Still not advancement of the actual plot. Filler with a neglected character in this 'verse, prompted by Zero's thought.
X's first meeting with Dr. Light hadn't gone well. Or rather, his encounter with the energy-based AI that had been created around Dr. Light's thought patterns. Dr. Light had created the AI to manage X's backup stations, in case he died, and construct armor and perhaps weapons as well for him, if he had to fight, or alter him to look (even) more human, if he had to hide.
It hadn't booted up until X had, and knowing what threats X faced was necessary in order to know what to make him. He had the fabrication systems that had been created to build X replacement bodies, but designing still took time.
So the AI had found out about the cataclysm, or at least what modern people knew about it (not much). He'd been worried when missiles were detected heading towards the city where X lived, but the AI would have known instantly if X's body had been destroyed.
Monitoring communications allowed capsules to be deployed to the areas X was being sent, to analyze the environmental conditions for factors to take into account. Factors like high temperatures… and the presence of evil energy-enhanced nanites.
That might not have Dr. Wily's symbol on them, but still had all the hallmarks of his design philosophy.
They were present in every single android and bioroid (reploid and mechanaloid were the modern terms) in the infested areas. That explained why they had suddenly started acting differently, and Light had tried to work out a way of curing it before admitting that he wasn't actually Dr. Lightand didn't know where to start unraveling such a work of twisted genius.
He'd intended to pretend to be just a recording, because X was his son, and would certainly have views on the subject of a sentient being existing only to serve another one, even if Light didn't mind at all. Dr. Light would have been amazingly proud of X.
At first, the fact that X drew back from him, reacting with alarm and suspicion instead of amazement or hope wasn't surprising. It was only intelligent to look a gift horse in the mouth. Then he'd scanned X, to see if his design had altered in any way that would interfere with the new equipment, and found evil energy.
His son- Dr. Light's last creation had been hacked. By Wily, or something he'd left behind. After everything he'd done to prevent him ever having to suffer something like that.
After being infested with evil energy had nearly killed Rock, Dr. Light had created a means of handling it safely in case the threat ever arose again. Which threats had a tendency to do, with Dr. Wily running around.
Light had assumed X had been infected recently, and used that system.
It was only when X collapsed that he realized that it had not been recent. The evil energy had been incorporated into slightly more than half of his nanites, and many of the others incorporated other elements of Wily's design, just as some of the evil energy-carrying nanites had been altered into something more like what Dr. Light had designed for X.
Scan after scan only revealed more and more about how extensive the infestation was. The only way to explain it was that X had been infected at least ninety years before coming out of hibernation. Before the Cataclysm.
The good news was that the design was different from the virus in the mavericks. Perhaps the hacking protections had worked after all, and X had been able to overcome it, render it harmless and incorporate the useful elements (evil energy was an energy source and Dr. Wily a genius, after all) into his design.
It took X a few minutes to recover, and he had to drain his energy reserves to replace the evil energy in order to even get to his feet. Even then, he'd needed to lean against a wall not just to get up, but to handle the recoil from the charged shot that destroyed Light's capsule.
…He deserved that.
When X destroyed the next capsule he found from as far away as he could, Light decided that it was probably a better idea to just leave the armor in a generic-looking chest somewhere where no one would find it before X did. It was worth a try, although X would probably take it back to base to be looked at instead of being foolish enough to just equip armor he found in an enemy base that was clearly designed for him.
Watching through a camera nearby, Light watched X find it and frown thoughtfully, recognizing the dimensions and the fact something like this definitely didn't belong here. After looking around the room, he knelt down and touched it, closing his eyes to focus. It was obvious he was doing more than just touch it, but the camera only took in audio and video, it didn't have the wider range of sensors the capsules had.
X looked at the armor, as focused as though he was reading something, as though all its secrets were being spelled out for him. Finally, he nodded. "Thank you," he said, and put it on as easily as if he'd done it a hundred times, hands going right for the hidden pressure plates that triggered it to open and lock up again around his body. It synchronized easily with his systems, even though his nanites had altered themselves during hibernation in such an unanticipated way. "But who are you? You can't really be Dr. Light," X asked, looking right at the camera. He didn't seem to expect an answer from it, which was good since it didn't have speech capability. "Are you something he left to protect me?"
The AI assumed that X meant Dr. Light. Who else in the past would have set up a system to protect X?
X knew that it wasn't likely Omega would have had the time to create a system like this if he hadn't even been able to finish destroying humanity, but he could hope. No one would associate Dr. Light's image with a relic of one of Dr. Wily's creations, so it would have been good camouflage. Of course, Omega wasn't tricky like that.
"What are you, and why do you exist?" X asked when he encountered another capsule.
"I am an AI based on Dr. Light's recorded personality. He created me to make sure that even if something happened to him and his family during those thirty years, you would still be safe."
"Do you know what happened to him?"
"No, I was not awakened until you were." Technically, he had been programmed to wake up the first time X was in danger, but an unidentified person activating him and taking him out of the capsule, someone who wasn't Dr. Light, one of his trusted staff or a Lightbot, was dangerous enough.
The AI couldn't tell that X's look of disappointment was an act. If the AI didn't know that Omega had probably killed them all… "Then why did you attack me?"
"There is a hazardous substance called 'evil energy' in your systems. Exposure to evil energy is extremely hazardous and nearly killed Rock, although Dr. Wily was able to convert it into a safer form for Forte's use. That energy was present in the infected reploids. I assumed that you had been infected and were trying to fight it off."
"So you were just trying to help… It's not an infection, it belongs there. Is that what caused this? Did someone tamper with what Dr. Wily did to make it safe? Who? Who did this to Sigma?" To X's own children?
"That is outside the scope of what I'm capable of, I'm afraid. I have Dr. Light's memories, but not his genius. I'm capable of operating the systems and choosing between design elements, but analyzing Dr. Wily's work is beyond me."
"Dr. Wily couldn't have made this version." Omega had killed him.
"Whether he made it or not, this is based on Dr. Wily's work." The AI frowned, and X realized he shouldn't sound defensive about Omega's father.
"Dr. Wily made an android of his own. He came to visit me, once. He gave me information on his design and nanites, so I could use them if I wanted to, and some memories of all of you. That probably didn't wake you up because I wasn't in any danger. I thought he would be there when I woke up, with all of you, but when I woke up no one was there, not even him. You really don't know what happened?"
Light shook his head. "I'm not surprised that Dr. Wily built an android: Forte stole your plans. He came to visit you?" Perhaps he had been a somewhat-ally, like Forte, then? Dr. Light wouldn't have let X wake up early, when the world wasn't ready for him and he was still developing himself. The world needed time to adjust to the idea of robots as citizens, without the laws. If X had woken up then, he would have been illegal. An outlaw. Dr. Light would have had to seal him away again or try to find someone to hide him, the way Dr. Cossack had hidden Skullman, for his own protection. However, concealing X's existence would have been almost impossible for the first family of robotics. They were constantly scrutinized, by suspicious governments, paparazzi and those grateful for Rock's heroism.
Dr. Light had considered asking Blues to take him in, if anyone had found out about his secret project. He couldn't ask Dr. Cossack, Dr. Cossack would have refused to keep X in the capsule after how Skullman had felt about being confined. Blues was quite adept at keeping himself hidden, and he'd rescued Kalinka so dramatically and been found innocent of the fifth war. No one was really alarmed by the idea of a rogue robot master running around if that robot was him. Of course, it would have taken X at least five years before he was able to really manage the world outside the capsule, since X had been programmed to develop his own independent mind and that took time. Dr. Wily must have given his android some initial programming if he'd become sapient so fast, even if as an android he would hopefully have been capable of overcoming it.
He must have overcome it, if Roll had been willing to let him into what was for all intents and purposes her castle. Yes, Forte may have fooled her, but that wouldn't have worked twice. Dr. Light had begun to regret the three laws, after discovering what they really did, and so he'd done his best to avoid X having anything like that, even if it meant he had to start from the ground up, even more so than a human child, instead of being able to function the instant he was built.
What had putting Dr. Wily's work into his systems done to a developing mind? What shortcuts had it made him take, instead of finding his own way? The way someone designed, the way they programmed, was a reflection of their personality. What damage had exposure to Wily's madness done to a young, impressionable mind?
Unaware of Light's thoughts, X nodded. "Have you been watching me?"
"I was built to help you have what you needed to live your life, not spy on you."
"So I still don't know what happened to everyone…" The robot masters might have taken Omega with them somehow, but what had survived, besides him and this AI? What remnants of Light and Wily still existed? "Do you think you could scan someone who isn't me?"
"I suppose I could try. If it were to assist you in an emergency situation."
"I have a friend, Zero. He looks like my friend, but he was insane when he woke up and he doesn't know anything about who built him."
"What kind of insane?"
"He was berserk. He couldn't think, he just killed everyone and everything he could find." X added that, "It wasn't the virus, he attacked reploids as well as humans."
"No, it might be related to the virus. That sounds like what happens when evil energy is able to fully infest someone's mind. It's possible that Dr. Wily sealed him into hibernation for disobedience and something went wrong. Evil energy is not a safe material. For a planet to harbor someone who stores it, much less works with it, is a crime against all sentient life that merits destroying the planet, if it comes to that. I advise you to try to redesign your systems so that you can purge it from them. It is not safe. The maverick virus may have happened not because of any cracker targeting nanites, but from some simple malfunction of the safety features. This Zero might have gone berserk for the same reason. They may not be isolated incidents." Would the idea of things like this happening again and again get X to realize that he had to do something?
Not when he was concerned for someone. "So it is possible that Zero is him?"
"It's possible." Many things were possible.
"I'll see if I can bring Zero to you."
All X could bring was Zero's control chip.
"I'm sorry." It must have been terrible for X to lose his friend.
X shook his head. "He's not dead. Part of the reason Omega gave me this," he touched his hand to his chest, probably indicating the nanites within him, "is that it has backup capability. To keep me safe, no matter what happened. I can't figure out how to use it to bring the others back yet, but I will." Someday. He wouldn't give up on giving all his children the powers and advantages he had. Just like Dr. Light had made sure not even death would keep him from protecting X. "Can you tell anything from this?"
"Well, it contains evil energy carrying nanites that aren't like yours or the virus', but as I said, he could be another mutation. The chip isn't old enough to have been built by Dr. Wily."
"This is the one that Dr. Cain and I installed… Oh." X shook his head, realizing his mistake. "Zero told me to take this, but I should have taken more of his parts with me." Ones that had been part of his original structure. "Thank you for trying."
Obviously they didn't have a lot of time to chat, when X was trying to save the world. It was making Light miss Rock, when he'd never even met Rock. It didn't occur to him that X might be trying to avoid talking to him so he wouldn't figure anything else out.
The next war, X was busy trying to rescue this Zero and even his thanks were rushed. Even when he was carrying one of Zero's parts, he wasn't staying still long enough for Light to get a good scan.
He apologized for that the next time a war allowed Light the freedom to act and place capsules again. "I'm sorry I was so rude. I really am grateful for your help."
"It's what I'm here for. But, X, have you even started trying to remove the energy from reploid systems? Unless it is, even if you destroy this specific virus, more mutations could occur."
"I thought about what you told me, but I haven't had time for research, and right now, even if I could build reploids without exact copies of my nanites, including those, I can't. People are dying, and the fact Vile and Sigma can return proves that this allows people to come back to life. Like Zero. He woke up as soon as his body was restored, although it's not that simple for everyone else. If we started building the kind of backup stations you had during the Wily Wars, the technology would fall into maverick hands and they could start coming back instantly. The fact they need time before each war gives us time. The fact I can bring them back gives me hope."
"It's your decision, and your life."
"Thank you. For giving it to me."
And how could he pressure him about it after that?
The fourth war, when X was kidnapped by the people he'd gone to talk out of this foolishness was when he really got to meet this Zero, who was surprised that Light was helping him. Although he wasn't especially talkative by nature, he was willing to answer a question, or ask one (always practical things) or give him a two-sentence update (always about X, in case Light was worried).
"No, I have to thank you for your help. There's nothing I can do to rescue X myself. I owe you more than armor, for helping my son survive all of this." Zero had been the one to train him, he'd found, monitoring tv and radio broadcasts.
It was obvious that X had imprinted on the one who had visited him. Love at first… not sight, but gift? Infection? He spoke of Zero with worry when it was warranted and always underlying affection. Of course, X spoke about just about everyone with underlying affection, including Sigma. His oldest child, the one the virus had stolen from him.
Even if he was an imperfect copy of Dr. Light, not the original, he still knew how that felt. He remembered what had happened to the original robot masters. He remembered Rocks' heartbreaking bravery.
How could he not help X? How could he not help Zero, even though scans confirmed he had been designed by Dr. Wily? That didn't necessarily mean evil.
He didn't know whether or not to tell X. It was Zero's life, and he shouldn't be burdened by a past he didn't remember. X clearly liked Zero for himself: he didn't want to ruin that. He didn't know what he'd say if X asked what he'd found, but X didn't ask.