Chapter Two

This mountain was where the Operations were issued. Not many knew of it, and those who did were official personnel of the base itself. This entire base was classified under Operation Peace, meant to hunt down and eradicate the followers of the Zodiac Empire, which fell almost two years ago at the hands of Zack and the Army. That was where Zack entered, the secret entrance into the side of the mountain. It was not hard for him to find the War Room, where the main Operations were issued. It was a large rectangular room with a circular table in the middle and over fifty people working.

"Ah," came a voice as Zack entered the room with Trae behind him, "Here he comes." Zack let a grin appear on his face as he hurried down the steps and onto the main floor of the War Room, where Richards waited with a large, warming smile upon his face. Richards was a tall man, with brown skin, dark brown eyes and a brown beard that covered the lower part of his face. He was warm, kind and a fierce warrior, Zack knew. "How did the mission go?" asked Richards, and Trae shrugged, "Smoothly."

Zack chuckled, and he saw Richards raise his eyebrows slightly, an invitation to continue. "We found one of the last bases of Zodiac Terrorists. We took them all out." Again, Richards raised his eyebrows sightly, "There's something you're not telling me." Zack sighed, shot a nervous glance at Trae and then muttered, "The Black Knight was leading them." Richards eyes widened in surprised now, his mouth falling open slightly, and Zack hurriedly said, "But this time he is dead. I made sure of it." Richards shook his head and turned to the large circular table, his shoulders tense.

Both Trae and Zack stepped to either side of him, and Richards reached towards the surface of the table, which was made of pure glass. The moment his fingertips made contact, the glass changed from crystal clear to bright blue, holographic shapes rising like the waves of an ocean and remaining suspended in animation over the table. "There has been something I have been meaning to speak with the two of you about something important,' he murmured, and the two friends nodded. "There has been a worrying number of enemies who are seemingly dead but appear in a separate place," Richards continued.

"At first I thought it was because we weren't putting enough effort into killing them…until three days ago." The holograms reformed on the table to form two floating images. Trae's mouth dropped open, and Zack just stared, his eyes wide in surprise. On the left side was Zack, his blue hair sticking to his head with sweat as he fought a Zodiac Terrorist. Then, the second image was of Zack yet again, fighting not a Zodiac but a U.S Army Soldier, his blue hair seemingly darker. Zack looked at the times the images were taken, and he felt his breath leave him.

They had both been captured at the exact same time, in different places. "I don't understand," Trae mumbled, his eyes flicking between both images with confusion that mirrored Zack's. "This must be a lot to take in," Richards said to Trae, and then he slowly turned to Zack. "You were not on a mission three days ago," Richards said, and Zack stared back at his boss, surprise on his face. "You can't possibly believe the one attacking Soldiers is me!" he exclaimed, and Richards looked down, "We have nothing else to believe."

Zack's eyes flicked to Trae, who looked angry as well, staring at the back of Richards head with fury. "Then I apologize that I am about to give you more reason," Zack said, and Richards eyes went wide. Then, he dropped to the ground, Trae standing over him with a small Shocker in his right hand. "Didn't even notice I swiped it," Trae muttered, and Zack turned away, looking around the room at the fifty officials who stared back at him, unsure of what to do now that their boss was unconscious. "Just a drill, go back to work." Zack said, and everyone else nodded before returning to their jobs.

"We should get out of here before someone realises it's not a drill," Trae whispered, and Zack nodded, quickly turning with his friend and the two of them then hurrying out the room. No one apparently noticed that they were leaving until they were outside the Mountain. A commander stood watching the main gate, and when he turned to see Zack and Trae approaching, his expression darkened. "Why are you two here?" he demanded, stepping forward to block the path out of the facility, and the two exchanged unsure glances. "Commander Wire, we are to leave, and you are to ask no questions," was Zack's response.

This was the wrong thing to say. Commander Wire immediately reached for the pistol at his side, and Trae leapt forward, tackling Commander Wire. The two hit the ground, and after seconds of struggling, Wire kneed Trae in the side, and Trae rolled away, groaning in pain. Wire leapt to his feet, gun in hand, and now Zack stood before him, his fists raised slightly. "Wire come on now," Zack said, yet Commander Wire raised the gun to point at Zack. "Deserters are not permitted," he hissed, and Zack sighed. He slowly lowered his fists, and then jumped up, kicking the gun from Wire's hand.

Wire snarled and threw his fist forward, yet Zack caught it and twisted, hard. Wire flipped through the air and crashed onto the dirt, gasping in pain as Zack helped Trae to his feet, and then the two of them ran.