Gate would let him roam freely.
Well, as free as he could be.
Zero recalled the term ‘caged bird’ deep within his memories.
Days blended with one another in the underground laboratory that Zero rested in. Though his internally clock passed the time, minute by minute, there was hardly any point in it given his tomb was hidden far away from the outside realm. There was a time he kept track, but as days turned to weeks, it became another task in his taskless days.
“Zero,” Wolfang slowed his steps. Shocked that Zero stood freely within Gate’s hallways. “So… you have joined us?”
Zero pressed his back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. The weight of his heart (or lack thereof) agonized him. “No,” Zero stared. “Matter of fact, I want to leave this place.”
The white wolf was taken aback that Zero was able to answer him as he had only seen Zero in his coffin. Wolfang stepped to the side beside Zero. “Then why don’t you?”
Zero raised a brow at Wolfang. A bemused smile, “You think they’d let me?”
Wolfang shook his head, “No. But to see you not try… it is unfitting of you.”
Zero’s smile turned into a frown. Eyes narrowing and brows furrowing. He turned away from the wolf. Perhaps turning away from the truth. “Sometimes it’s better to wait.” Though, as much as Zero did not want to admit, it wasn’t exactly the reason why he hadn’t attempted a grand escape. Though he did bide his time throughout the halls, observing each and every supposed exit and mapping out the confines of this place down to the millimeter. Wolfang knew him. Knew that Zero was the type to let the system decide for him. To run into the heat of the battle and allow the mechanism deep within him to calculate, adapt, and overcome. Had it been years ago, before he had crashed himself into Eurasia and died, he would have awoken and cut through all who stood in his way.
Perhaps death made him wiser. Perhaps he was learning better to overcome the mechanism that made him the machine. But regardless, he was standing here, calm and collected, at home, deep within the confines of the place that he labelled his enemy.
Where would you go?
“Gate crippled you, didn’t he?” Wolfang pointed to Zero’s chest. The machine turned away, scowling. The emptiness in his chest sat heavy. Pain was a constant agony within his system whenever he strayed away from his deathbed. Fatigue set in within an hour, and all he could do was either press ahead or slink back to his room to sleep.
“How many years has it been?” Zero murmured.
Wolfang paused a moment. “Four years.” Wolfang closed his eyes. Mourning the world that they had once knew before Eurasia crashed and scarring the world forevermore.
There was a huff of a laugh. A shrug of his shoulders as he turned back to Wolfang. “Gate showed me how it is outside. Wolfang, be honest with me, is it like that everywhere?” Wolfang was silent, the truth laying heavy on his soul. Zero’s patience was wearing thin becoming more apparent in the progressively heavier scowl crossing his face. “Answer me!”
The white wolf jolted back slightly. “It depends on who you ask.”
“Don’t give me that,” Zero sneered. The anger. The pain. It was bubbling beneath the cool exterior he always wore. In this caged wonder all he could think of was that horrid scenery before him. The world that ached. The world that screamed for its painful end. He wondered in the nights he laid upon his bed if it would have been better had he not been the savior and allowed the Earth’s destruction. Afterall, that was what he was made for. For death and decay. Not to save. Only to kill and sow the seeds of misery within his wake. “I just want to know if it was worth it in the end.”
Wolfang sighed, shaking his head. An almost amused chuckle escaped his lips, though careful considering Zero’s mood. For a moment, the machine wondered if Wolfang was accustomed to tip-toeing around Gate.
“Do you think it was worth it in the end?” Wolfang looked at Zero with a smile. Zero remained silent. “The world is scarred forever because of Eurasia. I cannot think of what may or may not have passed because of your action or inaction. I am here now because of you, in more ways than one. Likewise, you are here now because of what you have done to save all of us. Perhaps if you had not done anything the world may have been better, or perhaps we may all be dead. Regardless of what is or is not, we live in this new world now and we must find beauty in it. There will always be those who hate you for saving the world, but it is up to you to determine if it was all worth it in the end.”
But the machine did not like that answer. He knew things were more than black and white, knew that the world worked in shades of grey. Zero wanted to believe it was worth it in the end. Wanted to believe that what he had done those four years ago would have saved the world from hatred. Yet with all the drip-fed information from everyone around him, Gate especially, it was hard to imagine even the bigger picture when all that was given to him was a mere fragment.
“Is the world a better place?” Zero’s gaze hardened.
Wolfang was unsure how to answer that question. “Perhaps it is. Perhaps it is not.”
Zero frowned at Wolfang once more. “You really hate ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”
Wolfang laughed, “And you only want to know the purest answer.” He gave the other a hearty smile, which Zero did not reflect. “Truth be told, I cannot answer your question because everyone has a different opinion. For myself, the world now is not as luxurious as it had once been. We struggle, but we survive. But I still am grateful I am able to live as I once had, even if the circumstances are not as wonderful as before. Four years is so little time for anyone to change, I believe we all need more time.”
Slowly, Zero’s features softened once more. “Yet Gate here seems to think the world can change overnight.” The machine shook his head, a sigh as he relaxed. Carefully Zero looked over the white wolf. “Why are you helping him?”
“My answer remains the same. I owe him a debt.”
“That’s it?” Zero narrowed his eyes. “Just a debt from bringing you back from the grave? You can’t believe that he really plans on recreating the world…”
“My motives are simple.” Wolfang merely smiled at Zero. “Even if he cannot change the world, I believe in him. If he wishes to use me as a tool to achieve that goal, then I am happy. Even if it means my death.”
Zero shook his head, his gaze taking him down the hall. The figure of Gate approached. His footsteps drowning out all the other’s that hustled to and from between rooms and down the hallway. “I really can’t entirely call you insane.” His thoughts wandered to X. Just as Wolfang would do anything to achieve Gate’s goals, Zero would have done anything to achieve the peace that X fought for. Allowing himself to be the sword that X would wield to protect those he loved and fight for a better tomorrow.
I wonder what you would think if you saw me like this.
Gate stopped before the two of them. His smile calm and collected. Genuine happiness on his face. “I see you’re making friends, Zero.” Zero scowled at Gate. “Wolfang,” Gate turned towards the wolf. “You did splendid on your mission. We have finished our recovery of the package. Go and get some rest, I will call upon you if you are needed.” Wolfang bowed his head to Gate before he moved away towards where Zero supposed his room might be.
“Package?” Zero raised his brow.
“You will find out soon enough,” Gate smile turned towards Zero. “Until I have your full support, you’ll only know what I see fit to tell you. I don’t think you’ve changed your mind.”
Zero maintained his frown, “I’d prefer to kill you.”
Gate stepped forward close to Zero. Though the machine towered over the scientist, Zero still felt small. “Is that so?” Gate whispered. “I’m sure the system has already calculated the best way to kill me.”
Damnit! He knows! Zero clenched his jaw shut. Fingers dug into his palms. Though Zero yearned to rip Gate apart, the system remained quiet whenever Gate drew near. It wasn’t normal for it to draw to a silence. Perhaps a small whisper at the back of his head, much the same whisper whenever he stood by X as it regaled a small tale to him the best way to kill his friend. A whisper that Zero could easily compartmentalize into another area of his mind, shutting it out so that he could at least feel just a little ‘normal’. But a complete silence even when Zero’s mind was filled with bloodlust drove him to madness.
“It has,” Zero lied through his teeth.
Gate continued to smile. “Has it? Then tell me, how do you intend to kill me?” Zero remained silent as Gate called his bluff. “No? Well, no matter.” He almost appeared disappointed as he stepped back from Zero. “I do have a request of you, if you wish to partake or not, it does not matter to me.”
Zero stared at Gate carefully. It was strange that the other still wanted to call in a favor even knowing Zero’s hatred. Still, his interest was piqued and besides, it was better than wallowing within the halls of his laboratory. “I’m listening.”
Gate folded his hands behind his back. “I want you to decrypt something for me.”
Zero folded his arms over his chest, leaning back against the same wall as before. “That depends on what you want me to decrypt.” Zero raised a brow at Gate. “I find it hard to believe that you’d have trouble with something like that.”
“Decrypting takes time, and besides, it’s something I know you will be interested in.” Gate smiled at him. “Come, follow me.” Gate beckoned Zero to follow. Carefully the machine peeled away from the wall to follow behind Gate. Though Zero had no intention on helping Gate with decrypting anything for him, at the least he could use the opportunity to see a bigger piece of the whole picture. Subterfuge was never his strong suite. His intentions had always been easily read from anyone, always his emotions betraying his words. Perhaps he was like X, in some way.
Eventually, the two of them arrived at a locked door. One of the many that Zero was barred from when he was allowed to roam free. Carefully it was logged into the back of his mind where the map of this place was stored, each piece of the room noted as he entered. Much like his coffin, this room was the same. Several other medical tables laid empty or occupied with a thin white sheet over it. The walls dirty with oil or rusting metal. Hordes of metallic materials shoved into the far corners of the room and computers running data analysis and codes. It was as chaotic as every other room that Zero peered in. Just lacking in the normal number of scientists. In fact, there was only one that stood typing away at a computer.
“Ah, Isoc.” Gate’s voice betrayed his appearance. Laced with annoyance and boredom at seeing his companion.
Zero stared at the other man. They had never properly met, only passing one another but never speaking. From the very few interactions that he saw Gate have with the other reploid, they were supposedly equals. But from the way Isoc groveled at Gate’s feet, Zero wasn’t so sure.
“Gate,” Isoc looked up from the computer. A hint of surprise at seeing Zero beside him. “I had just begun decrypting the bodies that were brought in.”
“That will not be necessary.” Gate moved further into the room with Zero behind. “I have found ourselves a volunteer that will be doing that for us.”
Isoc stared at Gate confused. “A volunteer?” slowly his eyes landed on Zero. “You plan to have him do it?”
Though Zero didn’t say anything, he stared at Isoc with a raised brow confused. But Gate waved his hand as if thinking nothing of whatever implications was going on. “I believe he is the best person for the job. After all…” Gate slowly rounded behind Zero. Placing his hands on Zero’s shoulders with confidence. “Our Maverick Hunter should be rather familiar with the material we found.”
Zero tried not to betray any emotion at Gate’s words. But his mind could not help but wonder at what Gate meant by that. Did he mean that they had found someone apart of the Maverick Hunters? Judging by the room, Zero doubted they were alive. More than that, what was Gate’s motive in having Zero decrypt something from the Maverick Hunters? Surely the other didn’t think that Zero would willingly provide the information that he would find. There must have been another motive. Zero narrowed his eyes, glancing towards Gate suspiciously as the two scientists spoke amongst each other.
Isoc raised both his hands to the air, dejected, turning towards the computer to pause the decryption process. “I trust you are making the right decision.” Carefully Isoc exited out the room staring at Zero. It was amusing, to say the least, that Zero’s system worked with such clarity whenever Isoc was around. Part of him wondered if Gate had meant for Zero to kill the other.
Zero stepped forward as the door closed. “So, you want me to betray the Maverick Hunters and decrypt something?” Zero turned around to stare at Gate.
“I told you,” Gate walked past Zero, approaching the bed. “You are free to do whatever you wish.” Zero furrowed his brows, standing on the opposite end of the bed. A white sheet covered the machine underneath, but judging by the way it fell across the mass it didn’t seem human. Slowly, Gate carefully pinched the ends of the white sheet, unveiling the body beneath.
Zero gasped at the thing beneath it. “A Sister Unit!?” he gawked at the practically pristine condition that the body was in.
“Metal Shark Player found it on his mission. Given what we know about what happened, it was rather unusual for it to abandon the mission that it was given.” Gate smiled at Zero as their eyes met.
“What mission?” Zero’s mouth was agape.
Gate motioned to the machine. “You can find that out yourself. After all, it should be stored within the machine.”
Damnit. That’s exactly what he wants. Zero grit his teeth, hands clenching at his sides. Gate smiled at the obvious predicament that he placed the other in. A checkmate. But even if Zero morally did not wish to untangle the secrets that the unit hid beneath its code, he yearned to know more about the outside world. Yearned to know what the Maverick Hunters were doing. Would he know more of the hope that he had cultivated? Would he know more about the tragedy that befell the world?
It was temptation. The apple in the garden. He stepped forward. Once. Twice. Again, and again, and again. Until he stood before the table. His hands picking up the limp body. It was cold. It was a machine. Just like him.
Gate passed Zero a wire. He took it without even thinking, connecting it the back of his neck and slowly hooking the wire to Sister. There was a silence. Endless. Carefully, Zero closed his eyes, allowing his mind to connect carefully to the Sister system. Drawing in her data. Drawing in her final moments. Drawing in the machine.
SISTER: Who are you?
SISTER: Who slips into my robot body and whispers to my soul?
ZERO: I am Zero. Maverick Hunter. Commander of 0th Squad. Serial Number: DWN-INFINITE.
SISTER:
SISTER:
SISTER:
SISTER: Zero. You are dead.
ZERO: Yes. I am dead.
Zero’s eyes carefully opened. Staring down at the machine. It still lived. Yet he knew that they were destined to die. Just like all the others. Zero entered it again, once more.
ZERO: Where did you come from?
SISTER:
SISTER: Mission Category: Top Secret. Classified.
SISTER: You are dead. You don’t have the credentials.
SISTER: Commander of 0th Squad is Stephen. Serial Number: ALBANYLABS-0000896-BETA.
ZERO: Stephen? Stephen is alive!?
SISTER:
SISTER:
SISTER:
SISTER: Unsure.
Zero stared down at the thing again. Glancing up at Gate who stood quietly at the other end of the table, watching the two of them wordlessly speak.
“Well?” Gate pressed his hands against the table, leaning on it.
Zero did not answer. Staring down at the machine. Quiet. His heart weighed heavy in his chest. The machine would not answer to anymore of the war machine’s cries. Remaining silent to the agony of grief.
Classified. It said.
And Zero was dead. His authority meant nothing to it.
Gate knew that very emotion. Grief. “Ah, what a shame then.” Gate shrugged as he rounded the table. Closing the gap between him and Zero. Careful. Calculated. The steps echoed. “It looks like the only other option is to rip it apart. You’re good at that, aren’t you?” His hands laid upon Zero’s shoulders. The scientist peered down at the machine, a playful somber look as he shook his head.
The mind itself. If Zero wished to know more of that holy land, he had to dive deeper into the machine’s consciousness. Tearing the very AI, the very fabric of its being, apart. Zero closed his eyes once more.
That’s what I’m made for. To kill.
Zero looked to Gate. Their eyes met.
I’m only here kill. That is my purpose.
Zero looked past the scientist. Past the machine. Past all things material. He made the dive once more. The gentle coaxing. The gentle touch against the other’s mind. It all was swept away in war. The system that was once held back by Zero’s emotion swept over him as if the wave of an ocean crashing against the rocks. Seafoam swept across Zero’s feet as stood feeling nothing as the machine took his body and soul. The serenity between the two was replaced by fire that swept across the olive garden, replacing the icy relationship with nothing more than hatred and death. Zero could not look upon its graceless death. Only hearing the screams as it cried out for life.
But what was a machine to cry for life? For a machine was not alive. A machine was meant to be used. To be a tool. Sister was made for a purpose, and that purpose had been fulfilled. Zero was made to kill, and his purpose had not been fulfilled. Thus, continuing its pathetic life.
The system tore Sister apart.
When all was said and done, Zero turned around.
He did not admire. He did not grieve. He did not muster a single emotion over the brutality of his own mechanisms. For that what he was borne to do, and so he did it. Even if Gate could not see the brutality of the AI torn limb from limb, he could see it in the endless stare of Zero’s face. Watching the machine, who laid lifeless upon the bed, would not sleep forever.
Zero saw what Sister saw. Felt its steps across those endless dunes. Saw his companions through the machine’s eyes. Asard. Driftwood. Alexander. Stephen. Basalt. Felt what it felt as it ran across the endless desert watching the slow rumble of the radioactive storm move closer. And it kept running, forever more into that endless ocean of sand. Deeper into Area Zero. Deeper into the heart of Eurasia. Until darkness overtook it. All Zero could feel in those last moments was everlasting fear and terror of death. The emotion was thick upon his skin as he pulled apart from the machine’s interface.
“It ran because it knew that the Maverick Hunters would kill it once the job had been fulfilled.” Zero detached the wire from his neck throwing it onto the table. “You’re not going to get much else from it.”
Gate did not move from Zero’s side. Simply staring down at the completely lifeless metal. No one would grieve for it. Not even Zero whom felt its pain of humanity. The vision of his companions was seared into his mind. But even as he yearned to be a part of them once more, he felt nothing. For it was only the machine that stood.
“What a shame,” Gate shrugged his shoulders. “Even if we didn’t get anything from it, I quite enjoyed spectating your work.” The scientists removed himself from Zero’s side. The pulsating system echoed deep into Zero’s mind. The cries for madness. The cries to kill. It was exactly what Gate wanted. To spurn the bloodlust. Though Zero knew that, who could keep the beast from doing what it was trained to do?
“I hate being used,” Zero grit his teeth as he watched Gate type away at his computer.
“I gave you a choice,” Gate turned around to Zero. “You did this of your own freewill.”
“You tricked me!” Zero yelled across the table.
“Oh?” Gate laughed. “I tricked you? You chose to follow me. You chose to enter into its mind. You chose to tear it apart to get the valuable information you wanted. And now that you’ve let yourself murder your fellow Maverick Hunter, you wish to put the blame on me?” Gate pressed his hand to his chest. “Don’t deny it. You enjoyed killing it.”
Zero gasped. His mouth agape. The feeling he could not deny. It was the truth. The loathed truth. But who could fault the killing machine to enjoy the work that he did? It was only his instinct. Try as the machine could, with each shake of his head, he could not deny the pleasure of death that he sowed. Even if it meant to sow it within his fellow companions.
Would I have done the same if it had been Stephen on that table?
He stared down at his hands. Mechanical.
It was only a machine.
He pressed his hands into his face. Hiding away from the agony he left behind.
Gate walked towards Zero, grabbing the machine’s wrist and pulling his hands away. Forcing Zero to look down at the death. “This,” Gate pointed at Sister. “This is what you were made to do.” He smiled up at the other machine, “Why do you keep denying yourself as the perfect machine?” Carefully, the scientist took Zero’s face in his hands. Admiring his beautiful work in perfecting Zero completely. Perfecting him into the most wonderful work. The weight of the world felt heavier on his shoulders. “I made you perfect, so that you can—” His voice caught for a moment as a sudden frown crossed his face.
Quickly he stepped away from Zero, pressing a hand to his head listening to the comm line. There was a silence as Gate stood there listening to the radio chatter. A silence as Zero stood there over Sister’s body, staring down at his handiwork.
Gate walked over to Zero once more, annoyed rather than joyous. “I have some important work to attend to.” He fixed his lab coat, before staring down at gap in Zero’s chest. Fingers pressed gently against the wound, carefully sweeping his hand over the other’s body. Zero did not move. He did not flinch. He had become accustomed to the touches, much to his dismay. “We’ll have that heart put back in you soon.” Gate patted Zero’s chest before walking past him towards the door.
The door to the room opened and shut, leaving Zero alone in the mausoleum of the dead. Left alone to stare at the dead. Again, he closed his eyes, wanting to be swept away back into that wonderful sleep. Swept back into that beautiful world of the dead. He touched the machine, felt the cold body on the table, felt the nothingness that now lay within the empty metal cage. Was that him now? Was that the Zero that stood in this room? A shell with no soul?
Hands pressed to his face. Unable to see the carnage before him. So often he had killed without a second thought. Anything that stood in his way, he would slaughter. Just like he did Iris. But he did it to help the world. He did it to change it. To save everyone.
But was that what he wanted?
Was it what they wanted?
He killed because that was how he knew how to change things.
But each time he did, he saw the horror on Iris’s face. It drove her to insanity, drove her to become Maverick. It was Zero that had to kill her. Because that was all he knew. X would sometimes stare at Zero in that same way. The same sadness that would echo through him as it did Iris. Yet he never turned. If he did, would Zero have to do the same?
It was a thought that he could hardly bare to think.
“Geez…” a voice echoed through the room. “Some… legend you are…”
Zero jumped to his senses, attention shifting each and every way to determine the source of the voice. It was a voice he had never heard before. Yet he had. A familiarity that tinged on the edge of his memory. “Who are you?”
“Heh… Me?” the voice echoed again. Zero carefully followed it, eyes shifting across the beds of bodies. “Just some… washed up good for nothing machine… Just like you…” Carefully Zero followed the voice as it whispered across the room. The bodies were endless as he walked past. Each unmoving and quiet. Each of them dead, to soon be risen once more. “I thought… maybe… I’d wake up in heaven this time… Haha…”
Eventually Zero’s steps took him to a bed with a careful white sheet over its body. Slowly he took it, unveiling the body beneath.
There was a gasp as he stared down.
It was a woman—No. A cyborg. Her body looked as if it had been crushed from the weight of something pushing against her. Perfect synthetic skin had been burnt away leaving the wires and metal beneath revealed to what she really was. Her arms torn and broken. Her legs crushed. The chest an open wound. Yet her face was perfectly intact. Perfectly human. Perfectly her. Zero could only stare down into her coffin, watching as her eyes opened and her face turn. Her hair falling across her face.
“What…?” She smiled up at Zero. “Am I that beautiful?”
Zero could only stare at her. Surprised that she was here. Carefully, he took her face into his hands. The cold metal made for death, holding her life. “I know you.”
The woman could only smile at Zero, a small laugh. “You… must be mistaking me for someone else.”
But Zero knew her very well. Even in the despair of his memory that he hardly clung to, there were still shimmers upon the well’s water he saw. Reflections of things that happened once, long ago. But her, he remembered. Though she had changed much since the last time he had seen her, her voice was distinct and her eyes even more. It was a memory he found it hard to forget, a memory plagued as a nightmare.
“You are Ushiwaka.” He let her head rest back onto the table, brushing her hair to the side.
“Ushiwaka. I haven’t heard that name in a long… long… time…” she closed her eyes. “They call me Katsunari now. I guess you did mistake me for someone else…” a small laughter escaped her lips.
“I thought you died.”
“I thought you did too.” Katsunari gave the other a smirk as she stared back at the machine that stood over her. It felt as if they were replaying the same memory, the same scene, once again. “You machines… aren’t the only ones who get cursed to live again…” Zero widened his eyes at her. She only smiled in return. “That’s right, they put my body back together again… into this.” Her chin motioned towards her body that laid decrepit upon the table. The human body Zero remembered her as now turned into that of a machine. “I guess I was too important to die, huh? Just like you.” She gave a hint of a laughter, only to wince in pain.
The machine did not reply, only staring at Katsunari. Though his face held no emotions there was a sorrow that swept through his body and took over him as he took in the mechanical body that the cyborg sat in. The flesh he remembered holding in those last moments was gone. Her sweet smile was nothing more but filled with disdain for the world. Her eyes now filled with her own sorrow and boredom. Even as she laid here, half dead, he could see that there was nothing to spark that soul no longer.
“Do you hate me?” Zero wondered out loud.
Katsunari’s smile dimmed. Her eyes looking elsewhere. She did not need to answer for Zero to know the truth, for he already knew.
“I despise you.” She grit her teeth. “I’ve always hated your kind. Always hated machines and what they did to us. If you hadn’t been there, maybe I could have still been alive. Maybe I would have burned up with Eurasia.” Not a single tear fell from her eyes. The curse of the machine. But Zero knew, she would have cried. “But because of you… I’m this filthy unliving thing. A machine… just like you…” She stared back at Zero, not a smile, not a frown, her eyes looking through him. “Just collateral damage.”
Collateral damage. That’s what it always was.
Someone being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Not reacting quick enough to new variables. Too many decisions to be made at once. Even as the perfect machine, there was still the smallest percentage of error. It was rare, of course, but even a slight possibility was still a possibility in the end.
And that was the fate of Ushiwaka. The wrong place at the wrong time. A simple joint operation between Repliforce and Maverick Hunters to flush out a Maverick in a building. Incorrect intel. A wrong door that Zero entered. Only for Repliforce to shoot Ushiwaka, ending her life. He remembered holding her dying body in his hands. Closing her lifeless eyes as she stared into the ceiling. Remembered staring around her apartment and wonder if he had been more careful, perhaps that wouldn’t have been her fate.
“But I can’t feel that sorry for myself.”
“What do you mean?” Zero furrowed his brows at her.
She smiled at him, “It gave me a second chance to mend my mistakes.” A second chance. Always a second chance. Zero couldn’t help but give a small laughter in response breaking the tone between them. Katsunari stared at him confused. “What…? Did I say something funny?”
“I just keep hearing that all the time,” Zero stared down at her a small but bitter smile crossing his lips. But a smile, nonetheless.
“It’s the truth. The only thing I regret is not being able to kill you right now.” She gave a frustrated sigh. “And I don’t think I’m getting out of here…” She slowly closed her eyes, resigning herself to her fate.
“I can help you—” Zero reached down to her limbs.
Katsunari shifted away from him, as much as she could at least. “You’re going to help me…?” A laughter managed to drip from her lips. “You!?” a cry of laughter. “Look at yourself. How do you expect to save me?” there was venom in her words. It poisoned Zero. Even if Zero wanted to deny her truth, it was merely the truth. Though the machine was unsure if he couldn’t leave… or was too scared to face the outside. “This is the legend that everyone always spoke about? This is machine that everyone misses so badly?” she spat in his face. “You’re just as pathetic as all those other Mavericks. I don’t know what X even saw in you…”
Both heard the door to the mausoleum open. Zero turned his head, light pouring into the dimly lit room. Katsunari merely laid, motionless. Her scowl turned to a smile. In the doorway stood Isoc, most likely to cart away more machines to be reused and resurrected. Slowly, the cyborg closed her eyes in serenity, a smile on her face.
“Looks like my chariot is here…” she sighed. Zero turned to look down at her confused.
Isoc slowly approached noticing Katsunari had been unveiled. He narrowed his eyes at Zero. “Zero…” the scientist stood carefully by the machine. “I thought you had left.”
“I’m just looking,” he carefully steadied himself. “Gate left me in here, I didn’t find a reason to leave.”
Isoc narrowed his eyes at Zero, carefully looking the other over before pointing his finger at the other’s chest. “You should rest. You’ve been disconnected from your core for far too long.”
“I feel fine,” Zero frowned. “Why are you here anyway?”
“Humph, I’m here to collect some bodies for testing.” Isoc held his hands behind his back, irritated at Zero. Slowly his gaze took to Katsunari that laid still, as did Zero’s. “In fact, you’re standing next to it.” Isoc brushed Zero away, pushing him to the side. The machine allowed it, if only for the moment. “She’ll be better used elsewhere.”
“Wait!” Zero stood in front of Isoc, placing a hand against him. “She’s human!”
“Human?” Isoc scoffed. “You truly believe that? Look at her.” Isoc motioned to the unmoving Katsunari. “She may be a cyborg, but I do not see a single piece of flesh on her. The only thing human about her is the brain they used to create her AI.” Zero looked down again, staring at each and every wire that made Katsunari’s broken body. The metal splayed across the table. What was once human now only just a mechanical body, a machine, just the same as him.
Again, Isoc pushed past Zero. He merely stood still, watching as Isoc begun to wheel her away. Katsunari opened her eyes to stare at Zero once more. Perhaps Isoc noticed. Perhaps he did not. What did it matter anyway? The other would be gone forever, and Zero had to stand in that same room not only causing the destruction of one, but allowing the torture of another.
He watched as Isoc wheeled her away. Watched as she shut her eyes again. Accepting her fate. Watched himself stand there with fists clenched unable to do a thing. And for what? Because he was scared of being punished? Scared of being imprisoned once more? Was it because he was simply a coward? The thoughts swarmed him. Swarmed his being as he felt his body constrict unto itself. Felt every fiber of his being call for him to fight, to save her, to do anything. But it was as she said. He could not save her, for he could not save himself.
Zero stood still.
Fighting with himself.
Fighting to do anything.
How could he just stand there and let this happen? How could he allow them to continue to commit death upon death. And yet he was content in standing within this place, to be played with, to dance upon their whims? Had he become so soft to allow himself to settle upon the desert floor and be walked upon? That was not him, that was not the him he knew before.
I don’t even know what I’m fighting for anymore.
Isoc opened the door.
What was I fighting for?
Carefully he gripped the bed.
To live… I’m fighting to live…
He began to move.
So that I can create a world for others.
Slowly he began to exit.
So that I can create the perfect world… where people no longer need to fight…!
A hand came crashing against metal. He found himself standing in front of Isoc on the other side the table. Something burned within his eyes, something more than just the soul. Something deep in him burned so that others no longer needed to. Yet it was not exactly a will, but rather the soul. The soul that burned hot with fire. A feeling that ached within him deeper further into the carcass of his mind. A memory of a DNA that could be described as almost primal. A base code. The original intention of his creator.
But something… didn’t seem right.
A gasp came from Isoc as he saw the other stand before him in mad fury. “What are you doing!?”
“I’ve had enough of this… Enough of all of this!” Zero breathed deep. He found strength in this ‘will’. He pushed the table back into the room along with Isoc. The door slid shut. The scientist fumbled backwards onto his back with a resounding grunt.
Katsunari opened her eyes once more, a smirk returning to her face as she leaned upward. “Is this… the true Zero?”
Zero ran to her side, carefully wrapping her up as much as he could to carry her. Yet her body fell apart as he attempted to grasp at her. “I’m getting you out of here.” But the cyborg pushed him away.
“Don’t bother…” she huffed laying back on the bed. “I’m already dead… look at me…”
“No—!" Zero shook his head. But was cut off by sudden alarms ringing through the facility. Damnit… He looked towards Isoc who’s hand was typing away at the computer. He stared back with a sneer.
“Just go… This is your chance to mend your mistakes…” Katsunari raised her hand.
“I don’t have any--!”
Katsunari laughed before Zero could finish. Her smile was wide as she stared up at the other. “Then mend this mistake here… Kill me.” Zero stood still with eyes wide open. His body shivered at such a request. Not in disgust, but almost as if he wanted to. To kill a human was a machine’s greatest sin. And his body wanted to feel that sin. “Don’t worry… I won’t tell anyone.” She smirked again.
Zero closed his eyes, holding the hand to his forehead. He did not have any time to give her any prayer. But what God would listen to the plight of a machine? Carefully he drew his hand back. Fingers pressed together to form a point.
“Sayonara.”
Fingers dug into her head. Grasping for her data chip. He pulled it out holding it before him. The DNA chip dripped in oil and his hand was covered in wires and metal bits. Carefully he held the chip in his hand and crushed it in his palm. Smashing it to pieces. Smashing her soul away into the abyss.
“You…” Isoc grit his teeth as he pressed his back against the computer. “I never should have allowed Gate to get so close to you.” Zero merely stared before he turned around towards the door. “You think you can leave? The whole place is in shut down. You’ll never escape now.”
Although the thought of killing Isoc amused Zero, his presence hardly bothered him by comparison to Gate. Even if the system screamed at him to kill him.
“I don’t need a key.”
The machine approached the door. He didn’t need a single weapon to break through. Hands grasped at the metallic door’s threshold. Slowly, he pulled the metal parts away. It creaked and strained against Zero’s strength, but slowly it gave way to the machine’s power and bent to his will. Isoc merely stood amazed at Zero’s power. But even with his raw strength, Zero was crippled. Had the door been reinforced, he would have never been able to pull it apart to pave a way forward. Even now, he felt the ache in his body sitting heavy in his chest. A gasp. A rush of lightheadedness. There was a ringing in his head.
Damnit…! I can’t cycle my energy because of my heart.
He grit his teeth pushing his hand against his chest where the gaping hole was. The weight felt heavier now that he exerted himself to such a degree. A huff as he felt hot air leave his system with an exhale. Acidic and metallic. Alarms buzzed in his mind.
But I can’t stop now… I have to move forward.
For another moment he stood still, letting the alarms that buzzed through him wash away along with the system. Again, the soul ached. There was a moment of clarity. A moment of peace. The soul washed over him with a sensation he felt before within Eurasia. As if that ‘other self’ had come back to him. To take over his body to kill once again. To be the hand that guided him to murder. But this was not the system he had been so accustomed to. It was something else entirely. It was no overclock system. Though he had used it many times before, it felt different than the rest. As if there was a part of him unlocked. Was it Gate’s meddling? If it was, there was a part of him that was grateful.
He allowed himself to be washed in this serenity.
Eyes shot open as he dashed through the laboratory. The map in his head he had so painstakingly mapped over the past days, weeks, months guided him through the spinning halls. He rushed towards the only exit that he knew… the one that Gate had showed him before. The first and last time he was allowed outdoors. His only chance to make it out. Many reploids attempted to stop him, but he crushed them with his hands as easily as they stepped in front of him. The human scientists who stood in his way he merely pushed aside. Every turn the system took over, reassessing his situation, calculating the time left in his ‘overclock’, and guiding him forward. His body ran hot. He felt the aches of his chest from his missing heart. But even if he would perish in the outdoors, he had to push forward to live!
As he turned another hall eyes flashed open. For a moment he stood, looking across the hallway. Fury and anger nearly spiraled him out of control as he saw his worst enemy. His nemesis…. Gate. But who was that who stood beside him? That reflection of himself that he always saw? Was this the ‘other’ he likened as the ‘self’ he would hallucinate upon his coffin? It was the first time he had ever saw it standing before him out in the open like this. The first time he had come to realize this was not a mirage but rather a ‘real thing’.
“A copy?” Zero spat in disgust.
“A backup,” Gate corrected. Though his voice was leveled, he could hear the anger deep within him. “In case you happen to want to run off like this.” A smirk crossed his face.
“I’ll just cut it down like the rest of your scientists,” he took a step forward putting his fists up.
“I was hoping you’d come quietly.” There came a dramatic sigh from Gate. Shoulders sagged as he shook his head. “You disappoint me, Zero. I had hoped you would have joined me to rebuild the world that you wanted.”
“I’ll never join you!” Zero bit back. He didn’t have time to argue. Literally and figuratively. The overclock system only worked for so long, coupled with the aching in his chest it was hard to stay completely focused on the task at hand. Especially now as his mind was becoming more swamped with alerts and warnings. He mentally waved them away. Stepping forward again. “I’ll fight as I always have. I’ll fight to keep those I love safe, and recreate a world where humans and machines can live in peace.”
Gate stretched his arm out. Ushering the copy forward. “Go then. Fight for your freedom. Fight Nightmare!”
It was in an instant that Zero rushed forward to meet his copy. His Nightmare. The enemy met him in kind, rushing forward with the same vigor and bloodlust. There was no honor between two starved wolves. No pride or joy as they tore into one another. Their clash was violent as it was beautiful. Zero reached his hand out to grapple the reflection, hands glancing upon the neck of the armor. Yet he was met in kind as a saber bathed in purple seared across his frame, digging against the supple metal body and tearing more into the hole that sat his heart. Chemical fumes filled the air, narrowing the senses. Zero stepped back, turning to his side as his other self cut horizontally through the air. A step forward as he braced his body, balling his fist to cut upward through the underside of the purple armor.
If it was anything like Zero, it would also have the same weaknesses as him.
A groan came from the other, a sputter as if it had the wind knocked out of him. Then a grin from the machine. In the moment of recovery, Zero took another step forward, balling his other fist to strike directly into his opponent’s neck. They were precise. Fluid. Becoming of a war machine.
I know myself better than anyone else.
Zero took a step back, bending slightly backwards as the saber swung against him. A miscalculation as it cut across his face. Albeit barely. The arc was slightly longer than what he was accustomed to. A scowl as the Nightmare swiped at him again, but this time Zero raised his arm up to counter the other’s arm. Using the weight of the action to disarm the saber. It fell to the ground. Time was running out.
The Nightmare took a step back, gritting its teeth with a frown. Perhaps recalculating. But then it spoke. “This Maverick copy thinks it can best me,” its voice was even. Calm and serene.
Zero opened his mouth to answer, only for the copy to rush him once more. Both hands outstretched. Zero countered grasping onto the other’s hands, pushing him back. They were at a stalemate in at least the first few moments of contact. But Zero was quick to learn what the other lacked in its system it made up for in brute strength.
“Ah--!” Zero bent a knee to the floor succumbing to the strength of the Nightmare. The overclock slowly ground to a halt. His arms were shaking. Chest leaking with bassinium. Heat rising from his body with steam. Gasps. Sputters. Alerts swarming his mind as if his body began to halt. He grit his teeth, staring upward at the other copy, watching as it merely smiled with pleasure at seeing Zero succumbing to his crippled body.
“Pathetic…” the copy laughed. Pushing Zero further into the floor. “So much for the perfect machine.” There was a smirk as it stared down at Zero. He gasped, heaving, body overheating with exhaustion and pain. Oil spilling from his lips as he felt his entire body beginning to give out.
No… No!
Silently he screamed for his body to move. To push against the Nightmare. To free himself from the other’s grip. But whenever he pushed the other would cripple him further, pushing him more into the metal floor. It bent downward from the strength of the other. Pushing him further into the floor below. Wires broke apart. Pipes snapped sending steam everywhere. Zero merely knelt, desperately keeping the Nightmare from completely overcoming him.
I can’t die here!
“Such a nuisance,” the copy drawled. “In 40 seconds your core will break. In 20 seconds your cooling system will shatter. In 1 minute 50 seconds your legs will snap. In 10 seconds your—” Zero threw up oil from his mouth. “Ah… I see I miscalculated.” A smirk.
“I-I’ll never… submit…” Zero slowly looked up towards the copy. His breathing was hard. His body trying to draw in as much air as he could to keep his systems from completely overheating. He could feel the muscular ligaments deep within his metallic body begin to snap slowly. Wire by wire. Thread by thread. “I won’t… go b-back…”
Gate ran to the copy’s side. “Be careful!” he grasped Nightmare’s arm firmly with a frown. “Don’t damage him more than you need!” The copy huffed in response looking back at Gate, but Zero hardly felt the other let up at all.
“He’s dangerous.”
“He’s valuable!”
“I’m… going to kill you…”
They both stared back down at Zero. Gate let out a gasp at the slowly deteriorating body. Staring at Zero who pushed once more against the copy. The floor cracked again. His body pulled itself apart. Oil spilled from his body. Green bassinium dripping from his chest.
He was slowly killing himself.
But it was only to live again.
Again and again and again.
But he felt awakened!
A howl of a scream escaped his lips. A sudden strength took over him. Pushing upward once again. Lifting the copy off his feet, throwing him into Gate. Smashing them both against the wall. Crushing the both of them. The system screamed. The system tore at his mind. But Zero stood tall and proud. That clarity washed over him once more in vibrancy.
His body was covered in oil. Dripping from his body down onto his feet. Pooling. And Zero hardly gave the two a second glance. Trudging forward. Limping. Gasping. Pushing his way forward.
The exit. The exit was so close. So painfully close.
He heard Gate and the copy shuffle amongst themselves. Metal scraping against metal. Stumbling. Yelling.
But all the noise. All the feelings washed away.
He pulled the doors apart as if it were paper. Pulled himself into the elevator as time seemed to slow to a halt. He turned his head. Watching as the floor collapsed. Watching as Gate struggled to pull himself forward to stop Zero.
All Zero could do was smile. Smile as he stared at Gate. A whisper only the two could hear, even if they could not. A laughter. The signs of freedom, at last. His soul free.
“Sayonara.”