A/N: ...This came out much less silly than I planned. Oh well.

Warnings: Really really obvious Mega Man X spoilers.

Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit.

"Always good to see you, Ivo. Tea?"

"Two sugars, please."

"You heard the man," Wily ordered the little serving-robot. Unlike the Robot Masters, it had no personality, nothing resembling free will. It existed to serve. It completed its task quickly and efficiently, and soon the two roboticists clutched warm mugs between their fingers.

"So, doctor, how are you faring in your plans?"

"Ah, well, you know how it is." Robotnik shrugged. "You make a few threatening broadcasts, terrorise the world with a new armada of robots, then your eternal enemy breaks every single one of them." He shook his head as Wily nodded sympathetically. "I don't know, Albert. I'm thinking about taking a break for a while."

"What?!" Wily screeched, outraged. "Where's your pride, man, your honour as a mad scientist?"

"It's been worn down the past fifteen times or so that blue hedgehog outwitted me at every turn." Robotnik sighed, looking down at his mug. "I think I need a proper break, you know. Lie low for a while. It'd give me a chance to build some proper robots, not useless things thrown together in a few days." He smiled wistfully. "I've come so close recently, Albert, you wouldn't believe it. A few quiet months to catch Sonic off-guard, that's the ticket."

"It's still pathetic that a man of your caliber is beaten constantly by a ball of fur and spikes."

"You don't exactly have a shining record, Albert, I wouldn't point fingers. And that greatest creation of yours, has he shown up yet?"

Wily's eyebrow twitched. Bass had deserted him a while ago. The black robot hadn't been seen in months, and the order had been given a few days ago for Robot Masters to shoot on sight if the traitorous little worm ever resurfaced.

"Humph, I've long since disowned that useless heap of scrap metal. Greatest creation?! Hah! No, I'm working on something much better," he said, an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Oh?" Robotnik leaned forward, interested. "Care to share the details?"

"Ah, come with me." Wily stood up, beckoning. As two doctors took their leave, the serving-bot quickly cleaned away the empty tea mugs.

* * *

"Hm, this is very impressive, even for you," Robotnik said appreciatively. "Is all that hair really necessary, though?"

"It's about style, Ivo," Wily sniffed. "He will be magnificent, just wait and see."

Wires and connecting cables were strewn all around the spacious basement laboratory and the soft hum of the many computers lining the walls gave the room an odd ambience. The main attraction, as it were, was Wily's latest foray into world domination and the destruction of his own blue menace, Mega Man. It was just a torso and head at this point, with striking red and white armour and a long waterfall of blond hair hanging over the table's edge and pooling on the floor. Even half-finished, Robotnik could tell that this was something else. Wily really was going all-out on this one.

"But what if he turns out like the one who left you, Albert? Are you giving this one free will?"

"Oh, no," Wily scoffed. "I learned my lesson with Bass. He was an exact mirror of Mega Man, down to the same free will and choices he could make, and look at how that turned out. No, Zero will obey me utterly. He will complete his missions, and return to me. Nothing more, nothing less."

"That's the way to do it," Robotnik agreed. Silently, though, he was a little unnerved. The face on this new robot, Zero, looked so real, so human. What was left of Robotnik's moral fibre didn't like the idea of that realistic face belonging to a soulless killer.

"Perhaps I could lend him to you once he's done with Mega Man," Wily chortled, clearly pleased with himself. "Zero would have no trouble dealing with a hedgehog, of all things."

"You tell yourself that," Robotnik dismissed. "I'm not that desperate yet, doctor."

"Well!" Wily clapped his hands. "I'm in a good mood, and Zero won't build himself. Care to lend a hand, Ivo?"

"Oh, of course. It'd be a pleasure." Even as he said it, plans were forming in his mind. If he switched a few wires, changed some coding while the old man wasn't looking...who'd know until it was too late? Mindless servitude and killing...Robotnik could tell that Zero was meant for more than that, even if Wily couldn't. A little personality couldn't hurt. It'd give Zero a fighting chance of having his own life, one surely destined for greatness.

"Pass me that screwdriver, will you?"

The end