"If I see an enemy in front of me, I won't hesitate to destroy it." Zero
"So, I have lost another comrade... Have I lost everything...? Mega Man X.
Deep under the ground, the rebels hid in a sewer pipeline room. Although it was deep underground and protected them from most of the attacks that were going on the surface, Britannian infantry would soon start searching the area. And they would eventually find this spot and kill them all.
Ciel sat on a chair in the base. She was worried sick.
What did I do to get captured by these people? I don't even know what Britannia is.
"The outer area has been taken." An Eleven said to his comrades.
"So can't we try one last push?" Another said.
"The Subway is being stopped and the farm roads are being patrolled heavily." The leader said.
"What about reinforcements from the other local resistances?" Another said.
"Even with help from them, the odds are we will still get swamped." One Eleven off to the side said.
"Izumi-San!" A guard said as he ran into a room with a radio in hand. "Check this out!"
Izumi grabbed the radio. He turned on the radio by flicking it off to the side. Static rolled in for a few seconds, but eventually it was clear.
"I am…Zero." Lelouch said on the radio.
The entire room was then heard with a series of sentences such as "Zero?" or "The killer of Clovis" and sometimes, "No way; it can't be."
"Zero?" Ceil said in surprise.
"I am the one who saved the Elevens in Shinjuku." Lelouch continued to say. "Obey me. And I will save you. Is the girl that was sent to you still there?"
"Yes." Izumi said turning towards Ceil. Ceil looked at Izumi with pure shock. She did not believe Zero was still alive.
"Leave a couple guards to protect her." Lelouch said. "Someone will be on his way to get her out of there. She must not fall into Britannian hands."
No one seemed to notice in the discussion that the Eleven who delivered the radio had a Geass marking on his eyes.
"B12 suppression complete." A soldier said on the radio.
"F7, there is no sign of the enemy." Another said.
"Gordon, please move your squad to point 516." General Dolton said.
"Yes my lord, moving to point 516." Gordon said on the radio.
Harpuia was observing the battle. He however noticed X had left the room. He followed X out the door.
X looked mad. He was pounding his fist on the wall, making large dents in it. He was grunting very loud and sweat like material was dripping from his face.
"Master X; are you alright?" Harpuia asked.
"I'm okay Harpuria!" X shouted. "But what about those people? What about all of those Japanese; wasted just for the ideals of a country to survive? That is not what the government is supposed to do? The Government is supposed to protect people, not kill them? ARGH! Why did I make the stupid mistake and let myself become tied to this regime?"
Harpuia could tell X was in distress.
"Master…" Harpuia began. "We are just soldiers right now. We cannot influence how the government works. Once we have earned our reputation, then we initiate a change. These people are being killed though because they possess information about the terrorist, Zero. If we can capture him, perhaps change can be achieved."
"Women and Children?" X shouted to Harpuia.
X wiped his head and looked into the ceiling.
"I wish Zero was here." X said. "He would know what to do."
"Careful what you say sometimes, it might betray you." Harpuia said.
"Yeah." X said in disappointment. "Ciel…why do I recognize that name…could it be…Doctor Ciel?"
"Where is Zero?" Gordon shouted on his radio. "All we are encountering are simple knaves. If we so brave he would…"
The Knightmare pilot was unable to finish his sentence. A single rocket smashed straight into the pilot quarters on the Knightmare, destroying in instantly. Both pilots were killed and their Knightmares came tumbling down. Out of the smoke came several Eleven resistance fights that looked at the wreckage with simply amazement.
"They came!" Izumi shouted. "Just as Zero said they would!"
"Yeah!" One shouted. "Let's follow Zero from now on!"
Lelouch looked with joy as he watched the two signals vanish off his radar.
"Now how about I lure Cornelia out." Lelouch said to himself. "I wonder if I can catch them off guard?"
He grabbed his communicator and punched in separate numbers for his troops positions.
"R1, R2 continue to fall back and lead the enemy out." Lelouch said. "B2, Open fire on the 3 o' clock angle."
B2 obeyed Lelouch and launched an anti-armor round into the tank that drove by. The Tank took a direct hit and exploded.
"P5," Lelouch continued. "Open fire on the enemy."
A group of Knightmares came under fire from Lelouch's rebels. Both Knightmares came under fire from the lead and fell to pieces, exploding afterward. Once Lelouch saw the unit become destroyed, he switched to a private channel to Zero and Leviathan.
"Zero…Leviathan…I want you two to make your ways to the Britannian Command Center." Lelouch said. "Destroy any and all targets you encounter…I don't care who it is."
"Roger." Zero said.
He pressed a button on his Z-Buster and the communication went out. The holographic screen vanished from Zero's hand and went away.
"That's our cue." Zero said as he activated his Z-Saber. "Let's go."
"Zero…" Leviathan said. "About last night…"
"Don't even bother." He said. "You did what you did to try and help me."
Leviathan looked at him.
"And…to an extent…you might have succeeded." Zero said. "I do feel a little bit better. That release of hormones (if that's what they're called) actually helped me in dealing with Iris. I appreciate what you did."
"Hey…who is she anyway?" Leviathan asked.
Zero stood silent for a few minutes. Then he turned around, his back facing her.
"…We may be friends Leviathan…" He said. "But not to the point I am willing to talk to you about it."
"Oh…" She said. "I see."
"Come on; we need to move." Zero said. "If we stay here any longer, we will miss our mark."
Without a second to spare, both Zero and her leapt from the building they hid at toward a group of Knightmares driving towards where the explosions occurred. Zero moved for the one in front and sliced the leader with his Saber, cutting him and his Knightmare in half, while Leviathan silently took out the pilot in the back.
"What the…" A pilot shouted.
"It's him!" Another shouted. "It's Zero's bodyguard."
"Shoot him!" The commander shouted.
All the Knightmares fired rounds into at Zero. Zero leapt from the ground avoiding the whole barrage. He got on a building and kicked off; slicing the first Knightmare's sensor off, following after was its fuel tank (which caused it to explode). Zero charged at the next one.
"Ryuenjin!" Zero shouted.
Zero's saber ignited into flames and began to burn intensively. Zero used the burning attack to cut through the next Knightmare, slicing it up the middle, causing it to explode. Others tried firing their Slash Harkens at him. Zero sliced up the Slash Harkens as they came towards him. He then pointed his Z-Buster at the Knightmares, firing several energy pulse rounds into the attacking Knightmares. Each time a buster smashed into one, it exploded several seconds later.
"What is this monster?" A Britannian guard shouted on the radio.
"Retreat!" The commanding officer shouted.
However when they turned around, Leviathan shot her freezing attack at them, causing to become frozen solid. Leviathan used her lance and sliced up the remaining Knightmares. Zero and Leviathan were now standing in the smoldering ruins of a scrap field.
"Split up and destroy as many as you can." Zero said. "Leave no survivors."
"That seems so violent for you." Leviathan said. "Something wrong?"
"We can't afford my identity being revealed." Zero said as he boosted into the city.
The commanding officers of Britannia suddenly began to panic as what happened in Shinjuku began happening again in Saitama ghetto.
"It appears that the enemy has captured and our using our Sutherlands." Dolton said.
"It is the same thing that has happened in Shinjuku." One of the survivors said.
"Has Zero arrived then?" Another asked.
Cornelia simply looked out as if she was waiting for something.
"Has his Reploid comrade been seen yet?" Gilford asked.
"We have no reports." Dolton said. "But a large column of Knightmares was wiped out a few seconds ago not anywhere near where the other reported casualties were."
A Knightmare fell in half as Zero went straight through its armor with his sword as he attacked more in the streets. Others fired in the air at him, but never were able to hit. He weaved in and out of the ammo and cut the other one in half. There were two more behind him, but he grabbed the Shield boomerang and hurled it in the direction of the two. The boomerang angled slightly to the left before making a turn, cutting the other two in half on the torso. Before the two exploded, Zero leaped on top of one of them and jumped right before the explosion, using the heat to project him in the air. While he was in the air, he managed to cut the rotor of a Helicopter off, making it tumble to the ground. Zero then fired another Z-Buster into a bomber, before it was able to make another bombing run and blew it out of the sky.
When Zero landed, he landed near by the command center of the Britannian Empire. No noticed him for a few minutes, until Dolton so happened to look at one of the nearby cameras.
"There!" Dolton shouted.
One of the tactical screens that were monitoring the area zoomed in closely to the area where Zero had landed. The screens looked at a single Reploid with a glowing green saber and a thick cloak guarding his whole body.
"That's him!" Cornelia shouted. "X, do what must be done!"
"Roger!" X shouted. "Harpuia, let's go!"
"Yes my lord!" Harpuia shouted.
X and Harpuria ran out of the command center. They moved in and out of rooms while they approached the exit door.
"So this is where she's hiding?" Zero asked himself. "I wonder if X is with them? Well…it matters not. It's time to do what I came here for."
Zero charged straight at the Knightmares guarding the facility. All of them began to fire at Zero. Zero simply used his boosters to fly in and out of the shots, dodging each one. Zero leaped into the air and sliced the first two frames in half using a spin attack in midair. While he was in the air, he pulled out the Boomerang again to deflect an armor piercing round, before he hurled it at the Knightmare who had fired at him. Zero moved to the left and destroyed another Knightmare, before moving to the right and destroying two others.
One of the Knightmares fired an anti-personal round at him. It hit Zero and he lost his balance. However, the round itself proved to be ineffective as damage was minimal.
"Nice shot." Zero shouted. "Too bad the ore and metals that encompass my body are far denser than anything you shoot at me. Might as well be tickling me!"
Zero regained his balance by using the Slash Harken data and attaching himself to a building. While he was going up, he used the Z-Saber to slice the arm of that Knightmare off, before turning around and finishing it with a Z-Buster. Zero leapt on the building and observed as twenty other Knightmares were firing at him.
"There's too many to perform a direct fight." Zero said. "I got the armor, but not enough to make it worth it. I'll need to whittle them down piece by piece first before I take Cornelia captive. I don't know if X or Harpuria are here and I need to be at full power to deal with them. Leviathan you copy?"
"I'm here." Leviathan said.
"Can you give me a hand in picking off the guards at the base?" Zero asked.
Zero looked up to watch a lance be thrown right at an Helicopter midair. The lance punctured straight into the Helicopter, making it explode in midair. The Lance landed nearby Zero. Second later, Leviathan herself leaped down on the ground and picked it up.
"All right, let's do it." She said.
"B3 fire at 3 o' clock." Lelouch called out.
A Knightmare that Lelouch had marked as B3 fired its Slash Harken and nailed a Helicopter right out of the air. It came tumbling towards the grounds before exploding on the ground.
"B7, Open fire!" Lelouch shouted.
One of Lelouch's Knightmares fired an armor piercing round into an approaching armor. The armor took the hit and exploded.
"N5, take out the column." Lelouch said.
A single Knightmare fired into the line of about four Knightmares. It was so well hidden that the others almost had no chance of recovering from it. Before the pilots knew it, all four of them had been gunned down and destroyed.
The Elevens were monitoring the radio communications as each one of the Elevens were shouting war cries and the salute, "Death to Britannia." Explosions of the Britannian Knightmares were heard all around as Lelouch's recruits destroyed each one of the Knightmares one by one.
"We're actually winning!" One of them said.
"See that Britannian!" One of the shouted at Ciel. "See how powerful your wretched country is!"
"I'm not Britannian!" Ceil shouted, getting up while shaking off the Eleven. "I am Ceil and I am a Neo Arcadian!"
"What do you take us for, idiots?" One of them shouted as he got up with his gun pointed at Ceil. "We may not have gone to your fancy ass Britannian schools, but that doesn't mean were stupid monkeys! We all know that there is no such country as Neo Arcadia so give it a rest with that shit."
"I never called any of you stupid!" Ciel shouted back. "I am telling all of you the honest truth about myself! And what have I got? Beatings! Insults! And for what! Being a member of a country that I am not even part of?"
"Shut up you stupid girl!" The other shouted, using the butt of his gun to smack Ceil right in the face. Ciel made a painful moan and fell to the ground, staggering to get up.
"Zero has taken the life of the prince, and soon will take the Princess's life!" The other shouted.
Zero and Leviathan maneuvered through the city, dodging the many Knightmares that chased them. Three of them had spotted them right now and were chasing them. Leviathan turned around and used her ice to turn the asphalt into ice. The Knightmare could not see the ice on the ground and slipped and fell on each other. Zero fired a Z-Buster and destroyed the three. More Knightmares began swarming in from the city. Zero and Leviathan ran away from the area. There began a series of Guerrilla tactics against the Britannians. They would duck into buildings, set traps, and do whatever means necessary to defeat the Knightmares. Leviathan one time used worn away rubble to collapse a building on top of a group. Zero hid in a building and threw the Shield Boomerang cutting away several others that got in his way. Zero and Leviathan cut down half of the squad that pursued the two. Eventually however, they were pushed out of the city and into an open field.
Zero and Leviathan were surrounded by an entire squad of Knightmares. Each one of them pointed their machines guns at Zero and Leviathan. Leviathan got into a battle stance, but Zero put her hand down.
"Don't bother." He said.
Leviathan was about to say something, but then looked at Zero's hand. Zero's hand was slowly building up energy. His hand was solid white with purple fire leaking all around it. Before the Knightmares were about to fire at him, Zero raised his hand into the air.
"Rakuhouha!" Zero shouted.
Zero slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing large bursts of purple fiery energy into all the Knightmares around him. Each one of the bursts came straight out of Zero and collided with all of the Knightmares from every direction. All at once, the twenty four Knightmares that had surrounded Zero and Leviathan exploded into massive fireballs.
"We won!" Leviathan shouted. She jumped in the air with her hand high for victory.
Her celebration was cut short by the blast of an X buster by her feet. Both her and Zero looked up to see X and Harpuia about two hundred feet away from them; X with his Buster armed and Harpuia with his beam swords active.
"You two got lucky last time; but luck won't be on your side this time." Harpuia said.
"Harpuia!" She shouted.
"And X." Zero said, turning his direction towards the two Reploids.
"All right P3." Lelouch said. "Destroy the bridge and cut off her retreat!"
Behind all the Britannians, a large amount of explosions were seen all over the bridge. One by one, pieces of the bridge fell off and into the ocean. Any Britannians that were unfortunate enough to be positioned on the bridge lost their balance and fell into the ocean. Most of the people died on the impact of the water or being crushed by debris. Some of them were lucky and were able to swim away. Now Britannia was caught in the middle of the fight and could only retreat if Zero chose to lose or run away.
"Point 17 has been lost." Dolton said. "Our escape route has been destroyed and cut off."
"Well that's that." Cornelia said. "Order all remaining units to retreat."
The entire room was filled with gasps and shouts of confusion.
"But my lady…" One shouted. "We can still fight!"
"Not like this we can." She said.
"So you two don't plan on surrender?" X asked. "No matter how much we reason with you…"
"How many times do we have to say no before you understand anything?" Zero asked. "X, if an enemy tells you he will not back down, you have no other choice but to fight. Otherwise your life will be taken and then what will happen to your ideals?"
X looked up at the cloaked warrior.
"Fight X." Zero said with his saber out. "Or Run. Or be destroyed. Choice is yours."
"Fine; but only because I have no choice!" X shouted.
All of the Reploids spread out with their eyes on each other's groups.
Leviathan and Zero were busy choosing their targets.
"I got Harpuia." Leviathan shouted.
"That leaves me with X." Zero said.
While on the other side, X and Harpuia were choosing theirs.
"It should be my duty to retire the traitor of the four guardians." Harpuia said to X.
"Then I'll take the mysterious reploid." X said. "Besides he doesn't seem like a normal Reploid anyway."
Each one who was going to fight the other stared at their targets. For a while, the Earth seemed to sit still.
Then all at once, each one boosted towards their targets. Harpuia threw his slashes at Leviathan. Leviathan created ice clones and allowed each of the slashes to break them, making her avoid damage. She and Harpuria's weapons smashed into each other, locking the two into a battle of strength.
X leaped back from where he was and began to charge his X-Buster. He fired several charged buster shots at Zero. Zero managed to dodge in between these large shots, sometimes using his saber to deflect them. When Zero was about fifty feet from X, he did a corkscrew flip over one of X's charged busters. Before however he was able to hit X, X pulled out his saber from his back and deflected the blow. X and Zero were once again locked into a Saber fight. But now the two were fighting everywhere. They would leap on buildings, slide off walls, fight almost wherever, as the two launched their attacks into each other.
"There is too much security to pull off an attack right now." Lelouch said. Looking at the battle, he could see that reaching Cornelia was going to be a difficult. Even with all the damage Zero had inflicted, there were still too many Knightmares, let alone Cornelia's personal unit to deal with.
"I'll have to make an opening like with what I did to Clovis." Lelouch said. "P3, pretend to be a Britannian soldier and make yourself visible on their radar. R1 and R2, hide in ambush and prepare to fight."
X swung the saber down on Zero. Zero managed to deflect it from above when X came towards him. X stayed in suspended motion as he tried to push down upon Zero with his saber. Zero, being the physically stronger than X, swung his saber to the right, throwing X out of the air. X landed and fired a charged X buster at Zero's feet. Zero leaped away from the blast, but the building they were in had now a weak support to it. When Zero landed, the floor collapsed under him. Zero managed to stay on his feet as he was falling. He zoomed inside one of the stories of the buildings. X leaped down after Zero with his saber in hand. X pointed his X-Buster down and fired several Homing Torpedoes out in the building. The Torpedoes went straight down a couple stories, but they eventually picked up Zero's signal. Zero turned to see the rockets at him. Zero pulled out the Shield Boomerang and allowed the missiles to hit him; giving him some shock as he was blasted out of the building, but doing no damage to him. When he landed, Zero threw the boomerang and cut the remaining torpedoes that were heading towards him.
Leviathan was having similar luck to Zero. Harpuia flew towards her and tried using a series of saber strokes to hit her. Leviathan used athletics and gymnastics to avoid all of Harpuria's attacks. She then tried swinging her lance at his head, missing. She tried sweeping him with it, but he jumped. Then she tried to stab him, but he simply moved to the left. He swung his saber to hit her, but she banked quickly to the right and dodged the attack. She launched a sphere of ice at him, but Harpuria flew in the air and not only dodged her attack, but moved towards her for an attack.
"We have a signal on one of our units still within the kill zone." Dolton said.
"Was it damaged?" Gilford asked.
"We're not sure." Dolton said. "It isn't responding to our signals."
"Kill it." Cornelia said.
Everyone jumped out of her seat when they heard her say that.
"Cornelia!" A commanding officer shouted. "He could be captured by the enemy!"
"I gave the order to retreat." Cornelia said. "I have no need of a soldier who cannot fulfill my orders!"
"But Cornelia!" Another shouted.
"It shall be done my princess." Gilford said as he charged with his Knightmare towards the signal.
Gilford knew something was up when he got a good look at the Knightmare. No damage, not moving, machine gun fully armed and ready. It looked like a terrorist in his eyes. He didn't hesitate any longer. He put his Knightmare's lance pointed right at the Knightmare and made a large burst of speed towards the Knightmare.
"Hey!" The Eleven called out as he watched Gilford and his unit charge right at the three who were charging right at him. "Can't you tell we're allies?"
Gilford made no motive to change his course.
"Shit!" The Eleven called out. He armed his machine gun and tried to attack Gilford. Gilford flew towards him, dodging the shots. He flew under his machine gun and got behind him. Before the Eleven was able to react, Gilford stabbed his Knightmare with his lance. When he did, the other two moved in as well stabbing it as well. The Knightmare unit exploded in a fireball.
"They didn't even bother to check his ID." Lelouch said.
Harpuia continued to throw his Slashes at Leviathan. She kept running as she moved in and out of each one of the slashes. Zero and X continued to fight amongst each other using their beam sabers in order to try and penetrate the others defenses. Zero continued to fight against X with no signs of being tired. Leviathan however was exhausted from all the fighting and was starting to stagger. She bought herself some precious seconds to find a spot for a breather when she swung her lance and hit Harpuia in the arm. After she saw that, she began to run off. She hid in a building and began to breathe heavily.
Zero landed on the top of the building to see Harpuia getting up after shaking off the attack.
"Harpuia was inheritably stronger than the other guardians." Zero said looking at him. "Leviathan doesn't stand a chance against him. All she's doing is buying time."
Zero cringed his fists together.
"If I don't do something, she'll die!" Zero shouted as he jumped down towards Harpuia.
Harpuia looked up to see Zero charging at him. Harpuia managed to get up and dodge Zero's saber swing. Harpuia activated the thrusters in his legs and flew in the air. He began to launch his saber swings at Zero. Zero leaped off the ground directly at Harpuia. He swung his sword and slashed Harpuria's leg. The saber seared off the metal on Harpuia's ankle, causing him to land on his knees. Zero held up his saber to finish him.
"Harpuia!" X shouted while firing his X buster at Zero.
Zero turned around to get hit by the blast. He staggered off his feet and quickly tried to get back up. Harpuia took the opportunity while Zero was hurt and made a quick stroke on his back. Zero managed to dodge it, but his cloak didn't. Zero's cloak fell to pieces from Harpuria's two slashes. The cloak fell off Zero's body revealing his entire figure.
X nearly felt his artificial blood turn from heat to ice. Harpuia the same. X practically lost his balance when he saw Zero. X simply stared at him trying to comprehend what was going on. Zero simply stared back at him. He shook his head when he saw X staggering.
"Well, now you know." He said. "So what now?"
"N3." Lelouch said. "Emit your signal and stay by the hospital. R1, R2, stand by to engage enemy forces."
Cornelia watched as a secondary signal appeared on radar.
"Another signal." Cornelia said. "That means there is an ambush up ahead. Gloucester go around and encircle the position."
Lelouch watched on radar as the units broke off and went to the other sides.
"They didn't fall for it." Lelouch said.
Suddenly it dawned upon him. They knew there was an ambush.
"R1, R2!" Lelouch shouted on his phone. "Retreat immediately!"
"You know." X said as he looked at Zero. "There was a point…where I thought it was you."
"When was that?" Zero asked. He kept one of his eyes on Harpuia who had both of his beam daggers out.
"When you were fighting Britannia at the ambush we placed for Leviathan." X said. "When you used Soul body."
"That was more than enough evidence to prove who I was." Zero said. "It should have been obvious from the green beam saber. So why didn't you?"
"I denied it." X said while lowering his arm cannon. "I tried telling myself that you wouldn't be the one to do this. That you wouldn't go around and do such things. But now here you are; doing exactly what I hoped you wouldn't be doing. So I have lost another comrade…have I lost everything?"
"No." Zero said. "No matter what, I'm still Zero…but I can't deny that lately I haven't been able to think straight. I've been doing this now for weeks…and every day I question my status as a Reploid. I want to say I'm still the same, but I can't say that anymore."
"Zero…" X said. "You know has to happen from this point forward…right?"
"I've known from the start." Zero said. "So what do you say that we stop delaying the inevitable…what has to happen between us is going to happen."
Zero nodded. X made a small chuckle. But after he did that, he looked up at Zero with complete anger.
"ZERO!" X shouted. He pointed his X-Buster at Zero and fired a large charged shot. Zero dodged the buster shot and leaped up in the air on top of a building. Harpuia activated his thrusters and flew towards where Zero was.
"You won't get away!" X shouted.
"Zero!" Leviathan shouted using her lance to attack X. X used both of his arms and blocked her attack. She now was locked in a power struggle against X. But soon it became obvious that she could not defeat X. X broke out of the struggle. He punched Leviathan in the stomach, upper cutted her face, and round house kicked off the ground. X pointed his X-Buster at her.
"Y-LASER!" He shouted, projecting a beam of pure light at her. Leviathan took the blast directly, staying in suspended motion, screaming as the laser blew away her armor, and severely damaged her body. Leviathan landed on the ground, half naked and damaged, falling to her knees from the attack.
Meanwhile Harpuia and Zero fought it on a roof.
"It's been a long time Zero." Harpuia said with his beam swords out. "Now we can finish what we started those years ago!"
"Fine by me." Zero asked.
Harpuia looked at Zero with rage. Harpuia flew towards Zero with his beam sabers. Zero deflected his attacks with his saber. At one point, he used the shield boomerang and blocked a blow towards him and then threw it. Harpuia flew from the blast, but Zero did Ryuenjin and cut up his chest. Harpuia took the damage and began to pant from the slash. Zero as he came down prepared to swing at him again, but Harpuia quickly reacted; grabbing Zero, turning him 180 degrees and kicked him down to where X was. Harpuria then rested on the buildings and began to rest and he tried to recover from the attack.
"P2, N3!" Lelouch shouted. "Respond! Damn it! No one is following orders anymore!"
One by one Lelouch's units began to abandon him or leave him. And each one was hounded by Cornelia's personal unit. Lelouch lost contact with each one of the resistance, until there was no one left to command.
"I was…defeated." Lelouch said in complete rage. "So easily. This wasn't much of a game after all."
"Attention all pilots!" Cornelia's voice was heard on the radio. "Open up your hatches and reveal your faces. I repeat: All pilots will reveal their faces!"
Anger built up into Lelouch's veins and head.
"CORNELIA!" Lelouch shouted.
Leviathan fell to her knees as X overwhelmed her. His last X-Buster smashed straight into her body. Parts of her insides were now showing from the blast. She began to crawl as she tried to get away from X.
"Leviathan." X said as his X-Buster began to charge up. "I am going to kill you. Not because I hate you, but because I have no choice! DIE!"
X launched his X-buster at Leviathan. Before it collided into her, Zero ran straight into it and allowed the blast to hit him. Leviathan looked at Zero after the attack to see a hole straight through his shoulder. Sparks and electricity covered his whole body. Leviathan simply looked in amazement that Zero; the one she had tried to kill for years, used his own body to block the attack.
"Why?" She asked; almost in tears. "Why did you protect me?"
"We may have been enemies before." Zero said in pain as he tried to stagger to his feet. "We may have hated each other for the longest time. But that time is over! We are comrades…we are allies! We…are friends."
Leviathan gasped when she heard Zero say that. Her eyes were almost sparkling from his words.
"I don't care what your background is or your lifestyle; you are not my enemy. But you X. If you're going to get in my way, then I have no choice!"
Zero charged at X. He tried to round house kick X. X dodged the kick, but then Zero did a thrust kick into him. Zero charged with his saber and slashed at X, hitting him in the arm and then leg. He then did another attack, trying to cut his head in two. X used his saber to deflect Zero's attack. Zero and X were not locked in a power struggle. Both of them looking at each other with complete anger and rage. Who could blame them though? They had both promised the other that they would never turn Maverick…yet…here they were…fighting each other as Hunter and Maverick.
"If I see an enemy before me," Zero began. "I won't hesitate to destroy it! That's how I've lived my life when you died,"
"Zero; catch!" Leviathan said throwing her lance to him. After she did, she fainted from the damage she took.
Zero caught the lance and swung at X. X dodged the lance, but then Zero swung used his elbow and hit X in the stomach. With the distraction that Zero had brought, he swung his saber and slashed X in the stomach. X flew about twenty feet away from the force of the attack. X stayed on his feet for a few more seconds before collapsing to his knees.
"The last we did this, you won." Zero said. Zero then grabbed his beam saber and raised it to stab X. "Have you lost your will to fight? You and me made a promise once. Have you forgotten it?"
"Guess so." X said. "Guess I can't beat you in a straight on fight, at least. Looks like I'll have to do it."
"Do what?" Zero asked, lowering his saber.
"You may have been able to defeat me in this form." X said getting back to his feet. "But let's see what happens when I use it. The power that Doctor Light left for me. If I use that…then you won't stand a chance against me!"
X shouted in the air as energy built all around him. His body was incased in massive blue light as pillars of energy surrounded X. A binary code of Zeros and ones surrounded X and his whole body was incased. When it was over, X was wearing his Falcon Armor. He stared at Zero for a few seconds as Zero put his saber back into a fighting position.
Suddenly X vanished from plain sight; within a second. Zero gasped when he saw that. Within the next second, X reappeared in front of him. X back flipped in the air and set Zero straight in the air. While he was going up, energy surrounded X and he flew in the air after Zero. X head-butted Zero in the back; and using the energy, began to rapidly attack Zero from the energy all around him. Zero was hit forty times in the back before X deactivated his thrusters. X grabbed Zero and put him under him. X fired a charged X buster right at him. While Zero falling down back towards the Earth, X fired several homing torpedoes at him each one hitting him.
Zero hit the ground in a massive explosion of dust.
Damn it. I had forgotten the armor systems. If I just finished him when he was on the ground, I would have won.
And yet…I hesitated. Some warrior I am.
Zero tried to get up, but X was right there in front of him when he did. X swung the Z-Saber at him and shot an energy wave when he did. Zero took the hit and flew into a ruined building. Zero fired his Z-Buster at the building entrance, causing it to collapse.
"X is too fast with the Falcon armor." Zero said. "I'll have to strip this armor off to even this fight."
Zero deactivated his original armor and now had his resistance armor. A second after he did though, an explosion was seen at the entrance. X straight at Zero in a massive beam of light and grabbed Zero, blowing him straight out of the building. Zero attempted to get up, but X grabbed him by the throat. He tried pointing his pistol, but X would not let go of his throat and tightened the grip, causing Zero to lose feeling in his arm. X slowly grabbed the X-Saber and held it in his hands.
I lost...no it can't be…I can't lose now!
"This is the end." X said.
The Elevens who were watching the radio now heard complete silence. Ciel watched in terror from the whole ordeal.
"I can't believe it." The Eleven said. "We lost…"
Before he could finish, an explosion was seen on the door. The Elevens saw five Britannian guards come through. One of the Elevens managed to fire and eliminated one of the guards, before the rest of the squad fired and killed the rest. They were about to fire at Ceil, but the commander stopped them.
"Hold your fire!" He said. "Her clothes have the look of a Britannian. She's the Ciel girl. Take her into custody."
Two guards ran up and grabbed her.
"NO!" She screamed. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"
"This is Group 1B." The commander said. "We have secured Ciel. Taking her back to the base now."
The guards moved Ciel, slapping her often in order to get her to calm down.
"Your turn." Gilford said when he Knightmare went over to Lelouch's.
"My hatch was destroyed in the battle." Lelouch said.
"Understood." Gilford said. "Turn around; I will open it for you."
"I…I understand." Lelouch said. "I will do it now."
"It's ZERO!" Someone shouted.
Zero continued to look at X who had his saber pulled out. While he was watching he happened to see Ciel being taken by the guards.
"Is that…Ciel?" Zero thought.
Zero looked at Ciel as she was forcibly being taken the guards. Zero began to build up anger in his system.
"No!" Zero screamed.
A second after he did that, his entire body turned gold. X let go of him from the pure shock of the matter. Zero a second later dashed right an X, round house kicking his saber right out of his hand. He then performed a second one, kicking X. X rocketed right where he was into a building. Zero used his acceleration system and increased his speed, grabbing Leviathan and her weapon and putting the two on his back. Exhaustion ate at his body, but he kept going anyway. Zero rocketed right towards the guards that had Ciel. The guards who spotted Zero had the two who were not carrying Ciel fire at Zero. Zero moved to the first guard, slashing his chest straight open. Zero swung his saber behind him and decapitated the other. The other two guards let go of Ciel and were about to grab their guns. Zero spin attacked both and killed both of them. He then grabbed Ciel and then disappeared.
X got up to watch Zero get on his knees and rocket into the sky. X simply stared off into the distance where he flew, looking at him with disdain.
As he did, memories of him and Zero came flooding back. Zero and X had just defeated a large group of mavericks. All of these Reploids had been their friends three years prior. Zero himself couldn't help but get emotional from this.
"I can't believe it!" X shouted in anger. "This war is pointless! We're not accomplishing anything!"
"Every day it's like our friends betray us, and fight against something they shouldn't." Zero said.
"When are we going to find a cure?" X barked. "When we are we going to be able to save our friends? This battle doesn't seem it will ever end."
Zero nodded. He could feel X's frustration. Even though Zero didn't mind war, he sure as hell knew pain. Everyone who knew Iris was aware of that. Zero picked up the body of one of his former companions…holding her cold lifeless hand in his. He knew this was going to be him one day. One day it could. It almost did. And he could still feel the dark presence around him even still.
"X…" Zero said. "Promise me."
"Promise you?" X asked "Promise you what?"
"The same promise you gave to me." Zero replied. "If I ever go Maverick, kill me. No matter what the cost is, destroy me before I harm anymore innocents."
X looked up to the sky where Zero had disappeared off to. And then he nodded.
"I…I will." X said. "I will fulfill that promise you gave."
"I can't believe it…" Ciel said as she was carrying Zero while he carried Leviathan. Zero had managed to rocket them out of the ghetto and iunto the city where they went underground. No one knew what it was for to them Zero simply looked like a golden streak that hit the ground. They were now in a sewer moving as far away from the point they landed in as they could. "You're alive. I believed that you were dead when everything happened at the resistance base."
"I…I'll never die." Zero said.
"You saved my life now three times now." Ciel said. "Thanks again."
"No…problem." Zero said. "The others..."
"I don't know." She said.
Zero collapsed from the sheer pain he was enduring.
"ZERO!" Ciel shouted. "Are you alright?"
Zero made no response.
"ZERO! ZERO! ZZZZEEERRROOO!"
"Hey is he alright!" Lelouch shouted as he and C.C. ran towards where the two were.
"Who are you?" Ceil said as the two ran over to where she was.
Lelouch went over to where Ceil was and turned Zero over. There Lelouch saw all the damage that Zero had taken.
"What happened to him!" Lelouch shouted.
"He must have picked a fight with Mega Man X." Ciel said.
"Mega Man X?" Lelouch asked.
"The Reploid that directly rivals...no." C.C. began. "Who is stronger than Zero."
"You know that too?" Ceil shouted.
"I'm the one had opened the gateway." C.C. said. "I have observed both dimensions for some time now. So I know what goes on in both worlds."
"Wait?" Both Lelouch and Ceil shouted. Lelouch then shouted, "They came from another dimension?", while Ceil shouted, "We're in another dimension?"
Both Lelouch and Ceil looked at each other when they had said that realizing that they had said everything at the exact same time. Although they used different wording, the style was just about the same.
"Well young lady." C.C. said looking at Ceil. "You came from that dimension. Might as well give Lelouch here some history about it."