A/N: Once again, many thanks to everyone who's reviewed, you guys rock my socks like a rocking, socking thing.

Slight language warning this chapter, it shouldn't be too over the top though :)

This Disclaimer is intended for household use only. Do not immerse in water: All characters belong to their respective legally binding contracts, companies, and peoples.

Procession

3:

In Which Everyone Winds Up a Wee Tad Miffed

Harpuia dreams.

The sky was falling and the earth trembled as ash fell like snow around blackened steel beams- teeth, crooked teeth in the impossible maw of a world that had swallowed all that was good.

And a doll, a doll, going through its hollow parodies of breathing heartbeating red skinandfleshand bone spillingbleedinglife precious life.

A thumbprint of humanity, a brushstroke of emotion, a picture of perfection, a portrait of a man.

-.-.-

"Absolutely not." The ancient red reploids words carried the ring of finality as both Guardians faces twisted in fury. Ceil flinched at the sound of the former fire General clenching his fist and slamming it against the wall, the reinforced steel giving way as easily as tissue paper under the sudden brute force. If Fefnir even noticed the damage he'd caused he gave no outward sign of it as he glowered at the two Resistance members.

"This is bullshit!" He snarled, throwing his massive arms in the air to emphasize his rage. "This is our mission, and we'll go if we damn well please! What the hell makes you think you have the right to tell us what to do?!"

"You don't honestly think we're going to send two of our known enemies back to their home base, unobserved, after they've been tramping all over our facilities and just patiently wait around for them to obediently return?" Zeros tone was sharp, his blue eyes piercing cold as he evenly met the burning rage in the glare of the two Neo Arcadians. Leviathan visibly bristled at what the red reploid was implying.

"Unlike you maverick scum, we would never leave one of ours behind!" Her voice rose with her temper, the thought of being labelled so cowardly as to just abandon her superior officer to the hands of the Resistance stung her pride to its core. It gave her a small degree of smug satisfaction to see the ancient reploids eyes narrow at the term 'maverick'.

"It's not you up and ditching Harpuia that I'm worried about, it would be a great relief to never have to see either of you again. However, I know you're both too grossly incompetent to function without him barking his endless montage of orders at you, so I know you'll be back eventually," his lips were pinched, his eyes dark as he continued. "I just doubt you'll be coming back alone, and I would rather avoid having one of Weils armies coming down on our doorstep."

"We won't go to Weil!" the fire Guardian managed to grind out, his eyes narrowed slits of fury. "If we were going to go crawling back to that twisted bastard we would have done it to begin with! Is your audio sensor damaged or do we just have to say that in some special language for you to get it?!"

"And we're supposed to believe you've both turned over a new leaf, just as quick as that?" Zero crossed his arms over his chest, unrelenting as he scoffed, his deadpan voice never wavering. "How do we know this isn't all just a set up? That Weil hasn't already been tinkering around in your head, trying to get an inside job?"

"You…!" Fefnir spat, burning hate spilling over into the simple word as he took a menacing step forward, one clenched fist raising as the ancient red reploid before him shifted his stance in less than a heartbeat, his hand darting down to the beam weapon concealed at his side, cold blue eyes narrowed and calculating. However the former fire General stopped short to blink in confusion down at the thin blue arm that had suddenly thrust in front of him. The red haze slowly cleared from his vision as he followed its length to meet the meaningful look from his fellow Guardian. The battle of wills lasted only a moment before he growled in disgust, tearing his gaze away and crossing his arms over his chest as he settled to simply pin the Resistance members with a look of seething fury. Even Fefnir knew a battle he couldn't win… unarmed, at least.

"What do you even know about the Faculty?" the ocean General slowly lowered her arm to her side once more, as Zero gave her his usual piercing, unreadable gaze in silence. Her lips pulled back into a small, grim smile, though her eyes still burned. "Nothing. As I thought. You'd be lucky if you could even find the right building, let alone the proper materials to trans back-"

"I'll figure it out." The ancient red reploid interjected abruptly as he spun gracefully on his heel and sauntered towards the door, showing as far as he was concerned, the conversation was over. Ceils mouth popped open as if she was going to speak, thought better and snapped it shut again, instead she cast the two a torn, apologetic look, before also turning and skittering to catch up to her protector. Leviathans face twisted in rage, the clenched fists at her side trembling.

"And what are we supposed to do while you play hero? Sit around and wait patiently like good little prisoners while you lord Harpuias condition over our heads?!" She snapped, her voice becoming shrill as she lost her composure in the wake of her ancient foes unnervingly calm façade once more, and she hated him for bringing her to this state, over and over again. He didn't even look back as the metal door swung shut in the two Resistance members wake. She bent down and grabbed the first thing she could wrap her hands around- a bottle of water- and threw it with all her might against the closed door. It shattered against the unrelenting steel, fragmented shards of ice scattering uselessly across the floor as she turned away with a huff and stomped back to her bedroll. She hadn't even realized she'd frozen it.

-.-.-

The young Resistance leader leaned back away from the screen, petite gloved hands reaching up to wearily rub her temples as her expressive blue eyes fluttered shut. If Neo Arcadias Faculty of Engineering and Research on-grounds security was even half as elaborate as its intricate online defences, then poor Zero really had his work cut out for him. Almost on cue the door leading to the command room slid open, revealing said dispassionate reploid. His aloof blue eyes immediately locked unwaveringly onto her as he stalked purposefully into the spacious room to stand silent upon the large transerver base pad, dutifully awaiting her command. She rose slowly, one small hand gripping the edge of the counter, unseen beneath the disciplined steel behind her young visage.

"I'm sorry, Zero, it took longer than anticipated to hack into the central database. Are you ready?" The solemn warrior only nodded slightly in response to her question before she continued. "The Faculty of Engineering and Research isn't so much one building as it is actually a large organization, consisting of seven main buildings, four military hangers, and several small off-site extensions scattered throughout the city and across the continent. " Ceil paused to shake her head wearily. "It is a massive establishment with many, many branches, Zero. From what we can gather it seems to have a hand in pretty much every aspect of Neo Arcadian life. It's the name behind military advances, medical technologies, education, city infrastructure, and as far as we can tell, it even has roots in parliament- all of the city's major systems are run on networks established through the Faculty." The human paused to sigh softly. "It's a fairly daunting task to navigate such a huge and secure system, but I think I've managed to locate exactly what we're looking for." The large computer screen flickered to life at the young prodigy's words, revealing a computer generated image of what appeared to be a sprawling industrial park consisting of several buildings of various heights and design. "On the main campus there are nine main buildings, however, only seven actually belong to the Faculty- the other two buildings are a university and the student residence. These seven buildings are referred to as the 'Central Seven', and the bulk of production that goes on in the Faculty is done here. The one we need is called the 'General Coulton building', which houses the department of aerospace engineering and design. Now this is where things get a bit difficult…" She hesitated as her gazed flickered from the red reploids intent face to the glowing screen before her. "I've managed to hack into the buildings security system to disable password entry man trap doors. Once I get confirmation from you to say you've infiltrated the building, I'll replace the security video live feed with a pre-recorded loop, so you'll be able to do what you need to without worrying about being picked up on camera. However, you'll still have to deal with any on-site security you run into before they can set off a distress signal, because if the rest of the Faculty suspects that there's something up, I can't say how long I'll be able to keep them from uncovering our hack job and sending in reinforcements."

"Fair enough." The ancient reploid once again nodded to show he understood. "Where do I find the necessary materials?" The pink clad scientist bit her lower lip in silence, her brows furrowed down at something on the screen before her.

"… I'm not sure." She said softly after a short pause. "There are conflicting inventory records listing what materials are kept in what areas. I would say your best bet would be to first check storage bunker AE-273 located on level B-2."

"B-2? As in a basement level?" Zero tilted his head slightly to the side, his expression giving away none of his thoughts.

"Some of the buildings are extremely old, Zero, dating back to before the Elf Wars. The General Coulton building is one of two that we know for certain have a secret underground network of storage bunkers and labs that were built during the war for humans and reploids to take refuge in during fire bombing raids and military invasion." Here she stopped herself and smiled slightly. "Much like our own base. However, most of the deeper levels within the Coulton building have been blocked off due to instability and cave ins. There are a few labs still in use, mostly though the basement levels are used as storage."

"And if they're not there?" Silence followed the legendary reploids simple question as the pink clad scientists eyes flickered down to the small gloved had that still gripped the console. Zero watched her fidget and couldn't shake the sinking feeling that he wasn't going to like what came next.

"I would like… I think it would be best if you took one of the Guardians with you…".

"No." His eyes narrowed slightly at the mere thought. He didn't like that. Ceils lips pinched.

"What Leviathan said earlier was true though, they both know the layout of those buildings, I mean, they went there frequently enough for repairs and formal functions- as far as I know, they were even constructed there." She shook her head in frustration at the ancient reploids stubbornness. "If anyone were to have any idea where else to look, it would be one of them, Zero, even you must know that. Besides, it would probably be good to have someone else there to help you out in a pinch-"

"Or stab me in the back." He paused for a moment as though he was contemplating something before he continued. "Or shoot me in the face for that matter."

"Zero…" The young human gazed imploringly down at her enigma of a protector, the memory of the desperation in their captives voices, their eyes whispering in the back of her mind… Her grip tightened on the console. "Please."

He eyed his commander in silence for a moment longer before he turned away, his face drawing tight with his distaste at the task he'd been assigned.

"Fine." Ceil smiled gently at Zeros growled agreement.

"I'm sure they'll thank you."

"I'm not doing it for them." He finished coolly as he turned away and stalked silently out of the command room.

-.-.-

IMPORTANT: I know this is ridiculously short for the amount of time I've made you guys wait, and I know I suck :(

However, I leave for a month and a half long journey through Europe… tomorrow morning. So between preparing for that, pulling a whole swack of overtime at work, and chipping away at two rather labour intensive costumes, I haven't had much time to work on this… However, I have the next segment already planned out and loosely written up. So it shouldn't take me long to flesh it out and throw it up as soon as I get back (and from this point on, I should be free to post nothing but long chapters like the previous one!). As I've already mentioned before, you guys are awesome and it's so incredibly lame for me to pull this one, however, I didn't want to leave you hanging until I got back, so here we go!

So I guess to sum things up, I sincerely apologize, and I'll hear from you all again in July! :D