Author's Note: Lalala...Okay, I'm not really with it today. Unfortunately this probably didn't make it Sunday, so I apologize for the delays. Well enough of that, today's subject of torture is Zero. Enjoy! ^_^

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   "Love is most nearly itself when here and now cease to matter." - T.S. Eliot

Maverick Headquarters
Cluster One, Australia
February 14th, 2087
The Reploid War

   Zero was lying back against the sheets over his mattress on the top bunk of the quarters. He shared the quarters with X, which was okay as far as Zero was concerned. X was a fairly good roommate and the two had become good friends over the years. Zero didn't really want to be thinking about the past, but he couldn't help it now that he finally had some peace to himself, if only for nearly two hours.

   Unfortunately, all of his past memories involved war and death. The worst part was that he felt like he was getting used to it like an old leather jacket. For the past four years, ever since he ended up in Cluster One, he was wondering if Reploids would ever know anything outside of war. He knew it started with the head of Caine Labs replicating X's design, but it wasn't X's fault that this war started. It was Sigma, that lying bastard who started this whole Maverick vs. Hunter war which didn't seem to have an end in sight. Now with this new Repliforce on the sidelines, the war was starting to get messy. Governments were crying for an end, but it went unheard on the Reploids. It was stupid really, the media describing it as Bolt vs. Bolt. The humans didn't even realize that all Reploids wanted freedom, just some wanted it with war and others with peace. Zero felt that he was starting to lean towards Sigma's side, but he knew that he could never betray X, who seemed to hate Sigma with a passion beyond anything Zero could probably ever muster. Ever since Sigma was programmed by Caine Labs, he was maverick. As far as Zero knew anyway since Dr. Caine never liked to talk about it. And now, four years and a few thousand deaths later, X and Zero were still leading the frontlines against that stupid lunatic. Maybe the Maverick Hunters should just let the Repliforce handle everything. Zero felt it was almost time for a vacation anyway.

   "Lieutenant Zero, someone is here to see you," came the voice over the intercom.

   'What the heck? Who'd want to see me now?' thought Zero to himself. He better make this quick, because he was due to leave HQ in a few hours to join X in the final wave against the Repliforce. They had to make Colonel see reason before the war really escalated.

   "All right, send him in," replied Zero, pressing the red button near his bed. Now with his mind back on the final wave, he began to program attack strategies. In the last four years, there had never been any human casualties with careful planning and government task forces and he wasn't about to start getting sloppy now. This attack to break a hole in Sigma's defenses should work. They only needed to get a few soldiers through the hole in order to do some significant damage to Sigma's installations.

   The grey metal doors slid open, revealing a short girl with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing red battle armor which had blue highlights thad would reflect in the overhead lightbeams. Zero jumped from his bunk and landed with a loud clunk, his own red battle armor covered by many long strans of his golden red hair.

   "Hey Iris...you wanted to see me?" asked Zero.

   "Can we go for a walk?" Iris said slowly.

   'Uh oh,' thought Zero, 'she had already pleaded a few times to spare Colonel who was her brother. But as long as he leads these attacks, I've got to stop him.'

   "Look, Iris, I can't do anything for your brother," started Zero, getting ahead of Iris, "As long as Colonel leads the Repliforce, I have to make him stop."

   "...I know. Can we go for a walk anyway?" said Iris. That was when Zero noticed that Iris wasn't smiling as usual. She seemed kind of distant, not even looking up at Zero.

   ***

Sydney Main Street
Cluster One, Australia
February 14th, 2087
The Reploid War

   The day was a bit balmy, the wind blowing random bits of newspaper across the streets. Cluster One looked the same as ever, the metallic sheen of the buildings glinting in the sun overhead. Zero and Iris were losing themselves in the crowd, following Sydney Main down through the center of the city. Zero smirked as he saw many people turning corners and crossing the street to avoid the obviously 'bolt' couple walking their way.

   "That's really strange," said Iris quietly. Zero turned to look at her, his hair blowing across his left shoulder, caught by his shining red helmet.

   "What?" he replied.

   "Well, usually when I walk down Main, I get a lot of strange looks. But when I'm with you, they don't even acknowledge that I exist."

   Zero smiled and replied, "I wouldn't really think about it too much."

   Zero looked into the windows as he passed the buildings. He saw silly paper hearts and little candies put out on a few tables outside some of the stores.

   "What do you think of Valentine's Day?" asked Iris with a smile and a bit of a giggle. She seemed to be in a much better mood. She hadn't said anything for the first half hour of the walk. Now she seemed to be leaving behind whatever was bothering her, focusing on now.

   "I don't really care for it. If I was in love, I'd find it a bit insulting. Personally, if I was going to do something for my girlfriend, I'd probably pick a day she wasn't expecting," replied Zero blankly.

   "I guess..." said Iris, walking closer to Zero to avoid the mass crowds which made up the commercial area of Main.

   Zero looked on ahead and saw the large clocktower telling him that it was only an hour left before he had to be at the wavepoint. He looked back at Iris, watching her smile as her attention wavered over the objects in various windows on the left. He had only known her for a few weeks, but began to feel strangely comfortable with her. He didn't really understand since his diagnostics failed to return any useful data. He shrugged and looked down, Iris leaning against the side of his chest, his arm around her shoulder.

   'When the heck did I put my arm around her?' thought Zero, checking through his records, interrupted by Iris.

   "It's still too beautiful a holiday for war," said Iris dreamily. Zero stayed silent, he couldn't really think of an answer for that.

   Suddenly, Iris ran up to a window and motioned for Zero to quickly follow. He broke into a bit of a run until he was next to Iris outside the store. It was some sort of breakfast and bakery with little candies on display. Iris went to open the door and disappeared inside. Zero shrugged and followed her. He probably should have protested about entering with the stupid segregation laws imposed 'for the good of those outside the war', but Zero always figured that Reploids should be allowed to be outside this war. As it is, all of the Reploids were forced to participate in this local Cluster One event, making it feel more like a violent prison then a fight for freedom.

   Inside the bakery, Zero could see entire shelves of various pastries behind the counter which had glass display cases of the same little white and red candies. Zero couldn't even imagine why Iris wanted to come in here, the lack of a sense of taste would pretty much render this place useless to them both. Glancing up to the blue neon sign, he read aloud,

   "Candy & A Current Bun? What kind of silly name is that?"

   "Well, for a store that hasn't changed it's name in sixty years, I guess the sign is bound to get a few strange looks," came a weak voice from behind the counter.

   The last customer left with her purchase, leaving Iris and Zero as the sole customers in the tiny store. The old lady at the cash register just smiled when she got a strange look from Zero. This was the first human Zero ever encountered that didn't seem to harbour any prejudice against him, other than most members of the science teams at Caine Labs.

   "Hello," said Zero slowly.

   "Hi there young man, I expect you are here to buy something for your lady friend?" asked the old lady with a quivering voice, motioning to the ecstatic attention of Iris, who was paying attention to the glass cases, unaware of the conversation between the two near the cash register.

   "...I'm allowed to buy something here?" asked Zero in surprise. This was a first to him, considering that 'bolts' weren't even supposed to come into stores without human supervision. Not like Zero would ever pay attention to the stupid war laws imposed. If humans ever disagreed with his actions, he wouldn't even pause to wire their jaw shut permanently.

   "Well, why not?" asked the old lady, smiling. Zero went up to face her at the counter.

   "Because...of who I am," whispered Zero, letting his hatred of humans shine through in his voice.

   "Oh, and who are you supposed to be?" whispered the old lady back with a laugh.

   Zero just stared at her in stunned silence. He wasn't used to this kind of conversation with a human, especially an old one. The seniors seemed to resent the reploids more than any other humans. 'I guess it's just because of the damn Terran War that they probably don't admire technology so much anymore.'

   "Hey Zero, come take a look at this!" said Iris with glee shining through in her voice. Zero turned from the smile of the old lady and went to stand behind Iris. He saw a white cake with pink frost covering the sides in an almost doiley-like pattern.

   "I still make them by hand like I used to ever since I opened this place," said the old lady, shuffling over to the display case.

   "It's lovely! Do you make everything here?" asked Iris in amazement.

   "Oh no, my daughter helps out whenever she has time, although I don't think she'll do it for long," mused the old lady.

   Iris went on to look at the other intricately designed cakes, when Zero turned to talk to the old lady.

   "You worked here even during the Terran War?" asked Zero.

   "It was the only thing that would keep my mind off my husband while he was in that silly war," replied the old lady openly, "Men are really silly sometimes even now. They spend hundreds of years to build something so that they can knock it over. I guess that's why Dominoes is still such a popular game."

   Zero smiled and nodded in response. He folded his arms across his chest and saw that no other customers were coming through the door.

   "...Maybe we better leave so that you'll have some customers again," started Zero.

   "Nonsense," she interrupted, "If they really want something, they'll come in here eventually."

   "Ma'am, I don't think anyone will come in here until we leave," replied Zero.

   "Really? Well that's okay, you provide nice company."

   Zero just gave the old lady another strange look, who replied once again with only a warm smile.

   "Hey Iris!" said Zero, "I've got to go to the wavepoint soon."

   Iris turned and came back to Zero near the cash register. That was when she saw little beads in a plastic container next to the register.

   "Wow, what are those?" asked Iris, pointing at the beads.

   "They're just necklaces that I sell sometimes," replied the old lady.

   Zero analyzed the material. The returned data confirmed his suspicions that they were simple plastic beads held with cheap white string. The white heart-shaped pearlesque beads probably wouldn't go for more than--

   "Only a $1.25," said the old lady.

   Iris turned to Zero. Zero could tell that she wanted one, but neither of them carried cash and Iris knew that. Reploids couldn't buy anything without written permission and that wasn't about to happen, so what was the point of money to them?

   "Tell you what," grinned the old lady, "I'll let you have one for free. After all, your brother here provides for more interesting conversation then I've had in years."

   "Oh thank you!" said Iris, picking one from the can. "But he's not my brother."

   Iris laughed with the old lady who winked at Zero before she turned around and shuffled into the back, hurrying as she went along.

   "Oh, I forgot about those cookies!" came the lady's voice from the back, "I'll talk to you later, Zero."

   Zero just looked on in confusion before following Iris out of the store, the bells ringing once the door closed behind him.

   ***

Maverick Headquarters - HoverCopter Launchpad
Cluster One, Australia
February 14th, 2087
The Reploid War

   "...Breaking formation of the Repliforce troops near the Sydney Science Institute will be our top priority! Any questions?" said X.

   X, dressed in his formidable suit of armor, was walking up and down the flanks of the Hunters. Zero stood with the rest of the men as Epsilon Team Leader.

   "Sir! Should we still be prepared for Maverick enforcement, sir?" asked one of the soldiers.

   X turned with a look of rage quickly fading into a serious look.

   "Sigma's definitely involved in this somehow," said X.

   "Sir, how can we be so sure? He died a few months ago, sir!"

   "...I can smell it," said X under his breath, "He's come back before, always prepare for every contingency soldier!"

   "Sir, did we get any intelligence on the Magnetic Resonance Field reported near the institute?" asked another, more astute soldier. X smiled and nodded, turning to Zero who had completed the reconnaisance report a little over a week ago.

   "Yes," started Zero, "reports have confirmed that the Repliforce has managed to set up a field, meaning if any of us are damaged while in the field, our entire core memory will be wiped."

   A lot of the soldiers looked at eachother and Zero could sense the disorder building in the ranks. There was no defense against such a field, Zero knew, and the only hope would be that neither side would be desperate enough or given enough time to build one. Once inside the field, any damage may cause the Ceraframe on the systems to crack, leaking the magnetism into the data systems, erasing anything recorded on magnetic disk, such as the core memory. Once that happened, the systems would shut down without the operating system and the plasma seals on the main generator would be lost, causing an explosion that wouldn't even leave a memory bank to salvage. Colonel was probably hoping that the Hunters wouldn't dare penetrate such a dangerous mission. Instead, many Hunters simply answered back with the thought that it would be one-shot-one kill for the duration of the mission, saving on energy reserves.

   "Don't worry," smiled Zero at the rookies of the troops, "I've trained you all well enough to know how to get in the first shot."

   Zero could see Iris fidgeting on the bench near the line of troops. She had come to see him off and the mention of the field seemed to be bothering her a lot more than it was bothering any of his troops. X began to round up the troops into the twenty-story hangar, issued by Caine Labs with a grant from the Terran United. Zero knew that many world powers were hanging on the outcome of this war to determine the true nature and limitations of artificial intelligence. Yet they wanted the war to stay within the Reploids so as not to open any serious public debate.

   'Cowards! They want to see how good we are in war, but are afraid to face us themselves,' thought Zero. He knew that this war only served to give the government an accurate stastics report on even the most advanced Reploid capabilities. 'Could be useful if the war on Mars ever leaked over here,' thought Zero sarcastically.

   Iris came running over to Zero from the far bench, holding her new white necklace in hand. She was worried about his safe return, Zero could tell.

   "Zero!" called Iris, finally reaching close proximity of 0.4370 metres. "Zero, I don't like the sound of that field thing!"

   "...Don't worry, I've had to do it before," said Zero calmly, "and I've always come out fine."

   That didn't seem to really comfort Iris and Zero couldn't really understand why. She should know that he has enough experience to handle something even as lethal as an MR-Field.

   "But what if you engage in combat with my brother!?" asked Iris in deep concern.

   'So that's what this is about...' Zero smiled and hugged Iris.

   "Don't worry, I'll try to talk to him again."

   "I just don't want either of you to die," exclaimed Iris.

   Before Zero could reply to calm her down, X came over to interrupt the two.

   "Hey Zero, I want you to get on the second Hoverblade and come in on the side of the institute with the cafeteria," X put his hand on Zero's shoulder.

   "Sure, when should the second team go?" asked Zero.

   "Engage engines in 5m:03:37, I'll be heading the first one out right now." X turned to leave for the large black copter waiting in the hangar.

   "Well?" asked Iris, clinging to Zero's waist. Zero simply turned from her and walked to the edge of the hangar area. Staring over the railing, Zero could see various hovercraft going by. The wind from the leaving Hoverblade picked up his hair and blew it around and across his face. He felt Iris put a hand on his shoulder.

   "I promise I'll come back alive," said Zero, looking down over the crowds of pedestrians crossing the horizontal streets.

   "I can help! Let me come and talk to my brother!" started Iris, "I can definitely say something to him!"

   "It's much too dangerous for a new recruit!" said Zero, knowing what would come next.

   "But I've done your training programs, I can handle it!" answered Iris.

   "You haven't been briefed properly," said Zero quickly.

   "We've got at least twenty minutes before we get there," pleaded Iris, "I know I can--"

   "NO!" yelled Zero under his breath. He turned to face her, he wouldn't risk losing her over just another stupid fight. Iris began to cry, Zero held her face up. He couldn't risk losing her now either. In fact, now he was starting to think that Valentine's Day should have been a holiday from this stupid war after all.

   "You're still a rookie, so stay with Private Octdec, he'll show you what to do." said Zero quietly. He then turned to walk back towards the hangar, Iris following from behind. He looked up ahead, seeing one of his men running up to him, suited in the standard grey armor meant for privates.

   "Sir, I managed to save you one of your more favorite backups," said the man with a wink, handing Zero the gun. Zero knew that using guns wasn't really his style, but he felt safe with a back-up just in case something went offline at the wrong time. He grasped the rifle and felt the smooth metal casing. The weapon was a very new model, but it had already become standard issue because of the versatility in handling the old Tipped Ballistics, combining it with the prototype Plasma Discharge.

   "Why don't you get one for our new recruit here?" said Zero.

   "Sir? She's going to be joining Epsilon-Beta?" said the reploid with a stunned look.

   "You want to try arguing with her?" Zero smirked at the soldier's surprised response to Iris' stern look.

   "...I'll check for another one, you sure you want to give her the same? I may have something more useful for close combat, sir."

   "No, another Seamus-7 would be fine," replied Zero, his arm around Iris' shoulder.

   ***

   Author's Comment: Well, that's it. Hopefully your interest isn't waning too much, but I'm gonna be setting up the story much more from this point.

Michael Raymond Vendittelli (LimousineDriver)