Project: ZERO (Now with 99% more awesomeness!)

[Mewfour]

Yeah, here's a sort-of-new fic from The Asylum of the Damned's original fiction side, Sanitarium Studios (see my sig). If you remember this one, it's better than the last offering. If you don't, then perpare for quite a ride. It's The Asylum of the Damned's 4th Sonata:

Project: Zero

The stench of rotting garbage filled his nostrils. Groaning, he groggily moved through the trash heap he lay on. He opened his eyes wearily and spilled out of the large rubbish container. "Where...?"

Plucking a rotting discarded banana peel off his wild blonde hair, he looked down and examined his jacket. The dark blue jacket hung loosely around the sleeves and snugly around his body. His baggy jeans sported numerous stains from the trash dumpster he awoke on. He looked at his black t-shirt underneath his unzipped jacket- it sported a decal of a large yellow "Z" in a strange stylish font. "Where am I?" he asked himself. Then he froze and asked, "Who am I?"

It was the middle of the night when he finally wandered out of the alley where he found himself. He didn't know where he was going- he just kept walking. His mind was a dizzy haze of blackened foreign thoughts rushing through his head. He squeezed his eyes tightly as he tried to dig up any familiar memory of his past and identity. He kept walking for hours and could still find no answers to his self-imposed questions. His heavy boots thudded against the pavement of a desolate road as he kept on walking in a semiconscious daze.

Suddenly, the road in front of him lit up. When he realized that the light was coming from behind him he turned around and saw two pairs of bright lights slam into him.

"Oh ****!" A voice screamed as the lights shut off. The large powerful beast that had crashed into him left him lying motionless on the ground a few meters away- a thick streak of red spattered all over his face and the road. A brief clicking and clunking of a machine filled the air as three pairs of feet ran over to his still body.

"You idiot!" One screamed at another, "You've killed him!"

"Hey! You're the one who was driving, *****!" the other voice shot back at the first.

"****, stop it!" the third yelled silencing the other two, "We gotta' do something about this guy!"

"Well what?" the female second voice snarled, "What the ****ing hell was he doing out here anyway? In the middle of the ****ing road?"

"What the hell were you looking at? If you were driving you should've seen him!" the first voice screamed at the second.

"Look, calm down both of you!" the third shouted.

The three continued their shout-out war- totally unnoticing of their accidental victim who had just moved his face.

"Dude! Did you see that?" The first asked.

"See what? The third asked.

"The guy just moved!"

"No way. He's gone."

"I swear I saw him move!"

"You're too stoned to even see straight."

"Look! He moved again!"

"Stop fooling around, please!" the second voice pleaded, "We're in serious trouble!"

"I'm not ****ing fooling! Look! He's alive! ... Look! See that? Right there! He moved again!"

"****, it's too dark to see out here," the third voice grumbled, his footsteps headed straight for their machine, "I'll turn on the car's headlights."

The road was soon illuminated in a faded white glow. His body lay on the road, a pool of blood spreading from his face. The third came back to his side, knelt down and pressed his two fingers to the stranger's throat. "Nope. He's gone," the third muttered.

"I saw him move! He's alive, I know it!" the first snarled, shoving the third figure out of the way. The first figure held the motionless stranger by his head. "Ewww! Feels like the skin and flesh of this guy's face scraped off on the pavement."

Suddenly, the stranger stirred. "See! He's alive! I told you!" the first shrieked to the others as the stranger gave a loud groan. " Dude, you alright?"

But to his surprise, the stranger got to his feet and stood up rubbing his face. With his back to the head light's glow, the three people shivered at the thought of looking at his mangled face should he turn around into the light. And their fear soon came true. "What the **** are you?" the third trembled.

"I... don't know." the stranger replied wearily, rubbing his neck as if nothing at all happened, totally oblivious to the fact that half his face was torn away and squirting blood all over the road.

The three ran back to their car and dove in it. With a loud sputtering of an engine and the squealing of tires, the light that lit up the road faded and disappeared back into the darkness from whence they came. The stranger looked on confused. "What scared them?" he asked himself innocently.

Suddenly, he felt tired. He rubbed his face and his wound. "They were like me," he murmured, "they knew who they were. so why don't I?" He sat down on the side of the road on a patch of thin and yellowed grass. Yawning, the stranger fell flat on his back and became still once more.

[Mewfour]

When he awoke, the glare of blinding bright lights met his eyes. Squinting, he made out two faces like his own peering down on him. It was then he noticed that something was holding him. He was shackled around his wrists and ankles, resting on a slanted sheet of steel. "Okay, I think he's awake now," one voice said in the room. He looked around the small room and found his jacket and shirt draped over the back of a chair. His wounded side of his face was mysteriously almost healed.

"Good morning son," A tall blocky man in a military uniform said as the lights dimmed, "My name is General Don Lussein. What's yours?"

The table had rotated and adjusted its angle so that the stranger was looking straight in the face if the man who addressed him. He remained silent- lost for words.

"Your name?" the General asked again- and again receiving no response. Lussein sighed. "Look boy, you see this?" he asked, pointing to a small golden tag on his uniform, "This here is my name. Don Lussein. What's yours?"

The shackled stranger looked on his muscular torso and found no similar tag like Lussein's. His eyes quickly darted across the room with his impaired field of vision. Suddenly he laid eyes on a visible tag, pinned on the chest of a nearby woman. "Nikki," the stranger quickly blurted out.

"Huh?" the dark-haired woman with glasses asked.

"No Nikki, that's what the guy says his name is. Nicky," the General said placidly. "So, your name's Nicky, is it?" Lussein asked. Nicky quickly nodded. "Well then Nick, mind telling us where you came from?"

"I... I don't know," The stranger groaned.

"A real piece of work he is," Lussein groaned as he turned away. "Nikki, keep working on him," he said as he left the room. Everyone else in the tiny white room left with the General, except for Nikki.

"What's going on?" Nick asked weakly. "Why am I in this trap?"

"Oh, it's not a trap," Nikki sighed, "It's a restraint."

"Restraint?" Nick asked, "Why am I in it?"

Nikki was unresponsive.

"Can you let me out?"

"Nope. Sorry, I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Look, I just can't. Lussein told me not to."

"Why do you follow his commands? Is he your leader?"

"Yes, yes you could say that."

Nick fidgeted uneasily in his shackles. "Can I ask him then?"

"Nope. He won't let you out either," Nikki replied, sitting down at a nearby computer desk and plugging away commands.

"Why?" Nick asked innocently.

"Nevermind," Nikki said bluntly. "Now hold still," she said as Nick's restraint table returned to its original slanted position, "If you really can feel pain, this won't hurt if you don't move."

Suddenly, a large mechanical arm reached in front of Nick. Nick's head darted over his left shoulder to see Nikki still sitting at her computer chair. The arm squeaked, and produced a sharp needle-like object from its tip. "Huh? What's happening?" Nick asked, panicked.

"Just a diagnostic procedure," Nikki hummed, punching more commands into her computer as the arm slowly advanced towards Nick's neck.

"W- what is that thing? What are you doing?" Nick shrieked.

"Look, just stay still and it won't hurt at all," Nikki said.

Nick began to struggle against his restraints.

"Don't bother, you'll never break them," Nikki said calmly as the arm neared Nick's neck, "Those are state of the art Steetani-"

Her words were cut short, as Nick's arm violently broke free of its shackle. Nikki jumped out of her chair in shock, and watched Nick grasp the advancing arm and tug it towards him, ripping it from its mount on the ceiling. With more violent jerks, Nick slowly freed himself from his shackles.

Nikki shrieked and flattened herself against the wall. Nick was on his feet again, and walked to the chair and picked up his jacket and shirt. Nick scanned the room. "How do you get out of here?" he asked calmly.

Nikki felt suddenly awkward. "Y-y-you mean. you're not going to kill me?" she trembled.

"Kill you?" Nick asked, "Why?"

Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. "So, you're not dangerous then?"

"Dangerous?" Nick asked confused, "Me?" Nick sighed. "I really wish I knew who I am. what I am. I'm so confused," he groaned.

"You don't know?" she asked, a bit bewildered.

Nick slowly shook his head.

Nikki took her wheeled computer chair and rolled it towards Nick. "Sit down," she said leaning up against her desk, "It's a pretty long story."

[Mewfour]

"Wait- I don't get it. What was that part about-"

"Look, it's quite simple."

Nikki sighed and adjusted her leaning position against her desk. "You are a robot. You are a robot with anti-gravity generators. You are a robot with internally installed energy-plasma weaponry that has the power of the whole country's military. You, quite obviously, are a war machine."

"Oh! And. and since you don't have me recorded in a "Main Computer", your military thought I was a war machine from another hostile country?" Nick asked.

Nikki nodded. "That's why we had you tied down like that."

"I'm sorry if I caused you trouble," Nick sighed, "Had I known myself I would have gladly let you examine me."

"Well, I suppose it's my fault," Nikki sighed, "I guess I was a little hasty. I guess I've confirmed that you can display emotions anyway."

"Well, to prevent another incident," Nick sighed, hopping out of Nikki's chair and lying back against the restraint table, "examine me."

"Can't do," Nikki groaned, "you wrecked the machine."

"I- I am truly sorry," Nick murmured. "I suppose that because I'm a machine is the reason why I am still alive after last night," Nick sighed, remembering his first unfortunate encounter with humans.

"Oh nevermind," Nikki hummed, I'll get the hand-tool diagnostics."

"Who built you?" Nikki asked as she probed Nick all over his forehead with a sharp needle protruding from a handle in her hand.

"I- I can't remember," Nick groaned.

"Well, whoever did build you is one hell of a genius," Nikki sighed, "It would take us decades to duplicate a machine like you. Like your artificial skin, your DNA-enhanced artificial blood and hair- even your self-repair ability- your skin on your face totally regenerated itself!" Nikki looked at the broken shackles around Nick's wrists, "and your incredible strength- our robots could only dream of having half your power."

Nick sighed. "I wonder who built me."

"And those anti-gravity generators in your feet. Those are so powerful they can even lift you- our generators can barely lift one hundred pounds! Speaking of which, your lightweight metal skeleton weighs just the same as a human skeleton- and it's over twenty-two times stronger!" Nikki said. "I swear, someone really wanted you to blend in."

Just then, Lussein burst into the room. "Nikki! We've got-" Lussein stopped in his tracks when he saw Nick free of his shackles. "How'd he get free? Restrain him!"

"No, it's okay!" Nikki gasped, "He's not dangerous!"

"Well, the friend he brought along with him is dangerous!"

Nikki and Nick gasped. "What friend?" they asked surprised in unison.

"The friend that just infiltrated the base, destroying everything in sight, and is headed right here!"

Just then, another short dark skinned man ran into the room. "He! He is freed!" he shrieked, pointing at Nick.

"No no! He's not dangerous!" Nikki shrieked back. "Tei, what's happening?"

Tei breathed hand and slicked his short black hair. "Another one. like him- "

"-Is the one I'm talking about!" Lussein interrupted brashly.

"Nick," Nikki asked the android, "do you remember another robot like yourself at all?"

Nick paused for a moment and then said, "No."

Suddenly the bolted door of the room flew open. Smoke and flames erupted from the hallway it led to. From the flames and into the room stepped a tall slender figure. His long shining silver hair swayed from side to side as he walked against his sky-blue T-shirt. He stopped about seven steps into the room and looked around. "Zero, what are you doing?" he asked rather annoyed.

Lussein, Tei, Nikki and Nick all looked at each other. "Don't play games Zero, I'm not in the mood," the android said.

"Nick, I think he's talking to you," Nikki whispered to Nick.

"Give the lady a prize someone," the robot said sarcastically. "Well Zero?" he asked.

"Well what?" Nick asked innocently.

"You know what," the robot growled.

"I'm sorry, I don't."

"Damn, the doc's gonna' be pissed now," the robot grumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, Doc A."

Nick didn't respond.

"Dmmit, Zero! What the hell is wrong with you?" the robot roared, "Can't you even remember your mission?"

"Mission?" Nick asked himself.

"Yeah, the mission," the robot growled. "You do remember, don't you?"

Nick slowly shook his head.

"****, you have been damaged, just like Doc said you would be."

"Excuse me," Nikki said feebly, "What mission would this be?"

"You really want me to tell you?" the silver-haired android snarled. Nikki nodded. "Kill you. Kill you all."

Everyone except the android gasped. "Me? Kill?" Nick gasped.

"Exactly," the robot groaned.

"Who are you anyway?" Nick asked.

"Seven. Project Seven," the robot replied, "And you, my forgetful friend, are Project Zero."

Suddenly, something in Nick's mind set alight. It was a spark of his foreign name that started a chain reaction in his cerebral circuits. His washed away memory flooded back to him. He remembered being sealed inside one tiny little capsule with little flickering specks of colored lights flashing across his eyes in the darkness.

"If you humans looked hard enough, you'd see our battle cruiser around the orbit of this planet's moon," Seven said. "Doctor A, our creator, sent Zero over there to wipe out life on this pathetic planet."

"Why kill us?" Tei asked the robot.

"So we can sell it," Seven replied coldly. "The only good planet in this God-forsaken galaxy and it's wasted with so-called 'intelligent' life forms like you. Since Mr. Forgetful forgot his mission, Doc created me to take his place after a few weeks of waiting.."

Nick stood up. "Hey Zero," Seven called, "you can have those two," he said jerking a thumb at Tei and Lussein, "I'll take that one," he pointed at Nikki.

Nick's face twisted into an expression of sternness. "No," he replied.

"Fine then," Seven hummed, "she's closest to you, you kill her. I'll kill these two."

With that, Seven bent his arms across his chest. A long beam of energy slid out of either elbow like an old fashioned elbow-sword.

"No, don't kill them either," Nick said.

"Oh, I get it," Seven snickered, "Have at 'em then, Zero!" Seven pulled up Nikki's roller chair and plopped himself down on it. "Have fun!" Seven retracted his beam blades.

No one in the room moved an inch. "Hey Zero, you gonna' finish them quickly or what? Our mission's gotta' be done y'know," Seven sighed.

"I will not fulfill my mission," Zero said sternly.

For a second, Seven looked dumbfounded at Nick. "Wait a second," Seven snarled, "what did you just say?"

"I'm not going to kill anyone. I have no reason."

"Oh, for ****'s sake Zero!" Seven complained standing up, "Kill them already!"

"You have no right either," Nick snarled.

"You- you traitor!" Seven gasped.

"Call me what you want. Zero, traitor, whatever. I won't be called a murderer." Nick said.

"Fine then," Seven snarled, crossing his arms and reactivating his elbow energy blades, "I'll have to kill you too."

Nick shot out his hand and aimed his palm at Seven. A small slit opened up from his palm and opened up like a doorway. A flash of light burst from Nick's hand as a blast of energy shot from it and crashed into Seven. Seven was sent flying backwards into the wall from Nick's attack.

That was all that was needed to start Seven off. As soon as Seven got to his feet he charged at Nick with blinding speed- almost as if the air carried him along in a slipstream of wind. Seven wildly swung his elbow blade at Nick- Nick barely found time to leap out of harm's way. Seven paused and said, "Zero, just kill them and be done with it."

Suddenly, Lussein snuck up from behind Seven and wrapped his arms around Seven's chest. With a quick movement, Lussein had Seven in a full-nelson. "Let me tell you," Lussein said, "One little flick of my wrist and your neck will snap like a twig.

"Try it," Seven snarled.

Lussein did so, but Seven remained in his composure. Suddenly breaking free of the hold, Seven spun around and let his left energy blade connect with Lussein on his neck. The blade left a tiny incision on the General's throat, but it was enough to leave Lussein trembling weakly. Seven spun around again and dug his beam blade into Lussein's chest so deep that the end of his blade poked out of Lussein's back. Whatever glint of light that was in Lussein's eyes was now gone. Everyone else in the room looked on horrified as Lussein gurgled with the blood gushing from his mouth and nose in torrents. With another spin, Seven sliced the General's top half in two, leaving his body to fall lifelessly to the floor.

"You-!" Nick gasped.

"See that Zero?" Seven growled, "That's what we're supposed to do."

Suddenly, Nick turned to Nikki and Tei. "Both of you, get out," he pleaded. Nikki and Tei never obeyed a request as quickly as they did that one.

Half an hour later Nikki and Tei found themselves halting their dashing when they were on the outskirts of the remote military base. "Hard to believe-" Nikki breathed heavily, "that that guy- he nearly destroyed the whole thing."

"The whole base," Tei panted.

Tei and Nikki looked back at what they used to call their workplace. Ii was burning gaily, crackles of flames and puffs of smoke drifted from the smoldering wreckage that was once a building.

Suddenly, a speeding flame shot from the base. The flaming metal smashed into the ground in front of them. When the smoke cleared, Nick wearily crawled out of the crater he had created- his clothes and artificial skin burned and blackened with his imitation blood gushed freely from a wide gash his forehead. Seven soon crawled out of the crated, his burned and bloody body smoking from the flames. Seven tiredly got to his feet. "I'll be back, traitor!" he snarled, pointing a bloody finger at Nick. With that, he floated into the air and zoomed off.

"He can fly too?" Tei murmured.

Nick, Tei and Nikki looked over at their burning workplace again. Nick collapsed to one knee and breathed hard. "We better get you repaired," Nikki said, helping Nick onto her shoulder. Tei followed suit and took Nick's other arm on his shoulder.

[Mewfour]

It had been at least half an hour since the destruction of the military headquarters. Nikki, with Tei in the passenger seat and the bloody Nick in the back, drove through the suburbs of Bergin Town.

"Were are we going again?" Tei asked Nikki, brushing his short black hair.

"To my cousin's place," replied Nikki, "Jody's an excellent mechanic- maybe she can repair Nick."

Nick, lying down with seven blood-soaked towels on his topless body and face in the back seats, sighed. "What a place," he murmured.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Nick's repair systems had already formed scabs over his wounds, and were now beginning to fully heal. When they parked in front of a small white house and got out of the car, Nikki took a Kleenex and wiped the blood off of Nick's face. Throwing his overcoat over Nick's shoulders, Tei led the robot along the sidewalk with Nikki to the door of the house.

Upon ringing the doorbell, the door swung open, and in the doorway stood a woman, about the same height age, and hair color as Nikki. "Nikki!" She greeted them, "I haven't seen you in a long time!"

The woman stepped aside and bade the trio to enter. "How's Sarah, Judy?" Nikki asked the woman as the three removed their shoes at the door as they entered.

"Fine," The woman said. "Hey, who's he?" She asked, looking at Nick.

"Judy, this is Nick," said Nikki, presenting Nick to her with her hand on his shoulder. Tei had already entered the house and was looking around.

"What happened to him?" Judy asked, "Looks like he just got in a fight."

"I did."

"Nick is a robot," said Nikki blankly.

"A robot-!"

"Yes, and we need you to repair him, if you can," said Nikki.

-

A few hours later, Judy emerged from the basement, with a topless Nick. "What a piece of work he is," Judy muttered as se and Nick entered the living room where Nikki and Tei sat. Tei was absorbed to the television, watching the evening news.

"Well, we did tell you a bunch of aliens made him," Nikki sighed as Nick slid his black t-shirt with the large golden Z decal back on.

Suddenly, a slender teenage girl made herself visible in the doorway to the living room. "Who's that?" she asked, stroking her long blonde hair.

"This is Nick," said Judy looking at Nick, "And this is Tei," she said, motioning at Tei.

"Tei, this is Judy's sister, Sarah," Said Nikki.

Tei remained silent and nodded at Sarah as she walked into the living room and sat down beside Nick. "Where're you from?" She asked Nick smoothly.

"I really don't know," Nick murmured.

"He's a robot, Sarah," Judy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh," Sarah said quietly with a sudden blush. Nick had not even gone a shade of red.

Just then, Tei chimed up. "Look!" he said, pointing to the television.

A small computer-placed image was displayed on the top right hand corner of the screen, a front facial picture of Nick. "...Robot whose abilities greatly outmatch any other robot known to the Earth," said the newscaster at the desk. "If seen, report him and his whereabouts immediately to authorities. He is considered armed and highly dangerous-"

"That's not true!" Nikki gasped at the television.

"I don't think many people here are liking me too well," Nick murmured to himself.

Sarah and Judy uneasily shifted in their seats, and gave Nick a nervous look.

"He would not harm fly," Tei said calmly.

Nikki nodded in agreement. "At first, we thought he was dangerous too," she added. Sarah and Judy both breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you really just found him lying by the roadside?" Judy asked.

Tei and Nikki nodded. "Yeah. And Seven obliterated the base completely."

"Seven?" Sarah asked, confused.

"Evil robot," said Tei placidly, "Sent to wipe out life on Earth, destroy Nick too."

"Oh, my," Sarah quietly gasped to herself.

"And now we have the public after him too," Nikki muttered.

Nick looked around. "What a strange planet..."

"What do you suppose they'll do with him?" Sarah asked innocently.

Nikki shook her head glumly. "I don't know, but I work for the military you know, and I can tell it won't be pretty."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked with a trembling tone in her voice.

"When he was discovered," Nikki said lowly, "Lussein wanted me to dissect him. He wanted me to study his structure and programming, by means of picking him apart."

Sarah shivered and Judy grimaced. "Ew," Judy muttered.

"And if they do that," Said Tei, "then those aliens that Seven told us..."

There was a long silence.

Judy stood up. "We need to hide him," she said, looking at Nick, "and I know just the place."

[Mewfour]

The thick, damp smell was a little overpowering to their noses as they entered the dark room. Tei flicked on a light switch, and the place instantly lit up by a series of small light bulbs. Nick, Nikki, Sarah and Judy looked around. "Nikki, this place... amazing," he murmured.

"Yep, abandoned bombshell bunker," said Nikki to herself, "No one knew about this place but myself and Lussein. Of course, he didn't know that I knew it."

"Wow, a real top-secret military hideout!" Sarah squealed with delight. Judy whistled in awed approval.

"How old is this place?" Nick asked placidly.

"About two-hundred-some years," Nikki replied.

Nick looked up at the ceiling. "My CPU detects that this place is fully cloaked from radar," he said, "And you're sure that no one else knows about this place?"

Nikki took out a roll of paper from her pocket, and held it in two hands. Then, after ripping it in two with a simple tug, she said, "No one."

Nick took the two halves of paper from Nikki and held them in his hand. With a small fizzle and a thin trail of smoke coming from his closed hands, the paper was incinerated. "Unless humans can read ashes, we're definitely safe," said Nick.

"And to think," Sarah laughed, "Judy tired to hide him in our basement-!"

"Oh shut up," Judy grumbled.

Nikki looked around the small room, and pondered. "We can move the remaining equipment from the military base to here," she said, "And Nick, maybe you could dig around here and expand this place a bit."

Nick nodded, held his palm to a nearby wall, and let a blast of energy shoot from it and crash into the wall. Sarah squealed and hid behind Judy as soon as the resulting boom had created a cloud of smoke in the wall. When it had cleared, there was a large gaping hole in the wall, as well as a large corridor leading from it as well in the surrounding ground. "So, how large do you want it to be?" Nick calmly asked to the bewildered and awed audience of four.

"Just... a living room and a few bedrooms," Nikki said half in disbelief.

"What a guy," Sarah quietly murmured to herself. Nick nodded, and walked into the hollowed corridor. With a few more blasts, Nick begun his task.

"Well, let's get everything prepared," said Nikki, turning to a pile of junk stuffed sloppily in the corner of the bunker.

*********

An hour later, Nick emerged from the tunnel. "It's finished," he said.

Nikki, Tei, Sarah and Judy were each slumped in a cheap fold-up chair in the main bunker room. "Took you long enough," Tei said.

Judy got up. "Let's see it," she said, walking by Nick and disappearing into the corridor.

Tei and Nikki rose from their seats. "I'll take a look too," said Nikki, walking by Nick with Tei and dissolving into the dark burrow, leaving only Nick and Sarah in the room.

"So," said Sarah shyly, "How old are you?"

"I do not know," replied Nick calmly.

"Well, come on, sit down," Sarah offered, putting her hand on the seat of Judy's chair beside her. Nick accepted the offer and sat down beside Sarah. "I'm fifteen," she said, blushing. "You look to be about maybe twenty."

"I was built like this," replied Nick.

"Oh," sighed Sarah. "Well, what kind of aliens built you?"

"I can't tell," Nick answered.

Sarah shuffled her chair closer to Nick. "Are there any more besides you and, what's his name, Seven?" she asked.

"I don't think so," replied Nick.

Sarah shuffled herself closer to Nick so that the arms of their chairs were almost touching. "Are there any female aliens, do you think?"

"Female?" Nick asked, "What do you mean, 'female?'"

Sarah blushed. "Well, you know, there's, um, two kinds of living things," she weakly began. "First, there's males and then there's females."

"What's the difference between them?" Nick asked innocently.

Sarah weakly laughed. "Well, um, males are, well, boys and females are girls."

"I don't get it," Nick murmured.

Sarah sighed. "Well, I'm a female, and you're a... wait, nevermind, um, Tei's a male."

"So the difference between you two is females have higher voices while males have deeper voices?"

Sarah sighed. "Oh, maybe some day you'll understand."

"Maybe you can show me," Nick offered.

Sarah moaned. "You really don't know the difference?" she asked.

"Apart from the voice pitch, no," replied Nick. "What are the two types for?

Sarah blushed even more violently, and she shifted her chair so that her arm and Nick's were touching. "Well, you know, when a," Sarah sighed to take a breath, "when a male and a female come together, well..."

Sara stopped there. "And what?" Nick prompted her.

"Well, when a guy and a girl come together, well, they, um, they, er, you see," Sarah took another deep breath. "You know that living things, um, reproduce, right?"

Nick nodded. "Yes," he said.

"Well, that's what happens when a girl and a guy come together," Sarah weakly said, "babies are produced."

"How?" Nick asked innocently.

Sarah nearly died in embarrassment. "Oh, come on," she said, fighting back in vain to keep her face from flushing red, "What's with all the questions all of a sudden?"

"I just want to learn," Nick replied.

"Well," said Sarah, "Just try to pick up an encyclopedia from the military base when you get there," she said blankly.

"What's an encyclopedia?" Nick asked.

"Oh, ask Judy," she sighed.

At that time, Judy's voice echoed through the bunker. "Nick! What did you do in here?"

"I made rooms like you asked," Nick replied.

Just then, Nikki, Tei and Judy came out of the corridor. "You made a palace and not a few rooms!" Tei exclaimed.

"I could only dream of having a home like this!" Judy said.

"You really outdid yourself," Nikki admitted, "With the bedrooms and living room you made with this bunker room put together, you made this place nearly the size of an entire city block!"

"Was that not what you wanted?" Nick asked, "Should I have made it smaller?"

"No! It's perfect!" Judy squealed in delight, "More than perfect!"

Nick pondered and rubbed his chin. "Technically, something being more than perfect is impossible..."

Sarah got to her feet and placed her hand on Nick's wrist. "You're such a guy," she sighed, smiling.

[Mewfour]

The sun to Tei's eyes was almost blinding when he emerged from the dark bunker with Nick. Nick, however, seemed unaffected by the sudden change of light. "How can you manage to see?" Tei muttered to Nick, shading his hand over his eyes as they stepped out into the sandy desert where the entrance to the bunker built into a small hill was located.

"My optic sensors can adjust to any lighting condition in less than point zero-zero-zero-four-five seconds," replied Nick.

Tei only muttered under his breath. "Can you locate the base from here?" he asked.

Nick looked around and murmured to himself. After holding his head to the right for a few seconds, Nick said, "It's that way, seven hours away-"

"Seven, huh?" A cold voice suddenly cut through the air behind them. Tei and Nick whirled around to see the other robot they met in the military base, Seven, who looked like he had never gotten damaged at the military base. With crossed arms, Seven's long silver white hair was blowing gently in the breeze as he glared at them icily with cold blue eyes. "Did someone mention me?"

"You!" Tei exclaimed in shock, "How did you find us?"

Seven snorted in disgust. "These eyes do more than just look pretty," he growled.

Nick stood in front of Tei and faces Seven. "Get out of here, Seven," Nick mildly ordered, "I don't want any more trouble from you."

"Says you," Seven growled again, "Just to let you know, I've told the Doc about your new friends, Zero."

Nick backed up an inch so that his body obscured Tei from Seven's sight. "My friends don't want any trouble from you either!" Nick blurted out.

"Doc says to kill you all now anyway," Seven said blankly, uncrossing his arms, "You and your new Earthling friends."

Nick quickly shifted his eyes to Tei, who was still hidden behind him. "Tei, when you get the chance, dash back into the base," Nick quietly whispered. Tei nodded in return. "In the meantime, stay behind me."

Seven floated off the hilltop and landed in front of the bunker doors and in front of Nick. "Of course, the Doc says that if you do decide to carry out your mission, then I'm to let you remain functional."

"No," Came Nick's stern reply. "I'll never kill any living being on this planet!"

Seven sighed. "Zero, the Doc's being generous to you. Just do what she says and-"

"-She?" Tei murmured.

"Yeah, she," Seven gruffly replied, shifting his sights on Tei. "Well, Zero?" Seven asked, setting his gaze on Nick again, "How about it?"

"Seven, leave this place now!" Nick ordered, "Leave or I'll make you leave!"

Seven snarled and crossed his arms again, letting the two thin beam blades slide out of his elbows. "Make me, huh?" Seven growled, "How're you gonna' do that?"

Nick thrust his palm in front of him facing Seven. With a small section of his palm's skin open up and split apart, the small barrel of the energy blaster protruded through his hand. "I don't want to hurt you, Seven!" Nick said, "But I will if I have to!"

Seven yelled, "Then I'll have to destory you!"

With that, Seven lunged at Nick, pointing his beam blades at his face. Nick barley managed to shove Tei to the side and avoid Seven's blade as Seven zoomed by him. "Tei! Run!" Nick ordered as Seven stopped charging. Tei nodded and scrambled to his feet. Tei dashed to the bunker's doors, swung one open, slipped inside and slammed the door shut behind him.

Nick watched as Tei got himself to safety, and when Tei was inside, Nick turned his attention to Seven. By the time he did, Seven had already begun another charge, managing to plunge his beam blade into Nick's right arm. Nick gasped as the beam entered his arm and exited out of his elbow. With a snarl, Seven spun himself around, letting his beam blade rip out of Nick, tearing a bloody gash in his arm that left his forearm dangling to the rest of his arm by a mess of machinery. Nick groaned and sunk to his knee, holding his heavily bleeding wound. Just as soon as Nick looked up at Seven again, Seven delivered a sharp boot to Nick's nose, sending the android onto his back. Nick yelped and held his face, rolling over onto his side.

"Zero, stop being a fool," Seven growled coldly as he stood above Nick. "You're nothing but the Doc's prototype and I am the final model. There's no way in hell you can fight me and survive." Seven taunted. Nick staggered to his knee only to have Seven viciously kick him in the face again. Nick's nose exploded in a shower of artificial blood as his head snapped back and the rest of his body spun onto his stomach on the ground. Nick weakly groaned as Seven stepped to his side and prodded him in the ribs with his boot. "Told ya'," Seven snorted.

Suddenly, Nick threw his body onto his back and pointed his palm blaster at Seven and let out a fast flash of energy blast from it. The blast caught Seven completely off guard, smashing into his chest and blowing the android to the ground. Nick furiously whipped himself back onto his feet and immediatley had Seven in a throttle. Seven, with his pale shirt still smoking from the energy blast, violently tried to wrench Nick's hands off of his throat, but Nick had an iron grip on Seven's neck, eventually rolling Seven onto his belly and forcing him into a submissive position. "I don't want to hurt you, Seven," Nick growled angrily, "but if you don't stop with this killing mission, I'll have to destroy you!"

Seven tried to spit in Nick's face, but the best he could manage was on the sand beside him. "You idiot!" Seven snarled, "If you destroy me, the Doc'll surley have another one just like me- even better- to wipe this pathetic planet out- you included!"

"He'd know that I'd be protecting it from the likes of you!" Nick shot back.

"She!" Seven roared with a gutturgal growl, "She!"

"She," Nick corrected himself, "I'll stop whatever she throws at the Earth!"

"What a joke!" Seven laughed with a feral snarl, "You, the pathetic prototype? Dream on!"

Suddenly, Nick released one hand off of Seven's neck and grabbed Seven by the forearm. Quickly twisting it behind Seven's back, Nick thrust all his weight on top of Seven's elbow, driving a yelp from the robot. "Let go of me!" Seven roared, wriggling in vain to free himself.

"I'll only stop if you leave and never harm the Earth, Seven!" Nick snarled back.

"Alright! Fine!" Seven screeched.

Nick slightly relaxed his grip on Seven. "You promise?" Nick growled.

"Yes!" Seven growled back. Nick slowly released Seven and stood up again, leaving Seven to pick himself up. Once back on his feet, Seven wimpered and rubbed his elbow. "Now get going," Nick ordered. Seven glared at Nick briefly before turning his back on him and storming away. Nick breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed what remained of his nose and the blood that splattered his face.

Just as Nick was about to open the doors to the bunker, they flew open with Tei holding a large nine-barrel rocket laucher over his shoulder. "Nick! Dive!" Tei shouted.

Without hesitation, Nick flung himself to the ground as Tei fired a rocket from the cannon, letting it sail and scream over Nick's back. Half a second later, Nick heard the rocket explode and then a cry of surprise and agony before a cloud of smoke rushed past his face and into the bunker. When the smoke cleared, Nick rolled over onto his back and sat up. "You are okay?" Tei quickly asked.

"Yes," Nick replied, seeing what Tei had fired upon. Ten meters in front of him, a groggy Seven, charred black from the rocket, weakly staggered to his feet. "I'll kill you all!" Seven roared with the rest of his power, "Mark my words, you're all dead!" With that final threat, Seven flew into the sky and vanished.

Tei set down the gigantic rocket launcher and helped Nick back to his feet. "Tei! How did you know?" Nick asked in bewilderment.

Tei only wiped his brow with is hand. "I serve seven years in military," Tei quickly replied, "I learn to expect these things." Nick suddenly sagged and sighed sadly. "What wrong?" Tei asked.

"Seven," Nick said glumly, "He said that he would leave the Earth alone, and then..."

Tei put his hand on Nick's shoulder. "Nick," Tei said almost in regret, "I must teach you about war."

[Mewfour]

The abandoned grain tower was so old, it surpassed the standards of antiqueness with flying colors. The machinery, thousands of years out of date, was still functional, something Seven intended to make use of sometime soon. "If this is my hideout," he thought amongst the rotting wood walls and remains of wheat that littered the floor, "Then I intend to make the most out of it."

His various burn wounds that he suffered from the rocket launcher had almost fully healed now, so he poked his head out of the creaky wooden doors and took quick scan of the area. The wide open wasteland that surrounded the old tower for miles was as empty as he had always seen it. "Good," he thought to himself as he shrunk back into the dim building, "No-one's around."

Walking over to one of the tall, vertical wheat crushers, Seven poked a lone button on the side and threw a switch upward. Instantly, the machine came to life in a soft roar of rust and steam. Picking up the filled straw-knit sack he had made for himself at his feet, Seven flew to the top of the crusher, twenty feet above the ground, and hovered just above the wide conveyor belt that slowly rotated its treads towards the wide opening of the crusher, bearing its first set of grinding teeth, rapidly moving in and out of each other's weavings. Turning the sack upside-down, Seven dumped the contents of the sack onto the conveyor belt, nothing but a heap of scrap metal. The scrap and ingots soon fell off the belt and into the crusher, and was soon turned to even smaller scraps as it was all swallowed into the unseen depths of the crusher. Floating down to the ground and dropping the empty sack behind him, Seven waited for the machine to be through with the scraps so he could use them. A minute later, a large opening on the other side of the crusher spewed out a heap of small metal scraps, no smaller than a mouse each. Picking up a few scraps in his hands, Seven took off his pale blue tank top, revealing a large bloody gash on his left shoulder. Digging his right hand, full of metal scraps, into the wound, Seven spread the metal on his own metal bones and patted them down underneath his skin. Once he felt that his shoulder metal was sufficently covered, Seven pried his wound open even futher and looked at the metal scraps that covered a large tear in his shoulder's metal bone. Suddenly, a quick zap of laser light shot from his eyes and onto the metal, throwing up a quick puff of smoke. When it cleared, Seven pressed the two sides of his ruptured skin together and looked at the seam they made together. With another quick zap of lasers from his eyes, his skin was sealed shut again, leaving a thin burn scar upon his artificial skin. Moving his left shoulder in a circle, Seven sighed, "Much better."

After stretching his shoulder out one more time, Seven picked up his shirt and put it on again, making sure that his pale hair went outside the shirt, and not between it and his back. Seven reached into his pocket and dug out a small device, small enough to just cover the palm of his hand. Tapping the surface once, Seven held his breath and waited.

"If he still won't join you, then just kill them all anyway. Don't worry about the life forms on Earth- focus on just destroying Zero now."

The voice inside Seven's CPU was as clear as ever. Stuffing the device back into his pocket, Seven walked out of the grain tower.

****

The crumbling remains of the military base nearly crushed them a few times as they weaved in and out of the wreckage-strewn hallways. Had it not been for Nick's swiftness and strength, Tei would have been smashed to death five times already. "What are we looking for, anyway?" Nick asked Tei as the two navigated through the shambled corridors.

"Equipment," Tei replied. "Weapons, computers, anything that not broken."

"Tei," Nick asked, "What did you mean about war back then?"

Tei blinked. "Now not the time," Tei said uneasily. "We must find equipment, and quickly. Seven could attack any moment."

"I guess we can't try to reason with him," Nick muttered sadly. "I don't want to have to destroy him."

"Well," said Tei quickly, hopping over a crumbled concrete block, "Some things must be done, wether you like or not."

"Yes, I guess you're right," Nick sighed glumly, lifing a large iron bar out of his path.

"Seven is machine made to destroy," Tei said. "He will destroy Earth if we not stop him soon. But that not our focus now," said Tei, "Now we need whatever we can find."

The two finally came out of the rubble-strewn hallway and into a near-empty square room. "This room," Nick muttered, "This is the room I was taken to, where I met Nikki and you."

"And Seven," Tei quickly added. Then, in regret, he said, "And Lussein."

Nick and Tei looked on the ground, and saw Lussein's body, the lower portion of his halved body completely incinerated. His upper half, lying face-down, was soaking in a pool of blood. Tei and Nick forced their eyes off of Lussein's remains and began to search the room.

The counters of the room were either melted or totally demolished, with only one computer left functioning, sitting on top of a spared section of counter, its monitor a blue screen of rolling light. "This one still work," Tei said, tapping on the screen as he looked over hsi shoulder at Nick. "What did you find?"

"I can't tell," Nick said, looking at the pile of metal scraps the lined the wall, "But it looks like they're completely ruined."

Tei took another look around the room. "There nothing else here," Tei said, "We look elsewhere."

Suddenly, the room began to vibrate. "Oh no," Tei murmured. "Nick, the base is collapsing!"

A chunk of ceiling suddenly smashed down between them. "Tei, are you all right?" Nick asked.

"Just grab whatever you find!" Tei shouted back, snatching up keyboards, cameras, and anything else he could carry in his arms as a large chunk of ceiling crashed down beside him. Tei scrambled around the debris to find Nick holding three times as much as he was in one arm. Nick grabbed Tei by the collar and yanked him out of the collapsing room. As soon as Nick whisked Tei into the leading corridor, another chunk of roofing completely filled the room, and the hallway ceiling was beginning to crumble as well. With Tei still in his grasp, Nick took off down the hallway as it caved in around him.

Suddenly, Nick felt Tei beginning to lag behind him. "Come on, Tei!" Nick urged, pulling Tei closer to him as the floor suddenly began to collapse underneath them. Taking to the air, Nick flew down the hall, towing Tei behind him. The walls began to crush into rubble as they zoomed past them, and Nick soon felt tiny peices of debris begin to patter at his heels. With one giant burst of speed, Nick shot through the corridor and blindly smashed his way through another wall.

The sunlight made Nick come to a shaking stop, jittering Tei as well. Setting Tei back onto the ground as he landed, Nick looked back at the collapsing building as they set down their salvaged spoils. It was only a few minutes later that the remains of the military base joined the rest of it in a heap of twisted scrap.

"Tei, what happened?" Nick asked.

"Most of base already collapse," said Tei, "Rest of it not last long."

"No, I mean, why'd you slow down?"

Tei paused. "Something... worried me."

"What?" Nick asked.

"We passed a weapon stock monitor," said Tei. "I saw something was missing."

Nick's curiousity got the better of him. "What?"

"Dammit!"

The sudden snarl of frustration from behind them made Nick and Tei whirl around. The slender figure of Seven stood behind them, with a smouldering rocket launcher slung over his shoulder. "I didn't think you'd be that quick."

"Seven!" Nick and Tei gasped in unison. Tei quickly shrunk behind Nick as the blonde android took a fighting stance.

Seven only grinned cruelly. "I'm not here to fight you, Zero," Seven snickered, dropping his rocket launcher to the ground. "I may have not killed you with this," he said, "But it doesn't matter. I've already gotten what I came for." With that, Seven took to the air and quickly vanished into the sky.

"Got what he came for?" Nick asked, looking at Tei.

Tei suddenly turned white. "Nick," he murmured, "I think I know what he took."

Nick looked at Tei inquizitively. "What'd he take?"

Tei looked at Nick in a quiet panic. "Remember I saw stock monitor showing something was missing?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Nick," Tei trembled, "he stolen a nuclear warhead."

[Mewfour]

"He stole WHAT?"

Sarah shivered. Judy winced. Nikki stil stared at Tei with her jaw dropped wide open.

"Nuclear warhead, Nikki," Tei repeated regretfully.

"He stole a nuke?" Judy gasped.

"I don't like where this is going," Sarah squeaked.

"A nuke!" Nikki raved, running her fingers through her long hair feverishly and pacing around. "He stole a friggin' nuke!"

"This isn't good at all," Judy moaned nervously, leaning up against the wall of the bunker.

"He isn't going to use it, is he?" Sarah pleaded for an answer she wanted to hear.

"What's a nuke?"

Nick's innocent question immediatey earned Nikki's, Tei's, Judy's and Sarah's respective glares of surprise. Nick quickly began to become uneasy. "What?"

"A nuclear bomb," said Nikki, still shaken, "is the most powerful weapon ever made here on Earth. It has the power to destroy entire cities in less than two seconds, and the one Seven stole was the most powerful of them all. If he sets that off, it'll level the whole continent."

"And throw up cloud of smoke into whole sky," Tei added quickly. "Long winter come soon with sun blocked out of sky. It'll be second Ice Age!"

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Sarah began to cringe. Shuffling over to Nick, Sarah wrapped her arms around Nick's elbow. "But you'll survive. You can survive a nuclear blast," she pleaded. When Nick gave her an uncertain look, Sarah whimpered, "Can't you?"

"I... don't know," Nick murmured.

"Sarah, stop being stupid," Judy ordered. "There's no way anything can survive a nuclear explosion."

Small tears began to roll down Sarah's cheeks. "B-but," she stammered, unable to continue, hugging Nick's arm even tighter.

"And for Godsakes, stop clinging to Nick," Judy added.

"I can't believe you!" Sarah suddenly wailed, releasing Nick and pushing past them into the depths of the bunker.

Judy saw Nick following Sarah with his eyes in concern. "You'll have to forgive her," Judy said at length, "she can be a little clingy at times."

"Well, considering we're all probably going to be wasted with a nuke by some mechanical psycho sent to wipe out all life on Earth," Nikki said, "I'd be a little insecure too if I was her age."

"We're not going to get anywhere by arguing," Tei said suddenly, and all eyes were upon him. "We've got to find way to find Seven and stop him."

"What do you think, Nick?" Nikki asked. "You and Seven are both androids. Do you think he's really going to use it?"

Nick paused. "I don't know," he muttered. "I don't know if he even knows how to use it."

"All he'd have to do is shoot at it," Nikki said. "Either that, or hit it really hard."

"But would he really destroy himself?" Judy asked. "If he was sent to clean out the whole planet, why would he just deal with one continent?"

Nikki, Tei, and Nick paused. "You'd know more about him than us," Nikki said to Nick, "He's got to have some kind of ace up his sleeve."

Nick looked at Nikki in confusion. "She means a trick," Judy explained.

Nick only rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't doubt Seven's abilities," he said at length. "But somehow, I don't think he would be able to survive an explosion like that- Or maybe he can."

Nick's last words sent shivers down their spines. "He's got to have plan on surviving," Tei said, "Otherwise he'd not fufill mission. I can tell he serious about comlpeting his mission."

"He is pretty determined," Nick admitted. "But, plan or no plan, how could he survive a nuclear bomb?"

"Maybe he's bluffing?" Judy suggested. Her suggestion earned her stares from everyone else. "Well, I'm out of ideas," she said.

"He can do both easily," Tei muttered. "He can blow up whole country whenever he want. We've got to find him right now."

"But the question is," Nikki pondered, "Where do we look...?"

******

Seven smiled appraisingly at himself. He saw his reflection clear as day on the side of the large, shiny, black surface of the short tube-shaped device. Taking time to look at himself in the reflective shine of the warhead, Seven's circuits crackled with anticipation. "Weapon of mass, indescriminate annihilation," He chuckled to himself, gazing upon the giant bombshell, "Where shall I use you?"

The tall grain tower was hardly anywhere near civilization. Even though Seven knew a nuclear blast anywhere in the country would devastate the continent, he wanted more satisfaction. Seven dug out a small folded piece of paper from his pocket and straightened it out, looking at the map he now held hin his hands. "Shylock city," Seven hummed to himself, "Population: two hundred thousand, nintey-seven," Seven paused to look at the corner of the map, "As of three years ago."

Grinning plottingly to himself, Seven added, "Population as of tomorrow: Zero."

[Mewfour]

The wind blew wildly that day, and it looked like it was to be a dreary, cloudy day for the city of Shylock. The tallest building of the city stood head and shoulders above the rest, piercing the skyline of the city, and standing atop the roof of the tower stood the silver-haired figure of Seven. The wind whipped his icy-white locks of hair about his face and cold blue eyes. His superhuman vision saw the street below him, seven hundred feet down, with the sharpness of an eagle's. He watched the people below mill about on their daily tasks, each carrying a waiting umbrella, expecting a rain to blow in soon. The mere thought of vaporizing the entire city in a heartbeat made Seven grin. Gazing up into the sky, Seven saw the faint outline of the sun behind the thick clouds, now perched directly above him, and his twisted smirk widened. "The middle of the day," Seven grinned plottingly to himself, "When the most humans have come out to play." Seven looked behind him, and saw the large, black bombshell on the middle of the roof. "Let's hope I pull this off right."

Seven walked towards the bomb. Seven kept himself on his toes as he cautiously crept towards the warhead, reaching out a single finger towards it. As soon as he touched the cold, steel surface of the bomb, Seven took to the sky in a blinding flash. A minute of utter silence later, Seven gently floated back down towards the roof, gazing at the bomb and pondering. "How the hell are you supposed to set this damn thing off?" Seven wondered aloud. Creeping towards the bomb again, Seven quickly tapped on the shell twice before darting backwards. The bomb still remained lifeless, and Seven's patience began to wear thin. Seven tapped on the back of his neck, and waited.

"What do you mean, you don't know how it works?" Seven growled out loud. "****, now what?"

Seven's audio receptors suddenly perked up. "Hey, Zero," Seven said without even turning his eyes off of the warhead, "I was wondering if you'd find me."

Nick only glared at Seven as Tei let go of Nick's shoulders, hopping to the ground. "Seven, step away from the nuke," Nick ordered.

"Oh, what are you going to do if I refuse?" Seven snickered, turning to face Nick, "Shoot me? Well, if you want to hit this bomb as well, go right ahead."

Nick raised his palm to Seven, and revealed the barrel of his plasma cannon. "Don't make me, Seven," Nick snarled.

"Oh, come on now, Zero," Seven spat out, "Even if you do find some way to stop me, Doctor A. will just send another Project to Earth- maybe one even more powerful than me."

Tei shivered at the mere suggestion. "I don't care what she does," Nick said, "I'm not going to let anyone- you or her, kill this planet."

"You're such a blind, stubborn fool, Zero," Seven laughed. "You'll never be able to defend this planet by yourself- let alone against us."

"Then I'm going to die trying," Nick growled as Tei quietly slipped to the corner of the rooftop.

"Why throw your life away so carelessly?" Seven asked. "I don't want to have to fight you, Zero," said Seven. "Hell, even Doctor A. doesn't want to see me rip you pieces. But if you still want to get in my way," Seven snarled, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "then I will have to remove you."

Nick kept his eyes and plasma blaster locked on Seven. Even when Seven's elbows suddenly shot out their beam-blades, Nick's glare did not waiver. "I don't want to hurt you either, Seven," said Nick, "But I will if you force me."

"Then it's time for you to die, Zero!" snarled Seven, lunging at Nick. Seven's elbow blade came slashing within inches of Nick's neck, with Nick narrowly avoiding Seven's blade. Quickly hopping backwards, Nick kept weaving in and out Seven's fast and furious swipes, not even having the chance to fight back. Using his flight ability, Nick pulled himself back quickly, hovering inches above the roof, leaving a wide gap between him and Seven. A moment of calm passed before Seven took to the air after Nick, slashing way with his blades. It took just one mis-timed dodge to let Seven slice his left blade across Nick's cheek, drawing a thin dribble of Nick's immitation blood across his jaw. Sensing he had wounded Nick, Seven quickly spun around and thrust his elbow blade at Nick's face with the speed lightning bolt. Nick barely managed to clap his hands together in front of his face, catching Seven's blade between his palms, the point of the deadly blade just whiskers away from his nose. Seven snarled in frustration as he yanked his blade out of Nick's hands. Floating backwards a bit, Seven made another gap between Nick and himself. "Doctor A. programmed you better than this," he said, "Why won't you fight back?" Seven asked. When Nick did not reply, Seven crouched and prepared to strike again. "Anser me!"

Nick wiped the blood off of his cheek and rubbed his ear, still glaring at Seven. "I can't let you go this time, Seven," said Nick, "But if you want to surrender, I'll let you."

"Surrender this!" Seven snarled, lunging at Nick again. Seven's blades swung wildly at Nick again, and Nick found himself dancing around Seven's vicious slashes. The sudden clipping of Seven's blade on Nick's nose made him flich for just a split-second, and Seven quickly capitalized, slashing across Nick's other cheek, tearing a deep gash into Nick's face. Nick nearly fell to the floor, half-blinded by the sray of red liquid coming from the large tear in his artificial skin. That was all the time Seven needed to spin around and viciously shove his blade into Nick's face one more time. Even though Nick saw the blade in time to react, the point still managed to piece his other minor wound, and plant itself into his face so deep that the tip had entered the bottom of his cheek near his lip, and exited at the top near his eye. Nick winced as he pulled himself off of Seven's blade, drawing streams of blood from his wounds as his hands flew to his cheek.

"God damn it," Seven snarled, "Why aren't you fighting me?" Seven demanded an answer. "If you're so determined to save these pathetic humans, then fight for them!"

"I can't," Nick muttered a reply, "Not yet."

"What the **** do you mean, not yet?" Seven roared. "I can't afford to waste my time with you, Zero! Either fight back or I'll make you fight!"

Nick shook his head. "I won't, but not right now."

Seven looked over his shoulder, and glanced at the warhead. "Then I'll make you fight," Seven grinned. Seven sped backwards towards the bomb, picked it up and swung it around, tossing it over the side of the building. With a yelp of dismay, Nick dove down after the warhead with all the speed he could put behind him. The warhead was plummeting towards the ground below, and Nick was only gaining not more than an inch every second. With his hands outstretched towards the falling bombshell, Nick's fingertips itched to grasp the edges of the deadly warhead. The sidewalk soon came into clear view, and it would be seconds before the bomb hit the ground. The sound of people below screaming suddenly filled Nick's ears as the pavement came ever closer to the diving bombshell. Nick finally snatched the bottom of the warhead and tucked it into his chest, coming to a complete stop with his nose just inches above the sidewalk. Nick breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he flipped himself around in the air, thankful to still be able to plant his feet down on solid ground. A sea of people had formed a circle around him, either pointing or staring at him. They chattered quietly amongst themselves, half in awe and half in terror. The circle suddenly widened once Seven suddenly appeared in front of Nick. Seven grinned cruelly at Nick before he grabbed onto the bomb, throwing a left jab into Nick's face. Seven wrenched the bomb away from Nick's hands as Nick stumbled backwards, and Seven quickly galnced around, looking for somewhere to throw the bomb next. He picked the side of the building across the street, and hurled it with all of his might.

As soon as Seven had appeared, he had vanished again, leaving Nick to speed towards the speeding bombshell. Nick caught it in is arms again just seconds before impact. Gathering the rest of his strength, Nick spun around and hurled the bomb straight up into the sky, watching it sail into the clouds. A small shadow up in the sky suddenly shot out from nowhere, catching the warhead and sending it speeding across the sky again. With a grunt of anger, Nick took to the air again, chasing after the soaring warhead. The bombshell and Nick were reunited shortly after, and Seven was quickly behind Nick again. With a quick thrash from his hip, Seven sent his boot smashing into the small of Nick's back, fierce enough to make Nick fumble the bomb out of his hands and leave it plummeting again. Seven had vanished without a trace again, and Nick was again chasing after the deadly bombshell. The bombshell was inches away from the roof of a tall building before Nick caught it again. Curling himself into a tight ball, Nick sent himself smashing through the floors of the building, blindly tossing the warhead gently onto one of the floors he passed. Floating back out of the hole in the roof he had made, Nick searched the skies around him for Seven. He soon found that Seven was directly behind him again, and barely managed to dodge a vicious slash from one of Seven's elbow blades. Seven quickly swung behind Nick again and wrapped his arms aroud Nick's throat. Even though Seven knew he could not strangle something that did not breathe, he kept a tight grip as Nick struggled to free himself, and Seven looked around for the stolen bombshell. "Where did you hide it?" Seven barked into Nick's ear. His answer was a sudden jolt from Nick, fierce enough to let Nick slip out of his grasp.

"You can give up any time now, Seven," Nick offered, "If you surrender now, I won't have to destroy you."

"You can't destroy me if you won't fight, Zero!" Seven snarled back.

"I can't." Nick muttered, "Not now."

That was all Seven needed to hear to send him speeding into the pit Nick had created, with Nick chasing close behind. Seven quickly glided around the empty floors that Nick had broken open, not having any luck of finding the warhead. Seven was beginning to wonder where Nick was, when Nick suddenly shot past him, nuclear warhead in hand, speeding out of the building upside-down. Pondering why Nick was flying as he was, Seven chased after Nick again, following him to the skies again. As soon as he was as high as he could stand, Nick suddenly spun himself right-side up and flung the warhead into the sky with all the strength he had left.

"No!"

The frustrated scream from Seven below him made Nick grin. "It's probably all the way in orbit if you still want to catch it," Nick taunted.

Seven only snarled before he shot towards Nick, ramming his shoulder into Nick's gut as he sent the two of them plummeting towards the ground. Seconds later, the two of them hit the sidewalk below, driving Nick far below the surface of the pavement.

Seven was left dazed from the impact, waivering in the air as he floated out of the new crater in a haze, trying to collect his senses again. Nick weakly crawled out of the crater a minute later, groaning in pain. He had only gotten his midsection on the sidewalk before Seven grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him to his ribcage. Wrapping his arm around Nick, Seven sped towards the nearest building to them, using Nick's skull as a battering ram against the brick wall. The wall shattered immediately, and Nick was left hanging limp from the insides. Seven pulled him out, held Nick by the throat, and whipped his torso around, sending Nick smashing into another section of wall, totally demolishing it on impact. Nick sunk to the ground, the artificial skin on his face almost completely torn to shreds, revealing the dull metal of his mechanical skull. Seven pointed his blade at Nick again, and as soon as Nick wearily picked himself up again, Seven sent his blade straight into the middle of Nick's chest, poking out of his back. Nick winced, and his hands flew to his wound. Seven grunted as he twisted his blade in Nick's chest, driving Nick to his knees. "If only you would die as easily as a human," Seven growled, glaring at Nick, "But at least humans fight for their lives."

"I won't fight you, Seven," Nick weezed, "I can't."

"Why not, Zero?" Seven asked. "If there's one thing I want to know before I rip you to pieces, it's why you let yourself die so easily."

Suddenly, Seven's audio receptors picked up something. A small voice other than Nick's was coming from Nick's ear, and that was when Seven saw it. The small earpiece, almost invisible at just a glance, was lodged snugly into Nick's right ear, and Seven heard the words coming from it as clearly as Nick did. "The city's been evacuated, Nick," Came Tei's voice, "Now kill him!"

Nick's hand suddenly shot towards Seven's throat. "Now," Nick said to a surprised Seven, "let's fight."

With that, Nick grasped Seven by his hair and flung him into the side of the building again, crushing the brick wall in a heartbeat. Grabbing Seven by the waist seconds later, Nick threw Seven to the ground, bouncing Seven's head off of the pavement and popping his blade out of Nick. Seven wearily staggered back to his feet, rubbing the back of his skull. "That was it?" Seven snarled, "That was why you were holding back?"

"I'm here to defend them, Seven," Nick snarled, "and I'll defend every last one that I can."

"You fool," Seven said, almost laughing, "I'd love to see the look on your face when they all die before your own eyes."

Nick made a lunge at Seven, but a lightning-fast blast of energy from Seven's eyes cut into Nick's shoulder, sending him spilling to the sidewalk. Seven was over Nick in a flash, aiming the tip of his blade at Nick's neck. Nick rolled to his left just seconds before Seven plunged his bladed downwards, anchoring it into the pavement. Climbing back to his knees, Nick wound back his foot and let it come swinging loose, smashing into Seven's chest. The blow was so fierce that it made Seven's stuck blade snap in two, sending Seven rolling into the roads. Seven struggled to his knee, rubbing the elbow of his broken blade. Nick was suddenly charging at him, thrusting his shoulder into Seven's chest. Shaking the dazed Seven back to his feet, Nick held Seven's other arm straight, lining it up with his knee. And with a fierce roar, Nick smashed Seven's elbow across his knee, shattering the base of Seven's other blade. Seven howled in agony as Nick released him, clutching his arm in pain. "My blades!" Seven wailed.

"And now I'll break the rest of you," Nick vowed, pointing his palm at Seven. A surge of energy shot from Nick's palm, smashing into Seven's chest and bowling him over. Seven lay on his back on the pavement, still dazed from Nick's attack. Groggily getting to his feet, Seven pointed his split and bloody finger at Nick. "Mark my words, Zero," Seven hissed, "You're dead!"

"Not yet," Nick shot back.

Seven wiped his bloody lips. "Why do you fight for them, Zero?" He asked, "Why do you sacrifice yourself for these pitiful, pathetic creatures?"

"Because I must," Nick replied. "No one holds the right to determine who lives and who dies. Not I, not you, not even your Doctor, or even the humans themselves. But if you force me," Nick snarled, "you'll leave me no choice but to make that decision myself."

Seven suddenly sprung towards Nick, tackling him within a second. Shooting upwards with Nick still on his shoulder, Seven flew up until he was at the middle of the tall building around him. Suddenly changing course, Seven sped into the first building he saw, sending Nick crashing into the side. He plowed his way through the building, hearing Nick being crushed on his shoulder every wall they broke through shattered like glass. When Seven finally began to tire, he had just blasted himself out of the other side of the building, and smashed Nick against the side of another. The deep crater in the side of the building held Nick for just a second before Nick slid out and fell to the ground below. Quickly recollecting his senses, Nick halted his fall, hovering in the air in a daze. Seven soon appeared in front of him, sending his boot smashing into Nick's face. Nick was rocked backwards into the air, even more dizzy than before. Seven came lunging at him again, but with a quick spin of his waist, Nick let Seven sail harmlessly past him. Seven skidded in the air to a halt, just in time for Nick to ram him in the back, sending him face-first into another tower. Grabbing Seven by his feet, Nick swung Seven around like a baseball bat, sending his head smashing into the side of the building again. Seven's tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth, babbling in scrambled confusion to himself. "Had enough?" Nick asked, glaring into Seven's crossed eyes.

Seven's eyes suddenly straightened, and Nick's answer was a quick blast of laser from Seven's pupils to Nick's forehead. Nick was sent spinning backwards, letting Seven kick himself free from Nick's grip. As soon as Nick straighted himself out, Seven wound back his leg, and sent it thrashing out at Nick's nose. Nick's hands flew up in front of his face just in time to catch Seven's foot, and with a vicious roar, Nick threw Seven through the air, sending Seven crashing into the side of the building that they had already hollowed out. Seconds later, the tower itself began to creak and groan, and it suddeny began to topple. Nick flew high above the city as he watched the building collapse, crumbling to a heap of flames and debris within seconds. A thick could of dust and smoke flew up into the air as soon as the building hit the ground, and Nick flew away from the crumbling tower, landing on a rooftop of anotherr building, watching the smoke billow into the skyline.

"Nick! Are you alright?" came Tei's voice into his ear.

Nick held his ear as he listened to Tei. "I'm fine," he said, "but I don't know about Seven."

"I saw him fly above me just a few second ago," Tei said, "He's running away!"

"Tei," Nick asked in a sombre tone, "Should I chase after him?"

"Yes," came Tei's firm reply. "He's a maniac that must be stopped."

"Alright," Nick said, almost regretfully, "Where's he headed?"

"Directly west," Tei replied. "He's badly hurt. It look like he's going to outskirts of city."

Nick looked to his left, and squinted into the wide-open field in the distance. Sure enough, he saw a shilouette of what could only be Seven struggling to fly. Taking to the air, Nick said, "Follow me if you can, Tei. I'm going after him."

[Mewfour]

Seven floated as gracefully as he could to the ground, and as soon as his feet touched the floor, he scrambled back inside of the open grain tower's doors, slamming them shut behind him. Seven winced, holding his bloodied left arm, watching as he saw his artifical flesh begin to slowly peel off. Tapping the back of his neck again, Seven waited silently for the voice to speak to him.

"Fight him?" Seven suddenly gasped with shock and anger, "How you expect me to fight him like this?" Seven snarled, looking around the old tower for a place to hide. Bearing the artificial pain inside of his mechanical body, Seven floated up into the high reaches of the darkened tower and waited silently.

Seconds later, the door of the siloh creaked open, and Nick cautiously poked his head inside. Quietly slipping inside the darkened tower, Nick took a long gaze inside of its massive stature. Nick let the doors quietly close behind him, and he crept in silence further inside the tower, hearing only his feet shuffle against the ground. A tiny creak that echoed in the air made Nick jolt, throwing his palms up in front of him, bearing the barrels of his blasters. Pure silence quickly followed, and Nick's wrists were itching to fire on something. With nothing else to be seen or heard, Nick crept into the center of the tower.

Suddenly, the darkness was alight with a blazing streak of energy cutting into his shoulder. Nick yelped as the laser shot into his arm again, followed by a quiet, cruel chuckle. "Seven!" Nick roared, firing his palm blasters blindly around him. The blasts echoed around the tower, blasting through the sides and poking tiny holes of light into the dark. Seven's figure was suddenly illuminated, and realizing he had been revealed, Seven flew high into the upper reaches of the tower.

With a bitter resolve, Nick took to the air after Seven, ready to lash out at anything at any moment.

Suddenly, a bolt of energy shot by his shoulder from out of the darkness. Nick whirled around and let his palm blasters fire blindly around him. A sudden groan of surprise made Nick's head turn, and he saw the faint outline of Seven in thee darkness, nursing his damaged shoulder. Seven dropped back down the tower, and Nick quickly chased after him, careful not to lose sight of him again. As Seven weaved in and out of the tall grain thresher's support beams, Nick slowly began to gain on Seven's heels. Just before Nick could catch Seven' ankles, Seven whipped himself around, and shot his foot into Nick's jaw. Nick was sent sailing into the grain thresher, smashing against the sides of the tower as Seven quickly darted at him. Seven speared his shoulder into Nick's chest, bashing him against the side of the thresher again. Nick weezed as Seven wrapped his arms around his waist, backed up in the air with Nick on his shoulder, and rammed Nick's back into the thresher tower again. As Seven reared back again, Nick viciously jabbed his elbow into Seven's temple. Seven winced, stunned on the spot. Nick smashed his elbow into Seven's face again, and once Seven's grip loosened, Nick powered his way out of Seven's arms, and soon had Seven aorund the waist in his own. Before Seven could react, Nick had already flung himself backwards into the tower, smashing Seven's skull against the thresher. Seven roared in agony as Nick held him around the shoulders now, barely having time to brace himself before Nick threw him head-first into the thresher tower. Drawing Seven back again, Nick was about to smash Seven into the tower one more time, when Seven quickly glared at Nick's face, and shot a quick flash of energy into Nick's forehead. Nick howled in pain, releasing Seven and slowly dropping back to the ground. As Nick held his head in his hands, Seven quickly grasped him by the shoulders, and began to fly him higher into the dark grain tower.

Nick moaned weakly as Seven stopped, and threw him onto the wide conveyor belt at the top of the thresher tower. The belt lead to the large intake funnel, and Seven looked at it plottingly. As Nick began to struggle to sit up, Seven planted his feet down behind him. "If I can't kill you with my bare hands," Seven hissed with a cruel grin, "Then maybe this thresher machine I've modified will."

With that, Seven quickly plunged himself back to the ground, and was back up with Nick in a flash. The conveyor belt started to move forward, and Nick found himself slowly being towed towards the thresher's intake. Bearing the throbbing pain inside his head, Nick pushed himself to his feet, and quickly collapsed onto his stomach. His legs had gone numb, and Nick was only inches away from the funnel. Quickly grabbing the edges of the intake, Nick propped himself up, staring down the long chute of the thresher tower.

Seven was quickly upon him, thrusting Nick's head into the funnel. It took all of Nick's remaining strength to resist Seven, and with a wild jerk to his left, Nick swung himself out of Seven's grip, leaving Seven to slip clumsily towards the funnel. Hanging onto the side of the coveyor, Nick found his flight power had been damaged, leaving him prone to gravity. As Nick struggled to climb back onto the conveyor, Seven had just recovered from his fall. Nick had only a few seconds to collect himself before Seven had him around the throat, pulling him back down towards the thresher. The conveyor began to scrape against Nick's knees as Seven continued to force Nick's face into the gnashing threshers, only inches away from having his nose torn apart. Nick could hear Seven quietly chuckling to himself, eagerly awaiting Nick to be crushed and ripped to shreds. And just as the tip of Nick's nose scraped against the razors of the thresher, Nick unleashed a savage roar and threw his body upright, knocking Seven onto his back. Quickly turning around, Nick formed his hands into one giant intermeshed fist, and smashed them into the belt. The conveyor hissed and whined, and it soon came to a standstill. The rapid weaving of the threshers now echoed around the tower, with Seven rising to his knee. Focusing all of his energy into his arms, Nick lunged at Seven, tackling the silver-haired android back onto his shoulders. With hardly a second of delay, Nick wound his arm back and threw a fist into Seven's jaw. Seven winced as Nick's knuckles knocked two teeth into his throat, coughing as Nick mounted Seven's waist, coiling his other arm with another fist. With another snarl, Nick buried his other fist into Seven's nose, crushing it immediately and spattering blood all over Seven's face. Nick wound back another fist, and was about to fire another punch when Seven suddenly lurched forwards, smashing the top of his head into Nick's jaw. Nick's head snapped backwards, leaving his head dangling over the edge of the funnel. Seven was quickly on top of him, wrapping his hands around Nick's throat, and pushing Nick's head into the threshers once more.

"Ready to die, Zero?" Seven snarled, forcing Nick's head into the funnel.

"Seven, listen to me!" Nick weezed, "We don't have to fight like this!"

"Says you, traitor," Seven hissed. "Doctor A. doesn't like failures, Zero, and you're the biggest one of them all."

"If having a sense of right and wrong is a failure," Nick hissed back, "Then I don't want to suceed."

Seven quietly laughed as he forced Nick's head further towards the threshers. "You fool," he snickered, "Even if you do kill me, Doc's just going to send another one like me. There's a lot of us where we came from, Zero," said Seven, grinning cruelly, "And you were just the beginning."

"If you're so smart, why don't you try thinking for yourself?" Nick weezed, nearing the razors of the threshers.

Seven only laughed. "You don't know the Doc like I do, Zero," he said, "When it comes to rewards, she's very generous."

"What do you mean?" Nick growled.

Seven only wore a sadistic grin, bearing what remained of his teeth at Nick as he thrust Nick's head further inside the intake funnel, inches way from the steel-crushing threshers. As Nick continued to struggle, Seven grabbed Nick by the throat with his other hand as well, and began to lean his weight into Nick's neck, further pushing Nick closer and closer to the threshers. Nick began to fight back with all the rest of the strength still left in his battered body, and Seven slowly grew more and more frustrated with Nick's resilience. "Die, damn you!" Seven hissed, pushing Nick further into the intake funnel, "Die!"

"You will never win, Seven," Nick managed to hiss back. "Even if I am destroyed, this planet will survive!"

Nick grunted as he pumped every last ounce of energy into his arms, and with a tired, savage roar, Nick began to force his way up against Seven. "Stay down!" Seven screamed, thrusting on Nick's throat again. Nick only gnashed his teeth, and continued to fight against Seven, slowly raising his head out of the funnel, and soon, the two androids were sitting up.

Nick and Seven locked eyes, snarling with a mix of anger and pain as they began to push against each other, each trying to topple the other. Nick squeezed his eyes shut as he pushed against Seven, while Seven gritted his remaining teeth as he pushed back. Suddenly, Seven let out a feral roar, and with a fierce burst of power, Seven forced Nick's head back into the funnel. And as Nick continued to fight against him, Seven's frustration boiled over. Taking one arm off of Nick's throat, Seven wound his arm back, clenched a fist, and snarled, "Say goodbye, Zero!" With that, Seven threw his fist at Nick's face.

Nick quickly titlted his head to the right, and Seven's fist flew past his ear. When Seven's knuckles hit the threshers, the android gave a horrified scream as the combines tore into his hand and began to pull his arm in as well. Seven released Nick's throat, and began to frantically tug on his arm, shrieking in pain and as the thresher tore up his forearm, eating its way to his elbow. "Zero!" Seven screamed, "help me!"

Nick hesitated.

"I promise not to hurt anyone if you do!" Seven wailed, "I mean it this time!"

Nick watched, dazed and winded as Seven's shoulder was seconds away from being swallowed up. "Zero, help me!" Seven pleaded.

Nick bit his lip. "All right, Seven, I'll help you," he said at length.

"Thank you, Zero!" said Seven gratefully, "you won't regret this!"

It was then that Seven noticed that Nick was at his side, not behind to pull him out. Seven's eyes widened as his shoulder was now being crushed, looking at Nick as he placed his hand on the back of Seven's head. And with a face of regret, Nick shoved Seven's face into the threshers. Seven's muffled screams echoed all over the tower as his body was slowly eaten up by the combines, with Nick watching in a sudden disgust at what he had done. As soon as Seven's feet dissapeared through the threshers, Nick let himself fall off of the conveyor belt, landing clumsily on his back upon the floor with a dizzying crash.

Nick had no idea how long he lay motionless on the floor. His vision slowly began to unscramble, and he once again felt movement in his legs. The threshing column had rattled with debris and junk the entire time, with what Nick could only think of as Seven's remains. He wanted to smile, but he could not find the will. Seven was finally dead, but only after Nick had betrayed him. Nick felt that if he were human, he would probably be shedding a tear.

Suddenly, the doors to the tower flew open, spilling light into the darkened spires. Before Nick knew it, Tei had him by the shoulders, and quickly dragged him out of the tower and back into the sunlight. "Nick! Are you all right?" Tei asked, looking over Nick's torn face in concern.

"I had to lie to him," Nick murmured regretfully.

Tei breathed a sudden sigh of relief. "He dead?"

Nick nodded a sombre yes. "Tei, I didn't want to kill him," said Nick with regret, "I wish there could have been another way."

"No," said Tei, "There was no other way. You did right thing today."

Nick moaned quietly to himself. "Tei, why does war always have to end with death?"

Tei shook his head bitterly. "Nick, I wish I had answer for you."

[Mewfour]

Well, after a long- drawn-out debate with myself, I've come to the decision to give Project: ZERO the axe here on TPM. Sure, I'll continue it on Fictionpress.com, but as far as TPM is concerned, P:Z's goose is cooked.

Well, come on in, Oz, shut this baby down.