Chapter 5: Bugged

Zero woke the next morning feeling groggy, which was unusual for him. His clock read 9:00 A.M. His alarm had gone off two and a half hours ago.1

  'Ugh,' he thought to himself, 'I probably missed something important.' But as this thought crossed his mind, a relaxing aroma of breakfast overtook him. Zero twisted himself to get a clear look at his desk, and found there a plate of eggs, a multivitamin, and a glass of orange juice. He untangled himself from a mess of sheets and made his way over to the food. There was a note written on a napkin.'2

  'You missed breakfast. Figured you'd be hungry.  ~Proto'3

  'Thank God for that boy,' Zero thought as he hungrily devoured the food. After finishing his meal, he checked for any urgent messages. finding none, he took to buffing the scorch marks from yesterday's combat out of his armor. Unfortunately, he was interrupted from his work by a PA announcement calling him individually to the briefing room. He quickly made his way over in that direction. Upon reaching the door, he paused, fearing who he may find inside. As the door slid open, his fears were confirmed: Ciel sat alone, waiting for him to arrive.4

  'Zero. I'm glad you're here,' she greeted him, her tone nothing but professional. She sat in one of the chairs along the perimeter of the circular room. She carried no clipboard, no mission folder, no data files, nothing. Zero put on a facade of confidence, and strode over to take a seat next to her.5

  'Why have I been called here, Ciel?' he asked, trying to appear direct.6

  'I need your opinion on something. I have a bit of data from your last mission that I need analyzed,' she said, still appearing professional. Almost too professional. Warning bells were sounding in Zero's head. What was this?7

  'I'm sorry, Ciel, but I'm not sure how much help I'd be to you on that. Roll would be the one for data analy-'8

  'This data is slightly damaged,' she cut him off, 'I wouldn't want to compromise it in an external scanning device. I would feel better if a Reploid with a built-in analyzer would do it. Someone like Protoman?'9

  Now Zero knew something was wrong. Why would Ciel call him here if she already knew she wanted Protoman?10

  'Protoman,' Zero said into his radio, 'Could you join Ciel and I in the briefing room?'11

  A few moments later, Protoman strode in. 'Hello, you two,' he said, 'So what did you need me for?'12

  'I have some data that needs analyzing, Protoman,' Ciel told him. She handed him a minidisc, which Protoman promptly inserted into his scanner's drive. He sat motionless a moment. But Zero soon noticed that he was not simply staring at data; he was now discreetly glancing around the room. It was probably unnoticeable to those who didn't know Protoman as well as Zero did.13

  'Well?' Ciel asked, seeming anxious.14

  'Hmm . . . This isn't the best place to analyze this,' he said. Zero sensed him trying to imply something to Ciel.15

  'Where might be a good place?'16

  'My quarters has clean data analyzation software.' Now Zero noticed the slightest emphasis on the word clean.17

  'Let's go then.'18

*****19

  As soon as they reached the room, Protoman shut and locked the door and pronounced, 'It's clean.'20

  'Thank goodness . . .' Ciel said, breathing a sigh of relief.21

  'OK,' Zero interceded, 'What did I miss? What's going on?'22

  'Zero,' Ciel said, 'I found out more from the board today. We have aerial photos of the Neo Arcadian army in the desert. They've begun marching north into the desert.'23

  'We're going to be deployed soon, then . . .' Zero deduced.24

  'Yes.'25

  'So, why do we need to analyze that disc?'26

  'We don't,' Protoman broke in, 'Ciel had a hunch that the briefing room had been bugged. The disc simply contained a message from Ciel asking me to check. The room was indeed bugged.' Zero about fell over.27

  'No one outside S.A.D.S. would have access enough to that room to plant a bugging system,' Zero said, half to himself.28

  'You're right,' Protoman agreed, 'So now the question is, who inside would have reason to plant bugs? And, more important, why?'29

  'Ciel, do you think it could have been one of the board members?'30

  'I don't think so. As you know, the board meets in the defense department of Neo Arcadia, and very rarely come here. And, of course, everyone who enters this building is required to swipe a security card, and we have no record of any of the directors entering within the last six months.'31

  'Could someone have altered the records?' Protoman asked.32

  'I don't think so,' Zero answered for Ciel, 'those kinds of files are saved deep within the mainframe of the S.A.D.S. server. They're hidden behind several firewalls, and they're encrypted, and they're voice-password protected, AND they're write-protected.'33

  'Who has access to the voice password?'34

  'No one,' Zero answered. Protoman couldn't help but grin. That would've been one of Roll's ideas.35

  'How do you access them to see who's been in and out, then?'36

  'You don't,' Ciel piped in, 'A monitor, with no keyboard or access terminals, automatically displays the contents of the logs.'37

  'Hm,' Zero said, deliberating, 'I want Roll to run a check on the security of those logs. Tell her to use everything at her disposal, to see if she can access them.' Protoman immediately activated his radio to dispatch the order.38

  Zero suddenly found himself staring at Ciel. Even when she was worried, she looked beautiful. Her blonde hair, similar to Zero's own, lay neatly on her back. She had always been somewhat, small, and a good inch shorter than Zero. But then, she fit so well in his arms . . .39

  '. . . you want her on this?' Zero? You're not listening again.'40

  'Hm? What?' Zero asked, snapping out of his reverie. Protoman sighed. Ciel unknowingly chuckled.41

  'I was asking how soon you want Roll on this.'42

  'Make it priority number one. Tell her that only life-or-death tasks should come first.' Protoman again turned his back to Zero and chattered into the radio. Zero thought for a moment, then put a hand on Protoman's shoulder, to get his attention. When he turned to look, Zero discreetly nodded to Ciel. Protoman paused for a moment, then seemed to catch on. He grinned wryly and indicated that he should go. Zero walked back over to Ciel.43

  'Ciel . . .' he said quietly, hoping his voice didn't betray his nerves, 'can we talk for a moment?'44

  'Sure,' Ciel said, 'What's up?'45

  'Let's talk somewhere else. If that's all right.46

  Ciel hesitated a moment, as if unsure why they couldn't talk where they were. But she nodded and followed Zero into the hall. Zero decided to go the dining hall; it was the right time between breakfast and lunch that it would be mostly deserted.47

  Once they reached their destination, Zero stopped to collect his thoughts before leading Ciel to the back of the room, where they wouldn't be overheard.48

  'So, Zero, what did you want to talk about?' Ciel said, still none the wiser. She seated herself at one of the long tables.49

  'I . . . I wanted to talk to you about . . . about us,' Zero finally managed. Ciel fell silent.50

  'Ciel, before we kissed in the briefing room yesterday . . . the last thing on my mind was love. And, honestly, I never saw myself going down a romantic path with a coworker. I was too worried about doing my job here effectively.51

  'But that seems to have changed since then. I've realized that . . . that I . . .' Zero had to pause. He wanted to curse, but he knew he shouldn't. He took a breath and began again, 'I've realized that I . . . I have feelings for you, Ciel. I can't deny it any longer. I don't want to deny it any longer. I love you . . .' he paused again, this time to look at Ciel. She looked somewhat shocked. He couldn't blame her; she couldn't have been expecting this. Just yesterday Zero had practically told Ciel he didn't want a relationship. She averted his gaze to the floor. Zero averted his eyes front, and paced a few steps forward.  What a fool! Did he really expect this to work out?!52

  He heard her get up from the chair, and quietly walk up behind him.53

  'I love you too, Zero,' she said quietly, 'Ever since we've been fighting Neo Arcadia. I've just always been too afraid to admit it. You're a strong warrior, always out putting your life on the line for our safety. But I'm . . . just Ciel.'54

  Zero turned around, taking her gently by the arms. 'Don't say that. You're not just Ciel. You're a wonderful person, and a brilliant scientist. And besides,' he grinned down at her, 'it's just Ciel that I fell in love with.' A warm smile spread across her face, and tears gently rolled down her cheek. Zero gently wiped them away, then collected her into his arms, holding her as if she were precious as gold. They gazed into each others' eyes. Zero moved his head down gently to kiss her.55

And this time, neither of them broke away for a long time.56