Mission Destruction

"Calm before the storm." This was all Zero could think as he walked ever so closely towards the Neo Arcadian border-line. He paused as he neared the base, scanning for enemy soldiers. Only the cold wind whistled through the barren landscape as powdery snow fell onto the already snow covered ground. If Zero hadn't been so occupied with his mission, he probably would be freezing.

"This is strange," Zero thought. "Neo Arcadia usually has more security then this. Are they really that weak?" He took another look around. Something rustled behind him. Zero whipped around with Buster in hand and fired at that exact spot. Nothing. Either it was only in his imagination, or he had missed his target. He held out his Buster for a minute more, then turned and headed straight towards the enemy base. Once inside, Zero almost gave up, turned around and went back to the Resistance Base. The Neo Arcadian base looked as though it had never been occupied, and it was so large, Zero thought it might take him roughly a year to find what he was looking for.

"Zero, see what we'r...?" A voice sounded.

"Silence!" Zero hissed. "We don't need to know if there IS anyone here!"

"I...I...sorry..." and then a click was heard next. Zero went up beside a gigantic crate. What he saw, to his dismay, was a whole lot more crates beside the grey stone wall. And if he had to guess, he would say that there were even MORE crates behind the huge solid doors on the opposite wall. He looked around, and just out of frustration, stuck his Z-Sabre in the nearest crate. He discovered this was a mistake, however, when several dozen Batrings emerged from it. Zero quickly massacred all of them, the dead parts falling all around him. He retrieved his sabre and walked to the next crate. He gave it a little push, and as if on cue, the crate started to rattle around.

"Are ALL of these damn crates filled with viruses?" he wondered. He quickly scanned the room, then turned and headed towards the exit. Once outside at a safe distnace from the base, he contacted Ciel.

"So? Did you find it?" she asked.

"No, and I'm not going to find it for about another year unless you send out half the Resistance Base or I blow the entire thing apart."he replied.

"It can't be that hard. Only one of those crates has the stone." she argued.

"One of those tens of thousands of crates have that stone. A single, solitary stone inside of a huge building, I would be able to find. Throw in a maze, a couple hundred boxes of enemies, and a few more obsticales, and you start to run into problems." Zero replied dryly.

"I was just trying to help," Ciel said, sounding a little hurt. "I'll get the operators to transport you back...you are at the transporting mark right?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Good, hang on a second, ... ... okay, we're starting..." Zero felt the familiar tingle as a red light enveloped him. "A couple more seconds," he thought. However, a couple more seconds passed. So did the red light. Zero stood, confused.

"... Zero?" Ciel asked, sounding as confused as Zero was.

"I'm still here. Never did that before. What's going on?"

"...I don't know. The transporting system never failed before, as you said. Hang on I'll ask the operators..." Zero heard muffled converstion. "... they don't know either. Oh, no, what are we going to do?" asked Ciel, starting to fret.

"Number one would be don't panic," Zero said in a voice that could almost be translated as bored. "Number two would be to figure out what happened to the transporting system, ask Ceravu for help with that. And I'm sure I can find my own way back."

"But you were transported there. And there might be Neo Arcadian facilities in between," Ciel continued to fret.

"Don't bother worrying about me, just get the transporter fixed!"

"But Zero..."

"But what?"

"... Just be careful..." he heard a click, and that was all. Glancing around, Zero thought he saw something move. He headed over towards that spot carefully. Getting his Buster out, Zero wondered if it was a Neo Arcadian. He would soon find out. He stepped out and fired.

"What the hell?..." Zero heard, and then fell to the ground. Paralyzed from he presumed was an electric shock,(a very PAINFUL electric shock) all he saw was something green, and then blackness. He awoke, still paralyzed, and at first, he thought, in the same place at the same time, until he realized he was in some sort of crate. And he wasn't paralyzed, he was bound down with chains. And he was missing his weapons. Starting to get pissed off, he fought the chains, trying to see if they were really that strong. CRACK! Cursing under his breath, and wondering when the next time he would be able to use that arm would be, he started fighting the chain harder. Finally something gave, and the chains broke. Getting up as best he could with his dead-weight arm, he tried to see out of the crate. Of course, it was totally dark. Starting to become quite furious, Zero slammed his good fist into the side of the crate. It groaned, but stayed intact.

"Hey!" a voice sounded. "Great, now they know I'm awake too. I wonder what other good fortunes await me today." Zero thought madly. The crate lid opened cautiously, and an anxious face peered in.

"Wh-wh-" the soldier seemed a little cowardly. He swallowed, and said,"What are you trying to do?"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do, brew a cup of tea?" Zero snapped. He was already in a bad mood, and this idiot wasn't helping matters. "I'm trying to get out of this crate, you stupid bastard." He jumped, and as he did, the soldier, as Zero thought he would, pushed the lid back out of suprise. Zero landed beside him, and snapped his head into the side of the crate. The soldier fell to the ground, unconcious or dead, Zero didn't know, nor care. Right now he was more worried about all the other Neo Arcadian soldiers facing him with weapons out. "Dammit." Zero thought. He was not only missing his weapons, but he had one useless arm. "Well this certainly evens the odds," Zero thought. All of a sudden, extreme pain shot through his body. It felt as though he had just been hit by lightning.

"Well, well, fiesty as always I see, Zero."

"Damn you to hell Harpuia." Zero said, although each word somehow seemed to make the electricity intensify.

"I didn't know you were so foul mouthed, Zero. Maybe I should torture you a bit more for that, as well as killing a comrade of mine." "So I did kill him. Serves him right for being so cowardly in the middle of a war." Zero thought. "Give it up Zero. Even you can't defeat me, not with no weapons and a broken arm."

"Do you want I should prove you wrong?" Zero inquired. He stood up, barely wincing from the pain, and shot straight towards Harpuia. Harpuia, caught off guard, not only got Zero's fist in his face, he also lost one of his swords.

Turning, he quitely said," I've had just about enough of you turning up everywhere, pretending to be the hero, and messing up our plans." Zero answered by slashing out at Harpuia. Harpuia jumped back, and countered with another dose of electricity. Zero fought back with every bit of strength, but after being hit by what felt like all the lightning in a thunder storm, he thought for sure whoever found him would still be able to see his skeleton. He fell, the stolen sword falling away from him, towards Harpuia's feet. Harpuia stared at him. Several Neo Arcadians ran up to him.

"What shall we do with him, master Harpuia?" one of them inquired.

"Make sure he's dead. Then leave him here. No one will find him after the snow covers him up." Harpuia turned and walked away. The Neo Arcadians looked at each other. Then at Zero. They each assured one another that he was already dead, that master Harpuia had killed him, and that even if he hadn't, the cold would kill him anyway. They all picked up the scattered weapons, their fallen comrade and the crate, then hurried after Harpuia. If any of them had looked back, they would have thought that they were walking faster then normal, for Zero was no where to be seen.

"Zero...Ze... ro... Zero!" Opening his eyes and seeing only blurry visions, Zero closed his eyes again. "Zero, wake up!" Zero made an attempt to open his eyes again to find out that he could see. He sat up, and was rewarded instantly with a headache. He laid back down, pain racking his skull so hard he thought his head exploding wouldn't hurt as much as this. He turned his head slightly.

"X! Where am I?" "You're back at the resistance base. Ciel's been very worried about you." Zero thought he saw a smirk on his old friend's face.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, how did I get here? Aren't I supposed to be dead like..." he stopped. He had been about to say,"dead like you?" but he didn't know how X would react to that.

"I teleported you here. Harpuia hurt you pretty badly, but the Neo Arcadians were so sure you were already dead, or going to be killed by the cold or viruses that they just left you there." X replied.

"So then what're you doing here?"

"I'm here because I wanted to warn you that I'm not sure if that stone you're looking for is in that building, or if Harpuia took it. I was going to look into that, but then you came into the picture so..."

"So you couldn't find out." Zero finished, mad at himself for once again being in the wrong place at the wrong time. X teleported away, and Ciel burst into the room. When she saw Zero she looked as though she was going to start crying.

"Now what's your problem?" Zero asked. She ran over to him, and nearly crushed him. "Hey, hey, that arm's still broken!" Zero cried out.

"Zero, I told you tobe careful! If X hadn't come along, you'd be.. you...you..." She started to cry, and hugged him again.

"Geez, would you let my arm at least have a chance to heal itself? And I'm fine aren't I? So quit balling."

"Zero, you could very well be dead right now!"

"You don't have to yell it into my ear, I can hear perfectly fine, and I know that. Any news on that stone?" Ciel was caught off guard.

"Oh, yes we got the stone.When we were fixing the teleporter, it accidentally transported Ceravu right into the crate where the stone was. Then we fixed the error and managed to get him back. We were trying to get you, but the teleporter couldn't locate you... "

" Alright, don't start crying again, I've had my share of that today. We got the stone didn't we?"

" Zero, what's more important? Getting a key to a puzzle, or not getting killed trying?"

"Getting the key." Ciel glared at him. "Hey, can't say I didn't try."

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This was the firstfanfic I ever wrote. It looks funny now that I look back at it. R&R please?