Chapter 3: Mission

Fifteen minutes later, the intercom in the briefing room pinged three times. Zero's mission was about to begin. He was sitting in a chair, Ciel sleeping in his lap. They had sat down together, Ciel still distraught. She had drifted off to sleep in his arms, and there they remained. He didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't leave his team waiting before a mission. He gently picked up Ciel and carried her to her room, setting her down on her bunk. He pulled the covers up over her, and turned out the light.1

*****2

  Zero sat solemnly in his team's transport. The trip to the factory would be about an hour long, which gave him plenty of time to think. There was only one thing on his mind.3

  What did Ciel mean about this mission?4

  She had said something about this mission not being what it seemed. What did that even mean? This mission seemed so straightforward. She'd said that the S.A.D.S. board had been talking about a new mission. Apparently a mission that would be difficult to accomplish. She had not old him anything else. Then there was the kiss . . . Zero wasn't sure what to make of that. Protoman often teased Zero, asking him when he was going to ask Ciel out. Zero had never been a very romantic person, so he was very surprised he had been that . . . intimate with Ciel. He replayed the moment over and over in his head, trying to figure out what the whole thing meant. It wasn't until he saw everyone staring at him that Zero realized he had been sitting in stony silence for the whole trip. Silently he gazed out a window, and saw the factory looming up in the distance. Now that he was actually here, he began to get nervous. Ciel made it sound as though there were something about this mission he didn't know. But it was too late to turn back now. No choice now but to go in and do what had to be done.5

  'Well,' Zero said solemnly, 'we're here.'6

  X shot him a strange look. 'Why the sudden negativity, Zero?'7

  'I guess I'm just nervous. It's been a while since we've been in the field,' Zero recovered quickly.8

  'Ah, don't worry about it,' Protoman said, sounding upbeat, 'This'll be nothing. We just destroy the construction line and we're done, right?'9

  The transport lurched as it came to a stop in front of the factory. They had carefully planned where the carrier should land; if they didn't stop in a blind spot of the security cameras they ran an almost certain risk of being discovered. Now, as the team stepped out of the transport into the harsh desert sun, the factory seemed even more intimidating. Everyone else moved quickly into position.10

  'OK, Roll, I've decided you're going to come in with me. Protoman, you have the map data downloaded, so you're going to navigate. X, Bass, you'll stay here and provide combat backup if needed.' Bass began to pout. But then, he always did when he didn't see any fighting.11

  Zero suddenly found himself hesitant to proceed. He glanced around at his teammates. X stood staring blankly into the desert, not really looking at anything. Bass was using a small cotton cloth to clean his buster inside and out. None of them seemed too nervous. yet his ind kept drifting back to what Ciel had said. That troubled him professionally. Their kiss troubled him on a personal level. But he didn't have time to dwell on either of those anymore. No escape routes now.12

  Zero walked slowly over to Roll. She was setting up a ladder to the roof of the building.13

  'Roll,' he said, 'come here a sec.'14

  Roll looked up from her work. She steadied the ladder slightly then strolled over. 'Need something, Zero?'15

  'I just wanted to discuss procedures once we're in the building.'16

  'Protman's going to be guiding us, right?'17

  'Yeah, but I mean other than that. I'll be the first to go into any new rooms. I want to make sure I don't lead you right into a trap.'18

  'Okay,' Roll replied, almost skeptically.19

  'And Roll, I want you to be careful. I mean, really careful.'20

  'Don't worry, Zero . . .' she said reassuringly.21

  'Easier said than done,' he thought to himself.22

*****23

  Zero and Roll carefully ascended the ladder to the roof. Once they were there, Zero pulled out his Chain Rod and slowly lowered Roll down. Once she signaled up to him that she was down, Zero hooked the rod to the opening of the skylight, and went down himself. He hit the ground gently, and pulled out his pistol-like buster, surveying their surroundings. Once Zero was sure the room was safe, he recoiled his Chain Rod and put it away.24

  'Zero? Roll? Can you hear me?' came a voice. � It was Protoman, talking over the radios built into their helmets.25

  'Loud and clear,' Zero replied, 'Now which way do we go?'26

  'Door to your left. Take it.'27

*****28

  The mission went smoothly from there on in. They reached the doorway to the main laboratory without incident.29

  'Okay,' Protoman said, 'the main chamber is just ahead. It's bound to be guarded, so be careful.'30

  'Roger, Protoman. Entering . . . now!' Zero said over the radio.31

  Zero rushed into the room, buster at the ready. What he saw was . . . less than pleasing. There had to be a whole platoon of combat androids here! And they all had their weapons trained on him.32

 'Oh -' Zero never got to finish his sentence. The room exploded into gunfire. Zero reacted quickly, putting up his laser shield. He had nowhere to go. If he tried to leave the room, they'd follow him out. That would just endanger Roll. He gritted his teeth and grinned inwardly. Nothing to do now but fight. He lit his Z-Saber and rushed the crowd.33

  Laser bullets pelted his shield. He reached the crowd of enemies with his weapon ready. When Zero was in combat, everything seemed to get better. All his troubles melted away. The feel of a weapon in his hand. The routine footwork he had practiced so often. The screaming sound metal made as his Saber rended it apart. Yes, this was Zero belonged! The exhilaration only made him fight harder. His footwork became more fluent, his Saber moved quicker, slicing through the air. All his worries about Ciel and missions left his mind. The only thing he was thinking about was the motions of his Saber.34

  He got about halfway through the enemy forces before acknowledging he'd need help.35

  'This is Zero! Combat backup!' he shouted into the com link.36

  'Roger that,' X said obediently, 'On our way.'37

  Zero continued to strike down enemy after enemy. There were scorch marks scattered across his armor from enemy weapons. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one blue streak and one purple come through the ceiling of the room. These streaks transformed into X and Bass. Neither wasted any time opening fire on the androids. They stood a chance now that there were three of the. Zero kicked up the pace of his Saber. This wouldn't last long.38

*****39

  Sure enough, less than five minutes later the enemy platoon was completely eradicated. Zero wound his way through the twisted metal remains, heading for the production line. And the research equipment. It wasn't hard to shut down the production line. A few well-placed laser bullets did the trick. The research data was a little ore difficult. He had to carefully slice his way into the CPU with his Saber and retrieve the entire hard drive. Once that was accomplished, there was nothing to do.40

  'This is Zero. Mission accomplished. Let's head home.'41