Megaman Zero: The Hidden Testament
By Ysionris Gavotte

Prologue

Although the loneliness was a bliss compared to the world of torment she had had to endure before, seventeen-year-old Tal Siepher did feel uneasy with the unnatural and unsettling silence reigning over Neo Arcadia. It wasn’t just the fact that all of the Einherjar soldiers, the purple robotic menaces that had been imposing martial law through Neo Arcadia, were gone. Or the fact that the Ragnarok had practically hammered Capital Eurasia just a single month ago. Or the fact that the rebellion, the Resistance, was now conducting relief efforts through what they undoubtedly would’ve considered as forbidden territory.

But Tal didn’t care for that kind of thing. For all she was concerned, both Neo Arcadia and the Resistance could rot. She was staying where she was, huddled in some alley no one knew about, watching the unfolding crisis.

Her life had practically ended a month ago during the firing of Ragnarok. Although no one offered any explanation as to what a superweapon was doing in space, or why Capital Eurasia was the target, the results were the same. Her home was destroyed. Her mother, her only living guardian, was in the residential district when it completely blew apart. The only reason Tal was alive was because she and the rest of her high school class were safely underground in a physics lab.

Of course, twenty people died in front of her when half the lab collapsed.

A military truck drove by, ferrying medical supplies through the road past the alley in which Tal sat, hugging her knees. She pulled herself closer as the lights shined past the alleyway, but the truck didn’t stop or show any sign as to noticing she was there. The metal of the pistol in her belt, one she had liberated from an Einherjar soldier after nearly everything was destroyed by the Ragnarok, pressed against her stomach, but she ignored it. Technically, it was safe enough, but she kept the weapon handy. Now that the Einherjar was gone, that didn’t mean the Resistance was friendly enough. And she had her own reasons for the distrust.

Dressed in a vest over a T-shirt and baggy pants, Tal was in a sorry state. She had not washed or eaten properly for a month. She could’ve simply walked into a camp that the Resistance had set up in the city center, but Tal didn’t trust the Resistance to exchange her freedom for safety. Her food was acquired through means of looting abandoned restaurants. The closest to a bath she had was three weeks ago, when there was still water in the water fountain in Solomon Plaza. Her shoulder-length brown hair had not been cut either, and was now turning gray with the dust accumulating on it. And her green eyes were hard, dry, and flinty.

She didn’t think she had anymore tears after having cried for nearly a month over her mother.

Years ago, the news of a growing rebellion against Neo Arcadia had managed to sneak out of the confines of NAIB, the Neo Arcadian Intelligence Branch. However, the populace was assured that it was merely an insignificant uprising.

What they didn’t tell the public was that the Resistance had the assistance of Maverick War legend Zero. And they also didn’t tell the public that other than the Resistance, there were also two even more radical terrorist groups, Takasuke Millennium and Dark Twilight.

Two years ago, when a ballistic missile slammed itself into residential block S02, Tal had reason to be nervous. Many of her classmates had perished in the accident, and the incident had been covered up as a Resistance attack. It was the first time Tal wondered if the Neo Arcadian utopia was really invincible and safe.

And now, this happened. The attack of Ragnarok.

Tal sighed as she tugged herself closer. Despite trying to find something resembling a blanket throughout the ruins of Capital Eurasia, there was nothing. The wind of the night continued to sweep through the streets, and now it gnawed at her with the cold. It was dark, and the streets were deserted. Every ground-level window was broken, cars were nearly destroyed and overturned, and several fires were still burning. The place was ghastly, as though it was a war-ruined city.

It is a war-ruined city, Tal told herself bitterly.

“It’s strange meeting you here, at this sort of time.”

The voice shocked her, and it was seconds before she realized the sentence wasn’t being directed at her. The voice that had spoken was male, and his voice had a confident, almost arrogant manner, a voice that almost made Tal dislike the owner of the voice immediately.

“It can’t be helped,” a second voice, also male, spoke, “You guys had left much of the ruling to Wiel, and now there’s hell to pay.” This voice had a more resonant, calm voice, a beautiful carrying voice that seemed to have come some sort of instrument created from the gods.

There was a moment of embarrassed silence, before the first spoke again, irritated. “My biaojie was engaged in a power struggle with Wiel, although Wiel never knew it,” Eric explained, using the term “biaojie”, which was Chinese for an older female cousin on the mother’s side, “Wiel never knew about the Prometheans, but it was hard to govern Neo Arcadia with him in the way.”

“I understand,” the second voice reassured quickly, “But still, it doesn’t help anything. And with Ragnarok…”

“There was no choice. There was no stopping it. And, in a sense, I had a hand in it.”

The second voice seemed surprised. “Did it fit the needs of the Prometheans?”

The first voice gave a chuckle. “Let’s just say I carry the will of Nightraid Concerto.”

Tal took a cautious peek around the corner of the alley, looked at the ruined main street. There, ten feet away from him, were two males leaning against the wall a mere ten feet away from him. They couldn’t have been older than twenty-five. One was dressed in a neat and formal shirt and pants, in which Tal instantly recognized him as the owner of the second voice. She couldn’t define any nationality from him, which was frightening. He looked completely unreal. He also had a laptop pressed against his waist. The other was dressed in a trenchcoat over what seemed like a black jumpsuit. While the second speaker had blue eyes and purple hair, unnatural colors, the first speaker looked Asian, with black eyes and hair.

“Let’s drop Nightraid for now, Eric,” the second speaker shrugged as he looked at the first, “Why was our meeting place here?”

“Because this is the place where the Guild of Mercenaries is going to conduct a small-scale operation, Ysionris,” Eric noted with a lilting laugh to his voice, “And I thought you might want to see what our dear friends from Switzerland are up to now.”

“Indeed,” Ysionris nodded, just as Tal heard a sound approaching. A vehicle. A fast vehicle. Headed this way.

Ysionris stepped forward, and Tal watched him as he raised and leveled his laptop at another street. Confused, Tal fought for a better angle to watch him without being detected, and saw the laptop change. The shell of the computer split apart and slid into different places as other components stuck out, withdrew, and replaced themselves. In three seconds, the gleaming laptop had become a silver assault rifle.

Eric, meanwhile, had already thrown off his trenchcoat and was dressed in a black jumpsuit. He activated some sort of button on his chest, a gleaming red orb, and red lines, brimming with energy, began to flow through selected lines of the suit like a spiderweb. It was then Tal noticed that this Eric was a cyborg. Although it was well concealed under the jumpsuit, the back of his neck was metallic, and there were thin, almost undetectable wires sneaking from the collar into his hair. He took out two submachine guns and stood near Ysionris.

Seeing that weapons were being drawn, Tal took out the pistol from her belt and unlocked the safety. Although she had never used the weapon before, she had a great instinct for danger, and it was screaming blue murder.

The approach of the sound of the car came as close as ever, and Tal suddenly realized that it wasn’t just one vehicle. She couldn’t tell how many, but there had to be at least three. And somehow, they seemed to be coming from all directions.

A pair of headlights suddenly appeared from another street as he turned, skidding as the back tires created a pair of marks on the asphalt, and Tal was nearly blinded by the intense light.

Rapid gunshots suddenly sounded from Tal’s left, and Tal turned to see that Ysionris had fully leveled the assault rifle and was firing at the car. No, Tal saw, it wasn’t a car. It was a van, capable of holding equipment, men, whatever. And Ysionris was firing at it, full auto, no silencer attached. Bullet holes pinged across the armored van, but Ysionris was using armor-piercing rounds, and the metal fragments dug themselves into the engine as the van exploded in a fancy show of fireworks.

Three more vans turned the corner, and the vans were more prepared this time. The occupants fired out the window toward Ysionris and Eric.

Eric stepped forward just slightly, and the tracers, red lines against the black setting, screeched toward him…before being deflected in different directions, any direction but them. Tal flinched as one nearly dug itself into her head; instead, it struck the wall she was leaning against. Dust went into her eyes, and she had to blink the fragments away. She looked back in time to see a sphere-like energy barrier around him fade. Eric’s jumpsuit was emitting an energy shield that deflected the shots.

“They’re not from the Guild,” Ysionris noted as he reloaded his assault rifle, and it was Eric’s turn to fire. Eric leveled both his submachine guns and fired. His firing was neither as graceful nor as accurate as Ysionris’, but the spray fire knocked the front tire off the lead car. The lead car skidded for a moment before its rear tires bumped against a piece of debris on the ground. Traveling at high speeds, the van had already sealed its fate. The van bounced once, then flipped into the air. Ysionris took aim with his assault rifle as it flew, and fired; three bullets spewed from the barrel and dug itself into the engine of the van. The van detonated in an orange fireball in midair.

“Indeed they’re not,” Eric nodded as the van crashed to the ground with a sickening crunch, “They’re Dark Twilight. I guess the Guild is operating against them.”

The two other vans skidded to a halt twenty feet away from both Ysionris and Eric, and about twenty people, all armed with assault rifles and pistols, clad in bulletproof armor, came pouring out of the two vans, seeking cover and leveling their assault rifles at Ysionris and Eric. Ysionris jumped away from Eric as he rolled to the ground, barely dodging a three-round burst that struck the sidewalk, and hid behind an intact mailbox. Eric, meanwhile, moved toward the alley. Tal gasped as she stepped backwards and leveled her pistol at Eric’s head. Eric saw her, then ducked; it was a technicality, as Tal wasn’t really going to fire. But Eric shoved his shoulder into Tal’s stomach, and instantly, Tal was onto her knees, eyes wide, gasping for breath in a world gone airless.

“My, my,” Eric laughed as he pressed himself against the wall and shouted to Ysionris, “Looks like someone had been eavesdropping on our conversation.”

Ysionris looked in Eric’s direction, saw Tal coughing on her knees, and shrugged. He returned fire on a bunch of Dark Twilight troopers. One caught Ysionris’ bullets, and fell to the ground unceremoniously.

“It wouldn’t do if you went leaking secrets out to the world about what you heard,” Eric grinned savagely as he grabbed a lock of Tal’s short hair, Tal trying to refrain from an outcry as she whipped her pistol up at Eric’s face, but Eric was too quick for that. His right hand darted out, too fast to be normal, and Tal’s right hand was instantly numb, the pistol in her hand flying from her hand.

“I hate fighting girls,” Eric quirked as he forced her to a crouching position, but just as he did, he looked up, and Tal realized two things. There was the sound of a fifth car approaching, and Ysionris had just turned his assault rifle to another street, as were the other Dark Twilight soldiers.

A convertible shot out of the street at impossible speeds, drifting as its rear tires spun against the asphalt, taking the fastest line, outside, inside, outside, nearly scraping the sidewalk. It angled out perfectly with little oversteer, utilizing the best control over the unruly beast that was screaming with its engines throttling at three hundred horsepower or better. Everyone on the street fired on the convertible, but the car traveled incredibly fast, and the tracers merely zipped past in the convertible’s wake.

A single figure suddenly jumped from the convertible, a sheer suicide move, Tal thought, before the figure suddenly initiated a flip in the air and landed perfectly on the ground. Tal impressively realized that he was cutting friction and all physical reaction with the ground by altering his trajectory with a flip in the air.

Something flashed near him, a flash that originated from his hands, and Tal didn’t really see what it was. Except by the time she actually comprehended anything, she suddenly realized that the Dark Twilight soldiers had been halved; their torso’s had been severed cleanly, and there was yet another flash before the newcomer dashed for cover, and the convertible had commenced a U-turn for another pass.

The halves of the Dark Twilight soldiers fell to the ground without a scream of pain or a cry of surprise. They had gone too far into death before that had happened.

Tal, despite being pressed against the ground, saw the figure clearly. He looked much like Eric, with messy brown hair and eyes, flocking over his eyes and neck. He was a jumpsuit, like Eric, but it was a completely different design altogether. Tal found it difficult to look at the jumpsuit; it seemed to keep disappearing from her view the more she looked at it, as if the suit was trying to be invisible.

Eric turned toward him in a surprising fit of rage, momentarily forgetting about Tal, and fired his submachine guns at him. The newcomer dodged with a showy cartwheel before something flashed from his hands again, but whatever it was, it deflected against Eric’s shield. Eric, however, was quickly out of ammo, and had to reload; Ysionris stood up and fired his assault rifle. The newcomer regained his legs, spun around, and his right hand flashed; Ysionris jumped backwards just in time just before the mailbox he hid behind was severed into two.

The convertible had completed its gee turn, and was headed back toward the newcomer. Tal, seeing everyone was distracted, chose this time to run quickly from the scene, sprinting from the alleyway and rushing into the streets, stumbling as she picked up the pistol knocked from her hand by Eric on the sidewalk. But Eric saw this and leveled his submachine gun at her head as she fled…

“Get down!” a voice completely unfamiliar to Tal shouted, just as the newcomer’s hands flashed once more. Tal dove for the floor, and she felt something ruffle her hair, she wasn’t sure what. Bullets, she assumed. Still, she hit the ground and turned around on the floor, aiming her pistol at Eric as she fired. However, the bullets merely flickered against his shield before being deflected elsewhere. The pistol, however, suddenly flew from her hand as she yelped in pain; Ysionris had leveled his assault rifle at Tal’s hands and knocked the pistol from her grasp.

Meanwhile, something else flickered across Eric’s shield, and the flash rebounded elsewhere, but not before a trail of dust erupted from the ruined building behind Eric. The building seemed to suddenly collapse toward Eric, who turned around at the last second in complete surprise before the block of debris hit him full on. Ysionris jumped, but also disappeared within the cloud of dust and debris.

The newcomer managed to initiate a roll just as the rest of the building was collapsing…right on top of Tal. Luckily, the newcomer slid across as he grabbed Tal by the upper arm, and the convertible drove right by as the newcomer anchored his hand on the car, and they were zooming across the street with debris crashing on their left and right at speeds better than ninety. The newcomer jumped against the road, and he bounced into the convertible, dragging Tal with him.

The convertible drifted once more, and disappeared down another road.

There was silence. Dead bodies lay unmoving on the ground, and the dust settled as the building finished collapsing.

A single metallic arm shoved out of the top of the debris suddenly, and pushed against the rest of the concrete, pulling the rest of the body out. Eric appeared, looking frustrated, with a gash across his forehead. Other than the blood streaking from the cut, he was fine. His shield was flickering, indicating that it had protected him against most of the damage, but now, it was safe. He tapped his chest; the shield stopped flickering as it deactivated.

Ysionris stepped toward him from a corner; apparently, he had managed not to be hit by the debris. His assault rifle changed back into a laptop.

“That was…” Ysionris started, but Eric cut him off.

“Yeah,” Eric grimaced as he holstered both his submachine guns angrily, “It was.” He wiped a gloved hand against his forehead; it came away bloody. Ysionris stopped in front of Eric as he took out a roll of bandage and handed it to Eric, who took it and wrapped it around his forehead.

“Our conversation wasn’t too revealing, was it?” Eric asked Ysionris, hoping to be assured.

“That depends on what she already knows,” Ysionris shrugged, watching the road in which the convertible disappeared through as though believing the car would return in any second, “If she knows about the Prometheans, Doctor Wiel’s true intentions, and Nightraid Concerto, we might be in trouble. If not, we’re probably still safe, in one sense or another. She seemed civilian enough.”

“Convince me,” Eric growled. A dark crimson spot became visible on the bandage. Eric knew he would have to disinfect it soon.

Ysionris remained silent and seemed thoughtful for several moments. Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion. “I’ll try to keep an eye on the Guild of Mercenaries,” Ysionris nodded, “See if I can keep damage control to a minimum. That sound okay to you?”

“That sounds like the only thing we can do,” Eric crossed his arms, “And it’s something we should do. I’m not willing to have her piece together everything before finding out the greatest secret mankind has ever left for us.”

“Who the hell are you guys?” Tal demanded, “And what the hell did you do back there?”

Now that Tal had more or less recovered her wits after a firefight in the middle of the Neo Arcadian streets, Tal had her senses back…and her well-known temper. Seated in the back seat with the person who had thrown her into the car, she was staring daggers at the nineteen-year-old operative, who seemed rather smug as he gave a mocking smile at Tal. In front, there was a driver who didn’t seem much older than the one seated next to Tal.

The convertible was now zooming along the more abandoned highways of Capital Eurasia, and headed outwards. If possible, the highways seemed much more lonely than the streets, even with the ruined wrecks of several automobiles on the road.

“I think we,” the newcomer shot back with a grin, “are the people who just saved your life. Actually, no, scratch that; I am the person who saved your life. Lee here was just driving.”

“Well, in case you were wondering, genius,” Tal snapped, “I didn’t need your help.”

“Excuse me…” the driver, Lee, had turned around a bit, about to say something, but the fighter ignored him.

“Yeah,” the newcomer rolled his eyes, “This is coming from someone who nearly got three bullets in her damn head.”

“Do you mind if I…” Lee tried again, but Tal wasn’t listening.

“I had it all under control!” Tal raged, “I had a pistol aimed at…”

“Oh, at the great Eric Chen?” the laugh on the newcomer’s voice was evident, as much as the obvious disgust in the way he said the name of his opponent on the street, “He had a shield generator and a submachine gun. What do you have, a pistol?”

Tal was suddenly reminded that she still had a pistol in her hand.

“Please!” Lee almost pleaded the two to let him interject, “Neifer, could you…”

Tal’s right hand shot up, pistol in hand, aimed to the fighter, Neifer, but Neifer easily pushed her hand away, obviously expecting the motion, whacking the pistol from her hand as easily as Eric did with her, and pushing her against the seat of the convertible. “I just saved your goddamned life,” Neifer snapped, “Do me a favor and show me some respect.”

“Respect?” Tal nearly gagged at the word, which gave Lee the necessary three seconds to blurt out what he needed to say.

“Miss, are you injured?” Lee said as fast as he could, “Are you hurt? Do you need a disinfectant? Bandages? Painkiller?”

Tal finally deigned to notice Lee as she turned her head in his direction. “What?” Tal gaped.

Lee did not sigh or try to sound impatient, and spoke slowly and clearly. “Are you alright, miss?” Lee asked, “Are you injured in any way? Are you bleeding? Do you need bandages? Disinfectants? Painkiller?”

Tal stared at Lee. With the despicable Neifer sitting next to him, it was almost impossible to even imagine that Lee would have any sort of decency to ask Tal a question concerning her status.

Summing up her patience, she replied as politely as she could. “No, I’m fine, thank you,” Tal said as calmly as she could, using deliberate slowness to keep her temper in check. Looking at Lee, Tal noticed that Lee looked almost plain-looking, with no true notable features. His hair was plain, not heavy style involved, his blond hair reaching down to his eyebrows. He wore a sweater and seemed ordinary, befitting his facial features, but he still looked charming in his own way.

“You’re welcome,” Lee replied good-naturedly, now that he had his say and was relieved, “If you need it, it’s in the glove compartment. Just tell me and I’ll toss it over.”

Tal tried suppressing a smile, but it was difficult and came out as a grin; it was impossible to dislike Lee, even for a moment. It had just occurred to Tal that he couldn’t even bring himself to interrupt an argument between her and Neifer. The smile on her lips broadened on the thought. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much to smile about as Neifer opened his mouth.

“Don’t be all nice to her, Lee,” Neifer snapped to the driver, “She’s Neo Arcadian.”

“The last time I checked,” Lee smiled as he kept his gaze on the road ahead, “You were the one who hated Neo Arcadians, no matter the circumstances, not me.”

“You still have the nerve to say that?” Neifer gaped at Lee for a moment, but Tal already had several insults in mind before Neifer could continue.

“Oh, yes, hate Neo Arcadians,” Tal snapped sarcastically, “And since when did you pass judgment about Neo Arcadia?”

“I have the right to pass judgment on anyone I choose,” Neifer scowled smugly, his anger starting to surpass his cockiness.

“And who gave you that right?” Tal demanded.

“I think it would be…” Lee tried to interrupt again, but, naturally, he was ignored as usual.

“I did,” Neifer gave a smirk.

“People like you don’t deserve to pass judgment on things they know so little about,” Tal snarled.

“I’d like to see you try and stop me,” Neifer crossed his arms.

“Guys, I would…” Lee started, and was cut off promptly.

“You know so little,” Tal snapped, “You people from the Guild of Mercenaries. Living off money based on other people’s misfortunes. You harass people, kill people for money. And you think you’re all righteous and honorable.”

Tal felt a sting on her right cheek, and before Tal realized it, Neifer had slapped her with the back of his hand. With the back of his hand hitting Tal’s cheek, it felt more like a cuff than a slap. Neifer’s face was filled with rage as he held his right hand in the air for a while, glaring at Tal who was still reeling from the shock.

“Neifer,” Lee said, a bit of frustration laced in his voice, “That was not necessary.”

“The hell it wasn’t,” Neifer spoke harshly, “She should be glad I just used the back of my hand…”

“I should be glad you just used the back of your hand, huh?” Tal had finally recovered and was glaring at Neifer with concentrated hatred, “I can’t believe you guys hit girls like that. Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Lee, stop the car,” Neifer said to Lee without looking at him, still burning his eyes into Tal’s, who was returning the favor.

“Neifer…” Lee started.

“Now, damn it!” Neifer shouted this time. But Lee didn’t react to that at all, didn’t flinch or show any signs of being intimidated.

“You know it must be done,” Lee finished, and sensing that Neifer was surprised, added, “And don’t forget that you have undergone…”

“Okay, fine, I know,” Neifer sighed, waving his arm up in defeat as he slouched down on the corner of the backseat, not looking at Tal, who was still enraged, but sensing there was something special about Neifer and Lee. Although Neifer wasn’t exactly respectful to Lee, Tal could tell there something between them, a friendship so strong that mere insults and rudeness weren’t about to separate the two.

That didn’t make her hate Neifer any less. She glared at Neifer, her cheek still stinging from the slap. “Oh, so you think everything’s forgiven?” Tal snapped, “Why don’t you just let me off this car? It was a good suggestion. I don’t have to spend anymore time with a…”

“Shut up,” Neifer said in a monotone, staring out of the car as the highway began to descend to ground level and the convertible passed through the city walls of Capital Eurasia, and the landscape turned into a barren desert wasteland, “You’ve gone too far in this now. We have to take you with us, whether we like it or not.”