Zero was looking left and right outside the main gate of the facility that was right behind his back. He felt the chill of fear and worry. The people who had been hurting and Mary were inside it.

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Zero turned around to see if anyone else wanted to stop him from escaping. Many bodies were thrown about like trash, most were dead and a few that were still alive were already running away from Mary.

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She didn't chase them and was walking towards Zero with a huge smile on her face. Zero turned around, looking back at the freedom in front of him.

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All he could see was a single dirt road that was simply cutting though the thick sub-tropical forest, a mountain to the west and an ocean to the right on the horizon of the forest.

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" You are a tad dirty, so let's go wash up in the ocean." he suggested, to Mary, by removing someone's finger out of her hair.

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She just smiled without a care in the world and ran like a rocket in the direction of the ocean.

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As he was worried that someone was going to catch up and take them back to restart his tests on his body again. The fear that filled Zero's brain sent an sent a signal down into his sub-consciousness that reacted by sending an unusual message to his body and it began to get stronger.

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A small electricity and burning skin fild his nostrils. His pulses shot up as his heart rate increased drastically. A signal shot down from his brain to his muscles.

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"Your body is getting stronger as it's very weak... Upgrading... +3 speed, +4 strength

They responded by expending and relaxing.

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Then his lungs began to bulge as his heart rate increased.

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In order to cool off, his heated body poured out sweat like rain to began to cool him off and he felt like his body changed for the better. He was sure that now he was able to outrun a cheetah.

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Zero felt stronger and somehow understood that he was no longer himself and he liked it.

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Taking a deep breath, his body exploded with enough energy that he was able to catch up to Mary in no time.

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"Are we playing tag now?" he said as he tried to talk in the rush of air that filled his mouth with dirt that she picked up during her run. Her head was tilted up and her gaze was so distant.

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Mary had been looking up at that beautiful sky as a free woman for the first time. She ran thru trees and brush like they were air.

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( Just because your body is harder than a tank doesn't mean that you can just obliterate the environment!) Zero felt like stopping her just as it would be super easy to follow that destruction and find them and catch them again.

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(Anything else except that) he knew that he had to stop her, but didn't want to become just like the people who they just escaped from.

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If he stops her while she is finally enjoying her freedom, then what kind of friend will he be?

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If Zero stopped Mary from enjoying her freedom she would be hurt deeply. No, he could not do that. As her friend, he would definitely never ever do that?

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That would be too cruel.

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But if he doesn't stop her, then they will never really escape and be found to be back where it all started. And Zero was sure that they were not going to let him go ever again.

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(They would put a chip in my brain and would erase Mary's memory to keep us under control,) he understood. This way, no matter what happened, he believed that even his healing was not going to help.

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Zero had to think of the idea of the hot stop array but also to let her be free at the same time.

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" Do you want to play a fun game, Mary?" he came up with a plan and got in front of her to slow her down.

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She froze with shock, her body continued to slide due to momentum. Two thirty-foot long lines with several trees were uprooted as her heavy body cut the ground because of friction.

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Mary excitedly hugged Zero out of nowhere.

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" We will play a game where we make as little sing of us going somewhere as possible.... it's like hide and seek but more exciting." he explained as her hug began to break his bones.

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"Yay I can play a game with my brother!" she threw me up with excitement, and my body flew several miles into the air.

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Looking down slowly, Zero was shocked to see a large ploom of dirt expanding slowly rising like a hill under me as Mary kicked off the ground, creating a small creator jumping up to catch me.

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My body began to fall as Mary crashed into me with a thud and the two figures began dancing in the air.

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As the two escapees tumbled through the air, a large explosion gurgled under the building they had just escaped from. A tremendous amount of distraction followed that strange sound.

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A volcano-like explosion burst out, throwing the remains of the facility with tons of rocks and trees.

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The blast from that experience slapped the pair of dancing figures in the air hard.

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Slamming into them before they reached 500 feet off the ground and pushing them all the way out to the ocean.

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Zero grabbed Mary's hands and drew her close. He was scared of being deposited by the only person who showed any kind of happiness to him.

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The pair literally clang to each other for dear life.

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Mary was enjoying every minute of it as if she was on a rollercoaster park ride.

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Zero was looking at the rapidly approaching ocean and understood then that if Mary was metal, that meant that she couldn't swim.

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(I will make sure that she is alive and not drowned!) he wrapped his arms around her waist and locked his fingers tight together behind her back. He was sure that this way he could hold on to her no matter what happened.

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The waves came closer at a brisk pace, faster than anything he was able to understand.

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They splashed 947 meters away from shore, skipping several times on the top of the waves.

Like some kind of human stone that was thrown by an enormous giant to see how many times he can skip the rock on top of water before it sinks.

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(I don't want to drown) as the two bodies crashed through the waters at such speed that they plunged down to the very bottom of the ocean floor, without slowing down much, they crashed through a wall of coral that broke all the bones in Zero's body and bounced back up to float back up to the surface.

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By the time they were floating back on the top of the waters breathing that fresh air, Zero's body was as good as new all thanks to super healing.

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Mary was heavy and Zero's muscles strained to keep her afloat, struggling hard and, desperately, he felt his body heat up again.

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"Muscle enhancement +24, lung enhancement +13" a chime in his head announced, and Zero had no more problems swimming with someone who was heavy enough to keep a boat under water.

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(I keep hearing these strange announcements at certain times of danger. I wonder what all these numbers add up to? ) Zero was very curious about this body gaining new enhancements.

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.But he did not get an answer to his question.