Part 1 

                                  Cold Steel
                                    By: Kevin Banda 


Pain. Immense pain. This is what Zero felt as the battle raged on. His
left sholder was punctured. His Speed
Boots were disabled and a strange liquid covered him. As the battle
raged on, Zero wondered why he had
volunteered for the suicide mission. Perhaps it was his ambition, maybe
it was his pain for what happend to X,
or maybe just plain stupidity. He remembered that a few days ago he was
in the training room with X and Mac
working out when the training mission malfunctioned, letting loose the
most powerful blast he had ever seen.
The blue beam of light struck X squarely in the chest, almost completely
destroying him. Zero and Mac rushed
him to the Med Lab. He recalled the repair crew chief telling him that
they needed to stabilize him, and fast.
They succesfully stabilized his system, only to be attacked by one of
Sigma's most trusted guards, Vile. Before
he could do any thing, Vile had taken X. 

They were able to track Vile though,and they found there was a secret
Maveric base deep in the Congo. An
hour later there was a mission briefing. "I can understand if some of
you don't want to join the mission." said
Dr.Cain. A few hunters left the room, but most stayed. 

"I want you to use extra caution. Some of you will not be coming back.
We have extra artillery for this mission.
We're having it loaded into the assault vehicles now. You will be
departing at 0900 hours and should arrive
around 1200 hours. Zero, you'll be leading the squade 1 in the frontal
assault." 

"What?!" 

"You heard me." said Dr. Cain sharply. "Now...." continued Dr. Cain. 

But Zero paid no attention to to the rest of the briefing. As they
loaded the Assault Choppers, Zero prepared
for the toughest battle in his life. 

The next thing he knew he was lying in a ditch with a hole in his arm,
his Speed Boots blown, and a strange
liquid on him. There was an explosion and a power capsule fell from the
sky, landing next to him. He grabbed it
and absorbed it. He felt good enough to continue his journey to the
Maveric base. 

He walked towards the base for about ten minutes without any activity
besides walking when he fell down a
chute. 

"Ow!" he yelled as he hit the hard ground of the trap. It was cold. Very
cold. His artificial heart pounded
loudly. The steel walls closed in. The cold steel. "Uh oh."