Deus ex Machina

So...from an underused concept of a genderbent Zero to a de-aged Zero. If transformers fanfiction writers can pull it of with the help of Weeljack, then why not reploids with help of a cyber-elf?

Ok, so it was not a Cyber-Elf...

Also, please use the Japanese voice option when reading, otherwise, some jokes won't work.

In the abandoned Laboratory, in the containment unit Zetta-2, many corps of the slain reploids rebels were strewn around the lab nature had reclaimed.

Ciel knew them all… She had been the one to spur them into actions. To free them from her greatest mistakes clutch, to lead them all to freedom. To a life without fear and constant death.

And yet, whatever she did always seem to result in just that...and plenty of destruction.

At the other side of the room, pantheons blocked the only exit, their single red eyes piercing the young genius with fear as they aimed their buster at her…she knew they could not kill her. But she was as good as dead if Passy sacrifice would not work.

'I've failed them…no, we found Zero, Passy, in your memory…in all your memories, I will keep fighting." She began to pray as the light receded, completely, revealing the result of Passy's sacrifice.

She knew the power of the Cyber-elves. But Zero…had clearly been put off-line. Even at a glance, it was clear nothing short of a Miracle could return him to life. The lab had no power; the containment unit was blown open, exposing the reploid to the element for more than a hundred year. And he was missing his arms and his core…well, there may have been a bit of a glow, but Ciel suspect it may have been a lens flare.

The column of light faded, and Ciel's heart stopped… Zero was gone.

"Oh no…no, no!" She had failed…she would be captured. And as despair crushed her, she heard a very peculiar sound coming from the flooded floor. Ciel lowered her sight and…

Only Zero's helmet remained…and his long blond hair for some obscure reason.

'What, in the name of Light, did Passy do?'

Then the helmet moved…it lifted a bit of the ground, toppling over and revealing.

A baby reploid… with comically long hair.

'That's…how? Reploids can't…they don't…' The 14-year-old genius tried to make sense of what she was seeing, nothing she knew could explain it, and it made absolutely no senses!

The baby… Zero, the great, legendary warrior was sitting in the water, looking around the lab with innocent wonder as he cooed sweetly.

"Z… Zero?"

The baby turned his head toward the teen, his big dark blue eyes wide as he innocently gazed at Ciel.

"Oh my gosh…he's…'

And then the pantheons soldier shot at the baby, causing the child to quickly crawl (crawled!) to Ciel in complete panic.

"Ayia!" He yelped as he reached the leader of the resistance, who quickly picked him up from the muddy, oil filled water. Ciel held the Baby reploid to her chest protectively as the army of Master X advanced toward her, blocking her path.

She closed her eyes…and sent a silent prayer to whoever could listen to her. Then she remembered…

God didn't exist; it was all atoms and particles.

"Wait…you're telling me that this…thing is Zero?" Fighting Fefnir asked as he pointed to the…the…

The fire guardian didn't want to call this a baby. Only humans could have and be babies this…this…

Was the smallest, most useless, noisy, weak…freaking Adorable reploid the assembly line had ever made. Not that he had been made in an assembly line, if reports were to be trusted. The…nanoid was crawling in the floor, sometime tripping on his hair, looking at everything with his big, deep-dark blue eyes. His face so round and full, his legs delightfully chubby.

'Oh goddammit… I have no reason to find this adorable.'

"Yes, Apparently, Ciel had been looking for the legendary reploid ever since Master X decreed that all civilian grade reploids be scrapped." Phantom explained as he stood by the side of his 'brother', both looked through the two ways window at the sad remains of the legendary warrior that had assisted Master X during the Maverick war... "And apparently, she found him. Broken and clearly off-line."

Ciel had already been questioned and held captive in one of their nicer cell...a room really. They could not kill her, it would go against the code, and the young genius never killed anyone. They would just have to…keep her safe in a gilded cage until the rest of the resistance could be dismantled. As soon as they could find their hidden base. They now had to deal with…with…

"What the hell did she do to him!?" Fefnir asked as he gestured at the nanoid, which, having inspected the entirety of the interrogation room had managed to remove one of his booty and was now merrily sucking on his stabilizer.

'Oh God…my heart…'

"Other than actually existing?" Phantom mercifully saved his brother from dying of cuteness. "From what the idiot genius told me, she sacrificed a low powered nurse type elf to try and revive him."

"What!" The fire guardian yelped. "You mean her…"

"Yes, one of her ally was a cyber-elf. I don't need to spell what happened to Passy."

A moment of silence passed. While reploids where considered expandable, Cyber-elves weren't. They were actually protected by quite a few laws. Of course, there had been talk about how, since they were not natural….

'Not my problem…Human knows better, right? And they also need energy to be happy…"

"So, that elf is gone and for some reason her sacrifice turned the great, legendary Zero into a…weak little Nanoid. Now her only hope is busy trying to chew his foot off…what should we do with him?" Fefnir asked, unable to remove his eyes from the comical sight…and his audio form the absolutely adorable-

'No, no…Fefnir. You are ruthless, a badass, you know better than falling for this oblivious –"

Zero pulled out the now thoroughly chewed foot with a pop, flopping on the ground as he giggled.

Giggled!

And rolled on the floor, tangling himself in his long blond hair…still having a blast it seemed. After a bit of Struggle, the happy child flopped on his front side and looked right at Fefnir and Phantom. As if the two-way mirror was not there…

And then…he began clapping his little hands together rhythmically as he…began to sing.

"Ha'le Kis'ina Ha're Kis'ina Kis-na Kis-na Ha'le Ha'le, Ha'e Lama ha'le Lama Lama Lama ha'le Ha'le." The sweet little thing repeated over and over again as he joyfully wiggled to the sound of his own voice and the claps of his little hands.

It took all of Fefnir's considerable willpower to avert his eyes from the sight. Finding solace in the fact that the shadow operative, a certified heart of stone was not…

Phantom's cheeks had gained a pink tinge, and his eyes could not widen further. His mouth was slightly ajar. And if the red gunfighter's audios were not lying…his core was fluttering more than it had any right to.

'Holy hell…if this is how the Nanoid affects Hidden Phantom, how will Leviathan react?

'Suddenly the sound of some very recognizable footfall reached Fefnir's audio cones. 'Well, speak of the devil…and she has company.' Before Master X entered the room to inspect the so-called last hope of the resistance and give his wise counsel as to what to do with the Nanoid, The fire fighter gave a shove to his Shinobi like brother, breaking him out his cute induced trance.

They barely had the time to stand to attention as the master of Neo-arcadia entered the room followed by the ice guardian and Harpuia. All hail Master X!" Both greeted the azure angel, his piercing red glance pinning them in place. "At ease" he intoned as he stood with his arms crossed behind his back. "Report!"

"Sir, we could not crack the encryption on the resistance leader's radio." Hidden Phantom began. "But with her in our custody. We should not wait for long until the Mavericks make a foolish move."

Master X inclined his head. "Good, it won't be long until all useless irregulars are dealt with." He smiled. "Soon, Neo-arcadia will truly be the paradise humans deserved, a new Elysium…no, The Lost Eden reco-"the glorious master of Neo-arcadia was interrupted Harpuia…

Making a very loud 'squee' sound as he put his hands to his cheeks…a wide grin splitting his face. As he appeared to suffer from the most blissful of core meltdown.

The legendary Reploid paused… and turned his attention that what had caused the usually serious Harpuia to act so…out of it. Looking right at the two-way mirror.

"… Fighting Fefnir, is this the l- It that Zero?!" The master of Neo-arcadia squinted as he pointed at the two-way looking-glass.

Fefnir and Phantom looked behind and beheld the Nanoid staring at him through the two-way mirror, his little hands striking the Plexiglas as he gave this big grin as he amused himself… how did he manage to reach the up there?

'Oh God…he's even Cuter up close.' The fighter of the group just wanted to grab the babe and snuggle the little glitch until the sun stopped shinning. Beside him, Phantom was in no better condition.

"Oh…my…" Leviathan approached the glass quickly, melting at the sight. This reaction was not at all unknown, for the water base guardian had a thing to cute things. But this held absolutely nothing to Harpuia's reaction….

He was holding his chest as he struggled not to melt with his core. "Oh God … He's so...gya ha ha!"

The rest of the guardians, and master X paused and stared at the usually proud and poised sky guardian uncharacteristic outburst. Harpuia, realizing that he was now the main attraction straightened himself up and reset his voice chip. The green clad general looked at Fefnir, hoping his more boisterous brother could move the topic away from his display and onto the elephant in the room. Aka, Master X shrunken partner.

"Apparently. Phantom took the liberty to search the old lab for some clues as to what could have happened." The fire fighter began, trying his best to ignore the little blond cooing either at them, or his reflexion. "He found he Legendary Z-sabre, some records for one DWN-∞0000, some research paper on the Zero virus, and the containment Unit also had Zero's numerical identification. So yeah, that's Zero." He shrugged. There had also been a Cyber-elf lurking in the dilapidated computer. The data-being feeling extremely familiar, it had fled to deeper cyber space almost as soon as Phantom had laid eyes on it.

"Master X, what are you directives?" Phantom Asked as he kept an anxious eye of the nanoid. "What shall with do with him?"

Master X looked at his resurrected and…rejuvenated partner. Unmoved by his newfound sweetness. "Get rid of him, He is but a resource drain at that point."

The four Guardians stood deathly still as the irrevocable order echoed in the interrogation room.

Usually, they would follow it without question, as was expected of them. But this time…this time, all felt that it would be a terrible idea. They looked at one another, not knowing what to do…should they speak up? Rebel?...comply?

Phantom once again cleared his throat. "Master X…with all due respect, Zero does not require any E-crystal, for it seemed his maker equipped him with a high performance solar-captor." The Shinobi explained.

Master X raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Keeping his face still, Fefnir could not help but find it odd that Zero's partner didn't know about this fact. 'Does he even know his partner? Maybe...no...what the hell going on here?'

"Yes. The Nanoid may be the key to solve the energy crisis." Phantom continued, not showing how Master X's ignorance of this very important fact troubled him.

Fefnir opened his eyes wider…well; the little Glitch may be of use then.

"I see. Then short it and send its remains to the labs." The azure hunter spoke without much care. Silencing his underling with how cold he sounded.

"No…" Fefnir spoke out despite himself. Once again, something much greater than him seemed to be in control.

Master X turned to his subordinate, his red eyes wide at the blatant show of mutiny. "Excuse me?"

"I said no… Zero, wasn't he your partner? Didn't he save your ass more time than you could count?" 'Oh god, what wrong with me?' "I mean sure, he may have disappeared for a century, but he's back now!" He felt the fire of indignation bloomed in his core. Usually, this would mean whatever was in front of him would die but. This time.

'Aw crap, I'm lighting my own pyre don't I?"

"Yes, and he's useless." Master X crossed his arms, and Fefnir could not help but find his entire demeanour…quite petulant for one so old.

"Would he do the same for you? Would Zero kill you if you were in the same situation?" Harpuia prodded, also disturbed with how…careless Master X acted in front of his old partner.

Caught of guard the blue bomber remained silent. 'Doesn't he know his own partner?' this was…disturbingly odd.

"Master X…" It was Fairy leviathan's turn it seemed. "Please, let us take care of Zero. Who knows, we may be able to find a way to reverse whatever had happened to him." The only 'girl' of the group spoke with a gentle smile. "Just imagine having him back, hunting maverick scums like the good old day…don't you miss your friend?"

More silence from the Master of Neo-arcadia, his ruby eyes darting away from his ice guardian. Then he closed his eyes. "Fine! You may keep him…" Master X spoke in clipped tone. "But make sure we can get as much information on his solar-cells as possible. And if it proves to be too much of a distraction." X let the sentence hang meaningfully.

"Yes, Master X!" The four guardians saluted. Trying to hide how…disturbed they were at Master X, Zero's supposed brother in arms, callousness toward his partner's embarrassing situation.

"Good! For a bright future." The Azure angel dismissed and turned on his heels, walking out of the room. The moment he was gone, the oppressive feeling followed him, and yet no one wanted to speak.

Hating the silence, Fefnir spoke up. "So…Is this how adoption works?" he asked with a crooked smile, trying to forget about the bizarre event.

The next step had been a very logical one, get the Nanoid out of the interrogation room.

Logical did not always mean smoother.

The four guardians stared at the cowering pile of golden Nanite strands shaking in one of the far corner of the room. Quite the contrast to the happy Nanoid they had seen but a few moments prior. The cause of his miserable condition?

"I can't believe I scared him." Leviathan bemoaned, her eyes filled with frost. Beside her, Fefnir tried his best to hold his boisterous laughter. One part, who would have thought the cutest member of X guardian, the one whom children look up to, to one whose job was to take Pictures with babies was the one to terrify the Red Riper, the General of the Zeroth Shinobi unit, He whom the maverick feared…ZERO!

But on the other…the boisterous fighter didn't want to scare the little glitch more than necessary, were they able to reverse whatever had happened to him, Zero would be a powerful ally, and a wonderful asset in the ever going struggle to keep humans safe from harms.

"So…now what?" Harpuia asked as he smirked, finding the whole event quite amusing.

"I don't know Hari. " Fefnir shrugged, he was designed to fight, not to take care of babies…lest of all a Nanoid. "Phan, got any clue?" Fefnir asked his black and white brother. The shadow assassin was intensely staring at the cowering Zero, the Nanoid shaking like a leaf.

Without any words, Phantom approached the b…the legendary robot, making sure each step was soft yet audible. Then he crouched beside Zero, once again, every movement calculated to be as gentle as possible. And then…he began to speak to him in a gentle voice, its pitch markedly higher than what he would use. "Hey Zero…" He called, making this weird kissy noise with his lips. "Come child, no one will hurt you."

No answers.

"It's all right Zero, you don't need to be scared." Phantom kept speaking gently, reminding everyone how he was usually the one called to deal with those who were scared, lost…or choosing the easy way out…and children, of course. "My name is Hidden Phantom…I'm a friend of X."

"For the love of…" Harpuia cut his oath short. "We're not Master-"

Phantom gestured the Green general to pipe it down. "X is also your friend…right?" he asked the Nanoid, hoping for a reaction.

"Do you think he can understand him?" Leviathan whispered to Fefnir.

"O dunno. Zero's like…shaped like a … a…I think a six-month-old but…" The fire fighter scratched his helmet. "You know, before you 'n Master came in, the Nanoid was singing this tune…like …hale Kisna? I have no idea what that was but… He was also looking right at me and Phantom trough he two-way glass."

Leviathan stared at the counterpart, her eyes wide. "That's…not normal."

"Nothing about the situation is normal."

"True." Leviathan agreed. "You know, when child models were in vogue, many human parents would complain about how they would make their progeny look slow and dumb by comparison."

Fefnir rolled his eyes, typical human, always complaining about how they wanted more and better…it simply didn't end. Still, they were tasked to protect them and make sure the organics would be able to thrive again on the planet…once they could terraform it.

"Anyway…chances are, 'itle Zero here's probably smarter than a human one-year-old." Fefnir concluded. "I'm surprise at how…chill he is about the whole thing, though. Like…like he's having fun almost." There had been much account about how the red ripper was usually quiet and serious…simply doing his job as efficiently as possible.

Fefnir had personally witnessed the very same reploid crawling around the floor, tripping on his mane of hair and then finally sucking his stabilizer as if he was but a mere human baby…and now he was cowering in a corner, with Hidden Phantom, Neo-arcadia's best assassin speaking to him like one would a scared Kitten.

"It's alright Zero…We are all X friend's too. Do you want to see your friend again?" The Shinobi spoke uncharacteristically sweetly, putting his hand onto the unmoving mass of soft, golden nanite…

Suddenly, the whole atmosphere change, and Phantom scooped up the Nanoid in his arms. The Shinobi reached in his vest and pulled out the Aux-cord. "Harpuia, get me the mildest grad e-tank stat!"

The moment those clipped words left his mouth, Harpuia was off, not even bothering asking why.

"Phantom…what's going on? Is Zero alright?" Leviathan asked as she rushed to the side of her brother. The black and white reploid plugging his own power source to the Nanoid.

"Low powered." He clipped as he got to his feet. "Come on, we need to get him to the roof, Harpuia already knows." Phantom all but ran to the nearest elevator, scaring some human and reploid staff that worked there.

Fefnir followed…and had to go through the second most stressful elevator ride in his entire life.

'Wait…what was the first one again?' for some reason, he could not remember. So instead, he took a look at Zero, the Nanoid was being protectively cradled in Phantom's arms, connected to the Assassin's core.

"Why isn't he waking up? You're boosting him, right?" The red fighter asked, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice.

"Have you seen his size?" Phantom turned his gaze toward his brother. "His core capacity is…about as big as he is, and the last thing I want is to overwhelm his system."

"So you're keeping the current low, right?" Leviathan spoke up. Phantom just nodded, keeping his dark gaze on the nanoid. "That's smart of you…" the blue reploid then paused as she crossed her arms across her chest. "But…is he…is it dangerous? I mean, if we run out of juice, we just go to sleep mode until we can get some energy. How about him?"

Phantom gave a self-deprecating smile. "He was about to go in sleep mode when we barged in, and little Zero stopped the process by himself."

"Hey, wait a minute." Fefnir quietly balked. "That's no possible except for-"

"War models… meaning he still remembers how to use his hardware." Phantom spoke as he cradled the nanoid closer, rocking him up and down. Fefnir could see some movement from the little body.

"Oh thank Light he's not dead.'

"But this doesn't explain why he was afraid of me." Leviathan interjected.

Fefnir rolled his eyes. "Lev', you ain't the centre of the universe. Just let it go."

"No listen. We all know I look like master X. like…way more than even you." The blue guardian began to explain. "If Zero can remember how to turn off his sleep mode –something that has to be done willingly—then he must also remember Master X."

"Yeah, and?" Fefnir asked, not quite sure to where his sister was getting at.

Suddenly, phantom made a nose as he raised his head, His eyes wide. "If Zero was a…is friend of Master X, and if the legend of the brotherhood between the two is true…" He gazed back at the recharging Nanoid. "Then why did he react with fear seeing his female clone?"

The three guardians of master X exchanged glances…something was afoot.

Up on the roof, the three guardians were bringing the forth up to speed as little Zero basked in the full sun, his little battery charging up at a very decent speed. He was lying on Fefnir armoured vest, sometime twitching his little legs.

"I see…it is very troubling." Harpuia murmured. "I spoke to Master X on the way here…and I have to admit, our leader doesn't seem to know his partner, nor care for him." He crossed his arms over his chest, a look of mild concern staining his face plate. "There's something going on…but what?"

"Maybe we should ask Ciel?" Leviathan proposed, she was sitting beside the recharging Nanoid. She held the heavily diluted E-tank as she waited for Zero to wake up.

"Why?" Fefnir asked, also sitting beside Zero. "I mean, the interrogation didn't give us anything."

"Perhaps we didn't ask the right questions." Phantom concluded. "From the transcript, I could see that Master X was more interested in finding the hidden base than anything else." The Ninja of the group spoke from on a column, having perched at the very top. Now that Zero was in the sun, he had no need for an auxiliary power source…not that Leviathan care.

She just wanted to make sure the Nanoid was fine and all his systems were working correctly, that's all.

"Yes… He was rather…heavy about it. But Master X never once asked about how she managed to find Zero. I had to ask her…" The poor girl looked completely crushed, thus Leviathan had given some very specific orders for the guards to follow, including making sure she would eat and to keep anything she could harm herself with as far away as possible.

"So, how did she manage to find Zero?" Phantom asked.

"She followed a Cyber-Elf instruction." Leviathan explained, still keeping an eye on Zero.

"What type of elf?" The Shinobi asked from his perch. "Do we know its designation?"

"No Clue. Ciel told us the Data-being never stayed long enough to be scanned. He would just give some indication and then disappear into cyber-space."

"Dang bro…talk about a crazy day." Fefnir flopped himself on his back. "So now what? Do we interrogate Ciel more now or later?"

'Later' came as the unanimous choice.

Suddenly, they heard Little Zero make some noise. "Kina…kis'na…Ladha…Gau'a…"

"Oh…he's speaking when the charges." Leviathan cooed, her core melting at the nanoid adorable quirk. "That's it, were keeping him!"

Phantom jumped down from the column and kneeled beside Zero, he looked relived. "Good…at least we know he can still charge in the sunlight…"

"Even better; we now have a legit reason to keep the little glitch around." Fefnir grinned widely.

"Oh…and you want to keep it?" Harpuia asked with a raised brow. "You know we don't have time for a pet."

"Sure Hari," Leviathan rolled her eyes as she began gently patting the Nanoid on the stomach, elicit a sigh from the diminutive legend. "As if you didn't just lose all your masculinity the first time you saw him."

Harpuia grumble something about not needing it when little Zero opened his big, wide eyes.

The four guardian of Neo-arcadia's collective vent stopped. How would he react? he was literally plugged to Leviathan, Master X's more delicate 'clone.' The one he feared.

The nanoid deep, deep blue eyes fell on Leviathan's face…and he gave his sweet sleepy smile. "Ek…Eko…E-"and then the smile…became sad.

Suddenly…the blue guardian held her chest as she appeared to be in pain, her venting heavy. "Oh…Oh, God!…"

"Oh sh…Levi!" Fefnir got up from the ground, rushing to her aid. As where the rest of the guardians.

"N…No…I'm…" She stopped them and took the Nanoid of the ground, cradling him to her chest. She was lightly sobbing, as was Zero. The little one was hiding his face using Leviathan as a way to shield himself from the world.

The three other warriors looked at one another, trying to make sense of the situation. Was it a virus? Did Zero hacked Leviathan? Was it out of his own free will or…

"It's not fear…" Leviathan finally managed to hiccup. "It's…he's sad…so sad…missing…mourning…x…X…"

A moment of silence passed across the three 'dried eyed' guardian as the added this information to their growing pile of mystery.

"Despite everything, Zero remembers X…" and he was mourning for him...someone they had just seen but mere moment ago. Someone who didn't care for him...someone who practically told his general to kill him, an innocent child.

Phantom got up. "I'm going to interrogate Ciel again…there's something wrong with this whole picture." He turned to Leviathan. "Come, she may be more inclined to speak to you."

Leviathan made a face. "B…But how…how about Zero?"

"I'll take care of him; he needs to get his system check-up anyway." Fefnir spoke as he got off the ground, taking his armoured vest and finally the Nanoid still burrowed in Leviathan chest. He was clutching her vest in a death grip, it took Fefnir to…gently tickle the Nanoid until he let her go. "Lev', maybe you should check your firewall." He added as he gently unplugged Zero from the blue guardian.

"Yeah…maybe I will. After Ciel though, I also want to get at the bottom of this as fast as possible." Leviathan arose as she voiced out what all the Guardians felt about this whole situation.

As it turned out, Zero had been a little low on nanite too, and his system bore the sign of someone being shot by a pantheon...and surviving.

It was clear Nanoid Zero was definitely more resilient than he let on.

Still, nothing the diluted E-tank could not fix. And Nothing was wrong with his system either, except for a ridiculously small core and processes that where…incomplete. On the other hands, his sun-charging technology was a game changer! If Master X, the eight gentle judges and the human council approve, that is.

On an unrelated topic, next time, Fefnir would be next one feeding the Nanoid. Harpuia had been grinning like a loon all the while as he held Zero in his arms, letting the sweet little Nanoid gingerly drink the nanite he needed. The firefighter had almost called in the clean-up department since it was clear his green brother's core was suffering from another pretty major melt down.

Right now, Fefnir was in the garage by his city ride, an old convertible he had himself fix in his free time. It was a dark red that was not too hard on the eyes, the interior white and it was a joy to ride around town on a balmy evening or night….when time permitted, of course. The red guardian was out of his armour and sporting a pair of black dress pant and a burgundy vest over a white shirt.

He was equipped with cuff-links, pocket watch and his favourite sunglasses and hat (that elegantly covered his ear plate.). And he was waiting for Harpuia and by extension the Nanoid.

Of course, knowing his green brother, it could take some time.

Suddenly, the tele-pad whirred to life, and Harpuia was there.

His brother wore a green hoodie, a pair of blue shorts and a pair a scandal that upsettingly looked like it was worn over a pair of black socks.

Fefnir leered at the offending piece of footwear. "Hari…I know you like those scandals…but for the love of light, when going out, please wear some shoes."

Harpuia rolled his eyes, without his helmet, his soft hair was stilled in a very round and soft pixie bob. "I have socks in; they won't even know I'm not human."

"You have socks…white socks, in a pair of trekking scandal! Har, that's not Ok bro…way not ok." And with his voice… "And could you have tried to look a bit more…I don't know, cleaner? Manlier? You know...less 'confused?'"

"All my clothes are clean… And it's this hoody's perfect for sneaking Zero around the city." At those words, the Nanoid peeked his head out from the oversized green piece of clothing.

Zero took one look at Fefnir, and gave this huge smile as he reached out to him. "Ah! Ha'ibol!"

The red fighter felt his core melt…

"And i'm not confused about who I am. that's just how I look out of my armour, there's nothing wrong with a bit of softness you know?" He spoke as he kissed the top of Zero's head, eliciting a happy cooing noise fromt he nanoid.

Fefnir let his face turned a stony neutral...

"Hari, I think… I think Zero may be more dangerous as a Nanoid than as…an average sized specialized war-model." Fefnir spoke to his green counterpart. "I mean, he could get away with murder with how close he is to us." and what to say about how fast the guardians had warmed up to him.

Harpuia looked at his brother, and then down at the Nanoid. Zero looked at him back, chewing on the hood's cord. The picture of childlike innocent and stupidity.

Harpuia removed the cord from the nanoid's mouth. "Well, right, now, a single buster shot would be more than enough to kill him...or two. And it's not like he can kill anything, no integrated buster and no sabre." He dismissed quickly. "Now, you were telling me about this shop right? The little angel gallery?"

"Yeah, it's like the most exclusive human store in Neo-arcadia." Fefnir spoke as he opened the convertibles' door for the sky general. "It's filled to the brim with toys'n clothing for babies and other thing like that. And if were gonna keep little Z around…"

"Yes, he needs thing other than us, weapons and whatever may be lying around to entertain himself." Harpuia agreed as he sat in the passanger seat, still holding Zero on his lap. The Nanoid was happily cooing as he took in stock his new surroundings. This caused the two guardians to smile.

Fefnir then sat behind the wheel and put on his sunglasses. "Yeah…alright, so you ready Hari? What's our story?"

On Harpuia's lap, Zero began cooing. "Ha'yi! Ha'yi!"

"My story is that we are just average human friends, and we are buying a gift for one of our friends Baby shower." Harpuia explained as he fastened his seat belt.

"Yup...sounds good enough for me." And with that, Fefnir drove out of the garage. But as he came into the light, he could not help but feel that…something was off.

The red fighter knew the rules, and he knew Master X didn't want any unneeded reploid wandering in the city, but at the same time…He and Harpuia were the guardians of Master X, Neo-Arcadia's protector….and yet they couldn't even move in the human part of the city in the open.

'No…that's not it…' No…it was Master X…

In Fefnir's core, the whole concept that the Blue legend was anything but a force of good was wrong…what to say about him being wrong and yet…

"Hari…why did you bring zero with you if you're going to keep the brat hidden." He finally asked as they came on the main road, interrupting …whatever Harpuia and Zero were doing.

"…Phantom told me to keep Zero as far away from Babel tower as possible." Harpuia spoke, his entire countenance grave. "… Fefnir, we all know there something wrong. Something wrongs with…him." The greed sky general looked deeply pain. Something Nano-zero tried to remedy to by chanting the same 'Hale Kisna' song.

This gave him an idea.

"Yo, Hari…I think we have another mystery on our hand." He addressed his green brother.

"Which is?"

"What the he-heck is the Nanoid singing? Actually, what the hell-"

Harpuia cringed as he covered Zero's audio plate. "Ferdi please!"

"Is he even saying?"

The green haired general looked right at the red-head. "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna, Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama, Rama Hare Hare." Harpuia spoke with great emphasis. "Little Zero also knows three more words, Haribol, Hare Krishna and Hari."

"…when did you downloaded the baby speech patch?" Fefnir asked, still keeping his eyes on the road.

"Oh…I simply compiled whatever words he spoke and figured our letters he couldn't pronounce or pronounced wrong." Harpuia explained, his pride shining through his thin veneer of humility.

Fefnir rolled his eyes. "Whatever Hari…I just have some better things to do." Like trying to remember when was the last time the elevator ride had been that stressful, and why Master X having red eyes somehow matter to him and either Zero would stay with him, Leviathan, or Phantom…

'Yeah…baby Zero's waaaay more dangerous than he let on.' no one should have that type of clearance so quickly. It made no sense at all.

'Oh well, if worst come to shove...it ain't like none of us won't be able to defend ourselves.' and with that, Fefnir drove.