Chapter 5, Zero.
Underground laboratory.
Zero's systems slowly began to restart, the first thing that he noticed was the noise, there was something going on around him, Zero's eyes activated and he could see what was going on.
Zero saw that he was in a large room, he saw that there was a dead Reploid near him covered in red oil, he saw the approaching blue Reploids that was firing at someone to the side of him.
Zero turned his head and saw a girl who was dressed in pink armour and had tears in her eyes hiding behind a computer terminal, Zero's and the girl's eyes meet, "Please, help me" said the girl in barely more then a whisper.
Zero had no idea what was going on, where was he, who was this girl, what was these faceless Reploids, he wasn't even sure who he was.
One of the Pantheons had reached Zero, the blue Reploid looked at him for a few seconds then it aimed it's arm cannon at his head and charged a shot.
Zero moved fast, he rolled out of the way just as the Pantheon fired and sweep kicked the machine's feet from under it, the Pantheon tried to get up but Zero grabbed it by the neck and with one swift movement snapped it's head clean off.
The other three Pantheons took notice of Zero and turned their attention to him as they readied their weapons, Zero spotted Milan's dropped buster shot on the floor and quickly grabbed it.
Zero fired only three shots and all three hit the Pantheons in their eyes, the Pantheons all fell to the ground dead without even firing a single shot at Zero.
Ciel was amazed, she'd never seen anyone shoot so accurately before, even if this Reploid looked different there was no doubt in her mind now that this had the be the legendry Zero.
Zero turned to Ciel just as she was moving from behind the terminal, Zero noticed the cut on her head and him scanners told him that she was bleeding real blood this confirmed that she was human "Zero thank you" she said her voice filled with gratitude, "Zero? Yes that's my name" said Zero slowly.
"Zero are you OK" asked Ciel with concern, "My mind is scrambled, everything is a blear" said Zero as he put a hand to his head, "Oh my, you must have been deactivated for so long that you've got hibernation sickness" said Ciel.
"Hibernation sickness, is it permanent" asked Zero, Ciel shook her head and smiled "Don't worry, your systems just have to fully reboot" she said, sure enough Zero could already feel his mind and memories becoming clearer.
"Right then, who are you" asked Zero as he began to remember who he was, "My name is Dr Ciel, I'm a scientist and member of the Resistance" said Ciel introducing herself, "Resistance, what are you resisting" asked Zero who was now filled with questions.
"Neo Arcadia, it's a large city where almost the entire worlds population live, I heard that it was once a utopia but it's leader has become cruel and unhinged, he executes anyone that he sees as even the smallest of threats, even when there's no threat at all" explained Ciel.
Zero thought about what he was being told, things certainly seemed bad concerning that Ciel was telling the truth, "And why are you here" he asked, "We heard that you was being held here, we hoped that you might be willing to help us" said Ciel.
"And how do I now that your telling the truth" asked Zero looking Ciel directly in the eye, "Please, I, I don't know what to say, I don't know how to prove it to you, but please, if you don't help us then I don't think that we'll survive for much longer" begged Ciel with a voice that was filled with desperation.
Zero watched Ciel carefully, if she was lying then she was a very good actress, also considering that those blue Reploids had attacked him earlier unprovoked he decided that he would trust this girl at least until he had a reason not too.
"Fine then I'll listen, but first how do we get out of here" said Zero, Ciel smiled "Thank you, thank you so much" she said as she hugged Zero catching the Reploid off guard, "The exit's this way, just follow me" she said.
Ciel was about to leave the room when she stopped and looked at Milan's dead body, her thoughts turned to everyone who had died on this mission, "I hope that their sacrifices are worth it" she thought as she left the room.
Ciel led Zero through the lab, however it wasn't long before they ran into a group of about five Pantheons in a hallway, the Pantheons fired their weapons and Zero pulled Ciel out of the way just in time.
Zero placed Ciel behind a wall where she would be safe, "Stay here" he said as he went to battle the attackers, Ciel watched from her safe place as Zero moved up the hallway in a zigzag patten while firing his buster shot, he moved so fast that Ciel could barely keep her eyes on him.
Zero shot three of the Pantheons down before he even got close, as for the other two, Zero grabbed the first one's arm cannon just as it was about to fire and forced it to aim at it's partner taking it's head off, after this Zero shot the last Pantheon at point blank range, within only a few seconds all of the Pantheons was dead.
"You can come out now" called Zero, Ciel walked down the hallway in disbelief, she had heard stories about how powerful and skilled Zero was, but seeing him in action was something completely different.
"How much further is it" asked Zero, "Now much, it's just one more level" said Ciel.
The two continued on their way until they reached the exit of the lab, "This is it, this is how we got in" she said looking at the big metal doors, "Wait, what's that sound" said Zero, he could hear something moving beyond the doors and it sounded like it was getting closer.
Suddenly the golem that had tore through Ciel's team broke through the metal doors and fired it's laser, Zero acted quickly and pushed Ciel out of the way before jumping to safety himself.
Zero fire his weapon but the shots didn't even scratch the golem's armour, "Zero you can't fight a golem their too strong" said Ciel, just then the golem reached out and grabbed Ciel in it's huge hand.
Ciel screamed as she tried to break free, however there was no way that she could break the machine's grip, Zero scanned the golem for any weak spots, he saw that the weakest points was the machines joints so he focused his attacks there.
Unfortunately while the joints was the golem's weakest points they was still too strong for the buster shot to damage, "Damn it" said Zero in frustration as he dodged the golem's lasers, what was he supposed to do against this thing.
Just then one of the nearby computers activated, "Zero, use this" said a voice from the computer, the voice sounded strangely familiar to Zero but he couldn't place it, a devise that looked like the handle of a sword was fired out of the computer and landed at Zero's feet.
As soon as Zero picked up the devise he felt some of his memories return, he knew this weapon, Zero activated the Z-saber and a green blade of pure energy appeared, for a second Zero noticed the the blade was different to how he remembered it, it was now a triangle shape instead of the straight blade that it was before, however Zero had little time to focus on this, he had to save Ciel.
Zero jumped up and with one swing of his Z-saber cut the golem's right arm off freeing Ciel, Zero attacked again before the golem had a chance to recover and cut it's head in two, the huge machine fell to the ground utterly defeated.
Ciel stared at the defeated golem in amazement, it wasn't until Zero held a hand out to help her up her up that she returned to her senses, "I've never seen anyone defeat a golem before, I didn't even know that it was possible" she said as Zero pulled her to her feet, "This proves it, this has to be the real Zero, there's no other explanation" thought Ciel.
Ciel approached the defeated golem she already knew that the rest of her team was most likely dead, it was then that Ciel saw the golem's power cells just sticking out of it's head, Ciel grabbed the power cell and pocketed it, this could keep their base's power running for at least a few days.
Zero looked at the golem as Ciel pulled out it's power cell "Ciel, you mentioned Neo Arcadia, is this thing one of theirs" he asked, "Yes, golems are Neo Arcadia's equivalent of a tank and those blue Reploids from earlier are called Pantheons, they make up the majority of their army" explained Ciel.
Zero thought about this, from what he had seen Neo Arcadia seemed to shoot first and ask questions later, it certainly added credibility to Ciel's story, "Come on, let's get outside" said Zero not wanting to stay in this lab any longer.
As they left Zero took one last look at the computer that his Z-saber had come from, however the computer was now deactivated and the voice that had come from it was silent.