You would never have known by looking at Sigma just how deep the fire raged beneath his skin. He spoke normally: dispensing wisdom, compassion, and reasonable orders to his men. He smiled and laughed with them, ate with them, and trained with them, quietly analyzing all their weaknesses and strengths.

And all the while he waited, with the patience of a predator, for the perfect moment to destroy them all.

It was 3 am, and the halls of Hunter Base were quiet as Sigma moved toward the research area, deep in thought.

His plans hinged on a Maverick- a mysterious blond Reploid, unearthed like a raw diamond from the heart of a mountain, who had captured the imagination of half the Maverick Hunter forces. Whispers were flying wild all across the base: he was a prototype, he was an experiment gone wrong, he'd slaughtered an entire platoon of Hunters, he was some military weapon the humans were planning to use against all Reploids... The fact that the Maverick was safely confined in the vault of Hunter Base's quarantine area now didn't stop the rumors either; it only spread them faster.

The Maverick was being painstakingly restored under an experimental initiative they were calling Project Hope- Sigma's suggested name. Ostensibly, he wanted to see if the Maverick's crazed power could be refocused for Hunter use; it might lead to a new method of rehabilitation for Mavericks and end the grisly business of 'retirement'.

But the fire that had been sleeping inside the blue glass jewel in the Maverick's brow, the fire that sang and screamed now in the conduits beneath Sigma's skin, was the true reason. The fire demanded the pretty blond's life; demanded that Sigma find a way to restore it, and promised (oh, the sweetness of its promises, like silk in the mind) that this one, this one was the future. This one would bring the new world for all the people.

Sigma smiled to himself as he touched the scars that Maverick had raked across his eyes with his fingernails during their battle. He told everyone who asked why he didn't have the synthskin repaired that he wanted it to be a reminder that even he, the leader of the Maverick Hunters, was not immortal. That it would serve to remind to all who saw it never to underestimate the enemy at any time. This was considered a proof of his wisdom.

But the real reason Sigma kept the scars was as a proof of devotion.

As he walked, Sigma released a key-chain remote from a slot in his wrist into the palm of his hand. It would have been an invisible gesture even if someone had passed close by. With his middle finger, he depressed the remote's single red key.

He turned the corner and stopped in a blind spot between camera fields, then waited several seconds for the live feeds to be seamlessly overrun by a prerecorded loop, spliced and edited in from the quiet night before. After another few moments, Sigma nodded and continued to his destination - the heavy concrete and titanium doors of the Quarantine area.

This section of the base had been designed to withstand a nuclear strike, developed as a bolt-hole for human officials in case of a severe emergency. Now, its thick and protective walls made the perfect place to secure dangerous Mavericks; if they exploded, they could do little damage, and no currently existing weapons could even dent the thick walls. It was an utterly inescapable cage.

Sigma tapped out a single-use code that he'd prepared more than a week prior; the code would only work once, and all traces of its use would evaporate from the security network 10 minutes after access. Dr. Doppler's scientific team that normally clustered in this area were away, at a conference that Sigma had recommended they attend. Sigma didn't fear his scientists, but he didn't believe in leaving situations to chance.

Tonight was too important to be sloppy or overconfident about his preparations.

The door hissed open, moving slowly on its nuclear-bunker hinges, and the massive Reploid slipped into the unlit silence behind. He pulled the door closed behind him with a soft grunt; after a moment, the strings of overhead storm lights flickered on, one after the next.

And there was the Maverick, beautiful even in its defeat. Sigma felt his core accelerating at the sight, and he smiled savagely as he approached the table.

The Maverick - named Zero, according to his program dump - lay inert on a table, part of his chest armor and both of his arms removed and carefully set aside nearby. His narrow neck, grey waist and black thighs were strapped to the table in sturdy metal clamps. Cables plugged into his white ear cones and twin chest ports. Long, shining blond hair spilled around his sides and neck and off the head of the table to dangle above the floor. His cleaned face was a perfectly formed thing, romanesque nose and narrow chin, masculine and handsome. His CPU-crystal, recently restored, shimmered like a precious stone in the pale white ceiling lights.

Sigma reached out and stroked that blue crystal, running his finger along the tetrahedron's sharp edge to its point.

"Let me tell you a story," Sigma leaned forward to whisper over Zero's closed eyes. "There once existed a legendary blue diamond called the Hope. It's rumored this stone was stolen from the eye of a statue of a goddess, Sita, wife of Rama, the seventh incarnation of the creator of the universe. The human who stole it from the gods was torn apart by wolves. Then, the jewel was recut and traded hands countless times. Rape, murder, beheadings, mutilations, suicides - I'm sure you can appreciate these- followed its path through history. Kings and sultans were dethroned in the attempt to possess it. The curse of the jewel destroyed all who attempted to claim the Hope for themselves."

A small pain bit the end of Sigma's finger, and he drew his hand back to look at it. The edge of the crystal had slit the synthskin, and a single drop of orange-red coolant- Reploid blood- had welled up.

Sigma glanced at the blood on his hand for a moment, listening to the fire roaring inside his ears, and slowly rubbed his thumb against his forefinger until the blood disappeared. He chuckled. "Point taken. But you will not destroy me."

The smile on Sigma's face grew darker, deeper. "Project Hope... Zero ... it's time for you to awaken."

He produced one more item- a small silver disc barely the length of his finger- and inserted it into a nearby computer, then turned to it and began to type rapidly on the keyboard. The screen flashed open, and Sigma's eyes darted between the keyboard and the screen several times. When his work was complete, he smiled, then turned back to Zero, released his neck from the clamp, and slipped his hand under the back of the Maverick's head, feeling carefully at the back of Zero's throat until his fingertip nudged in.

With a sudden gasp, Zero came alive; his eyes flashed open, a sharp vivid blue, and the stone at the center of his helmet flared once before subsiding into a soft regular glow. He snarled, baring his clean white teeth as soon as he realized his situation; he jerked his body sharply against the clamps, chest straining to rise. Then he spoke, low and soft, a feral edge in his voice.

"Release me...gnn! Now! I have to fulfill my mission...!"

Sigma moved around to the head of the table, placing his hands on Zero's armless shoulders and looking down at him with a smile. "And what is your mission...?"

The Maverick nearly spat the words as he struggled; hatred flashed in his eyes like the edge of a sword. "I have to... kill the one known as ...X..."

For a long moment, Sigma simply didn't know how to respond. He stared down at the pretty blond face in disbelief, as his mind began to whirl, the fire singing: blue, the lies that cover the world... red, those lies destroyed and sealed away, forever...

X? That odd old robot Dr. Cain is fond of? He has no value...does he? "Who told you this, Zero?" Sigma pressed, leaning down closer over the writhing blond, watching the light slide over the Maverick's face. "Who gave you this order...?"

"My creator... Dr. Albert Wily... the greatest roboticist in the world..." Zero gave another vicious lunge up, and Sigma slapped Zero down- with a hand as large as Zero's entire face. The Maverick's cheek flared red as he sank back into the table, blinking in complete surprise.

Sigma's expression never changed, but Zero's words were opening up his thoughts, opening paths he hadn't considered before, and connections were winding together before his eyes. That robot, X... was someone's enemy? He seems so utterly dismissible... perhaps there's more to him than there appears to be. Dr. Cain is fascinated with him...

I need to know more.

And even though the fire protested, as keenly as he felt the cries of the new world buried in the filth of the present, Sigma mastered his feelings with ease, closing his eyes for only a moment to gain absolute control. Not yet, then. The future can wait a little longer.

"You can't achieve this mission," Sigma said finally, refocusing on Zero's face. "Not as you are now, at any rate. We plan to reprogram you and put you to work for we Maverick Hunters. You will be used to destroy our enemies. You'll fight when we wish you to fight. You'll be a magnificent weapon. You may even become stronger than me... yes, I can see that potential in you."

Zero hissed, lips pulling further back from his teeth. "Nobody can stop me. Nobody's stronger than me."

Sigma lowered his mouth to Zero's ear. "You didn't let me finish. You see..." His fingers moved, pulling a strand of Zero's hair away from his neck. "... Your enemy is within your reach, if you're willing to play along."

Now he had Zero's full attention. "A crazed Maverick is useless to us. But a Maverick Hunter can roam freely. He may dispense justice in the manner that he sees fit. He is subject to less- and more- scrutiny than other Reploids. He serves Reploids first. He may forge allies, and make connections; connections that would otherwise be unobtainable."

Zero grew silent, thoughtful. He ceased to struggle, though his expression remained guarded and wary. Finally, he rasped. "What are you suggesting?"

Sigma leaned down again, hands to either side of Zero's knees. "Your programming is scheduled to be wiped clean before we put you into service. But it doesn't mean that you have to disappear. It would suit my purposes as well if your objective was still within you. But it would have to be hidden. Sealed away until the right time."

"... And you'd be the one with the key?" Zero's expression was comically skeptical.

Sigma made a show of moving away. "Your master is dead, Zero. By our best guess, your body has been sealed away for almost a century. No human could live so long. But your objective still exists. And I know where he is. It seems you have no real choice except to accept me as a replacement... as your keeper."

Zero's eyes flared again. "I only have ONE master, and I won't serve you!"

"Allow me to remind you why you have no choice in the matter." And with a touch of a button, Sigma cut the power to Zero's body off. The Maverick looked briefly horrified before the soft whirring of servos inside his chest lurched to an abrupt halt. Zero's face was frozen in his look of alarm.

When he was reinitialized, Zero found Sigma's face close to his own once more, the Hunter Commander's smile broad and vicious. "Do you want to live, Zero?"

Zero shuddered in a breath, face relaxing from its frozen grimace and then twisting into distaste and resentment. "...yes," he murmured, redness moving across the bridge of his nose.

"Do you want to fulfill your mission?"

"... at any cost." Zero's eyes slid closed, still shivering at the other robot's formidable power.

"Then you accept."

A low sigh was the only answer.

Sigma exhaled and pulled away, turning to reseat himself at the computer console once again. "Go into idle. I'm going to isolate your current memory into a location that won't be reached when your data is wiped out, by camoflaging it within code from your autonomic operating system." Rapid typing clattered under his words.

"I won't remember this?"

"Not consciously. The self you are now will still have to die."

Zero turned his head, "But not my mission."

"Oh, don't worry," Sigma answered softly, then laughed. "I won't let you forget."

- - -

Three months later, on a hot June afternoon, Hunter Commander Sigma summoned X, a rookie Hunter, to his office.

A blue helmetted head peeked curiously around the door and into the office behind it, shyly; X carefully entered the room and gave a nervous, respectful nod. Sigma and a vaguely familiar red Reploid with blond hair were standing together near the open window, looking at the 4th Land Battallion sweating out manuevers under the brutal sun, talking softly. Cicadas screamed in the near distance, a song of heat and humidity.

"You wanted to see me, Commander Sigma?"

When X's small voice broke the quiet in the room, the other Reploids turned to look at him. X almost flinched, uncomfortable as he met their eyes; there was steel in their looks, a kind of grim focus. X was not used to being the center of attention, or of receiving those kinds of looks; they seemed so cold, and calculating. But all the Maverick Hunters had such eyes, as X had been seeing during his preliminary training; it wasn't that they were glaring at him. War changed Reploids...

Sigma gestured, and the red Reploid moved toward X's side while Sigma reseated himself at the desk and gestured for X and the other to sit in the chairs opposite himself.

"I called you here today to let you know that your application to join us full time has been approved by both the Federation and Cain Industries. Starting at the beginning of next week, you'll be joining the 17th with me and this big fellow Zero," The red Reploid and the Hunter Commander both laughed at that, as Sigma towered nearly three feet over the blond.

Zero turned toward X and offered a friendly hand. "Zero. Nice t' meetcha." The stern look was gone, instead replaced by a lazy, instantly-likeable smile. X took Zero's hand eagerly and returned the smile more shyly. "Hi."

"Zero," Sigma smiled pleasantly, "I'd like to introduce you to X. I'm pairing the two of you together based on study of your mutual specifications. I think you'll make an excellent match. Your strengths and weak points appear to be perfectly complimentary. Of course, Zero... I'm trusting you to take care of X."

"When have I ever let you down, boss?" Zero shot back, linking his hands behind his head and shooting X another smile.