Part 2: Conflict
"Prison train approaching, identification code 38-A. Still no radio confirmation," the monotone voice of the main computer announced. Leviathan stood nearby, watching the train approach on a monitor with his arms crossed.
"Something's gone wrong," she said, shaking her head. "We should have known Zero wouldn't allow himself to be captured so easily. It must have been a trick."
"If Zero really has taken over the train that just means he's got some fight left in him!" Fefnir stood beside her grinning, pointing his guns at the screen. "Bring him on, I say. Been a while since we had a good little spat, doncha think?" He pretended to fire off a few shots at the image and make exploding sounds with his mouth.
Leviathan shot him an icy glare of contempt. "There are bigger things to think about than what YOU want, Fefnir. This center took a great deal of resources to build; we can't afford to lose it just so you can entertain yourself with Zero." With a mischievous smile, she added, "Although I do happen to agree, it would be fun, wouldn't it?" She leaned forward and pushed a button on the control panel. "Units 1, 3, 8 and 12, deploy to the train yard and prepare for containment. Seal the front gate until further notice."
"Always were ruinin' my fun..." Fefnir grumbled as he sat down in one of the command chairs and put his feet up on the console. He gazed out through the window covering the length of the wall, looking for the first glimpse of the train as it came into view. The command room was built high up in the rock face, doubling as an observation post for the train yard below and beyond the main gates.
What's your plan now, Zero? Leviathan thought. You may be strong, but there's still only one of you.
From past experience, however, she knew that by himself, Zero was more of a threat to the disposal facility than the entire Resistance force combined. The four Pantheon units she'd sent to the train yard probably wouldn't be enough; she and Fefnir would undoubtedly have to go down to the yard and deal with him themselves.
Not that she had a problem with that.
In the time since Zero's revival, Neo Arcadia had suffered its heaviest losses to date. Zero posed the single greatest threat to Neo Arcadian rule in recent history; no one had ever opposed them with any degree of success until he came along. Ciel's Resistance had been the most successful so far, and even they had been about to be crushed when Zero appeared and turned the tables.
Personally, Leviathan was enjoying the entire situation. Zero's abilities were far beyond that of any modern reploid, despite being built over a hundred years ago. Nothing excited her more than matching her skills against his in battle; nobody challenged her like he did. Leviathan had lost every encounter they'd had, but that only pushed her on to fight harder, until the day she could defeat him. Anticipation of their next encounter was what drove her to better herself and improve her skills, constantly striving to be the best she could be. Leviathan was a warrior; nothing gave her more satisfaction than a true test of her skills, and she knew Zero felt the same.
And besides, he was a rather handsome reploid. She couldn't help but present him with her best.
Turning her attention back to the matter at hand, Leviathan attempted to puzzle out what Zero's strategy might be. He undoubtedly had one – Zero was anything but stupid. After a few moments of deep thought, an idea came to mind. "Display the prison train's distance from the base," she said to the computer.
A small numeric display appeared and began rapidly counting down. Seven thousand meters, six thousand, five thousand…the train was speeding up.
"What's the standard procedure for an approaching train?" Leviathan asked Fefnir, who was still lounging in the command chair, pouting that he wouldn't get the first shot at Zero.
"Ten meters per second, then they slow down pretty quickly around three thousand." Fefnir gave her a questioning look. "Why?"
Realization sparked in Leviathan's eyes as the train continued to accelerate past the three thousand meter mark. "Oh my, he's going to..."
It was too late to do anything but watch. A smile spread across her lips. "Zero, you little devil."
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The train collided at top speed with the front gate, and the air was filled with the scream of tearing metal as the huge blast doors were ripped in two. The two halves of the door and the now-derailed train cars skidded through the train yard in every direction, colliding with other trains and construction equipment, as well as wiping out the Pantheon units Leviathan had sent to "contain" Zero. Soon explosions and aftershocks rocked the base as train cars collided and detonated all over the yard like dominos, causing mass mayhem and destruction.
And above it all, one lone reploid sailed over the chaos like a rocket, on a trajectory headed directly into the window of the command room.
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Leviathan let out a mad cackle as she felt the train collide with the front gates. "Oh Zero, you certainly do know how to get a woman's attention!"
"What in blazes are you talking about?!" Fefnir yelled as he stood up, having been knocked from his chair. "Have you totally lost your-", he cut off as something outside caught his attention. "Incoming debris!" He readied his cannons at the window as a small red piece of metal flew towards them, ready to blow it apart. He was caught completely by surprise when the "debris" unfolded and started shooting energy blasts, one of which came through the window and hit him in the chest, the surprise stunning him.
"What the hell-" was all Fefnir managed to say before Zero crashed through the window and collided with him, sending them both flying through the back wall, rock and dust falling from the ceiling behind them. After hearing the two reploids collide with the far side of the corridor, Leviathan let out another hysterical laugh.
"Such an impressive entrance, Zero! If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to impress me." Leviathan stepped carefully through the dust and debris to peer through the hole in the wall, and saw Zero curled into a ball in the pit of an unconscious Fefnir's stomach. She smiled and shook her head. "If you wanted some company, all you had to do was ask."
"I don't have time for you," Zero said as he whipped out his Z-Buster and fired several shots at Leviathan, who ducked quickly out of harm's way.
"Tsk tsk, my dear Zero, is that any way to treat a lady?" She poked her head back around the corner, only to find Zero no longer there. She squealed in glee.
"Oh, I do so love it when they run," she said as she chased after him.
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Zero ran down the narrow corridors as fast as he could, taking random turns in an attempt to shake Leviathan off his trail. He had suspected that at least one of the Guardians might be overseeing the construction of the base, but two of them could have presented a problem; luckily, he didn't think Fefnir was going to be in any shape to be a threat to his mission.
Long-range energy readouts of the building had shown the location of the central energy core deep within the mountainside, but he didn't see many hallways leading inward – only stairs leading downward. Zero ran through corridors and leapt down staircases as he quickly made his way through the facility.
As planned, the commotion caused by the crashed train outside kept most of the Arcadian personnel occupied, so Zero had relatively few contacts in the hallways; those he did have were often solved with a quick saber swipe. He also ran into a few automated defenses, but they were handled just as easily.
Unfortunately, I'm leaving a nice trail of wreckage for Leviathan to follow.
The transponder on his arm beeped, warning him he had only ten minutes left before it activated and sent him back to the Resistance base. The entire mission would be pointless if he was returned before completing his goal.
Zero turned into a hallway that ended with a door. Most of the doors in the facility were locked with a security key card, which was why he'd been avoiding them – this one was no exception. The lock was extremely simple, obviously not protecting anything overly important. All it took was one saber swipe and the two halves of the lock fell to the floor with a clang. Zero slammed his shoulder into the door with a crash, trying to force it open. On the third slam it popped open, and Zero spilled out into the area beyond.
Instead of another small corridor like the ones he'd been running through, Zero found himself in a large tunnel formed from the natural rock, about thirty feet high and forty feet across. On his right he could see light reflecting off the top of a train car that had managed to slide its way into the mouth of the tunnel, and six tracks that lead all the way down the length of the tunnel to a large gate far down the tunnel on his left. There were several carts stopped at various points along the tracks, and he could tell by the luminescent glow coming from them that they contained energy crystals.
The carts must have stopped when the train crashed, and the only place they'd be taking that many crystals would be the core. Zero dashed off to his left, towards the gate.
As he raced down the length of the tunnel, a low whimpering noise coming from an overturned cart caught Zero's attention. Further investigation revealed a reploid hiding beneath it, his red and white civilian clothing in a horrid state of disrepair. It looked like the man hadn't cleaned himself in weeks, and there were signs of wear and tear around his knee and elbow joints resulting from a lack of proper maintenance. The man was squirming back and forth trying to free his leg, which had been caught beneath the cart as it spilled over. Judging by his civilian design, Zero doubted the man had the strength to lift the cart on his own.
He must have been sent here for "retirement", and then given the option of helping to maintain the disposal unit, or being thrown into it.
The reploid looked up as Zero came into view and his eyes widened in surprise, then he threw his arms up in a measly attempt to protect himself. "Please don't shoot me, please, I didn't mean to…"
"Shut up and stop whining," Zero said as he grabbed onto the bottom of the cart. He was built with considerably more strength than a civilian model, and he tossed the cart off to the side with a single heave.
The man's leg was mangled, but not beyond repair. Aside from that, and the lack of maintenance he'd noticed before, the man seemed to be all right. "What are you doing in here?" Zero asked.
"I maintain the energy carts for the core, that's all I do, they all stopped when the shaking started, I swear I would have gone to fix them but I got stuck…" The man babbled on. Zero cut him off and pointed in the direction of the core.
"Do you know how to get past that gate?"
"N-no! I don't know anything!" His arms shook as they covered his face, obviously terrified. He thinks I'm Arcadian. Zero let out a sigh.
"Calm down, I'm not with Neo Arcadia. My name is Zero, and I'm a member of the Resistance. I'm not going to hurt you, but I really need to get in that gate. Now, can you open it for me?"
At the mention of Zero's name, the man stopped shaking and lowered his arms. "Wow, it really is you. I thought I was imagining things. Yes, I snuck a peek at they keypad once while they were opening it and saw the code."
"What is it?"
The man glanced around, making sure this wasn't a trick and there wasn't someone hiding nearby that would jump out and shoot him for knowing something he shouldn't. "Alpha 455-Z," he said quietly.
"Thanks." Zero thought for a moment, and then removed the transponder from his arm. The confused look on the man's face as Zero handed it to him made it obvious he had no idea what it was.
You're not a hero, stop with the heroics before you get yourself killed.
"Are there any more workers like you?" Zero asked.
"Yes, there are about a dozen of us, but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the tunnel today." The man inspected the device, turning it over in his palm. "What's this?"
"In about eight minutes any reploid in contact with that thing is going to be transported to the Resistance base," Zero replied. "Find as many of the others as you can and get them out of here; this entire base is going to explode shortly afterward." Then he took off down the tunnel at full speed.
"Thank you," the man yelled after him, waving the transponder. Then he limped off in the other direction to find his comrades.
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You arrogant fool, Zero thought to himself as he continued down the tunnel. What were you thinking? You should have known there would already be captured reploids here. You're supposed to be protecting these people, not blowing them to bits. Start thinking before you jump in with both feet or you're going to get innocent people killed.
There was no way Zero could demolish the base and rescue all the workers before his time was up, so giving away his transponder was the only option left to him. He could only hope that the man could find his co-workers amidst the chaos and escape with them to the Resistance base. And now I need to figure out some way to get myself out of here as well. Dammit Zero, you screwed this one up nicely.
It took less than a minute to dash down the remainder of the tunnel. The gate itself was huge, covering the entire length and breadth of the tunnel, and resembling a huge blast door, similar to the gate he'd crashed the train into. Off to the left, Zero spotted a control panel. He approached it and punched in the code the injured reploid had given him. The gate slowly rose into the ceiling, and Zero dashed under it as soon as it was high enough for him to fit under; he may not be under the time limit of the transponder anymore, but it wouldn't be long before the facility's security personnel finished dealing with the mess he'd made outside and came in after him. Without the transponder to get him out again, he had to move quickly before he was pinned down by more Arcadian troops than even he could handle.
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"What's this, hmm?" Leviathan held the reploid up by his neck with her left hand, using the halberd in her right to tap the device the man was holding. "Who gave you that?"
"N-nobody, I f-found it on the ground…" Leviathan felt a rush of excitement as she saw the fear in the man's eyes.
"Liar!" Leviathan threw the man violently against the wall, hard enough that the impact dented the metal. "The coordinates of that transponder are set to the Resistance base. Where did Zero go?!"
"D-d-down the tunnel…"
Leviathan smiled, one of her cold, cruel smiles. "Ah, of course, he's heading for the energy core." She hoisted the man back up by his neck. "Thanks, you've been VERY helpful," she said before thrusting the end of her halberd through his chest. The blade let out a hiss as it met the warmth of the man's insides. Leviathan grabbed the transponder from his hand as she let his limp figure fall to the ground.
"Silly Zero, you really shouldn't be giving away all your toys like that." With a girlish giggle, Leviathan ran down the tunnel. "I'm coming for you, my dear…"
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The energy core pulsed with the soft glow of electricity as it spun, illuminating a cavern so massive it couldn't have been natural. Similar in appearance to a giant turbine, the core would take energy crystals and release the stored electricity, then send it to a nearby battery where it would be stored until needed by the disposal facility's systems. In particular, the disposal system itself required a large amount of stored power to run, and thus consumed a large number of crystals.
Zero took out the metal box he'd gotten from the pack on the train, opened it up, and took out the last of the small black devices. He placed it on the side of the flow regulator - the part that ensured there wasn't an overflow of energy heading from the core into the battery. Without the regulator, it would only take a few minutes before the battery would overload and explode, setting off a chain reaction that would leave a smoking crater where the facility now stood.
And killing everyone inside. How many innocent lives are you willing to sacrifice to stop Neo Arcadia before it becomes too many? Where are you going to draw the line, Zero? You've already killed two people getting this far, and you gave away your transponder to try and save those workers, but how many people aren't going to be able to make it out? How are YOU going to make it out of here?
"I really should have brought a second transponder…" Zero mumbled to himself.
"You mean like this one?" Zero whirled around to see Leviathan standing in the gateway, tossing and catching his transponder in one hand, her halberd in the other. "Some silly reploid was running around with this thing, I could only assume it was yours." She threw the device to the ground and stepped on it, and with a loud crunch, Zero knew it was useless. "You know, if you keep trying to play the hero, you're eventually going to get yourself killed." Leviathan flashed another of her wicked grins. "Maybe even today!"
Zero could only spare a brief thought for the reploid he'd given the transponder to before Leviathan rushed him, halberd raised. He barely had time to extend his saber and deflect her thrust to the side before it removed his head. There was a sharp hiss as the blades of their weapons clashed and steam rose from the subzero tip of Leviathan's weapon.
"Oooh, you're teasing me Zero, that was a close one," Leviathan cooed as she pulled back for another thrust. "But I do hate missing." This time the halberd launched at his midsection. Zero easily dodged to the side, and then parried as she swung the weapon around after him. "Come on, try a little harder!" She yelled.
Zero quickly retreated to the far side of the room and waited with his saber poised, ready to react to her next attack.
That halberd of hers is giving her an advantage up close like this, but if I use my buster I'm likely to hit the core and blow us both to hell…which gave him an idea.
I really must be determined to kill myself.
"Come on Zero, don't you want to cuddle before I blow you to bits?" Leviathan taunted from across the room. "I promise I won't bite…but this might!" She made a throwing motion with her halberd and launched a serpent-shaped lance of ice at him. Zero jumped to avoid it, only to find Leviathan already waiting for him in the air above. She made a vicious downward slash which he managed to deflect, but he didn't see her bring the other end of the halberd back around until it was too late. It smashed him in the back, and the ground rushed toward him as he recovered from the blow. A quick blast from his dash thrusters and he landed on his feet, but the force of the fall forced him to one knee. He looked up just in time to see Leviathan diving toward him, holding her halberd like a lance. He rolled to one side to avoid being impaled, and sprang to his feet just in time to meet Leviathan's next assault.
"Oh come on, you're not even trying!" Excitement filled Leviathan's voice as she unleashed a series of wicked slashes and thrusts at blinding speed, pushing Zero's skills to the limit. "I know you can do better than this!" Her eyes grew wide with anticipation as she wore him down with her rapid attacks.
Sensing Leviathan's overconfidence, Zero seized the opportunity. Rather than deflecting a thrust aimed at his head, he instead dropped to his knees. The attack went over him and he heard a surprised gasp from Leviathan as she overextended herself. Zero fired his dash thrusters and charged forward, knocking her backward in a tackle. He pushed Leviathan away, and then swung his saber downward with all his strength. Leviathan barely got her halberd up in time to deflect the blow, but the force of it sent her back several feet, where she slammed against the flow regulator and collapsed onto the floor. Zero panted as he watched her pick herself up off the ground.
"Getting a little rough now, aren't we? You know I like it when you do that." Leviathan grinned and readied herself for another attack. "Ready for more?"
"You need to stop talking now." Zero pulled out the small remote detonator from his supplies.
"Hmm, what's that? Another toy, Zero? It's not like you to ruin a fair fight with those gadgets of yours. I know you enjoy this as much as I do." Leviathan waved her halberd back forth eagerly. "Now come on, it's not nice to keep a lady waiting."
"You're about to get one hell of a headache," Zero replied, as he pushed the button on the detonator.
A puzzled look spread across Leviathan's face as a beeping noise came from the wall near her head. She turned and saw a flashing red light from something small and black on the wall, followed by a loud roar as her vision was filled with white.
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Zero shielded his eyes as the blast from the exploding flow regulator knocked him flying across the room, skidding to a halt near the gate. He could also feel the shocks from the other explosives he'd planted on the cars of the prison train as they detonated as well. A siren wailed and a robotic voice announced over the intercom, "Core regulator damaged, battery overload imminent. Evacuate immediately. Core regulator damaged, battery overloaded imminent. Evacuate immediately…" The core room gate began to descend, designed to shut the core off from the base in the event of a core overload.
"Guess it's time I made my exit." Zero pushed himself to his feet and headed for the exit, but froze in mid-step.
You can't just leave her there. Dammit Zero, you can't save everybody, but you're going to try anyway.
Still cursing himself, Zero ran over to the ruined regulator where he found Leviathan, thrown against the wall by the blast, severely damaged and unconscious. A quick scan showed she wasn't beyond repair, so he lifted her over his shoulder and ran for the gate. He barely made it under before the gate sealed shut behind him.
You damned fool reploid, you even protect the ones who are trying to kill you.
Zero ran as fast as he could down the tunnel, burdened as he was. He stumbled and almost fell several times as explosions rocked the base and carried through the solid earth, explosions which became increasingly intense as the power surges from the overloading battery caused more and more of the base's systems to overload.
Upon getting closer to the exit, he saw that the train car he'd seen blocking the passage must have been one of the cars from the prison train, and when he'd detonated the bomb on board the explosion had caused a cave-in, shutting off his intended escape route. He swore and headed for the passage he'd originally used to enter the tunnel.
Zero had to dodge around several reploids as he made his way through the hallways, but they were all too busy to pay him any attention. Within a few minutes he arrived back in the command room with the broken window.
All right, now what do you do, genius? You've got fifty meters to drop and an unconscious Guardian slung over your shoulder. You might be tough, but you're not invincible.
Before he could come up with a solution, he heard the sound of a charged buster behind him, followed by Fefnir's voice yelling, "Drop her or die, bastard!"
Zero turned to regard the hotheaded Guardian. It was immediately obvious that he wasn't in any sort of shape to be making threats - his left arm was smashed beyond use, and the charged blaster on his right arm looked like it was about to explode with its own energy. One of his legs didn't seem to be working very well either, as he was leaning heavily on the doorframe.
He knows he can't win, so he's bluffing. I guess he took that collision even harder than I thought. Well, at least this solves one problem.
"Fine, take her." Zero threw Leviathan's limp body at Fefnir, who quickly had to choose between keeping his buster trained on Zero and catching the unconscious Guardian. He chose the latter, and as he tried to put her down and get aim at Zero again, he was interrupted. "Don't bother; I'm not here to fight you. I suggest you get yourselves away from here, in another minute or two that battery is going to overload and blow this place off the face of the planet." He ran to the window and jumped, calling out behind him, "Besides, it wouldn't be a fair fight with you injured like that." Then he was gone into the chaos of the train yard below.
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Fefnir's first instinct was to jump out the window in pursuit, but he knew Zero was right. The shock of landing from this height could cause irreparable harm to his already damaged mobility systems, and he could tell from the ominous shudders going through the mountain that Zero's prediction about the battery was true. He held tightly to Leviathan as he triggered their transponder chips, transporting them safely away to Neo Arcadia.
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Zero rolled as he hit the ground to soften the landing, but he winced as the shock of falling fifty meters ran up his legs. No time to check for damage, he thought as he sprang out of the roll and hit the ground running, looking for something that he could use to escape the base. He needed to put distance between himself and the mountain - even if he did escape the blast, he'd be just as dead if a chunk of the mountainside landed on him.
A Pantheon on a hoverbike approached, and Zero timed a jump to land on the back of the vehicle. Caught completely by surprise, Zero's saber easily decapitated it and he kicked the body off the side, then took residence in the driver's seat and hit the accelerator. He raced past ruined train cars and barely avoided collisions with several groups of crab-shaped worker drones as he headed through the sandy yard to the remains of the outer gate. He met no resistance as he left the base perimeter and raced full speed into the desert – even the autocannons were offline.
Only moments later, a bright light flashed behind him. Zero looked over his shoulder and saw a huge mushroom cloud where the base had been only moments ago.
Suddenly the bike cut out beneath him and went crashing into the sands, sending Zero head over heels into a high-speed flight through the air. Oh hell, I forgot about the EMP.
As he somersaulted uncontrollably through the evening air he caught a glimpse behind him and saw a towering wall of earth and rock being driven toward him by the blast's sonic shockwave. It was the last thing he saw before the back of his head collided painfully with a rock and the world went black.