Zero stepped out of the small house that had served as his home, and wondered again, just how he had gotten roped into this. He hadn't done anything wrong. Shaking his head he muttered,"Damned insensible world. Even if it is nice..." Zero turned and scanned the area, looking for his summoner but saw no movement. As he looked around, he saw some rather large spaced tracks headed away from the village. Apparently she had been running. With a pained sigh, Zero sprinted off after his summoner. As Zero arrived at the edge of the woods he heard a pair of voices. Stopping, he decided to listen before just running in.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I had to do. But right now, even more important than what was happening before, we have too kill that bastard." Leviathan said in a harsh tone.
"W-what?" Louise's wavering voice asked. "Why would you think I would kill Zero?"
"Listen, I know you summoned Zero originally... And while he looks the same, that doesn't mean he is the same. You summoned a monster this time. That's all he is, nothing more. He is the killing machine controlled by another power hungry monster."
"B-but, he's really Zero," Louise replied. "He said so himself!"
"I'd know Zero." Leviathan said flatly. "I've fought him enough. Believe me, that wasn't Zero. Zero's saber is green. I do not think he's ever called himself the messiah either...Zero just isn't that type of person."
"But..." Louise objected weakly.
"Why were you running out here like this? Has he been acting differently? Maybe he doesn't know things that he should? It's because he's not Zero. His real name is Omega." Leviathan pressed further, noticing the girl's resolve begin to fade.
Feeling that he had heard enough, Zero stepped into the clearing. "Hey Leviathan." He said cheerfully with a wave of his hand. "Funny meeting you here. Ya know, I thought you were a little smarter than that."
"You!" Leviathan snarled, moving the girl behind her, placing her spear in a guarded position, apparently protecting the pink haired young girl.
Zero sighed as he shook his head, this was getting more complicated, but at least this was points in her favor. "Ya know, I was expecting you to stay away a bit longer than this... I mean, lets face it Leviathan, without filling the area with water, you can't beat me. You never beat me, even in your second form even with that advantage anyhow. But in our current environment only Hidden Phantom would have an edge."
Leviathan's eyes widened. "How do you know him?" she demanded.
Zero rolled his eyes and took out his saber, which glowed purple in the night. "Simple. I'm Zero."
"You lie, I know your saber is green. Even the reports we had on you said that. I won't let you fool me!" Leviathan shouted at Zero, seemingly poised to attack at any moment.
"Omega was just a hack Leviathan. Do you know what this purple saber means?" Zero asked as he held it out.
Leviathan just looked at Zero warily in response to his question.
"This purple color is because of the use of a different spectrum of light and energy, that actually sacrifices damage to non energy targets. Did you know that the Sigma virus could survive without a host? This was what made it such a dangerous foe, and how the bald bastard kept coming back. This purple light is the configuration to be able to hit that manifestation of the virus... Omega never knew that he was cutting his own effectiveness by keeping my 'true' weapon specification. Then again, he was just a copy, even if he had the original body." Zero said, as he calmly rotated his saber, its color taking on a familiar green hue.
Leviathan gasped,"What the hell were you doing, if that was you? Why pretend to be Omega?"
"Well, that was the last thing I remembered... And I know you Leviathan. You're a good guy, even if you don't always fight on the right side. All of you guardians have only done what you feel is right. I prefer to wait until my memory recovers and I know exactly what's going on before I end up having to trash you in a place where we have no way to repair you."
Leviathan looked at Zero hesitantly, then pointed the spear at Louise. "If you're Zero, then you will come with me to see my master, along with your summoner."
"Leviathan...What honestly makes you think you can do that? You won't hurt her." Zero replied, glaring back at the girl. "I know you. Flighty, a terrible sense of humor, and totally committed to protecting humanity. Both you and I know that you would never disappoint X that way."
Leviathan's face distorted at that statement and she replied in a quiet voice,"You have no idea how badly I've disappointed m-m-...X... Now choose, come with me, or your summoner dies."
Zero shook his head as he looked at the reploid. "Okay, this is new. But you're not stupid. You know that if you did anything to her... Things would get unpleasant. And considering the readout's I've gotten on my systems, and the information I've obtained about my most recent battle... You and whoever your new master is, do not want to piss me off that badly. Because you know you couldn't even stop me before I reached the level I'm at now. And even if you did, there is another combat reploid running around that's just like me and X. As a matter of fact, he was part of our group. He and X were the only ones to ever stand a chance against me if I somehow went Maverick."
Leviathan gasped,"What? Another combat reploid? Who?"
"Now, that's not for me to reveal. But I will say that he's an A-trans model. The best there was. Quite likely the last A-trans model as well. He was trained by me, the leader of the shinobi corps, as well as X. Oh, and he's also a void familiar to boot, funny huh? You have two thirds of the team your beloved Master X was on...And we're positioned against you." Zero said conversationally, his saber still spinning in his hand.
Leviathan froze up upon hearing that, tilting her head, her lips forming words as she seemed to be holding a conversation with herself. Zero saw that opening and dashed in, landing a solid punch to her helmet, sending her slamming through a few trees. A groan was heard from her as she struggled to her feet. "Now... that was hardly heroic of you Zero." Leviathan complained in an all-too cute voice.
Zero, who had moved in front of Louise during the attack, glared at the female reploid and stated calmly,"I'm not a hero, so it is funny how that works."
Leviathan held her fist out and opened it. A small amount of water dropped from her hand, landing in the soil. "Oh? Then what are you? Why did you risk your lives for those in the resistance? Are you really Zero?"
"I risked my life for the people in the resistance because they needed me. And they were worth protecting. That's it." Zero shrugged.
A giggle could be heard from the woman in blue armor at that. After the fit of giggles ended, she spoke with some mirth,"Ah, so it is you Zero. Only you can say such corny things and still believe them. You honestly believe that you weren't trying to be a hero?"
"He doesn't need to try to be a hero, he IS one! Axl said so! He said that Zero just can't accept it!" Louise stated hotly.
"My, my. And just who is this Axl, I wonder?" Leviathan asked curiously, then tilted her head again. "Ah, I see, I see. A priest of Romelia. Could he perhaps be... Oh, oh. I see. Is he that combat reploid? He is, isn't he Zero?"
"Louise..." Zero growled her name.
"S-sorry..." Louise apologized as she realized what she had just done...
"Well, as much fun as this talking has been..." Leviathan said with a theatrical wave of her hand,"I believe it is time for the show to begin. I'm sure you'll remember this Zero!"
Zero instinctively grabbed Louise and jumped back as a long arm of water slammed at him. There, standing in front of him was a weird water golem with a small stone in the center of it's head. "Well, I was hoping I was done with these stupid things. Although, Leviathan, I have to warn you... I don't know why but this is making me really pissed at you. I really hated those damned rainbow devils..."
Leviathan laughed as she watched her creation charge Zero and slam him into a tree as he took one of two blows that had been meant for Louise, the second one being cut by his saber. "I'm sorry Zero, I suppose I should warn you, I've become quite powerful here."
Zero stood up from the remains of a tree and renewed his attacks on the water golem. Within a few seconds he'd split the stone in its head, and it fell lifeless. "Really?"
Leviathan giggled and nodded,"Yes, although you defeated that distraction quite well. I'm sorry to say, that between our conversation, and it though... The real fight has only begun."
Zero looked up as a shadow stretched over him, blocking out the moon light. Huh, a water golem the same size as Mathilda's golem? Zero turned to grab Louise but noticed she wasn't there. Swearing, he jumped away from an enormous fist, he fired two blades of energy and cut the golem into three pieces. As the three pieces hit the ground, they all reformed into smaller versions of themselves. "Oh really? We're going with this? Come the hell on." Zero complained as he dodged, slashing at the watery limbs that were trying to crush him. "Seriously, you're doing this, and you grabbed the girl? You're way more of a bitch than I remember!""
Leviathan looked at Zero and said,"Wait, grabbed the girl?" As she scanned the area she noticed the girl was indeed missing. Leviathan split her attention between watching Zero struggle as he repeatedly cut down her golem, and trying to find the girl. It came as a surprise to her as a large fist burst from the ground, sending her through a number of trees again. Leviathan leapt up to the top of a tree as she caught her footing, trying to figure out what had just happened. She noticed that the ground where she had been seemed to be ... moving? Suddenly the tree she was standing on was completely uprooted. Leviathan plunged toward the ground, on a trajectory that would have brought her dreadfully close to Zero's saber range, but suddenly she was stopped in the air by one of her golems. She surveyed the area around the forest with her enhanced sight and saw three figures in the shadows. Sending a torrent of water from the golem that had caught her, she watched the trees and their bodies get pulverized, only to find that they had been rough shapes made of clay.
From behind her, Louise cried "Dispel" and the golems faded into nothing, dropping Leviathan to the ground rudely. A follow up fireball slammed into her, causing her to scream. Looking up, she saw Zero approaching, along with his summoner, and the girl with red hair. Jumping back, she concentrated and the runes on her head flared to life. A concentrated volley of buster fire rushed towards her attackers.
Zero saw the incoming volley and had no choice but to face them. Swinging his saber desperately, he absorbed the shots with his saber. "That's enough Leviathan. Just what the hell is going on here? This isn't like you."
Leviathan replied,"Does it matter? I'm going to kill you and take your summoner. It is as simple as that. I have my orders. If you do not wish that to happen then kill me now." she said, holding her spear in a guard position, water pooling at her feet.
"You can't beat me Leviathan. Even if you managed to produce a few pantheons, we both know how many I can destroy. Don't push it this far."
"Ah, but can you protect the others and kill them at the same time? that's the real question, isn't it?" Leviathan asked sweetly.
"That might be a good question, but who is protecting you?" A feminine voice came from behind Leviathan, followed by a large earthen hand picking her up and slamming her into the ground repeatedly. A few muffled curses came from Leviathan at this treatment. It was Mathilda, her body completely encased in a rather large golem.
Zero looked at Mathilda and shouted,"What are you doing out here? Its dangerous!"
"I thought you might need a hand. It isn't like I'm helpless, right?" She replied, still slamming the swearing girl into the ground. "She really can take a beating, can't she?" she commented lightly as she continued to administer her punishment. Suddenly, she turned as she heard Zero yell. A volley of energy raced towards her. Zero's saber was out and he deflected or absorbed most of them as he charged towards her. Suddenly she felt an impact, and looked down. Her face was blank as she looked at the gaping hole that had blown threw her golem "body" and the upper left part of her chest. She only had time to wonder why it didn't hurt. The last time she thought was going to die... it had hurt. All told, it only took only a few seconds for her eyes to go lifeless.
Leviathan smirked as she saw the woman go down, the golem body surrounding her breaking apart. She had taken her by surprise... She supposed she shouldn't have discounted the woman just because Zero had crippled her. "A resourceful human. It's too bad, but she got in the way."
Zero ran up to Mathilda, looking into the lightless eyes. He checked for pulse even though he knew it was useless... There was nothing. He looked down at those eyes. He said he'd protect her... But he had crippled her. Then she had died for him? That wasn't acceptable. This wasn't acceptable. He was going to kill her. Leviathan was going to die. He was going to rip her apart himself.
"Calm down Zero!" A voice came from somewhere in his mind.
"Calm down? Calm down?" Zero screamed, an aura of black surrounding him, his saber fading into a pale black color, actually seeming to absorb light instead of give it off. "You killed her Leviathan..." Zero stood up, his now black eyes causing a deep fear to rise in her. "You killed her..."
"W-what?" Leviathan asked, as she like everyone else, took a step back from this "new" Zero. "She entered combat! It's her own fault for not knowing her own limits."
"She was protecting her home Leviathan...This was her home...She was here to protect..." Zero said, his voice monotone. "You speak of limits... Leviathan, I'm going to kill you. I'll rip you apart. And when I find out who your master is... I'm going to kill you, then I'll kill them." Zero's helmet started glowing a brilliant flickering white, further enhancing the "dark" energy that was making up his blade and his armor.
"You don't have the heart to do that Zero, you never have," Leviathan said, her voice shaking, showing just how little confidence she had in that statement.
Zero ran forward, slamming his fist into Leviathan's gut, following with a kick to her face sending her flying. As he saw her rebound off of the ground he suddenly knew... He slammed his hand into the ground and an earthen fist caught Leviathan, squeezing her. Zero walked up slowly.
"S-stop!" Leviathan screamed shakily. "You're not Zero!"
"You don't know anything about me Leviathan." Zero said in a flat voice,"You were right when you were talking to Louise...I'm nothing more than a monster. I deserve to be destroyed... And I'm going to show you just how much of a monster I am. I will get the information out of you eventually. And either way, I promise it will hurt. For a very long time."
"N-no! Stay away!" Leviathan cried as the fist of earth squeezed her more tightly. She had never seen this before. What was going on? She gasped as the pressure increased with each slow step that he took toward her.
As Zero took another step forward, and was about to grasp Leviathan's throat a bright light filled his vision and he grabbed his head as his world erupted in pain. Why did this seem so familiar?
Damn it Zero! Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid? This is a time out! You're losing control you idiot. Didn't I warn you about this? You're going to set yourself off again before you've even recovered! Don't worry about any of this, son. It's alright, I'll take over for a little bit. Just sleep for a while.
"What? No! I will not sleep, I'll kill her!" Zero wanted to scream, but nothing came out. Everything went black as his consciousness shut down.
Albert Wily opened his eyes and looked at the reploid that was held fast by his son's earthen hand. "Just what am I going to do with him?" Zero asked aloud, as he took on an annoyed pose. He shook his head and turned around, making his way over to the body of the woman who had been killed in this ultimately pointless battle. But then, what wasn't a pointless battle? Everyone who was there watched with unease at the sudden change in Zero's manner and the way his armor and weapon seemed to bleed back into their original configuration. At least they weren't in the grip of fear, but who knew what was going on with how Zero was acting? "What a willful woman. No sign of fear in her features even in the end. I have to respect that about her. You know, Leviathan, you managed to piss my son off quite a bit. I've not seen him quite this angry in... Ever actually. This is equal parts impressive and suicidal."
"W-what?" Leviathan asked hesitantly,"Your son?"
"My name is Albert Wily. I'm an imprint of my mind upon the creation of my masterpiece. My son... Zero." Zero replied, some warmth in his voice. "I'm the one who created him, and I placed myself as an imprint so I could be a fail safe in case of situations like this."
The earthen hand released Leviathan as she looked uncertainly at Zero's back. "What situations?"
"The situations where he gets pushed too far. He's like a human. he has feelings, he has goals, he has dreams... he feels guilt. He's everything that I wished for in a son. He doesn't fight for what others call justice. He fights for what he truly feels is justice even if he can't put it into words... To hell with the opinions of others..." Zero said proudly. "And right now, you managed to do the worst thing possible. You nearly awoke a nightmare..."
"A nightmare?" Leviathan asked hesitantly, still trying to recover from the damage she had sustained. Zero had never hit her that hard before... Even Omega hadn't been that brutal.
"Yes. One that was chiefly responsible for the destruction of earth's life at one point. I do not know why you are doing this, but within two minutes Zero will be back online. He's fighting against this little time out I put him in. He's acting like a spoiled brat, if you ask me. He's so much like his older brother in this. Well, except for the reasons behind it. His older brother would have been pissed at you just out of principle... He's pissed at you because you killed someone important to him. I'd also like to let you know, if you're here when he wakes up, you will be dead. I advise you to leave. Now."
"You think I'm afraid of Zero?" Leviathan demanded angrily.
"If you're not, you're stupid. He killed Omega. He killed Weil. He killed copy X. He killed every single enemy that he has gone up against that he has judged as guilty, and in some cases, even those who he couldn't save... Right now, you just went from the well meaning fool classification... To a similar classification as Sigma, Omega or Weil. And that's especially bad considering his new talent will allow him to track down the void mages if he ever thinks about it. Not that I'll explain it to him. He is just so rash at times after all."
"You're bluffing." Leviathan said, readying her spear.
"Think what you want. But I've got about thirty seconds. I advise you leave, otherwise your death is on your own hands. Fair warning and all that." Zero replied with an easy smile.
Leviathan nodded and said "Understood master," then looked at the others. "Don't think this is the end. It is merely a setback. We will meet again." With that, Leviathan disappeared in a flash of light as she broke another earring.
"I certainly hope not. I'm getting too damned old for this." Zero murmured as his body stiffened and the mind of Zero took control of his body again.
Louise and Kirche approached Zero's now motionless form, which was standing over Mathilda's body. They heard a sudden gasp from Zero, who brought his hand to the woman's face. "Zero?" Louise called his name hesitantly as she closed in on him. Soon, she and Kirche were standing on either side of her familiar.
"I failed...I promised I would protect her..."
"You tried, you did your best. Nobody could have tried harder..." Kirche assured Zero. "I don't think she'd blame you."
"First I maimed her, then I let her die..." Zero said, tears dropping from his eyes on to the dead earth mage. Tears, how? "I let them down... She died because of me. Damn it, am I really just a destroyer? Is that the only way I can protect? Can I even protect anything this way?"
"Don't say that Zero..." Louise cried out, feeling her own tears start to flow. This villain, who she had been glad was dead had given her life to try and protect Zero. This was more than she had ever done for her familiar.
"Oh my god, what happened?" Roll cried as she entered the scene followed by Tiffania Tabitha and Agnes. Seeing the body of Fouquet she gasped. "What happened?" She asked again.
"Fouquet... No, Mathilda was right..." Kirche said quietly,"That girl came back... She's gone now but..."
"Regrettable." Tabitha said as she looked at the fallen former thief.
Tiffania rushed to the body of Mathilda and held her shoulders. "Mathilda! Wake up Mathilda!" She cried, her eyes glistening with tears. As she held the woman who knew her better than anyone else, the only jewelery that she had, the single memento from her mother shone brilliantly. "W-what?" Tiffania muttered surprised. The single jewel in the center of the ring seemed to melt... The melted droplets of the gem sparkled on Mathilda before fading. As they faded, the exposed area of Mathilda's chest started regenerating rapidly and was followed by a rough cough and a groan from the woman. "Mathilda!" Tiffania cried out, as she roughly grasped the woman who's eyes shot open.
"W-what happened?" Mathilda asked, as she looked down, having felt a breeze leaving her chest quite exposed. She groaned as she tried to move her arm to cover herself.
"I'm so relieved!" Tiffania shouted as she held her tighter,"I didn't think my mother's ring worked on you! I-it didn't help with your other injury...So... I-i thought that you..." She sobbed loudly as the relief washed over her.
"I'm alright." Mathilda said as she did her best to hold Tiffania.
"What amazing healing magic..." Kirche said with wonder.
"It was a gift from my mother..." Tiffania explained as she looked at it. "I've used it a number of times to heal people before... But nothing like this has ever happened... The jewel on it is gone. I do not feel any more power in it..."
"Well... She was dead." Louise said slowly.
"Yes...I suppose I was. But it is odd. I didn't feel anything..." Mathilda said with some trepidation.
"The reason you didn't feel anything was because your nerves were probably fried when the attack hit. That or you were sent into shock from the damage immediately. That's the problem with weapons like me. We're made for no other purpose than to kill. Injuries are very rare when it comes to us. You paid the price for that, I'm sorry." Zero said as he stood up.
"But she's not dead. Its alright, right Zero?" Kirche asked as she stood up and moved closer to Zero.
"It isn't alright. Don't you realize it? Just being near me is going to get you all killed. She's after myself and Louise." Zero stated hotly. "You died because of me Mathilda. That goes against everything I've said. I won't have you or Tiffania in danger anymore. We'll be leaving now. Kirche, Tabitha, Roll and Siesta will escort you all to Tristian. Once you get there, I'll try and make sure things are set up. But there is no way I can allow you all near me when it comes to this."
Mathilda looked at Zero then spoke quite loudly,"You can stop this. I made my own decision to come out here. You were in a bad situation and I stepped in of my own volition..." Mathilda fumbled around as if looking for something for a moment then sighed and said,"And if I had my wand I'd use it to smack you upside the head. Think about it. She knows we're important to you now. That makes us far more tempting targets without you or your wrath as a deterrent. And believe me, as someone who has fought you, your wrath IS a deterrent. A large one at that."
Zero looked at her and nodded as he processed what she was saying. "True... That is right. This could easily turn into a hostage situation... I've never dealt with too many of them. Mostly I just had people attempting to kill me."
"Well...Even if the hole in my chest was repaired, I still can't move my legs... So could we move this inside, and get some rest for the night? We can probably set out tomorrow, but we need to prepare. I'll need someone to get my my chair though..." Mathilda said.
"That's a good idea. After what happened with Zero, I'm not sure she'll be back for another day or two." Kirche said with some mirth,"I was half expecting her to wet herself when you used magic! Speaking of which, when did you learn to do that Zero?"
Zero looked at Kirche for a moment then shrugged,"I've got no idea. I guess I learned to do it when I did it?"
Louise looked at her familiar and her eyebrow twitched,"I spent years trying to figure out how to use my magic, failing constantly, and you accidentally figure out how to use magic? That's a joke right?" Louise cried out as she beat on Zero's back.
"Ironic..." Tabitha said without even the hint of a smile.
"What? Are you sure that's irony?" Kirche asked her friend
"Cosmic irony, yes." Tabitha nodded.
"Well, you're the person with her nose in the book... So I suppose I'll defer to you on this," Kirche replied with a chuckle.
"What's with this running commentary?" Zero asked as he looked at the two. When no response was given he shook his head and said, "Whatever, lets go." Zero knelt next to Mathilda and lifted her gently.
"Hey!" Mathilda protested as she was lifted into Zero's arms, doing her best to cover her chest. "Put me down right now!" She demanded as she blushed heavily.
"What? Your chair isn't out here, and I don't see a reason to make you wait out here like this. I mean, honestly, I'm really the only person here who is strong enough to carry you." Zero said, confused by her reaction. When no response came from anyone else Zero just muttered,"Why is everyone always complaining, am I the only one here able to use common sense?"
"Um... Zero," Tiffania started hesitantly as she, along with the others, followed Zero. "I believe she might be embarrassed about her current state of...Dress." Tiffania said slowly, trying not to blush.
"I don't see why she should complain. I'd die to be in that type of situation. Being held in Zero's strong arms, holding me tenderly, protecting me... While I shyly try to cover myself, but reveal to him just a little more than would be modestly correct. She's in the perfect position! We all know that she's enjoying it!" Kirche rambled on, making a few inappropriate gestures as she ran through how she would handle being in a similar situation. Everyone except for Tabitha blushed at her antics.
"Kirche, you're the only person who would think of that at a time like this..."Roll said as she shook her head. This girl had to be the biggest pervert she had ever met. "Not everyone spends their entire day trying to figure out how to expose themselves to Zero."
"Then they just don't have their priorities straight! I mean, Fouquet is fine right? And she's getting a free ride in the arms of Zero. Besides, I spend at least as much time thinking of ways to get Zero to expose himself!" Kirche replied hotly.
"You know... I'm right here, and can hear everything you're saying," Zero said, thinking that the only thing keeping him from face palming was the fact his hands were full.
"I know. I'm just giving you some hints, since you're a little bit dense about these things. And since I'm not the one who brought it all up, it's not my fault." Kirche replied in an all too reasonable fashion.
"You have a very skewed view on reality, don't you?" Louise asked, wanting to emulate her familiar's signature move...
Kirche just grinned and shrugged,"I know what is important to me."
"And you have no problem letting others know about it, huh?" Roll replied, laughing at the boldness of the red haired young woman.
"Nope. My heart is full of passion and love. You simply can't cage such powerful and beautiful feelings! Especially when the object of those feelings just doesn't understand them!"
Tabitha poked Zero, then spoke up in the pause that came after that, saying,"Message from Axl. He hates you. He wants you to know that."
Zero stopped as soon as Tabitha said that and turned to look at the girl who said that and couldn't think of anything to reply to such a simple statement.
Tabitha pointed at Louise and said,"Cat Girl," then pointed at Kirche,"Big boobs..." she then shrugged and said ,"Maid."
"What?" Zero asked, completely unsure what she was talking about. How did this have to relate to Axl hating him?
"Oh! I get it!" Kirche replied with a laugh,"He said he hated you because you have so many girls after you! And just you wait Louise, my counter attack to your black cat outfit is ready and waiting at the academy!"
Zero started walking again. He looked down at Mathilda who was blushing and asked nervously,"So exactly how long was I dealing with this?"
Mathilda chuckled lightly at the deadpan delivery of the young man and said,"You've had the joy of this for just under a year." After she finished she drew into Zero and whispered something else.
"What? No! That's not possible right, she couldn't? Tell me you're joking." Zero said as he looked at the now giggling Mathilda. She shrugged and grinned up at him. As the girls continued to chatter, they made their way to Tiffania's house, and so it was that an open warfare was visited upon Albion once again, with Zero as the prize for this battle.
***Author's notes***
Ya know, Axl's choice in messenger for his little complaint was probably the best he could have chosen. Tabitha is the ultimate straight-man when it comes to... Well, anything.
Why would Zero ask about how they can fight for 6 thousand years? Zero knows history. The human race, particularly a few charged areas have had war going on for even longer than that. Look at the middle east and the upper African continent. Zero isn't like X. X would question it, Zero would just accept it since he knows just how foolish people are.
Someone finally got the Unohana reference! It's my firm belief that the nicer you are the more evil/intimidating you can be if just by shock value. Kasumi from Ranma 1/2 is actually the most powerful being in the world. She just lets everything happen cause she thinks it's a good character builder for her family.
And due to popular demand Cattelya may or may not have thrown her hat into the ring as well, making the number 9. Maybe.
Zero: I will end you. Nobody would even consider me a maverick.