"Commander Fefnir's quite eccentric, isn't he?" Ares grumbled. "Ordering an offensive in the midst of this chaos? Unbelievable."
Theseus couldn't help but notice that Ares almost sounded glad. Nothing less from the God of War, eh? Theseus shook his head.
"We should be concentrating on that vermin God of Destruction."
"Don't worry," Ares growled reassuringly. "Our sister Ate will ensure that vengeance befalls the bastard!"
"Was it she who suggested an offensive against the Resistance?" Theseus' annoyance towards his sister intensified at the mere thought.
"Hehehe! What is a monster if he watches his cubs die?"
"An enraged monster." Theseus growled, narrowing his eyes at his brother, unable to process his brother's stupidi...
"Futureless." Ares' correction struck a nerve. "He is futureless without his cubs, he'll have no one to live out his legacy. His wounds will be deepened fatally by the loss."
"Hmph!" Theseus sharply turned away, not wanting to admit that Zero too could feel. "To kill the monster, we kill his cubs."
"While they're in the nest." Ares finished. "In war, you destroy your opponent from the inside first, and leave nothing but a crumbling shell on the outside.
Theseus saw it, the image of a broken Zero kneeling helplessly, oily and battle-torn, finally meeting his match. Finally getting what he deserved. Finally suffering as he'd caused so many others to suffer. Finally tasting the bitter venom of death and destruction.
"There is a method to their madness," Theseus finally admitted, a smirk cracking itself across his face. "Fine, if it means breaking the God of Destruction, I'll indulge in your insanity."
Zero rested within the chopper, which he'd powered down to prevent being located by Neo Arcadian scouts. Almost, it's camouflage systems were still active. He sighed as he leaned back into a chair. His wound hadn't really opened up too badly, but it'd began to ooze as lightly as a paper cut. That assault went surprisingly well! But still, something felt off.
Zero raised his binoculars to his eyes and peered out of the cockpit through them, observing the recovery efforts of his Neo Arcadian foes. A lot of pantheons were scurrying about, piling rubble and bodies onto hover carts as they tried to first and foremost clean the place up. Zero put the binoculars back down, still alert given his dangerous proximity to their fortress. He'd only flown approximately two miles BVR (beyond visual range) and had touched down here for ease of stalking the Neo Arcadian forces. If this thing's GPS system was correct, they were only four hundred miles from the current Resistance base.
"This is gonna be intense," Zero sighed as he popped an edible E-Crystal into his mouth.
He'd already sent a simple transmission to Ciel by using the chopper's radio systems to increase his communications range, something he'd never needed to do before he fought Copy X. Once he got back, he'd need to get his transmitters checked out. Zero munched on another E-Crystal, warily observing the number of pantheons no longer a part of the clean-up operation steadily increasing.
Knowing Fefnir, he was probably diverting as much resources into his counter-attack. Not the most overtly intelligent style of warfare, but definitely Fefnir's style. He was a furious gambler. All or nothing. Somehow this reminded Zero of himself. Maybe that's how Zero fought in his younger days, and he was pretty sure that X could provide some good stories about it too.
"Did I fight like Fefnir a century ago?" He called out to his old friend.
There was no answer. None other than a feeling of reluctant pity, the kind a human would hold to a friend who wanted to know what happened to them as a result of their intoxication.
"I'll take that as a yes." Zero resigned, not wanting to know just what it was that he'd done.
Ciel held her arms across her stomach as reploids worked hard and long in Cerveau's laboratory with the communication equipment. It'd been twenty minutes since Zero's transmission had arrived, and it wasn't the greatest piece of news the girl had gotten today. It was good news! But it wasn't great news.
"Anything more on Zero's location?" Ciel asked, her eyes sparkling hopefully.
Colbor checked with one of Cerveau's assistants, and then shook his head. "Nothing more."
"Hngh!" She fought the urge to bite down on her nails. "What about Faucon? Is his team ready?"
"Yes ma'am!" Colbor reported like a true soldier. "They're currently awaiting orders in the data room near your room Miss Ciel!"
"Good! good." Ciel nodded to herself.
"Don't worry, Ciel!" Came Alouette's soft, shy little voice as she wrapped tiny arms around Ciel's waist in a loving hug. "Zero's strong! He's very strong! Obviously he's just called to let us know he's been beating up Neo Arcadia, right?"
Ciel didn't know how, but Alouette was right on the money. Ciel found herself softly giggling at the little reploid girl, wide, cheerful eyes glimmering with faith in Prince Zero-us.
"You're right, Alouette!" Ciel lovingly returned the warm embrace of her little - and metaphorical - sister. "And I'm gonna send Faucon and some others to check up on him!"
Alouette's eyes exploded with hope at the mere thought of it. "Are we gonna bring him back? Are we Ciel? Are we?"
Alouette pulled away from Ciel with her back turned and a clenched fist. Ciel's brows knitted in confusion.
"Zero lied to me! He promised he'd come back right away and he didn't! That liar! I'm gonna beat him up when he gets back!" Alouette furiously kicked at the air, cheeks puffed with rage as she turned to Ciel. "Big sis! Get him back so that I can beat him up!"
Ciel stared at her little sis, eyes wide with surprise, but also with understanding. Ciel knelt and patted Alouette's soft little head.
"Don't blame Zero," she softly smiled. "We should've done more to help him get back! Especially me!"
Alouette just kept pouting. "But he's so strong! He should've been back by now even without our help!"
Ciel couldn't disagree with that, but more importantly, she couldn't disagree with the tears in Alouette's eyes. Alouette wasn't just hurt or angry, she was alone. The Resistance wasn't the same without Zero, Ciel wasn't the same. Ciel gently hugged Alouette, softly whispering to her.
"Yeah, I know, but Zero has to fight, for all of our sakes!"
"But I don't want him to fight!" Alouette's voice was cracking as tears streamed down her cheeks. "I want him to come home!"
Ciel didn't want to admit it, not in front of the others, but she too wanted Zero to just give up and come home. She wanted Neo Arcadia to just leave them alone and stop attacking them when all they wanted was peace. She wanted Zero to be by her side, she wanted to feel his strong, powerful presence again. She knew too well how Alouette felt.
"Yeah, I know, I know." Gently stroking Alouette's back, Ciel chose her words carefully. "He wants to come home too, but if he comes home now, Neo Arcadia will attack us and hurt us! And if we get hurt, it'll hurt Zero really, really bad!"
The sniffling Alouette remained relatively silent, doing her best to choke back her tears. She knew Zero was fighting for their sake, but, it was getting so lonely without him. She really and truly just wanted him to come back.
"All we can do, is work with Zero for as long as we can, and hope that Neo Arcadia gives up." Ciel gave Alouette a reassuring smile. "I'm putting together a team, and they're gonna go find Zero, and help him, okay?"
Alouette sniffled as she wiped away a tear, and reluctantly nodded. Ciel gently kissed her forehead.
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit, okay?"
"Okay," Alouette mumbled and squeezed her little white plush doll.
Ciel stood, motioned for Colbor to follow her and then headed to the elevator. Alouette sighed.
"Ciel?"
Ciel paused and snapped her attention to Alouette, her long hair cascading around her like a plethora of blonde whips. "Yeah?"
"I'm gonna beat Zero up anyway!" Alouette smiled. "A prince should never break his princess' heart!"
Ciel didn't know what to do, but she found herself smiling, and then giggling. Still, they were the only two to get the joke.
"Sure, just, go easy on him!"
Alouette's smile brightened as Ciel and Colbor mounted the elevator and waved back. Alouette shyly waved back, still hurt that Zero hadn't come back, but glad that he was successful. Watching Ciel and Colbor disappear into the upper levels of the Base, Alouette silently stalked away to find that buster she'd been looking at from before. She'd already stolen - yes, stolen, if there's one thing Zero passed onto Alouette, it's a readiness of acknowledging what she's doing wrong - those fancy binoculars, and she'd been learning from Faucon and the others how to maintain a buster and the binoculars. Not directly, she'd watch them while they were fixing their weapons and mentally record the steps to it. She'd learned that from Zero too when he taught her martial arts. She still enjoys bruising Zero's ribs with a good roundhouse kick.
"Attention! Officer on deck!" Faucon shouted as Ciel entered the near-empty data room.
Faucon's personal specialized reconnaissance and sabotage squad snapped to their feet, male and female reploids saluting Ciel, their ever benevolent saviour. Of course, they were all briefed on the current situation, per Ciel's orders.
"Everyone's been briefed on the situation, ma'am." Rouge reported as she typed on a datapad. "We're currently awaiting your orders."
"Okay," Ciel composed herself as she swept her bangs out of her eyes. "Zero's transmitters may have been damaged, we're only 400 miles from both his and the Neo Arcadian desert base's location, and Zero has successfully crippled their communications and tracking devices. It's a fairly good report."
Colbor signalled for the SRSS to relax, and they did. Ciel might not look like it, but she was as calculating as Zero. Well, not that calculating, maybe if Zero were a little more passive and girly, then that would be Ciel.
"But he's wounded, he's requested that we avoid retrieving him, but that is, quite frankly, tactically absurd." Ciel continued as she activated a holographic monitor, fixating it onto Zero's current location. "This stolen chopper is what Zero used to send that transmission, we'll transfer you here, a mile southwest of Zero's location where you'll then rendezvous with Zero himself! With me?"
"Mhm!" "Yes ma'am!" "I gotcha!"
"Good!" She returned to her planning lecture. "I'll need you all to sweep and clear a perimeter with a half mile radius so that we can send in a team of medical reploids to repair Zero's transmitters and wounds."
Ciel shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. The SRSS, a twelve-reploid team, was ready to hear whatever she had to say.
"I cannot stress how important this mission is, find Zero, secure his position, get him repaired. Whatever happens after that is his say, got it?"
"Ma'am yes ma'am!" They all bravely whisper-shouted at her.
"Good, report to the transserver immediately!" She ordered.
"Yes ma'am!"
And so it'd begun, an open war on a desert front. The Resistance was making their move, and Ciel was sure that this could very well make or break the war effort before it could even begin for them.
A/N: Ate (read as Ah-tay) is the Greek goddess of vengeance and rebellion (or discord, whichever word is more accurate) and takes her place among the Zero Hunters for that very purpose (Copy X's death and all). Also, this chapter was really really REALLY rushed, so I hope it isn't too sloppy! But it's a resting chapter so I think it balances out.