Megaman Zero: Standing In Your Shadow

Prologue 2

Once Ciel woke up, she found herself in the Resistance Base hospital. Her head pounded and throbbed, and it was all she could do but to hold back a loud scream of pain. 

Cervaeu was watching her as she slowly sat up in the bed. "Ciel! You're awake! You had us worried..." Cervaeu said, his eyes reflecting curiosity and age. An old Reploid originally designed for combat, Cervaeu knew the most out of anyone when it came to technology and weapons. Ciel saw him as a generally and overall handy asset in helping the Resistance. He had helped Zero countless times, and asked for nothing in return, a truly kind Reploid.

Not that he could help with Ciel's headache--even though he had healed humans and Reploids alike, there was nothing that could help her.

 
"The helmet--" Ciel started, but Cervaeu interuppted her. "It's in containment. We believe there were shock waves emitted from it when you pulled the data chip out."

Ciel slowly sat up on the hospital bed. Her head hurt slightly less, but still. It would go away soon enough. "I... did? I don't remember actually being able to pull it out. I tried to, but I passed out before I got it out. The helmet was in my hands and when I passed out, the chip was on the ground." She said. "I can't assume that it fell, that's the unlikely situation."

"Interesting." Cervaeu remarked. "All we can assume at the moment is that the chip and the helmet both have a mind of its own, then." There was no response from Ciel. She held her head tightly, trying to calm the throbbing, but to no avail. Their surroundings weren't helping any matters, either. Their caravan was parked a bit away from the wreckage. Even though six whole months had passed, the smoke was still strong enough to not be able to see very far, at the very most, 50 yards. The remains of Weil have long since disintegrated into nowhere, no doubt that he burned up along with the ship.

"Are you sure you don't want to relocate?" Cervaeu asked, noticing her gaze. "This smoke isn't healthy for anybody, not to mention any radiation it may be emitting-"

"We can't give up on Zero," Ciel protested, looking up at him.

Cervaeu was silent for a moment. "Ciel... what if Zero actually is...?"

Ciel looked up, tears beginning to form in her eyes, signaling to Cervaeu to not continue the line of questioning.

"You and I both know Zero's stronger than that," Ciel managed to say. "What if he's just hiding somewhere and repairing himself? What if-"

"Ciel..." Cervaeu couldn't think of anything else to say. Even though he had seen his fair share of it, grief was still something relatively new for him to deal with, especially grief as deep as this.

"If we could just... I don't know, pull out that memory card and... and maybe find some way to-"

"ATTENTION, RESISTANCE BASE MEMBERS! MAVERICKS HAVE BEEN SPOTTED IN ALL DIRECTIONS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! THANK YOU, AND HAVE A NICE DAY!"

The loud, blaring sirens broke Ciel's thoughts. Ciel and Cervaeu rushed quickly to Command Compound. 

"How close?" Ciel asked the commander, still clutching her head. The sudden sirens didn't help much. 

"I'd say around 250 meters. Too close for comfort." He replied hastily.

"Get our best defense squad ready!" Ciel ordered, then headed to the Observation Deck. Not too far away from the distance, she saw an army of Mavericks headed straight towards their base. Everywhere she looked, they were there. They were completely surrounded. 

"Do not attack yet!" Ciel sent an order to the defense squad. "Do not attack unless you have been attacked!" As they got closer, their march turned into a simple walk. Then, once they got within about 25 yards from the base, they stopped entirely. Then, they kneeled. All of them.

 "What the..." One of the defense team members muttered under his breath. One dancingly descended in front of Ciel. This was a different Maverick. He was a soft shade of purple, and had a sort of crazed look.

"Good evening, Miss Ciel." He spoke so calmly. "You may be aware of and wondering as to why there is an army of trigger-happy Mavericks. They call me Prometheus, and I believe in being fair, you see." He noted the army, and with a simple wave, they slowly started to stand up. "Funny story actually, we've been interested in this area for a little while. It truly is a nasty piece of work, wouldn't you say? History in the making, it is. Well, anyway, I have done my research, as you may have done by now as well, and we've come to realize something. There is a certain artifact that I'd wish to acquire."

Ciel's stomach felt as if it had a pit inside of it. He's not talking about the helmet...is he? She thought.

Prometheus smiled. "Hee hee hee. You're bad at keeping a straight face. You know why I am here, and I will not leave until I get it."

"N-no!" Ciel replied anxiously. Her voice quivered.

"Miss Ciel..." The smile faded off of Prometheus's face. "I'm not above taking a human life to achieve what I want. Did you forget that, with a snap of my fingers, I could easily end this base."

 The army raised their rifles.

"It is not yours to take." Ciel said hastily. "We don't even- It's ours. You...you can't have it!"

"Your life---"

"I don't care!" Ciel exclaimed. Prometheus drew a deep breath. Then he raised his staff, and started to charge his shot.

"Alrighty, I didn't want it to come to this..." Prometheus was about to fire when Ciel shouted, "NOW!"

Bullets rained down, and went back and forth between the Defense Squad and Prometheus's army. The sudden attack was enough to catch Prometheus off guard, and this brief moment of confusion gave Ciel just enough time to run off, grabbing the helmet from Containment on her way to escape.

As she ran, the helmet started to glow its blue light. 

No no no... Not now, please! Ciel began feeling weaker once more, the pounding returning. She knew of one area where she could hide: the Laboratory Ruins. The very ruins where Ciel and Zero escaped to when they first met. It was some ways from the base to the portable Trans-Server that which she kept inside the caravan. 

One of the defense members waved to Ciel. 

"Miss Ciel, over- WATCH OUT!" The member dived towards Ciel, taking a charged shot from Prometheus. Ciel looked on in horror as the member fell to the ground, but she didn't have time to process the fallen member, nor the crazed look Prometheus had as he advanced on her. She took the handgun that the member had dropped.

I'm sorry, but... I don't think you'll be needing this anymore. Thank you... Ciel thought.