"Well, well… Harpuia, the legendary emerald blur. I have been waiting a long time for this." Said Daemon, grim satisfaction in his voice.
Harpuia growled at him and moved to draw his sabers.
"I think that will be of no use, what chance do you have against an executioner?" Daemon asked as he paced around the room.
"I have nothing to worry about, soon reinforcements will come." Harpuia muttered.
"Yes, yes… but that will only help you if you will survive to greet them." Daemon smiled and Harpuia winced, he never saw a scarier smile in his life.
"We have infiltrated your core so many times I am beginning to wonder if it really is protected at all." Daemon taunted, staring around the room at the lit monitors.
Harpuia decided to seize the opportunity and charged with a battle cry.
Daemon, almost too quickly, turned around and transformed his arm to the chain ball. He then threw it straight at Harpuia, hitting dead on and piercing some parts in his body.
Harpuia was knocked backwards and slid on the floor, leaning on it with one hand to slow himself down.
"I am disappointed Harpuia, if that is everything you can provide I might as well kill you now…" Daemon muttered.
"I do not think so!" Said Aztec Falcon as he, Fenrir Hahira and Hubershnicdt rushed into the room.
"Well now, this might be more fun than I thought…" Daemon smiled again.
Aztec Falcon leaped into the air as Fenrir and Hub charged forwards.
Daemon side stepped to avoid a slash from Fenrir and ducked below a swing from Hub with great speed. He punched Hub in the ribs and moved up with an uppercut to the chin, knocking Hub backwards.
Aztec Falcon launched three electrical beams at Daemon but the monster jumped in the air and punched Falcon's beak, throwing him to the ground next to Harpuia.
Daemon transformed his arm to the chain ball again and slung it at Fenrir, who jumped backwards to avoid it.
Daemon again transformed his arm back and jumped over Fenrir, kicking him in the back of the head and sending him head first to the floor.
Hub in the meanwhile recovered and shot at Daemon with his buster, Daemon avoided the shots without effort by jumping, rolling and at last a somersault over Hub, Daemon landed behind him and Hub drew his knife quickly and turned while holding out his arm, in order to slash Daemon while turning.
Daemon caught Hub's arm and twisted it, causing the Doberman to groan in agony and then Daemon grabbed the back of Hub's head and crashed it into his knee.
Hub yelped in pain as Daemon lifted him in the air and threw him at Falcon, both collapsing in a heap on the floor.
"I am very disappointed!" Daemon declared, catching a fist Harpuia sent to him and punching Harpuia on the side of the helmet sending him straight into a wall.
"Come on, there are four of you and one of me! At least scratch my armor or something." Daemon laughed maliciously.
Hub tried to stand up but Daemon dashed towards him and kicked his abdomen so hard that he soared straight up to the ceiling, crashed into it and fell back on Falcon unconscious.
Falcon grunted and tried to push Hub away from him so he could stand up but in vain as Daemon kicked his face and knocked him out.
Fenrir stood up and charged at Daemon with a roar, both claws extended.
Daemon simply moved sideways and tripped Fenrir with his leg, causing him to lose balance.
As Fenrir was about to fall Daemon launched a hammer kick to his back, making him crash with quadruple force into the floor.
The four were bloody and hurt even though the battle lasted less than ten minutes.
Harpuia was now the only one still conscious; looking up at Daemon he coughed out some blood.
Daemon went over to a nearby monitor and started typing, inserting a data disc to the computer and extracting it a few seconds later. He then went over to Harpuia.
Daemon crouched and lifted Harpuia's eyelids a bit, Harpuia couldn't as much as move his finger, not to mention trying to resist.
"Well Harpuia, I must say I'm very disappointed. I expected a better fight. I guess I'll have to torch the place."
He went over to Hub's unconscious body and kicked it into a wall, picking up his buster.
He charged it up and shot great balls of flame everywhere, completely destroying the mission room.
"Alert, fire detected at mission room. Activating counter measures." Said the voice of the fire alarm and water poured from the ceiling; extinguishing the fire.
"See you later." Daemon said and transferred away.
Meanwhile at the cargo vessel…"Operator? Come in operator." Leviathan said furiously to her comm.
"There is nothing here Fairy, I suspect foul play. And the fact that the operators aren't responding worries me. I suspect someone wanted to keep us away from the base." Zero said, looking around the vast cargo hold.
Suddenly he heard slow, rhythmic clapping. He turned to see a female reploid with ocean blue shark-like armor.
"Good job Zero! You're smarter than I thought." She smiled at him and Leviathan looked livid.
"You'll take care of Leviathan and I'll take Zero." Said a voice behind them.
They turned around to see Vulture; Whirlpool was completely surprised but hid it from Zero and Leviathan.
"Got it." She said and summoned a harpoon.
Leviathan turned to her, gripping her own harpoon tightly.
"What do we do?" She asked from the corner of her mouth.
"We fight." Zero whispered.
Vulture activated his double-edged beam saber and glared at Zero.
Whirlpool smiled at Leviathan and leaned on her harpoon, her eyes moved constantly from Zero to Vulture.
"When I count to three…" Zero whispered, "We charge."
"One…" Leviathan prepared, "Two…" Zero prepared.
"Three!" Both executioners yelled and to the guardians' surprise they charged at them first, throwing them to opposite sides.
Whirlpool fought vigorously with Leviathan, using her harpoon as a spear and pole at the same time.
Vulture crouched below a slash from Zero and grabbed Zero's arm.
Vulture than rolled backwards, kicking Zero in the stomach and flipping him, causing him to fall on his back on the cold metal floor of the cargo bay.
Zero leapt to his feet and tried to use his chain rod at Vulture but the executioner jumped into the air and launched a flying kick to Zero's head, making him stagger backwards.
Meanwhile Leviathan and Whirlpool were sparring angrily, Leviathan was panting but Whirlpool was enjoying herself, laughing and playing with Leviathan.
She punched Leviathan in the face and jumped backwards to avoid being hit by Leviathan's harpoon.
She then feinted another punch but in the last second she twirled and kicked Leviathan in the side of the head and Leviathan fell sideways into a wooden crate, smashing it into splinters and wood pieces.
Zero and Vulture were now dueling with their swords, Vulture having an obvious advantage due to his double bladed variety.
It became harder for Zero to block Vulture's strikes, that and the fact that Zero started to become weary affected his combat ability.
Vulture's fighting style was very fast and Zero had to utilize all of his speed that consumed a lot of his power.
"It's time for vengeance!" Vulture declared.
"Don't count on it." Zero said through gritted teeth.
Zero jumped and in mid air he drew both his chain rod and his buster, charging both simultaneously.
He decided to utilize one of the techniques he learned from Fefnir, and he equipped the fire chip.
He released the chain rod exactly at Vulture and with the buster he shot at the ground near Vulture.
Vulture, who had not seen this tried to evade the chain rod and ended up running straight into the fiery shot Zero fired.
The explosion knocked Vulture backwards, sending him a few feet away, but Vulture did a mid-air roll and landed on his feet.
"I will kill you, no matter what!" Vulture said furiously and charged at Zero with a speed that would make a land chaser seem like a unicycle.
He punched Zero in the stomach, and from the sheer force of the speed Zero was thrown all the way to the other wall, smashing through metal and wooden crates as he soared.
Just a second later Zero heard an audible boom; Vulture had breached the sound barrier when he attacked him.
"Alright, that's it!"
Zero rolled in the air and landed on his feet, dashing towards Vulture in a burst of speed, knocking the executioner backwards.
He took a step backwards and ran into Leviathan's back.
"Leviathan, you should leave, you've got no chance against these guys." Zero muttered, looking at Vulture who strode towards him slowly.
"No! I'm not leaving you here!" Leviathan replied.
"Trust me Fairy, I'll be fine." Zero said and suddenly heard a girlish laugh from behind him.
"Oh, you use her first name, how cute!" Whirlpool laughed.
Vulture joined in and laughed with her, "I thought inter guardian relations were prohibited!" he said.
Leviathan went completely red, well maybe because she and Zero were engulfed in a red flame now.
"Uhh… Zero?" She asked turning around.
"Leave now!" Zero said, his pupils narrowing.
"What the…?" Leviathan asked.
"I said leave!" Zero yelled and Leviathan transferred away.
"Oh, so are you mad now or can you exert some control over this?" Vulture mocked him.
"Vulture I don't think you'd want to annoy him now…" Said Whirlpool in a concerned voice.
Vulture yelled a battle cry and dashed at Zero with his double bladed sword, slashing upwards and downwards and left and right without pause, but Zero just drew his Z-saber and blocked Vulture's attacks without difficulty.
"Good Zero! Much better, you might still have a chance now!" Vulture's eyes flickered as he talked.
Zero walked two steps backwards and launched a back kick straight into Whirlpool's chest, knocking her through three crates before she came to a halt.
"Alexia!" Vulture cried and was distracted, just enough time for Zero to head-butt him in the helmet, cracking it and sending Vulture to the floor.
"Not so confident now are we? Vulture, I have learned many times and from many enemies. Your strength cannot match my experience; after all I've been around for over a century.
Vulture used both of his hands and sprung up, slashing with his beam saber twice and while Zero blocked he jumped overhead and slashed Zero's back.
Zero fell to his knees but rolled on the floor and stood up again a bit farther from Vulture.
"You may not know this Zero, but so am I!" Vulture cackled.
"Perhaps so, Vulture." Zero said coolly, "But still I have fought stronger, faster and better enemies than you." He said and dashed forwards, halted just in front of Vulture as Vulture was bracing himself for the impact. Vulture crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.
Vulture was expecting a blow but when none came he opened them and as soon as he did Zero punched him in the face.
"You pathetic fool, I am Zero! The ultimate killing machine, I am the perfect warrior." The flame around Zero grew bigger.
"You're wrong." Vulture, who fell on the floor now stood up.
"You are nothing but an ancient relic!" Vulture shouted and charged forwards, slashing so fast that he and his sword were seen as blurs.
Zero had no trouble defending himself from Vulture's slashes though; he blocked them with some effort but not something that would actually tire him.
"Are you finished?" Zero asked after Vulture stopped, panting.
"You… what is it in you? What madman would create such a monster?" Vulture said, and as he finished the sentence Zero's eyes widened and before Vulture even knew it, half of his arm was missing.
Blood was spilled and it stained the metal floor and crates.
Vulture looked down at his stump and then yelled in pain, his other arm grabbing the bleeding stump.
"Vulture no!" Whirlpool said and threw two harpoons at Zero, nailing him in his leg and on his side. It didn't seem to affect him, he pulled them out without even wincing and he barely noticed his own blood pouring on the floor.
In a flash of white Bullion appeared and grabbed Vulture.
"Whirlpool back to base now!" He yelled and disappeared with the one-armed reploid.
Whirlpool shot Zero a look of hatred and disgust and then she also disappeared in a flash of white, leaving Zero alone on the cargo vessel.
Zero fell quickly to his knees, without the power of the frenzy chip the pain was immense.
He quickly pressed a button on his comm. and called,
"Fairy?" another voice replied.
"Zero are you okay? Hang on, I'm coming to pick you up!" Leviathan's concerned voice was heard.
A second later she appeared with six pantheon hunters and four pantheon guardians at his side.
"Search the vessel." She ordered and the pantheons scattered.
"Zero! Oh dear are you okay? You must get to a infirmary!" She grabbed his arm and helped him up, supporting his weight.
The two transferred and as they arrived Zero saw destruction all around him, the mission room was completely ruined, so ruined it was beyond recognition.
Leviathan helped him to the infirmary, in which were four other reploids:
Harpuia, Fenrir Hahira, Aztec Falcon and Hubershnicdt.
"What happened?" Zero asked as he lay down on an examination table just before passing out.
Hubershnicdt was now conscious and tried to get up, but a nurse, Belle held him down.
"Calm down!" she said, "He'll be fine, just stay here. You've been seriously injured Mr. Hubershnicdt." He stopped resisting and shook his head.
"I should have come vith him!" Hubershnicdt said.
"There, there… everything is going to be fine." Belle comforted him and petted his muzzle.
Leviathan went over to Harpuia, sat near him and talked to him.
"He'll be fine…" Harpuia said and looked at her worried face, "he's Zero…"
Leviathan smiled a bit.
"What was that? How did he beat both executioners?" She asked him and he sighed.
"I guess he hasn't told you. So I will." Harpuia said and launched an explanation about Zero's frenzy chip.
Meanwhile in the executioners' stronghold…"Vulture…" The master said in his deep voice.
"Yes my master?" Vulture tested his skeletal metal arm, it wasn't armored or even covered but it had to do for the time being.
"I have a little present for you, something I'm sure you will appreciate." The master said and a monitor near Vulture was turned on.
Vulture gazed longingly at the monitor and smiled heartily.
"Thank you master, this is the best gift I would ever receive."
To be continued…