"She's coming!"

A grim smile lighting up his face, Fefnir listened to his aid's report.

"Our scouts say: she's coming this way, alone." The robotic aid finished his account.

"Excellent, dismissed." Fefnir shooed the Guardian away, as he looked out across the dark desert night in the direction that Ciel would come from. Harpuia was a genius, he had concocted this plan to have Ciel surrender herself, and it was working beautifully. The Thunder Guardian was sure that Zero's death would have softened her up enough for it to work, and he had been right.

Waiting patiently, the Fire Guardian glanced about his detail, checking over his regiment. The Drones were in position, and awaiting his orders, the transport was ready to take their captive back to Neo Arcadia for trial, and his aids were already report the news of success back to the council. It was all working perfectly.

Minutes passed, as they watched Ciel come closer to them.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the human arrived in front of them.

"So, Dr. Ciel," Fefnir couldn't resist the urge to gloat, he had her now, and soon she'd pay for her crimes. "I see that you still have some sense in you, and that you saw the wisdom of our proposal."

"I've come to surrender." Ciel's head remained pointed at the ground as she spoke, indicating her submission to the Neo Arcadian forces. "The resistance hasn't had anything to do with these Maverick attacks, but ifmy surrender will let them live in peace... its a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

"Very well then, surrender accepted." The Fire Guardian stepped forward as he motioned to one of his X Drones.

The robot stepped out, brandishing a long, flat, silver sheet of metal with two holes cut out of the center, a device known as Neo Arcadian hand restraints.

The woman didn't resist in the slightest, she meekly held out her hands as the robot locked the handcuffs in place.

"Check her for transmitters."

Another drone stepped out, and waved a rectangular box in the air around Ciel, after a second it stopped and reported its findings: no bugs, transmitters, or radio devices found.

"Good," Fefnir addressed his captive. "You didn't try and trick us… Let's go."

A pair of X Drones broke out of their ranks, and grabbed Ciel by her arms. Quickly they began escorting her to the transport vehicle.

The vehicle resembled a large, panel van; it almost looked like a recreational vehicle. It wasn't. The front cab was made of reinforced metals and the glass was unyielding to any substance. The back was even more fortified to make sure that prisoners didn't escape, there wasn't a single window in the back, nor any crack or crevice to hide anything. Long metal benches ran up the walls of the truck, giving the captives a place to sit; safety belts were attached to the seats. They served two purposes, to protect the prisoners in case of a crash, and to restrain them during the trip.

The two drones marched the captive into the vehicle, and strapped her in.

Ciel stared at her cuffed hands, which rested in her lap, as the Drones left the vehicle and slammed the door shut, locking her in the dim exterior.

The truck lurched as it started to move.

"Cerveau, Ibis, Dande, Andrew, Perroquiet, Nal, Arrow, Thrush, Hess, Red…" Ciel ran through the list of remaining Reploids, "please understand why I'm doing this… and forgive me."


Dande reactivated at the crack of dawn.

As soon as his systems had cleared the efficient Reploid had his area packed and ready to ride. Then he began his morning routine of making Ciel a breakfast, since Ciel was human; she had to eat in order to stay active. And over the years, Dande had proven his worth in preparing human meals that far outclassed Ibis' pitiful freeze-dried dinners.

A short while later, Dande was snuffing out the fire as he judged the coffee done. It was a strange human tradition, the insistence of a caffeinated drink before they would begin their work; it was almost like they needed it to activate! Nevertheless, Dande had perfected this art of coffee making, and many a human had praised it.

With a final hum of approval, the Reploid judged the meal complete. And as he began gathering up his utensils, he happened to glance up.

His eyes widened in concern.

Dande stood erect, to stare off into the distance, unless he was dreaming, a large billowing dust cloud was coming straight towards the resistance's convoy. And a dust cloud that big could only mean one thing, a large group of something was coming at them.

"Cerveau! Ciel!" Dande rushed away from his impromptu diner as he raised the alarm. "Alert! Something's coming!"

Almost instantly, all of the Reploids in the camp were up and grabbing their weapons, waiting for whatever it was to arrive.

After a few moments, Dande found Cerveau standing next to Red and Hess.

"Any idea what it is?" Dande asked.

"Not yet." Cerveau was busily tweaking a pair of field glasses as he answered. "As soon as I get these fixed, we'll know."

"I judge that it's about three miles away." Hess stared at the rapidly advancing, swirling cloud of dust. "And coming in fast."

"Whatever it is, I can take it." Red cockily replied, "I handled Neon Tiger didn't I?"

"Oh, be quiet." Hess didn't have time for Red's lousy bragging.

"Done." Cerveau finished his repairs, and handed the binoculars to Hess. "What do we have there?"

"Let's find out..." The short Reploid lifted the device to his eyes and trained them at the advancing dust storm.

He was silent for a full minute.

"Oh my stars…"

Hess slowly lowered the binoculars.

"Well?" Red demanded, "What is it?"

Without a word, the short Reploid handed the binoculars to Dande, who promptly put them to use.

"I don't believe it." Dande stared through his lenses.

Everyone waited on his report.

"It's… zero…" Dande turned and screamed the news to the resistance. "IT'S ZERO! He's alive! And he's got Allouette with him!"

The air around the convoy was shattered as the Reploids burst into cheers. Each member was shouting for all he was worth as they strained to see the advancing hero in the cloud of dirt.

"I'll be…" Andrew muttered from his position deep in the crowd, "He's a regular MegaMan…"

Cries and shouts continued to fill the air, as the Hunter became visible in the distance. The hero still had Allouette in his arms, and was practically flying across the desert as he ran.

Zero slowed down as he entered the convoy. Cheering resistance members greeting him, as he stopped at the edge of the convoy.

With a very small smile, the Hunter let Allouette to the ground so that she could stand beside him.

"Zero!" Cerveau's voice cut through the chaos as he stepped out of the crowd. "We thought that you were gone."

"The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." The swordsman replied. "Now, where's Ciel? I've got someone that she has to meet."

The Reploids turned to each other and began murmuring as they tried to locate the scientist.

They never would.

"Where is she?" Cerveau turned to gaze across the crowd. There was no way that she could not know that Allouette and Zero had returned; the entire crowd had been screaming seconds ago. No one could sleep through that racket.

"I don't know, but I'll go look at her camp." Dande offered as he dashed away.

"I'll check the trucks." Hess went into motion, "Maybe she's working in one of those or something."

"Perroquiet!" The Reploid scientist called to his assistant, "look around for Ciel!"

Concern began to mount as Reploid after Reploid went to look for the missing human.

They all came back with the same report.

She hadn't been found.

"I don't like this." Zero muttered under his breath.

"I can only think of one explanation for this." Cerveau replied, "She's not here anymore."


Ciel winced as the doors to her transport clicked open, flooding the once dim interior with blinding white light. As soon as her eyes had adjusted, the scientist was able to make out a group of three Drones entering the truck.

After unbuckling her, the trio of robots hauled the woman to her feet, and began escorting her across the area.

Ciel blinked as she was walked across a large spotless garage, several over hulking monsters of trucks were lined up beside the one that had brought her here, and minor robots were scurrying around keeping things running.

Her guards negotiated the controlled chaos, and led Ciel into a long, narrow, brightly-lit hallway. A few seconds later they arrived at a place that no one ever hoped to see:

The Neo Arcadian Holding and Correctional facility.

They marched onward, past rows upon rows of occupied cells. Here and there a human could be seen, but most of the cell's occupants were Reploids destined for retirement, their only crime: being Reploid.

Ciel noticed that most of the Reploid prisoners were watching her as she was hauled down the corridor, not out of anger or some other dark motive, but out of sympathy and compassion.

Finally, the guards stopped before a fairly small cell, one no bigger than any of the others, it was just big enough to contain a cot and a small, open space in front of the bed. The walls were composed entirely of bars.

A guard swung the door open, just as a Drone shoved Ciel forward. The scientist stumbled forward before falling into her new jailed home, her cuffed hands just barely breaking her fall.

The door was locked shut after her, sealing her fate.

Their job done, the Drones turned and walked away, leaving the scientist behind.

Ciel stared after them for a minute, before shaking her head. She had made her choice and now had to live with the consequences.

"Hey." A hushed voice came through the air. "Hey!"

A bit startled at being addressed by another prisoner, it took Ciel a moment to turn to her left and find a fairly tall female Reploid with long blond hair and dressed in prison fatigues in the cell adjoining hers.

"Miss," She continued, "Do you want to get rid of those?"

"Get- get rid of what?" Ciel glanced around her empty cell, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"Those handcuffs," The Reploid clarified her statement, "They aren't comfortable for humans. Of course, if I take them off, you'll have to slip them back on when any Drones come around. The robot guards won't think anything of it, but the X Drones will notice that they're not where they should be."

"Oh," Ciel decided that, as well as hindering her movement; they were causing her arms to cramp so they might as well go. "Would you?"

"Just hold them out, and I'll have them open." The Reploid replied as she reached under her cot to produce a piece of wire. "Fortunately these handcuffs still use lock-and-key type locks, so I can pick them…"

Ciel pushed her cuffed hands as far through the bars of her cell as she could, and then watched as the Reploid began working over the lock.

"Thank you…" The scientist realized that she didn't know this Reploid's name. "Um, if you don't mind my asking, what's your name?"

"My name? My name's been lost a long time ago." She chuckled as the handcuffs fell off of Ciel's wrists and clattered to the floor below. "I'm Alpha-29-12."

"That's your prisoner ID number." Ciel rubbed her aching wrists as the Reploid retrieved the open handcuffs and tossed them back into her cell. "I'd like to know your real name."

"My real name doesn't matter anymore, but if you really want to know, it's Alia." The now named Reploid settled herself into her cot looked through the bars at her companion. "I used to work for the Maverick Hunters before X vanished, until Neo Arcadia started mistreating Reploids. I couldn't stand their actions, and so I spoke out against them… I've been here ever since."

"I'm Ciel…" The woman sat wearily on her bed, she didn't even pause to ask how Alia knew that X had disappeared, that information was not comment knowledge. "Formerly of the Resistance."

Alia looked up when Ciel said that, but didn't comment.

"I gave myself up to save the others, our base was destroyed, and Harpuia offered to leave them alone if I turned myself in."

"And you believed him?"

"Why shouldn't I? He is the commander of Neo Arcadia." Ciel spoke quietly, with just a trace of sadness in her voice.

"That might have meant something at one time." Alia muttered, "But not anymore. This isn't the same Neo Arcadia that X and… you built… you were one of the founders of this place weren't you?"

Ciel caught her breath as she realized that she was in a very precarious position. Now that her 'secret' was out, would the Reploid prisoners turn on her for building this wretched government?

"Don't worry." Alia dismissed the notion with a wave of her hand. "Sometimes Reploids are more forgiving than humans. You're in the same boat as the rest of us, so we understand."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you didn't know any of this would happen, I can tell."

End Chapter!

And I'm sorry for calling the Pantheons X Drones, but I'm fortunate I was able to update today, I didn't have time to change the names.

I'd liked to have had Ciel meet Axl instead of Alia, but... let's just say that I've come into some interesting information.