#zeroha in there if u squint

[giraffles]

Ready To Go

it’s day six! we’re almost done! today’s prompt is “favorite minor character” and specifically, not an arcadia crew member. it’s zero. it’s always going to be zero, he’s my fAVE.

set in the Lights Will Guide You series, set before Keep It Low, and featuring zero being a dad and daiba being angry c: 

Ready To Go

"Sir," Ishikura wheezes, "We have a problem." "A fun problem?" Harlock answers before Zero can get a word in, "Or a problem-problem?"

you can also read it here on AO3!

"Sir," Ishikura wheezes, "We have a problem." "A fun problem?" Harlock answers before Zero can get a word in, "Or a problem-problem?" "Problem-problem, I guess?" Ishikura parrots back, "Nevermind, it doesn't matter, just please come with me." If he didn't sound so distressed, Zero would have said it could wait a moment. But instead he hands the half constructed sniper rifle off to Rai and follows Ishikura from the room. He means well, even if he's excitable, but he knows better than to burst in like the sky is falling. Unless something is actually wrong. "What happened?" Zero asks as he keeps pace beside him. They're only a few scant hours from raiding a terrorist cell, so it's the worst time for a distraction. There are still preparations to be made, plans to double and triple check, and trigger happy former-pirate-mercenary-whatevers to keep in line. If they've been compromised, then the past two days of grueling set up and utmost secrecy would be for nothing. "It's-- well-- complicated," Ishikura admits, "Someone hacked into the stockhouse." "Someone what," though their arms stockhouse was basically a glorified mobile safe, it shouldn't have been hacked of all things, "That's impossible." "I know! But someone did, we found it open and--" "What's missing?" "Nothing." "Nothing?" Zero pauses, "They didn't take anything?" Ishikura stops just before the tent, which is guarded by other team members, one of whom was sporting a black eye. Zero feels like there's a lot more to this story than he's getting from his subordinate’s ramblings. "They must have sent a kid in to do the dirty work," Ishikura goes on to explain, "We caught him trying to carry out an anti-tank gun." That more than anything else is deeply troubling. Children should never be anywhere near war and bloodshed, but the world doesn't work like that, and all too often they get thrown into the line of fire. If there's one thing that bothers Zero the most about this job, encounters with kids would have to be it. Angry yelling pours from inside the makeshift prisoners tent. He thinks he recognizes some of the words. “Good lord,” Zero can't help but be shocked when he finally enters, “How old are you?” The scrawny kid handcuffed to the chair sneers at him. He can't be more than maybe fifteen, with dirty blonde hair and fierce eyes. Zero has picked up enough Japanese between Kei and Harlock that he catches curses being spat their way, and colorful ones at that. The would-be thief also has the marks of a struggle, between a split lip and blooming bruises, and he would feel worse if he hadn't already seen the guard outside.   “He won't tell us anything,” Acceluder says to him, “And he pretends he doesn't understand English." As if to prove a point, the teen pointedly looks away, becoming very interested in the ceiling. Zero knows better. "I can handle this. Go help Marina." "But sir--" "Just trust me," Zero insists, "But send Kei over, would you?" Ishikura is obviously not okay with leaving him alone without any backup, but it's not as though they have a dangerous agent being held there. They're just a child; no matter how much fight or determination they've gathered up. And he has a feeling that the usual intimidation tactics aren't going to work. (God, not that he wants to submit some kid to an interrogation in the first place, but they have to find out who disabled the security computers.) Maybe if Zero has him by himself, he can show that they're not in any danger, and get some actual answers out of the boy. Ishikura and the others relent, leaving to find ways to be useful or to send Kei in his direction. Zero drags a chair over. "What's your name?" He asks, but the kid huffs and glares at him. Zero also refuses to believe that he doesn't comprehend English, but he tries Spanish and German just for kicks, which elicit a blank response. "Where are you from?" He tries again, "Do you live nearby? The closest town is a pretty long walk." Silence ensues. The kid refuses to make eye contact of any kind. Zero sighs.   "Listen, no one is going to hurt you. I can't help you if you don't help me--" "I don't need your help!" They snap back at Zero, flushing red as they realize their mistake. They clam up immediately.

Their tiny prisoner refuses to say anything more until Kei rolls in on the scene. She raises an eyebrow as Zero explains the situation, and throws a few lines of lightning fast Japanese at the boy. He sticks his tongue out at her. "I really just need to know who hacked the system," Zero grumbles, "And who wanted the weapons in the first place. We can let him go after we’re done here." "No promises," Kei says, "But I'll do my best." She shoos Zero off to a far corner before stealing his seat and chattering away. Part of him wishes he'd made more of an effort to learn the language half of their ragtag team was fluent in, but it was easier said than done. He picked up most of his interpreter skills through osmosis anyway, rather than dedicated study, and he'd had other priorities lately. Priorities that mostly consisted of making sure Harlock didn't do anything extra stupid. While Kei talks, Zero pretends not to be interested. Kei has the boys attention anyway, which allows him to observe their body language unhindered, and he watches them begin to unravel. For all their vitriol, they look tired and hurting. Zero doesn't think it's an act. Not with the way they've reacted so spontaneously, without control. If some shadowy organization is employing him, then it's not as though they've given him much training. Which also isn't good; that means the kid is just a disposable pawn to someone. The thought makes Zero increasingly angry. "He says he did it." Kei pipes up. "Did what?" "Disabled the security system." "That can't be right," Zero frowns, "I need to know who actually gave him the program--" "I said I did it!" Both of them stare at the kid. "I did it," he repeats, "Your encryption codes are shit." "Then who were you stealing the weapons for?" "Me." "Why on earth does a twelve year old need an anti-tank gun--" "I'm fourteen!" They all but yowl, "And I'm going to kill those bastards if it's the last thing I do!" Kei is trying not to laugh, but Zero can see her shoulders beginning to shake. He wonders why these things always seem to happen to him. 

It takes a lot of yelling (from the teen, not from them) to finally learn that he does have a name, and a somewhat reasonable purpose for trying to jack armaments from them. He goes by Tadashi, and refuses to give a surname, and when Zero asked where his parents were, he point blank stated they'd been murdered. Apparently he's here on a quest for vengeance against the perpetrators, who he thinks are also the terrorist cell their own team plans to move on. Though Tadashi had intended to try to attack them as a one-person army. Just thinking about how that could have gone wrong alarms Zero immensely. "We can't just leave him here." "No," Marina agrees, "But we can't just let him run off to his death. We'll keep him here until we're done with this mission." Zero can't argue with that. Still, he wishes there was something more they could do than just drop him off back in town, to leave him with local authorities and hope he could find his way. It reminds Zero that for any good they do in the world, there's still so much they can't change. There are too many things for them to fix by themselves. He entertains the idea of maybe bringing Tadashi back with him, but rejects it just as fast. The life they lead is no place for a child, no matter how grown up he insists he is. 

"Sir," Ishikura comes to him again once they're back on U.S. soil, "We have a problem." Zero clamps his hand over Harlock's mouth before he can say anything. "What is it now?" Ishikura makes a face, and in the distance familiar screeching can be heard over the white noise of the airport. "You can't be serious." Except Marina and Acceluder are dragging Tadashi along, who's struggling for all his worth, but also half frozen and shaking like a leaf.   "He hid in the landing gear," Rai shrugs, "He's lucky he's not dead. Immigration is going to have a fit, though." "Holy shit," Harlock on the other hand thinks it's hilarious that they have a hypothermic stowaway, "That's badass." "It's illegal," he sighs, but is pulling his coat off to hand to the trembling boy, "But I guess we're stuck with him now."