It was the day the operation was set to take place, with a briefing slotted to be conducted in the morning, and the Guardian of Fire was more than a little excited. Not that he enjoyed steamrolling his enemies exactly, but he was frankly quite tired of this fight. And that was saying something. The Resistance was about as hard to destroy as a moth with a flamethrower, but somehow or another they always managed to survive. How, Fefnir couldn't say, nor did he exactly care. It had been exciting, he would admit, but only at first. Now, all he wanted to do was get this mission done and over with, with(as he and the rest of the Guardians hoped) the Resistance finally being taken down.
But, then again, that was Zero's job this time.
Knocking with no attempt to be polite about it, Fefnir waited somewhat impatiently for the red Reploid to hurry up and open the door. He wasn't disappointed; the doors slide open mere seconds later, with the Legend himself eyeing Fefnir with what he thought was a mixture of suspicion and annoyance.
"I see you learned from last time," Fefnir chuckled. 'Last time,' Zero had either been sleeping or just plain not paying attention, but in any case, the ordeal involved the Guardian of Fire pressing his face against the glass of Zero's pod, and had ended with Zero being in a foul mood for the rest of the day and Fefnir discovering what the steel plating of the door felt like when swung at full force. Needless to say, he hadn't done it again, but he had neither forgotten or forgiven Zero for it either.
Zero was either ignoring him or simply had nothing to say on the matter, Fefnir could never tell, and instead changed the subject.
"What do you want?"
Fefnir sighed. Always so serious, like a certain fellow Guardian.
"Well, I don't want anything, really, but I'm here to tell you that there's going to be a briefing for today's mission… and to take you there." he replied. Zero, on the other hand, stared at him for a few seconds, before the doors shut again with a loud clank. It only earned the doors a swift agitated kick on Fefnir's behalf. Fefnir assumed the other Reploid was getting whatever it was that he needed, and proved to be correct, as the doors reopened a few minutes later.
"Are you all ready now? Have everything you need?" Fefnir quipped, in a mocking, maternal tone. Zero only blinked and lightly shoved him out of the way, taking a few steps before stopping. It took Fefnir a second to realize he probably didn't know where to go, but Zero would probably rather die than ask Fefnir of all people for directions. The two got along well enough, and most of the time they played off of each other's jokes, but today Zero seemed especially on edge. He usually was, at least a little, before missions, but today it was substantially more noticeable. Not that Fefnir could blame him, all things considered.
It had taken Fefnir ages to figure out the other's ticks and habits, and there were likely a few he would likely never know about, but the first thing that had caught his attention was how little Zero did.
Whether it was just that he was rusty or had never been very good at it in the first place, his face was almost always perfectly neutral, never betraying even the slightest hint of emotion. There were times when they had shone through, but only briefly, and it was more often than not heavily subdued. Initially, Fefnir had doubted he even possessed the ability to laugh, but had eventually been proven wrong. But, like everything else, it wasn't particularly noticeable, and Fefnir had at first mistaken it for a hum. Zero's sense of humor was also… unexpected. It was dry, and usually sarcastic as all hell, with Fefnir more often than not taking the comment seriously but nevertheless had found amusing once he got used to it.
Whirling around, in an overexaggerated, mock battle stance, Fefnir growled, "Do that again, little man, and I'll throw you into next Tuesday."
Zero made a face of mock disgust, only waving a hand in dismissal, as if to say, "I'd like to see you try." The red Reploid appeared to be on the verge of making some sort of sarcastic jab, but stopped short. The distinctive sound of Leviathan's heels had caught his attention, and both Reploids turned to meet her.
"Ahh," Leviathan said, "if it isn't Fefnir and Zero." Her long strides quickly closed the distance between them, taking her place between the two.
"Just the two boys I wanted to see, and you especially." She hummed, turning to face Zero. Zero chose to ignore her, for the most part, simply nodding. Noticing Fefnir's stance, her voice took on a slight motherly tone. "Are you really going to start throwing your weight around in here?" She gestured to the narrow hallway. Multiple rooms lined its walls, some empty and some not, but it went without saying that it wasn't a place to do any kind of roughhousing. Not leaving it up to Mr. Legend to say anything, Fefnir gave her the most vacant look he could pull off, and Zero snorted.
"Why yes, I was. It just seems like the perfect spot, don't you think?"
Leviathan huffed, and Zero decided he'd had enough of everyone's antics for today.
"Where are we going exactly?" He asked, in an effort to get the ball rolling.
"Oh, that's what I'm here for." Leviathan said, and Fefnir and Zero exchanged glances.
"So… both you and Fefnir came to make sure I didn't get lost," the smaller Reploid stated. This time, it was the two Guardians' turn to exchange a look.
"Well… yes, if you put it that way," Leviathan replied after a sigh. Fefnir refrained from commenting at all, instead finding the nearest wall's surface highly interesting.
Zero shook his head, but didn't seem all that put off by the idea. He had a penchant for getting lost in Neo Arcadia's halls, even if he knew exactly where he wanted to go.
"Let's get going, we don't want to keep Mr. Punctual waiting," the Guardian of Ice offered, and Fefnir and Zero followed her lead.
Once the trio had made their way to the briefing room, Harpuia welcomed them with a sterner glare than usual. They weren't late, but they had taken a rather long time, and by Harpuia's standards, a mosey didn't cut it.
"Now that everyone's here," Leviathan rolled her eyes, and Fefnir clicked his tongue, but Harpuia made a point to ignore them and solely addressed Zero. "I believe we have a few things to discuss."
What else of course, but the mission to wipe out the Resistance. Harpuia began pacing as he explained the specifics of the mission, as he often did. Whether it was nerves or just a habit he had picked up on from Master X, no one could really say but him.
While it was Zero's job to do the most important part, capture of the Resistance's leader, Fefnir and Leviathan were to provide support. In the form of an army and hacking expertise, respectively. Both Guardians would provide distractions for the main body of the Resistance's forces, while Zero would slip in undetected, or relatively so. In theory, it seemed simple enough, but there were almost always complications; as such, the red Reploid would be allowed to command a small unit of Pantheons. Issuing them orders wasn't particularily difficult, but Zero would need to be updated on the proper protocols and procedures. The way Harpuia had explained it, it was similar to entering commands into a personal computer. Simple, concise phrases, and the Pantheons would set to whatever task you wanted, if it was allowed by the Laws, of course.
With the briefing more or less concluded, Harpuia asked the usual: "Are there any questions?" No one had any to ask, and Harpuia seemed unsurprised. "Good," was all he said, and that seemed to be everyone's cue to leave. Not that they could go far; Leviathan and Fefnir went about giving orders to those under their command, and Zero seemed a little unsure of what to do with himself. Harpuia left the room entirely, presumeably to make preperations of his own.
Now, all that was left was to wait.
A/N: SOON.