DR: Okay, I have to revise what I said before. I rearranged some of the text in the next couple of chapters (to get them all similar lengths), and I've ended up with another chapter in there. So now we have 61 chapters in this story...
O'Neill: So, how do things pan out?
DR: Well, we've got some sweet romantic moments coming in chapter 45...
Carter: Ahh...
DR: Leena's new zoid shows up in 49, and the 'Final Battle' covers 52-59. I have to admit, I'm surprised at how long this part of the story took! Certain things have to happen, and the words just kept pouring forth! Anyway, onwards...
Zeke: I've got popcorn!
Chapter 42: An Ancient Foe
Hiltz's image laughed at the look on Raven's face. "Surprised to see me?"
"You should be dead!" Van cried, wrapping an arm round Fiona out of reflex. Her eyes were fixed on Hiltz, and she trembled.
All humour left Hiltz's face. "I so nearly was. And all thanks to you Van." He glared at Raven "And you, traitor."
"You're the traitor Hiltz!" Christian stepped in, glaring daggers at Hiltz. "A traitor to your own kind."
Hiltz's eyes narrowed. "I don't know you…"
"But I do." Although the second voice was electronic and flat, anger could be sensed just beneath the surface. "Christian Masters, born on Earth in the year twenty eighty, in the region that was known to humans as England. Leader of the HERC team that was dispatched to Earth's moon, slayer of Prometheus."
Christian's eyes narrowed. "You've done your homework I see, you overgrown toaster." He injected a lot of emotion and loathing into that simple statement. Bit was amazed that this man, who seemed so carefree and laid back, could summon such hatred.
"It doesn't matter who you are." Hiltz stepped in before Helios could snap back. "You will still fall against our legions."
"Bring them on!" Raven snarled. His face was set the way it had always been depicted in history books, harsh and unforgiving.
"Yea! We beat you before remember? And back then you had the Death Saurer itself!" Van echoed Raven.
Hiltz tipped his head back and laughed manically, giving everyone a good look at his scared neck. Bit realised that this 'Hiltz' was completely insane.
"You have no idea do you? Helios has entire factories building new Cybrids continuously now. Soon we will have an army the size of which Zi has never seen!"
"You won't get away with this!" Resse snapped. Her words were strong but fear was clear beneath them.
"Ah, the turncoat speaks." Hiltz sneered. "I think I should tell you, I intend to ask that both you and Fiona are left alive." His grin turned positively lecherous. "After all, once the planet has been wiped clean of the scum of humanity, it will need repopulating. I'll enjoy hearing you scream…"
The Liger bellowed in outrage, snapping it jaws though the hologram. Hiltz didn't react at all.
"You'll never have me!" Fiona snarled. "I'll die with Van!"
Hiltz just smiled cruelly.
"Wait, you're the one who sent that bomb!" Leon cried. When he meet Hiltz's gaze, Leon felt his courage shrink and wither.
"Yes… I was hoping to get rid of the last remains of my last defeat. It would have been glorious, a clear warning to all those who would appose me…" His face twisted into a black look. "But you went and spoiled it!
"And now, I find that you four…" His gaze shifted back to Van and his friends. "…Are STILL alive! I expected Fiona, and maybe Resse, but you two?" Hiltz shrugged. "No matter, since I now know where to strike first…"
A cold tingle of dread ran up every ones spine.
"You may have stopped this Cybrid, but it was able to pass on your location. Soon we three will come for you all, and none of you will survive!" Hiltz began to laugh, manically. His hologram shut off, but his insane laughter continued to be emitted from the speakers. The sound almost hid a rising whine from the Cybrid…
"Everyone get back!" Christian cried suddenly, a look of alarm on his face. They all stepped back quickly just in time, as the Cybrid began to glow.
Suddenly it blew in a blinding glare, a tiny mushroom shaped cloud shooting upwards. Once the glare died down, the team were able to look at what remained. There was nothing but a charred crater where the metal spider had laid.
"I think we'd better get ready for a siege."
Bit nodded along with everyone else at Christian's comment, playing Hiltz's last comment over in his head. 'What did he mean by "we three"?'
X-X-X-X-X-X
"Oh my god…"
"What kind of a monster would do that…?"
"That's horrible…"
"I thought I'd seen the last of this all those years ago…"
Christian grimaced. Mnementh had not been kidding about the condition of the Dibison. He had already seen the state of the Gunsniper, but this was the first time that the Blitz had seen the zoid. "I just wish there was more we could do…" He shrugged helplessly.
Both zoids were suspended in diluted solutions of zoid pool fluid. Neither zoid was expected to survive; the slow creep of death was clear on them. The life giving fluid eased their pain, but the damage was too great to allow them to recover.
Vega's face was a mask of horror. He had thought that seeing the state that the Fury had been in after the attack on the Blitz had been bad. This was much worse.
Both zoids had been carved apart, whole sections of their bodies gone. The Gunsnipers leg ended in a splintered stub, wires and spars poking out like broken bones. The gapping hole in the head showed just how close Leena had come to death. The Dibison was even worse off, with most of its cannons destroyed, and a crater where the cockpit should have been.
But the worst thing was that both zoids had damaged cores. The Core was the heart of a zoid. Damage there was a fatal as damage to a human heart.
"Bit turned to face the older man. "Is there no hope?"
"None." Christian sighed, and in that moment he looked his age. "Even without the core damage, it would be touch and go even with a zoid pool."
Steve slowly raised a hand to rest against the tank holding the Dibison. "How long?"
Above him the huge zoid Mnementh rumbled something. Even his growl sounded downcast.
"Two, three days tops." Christian translated. He took a deep breath before pushing on.
"Listen, I doubt it would be safe for you to return home now. If Hiltz really is after you and your zoids, then the safest place for you all would be here."
"And maybe help out when the attack comes?" Bit asked, a wry grin on his face.
Christian smiled without humour. "I intend to call in all the favours I have to get us some extra help here, so anything you could do would be appreciated."
Sarah answered for them all, her voice filled with all the iciness it had during her heyday with the Backdraft. "They tried to kill us. I think we should return the favour."
X-X-X-X-X-X
Some time later Leena slowly wheeled herself down the corridor of the hospital where she had been staying. She had yet to say 'thank you' to Christian for saving her. After the… meeting with his zoid, Leena wasn't sure about anything anymore. Certainly she was going to need to do some heavy thinking…
And now, it seemed her fault that these 'Cybrids' now knew about this city. Worse, Hiltz, the most evil man in Zi's history, was leading them! Even just thinking about his scared face and insane laughter sent shivers down her spine.
She turned a corner, to see her target standing with one of the doctors. A couple of men sat in chairs nearby, dressed in black and gold uniforms. All were bandaged up and looked weary. Clearly that Cybrid had put up a fight.
As she got closer, Christian thanked the doctor, before turning to face a door they had been standing in front of. She watched as he took a deep breath. From her angle she couldn't get a good look at his face, but clearly the news was grave.
Slowly he stepped into the room. "Hi." She heard him say.
A weak growl drifted out, followed by a single word. "Hi" The voice ever so slightly sounded female.
"How you feeling?"
"Not so good…" The words almost smothered the weak growls.
Confused, Leena wheeled herself into the room. What she saw took her breath away. While the others had told her about meeting an actual organoid, she hadn't believed them. But stretched out on the bed before her was an organoid.
Along it's smoothly curved sky blue flanks harsh cracks stood out like ink. The orange eyes were dim, and the right leg was badly mauled. A deep puncture mark on the neck seemed the worse however. Pale zoid fluid leaked out slowly.
Christian sat in a chair by the organoids head. He looked up as she entered. "Did you want something Miss Toros?" He asked none too gently, but then considering the emotions on his face…
"I ah, I realised I never got a chance to thank you, for saving me…" She trailed off, unable to draw her eyes away from the wounded organoid. "What happened?"
Christian sighed. "Iycan here was part of the City Guard team that apprehended the Cybrid infiltrator, along with the men outside." Leena barely noticed that they had stepped though behind her. "She was the one who finally stopped it long enough for the Rev Raptor to net it…" He stopped there. It was clear what he was leaving unsaid.
"Chris, the doctors won't tell me the truth about my condition…" Leena noticed the gem on the chain that was looped round the organoids neck pulse with each syllable. "You're my mentors' pilot, and my superior. But…" The organoid paused and shook slightly, and Leena got the sudden feeling that had it been human it would have been raked with coughs. "You're also my friend. I ask you, as a friend, tell me the truth." Another short pause, though without the shaking this time. "I'm not going to make it, am I?"
Christian looked down, and Leena realised what he had been talking to the doctor about. She realised the difficult situation he was in, and didn't envy him at all. She could also admire the organoid, for wanting to know the truth, no matter what.
Christian sighed deeply. "No. No, they said the damage was…" he broke off, unable to continue. "I'm sorry. Had I known…"
"It's okay. It's okay…" The organoids growl was weaker than before. "How long?"
"A few days, a week at the most."
"Not too bad then. Not too bad…"
Christian slowly got up and motioned everyone out. Leena lingered, somehow drawn to the dying organoid. "Come on. Let's give her time alone." Christian slowly wheeled her out.
"You hated that, didn't you?" She asked gently. She was shocked to see tears in the corner of his eyes.
"It's not in my instinct to lie, but in this case…" He sighed deeply, and once again the weight of all those years showed in his eyes. "I have never liked death, particular that caused by my actions. That's why I never accepted a high rank in the armed forces back on Earth. I hate sending people to their deaths." In his eyes Leena could see that he had been forced to do so before. 'I bet there's a nightmare for everyone who has died under his command…"
He looked at her oddly for a long time, before slowly he walked away, a determined set to his face. Leena didn't know what he intended, but somehow she felt that somehow it was connected to her…
X-X-X-X-X-X
Fiona stood before the tanks that held the wounded zoids; her arms wrapped round her self. Her gaze alternated between the two. Every fibre in her being cried out to help these two tireless fighters, but she didn't know how. She had been able to converse with both of them, in short bursts, and what she learned drove her desire to help even higher. But how…
The ringing of metal on metal, along with the tremors caused by heavy footfalls, told her a zoid was approaching. She didn't even need to turn around; she knew which zoid it was. Slowly the Liger Zero lowered its great head to nuzzle her gently. She placed her arm across the zoids massive nose. "Oh Zeke, what are we to do?" she wailed.
#Don't despair Fiona. Together we revived the Shield Liger did we not, all those years ago…#
"Yes, but back then you were a separate organoid."
#My point stands. If we could do that, alone and acting only on instinct, surely there is hope…#
"I wish there was…" more footsteps approached, this time the lightweight tones of a man. Fiona concentrated for a second…
Christian stepped up besides her, standing at least a full foot taller than she. "Any change?"
"Nothing positive" She replied, looking at his face. "What's wrong?" Pain and anguish were written all over him. Even after all those years of life, he had never managed to hide his feelings.
"Iycan's dieing…" He said simply as he punched up data from both tanks. Fiona didn't say anything. She knew that he had an attachment to all the organoids that had his zoid as a mentor. Loosing one like this…
"So faced with her death, you came here, hoping to find a way to save these zoids." It wasn't a question at all, since she knew that was exactly what had been going though his mind.
"Something like that…" He had brought up the displays of the two zoids cores. Each was displayed as a green sphere made up of hexangular plates. The damaged sections were lined in red. Cursing, he slammed a fist down onto the console as he sat down in the chair at the end. "If only their cores weren't damaged! Then we could of…" he stopped suddenly.
"What?" Fiona asked. Christian didn't answer, but stared at the displays. She glanced at them, then back at him. "What is it?"
He didn't answer, but got up and began to fiddle with both displays. Fiona watched as he brought both together till they overlapped. He began to trace the remaining red segments with his finger, a smile beginning to form on his lips. A crafty smile, with a sudden bright look in his eye…
"Chris, what are you planning?" Fiona asked in worry, backing away slightly. She had seen such a smile once before, and the others from his original team had warned her to beware the time when such a look entered Christians eye. It always heralded him doing something outrageous, ingenious, or downright crazy. And quite often it was all three at once.
She looked again at the display, where the two zoids cores overlapped. Almost all the red was covered by green… and suddenly found herself short of breath.
"You're… your not thinking of doing what I think your thinking of doing!" She almost screeched.
"It's been done before…"
"Yes, and look what happened! Besides, those two were in perfect health, and identical twins! You're suggesting doing it to two different zoid, both on the brink of death!" Fiona was shocked that Christian was even considering such an idea!
"I understand your concerns Fiona, but I think this may be the only way to same them both."
#I agree# The Liger Zero growled. Fiona spun round to stare at the liger in shock.
"What? Zeke, you agree with him?"
#I do# The Liger nodded. #I have known both zoids, and neither deserves to die. Christians plan is bold, but it could work#
"You do realise your going to need not only permission from the Blitz, but also Leena, the Council, both zoids, and her."
"I know. It's only the council that worries me." Christian turned towards her, serious again. "Can I count on your support?"
Fiona was stunned at Christian's question. He rarely took up motions with the Council, and even more rarely did he ask for help in such matters. He always voted the way his conscious dictated, and he expected the same of the others. For him to seek support… Fiona thought hard about her answer, going over everything she knew about him. At last she decided.
"Of course." She said quietly, hoping that she would not regret her decision…
O'Neill: Just what the hell is he planning?
Carter: I have no idea sir... I mean, Jack (blushes)
DR: We'll find out next time. And Leena will return to her old self...