one ghosting through the others to touch Zero.

The crimson warrior closed his eyes…

And remembered.

101010101010101010101010101010

Harpuia stifled a groan as he shielded his eyes from the onslaught of the rising sun. He hadn’t realized that they had talked the night away; but in the excitement of having another chance of seeing Phantom, they had lost all sense of time.

“We need to get moving.” The Thunder Guardian turned back to his three companions. “We shouldn‘t be that far out from Delta now…”

“Yeah,” Fefnir slammed his fist into his open palm. “Time for some payback!”

Phantom remained silent, but allowed a grin to surface on his face. Getting another chance to fight with his brethren should be… fun…

“Wait a moment,” Leviathan’s head snapped around, her eyes darting over the area. It had occurred to her that she hadn’t noticed their ally in quite a while. “Where‘s Zero?”

“Right here.” The Hunter stepped out from behind a stone outcropping and walked over to his allies. The Warrior cast a quick glance over his partners and then shook his head toward the east. “Let‘s go.”

101010101010101010101010101010

“Oh…” Ciel rolled off of her cot and hit the ground in a knee-jarring kneel. Using the wall for support, she slowly but surely managed to stand erect. “Alia?”

“I‘m here.” The female Reploid stepped over to help her companion. “I don‘t think it‘s a good idea for you to be up and about yet, your system‘s still trying to fight off the last of whatever it was they hit you with.”

“I know,” The blond scientist replied weakly. “But if I can move around then I have to. We‘ve got to find some way out of this place and away from these… monsters.”

“’Mavericks’ is the word I‘d use.” Alia replied bitterly. “I know you‘ve had some past trouble with that term, but that‘s what they are. Anyone who would use power against innocents to achieve a goal is a Maverick in my book, and these guys qualify.”

Ciel nodded, then took in their surroundings. They were in a rickety brown shack of medium size, it was probably about the closest thing that these… Mavericks… had to a prison.

The prison itself didn’t worry Ciel, it was what the Reploids intended to do with the people inside the prison.

“I thought about just pulling one of the boards off of the back wall and walking out.” Alia was saying, “but I found out that they‘ve got a ring of guards around this place, so that plan‘s out.”

“That doesn‘t bode well for our chances.” The blond human shook her head. “Maybe we co-”

Ciel broke her sentence as a sharp screeching sound filled their makeshift prison. The two turned around to find a tall, stocky Reploid pulling the door open. Two other Reploids of similar build were with him.

“She‘s awake.” The first guard called to someone beyond the prisoner’s field of vision. A moment passed, then the guards stepped into the prison. Two of them held what looked like some kind of nasty-looking manacles.

“It‘s time for your trial.” The first guard spoke again. “And the laws on Delta clearly state that all suspected murderers or likewise dangerous prisoners be restrained while outside of prison.”

“Trial?”

“Yeah, you‘ll see.”

The two guards stepped forward, and effortlessly shackled Ciel and Alia’s hands. It didn’t take the blonde but a moment to realize that these were the exact same issue of restraint that was used in the Neo Arcadian prisons. Which meant…

Before Ciel could complete that thought, one of the guards had grabbed hold of her shoulder and was shoving her towards the doorway. And he wasn’t being gentle about it, either.

Ciel drove any thought of escaping from her mind. The odds were stacked against them. They were probably in the middle of Delta, Mavericks were all around them and their hands were restrained. Even if they could break free from the guard’s iron grip, there wouldn’t be any place to run to.

Alia looked around in amazement as she was shepherded along. Delta was actually a fairly advanced city. It’s streets were orderly and symmetrical, the buildings were as modern as she had ever seen, vehicles moved about with startling efficiency…

It reminded her of Gate’s Reploids-only city.

As it turned out, they didn’t have far to go. Within fifteen minutes they arrived at a large crowded area, the place was laid out in a large semi-circle. At the extreme center of the place was a sunken pit that was winged all the way around with bleachers and scaffolding that made it vaguely resemble an orchestra pit.

The guards began marshalling them down to the sunken pit.

All sorts of Reploids, some humanoid, some animaloid, were crowding into the bleachers. And when they noticed Ciel and Alia, a host of angry shouts and jeering erupted. It seemed as if they had all come together for one purpose… And since she knew this was going to be some kind of trial, Ciel didn’t want to think about what that purpose was.

The moment that they arrived at the pit, a small stage rose up from the end opposite Ciel and Alia. Sitting on the top of the stage were two Reploids that neither Ceil nor Alia had ever wanted to see again- Vortex and Ariel. For some strange reason, Ariel had exchanged his previous armor for a silver and gold variety.

Ariel threw his hands into the air and held them there, signaling his fellow Reploids to fall silent. A few moments passed, but eventually the noise subsided.

When all was calm, Vortex stood and pointed directly at Ciel and Alia.

“Remove the Reploid!” The purple ‘roid shouted. “She is to be tried separate for different crimes!”

The guards shrugged, then pulled the unwilling Alia away from Ciel.

“Now then…” Vortex’s voice dropped back to normal volume, but continued to boom out among the crowd. “This session of the Human Offense Court is called to order! The prisoner we have before us none other than the human Ciel-!”

Vortex was forced to cut his speech off as a roar of angry shouts and protests ripped through the air. Again Ariel thrust his arms skyward, and this time a full minute passed before crowd quieted.

“Who is accused of masterminding the Reploid Genocide of the present day Neo Arcadia, creating and harboring weapons for the mass elimination of Reploids, of intentionally endangering Reploids with the intent of destroying them, for degrading and insulting all Reploids by labeling them as Mavericks!”

Ciel stood there in utter shock as charge after charge rolled off of Vortex’s tongue. While in a way she could be held responsible for creating Copy X, the one who had set out with the intent of wiping Reploids out, she had in no way participated in such actions. What made the charges even more ludicrous was the fact that Neo Arcadia wanted her dead for helping to save Reploids.

“And by application of the Statute of Representation, we intend to bring vengeance upon Ciel for the Reploids the humans have slaughtered down through the centuries!” Vortex concluded.

That was too much for the human to handle. It was one thing to close one’s eyes to the truth, it was another to twist lies for one’s own pleasure or benefit. Before she had even thought of stopping herself, Ciel had broken free of her guard’s grip and had taken a step toward Vortex’s stage. The blonde grit her teeth and prepared to scream her protest at the Reploid’s actions… when the guard’s free hand clamped down over her mouth.

“That‘s not the way this works.” The guard hissed in Ciel’s ear. “You have no right to say anything here, if you were innocent of all this stuff, then they never would have brought you in for a trial. Only the truly guilty ever get this far, and lady, you are nothing but.”

Ciel’s reply was lost as she mumbled into the guard’s oversized hand.

“You have already seen the evidence!” Vortex continued his speech. “You have seen how the humans have slaughtered our brothers, and by extension we fix the blame on Ciel! She was the one who created and goaded Master X into beginning his genocide of the Reploids, she is to blame for it all! Brothers, while we have been in this paradise for hundreds of years, safe from the threat of the humans, she and her kind were butchering them! There is only one course of action! There is only one decision! What say you?”

A torrent of negative replies rushed down the bleachers, they came so thick and so fast that Ciel almost felt that she could feel them slamming into her. They really did blame the Reploid’s fate on her… It was the only truth that they knew…

“Then the decision is made!” The purple Reploid screamed. “Her fate is sealed! She is guilty! Ariel, commence with the execution!”

An ugly grin appeared on the silver Reploid’s lips. With exaggerated movements he reached behind the stage and retrieved a hand-blaster. Then, obviously taking great pleasure in the Reploid’s shouts and screams, the silver Reploid strolled over to Ciel at a snail’s pace.

The guard removed his hand from Ciel’s mouth. Then he gave on quick yank on his prisoner’s hand restraints. The move had it’s desired effect and drove the human down to her knees.

Ariel slowed to a stop right in front of Ciel, forcing her to look up at him. With a sadistic grin, the Reploid stretched out his arm and leveled his pistol at his captive’s face.

The Reploid’s smirk changed into a pained yelp… when a familiar Shield Boomerang shot through the air, cleaved his blaster in two, and left both pieces scattered on the ground…

A red blur ripped into the guard, hurling him back into the stands. As soon as the guard crashed into the bleachers, the red form resolved itself into none other than Zero. The hunter thrust out his hand, catching his Shield from it’s circular path. A split second later and the Crimson Warrior’s blade appeared a millimeter from the silver Reploid’s face.

Zero stared past his sword into Ariel’s face.

“Touch her, and die.”

“You!” Ariel recognized the Reploid as the one he had tangled with back at the scientist’s warehouse.

“The name‘s Zero.” The Crimson Warrior kept his blade trained on his opponent. For some reason, calling himself Zero felt… right. The back of his mind realized that this was the first time he had actually known himself to be Zero, it wasn‘t who someone else thought he was, it wasn‘t who he claimed to be; he knew who he was. “And you‘re Ariel. Now that the introductions are over, Ciel and Alia are leaving.”

For a moment silence reigned as neither Reploid spoke, then the smirk returned to Ariel’s face.

“Maybe you can defeat me and General Vortex, but do you think that you can stop all of them?” The silver Reploid’s right hand shot up to point up to the bleachers. “TAKE HIM!”

Zero risked a look over his shoulder. As he had expected, the Mavericks in the stands weren’t going to just stand there and take Ciel away. Following the silver Reploid’s order, virtually all of the ‘roids were on their feet and pouring down the stairwell with one purpose in mind, to beat him to death.

The Hunter turned back to his prey.

“We can take them.”

“What?!?”

A war cry flew through the air, followed by the form of Fighting Fefnir. The Fire Guardian flipped once, then slammed into the ground right between Zero and the Maverick Mob.

“Now this could be a fight!!” Fefnir shouted. The red guardian snapped his massive cannon around to bear at his opponents. “Hold it right there and I won‘t blow you all to atoms!”

Fefnir waited a split second, then shrugged as the Mavericks continued their advance. A titanic blast of raw power exploded from Fefnir’s cannon and arched through the air. A moment passed as the attack and the Maverick mob closed in on each other.

Fefnir grinned in pleasure as an explosion ripped through the air, and Reploid parts began raining from the sky.

At that moment, Fairy Leviathan dropped from the sky and landed next to Ciel. Quickly the Ice Guardian latched onto the blonde and led her off towards safety.

Zero turned back to Ariel and grinned.

“Told you.”

Ariel screamed in rage as his anger detonated. A deadly pair of daggers appeared in the Maverick’s hands, without a second’s hesitation, the silver Reploid snapped his weapons around and knocked the Hunter’s blade away. Then he brought his left weapon around in an effort to skewer his opponent.

Zero snapped his Saber around and caught the dagger with his blade. A quick parry sent the dagger thrusting through empty air, leaving Ariel’s right arm extended- and creating a massive opening. The swordsman pulled himself into a sharp twist, transforming the move into a blow that would have trimmed Ariel’s hair to the level of his shoulders.

The Silver Reploid took advantage of his awkward state and yanked his own feet out from under him. The move dropped him to the ground and below his foe’s attack, deftly Ariel rolled over onto his back, braced his hands behind him, and kicked out at Zero’s midsection.

The Hunter twisted sharply, scraping by the blow. Quickly he vaulted backwards to put some room between himself and his opponent. He readied his sword for their next exchange.

Zero drove his blade forward, only to have it intercepted by Ariel’s dagger. The Hunter twisted his Saber and shoved it to the side. The move forced the silver Reploid’s weapon away, leaving Zero with the chance to send his knee ramming into his opponent’s stomach.

Ariel slid backward, from the shock of being struck as well as the blow. Instantly he shook the feelings off and dove back into the attack.

“You‘ve got to have a death wish!” The silver Reploid’s sword lashed out, arcing about to split his foe in two. His attack missed as Zero ducked under the swing. The Hunter snapped upright to launch a counterattack.

He never succeeded.

Ariel had anticipated the dodge, and had turned the momentum from his useless swing into a spinning kick. His foot lashed out and connected solidly with Zero’s head, the impact send the Hunter tumbling to the ground.

As soon as he hit the floor, Zero twisted about and sliced at Ariel’s ankles. The silver Reploid leaped upward, escaping harm.

However, instead of getting to his feet, the Crimson Warrior remained on the ground and snapped his left foot around in a wide arc. The move caught Ariel just as he landed and knocked him to the ground as well.

Zero flipped his feet over his head and pulled a backward somersault to right himself. His next attack to skewer his adversary missed as Ariel rolled to the side and sprang to his feet.

As the silver Reploid rose to his feet, the Hunter turned his Saber around in a reverse grip so that the blade swept back along his forearm. Ariel leaped forward and thrust his dagger forward. Hut instead of catching the attack with his Saber, Zero placed his free hand directly in the attack’s path.

A split second before the sword’s impact, the Shield Boomerang burst into existence. The shield stopped Ariel’s thrust and sent it rebounding backwards, forcing the silver Reploid to leave himself open. With a shout, the Hunter shot his right hand forward, cleanly slicing into Ariel.

Even as the silver Reploid screamed in pained fury he was counterattacking. Ariel forced himself to turn the force of the blow into a tight spin. The move carried his sword around in an arc, where it buried itself in the back of Zero’s shoulder.

Zero’s left arm went dead.

The only visible evidence of the pain he was feeling was the tightening of Zero’s jaw. Pushing himself past the pain, the Hunter snapped out with his left foot. His kick connected solidly with Ariel’s stomach, forcing the two apart. Ariel went flying and hit the ground a short distance away from his opponent.

“So, it all comes down to this.” Ariel panted as he clutched at his chest wound with his free hand. “One final exchange, and then you die.”

“Unlikely.” Zero panted.

“’Unlikely‘ my eye. We‘re both wounded, my chest has been sliced in two, your left arm is useless. I must say that I‘m impressed, no one has ever injured me like this.”

“You about finished? I don‘t have time for your speeches.” The Crimson Warrior snapped.

“Very well… It‘s time for you to die!” Ariel launched himself at his opponent.

Zero broke into a dash. The second that he came within striking distance he lashed out with his blade…

And missed completely.

Ariel ducked under the blade and then launched himself into a low leap and raised his knees. The silver Reploid hit the Hunter cleanly in the chest and sent them both crashing to the ground. Due to his maneuver, Ariel landed on top of Zero and a split second later his blade was hovering above his adversary’s throat.

“And now…” Ariel grinned wickedly as he began applying pressure to his blade. “you die.”

“You first.” Zero hissed.

Click!

Ariel looked down… and found a fully charged Z Buster pointed at his chest.

“NO!”

Zero pulled the trigger.

101010101010101010101010101

“NO!” Vortex stared at the disruption that was already blooming into a full fledged crisis. His followers were being driven back by a single Neo Arcadian with a cannon. The captured human and Reploid were escaping with the aid of an unknown blue Reploid… and it was beginning to look like they just might succeed.

“I won‘t let you defy us!” Vortex snapped out his right hand and began focusing his power. In a split second a razor-sharp blade of energy had materialized in his palm. The general brought the weapon back to his shoulder, set his sights on Zero, and prepared to throw his dagger and save Ariel…

The energy dagger went to pieces.

A moment later a large shuriken slammed into the ground, evidently it was the instrument of the dagger’s destruction.

“What the-?” Vortex snapped around and looked up, tracing the projectile’s path. He found himself staring straight into the eyes of none other than Ninja Phantom. The Neutral Guardian was clinging to an overgrown shrub behind the purple Reploid.

The assassin shook his finger back and forth in a ‘no‘ manner.

A loud thud drew the general’s attention. He turned back around to find Sage Harpuia standing behind him.

“You have two choices.” The green Guardian drew his daggers. “Surrender or be destroyed.”

Ninja Phantom launched himself off of his shrub and vaulted around to join his comrade.

“Surrender? Delta has no interest in surrendering.” Vortex drew himself to his full height, and gathered a storm of energy in each of his palms. “We have lived independent of everyone since the Repliforce tried it‘s coup. We succeeded, they failed. That is why we are alive today. We will never turn ourselves over so that others may destroy us.”

Phantom shot a look at Harpuia, clearly wanting to know what their opponent was talking about.

“Now the pieces come together…” The Thunder Guardian muttered.

End!
_________________

[TheWebbuilder]

A.N.: You thought that I forgot didn't you? Well, I didn't. I actually had this chapter up and ready to roll a month ago, but the announcement of ZX and the subsequent information completely wrecked the ending I had planned... So I was forced to replace that with this less-than-stellar one...

Begin...

“I don‘t get it!” Fefnir growled as he pumped another round of shots into their purple opponent. “He‘s shrugging off everything that we throw at him!”

Vortex’s hand snapped around to bear at the Fire Guardian. A half-second passed before a blade of sparkling energy shot from the general’s palm and flew towards the red ‘roid.

The Fire Guardian threw himself into a low roll, evading the attack. As soon as he had righted himself, he was firing his massive cannon at his attacker.

“I think…” Harpuia shuddered at the thought that he was about to express. “That he‘s capable of converting energy and matter from one form to the other… and also able to absorb raw energy into himself.”

“That would explain a few things.” Leviathan somersaulted away from an assaulting rain of plasma energy. “Such as why none of our attacks can pierce it…”

Phantom remained silent, as normal. He deftly wove through the onslaught of firepower, vaulted into the air in front of their enemy and fired a pair of Kunai straight into Vortex’s chest.

The weapons dissolved into nothing as soon as they touched the burly Reploid General, and the paint on Vortex’s armor wasn’t even scratched.

A growl slipped from Phantom’s throat.

Then Vortex’s hand slashed through the air, batting Phantom aside as if he were nothing more than a fly. The Silent Assassin flew through the air, but managed to flip around and land upright. Phantom’s dropped to a crouch and dug into the soil to stop the momentum from the blow and bring his slide to a stop.

Zero leapt into the fray, firing off his Shield Boomerang. The deadly disk carved shot along the ground and then collided solidly with it’s target. The disk rebounded off of Vortex and circled back around to it’s owner. A moment later and he was forced to dive out of the way of a retaliatory rain of energy.

“There‘s got to be some way to stop this thing…” Leviathan muttered.

“There’s no way I’m going to loose to this pile of junk!” Fefnir screamed as he thrust his cannon skyward. A dim glow began building up in his weapon’s throat as he began charging his next attack. The glow brightened in intensity, building up to an eye-searing level.

“Pitiful insects!” Vortex snapped. The burly Reploid brought his hands together and formed a sphere of energy, despite his opponent’s attacks ripping into him from every angle. Under his guidance, the sphere continued to grow until it was at least half as tall as Harpuia… and then the General whipped his arms back and pitched the glowing sphere at the immobile Fire Guardian. “You cannot stop me!”

Fefnir glared at the approaching attack, but stubbornly continued to charge his cannon. His basic plan was simple- take the blunt of his opponent’s attack, then retaliate and turn Vortex into a decent-sized mushroom cloud.

The back of his mind wondered whether he was even capable of surviving the attack.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to find out.

Zero dropped to the ground in front of Fefnir, his Z Buster already out and charging. The Crimson Warrior lined his blaster up and pulled the trigger, sending a fully powered plasma bulled rocketing through the energy sphere.

Amazingly, the shot caused the sphere to explode prematurely.

“Make that count!” Zero shouted over the din of the detonation.

“With pleasure!” Fefnir pumped his legs once and rocketed straight up into the air. His cannon’s sights were locked onto the purple Reploid. A blast of flame shot from his barrel, and the recoil from the attack threw the fire Reploid almost all the way across the stadium.

Vortex looked up at the attack racing towards his head… and then he brought his palm up as if to catch the attack…

The fireball hit it’s target and exploded into a sphere of flame, smoke and chaos.

The Guardians and Warrior were forced to wait on the disaster to calm so that they could see the result. As the smoke cleared and flames died away… the form of Vortex became visible once again.

His armor wasn’t even scorched from the heat.

“There‘s no way!” Fefnir gasped in disbelief.

“Fools.” The General chuckled morbidly. “I was designed to manipulate energy, all the way down to the atomic level. At will I can form weapons, tools, even shields… I can solidify matter or break it down into energy. Your so-called power is insufficient to even think of taking me on. At any given moment, I can wipe you five out.”

“Nothing is indestructible.” Harpuia recited the age-worn mantra. “And that includes you. There is a way to destroy you, and rest assured, we will find it.”

“Maybe, if you live long enough.” Vortex raised his arms and pointed his palms skyward. “But I have grown weary of this fight… It‘s time for you to die.”

A scream burst from Vortex’s lips, as energy exploded from his palms. The power shot skyward, and vanished into the clouds overhead.

“Don‘t let him get it off!” Leviathan shouted. Matching her words to action, the Ice Guardian twirled her staff in front of her, forming a shield of spiked ice balls. With a snap of her staff, Fairy Leviathan sent the crystals flying through the air towards their opponent.

“Lightning Prison!” Harpuia crossed his blades over his chest and focused all of his elemental power into the swords. As soon as he had sufficient charge, the Thunder Guardian thrust his swords skyward and sent a blast of electrical power skyrocketing into the clouds, and then back down onto their adversary.

Phantom summoned his large Shuriken and hurled the deadly blades towards their opponent.

“Earth Breaker!” Fefnir, not quite recovered from his last failed attack, slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing a shockwave on Vortex.

Zero whipped his Saber out and slashed repeatedly. Triangular bursts of energy leapt from his blade and rocketed through the air to collide with his opponent.

Then the incredible happened. All of the Guardian and Warrior’s attacks collided with Vortex, then curved around the general and rocketed skyward along with Vortex’s own power. The attacks harmlessly vanished into the clouds.

“This can‘t be happening!” Leviathan stared in disbelief.

“Oh, but it is.” Vortex gave them a grim smile. “Now, be a good little foe and DIE!”

The general ceased pouring his energy into the clouds above and dropped his arms. A moment passed… and then the clouds were split in two by a onrushing ‘meteor’ of raw energy. The attack came so fast that none of the Reploids had time to mount any form of defense. The meteor slammed into ground before them, and erupted into a storm of disaster, and fury; it swept up the Guardians and the Warrior in it’s grip, battered their bodies, and sent flying at all angles.

Zero rode out the worst of the storm and was slammed none-too-gently into the ground. It was all that he could do to keep from screaming as his already injured arm threatened to split away from the rest of his body.

Harpuia crashed into the floor and skidded into a stone wall that was miraculously untouched. A new battle opened up to the Thunder Guardian, he had to struggle to keep from dropping off into unconsciousness.

Leviathan and Fefnir cratered the ground together. Each one was struggling to hold onto the slim wedge of consciousness they possessed.

And Phantom…

Phantom dropped from the sky and landed squarely on Vortex’s back. The Silent Assassin was battered and wounded, cracks covered most of his body, his cape was reduced to a tattered scrap of cloth around his neck… but he was still in the fight, and still retained enough vengeance to recognize an opportunity to strike.

“What?” Vortex’s face contorted into a portrait of pure bewilderment as he felt the extra weight hanging from his back. Puzzled, the general started to look over his shoulder.

The Neutral Guardian snatched another Kunai from his belt, whipped it back and plunged it down into his foe’s back.

The blade penetrated metal, armor and robotic skin.

A scream of pain exploded from the purple Reploid’s lips. Pure rage lit up Vortex’s eyes as he reached around and grabbed onto his attacker. The general hurled his attacker through air, and sent him crashing into Fefnir.

“Harpuia…” Zero struggled to get his feet. “Did you see that?”

“I did.” The Thunder Guardian muttered. “We have our means to destroying this monstrosity. We have to split his focus, attack him when he‘s not expecting it… if he isn‘t aware of the assault, he can‘t block it.”

“Is that so?” Fefnir threw Phantom off of his frame and worked his way to his feet. “Then let‘s take him down. Hey, Phantom, hitch a ride!”

The Fire Guardian retrieved his cannon and slammed it into the earth before him. When he raised it again, a fair-sized boulder was sitting in the blaster’s barrel. Fefnir screamed and fired his weapon, sending the rock flying through the air towards his opponents.

Phantom leapt at the boulder as it sped past, latched onto the stone and swung around to the boulder’s back. There he cemented his hold and waited for the impact.

“Pesky insects.” Vortex noticed the stone flying at him and promptly raised his shields. The stone slammed into the barrier and went to pieces before dissolving out of existence.

Out of the flying rubble, Phantom exploded. The Silent Assassin’s blade was drawn and slicing through the air towards his opponent’s neck.

“What the-?!” The General snapped his head to one side, and escaped being decapitated at the cost of a hasty flesh wound.

The Neutral Guardian vaulted away and hit the ground behind his opponent.

“Let‘s go, Fairy!” Fefnir leapt into the air and spun around to face the Ice Guardian.

Leviathan launched herself at her partner, and latched onto his outstretched hand. The Fire Guardian snapped around twice to build up some momentum, and then hurled the Ice Guardian at their opponent at astonishing speed.

The Ice Guardian drew her staff and lashed out repeatedly as she came within range of striking Vortex. As she had expected, the General easily fielded all of her blows.

Fortunately, scoring a hit against the renegade had never been her intent.

Leviathan hit the ground just behind the purple Reploid and slammed her staff head-first into the ground. Instantly a sheet of ice spread out from her weapon’s tip and covered the immediate terrain beneath her opponent in a think sheet of ice.

Vortex, who was turning around to deal with Leviathan, was caught full in the face by Phantom’s flying kick. And with his traction removed by Leviathan’s actions, the General had no choice but to fall heavily to the ground.

“NOW!” Harpuia leapt up to attack. Quickly he snapped his blades through the air before him, causing several arcs of pure energy to leap from his daggers. The attacks shot through the air and collided solidly with their disoriented opponent, and actually managed to cause some damage.

Zero was already on his feet and running, his Saber leapt into his hand and began charging energy for his coming attack. This was it, after this exchange someone was going to die… it was going to be either Vortex or him and his allies.

And the Crimson Warrior had no intention of being the unlucky party.

The Warrior’s form dissolved into a red blur as he shot towards his opponent. His Saber sang as it cut through the air. In just a moment it would be time to strike…

That moment was one second too many.

For in that time, Vortex recovered enough from the beating he had received to right himself. And almost instantly he zeroed in on the newest threat to him.

A blast of flame slammed into the General’s back.

Vortex forced himself to ignore the pain and the attack. It was just a distraction, an attempt to make him forget about the most immediate threat facing him. The General raised his hand and brought it around to bear on his red opponent, a sphere of energy began forming in his palm.

And then pain greeted him.

The purple Reploid looked down, and found a deadly Kunai digging into his outstretched wrist. And the white Guardian holding onto the blade was grinning in bloodlust.

Phantom merely smirked at his opponent. His victory was more of an insult than any remark he could have offered.

For at that moment, Zero’s blade found it’s mark.

Vortex’s jaw went slack as he stared down in disbelief at the wound in his chest.

The Crimson Warrior deactivated his blade, allowing the General to see the ugly truth for what it truly was.

Vortex slumped to his knees… and then collapsed to the ground face first.

* * * * *

“I recognize this model.” Alia knelt down beside the deceased Vortex. “A few of this kind went on the rampage, and… we couldn‘t stop them soon enough… It turned into a war between Reploids of this kind…”

“Regardless, he was a Maverick.” Harpuia shook his head. “A Maverick on an island filled with them.”

“It‘s tragic.” Ciel joined her companions. “The Reploids have been trapped here for so long that repeated lies have replaced the truth, their ideals were the only way of life that they knew… Then when they managed to find a way back to the physical world and found their own kind threatened… Maybe they felt that they were reliving the days of their predecessors, and they were the liberators…”

“Whatever their reasons, they‘re still Maverick... Real Mavericks this time. So what‘re we going to do with them?”

“I don‘t think… we‘ll have to do anything.” Ciel lowered her visor and studied the images being displayed. “If this information is correct, then the rip between the Cyber and Physical worlds are healing… We‘ve got fifteen… maybe twenty minutes to get out of here before the rift seals and we‘re trapped in the Cyber World forever.”

“Or until the next rift appears.” Fefnir shrugged. “But whatever.”

“What Fighting‘s trying to say, is that you‘re right. We need to get out of here and get out now.” Leviathan spoke up. “So let‘s get moving.”

“I‘ve already recalled the shuttle, it‘ll be here in a few minutes…” Harpuia’s voice dropped to a low tone. “Unfortunately… this means we‘re going to lose one of our own again. Phantom… I‘m sorry.”

The Assassin shot a quick look at his partner, but remained mute.

Fefnir and Leviathan grimaced as they realized what the Thunder Guardian was saying. Phantom couldn’t exist in the Physical realm, there was no way that he could return home with them… they’d have to leave him behind.

“If… if only I had more time.” Ciel dropped her head in sorrow. “I might have been able to revamp his data and give him a physical entity again…”

“You could do that?” Alia raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“To a degree we do it every time we use a Trans Server. A Tran Serv converts physical matter into a digital format and then reconstructs it as a physical entity on the receiving end… But I don‘t have the resources to perform half of that operation.”

Phantom twitched slightly, but otherwise remained still.

“Yes, you dimwit.” Leviathan noticed the slight movement and then playfully smacked the white Reploid over the back of his head. “She‘d do that for you, even after all of the trouble you caused her.”

A loud ‘hiss’ broke through the air, causing the party to turn and find the shuttle setting down a short distance away from the group or Reploids and Humans.

“We don‘t have much time.” Alia said. “… I‘m sorry.”

“As am I…” Harpuia shook his head. “As am I.”

* * * * *

“Master, it appears that they were victorious.” Zen’an spoke into his voice link as he continued to cling to the shuttle. “As I speak they are bidding Phantom farewell and boarding the aircraft, in a matter of moments they will have left the Digital World. Permission to proceed with my mission objective?”

A moment passed, and then Weil’s voice came back over the wire.

“Negative. I have different plans in mind for Zero. Wait for him to leave the shuttle, then inform me when the Guardians begin their return to Neo Arcadia.”

“Sir, is that wise?”

“I do not take kindly to people questioning my decisions! You idiot, can’t you see that the Guardians now have the means to begin to threaten my power, and my monopolization of the energy supplies is not yet complete. They have to be removed, and I want them removed separate from Zero!”

“Yes, sir… if you say so. Zen‘an out.” The stealth Reploid terminated the connection.

Zen’an sighed and settled himself in for a long wait. Waiting was about all that he had done during this mission, and he was tired of it. The stealth Reploid growled as he cemented his hold on the shuttle’s hull.

Because of that growl, he never heard Phantom sneaking up behind him… And he wasn’t even aware of the Assassin’s presence until a gleaning Kunai buried itself in Zen’an’s back.

“I hate spies.” Phantom said simply as he released his hold on the Shuttle. The white Reploid dropped to the ground and waited as the aircraft rose into the sky and vanished from sight.

Maybe killing that little spy had been a minor victory, and it probably wouldn’t even make an effect in the way things played out… but it was a victory nonetheless, and perhaps the only victory he would score in this battle against Weil.

* * * * *

“Harpuia, Leviathan, Fefnir…” Zero looked over his shoulder as he stood in the shuttle’s doorway. “Thank you.”

“I wouldn‘t have missed that for the world,” Fefnir grinned savagely. “It wasn‘t up to par with battling you, but it was a blast!”

“Anytime, Zero.” Leviathan said back.

Harpuia just nodded at the Hunter, and shared a meaningful glance.

And then the shuttle door closed, and the aircraft fled back into the skies.

A squeal drew Zero’s attention. The Warrior turned around to find Alouette rushing out of the base’s entrance.

The Reploid girl bounded down the steps, her stuffed toy fell from her arms and dropped to the sand… but Alouette took no notice, she continued running until she was in Ciel’s arms.

Then, and only then, did Ciel break down and cry. She continued to hug her adoptive daughter fiercely and protectively, as if to shelter her from all of the troubles in the world.

A shout went up from the base, Reploids began streaming from the open door. Cheers and joyful cries went up from their lips, it wouldn’t be long before a major celebration would be underway.

* * * * *

The Hunter was nowhere to be found amid the party that followed Ciel’s return. He was alone, alone atop the Base’s tower. His mind was abuzz with flickers, thoughts, and ideas. His gaze was fixed upon the hue of colors painted across the sky by the sunset.

He had been mildly surprised to find that regaining his memories hadn’t changed him… Remembering the past had barely had an impact on him.

At first that had puzzled him, but finally he had realized why he wasn’t affected. He hadn’t found the answer out on the sunset before him, he found the solution where he always did… deep inside of himself.

It didn’t matter what his body was.

It didn’t matter what the past said about him.

His body did not define who he was.

His past did not dictate what he did.

His heart would have led him to follow his current path regardless of whether he had his memories or not.

He would fight for his friends, for that was who he was.

He was Zero.

End

A.N.: Well, there you have it. The end of TSoTF. I'm not all that thrilled with the way this ending turned out as it didn't hold a candle to the original, but I was tired of leaving it hanging. So I took the plunge and wrapped it up... Hopefully this wasn't too much of a let-down.

ULTIMATE CONSECUTIVE POSTAGE!! \o/
_________________