Irregular Conscience

A megaman X one-shot.

By Archaon.

-f-t-l-l-

Chaos theory: A small insignificant alteration to a seemingly irrelevant event can change the course of history.

Iris Thorne: A seemingly insignificant female reploid, remnant of a failed, grandiose experiment on the reploid psyche.

Current event: The middle of the Repliforce insurrection.

-f-t-l-l-

Iris cursed again as she kept trying her best to bypass the crowds that were swiftly fleeing from her destination. It wasn't fully blown panic yet, but that could change any moment. A single shot would suffice, or even a reploid accidentally knocking over a human.

The female spotter was nothing if not persistent, though. She had persisted until the love of her life had actually noticed her. She had endured her boyfriend's many quirks and had been rewarded for it. Even after the threats, the danger, the three kidnappings, she had not fled in terror from him. She had even saved his life a few times, most as his spotter, once as the supposed victim.

Yes, she mused internally, going steady with maverick hunter Zero Omega had needed persistence. Her co-workers always gawked at her when they learned she was dating The Dragon.

Lost in her thoughts as she was, she was knocked aside by a particularly hasty reploid. She regained her balance at once, even turned and glared, though the culprit was long gone. When she turned around again, though, her eyes happened to fall on a nearby alley, from where no bodies poured. Iris smiled at finding a shortcut to Memorial Hall. The universe shuddered.

-f-t-l-l-

"Colonel! Stop the coup now!" Spoken urgently, almost pleadingly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Zero." Delivered proudly, though not without remorse.

Two sentient war machines faced one-another. Two different ideologies clashing, one puppet master cackling in the shadows.

"If that's your decision, prepare yourself!" The red hunter attacked first, though it didn't really matter in the grant scheme of things. The war's first blow had already been delivered.

Beam blades clashed, reverberating under the large dome, each trying to bite into synthetic flesh, each failing. The two opponents seemed to be evenly matched at first, trying each other's defenses. They had sparred before, of course, during their long friendship, but never with the intent to cause real harm. Even now, they were both aiming to maim rather than kill, perhaps instinctively.

"Colonel, this is pointless! Why are we even fighting?" asked Zero during a particularly strenuous block. "A nation just for reploids? There are human-only and reploid-only cities already, but this is going too far!"

Colonel grunted and vainly tried to push the shorter reploid away, to no avail. "We are fighting because of our orders and our visions, Zero. I'm also fighting to protect the rest of my people. Do you think I don't know you have already retired whole divisions? Slash's unit has been decimated!" He tried to deliver an elbow strike through the clash of swords, but Zero jumped backwards, amazingly managing to leave a small gash on Colonel's armor through sheer agility.

"Jet destroyed half a city, killing hundreds of humans and reploids in the process. Was that part of your vision too?" snarled the red hunter, using his blade in place of an accusing finger. "At first I was all too eager to believe Repliforce was framed for dropping Sky Lagoon, but your damned subordinates have already tripled the casualties."

Colonel's answer ended the conversation. "That is the nature of war."

The divide between them complete, they stopped talking and started trying to honestly murder each other. Alternating between special attacks and conventional swordplay, they gradually increased the pace, artificial blood and armor fragments soon littering the plaza before the memorial, until one of them reached his limit.

"Please surrender", requested Zero, breathing hard. "It's meaningless to go on and you know it," he declared, shrugging one shoulder to drop a now useless pauldron.

Colonel was in far worse condition: Down on one knee, bleeding profusely from a dozen cuts and using his blade as a crutch. "I see," he replied, sounding resigned. "I held back during our spars, but it seems you held back much more. I see now that, regrettably, I have never been a match for you."

Bellowing a battle cry, he leaped to his feet once more, putting all of his power under his strike. Zero blocked easily, eyeing Colonel questioningly. The other reploid went on. "I'm sorry Zero. I am a good soldier. Between my pride and the lives of my compatriots, I'd always choose the later." He closed his eyes and nodded twice, a prearranged signal.

Zero felt it coming, but his opponent's sword prevented him from dodging fast enough.

-f-t-l-l-

Iris was both terrified and furious with herself. Her 'shortcut' had proven to be a huge mistake, leading her to a building that had recently collapsed, completely sealing the way. What's more, she had wasted precious minutes trying to stubbornly navigate the disaster area, finally giving up and backtracking when an unstable wall section almost buried her alive.

At long last, she reached the Hall, thanking every entity that might have been hearing that both fighters were still alive. Iris was by nature a shy person, but when she formed bonds, she could be downright obsessive. Colonel and Zero, her brother and her lover, were the two individuals that meant more to her than life itself. In truth, she very nearly defined herself by those two relationships, all thanks to her background.

Her relief was short-lived. None of the combatants had yet noticed her and she was about to shout at them to stop being idiots, when her brother rushed forward, locking swords with Zero. Words she couldn't hear were said, then Zero's head exploded, courtesy of a Repliforce sniper, perched on a balcony closer to the dome.

-f-t-l-l-

Colonel regarded Zero's corpse sadly, but then he raised his head and visibly flinched at the sight. "Sister…"

A human in her place might have fainted in shock. Her nature as a reploid was less merciful. Instead of fleeing to oblivion, her mind kept replaying the scene at slow motion. She could clearly see the high-powered bullet flying, reaching Zero's head, reducing his helmet to pieces, piercing through his skull and then exploding. She could see Zero's realization as it happened, his frantic attempt to somehow dodge without also getting cleaved in half by her brother's blade. She also noticed some kind of almost imperceptible purple mist flying from Zero to Colonel, but the fact hardly registered, as the horrible memory started again.

"Iris!" It spoke volumes of Colonel's courage that he dared to break her out of the memory loop. Her shock was just about ready to transform into rage, when Zero's headless body started glowing, then simply popped out of existence along with the scant remains of his head and his somehow intact mane of hair. Only artificial blood remained behind to tell the tale. That and the Z-saber.

"What have you done?"

Colonel was about twice her height and many times her weight. As a combat reploid, he was also faster, stronger and looked much more severe. And yet, he still had to suppress the urge to wilt under her mounting rage. With visible effort, only partially because of his wounds, he straightened back to the soldier he valued himself to be.

"I just won the Repliforce half the war," he explained stonily. "I would have preferred you hadn't seen that."

Her pretty face contorted to a furious visage. "You killed the man I loved!" she shrieked.

Colonel's features hardened. "I did what I had to!" he shouted back.

They glared at each other fiercely. When in social situations, they would usually fall back to the overprotective older brother/ demure younger sister stereotype, but when alone, their relationship was far more equal.

"As your conscience, I do not approve," she spat.

Colonel frowned at that. The two siblings didn't usually talk about their origins. They had started as two parts of the same super-being, a perfect warrior with unmatched power, tempered by a strong sense of right and wrong. It had been one of the more ambitious Cain Labs project and one that had ultimately failed. The composite reploid mind had never managed to wake and the scientists had scrapped the project altogether. Only because of Dr. Cain's orders had the two halves been placed in bodies. The siblings weren't quite reploids, but close enough.

He turned his back to his sister, if only to avoid her searing glare. "That was a long time ago. I understand you loved Zero as much as you love me, perhaps even more, but you can't change my mind. You will always be my sister, but if you want to stay away from me I'll…"

His eyes went wide as Zero's saber, wielded resolutely, erupted from his chest. "Stay away? Stay away! So not only did you rob me of Zero, but you also want to remove my other bond! I don't think so!"

"Iris…" gasped Colonel, trying to raise his arm or turn around or do something, anything.

She snarled in his ear. "No, brother, you said your piece. Now it's my turn. It seems you have forgotten why we didn't wake up as one being. How we were set to fight each other, so one would dominate. How it was a rigged game only I, the conscience, could win. How in your last moments before I consumed you, you begged for mercy."

"Sister… you want to…"

Iris was a spotter and had also studied her and her brother's blueprints extensively. She had known exactly where to stab. Deactivating Zero's saber, she eased her brother's body to the ground, hugging him and letting her rage be replaced by tears.

"Zero made me feel alive. He filled the hole of your absence in my systems, that nagging feeling I'm incomplete. After what you did today, I can't leave you on your own. For both my sake and yours, I will do what I was supposed to do from the start."

She placed her palm right on the chest wound she had inflicted, activating systems foreign to other reploids. Colonel gasped and stilled, and she drew forth a luminous item, a purple orb of power and data.

Iris gazed at her brother's essence with both fondness and sadness, letting one more tear fall before steeling herself and pressing it against her own chest.

Externally, the transformation was a simple palette swap. Her attire changed to her brother's colours, white, gold, red and black. The internal changes were a bit more radical, the merging of the siblings' data causing unintended Cyberspace manipulation and bringing Iris' body to combat specs.

The transformation complete, she opened her eyes and smiled sadly. "I can still feel the hole in my heart," she complained whimsically. "I guess I loved you sincerely, Zero, not just because I was incomplete."

Before the reborn being could take a single step, though, her eyes went wide and she brought her hands to her head. "What's this?! A virus? The Maverick Virus. No, something different, something familiar… friend…foe? Zero! Not quite… but there?"

The pain intensified and she screamed. "You can't take me!" She shouted. "I am a conscience being! You'll have to fight every inch of the way! Are you really Zero? You will submit to my will before I submit to yours!"

She let one more inhuman screech, then collapsed unconscious.

-f-t-l-l-

X was anxious. After thwarting one more Repliforce operation, he had returned to headquarters, only to learn Zero had left without warning, without spotter support, without even a hint. It was instinct more than any rational reason that guided him to Memorial Hall, and what he saw puzzled him.

At first he had thought Zero had fought and killed Colonel and that Iris had been caught in the crossfire. That theory crumbled because of two facts. The female reploid seemed completely uninjured, despite her wardrobe change, and also quite alive, if incapacitated.

Secondly, Zero's saber was there. X had known the red hunter for years and one thing was certain. He would never walk away from his favorite weapon. Loss of hands? Lift it with your mouth; Loss of jaw? Kick it along; Loss of legs? Push it along as you crawl like a worm.

That line of thought was over before he reached the downed girl. "Iris? Wake up! Are you ok? Iris!"

He had been afraid at first. Though her body was unmarred, there had been cases when a reploid had died because of purely internal damage. A short-circuit at the wrong place could be as dire as a stroke, if not more.

He was relieved when she slowly opened her eyes. "Uncle X?" she said wearily. "What are you doing here?"

He shook his head, trying not to draw attention to her brother's corpse, not three meters away. "Zero vanished and I have been looking for him. Are you okay? What happened?"

X flinched when she eyed Colonel's remains anyway. "What happened? The answer is… so complicated."

"Iris?" X took a step back, allowing her to rise. She stood easily, then her eyes turned upwards.

Then she started laughing.

Inaudibly at first, then giggles, the outright laughter. X took another two steps back, eyes narrowed, buster safeties off, though he hadn't even formed it yet. "Iris, what happened to you?"

She stopped laughing abruptly, then eyed him with something akin to pity. "We were both too late. Brother and Zero fought." She started, reaching down and picking the Z-saber. X tensed, but she ignored him. "I only saw the last part."

"Zero killed him?" hazarded the blue bomber.

Iris shook her head. "That's what should have happened. Zero made an error, though. He judged him as a warrior, not a soldier. Colonel had Zero killed by a sniper. I was the one that stabbed brother afterwards."

It was a testament to X's integrity that he kept battle-ready even while in shock. Beyond the fact Zero put the word 'friend' to shame when it came to X, both Iris and Colonel were almost family to him. With the girl's behavior so strange…

"Iris, what about you. Have you…" '…gone maverick?' X didn't say it out loud. He didn't dare to.

Iris smiled. "Two years ago, all unit leaders were fitted with a Maverick Virus scanner. It's usually hit or miss, but don't be ashamed to use it on me."

The reading came out positive, though the sensor seemed confused. X bit his lip. "Iris, please don't make me do this," he very nearly begged even as he raised his buster.

"On the contrary, it's a great opportunity!" she replied, then vanished from his sensors.

'Fast!' X leaped away as the Z-saber very nearly eviscerated him. It wasn't an amateur strike, either. For a second, X thought he was fighting against Zero himself. He released a semi-charged shot and she easily deflected it.

Iris pointed her sword at him with flair. "Don't go easy on me! You aren't doing any of us any favors if you do." She rushed at him again, but X was no stranger to close combat. Zero had insisted he learned. Violently insisted. He grabbed her sword wrist, keeping the blade away from his body, then released another shot at almost point blank. Iris leaned to the side, avoiding it, but not the following buster bash that caught her right on the temple. She still rolled with the hit, breaking X's grip, and still delivered a glancing kick on his shoulder.

They both regarded each other with reinforced respect. "How did this happen?" Demanded X. "The rest of the Repliforce isn't infected. Did Sigma target you specifically?"

Iris smirked. "Sigma doesn't know, not yet. In the end I wonder, is Sigma a victim as well? He initially got the Virus from a certain red maverick, after all."

X froze. He had suspected, of course, as had Zero himself, but to hear it from another mouth! "How do you know?" he demanded. "The red maverick incident is classified!"

Iris sighed. "Zero told me himself, in an effort to show me how dangerous he was to those around him. It failed to push me away." A smile replaced her frown. "It's no matter. Zero will return to life, just like Sigma keeps doing."

"You know how he does it?" demanded X, but received another attack in place of an answer. Instead of rushing again, iris slashed in the air before her, producing great arcs of energy. The blue bomber dodged, then narrowed his eyes, noticing his opponent had vanished. Without warning, he leaped upwards, firing a lightning web where he had been standing and catching Iris in it just as she appeared, Z-saber slashing.

X actually sent a fully charged shot at her, but she formed a buster of her own, firing at the web that was constricting her and rolling out of the way before she was hit. Instead of attacking again, the blue hunter gawked. "That's Zero's buster," he exclaimed.

Iris regarded it fondly. "All spotters are equipped with a low level weapon. When Zero's Virus touched me, I also got access to some of his data." She turned to face X. "I got the Virus through my brother's program, when I assimilated him. You were there when we failed to activate as one being, right?"

"The perfect warrior project," breathed X, his mind spinning.

The reploid girl scoffed. "That was just the sales pitch. One could have all the battle data and systems in the world, but without even a little bit of actual experience…" She attacked immediately, raising her saber, charging it with high voltage and sending waves of electricity racing on the ground, all around X.

The maverick hunter jumped away, but still had to contort his body in midair to avoid the lightning bolts that, defying known physics, raced upwards. Despite the intense moment, X's mind was still sharp. "You are hardly crazed! You are just using me to get battle data yourself!" he accused.

Iris sighed. "Now you went and ruined it Uncle X. I was created to be an extra conscience. The Virus in its pure form is primal, not evil. It tried to dominate me at first, but it can be reasoned with and now I'm in control. No matter, it will have to do." She deactivated her blade, placing it in a convenient harness on her belt that seemed to be there for just that purpose.

"I can't just let you leave!" shouted X, buster still aimed.

She smiled sweetly at him and his eyes lost some of their steel. "Will you strike me down while I'm unarmed? I don't think you are that kind of person. Yet again, not many mavericks actually give up, do they?"

"What are your intentions?" he demanded, though not as severely as he'd like.

Iris seemed to consider that. "Beyond waiting for Zero's resurrection? I think I'll go find Sigma and kick his ass for what he's done, even if it doesn't stick. My brother lives on in me, but without that bald bastard's influence my hand wouldn't have been forced. I was really unstable when Zero died. The rest of the Repliforce, hunters and civilians are also his victims."

"Sigma! He is behind this?"

She shook her head. "Too much fighting has dulled your better judgment, uncle. Of course he's the cause. How many times has he returned from the dead now? Four? He's always been charismatic, even without the Virus."

By now, X had released his buster and had extended his hand, as if he intended to catch her. "That's suicide. Even with your new power…"

Iris scowled at him. "I want to fight next to Zero, not behind him. Even if I die, my Virus will bring me back."

"Your… Virus," repeated X in distaste. "What about the humans?"

She seemed to consider that. "I'm hardly an expert on how the Virus works, but I've gleaned some facts. It certainly raises aggressiveness and tries to do the thinking for you. But in reality, when it's passed directly from Zero in his defeat, it exaggerates and fulfills one's deepest thoughts, no matter how dark."

X's eye went wide at the implications. "No…"

Iris eyed him with pity once more. "Sigma spent years hunting down reploids. Some were malfunctioning because their human creators decided to cut corners. Others rebelled because of oppression. Reploid rights are still dire, but back then we were no better than objects legally. If the Zero Virus embodies wild nature, the Sigma Virus represents social rebellion, blown out of proportion to the point of human genocide."

He eyed her carefully. "What about the Iris Virus?"

She took a deep breath and opened resolute eyes. "I will protect those I love, no matter the cost. The world can burn for all I care, but the people close to me, the ones I care about, WILL survive and WILL be happy. Always and forever."

She activated Colonel's teleportation codes and vanished, leaving X extremely troubled, with more questions than answers.

-f-t-l-l-

The end(?)

That was a nice little idea I got some time back and one I just had to write. Many people dislike Iris, but she hardly had any personality shown to excuse that. I'll trust Zero's judgment on that.

How the Virus works is still up to debate. Wily's creation is full of contradictions, but if he really wanted to just destroy the world after his death, there would have been easier ways to do it.