It was all coming right down to the wire.

Time was on no one's side. No one could stop its madness, and no one could control its fury-

But there was someone that certainly could defeat it.

And that someone wasn't just going to lie down without a fight.

Night had fallen upon the heart of the Black Tiger. The winds were cold and strong…..he could sense that the earth was completely aware of his emotions. The moon was watching over him from its place in the night sky, smiling down on him….encouraging him with every ounce of its strength. Drops of starlight fluttered throughout the cold air and followed him as he made his way to his next destination……filling his heart with hope….and…

And, of course, excitement.

The eyes of the young tiger were shimmering jewels that put every other jewel to eternal shame. The fire within his heart was beyond powerful-it had enough strength to burn down the gates of Hell. Silence surrounded him, but it had his soul wrapped up in uncontrollable emotions-and they were all emotions that had been born from the light of hope. There wasn't a single thought flowing through the mind of the young Reploid-there were only images flowing through his mind.

The images of his friends.

X, of course, was at the very surface of his mind. The Maverick Hunter's heart was completely broken-the look he had given Axl during their last conversation shattered all barriers of description. X had the look of a child that had lost absolutely everything...and no longer had anything to believe in.

The tiger was certainly going to change all of that.

Nothing could stand in his way. Time wasn't an easy enemy to deal with, but he wasn't easy to snuff out either. No one-nothing-could take him out easily, and that was a fact.

But what if the whole database thing wasn't going to work?

It will. It'll work.

There's gotta be something in there.

Red collected all kinds of data….about EVERYTHING in existence. I have to find something in there.

Black rain clouds made their appearance an hour later, covered in the silver light of the orb in the night sky. Thunder began to play over the horizons, and it began to fill the tiger's heart with even more energy, for the thunder made him think of the excitement his heart was pounding with. The suspense level increased because of the strong, intense thunder….and it caused his eyes to light up with the greatest amount of joy. He looked like a child sitting under a parade of Christmas presents-nothing could cause his happiness to drift away.

Just hold on, a little while longer. Wait for me. I'll come back.

You'll see.

-"Splash Wafly, you have made the proper preparations, I assume?"

"Yes I have, Your Highness-I mean, your Sigmaness. Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of the little upstart when he drops by. Everything's going to work out perfectly."

"Well, if it doesn't, then you'll just become my new plaything. You don't want that to happen, do you?"

Splash Wafly, a member of the Red Alert Syndicate, and Sigma were standing in the very center of Sigma's homebase, holding a conversation. Unfortunately for Splash, things weren't going very well-the look on Sigma's face caused a million shivers to shoot up his spine. The Maverick certainly wasn't someone he wanted to play with.

"No! No, I don't, sir! No! I'll make sure everything works out! Trust me!"

Sigma licked his lips, causing Splash to shiver even more. The Reploid was truly a sadistic, bloodthirsty freak that loved the mere thought of pain-the look on his face would have made that perfectly clear to someone with only half a brain. "Good." the Maverick said happily, putting an arm about Splash's shoulders. "I'm glad we can be friends. If this doesn't work out, then we'll become even better friends. Am I clear?"

"Yes! Yes sir!"

Unable to look at the expression on Sigma's face any longer, Splash Wafly dashed out of the room, but stayed hidden in the shadows of the doorway. Sigma was left to himself….

And he enjoyed privacy. It was like pure gold to him.

"Heh heh heh………it'll be soon, my dear friend. Very soon. I'll get what I want, and you'll drift away from me. So sorry it had to be like this, my red friend. You poor thing, you must be suffering right now."

What is he talking about!

Oh, wait a minute-it's about that Zero guy!

The one he sent Snipe out to attack! He-what did he do!

A second later, Splash received the surprise of his life.

"AAHHH!"

Sigma had a habit of popping up in people's faces when they least expected him to do so. He loved surprises.

A lot.

"You want to know what I did to Zero, hmmmm? Let's just say…that I added a little more spice to the concotion he's boiling in."

"And what's THAT supposed to mean!"

"Nothing much. I'm just speeding things up a little."

Right then and there, the Maverick disappeared without another word, and he left behind a very shocked Splash Wafly. Splash covered his mouth with his left hand, and his eyes widened in disgust as his mind reeled over Sigma's words. He knew of the mission Snipe had been sent out on, and he knew of what was going on with Zero…..but Sigma….

Did he…..?

He did. Oh my god. He did!

He had Snipe plant the Venenum program into him!

(A/N: Venenum is Latin for poison.)

Jeez, this guy is cruel! Did we…..did we…..

Did we do the right thing! I mean, NO ONE deserves to suffer like that!

But Red…..he just wants a new world for us…..

And aren't I supposed to be fighting for him?

-"Zero! Oh no, what's wrong with Captain Zero!"

"He isn't breathing-we're losing him, fast!"

"There's a program flowing throughout his systems-it's a program unlike any other! It's breaking every single barrier of his system-it's totally shutting him down!"

"Cyna, how can we stop it!"

"I'm trying to figure that out now, ma'am! But…..there's just no way…..I've never seen anything like this before! Never!"

"It isn't slowing down! It's actually picking up speed! I'm trying to decode the program now, but ignoring me! It's like the program has a mind of its own!"

A mind of its own…..?

Cyna, one of the assistants to Gate, put a hand over his eyes and swiftly digested everything she had just heart. She repeated the last sentence that had reached her over and over again….

"A mind of its own……how can that be? We're just dealing with a program-a bunch of data!"

The look on Gate's face didn't calm her down. It actually made things a lot worse.

"Sigma has his ways, dear friend. He has his ways."

-Thirty minutes passed.

The Black Tiger finally reached his destination-

The Red Alert Syndicate's homebase.

The very second his eyes fell on it was the very second his heart fell right into a vault of sorrow. It didn't look the way it normally looked.

It made the young Reploid think of a haunted house.

The mists of darkness surrounded every inch of his old home…..black lights engulfed every nook and every cranny……….before Sigma had tainted it with its evil, the base had been such a beautiful, grand place….a place of inspiration and wonder….

And now it was nothing more than a playhouse….for the sickest living being.

The appearance of his old home caused him to freeze with shock for a moment, but then he remembered that a certain something wasn't going to wait for him to recover. The Black Tiger rushed inside, thinking of the very place he needed to reach...and thinking of nothing else. The determination was still there-and it was giving him the speed he needed. He ran throughout the halls of the base, ignoring all of the memories that wanted to reach the surface of his mind….ignoring all of the emotions that wanted to consume him……

Damn everything. This needs to be taken care of. I don't break my promises.

His eyes were completely open, but his heart wasn't seeing anything but the promises he had given to his friends. He knew where he was going-he could make with a blindfold over his eyes. He knew the exact location of the database that had been created by Red…..and so he was able to fall into a world of his own thoughts….

The silence of the base wasn't acknowledged by the young tiger. It went by completely ignored.

Almost there. I've got to hurry.

Fifteen seconds went by. Axl flung the door to the database open and rushed in, immediately going to work. The amount of documents and discs that greeted him shocked him immensely-he had been absolutely right about everything. Red had collected an enormous amount of data on everything.

Now it's time to get to work.

The young Reploid instantly dashed over to the giant computer, which sat in the middle of the room. A million questions ran and ran and ran inside of his mind, the suspense rose to a feverish, dangerous level, millions and MILLIONS of questions ran through his mind-

Where do I start! Where do I begin!

"Sheesh! Aw man!"

He had to calm down. Panicking wasn't going to get him anywhere. And he knew that.

But he also knew that time wasn't working with him-it was laughing at him.

Okay okay. Here goes nothing.

It only took him a second to put out the fires of paranoia, and then he began to type in several commands on the keyboard of the computer. Out of the corners of his eyes he noticed the thousands of documents in the room, but he tried his best to ignore them for the moment. Fortunately, he was a very, VERY fast typer-he could type up an entire book in mere minutes. After a brief moment, data appeared on the screen-

All right. After Dr.Thomas Light passed away, over two hundred professors came up and decided to create Reploids during the "Rebirth" era. The "Rebirth" era-it's called the "Rebirth" era because that was right after everything fell apart! Dr.Light passed away…..and so everything changed! Dr.Albert Wily became a huge psychopath-everything was turned upside down! The world was made into the place it is NOW!

Two hundred…..there are at least two hundred professors here. One of them must have known a lot about viruses and cures…..there's gotta be a researcher in here, somewhere…..Dr.Samson…..Dr.Wilheimer….Dr.Macbeth…..Dr.Richards….

Dr.Richards. Wait a minute-his file says that he specialized in cures for certain types of viruses. It says that he worked on several cures for the Snake Charmer virus, the Thanatos virus, which was created by some lady named Dr.Laina, and for the Ambrosia program, which was a malfunction that occurred during one of Dr.Macbeth's experiments! But Zero doesn't have ANY of these viruses-his virus doesn't even have a name! I need something that will cure ANY virus, not just a certain type!

Dr.Etumond…..Dr.Millons….Dr.Lakerin……Dr.Adrian…..Dr.Williamshire….

Axl's eyes lit up, and so did his face.

Dr.Williamshire! I think I may have found something! It says right here that he created the Panakeia program-

And Panakeia means Panacea in Greek!

"Man, I sure am glad Red taught me how to read Greek. All of those lessons meant something after all. Guess it pays to be curious."

Here I go. In the year 2010, Dr.Greg Williamshire worked together with Dr.Lana Atlinson and created Panakeia. He wanted to create an antidote for all viruses and program malfunctions….and so he did…..but the program never got to see the light of day. He died before he had a chance to complete it, and Lana felt that she couldn't carry on alone!

(A/N: I know none of this is true! All of this so-called history is made up by me! I'm not trying to mislead anyone, and I hope I don't screw up anyone's perception on the history of MegaMan! This is all ME-it's just a part of my story! Enjoy!)

Axl typed in several more commands and pulled up-

The program.

I've got it, right here. But I need to decode it! It's being protected by barriers of data-Dr.Atlinson must have locked it down right after her partner died!

"Great! Just my luck!"

The young one pounded his fists on the keyboard, sweating…..sweating….

Now what! I've gotta figure out a bunch of riddles, right!

He wasn't off at all. Several different codes appeared on the screen….

And they were all in Greek.

Damn! I've got to break through the barriers before I can take the goods back! The program won't be any good to us if it WON'T WORK! But I don't have much time!

"Aaaarrrgghhhh!"

Search for the hidden light of Death's guardian…..Death's guardian……?

Who would-wait a minute. Death's guardian!

This is a line from Dr.Williamshire's journal…..everything he wrote down was everything she decided to form into a barrier! But who could Death's guardian be!

Who's the Greek God of Death……?

Aries is the God of War, so that doesn't work……..but what about Mors! No, that's the ROMAN God of Death! Thanatos is the Greek God of Death! Perfect! But what about-

"Well, hello there, Axl."

A sharp gasp tore itself from the young one's chest, and his heart ripped itself right out of his soul. His eyes became solid pools of infinite shock and horror…..and he turned to look at the very one that had spoken to him. One name left his mouth…..and fear swept right over his whole body….

"Red."

Red, the one that had loved him…cared for him…..

Was just a few inches away from him, ready to strike.

His voice was soft and pleasant, but he had the look of a demon….a demon that was ready to kill.

"How nice it is to see you. Why don't we talk for a few minutes? I'm sure it wouldn't hurt anything."

Axl's eyes widened even more, and his heart began to pound at a perilous, deadly speed.

Red wasn't with him for a friendly chat.

Oh no.

-I hope everyone is enjoying! Heehee! Once again, I hope didn't confuse anyone about the history of Megaman! None of the stuff Axl found is real! I just made it for my story! (hugs Star Ninja) Of course I'll read your fic when I have the time! And thank you so much for your support! (throws parade)