"You two have made a rather powerful alliance over the past six months." Dr Cain told X and Zero as he lay on a hospital bed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you two were brothers."
Dr Cain gave a small smile as he adjusted his position a little.
"You two are the only true Reploids in this era- you were both cut from the same cloth, but made by different men for different reasons. But throughout all of these differences, you two have found a way to bond and be better than any other Reploid creation we have seen from this past year. I am very proud of both of you and I hope that you both do well with your futures after I pass."
"What about Sigma?" X asked.
"I will speak to my son soon- but I believe you two have other places to be."
Understanding, Zero and X nodded before turning around and leaving Dr Cain behind in the hospital. As the duo got onto their respective hover motorcycles- X was thinking about something.
"Do you think that Dr Cain is going to die soon?" X asked Zero. "He's not even in his sixties yet."
Zero hesitated a few moments, unsure of how to answer the question.
"All humans die X." Zero then said, albeit rather quietly, "It was the way they were made- it's what they are all destined to do some day. Dr Cain is open to say that he was a smoker for a long time, and he had other health concerns in his childhood that could be coming back again. I... I'm not made to predict when a human will die, but I do... I do think Dr Cain's time is almost over."
"Does he have a religion?" X then asked as Zero started up his motorcycle. Zero looked at X in a rather bizarre way- but then again, X was asking some really bizarre questions. Why did he care?
"He might have mentioned being Catholic before." Zero said. "Or maybe he was Methodist- I can't remember, it could have been both, really."
"So... he believes in God?"
"Do you?"
Zero didn't mean for the question to strike through the both of them like a sword- but it was how it ended up coming out. X did not look at Zero as the blue Reploid started up his motorcycle.
"Where do we go when we die? Does the high being that created humans take us in as well? Where..."
"X," Zero said, somewhat interrupting X's thoughts, "We have some place to be- can we have this conversation again later?"
X looked up at Zero and nodded.
"You... you're right. Let's go."
. . .
"There you are!" Sigma said when Zero and X came to the scene. "A Mechaniloid is going Maverick and you two are out having tea?!"
"We were talking with Dr Cain, Sigma. You know that." Zero told the taller Reploid calmly.
"I don't care who you were talking to, the casualty count is too high right now for me to care where the hell you were. End it. Now!"
With a nod, Zero and X went to action.
"Look! It's Zero and X!"
"Finally!"
"Zero! X!" Storm Eagle shouted, waving at the duo to get their attention. Without a further instruction, Zero and X made their way over to Storm Eagle for a quick -and impromptu- briefing.
"We were talking with Dr Cain, Storm Eagle, what do we need to do?" Zero asked.
"Well, we can do a lot better now that you two are here." Storm Eagle told them. "Over half of the Reploids here can't stand up straight or have a problem with their targeting sensors. We had to... execute... some of them ourselves."
"They couldn't have all gone Maverick- not under such short notice." X interjected.
"I admit that some of them have been claiming to not feel well- if they knew who they were. That decision was mostly on my behalf, but this is simply out of control."
"Sounds like a serious problem." Zero observed, growing more interested in the situation. X remained silent as a fear came over him that he could not voice out loud.
"A problem we have no time for." Storm Eagle firmly told them. Storm Eagle then put his hand to his ear to activate the headsets that beamed to every Reploid's helmet in the midst of battle. "Attention remaining Reploids, Zero and X are here to help assist you to detain the Mechaniloid- resume standard formations."
. . .
Once knowing that Zero and X were at the scene, Sigma took the incentive to go see Dr Cain. There was no doubt that Zero and X could take down the Mechaniloid without him- and if not, then they knew he would come back regardless.
Sigma entered Dr Cain's hospital room without knocking or asking. The dying man looked at Sigma with a weary smile.
"I wondered when you would get here." Dr Cain said to Sigma with a voice a lot more tired than what it had been for Zero and X. Sigma said nothing as he got close to Dr Cain's side.
"You're almost dead." Sigma said with a tone in his voice that Dr Cain could not decipher.
"So it may seem," Dr Cain agreed, "And I want you to share my last words."
"Why? You seem to favorite X more than the Reploid you call 'son'. Words are so fickle to you humans, aren't they?"
Dr Cain did not answer this, but worked out a small smile.
"Jealousy -real jealousy- inside a being so inhuman in every way. Amazing how far we have come within the last year, isn't it?"
Sigma only gave Dr Cain a hard stare. Dr Cain, being no fool even in his dying state, picked up on this.
"I know what you plan on doing when I die." Dr Cain told Sigma, his tone becoming low. "In a way, I think I always knew such a thing was going to happen- just like God knew that man would sin while in innocence. There is nothing I can do to stop you- I only ask why. How could such a thing benefit you at all? You have seen X and Zero grow in potential and strength, what more do you need to prove it?"
Sigma stared at Dr Cain as if he had no idea what he was talking about, but the mildly confused expression soon became sinister.
"Fear is a powerful master." Sigma admitted. "The growing rise of Reploids forgetting who they are, their limbs twitching or acting without their will, how those Reploids end up being labeled Maverick because of their new potential to harm humans. What do I gain? I gain everything I want to know- about this new 'virus' and the potential really hidden inside Zero and X."
"Zero has reached his potential, but you will never be able to find the potential in X- he is a blackbox in a world of open gears, you will never be able to unlock it."
Sigma sneered as he walked closer to pull Dr Cain's IV cable. Dr Cain looked on, doing nothing to stop Sigma from killing him.
"But Father, you misunderstand my potential." Sigma softly declared as the heart monitor went flat.
