Prologue The Imprisonment Of Zer0
Zero's mind was once again that horrific battlefield of long ago.. The crimson android moaned in his capsule as he tried to escape the nightmare once more. "No...Not again! NO,NO,NOOOO!" The tormented hunter cried out trying to submerge his tortured memories into subconscious. But his dark memories refused to be forgotten as they forced him to confront his worst nightmare. "Please no,please no...Make it stop!" He gasped as his malevolent past suffocated him with every moment of sorrow...
It was his final mission:To save the space continent Eurasia and the entire world from an cataclysmic collision. A mission almost left doomed to failure because of himself...While the Maverick Hunters hurried to halt Eurasia from its devastating descent. A mysterious virus struck the reploid population and the epidemic tragically transformed much of the population into mavericks. It wasn't long before Zero discovered that he HIMSELF was not only the carrier for the Zero virus-but also for the very maverick virus that corrupted ex-commander Sigma. it didn't take long for Zero to realize the cold truth behind his creation.
Zero,DWN-00Infinity...Zero, last of the Wily Numbers...Zero,Wily's greatest creation... Zero, Wily's ultimate revenge for Doctor Light , an all-powerful weapon designed to crush the world the benevolent robotics genius had long hoped for...Wily's one and only purpose for him was to execute X. A fate that shaped him into an embittered and enraged battle machine...In the present Zero choked as he remembered how the insane scientist managed to take over his mind. And the horror of being controlled as a killer doll by his own father.
A estranged scream burst out of his mouth as his body writhed in searing pain as if Wily had grasped hold of him once more. He winced as the images of a damaged, unbelieving X tried in a futile fight to take his best friend back. "NO!I'M NOT A MAVERICK!I'M NOT A MONSTER LIKE YOU!LEAVE ME ALONE!" He screeched at a past Sigma who had crackled at his misery and declared him a maverick. Zero's entire body began glowing fiery light as he relived the moment he sacrificed himself to eradicate Sigma's existence forever...Leaving his best friend alive so he could save both Eurasia and Earth just in the nick of time.
Back in the present Zero's body bobbed upwards in the capsule the android was contained in. The capsule filled to the brim with cyan colored and gooey solution, there were wires attached all over the hunter's body. Zero swayed in the liquid as the recurring nightmare finally faded mercifully away. He let out a few bubbles of peaceful relief. Meanwhile, scientists had been hovering around the capsules taking notes of their subject's readings on the blinking monitors. Assistants manipulated the controls at their computer screens which altered the subject's body to their bosses' specifications.
This was the final day of testing, the experiment had gone on long enough. Project Anti-Virus was underway, "Release the subject."Ordered the head of the project. A female scientist with flowing hair white as snow and eyes that reflected an icy blue. The capsule whirred open to a pushed button's command. Zero dropped into a waiting nurse's arms as the liquid of his former pod spilled onto the floor. A janitor heeded the call to mop it up while Zero was taken to be washed up.
The subject was hustled to a waiting room where a shower capsule waited in anticipation. Gently settled in the shower, the nurse operated the controls which not only cleaned the messy android efficiently but also woke him up. He opened his eyes groggily as he stepped out of the shower. He gave the nurse a dazed look as she began drying him with a fluffy towel. "Since when do senior maverick hunters need caretakers?!Were NOT human after all for goodness sake!"
He thought in annoyance as the nurse scooped him up in her arms."Wha..."Zero became even more perplexed as the petite woman carried him in the hallways with no trouble at all. "She's a human right?!I'm still a robot right?!So how can she carry freaking 130 pounds of titanium Z alloy without breaking a sweat?!"He questioned in disbelief over what was happening to him.
Zero found himself taken back into the lab where the scientists of Project Anti-Virus were waiting. "Oh, I've been rebuilt. X must have salvaged my parts and handed me over here for reconstruction. So why do I feel weird?..."He puzzled over. The nurse placed the prime subject of the project on the hard examination table. Two assistants immediately hooked him up to a harness in order to check his current status.
Zero listened to the beeping of the machine he was hooked to as he shuddered with disgust at the intense stares he received from the humans circled around him. He refused to make eye contact with what he perceived as cold creeps. "The sooner X comes to pick me up the better. I desperately need a few mavericks to smash to shrug off this uneasy feeling these weirdoes are giving me." He inwardly scoffed at them. Then he remembered about what he almost did to his friend...
The scarlet warrior knew that he had wronged his friend in a way he couldn't take since he's been rebuilt-surely X had recovered from the terrifying ordeal he put him though? "He had to forgive me." He silently hoped."Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-Ping!Status-100% operational!" The machine checking its patient answered. "Annoying tool,now time to get out of here-"The patient's thoughts were cut short when a feminine voice seemingly gracious but spine-chilling inquired him,
"Feeling good as new Commander Zewo?"
The commander looked up to face the elegant founder of the project he had unknowingly became the center of. There was something about that supposedly innocent question that made the maverick hunter tensed with suspiscion. And he was sure that she pronounce his name wrong on purpose. His own arctic blue eyes confronted her's, "Greetings madam, may I ask what do I owe the pleasure of your acquaintance?" He replied. But to his disgrace she let out a laugh as cold as her nature.
Frozen in suspense his voice suddenly been stripped of all its confidence and he could barely whisper, "Nani?..."She gave her baffled test subject an apologetic smile ironically not meant to settle his fears to rest. "Why don't you take a look at your new body Sir Zewo?"She crooned. "She's playing with me-but I'm not going to play ball!" He hissed to himself as he placed his feet onto the solid floor. He strode arrogantly to a waiting mirror pondering the secret joke the indignant woman seemed to be playing at his expense...
He faced the mirror expecting it to reflect his usual armored self-and let out a yell of shock. "WHAT THE CRUSH YOU DID TO ME?!"He shrieked in outrage. He had been shrunk to the size of a small child! His new body happened to be slim, glossy, and constructed from a mysterious black metallic substance. His new armor appeared as blazing red gloves, sleeveless vest, and combat boots. But what was scandalous was that his long, golden hair still remained while his helmet been replaced with a white headband with a prong on each side. He turned onto the scientists only to discover that they were all wearing sickly pleased expressions.
"WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS?!AND WIPE THOSE GRINS OFF YOUR FACES OR I'LL MY Z-SABER WILL DO IT FOR YOU!...Eeeep!" He quickly covered his mouth when he realized his voice now mimicked that of a young child's. The lead director towered above Zero causing him to cautiously take a few steps back. "Zero... You were originally built by the infamous Wily to be a weapon and nothing more. Isn't that right?" Her prized test subject reeled in shock that she knew his shadowy, secretive past.
But his horror only grew greater as she continued, "He created you as a carrier for both the Maverick and Zer0 viruses. The mad man dreamed that you were bring about the annihilation of this very world he failed to conquer. But he made two fatal mistakes..."Zero opened his mouth to demand how she learned about his forbidden history-when suddenly she grabbed him and covered his mouth!"Mmmff!" His captor forced him to face her.
"One, he gave up on the glitch in your cognitive programming which enabled you to change and become free of your master's will. Two, when he designed your body he unknowingly created it to be so resilient that instead of the viruses corrupting you like they did to every reploid during the Zer0 Epidemic...They left you stronger. You had lived up to your name DWN-00Infinity. You are Infinite power! "Her words shattered his skull as if it been hit by an super charged energy bullet. He began squirming to break free of his captor-he had to escape NOW!
Despite his violent struggles, four armed guards managed to restrain him and forced him into another capsule. He vainly screamed and flailed as they cuffed his wrists, torso, and ankles. He prepared to howl a thousand curses at his newfound enemies-when the nurse strapped a nozzle onto his mouth. Attached to a tube which began unwillingly feeding him a strange liquid produced by an automated liquid mixer. It caused his head to spin, his little body began feeling the alteration within him, and it was slowly drowning him with sleepiness...
He glared at his now mortal enemy, silently demanding why she would dare do this. She knowingly answered, "You are actually a child Zero...who had evolved to surpass viruses...the perfect Anti-Virus...And I won't let you go ever." She closed the capsule on him which secured his imprisonment. He laid helplessly trapped with no way out. His real fate kept secret from X who probably believed him still dead...
The once magnificent warrior was robbed of everything he had worked so hard for. For once he was alone and afraid...NO! Even if he had become the experimental child for a mysterious psycho he was still ZERO. A noble commander for the mighty Maverick Hunters. He had fought alongside the most powerful of all robots and faced the most dangerous of threats with X. If he had helped rescue the world time and time again from the sinister Sigma-Then of course he could and WILL escape!
"That scientist confirmed that I possess a will despite not being a reploid. And where there is a will there will always be a way..."His last thought before drifting off into a deep sleep...