Mega Man X 1.5
by Tremor3258
Author's pre-note
(wishing italics would work on fanfiction.net, may have to redo EVERYTHING I've written because I use italics for thoughts and emphasis. e-mail me if you know the HTML codes)
End Author's pre-note
Darkness and Revelations
"Well, we've done all we can. Now we just have to hope his systems reinitialize," said Lifesaver grimly to the collection of people in the room. Bebop, Isoc, and X sighed in relief while Zero and Jazz merely looked relieved. Repairing Mega-copy had been one of the most delicate pieces of work the doctor had ever accomplished. Luckily, most of the other extremely delicate pieces of work had been preformed in the last week repairing damage from the simulator, so Lifesaver had plenty of recent practice to draw upon. Still, the condition of the group from the simulator hadn't been so critical to require twelve straight hours of work to stabilize the systems. It had taken another two days to finish everything up.
The robot looked very peaceful now, and even more greatly resembled a boy than normal for the hero, as his helmet had been removed during the operation. Most of the damage had been confined to the torso region, but X's heavy plasma shot had sent pulses of electricity through all of the robot's systems, and the auto-repair system was unable to cut the circuits out before some had been fried. Lifesaver nodded in satisfaction, you couldn't even see the seams from the repairs to the armor that had been ripped open.
Zero looked at the repaired robot in irritation. They were using good resources to repair a machine that wasn't even sentient, but had attacked them. Unfortunately, it was a complicated machine, and without Mega Man being on-line, trying to access the robot's data banks and figure out why they had been attacked would probably result in the data banks being overwritten. Isoc had intended the feature to help prevent infection from viruses or reprogramming, but now they were left with no sure way of finding out what was going on until the robot reawakened. Zero had wondered how Isoc had managed to run diagnostics on the Mega-clone's programming before he had finished, but Isoc had explained it was a last minute feature to ensure Dr. Light's prize warrior would continue fighting for humanity.
He does have a way with words, doesn't he, thought Zero in amusement. Still, no one could doubt Isoc's dedication to his creation. He had been of great assistance in the initial rush to prevent Mega-copy's fusion reactor from breaching, and hadn't stopped for a recharge cycle, even when his systems started to glitch out from lack of downtime. When his hands shook too much to do any more work, Isoc had simply remained inside the room. Still, Zero could attribute darker motives if he wanted to, as standing by the bedside of the ailing robot made great press, and prevented Isoc from facing the angry and startled Hunter press corps.
Jazz and Bebop had remained in the quarantine bay because they weren't allowed to go out of the room, but the two had behaved themselves perfectly, quietly studying old technical journals or simply watching the medical staff do their job. The two, however, had taken the occasional break to go into stasis, and looked reasonably alert. They had decided if anyone needed information on Rock, they would be awake for it. Still, the two had started to twitch uneasily. Either people hadn't known or been unwilling to mention what happened to Rock exactly, and the two hadn't had access to news reports that told what happened in glorious detail.
Zero hadn't been able to stay in the room the whole time, since X had been watching Rock in frustration. Even a copy of his brother would have memories that X wanted so desperately to know. The cats' generally unfavorable impression of Light had come as a shock to X, as the two had spent much of their time with obedience code hard-wired into them (much of the reason behind their generally barely stable neural nets). Light's capsule and apology seemed to go a ways to healing the breach, but the two definitely offered at least a revisionist view on the great scientist.
Still, X had held the vigil for all the days, and Zero suspected only the fact X had his armor and its advanced systems on were keeping him reasonably cognizant. "Come on, hero. Rock's going to be fine. Let's get you off to a recharge bed before you blow a fuse." Zero tapped X on the back lightly, and, eyes still open, X teetered forward and fell on his face with a crash.
Isoc, disoriented, jumped almost two meters in the air on hearing the sound. Isoc's voice wasn't as smooth as little, lack of sleep catching up to his voice synthesizer, but Isoc managed to croak out, "Great, Zero. You killed another one." Zero resisted the urge to ignite his saber. You could cook hot dogs on the glare Bebop was sending at the Crimson Hunter.
Jazz crossed her arms and said sweetly, "So, who's idea was it to not bring up the fact that Zero swiped open a robot that was probably all confused, waking up again into this strange new world?" Jazz looked around in irritation, "Okay, what's with all the confused stares?" she snapped.
"You didn't know?" said Lifesaver in shock, "Oh, I forgot! You two don't have access to systems that are updating in the quarantine ward. Here, I'll pull the news reports."
The wonders of modern journalism became apparent after a few minutes. There was a brilliant close-up of Rock calmly shooting plasma bursts through the crowd. Then Zero, looking like the devil incarnate, battle rage on his face, slashed through Rock's torso with his saber. At this point, things went into slow-motion on the camera, so every drop of coolant that sprayed from high-pressure lines was captured coldly and in better detail than real life itself provided, considering the scene had been over in a few seconds. Then a massive bolt of plasma came slamming into Rock's side. The massive energy inherent in the super-heated matter grounded itself into Rock's systems, causing the robot to twitch spasmodically, his face twisted and in spasms from the pain. "That was his bad, by the way," offered Zero, nudging the downed X with his foot. The cats shot quick glares before going back to watch the video in horrified fascination. Mercifully, Rock was blotted out by a cloud of darkness and the camera, energy drained as well, shut off, dissolving the picture into static.
"Why was he firing?" asked Bebop in a small voice. Zero shrugged helplessly.
"We don't know," Lifesaver said sadly, "I don't suppose there was some secret catch in Rock's blueprints you could tell us about?" The two looked confused. Lifesaver slapped his forehead, "Oh, right. Isoc over here put together a copy of Mega Man." Looking at the two's expressions, Lifesaver said kindly, "Maybe I'll stop for right now. You look like you've had enough shocks for a while."
Isoc croaked angrily, "Why were these two in here to begin with? X and Zero have stakes in this, as they destroyed poor Rock, but what's it to you?" A few medical staff were ready to take Isoc over to lie down. Evidently his memory banks weren't firing on all cylinders after being awake. Isoc suddenly shook them off and stood bolt upright, "Ah, I remember now. Mavericks, of course, since practically the day you were programmed. The back-ups for the grand scheme." Everyone stood around and looked confused at that. Isoc held out a shaking finger, "Just keep them away from him! He's perfect, and I can't dare have them contaminate my boy!" With that, Isoc ran out.
A hush filled the room, several Reploids' jaws worked silently in astonishment. Zero, however, seemed rather amused by the antics, "Security, this is Commander Zero. Someone pick up Isoc and stuff him in a recharge pod before he starts streaking or something?" Someone apparently answered, since Zero looked rather satisfied.
Jazz seemed to have finally snapped back into her usual mode as the more bad-tempered of the pair, "Did the universe just start going wacko while I've been stuck in here? What the hell was that about?" Which was the only part of the universe that seemed to be in phase with its usual self. X unconscious, Isoc apparently reduced to a bundle of nerves, and Bebop enraged. Lifesaver, with an effort, disengaged that line of thought. Bebop, frankly, could get away with a acting a bit, well, a lot, ticked at realizing that someone had apparently blown away his long-lost brother. Of course, the realization that said brother was just a shell of the former robot, and one who went crazy to boot, seemed a good argument against Bebop getting a Maverick retest anytime soon.
Zero rubbed his forehead in exasperation, "With X sleeping the sleep of the very tired, I guess I'm in charge. Losing his mind or not, which makes us two for two on leaders, by the way; Isoc's right. Run another scan on Rock's systems, and move him to a location away from possible infection. Sorry guys, but we'd better play this one by the book."
Jazz said confidently, "Zero, trust me when I say this: no one is getting infected when we're in the area."
"Right attitude to have," applauded Zero, "but now's not the time. Lifesaver, go see to Isoc and make sure he doesn't melt down, and someone get X to a recharge pod. Get Rock out of here, I want to talk to these two." People cleared out of the small bay. Jazz stretched in delight after everyone filed out, Mega-clone being carried tenderly on a stretcher.
Zero sat down on a bed and looked at the two, "Okay, listen: we've had time to before to wonder exactly what's going on, but I don't have the patience X does. What's up exactly with you two lately, and I want to hear everything. I'm in a very bad mood right now, because someone thinks it's funny," Zero snarled the word, "to send me pictures of my departed girlfriend. Not to mention we're almost three weeks away from the anniversary of the Fourth Uprising, and I'd hate to think what little memento I'm getting then. I haven't had time to look up where Isoc's from yet, so he's still a mystery to me, and I don't LIKE mysteries. They make me angry. Trust me, you wouldn't want to see me angry," Zero grinned ferally, "Now: I've seen enough Hunters come in to know when the last part of their memory buffer has been wiped by trauma or not, and I saw the surveillance tape of when you two woke up. You two were reacting to the battle even before you were fully awake, and DON'T tell me you were just whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears when you were coming off severe mental trauma." Zero folded his arms and glared at the two.
The two stared at each other for a minute before Jazz broke the silence, "Is anyone else going to see this?"
Zero shrugged, and said, "That depends what you tell me. If it's 'I'm a secret spy for Sigma, and I was just waiting for everyone to fall asleep following Rock coming in and then gutting X', then I'll probably have to write a report or something. I can erase the records in here: Command gets a few small blessings. Now, go on."
Bebop sat down, figuring this would take a while, and gestured to Jazz, "You know, I feel a little uncomfortable about this. Technically, we've been keeping secrets as long as we've known each other, and that was right after we were activated," Jazz rolled her eyes as Zero stared in confusion. Bebop finished thoughtfully, "Of course, we knew what the other person was talking about anyway because we weren't idiots. You start, you knew more about Zero at the time, and most of what I know is because of our forty years in a dream-state." Jazz nodded, stretched slightly, and began.
"Okay: first thing. I may have many one tiny little falsehood, well, two tiny falsehoods when I woke up in this time period. Judging by the similarities in our schematics and origins, I'd have to say that yes, I am your sister." Zero shrugged. He had figured such a while ago. The two weren't great at subterfuge. Jazz continued, "I'm almost certain of that because of certain things my creator let slip, though he didn't seem for me to know that I was a test bed for the new free-will circuitry. But, my creator wasn't always that together, and I managed to piece together that a high-level, extremely complex, Reploid unfettered by the bonds that have nearly destroyed my mind on multiple occasions," Jazz's voice started to rise in pitch as she worked herself up, and Bebop grabbed Jazz's hand. Reassured by the contact, she continued on in a more level tone, "But this miracle of technology and design was known as Zero, and built by the infamous Dr. Wiley, my father," Jazz finished in a whisper.
Zero was expecting several things, from Jazz claiming a lab accident with Light right up to being the product of aliens. "Well, that explains why you didn't want to say anything," said Zero lamely.
"For both your sakes," said Bebop seriously, "Wily wasn't one to put the First Law into effect, and Jazz was designed as a war machine, her mind slaved to that of Wily's. From what I've gathered through our time together, Wily was becoming more and more unstable, and Jazz's orders to protect him meant working around other orders. If Wily had realized that his creation had gained true free-will, she'd have been destroyed," Bebop's voice was tinged with sadness, "And even know, how would people take knowing you were built by one of the greatest evil madmen in history? I've seen how trusting people are." Zero nodded, and cursed in his head. He owed these two his life for merely having existed, and much of that had been based on falsehood. For now, he couldn't even repay them.
Bebop said, "So, you know already about Light and how I felt. Things got weird during Wily's last Robot Rebellion, which was totally unexpected by either of us. We were attacked by the latest Robot, named something like Earth Man, if I remember right?" Jazz nodded, and Bebop continued, remembered pain echoing in his voice, "He wasn't acting fully aware of his surroundings, and we did a simultaneous data scan on him to figure out what was going on. That was our first mistake."
Bebop flexed his fingers, as if in pain, "What was inside was an extremely nasty, extremely potent virus designed to shift all your circuit's priority into battle, and treat everything that got in your way as an enemy. Luckily, it came from a seriously inferior processor, so we could beat it back down, but it still did some damage. If it had gotten a good hold on our systems, the Virus probably would have been a lot nastier, since our systems would have done our best to improve the Virus. As it was, we received a lot of reports of other Robot Masters acting the same way, but luckily, they couldn't advance the Virus like we could have, or another Reploid could have."
Jazz finished, "Right up to modifying our auto-repair systems to deliver the Virus via nanomachines. Sound familiar?" Jazz asked bitterly, "We think a little bit of it got stuck in our systems, since both of us slipped into battle with a little more ease, and we managed to defeat opponents that all rationality said we didn't have a chance against, and we greatly improved while it seemed that Rhythm and Staff were guiding our actions."
Zero frowned, "Wait, assuming what I think you're talking about is accurate, you two got hit by the original version? But how did it get into the Robot Master's systems? They were plenty advanced for the day, nothing should have broken down all their defenses if the Virus wasn't self-aware yet, unless..." Zero looked at the two thoughtfully. They were obviously uncomfortable admitting where their animal instincts came from. Still, Zero knew they had tested clean upon arrival, and helped clear out Mavericks. If they had been controlled by the Virus, the Mavericks would have welcomed the two cats as new members in the big Infected family.
The two shrugged helplessly, "We don't know," Jazz added softly, "But I do remember how you were supposed to be an invincible warrior," Zero preened, but the two didn't even laugh, and Jazz said, "Something really, well, weird happened in the simulator. Sigma DID try to infect all four of us, but what happened wasn't what he expected.
*********************
Bebop was firing desperately as Wolf stopped slashing at the walls to block the invincible juggernaut bearing down at them. Alia had collapsed, her leg thrusters blown out completely, and Bebop was concentrating more on dodging than firing. We're going to lose, he thought grimly. The cat wasn't sure what would happen after that. Suddenly, Sigma's tactics changed, and a warm beam of energy shined down upon Jazz. Auto-repair systems boosted slightly, Jazz gasped as she was force to consciousness, but unable to move.
"Farewell, Hunters," roared the beast from both heads, "It is time for you to realize the true destiny of all Reploids!" The simulator systems had matter synthesis capabilities, to create actual bolts and missiles to hit the warriors who braved the environments. They were usually weaker. The corrupted simulator, however, could easily produce Virus particles, and did so. The cloud of black mind-death engulfed them all.
Jazz, immobile and helpless, her body barely responding to her frantic commands, knew pain as she could feel the nanos engulf every bit of her structure. But, even though she could feel like tiny mites attaching to every circuit, she couldn't feel anything transferring from the horde. She ran a self-diagnostic, and was shocked at the response.
"Additional material confirmed: activating standby systems. Core programs initializing new repair units," Jazz screamed as the complacent worm at the center of her being gnawed out slightly again. Everything went fuzzy in her vision for a moment, and she could feel the world shifting into black and whites, enemies and allies. She looked down in surprise (as she could move easily) as her armor had also shifted. She was covered in blacks, with only the dark brown highlighting remaining. New power flowed through her systems, but warnings flashed as well. The Virus itself had found its pathways blocked and already occupied, and the tables had been turned. But the additional particles came at a price: her fusion plant couldn't operate at a level to support the stronger armor and weaponry for long, and she would soon return to stasis. I can do this though, Jazz thought frantically, and went. She saw one of her allies convulsing as the Virus infected her, and though a part of Jazz realized there would be hell to pay from the damage inflicted upon her battered systems by even moving, most of her didn't care right now. Reaching Alia, Jazz reached a hand out, and simply took the Virus in.
The Virus was a part of Jazz, though most of the dangerous parts had been stripped away or subverted into protocols that protected the Reploid, you couldn't simply double-infect her. That gave her a modicum of control, but the additional nanos tying themselves into her power systems were too much of a strain, and Jazz's fusion went into low-powered stasis mode before she could blow her jury-rigged repairs.
Bebop had started hissing once his armor started to change to black from its usual color scheme, and it had taken a moment for him to regain enough control over his emotions to do anything. Sigma stared in shock at the transformation, and Bebop had been ready to fight while the monster was still discouraged over its weapon failing, until he felt a short, transmitted distress signal from Jazz as she fell unconscious again. Bebop could feel his control reasserting itself as the transformation was complete, but also a warning message from his internal systems. He had maybe there minutes before he went into stasis because of the increased drain, and he needed every second.
The Virus, without the nanomachines or an artificial intelligence guiding it, was simply a static program. Sigma had upgraded the Virus after he had eventually fallen prey to it, making it far easier to infect others. The nanomachines fooled the system into accepting the Virus as rightful, good programming, subverting the first line of defense, and Sigma's mind kept the Virus mutating faster than internal defenses could keep up. If the nanomachines were eliminated in time, before the affected Reploid's communication systems fell to it, then the Virus could be halted.
Bebop had the Core program to the virus almost as much as Sigma did, and quickly yelled at the Virus to come over. Wolf collapsed, exhausted and his circuits strained and damaged by the close brush. Bebop felt no additional power from the extra virus particles, but they did increase the drain. There's no time to take Sigma down, but he's hurt friends/mate Bebop thought, Staff's old programming rising to the surface as it was tied a bit to the Virus. Noticing the still rather ice-bound form of Ajax, Bebop adjusted his lasers slightly and opened up. Systems enhanced beyond their specifications, dodging the blows Sigma tried (though rather half-heartedly. He was mainly Virus, and the control exhibited made Sigma wonder if he saw the main version of himself in front of him) was child's play. Bebop ran against the clock, cleaning the rest of the ice off and running Ajax's temperature levels up to standard operating levels. Bebop collapsed, however, energy exhausted by flying and firing his weapons AND trying to power auto-repair systems with far too many parts for his fusion plant to handle. Bebop collapsed, going into stasis mode, the Maverick virus particles dying off in droves. Then all was blackness.
*****************
Zero looked at the two, as Bebop finished, "Mind you, we're pieced a lot of our reactions together and theorized some stuff as well to fill in the gaps. At the time, we weren't thinking as much as reacting."
Zero's head froze in mid-nod. He was like that a lot himself, caught up in battle rage in the middle of a fight. If I do have a 'declawed' version of the Virus, my systems can't pick it up, since my data patterns aren't being channeled along new paths, and my mind remains pretty much my own. Zero groaned. It explained a lot about him, and why Sigma claimed Zero could take him down with a mere pipe. Still, no one would actually agree to having a modified, harmless Virus installed, since it obviously had affected their systems to a degree, setting them more war-like, though as defenders of humanity, not its destroyers. For that matter, it's not like they could get someone to come around and analyze the source code of the Virus in Headquarters. Most of the researchers were along the lines of see Maverick program, delete Reploid's mind that has the Virus.
Zero's voice trembled slightly, "When X wakes up, I'm going to tell him what's going on. I owe him that much. Next, we're too busy here, because we need to see if you guys really recovered or not. I'm going to ask around and see if the Hunters knew anything in their previous lives that would help. A lot of people here are prototypes or one-of-a-kind projects, and their designers may have the kind of talents we need."
Zero stood towards the door, "You two be calm for a few days. I need to think, and after you guys get cleared, we're going to go survey the area where I was picked up. Jazz, if I had been stuck in a capsule ready for activation when Wily died, then you know the layout of that fortress. It's possible there are designer notes for the Virus or something." Zero turned and looked at them, "I won't lie. Frankly, we may all be retired for this, but if we could find the original Virus, I think it would be worth it. The Hunters may not be around much longer, and if we can stop the Mavericks now, we'll at least have fulfilled our mission. You two have a good evening," Zero said. The locks on the door clunked as the two were sealed in once again.
Jazz and Bebop stared at each other. Things were on a precipice. Depending on how things tilted, the next few days might just see the end of the Mavericks, or the Hunters themselves.
To be continued...
Author's notes:
Well, since Jazz and Bebop share a lot of design similarities now days, they have the reaction of both Hunters to the Virus from X5. Their energy is exhausted, but they're also on the near side of invincible in progress.
I also figured it was time for their older brothers to figure out what's going on, and since Jazz and Bebop may face a firing squad already, they might as well reveal any information that could be helpful.
Now, while remember while Zero would hold his word and delete the records, there's some electronic sprite running around that's made a mockery of at least the Hunter's e-mail programs... just thought I'd mention...
Still, I just got all my characters on their feet, and now X is asleep, Mega-clone's in a coma, I'm guessing Alia and Wolf are training, and Isoc's losing his mind.
Next time: It's time to dig out some old dirt in the family tree, but some other people aren't interested in some secrets being uncovered.