Zoalords
Chapter 5
Reservations
"First Aptom, now Shizu . . ."
"You're forgetting Murakami. And Odagari-Sensei . . ."
"And my father . . ."
"I don't really want to talk about it." Segawa Mizuki, now Fukamachi Mizuki, turned away from the conversation. She knew they needed no further evidence of CHRONOS' cruelty, of their personal losses, after all they'd been through. Life under Lord Czyvek had lulled them into a false sense of security regarding CHRONOS. While it was true that Czyvek honestly wanted to help them, he was merely one man scorned by his fellows as a soft-hearted fool.
"Muraka . . . I mean, Imakarum was barely harmed, comparatively speaking. The real injury in CHRONOS' eyes is that Agito now has a martyr to hold up to the people who are already have doubts." Tetsuro took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Still, it may not be enough. Two project heads have been taken to The Ark and are probably already being processed into Zoalords. These aren't guys like Nguyen, scientists, these are some heavy-hitters. Soldiers."
"Isn't there any good news?" Mizuki asked.
"For us?" Sho sighed and put an arm around his wife, "We're alive. And we have now, and each other." A tear ran down his cheek, "You deserve so much better, Mizuki-chan."
Aboard The Ark,
"Without Griselda, the Libertus are less coordinated, but they don't need to be particularly coordinated to walk into a recruitment center and blow themselves up." Doctor Barcus felt a headache coming on. "I had hoped that after Dr. Hekkering's capture and the destruction of so many terrorist cells . . . Makishima is far more intelligent than we've given him credit for." He finally growled in frustration. "Czyvek!"
Czyvek sighed, he had a bad feeling about this. Since Griselda's death terrorist attacks had actually increased. "Yes, Lord Barcus?"
"Any progress on your work?"
"Yes, actually. And it's not my work, the scientists and Lord Nguyen are the real heroes. They have already began preliminary tests. We hope to incorporate the Unit Remover into a bio-blaster within a year."
"A year! We need them now!"
"Dr. Barcus," Lord Nguyen said softly, "You are a scientist. You of all people know that such work takes time."
"Especially when you are unwilling to take risks." He shot a look at Lord Czyvek, "You are you too cautious. You are unwilling to risk the lives of men who've volunteered to risk their lives for the betterment of CHRONOS."
"It is not that simple, Lord Barcus. We must be cautious, we do not wish to create another Aptom." Czyvek replied sharply.
Barcus paled slightly. Aptom had, indeed, been his creation. He had uses an unsuitable individual in a ground-breaking experiment without regard for the consequences, and CHRONOS had suffered dearly for his mistake.
"Why not simply create a new Unit Remover?" Lord de Galenos asked.
"A valid question." Lord Nguyen replied, "Unfortunately, the genetic material is more quickly insinuated into an already living being than replicated. We can reproduce it, but it will take longer than processing the Zoanoids."
Lord Amniculus looked at Czyvek sadly, "You know what we must do once the Zoanoids are activated. I trust you know where the Fukamachi boy is?"
Czyvek stood up and turned his back to the assembled Council. He looked down at his boots. They needed shining. "Yes. But he is not to be harmed. That is the agreement." He turned his head to look over his fellow Zoalords, "We leave them be once the Guyver is Archanfel's."
"You are in no position to be issuing demands." Barcus began.
"It doesn't matter, old friend." The angelic form of the Supreme Zoalord seemed to light up the room, "Without the Guyver, the boy is nothing to us. Let Mikhail have him, if he wishes." His beautiful face grew stern, "But Makishima must die. He is too intelligent. Too treacherous. He is a threat to all that we have created."
In this, Hamilcar Barcus and Mikhail Czyvek found something that they could agree on.
To be continued . . .