Chapter 13: The shuttle

It had been five days since Dr Grant disappeared. Sekhmet didn't know what really happened to her creator, to her father. She had been talking with Phantom and even the shinobi Reploid's best agents didn't find anything about him.

But all that time, Phantom was explaining Sekhmet about the causes of Grant's betrayal. Phantom's words confused Sekhmet more and more… until the day she thought that her creator was, in fact, a traitor.

Her mind then changed the topic. Now she was thinking about Zero, the crimson devil. He had destroyed the Orochi mechaniloid so the Resistance occupied one of the Neo Arcadian abandoned energy factories. That and the most recent Resistance's success: they had found one of the underground Neo Arcadian secret bases in the desert. A rebel group was captured near the base, but there was something wrong. If not, she wouldn't be in that helicopter, flying towards the secret base's location.

She glared at Anubis while thinking about that. The jackal Reploid was leaning against the seat of the chopper, his claw-like hands over his knees. Anubis looked at Sekhmet, knowing what she was thinking about.

"According to the last report, the rebel prisioners at that base were freed by Zero... that happened just an hour ago", Anubis told her, and he observed the few Pantheons preparing their weapons. "Blizzack Staggroff was there to stop Zero and the prisoners, as he was in charge of that base, but the crimson swordsman has turned him into junk."

"And he presumed to be the best warrior of Lady Leviathan..." Sekhmet replied, while she was adjusting her claw. "And why are we here, in the desert, Anubis? Are we going to that base for nothing?"

"We're going in that base's direction, but we won't stop there… The rebel prisoners had hijacked one of our shuttles and were trying to escape" Anubis answered her question. "But we're lucky: the shuttle has crash-landed near our current position. We have to be sure that they pay for they sins."

"Are you sure this is the right thing?" Sekhmet asked. "What about if Zero...?"

"I'll take care of the blondie. And you will execute those rebels. We better hurry up before Zero shows up."

The little group of Pantheons began to move. Sekhmet was with Anubis in front of the Pantheons, looking at the enormous sea of sand. She didn't want to thank about anything, trying to empty her mind looking at the desert. But it didn't work: she couldn't help thinking about Zero, about her destructive power and its Irregular origins... and then about Dr Grant.

Would the scientist be alive? Did he joined the Resistance or was lost? Or was he… dead? She even thought about going to find him, but that thought vanished immediately: she had finally accepted that Grant was a traitor, or at least that was what Phantom wanted her to believe. But although he was a traitor, Dr Grant was her father too.

"Ok, here we are!" Anubis said, interrupting her thoughts.

Sekhmet looked at the crashed aircraft in front of them. It wasn't big and most of its parts were partially destroyed due to the crash… a recent crash, as there was still some smoke coming from the shuttle.

Sekhmet inspected the shuttle. It looked like it had been shot with a big weapon. It wasn't an accident indeed: maybe the Neo Arcadian soldiers used some kind of cannon to take the shuttle down. The female Reploid then looked for survivors...

"You got the point ", Anubis told her. "And remember: if you find some of those rebels alive, you're free to terminate them. I don't think they'd like being captive again. I think our guest will come soon... and don't interfere in our 'meeting', ok?"

Anubis left Sekhmet and went with the little army he left behind him, several metres away. He then discovers the red figure slashing at the Pantheons. One after another, the drones were falling over, Anubis observing this a bit surprised. But his eyes revealed that he was expecting something like that... but witnessing it was different than imagining it.

---

When the last Pantheon fell over, Zero then looked at the hovering Anubis, pointing at him with the Z-Sabre.

"Are you another of those Neo Arcadian freaks, doggy?" Zero asked.

"I must say you have a horrible sense of humour", the annoyed Anubis replied. "So you're Zero... I'll introduce myself: my name is Anubis Necromancess the Third. I work for Fafnir, one of the glorious Shitennou. I'm the king of destruction and the ruler of the desert."

"So as Falcon and Blizzack, you work for those Shitennou guys too... That's interesting, but I have no time for these things!"

"I know you can't wait for helping those rebels with their shuttle problem. Huhu... The Reploids you are looking for are deep in the desert. If you want to rescue them, you'll have to defeat me first."

"So that's it... you all want to solve these problems using violence. That's stupid... But there's no other choice, I think."

"That's right!" Anubis took his staff and pointed at Zero. "En-garde, old-timer!"

Anubis's staff flew towards Zero. The red Reploid stepped backwards and then jumped over the staff. As he was doing that, the staff did a strange boomerang effect and returned to Anubis, hitting Zero in its way. The blonde Reploid landed and handled his buster, aiming at Anubis. The jackal Reploid looked at him with no fear.

Zero fired his buster and Anubis hovered a few inches away, evading the hit.

"Boring... And I was just warming up..." Anubis said. "Now the real fight begins!"

Anubis had lift his staff and dashed towards Zero. It was all in a sudden, but Zero was able to dodge that strike. Anubis threw his staff again. Zero jumped over it and dashed towards Anubis, activated his Z-Sabre. The staff came back to Anubis, but this time it didn't hit Zero.

Zero attacked with his sword. Anubis had to hover leftwards, dodging the slash. When Zero was going to attack again, Anubis turned into sand and disappeared. The blonde Reploid was confused about what was happening. Zero turned around, preparing himself for any incoming attack.

Suddenly, two big pillars emerged from the sand, one of them in front of Zero and the other was placed behind him. He looked at one and then at the other... They were beginning to approach at an incredible speed! Zero tried to move so he could be away from the pillars, but they were following his moves. So there was only one choice...

Zero ran towards the pillar in front of him and jumped. He kicked the pillar and launched himself to the other pillar, which was getting closer. He repeated the same strategy and finally got to the top of one of the pillars. Zero was lucky to avoid the spikes on the top of the last pillar.

The blonde Reploid landed and looked at the pillars, crashing one into the other, and vanishing. Anubis emerged from the sand left by the pillars.

"You're fast... that's good", Anubis grinned. "Ok, let's continue then!"

Anubis raised both arms and his staff flew around him. Zero was going to jump and attack Anubis, but a hand came from the ground and grabbed Zero's leg. The red Reploid fell and looked at the zombie Reploid coming out from the sand. Next to him, another zombie was coming.

"There are lots of them beneath the desert's sand. Dead Reploids from past wars..." Anubis told Zero. "And you'll be with them, Zero, the buried legend!"

Zero ripped the zombie's arms off and got up; at the time he kicked the other zombie. Zero dashed and jumped, trying to reach Anubis and finish the battle. Anubis hit Zero with his staff, but at the same time he did that, Zero slashed.

Anubis's chest was now bleeding because of the big wound on it. The jackal Reploid fell over and the zombies, due to Anubis's defeat, returned to their sand graves.

---

Sekhmet immediately grabbed one of the Reploids she found in the ruined shuttle. The man was unconscious when Sekhmet left him next to the shuttle. . This Reploid was the only one she found alive. The other ones were all dead, due to the cannon blast or the crash.

She looked at him. As Anubis told her, she had to terminate any survivors. She was staring at the unconscious Reploid and had lift her claw. Then, the faces of scared rebels running away from her and those faces over the dead Reploids she had seen appeared in her mind. She hesitated, her claw was trembling. She finally put the weapon down.

At the time the Reploid was beginning to wake up, Sekhmet looked backwards. She was surprised that Anubis had been defeated so quickly. Knowing that Zero would come to the crashed shuttle, she quickly hid behind the aircraft. She still felt that she wasn't prepared enough to fight that red devil, and she was sure that Zero will slash her just because she was a Neo Arcadian... an enemy...

Sekhmet could hear Zero approaching and talking to the survivor.

"Can you walk?" Zero asked.

"Yes... I think..." the survivor answered. Sekhmet could hear him trying to get up. She guessed he was able to walk. "I must... thank you again, Zero... You've saved me twice."

"That doesn't matter now" Zero replied. "What has happened to your partners?"

"Unfortunately... I think they couldn't do it..." the survivor sighed. "And maybe I would be a goner too... if that woman with the big claw didn't save me..."

Sekhmet was tempted to leave her place and show herself to Zero and the survivor. But she then heard Zero's voice...

"There's nobody here... maybe you imagined that. Ok, come with me, I'll lead you to the base. I'll report Ciel, maybe she can send a medic to the meeting point."

The last thing Sekhmet heard were Zero's and the other Reploid's footsteps. She looked at both Reploids going away, right to the great amount of dead Pantheons. Once Zero and the Reploid were far enough, Sekhmet quickly advanced until she reached Anubis. She looked at the jackal Reploid, who had a big wound crossing his chest.

Anubis didn't move. That was enough for Sekhmet to get worried. Was he really dead? Could she blame herself for what has happened? Actually, Anubis told her not to interfere… so was it Anubis's fault or what?

She had no time for questions nor its answers. Sekhmet took her communicator and spoke:

"Sergeant Sekhmet here. Mission failed... We have... a casualit... Hmph… Just send a chopper to our position. I'll give you our coordinates..."

---

Fafnir was standing in front of his desk. He looked at the report first, then at Sekhmet, who was looking at the report she gave him too. The red General was angry and sad at the same time. He had lost his best officer, Anubis. And he was killed by the new Resistance member... He knew little about Zero, but that was enough for being sure that Zero would be an interesting foe.

"The repairs of Anubis's body will last at least two weeks", Sekhmet informed him. "The memory data was safe, but the mission, as you can see, was a total failure."

"I know that, toots, I've just read it!" Fafnir replied. "How can a single Reploid do something like this? One hundred Pantheons destroyed, forty soldiers killed... And Anubis is dead, but as you said it won't be so hard to bring him back to life... And there's something I don't understand. What were you doing all that time!"

"Anubis ordered me not to interfere in his fight against Zero", Sekhmet answered. "Besides, the fiend called Zero..."

"I know, I know, you can't face him until you're ready for a challenge like that", continued Fafnir. "I don't know who told you that, but that guy is right... although that truth has turned you into a coward. Besides, I don't want Master X be furious because his new toy was broken by that crimson blondie..."

"Coward? New toy?" Sekhmet asked, not understanding those words.

"Better forget about the toy thing, ok? And see, you better hurry, get stronger and stop being a coward before the new addition to the army is totally operative."

"Are you talking about the Repliforce soldier, sir?"

"Yes... His repairs have been lasting so long, but he's supposed to be ready for the next week. Enough time for you to be strong enough to kick Zero's sorry ass. I rarely give second opportunities, so be glad to be that lucky, toots."

Sekhmet remained silent for a few seconds before she could say: "Thank you, sir."

---

Minutes later...

"A coward? How does he dare to call me that? And what did he mean with that 'new toy' think? Can it be...?"

This was what Sekhmet was thinking about while waiting for her transport. But she then was distracted by some engineers coming and going. She heard them talking about an attack to the Resistance base, near to one of the old ruined cities surrounding Neo Arcadia. She couldn't help asking one of the engineers.

"This is supposed to be top secret, ma'am", the engineer said.

"Well, you were talking so loud that it couldn't be kept that secret", Sekhmet replied. "Anyways, no one except me has heard you, and I won't say anything..."

The engineer had to explain Sekhmet about the mechaniloid they were preparing. The Earth Force was going to lead the strike, using a big tank-like, digger mechaniloid to enter and destroy the Resistance base. It sounded easy to do, but the engineer confessed that he wasn't sure that plan was going to success. And Sekhmet, although she didn't say anything, agreed with what the engineer told her. With that red devil, even a huge mechaniloid wouldn't be enough challenge for Zero.

While she was in her transport, Sekhmet was still thinking about Zero and all the Neo Arcadian missions he has frustrated. Besides, thinking about that Reploid made her to remember what Fafnir said minutes ago... Was she really a coward?

"No!" she thought. "I just... appreciate my life. But when I'm prepared, when that day arrives... I'll face him! Wait for me, Zero!"