Zeroth's intelligence will likely be rudimentary when he first awakens.

He is a composite of the bodies and minds of sixteen individuals, and will need to be prompted to recall information present within his brain. This is a simple matter, though -- once he recalls one piece of information, he will naturally remember other things branching out from that original source. It should not take long for him to become an intellectual powerhouse.

My recommendation on his initial training? I'd say an extended battle against a strong opponent.

Nothing wakes someone up like a fight for their life, after all.

"Project Zeroth": Instructions for Use

The light reflected off of Zeroth's bald head as he stared at their group, his dull eyes inscrutable. His arms hung limp at his sides, but the sheer size and thickness held the promise of violence all the same.

He's waiting for us to make the first move, Dragan realized. He isn't smart enough to take the initiative.

The best thing to do would be to disappear into Gemini World, reappear behind Zeroth, and pelt him with enough Gemini Shotguns to reduce him to mush. While he was doing that, Bruno, Serena and Warm Cat could hit him with their own attacks. In short, they'd beat the shit out of him.

Dragan wasn't sure exactly how strong Gertrude's monster was, but with the chills going down his spine he wasn't taking any chances. He went to take the first step forward…

…only for Bruno to stop him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Bruno?" Dragan asked, turning to look at his friend.

Bruno's face was locked into an expression of solid determination. His eyes were locked onto the figure before him. As Dragan watched, a stray spark of purple Aether zipped through his blonde hair.

"You and the girl keep moving," he said, voice hard. "Like you said, search out from here. Me and Serena will deal with this guy."

"But…"

"They'll be torturing that Muzazi guy, right? We can't sit here wasting time, leaving someone in that kind of situation." Bruno's shattered hand tightened slightly on Dragan's shoulder. "Go get him. Okay?"

Dragan went to open his mouth. He went to say that was a foolhardy plan. He went to say there was no guarantee Bruno and Serena would win on their own. He went to say he could come up with a much better strategy.

But then he looked at Bruno's eyes, and he quietly nodded.

"Don't die," he whispered, slapping his own hand on Bruno's shoulder.

Bruno smirked. "Same to you."

They stayed there for just a moment more -- and then Dragan forced himself to break away, running with Warm Cat away from the imminent battle.

He'd find Muzazi. He'd break him free. And then he was coming right back.

Bruno sighed, cracking his shoulder as he turned back to his waiting opponent.

"I talked a lotta shit back there," he said wryly. "You do look strong, though. I'm a little worried."

Zeroth did not respond. He simply continued to stare at Bruno -- eyes unblinking, like a machine waiting for a command. There'd be no conversation or negotiation there. In situations like this, in places like this, the only thing people could do was kill each other.

"Serena?" Bruno muttered to himself. "Little help here?"

He felt the sensation of alien lips pulling his mouth into a grin as Serena took the wheel.

"Sure thing, Bruno!" she said cheerfully.

Unlike Bruno, Serena was not in the habit of wasting time. She shot off towards the enemy with an Aether-infused kick, her hands scraping against the stone path beneath her as she ran. Rock tore itself free from the path, crushing itself into the shape of two broadswords.

She threw one right at Zeroth's waiting face, and kept the other in her hands for melee. Her speed was such that she reached Zeroth at the same time as her projectile -- and at the same time as it crashed into his face, she slammed her own sword into his exposed stomach.

It bounced right off.

Serena's eyes widened, and she looked up at Zeroth's face as the dust from the sword-projectile cleared. She'd meant for that throw to pop his head like a grape, but she'd barely achieved even a nosebleed. The second blow, intended to chop him in half, hadn't even been able to penetrate his skin.

Zeroth looked down at her, his face an expressionless mask.

"Sword… dodge," he whispered, as if reminding himself of something. Despite his brutish appearance, his voice was soft and calm. "Projectile… deflect."

Serena jumped back, grabbing the tree behind her and warping it into a massive wooden longsword. Roaring with exertion, she swung it right at Zeroth's neck. Violet Aether ran across the surface of the blade as it tore through the air, and…

…and Zeroth casually ducked under it. His movement, bolstered by Aether of many colors, had been so fast that Serena hadn't even noticed he was moving until he'd already dodged.

Zeroth looked up at her. He blinked.

"Weak…" he mumbled. "Very weak… die."

"Bruno!" Serena called out.

Bruno took over in an instant, erecting three layered forcefields in front of them, big enough to defend from any attack no matter the size, and --

-- and Zeroth punched through them like they were glass.

Bruno only realized the attack had reached him when he struck the wall on the other side of the room, the only thing stopping him from breaking his back being his Aether. He pulled himself free, chunks of debris falling from the indentation he'd created, his entire body aching from the blow.

Zeroth, still standing in the center of the garden, looked down at his hand. Steam was rising from it, produced by the speed of his movements, and his brow furrowed just slightly.

"I hit you…" he said. "But… not as fast as I meant to… how come?"

This Zeroth thing was monstrously fast and monstrously strong. The only advantage Bruno and Serena had right now was intelligence.

Let's do this, Bruno said. Hit-and-run tactics. Wear him down slowly. He's too strong for anything else.

You're so boring, Bruno… Serena replied. But you're probably right too.

Serena kicked off the ground once again. For his part, Zeroth just followed her with his eyes.

Dragan moved through the halls with Warm Cat, recording his legs into Gemini World to allow himself flight. Sweat trickled down his forehead as they searched. He shouldn't have left Bruno and Serena.

He shouldn't have, but did he have the time or freedom to go back now…?

More than once he'd had to pull both of them into Gemini World in order to avoid patrols of passing warriors. Still, if Gertrude had raised the alarm, he would have expected more of an organized response. It seemed that -- for the moment, at least -- she wanted to keep this whole affair between themselves.

Numerous fibers crawled like worms over the ground, reassembling themselves into Warm Cat's scarf. She solemnly shook her head at him. Those fibers had apparently been dispatched to search nearby rooms and alert them if Muzazi was in them. A useful Aether Armament.

This was the fifth round of searching, fanning out from the garden -- the sounds of battle were still faintly audible from this distance. If they didn't find Muzazi soon, they'd have to come up with a new plan entirely -- and other than tracking down Gertrude herself and forcing her to spill the beans personally, Dragan was drawing a blank.

"Stop right there!"

Dragan's body stiffened.

Three figures had appeared before him and Warm Cat -- members of the Forgiveness Corps, their patchwork clothing bearing the sharp cut of their loose uniform. A grizzled man with a heavy glare, flanked by two near-identical women. Twins, maybe?

This wasn't right. He'd done an Aether ping a minute ago, and come up completely blank. Had they been just cloaking, then, or was this some kind of ability at work?

"You get one chance," the man growled. As he did, brown Aether coalesced into countless tiles floating around him, letters printed onto each. "Surrender."

Dragan exchanged a glance with Warm Cat, his eyebrow raised. Whatever the case…

…surrender wasn't an option.

Gemini World.

Dragan vanished -- and a second later, reappeared above and behind the lead Detective. With a wave of his arm, he fired off a volley of Gemini Shotguns, pelting the enemy group with projectiles. Smoke and dust billowed down the hallway as Dragan landed, his eyes still narrowed cautiously as he peered to see what had become of his enemies.

The smoke cleared. Dragan sighed.

It was never that easy, was it?

The tiles had slotted together in front of the Detective and his companions, forming a square shield that had defended them from Dragan's shots. The man himself was tapping his fingers against the tiles in front of him -- Dragan couldn't tell which exactly, as the sides facing him were blank -- but it was a safe bet that it was part of his ability.

Well, they'd been careless all the same. When they'd erected this shield, they'd left their backs wide open. While Dragan acted as a distraction, the time for a sneak attack had come.

A moment passed. No sneak attack came.

His eyes flicked behind his enemies, to where Warm Cat was perched on the floor. It was difficult to tell through her scarf, but he swore he could see an outline of her grin through the fabric.

She took a step back.

Just like the tiles before him, terrible puzzle pieces clicked together in Dragan's mind. They didn't have the same mission as Warm Cat, did they? They had the exact opposite.

They were here to save Atoy Muzazi.

And she was here to…

That confirmed it.

This Dragan person didn't have the ability to negate Aether. If he did, he’d have just used it to negate his enemy’s ability rather than attacking with those blue shots. He must have used some other kind of trick -- hidden Neverwire or something -- to disable her Aether before. So long as he wasn’t in close range, it seemed he wasn’t a threat.

That was fantastic. That was really, really fantastic.

After all… Olga already knew where her prey was. Patriotta had told her just a few moments ago.

"Wait!" Dragan cried.

Too late!

Olga swung around on her heels, turning away from the battle, and allowed Patriotta to launch her down the hallway. She'd make her way to Muzazi's location as quickly as possible, get inside, and complete her mission by eliminating him.

She'd said it from the beginning. Atoy Muzazi wasn't suited for this kind of work. She'd make sure his hesitation couldn't endanger them ever again.

This felt bad.

Zeroth looked through the garden, confused, trying to locate his enemy. Where were they? They kept popping out from the trees and hitting him, and then going away before he could hit them back. They were weaker than him, but he still couldn't beat them because he couldn't hit them.

It was annoying.

He didn't like this. It felt bad. He'd like for it to stop. How come it was still going? How could he stop it from happening?

A door creaked open in his mind. The voice in the tank had told him. He had been born with a special power. All-Child. The power to control his body however he wanted. He could turn off pain. He could produce che… chemi… he could make stuff inside his body. He could do things with glands.

Smack.

A blow hit in the back of his head, and he stumbled forward. By the time he swung his fist back around, the enemy was gone again. He rubbed the injured spot. It didn't hurt too much, but he didn't like pain. It felt bad.

How did he make it stop feeling bad?

The problem was the trees. The problem was the bushes. The enemy was using them as cover. If he got rid of them, he'd get rid of the problem. But how did he get rid of them?

It would take too long to get rid of them one by one. Besides, it would be a pain, and it would let the enemy attack him more while he was doing it. He needed a way to get rid of them all at once.

Smack.

Zeroth ignored the blow to the back of his leg, even as it made him drop to one knee. He'd thought something a second ago, hadn't he? What had it been? All-Child. The ability to control his own bodily functions. That was the key to it.

On the places on his body where it hurt, it was warm. That was because of body heat. Body heat was a bodily function too.

More doors were opening in his mind, like things he'd once known and now forgotten. It was like he was waking up from a long nap.

Smack.

Another strike to the base of his spine, but Zeroth had other things on his mind. This power was Aether. Yes, Aether. He could infuse it into things to make it stronger. He could infuse it into body heat to make it much, much stronger.

Still on one knee, Zeroth placed his hand flat on the ground. And then…

All-Child.

Body heat intensified in his body to the extreme of an inferno, was pushed out through his hand -- and exploded through the room.

There was a yelp from behind him as the enemy was blown away by wave after wave of heat. The air around him rippled from the sheer temperature, and the plants around him began to smolder as the heat spread further and further out. But no… this wasn't enough.

Zeroth took a deep breath… and let it loose.

That did it.

Every piece of vegetation in a meter around him was instantly incinerated, and one by one those further away began to burst into pillars of flame as well. Smoke filled the air, and sprinklers automatically began to rain down -- but the heat was enough to vaporize the liquid before it could reach the ground.

The enemy was blown back into the corner of the room, instinctively curling up to defend themselves as much as possible. It wouldn't be enough.

The world was on fire.

In the center of it all, amid the swirling wind and flame, pouring all this heat out through one hand, Zeroth was grinning a vacant grin.

"This is fun," he said, perfectly coherent.