Zero had spent the rest of the day lost in thought. The journal that he thought might give him answers or at least some insight into who his predecessor was, only ended up bringing up more questions. He decided that he would let his brain digest all of it and pick it up again tomorrow.

That is, after his demonstration that he knew very little about; but if One and the others all went through it, he should be fine. Especially if Five was able to pass, he thought to himself.

That night, his dreams were plagued with the former Zero's final moments. Watching his face turn to anger and for a split second, to fear. He had barely even thought about that fight since arriving at Alpha. As Azrael, he's been through so many he can barely remember faces anymore. Not to mention dreaming is a new phenomena in general for him - before he became human again it was like his consciousness was active 24/7. Reapers don't NEED to sleep.

He wondered if the people in the city gave that Zero the same looks as they gave him. From what he's heard of him, he was the star of the squad who always delivered. Well, almost anyways..

...

*Knock* *Knock*

"Mm…."

*Knock*

*KNOCK*

Zero was roused awake by the knocking at his door. He apparently ended up drifting off to sleep while he was lost in thought last night.

"Hey Zero, come on man. You're gonna be late."

He recognized Five's voice at the door. He haphazardly slid out of bed and started to the door.

"Oh, wait!" Zero looked back to the bed and saw the journal laying out by his pillow. He quickly slid it back under his pillow and went to the door.

The door slid open and there stood an obviously impatient Five. He had his arms crossed and his foot was even tapping a little. "You DO know what today is, right?"

Zero tried to push the fog out of his brain and remember what day of the week it even was.

"Um…I think it's Friday. Hmmm…oh! OH!"

He had almost forgotten about the presentation today.

"Anddd there we go." Five sighed and welcomed himself into Zero's room.

"What time is it??" Zero threw open his drawer and pulled out one of many military shirts decorated with the number '0'. He slipped out of the one he fell asleep in and put on the fresh one.

Five sat on Zero's bed and propped his feet up. "Relax man. You still have like an hour till it starts."

Zero stopped his rush. "..an hour? Then why did you show up saying I was going to be late?!"

"Wait, did One not tell you?"

"Tell me what? And please get your feet off my bed."

Five ignored that last part. "They're doing your big display out in the field."

"You mean outside? I thought it would just be in the training room."

"Hahahaha!....Oh, you're serious. Yeah, those guys wouldn't set foot down here. Anytime we need to meet with someone outside of Haji or military recruits is if we go up to the ground floor."

Zero somehow wasn't surprised by this.

"Soo, did you guys not do yours in the field too?"

"Hm? Oh, I didn't have to do one of those."

"You didn't? But One said everyone already did it!" Zero started to feel uneasy. Five hopped up out of the bed.

"He was probably just trying to make you feel less nervous about it. Only key players on the squad have to do a presentation. Such as the Captain, the ace, and I guess the 'Zero' now. Three, four, and myself didn't have to do it."

Five stopped for a second. "Well, guess I probably made you feel worse about this."

"You did." Zero sat down on his desk chair and put his head in his hands. "I just got in trouble from what I did in the city. If I mess this up too, then-"

"Hey hey, chill out man. Listen - I wasn't around to see it, but the old Zero took his around this I heard. He was gone and back in like less than 2 hours. Which was quicker than…anyone.." Five trailed off at the end of his sentence and seemed to just stare at nothing for a moment.

Zero didn't have to ask to know what was bothering him.

"Well…I'm sure you'll do fine." Five walked towards the door. He turned to Zero and gave a casual 2 finger salute as he exited the room.

Zero stood up and took a deep breath. "It'll be fine. Sadiki wouldn't sign me up for something I obviously wasn't ready for…..right?".

He took the elevator up to the ground floor to meet up with Haji. The last time he had taken this ride up was when they went to the city. Now he wondered what new hell was waiting for him outside the base.

The ground floor of Alpha base was a very public area. There were soldiers and other personnel walking to and fro for whichever reason. Civilians that had business there were also seen on this floor. There were several meeting rooms scattered throughout the ground floor - only approved persons were allowed to use the elevator. Otherwise you would need a guide to go with you.

At each entrance/exit there was a bio scanner and one armed guard. There was a receptionist desk in the center of the room that housed two receptionists to ensure no one had to wait to be tended to. Zero exited the elevator and headed to see the receptionist.

One of the receptionists looked up as he approached. She had curly brown hair and small dimples on her face. She always wore the most interesting earrings and seemed happy to meet anyone, no matter who or what they may be. She was Zero's favorite.

"Oh, hi Zero! Haji was just asking about you."

"Do you know which way he went?"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Yep, he's just outside the side exit."

"Thanks, I'll head that way then." Zero said, flashing a smile. The receptionist waved goodbye to him and Zero was off on his way.

He passed through the bio scanner and caught sight of Haji just as he opened the exit door.

"Good, Five got to you." He said, as he took the last few drags on the cigarette he had up to his mouth.

"Yes, sir."

Haji flicked it down and grounded it into the floor with his foot. "Let's move."

He led Zero to a nearby jeep that was parked. A guard stood by it but dismissed himself as they approached. Haji got behind the wheel and Zero jumped into the passenger side.

"No driver today?" Zero asked. One of the latest batch of recruits had been tasked to drive them around last time.

"Nope. Where we're going, only invited guests are allowed to even set foot there." He looked at Zero. "And you better add a sir at the end of that next time."

They left the base and went the opposite direction they had gone previously to the city. Unlike the beautiful ocean view last time, this time it was just all trees and even more trees.

Silence quickly settled in after about 40 minutes of driving. Zero peeked at Haji out the side of his eye. He had such a stern disposition to him and at the same time…he seemed so relaxed. He was wearing his sunshades today so he looked especially tough guyish.

"So, are you able to tell me anything about the test? Sir." Zero said, finally breaking the silence.

Haji kept looking towards the road as if Zero hadn't just asked a question of him. Several seconds passed by before he finally responded, "You won't be doing anything that you wouldn't encounter while on a mission."

"Oh." Zero decided not to push the subject any further as he could already tell that Haji wasn't going to give out any specifics. Then suddenly Haji took a sharp turn off the road into a dirt road that could easily have been missed while driving down the highway.

"Oof," Zero let out as they hit several bumps in the road that jostled around the contents and people in the vehicle. Zero thought to himself, is there really a government facility off this beaten path?

As they drove down this 'road' they began to pass several parked vehicles with no one inside. They seemed like very high end cars. Definitely not something a common person would own when there's hardly any gasoline for the taking.

Haji parked the jeep behind a large hummer. As Zero got out, he took a closer look at the big truck.

This was a military vehicle.

"Come on, they're already waiting for us." Haji noted. Zero followed behind Haji as they pushed further down the road.

As they walked Zero was getting the feeling that something or someone was watching them. He would see something move out the corner of his eye, look to where the source of the movement was, and there would be nothing there. This didn't help out his nerves in the least.

Eventually the trees gave way to a large clearing. That's where he saw about 8 or 9 guys standing near the entrance to the clearing conversing with each other. Some of them had nicely crisp suits on while others had their military gear on. Then, in the middle of all the conversation, was a large man who was sporting an officer's coat. It had several stars and insignias on the front of it.

"It's the Major General…" Zero spoke softly under his breath. He'll never forget the look of this man as long as he lives. The one who freed him from his torment to throw him in an altogether different torment. But he supposed anything beat going around eating people.

The Major General looked from the balding man he was talking to and saw Zero and Haji approaching.

"Ah there he is! The man of the hour." He had such a booming voice that was layered with lots of personality. He pushed past the others and came up to the pair.

"Haji, good to see you." He placed one of his strong hands around Haji's shoulder. As intimidating as Haji was, he looked like a child in the grasp of the Major General.

"Likewise, sir." Haji turned to Zero. "This is the Major General, Marcus Conway. He-"

"Now Haji, I'm sure he remembers me very well." He looked to Zero with a grin on his face. He reached out his hand to him. "It's not everyday I get to do field work anymore - was nice to see if I still had what it took out there against Azrael. Glad to see you were able to acclimate to the life of a military dog." Marcus said in a joking tone.

Zero hesitantly reached out and shook his hand, "T-thanks, Major General. Sir."

Zero was thrown for a loop. This man was a stark contrast of the one he met on the battlefield. The one that put even Azrael in a desperate state.

"Alright, right this way boys. Time to get this show on the road."

He led them over further out into the clearing. Zero looked over his shoulder and saw all the men who were conversing earlier moving further back towards the entrance to the clearing.

They stopped almost dead center of the clearing. The Major General turned and faced Zero, "See those men that we just passed?"

Zero nodded.

"They are the big wigs from Command. They've come all this way for one reason - to see what the new Zero can do. The funds allotted to our base are completely decided by the opinions of those gentlemen."

"I-I see. Sir."

"Yes. So, that's why we're here. I'm assuming Captain One and Staff Sgt. Sadiki didn't give you any details about today?"

"No sir, they didn't."

"Great! I told them not to so that we could get a genuine response out of you today and see how you deal with the situation at hand."

So I'm just a toy that you want to experiment with, Zero thought to himself. He wouldn't dare speak that out loud.

"This shouldn't take long. Staff Sgt. Sadiki and myself will be going over to join those fine men while you put on a show for us." Marcus patted Zero's shoulder and walked off towards the others - leaving Zero by himself in the clearing.

"Let's just get this over with."

Marcus approached the men, "Alright my good sirs. I think it's about time we start this demonstration."

"Wonderful. I can't wait to see what this one can do." One of the men spoke.

"Yes, agreed. Such a shame what happened to the other one. He really impressed me all those years ago at his performance out here."

"Let us not forget that it was this Zero that put him down. So I can only assume we'll see something…magical today."

Haji listened to the men from Command drone on about their expectations of Zero. He couldn't care less what they had to say.

Instead he nudged the Major General. "Sir, are we going with the usual?"

Marcus thought for a moment while stroking his chin. "Hmm. I think so. Go ahead and-"

"Hold on a second there, Marcus." The first man who had spoken interjected. "I think we may have something quite special on our hands here. If Haji's report is correct, this will be the first time user we've had in this program since it was first launched."

"What are you suggesting?" Marcus asked him.

"Well, only that we up the ante a bit more this time around."

The other men nodded in agreement.

"Oh that's a good idea. The others at Command will want to know what he's capable of. They all had such high hopes for the last Zero, so this one must have even more potential!"

Haji pursed his lips. He didn't like where this was going. "Uh, Major General, sir. If I may, Zero has only been with us for almost a month. I don't think-"

"Sgt. Sadiki." One of the men spoke up. "If memory serves me correctly, the last one was only here for a few weeks as well before we gave him this test. And he not only met the challenge but exceeded it. It would be a waste of time to not see if this one can meet that same benchmark under more pressing circumstances. We don't want the same type of Zero that ultimately couldn't hack it out there. We want something better. Something we can really show to prove that this program truly is humanity's greatest weapon."

Marcus turned his gaze to Haji, "It'll be fine Haji. Either he passes or…we'll have to find someone else. Business as usual." He then pulled out a small whistle from his inner coat pocket. It was a few inches long and was black in color. There were a few holes of varying sizes along the side of it.

Out in the clearing, Zero was starting to wonder what was taking them so long. The longer he stood there the more his nerves were getting the better of him.

*FWWWEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTT*

The loud whistling sound seemed to cut through his ears. "Ahh! What the hell was that?" He held his ear in discomfort as the sound seemed to still be bouncing around in his head.

*Rustle*

Zero's eyes shot to the treeline as a branch had moved. There was no breeze out today so there was no excuse for the branch moving - other than there being something in the trees.

*Rustle*

There was another sound - but from a different area.

"What's going on here?" Zero looked behind him at the others. They had all huddled closer together with Marcus and Haji out in front of them - all of them looking intently in his direction.

Has it already begun, Zero questioned. He turned back around and immediately jumped back several feet.

"What the actual hell…"

Coming out of the treeline were several Reapers - their eyes glowing a deep red, drool dripping down from its rows of teeth. Zero had never actually looked upon another Reaper before, aside from just pictures. He now understood the fear people felt when Azrael came upon them. The Reapers were huge, at least almost 7ft in height. Everything about them from their twisted horns to their long muscular limbs just sent a shiver down his spine.

Before he could begin to decipher the situation any further, the Reapers attacked.