Chapter 4, The abandoned lab.
Wasteland.
Ciel and the rest of the team was all in the transport, as the Resistance base was underground where Neo Arcadia couldn't find it, they had to use a lift to reach the surface.
Soon they was heading away from the base and into the wasteland.
Milan was in the front driving while everyone else was strapped into their seats in the back, Passy was floating through the air near Ciel.
"Ciel are we going in the right direction" asked Milan from the driver's seat, Ciel pulled a devise from her belt and pressed a few buttons, "Yes, it's straight ahead" she said, "Good, I estimate that we'll be there in about 9 hours" said Milan.
Ciel looked out of the window at the wasteland, the Elf war had certainly done a lot of damage to the world, there was nothing but sand and ruins as far as the eye could see, there was no animals, there was no plants, there wasn't even any breathable air.
Ciel tried to get comfortable in her chair though it was difficult as the chair was so hard, she knew that it was going to be a long journey.
At some point Ciel must have fallen asleep because she was woken be the transport giving a rough shake, "What was that" asked Ciel a little panicled, "It's Neo Arcadia they've found us" said a Reploid next to Ciel.
Ciel looked out of the window and saw several Pantheons on ride chasers (A type of hover bike) right behind them, Ciel could also see a air transport that was carrying a huge robot called a golem.
"What happened, was this an ambush" asked Ciel worried that she may had led them all into a trap, "No, that air transport spotted us about 30 minutes ago, it must have called for backup" explained Milan from the driver's seat who was struggling to dodge the incoming fire.
The transport gave a rough shake as it was hit with a laser, "How much further is it" asked Ciel, "Not much further, we should be there in a few minuets" said Passy, everyone was holding onto their seats for dear life.
The transport took another hit and this time it was a bad one, the transport shook and Milan lost control, there was a horrible crash and the transport turned onto it's side throwing everyone inside around, Ciel's seatbelt snapped and she was thrown into the hard metal of the transport's insides.
When Ciel began to push herself back up everything was chaos, there was noise, screaming, her head was killing her and several other parts of her body was in pain, everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
"Ciel come on we have to go" said Passy as Ciel recover, Ciel reached up to her head where it hurt and felt a spike of pain, looking at her hand Ciel saw blood she seemed to have cut her head when they crashed.
One of the Reploids ripped of the transport's door and everyone got outside, luckily they had all survived the crash.
However their problems soon returned as the Pantheons that had been chasing them had parked their ride chasers and was now advancing on foot with their arm cannons ready, "Run" shouted Milan just as the first shot was fired.
Everyone ran as fast as they could, the Pantheons was right behind them and shooting their weapons, a lucky shot hit one of the Reploids and he fell to the ground dead, Ciel was breathing heavily her short life was flashing before her eyes.
One member of the team stopped to return fire with his buster shot, however while he did manage to hit a Pantheon in the chest the machine kept coming and he was soon shot down.
Ciel didn't know what to do, they was out numbered 3 to 1 there was no way that they could defeat this many Pantheons, was this really how things would end.
Suddenly everyone came to a stop, Ciel who had been starting to fall behind caught up the the team and she could hardly believe what she was seeing, the team was standing in front of a set of big open metal doors that seemed to lead underground, they was well hidden by all of the rubble it was no wonder that no one had found it.
Unfortunately no one had any time to relax as the Pantheons was quickly gaining on them, "Commander Milan take Ms Ciel and get inside, we'll hold them off" said one of the Reploids, "But you'll die" said Ciel in protest, "Maybe so, but the Resistance will live on" said the brave Reploid.
Ciel was about to argue but Milan grabbed her and pulled her through the doors with Passy following closely behind, "I'll never forget your sacrifice" said Milan with a solute as the doors shut.
The team of Reploids got behind whatever cover they could and fired at the advancing Pantheons, they managed to land a few hits and one Pantheon was destroyed, however two members of the team was quickly killed.
Then something unexpected happened, the Pantheons stopped their advance and instead made as much room as possible, the team was confused, what was the Pantheons doing had they malfunctioned.
The team got their answer when the large golem that the air transport had been carrying rolled up to them, the Resistance opened fire but their shots hardly even left a scratch in the golem's armour, then the golem fired a powerful laser as the team that tore through them like a hot knife through butter, soon there wasn't a single member of the team left alive.
Underground laboratory.
The lab was extremely old and run down, it looked even worst than the Resistance base, Ciel and Milan walked through the lab, "Do you really think that a legendary hero is here" asked Milan sounding unsure, Ciel didn't want to admit it but she was beginning to doubt that as well.
The three continued on their way as the lab went deeper and deeper down, all of the computers looked old and they was covered in dust, a few even had cracked screens or was completely broken.
"Ciel I can sense of type of energy coming from below us" said Passy, Ciel felt her heart skip a beat, was he here, was Zero really here.
The three came to another large metal door and unlike the last one this one was sealed shut, "Maybe I can hack into the system" said Ciel as she approached a terminal on the wall.
It was at this moment that they heard the sound of footsteps coming towards them, "There's no time" said Milan as he pulled a bomb from his belt and placed it on the door, "Stand back" he said as the bomb exploded blowing the doors open.
The group quickly ran inside and found themselves in a large circular room, there was several machines all around them, most of which was barely holding together, Ciel looked to the centre of the room and she couldn't believe her eyes.
There in the centre of the room was a Reploid wearing red armour, he was kneeling down on his knees and was hooked up to a large machine that was attached to the ceiling, this Reploid seemed to be deactivated.
"Is that really him" asked Milan sounding unsure, Ciel couldn't blame him, this Reploid didn't look that much like the Zero that they had all heard about, his design was far more sleek and streamlined, he completely lacked any of the bulky armour that Reploids from 100 years ago would have.
Ciel approached the deactivated Reploid, "Perhaps he's just been upgraded over the years" she thought hoping that it was true, "We should at least reactivate him" said Ciel as she neared who she hoped was Zero.
Ciel reached a hand out to Zero but received a electric shock as soon as she was about to touch him, "There's some type of shield around him" said Ciel as her hand twitched a little, "I'll have to hack into the system and deactivate it" she said as she turned to a terminal.
At that moment about four Pantheons entered the room and started firing as soon as they saw the two Resistance members, "Ciel get down" shouted Milan as he pulled out his buster shot.
Ciel ducked behind the terminal while Milan fired at the Pantheons, then a shot hit Milan in the arm and he dropped his gun, before Milan could recover his weapon he was hit in the chest and then again and then again and again, Milan fell to the floor dead with four holes in his chest.
Ciel had tears in her eyes as she watched Milan die, the young scientist pulled out her own buster shot and took a couple of shots at the approaching Pantheons but it made little difference.
"Ciel we need to get out of here" said Passy, "We can't there's no way out" said Ciel as she dodged a laser aimed at her head, Passy looked at the terminal and then at Zero, there was no way that Ciel could hack into the system while she was being shot at but there was still a way.
"Ciel, I think that I can overload the shield around Zero" said Passy, "What, but that would also destroy you" said Ciel in panic, "I know" said Passy as she looked at the nearing Pantheons, if she did nothing then Ciel was going to die.
"Goodbye" said Passy as she flew into the shield around Zero, "Passy no" screamed Ciel but it was too late Passy was gone.
The shield around Zero became visible for a moment as it sparked with electricity, then the shield faded into nothing and Zero was released from the ceiling.
Just then Zero began to move.