Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

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"Who are they ? I mean, I recognized that Elizabeth Sobeck, and the other woman should be Camilla Fedorova, but these men... We never heard of them before, did we ?", Kïma thought out loud.

Aloy was still surprised and hypnotized by the vision of that woman. Was she really her mother ?

"Are those people Old Ones ?", Bast said.

"Yes they are. I want to know what they're talking about! There was a glitch, and this woman, Sobeck, wanted to find a solution against it, so she took those three people with her, but that Sven disagrees with her because of... Money ?"

Aloy nodded slowly her head, turning to Kïma. She added with a flat voice :

"And this man is the one who created machines."

"I don't understand why he wanted to call them peacekeepers, though...", She admitted.

Bast wrapped himself tighter in the blanket before asking :

"What was the language of the video, though ?"

Both women looked at him weirdly before mocking :

"I don't know...? It quite sounded like our language ?"

He shook his head :

"No, they weren't speaking like us ! There was no 'r' !''

"Let me see.", Ordonned the collector.

As she played the hologram, she opened her eyes widely, half smiling half worried. She looked at Aloy and said:

"He's not lying, the language isn't ours ! Check it out !"

She places the focus on Aloy's ears and waited for the video to play. Indeed, the language used here was completely different. She grinned before saying :

"I had this problem once... You just have to go in the settings and change the language. Apparently, ours is called 'English'."

Bast was totally confused but did as she said. Eventually, he was able to watch the hologram and to understand it.

"Let's look for other data points. If you find some, just scan it with your focus.", Explained the machine tamer.

A minute later, he shouted :

"There ! There's one of those data points !"

Aloy looked towards him and, indeed, there was a data point, behind another broken shelf. Three of them scanned it and watched the hologram simultaneously. It was a simple text, but it explained a lot of things :

'Fedorova Camilla,

What's going on ? Dr. Sobeck told me to come as fast as I could and she made me cancel all my conferences. I know this isn't her style, so I repeat my question, what's going on ? She spoke about a glitch, in Faro's robots... Please tell me she isn't being serious. She also spoke of a program, that would save life but that couldn't protect it. Does that mean we cannot be saved ? What's even that program? I heard that the army sent even more soldiers to fight Faro's war machines, so is there a chance for survival ? Please give me answers, Dr. Fedorova. I'm in a plane to the United States right now, so we'll be able to talk in a few hours, but I need to know right now, to think about it.
Cordially, Mirabe Naoed Melku.'

There was another one, right under it :

'Miss M. Naoed Melku,

I received orders not to tell anyone, especially with all the hackers we have nowadays... All I can say is that this program is the most important thing you'll accomplish in your life. We already thought about it, with Elizabeth, Chiaffredo and others experts like Travis Tate or Patrick Brochard Klein... We'll handle the scientific side. We need you to work with Samina Ebadji on something different. We need you to work on the social side. You'll have to teach things, like feelings and languages to someone. Ebadji will be assigned to another work, but she'll come time to time to help you. I can't tell you more of it. You'll have to wait until you're here. I'll tell Elizabeth you're on your way, she'll be honoured to know that you agreed to be apart of this.
Once you arrive, go to the US Robot Command. Ted Faro will talk a bit about the project Zero Dawn there.

Camilla Fedorova.'

Kïma sighed but said :

"We'll, now we're sure that something happened to the robots, that the Old Ones hadn't planned. And they tried to fix it."
She chuckled bitterly before adding :
"Didn't seem to work out very well, considering that none of them are still alive. And that Zero Dawn thing... It's what's written on my tattoo... Do you think there is a link or is it just a... Very very very weird birthmark ?"

As Aloy was staying mute, Kïma shook her shoulder slightly, asking her if she was okay.

"I don't know who that Elizabeth Sobeck is... I came here to find her and she isn't here ! She can't be my mother, she lived decades or centuries ago ! I only have even more questions !", She stormed.

"We find so much informations, Aloy ! We know where to go for example! And about that fact that she couldn't be your mother, I doubt it a lot. I found some documents once that talked about freezing and unfreezing people, to keep them alive. I'm sure the Old Ones found a way to do it.", The collector affirmed, stopping shaking Aloy's shoulder and starting to pat it.

"Where to go ?", Bast repeated, not letting Aloy the time to answer.

"Yes. This place, the US Robot Command, is... Right here.", She answered, using her focus to show her a map of the Ancient world.
"I took this picture in another ruin once. This name is right here. I admit I went there once. But I couldn't enter. The Oseram call it the Grave-Hoard... I could take you there, but erm..."

She turned to Bast, looking quite uncertain before adding :

"To be honest, it's right under a Metal Devil. And I know you Noras aren't crazy about this it..."

"You want to go under the Metal Devil ?", He repeated, stunned. His face had turned really pale, making his nose and cheeks looking even more red.

"Look, it's not like there is anywhere else to go."

"Yeah, you can stay here if you're afraid.", Aloy declared.

He looked at her angrily and replied :

"I'm not afraid, redhead. I'll come with you, because the Matriarchs said I would have to look after you."

"That's too kind ! What would've we done without you ? Two littles girls in distress ! Seriously, icecube, don't you ever dare to say that again.", Raged the huntress, almost slapping him.

"Could you please stop?"

Bast and Aloy glanced at Kïma, who had stepped between them.

"Seriously, you sound like children. Less talking, more walking, please ?", She added, heading towards a door nearby, which seemed to lead outside.

"How can she be so relaxed, after she just found out an obvious link between her and the Old Ones ?", Bast sighed, apparently impressed.

Aloy looked at her silhouette vanishing in the day clarity, knowing perfectly that she wasn't relaxed at all. She was probably all shaken about this discovery, considering that the tattoo was also on their books.

But she didn't want to show it.
She wanted to look strong for her.
She smiled a bit and followed her.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"How are the researches going ?"

"Quite well, I must say. We found one of the doors. Just have to find the girl, now. We need her."

"Do we know what's behind the door ? Was the data point right ?"

"Honestly, if what we learn is true...the data point underestimated a lot what's behind the door. There could be grown ones as well."

"How much exactly ?"

"Enough. But we have to find the girl first... May I ask you something ? I would like to be the one in charge of the search. I'll bring her to the door we found and call you once I'll be sure the data point's informations were true."

"I give you the permission. Don't disappoint me and don't come back to me without her."

"I won't. Thank you."