The first thing Zero was aware of was the hard surface pressed against his cheek. Soon, he began to sense other things, the coldness of the room, the sound of an electric current nearby. Finally, his systems were able to drag him to full consciousness. He started to get to his knees when his head suddenly felt like a spike got driven through it. Zero grit his teeth and waited for the pain to subside without so much as crying out. Finally he was able to sit all the way up and open his eyes. He didn't like what he saw.
Zero was trapped in an electric cage, much like the one Vile had him trapped in years ago only bigger. There was a cage to his right which held Iris, who was just awakening from the effects of the trap herself. Zero reached to his back to see if his Saber was still there. It wasn't. When he looked down at his wrists he saw they were covered in gleaming metal wristbands that would keep him from forming his arms into arm cannons. Not that I've been using 'em much recently anyways, he thought to himself.
"Well, it's nice to see you back in the land of the living."
Zero's circulatory fluids went cold at the voice that rang out through the lab. Cold. Calculating. Emotionless. Sigma! Then, the abomination came into Zero's view. He was just as imposing as he ever was, seven feet tall, built with the look of bulging muscles, various shades of green, grey, and white armor, and his face! The one thing that never changed from body to body was Sigma's face. The head was bald, with no helmet, but the red crystal on his forehead showed where his control chip was. His mouth was pulled up in a smile that touched no other part of his face. And along his blank solid blue eyes were the scars. Those scars had been given to Sigma by Zero years ago, when situations were reversed. Back then, Sigma was the Hunter and Zero was the Maverick. Now, even after having his entire body rebuilt more than four times, he still wore those scars as a badge of honor.
Zero growled. "What do you want, you slimy son of a..."
"Now, Zero," Sigma returned with just a hint of amusement. "No need to be calling names. Profanity is so infantile, after all."
Zero's grin was absolutely evil. "Yeah, well let's see how 'infantile' I can be, shall we?" And then he laid into a verbal onslaught that would have made the entire Navy blush. He dug through his entire cache of put-downs, slurs, and offensive four letter words-which, as mentioned before, is quite extensive and spans several different languages. The bashing lasted about ten minutes straight, and Zero had to smile inwardly as he went at Sigma's reaction-or rather, his deadly lack of reaction. Zero knew that the only reason he hadn't been killed yet was because Sigma thought he could be swayed to the Maverick cause and that he shouldn't be pushing his luck, but at the moment, he didn't care. Finally, Zero finished off with an "...and the horse you came in on!"
In the other cage, Iris (who was rather flustered herself) had to supply a brief applause. After all, one had to be incredibly brave, stupid, or crazy to actually say such things to Sigma's face. Zero smirked. It was pretty obvious that if Sigma had blood vessels to bulge out of his temples, they would have burst. Sigma took a couple of seconds to regain his composure. "Are you quite done?" he asked as soon as he was sure he could get the words out of his constricted throat.
Zero folded his arms, satisfied that he won even as minor a victory as this. "Quite."
"Oh, man. I hate these things!"
Protoman grinned at his brother. "Whassamader, Rock? It's just an automatic gate. They have 'em all over the place."
Mega Man glowered at his older brother. "Maybe so, Hade. But whenever I come across one of these things in a crazy world dominator's fortress, it always leads ta trouble."
The three Bioroids had been battling their way steadily through Sigma's underground fortress, the surroundings slowly getting more high tech as they went. Unfortunately, the fighting only got harder the deeper they went. They probably would have been toast already had Bass not revealed he had five E-Tanks with him from the past. All three of them had used one by now, leaving two for later use.
Bass turned to his two companions. "Well, are we goin' in or what?" he asked in annoyance.
Mega Man nodded and walked up to the door. Just like he expected, motion sensors picked him up and the door opened. When the three Bioroids were on the other side, the door closed. Protoman hit it a couple of times with his fists. "Locked."
Mega Man smirked. "No big surprise there."
"Nice to see you could make it," hissed a familiar voice. Bass, Protoman, and Mega Man spun to face it. It was Vile. He stood in the center of a large room with his arms folded and his eyes glowing though his now whole mask.
Mega Man smirked. "I see you got yourself fixed from the beating I gave you last time."
Vile nodded and withdrew a small sphere from somewhere in his armor. "You could say that." He hit a button on the sphere and it began to glow purple. He threw it high in the air and a bolt of energy erupted from it, surrounding him. The thee other robots in the room had to cover their eyes. When they opened them again, all three of them gasped almost at the same time. The monstrosity standing in front of them was huge, vaguely human shaped, but with a nasty looking rocket luncher replacing one arm and wing like protrusions coming from its back. Vile's head could be seen from on top of it. "A little 'gift' from Repliforce," he said casually. "Far more advanced than the Ride Armors the Hunters use. Not only is it portable, but controlling it is essentially the same as controlling your own body. No clumsy controls on this baby. Here let me show you."
Vile's attack was far too fast for the others to react. His large fist caught Protoman right in the chest and slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack it. Vile then trained his rocket launcher to the corner where the wall met the ceiling and fired. Massive amounts of debris resulted in the explosion, effectively burying Protoman under tons of rock and steel. "Hade!!!!" Mega Man cried as he ran to the wreckage.
"Look out, you idiot!" Bass cried at almost the same time. He flew to Mega Man top speed and socked him in the jaw, hard. This act knocked Mega Man away from Vile's charge, but put Bass right in it's path. Vile buried Bass in a similar manner than he did to Protoman. He slowly turned to Mega Man. "Well, now, little man. Looks like it's just you and me, now."
Mega Man stood his ground. He was nothing if not courageous, after all. "Looks like," he replied with a small nod.
Vile charged again, but Mega Man was ready. He dove out of the way, did a handspring, and spun in midair to face his opponent. He shot off a Mega Beam shot, which hit Vile dead on. Vile was lost in the explosion. Mega Man was not fool enough to believe that he had finished his opponent off yet, and was charging up another shot, but Vile's next charge was too fast. Mega Man found himself buried in the wall, with Vile's oversized fist pushing into him with more and more pressure. Vile's red eyes could be seen glowing behind his visor. "Game over," he hissed.
Sigma was back in full gloat mode. "I suppose you've been wondering where your blue friend is," he said with his infuriating smirk.
Zero folded his arms and glared at his enemy behind the energy screen. "I suppose you'd be right."
Sigma grinned even wider as he hit a button on a remote control. A wall behind him shifted as a chair came into view. It was attached to various pieces of computer equipment and strapped to it was X. He was now wearing his regular blue armor, minus the helmet, and several nodes were attached to his forehead. He had the look of one who had just waken up.
Iris' eyes widened when she recognized the setup. "A data extractor...?"
Zero swore.
Sigma grinned wider. "Right. I see you recognize X's predicament. I must admit to being almost as curious about his past as he is. Now I have my chance to finally learn it, before I destroy him!"
Zero swore again.
Sigma turned to Doppler. "Do it!"
Doppler nodded and hit some keys on the keyboard. Data began scrolling his screen faster than the human eye can follow. Sigma seemed to be able to follow it though, because he said after a moment of it, "Further, Doppler, further!"
"I'm trying!" Doppler tried as his typing got more and more frantic. Zero cast a concerned look in X's direction. He had his eyes shut tight and his teeth gritted. Zero could tell that sweat would be rolling down his face if he had the glands for it. He's fighting them! he realized. Finally X gave a scream of pain that caused both Sigma and Doppler to back off. The computer screens and other equipment hooked up to the data extractor began to blow up in their faces. X slumped forward, unconscious.
"Doppler! What's happening?" Sigma cried in despiration.
"I-I don't know! This machine was in perfect order!" Doppler responded, just as despirate.
"You idiots," came a voice from the cages behind them. Doppler and Sigma turned and faced Zero. He may have been disarmed and caged, but at the moment he looked more dangerous than he ever had. "Did it ever occur to you," he continued, "that if X couldn't access his memory, then maybe there'd be a failsafe to go with it? You've just force fed all that data to him!"
X found himself in a strange room. Or maybe not so strange. It seemed to match his vision of Dr. Light's lab before it became ruins. Voices behind him caught his attention. He turned. There behind him were Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. Slightly younger versions than the ones he'd been recently acquainted with, but still definitely them. On a table in front of them was a young boy, with midnight black hair. Rock! X realized with a start.
"Is he charged yet?" Dr. Light asked.
"Ninety five percent," Wily responded. "Not full power, but more than enough for it to wake up. What's wrong with this stupid machine!?"
"Albert..." Dr. Light admonished.
Rock stirred. His eyes slid open, and he looked at his surroundings uncertainly.
Dr. Light smiled kindly. "Rock, do you know who we are?"
Rock studied them for a moment, and said hollowly, "Dr. Thomas Xaviar Light and Dr. Albert W. Wily. You are my creators."
"That's right," Dr. Light commented. "Command line: Light 3, activate personality protocols."
Rock blinked, then smiled. "Well, then, Doc, what can I do fer ya?"
The people in front of him faded from view, leaving X alone in the room. "X, do you know what that was?" came a voice from behind.
X slowly turned. It was Dr. Light-at least it was the flickering blue hologram of Dr. Light he'd been accustomed to seeing from his Armor Enhancement Pods.
"I...think so," he replied uncertainly. "Rock's creation, right?"
Dr. Light nodded. "Only partly true. That WAS Rock's creation you just witnessed, but it was also your own. Come, X. We have a lot to see before this trip is over."