Chapter 8

Just a Matter of Semantics

Bass rubbed his eyes wearily. "Great. Just great," he muttered. "The ultimate evil the world's ever known showed up on my own front door, took out my creator, and now he can destroy the world as he pleases."

Bass' blonde haired older brother grimmaced. "And the key to this destruction just happens to be me!" he growled.

Rock sighed. "Dr. Light, you haven't happened to have finished your work with X, have you? The last thing we need is Sigma getting ahold of him, too"

Dr. Light shook his head. "No. His structural frame is about eighty percent complete, but I haven't even started on his electronic brain yet." It was obvious he was feeling guilt over the situation. If he hadn't come up with the idea of X, Bass wouldn't have stolen the plans during the seventh war.

X made no outward show, but it was if a light clicked on in his head. So, that explains a few things. He was already working on me when Rock lost his final battle. He just transported his Bioroid mind to my Reploid body. The two robot types are close enough that the personality routines were accepted, even if the memories got scrambled.

"Do you happen to know where Wily dumped Zero?" Hadrian asked Bass.

Bass shook his head. "Not with any kind of pinpoint accuracy. The doc's been getting more 'n more paranoid as the years go on. He trusted me enough to give a very general area, but it would take a lot of searching to find."

"How 'general' are we talking about here?" Iris asked. "Death Valley?"

Bass had to smirk. "Yeah, actually."

Zero cursed.

"SNAKE MAAAAAAN!"

The name reverberated throughout the Space Node, and the Robot Master in question appeared in the central computer room within seconds. "Yessssss, Lord Ssssssigma?"

Sigma's scarred facade glared at his green and white underling before saying two words. "Status report."

Snake Man bowed. "Robot Master reconstruction is proceeding precisely on schedule. Your army will be complete in about five hours."

Sigma grinned nastily. "You have three."

Snake Man knew better than to try to make excuses or to argue with his new boss. "Yessss, ssssir." he said respectfully before exiting.

Sigma was actually quite satisfied for the moment. Things were going quite well. After all, he knew where Zero was hidden, as well as the fact that X was yet to be anywhere near completion, and he had an entire army of robots to ensure that any resistance would be futile. All he had to do was activate this time period's Zero, and let nature take its course, so to speak. It would be only a matter of time before the human race would be destroyed. Then Sigma would be free to make a world of Reploids. A world...in his image.

It was mid afternoon when Wily woke up again. Bass was on duty, pouring over a map of Death Valley, marking off sites that had already turned up blank, and plotting prospective search grids. Wily slowly opened his eyes and turned his head weakly in Bass' direction. When he saw what Bass was doing, he chuckled weakly. "Looking for..."little brother"...are we...?" he asked, cruel amusement evident even in his weak voice.

"Doc! You're awake!" Bass said with a smile.

"Way to state the obvious," Wily responded, his voice growing stronger. "And to think that you're the smartest of my creations."

Bass couldn't help but grin, realizing, of course, that the same dig would have caused him to go into a furious fit not more than a month ago. Any more conversation was interrupted by Roll as she burst into the bedroom with a bowl of soup. "'Morning, Doc," she said in a cheerful voice as she set the tray on his lap. "Good to see you got your strength back. Now eat up, we wouldn't want you to die just yet as you have info we need to save the world."

Wily grinned wryly as he began to eat, but didn't say a word. Bass however was looking at Roll in amazement. "Wily's not awake for two seconds, and you're already prepared with food n' everything. I swear, it's like your psychic or something."

Roll just grinned and said, "Uh-huh. Now shoo, he needs to eat. We can drill him for Zero's location after we're sure he's not terminal."

Bass chuckled as he left. "Quite the bedside manner you have there, no wonder Rock prefers the repair bay..." He ducked the pillow she threw at him and left to report to the others.

Zero stood unmoving, looking out the window to the guest room. He hadn't moved or spoken for several hours, and X and Iris were getting worried. They exchanged a worried glance from their chairs across from each other. Finally X cleared his throat. "All right, Zero, what is it?"

Zero turned to face his fried. "What is what?" he asked in a not-too-convincing show of mild annoyance.

X folded his arms and looked at Zero straight in the eye with a dubious look on his face. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. What exactly is it that's crawled up your butt?" When Zero still refused to answer, he sighed. "Look, Zero. You know I've always been perfectly willing to let you keep your secrets. The past is in the past and all that. I never pressed the matter, even when you told me about Wily--okay?--and you know I'm on the level 'bout this. But guess what, pal? The past ain't in the past anymore. See this place? This place were in right now? It's Dr. Light's lab. Maybe you heard of it. We're here, Dr. Light's here, even Dr. Wily's here. So normally, yeah, I'd never push you to reveal anything you weren't ready for, but right now we really don't have a choice. So spill the beans, already."

Zero stood stock still for a moment longer, then he visibly deflated as if he had a slow leak. "X, Wily building me was only half of the story. Remember what Sigma said when Bass asked him about his mastery of Evil Energy?"

X grinned in spite of himself and shook his head. "I was buried under a couple tons of rock at the moment, remember?"

Iris thought for a moment, then her eyes widened. "He said something about his virus half being created by the energy!"

Zero nodded. "And where do you think he got infected by the virus in the first place?"

X and Iris simply stared at their friend in bewilderment.

Zero sighed again. "Okay, let's try this. X, remember back before the first war, when Sigma was still in charge of the Hunters, a rumor about a 'mysterious red Maverick?"

X nodded. "I wasn't involved with the Hunters at the time, but, yeah, it rings a bell. Didn't he take out an entire unit by himself?"

Zero nodded. "And Sigma managed to take him down, but he was severely damaged. That's where he got those frickin, scars in the first place."

"Zero," X asked. "Are you telling me that you were this Red Maverick?"

Zero nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I don't remember much of my Maverick days, just an unending feeling of rage. That and a constant buzzing of three words. Destroy, Infect, Survive. When Sigma got me with his final blow, the virus left me. I was about to be deactivated, so it had to fulfill its second and third algorithms."

Iris' eyes widened. "And it infected Sigma...."

"Exactly. I'm the cause of all the Maverick wars. It was me!" Zero lowered his head, allowing his hair to fall over his eyes and obstruct his face, then turned away from what he perceived to be accusing eyes. "Don't you see?" he asked pitifully. "If I didn't exist, then the Wars would never happen." Zero felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. "Zero," Iris said in a comforting voice. "You can't blame yourself for..." But Zero gently untangled himself from her embrace and separated himself from her. "We have to find my past self," Zero said softly. "And destroy it." Iris gasped, thought X only slightly raised his eyebrows. He was half expecting that response already.

X, who by now was pacing around the room, passed the window and stopped. Zero and Iris were too entrenched in their own thoughts to notice. They couldn't help but notice when he struck his arm out the window with blinding speed and withdrew it just as quickly, sending a red and yellow blur bouncing across the floor.

Protoman sputtered and yanked at his scarf--X had yanked him into the room by the ends of it-
-and said, "Good going, Bro. I guess fifty years'll teach you a thing or two, huh?"

X facepalmed and muttered something about wanting one little secret, that's all, and Protoman straightened and regained his cool composure. "Well, since I'm a part of this conversation now, can I add my two bits?" Zero nodded. "Okay, I know I'm not a part of your time period or anything, but Rock and I studied a little backstory while we were guests at the Hunter Towers, and you said something about Sigma being leader of the hunters before this Red Maverick even appeared. Now, remind me again, what was the purpose of the Hunters? Anyone?"

X had to grin at his brother's tact, or lack thereof, and answered. "To hunt down and retire Mavericks."

Protoman nodded. "Right. And that means there were Mavericks before you even entered the equation." Zero opened his mouth to say something, but Protoman continued as if he didn't even notice. "So there's no telling if Sigma would have gone Maverick even without the help of Wily's stinkin' virus. Bear with me for a moment, here, and consider this. Let's say we go and destroy your past self, and Sigma still ends up going Maverick, taking the other Hunters with him. X here, being the naive little hero he is, would still go charging off half-cocked, and he'd still likely run into Vile in that Ride Armor of his. What do you think will happen if you're not there to pull his fat out of the fryer?"

Zero shook his head. "How do you know it would end up like that?"

"How do you know it wouldn't?" Protoman responded. "Look, the future is messed up. I'm not going to deny it, but believe it or not, you guys are winning. I saw the signs while I was there. The collateral may be high, but you are still winning. And you are a big part of that. So whether you wanna believe me or not is up to you, but guess what Zero? You. Are. A hero."

Zero frowned a bit, but Protoman could tell he was considering his words. "And now if you'll excuse me..." the visored robot said with a grin before making his exit.

As soon as Protoman entered the hallway, he heard a familiar voice call his name. "Hi, Rock." he responded as his little brother trotted up next to him.

"What's up, bro?" Rock asked.

Protoman shrugged. "Nothin' much. Y'know, just checking up on things."

"Spying, you mean," Rock said with a grin.

Protoman shrugged again as he separated himself from his little brother. "Tomato tom-ah-to, Rock. Tomato tom-ah-to."

Rock just chuckled and shook his head as he went the other way.

Protoman was in for quite a sight when he arrived at Dr. Wily's quarters. Bass had the old doctor up against the headboard of his bed and looked ready to tear the man's head off. Roll was curled up in a corner, trying to be as invisible as possible.

Protoman chuckled. "Lemmie guess. Wily's had a bit of a change of heart and won't tell you Zero's coordinates."

Bass, barely containing his rage, merely nodded. "And why should I?" Wily asked. "He thinks I'm safely out of the picture! So all I have to do is hide out until he's prepared the world for my rule, then I just have to detonate the Space Node."

Protoman seemed to be thinking about that and nodded. "True. You could do that. But if you did, I think Bass here will kill you."

Wily scoffed. "Really, now? He's gone just as goody-two-shoes as you and Mega Man!"

Protoman shrugged. "If you say so. Personally, I don't think he's quite as much the Boy Scout you think he is. And frankly, I don't think I'd be able to stop him, either. Something to remember, Wily. We're all Bioroids here. We aren't restricted to following program peramiters anymore. Whatever safety you installed in Bass when you made him most likely won't work anymore."

Wily's eyes went wide and he looked Bass in the face. What he saw was cold fury, and chilled him. "Come on, Roll," Protoman was saying to his sister. "Let's leave these two alone..."

When they got outside the room, Roll cast a concerned look at her brother. "You don't think he'd really...?"

Protoman chuckled and shook his head. In a low voice he told her, "Nah. I think Wily actually had Bass figured out pretty well. His temper is the hottest of all of us, but I don't think he'd be able to kill his own creator at this point. It's just I've always wanted to play Good Cop/Bad Cop..."

The door slid open at that moment and Bass came through. "We got the coordinates," he said evenly. "Wily just about messed himself and gave 'em to me just before fainting."

Roll took his arm. "Bass, are you okay?" she asked.

Bass began to nod, but then shook his head. "Not really, but we got a job to do."

Minutes later, all six of the warrior robots--decked out in their battle gear--along with Roll and Dr. Light, were gathered in the Radar Room discussing their plan. Mega Man, Bass, X and Iris seemed to have come to the conclusion that they should simply move the past Zero to a new hiding place before Sigma attacked. Zero hesitated a moment, but agreed to the plan. "You okay?" X asked him in a whisper.

Zero grinned and whispered back. "Sure. You're the one with the guilt complex, remember?"

"You know," Protoman broke in. "I think our best bet will be to just let Sigma send his attack force to pick up Zero, then dispose of them. It'd make the Node itself much easier to fight through if we could take out some of his army before we get there."

Mega Man shook his head in disbelief. "Hadrian, you're nuts. This is too important for Sigma to trust to a small number. He's going to get really organized and send in a fair number of R.M.s to get Zero, probably more than he sent to wipe out Bass. We wouldn't stand a chance."

"That's your problem, Rock," Protoman replied, and, indicating X and Zero, added, "and yours, too, for that matter. You think the only way to engage an enemy is to go to 'blast-the-crap-outta-everything mode.'" Protoman turned on a monitor, which was showing footage of how Protoman got the Robot Masters from earlier to back off with hidden bombs. He had to grin. "This time, we're going to be playing by my rules."