The Family of MegaMan Zero:
Chapter One: What Makes a Hero?
Prairie's log:
Leviathan came by again today, and she brought her daughter with her. The two seem to have settled into life in Innerpeace well. Giro seems to be enjoying their visits, though he dotes over that child like none other, but until Lev says something or Aile complains I'll let it continue.
Lev's choice of new name was interesting, Levina Light. Sis's last name meant 'Light' too. When I asked Lev if there was a connection, she just laughed and said 'Maybe'. Sometimes, I think she's out just to mess with my head.
Even still, it's hard to believe that it's been almost two hundred years since Lev went into stasis, and only seven since she came back out. I just wish that Sis could have been there for that. Maybe she could tell me what the hell is going on with the Mavericks these days…
A loud siren and flashing red light nearly knocked Prairie out of her chair in surprise. As she fought to right herself, one of the Guardian Base's Control Officers, Guardinia, came rushing into the room.
"I'm sorry for entering without permission, Ma'am, but we have a problem!"
Prairie finally managed to disentangle herself from the chair and paused only long enough to grab her hat before walking to the door herself.
"That's alright, Guardinia. What's the situation?"
The Control Officer briefed her Commander as they hurried onto the bridge.
"A large number of Mavericks have appeared in Area A and appear to be en route to Area H. Slither Inc.'s Security Force is on course to intercept, but they won't arrive for another two and a half hours."
Prairie mentally swore as she saw the Maverick numbers on the main monitor. Two THOUSAND? Where the FUCK did they get that many?
"What's the Maverick's ETA on Area H?"
Another control officer spoke from her console. "Maverick ETA is forty minutes, Ma'am."
Gaurdinia spoke as she sat down at her own console. "Didn't Miss Light say that she was heading to Area H earlier?"
Prairie didn't bother hiding her explicative's this time. "How fast can we get there?"
An officer typed furiously for a moment before answering. "Fifty-two minutes at safe maximum speed, a little less if we redline the engines."
Prairie didn't hesitate. "Do it. Alert all hands to Level 1 battle stations, and somebody get Giro up here, we'll need him to deal with these numbers."
As every operator around her broke into a flurry of motion, and she lowered herself into her own command chair, Alouette 'Prairie' Hikari, Commander in Chief of the Guardians, had only one thought running through her head. Please be safe.
-Thirty minutes later, Area H-
"Mom, what's that noise?"
Leviathan could only look at her daughter in despair. She could easily hear the sirens, and knew all too well what they meant. Two hundred years ago, when she was still a General, when she still had her armor, she could have stayed and fought, could have done something to defend her only child. As it was, she only had one option. Tightening her grip on the small girl's hand, Lev started walking.
"Come on, Aile. We need to go. Now."
Aile followed her mother's longer stride as best she could, holding tight to the strong grip that the rushing throng of people seemed to be set upon breaking apart.
"What's wrong? What's going on?" the small girl yelled, the confusion and panic from the crowd beginning to show on her small face.
Leviathan didn't answer immediately. Instead, she stopped just long enough to pull Aile into her arms, lift the small child, and started sprinting for the park's exit. In between breaths, Leviathan tried to explain the situation in terms her child would understand.
"Bad things are coming, Aile. Bad things that we need to get away from as fast as we can."
Even as she spoke, Leviathan knew it was too late. She could hear the screams of the poor souls on the far side of the park as the fencing, meant to keep errant teenagers and the occasional mechanaloid out, failed against the onslaught of hundreds of Mavericks. The screams of the poor souls still trapped there reached her ears, and Lev covered Aile's ears with her free arm in the vain hope to shelter her from the violence and insanity that was sparking all around her.
Reaching the gate, Leviathan's heart sank like a stone. A large mechanaloid had crushed the gate, trapping everyone inside the park.
-Aboard the Guardian Base-
The horror on the main monitor was absolute. The south fence was smashed in, and fires were burning in various places throughout the park. The main gate had been blocked by a heavily modified Crushpactor, trapping almost all of the six thousand park guests inside.
Prairie fought hard to keep her vocal processes under control.
"Somebody please tell me they have survivors."
For a moment, the only sound aboard the bridge was the tapping on keyboards. The fifteen seconds felt like an eternity before Guardinia finally spoke.
"We have lifesigns, Ma'am! Thirty human and sixteen reploid signatures, held up in the indoor food court at the center of the park!"
Prairie felt her hands shaking. "Send everyone in. Get them out and wipe every one of those bastards off the face of the planet."
-On the Ground-
Giro was the first off the transport, already merged with Model Z.
"Everyone fan out! Theta and Gamma Squads, limber those launchers and punch us a hole to those survivors!"
As Maraque shouted orders, Cedre' and the rest of the rocket squad shouldered their launchers and opened fire on the closest group of Pantheons. The smoke hadn't even cleared by the time Giro had rushed forward, past the smoldering Maverick remains.
Rushing past ruined attractions, slashing his way through random mavericks, Giro's eyes were drawn to every flash of brown and blue, anything that even resembled Lev or Aile.
Giro! Giro, slow down!
The shouting finally snapped Giro out of his panic. "Sorry, Z. Can you see them anywhere?"
Sorry, all the bodies and fires are playing havoc with my scanning gear. I'll keep an eye out, but you'll probably find them before I will.
Giro gritted his teeth at that, but started running forward again anyway. "That's all I can ask, Z."
The battle to free the survivors took almost an hour, by that time almost all mavericks had either been destroyed or ran, and the original forty six survivors had been reduced to thirty two. Neither Leviathan or Aile were among the group from the food court. Giro and five other Guardians had started searching the park for any other survivors. Walking down the main street, Giro had all but given up hope when Model Z spoke up.
I have something! Two signs, weak but there, three hundred yards to your right!
Giro looked to his right, seeing an alley between two attractions that had previously been blocked by a large cardboard painting that now lay in tatters on the ground. At the end of the alley, a section of fence was ripped apart.
"Alright, I'll see if I can find them. Hold tight, Z!"
Giro took off down the alley, ducked through the remains of the fence, and continued down the small incline of the hill the park was built upon. At the bottom of the incline was a mass of what looked like a blue jacket.
Please, please be okay.
After sliding to the bottom, Giro moved to the mass, which he could now see was a body.
"Hey, can you hear me? I'm here to help."
Even as he began to reach for the person's shoulder, he heard a coughing sound.
"Gi- *cough*, Giro?"
Giro quickly turned the victim over quickly. "Lev! Hold on, help's on the way. We'll patch you up and…"
Giro stopped abruptly. Leviathan was in rough shape, the synthetic skin on the left side of her face had been ripped off, revealing both her electronic and synthetic muscle systems. Her clothing was stained with blood, dirt, and oil. Hidden under her body, sheltered from the impact of the fall and the immediate view of any passing Maverick, was Aile, unconscious.
"Ta-take her, Gi-Giro."
Giro moved his shoulder down, moving to pick up Lev.
"What are you talking about? I'll get both of you back to base, you'll get patched up and…"
Leviathan's shaking, bloodstained hand touched Giro's face, stopping him.
"Y-you look so mu-much like h-him. I kn-know you'll take g-good care of her. Ta-take care of Aile for me."
Even as the words left her lips, Leviathan's body appeared to dissolve. First her hands began to disappear into light, spreading to her arms, chest, then finally her whole body vanished. As the weight of her mother disappeared, Aile began to stir, coming to just in time to see a ball of light coalesce above her.
"Mom?"
If the ball answered her, she couldn't hear it. After hanging in the air for a few seconds, the ball shot off into the sky, it's destination, unknown.
Giro pulled the small girl into his arms, his eyes following the same ball of light.
"Don't worry, Leviathan. I promise I'll do everything to protect her."
-Aboard the Guardian Base-
"Ma'am, units on the ground report the enemy has been routed."
Prairie breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't realized she had been holding.
"What's the status of the survivors?"
Tulip, another Control Officer, typed at her board before answering.
"The twenty-six recovered survivors are all in sickbay, Medical Officer Rose reports that eleven are critically injured, and the other fifteen all have minor injuries of varying type. It's too early to say if they'll all pull through."
Prairie nodded quietly in understanding.
"Any word on Miss Light and her daughter?"
Again, Tulip spent a few moments typing before responding.
"My apologies, Ma'am. None of the recovered survivors match either description. However, Giro, Theta squad, and Delta squad are all still out, and there are faint signs still out there."
As everyone turned back to the main monitor, a call came in on Guardinia's terminal. After a moment, the Control Officer turned back to the Commander.
"Commander Prairie, you might want to take this. It's from Sub-Commander Colbor at the Main Base."
Prairie nodded. "Patch him through at my terminal, Guardinia."
A few clicks later, Colbor's face appeared on the screen next to Prairie's chair.
"What's the situation, Sub-Commander?"
"Model L just activated."
If Prairie had actual melanin, it would have all drained from her face at that moment.
"Are you sure? It just up and activated? It didn't just get a random power surge or something?"
Colbor shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Alouette. It really did activate, and that can't mean anything good for Lev."
Pairie sank into her chair, despair written on her face. As she cut the connection, Guardinia shouted from her terminal.
"Giro just reported in! He found Miss Light and her daughter, then transed directly to Medical Bay Three, and requests you meet him there!"
Prairie jumped out of her chair. "Tell him I'll be right down."
A short elevator trip and three corridors later, Prairie found Giro, in his normal uniform, outside of the door to Med Bay Three.
"How are they?"
Giro shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Lev didn't make it."
Prairie's shoulders slumped, her face downcast.
"I knew it. Colbor just called, Model L just activated at the Main Base."
Giro put his hand on the smaller reploid's shoulder.
"It wasn't a total loss. Aile's still here."
Prairie's despair only seemed to deepen.
"But who will take care of her? We can't keep her on the Guardian Base, and the Main Base is no place to raise a child."
Giro shook his head, cutting the Commander off.
"I'm taking her in."
Prairie's eyes widened in surprise, her face lifting from its former stupor.
"What! What the hell are you talking about? You don't know the first thing about civilian life, much less raising a child!"
Giro brought a finger to his lips in a shushing manner.
"Keep it down, she's asleep in there. And I think I did a pretty bang up job with you, if I do say so myself."
Prairie shook her head violently, losing her hat in the process.
"That isn't the same. All I needed was some retraining after I swapped into the new body, you'll have to start from scratch with her. And you still haven't answered the problem of having no place to live. As your commanding officer, as your friend, I have to order you to let the appropriate people take Aile in."
Giro shook his head again, stepping back towards the door.
"Sorry, Alouette. I promised Lev I'd do everything to keep her safe, and I intend to keep that promise. I've got quite a few decades of backpay saved up, I can easily buy my own place in Innerpeace, maybe even start my own business."
Prairie sighed in defeat.
"I can't reason with you when you're like this. Okay, you can keep Aile, and I'll even get the paperwork rolling for you. Just keep me updated, alright?"
Giro gave a small, weak smile, then turned back to the Med Bay door. Before walking inside, he turned back to Prairie one last time.
"Just one last thing. When I said I fully intended to keep my promise, I mean by any means necessary. I will lay my own life down for her, if needed."
Prairie nodded as she turned back towards the bridge.
"I know, Giroette. I know."
A/N: Sorry this took so bloody long. I wrote, scrapped, and rewrote at least three different versions of this chapter, trying to find a good place to start the actual plot. I finally decided to start here, deciding that the plot really does focus more on Aile and the ZX timeline more than it did the Zero period. For anyone who has plot questions regarding what happened in the intervening years, don't despair, for most of your questions will likely be answered in the course of the story. Otherwise, constructive criticism is always welcome, flames will only lower my heating bill in this nest of ashes. As always, your ever-burning author.
Shining Pheonix