Chapter 13: Military Train (I) – Desperate Resolution

Having repaired by Douglas a second time straight, a fully recovered Zero found himself surrounded by the commanders of every unit of the Maverick Hunters, as well as Dr. Thoth, the Supreme Commander.

None of the discussions during the meeting was heeded by Zero, his brain circuits fully occupied by his own dilemma. This battle was a lost cause, it could be avoided in the first, but it had reached a point of no return. What pained Zero the most was the fact that he could no longer run away from this war, at some point, he would had to face Colonel, and kill him, or else he would be the one who would fall. As the war dragged on, he had no idea how long he could keep Iris, if all was like he hoped for, she would turn against her own people and join the Maverick Hunters.

Would that be so?

Iris already begged the two of them not to fight, but her plea certainly was, in vain. Colonel firmly stated that the Repliforce would not cease the coup, giving the Maverick Hunters little choice but to continue oppose them, causing more bloodshed.

The only thing he could do, was to keep Iris away from all this. When it's all over, they would be reunited, and from there on, things would change. Iris was skilled in navigation, she could easily be one of the Hunters without much hassle.

The meeting led to nowhere, most of the commanders were furious at how they made such a blunder in labeling the Repliforce as Mavericks just so. Dr. Thoth repeatedly apologized for his overly enthusiastic decision that was made without much thought. He initially believed that the humans were all at his side, seeing how the distrust towards Repliforce had swelled to a point where many were asking for their disbandment. However, the humans were not the ones who participate in the war, the Reploids were.

Repliforce was no small army, their morale incredibly strong thanks to great leaders like General and Colonel, their numbers were pretty much equal compared to the Maverick Hunters.

After Dr. Cain's death, the Hunters were no longer enjoying as much glory as they were, there was no leadership, as well as lacking a genius working on rare bugs that could not be solved by normal scientists or mechanics. Dr. Thoth was an able scientist, but not as proficient as Dr. Cain, who managed to build the entire blueprint of Reploids from studying X, Dr. Thoth could never replicate such greatness, nor had the same charisma to lead the Hunters.

These Reploids were very sophisticated, they could tell whether the current leadership was worth following or not. Some had left to join the Repliforce, while some went on to live freely, to a point few had become Mavericks themselves.

Dr. Thoth tried to rule with fear and intimidation, but ultimately it backfired.

In front of his commanders now, he appeared powerless, hapless and clueless. Many opposed to the notion of surrendering, even slamming Zero for his cowardly actions, which never receive a response from the deeply pondering hunter, his eyes closed and his hands crossed resting below his nose.

X tried to control the situation, but in the end, it was Signas, the commander of the Ninth Special Forces. Modeled after a military general, complete with the blue uniform and the blue cap on his head, his presence was large.

"Surrender was no longer an option," he started, "we must continue to fight this war, and win it. There is no other way around."

He went on and analyzed the details between both forces, the Repliforce had occupied many cities initially, but they had not spread further, and a pattern was found, the cities were all surrounding the headquarters of Repliforce.

"I'd say they might be building something." Signas continued. Many others nodded their heads in agreement. "Therefore, we must find out their agenda, their final objective, and weaken them from there." He went on and pointed out the transport routes that Repliforce secured, train stations, airports and harbors.

"Sir, may I come in?" A familiar voice came knocking at the door. It was a male's voice yet it was mellow and easygoing.

"We are in the middle of a very important meeting here!" One of the more hotheaded commanders cried out.

"Wait, it's Double." X was the first to recognize the voice. "What is it? Did you bring something?"

"Yes, I had collected the data on the transport activities of the Repliforce on a daily basis."

"Brilliant timing," Signas exclaimed with joy, "Come in."

Double walked clumsily in holding stacks of papers, he almost dropped them when he took the first step. Slowly and carefully, he struggled to get the papers onto the table, laying them out. Signas and the rest of the commanders quickly studied these newly acquired vital information, and it was concluded that various supplies from multiple locations were repeatedly transported to the Repliforce headquarters. Not only that, they also obtained the schedule of the products being moved out, making it easy for them to intercept and weaken the Repliforce.

"I will stop the trains," Zero suddenly voiced out. He let out a long sigh, before standing up and resumed, "my Shinobi Unit moves best on places like these."

"Then my unit will move and engage with their air force," X volunteered.

"X, my team will join with yours," said Storm Raven, the commander of the Seventh Air Cavalry. "Combined with your long ranged attacks and our mobility, the Repliforce don't stand a chance."

More and more units volunteered to move to locations which may help them gain advantage over the Repliforce. The Maverick Hunters were pretty much on the defensive, and now it would change.

"Take heed that our numbers dwarf theirs, so efficiency is of utmost importance, don't recklessly throw your lives away." Signas added.

"Roger!" The voices of every commander echoed in the conference room. The meeting ended soon after, Double received much of his well-deserved praise, while Dr. Thoth had been reduced to a silent role for the latter half of the meeting.

Zero felt his determination renewed. He would win this war, and save everyone, especially Iris.

"You are going again?"

"Iris…"

"You barely made it back with your life just few hours ago, and then you almost lost it again after fighting with my brother… and now…?" Iris couldn't help but sobbed, her heart pain stricken and her mind felt tortured with the thought of her dear brother was going to clash again with Zero. It was a helpless cause, but she felt she did not belong anywhere yet heavily involved in this war

"Believe in me, Iris, the Maverick Hunters will win this war, and everyone will be alright." Zero tried to reassure her, but was quickly brushed off by Iris.

"How? Wars always have casualties, with you and brother fighting on the front lines, how could I possibly believe that both of you would be alright?"

Zero went numb, the truth behind her words was absolute. His renewed determination, was merely a farce to push himself to go on. He subconsciously opted to block out the unfavorable outcomes of the war, consoling himself with the best possible scenarios.

Ultimately, it's either he lives and Colonel falls, or the other way round.

"Iris, we don't have a choice. The Repliforce refused to end the war, and for the wellbeing of everyone, we must continue… we cannot lose…" Zero felt his voice awfully tense yet feeble, he sounded desperate, yet powerless to convince his woman to trust him completely.

Iris remained silent. Zero let out another sigh, and went along to hug her, "Navigate for me, will you? Protect me."

Iris did not know what to answer. Navigating for Zero was fine and all, what if her brother shows up on her screen? Would she be bold enough to turn against her brother and take Zero's side, or would the opposite scenario occurred?

In the end, it was an endless loop of dilemma, for the both of them. This war was too intimate, too many things to consider, too unforgiving.

However, running away was never an option, fate disallowed it.