Zero strode through the palace with Louise following closely behind him. They had gotten an urgent summons from Queen Henrietta, and unlike her more social notes, this had been delivered by a single courier on a Manticore. With the seeming importance of the note and the urgency suggested in it, Axl had given them transport on the wind dragon Pallette and was waiting where they had landed. Axl had been able to give him the information that the King of Gallia and Princess had both been killed and removed and replaced by two new candidates for the throne. The biggest problem he had faced during his scouting mission was the way they were shrouded in mystery, and with the amount of combat reploids that he encountered Axl had said that he would have been unable to scout out more information without giving himself away. As Zero thought about the problems that were cropping up in the already murky international politics, he was suddenly pulled out of his brooding by Louise.
"What do you think could be happening? Do you think Gallia has started to move an army against us again?" Louise asked, fear clear in her voice.
"Could be. " Zero replied with a shrug. If it was just that, it wouldn't be an issue. If it was just an army he had no doubt Axl and he would be enough for that.
"Don't be so calm!" Louise protested," It could mean war."
"Maybe. But we've been at war before. And an attack on the royal palace is an act of war anyhow. Even if it's now declared openly we're more or less already at war, the public just doesn't know about it yet." Zero commented with a sort of detachment that chilled his summoner.
"How are you always calm about this stuff? People are going to die!" Louise demanded in frustration.
"Because it's happened so many times before. You learn to deal with it somewhat philosophically and try to balance the numbers so the least amount of people die. At least I'll be getting in at the start of this war and can mitigate the numbers lost on our side." Was the resigned explanation Zero gave before he picked up his pace a little forcing Louise to spend more of her effort keeping up with him while not looking like she was trying to run next to him. As they reached Henrietta's audience chamber the guards announced his presence then before they could open the door Zero continued past walking in. He saw red hair and the familiar bulkiness of a combat reploid's armor sitting across from the princess who appeared to be less than ease with her, even though there were five musketeers in the room with her.
As the door burst open the red haired individual looked back, a look of shock on her face that was mirrored in Zero's as well. "You really do look like our prince…" Was all the woman said when she saw the shocked look that was on the mirrored face of one of the people who had created her.
Zero's eyes met those of the redhead, but while the face was familiar, he sensed nothing about her that was the person he thought she was. Where he would have expected curiosity or a smile, she just looked at him stupidly. He spoke for the first time since he entered the room after he had recovered from the shock and asked,"What is your name, and what is your purpose for being here?"
"The name that has been given to me is Neige. And I am here on a diplomatic mission from my princes to extend an invitation to the princess for a peace conference at the Gallian castle."
"Oh? You mean the same 'princes' who killed their father and sister? And what do you mean that your prince looks like me?" Zero asked flatly.
"That was a regrettable thing that happened. They did not kill the late princess, nor is the King truly dead, although they did have to take steps to prevent the King from doing as he wished. And it is simply as I said it. The resemblance between you and my prince is quite uncanny." Neige replied, her head partially bowed as she spoke.
"The King isn't dead?" Zero demanded.
"That is correct. His mind has been removed, but his regeneration continues to this day. Most of us can only speculate on just what happened but it is far beyond my grade." Neige admitted with a small frown.
"Why should we trust you? We've been attacked by your reploids before, and had one person critically wounded, and one killed." Zero shot back, counting Rock's loss of the modified robot master body as a casualty, knowing it would give them an edge here.
Shaking her head, Neige objected, "That was not the will of either Prince Zero or Prince X. They wanted to bring peace to the world. Their father wanted to use them as weapons so that he could control the world! They had to fight him!"
"What did you say?" Zero asked in a low deadly tone that was full of menace. What was intimidating to her though was that he now stood before the reploid, his body glowing with energy yet with flat black eyes that gave her the first taste of true fear since she had been created.
"I-I'm sorry. W-what did I do wrong? What is the meaning of this?" Neige stammered, her grip on her emotions slipping when confronted with something that all of her senses screamed 'death'.
"What do you mean Zero and X. X is dead, and has been for a few years. And I'm the only real Zero. The last one who tried to take my name and my body lies on the scrapheap that is evolution. I'm not doing anything now but barely containing the excess energy that I could be using to demolish you because you haven't made any overt attempts to be aggressive. Go ahead and change that if you want." Zero's glare didn't soften as he looked at her for a few moments. Her fear was apparent as she looked at the dangerous and angry version of her kind if distant prince.
"Zero!" Louise reprimanded him by smacking him in the head with her wand. "You might not trust her but you do not need to scare her like that!"
"Louise, there are only three people in existence who could have made the copies of X and myself. And only one of them has a regenerating body. And only one of them knew Neige." Zero replied without taking his eyes off of the red haired reploid whose visage mirrored very closely the human reporter he had become friends with during the Ragnarok incident.
"Who might that be, Zero?" Henrietta asked gently.
"Dr. Weil. The same man, who stole my body, rebuilt copy X, bombed residential areas and used my original body to start a war that killed billions. He also tried to drop a space station on to our world to destroy it after he couldn't use it as a weapon to control it. To kill the original Neige and her human resistance." Zero's eyes bored into Neige's as he spoke.
"W-what? But our king is named Joseph." The intimidated reploid objected.
"Wouldn't put it past Weil to find a way to replace him. He's always had a power fixation. And I don't see myself trusting anything touched by him, yet alone made by him. The gentle judges were enough proof of that." Zero replied, "They want an audience they come to Tristan. Alone. No army, no reploids. That's it. Retainers or other people like that is fine. But we can and will remove any additional reploids who come along. By force if need be."
"What? We?" Neige asked curiously despite the clear threat she was under.
"Not giving you any intelligence to help you plan an attack beyond what you have. Just realize our defenses have gotten far more powerful with the addition of more reploids whose abilities eclipse yours by a very large margin. And considering that I'm the real Zero I can handle the defenses against anything you can throw at me."
"Then why not escort the Queen to the conference? If you are as powerful as you say, she should be in no danger."
"I'm good at destroying things. I'm the best sword my world ever produced. X was the one who was good at protecting. I might be able to destroy Gallia… But I don't think I could protect anyone while doing it."
"You're bluffing. There is absolutely no way that you could destroy all of Gallia." Neige replied, the sheer audacity of the statement seemed to overcome her fear.
"The war I fought when my original body was stolen from me sacrificed billions of lives. I've lived for three hundred fifty years and have been the center of battle for all that time. I've evolved with every battle I've found in. The rune has pushed my evolution even farther. My power is far and beyond what it was when I faced Weil last time. I've learned my lessons the hard way. I will not let those mistakes of the past be repeated again." Zero commented as he took a step forward.
"I'm…Sorry. " Neige replied looking down.
"What are you sorry about?" Zero asked almost casually as he looked at her.
"That I am not doing my job very well. I am not conveying the wishes of Gallia, of my lords correctly. My princes do not wish to cause strife or anger or conflict. That is why they had to defeat their father. I do not believe they wished to evoke the experiences that you had in battle. That is the last thing that they would wish to do. They want peace. They have even been following your example of the changes to the laws that deal with criminal charges and code involving commoners and nobles." Neige replied.
"Well we'll see." Zero replied as he turned to walk away, his arms crossed as he looked out the window.
At this point Henrietta spoke," I believe that is admirable on their parts, and something I would wish to do. They are welcome here in Tristian should they ever wish to speak with me in the name of peace. I must admit that it has been my experience that my Knight Commander's advice has been far too accurate in the past for me to risk myself when he believes there is a danger to my person or Tristian. He has much more experience, and in all truth I cannot ignore his thoughts on my safety. That is after all, the reason that he became my personal guard. His past experience has let him spot threats and the deceptions people wished to use on me in the name of peace… I will admit that I am still too young and inexperienced to ignore the suggestions of those who advise me. From the Cardinal, to Zero, to my Court Lady. To do so would be foolhardy and would leave the people whom I am responsible for in danger. I hope that you can understand."
Neige nodded and smiled slightly at the gentle Queen,"I understand. I will relay this response back to the princes. Although I must admit for the sake of candor that the two princes are quite fearful of Zero."
"The only people that need to fear me are those that threaten the people I believe in. If they do that I'll kill them without a doubt." Zero replied without looking back.
"I see… But it is not their own safety they fear for. They fear what could happen should the three of you clash in battle. They do not wish to visit the horror of war on this world. They have read so many histories involving just this world, and the death and destruction of wars before people such as us were created were terrible in and of themselves. " Neige said, her eyes widening for a moment as the new Zero that she had met reminded her of her prince for a moment when he had declared his who should fear him.
Henrietta looked at Zero and the reaction the other girl had to him. She shook her head and smiled as she commented, "You need to forgive Zero. He has lost a great many friends through his life, so whenever he feels one of us is in danger… He gets over protective. But in truth he has no loyalty to this kingdom. He in fact went against my orders to save a princess of Gallia, the one known as Tabitha. Anyone who wishes for peace and to foster trust has nothing to fear from my Knight Commander no matter what he may say. But despite that, he has no problem intimidating people or informing them of the consequences of their actions."
Neige smiled despite herself as she replied, "I see. I see you did not use the word threat…"
"That is correct. Know that people who would harm others, bring war or oppress others will find no mercy under his blade. He fights for his ideals. Do not ever underestimate him because he will fight only when forced. Once he is unleashed, he has been called nothing short of the God of Destruction by a being far greater than us unworthy humans, his blade claiming all those who would harm the people who wish to live in peace." Henrietta smiled sadly as she looked into the eyes of the reploid sitting across from her.
"Ah, thank you for the warning, I suppose." Neige awkwardly commented as she stood up, unnerved by the open honesty the queen was showing. "I believe that I have given my message as best I can, and now will return with yours. I hope to meet you all again on better terms." Neige bowed before she went to the door waiting for the guard to let her out.
As soon as the reploid was out the door Louise exploded violently, grabbing Zero by the shoulders. "What did you do that for? They were trying to be helpful! Why are you being so antagonistic? They were trying to offer peace!"
Zero shrugged his summoner off and walked up to the window, looking out at the clear blue sky. After a pause he spoke in a measured and thoughtful way, "I've seen the peace that Weil and his creations offer. It's never what it seems. I do not trust them, and I trust even less something that is a mimicry of myself or X. Recall what happened the last time there was a copy of X. It was the main factor in the destruction of the real one and the unleashing of the Dark Elf not to mention the untold deaths of innocent reploids and even the deaths of humans during the second Omega incident. A "Zero" and an "X" made by that man would be beyond dangerous. We have no idea how much of what that girl said was the truth. Or even if she told the "Truth" was that what she knows, and not what really happened? It's easy to manipulate your underlings if you want to. Going into the lion's den would be extremely stupid. You might not realize it, but that girl in here was probably half as strong as Leviathan. She wasn't made to be just a courier. Add on to the fact that she looks just like one of the last friends I made in my world, hell she sounds like her too and has the same name! They're playing a psychological war against us. Against me. When someone starts off their war that way before the first buster shot is even fired what are you supposed to expect? If they're going to try and open those wounds or use a familiar face to try and get in with us and 'avoid' our issues my first instinct is to distrust them and be on guard. Remember how Albion used Wales."
"A friend?" Henrietta interrupted curiously.
"She was a reporter, and a friend of Craft, the leader of the warriors of Ragnarok. I cut my way through them and put Craft down when he fired on and destroyed Neo Arcadia. She was a human who had originally rejected my help but I still got drawn in because… Well Ceil wanted me to."
"I see. You truly think this is some way to get into your head and put you off balance?" Henrietta asked, worry clear on her features.
"I can't think of anything else it might be. What are the chances of them just happening to come up with a Neige who looks and sounds the same?"
"Ah, I see your point." Henrietta acknowledged.
"I'm sorry for getting mad at you Zero." Louise apologized,"I didn't understand. I thought you were just being aggressive because she was someone you considered an enemy."
"Well maybe a little. But it didn't help that they thought they could play mind games with me. I've had to kill real people who I cared about in the past. They must have been made exceptionally flawed if they think a mere copy of someone I knew would keep me from fighting or thinking clearly." Zero commented with a scowl.
"I see… Well that's all that can be done on this until we hear a reply back to our terms," Henrietta smiled as she spoke then looked at Zero," I must thank you again. Your wisdom and support have once against saved me from a possible mistake."
"It's my job." Zero shrugged as he answered. "Although now that everything is a bit clearer I need to get back to the academy."
"Why is that?" Louise asked curiously.
"Because it's time Rock got the hell over his issues and took up the spot we need him to fill." Zero replied cryptically.
"The spot?" Henrietta couldn't help questioning Zero because of the unusual use of language.
"Who better to fill in for X than his older brother?" Zero replied with a smile. "We'll be going now Henrietta. If there are any explosions from the academy he's probably trying to kill me."
"He… What?" Henrietta's eyes widened as she tried to figure out what her Knight Commander was saying.
"Eh, I've already figured out how to turn his program off and transfer him into a body if he says no. We need him now that we know what we're going on about… If the Copy of me is of Omega level and the Copy of X is the same as the Copy of X from Neo Arcadia they could be a very large threat. If Weil improved on either of the two this could enter into a war that is of near the proportions of what happened back home. And knowing Weil, and his knowledge of how powerful I was when we fought… He would have been a fool to not make improvements. We need Rock, even if it is just to have someone to defend this country while we deal with Gallia."
"Do you think that it is wise to do something against someone else's wishes?" Henrietta couldn't help but question Zero's methods.
"Probably not but… When I first faced Omega it took both myself and X to defeat him. While I might be more powerful than either of them, together they could probably take me down depending on their abilities. If that happens I need to make sure that X's brother and sister can defend this world in my stead. I will not allow the world to fall like the last one. We will protect it." Zero spoke with a quiet certainty.
"Are they really that much of a threat, Zero?" Louise asked her familiar.
"Yes." Was Zero's only response as he walked out the door of the audience room, Henrietta and Louise feeling a great sense of unease? Louise followed after Zero quickly after that.
***Break***
Axl was sitting on the grass with Pallette's head across his chest. He looked up at the clear blue sky, then noticed a shock of red hair and a fairly well armored reploid leave from the same direction as Zero. He raised an eyebrow at the near panicked look she held, and the glances she threw over her shoulder. With a smirk he called out, "So you met Zero, I take it?"
Startled, Neige looked around for the person who spoke, then saw the reploid who had a dragon laying on him. "Who are you?" She asked, making no move to get closer to the unusual person.
"Nobody really important. Name's Axl. You act like you've seen a ghost." Came the relaxed response from the reploid.
"Not a ghost, but something unnerving nonetheless." Came the nervous response from the girl.
"Don't worry too much about Zero. He's scary but he ain't half as bad as he seems. I mean, at least he probably didn't pull a buster on you the first time he met you right? That used to be his standard operating procedure." Axl commented with a laugh.
"You sound like you know this from personal experience." Neige stepped closer to the unusual reploid as he lay there, not making any move to relocate the large beast that was currently comically cuddling up to him.
"Of course. I was a suspicious character to him. Pretty much all of his relationships involve pointing his buster at people. Or his saber. He's a tsundere, did you know? I think that's how he keeps attracting everyone. They have the power to attract a lot of different people types."
Neige looked down with a puzzled expression as she asked for clarification, "He's a what? I do not believe I'm familiar with that word."
"Hah. Well, it's pretty easy to figure out. He's all lovey lovey on the inside but he's got the prickly disposition to keep people away. He's always been like that. He'll save your life then act like an asshole. It's part of his charm. He's been doing it for as long as I've known him."
"That's … Weird." Neige said with some trepidation.
Axl's eyes flashed and looked slightly vicious as he continued, "Yep. But then what about him ain't weird? Hell, would he be normal if he wasn't weird? He's seen nothing but war for three hundred and fifty years. He has killed a copy of himself with enough power to kill millions. He's had to fight against what he thought was his oldest friend. He was betrayed by his commander and failed to save many people's lives because of that misplaced trust. Even still, instead of giving up he's always moved forward. He will protect those who want peace. He'll fight to his own death for it. Be aware of that. If you really are an agent of peace, you'll be fine. But if you plan on hurting anyone. Noble, commoner, human or reploid… He'll put you down, along with your masters. And I'll be by his side."
"Is that a threat?" Neige demanded as she took a step back from the sudden vehemence that the reploid displayed.
"Nope, it is simply a stated fact. His is a dream that he holds along with myself and X. A world where any two people can hold hands. The simple truth of the matter is, that he isn't trying to hold anyone back. He isn't trying to hold anyone down. He isn't fighting to hurt people. His power isn't to destroy, but instead to protect the things and people he believes in. If your masters become a nightmare to this world as the last copies of their respective forms were… They have no chance."
"They would never! They want to bring the world together! They even disabled my own buster before sending me here in case it became an issue! And I volunteered for it, knowing that I could be killed without any way to defend myself!" Neige protested violently.
"Then you're fine, aren't you? Why be afraid? Zero wouldn't attack an unarmed reploid. He always waits for them to make the first move. More openings to cut them that way too." Axl lapsed back into his previous speech patterns as he spoke, sounding more relaxed with almost an edge of humor to his voice.
"You're weird too." Neige observed as she looked at the reploid who's dragon was now tapping his face with her snout, obviously distressed at the swings in his mood.
"I've been called worse. Anyhow, Zero's probably gonna be on his way out soon. You might want to get going if you don't want to run into him again. Especially since you were definitely designed from someone he knew in his past. That probably put him more on guard as well. He doesn't really like copies at all. They tend to go crazy and try and justify their existence getting a lot of people killed along the way. But that's beside the point, just remember that even though you might look like someone else you're still you. See ya later Neige."
Neige locked up as she looked at the reploid and demanded, "How do you know my name too?"
"I said you looked like someone. Now I know it was intentional. You might want to ask some questions about that. Or not. The real Neige would. But are you the same type of person or are you different?" Axl smirked at the frustration he saw building.
"Who was the real Neige?" she demanded.
"Who indeed. She was famous, of that it is certain. But she was a human. You can figure it out for yourself. Or not." Came the lazy reply.
"I don't need to deal with this, I have a long trip ahead of me." Neige retorted as she started walking away.
With that over Axl looked up into the sky, a grin on his face. Despite everything, it was interesting that they had chosen that face. She had been an investigative reporter, one of the last and best. And later Zero had said she became the face of the human resistance to Neo Arcadia. He wondered what the people who made her were thinking, then shrugged causing the dragon to grumble at his movement. With a warm smile he looked at Pallette and put his hand gently on her eye ridge. Closing his eyes he waited, and no more than five minutes had gone by before Zero came storming out of the building clearly agitated. "What's eating you?" Axl asked as Pallette lifted her head to allow the reploid to stand.
"You had to have seen her."
"Oh you mean the Neige clone?" Axl asked with a grin.
"Exactly!" Zero replied angrily.
"Yeah. She seemed confused. And it didn't seem like she was acting. She seemed upset that I knew her name and that she was a copy. She'll probably ask some pointed questions when she gets back if she's anything like the real deal."
Zero's eyes closed slightly as he shook his head. "Why do that? Why use someone's face like that?"
"Who knows. But now you know that there might be copies of other people as well. Who knows if there is a copy of Ceil in Gallia.
"There will be hell to pay for it if there is. Absolute hell." Zero grumbled darkly.
"Yeah, there probably will." Axl commented as he noticed the anger that was already building in Zero at just that thought. "But who knows if there is. Let's get back to the academy… When your little summoner catches up to you anyhow."
Zero looked back to the doorway into the building they had just left and out stormed the pink haired girl. "Yeah. She's probably even more angry now."
Louise walked up, her body tense as she looked at Zero. She paused for a moment, took a deep breath and said, "I'm not going to yell at you for leaving me behind like that, but I am going to ask you to please slow your pace down in the palace."
"Ah…" Zero looked at his summoner then blushed a little as he realized that he actually had lost a bit of his composure due to the shock of seeing someone from his time with the resistance, even if they were a copy, and had actually taken it out on the princess and his summoner. For all the talk of controlling her reactions he had said, she had him dead to rights. With a light chuckle he spoke again," Sorry, I'll try."
"I suppose that's all I can ask. I think it is time we got back to the academy. Pallette, would you mind returning us to our home?" Louise asked the dragon directly, ignoring the reploid who was her rider.
"Hey, why aren't you asking me?" Axl asked annoyed at being ignored.
"Because she does all the work and you're insufferable when you get entirely too smug about your abilities." Louise replied back with a smile of her own.
Zero laughed at the exchange, shaking his head. Perhaps he was training his summoner too well.
***break***
Zero led Louise and Axl down the stairs into the lab. The door was locked as he came to it. He sighed as he realized Rock was still mad about their little altercation a few days ago. Then again he hadn't apologized about it, but still. "Hey Rock, can you open up?"
"Why not do it yourself? You've already proven you can override my command of the facility." Rock answered back tartly.
"Yeah, but I don't really want to." Zero replied clearly regretful.
"So are we going to finish the fight? Or did you come back to apologize." Rock asked, his voice neutral.
"Little of both. I shouldn't have dismissed what you thought, but at the same time I need to talk to Roll and you about some things that have happened… Things that are Omega level bad." Was the honest reply from Zero. As he said the word Omega, the door's electronic lock clicked and the light went green. "Thanks Rock."
As Zero walked into the Lab he almost wished he hadn't. Sitting around the table that had never gotten taken out, was Cattleya, Kirche, Tabitha, Tiffania, Mathilda, Seista and Roll were sitting around the table with Charity sitting calmly in the center. The room was oddly silent, as if he had just interrupted a conversation by entering. "Is something wrong Zero?" Roll asked, surprised that Zero had come back so soon. She had expected the falling out between him and Rock to at least last a few more days. She knew that they were both stubborn after all.
Zero tapped his foot as he appeared to be thinking how best to put the situation. "Well, things have changed for the worse, I think. But why are you all down here? And why was it so silent when I entered the room?"
"Ah, we were just discussing how best to help you get your feelings across to us. Roll suggested that perhaps you could sing us a song to assist you in conveying your feelings since you're not very good at telling people things with your own words." Kirche replied honestly.
Zero just looked at Roll and shook his head and sighed in exasperation. It appeared that ," Ok. Well we'll deal with this in order of importance. Have Rock play you the song 'Unknown Soldier' if you're that interested in a song that describes my feelings. And now that the easy thing is out of the way we have real issues here to deal with Roll, and Rock needs his body. Last week preferably."
"What is so important that you're blowing the girls off, and throwing what I want out of the window in such an offhand manner?" Rock demanded, his tone making clear that he was evidently very angry.
"Gallia's two new rulers are copies of X and myself. They're building up high quality combat reploids and tried to get the queen to go to Gallia. On top of that they tried to play mind games by sending a female reploid with the name, voice, and body of a friend of mine from the Ragnarok incident to try and convince her of that. There are only two people in existence that can do these things. Weil, and Ceil. So I'm fairly certain that Weil somehow survived the drop from orbit and was pulled here by the former king of Gallia. He had high amounts of knowledge involving myself and X and the pantheons. He also had a regenerating body that was mechanical and could have been an easy way to get access to the materials to build the pantheons that came here. That's the most important matter at the moment. And if I was at a point that I wanted to tell people my 'feelings' I'd do it on my own terms. I don't need someone else to give me a voice or an opinion. I'm pretty straight forward. So simple answer, we've got a possible war brewing that can destroy most of this world like the last, and I don't really have time to play around anymore." Came the dry reply from Zero who would have laughed at their suggestion if things weren't so grave.
"Are you serious? A copy of both of you?" Roll asked, disbelief at what she had heard, her eyes glancing towards Charity who's face now held a dark scowl that she hadn't ever seen before.
"We haven't confirmed it, but it makes the most sense, and it certainly explains why they've kept their identities a secret. It's even more likely since they made a copy of an important person to Zero. Someone he would feel indebted or guilty about because he killed the person who was important to them." Axl spoke sullenly. "I'd really hoped we'd be able to avoid a large scale war, and maybe we still can. From what the copy of Neige said, the people who created her killed their 'father' who made them because he planned to use them as weapons. But even if that's the case, just being made by Weil could be enough to twist their thoughts, just like the Gentle judges I suppose. But if it gets to be a fight and it's drawn out there could be a lot of death. Thankfully there isn't the ability for us to make missiles on either side, or space stations so some of the large scale atrocities can be averted, there is still Albion. Zero could probably crash it and if the Copies are even half as powerful as he is, which I've no doubt they're more than that we could see some damage on scales this world hasn't ever seen before."
"So that's it? We're going to give up on this so quickly? What about trying to talk to them?"
"I wouldn't have a problem with that, and they're welcome to come here. We've already extended that invitation. Well, the queen did. But they opened up with psychological warfare and nearly killed Mathilda. Who knows what will happen next? I could tell just from her movements, reflexes and her basic confidence that the reploid that was as the palace today was easily half as powerful as Leviathan. Speaking of which, where is she?" Zero asked, wondering why she wasn't at the meeting.
"She said it was a stupid idea that would annoy you, and that she'd just wait until you remembered her Civilian form again." Rock supplied when none of the girls made a move to talk. "She said you spent quite a while looking too. Especially around the chest area."
"I was surprised! Surprised!" Zero objected violently, "How was I to know the same girl who repeatedly tried to kill me could turn out to have a cute side like that? I mean, yeah she was all vaguely flirty and had a decent personality in a fight, how the hell was I supposed to expect that?"
"A cute side?" Louise asked, her tone flat and foreboding. "So you think she's cute?"
"Now is not even the time to deal with that if it was a factor! And it isn't. I was just asking because every other girl that likes me who wasn't summoned to see the princess is here. What am I supposed to think?"
"You're not supposed to call other girls cute," Louise said in a discontent voice.
"Seriously, that is not what is important right now." Zero said dismissively as he walked up to the main monitor that Rock used most of the time. "Rock, I need you. I cannot do this alone. Your body is modeled closely after X's own. It's not the same. It has some improvements in control, and isn't as powerful in some ways, but what else can we do? I can't fight myself and your brother at the same time. Even if they're not as powerful as me, the last time a "Zero" fought an X and a Zero it was a victory that killed hundreds of thousands. No matter if it's a win or lose situation without your help a lot of people are going to die."
"Zero… I don't think I can. What if I go berserk, what if my mind can't handle it?" Rock demanded angrily, "Are you going to stop me then?"
"Your mind has been just as free as anyone else's since we put you in Roll's body. The body might have been the same, but we modeled the brain and repaired your code when we transferred you. While it might not be a full out run, it gave us enough data to see that you would not lose control. And if you do lose control, I can put you down without killing you for now. I believe in you, that's why I'm asking for your help."
"As am I," Mathilda added her voice to the conversation. "You were clearly ready to sacrifice yourself for me. I believe in you as well. And if I'm a big sister like you say I am, then you should listen to me."
Rock was silent for a few moments, then he replied hesitantly, "I'll do it. But I want my buster offline until we've proven I'm not a danger, or until someone aside from me is in danger. I want it in my code that I cannot use my buster except to protect people."
"Whatever, I'm not going to argue about the finer points. We'll do it your way. So now that we have that decided you guys can go scheme elsewhere. Except you Roll. We have work to do." Zero said as he walked into the shielded back room without waiting for a response to his orders.
"Does… Does this mean that I've been given permission to scheme?" Axl said, seemingly in two separate female voices in unison before continuing in his own voice, "Oh… That's not going to end well. I think that's the first time they've ever had the exact same thought before..."
"That may be, but you heard Zero. That is exactly what he told us to do, so being as loyal as we are to him, I believe we should listen to him." Kirche stated simply, a mischievous grin on her face as she put her arm around Axl's shoulder. "Now, let's all go off and scheme as we were told."
"I really, really don't think this is a good idea," Axl replied hesitantly as he tries to fight off the compulsion from his two cyber elves and his own inability to fight off an attractive girl.
"Oh but you're outvoted though aren't you?" Kirche asked teasingly, to which Axl just sighed.
"I believe I'll sit this out." Mathilda said nervously, "I was only down here to see Rock when this whole thing started, and I could see this getting out of hand a little too easily."
"Well, that's fine. You can join us later if you want. You'll be coming with us too, right Tiffania?" Kirche directed her gaze to the young half elf as she asked this.
"Ah, I suppose. But we really shouldn't do anything to trouble Zero." Tiffania agreed reluctantly.
"Don't worry, what's the worst that could happen? I mean, he even told us to do it. That means he's stopped denying his feelings. Now it's just a game to get in close enough!" The red haired girl's confident smile caused Tiffania to nod in understanding.
"She's very persuasive if nothing else, isn't she?" Mathilda asked Rock as the girls all filed out of the lab.
"Yes. I know I've said some things to Zero but I really hope nothing like this ever happens to me… " Rock said in an all too serious voice.
"Oh, but why not? You're the perfect guy. You won't get old and ugly, and you've already got experience as a woman. You'd surely be a treasure because you can understand us, right? There are a great many girls who are in this academy who are quite pretty but are a little too intimidated by our intrepid young knight. I could see them setting their eyes for you. Don't you think so too?" Mathilda asked innocently, the twinkle in her eyes all that was betraying her teasing.
"Maybe Zero is right. Maybe running is the right answer…" Rock commented as he realized the new dangers he would face when he had his body.
"Running doesn't solve anything unless you don't have to come back. All it does is delay the inevitable." Mathilda shot back with a smirk.
"Wonderful. I wonder if I can change my mind about going into the body still?" Rock wondered aloud.
"Hell no. You make fun of me for this, and I'm going to make sure you have at least as many girls chasing after you as me!" Zero yelled out as he came out the door, carrying a large reploid style body that was roughly the same size as him, although missing the hands at the wrist. "Now we get you downloaded, and there is this cute little blonde princess who I think you'll really hit it off with. Then we take you around and introduce you to all the girls in the academy. You're just the right amount of cute little brother that I think I can get at least half of the academy's female population after you."
"Stop teasing him. He's already nervous enough about having a body." Roll admonished Zero as she came out carrying the missing hands and a number of tools on a tray. "We're going to load you into the body, and we've already cut the connections to the busters and removed your hands. Like myself and X you'll have access to an integral buster, but because of that we're going to be removing your hands until you're in the body and are satisfied with it. Then we'll do the repair work and get your busters working correctly."
"Ah, alright. That sounds fair. I can't use a weapon if they're not actually on me." Rock agreed, sounding relieved.
"Yeah, and you can't try and kill me when you wake up in the dress." Zero agreed.
"What?" Rock demanded, "I will find a way if you do that again! It could almost be acceptable before because it was Roll's body, but this is mine! You will not make me cross dress!"
"That might be fun. But anyhow, time for lights out for a bit. I'll get Guiche in here to wake you up when we're done sleeping beauty." Zero commented as he shut down Rock's program so he could transfer it safely.
Roll just looked at Zero as he continued working, before she finally asked, "So how much of that are you actually serious about?"
Zero smirked then replied with a smug satisfaction, "None, but it was fun, and I feel he kinda deserved it. Although if you do wanna do it, one of your dresses would fit him, but he might destroy it taking it off when he wakes up."
"Thank you, but no. I do not want anything to happen to any of them. What I mean to say, is that it would be a waste." Roll answered, leaving it unsaid that the clothing were all gifts from Zero.
"I guess," Zero agreed readily, then shrugged as he continued, "But sometimes you need to make sacrifices in the name of comedy."
"I suppose. But not today." Roll answered back.
"Fine, fine. He'll wake up normally. Besides he will be getting his buster back and I'd really like him not to try and kill me within the first for hours of it."
"Learning some prudence, are we Zero?" Mathilda grinned as she rested her chin on her hands.
"Not really. I'll think of some way to screw this up. I figure, I don't actually need to try for a disaster like that to happen. It's just gonna happen anyhow so why bother putting more effort into it. Like those old wild fires back in the western US." Zero explained.
"The what?" Mathilda asked, suddenly lost in the conversation.
"Don't worry about it Mathilda. Unless you want a geography lesson and the nature of wild fires in an environment that naturally uses them to fertilize the soil that is rapidly developed by a civlization," Roll said as she placed the hands on a work table and hooked some wires to the back of it. Tapping a command into the computer at the work station the hands quickly converted into their buster forms. She popped open a panel on the top of them and went to work, ensuring all the connections were correct and solid.
"What are you doing?" Mathilda wondered as she saw the hands convert. While her armor converted, she knew for a fact that her hands did not convert in the sme way.
"I'm ensuring the weapons are going to be in good working order, and that they'll change as needed," Roll replied as she shut the panel and tapped another command into the terminal. As she did this the busters became a pair of hands once again.
At that point Zero walked back up to them, his load deposited in the capsule, he moved to ready the upload of Rock's mind. "You ready to get this started? I'll need your help with this since we need someone to man the computers at the same time as the capsule. And unlike with you, we don't have Rock to do this for us this time."
"Yes, I'm ready. I just wanted to check the busters one last time." Roll acknowledged, then strode over to the lab's main console.
"Then let's get this going. It's been too long since I've seen a real hero's return." Zero said with a smile.
"Excepting yours?" Roll wry response caused Zero to scowl, but she paid him no mind. "But I do agree. It's been too long since the blue bomber has been around to protect everyone. I'm starting the upload now."
"Right." Zero replied as he nodded, his eyes on the capsule's controls. Soon enough, X's older brother would have a body again and they'd be a little safer. He was sure that the more childlike robot would definitely be able to fill in for X. Much better than he could…
***Author's notes***
Lunatic + is now my bitch! And I'm never doing it again! Oh yeah, MA + Chrom S rank using +dual strike with Celecia's Gale forged up and a forged up brave blade(Both full + attack with + accuracy. I don't even think you CAN crit on Grima in lunatic or higher) = 12 attacks(Chrom attacks x2 with each attack from your x4 attacks) = Screw you Grima(With Ignis and Galeforce I managed a 2 turn victory. If I hadn't won with that I woulda died horribly since I only brought in MA and Chrom. As it is she totally hit me for 71 points of damage in her single return attack leaving me with 9. To be fair the bitch DID ignis on me.) Woo. Yeah.
Zero: So now back to mindlessly bashing your way through my games regularly because you're a masochist.
Shut the hell up. Also killed Weil like 10 times in the past week anyhow.
Zero: Oddly enough you're not denying it.
Just because I like a challenge doesn't mean I'm a masochist.
Zero: You went through Lunatic+. And you've gone through all my games on hard mode 100 S rank. The hell you're not.
If you were like this to your writers at Capcom no wonder you got yourself blown up so often.
Zero: Yeah and it shows how often I listened to them when they told me to stay dead.
Uh huh.
Zero: God damn it put that 3ds down. Do not start another game!
It's only Lunatic though…
Zero: Only Lunatic? Do you know how crazy that sounds? The word LUNATIC is in your sentence!
Whatever. Now what to name my new avatar.
Zero: How about making another male character. It's kinda weird how you only made two. Why do you keep being a female in the game?
GALEFORCE. Galeforce. Morgan and Lucina with Galeforce, and rightful king and Ignis/Sol and Ignis/Aether? Wtf more do you want from them? Also the whole mother willing to sacrifice her life for the daughter part always gets to me. Then Sacrificing myself at the end.
Zero: What? Before even asking about the first part, why are you putting in such big spoilers?
It's been out a while and if they're gonna get it they've prolly already got it and if you don't know what I'm talking about stay on normal/casual because without turning your characters into specially made killing machines you will not make it through on a no farm run.
Zero: Seriously, you growled at me and bit my hand when I tried to play the game. And why are you not even doing reviews?
Not that many reviews. People apparently don't care about em anymore. Except for someone who is anon and can type whatever they want. They should at least have the balls to ya know… Iunno, sign up and show me how it's all done. But they won't. And then there are the people who still ask why you didn't take your time on Guiche. I mean you're Zero. You win your stages by going as fast as possible and cutting people up as fast as possible. The longer you are in a battle with an enemy the more you lose compared to X because he has stand off capabilities even in the games that beat yours, while you have a MUCH higher base damage that requires you to be in physical hit range. Oh yeah and apparently the part where i was complaining about the stuff cutting off cut off. Nobody told me about that. It was supposed to end "that different when comparing them in complexity and how they function". But regarding me biting you, it might be a good idea to get yourself checked for rabies.
Zero: You know, I probably should with how you've been acting. Guess I'm going to see Roll. Don't play the game too much.
Uh huh. Pft, shut up Fredrick. Mr EXP eating suspicious jerk. Just because I am in a field with a sword and a magic tome and I know Chrom's name doesn't mean I'm a spy. Crazy maybe, but not a spy.
Zero: I'm gonna go kill the copies without your knowledge.
Yes, yes. We know you're not dainty Lessa. Although you are one shotable by everything in this game till I can isolate damage on a boss and grind out enough levels to make you a war cleric as I blow my gold on healing staffs.
Zero: …Guess that's it for now everyone. He's not even reacting to anything. I shudder to think what will happen when he remembers he has an unopened Persona 4 Golden for his Vita that he put off playing.
Excuse me? I have what now? Winning!
Zero: Oh god damn it, get back here! ... This might be a while... Wait, when the hell did I have to start keeping tabs on the author? Wasn't he supposed to try and keep me in check? Whatever. I'm going to go beat him until he's motivated. Or dead. See you all next time.