Cerveau was busy working on something, as always.

"He never gets a rest. It's like he always has to do something." Ciel thought as she sat on the box in Cerveau's lab.

"Hey," she said, "you know you can rest at nights."

Cerveau looked up and said, "Did you say something?"

Ciel gave a sigh, "Never mind."

Cerveau looked at her face, "Is there something bothering you, Miss Ciel?"

Ciel gave another sigh, "It's Zero. He isn't the same anymore."

"I wouldn't know," Cerveau replied, "I never hung around him for long. He just came in whenever he was damaged or if he needed the weapons that I made."

"He seems... emotionless. I used to love him, odd as it sounds, but that's what it was," Ciel said as she looked down at the ground.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Come in," Cerveau said.

Colbor walked in. "Hey, um... Miss Ciel?"

"Yes?"

Colbor fidgeted with his visor. "Have you ever known Zero to use the Command Room?"

Ciel thought for a little. "No. He's never used it before."

"Cause Zero was just using it recently," Colbor said while using his thumb to point out the door.

Ciel looked down at the ground, thinking. "Why would he want to use the Command Room? The war is over."

Ciel got off the box and headed down to the Command Room with Colbor in front of her.

"This is the computer he used," Colbor said while pointing.

Ciel started to tap on the keys, looking for the history.

"There's nothing on here."

Colbor lifted an eyebrow. "But I saw him use it!" he exclaimed.

Ciel shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry, but there's nothing I can do." Then she walked out the door, leaving Colbor in the room alone. He looked back down at the computer.

"How could there be –?" Colbor began and then exclaimed in pain. He then crumpled to the ground, sparks emitting from the back of his waist.

"Coast's clear," A Variant Lancer, with distinct markings on his shoulder identifying him as a Sargent, said , "Let's move!"

Ten Variant Missiles, twenty Variant Lancers, five Pantheon Hunters, and fifteen Variant Claws dropped down from a hole that was in the ceiling.

A Hunter moved toward the door and looked around, upon seeing a guard, it went back in the room and shook its head.

"Lancers," the Sargent Lancer said, "get up close to the door and take out anybody that comes in."

Five Lancers moved toward the door and quickly struck as the guards rushed in. The guards collapsed with a short cry of pain.

They all started to move down the hallway, quietly, with the Sargent Lancer in front, with the Hunters in the second row, followed by the Lancers, then the Claws, and lastly, the Missiles.

A sound caused the Sargent to call a halt. "People are coming this way," it thought and motioned the group to go into a nearby room since they were about halfway in-between the grid-work of passages.

Alouette gasped in surprise. The Sargent turned in surprise. He gave a chuckle, "Hello, little girl. Would you tell us where the rebel Ciel is?"

Alouette quivered in fear, fighting hard to not cry.

The Sargent turned to a Hunter and nodded. The Hunter leveled its gun.

"I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is Ciel?" the Sargent asked, his patience getting worn thin.

Alouette could hear the steps of the guards, passing by the door. "..HELP!" she yelled, diving to the side.

The Hunter fired its gun, missing Alouette. The door was flung open, revealing the two guards. "Alarm!" one yelled, bringing his gun to bear before a claw grabbed him. The other guard fired a short burst at a Missile, grabbed a bomb from his bandoleer, and activated it before taking five plasma shots.

"Grenade!" the Sargent yelled and executed a backflip as the other robots tried to scramble away. The explosion knocked the Sargent on his back and destroying two of the five Variant Missiles, one Variant Claw, four Pantheon Hunters, and two Variant Lancers.

"Let's move!" the Sargent yelled, gathering the rest of his squad and running through the passageway, shooting and stabbing soldiers as they went along.


Ciel and Cerveau had gone back to Cerveau's lab, where Cerveau got back to work. It wasn't long before they heard soldiers running through the hallways. Ciel got off of the box and moved to the door.

"No, Miss Ciel," Cerveau said. "Stay here."

Cerveau opened the door and witnessed soldiers being killed by the Pantheon and Variants.

"Hey! Check there!" the Sargent yelled while motioning toward Cerveau's lab.

Cerveau quickly closed the door and started to fast walk to the other side of the room. As he was passing, Ciel asked, "What's going on?"

"Hide yourself! There's a maverick attack!" Cerveau exclaimed. He started to rummage through his cabinet. "Come on, where did I put it?"

Ciel went to the door and locked it. She then started to look for a place to hide. Outside the door, the Sargent tried the locked door. He nodded his head at one of the Variant Missiles. The rest of the squad moved away while the Variant Missile moved in front of the door. It made an adjustment on its missile launcher and fired, shattering the door and destroying part of the wall. A blast of energy struck the Variant Missile as it started to move in. The rest of the squad moved to either side of the door, waiting for their next order.

"Let us get Ciel, and we'll leave you alone, whoever is in there," the Sargent yelled.

When Cerveau had failed to respond, the Sargent whispered to one of the Variant Claws, who, in turn, nodded to the others. One turned around the corner and rolled as another blast was fired.

"Hey!" Cerveau yelled. "Get away!" He turned the dial on his gun and fired just as the Variant Claw stood up. Cerveau fired a screen of plasma, blowing the Claw to bits. Another Variant Claw came up to him and seized him by the throat with its hand.

"Wait!" Ciel yelled, emerging out from the closet. Cerveau turned his head and looked at her with despair. The Sargent moved forward. "Are you Ciel?"

"Yes. I am."

He seized her by the throat, blade held ready. "You're my hostage, you're my hostage that will not receive the benefit of ransom."

The sound of an explosion behind him made the Sargent turn his head. Ciel's face contorted with anger and she pulled out a small knife, stabbing him in the stomach. The Sargent's grip loosened as he yelled in pain. Ciel quickly pulled the knife out of his stomach and stabbed him again.

"Ciel!" Cerveau yelled.

Ciel turned around and saw that the Variant Claw that had Cerveau had not stayed too idle. It had its claw around his neck, pulling his head back with its hand.

The Sargent took this distraction and twisted Ciel's hand behind her back and put his blade an inch away from her back and turned around.

"So, Zero. You managed to live the crash of Ragnaroc."

"Zero!" Ciel thought with joy.

Omega stood in the doorway, fallen robots by his side along with Alpha. "Leave her alone." he commanded, bringing his pistol up.

"I would warn you, Zero, that Ciel's not the only hostage. We have another."

Omega looked behind the Sargent to see Cerveau. "Alpha," Omega contacted through his comlink that was integrated in his brain. "Can you take out the one that's holding that one guy?"

"Risky. I'm no marksman."

Time seemed to freeze as Omega thought of his plan.

"You've got five seconds, Zero," the Sargent said.

"What should I do?" Omega thought.

"Four."

"Come on!"

"Three."

Omega fired, eliminating the Sargent in one hit while, at the same time, grabbed his saber and caused a plasma wave that decapitated the remaining Variant Claw, leaving Cerveau with not even a scratch. Ciel stood in the room, standing motionless, tears building up in her eyes.

"It's okay," Omega said gently while moving towards her. She burst into tears and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Shh, it's okay," he said again.

Alpha hung around for a while and then left.

"Omega," he muttered to himself as he walked down the hall, "this love you have for Ciel is destroying your plan."

He went into the outside, deeply breathing the night air. He stood staring at the stars for a while. Finally, he said, "I'm going to take matters into my own hands." He looked back and smiled, "You take care of yourself, Omega. I'm going to do everything I can to make the good guy part seem like a piece of nothing." With that, he ran off.