Chapter 12: End of Discussion

Colonel stood firm with his blue sword held down straight pointing towards the ground, several Maverick Hunters surrounded him, weapons ready to strike should the opponent make any moves that may pose a threat. Colonel was unfazed, he waited patiently, not moving a single inch that would provoke the Hunters from attacking.

Zero, totally in bad shape, hardly recovered from his near-death skirmish against Magma Dragoon, dragged himself to face Colonel, his green Z-Saber tightly gripped in his right hand. As Zero approached the scene, the group of Maverick Hunters opened a path to him, allowing him to see Colonel face to face.

"You look terrible." Colonel mentioned, disappointingly.

He was awfully right. Zero was largely unpolished from the fight against Dragoon, his armor and body parts were mostly scratched and burnt marks could easily be spotted on many places. Clearly he did not had time to recover from a previous mission.

"Why are you here?" Zero asked, straight to the point.

"I am here for my sister Iris. Is she here? You have kept her for… too long." Colonel demanded, interestingly, he did not ask for his sister directly, instead opting to redirect the demand towards Zero. Zero immediately deduced three reasons: One was because Iris wasn't actually a member of the Maverick Hunters, she could not be given the authority to meet a commanding officer of an enemy of war so easily; secondly, Zero was a high ranking officer of the Hunters, and he was the perfect person to look for regarding Iris; and lastly…

There were too many personal issues between the two of them. The rivalry between them was fierce, even more than Zero's and Dragoon's. At one point Colonel was against Zero going out with Iris, only with a good old duel where Zero was able to win her over. Beyond that, they had many more duels together, and their win ratio was equal. In missions, they had worked together before, but lately the tension between the Maverick Hunters and the Repliforce had increased, instead they worked on their own separate objectives.

Before, it was all friendly between them. Now, it was not.

Zero closed his eyes to ponder longer, before answering, "Indeed, Iris is here. However, I do not intend to return her to you. I believe she's much safer with us." Zero answered firmly, he did not want to lose Iris right now, not now.

"Hmph, ridiculous. She belonged to us. Surely the Repliforce would do a better job safeguarding her than the enemy. What were you even thinking, Zero?" Colonel asked, in fact he already knew the answer.

Both of them were too close, they knew each other too well. To them both, Iris was literally the most important person in the world. To Colonel, she's the only relative he had, and a direct twin Reploid of his, since the beginning of their operation, they had been together. For Zero, she's everything to him, that sweet and gentle demeanor, melting Zero's heart every time, also, that smile of hers was simply too wonderful, and must be protected.

There were hardly any secrets between them, yet it was precisely of this war, they realized that they could not show their weakness so easily.

Not that Zero had any choice, he was battered badly by Dragoon, and Colonel showed up during such a brilliant moment.

Another thought flashed in Zero's head, although this notion had yet to be approved by the highest officers of the Hunters, but perhaps Colonel would understand.

"Colonel, listen carefully to what I have to say." Zero took a step forward. Eyes determined.

Colonel did not reply immediately, but seeing Zero's resolved gaze, he gave in, "Fine."

"The Maverick Hunters wished to stop the war." Zero began.

"Why?" Colonel asked immediately, upset to see his rival putting down a fight.

"We had found out the truth behind the fall of Sky Lagoon. It was caused by Magma Dragoon, one of our own. He was already terminated." He continued.

"So, you are telling me you Maverick Hunters had made a mistake in labeling us as Mavericks?"

"Yes… I hoped that you would stop the coup now. It's not too late."

There was an unnerving silence as Zero and the other Maverick Hunters waited for Colonel's decision. He took his time thinking this out, eyes closed and he tapped his fingers onto his other fist resting on the tip of the sheath of his saber. When he was finally ready to give a reply, he stepped forward.

"I am utterly disappointed in you, Zero."

"What!?"

"Do you think that us being labelled as Mavericks, is the sole reason for us to initiate this war? No. All these years, we've had enough of the humans losing their trust on us. We are Reploids, we cannot coexist with humans, the world would be better off where only we, the Reploids exist."

Colonel could not be any more direct with his words. Humans had only held the Repliforce with disdain, regardless of how efficient they performed their duties. They were always seen to be inferior to the Maverick Hunters, who existed much longer than them.

Since their masters never gave them any credit, why bother coexisting with them? It's not like the Reploids could not fend for themselves. No, with only Reploids, there would be no prejudice in this world, humans were always irrational and illogical beings, their body were weakly built, and their lives were short-lived. Reploids were easily superior.

As Colonel had finished his speech, the other Maverick Hunters quickly fortified their stance, preparing to strike, for they all had felt hostility from the Repliforce officer.

Zero shook his head, "I am disappointed in you as well, Colonel. Such selfish thoughts…"

Zero would never agree with Colonel, the Repliforce. It was imbecile to betray your masters, your creators. Without the humans, there won't be any Reploids in the world. The humans could be reasoned with, they were after all, intelligent beings. It was precisely this conflict of ideologies, that caused this war.

This scenario… again. Zero found himself at the exact same situation as he was with Dragoon. A powerful opponent, one he could not defeat alone. Comrades all over the place, putting them all in danger. He wanted to order them to leave, then again…

"You will die if we didn't come and back you up!" Dr. Thoth's voice echoed in his thought computer, he admitted that the professor was not wrong in that matter. There were times where pride must be put aside, or else the Maverick Hunters would suffer a much greater loss.

Zero also realized how important he was to the Maverick Hunters right now, he used to put himself ahead of danger and often took rash decisions, and he really needed to rethink this. Who made him realize that? Dr. Thoth.

Wait. Right now they weren't in some volcano or jungle. They were just outside the Headquarters. Backup must be arriving soon enough, all he had to do was to delay Colonel for a while, and once reinforcements arrived, the sheer amount of manpower they had should be sufficient to drive Colonel away.

"Zero…" Colonel suddenly spoke. "You've changed."

What!?

"You are hesitating. This never happened to you. Where is your pride?"

Damn that Colonel… He was taunting him again, just like Dragoon did. Colonel knew him too well. Zero never backed down from a fight, he was extremely proud of his own abilities, he would never give up until the very end.

It wasn't like him right now. Dragoon just tarnished that pride of his, and now Colonel was trying to crush it down.

"Soldiers never drop their weapons. It is cowardly of you to even consider this."

Coward?

"Everyone, step back, no matter what, do not interfere with this fight until I gave the permission."

"But, Commander Zero!"

"Don't worry, I know what I am doing." Zero turned his back to face Colonel. His front leg advanced a little, Colonel noticed this, and reared back a little.

"Prepare yourself!" Zero charged at Colonel, swinging a horizontal slash with his Z-Saber from his waist, only to have it blocked by Colonel holding his sword firm. Zero knew his strength wasn't fully recovered, so he couldn't risk trying to push his rival's sword away.

Zero jumped away, but just as soon he moved his eyes back onto Colonel, his opponent was no longer there.

It was Colonel's favorite attack, using his unbelievable agility, he could move himself so fast as if he vanished, and appeared behind his enemy. Zero quickly rolled away, barely avoiding Colonel's strike by a hairline. The red Hunter hastily retaliated by countering with a quick slash, but Colonel disappeared again to hack him at his back.

Luckily, Zero was fast enough to turn his back around and block the attack with his Z Saber. Colonel then reappeared much further away, swinging his blue sword down, generating a blue shockwave towards Zero. Zero dodged the first one, but there were two more coming right up, prompting him to jump high up.

"Hyouretsuzan!" Zero enveloped his Z Saber and dived straight down onto Colonel, only to strike nothing but the ground, the shattered ice hitting nobody as Colonel had already long vanished from that spot.

"Too slow." Colonel reappeared behind Zero and attempted to cut him down, which Zero managed to barely block again. Both of them continued to exchange blows, they were quite even at first, but his poor condition caused Zero to wear himself down much faster than Colonel.

Colonel, knowing very well victory would soon be his, disappeared and reappeared behind Zero, but this time, he did not attack, instead he dashed again, showing up beside Zero, who was not prepared to defend against such a swift successive maneuver. Zero could only lift up his Z Saber, but it wasn't enough to have Colonel's blue sword knocking it away and send him flying, causing him to land on his rear.

Now having Zero at his mercy, pulled his sword to deliver a final strike to end the battle.

"Stop! Please!" A female voice echoed out from afar. It was Iris, who rushed to the scene immediately after being notified to put an immediate end to the fight between her lover and brother. "Brother, please! Don't you remember? Zero saved my life!"

Colonel paused, Iris's eyes made him stop, then he looked back at Zero, who was obviously terribly hurt and hence could not provide a decent fight. Colonel turned away from Zero and walked towards Iris. "Come with me." He told her.

"No, not now, brother." Iris stated, "I… I still don't know where I belong right now. I wish… to stay here with Zero, for now."

Colonel tapped his large hands onto Iris's lean shoulders, his sister's eyes were sincere and from them, he could see how much he cared for Zero, as well as himself, her one and only brother. Deep down, she really did not want them to fight.

In the end, Colonel sighed, "Very well. You are far from your best today, Zero, and I was extremely dissatisfied." He looked at his weakened and defeated rival slowly getting back up from the ground and walked away, "I will spare your life for now, but next time there will be no mercy."

Iris quickly ran to Zero, holding him up and supported him the moment he almost lost his balance. "Zero, please! Don't fight with my brother! I do not want to see you two fight! Or else…"

Zero, his pride thoroughly hurt, was ashamed of himself for letting his rival best him so easily. This time, he was let off the leash and escaped death, but next time, who knows what the outcome will be between them?

In this war, should it not end, the two of them were bound to face each other again, and certainly, one of them must perish as an aftermath of this war.

Zero knew this, perfectly well.

However, at the looks of things, it seemed impossible that the Repliforce will listen to any of the Maverick Hunters's demands, they were the ones who were wrong, and to expect the accused to forgive them so easily…

It was simply naive.

The war must go on, and the only way to stop it, was to have one side rise above another.

"Someone… must stop Repliforce…!" Zero clenched his fist hard that it shook slightly, and slowly walked away from Iris.

"Zero!" Iris called out to him, but he did not turn back to look at her, continuing his staggering walk towards the main entrance of the H.Q. He was depleted, defeated, and humiliated.

"So… the Maverick Hunters wanted to negotiate with us." General murmured, his tone flat as usual.

"Do you really intend to consider their demands?" The hooded figure, again found his way sitting inside the conference room of the Repliforce Headquarters with the General.

"Not a chance. They brought this upon themselves. Our reputation would never be restored among the humans, not until we had won this war."

The other man chuckled in delight. Everything was going exactly as he planned. He knew Zero would be extremely damaged from the fight against Dragoon, and through the General, he sent Colonel to the Maverick Hunters H.Q, the timing was impeccable. Colonel was very worried about his dear sister, and hence, a perfect pawn. Furthermore, Zero could not resist a taunt from his closest rival, especially when his pride was on the line.

The Repliforce were desperate for recognition, and they had lost that. It was reason enough to wage this war.

As for Zero, he was again defeated, two times straight. His self-esteem would surely be a new time low right now, and seeing him suffer was extremely pleasing to witness.

This is too easy, almost too easy. He wanted to laugh out as loudly as he could, but in the presence of General, he held it down, but his shoulders could not contain his joy, as they jumped up and down slightly for quite some time.

So that's it for this part! I really changed a whole lot of things here, as I had a lot of issues with the original cutscene. Colonel's battle at the Memorial Hall, be it X's or Zero's, both are actually weird in a sense that there wasn't any purpose in those 2 clashes. In a war, I believe that every second counts, and that both parties shouldn't be wasting time in needless confrontation that resulted in nothing.

With that said, I made a lot of changes, in a direction that I preferred. I hope you guys liked it, and again, every favorites, follows and reviews, I greatly appreciate them, thanks!