Chapter 54: The Zero Point

"What did Kakuzawa want Julius?" Victoria asked when the young man was returned back to the cells. He didn't answer at first; instead much to her surprise he actually went to one of the corners, talking silently to himself. In most parts she wouldn't have been surprised, it wasn't exactly new for Diclonius to hear voices inside their heads and have complete conversations with themselves, even she had done it before. But she had always imagined Julius to be a little different, which meant that he must be talking to someone legitimate. She had no idea what was being said, the Diclonius spoke too softly and most of his words were just single phrases anyways so even if he was talking aloud, unless a person heard both parts of the conversation, it would be impossible to tell exactly what the conversation was about.

After about 10 minutes, Julius finally rose up, walking back to the front of the cell gate before, again to his annoyance really, Victoria placed her arms around his neck. "Is something wrong Julius, I saw you talking over there, were you hearing voices in your head as well?"

"No." He replied plainly back at her, gently pushing her hands off of him and walking over to the front of the cell, his hands traveling across the bars. "Anti-vector bars…" He said, obviously to himself but Victoria answered back nonetheless. "Yes, there's no way for us to get out by ourselves."

"Inconceivable. Those are the words of fools who cannot think for themselves." His words were spoken clearly, not harshly but just as plainly as before, but the strength in them was there as well. Most the Diclonius suddenly became quite interested in what he was doing, in only for the fact that it would be enjoyable to watch him screw up. They had seen countless others try to get through the bars, and it was always a little amusing to watch novices bounce off and slam against the opposite steel wall behind them in their failed attempts. Victoria herself was also perplexed because she knew Julius to be smarter than that and yet she couldn't see any way to get out herself.

With each stride he placed his hand upon the bar, running it up from the top to the bottom. For each one he did the same thing, ending at the last one before turning to Victoria. "I want you to use your vectors on one of these bars." Certainly surprised by that statement, Victoria was obviously hesitant in doing so. "It won't work Julius, vectors don't work on them."

"I understand, I am merely looking at something."

One of her hands emerged from her back, ever so slowly coming out and with but a small touch, tapped the sixth bar from the left. Instantly her hand flew back in a small shower of sparks. A small fit of laughter came from the other Diclonius, wondering why he was so stupid to even be doing such stuff right now. "Get it now you idiot, there's no way for you or us to ever get out. Just accept the fact, its hopeless!"

Julius, narrowing his eyes once again brought his own physical hand up, gripping the bar tightly. "Physically touching it…does not induce the anti-vector barrier. However when the actual vectors are used, it does. Victoria, I want you to do the same thing again as before. Touch the bar with your vectors." This time though, he kept his hand firmly pressed against the bar as Victoria did as she was told. Once again, her hand flew back but for him, nothing happened to his hand. He could sense a rush of energy traveling from the very top of his hand and up and at the bottom but never directly upon his hand. Content with what he had seen, Julius finally stepped back and placed his hand upon his forehead, gripping the small silver coin.

"Julius…I'm not sure what you're trying to do but vectors don't work! It doesn't matter how many you have or how strong they are, they won't work." Victoria cried out.

"You should listen to her, idiot." One sneered, crossing her arms. "Although I am a little curious, I've never seen your hands before, how long are they? How many do you have? It doesn't really matter though because it'll never work."

"I have zero hands." Julius said, momentarily catching everyone off guard."

The one who spoken before stuttered for a moment before finally catching herself. "That's the stupidest thing I've heard, you're a Diclonius I can sense you, of course you have hands."

"I have zero length…" He continued as if he hadn't heard her.

"Z-Zero length! You mean you have no hands at all? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life!"

There was no answer to the statement, Julius only took his silver coin deeply etched into his forehead and squeezed until it finally came out. Victoria for a moment expected at least a small whirlwind to happen, but the only thing she saw was the small line of red that came down Julius' face, of which he casually wiped away. He put the silver coin into his mouth, rolling it under his tongue for safe keeping as he raised his hand nonchalantly. "Victoria, the same thing as before, touch the bar just above my hand."

"A-Alright…" She said, her arm snaked out, head just above his raised hand as he held the bar just above his head. Like a snake striking its prey, her hand jabbed at the bar. As before her own hand flew back in a shower of spark, but for Julius, the bar he was holding was instantly snapped in two. Holding the piece in his hand, he paid no attention to amount of gasps that filled the room. He hadn't even used any vectors, he had just broken it off with his mere hand right? What sort of trickery was going on now?

"Victoria…here, above my hand."

This time going to the very bottom of the bar, they did the same thing before Julius broke it off, this time taking an entire section off and slowly laying it the floor. Everyone was stunned, entirely stunned speechless at what they had seen. Victoria herself too was just as surprised as before, her eyes traveling from Julius to the fallen bar. It was only until Julius called her name that she finally snapped out of her dream-like state of shock.

"Victoria."

"Ah! Huh?"

"Do the same thing with these two bars as well…"

After only a few seconds, a huge gaping hole stood, just large enough for a single person to fight through. Merely ducking his head as not to hit the ceiling, every watched with their mouths agape. "Victoria…" Julius said sternly, watching her move herself out of the bars too and strolling up to him with that same look of admiration on her face for him. The same look that mostly annoyed him at any point. "…I have business to do, in most cases I would keep you from trying to escape. However I have business to attend to and I have no time to deal with one escaped woman. I don't care what you do, but it would be best if you left right now."

"I won't do that. I want to help you…I…I want to be with you."

Of course, she was being as annoying as he could possibly imagined. Sure enough as well the other Diclonius we're starting to throw a fit as well. "Hey! Help us out as well!"

"Help you?" He asked, turning to them. "I have no intention of helping any of you. By all means if a mass escape of Diclonius did occur right now, I would stop and kill you all without hesitation. I am not on your side, I am on another's side. The same thing goes for you Victoria, we are not friends or even acquaintances. The only reason I am allowing you to escape is because you have firstly helped me and secondly there is no point in dealing with just one single Diclonius."

"I'm still coming with you…even if you do say those words. You showed me that there was a better way of lie, a change in the way I thought things. Even if you push me back, I'll still come with you."

Starring at her for quite some time, Julius turned abruptly around, walking away as Victoria quickly hurried up and the others began yelling obscenities at them. "What an annoying girl…" He thought, eyeing her out of the corner of his eyes before giving an audible sigh of displeasure. "Fine then Victoria, do what you wish. Just remember that I am not doing this for you, get in my way and I will deal with you personally as well."

Nodding affirmatively, she followed Julius out the door.


"J-Julius, what's up with your body? How did you break the bars without using your vectors?" It was question that had been grating on her mind and for one of the first time it was a legitimate one that Julius had no qualm in answering. "I am the Zero Point, Julius Javel the original Diclonius Number 0 in the Tokyo Facility run by Garder F. Morotisan. I have zero vectors, zero length, zero numbers, Zero Point. However, I can radiate the entire vector energy through my entire body. I myself am a vector…" As if to prove the point, he slid his hand into the wall like a ghost, passing it through as if there was nothing there at all. Then with just a single movement he passed right through the wall like a ghost, appearing randomly through the wall up front.

"This is my power as The Zero Point, the ability to incorporate the power of the Diclonius into my own body. The bars act as such, any physical body part can touch the bars without harm, it is only with vectors that it becomes problematic. I noticed as I was looking at it, that source of energy radiated from the moment the vector touches the bar. I needed to force the energy away from a single point, which is where I used your vectors and then using the split second to break the bar away before the effects could reach my own body."

"A-Amazing…what are we supposed to do."

"I…" Julius said, putting much emphasis on the word. "…Am going to kill Kakuzawa Anna."

Sure enough that was how the conversation with Garder had gone. Not without careful analysis could he determine what Director Kakuzawa's weakness was, so instead the next best option was to kill Anna. The biological supercomputer gave Kakuzawa all the details he needed to complete his work, destroy her, and one effectively cripples his plans, forcing him to act on his own whim. Had they known that it would have come this far, Garder probably would have had Julius murder the old man long ago, but that was the past, and this was now.

Coming through the hallway, one brutish looking soldier ran into them from the other corner, stopping in his track before raising his gun. Victoria on the offensive sliced his arms and then head off before he could so much as utter a syllable and let his body fall mundanely to the floor. Paying no attention to him, the male Diclonius picked up gun, the kind that would hold specialized tungsten bullets as well before continuing down the hall to the elevator. "Victoria…I am going to deal with Anna. I have no time to waste, killing her is of top priority. Both her and Director Kakuzawa are hardly a threat to me, but likely I cannot do much against Kakuzawa myself right now. If there is anything I need you to do, is to keep the director away while I kill Anna, dealing with both of them may be problematic."

"O-Of course!"

Raising her head slowly of the water, Anna narrowed her cold eyes when she saw Julius walk through the doors. "How did you get out of your cell? I know that father did not let you out…" There was no need to answer, no point in answering in fact. Julius Javel whipped out the gun and aimed with perfect precision at Anna's head. One second, one to whip it out, aim and then pull the trigger. He gave no warning at all, he just pulled it out and fired. Exploding out of its holster, the bullet flew at break neck speed, smashing pathetically into Anna's left arm.

"How foolish, are you trying to betray my father?"

"Betray? Not once had I ever joined him in the first place." Julius muttered, taking a few steps forward and aiming again, the same thing happened to the first bullet. "Father will be displeased that somebody he thought was a good servant was actually against him. However I will not let you live a moment longer." With those foreboding words, she raised her massive right hand, clenching it into a fist and bringing it down hard upon the male Diclonius. The massive brown arm smashed into the white marble tombstones, shattering it into pieces and gripping her fingers tightly just to make sure he never moved again.

!

*RIP!*

Without warning, she jerked her hand back, the palm and inner fingers torn and mutilated almost beyond recognition. Standing there just as coldly as before, Julius took this moment of weakness to aim at Anna's head, firing off the bullet. Anna didn't have time to block this attack and screams split the cavern. Though large, her voice was high pitched when the bullet slammed into her eyes, large globules of blood splattering into the water and only land. Then she attacked again, her left hand racing out to swat him away and disbelieving at her hand flew right through Julius' body as if it were a ghost.

Julius powers were actually quite similar to the vector machine that Kakuzawa used. However unlike Kakuzawa, Julius can only use his powers in a singular motion. That is to say, is that he must use a specific part of his power at one time. If he wishes to become incorporeal, he cannot use his strength and vice versa. He has the entire powers of vectors within his body but these powers must be used in separate conditions. In truth, Julius' powers are not very good when it comes to combat. He has no range and while he is given extra strength, even that is almost ill compared to even some of the weakest vectors. It is not combat that his powers are best at, it is infiltration. It was one of the bad parts about being unclothed and not having his normal weapons.

The next hand was raised smashing it on top of Julius who used his powers so that it passed right through and then became solid again so that Anna's hand would become mutilated again. He might be hurting her, but he was hardly killing her. "Even at this range…the bullets aren't affecting her because of her mass.

How annoying…"

*BASH!*

"I will not…let you interfere with father's work!" Anna roared.

*BASH!*

Each blow is either dodged or just completely ignored, but even as her hands and arms are being mutilated, she still keeps coming. He has to give her credit for her determination though, which only causes more concern. Victoria herself is speechless, she isn't sure what's more shocking, this abomination in the water, or the fact that Julius is fighting it.

"VICTORIA!" For one of the first times ever, Julius actually roars her name at her, snapping her back out of her trance just fast enough or her to duck her head from the incoming vector. Jumping forward, she spins around, spreading her own hands out as a very livid Kakuzawa comes out, the dome shaped energy floating around him so that that when he walks out, the walks that are touched by the dome break apart and fall into pieces. "What is this foolishness Julius? You are a traitor? I can't even believe what I'm seeing, a traitor, of a male Diclonius, that is just…unforgivable. Eh?" He's quite amused when Victoria stands in his way, her arms floating around her.

"There are…many traitors here eh? Abomination, you should be prostrating yourself before me woman. Now bow!"

"Fuck off…" Victoria hissed looking all around the dome. "I can't find…any openings…" She thought, sending out a swarm and, as she thought, watching as all of them bounced off of his defense. He doesn't have many hands and thankfully she can see them so avoiding them is easy but right now, he's merely taking steps forward, always pushing her back and laughing a loud at her futile attempts to stop him. "I am a god you fools, I cannot die! I cannot be killed, especially not be traitors like you! Foolish girl!" He roared, watching as she attempting to compress her vectors against his shield and keep him from moving forward. She felt her own feet dragging across the floor as he casually pushed her back. Grinding her teeth, she broke away, picking up a large piece of earth and chucking it at him with all of her force. It crashed loudly against the doom, shattering into pieces while Kakuzawa laughed manically.

"Weak! You cannot kill me you brat, I am a god! I am the most powerful god in the world! I am the god of all Diclonius, of every living thing in the world! Foolish brat! Foolish brat! I AM A GOD!" Raising his hands as if to say it to the world, he looked quite demented with his eyes rolling up at the back of his head.

"I'm having some trouble Julius!" Victoria called over.

"Just keep him back Victoria…I am going to finish this once and for all." True to his word, he landed on Anna's mutilated hand, racing atop her arm before jumping to the very top of her massive veined cranium. "Farewell…" one single cryptic word before he dove into the very recesses of her mind and then just as many times before, without warning, without so much as a word, he obliterated her mind. Become tangible again, her brain was torn up from the inside by his own body. No time to scream, no time to do anything, Anna's lifeless shell crashed into the murky water where her fingers as if trying to desperately cling to the shore, let go and she disappeared into the murky depths below.

"Anna? How dare you! How dare you do this to my Anna! How dare you go against me! I am a god! A GOD! A GOD!" Kakuzawa roared, this time he was truly pissed off. Avoiding hands was one thing but when an entire dome started rushing at a person, avoiding it became quite harder. His sights set on Julius, Kakuzawa like many before him found it inconceivable when his entire body, vectors and all just passed through Julius' body like air. It also gave Julius a little insight though not very help at all. He had hoped that the dome was merely an outer shell, get through it, and he could get through to Kakuzawa himself. Yet, much like he had thought, Kakuzawa had more than just an outer dome, it was completely solid. If he tried to attack Kakuzawa from inside it, he have been torn into unrecognizable pieces.

But there is always a way to beat somebody, no matter how powerful they had become. The machine granted him his vectors, therefore, more than likely it would also have the same effects that all vectors had as well. Neither he nor Victoria could do anything at the moment. Besides, what he had come for had been accomplished, Anna was dead and now it was time to leave.

"AS IF I'D LET YOU LEAVE!" He screeched, storming after the two when they made their move to the door. The pink haired girl stopped, sending her vectors into the ground, forcing all of her strength into it she began to slice the ground around Kakuzawa. "What is this foolishness…you think…GYAH!" Before the entire place around him broke apart and he fell through the massive hole that Victoria had created, falling right into part of the underground lake. She knew it wouldn't stop him, but it did give them enough time to escape through the elevator and head back up.

Livid though…how livid he was! Those fools would pay, he'd make sure they all paid the ultimate price. Kakuzawa vowed it.

The alarms meant nothing to him, it wasn't as if the bullets could even hit him. Not wasting a single second of time, Julius didn't bother dealing with the guards. The same thing could not be said for Victoria whose hands raced out, slaughtering all with in her reach. It only took a few minutes before they stepped out into day light, the smell of the salty air hitting their nose. For Julius it was nothing new but for Victoria, it was the first time she had been in the outside world.

"Alright Julius, what next?" Victoria cried and she had a good point. If they got onto a boat, they'd just get blown out of the water. Oh Julius knew what he needed to do, he had a plan and even a backup one if the first planned didn't work. Sure enough at the port a small helicopter was stationed, the same one that Kakuzawa had used to get to Kyoto before. Julius Javel, along with boats, was rather adept when it came to operating other things and the helicopter was no different. "You are determined to stay with me aren't you?" Julius stated.

"Of course, I'm not going to leave your side."

"…You are obnoxious, right now you have the chance for freedom and you waste it on being with me. Whatever, just do as I say."

"I will…"

It went all as planned, just as Garder had meant for it. To infiltrate the facility and gain knowledge on what Kakuzawa was doing directly, to kill Anna and thus cripple Kakuzawa's ultimate plans. Some of it didn't go just as he thought, but Garder had truly did one up on the old Head Director and the amount of rage was obvious on Kakuzawa's face when his men told him the bad news.


"Greetings Julius Javel…" Garder answered, tossing a large pack to the nude man.

"Thanks, it's been a while…guh…"

"Is something wrong?" Garder asked, noticing the look of pain in Julius' face. The man shook his head, taking the silver coin out and placing it back into his forehead where his body relaxed. As with most of his members, sometimes the coins had a limited use and overexerting his body without his coin would increase the entropy in his body to dangerous levels. Right now there was no need to use it during a time when it was unneeded. In the back was Julius' old set of clothes, the vest, even his wide brimmed hat was there. It was definitely good to wear clothes again, especially ones that were familiar. "Everything is done as you have said Garder, I have given you the information and Kakuzawa's facility, the new machine he is using as well as having gotten rid of Kakuzawa Anna. I can't say it has been enjoyable for me there."

"I apologize, I must as though…Julius Javel…who is the woman you have brought?"

Sure enough Victoria was there, mostly in the shadows and giving Garder a cold look from her red eyes. "My name is Victoria Javel…" She said sternly. Of course Garder noticed her last name and also took notice that Julius had nothing to do with it himself. He could've started asking questions on it but felt it was better to get straight to the point.

"Victoria eh? I am Garder F. Morotisan, the Director of this facility located in Tokyo. Why are you with Julius?"

"I am here to help him, in any way that I can." She replied back unhesitatingly.

"Julius…why did you bring her?"

"I had no intentions of doing so sir, but in the end you could say that she came with me. I can bring her to the Diclonius down in the basement, or I can kill her, what would you like me to do sir." Those words struck Victoria hard as stepped back, glaring at Julius. "W-Wait…you mean you'll…"

"At one point did I ever say that I was helping you?" Julius said coldly, flexing his fingers and bringing his hat down so that it covered your face. "I offered you the chance for freedom, I do not work to help out the Diclonius, I work for Garder under my own free will. Garder…what shall I do."

The old man continued to look at her through his glasses before sighing loudly and turning his chair around so that his back was facing them. "Victoria…you said your name was? Besides Julius, I have a very strong dislike for Diclonius. To me, you are the same as the rest but yet I can see a little difference in you. I assume some of Julius' personality has rubbed off on you Victoria. Very well then girl, if you wish to stay by Julius side then I will allow him to deal with you as he pleases. However as long as you do, you also serve under me. Do I make myself clear?"

"…Yes." Victoria answered back.

"You will do as I say, when I say, how I say."

"..Yes…" She replied again.

"…Very well then…I cannot say that I had seen this coming. I am putting this to you Julius, you have done more than enough to earn my trust so I will be doing the same to you."

"Aye sir, I will deal with Victoria as I see fit. I would like to as, has there been anything going on outside the facility?"

Garder nodded his head. "The facility in Osaka has been taken over the Diclonius let free, the entire place is like a battleground. I am keeping eye on the other facilities but…" He paused, putting his hand up to his face and removing his glasses. "…Things are getting hectic…and age is really becoming bothersome."

"I understand. Give the orders Garder and I will see what I can do." With those words, Julius left with Victoria, the latter having been given a small yellow dress just to have something to wear. Plain it might have been, it was still the first article of clothing she had ever worn and thus, wasn't going to complain one bit. She never though her life would go to this.

Then again…she never thought she'd so much as step outside the facility either.


Author's Note: A chapter dedicated to Julius kicking ass, hope you all enjoyed it. What will happen next time on "Pinpoint Lifeline?"

R&R