Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
As reality returned before Zero's eyes he found himself staring at steel corridor, still within the device that brought him here. Ciel dusted herself off and stepped out of the device and looked at Zero, who was glancing around his new surroundings. she sighed and reached over to grip his hand lightly. Zero allowed Ciel to pull him along the corridor and into what he figured was an elevator. She tapped a few keys lightly and set the elevator on its coarse upward. As the device began to shift and begin upward, she glanced down and realized she was still holding his hand. She released it and turned toward the wall, slightly flushed. Zero stared at her curiously, not understanding her behavior.
'Real professional, Ciel.' She chided herself. 'No matter how attractive, he's a reploid, not a human.' The elevator grinded to a halt and she shook herself out of these thoughts as she stepped off and into a large dome shaped room. Zero followed her into the room and stood behind her while she seemed unable to face him for several minutes.
Ciel took a deep breath and turned around. "Welcome to our Resistance base, Zero." She said, almost as if she had been reading a script. "This is the home of injured reploids who are accused of being mavericks." she smiled sadly. "It hasn't been an easy fight for us." she looked straight into his eyes and looked a little more cheerful for a second. "That is why I. . . We looked for you. You are our last hope Zero." She stared at him for a moment. "Many believed you were just a fantasy or a legend. but I believed you were the one who could save us." she placed her hand on his shoulder. He stared at it and wondered about the foreign gesture. "You ARE Zero, the legendary reploid who fought alongside X many years ago."
Zero flinched when he heard the name. "X. . . .? that name sounds familiar."
"X. . .that legendary reploid is still alive." she removed her hand from his should and looked at her feet for a moment. "He's trying to destroy all of us."
Zero's face showed much confusion as he stared at her. He reached under her chin and gently lifted her face to look at him. "X is trying to destroy. . . .you?"
She nodded mutely as he removed his hand. "His plans have already begun. . . .Many innocent reploids are being slaughtered as we speak" she looked at him sadly. "Our future depends on you, Zero." she reached over and grasped his only organic hand and held it with both of her's as she looked into his eyes. "Will you help us?"
Ciel held her breath as she waited for him to answer. Finally he nodded.
"Thank you. . ." she said as she let out a long breath. "Now, with your help. . .I think we can bring a brighter future to reploids." she looked at him seriously. "I must ask something very difficult of you. I want you to destroy the disposal center where they are murdering our comrades one by one. It's a heavily guarded facility in the east. can you do it?"
Zero nodded. "Show me the way."
Ciel turned to the door and led him back to the elevator where she brought him up to the Earth's organic surface, where the path led directly to the disposal center.
Ciel pointed into the distance where a large wrecked building stood. "That's the disposal center. It won't be easy to reach, there are many guards positioned along the way. Be careful, Zero." she started walking away, then turned to face him once more. "Come back alive."
He nodded and began walking up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw her descending back into the base. He extracted the Z saber and held it ready as he walked.
Down the road a few hundred feet, Zero spotted a yellow droid hovering over an incline. He stared at it intently for a moment before rushing forward. The droid descended on him, as he tripped it's motion sensor. He slid just under its reach and simultaneously turned and leaped onto the back of the droid, pressing the end of his canon to the droid's front end. the droid turned on where Zero stood a moment ago, it's motion sensor working frantically and a loud whistling alarm issuing forth. Zero fired into the thin metallic surface, shattering the droid's processor. As the broken machine fell, Zero back flipped off it's shattered remains and turned in the air positioning himself to land facing the eastern path. As he gracefully touched the Earth's surface again, he noticed a number of guards, similar in appearance to the ones he had faced in the facility where he was imprisoned, suddenly moving in the distance. Zero sprinted forward to the site of several destroyed buildings. Zero stared in awe at the remains of what must have been a great city before the maverick era. Three guard robots were climbing down the side of the closest ruined building . Zero jumped up and bounded off the edge of a broken foundation, flying past the first guard and slicing his upper half off with the Z saber. Continuing with his momentum, he grasped a broken ledge higher up and vaulted forward, firing several shots into the next guard and effectively disabling him as well. He finally landed on the top edge of the first ruin, behind the final guard. He moved forward and swung the saber horizontally over the guard, cleanly decapitating him and causing his body to fall forward and hang over the edge of the ruins and causing his head to fly off and shatter on the ground below. Zero leaped up onto a steel foundation higher up and stared ahead at a larger building that almost looked intact. A guard stood at the edge of the building, staring straight out at the horizon. Zero dove forward and grasped the edge of the building.
Zero swung the Z Saber as he edged onto the surface of the building, slicing the guard's legs off. He followed this with a an angled shot to the guard's chest as it fell, which shattered it's midsection and blew off the left side of it's head. Zero swung off the other end of the building and descended onto a raised walkway below.
Zero continued on, over broken street remnants and abandoned vehicles. Four guards approached from a large broken building site standing as the most prominent eastern landmark. zero stared at the ominous looking structure as the guards drew closer. Zero moved forward purposely as they stood ten feet before him and fired. He slid sideways, under their shots and fired into the first guard as he slid by. He rolled forward, knocking down the second one and stood between the remaining two. He fired his canon into the chest of the guard before him and he simultaneously swung his other hand behind him and impaled the guard on the other side of him on the blade. As the second guard recovered and stood, Zero twisted his saber out of the impaled guard and sliced the recovered guard in half diagonally. wasting no time he rushed forward to the prominent building before him. As he approached, he saw that the side was lined with broken pieces of staircases and a large hole was above them in the side of the building, punched clean through the outer foundation. three guards stood on the broken stair pieces below the opening. Zero jumped up onto the first staircase and swung off the railing, slicing upward with the Saber and cutting the smaller staircase above open and dropping the guard onto the ground below. He grasped the edge of the next railing and pushed himself over it and up to the next staircase, using the momentum to propel himself at the guard there and slam him into the side of the building, elbowing it's head and shattering it against the concrete. He then jumped up toward the final staircase below the opening and grasped the wrist of the guard standing there next to the railing, and using it to pull himself up over the guard and onto the staircase, while pulling the guard halfway over the railing. as he landed, he turned and pushed the guard over the edge. Without another glance back, he leaped into the opening and descended to a suspended walkway inside the building. he continued forward to a notch in the wall where a shutter stood. He climbed up and slid the shutter aside. He continued down a narrow hallway which spanned a good 600 feet. As he pushed another shutter aside and stepped forward, he fell onto a titanium walkway in a large cylindrical room, suspended over a pit where broken remnants of mutilated reploids lay among a single living reploid who was doubled over and wounded slightly.
Zero looked up from this sight to see a large android before him. It had a simple bionic body and a small head shaped like an eagle's. It towered over zero by at least two feet and had 6 foot rune blades for arms. The creature stared down at Zero with cold crimson eyes.
"I am Terrordar. I was sent here by the guardian to cleanse this area." the creature spoke in a cold mechanical voice.
"Help me!" the reploid below called to Zero.
Terrordar pointed at Zero with his right blade. "You must be more of the garbage from that resistance base. I'll destroy you both together."
Zero stared at the blade's tip with a cold unreadable gaze and held the Z Saber above his head and squeezed it lightly. The energy blade extended and glowed with a foreboding light. Zero didn't take the time to question how he knew of this second function of the Z Saber, and opted to glare at Terrordar.
Terrordar looked at the Saber curiously "Your a warrior huh?" Terrordar pulled his blade back to his side. "Alright, let's see what you can do!"
Zero held his blade diagonally in front of him and shifted his left leg back, holding his other hand out behind him, his fingers splayed. He nodded once to signal his understanding.
Terrordar rushed forward, his blades fanned out behind him. Zero stood his ground and stared into Terrordar's eyes. Two inches from Zero's face, Terrordar pulled back sharply and leaped up toward the wall, the resulting force throwing Zero into the wall. Terrordar kicked off the wall and flew at Zero his left blade extended. Zero swung the Saber forward and the two blades clashed. Terrordar deflected the Saber and slashed diagonally across Zero. Zero managed to deflect Terrordar's blade away after absorbing half the blade's movement and kick Terrordar off of him as he struggled to recover. Terrordar leaped toward the back wall, bounding back, and coming back down toward Zero. Zero pulled away at the last second as Terrordar landed hard on the platform, his blades extended on either side of him.
Taking advantage of Terrordar's weakened Status, Zero rushed forward and struck him with the Saber.
Terrordar recoiled from the strike quickly and jumped sideways onto the wall, digging his left blade into the wall and planting his feet on the wall for support.
Zero stared in horror as a canon extended from Terrordar's side protrusion near the blade. He quickly leaped at the opposite wall, a missile from Terrordar's canon striking the ground the instant he reached the wall, catching him in the outer shell of the blast.
They both landed back on the platform in the aftershock of the explosion and Zero leaned forward an clutched his arm, the damage from the blast evident. Zero reformed his canon and fired into the open wound he made with the Saber.
The opening tore open further and Terrordar fell to his knees from the damages.
Zero rushed forward with the Saber behind him, and Terrordar leaped up and slashed Zero with his right blade while he backed up to the wall. Zero flinched from the slight damage of the attack and moved forward. As Zero drew closer, Terrordar swung his right blade at Zero while zero swung the Saber at Terrordar in the same instant.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the blades neared their targets. A slicing noise was heard and time stood still.
The blade stood an inch from Zero's neck as Terrordar was split in half vertically by the Z Saber. The Two pieces of Terrordar fell to the sides and slid off the platform to the pile below, and Zero stood unharmed. Zero jumped off the platform and landed in the pile below.
"Ah. . .Thank you. . ." the injured reploid cried. "I never expected anyone to help me."
He helped the reploid who lay their to his feet and hefted his arm over his shoulder to shift his weight onto him as he lead him from the building through the exit on the eastern edge of the building.
Zero walked with the reploid as they returned to the Resistance base in total silence. As they came to the entrance, the reploid helped himself into the elevator and descended into the base.
Zero breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed from exhaustion.
Author's Note: It is now past 12:30 on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I'm half asleep and I just typed the last words of this chapter.
You'll notice that I added many of my own personal touches, just as I promised. The next chapter is going to be something of my own creation entirely. It will be an emotional chara development chapter. I should have it out. . . . .when I feel like writing it.
Fans of the game will notice that Aztec Falcon's name has been changed to Terrordar as well as some of his appearance.
Review and show me that you care, if you wanna see more.
Tell em what you think of my changes. Thank you all and goodnight.