Hey everyone, I just wanted to make sure that going into this, we are all on the same page here. This fanfic is about a certain maverick from Megaman X6 who's backstory intrigued me a little, so I've decided to expand on it. After this first chapter, you'll know completely who I'm talking about, but I wanted to make sure those who came into this story expecting the main protagonist to be X, Zero, Axl, or anyone else will be set straight. Other than that, I hope you enjoy my story! ~CJ

"The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them."

~Lois McMaster Bujold

Chapter 1: Welcome Back

The blackness of death. It was a cold presence that wrapped around your body and was believed by some to be unforgiving, while others took it as a blessing to escape the madness they lived in. It made everything you possessed and held dear weak and powerless as its darkness enveloped your vision and mental state. It made you think back to the times where you wished, in those moments, you could have had a second chance to make things right. Most of the people I knew back then feared death, while others laughed in its face, facing the day as if they were used to the danger they often encountered. But, if there was one thing that I learned in my time, it was that death was indeed inevitable.

So why did it feel like I've cheated it? Why did I no longer feel imprisoned in the confines of death's firm, cold grip, despite my own figure of ice and sheer chill that I've lived with all of my known life? Even though I couldn't piece it together, I did know one thing.

I had been given a second chance.

"Rise…."

A voice penetrated the darkness.

"Rise…rise…"

The word echoed in my mind, the four letters becoming one white picture in my black surroundings, so black that I did not bother with trying to find myself in it until I saw those four letters. With their formation, they had shed light in my imprisonment of death, so bright that I could tell through the pain-no, the blackness- that this was it.

This was my escape from my dark descent.

More bright words filled my vision. "Rise, my dear Wolfang," the voice said. From my void of emptiness, I could not make out any distinctions in the voice, other than that it belonged to a man. At first, the words sounded garbled during my ascension, but the more the words echoed in the darkness, the more I could make them out. The man sounded old or something of elderly age at least. He had a sweet and fatherly tone, as if he was waking a child from a deep slumber. But the more that I pondered on it, the more it confused me.

I really was supposed to be dead. I was destroyed by X and Zero in the North Pole, so why is it that when I try to grip my hands together-

My hands. Good god, I could actually feel my hands! I put them up to my face to see if they were as normal as I expected them to be, only to be sorely disappointed by finding out that my spikes were gone and my claws were relatively blunt. How weird, I thought, that my primary weapons were gone, but in the reflection of my bio-gloves, I could see that my wrist spikes weren't the only thing that changed. My jaw had been unfit of my goring spikes, and the ice shards that usually shielded my neck from the frosty winds were now gone as well. And now that I was looking down at my wrist, my legs came into view, revealing the same results and my hands. It was as if someone had planned to render me defenseless at the time of my resurrection.

The light now fully engulfed the darkness and gave way to a blur of colors, all making their way into my retina scanners at once. Once the master control crystal in my system calibrated the colors accordingly, the scene around me started to take up into shapes first, color coordination second and intricate details third. And with the successful system reboot launched and calibration underway, I immediately noticed three things once my vision was back. The first, I was in a green cyrostasis cubicle full of ice water. The second, there was indeed an old man outside of my cubicle, stationed near a master console system that read out the vitals of my reploid body. The third thing I noticed surprised me the most, however, as it was something I would have never expected.

I wasn't in the North Pole anymore. In fact, the readout on my HUD stated that inside temperature reached levels of about -17 degrees Celsius, while the temperature outside of my capsule was a solid 20. Looking out into the dark surroundings that stood before my capsule, I could see that I was in a rundown warehouse of sorts. Beams and girders were rusted, with some looking bent to the point of collapse. Almost every light was out, except for the ones surrounding my capsule and main console, which had a strewn about mess of wires connecting to various outlets along the walls of the warehouse, some of which I could see while others were hiding in the darkness.

Upon examining all of these things, I looked to the old man and saw that he was busy overriding the console's cryostasis controls. I could hear him saying something, but I couldn't quite hear what, only something about a "miracle" and "from just a fragment" being tossed about here and there. With a flash of a few button presses and password screens proposing themselves onto the monitor, it looked as if the old man knew what he was doing, but I couldn't tell. For a few minutes, I simply stood there, paralyzed in my capsule, watching the man perform his work. The password screens and control system monitors started to lessen in frequency, making me doubt that the man would actually complete his tasks. But it wasn't until one screen in particular came up that my hope was reinstated.

On the last screen was a diagnosis of my resurrection. My vitals, my memory unit, even my master control crystal were all laid out on one screen full of data, where an animated 3D portrayal of my bio-skeleton was rotating on its own, showing all signs of functionality. Soon after the 3D animation arose, a small box appeared with the following:

Diagnosis complete: Vitals, Crystal, Memory, Bio-Skeleton at Excellent Performance.

ID confirmed: Blizzard Wolfang

DNA Cross Reference and Replication: Matched and Accepted

Type: Reploid

Order: Investigation

Sex: Male

Class: Canis

All of my information. It was right there.

The old man pressed passed the interface and faced another.

Warning: Release will trigger system reboot and re-arm all functions of contained specimen. Are you sure you want to release restraints?

"I'm more than sure." I could see him pressing onto the massive console keyboard as the options Yes and No came into view. He then spoke to the computer, "You know as well as I do, Alice. This reploid is the one. If we want to make things right, you'll let me bring him back as I please."

If I wasn't paralyzed in my capsule, I would have laughed at the old man myself. I mean seriously, as if his age wasn't enough reason to be acting weird, he was starting to-

"Acknowledged, Dr. Rose. I shall prepare the specimen for immediate release."

All I could do was stare.

The old man looked back to me, his stern face lighting up into a bright smile. "Ah! I see you're already awake. Much as I expected from a reploid such as yourself…"

What?

I could hear an alarm go off somewhere inside of the warehouse, and the lights themselves started to rotate as if a major project was about to be brought onto an assembly line. The phrase "Stand back, disarming cryostasis capsule" blared all throughout the industrial warehouse as the old man made his way over to me. As he positioned himself, completely relaxed, to the front of the capsule, I heard the words from the master control again.

"Capsule disarmed, releasing cryostasis."

As the master control repeated the phrase, I felt the liquid that held me captive slowly start to drain into the holes at the bottom of the capsule, connected to tubes that led out into the darker reaches of the warehouse. As if it even held me captive in the first place, I was already able to move freely. These temperatures were nothing to me compared to the icy winds and sheer misery that I held at the North Pole.

The master control, Alice, spoke again. "Cryostasis successfully recovered. Initiating opening sequence in thirty seconds."

This was it.

I was soon going to be free.

The old man simply stared at me, with the same bright smile on his face, as if he was receiving a gift from a friend. He seemed like a fatherly figure, his dusty overcoat carrying a few oil and grease stains, his slim figure but old complexion making for an appearance that can only be described as experienced. His work pants were just as ordinary as the rest of his attire, along with a pair of black work boots that matched the color of his tie. But behind all of the attire and prestige, something about him gave me an uneasy feeling, and I found it in his eyes. If given a glance over, no one would have noticed, and I'm sure I wouldn't have had it been for my advanced sight. But when I looked into his eyes, something twitched in them that wasn't completely natural. Something was moving within his pupils.

The slight variations of shifting gears within a larger machine.

His eyes were completely robotic.

"Yes…now you see, my child."

How did he-?! Wait…no, it wasn't the old man's voice.

It was another voice.

"You and I are one in the same…"

Alice piped up. "Releasing cryostasis capsule latch in 3…2…1…"

Immediately I felt the pressure decrease. Air flooded my capsule, and the light-

"You and I share the same fate…"

There was so much light, I shielded my eyes-

"You and I, my child…"

The light shifted. I removed my hands. The old man was saying something, but I couldn't hear him. I tried to make out the words. I saw his mouth curve into the letters G sound, followed by the open mouth A-

"Together, we will succeed…"

The voice, it continued. I couldn't stop it.

The A sound slowly shifted towards the grinding teeth, signaling a T-

"Together, we will show them…"

Transitioning from T to-

"X, Zero, the Maverick Hunters, the world…"

My HUD was done calculating the words. I knew exactly what the old man was saying.

And-

"We will…"

"…izzard…Blizzard…"

We will-

"Destroy them…"

We will-

"Blizzard…"

"WE WILL DESTROY THEM ALL!"

I took my hands and clasped them around my head as a giant pressure filled my circuit board and flooded my master control. It was as if someone had released a gas inside of my head, waiting for the pressure to make my head to explode.

"WE WILL DESTROY THEM ALL MY CHILD!"

I screamed. I tried to say something, anything that would make it end, but it seemed like my head was going to explode from sheer pressure.

But suddenly, it sounded as if the voice was dying out, bubbling into something else more menacing. The phrase stopped repeating, but the voice stayed all the same. It only laughed at me.

Now, its maniacal laugh was all I could hear.

I begged for it to stop.

No…

I could barely hear the old man's voice over my thoughts.

"Blizzard…"

Please…

Another laugh.

Stop…

And another.

My eyes were closed, my hands were clasped around my head, but it didn't matter. I couldn't stop it. The madness, it only continued. And there was nothing I could do about it. It was the voice. That voice, I just wanted to destroy it, just pry my head open and-

"Blizzard!"

The old man.

"BLIZZARD!"

The voice stopped.

And I stood there, with my hands over my head, but eyes open.

I was still in the warehouse.

The old man, who was still in front of me, put an arm on my shoulder. I grabbed it out of instinctive fear as I heard him reel back and say, "Whoa, Blizzard! Take it easy, you're not under his control anymore!"

I still held onto his arm with a death grip.

I wanted answers.

"Who's control?!" I growled, tightening my grip even harder. "Tell me now. Tell me who was inside my head!"

The old man yelped. "I-It was him! Y-Your old creator!" He hunched over against my claws.

My grip softened as my eyes widened with fear. "You don't mean-"

"Yes," he said, "Your old creator, he was the voice you heard!"

It was-

"No-"

"He created you to follow him."

No-!

"He created you to help bring about his plans for destruction."

I released the old man's arm and growled. "He's dead!"

He had to be lying. He had to be-

He straightened up and looked at me. "How…" he gasped. "How do you know that?"

Again, I growled. "He was killed by the Maverick Hunters, X and Zero. They destroyed him and his DNA a long time ago!"

He stood there, dumbfounded. "And you believe that?"

"I'm positive!" I exclaimed.

The old man's expression turned sour. His eyes creased. His mouth turned into a frown. Suddenly, his voice grew grave. "Then how do you know?"

"How do I know that he's dead?"

"Yes, that's exactly right," he said.

I pulled up a console control system on my HUD interface and searched for anything about his death. I knew what I was talking about. I knew it was in here somewhere. I had confidence that it was somewhere within my data bank, otherwise it wouldn't be so crystal clear to me. Every picture of my existence, every video catalog of my memories as an investigator for the Nightmare Team and my initial creation, I swam through it all.

But nothing showed up.

My anger was slowly starting to seep into my control. "Gah…search memory log, keyword 'Gate'!"

The images flew back and forth as my memories dove deeper, but ultimately nothing came up but one picture. It was taken from a downward angle, and it was of a blue armored reploid holding a hand cannon straight at me. I noticed the figure as X, the famous Maverick Hunter.

I also noticed that this was my demise.

"Search again! Keywords 'Gate' and 'Demise'!"

Again photos swam back and forth through my HUD as the search dove into deeper and darker areas of my memory bank.

Again it came up empty, except for that one picture.

I began to panic. "No way…"

"I'll ask again," the old man stated. "How can you know that Gate is dead…"

Nothing in my data bank shows of Gate's demise.

This-

"…when you, Blizzard Wolfang…"

This should mean-

"Were already dead to begin with?"

Within the realm of my now living state, I could not explain to anyone, nor to myself, how I knew of such knowledge. My data bank was empty and was showing no signs of Gate's death outside of public information confirmations, yet I could still hear his voice inside of my head, clear as day. "This…" I whispered, "This must be a joke! There's no way I could remember something like this!"

"I know," was all the old man could say.

"I-I died before I could even hear about it." For some reason, I looked down at my palms.

And I wondered if they were even mine anymore.

The old man must have seen what I was getting at. He took a step towards me.

I flailed as I got down onto four paws. "You…!" My anger began to rise again. "What have you done to me?!"

"Easy, Wolfang…"

My growl grew into a snarl. "You'll pay for what you did to me!"

And I lunged. With all of my powers gone, the only choice I had was to dive full force and use my claws, or what was left of them. In the midst of my lunge, time seemed to slow to a bare minimum. I could see the reflection of myself in the lenses of his glasses, my fangs outstretched and snarling, my claws extended and poised to strike. I was a monster poised in mid-air, slowly descending down onto easy prey. But what surprised me the most was the man's complexion. He wasn't scared, or else he would be screaming. He was mad, lest he lunge himself at me at the same moment I came upon the decision to strike. Instead, he stood there, the glare of his sunglasses shrouding his eyes in a bright light, his body stone cold, and it was at that moment that I realized he wasn't scared, angry, or even surprised.

He was waiting, and in the midst of my anger, I hadn't prepared myself for the old man's preparations. I was almost at his throat, my claws barely touching the hair of his synthetic flesh-

He snapped his fingers. "Alice!"

My side erupted into a wave of pain as the scene quickly went from the still old man to a blur of motion, finally ending with my body hitting the side of some crate inside of the warehouse. I couldn't tell, as my vision couldn't fixate itself onto anything. Everything became one massive swirl of dull, assorted colors, as I tried to pull myself off the ground, ultimately failing and landing on my side of impact. I howled as the pain seared up my ribs and into my backbone. In a sick and twisted way, I was actually happy. The pain I felt caressed my body while at the same time it completely immobilized me. It signaled that my nerve sensors were functioning as they should and stating that I was completely incapable of regaining composure.

It meant that I was indeed alive.

A white form arose in the blur of colors that could only be recognizable as the old man himself. He walked over and kneeled down, and I could see the brown outline of a hand slowly extend itself towards me. It soared over my head, and placed itself along my ribs, to where the mysterious force reeled me into the crate. I yelped as it applied pressure to the point of impact, and the hand reeled back. I could barely make out the old man say something along the lines of, "…almost broken, Alice…10% lower next time."

Alice. That machine, it was his bodyguard. The hand formed in my vision again and slowly drifted over my eyes. I could hear the old man clearly now, saying, "Relax now, Wolfang. I'm going to repair you now." He said it soothingly, as if he was talking to his own son, and felt nice. "The voice will be gone by the time you wake up. Everything will be fine."

His ran across my eye lids and gently forced them down, and I no longer saw a sea of swirling colors. Instead, I saw my internal HUD bring up a notification:

Commencing system shutdown in t-minus ten seconds.

I must have whimpered, because I heard the old man say something to me as the void where I had stayed was starting to greet me again.

But these words were going to save me from its cold reaches.

"Welcome to the world of the living, Blizzard Wolfang."