UNITY FORCE MISSIONS: HORIZON ZERO DAWN

CHAPTER 14: Deep Secrets of the Earth

ARC III: Sobeck

DISCLAIMER: All characters in the story are not owned by me, save for my OCs.

~~~0-0-0~~~

[Path to Sunfall, Earth-1355]

A day after crashing the Eclipse Focus network, as well as personally encountering the rogue AI, HADES, in the Eclipse's main camp, the Unity Force and Aloy are now one step closer into unlocking the secrets behind Project: Zero Dawn and finding out who HADES and HEPHAESTUS are. However, they must travel through Sunfall, the Shadow Carja territory, and risk themselves in order to do so. At the same time, their time is running short, as the Eclipse have set their sights on the heroes for constantly foiling their plans.

During their search inside the camp, the discovery of Resh's betrayal prompted Zoro Roronoa, Aloy, and Chito to send some of the Unity Force heroes including Saber, Ichigo Kurosaki, Noelle Silva, Asta and Meliodas into the Nora Sacred Lands to warn the Nora War-Chief Sona and the Nora Matriarch Teersa about the rogue Nora Brave's impending threat to the tribe.

The team composing of Aloy, Chito, Yuuri, Zoro Roronoa, Fate Testarossa Harlaown, Trafalgar D. Water Law, and Nanoha Takamachi are seen sitting at one of the campfires not far from Sunfall, where they decide to talk to the rest of the grou[ in Mother's Watch, before proceeding to enter Sunfall in a few minutes.

"So, how was Mother's Watch there?" Aloy asked Saber.

"It reminded me of natives, just by the looks of it, including its people." Saber said. "Asta told me that you found several ancient ruins here, as well." She replied. "But not in a way that would be considered ancient."

"We went through a lot of them." Aloy answered. "Can't believe the Old Ones created so much of these, only for them to be abandoned."

"Regardless, did you inform Sona-sama about Resh?" Zoro questioned Saber.

"It looks like they know about Resh's treachery a lot, so they accepted our aid, albeit reluctantly." Saber commented.

"But Jesus Christ, the moment we stepped in here, these people have to be the biggest lunatics we have ever seen." Ichigo sighed in disbelief. "I heard from them about this outcast thing, if you don't have this 'seeker' badge just to approach a city ruin."

"Don't worry. The rest of you are not alone." Zoro reminded.

"Yeah, no kidding. They were serious about it." Ichigo quipped.

"We'll be going, now." Chito ended, as she looks at the rest of the group. "We're still not out of the woods, yet." She ended, before Ichigo nods, as he cuts off.

Leaving the campfire, the Unity Force then proceed to reach the gates of Sunfall, while they are given rather nasty looks by the Shadow Carja tribesmen, as well as the guards and the upper class, an experience they unlike faced with the Sun Carja in Meridian.

~~~0-0-0~~~

[Sunfall, Earth-1355]

Sunfall, the capital of the Shadow Carja tribe, is a giant settlement situated within the desert of what was once Bryce, Utah, with the imposing citadel and the infamous Sun-Ring being two of its famous landmarks.

Due to Sunfall being a satellite territory, its remote location made farming impossible, and trade was limited due to the Shadow Carja's hostile relations with all other tribes, including the Nora and especially the Sun Carja. An impoverished and sickly underclass, who are settled on a place known as Shadowside, grew on the outskirts of the palace, while available resources were dedicated to the Shadow Carja territory.

Sylens suddenly butts in to Aloy's Focus, before proceeding him to give the rest of the group what seems to be a history lesson about Sunfall.

"Sunfall. The Mad King Jiran's summer palate. A bulwark of Carja might against the howling Forbidden West." Sylens described, as the group enter cautiously into the hostile territory.

"Thanks for the history lesson." Aloy sarcastically gave her gratitude to him.

"But they have no idea what lies beneath. We will learn much from this, Aloy." Sylens remarked, before cutting off.

"That's what I'm hoping…"

"Coming from some asshole who nearly lured us into death." Zoro bitterly remarked.

Nanoha then proceeds to ponder about the last part. "Forbidden West?" She said.

"What is that?" Chito added.

"I don't know but it sounds like an unknown region." Aloy replied.

"We're almost close, though." Fate added.

Trafalgar then looks around. "The kind of place where it is certain death." He remarked. "Besides the point, we are going to find out one way or the other and know what these Shadow Carja are up to."

Continuing onward, while ignoring the tribesmen, the rest of the Unity Force group later approach the balcony, where they see a giant ancient ruin from down below, which is the Sun-Ring, as well as a Behemoth from afar and three Shadow Carja soldiers attempting to handle it before it goes berserk and unintentionally killing the trio.

"Look at that, Chii-chan! A machine!" Yuuri exclaimed, as she pointed at the Behemoth.

"With three humans?" Chito questioned in disbelief. "They'd be already dead if things go bad."

"The Sun-Ring. A proud tradition of the Carja." Sylens suddenly talked, as they watched the Sun-Ring.

"Stay off my Focus." Aloy warned.

"We're in a hostile territory, so be mindful." Zoro warned through Aloy's Focus.

"If the Eclipse catches the rest of you here, all of you will be lucky if you survive long enough to wind up in that ring. Now we get to see if your attack on their Focus network was entirely successful." Sylens said rather calmly, unabashed.

"So you're telling us that it didn't work?" Zoro questioned.

Sceptical, Aloy and the rest wonder if their attack into the Focus network was either a success or a fail.

"What are you talking about?! Did we crash the network or not?" Aloy annoyingly replied.

"In theory, all should be well." Sylens replied.

To test this "theory" further, the rest of the group later cautiously enter another part of Sunfall, which is later revealed to be the outside of the Citadel of the tribe's Sun-King.

In retrospect, the Unity Force assumed it was a fail, until they found out that the attack on the Eclipse Focus network was a success, as no Shadow Carja were immediately alerted of their presence, which would be done by communicating to HADES.

"Success. Welcome to the Citadel, Aloy and the Unity Force. I'll check back with you in a moment. In the meantime – circulate." Sylens reminded, before warning the group. "That should last for a minute, but keep in mind, Unity Force... Your strange outfit will be easily noticeable, so don't make any form of trouble, since you're already under the radar of the Shadow Carja." He warned, before cutting off.

"Oh, we will." Zoro quipped. "Let's go, everyone."

As they reach the entrance of the citadel, one of the Shadow Carja guards announced.

"Outlanders! If you want to hear about today's bounties head for the throne room! You're not going to make any shards by standing out here!" The Shadow Carja Crier declared.

Entering inside the Citadel of Sunfall, the Unity Force group see various people, presumed to be bounty hunters, watching in front of what looked like Shadow Carja Sun-Priests, as well as a young boy and his own mother, presuming to be the king and queen of the Shadow Carja, respectively.

However, Nanoha grows suspicious of this get-up, as she clearly sees that the boy is too young to act as the splinter tribe's monarch. But after they were warned by Sylens not to cause trouble, they later proceed to examine the scene furthermore.

The man is middle-aged as he wears a ceremonial outfit, consisting of a black and grey headdress with patterns on it, as well as a brown robe and red and brown sash on both left and right shoulders that is adorned with patterns. He has black eyes and brown skin. This is High Priest Bahavas.

The boy is seen wearing a headdress that was similar to Avad's. He has a brown skin and black eyes, and is wearing a garb that consists of a purple robe and red sashes adorned in gold patterns. This is Itamen, Shadow Carja's figurehead Sun-King.

The woman is presumed to be middle-aged, who wears a purple-and-gold headdress, with her face covered in a black veil. She has dark skin and brown eyes. She wears a royal outfit consisting of a purple dress with gold, black, and red patterns on it. This is Nasadi, Itamen's mother.

"I command Lucent Bahavas to speak on my behalf." Itamen announced, albeit in a mousy manner.

"By the will of Radiant Itamen does the Sun glare down mercilessly upon the traitor Uthid! To the hunter who brings his head to us shall go a bounty of 500 Shards!" Bahavas announced, as the crowds of mercenaries clamoured.

"What a bunch of bullshit to begin with." Trafalgar quipped.

"How despicable of them to use a child for this." Fate remarked disgustingly. "This is just awful to use a child and forcibly being used to put a bounty on someone's head for unknown reason." She added.

"So that bastard is using that boy for something else." Zoro described.

"Not to mention, they're prisoners rather than them being rulers." Nanoha remarked in a blunt manner.

Then, a woman who appears to be a Shadow Carja, shows up in front of the Unity Force and Aloy, showing clear disgust towards Bahavas. However, further examination revealed that she is from the Sun Carja.

She is a tall, dark-skinned woman who appears to be in her late 20s or early 30s. Her eyes are brown. The outfit she wears is a long, dark purple, hooded, shoulder-less robe with an armored chest plate. This is Vanasha, a Sun Carja spy.

"More prisoners than royalty, don't you think? Hnn. Love your hair." Vanasha complimented, as she looks at Aloy, before looking at the Unity Force. "Not to mention, strange clothing. That seems to be unlike any other we see." She added further.

"It's complicated, but it's best for someone to explain." Zoro stated.

"Before that, who are the rest of you?" Vanasha questioned, to which Zoro told her that they are a part of the Unity Force, as she recognised them as the people responsible for fighting off against the Eclipse, where they proceed to introduce themselves to her. "So, Unity Force..."

"Yes." Nanoha simply replied. "Though, what are you doing here? You don't seem to be a part of these Shadow Carja."

"The voice of reason in the pit of howling insanity." Vanasha said poetically. "I'm Vanasha, nice to meet you all, Unity Force and redhead. Regardless, meet me there at the green tent at Shadowside. I'll be waiting." She said.

"Uh, we're kinda busy." Aloy added.

"I know that the rest of you are no killers for hire. Uthid is innocent. So come see me - while there's still time to save him." Vanasha added.

Nanoha, Fate, and Trafalgar later decide to visit Vanasha instead.

"We'll do this, Zoro." Nanoha said. "Vanasha-san, we'll help you out." She added.

"Excellent work, Nanoha." Vanasha replied. "Meet me at Shadowside." She ended, before Vanasha leaves.

"Good luck on finding the Zero Dawn facility." Fate added in reassurance. "Call us if anything comes up." She added, before Zoro and the rest nodded.

"We'll try." Chito obliged.

After parting ways with the group, Zoro, Aloy, Chito, and Yuuri later proceed to reach the Citadel's balustrade, where they see the Sun-Ring from above, only this time they are much higher than ever before.

All of a sudden, Sylens reveals to them that the way in was behind the balustrade.

"So… the 'way in' I spoke of is right behind the rest of you." Sylens revealed.

"You've got to be kidding." Aloy remarked.

"Not at all. And you needn't worry about the Kestrels. They'll be too busy acting important to pay attention to you." Sylens added.

"You're kidding us." Zoro sighed in annoyance.

Then, two Oseram known as Odund and Elkend proceed to converse each other, as they look at each other talking about the Sun-Ring and how it was a rather magnificent view from high above, before they proceed to ignore them.

"This is insane." Aloy commented.

"Hardly." Sylens simply answered from her Focus.

"The people in this place seem to be obsessed over that Sun-Ring." Chito pointed out. "First we enter, and a few of them are already liking it." She added, before she sees Yuuri watching at the Sun-Ring. "Yuu, what are you doing there?" She questioned.

"Oh, I was just watching through the fight between that machine and those humans, again!" Yuuri said with a smile.

"We're going now." Chito replied, as she grabs Yuuri's jacket.

"Wait, I want to see that machine again, Chii-chan!" Yuuri begged, as some of the tribesmen look at them.

"Sorry about her. She's a little too excited." Chito apologised quickly, in an attempt to not blow their cover.

"Come on, Yuuri." Aloy remarked, as she chuckled. "We're not here for sightseeing." She added, who seems to share Chito's sentiment of dealing with the habitually excited girl.

Leaving the tribesmen and the Shadow Carja Kestrels alone, as far as possible, the Unity Force quartet later reach the said balustrade to their left, which had a gap that leads one floor below another part of the Citadel's balcony. They later descended down, as they jumped below.

Reaching through the only path that Sylens gave to them, they later come through a set of rock formations where they have to scale and to climb down through, in order to reach the said pathway down the Citadel.

"We're going to walk through those rocks and scale them?" Chito asked.

"That's the only way in." Aloy answered Chito's question.

"I like this!" Yuuri exclaimed happily, as she walks through the rock formation.

"Speaking of which, Aloy..." Zoro said, before talking to the Nora Huntress. "Nanoha and Fate told me once that they also encountered Shadow Carja from this place known as Kestrel's Perch and saved a boy from being tortured, under this girl's request." He continued.

"Shadow Carja?" Aloy questioned. "But why would they go there?' She added.

Zoro later proceeds to descend down, before continuing further. "Nanoha said it was like out of a Romeo and Juliet scene, where this boy was a Shadow Carja and this friend of his is Sun Carja." He commented. "Not to mention, those two are in a relationship with one another." He ended, as he waited for the rest to jump down.

"So we already had a run-in with them, in the first place." Aloy pondered.

"In a sense." Zoro replied.

Sylens then commanded from Aloy's Focus. "The other side of the tower. Look for a vent." He ordered.

After seconds of looking through the said vent, the group later come across what seems to be a way that is blocked by wood, presumed to be the entrance of the ruin.

"So this is the way in?" Chito asked.

"Seems like it, as this is the only way." Zoro stated simply.

"But how did Sylens even know all of this?" Yuuri questioned.

"He's a man of mysteries in his own will." Zoro sarcastically quipped. "Can't imagine that his dumb idea nearly killed us when we were infiltrating the Eclipse camp and destroyed their own network." He continued.

"I see you've been here before." Aloy said, as she talks to Sylens through her Focus.

"Obviously. Now, it's very important that the rest of you hear what I'm about to say. I've shown the rest of you the way in - but this humble vent marks a point of no return. Before all of you descend into the depths here, the rest of you should be fully committed, equipped, and focused. No distractions. If everyone of you have errands to run, do them first, or hold your peace. I won't tolerate whining. Is that clear?"

"You'll tolerate what we give you, Sylens. We didn't ask you along for the ride." Aloy uttered, before she proceeds to break the wooden barricade that blocks the entrance.

"It's time to go!" Yuuri exclaimed, before she grabs Chito's hand.

"Be careful, you idiot!" Chito exclaimed, but she was too late when she attempted to escape her grip, causing both of them to fall down into the ruin.

Zoro can only facepalm himself. "You have got to be kidding me, you two..."

[Zero Dawn Project Facility, Earth-1355]

"We're heading down." Aloy replied to Sylens.

Suddenly, Sylens begins to narrate.

"I've spent a lifetime trying to uncover the secrets of this world. Where the machines came from. How the Old Ones achieved such marvels, only to fall into silence and death. A lifetime of failure, as year by year, decade after decade. I hit walls I could not break, doors I could never breach." Sylens narrated, as the rest slowly descend down, except for Chito and Yuuri, as both of them are already under the ruin.

"Hello." Aloy interrupted.

"Another one of those damn doors." Zoro grumbled.

"Until a Nora huntress marched out of the Savage East and… voila! For her, all the deepest secrets of the Earth were laid bare." Sylens ended his narration.

Aloy and Zoro later jumped down into the ancient ruin, which is known as Zero Dawn Project Facility, via the newly-opened hole through the vent blocked by wood, before they are greeted by the same gene-locked door in Maker's End.

"I suspect you'll have an easier time with this door than I did years ago." Sylens said, referring to Aloy.

"Wow..." Chito commented, as she looks at the ruin. "This place is all metal."

"Kinda reminds me of the submarine that we went in, five months ago..." Yuuri added.

"But how can we open that?" Chito asked the group.

"Aloy can." Zoro simply responded. "It's a genetic-locked door."

"What?"

Chito's question is later answered, when Aloy reaches through the genetic-locked door, as she stands in front of it, before it turns red. The beam of light then casts onto her, as the door proceeds to check for an identiscan.

"Hold for identiscan." The synthetic voice stated, before seeing the same holograms as earlier in Maker's End.

"So, she can open these doors?" Chito questioned in confusion.

Suddenly...

"Genetic profile confirmed. Entry authorised. Malfunction… Malfunction… Malfunction… Malfunction…" The synthetic voice announced, as it proceeds to open the door, only for it to suddenly malfunction, rendering it stuck, as it cannot be opened at all.

"Uh-oh, it's not working..." Yuuri commented, as she looks at Aloy's attempt.

"Are you kidding me?" Aloy questioned, as she attempts to bang the blast door, but to no avail.

"We don't hear you laughing." Sylens sarcastically said.

"Shut up! There's got to be a way…" Aloy responded impulsively, before looking into the blast door. "Hey! Elisabet Sobeck here, requesting access!"

"Access request acknowledged. Root command functions available. Do you wish to proceed?" The synthetic voice, once again, proceeds to speak, as it questions Aloy's entry.

"Elisabet Sobeck?" Chito asked upon hearing Sobeck's name. "But she's Aloy-san, not this Sobeck person." She deduced, as she looks at Zoro.

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but we're riddled with that mystery ever since visiting Maker's End." Zoro replied.

Another time, Aloy futilely attempts to bang into the blast door, as she attempts to "talk" into the voice, in an attempt to allow her access.

"I do! Get me and the rest through this door!" Aloy exclaimed, sounding more annoyed.

"You know... I feel bad for Aloy-san." Chito quietly spoke.

"Analysing… Primary access inoperable due to mechanical failure. Emergency venting procedure - likely to circumvent blockage. Do you wish to proceed?" The synthetic voice questioned Aloy, before a hologram with a download sign is seen in front of her.

Frantically, Aloy presses the holographic button. "Yes!" She said.

"Emergency venting, authorised." The synthetic voice replied.

The moment the synthetic voiced finished talking, the door's lights turned off, instead of turning blue as it was seen on Maker's End, where it then suddenly opened, causing Aloy to flinch from the door's sudden opening.

While the emergency venting worked that opened the blast door, which is good news, there is also bad news for them, as well, as air proceeds to rush out.

From outside of the ancient ruin, the ventilation process instead alerts the two Shadow Carja Kestrels on guard, when air escaped through the ducts, immediately alerting them from something amiss below.

"Not good." Zoro quipped. "The guards must have known about it." He added.

"Guess you can't have everything." Aloy simply remarked.

"That will draw attention. We won't have this place to ourselves for a long now." Sylens warned.

Aloy continued his quipping to Sylens. "We? Last we checked, we were the ones risking our lives down here." She said, sounding rather unconvinced.

Sylens then sighed, before responding. "Yes, fine. Now will you please get moving? There's so much to learn and less time than I'd hoped." He ended, before cutting off.

"I guess we're starting here." Chito remarked.

With the blast door now completely opened, the rest of the group are greeted with another futuristic facility, with most of it being encased in rock after centuries of neglect and abandonment.

"Welcome to Project: Zero Dawn." The synthetic voice said.

"Zero Dawn! We found it!" Aloy exclaimed.

"Are you really so surprised?" Sylens questioned.

"Facility diagnostics detect multiple failures. Attempting repair." The synthetic voice announced, as it proceeds to do the said job of repairing the facility.

The rest of the group proceed to examine the main hall of the facility.

"So what was this room?" Aloy asked Sylens.

"An entrance hall, perhaps? Have a look around." Sylens replied.

"Please take a seat and wait for your name to be called. A selection of beverages and snacks are available." The synthetic voice announced.

"So this is an entrance hall to this mysterious building?" Chito questioned, as she examines the ruin.

"Chii-chan, this place is so high tech!" Yuuri exclaimed, as she looks around. "These holograms and everything..."

"I'm wondering how the rest are doing above the surface." Zoro pondered. "They said that they're going with this Vanasha person, and going after someone."

A text message then appears from Aloy's Focus.

"Wait. A text message." Aloy said, as she uses her Focus to read it. "Nanoha said that she, Trafalgar, Fate, and then Vanasha are going after Bahavas in Greenclimb." She continued on.

"So they're dealing with that questionable Sun-Priest." Zoro remarked.

"Yeah." Aloy spoke. "But I'd assume Bahavas have known about us, as well." She pondered in suspicion.

"Please proceed into Viewing Room 1 for an important message regarding the purpose of your visit." The synthetic voice ordered.

Leaving the entrance hall, the rest of the group proceed to reach a door with a holo-lock that later proceeds to a much smaller room, in contrast to the one that they've just left.

Unlike the previous room, this room is very barren in nature, but few working holograms are still visible and in working condition for centuries.

"What was this place?" Aloy asked.

"A holographic theatre." Sylens responded, before cutting off.

The group later stand up, as they wait for something that will happen.

"ZD_0_1 data intact. Initiating playback." The synthetic voice said, before a hologram of what seems to be Gen. Aaron Herres has appeared within the theatre, causing a hologram video to play.

"Okay, what's going on?" Yuuri asked.

[PLAY MUSIC: Horizon Zero Dawn OST - The Bad News]

"Welcome to Project: Zero Dawn. I'm General Herres, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America. I'm sure you've heard the rumours. That Zero Dawn is a top-secret superweapons program. The technological miracle that will save us from the Faro Plague - if Operation: Enduring Victory can hold off the robots long enough. The reason I'm sure you've heard the rumours is that I'm the one who spread them. And they are all lies." Herres ominously warned, as a hologram of Operation: Enduring Victory and Zero Dawn logo appears beside him, as well as various holograms of what looked like various Corruptors exponentially increasing to an alarming rate.

"Faro Plague?" Zoro asked.

"What is this?" Chito questioned at the nature of the hologram.

"It's a recording, but it sounded too bleak." Yuuri replied.

"So Zero Dawn and Enduring Victory..." Zoro pondered. "The latter was just all lies that this freak perpetrated?" He added.

Herres then proceeds to move to the left within the hologram, before various holograms of what looked like a Corruptor and later a Metal Devil and Corruptors, as well as a progress bar of the ancient Faro machines and its shocking numbers, as well as the progress bars of creatures dying under Faro Plague, all to the point of extinction, and various montages of wars against the Faro machines and the hologram of Earth on the verge of destruction.

"Zero Dawn is not a superweapons program and it will not save us. Nothing will save us, and here's why. By the time the Glitch was noticed, it was already too late. Nothing could stop the Faro Plague. Nothing can. Its robots will continue to replicate and devour the biosphere. Life on Earth will be destroyed… our planet reduced to a barren sphere. Global extinction is inevitable. No matter how many we kill, the robots just keep exponentially making more." Herres spoke ominously on the prospect of global extinction.

"This sounded a lot more frightening than what happened to our world..." Chito quietly uttered.

More disturbing revelations were then told, as Herres proceeds to reveal the utter impossibility of deactivating the Faro machines, due to their beyond-military-grade code encryption system.

"If we had their deactivation codes, we could shut them all down. The entire swarm. But since their cryptographic protocols use poly-phasic entangled waveforms, cracking a code set would take half a century. At best, we've got 16 months. Not exactly what you'd call a survival option." Herres ominously responded.

"So it's unhackable..." Zoro whispered, as he watched Herres intently.

Herres then proceeds to show an image of the Corruptors and Deathbringers now overtaking the whole world, as well as a hologram of the now-barren, destroyed Earth, but not before Enduring Victory's logo and various images of the destroyed Earth were seen during the hologram.

"The destruction of a biosphere is not the sort of apocalypse you can wait out in a fallout shelter or space station. There will be no Earth left to reclaim. Just a lifeless, toxic rock with several million Faro robots on it… hibernating, waiting for something to eat. This is the horrible truth behind the lies of Operation: Enduring Victory - my lies - lies designed to inspire millions of innocents to sacrifice themselves in battle. Why? One reason: to buy time for you and the work you will do here. Zero Day - the day that life on Earth ceases to exist - is coming fast. It cannot be stopped. The hope of Zero Dawn is that something new might come after. But I will leave it to Elisabet Sobeck to shine that thin ray of light into the darkness, Herres out." Herres concluded with a salute.

The hologram later ends, before the door right in front of them is unlocked.

"That doesn't make sense! Life on earth didn't cease to exist!" Aloy said in disbelief.

"He said it could not be stopped." Sylens corrected.

"But it was! Somehow Elisabet saved us! We've got to keep looking, find out how she did it…" Aloy replied, before relenting further.

"So this world was almost extinct in the past?" Chito questioned herself. "This doesn't add up."

"If this is the case, then whatever these soldiers did throughout Enduring Victory, they were just used to buy time for this Zero Dawn to be created." Zoro concluded. "Agh! What the hell are we getting ourselves into?" He gripped his hair, as he remarked in a dismayed manner.

Leaving the holographic theatre, Aloy, Zoro, Chito, and Yuuri proceed to enter another area of the room, until they found out that several Shadow Carja Kestrels have managed to break through the ruin through the said vents, investigating for the people behind the source of the noise above.

"Kestrels! They got in - through the vents!" Aloy warned.

"Let nothing stop you from learning the truth." Sylens reminded.

"Spread out! If it moves, kill it!" A Shadow Carja Heavy guard ordered.

"What is this place? A tomb?" One of the Shadow Carja guards questioned at the nature of the ruin.

Yuuri then takes out her rifle, as she reloads it. "It looks like they're not going down without a fight."

Zoro then takes out his Enma. "I guess this is not enough."

Leaving the spot that they are in, the Unity Force then proceed to fight off against the Kestrels, who were bent on killing anyone on sight.

"Intruders! Kill them!" The Shadow Carja Heavy commanded, before he takes out his weapon, which is a Firestriker, as he fires it on the group.

Aloy proceeds to take out her Striker Bow, as she fires as shot towards one of the Kestrel's head, before the shot dispatched the guard.

Yuuri then fires a lethal shot into one of the Kestrels through its head, causing its head to pop, before the guard even attempted to fire its bow towards the blondette. She grins sadistically in front of his dead body.

Zoro then focuses his attention on two of the Kestrels charging towards the pirate, to which he only cracks a grin in front of them. "Yakkodori!" He shouted, as he proceeds to unleash a projectile of compressed air towards the guards, sending them flying the moment it hits them.

"Impossible!" The Shadow Carja Heavy exclaimed in disbelief, as he attempts to fire his Firestriker, but found it that it no longer had ammunition, forcing himself to take out his halberd.

Chito quickly dashes in front of the Kestrel. "Bleeding Edge!" She exclaimed, before unleashing a frontal blow with her right fist imbued with Crimson Lightning, sending the guard flying, as well as him getting electrocuted to death. "Great... Now our job is just getting harder." She quipped.

With the minor threat over, the Unity Force later proceed to reach another door, while Aloy proceeds to scan through the terminals with her Focus for datapoints.

"Good. We're too close to let tribal primitives stop us now." Sylens stated. "The data points. What do they contain?" He questioned the Nora.

Proceeding to listen to one of them, she then plays an audio log titled "Interview: Tom Paech" for the group to listen.

"Let's have a listen to one of them." Aloy muttered to herself.

Interview: Tom Paech
Voice Recording
Length: 00:48
Description:
Candidate Interview, PhD., Molecular and Cellular Biology
Corrupton: Partial

COUNSELOR: ...is accurate, yes.

TOM PAECH: So these mechanical monstrosities, they don't just kill people, they feed off them?

COUNSELOR: Not just people. All organic matter.

TOM PAECH: Every living thing - dissolved into nutrients? Millennia of evolution - liquefied?! The miracle of life reduced to - bloody bio-fuel?!

COUNSELOR: In a word? Yes.

TOM PAECH: Who did this? Faro? That arsehole! Is he here?!

COUNSELOR: No, Doctor! Please...

TOM PAECH: Tell him Tom Paech wants a word!

(sounds of struggle)

COUNSELOR: Doctor! Please!

TOM PAECH: YOU GET TED FARO IN HERE!

The recording abruptly ended, the moment Paech yelled Faro's name.

"This 'Paech' person sounded like he definitely hated Ted." Aloy remarked. "Not that surprising, at all, but he sounded confused."

"Probably because he signed up for something that he didn't ask for." Zoro simply quipped.

"Wow... So this Faro was responsible for causing all this mess in the ancient world?" Chito asked Zoro.

"After we found out what we saw in Maker's End and then here, yes." Aloy said.

They later open the door in front of them, which leads to a much smaller room. Similar to the holographic theatre they previously exited, it is also another holographic theatre room, but smaller.

"ZD_0_2 data intact. Initiating playback." The synthetic voice said, before Elisabet Sobeck's hologram appears.

"Who is that?" Chito asked.

Yuuri, on the other hand, questions Chito. "Chii-chan, why does that woman look like Aloy-san?" She whispered.

"Elisabet Sobeck!" Aloy exclaimed.

[PLAY MUSIC: Horizon Zero Dawn OST - The Good News]

The hologram firstly plays, with Sobeck introducing the state of Faro Plague, before proceeding to introduce what Zero Dawn is all about, before a hologram of what seems to be a plant surrounded by a blue sphere.

"You've heard the bad news, and it's all true. The Faro Plague is devouring the biosphere. But does that have to be the end? What if we could give life - a future? What if we could build a kind of seed, from which, on a dead planet, life could blossom anew? This is the aim - the hope - of Project: Zero Dawn: to create a super intelligent fully-automated terraforming system - And bring life back from lifelessness." Sobeck introduced.

"This sounded more optimistic than the previous." Chito remarked.

Sobeck then proceeds to unveil more about the Zero Dawn project, which is revealed to be GAIA: a powerful terraforming system that would fix the ravaged Earth after the Faro Plague destroyed it, before the Subordinate Functions are then revealed, which includes MINERVA, HEPHAESTUS, AETHER, POSEIDON, DEMETER, ARTEMIS, ELEUTHIA, APOLLO, and HADES. A hologram of Earth is then shown.

"What would such a system require? At its core, it would need a true AI. Fully capable of making the trillions of decisions necessary to reconstitute the biosphere. An immortal guardian, devoted to the re-flourishing of life. We call it GAIA. Mother Nature as an AI. But that's just the core of the system. She will need to be surrounded and empowered by a comprehensive suite of Subordinate Functions. Think of them as extensions of GAIA's mind, each dedicated to a specific purpose. Now these aren't Als, but make no mistake - each presents an engineering challenge more profound… than anything the human species has ever before attempted. Hardware that preserves and gestates the billions of seeds and embryos from which life will be reborn. The construction of underground facilities to hold it all. And that's just the start. We don't have to build the entire system. The beauty of a fully automated terraforming system is that it can build itself. Now, over the days to come, you'll learn how all these Functions - all these pieces that you'll be working on - fit together. How we'll race the clock to execute our harvest initiatives, write the software, build the tech and the facilities. How we'll lock it down and seal it up before the inevitable occurs. But even more important, you'll know how it doesn't end here." Sobeck stated slightly optimistically, as she proceeds to explain in-depth about GAIA.

"Except those two nearly killed us." Zoro remarked to himself, remembering his encounter with HEPHAESTUS and HADES both in Cauldron EPSILON and the Eclipse Main Base, respectively.

More holograms of the Subordinate Function's functionalities were then shown and introduced, ranging from MINERVA, HEPHAESTUS, AETHER, POSEIDON, DEMETER, ARTEMIS, ELEUTHIA, and APOLLO.

"How GAIA will generate these deactivation codes General Herres talked about… and build the transmission arrays to broadcast them, shutting down the Faro robots for good. How GAIA will not just build but imagine any conceivable robot it needs to do its work across centuries… from detoxifying the Earth's ravaged atmosphere and poisoned seas… to the re-greening of the Earth from cryo-preserved seed stocks… to re-wilding the Earth with animal life. And then, when all that is done, how a new generation of human beings, spawned at Cradle facilities around the globe… will partake of APOLLO: the vast archive of human knowledge and cultural achievement from which they will learn of us, our world, and most important how not to repeal our mistakes. It's not an impossible dream. It is within our grasp if we work tirelessly and stop at nothing to achieve it. We can't stop life from ending. But if you will help me help GAIA - we can give it a future. Join me, and help make that future real." Sobeck concluded, before the hologram ending.

After watching Sobeck's recording, the Unity Force finally understand why life on Aloy's Earth flourished, instead of it being permanently extinct like in Chito and Yuuri's world.

"Unbelievable..." Chito stated. "So this GAIA fixed this world?" She pondered.

"So… the whole Earth, destroyed… but then, remade?" Aloy pondered.

"Yes. By a machine. A machine of creation…" Sylens responded.

"Elisabet did this. For life. For us. But - why HADES, then? If it was part of GAIA, how'd it end up in the wreckage of a Faro robot? And why's it want to kill me? And APOLLO - the archive of knowledge - what happened to that?" Aloy suspiciously pondered.

"I'm as confused as you are. Maybe the answers lie ahead." Sylens ended, before cutting off.

Zoro, Chito, and Yuuri then proceed to slowly register these following thoughts into their head, especially for the astounding revelation regarding Zero Dawn.

"We should tell the rest about this, after we finish exploring this room." Zoro stated.

Another text message appears from Zoro's tablet, which came from Nanoha, which revealed that she and the rest of them have defeated all of Bahavas's men and various mercenaries going after Uthid, a Shadow Carja defector who later murdered the rogue Sun-Priest due to him being framed over unearthing a massive refugee culling.

"Zoro, regarding the current situation with Bahavas and his men in Greenclimb, per Vanasha's instructions, we're now preparing to rescue Itamen and his mother Nasadi at that Citadel. Bahavas is like that Zaid person that Law told me about. Vanasha said that they were simply smuggled by this Jiran's followers, two years ago, and were made as puppet leaders to the Shadow Carja, since Bahavas and Helis were mostly responsible for the ruling. It's despicable and disgusting how these two used a child to further their agenda. But with Bahavas now dead, Vanasha said that chaos would soon ensue in Sunfall over a power vacuum, giving her the chance to free the two. Did the rest of you find out about Zero Dawn?

- Nanoha"

"So what's happening above?" Chito asked.

"It seems that Sun-Priest got his own comeuppance." Zoro quipped. "Good for him, because I could not stand his goddamn face and his lunatic 'preaching'." He added in twisted satisfaction.

"And?" Yuuri questioned.

"Nanoha said that without him, it would give them the advantage to free those rulers, who are more like prisoners, and send them to the Carja territory." Zoro stated, before proceeding to tell Nanoha about their discovery. "At the same time, we tell Nanoha, Fate, and the rest about this."

Leaving the small room, the Unity Force then proceed to enter another room, which leads to a pathway that points to another area of the facility known as Central Projects. This time, however, no Shadow Carja Kestrels were spotted, but they prepare themselves, just in case.

"Alert. Medical wing inaccessible." The synthetic voice said, as they attempt to reach the door to the Medical wing.

"Power's down." Aloy stated.

"Is there another route?" Sylens questioned.

When they later arrived at the door in front of them, it is currently locked, as the holo-lock was coloured red.

"The door's locked." Chito said, as she attempts to open it.

"Wait here, while I'll try opening the door." Aloy said, as she goes through a room to the right of them, which was revealed to be another power room for the door.

Waiting for a few minutes to come, Zoro later receives a message from Nanoha, only this time she, Fate, and Trafalgar, as well as Vanasha, are revealed to be in another place known as The Branded Shore, helping out a person known as Huadiv, to facilitate Itamen and Nasadi's escape.

"So Zero Dawn was nothing more than a terraforming system to rejuvenate a badly damaged planet. But when you mentioned about HADES and HEPHAESTUS being part of GAIA, it was a shocking twist of events for us, since you faced HEPH in the past and HADES recently, us included who see it for ourselves. Given their sentience, we still don't know how they become too sentient and to evolved to be an AI. As for the situation in Sacred Lands, Saber said that she noticed something suspicious northeast of Mother's Watch, so the rest of the heroes there are preparing for the worst that will come. Be careful.

- Nanoha"

"So, what's happening with the three above?" Yuuri questioned Zoro.

Zoro wipes some of the sweat off before replying. "It seems that they're now facilitating the escape of the defected Shadow Carja royals to Meridian." He revealed. "Not only that, but there's a lot going on above." He continued.

Afterwards, the door in front of them opened, as Aloy appears.

Heading through the door that leads to another room as Central Projects, the group later noticed several Eclipse troops patrolling the room, forcing the Unity Force to hide.

Yuuri would attempt to make noise to distract the Eclipse, but Chito would immediately shut her up by smacking her head, as the two hide at one of the columns, with Zoro and Aloy hiding on the other.

"Quiet, will you?!" Chito whispered.

"Eclipse! They're here!" Aloy called out.

"Avoid contact." Sylens said.

From there, they see a few more Eclipse cultists rappelling down the ruin.

"Lines look good!" The Cultist Punisher said.

Aloy then observes through a room within the second floor.

"GAIA! It's up there - second floor." Aloy revealed.

"Can you reach it?" Sylens asked.

However, given the enormity of the Eclipse troops swarming inside, the rest of the group have no other choice but to fight their way through cultists to reach the second floor.

"So much for us avoiding contact." Aloy remarked, as she takes out her bow.

"I guess we have no choice." Chito said.

[PLAY MUSIC: Horizon Zero Dawn OST - The Spreading Eclipse]

Yuuri later proceeds to reload her rifle with a .338 bullet, as the blondette fires it towards one of the Cultist Dredgers, causing the Blaze tank on its back to be punctured, before an ensuing explosion happens.

"Now!" Chito ordered, as she conjures Crimson Lightning Spear on her right hand, before she proceeds to rush towards a Cultist Thug and stabs him with it. The spear then explodes, causing the cultist to be electrocuted, before his body explodes in a pile of gore. "There's more of them!"

More Eclipse cultists rappelled down, as they noticed the commotion.

"By the Shadow! It's the Nora savage and the Unity Force!" The Cultist Punisher exclaimed. "Helis ordered us to kill them on sight, no exceptions!"

Aloy then takes out her Blast Sling, as she fires several explosives towards some of the Cultists, sending them flying into the walls of the facility. "This one's mine!"

"Sanjuroku Pound Ho!" Zoro quickly holds his Enma horizontally above the shoulder of his sword arm, and then performs a circular swing that launches the air compressed projectile spiraling towards several Cultist Thugs charging towards him, causing their heads to be decapitated.

Yuuri then dodges an arrow being fired onto her, before she instantaneously takes out an explosive round. She then tosses it mid-air and lands an accurate shot into the explosive her rifle, causing the said cultist to be blasted into the wall, as it hits.

Leaving with one cultist left, Chito then proceeds to empower both of her hands with lightning. "Battering Ram!" She shouted, as she uses both of her hands and unleashes it towards the Cultist Punisher, causing him to be thrown off the wall of the facility.

"That's it, for now." Chito said, but was interrupted when a gunfire suddenly appears, revealing to be a Cultist Heavy as he arms his Deathbringer gun.

"Die before the Buried Shadow!" The Cultist Heavy exclaimed.

"Alert. H-Lock structural failure. Repeat: H-Lock structural failure." The synthetic voice said.

"Or not!" Aloy uttered, as they proceed to hide at one of the walls.

Then, another Cultist Heavy appears from the scene, as he fires his Deathbringer gun.

"Shit, another one!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Yuuri, prepare that gun of yours! I'll throw a Blast Bomb into both of them!" She ordered.

Yuuri then reloads her rifle. "On it, Aloy-san!"

Aloy then throws a Blast Bomb into it via her sling, before Yuuri proceeds to aim her rifle into the grenade, quickly pulling the trigger in a split-second moment, causing the bullet to hit through the bomb, triggering a chain reaction that instantly kills the cultists, turning both of them into nothing more than a pile of gore.

"Room's clear. For a moment, anyway." Aloy said in reluctant relief.

"Then get moving. You have to find GAIA." Sylens reminded.

After a battle, the Unity Force then head through a bigger room with what looked like HEPHAESTUS's symbol on top of it, and ARTEMIS's symbol on the other, as well as other mysterious machinery, where most of them were similar to the ones they saw in Cauldron EPSILON.

However, when they passed by, they are suddenly greeted by a hologram of a person, known as Margo Shen, who was the Alpha of the HEPHAESTUS Subordinate Function.

"Another of those 'holograms'." Chito remarked.

"Hello! I'm Margo Shěn, and this is HEPHAESTUS! As the name might tip you off, this is going to be the subordinate function that GAIA will use to make lots and lots of robots. Her personal forge… except it's not that simple. Um. So, like, you probably noticed that only about a third of you are robotics engineers. The rest, experts in machine cognition, virtual heuristics, that stuff. Well, that's because we aren't going to be the ones designing and building robots. The last thing we want is to burden GAIA with a bunch of outmoded twenty-first century designs. Waste of time! Our purpose is to empower GAIA to build the robots. And not just build - imagine - from scratch! Any robot she needs, for any conceivable purpose, designed and fabricated at a snap of a finger. Hers. Her finger. So HEPHAESTUS isn't really the force It's more like the knowledge of craft and ingenuity of a master smith, to wield the hammer. Encoded as software. Virtual creativity made real. GAIA's already learning. In simulations, she's doing some very creative things with fractal assembly and animal morphologies. Her designs aren't about to win the Li-Em prize anytime soon, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere! So… Yes. Time to get started. Let's do this." Shěn said, before her hologram shut down.

"I don't get it." Aloy remarked.

"Which part? It's a little technical, in places -" Sylens asked.

"If GAIA was designed to save life, why would the robots it makes attack people?"

"Perhaps it loves some forms of life more than others."

"The Derangement. The machines weren't always so angry…"

"True. Mostly they were docile, until ten, fifteen years ago."

"For years 'HEPHAESTUS' has been forcing Cauldrons to make aggressive machines. I've seen it myself. In the Cauldrons. Stalkers. Ravagers. A Thunderjaw. Not to mention, the machines we faced in another of its cauldrons, Cauldron EPSILON. How could it do that? And why?"

"Why, indeed."

"What's happening?" Chito asked Zoro regarding the current topic.

"HEPHAESTUS... The last time we encountered it, that AI was almost too dangerously sentient, and it was pumping machines to kill us on sight." Zoro suspected. "But I thought it was never this sentient." He added.

"Wait, Shamal-sensei told us about it, and Maya-san was the one responsible for stopping whatever that thing was with the rest of you." Chito stated.

"Except we did not." Zoro grimly uttered. "Maya only purged it out of its 'core' and fled to parts unknown."

"So it's not defeated, then." Yuuri said.

"Partially. We don't know where it ended up anymore, for now." Aloy added.

After investigating the HEPHAESTUS' room, as well as the origins of the AI, the Unity Force leave the said room, before reaching through another stairway that leads to another hallway.

During their trek, they found the doorway to Elisabet Sobeck's office, but the buildup of rocks rendered it sealed off completely, forcing the rest to find another alternative.

"I think this is it! Elisabet Sobeck's office! But it's sealed off. There's got to be a way inside…" Aloy commented.

"Keep looking." Sylens simply ordered.

Arriving at another area of the Central Projects, the group later arrived at another room with the MINERVA icon on top, where it leads to what seems to be a room containing MINERVA's room, but the door inside was completely locked.

Ignoring the said room, they are later greeted by another hologram of a person, who was known as Samina Ebadji, the Alpha of the APOLLO Subordinate Function.

"Welcome to APOLLO - the collective memory of the human species, and the wellspring of knowledge for future generations. I am Samina Ebadji. Until recently, I was Director of the International Collective Memory Institute in New Tehran. As a heritage professional, I devoted my career to the preservation of human knowledge, creative endeavour, and cultural achievement. APOLLO is, therefore, the ultimate embodiment of lifelong passion - albeit, under the very worst circumstances imaginable. The challenges before us are immense. Specifically, we will have to design and implement four major initiatives simultaneously. First: the construction of data repositories in Cradle facilities around the world, ensuring redundancy. Second: The collection and processing of a projected 180 million discrete data-entries…. - forty-two zettabytes of data - in Mandarin, English, Spanish and Arabic. Third: the transferal and encoding of all that data into DNA encapsulated in synthetic fossils, the only medium capacitors and durable enough to safeguard it without degradation for the centuries to come. And last but not least: The development of the holographic interface and gamified curricula… by which future humans will commune with APOLLO, progressively unlocking heuristic learning modules… "leveling up the knowledge and skills they will need to take control of the terraforming system. That is the future towards which all of our efforts will be directed. Not just the preservation of the past… but the seed for the flourishing of a new tree of knowledge. Welcome. And let us begin." Ebadji ended.

"So APOLLO, this so-called archive..." Chito pondered.

"But why so many people in this world do not even know about anything?" Zoro pondered, as he grows suspicious of this.

"We still have to find more answers regarding this." Aloy added in slight dread.

"In what should have been a cave of wonders. Look around. See if anything is left." Sylens added.

They later leave the room and head into what seems to be the archive room of the facility. From there, they encounter a huge archive in front of them, presumed to be a data storage. However, when Aloy accidentally scans into it, an ominous message appears on her Focus.

APOLLO ARCHIVE 200
:: ARCHIVE STACK ERROR :: CODE LOCK
EXCEPTION 01 :: ALL DATA LOST ::

Sylens suddenly lamented from out of nowhere. "All of this, lost? The ancients' greatest gift to us."

"Greatest? How about the fact that we exist at all?" Aloy questioned.

"Doesn't make any sense to us." Zoro stated. "Probably the archive malfunctioned and it deleted anything."

"To abide in ignorance is a curse, Aloy and the Unity Force. All of you should know that." Sylens remarked.

"That's rather suspicious, but we're almost there looking for answers." Zoro said. "Might as well check on what goes on with the rest above."

Zoro opens his tablet, before another message from Nanoha is seen, revealing that Nanoha, Fate, and Trafalgar were successful in helping Vanasha out.

"How's things going on in there? So, the rest of us including myself, Fate, Law, and Vanasha fought against the Eclipse and their Shadow Carja Kestrels in the Daybrink, when we were attempting to let Itamen and Nasadi escape. The Eclipse, in particular, sent a Corrupted Thunderjaw, those machines you told us, and attempted to kill us. However, they did not stand a chance, and so the extraction was successful. Avad-sama was impressed of us, so much that our names were now known all across Meridian and possibly the rest of the tribes. Now that Avad is reunited with his half-brother and his stepmother, it is a sigh of relief for him and for us, which is good news. The bad news is that Helis is greatly furious that their tribe is falling apart, now knowing that he has no royals to exploit in Sunfall. It's only a matter of time before anyone will be his target next.

- Nanoha."

"So they're successful." Zoro stated. "Good for her, but we must get out of here and find Sobeck's room." He warned.

"Why?" Chito questioned.

"Helis is not happy about this finding, and he's now on a revenge spree against us." Zoro coldly stated.

With nothing else to lose, the Unity Force later leave the archive room, before heading into another room with HADES' logo on top.

Then, as they arrived inside the room, a hologram of a person is seen, which is revealed to be a man known as Travis Tate, the Alpha of the HADES Subordinate Function.

"Welcome to HADES - Zero Dawn's 'extinction failsafe protocol' - the ultimate killer app! Now I know what you're thinking. The purpose of GAIA is to resurrect life. So why give her a subordinate function, only purpose of which is to wipe life out all over again? I mean - what the what?! Just plumb crazy, ain't it? Well no, it isn't. Reconstituting a biosphere? That's a tall order. Tack-smart as GAIA may be, odds are she won't get it right the first time. I mean, imagine you're GAIA, two hundred years from now, and this new biosphere you're growing, it's all gone wrong. Alkalines are skyrocketing, coniferous forests eroding under the lash of super-storms that would've drowned Noah. It's chaos, a spinnin' top that won't stop wobbling. Now, what you gonna do? Release phase 1 organisms into that hot mess? Hope their CO2 and methane can balance out what you got started? Hell no. What you're going to do, GAIA, is step aside while HADES takes over and does what you're just too darn nurturing and life-loving to do. Which is burn that misbegotten mess of a biosphere to the ground so GAIA can start over. Okay, not burn. More like terraforming operations and suffocate it. But you get the idea. HADES takes the biosphere back to zero, square one, blank slate. And then, only then, does it hand the steering wheel back to GAIA and say: 'try again, ol' girl - and better this time, or we'll have to do this again.' That's HADES. It's pretty badass when you think about it. Extinction on demand, death on speed dial. All for the greater good, of course, but still - kinda metal! So - welcome to HADES. Welcome to the void!" Tate quipped, before the hologram ended.

"Okay… so if that's the original purpose of HADES, why does it want us extinct?" Aloy said, as she remembered their encounter with HADES.

"So an AI that can kill?" Chito questioned.

"Wouldn't that be a little too disturbing?" Yuuri asked.

"Not to mention, it was personally wanting to kill us the moment we see it." Zoro added.

"We need more data." Sylens replied.

"And how's it end up in the wreckage of a Faro Titan, getting worshipped by the Eclipse like some kind of god?" Aloy questioned.

"I'm learning as you are, Aloy and the Unity Force. Keep searching." Sylens ended, before he cuts off.

"Looks like the way onwards."

Leaving the HADES room, the Unity Force then head through a cave-in that was created, before they see various chambers of mysterious nature, far more advanced in nature, as well as another hologram of Patrick Brochard-Klein, the Alpha of the ELEUTHIA Subordinate Function.

"Welcome to ELEUTHIA, the crown and king of GAIA's subordinate functions, for it is by ELEUTHIA that the human race will continue to exist. I am Patrick Brochard-Klein, the Alpha in charge of this program. Let one thing be perfectly clear from the outset. ELEUTHIA is not a genetic engineering project. Our goal is to preserve the human genome, not alter it. A snapshot of human genetic diversity, literally frozen in time - the genetic quintessence of our species, unmodified. Under my watch, our activities and initiatives will comply with the 2034 Clone Provisions and the 2048 Raleigh Accords. Now, that may seem a quaint, even trivial concern to you, in light of present circumstances - but… was one of the authors of the Accords, it is far from trivial to me. The practical challenges before us are… staggering in scope and complexity. But not insurmountable. Global collation and provisional storage of zygotes: perfection of exogenic technologies, design and perfection of servitors… to provide nurture and inculcation during early child development; all of these program components must and will proceed… in tandem - to say nothing of the breakneck construction of Cradle facilities at sites around the world. So… let us begin." Brochard-Klein ended.

Aloy then scans one of the "artificial wombs" with her Focus.

"Are these… what I think they are?" Aloy pondered.

"Artificial wombs. Machines to spawn a new generation of human beings." Sylens responded.

"Wait, wait, wait..." Yuuri questioned, as she looks at the "wombs". "You're saying that these contraptions in front of us can create humans?" She added.

"Seems like it." Aloy added.

However, as they proceed to walk through another pathway in front of them, which leads into another broken elevator shaft that they climbed through, it suddenly dawned on Aloy what these "artificial wombs" were all about: the cradle facilities, with one of them being in All-Mother Mountain.

"'Cradle facilities.' Elisabet said a new generation of humans would be spawned inside such places." Aloy realised.

"She did." Sylens responded.

"All-Mother mountain - it was one of them?" Aloy asked.

"There's only one way to be sure." Sylens answered.

"This is all starting to make sense." Zoro stated.

Afterwards, the group continued onward, before heading through a room where they see Sobeck's office from afar, as it was locked.

"The hatch wouldn't open. Something… Something about a corrupted Alpha Registry. I need to search Elisabet's office." Aloy pondered.

Then, the group come across a holographic log, where it revealed a conversation between Sobeck and GAIA on the 27th of March 2065.

GAIA: - would benefit from Antelopinae morphologies, though caprid forms show superior load bearing capability.

Elisabet Sobeck: You're a quick study, GAIA.

GAIA: Dr. Sobeck, as I have conducted this comparative analysis of mammalian morphologies. I have gathered extensive data on the Quaternary Extinction Event.

Aloy: Looks like it used to hold something… some component that got removed.

Elisabet Sobeck: Oh? And your assessment? GAIA?

GAIA: Logically speaking, the extinction was a natural consequence.

Elisabet Sobeck: And yet?

GAIA: And yet… I find the loss of megafaunal species… unaccountably sad. That they passed forever into oblivion… causes me to experience a… grief… that is difficult to describe. Am I malfunctioning?

Elisabet Sobeck: No, no, GAIA you are not. This is good. It's very good.

"Oh, my god." Chito stated. "So this extinction event didn't just stop on these ancient humans."

"But everything, as well." Yuuri replied.

"Not to mention, who was that thing in front of Sobeck?" Chito pondered.

"It's probably that GAIA. We're almost close to the answer, regardless." Zoro said quietly, before focusing back to his senses.

However, their search did not end there, as they find another holographic log, dated the 13th of January 2066.

Elisabet Sobeck: You will undergo a brief period of unconsciousness… during relocation to Prime and final instatement.

GAIA: Elisabet, may I speak outside protocol?

Elisabet Sobeck: When you're back up and running at the new site we'll bring the subordinate functions online and see where we stand.

GAIA: Elisabet, I detect… distress. Are you all right?

Elisabet Sobeck: (sharply) I'm fine.

GAIA: I realize that circumstances compel us to launch earlier that we hoped, but all sub-systems are operational. The odds stand in our favor.

Elisabet Sobeck: But what if - ? GAIA… there's nothing left out there… you can't even survive unless you're wearing an environmental suit. There are billions dead… in fear and agony. What if… What if it was all for nothing…?

GAIA: Elisabet, extinction was inevitable. Thanks to you, life will have a future.

Elisabet Sobeck: You really believe that?

GAIA: I believe in you, Elisabet. In you, all th - (the holorecord interrupts)

Registering the said thoughts in their head, the Unity Force slowly uncover more about GAIA, before a final recording is discovered. This time it was dated 5th of June 2065, and it was another heated conversation between Elisabet Sobeck and Ted Faro regarding GAIA.

ELISABET SOBECK: Pure logic won't cut it, Ted. To pull this off, GAIA's going to need to have some skin in the game. It has to care.

TED FARO: What if it runs amok? Have we learned nothing from our mistakes?

ELISABET SOBECK: Your mistakes, I think you mean?

TED FARO: All I'm saying is, give it a kill switch!

ELISABET SOBECK: She was just born, Ted. I'm not going to put a gun to her head while she's still in the cradle!

TED FARO: You talk like it's a child! What if it becomes a monster?!

GAIA: Elisabet, may I speak outside protocol?

ELISABET SOBECK: Of course, GAIA. Go on.

GAIA: I am sorry to contradict you, but Mr. Faro's argument is sound. At this point, the development of my psyche is not entirely predictable. To ensure preservation of life, a hardwired override is, I believe, a necessary safeguard.

ELISABET SOBECK: There, satisfied, Ted?

TED FARO: Jeez, Lis. Just do what it says...

The recording then ended.

"Wow, so these two never get along with each other..." Yuuri said.

"Despite being on a first-name basis, they're more so in a way to butt their heads." Chito remarked.

"That's because of Faro." Zoro reminded. "He caused this mess, and now Sobeck was not happy of his stupidity." He mocked with a purely sardonic tone.

They later find a broken door that later leads to Sobeck's office, forcing Aloy to pry it open with her spear. Once she did, the Unity Force hurriedly went inside, as they see something in the table.

It was none other than the Alpha Registry master file, which would remediate the problem in the All-Mother Mountain's identiscan door.

"What is that thing on the table?" Chito asked.

"The Alpha Registry master file!" Aloy said.

"Intact?" Sylens asked.

"Yes. No signs of corruption."

"Then what are you waiting for? Copy the file!"

Aloy then presses the download button in the holograph, before the copying process of the master file begins.

"With this, I can restore the registry at the hatch inside All-Mother. Open it, go inside." Aloy remarked.

"And grasp the secrets within…" Sylens quietly said.

"Where I was born. Maybe… maybe who gave birth to me…"

Sylens suddenly reminded Aloy in a cruel manner about her birth. "'Who'?! Are you really so naïve? There will be no 'who' waiting for you there, Aloy. Whatever birthed you into the world was a 'what,' not a 'who'."

"You bastard." Aloy said in anger.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Sylens?" Zoro asked. "You're saying that Aloy was not even born from a human?"

"Oh no, I had a legitimate birth. It's Aloy, Zoro, who is the creation of a machine. But what kind of machine - and why? Why was she created?" Sylens remarked.

"I have a bad feeling about this! Hurry up, Aloy-san!" Yuuri exclaimed.

"The rest of you need to get out of there. What all of you found is too valuable. You're too valuable." Sylens warned.

"Goddammit! Nanoha, get us out of here, now!" Zoro attempts to talk to Nanoha, but his tablet is not working. "You're kidding me?!"

"W-what's happening?" Chito questioned.

"Signal's jammed! I cannot talk to her, nor even summon a portal out!" Zoro exclaimed furiously.

That was later answered, when the Unity Force later see Eclipse rappelling down from the ruin, as they began surrounding the place, before they see Helis in his Kestrel armour. Beside Helis is Anders Benoit, who is seen rappelling, before pointing his M4 Revolver to the group

"Well, would you look at what we have in here?" Benoit mocked. "Ironic to say at the least, Unity Force, but your meddling is finally over here, and this place will be your last." He warned, as he looks at the group.

"Benoit, what is the meaning of this?" Chito said, as she gritted her teeth.

"I'll be damned that you joined in with this fanatic!" Zoro malevolently exclaimed.

"The Black Matter is not pleased of you ruining our plans for the last time. But to be really sure that all of you are not leaving alive, I've jammed that signal from that device of yours, so that you cannot escape us." Benoit revealed, as he looks at Zoro.

"Dammit." Yuuri exclaimed. "You bastard!"

"It's been pleasure meeting the rest of you. Now, time to incapacitate them!" Benoit ordered.

Helis then unleashes an explosive bomb with his Blast Sling, before Benoit fires his revolver into the bomb, causing a violent explosion inside that rocks the whole office, knocking the rest of them out completely.

Afterwards, Benoit and Helis, as well as the Eclipse, approached the unconscious bodies of the Unity Force heroes as they proceed to plan on what they are about to do with them.

"Still alive. Good. We have a more suitable death in mind for the rest of you..." Helis stated.

"Black Matter, we got the Unity Force inside this place." Benoit chimed in through his comms.

"Excellent work, Benoit and Helis. I heard Helis has a more convincing way to punish these wretches in the first place." Black Matter responded from Benoit's comms.

"With that being said, Black Matter, they're the first of the thousands to die in the Sun-Ring." Helis responded, before commanding the Eclipse. "Make sure to strip them of their weapons and their powers."

"Got it!" The Cultist Punisher said.

Afterwards, the Eclipse, Helis, and Benoit dragged the unconscious Aloy, Zoro, Chito, and Yuuri out of the ruin, before they are imprisoned in the Sun-Ring, just above the Zero Dawn Project Facility.

[Meridian, Earth-1355]

Meanwhile, Nanoha, Fate, and Trafalgar are seen outside of the city, when they are not receiving any messages from Zoro and the rest.

"Something's wrong." Nanoha remarked. "They're not responding to us!"

"This is not good..." Fate quietly added.

"We must go back to Sunfall, immediately." Trafalgar immediately warned.

Then, a message appears from Nanoha's tablet, revealing to be from Noelle.

"The Nora tribe's on SOS mode. You must go here, now. The Eclipse and Resh's Braves have attacked the Nora Sacred Lands, and their numbers are almost impossible to be quantified! We don't know what happened, but they suddenly attacked at the Main Embrace Gate without warning, and everything is chaotic in here. We've managed to save all of the tribesmen and evacuate them to Mother's Watch inside the All-Mother Mountain, but Resh and Thush are going after the mountain and want to kill them on the inside. They have an army of machines, and they're bent on destroying the tribe. We're defending it as hard as we can, before the tribe will be driven to extinction.

- Noelle."

Shocked with the message, the trio later hurriedly leave Meridian in an attempt to rendezvous with the rest of the group in Nora Sacred Lands, which is now in utter danger. However, Nanoha attempts to relay a message to the Unity Force Academy regarding Aloy, Chito, Yuuri, and Zoro's appearance in an attempt to send heroes to assist the rest of them, while the trio attempt to repel an invasion.

To be continued...

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The characters that appeared in this chapter (in order):

Itamen, Nasadi, Bahavas, Vanasha, Margo Shen, Samina Ebadji, Travis Tate, and Patrick Brochard-Klein from Horizon Zero Dawn

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A/N: This story is inspired by the ideas of someoneStupED and XP4Universe.

On the next Chapter of UF Missions: Horizon Zero Dawn: Imprisoned before the Shadow Carja, as well as them being stripped of their weapons and their powers, Aloy, Chito, Yuuri, and Zoro must prevail a deadly machine battle against a Corrupted Behemoth.