Ch. 4: A wily old man
X found himself inside of a descending elevator. It was becoming warmer every second as he zoomed downward. He did not know where he was going, nor did he know what he would find, but he did know that he could handle whatever Fate had in store.
The elevator finally stopped. X quickly calculated that he was over two hundred feet underground. No wonder the satellite couldn't pick up anything before.
"What happens now?"
He tentatively stepped onto the new ground. It was a well-lit corridor leading to a heavily armoured door. His footsteps sounded hollow as he approached. The door gave no problem, however, and he managed to push it inward.
And be amazed.
"Whoa… if only Dr. Cain saw this…"
The room was large, and had more light than the corridor. Tables upon tables of robot body parts lay across the length of the room. Large, hulking machines lay unused in many parts of the 'laboratory', along with empty stasis capsules. Everything had the rust and tarnish of long disuse. He gaped in awe. Who did all this belong to? He spied a familiar object in one corner.
"I can't believe it… Zero's capsule… but I thought Sigma had gotten hold of it!"
He looked at the fourteen metres high, eight metres wide capsule which was painted red and yellow. For some reason, his own stasis capsule was of the same proportions when Dr. Cain had first found him.
"Welcome to my laboratory."
"Huh!?"
X spun around. A purple hologram had materialized next to him. It was of an ancient man, wearing a large lab coat, which hung about his shoulders. He had wild hair that stuck out of the two sides of his head, and wore a large moustache.
"You… you look so familiar."
"I should be… Megaman!"
"What! No one called me that, since…"
X's eyes dilated several inches again:
"Can it possibly be that YOU are Albert Wily?"
"Yes, I am. I exist as a shadow of the former robot maker. I had hoped to be the greatest in the world, but after Dr. Light created YOU, Megaman, all my plans were for naught. No matter how hard I tried, the plans I made, the robots I created, you continued to win over and over again. After many years, I finally created this incredibly powerful robot… it was a huge gamble, in terms of reliability, but I took the risk. I had nothing to lose. My masterpiece destroyed you. Finally, after so many years I had won! Then fate dealt me a crushing blow. I was infected with a horrible disease that was incurable at the time. So I decided, before I died, to move all of my life's work here, where no one would find it. After I found out that Dr. Light had locked you in stasis mode for thirty years, I did the same to my masterpiece. Then, I stored my mind in computers, to watch and wait forever. After you and my masterpiece awoke, he was captured, and you both became best of friends, I understand…"
X had been listening in fascination. That was why Dr. light had sealed him in the capsule! The moment Wily mentioned "best of friends," X suddenly understood.
"You… you were the creator of Zero!"
"Yes. I gave him a little something to carry with him in the stasis capsule. The Maverick Virus, a thing of my own creation. It was designed to make Zero far stronger than usual. However, when Sigma fought Zero, the virus was transferred to him instead. Then it was named the "Sigma Virus". In the last War, as you may have been told, I contacted Sigma and advised him to release the virus all over Earth, so that MY masterpiece would finally discover his true self, and his true purpose- to destroy YOU!"
X was suddenly hit with the awful truth. The scattered, confused thoughts in his head suddenly became as clear as transparent platinum.
"I understand now… what Sigma was talking about… he said that there was another who also hated me… and that person was you… you were the one who told him to release the virus, severely damaging the Earth, just so that Zero would awaken to his true self, and destroy ME!?"
X was very bewildered by all of this. Wily had been the cause of all the Wars, by using Zero as the carrier of the Maverick Virus. Sigma was just a pawn that Wily had used to try and awaken Zero. It had failed, however, but Zero was now gone.
Wily chuckled for a while.
"Yes, X, you've finally gotten it, haven't you? I started all the chaos. I wanted to destroy you so completely, that I would even risk the world's destruction. Zero still had not awoken during the fifth War… it was because you and Zero formed a formidable team that triumphed against all odds. My son and yourself… allies! That is an oxymoron if I have ever seen one."
X glared at Wily. His SON!?
"You! You're even crazier than Sigma!! You're not Zero's father! How could one so evil have created the Hunter that Zero was? And what did you do to his body?"
It was Wily's turn to glare at X.
"My son is very safe, mind you. He will come back to your world, X, not after I have dealt with him myself… I almost forgot to tell you. I had used a replica of Zero's power generator to lure you here after your HQ picked up its energy signature. And now, Megaman, I want you to meet an old rival of yours… and his pet."