A week and a half later.
Sirens blared as the Guardian's attacked the resistance base... a warning, really that the maverick should return Master X to them or face the dire consequences.
Harpuia, the interim master of Neo-Arcadia, regarded the sixteen-year-old leader of their biggest headache and could not help but admire her nerves.
She stood in front of a tiny unit, a blond reploid that held a white cat surrounding her, plenty of Cyber-elves fluttered, ready to fight.
But instead of having them all start a short skirmish, Ciel had told them all to stand down.
How... cute.
The lone human looked drawn and too tired to care anymore, even though she clearly did. She had dark rings under her eyes, her cheeks pale, and she looked at the remaining guardien as if they were but yet another problem on top of a growing pile of grief.
After being the interim Master of the Glorious city of Neo-Arcadia, Harpuia could oddly relate.
Especially with Zero using their security funnel as his own personal jungle gym.
'For a human, Ciel's cables are must be made from high-grade steel.' Harpuia observed as he stood in the control room, and he had to admit...
What Ciel and her goons had managed to accomplished in two years and barely any resources was amazing.
Speaking of the troublesome human, the resistance leader stood in front of the three generals, bravely looking at Harpuia and Fefnir with tired eyes.
"Why are you here?" She asked, and the green sky general could hear she already knew the answer.
But before she could address the teen, His fiery brother beat him to the punch. "I want my rematch with Zero!" he declared, Sodom and Gomorrah already out to play. Harpuia and Leviathan shot him a look.
"We are here to recuperate our Master from your grimy clutch." He informed Ciel. " We are not here to start another skirmish, for Zero did save us all." He begrudgingly admitted.
"But... it depends on how Zero will answer to us," Leviathan warned, a dangerous glint dancing in her eyes.
Ciel tiredly gazed at the three remaining generals and sigh. "Alright... just let me call X first." She said as she raised her headset. After some moment, she paled.
"Bad time?" She asked, her shoulder sagging, he cheeks a bit green. " The guardians are here."
"Hey! We're Master X's guardien Maverick." Fighting, Fefnir protested. " You better remember that."
Ciel just gave an all-suffering look to the loudmouth of the group, raising her hands to stop any further disturbance. "I don't know... but I don't think we have guards anymore... I will ask them." She turned her attention to the guardians. "Say... would it be possible for you to wait for a bit?" she asked, her brows creased and her lips pressed. "X is-"
"No, out of the question." Harpuia crossed his arms with a sneer. " The more time we waste chatting with you, the chance you have at smuggling our glorious master away to places unknown." He got his blades out. "But know this, Ciel Cossak. We may have been kind to you, but my patience is at its limit."
Ciel stared at Harpuia, looking as close to crying as she dared to be. "Alright... X, no... Harpuia wants to see you... and probably bring you back to Neo-Arcadia right now... and he won't wait. I know... You want me to tell him? I doubt Zero would like to see him like-" As Ciel kept the conversation going, Harpuia and Fefnir's short patience disappeared, and the fire general shot an explosive round to the ceiling.
Ciel ducked for cover, and some brave reploid guards surrounded the rebellious teen, and the rest evacuated the perimeter.
"Don't play us for fools, Cossack." The green sky general sneered as Leviathan gave a chilling giggle. "We know stalling tactics when we see one."
Ciel just looked at them all with this look, a look that implied that having the three guardians in the resistance base was just another problem on an ever-growing pile.
"Fine... follow me, please."
"So... were are we now?" Fefnir asked. "This doesn't look like any containment units I know."
"Were in the corridor heading to the medical centre," Ciel explained as she walked quickly to their destination.
"Why?" He asked again.
"Can we slow down now?" She plaintively asked. "I can't talk and jog at the same time.
Harpuia had been about to shut the request off, but mercifully, Leviathan prevented her green brother from performing this act since it was clear Ciel was getting winded. "Yes, you may.. as long as you explain to us what Zero and you guys have done to our Master."
"Sure..." Ciel nodded as she caught her breath and took a more leisurely pace. "Zero's the one who managed to bring X back to our base... alive despite a lack of-"
"It's Master X, to you." Harpuia hissed; this was taking too long for his personal taste.
"- a core." Ciel continued as if Harpuia had not interrupted her.
The three guardians froze at this revelation...
Ciel turned back to face the bane of most reploids, a humouring smile on her sweet face. "What? Can't walk anymore."
"What do you mean? They removed his..." Harpuia could not even finish his phase. The core was... it was were their energy was stored to be used later... It was the same thing as a human heart... and yet, its importance could not be calculated.
"Yes, my predecessor removed X's energy core to leave the space for the dark elf... please don't freeze on me." She asked the three stumbling copies of master X.
"Ok... Ok... so let me get this straight." Fefnir managed to get his words into order. " Master X's sacred core was removed and... the most powerful elf in existence, a being that has complete control over cyberspace and the ultimate maverick cure... was stuffed in his core-less frame?"
"Yes, that's what he told me."
"And... ok, tell me straight, how badly were his power-conduct fried?" Fefnir asked, clearly frazzled by the news.
"We had to rewire him from the ground up. Thankfully, his arms and legs were removed to prevent his busters and trusters from blowing up... not that it did much to save him." Behind her, she could hear the RGB trio cursed, stumble in horror and gasp with the same mood.
"So yeah, it took me like... seventy-two hours of nonstop labour to make him a new core and wire it with whatever resources we had... X is still stuck to his life support machine tough since his body has to get used to dealing with less energy then the dark elf... and you, know... field repair."
Fefnir whistle. "Damn, girl. I had no idea you could build a whole core and rewire master X in less then a week!"
"I... didn't have a choice," Ciel revealed quietly, and the whole mood darkened. They turned a bend and came face to face with some grim-faced guards. There was a door further down that was marked as the main entrance of the medical ward.
"Can you tell us why?" Leviathan asked. "It's not like we went after you the moment our own repairs were done."
No, because the medical officers back at the tower had just finished their own repairs.
Ciel bit her lips as she looked at the two guards. At this moment, Harpuia realized that those two were not reploids, but battle types Elves... fully grown elves that shone with power.
They were... he wouldn't say intimidating, per se. But it was clear they would be able to give some fight before dying.
"I'm... not sure if I should tell you."
Fefnir barked in laughter. "Oh? So you think you got a choice, miss?" The fire general asked. "Let me get you straight. We're the Authority here, a single ping, and the whole place turns into dust and everyone's scrap. So you will tell us why you didn't release Master X earlier to us when you finished fixing him up."
" Lower your voice; saviour Zero is not to be disturb." One of the elf guards warned, manifesting a shield from cuber-space.
'Idiot.' Harpuia thought as he counted the seconds before the Cyber-elf existence would come to an end, wasted to show off his so-called strength.
"Saviour Zero?" Leviathan repeated like a purr. "Now, don't get me wrong. Zero's pretty hot and all, and he's willing to throw his life away from some pretty faces. But this doesn't make him a saviour."
"He is, to our race." the second guard, a swordsman, declared quietly. His wingtena high and proud.
"Yes, and this is why we should not start a fight in the hallways." Ciel decreed, her spindly arms crossed before returning her attention to the trio... and letting out a sigh. "Alright... So... X doesn't want to return to Neo-Arcadia, and the last thing he wishes is to be returned to his position as ruler." She explained. "He'd rather die again."
The guardians stared as they processed what the teen genius had told them.
"I'm just quoting him." The teen opened her palms protectively to proclaim her so-called innocence.
"Oh... and he would be in the medical area, right?" Fairy leviathan Ask, sending Harpuia her plan.
The reason why the ice-based Guardien was called a fairy and not a mermaid was simple... she could very easily break whatever 'magic' Cyber-elves would conjure.
"Yes. He will speak to you when... he will not be busy." Ciel ended lamely, and Harpuia felt an eyebrow twitch.
He could hear the 'with Zero.' loud and clear.
Leviathan shared a glance with her colleague and struck the but of her spear on the ground, cancelling whatever elf-trick had been set up.
They would die soon after that, as all Cyber-elves are known to do.
Harpuia sneered as he dashed by Ciel and the doomed guard. He had enough of the lies and stalling. He reached the door to the medical area and practically ripped the sliding door open.
The main room was empty; he could see quite a few beds, including one that had been hastily emptied.
'They had been forewarned.' Harpuia sneered as he listened for some clues of X's whereabouts... and he heard a peculiar sound.
It was the sound of someone... Gaging.
Now, A reploid didn't have this type of reflex, for the content of a compact fuel tank was highly reactive and purging something so potent would be a potential eco-disaster to a decent explosion.
Meaning that they had another human in the resistance base. And whether it was a hostage or not was still up to Harpuia to figure out.
He upped his hearing function until he could make out where this ill man was.
'Ah... there you are... wait; not, it can't...? Are you kidding me?' Harpuia stopped and stared ad the room door hidden behind the most inconspicuous curtail in existence; the thing was the same colour as the wall and seemingly fitted with everything else. The only reason Harpuia knew something was behind... was the sound of Zero violently emptying his fuel tank.
This was enough to make the General of the sky squadron paused and reset his hearing... it was now quiet, save for one man speaking softly, his words like a soothing balm.
"It's alright... it's alright, Zero... Just breath... vent, I mean... I'm here for you." The other man spoke softly. "It will be over soon... yes, we can cuddle all you want after that, love... yes, I still love you even if your puking your guts out, and nothing in the world will stop that."
'Alright... so Zero's dooming everyone in this place, and we have this sissy being a nanny.' There was the sound of something wet hitting the bottom of a container. 'Classy... just... Classy.'
Harpuia was about to open the door and 'peacefully' demand to be led to Master X when he caught another bit of conversation.
"It's not as much as yesterday; I think dear Zero's at the end of his trial.' A matronly reploid said.
"I hope so; Zero's also at the end of his patience for this." The same... reploid from before said. "You heard that, Zero? It's almost over..."
There was a rasp, a groan. And Harpuia could not help but feel... somewhat bad for his rival and Neo-Arcadia's destructive saviour.
Really, from the sound of it... Zero was having an awful time`.
Still, Harpuia was burning with the need to find his master. And to ask him why he had been at the top of the tower, sleeping in a glass coffin.
Who had half-fixed him?
Or... maybe what he had heard from some resistance prisoner had been true, and the one he used to serve had been a fake all along, and the one Harpuia saw sleeping in his coffin was the real one.
'No Matter, I will serve him anyway.' For he was Harpuia, the head of the guardien and the acting master of Neo-Arcadia... and he could not wait to step down, for the human populations were starting to ask some uncomfortable questions about why their glorious master was not doing any more public appearance... and why were his eyes red in the first place? And why did the government-sanctioned the reploid genocide? Didn't they receive the same importance as humans the moment they stepped into the sacred place?
"...X..."
Harpuia's brows went the hide behind his helmet. 'Wait... Master X is in the room?' And Zero dared call him with such familiarity.
'Mavericks can't give proper respect, can they?" Harpuia sneered as he opened the door...
The scene that met him was enough to stop The interim ruler dead in his tract.
Zero was sitting on a gurney, his back to the door. Gone were his distinctive armour and helmet, his blond hair loosely tied in a messy ponytail. He wore the simple scrub of the sick, and his shoulders were low as if his energy had depleted. He was hooked contained to a de-mineralized water container, already half emptied, and a nanite canister, also half-empty. But what really caught his attention was the reploid that floated in front of him, connected to the ceiling via a heavily modded medicaniloid. His hair was reddish-brown, he had a triangular head-gem, was wearing a set of white medical scrubs and was holding Zero's intermittently heaving shoulders with a pair of hands that used to belong to someone else.
The unknown reploid, probably the one Zero had mistakenly thought to be the glorious master of Neo-Arcadia, was gently rubbing Zero's head and back, whispering sweet words of support and encouragement, even going as far as to kiss Zero's messy mop of hair... and blatantly ignoring Harpuia.
"Well, if this is how you guardian's treat a hospital..." He heard the same matronly voice speak from behind a curtain. "Not only that, but you just waltz in a private room, not caring about the afflicted... shame on you." The matronly reploid scolded as she walked out from behind the drapes, one hand upon her generous hips and a stained bucket in the other. "Now, who would you be?" She wondered as she rubbed her round chin. "X, do you know him?" She turned to the ceiling-bound reploid, his identity confirmed.
'That's X? What happened to his helmet? And why is he so close to Zero?' Harpuia wondered as he kept his antenna's neutral, which proved to be a bit of a challenge since... master X gently kissed the top of Zero's head again.
X (It was X, he had to me... but why did he have green eyes?) Raised his head and neglectfully glanced at the Commander of the brave Sky Meteorological unit as if he was no better then a fly.
"Oh yeah! That's Sadistic Harpooia... he's as mean as he is green." X said as he helped Zero recline back on the gurney, the resistance trump card barely able to move, his head gem flashing in sequence. " He's the one who designed and maned the reploid concentration camp and real doctor Mengelese of our time."
"Are you... really Master X?" Harpuia asked as he felt the rest of the guardien enter the room. As indicated by their gasp.
And Harpuia didn't have the heart to scold them over this breach of etiquette, X had moved to the side to grab a wet towel to clean Zero's face from the black... substance that lazily flowed from his nose and parted mouth, staining his chin.
His eyes were partly closed, but it was clear that the red Legend was not using them from seeing.
"Oh, Hell... what happened to Zero? Is he... Is he dying or something?" Fefnir asked, his voice shamefully cracking.
X, not paying any of them any type of attention as he gently and... dare Harpuia said, lovingly clean Zero face of the staining substance.
Zero began to whisper something to X, who brought his audio... intimately close to the critical treat's mouth, his gloved hand's never leaving his chest, despite there having no need of ground-based support.
Then what... may or may not be the Master of Neo-Arcadia affectionately touched gem with Zero... and the green-er sky general wondered if would Zero's mouth not be this filthy, he would have kissed him.
Then finally, finally, the ruddy-haired reploid dained to turn his attention back to the trio, his smile the definition of frigid.
"Oh, if it isn't the guardians!" He declared with false wondered. "Let's see; we have the sadistic harpy, the girl and... Fabulous Fefnir, my favourite." X... or what seemed to be X spoke those last words with sincerity and affection, making the red fighter shudder.
"Reploid-" Harpuia began, his belief that this ceiling bound lunatic to be his glorious master eroding the longer he looked at him.
His smile was extremely fake, his green eyes held the spark of madness, and his colouring was wrong.
Not only that, but he wore no helmet, and he had... freckles on his nose. The original had no such imperfection—And what to say of his voice.
Master X's voice was higher and more childlike and a bit nosey. This one's voice was deep, approaching a tenor... not as deep as Zero's voice, tough, and a clear giveaway to this machine dangling from the ceiling like something out of a video game.
This must be a copy Ciel made to keep Zero under her control, no question asked.
The copy did not even let the grand commander finish his request for identification.
"Excuse me, Princess! But I'm not a reploid." He informed Harpuia with a big smile that was... painful to look at.
Harpuia's antennas twitched. "Alright, then what are you?" He asked as he crossed his arms, still keeping an eye on Zero.
The red... legend was curled up on his side, not quite in sleep mode, but not quite conscious either. And the monitor beside him offering little to no clue as to what was happening to him. Only that his energy reserves and repair material were dangerously low despite the constant flow from the medical canisters.
Actually... this was a rather simple display, for any reploid repair ward would have dedicated computer reading every single variant and algorithm fluctuation. This one was... underwhelmingly simple.
" I Am a Robot master." He spoke, still with his painfully fake smile. " I am mega Man X... but if you don't believe me, then you are more then welcome to leave." The ceiling-bound reploid... Robot Master shooed them away. His fake smile never faltering.
[Harpuia, I've just finished scanning... him.] Leviathan conceived to Harpuia.
[And why did you contact me through radio and not tell me directly?] He asked; the one thing the green-haired General loved to see was the fear manifesting in a maverick after they scanned them.
There was nothing better.
[Because he's right, he's not a reploid.] The blue and white general managed to catch Harpuia's eyes, they were somewhat wider then usual. [He's... SLN-000X Variable Mega Man. That... him.]
"Bullshit." Harpuia cured as he turned to what could only be a different set of chips moving the sacred body of Master X. "Who are you, and what are your earliest memory, in detail."
The X-like being's lips pressed tighter, his movement all too smooth for a reploid.
Not even Master X moved so smoothly, it was creepy.
"Just as Leviathan discovered. I am indeed X, the one who made the place you screwed up because you followed a silly little copy of yours truly who tough humans needed electricity to live." X shook his head as if this whole fiasco. "Really, I gave all the instructions needed to the higher on how to rule the place and how to start training people in desert trekking and Perma-Culture, medicine and other necessary art. Instead, those pigs made sure everyone remained in Neo-Arcadia as they exploited them." He shrugged. "Oh well, I'm not surprised; I never managed to do anything right... Unlike my Zero~" He said in a singsong voice as he turned to the miserable remnants of the (second) legend.
Zero blearily looking at him... and pulled his blackened tongue out.
"Oh, come now." X's Dummy huffed good naturally as he planted his gloved hands to his hips. " From you, Mother-elf was born, ending the viral threat once and for all, and while Omega and Weil had been a nightmare to deal with, it gave me an excuse to have most of the Indo-European population in one spot... hey, by the way, were are the black? Black live Matter too... same with the yellow, synth, animal and the brown?" He asked as he returned his attention to the guardians.
The three remaining guardien gazed at each other uncomfortably. "And what does that mean?" Harpuia asked testily.
"In my time, humans were of different colours. What are the colours of those who live in Neo-Arcadia again?" X asked again, crossing his skeletal arms. "All white; most have blond hair and blue eyes." He said meaningfully. "I guess the Aryans are back then... He won. All gloried to the eugenics!" He raised his hands. "Don't you love it when racism wins?" he let his hands fall, as with his fake smile, turning in into a snarl. " I swear, I was only gone for a hundred years, and everything I worked for is dead, gone and to ashes."
The last part sounded more like a growl then anything else; then he gave a heavy sigh. "Oh well, what happened, happened... also, why do white humans need so much electricity? It's not like they need it. And it's not like they kept building ridiculously overpowered Mechaniloid, right?" He tilted his head, a maddened glint dancing in his vivid green eyes.
The RGB trio looked at one another, feeling even more awkward.
Yes, so... most resources were siphoned away by the military. It was known to them, but...
"It's to protect humans," Leviathan spoke up. Trying to hide how shaken she was at the criticism.
"From what?" X asked as he crossed his arms.
"Maverick, as always," Harpuia growled. "You are in their base, by the way."
"Oh, No! That terrible!" X mockingly exclaimed as he squeezed his face between gloved palms. "I can't believe the one who killed no humans, no other reploids and who only sins were to be a peaceful civilian with a metallic body running away from a life of slavery. Those who managed to find and revive Zero at the sacrifice of one of their own, who repaired him, killed a fake me, developed an actual free energy source for reploids after figuring out how to reactivate their sun-charging ability and who took care of me and my sick Zero at their risks and perils despite the fact that they have close to no resources are Mavericks. Who would have thunk?" he spread his arms wide. And then let them drop at the same time as his overly happy mask.
"Idiots... that's who."
beside Harpuia, Fefnir lowered his eyes, unable to look at... a very decent copy of X.
He had to be a copy, the real... deceased master of Neo-Arcadia would always shower his Guardians with praise at the news of the daily tally.
Not belittle them.
Harpuia stood up and puffed his chest. " Well, this idiot is putting you under arrest for impersonating the great Master of Neo-Arcadia." The head of the guardien and vetoed master declared.
He was tired of this nonsense.
The Copy... or whatever this was, stared at him owlishly with this stupid smile.
It reminded Harpuia of this lousy meme Leviathan seemed to be so fond of, the one with the surprising electrical rodent.
"Ah... Yeah, sure..." The copy readily agreed. "Hey, you know what, why don't you just arrest everyone here? I mean, they had all helped Elpizo is some mater, and those are marked mavericks."
The guardians heard a gasp from behind; obliviously, Ciel was still there.
Her blue eyes were wide with fear, and Harpuia almost let out a purr...
Fear suited her.
Then this fear disappointingly evaporated, and only some residual tremor remained. And a look of sheer determination replaced it.
The only human on the base then raised a hand up and very deliberately touched the side of her helmet. "To all the base, We have lost. Surrender to the Neo-Arcadia force peacefully; this is an order." Once the orders were given, she raised her hands above her heads as radio waves rippled around the base... same as fear and dread.
This... was not how Harpuia figured his day would go, but at this point, it was better then fighting Zero...
Speaking of which, the red legend didn't look... online. And his status reading was rendered a corrupted mess of pixels.
'Well, at least I will get to enjoy the fear those mavericks will feel." He didn't bother hiding his smile behind his usual veneer.
Today was a good day.
The trip back to Neo-Arcadia was a rather uneventful one. Under Ciel's order, no maverick even dared to act like a so-called hero. And even the Cyber-elves remained calm.
Calm, grudging and/or so depressed, they may die before the shuttles even landed in Neo-Arcadia.
Well, there had been a little altercation between three child units as they loaded the, as of yet, unresponsive Zero.
Fefnir had taken care of them. And now, three sooty smears decorated the broken resistance's tarmac.
Everything was going smoothly... too smoothly.
Harpuia cast one final gaze at the prisoners, just a bunch of Civilians. None had weapons, and all had surrender all too easy for the green general's taste. Then, after giving some pantheon the order to shoot whatever moved too much... none lethally, that is.
He wanted them all to test his new facilities, and to have a conclusive result, Harpuia needed plenty of guinea pigs.
He moved to the shuttles hangar. Passing by the absolute mother-load of fully powered Cyber-elves.
Some would hiss, other would mutter curses in their native language, while other seemed to be bidding their times.
Worrisome, but those were merely Cyber-elves; those finicky programs were one use only and after that...
Well, Harpuia always had this little rush when those silly little bobbles would realize that he could negate whatever they could throw at him, just the look on their face as they died.
He let some chuckle pass his lips, watching for their reactions.
But instead of seeing the little one quiver in fear and the bigger one sneer and uselessly lunge at their cage, they all... smirked.
This would not do.
"be careful there, Elves. I am the one who gets to say who may live or die." he threatened.
It was now the turn of the prisoners gets a very knowing spark in their odd eyes. One that resembled one of the guards, the one who had erected the shield in an attempt to protect Zero and the fake.
Oh well... all Cyber-elves looked the same to Harpuia.
Unwilling to give them more time then they deserve, Harpuia made his way to the back hatch, already opened by some random pantheon...
Speaking of pantheons, those eyes sacrifices were acting rather... strange for some simple battle AI.
They would leer not only at him but at Fefnir and Leviathan also.
'We will have to wipe their OS and do a clean install again, can't have them developing their own mind now, can't we.' Harpuia thought as he made yet another mental note.
Things were... getting stranger and stranger since Elpizo's admittedly near-perfect raid.
Oh well, it had failed; all mavericks were arrested and heading to be recycled, they did need more pantheons after Zero 'infiltrated' the place over a dummy-X.
Harpuia had thought the red legend to be the best of the best, a warrior who would never falter in the face of adversity, one who would never get his so-called sentiment fool him.
He had been wrong... oh, so wrong. And he didn't care about the 'Oh; he's an amnesiac' Excuse. Zero had bested him in so many fights, Harpuia was practically insulted by the fact that his favourite rival was such a sentimental fool!
The X that had been at the very top of the Sacred moon-tower was definitely a fake. Even he could see that.
His movement was too smooth, and he was clearly unhinged, unlike his deceased Master.
With his fuel pump twisting painfully in his chest at the memory of his regal and gentle master. Slain by the cruel beast, whatever had been left of him to be salvage blown to atoms as Zero detonated a rather potent explosive, no doubt made by Ciel.
Cruel beings, why didn't Harpuia killed them all after he had found Zero lying pitifully in the middle of the desert? It would have been better for everyone.
'I can still do this; I mean, it's not like he has any strength left.' Harpuia thought as he launched himself through the evening sky, his destination; the most protected shuttle, the one that carried Dummy-X and the ever-so ill Zero. Ciel was in her own designated carrier, her hands practically glued together, and her mouth gagged.
Harpuia had been about to strip her clean, just to be sure when Fefnir, of all persons, had stopped him. Reminding him that it was better, he'd do it.
Fine, let the weirdo have his way. He could always fantasize later as to what he had done to the rebellious teenager. Especially how... calm she had been after the whole thing.
Serene, confident even. And... dare he say regale?
'Hell no, she was just trying to act as if the Dog-Lover didn't thoroughly check all or her ports.' Oh, Fefnir's lecherous grin had told Harpuia all he needed to know.
And besides, his Slaughter of those three children-units had been in front of her eyes, and Fefnir didn't hide the glee he had felt as he's dragged those useless units to his own transport shuttle.
For as much as the Dog-Lover flaws irked the Sky General, Harpuia had to admit that no one could display this type of sadism so openly and get away with it.
It was something he's admired from his co-unit. Especially how he had deliberately covered his hands and face with the oil those three had.
Harpuia knew one of those units; the blond girl was considered a sister to her. And yet, despite her initial emotion, Ciel had remained calm as Fefnir had his fun with her.
Now... As the representant of Master X's eternal and holy will, he could not, in good conscience, kill her outright. Even if she was practically a maverick.
And she had ovaries, meaning she could give her contribution to the re-population effort. Something the council had been eager to see happen since Ciel had exceptionally good genes.
It would be a shame to waste them.
He aligned with the high-security transport shuttle and, after sending his request, the door open.
'This took a bit longer then expected. Not quite unacceptable, but... still enough to be suspicious.' Harpuia tough as he narrowed his eyes.
This was the transport shuttle that held Zero, and no matter how weak and (urgh) sick he had been, it was still Zero, the red ripper, the God of destruction...
The killer of master X, now under the control of Ciel and her dummy.
Sure, Fefnir was there... but...
It was only Fefnir VS Zero. And while the blond was as close to out of commission as Harpuia hoped, there was still Dummy-X.
And, while fighting, Fefnir was a beast on the field; he was quite... impressionable.
Nevertheless, whatever had happened during Harpuia's round about the cargo could and would be easily dealt with. It's not like the red fighter was any stronger then him and, as the situation had revealed itself, he very much doubted that Zero and the half-fixed and stationary dummy would cause him any trouble.
And if they did? Well, only Harpuia knew how to fly. And Fefnir could be fixed.
There was no way his dog would let his bone stay dead for too long, legally or not.
"It's alright, Zero... it's almost out." Harpuia picked up as he marched toward the highly secured holding cell. Not bigger then a closet. It seemed Dummy-X was gently... coaxing Zero to... do something? "You're doing great; I can't believe... ah, easy there, don't want you to fall now, don't we?"
There was the weak moan... and the sound of something dripping.
Harpuia narrowed his eyes as he looked back at his memory, specifically the one of Zero in the medical area. His mouth, chin and scrub-covered in a black fluid. Fluid, he had apparently been purging from his fuel system for five to six days.
Not to leave any stones unturned, The green general had appropriated himself Zero Medical files, only to be severely disappointed by the lack of information they had on him, save for a few notes.
Apparently, Zero's internals were completely off-limits, and, save for the very basic scan, nothing could take a read of his OS and other system save some basic status.
And forget about opening him since it would trigger his absolutely insane battle algorithm, upping his aggro to 'pick a A god and scream its name as loud as you can.' while the God of destruction played cat cradle with your innards.
At first, Harpuia had thought that this was an exaggeration from those corrupted civvies... only to find a mysterious E-mail with no sender...
Apparently, give or take a hundred years ago, A certain Life-saver got unceremoniously killed when he tried to vivisect Zero to prove that he truly was the source of the maverick virus.
Apparently, this had been the end of all the Life-Saver lines... and those extremely useful reploids had eventually gotten their vindication fifty years later.
Oh, and there was also this rumour that a certain doctor Weil and his reploid assistant had also made the same mistake, and it was only due to the madman's obsession with immortality that he had managed to survive... despite needing to live in a portable life-chamber.
For shame, Zero would have truly been a hero back then. Definitely destroyed, but a Hero nonetheless.
Oh, and there was also another note penned by a certain Cerveau, Ciel, Doight and Rossignol about how all closet and hiding spots had to be checked since Zero would steal medical equipment and hide to repair himself.
Which... would explain how, despite facing the beefed-up security system and leaking a copious amount of nanite-blood, Zero still seemed fresh and pristine when he had faced them.
If only his close brush with death had been more then that.
Unfortunately, he was still there... and if the room's cameras were not lying...
"Eww." Harpuia sneered at the sight, and beside him, Fefnir was engrossed in his ancient gaming system, pointedly not looking at the security stream.
Harpuia did tough, and his plan to shamelessly gloat over his ailing nemesis was summarily dropped.
Why enter the room were someone was sick with some unknown pathogen. Harpuia was smart enough not to make this particular mistake.
There, Zero sat slumped in his binds; his heavy head supported on Dummy-X's right shoulder. He was awake, but it was clear he could not bear his own weight, and his eyes, usually bright with righteous fury, were even duller then usual. Dummy-X was propping him up, his right hand and make-shift arm cradling his helmeted head. Whispering sweet and soothing encouragement as he pulled out...
Something that was a cross between an evil-looking piece of vinyl-like flesh and Cyber-matter from Zero's mouth. And it was clear that there was a copious amount of oil on it too.
Whatever it was, had probably been the cause of Zero's mysterious sickness. Not only that, but the dissolving... thing turned into the black fluid the bane of Neo-Arcadia kept spewing.
Interesting, but not all that important in the grand scheme of things.
They had Zero and Ciel's dummy. And the rest of the resistance, too, a resistance which also seemed to think the oblivious fake to be none other then their divine master.
And this same fake had done a great service to Neo-Arcadia by kindly surrendering to them, dooming all those freedom fighters to their just desert.
Really, the glitched-out copy deserved to be rewarded. Maybe he could be reprogrammed to be a pleasant receptionist?
The glitch would look good behind the reception desk with a vapid smile on his face. His ai returned to something simple and easily messed with.
Actually, anywhere but in between Zero's legs, holding something that had a disturbingly passive resemblance with something Organic, Synthetic and Virtual... and that was, for lack of better word, melting, covering the dummy's forearm and shoulder with the vile staining substance.
Once again, Eww.
Speaking of which, how did the legless Dummy manage to unlock his restraint to get to his sick lover's side?
He turned to Fefnir, who was deeply engrossed in his game. And seeing that his brother had not even noticed him, Harpuia slapped him at the back of his helmet, producing a very satisfying sound.
Heh...
"Hey, Yo! What the hell, man?" Fefnir asked as he rubbed the back of his helmet with a wince. "What's wrong with you?"
'Tsk, what a baby.'
Harpuia didn't even strike him hard.
"You dare ask me what is wrong?" Harpuia asked as he crossed his arms imperiously. "Tell me, Fefnir, who was supposed to keep an eye on them until we arrive at Neo-Arcadia?"
"Hey, I'm am watching over them." Fefnir defended himself, returning to his gaming system. "I just want to focus on one screen, not two."
"And this is why the government had cut down out ration," Harpuia said. "If you keep being so incompetent, the next thing we'll know, you'll have a retirement order on your head."
Instead of being cowed, fefnir let out a small chuckle. "yeah... like every single reploid."
Harpuia narrowed his eyes.
"Anyway, I know Zero's been... less then optimal. I also know that he was more or less fine if unnaturally drained with a burdened lower partition, and I also know that, thirty minutes ago, our legendary sicko woke up clutching his guts and partly puked out... that." Fefnir said, never lifting his eyes from his game boy. "Think it may be it's corrupted thank lining but... I'm not an expert on that. Oh, and since this action of getting that evil thing out took all the energy he had left, X... spoke to Phantom, his binding came off and... yeah, he basically sat in Zero's lap and..." Fefnir trailed off, would he be human, Harpuia would gladly bet that his brother in arm would be quite green around the gills.
"Pulling out the corrupted lining."
"Yeah, Apparently our favourite home invader doesn't have enough strength to hack the whole thing out, and the dummy had to reach in and... pull it." Fefnir gave an uncomfortable shrug. " For what I got from the mavericks, Zero's been sick for some time now."
"I see."
"Meh, we shouldn't be surprised, you know. Zero's an old model; he's bound to be experiencing some glitched and other problems. And since he's one of a kind..." The Dragon-like general huffed. "aw man... ageing's hard, I hope I die in a blaze of glory, not from a mystery illness."
Harpuia crossed his arms, his unseen eyebrow twitching. "You are growing soft on me, Fighting Fefnir."
"heh... maybe." The fire general grinned. Beside his was a big, lumpy black bag. The smell of burnt synth-flesh tickled Harpuia's nose.
'Maybe, indeed.'
"So, why are you here, Har. Want to torture X and Zero some more." Fefnir asked with a snort. "You know, Bro, that's like teasing a tiger."
"A sick and dying tiger."
"Alright... how about the God of Destruction?" Fefnir shot back.
Harpuia gave a playful shrug. "If he truly was a god, then a mere pseudo-elf should not have caused him to be as sick as a human. Let alone get fooled by a dummy."
"And what if the X we have is not a copy but the real deal?" The fire general asked again.
Harpuia scoffed. "Puh-lease. This thing is not X. Ciel must have been desperate to keep her grip on Zero and but another IC chip..." Harpuia grolwed the last part.
Where would the insanity end? Where would Ciel's numberless blasphemy stop?
Didn't she had enough with Zero killing their divine master in cold blood?
"But... I'm not going in there. Not before I know what our red problem is carrying." Harpuia state. "But... if he survives."
"Yeah, sure... just leave me some for me, ok?" Fenrir asked with a saucy grin.
For his part, Harpuia does not see the attraction; he just wanted to reestablish the fact that he was more powerful then Zero and that the ancient warrior was completely obsolete, completely behind in everything, both hardware and software-wise.
The quarantine room's microphone (and Harpuia's poor audio.) steamed in the sound of something that sounded like a wet rag hitting the floor.
Yeah, No. Harpuia would let Fefnir and his sinful cargo be.
The curse finally peeled away from Zero's innards, thankfully in one piece, and after coughing up some more water and oil, The legendary reploid felt drained in more way's then once and incredibly relieved.
"It's out..." X murmured in his audio receptor, his voice oh-so soothing. He felt his boyfriend sigh as he planted a kiss on Zero's cheek. "You're amazing; you know that?"
Zero tried to reply, but only some crackles came out from his voice box. He did feel marginally better, just terribly drained. And in pain.
His head kept pounding worst then a jackhammer, he could barely hear anything else but the sound of the shuttle's engine and X cooing at him.
"Look at you, all tired after the miracle you pulled," X spoke as he kissed Zero's cheek again, letting one of his borrowed hands caress his other cheek despite... whatever dribbled from Zero's chin and onto X's shoulder.
If he'd thought X loved him back, it was not completely confirmed. Since who else would stay with Zero as he puked out the curse that had afflicted Mother Elf?
When he had kissed X, the last thing Zero had expected was that the sweet gesture would initiate a download of one element; the Dark Elf.
And thus, Zero had returned to the resistance base with X connected to his internal power source. Not knowing that he had turned himself into a trojan.
And it was only after two days that he'd realized that... something was eating his battery and trying to use his wireless communication to affect others.
Now, how Zero's internals work was still a mystery locked behind a puzzle and wrapped with the string of conspiracy and...
Ugh, he could not even remember how X had explained it, it had been so witty, funny and...
And it had proven to Zero that X was alive, that he had managed to save someone who, despite his lack of memory, he knew was very precious to him.
No... not the merely precious... X was his life, and Zero, despite the two years' worth of reactivation time, had never truly felt alive until he's seen his tiny boyfriend (that was how Alouette had called X.) Smile at him.
So... where was he again?
Right, so the curse of Weil... Something that was not mother elf was trying to take over Zero's system and turned him into a walking evil emitter of doom in a place where 97% of the population were susceptible to it.
Not on his watch... never on his watch.
And thus, Zero had activated his anti-virus. The... thing didn't like that, and thus both robot master and... whatever the hell this so-called curse was, entered in the greatest fight of their lives.
The malicious AI kept trying to take over Zero's powerful frame, going as far as to sap him of all energy, forcing him to relived things he's wished his amnesia had kept at bay, messing with his motion sensor and audiovisual receptor him and... everything else, really.
And trying to kill the other elf that had taken refuge in Zero's abdomen.
The red legend would not let it happen, and thus, after kissing X goodbye a short trek in the desert and entering deep into his own system. Zero had battled the abominable piece of aberrant data for an entire night, know that if this curse would somehow break free...
Oh, he could not let this happen. At all.
Whatever Data Zero had received form X... the dark-elf, most probably. would not merely lay down and die, it would fight tooth and nail. it's subtle form untouchable.
Not only that, but in the haze of pain, Zero came to the stacked conclusion that the dark elf was actually two element fused in one... One served as the power source and the other... the other was disturbingly too close to Sigma for Zero's taste.
Zero had no Idea why, but as he wroth in sheer agony in the middle of the desert, he once again prayed to God for a solution.
Then... he got his solution...
Zero somehow managed to fuse the foreign program with his nanites, and after inputting the kill code around twenty times, he finally got rid of the piece of a programmable nightmare for good.
The internal fight had left Zero exhausted and weak; thankfully, nothing a good night (morning... days) curled up around X could not fix.
At this memory of his beloved, damaged but alive, Zero used whatever energy he had left to hold the waste of his life-long partner turned beloved, nuzzling in his neck as he sighed.
This must be heaven... to be with X... X was alive...
He was alive and... moving.
To hold him close... to be curled around X's much smaller form had been Normal to Zero... and to feel his lips, warm and subtle...
It made his entire endeavour to save his smaller companion so worth it... and Zero would do it again in a heartbeat.
The next morning... was when things started to go downhill.
Zero woke up 'dizzy,' his nanites, oil and water reserve were too low... and he felt heavy, sluggish and faint.
He managed to crawl out of X's life support and amble his way to the sink and drank... he could always get oil and nanites at a later time, his addled mind added.
Then... the moment his water level was satisfactory, he began to... regurgitate it. Black, fowl and...
He could not stop, not until everything was empty... and yet he still felt sick.
He didn't remember when Rossignol came to his side, for the look of pure fear and horror that stained X's face pierced Zero's core.
And this... this system purge didn't end. The bouts kept going... and many times, Zero wondered if he would die from that.
He still remembered the one time he had woken up from a swoon, only to see the angelic X hovering above him, surrounded by lights.
Zero had almost given up his life, thinking his newly acquired lover had died. Only to belatedly realized (not before spilling his heart out for all to hear.) that Ciel and Cerveau had only attached X to the surgical rig at the blue bomber's behest.
His lover wanted more mobility... since he desired to aid Zero in any way he could.
It hard warmed Zero's core, and this warmth didn't leave, even as he heaved.
Zero gave his X a little love bite as he held him closer. What had he done to be with such an amazing being?
It must be a gift of God, no question asked.
The last time Zero had regained some lucidity. X was gently cleaning his face, crooning soothing words as the red legend's ever-active warning system did its job.
He'd heard X petty name-calling to Harpuia and Leviathan. And his praise or Fefnir... for some odd reasons.
Zero... had no idea what it meant, but considering that his life partner would sometimes speak to Phantom and Elpizo. And his brother...
Yeah, Cyberspace had not been kind to him.
Still, it had been immaturely amusing to hear the father of all reploid ripping Harpooia to shred; Zero remembered how X would not hide his anger at his so-called right-hand man.
Apparently, X had no memory of their birth, and those four (three) were manufactured four years ago along with that damn copy.
Zero didn't remember much of what had been said, busy trying to fry Harpuia where he stood... or find that bucket he'd just filled and yeet it at the trio.
He did... in his mind... their reactions were priceless.
And then he crashed again... only to wake up, tied to a moving seat. Confused, disoriented and feeling something being bushed out of his fuel intake line.
This time... it was not the sludge the curse had turned into, it felt more like... like wet latex being pushed out. But unfortunately, Zero's body had no energy to finish the dirty jog. Thus, he had hung from his bind with a... oily piece of... something that used to be able dangling from his mouth as he fought against more revulsion and feeling as if his innards were violently ejected from his mouth.
... Classy.
Then next thing he knew, X is sitting between his legs. How did he manage to get there? Only Phantom would know...
Or God since... you know. After the Miracle that had occurred, it would be dickish of Zero to once again ignore his benefactor.
The ailing reploid sighed as he snuggled closer to his beloved, to his... boyfriend? Would it even apply to X?
Did reploids have any gender?
'...I need... sleep mode sounds good.' This was Zero's last thought as he let his process slow and shut down.
The last this he's aware of is X's warm frame and how his lower back is pressing on a growing bump in between his pelvic region and his 'navel.' Really a port that only he seemed to possess.