Chapter 9, The Four guardians.
Resistance base.
As Zero and the Reploids that he had rescued entered the Resistance base they was greeted by Dande a few Resistance members who seemed to be concerned for the health of the rescued Reploids.
"Are you all alright, does anyone need repair work" asked one Resistance member, A few of the more beat up Reploids stepped forward and was soon led away for repairs.
"What's going to happen to us now" asked one Reploid who seemed to be almost as frightened as he was back at the Disposal centre, "Don't worry, we'll do what we can to give you new identities, hopefully Neo Arcadia will never find you again" said Dande.
Zero made his way away from the other Reploids, he needed to make a mission report to Ciel and he had a few questions regarding everything that he seen and heard.
Zero found Ciel in the command room, she was talking to Cerveau while typing something up on the computer, "Ciel are you busy" asked Zero, Ciel turned and smiled brightly "Zero your back, I don't know what to say, you've done more in a day then we could have in weeks" she said.
"Thanks, but there's something that I wanted to talk to you about, do you have time" said Zero, "Sure, Cerveau was just telling me about our generator" said Ciel, "On that note I need to be going, I should help with repairing any of those Reploids who was damaged" said Cerveau as he left the room.
Zero looked at Ciel with an expression of complete seriousness, "Ciel, those Reploids, none of them was Mavericks" he said, "I know" said Ciel sadly, "How many innocent Reploids are being killed every day" asked Zero, "More then I can count, they seem to be killing more and more recently" said Ciel is seemed like she was close to tears just at the thought of this.
Zero sighed Neo Arcadia only seemed to get worst by the second, how could something like this happen, "There's something else, that Reploid who I fought mentioned somebody called Harpuia, who is that" he asked.
"Harpuia, he's one of the Four guardians of Neo Arcadia, their X's strongest generals and the leaders of Neo Arcadia's military, their also X's children" said Ciel, "What, X has children, how" asked a completely confused Zero.
Ciel turned to the computer, "Here, I'll show you the files that we have on them" she said.
Neo Arcadia.
Neo Arcadia was currently peaceful, the artificial weather was bright and the people was going about their daily lives.
Sitting on a tall building overlooking a large part of the city was a green Reploid, this Reploid was named Harpuia, he was one of the Four guardians (Neo Arcadia's generals), and he was the leader of the Strong air battalion.
Harpuia looked down at the people below and smiled, everything was nice and peaceful just the way he liked it, Harpuia always enjoyed watching the daily goings on in the city, it reminded him that he and his siblings was doing a good job.
Just then Harpuia's communicator beeped disturbing Harpuia's quiet day, "This is Sage Harpuia" said Harpuia as he answered the call, "Harpuia we need you back at the tawer now, we just got some really bad news" came the voice of Harpuia's sister Laviathan.
"What's wrong" asked Harpuia, "One of our facilities was attacked, Aztec falcon is dead" said Laviathan, Harpuia was shocked Aztec falcon was one of his best men who could have possibly killed him.
Harpuia jumped off of the building and activated his thrusters, almost instantly Harpuia started to fly through the air at high speed, Harpuia had always liked being in the air it made him feel free, Harpuia flew over the city and straight to X tower.
X tower.
X tower was the tallest building in Neo Arcadia, it was where Master X and the Four guardians lived, it stood as a symbol to the whole city.
Harpuia landed on a balcony where his sister Laviathan was siting, Laviathon was a blue Reploid who was the leader of the Deep sea squadron (Neo Arcadia's navy), Laviathon was usually considered the most cheerful of the Guardians and she would often tease her siblings.
"Nice to see you finally make it Harpy, we thought we might have to start without you" said Laviathon, Harpuia just rolled his eyes "This is no time for jokes, come on" he said as he walked into the tower followed by Laviathon, Inside was the other two Guardians Fefnir and Phantom.
Fefnir was a red Reploid who was the leader of the Scorched earth squadron (Neo Arcadia's army), he was hot headed and arrogant, he was always ready for a fight, but he would also do whatever was necessary to protect the innocent.
Phantom on the other hand was a black Reploid and leader of the cutting shadow squadron a unit that was so secret that even the other three Guardians had no idea what they did, Phantom was was the most cold and serious of the Guardians, he would often spend time alone and he showed no mercy to his enemies.
"So what's going on" asked Harpuia, "Someone broke into one of our facility whoever it was he took out Aztec falcon" said Fefnir, "I already know that, what else" asked Harpuia trying not to think about his fallen friend, "The facility was a Disposal centre for Mavericks, the attacker somehow avoided our defences and freed all of the Mavericks" said Phantom.
Harpuia was both shocked and worried, "If all of those Mavericks was freed then there was no telling what they may do, they could attack the city" he thought, "Do we know who did it" asked Harpuia.
"We think that it was the East Resistance, but we're not sure" said Laviathan, "The East Resistance, but this seems bigger than anything that they've ever done" said Harpuia, "I know that's why this is so weird" said Laviathon.
"We have the security footage from the facility, however none of us recognise the Reploid who attacked" said Phantom as he activated a video that showed Zero battling Aztec falcon, Harpuia looked away as Aztec falcon was destroyed.
"Whoever this guy is he's tough" said Fefnir with a hint of excitement in his voice, "I know, no ordinary Reploid could have defeated a Mutos Reploid like Aztec falcon" said Laviathon, "Man I can't wait to meet this guy, the battle will be great" said Fefnir.
"Is that all that you can think about, fighting, one of our Mutos Reploids is dead, take this seriously" said Harpuia still agitated at seeing his friend's death, Fefnir looked guilty at what he had said and remained silent.
"The real question is, should we handle this ourselves or should we tell father about this" asked Laviathon, "I've already called him, he should be here soon" said Phantom speaking as if he was talking about something as casual as the weather.
As if on cue the door opened and X walked in, over the years since the Maverick wars X's appearance had changed, his armour was now more streamlined giving him a more human look, his hair had also grown over the years now sticking out of his helmet and almost reaching his shoulders.
"Father" said the Four guardians together, X smiled to his children "It's nice to see you too, now then Phantom what is it you called me about" he said as he turned to Phantom.
Phantom explained the situation to X, "I see, I suppose we have been focusing too much on the West Resistance and have neglected to deal with their eastern counterparts" said X after being filled in.
"What should we do" asked Fefnir, "Destroy them, it's time that we end these Mavericks" said X without a moment of hesitation, "But what about the Humans in that group" asked Laviathon sounding concerned, "Capture them, they will stand trial for their crimes" said X.
"These one more thing, they have a Reploid who was able to defeat one of the Mutos Reploids, what about him" asked Harpuia, "What Reploid? Did Ciel manage to build a combat Reploid" asked X sounding a little worried, "We're not sure, all we have is the camera footage of the attack" answered Phantom as he played the footage.
X watched the footage and his eyes widened at what he saw as a dozen different emotions showed on his face at once, "Father are you OK" asked Laviathon, "Go, all of you, ready your forces" said X without looking at any of them.
The Four guardians left the room without another word, none of them wanting to argue with their father, once he was alone X paused the footage on a clear shot of Zero, "Could it really be you Zero" he said.