Zero

Disclaimer: I own nothing about 9, Shane Acker does.

Pairing/s: 9x7 (it's sorta canon, I guess…), if you have any more suggestions feel free, I'm all ears.

A/N: Okay, I've seen the short and I've seen the movie. I think the movie was a bit rushed don't you? I mean, one minute 5 and 9 are meeting, the next it's were off to rescue 2. And then it's all we defeated the cat monster yay! They rushed the plot, and the scene with the record player was a bit cheesy, I mean geez, 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'? Great song but can't they do better than that? I've seen Tim Burton's other stuff, this was not some of his best work, I wouldn't go as far as to say that he butchered it, but watching that movie made me feel sad for such a good idea to be wasted on that. So Now I'm writing fanfiction for it! I just couldn't leave this alone, it just screamed, makeover on aisle one STAT! So here I was thinking, what difference would've a few OCs made? So here's the product! Enjoy! R&R! REVIEW PLZ!!!

NOTE: I think that if anyone noticed that the movie was set somewhere in the 80's due to the tech that was used. But for plot's sake, let's just say they had home computers back then (think very cumbersome takes a lot of power).

New Note: Hey ya'll, this is the proofread, and edited version. Sorry, I had to revise one or two tiny little details, thank you. I'm almost done writing the first chapter. TY, PEACE! ;D

Summary: AU. They were named in the order the scientist made them, not by when they were given life. Meet Zero, the first true Stitchpunk as she stumbles through the shattered remains of the world and her mind. She's forgetful, strong-willed, sly, and another thing, she seems to be more than just a bit crazy. What'll happen when she meets the rest of her fellow Stitchpunks? Will she remember why the Scientist created her before it's too late? Is she just a prequel? But then again, there's much more to her than meets the eye…


1, To Protect Us

2, To Inspire Us

3, To Define Us

4, To Teach Us

5, To Guide Us

6, To Lead Us

7, To Defend Us

8, To Guard Us

9, To Save Us

How about the others?


Prologue

The first time she had woken up, she had been greeted by a white haired man. Her optics studied the odd, lumbering yet lanky creature before her with interest.

"Hello Zero." The scientist smiled down at his little creation, she had been the first he had brought to life. She didn't struggle or do much of anything, she just stared inquisitively at him.

The newly dubbed Zero stared at her unfinished hands as she flexed them. Some of the fingers fell off, and she panicked, trying to grasp the copper fingers and put the back in their places only to drop them.

The scientist stopped her with his hand.

"It's alright, I'll fix it." Once he had fastened her hands and fingers in place, the small ragdoll had jumped around in exuberance. Soon she was wandering around the workshop, pulling at everything, yanking on anything that interested her.

Her appearance was simple, she had been made from the scraps of a black burlap bag. Her feet were more bird-like in appearance, three "toes" that ended in slightly sharp yet flatish endpoints. Her feet, near where the arch of a person's foot would be, was a mechanical version that was able to extend if she so chose. The metal of her ankles reached up halfway to her knees.

On her head, the Scientist had sewn on some sort of thick hair-like material, to mimic hair. It fell over her head in a long, messy 'do. Her fingers were a reminiscent of pincers as all ten of them probed and messed with everything within the workshop.

Zero had found a pretty piece of machinery to play with, and she began re-arranging wires. She found that machinery was quite interesting to play with. So for a couple of hours, she simply read books and played with things around the workshop.

Then some strange noises came from outside, so Zero ventured forth from a window, using a clothesline as a zip line to get down safely.

Suddenly, the world exploded into a brilliant, red light. The ground exploded right next to her and sent her flying, suddenly a sharp pain ran through her tiny body as another lumbering creature had stepped on her.

The weight lifted quickly, but the pain shooting through her sensory nerves was almost unbearable. Suddenly, she had been scooped up and was carried quickly.

She was unable to concentrate, her right leg had been melted by the heat of the blast. Her once long, black hair was burnt now half-burnt into a short messy hairdo on one side, and a slightly longer (but still short) burnt 'do on the other.

Though with her one open optic, she could see both of her crushed arms, her melted right leg and she could vaguely make out the scent of burnt burlap. She saw a distorted view through her right optic as she tried to focus her vision, and failed, realizing that the glass over her right optic had cracked, rendering the optic useless. She couldn't move her shoulders, so they were assumedly broken beyond repair as well.

Zero could only make out the blurred form of her Creator through her left optic, the right had closed in pain as her remaining vision began to swim.

She was barely conscious as she heard her Creator's voice…

"Don't worry, I'm just going to put you to sleep for a while. When you wake up it will be all better…"

Then Zero knew no more…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The second time Zero woke up, all was quiet, as if the world was still if not for but a moment. She looked around for the face of her Creator, only to find none.

She hopped off the worktable to notice her changes, her right optic had not been replaced, but repaired with new light green-tinted glass. Gone were her crushed limbs, and in their place two thinner more intricate looking metal hands, the fingers had more joints now and her fingers looked better for intricate work. The metal of her arms ended and the burlap started just below her elbows. Her skin was now fastened by two small, mismatched buttons of a faded color as well.

Some of the black burlap was now patched with two small, light tan cloth scraps, mostly situated on her right side.

Suddenly twin explosions rang through the air, and Zero noticed that this wasn't the Creator's workshop, it was someplace different.

Suddenly the Creator ran into the room, with large booming steps that frightened poor Zero.

She was scooped up suddenly and placed onto the worktable, then something like a glove was put on her arms, they resembled miniature bear claws. They hooked onto her arms, and fit like a glove, Zero looked at the Scientist fearfully.

His eyes, were full of fear and nervousness. Zero stared at him, then he spoke.

"Zero, there are others like you, but they are far from here." He said hurriedly, Zero cocked her head, more like her? The Creator made more? "You must find them, and help them. They are out there, I am sending you prepared." He gestured towards the claw-like attachments on her arms.

Zero looked up at her Creator innocently, and nodded. Suddenly he turned her around and opened up a slot in the back of her head, inserted a small chip, he connected the wires in her head, then closed the slot quickly.

Information swelled within the young Stitchpunk's mind as the chip plugged into her head. It was like a sea of information, it was overwhelming. But somehow with that information, came an odd sense coursing through her metal skeleton.

A sense of purpose, like she had something, something to do…

She had a mission.

Then a loud noise, the sound of rapid gunfire rang out in the background, sadly, it was too close to the background. The Scientist nodded at Zero, then fled for safety that surely would not be found in that building as few minutes, maybe sooner, later.

Zero fled as well, but could not follow him quickly enough and was lost within the chaos.

Then everything seemed to happen so fast, there were more explosions and she saw the face of the enemies, giant walker robots blasting everything in sight.

There were more of her Creator's kind, running around, fleeing from the machines that blasted red.

Turning heel, Zero fled, but only into more chaos.

The machines were everywhere, there was simply no escaping them.

Zero jumped to one side as the Walker robot blasted the ground. A wave of heat passing, throwing her off her feet and the flying gravel nearly buried her.

Suddenly a sharp, blunt force slammed into her and send her flying into a wall. Something made a sparking noise and her mind felt, oddly empty as she fell through the grate…

And her world went black…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For a hours, Zero's unresponsive body had lain there, as explosions and chaos reigned outside. Her optics closed and silent and almost empty. Then, outside a large pole covered with electrical wire fell, and single, lone wire had gotten through the grate and touched the metal of Zero's arm.

If the wire had been completely live, it would have fried and melted her, but it had barely any electricity left. So the jolt ran through the ragdoll's body and jolted her awake, like a defibrillator.

Where was she, she looked around while swiveling her optics at her dark surroundings.

Using the wire she climbed up and out of the grate, she heard humans. Running and screaming in fear as giant Walkers with glowing red optics threw great blasts of red energy, burning the very air surrounding it.

Then even closer now than the least time, one second she saw the Walker, then a brilliant flash of red surrounded her along with a stinging, white-hot heat washing over her right side. Then she felt impact as she flew against the shambled remains of what was once a wall. And once again, her world had gone dark…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Zero awoke to the sound of a small screaming voice. Her head felt, oddly empty. Everything was fuzzy, and she couldn't fully see through her right optic.

But none of those mattered as she homed in on the small voice crying for help.

She got to her feet, and broke into an unsteady run. Toward the singular, panicked voice, it was another one, like her.

A fellow Stitchpunk.

Trapped beneath burning debris.

Odd convulsions wracked his body, a hiccupping sound escaped his lips, it was sobbing.

Zero was on the scene pushing up against the debris trapping the other Stitchpunk. One of her claw-like finger attachments brushed his shoulder and he looked about wildly. It only took one look for Zero to know, his half-crushed and half-shattered optics were useless, he was blind.

He was made of a copper brown burlap bag with a patch of baby blue polka dotted cloth covering his left leg. His skin was fastened by a tight knot tied at his hip.

But all revelations aside, he was able to scramble out and away. Zero gripped his shoulders and he looked about wildly.

"Hello? Who are you? Where are-" He stopped speaking when Zero squeezed his shoulders comfortingly. It was another one, created by the Scientist. Zero vaguely wondered if she could speak as well, but that was a subject to ponder at a later date perhaps…

Bzzt!

There was a sharp buzzing noise within her head, like static or sparking electricity running through her brain- Cupcakes!

What was a cupcake?

What the- Brainy Bites and Noodle O's!

Suddenly the buzzing faded, as well as the random and very confusing thoughts pouring into her brain.

Then she noticed the black lettering on the chest of the dark, copper brown, ragdoll's stitching, 10.

"T-, t-, t-, t-, te-n? Te-n? Y-, y-, yo-, yo- u, you're t-, te-, te-n."

10 nodded vigorously and gripped her hand instinctively as another explosion rang through the air. Zero grasped his hand tightly and half-dragged him away. Suddenly, he stopped and attempted to head back.

"What- what're y- you doing?!" Zero stuttered in her newfound speech.

"11 and 12, they're in there!" He said suddenly, Zero stopped then hefted the blind Stitchpunk onto her back and broke into a dead run beneath the debris…

That was the longest, twenty-four hours of Zero's young life. She hadn't even hit a single day of age (awake anyways), and already her life was hectic and crazy.

She and 10 had found 11 and 12, tangled in wires.

Zero shifted her foot, the right and left toe (not including the middle one) shifted backwards and clacked together, like a pair of scissors. Zero began cutting the wires that held the two ragdolls hostage and soon they were free.

They ran like scared rabbits, until they finally hid within an old stone building. 10, 11, and 12 huddled together, Zero sat apart from them as studied them.

11 was tall and lanky, taller than herself, 10 and 11. His stitching had a more colorful ensemble, like he was made out of an old, slightly faded quilt. His optics shone fearfully and he was wringing his hands, his longer than normal spindly fingers clacking together apprehensively. Despite his mature appearance, his eyes shone with inexperience and a look of depressive pessimism, as if the world was going just toss a brick at him for existing or something.

12 was shorter than 11, she had messy red hair sewn onto her head and her optics shown more defiantly than 11's but her design was different. Her original material looked like old brown cloth, her left optic had cracked glass, but it still looked useable at least. She hugged herself, to keep herself from shaking Zero assumed. But despite her obvious fear for their lives, her optics seemed to say, 'bring it on' to everything around her.

"I'm Zero, you are those numbers right?" She pointed at their respective numbers.

11 nodded with a depressive sigh.

"Yes," 10 said dryly as he scratched at his useless optics. "thanks for helping us."

"Not a problem." Zero stood up and began removing his optics.

"Hey what're you doing?!" 12 asked, panicked.

"Well, the optics are no use, so why leave open hole in his head?" Zero held up a scrap of leather she had found on the floor. "I can fix him with this."

"Um, well…" 10's voice trailed off with uncertainty.

"I guess it makes sense," 11 mumbled in a subdued manner, "I mean what good are optics if they don't work? Uh, I mean, I don't mean to sound mean, but-" He began to babble, but thankfully Zero cut him off.

"Hey, it's not a bad thing, okay it is a bad thing, but- SHROOMS MAN! SHRRRROMOOO!!! SHROOM! UNICORNS AND DAISIES!" The buzzing sound had filled her head again, then faded once again as quickly as the spazz-out had begun.

11 and 12 stared at her oddly.

"Sorry, got hit in the head, I think I'll be a little weird until it goes away…" Zero apologized and returned to working on convincing 10 to allow her to remove the nonfunctional optics.

Once 10 had agreed, Zero had used her fingertips to unscrew the small screws and remove the optics. Then she used some spare string and a broken needle to put the thin leather patch over the top half of his face.

Once the patch job was done, she asked 11 and 12 if they were okay, they were uninjured. So it was time to move on. Zero bent over to pick up a wrench as a makeshift weapon, as she bent over her hair fell forward showing the empty slot in the back of her head.

12 then spoke curiously, "Why's there a hole in the back of your head, Zero?"

10 and 11 regarded Zero with curiosity, they wanted to know too.

Zero put a hand to the back of her head, nearer to the neck and found the slot. Hm, no wonder it was so breezy back there…

"I honestly don't know." Zero answered as she began to walk away, "hey, if you want to come with, you better hurry up, I won't wait for you." Suddenly 10 stumbled forward to grip the cloth of Zero's arm.

She steadied him.

11 followed meekly, while 12 marched right ahead of him.

'The hole in my head?' Thought Zero as the small group walked on, 'why does it feel like I should remember something? Something or other?'

Zero wracked her brains, for the next few minutes and came up blank.

What was it? It was as if something was nagging at the back of her mind, but she just couldn't seem to get at it. What was it?

And somewhere far away, in an empty tunnel, there lay a tiny, rounded chip with few broken wires sticking out. What it contained would remain a mystery…

Zero shrugged as she gave up guessing, 'oh well,' she thought, 'it probably wasn't important anyways.'

So Zero, 10, 11, and 12 walked on, dodging through the shadows of the ruined buildings. They would sit out this war, whether these stupid robots wanted them to or not…


A/N: Clarification people, the whole movie had a steampunk theme, I won't break that. But the chip is NOT a microchip, it's like a very primitive, steampunk version. When I said computers on my first A/N, I meant those big cumbersome, computers that take up multiple rooms and a ton of power. Also, I just recently found out that there was a forum for this fandom, well, these are my OC's in this story. I'm not ripping anything off, so no-one better bug me about it. Notice that Zero is the only Stitchpunk's name that I will spell out, because 0, can often be mistaken for an O. Therefore I will spell her name out instead.

OC Character Bios:

Name: Zero

Number/Location: 0/on her left shoulder

Gender: Female

Role: -yet to be determined-

Distinguishing Feature/s: Half-melted right optic (eye) the glass of said eye is tinted light green. She has a bad right leg, and claw-like gloves that fasten over her arms (which are detachable and also can work as grappling hooks attached to thin but strong metal cables.)

Appearance: Originally made from a black burlap bag, she has an uneven amount of black hair, one side is way shorter than the other half. Her skin is fastened diagonally across her chest by two mismatched buttons. Her feet have three toes and the toes on the sides can shift backwards to form a pair of scissors (on her right leg only!!! The other leg is a cross between 1's and 2's though I think they're the same…).

Personality: Sometimes she's serious, sometimes she's a complete goof. Mostly has something to do with that empty slot in the back of her head… She's very adaptable to her surrounding environment, and often times (depending of what kind of mood swing she's in) she'll handle any situation head on. Often times she'll be the one within the line of fire, and she won't hesitate to take a hit for her fellow Stitchpunks, no matter how much they get on her nerves. She's also very stubborn, she won't let herself be stitched until her friends are completely fixed. She's the only Stitchpunk that has the tendency to cuss when she's angry. She's often very stubborn, strong-willed and she never gives up. She never abandons her fellow Stitchpunks and would gladly die for them if it was necessary.

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Name: 10

Number/Location: 10/ on his chest

Gender: Male

Role: -yet to be determined- (To Hear Us)

Distinguishing Feature/s: No optics (blind), has a leather patch covering the part of his face where his eyes should be.

Appearance: (If you want to know go back and read it, I typed it once before I'm not typing it again.)

Personality: He is an optimist, if not slightly clingy to Zero. Looks up to her like an older sister, he often wanders away to explore his surroundings to memorize them. He is also very skilled with puzzles and cryptic messages. He has a bit of a 'tough guy' attitude toward everyone except Zero, despite his blindness and his clinginess to Zero. But his blindness has gifted him with an even deeper insight that everyone other than Zero has trouble understanding. He is a good listener and very patient,

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Name: 11

Number/Location: 11/on his back

Gender: Male

Role: Healer (To Heal Us)

Distinguishing Feature/s: He's tall and thin, and always wringing his hands together in a nervous habit.

Appearance: Tall, thin, (read it in the story, it's right up there!)

Personality: He's kind and caring but sadly submissive in nature. He often doesn't stand up for himself sometimes allowing himself be treated like a doormat. He is always wringing his hands together in an annoyingly nervous habit. He's jumpy and easily frightened, but will stand by his friends when the going gets tough. He's often pessimistic and is talented at mapping out every single worst (or remotely stinky) possible outcome of any t situation. He is also skilled at fixing internal damage and can't sew to save his life. He learned all his first aid skills from Zero and views her as his role model. Sadly, listening to him talk about how 'they're all gonna die' makes his fellow Stitchpunks both annoyed at him and 11's

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Name: 12

Number/Location: 12/on her back

Gender: Female

Role: Strategist (To Drive Us)

Distinguishing Feature/s: (I can't think right now…)

Appearance: (It's in the story, read it…)

Personality: Often times she is short-tempered and strong-willed, but her hard-headedness gets her into a lot of trouble most of the time. A lot of times, she ends up thinking out loud, and sometimes her thoughts can hurt others without meaning to. Also she has a tendency to walk all over 11, taking advantage of his submissive nature. But deep down, she cares deeply about her friends and is not afraid to put her life on the line to protect them. She respects Zero, but often butts heads with her and questions the older Stitchpunks' authority and knowledge. But she is also very good at coming up with strategies, but isn't very good at making them on the fly. She's very driven to protect her fellow Stitchpunks, but has the tendency to jump to conclusions prematurely.

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1, To Protect Us

2, To Inspire Us

3, To Define Us

4, To Teach Us

5, To Guide Us

6, To Lead Us

7, To Defend Us

8, To Guard Us

9, To Save Us

10, To Hear Us

11, To Heal Us

12, To Drive Us

OOOOOO

PLEASE REVIEW! I wanna know what you all think! Don't worry canon characters come in within the next two chaps! REVIEW! Peace Out! (makes peace sign) ;D