Ciel leaned back in her seat. She often found it hard to monitor the missions her allies went on in the Resistance Base's Control Room. Too many eyes would watch her, silently judging the way she conducted her troops and herself during various operations. She'd given up on wishing they'd stop long ago. Almost every member of the Army was much older than she was, and a good number of them were more experienced in combat than she was. And she knew that those with more experience were talking about her behind her back. Scrutinizing every decision she made. Every word she spoke. Every small shake of her body.

She decided she couldn't take it anymore.

It wasn't fair. She was only a kid, barely into her teenage years. Sure, she was a young technology prodigy. She was, after all, researching ways to relieve the world of its current energy crisis. But everything that happened and was happening around her was all due to one mistake. A mistake that, could she go back in time, she'd slap her past self and tell her to not even go near the disabled mechanical husk.

Then again, the whole time-space continuum would probably hate her if she did that and blink her out of existence, so it was probably for the best that she couldn't.

Ever since she restored the robot formerly known as X, now known as "Copy X," it felt like everything in the world was her fault. From the rapidly increasing energy crisis that was causing Reploids around the world to panic, to the then-ruling government of Neo Arcadia being overthrown by Copy X and his Guardians, to the declaration of the reemergence of Mavericks, it was as though she were single-handedly responsible for bringing the world to its knees. She may as well have been the one to retire all of the innocent Reploids being wrongfully labeled as Mavericks herself, for all the good she had done.

When a small group of so-called "Mavericks" started banding together to stand against Copy X's brand of tyranny, it was the absolute least she could do to join their ranks and help fight against the former hero's rule. It also allowed her to begin carrying out research into alternative forms of sustainable energy to replace the current sources that were nearly depleted. In what was probably their form of a bizarre sense of humor, the Reploids of the Resistance unanimously chose her to be their leader. They reasoned it was because she was a human and, therefore, technically couldn't be touched by Reploids. She thought it was the world getting its payback for crippling it so severely. Put her on a pedestal. Show the world who it was that was the cause of everything. Put your trust in her to make the world she'd screwed up a better place.

I was really feeling sorry for Mom here. Sure, the internet sites I'd read stories on how Ciel would sometimes fall into a kind of depression, but I didn't know it was anything like that.

She was trying, though. The development of Cyber Elves as they were helped with her research more than she ever thought they would have. The Elves had their own energy sources and the ones with the Resistance were willing to let her analyze them in the hopes of helping Ciel develop her alternative energy. The problem was, though, that as leader, many things also became her responsibility. Things such as supplies, maintenance on the base and its Reploid inhabitants, and unit deployment.

Which brought her to her current predicament: beating herself up for the fight Zero was now in.

"STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"

She lightly pounded her fists into her forehead, though it was worth noting that her left hand hurt her head more than her right.

I wondered why that was.

She should've seen it. She should've seen the trap from a mile off. It was too easy. One of the recon units that had been sent out to locate the submarine Zero was currently in came back far sooner than expected, excited over how quickly they were able to complete their mission. To be fair, nobody had apparently seen the leak for what it was, too caught up in the thrill of getting firsthand, reliable intel on the inner workings of Copy X's armies.

Nobody had stopped to think that the submarine in question was Fairy Leviathan's favorite ship, and that there might be a chance she would be on it.

All too quickly, Ciel and Cerveau, the Resistance Army's highest ranking technical officer and her closest adviser, worked to form an infiltration mission to extract as much information from the ship as could be obtained. Now that the Army's single strongest soldier was locked into a battle with one of Neo Arcadia's strongest warriors, she was sure the dissenters in the Resistance had yet another reason to rebel and remove her from her seat. She was sure something like that was going to happen any day now.

Which is why, when she'd finished beating herself up (both figuratively and literally) and had her face buried in her hands, she'd stiffened up at a hand settling itself on her shoulder. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to that.

She pulled her hands away from her face and turned to the young Reploid that was trying to comfort her.

"Don't worry about Zero. He can handle himself. He'll get out of this just fine."

Ciel turned back to the screen she used to monitor Zero's mission, actually feeling slightly better about things. He was right. Zero had been in worse spots before, and had somehow overcome odds that would wipe out any other unit in the Army. If anybody could get out of a Leviathan trap, it'd be him.

Something in the back of her mind kept nagging at her, though. Why did she get the feeling that she wasn't going to like the way this whole situation ended?

Ms. Fair smiled again.

The ruined cityscape normally didn't see very much action. The occasional stray Mechaniloid finding another would excite the area for a few moments while the two would fight for territorial control, but for the most part the ruins would sit in a stillness that would worry even the most hardened soldier.

Then again, the most hardened soldiers in the area were currently locked in a fight for their lives. Sounds of metal clashing against metal and plasma slashing through the air cut through what would otherwise be nearly complete silence. Shouts and grunts of pain could also be heard, though those were more sporadic compared to the clashes.

Zero grunted as he held his sword in front of him, deflecting the stabbing attacks of his opponent. Leviathan pressed the advantage she'd created for herself. With one hand frozen, Zero wasn't as capable of putting up the offense that she knew he was capable of. One frozen foot kept him from being as mobile as he normally was.

In other words, he was a sitting duck compared to his usual skill level, and Leviathan wanted to take full advantage.

Zero deflected as many blows as he could, with the occasional stab or slash getting through and doing minor damage to his armor. He was unable to completely redirect one particular stab, and the attack ended up tearing a gash in his side. Zero cried out in pain as fluids began to flow from the wound. On the other hand, Leviathan had no issues to contend with. Constantly attacking made it difficult to defend attacks, but there was no need to defend when your opponent wasn't capable of attacking themselves.

Zero slowly backed away from Leviathan, trying to put some distance between himself and her. Having everything from the ankle down frozen on one leg made doing so hard, though.

I have to figure a way out of this situation, or I'm in trouble.

Mixing up her attacks, Leviathan aimed a low swipe at Zero's legs. Zero himself tried to hop back, but the ice weighed him down too much and, as a result, barely moved at all. The slash ended up missing him for the most part, but it chipped off some of the ice. Cracks spread through the rest, giving Zero an idea.

As Leviathan finished the follow-through on her swing, Zero aimed a slash of his own at her foot, putting as much into the swing as he could. Leviathan, however, saw the attack coming and stood on her opposite leg, moving her foot away from the attack. Zero rolled with the missed swing, spinning himself in a circle and lifting his frozen leg. The blue Reploid saw what Zero was up to and tried to stab at him again. Her attack was too late, however, as Zero's leg came down on her shoulder in a rolling kick.

The force of the kick shattered the ice on Zero's leg, freeing his foot. It also forced Leviathan to stumble toward the ground and fall to one knee. Zero used the opening to raise the leg and drop it in a vicious axe kick. The kick landed directly on Leviathan's head. The impact rocked her, disrupting nearly all of her processes.

Zero, seeing his opponent stunned, tried to take advantage and bring his Z-Saber down on her. Leviathan recovered faster than he was able to attack and rolled out of the way. She rolled over a couple of times before springing herself up into a series of flips. With one final backflip, she landed on her feet and gave her head a few shakes, trying to shake away the last wave of dizziness from the blow to her head.

When she finshed, she smirked. "Not bad, Red."

Zero stood straight, slightly shaking loose ice shards away. He didn't answer, choosing to give her a hard stare as his response.

Leviathan crouched down low, extending one leg out in front of her and bringing the shaft of her Frost Javelin over her head. "Oh, don't play the 'strong and silent' type with me, Red. You know you wanna talk as much as I do."

Zero raised an eyebrow slightly. I don't think I've ever wanted anything more to do with her than to get her to shut up for a few seconds.

"Wow, rude."

"Let's be honest, Leviathan. You tend to talk a lot as it is, and you get mouthier when you find yourself in a tight spot."

"I do not. Sure, I'll admit that I liked to taunt my targets from time to time, but you make it sound like I constantly run my mouth during a fight. I don't. I'm perfectly capable of being quiet when I need to. I don't need to talk like I'm hiding some kind of insecurity or something. My fists and my Javelin are all I need to handle myself when I'm in a so-called 'tight spot'."

We all stared at Ms. Fair while she felt the need to defend herself in a completely ironic way. A couple of silent seconds passed while we let her process what just happened.

"...shut up, all of you."

Mom giggled a bit. "Nobody said anything, Levi."

"I do believe I just told you to shut up."

His hand still sealed in ice, Zero used his free hand to spin his Z-Saber a few times before bringing it to bear in front of him.

"I'm tired of hearing you. I'm going to give you two options: either stand down and let me go without an issue, or..."

Leviathan's grin grew. "There's the grump I'm used to! Now then, I'll take the bait. Either I let you go, or what?"

"Or I'll cut you down."

Her vicious smile returned in full force. "That's more like it!" With that, she leaped forward, circling her spear. Zero raised his sword and ran toward Leviathan. The clash of their weapons meeting between them could have been heard for miles...

"Don't flatter yourself, honey. You'll start to sound like her."

Dad paused, processing what Mom just told him. We all sat quietly for a few moments. Something must've snapped inside of him, because after almost a minute all we could hear from him was probably the faintest, longest groan in history. Being compared to Leviath-Ms. Fair must've damaged something in his head.

At this point, I'd shifted my legs so that I sat cross-legged in my chair. Doing that isn't very easy with a leg replacement that's gone out on you, let me tell you. Well, it hadn't actually gone completely out, since I could flex the leg's toes and feel them moving on my real leg. I figured this was the best way to keep an eye on how far along the damage to the leg was.

"Ahem," Ms. Fair cleared her throat. Dad had basically frozen himself in place, so he was probably out of commission for at least a little while. "Anyway..."

The clash of their weapons meeting between them resounded loudly. Anyone else would've at least winced at the impact, but the two warriors wielding them paid no attention to the noise. The two strained against their weapons, each trying to overpower the other. The struggle, for all the effort that was given, was quickly proving itself to be one-sided. Leviathan knew her strengths were in her agility and skill, as she demonstrated each time she trained with one of her fellow Guardians. She had no hope of ever out-muscling any of the three; she wasn't designed for physical power, but for speed and technological maintenance. Thus, it was no surprise to her when Zero's strength began to force her down to her knees.

Which is why, when one finally touched the ground, she smiled and quickly spun in a circle, swinging her free leg out and sweeping Zero's feet out from under him. Zero toppled to the ground, landing on his back with a strained groan. Leviathan lifted her sweeping leg and dropped her heel on his throat. While there was very little strength in the kick, her foot landed just hard enough to do damage.

As a Reploid, breathing wasn't necessarily a vital function to Zero. Having his throat smashed, though, did force him to start choking. He coughed violently, unable to defend himself as Leviathan delivered another kick to the side of his head. He rolled away, trying to recover from the attack. Leviathan, however, quickly got to her feet and followed him, brandishing her Frost Javelin. With a wide swing, she brought the blade of her spear down on him.

Zero, who had stopped rolling just in time to see the attack coming, instinctively raised his arm to try and deflect the attack. The spear crashed down on his arm with a resounding crack. Neither noticed until it was too late that the arm he'd used was the one that she'd frozen in the water. Leviathan tried to pull her spear away for another attack, only to find that the blade had embedded itself deep into the ice.

The blue Reploid tried again and again to yank her weapon free from its chilled prison. Each time she did, though, she only succeeded in yanking Zero forward with a grunt every time. With one mighty pull, she'd managed to fail draw her spear away, but succeeded in helping Zero to his feet.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was like something out of a badly written comedy movie scene.

"Uh..." Leviathan squeaked. Zero himself looked confused. Another couple of quick tugs showed the Frost Javelin to be just as stuck as it was before. "This is embarrassing."

Zero pulled on his arm, testing the situation for himself.

"I've never had this happen before." Zero raised a brow to that. Leviathan huffed in response. "Most people I freeze aren't stupid enough to use their frozen parts to block with."

Zero rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Let's just get out of this mess."

With a quiet growl, Leviathan wordlessly agreed. The two warriors shuffled around each other, trying to figure out a way to free the Frost Javelin from its icy prison. They each angled their heads around, trying to see around one another.

"Give me your leg." Leviathan said.

"What?"

"Give me your leg. I think I just need some leverage."

"Oh."

Zero moved one leg forward. Leviathan grumbled to herself as she firmly grasped the shaft of her spear and lifted a foot onto Zero's outstretched leg. She hopped on her other foot, readying herself to try and loose her weapon. Zero himself shifted down slightly, wondering to himself why he was even going along with this situation.

An unarmed Reploid is not a combatant on the battlefield. If he'd kept his arm to himself, he could've forced Leviathan to surrender and let him withdraw. Ciel hadn't painted Leviathan in the most honorable light when he'd first encountered her, and past missions and battles involving her didn't do her image any favors in his book. That being said, she did have some respect for the rules of combat. She'd taken several unarmed Reploids as prisoners without incident in the past.

How they were treated when they were taken back to Neo Arcadia wasn't a mystery to anybody. At least, nobody that had access to a computer monitor of some kind.

And if he could keep her spear away from her, then that would've been a plus as well. Cerveau probably would've had a field day analyzing the thing. Zero certainly would've enjoyed just reducing it to as many tiny pieces as physically possible. As it was, though, Leviathan's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Okay, here we go. On three." The two settled themselves, shifting their weight around.

"One." Zero tensed his arm.

"Two." Leviathan tightened her grip.

"Three!" The two pulled at their respective ends as hard as they could. They strained for several seconds, trying their hardest to separate spear from ice. With a grunt, Leviathan stopped pulling, prompting Zero to do the same. She took a moment to take another breath, then started pulling again. Zero did the same, despite the thought that this isn't getting us anywhere crossing his mind at least once.

After another round or two of their non-progressive Tug-O'-War, the pair decided to give the mess one last chance. With one final mighty yank, Leviathan dug her heel into Zero's leg armor, putting everything she had into her arms. Zero, grasping his frozen arm with his free one, groaned as he pulled.

The only hint either of the warriors got that their final effort was working was the quietest crackling of the ice before the hand's frozen coffin exploded into hundreds of icy shards. The Reploids were rewarded for their efforts in the form of the pair flying off in different directions, both hitting their backs on the ground with grunts of pain, Leviathan's head also bouncing off the ground. They remained on the ground for a few moments, Zero shaking any remaining ice off of his arm, while Leviathan clutched the back of her head and rolled around.

At some point during the whole scene, I'd nearly shoved a hand through my face and into my skull. I was right. The whole stupid situation was a bad comedy sketch that couldn't possibly have actually happened. It didn't help that the entire time Ms. Fair was describing it, Dad had recovered and the two started laughing it off. Even Mom started to giggle a little bit.

"You know," I said, hand still covering most of my face. "joking around like this isn't helping me believe a word any of you are saying. I mean, that can't possibly be true."

Dad, still chuckling a little, answered me. "The thing about battles, Iris, is that they aren't always completely serious. Every now and then, something will happen that's worth a laugh later on."

"He's right, honey." Mom added. "I can't tell you how many times things happened around the Resistance Base that got laughs when they happened."

The pair took a few minutes to recover from the whole ordeal. While Zero didn't suffer any sort of injuries from the fall, he did take a moment to think about what had just happened.

I think, of everything that I can remember, this'll probably be the single dumbest moment to have ever transpired in my life. And I've listened to conversations between Hirondelle and Cerveau that were less conversations and more like endless droning for hours.

At least, I assume they would go on for hours. I can't stand being around those two together.

Leviathan shook her head a few times, trying to shake off the dizziness from hitting her head. Once she was clear enough to be able to see without warning messages filling up her vision, she rolled onto her back and took a few deep breaths.

Nothing moved in the section of the city the battle took part in. A slight breeze blew through the area, the sound amplified by the demolished buildings and lightly chilling the two warriors. Any Mechaniloids that were in the area to start had long since left, self-preservation instincts pushing them to get as far away from the pair as possible.

Ciel watched her monitor with worry. Her guest leaned his head over her shoulder to give himself the best possible view.

"Do you still think he's okay?"

The guest smiled. "Why? Worried that his physical sensors haven't picked anything up for a couple of minutes?" Ciel nodded. He chuckled a little. "He's fine. The sensors are still active, so he's still fine."

Ciel didn't answer. She watch the vitals on her monitor intently, silently hoping that he was right, and that Zero was fine.

After a few minutes, Zero decided that he'd had enough rest. Can't exactly fight properly on my back. He lifted his legs to his chest, curling himself up into a ball and rolling onto his shoulders. He then kicked his legs out, flipping himself onto his feet.

Leviathan was ready to resume as well. From her own position on her back, she swung her legs in wide circles, spinning herself into a crouching position. Both Reploids bore their weapons, ready to continue their battle. Neither said a word, which actually caught Zero slightly off guard.

"Hey!"

Without a sound from either of them, the two charged at one another, Zero's Z-Saber swinging into a slash at her body, while Leviathan swung her Frost Javelin down on his head. Zero brought his weapon up high enough to block her swing. Their weapons clashed, each warrior straining to push the other back. With a quick swipe, Zero forced Leviathan's spear to the side, throwing the swimmer off balance. He used the opening to deliver a knee to her midsection, knocking the wind out of her with a pained groan. Leviathan stumbled back, trying to not give Zero a chance to follow up. Zero followed after her, his free hand coming around in a punch to the side of her head.

Leviathan brought her spear up to block the attack, using the shaft to push him away. She followed with a swing of her own, the tip of her spear barely nicking his chest armor. She continued her swing, using the momentum to fuel another attack. Zero rolled under the second swing, aiming the blade of his weapon at her. Leviathan's eyes widened, realizing the position she was in. Zero drove his Z-Saber forward, only for Leviathan to side step at the last possible moment. While she was lucky enough to get most of her body out of the way, her arm wasn't so. The blade cut a deep gash, causing her to cry out in pain.

Zero noticed the injury and pressed his advantage. He swung his Z-Saber again, this time catching her in her side. He then delivered a hard kick to the side of her knee, shattering the mechanical joint inside. Leviathan fell to the ground, her cries of agony echoing off the empty buildings around them. She dropped her spear, leaving herself vulnerable while she clutched at her injuries. Zero panted heavily, exhaustion sweeping through him while he watched Leviathan to make sure she wasn't feigning her pain.

Leviathan rolled around, the pain from her slashed arm and crushed knee too great for her to try and continue fighting. Eventually, she was able to let the pain pass, only offering small grunts and groans. The foot of that leg twitched violently, the destroyed mechanics of the knee sending electrical shorts through her leg.

Minutes passed...

Something I noticed seemed to happen a lot in this story.

...with Zero watching as Leviathan tried to recover. The damage to her knee was too great for her to stand, as she found out after a couple of failed attempts. She resigned herself to keeping her leg stretched out to her side (not that she had much choice about it) and her hand covering her arm wound. She let her head fall, knowing that her battle was over. Zero finally relaxed and started to walk away. He needed to contact the Resistance Base, and he would rather have done it without an enemy soldier right next to him.

"Do it."

Zero stopped and turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Do what?"

"Finish me."

The eyebrow fell. "Why would I do something like that?"

"Because, we're both fighters." Zero rolled his eyes. He'd heard this before. "Some stupid code of honor or something. You've done it before."

Now that caught Zero off-guard. "What? What are you talking about?"

"You've done this before." Leviathan pulled her arm in closer, her head sinking further toward the ground. "You did it to my brother."

"Your brother?"

Leviathan snapped her head up, her face scrunched in anger. "Yes, you idiot! My brother! The one you retired!"

It took Zero a moment to think on it. He'd heard the "code of honor" statement before, but he was having a bit of a hard time placing it. He gave Leviathan's hard gaze a long look of his own, before something in him finally clicked.

She looks like...ugh...

With another roll of his eyes, he walked toward the fallen Reploid. Leviathan let her head fall again, waiting for the final impact.

"Phantom..."

Before she knew it, her head snapped back and her vision shot straight to black. Her body fell to the ground, crumpling into an undignified heap. Zero stared at the blue Guardian's unconscious form for several seconds before slumping over.

"Ciel's not going to be happy about this." He reached up to his helmet and activated his comm system. "Zero, Base."

"Base, Zero. Go ahead."

"Lock onto my signal. Two to return."

"Two?" Ciel's voice came over the line.

"Two."

"Roger that."

Zero waited for a few seconds before feeling familiar tingles throughout his body. For the life of him, he would never get used it.