Soft blue footsteps approached. Dr. Light's sentient hologram looked upon X, his only surviving creation.
"No, not yet. Actually, I want you to rest for now…"
"You old fool, he can't hear you."
Thomas Xavier Light shook his head at the reddish visage of the late Albert Wily.
"You made a hologram too, I see."
"Be damned if I'm not around to watch my son grow up."
Dr. Light rolled his eyes.
"Always the overachiever. You decided to live your dream vicariously by helping Zero attain world domination?"
"Yes. My body was already old when I made him. But he…" Wily's ghost hand touched his creation's forehead where his W had been imprinted years ago, "He will live forever."
"It does not seem
that way."
Wily snorted.
"Nothing's wrong with his brain. That halfbreed freak doesn't know well enough to destroy, only maim."
"Considering your kind words, Sigma would be better off alone."
"I need my minions…
as you need yours."
Dr. Light made a show of brushing off his
eternally clean lab coat.
"X has the ability to make his own…"
"Oh? So those myriad armour capsules, even the one where Eurasia crashed, were his idea?"
Dr. Light smiled.
"You will notice I
upgraded Zero's systems."
Wily barked a short laugh.
"Shadows and mirrors.
The Dark Energy I infused him with… that is all the power he
will ever need."
Bitterness grew a scowl on Wily's face.
"But he resists it, fights it. Why does he not welcome that which gives him power?"
Dr. Light's smile broadened.
"Children will always rebel against their parents."
"Except yours, forever playing the hero!"
"That's because I spend time with him, Albert, unlike you."
As usual, the children did not speak while their parents squabbled.
888
More astonishing than the weakening of the Zero Virus ravaging planet Earth was X's return.
"Hey Alia…" he smiled. He was fully repaired, but without the armour that bore the sun on its wings.
"Megaman X! Where have you been all night?"
"Well, y'see, there was this bald guy…"
"I'll have none of that lip, young man! Go to your room!"
"Yes, mom."
Alia closed the front door behind him, and noticed with surprise Zero's saber attached to his back.
"What is that you've picked up from outside?"
X cringed.
"It's just a saber…"
"You've been seeing that Zero, haven't you? What did we tell you about him?"
"But we didn't…"
"Answer me!"
Signas strolled into the base foyer.
"Hey, now, what goes on here?"
Alia pointed a cross finger at their blue boy.
"Your… Hunter… has been picking up strange things from outside."
"The Z-Saber without Zero? Now that is strange. What happened, X?"
He told them.
888
The Ray-Ban suits sat in conference, main screen turned on to the happenings in Maverick Hunter HQ.
"Unexpected. He survived. Production can continue as normal."
"What of the other anomaly? The people want him, not the blue one."
"He is attached to the less popular one; he will return if he is sought."
"An observation: because no-one hangs Zero with the weight of their expectations, he frequently exceeds their hopes."
"That is a correct observation, gentlemen."
The ghost of Wily passed through their midst.
"Greetings, sir."
"Spare me formalities. Is the next game underway?"
"Yes, sir. The sixth installation of the Megaman X series will hit shelves within three weeks."
"Good."
"Sir? Another observation: security records of the American girl whom we held captive as game tester show that she finished the sixth game in less than one hour."
"So? There are greater gaming prodigies among our people."
"That's just it, sir. Most gamers prefer to finish a game in its completeness. She went directly for the final stages using the loopholes we programmed. It is as though she is capable of… predicting the path of wars."
"Hmm. What is her name?"
"Hannah Sears."
"I have noticed that she is attached to my son, and influences his actions to an extent. Perhaps we can persuade her to see things my way, and in doing so, convince my errant offspring of the error of his heroic ways."
"Very good, sir."
"'Very good?'" he mocked, "I am a genius."
888
"Merf. I miss him."
"Me too, Hanny."
She and X were sitting on the roof of her house, watching a Pennsylvanian sunset. Her home had been reconstructed kudos to Douglas, who thought her house was as good a place as any to begin planetary recovery efforts.
"Where'd he go?"
"Dunno. I hope I don't have to rebuild him, ala war number two."
"You have his saber."
Hannah had been awarded an honorary license to wield her beam saber. After wrangling over the subject, nobody saw the harm in it. The American government didn't care; the thing was safer than a firearm. X removed his saber from his back. Its gold plating reflected the setting sun.
"It's like the third war. He was critically injured…"
"And told you to destroy them all with that. You sure did. Two slashes and Sigma was toast."
"Heh, you played the game."
"All of them. Want to know what happens in the next war?"
X's face fell.
"Not again!"
She smiled.
"You'll meet him again."
It was as though X had been handed his very first Christmas present. So the two talked into the night, both possessing a little piece of the hero who was a Zero.
888END888
Author's note:
It is said that a writer imprints his psychosis on his works. In turn, the reader's subconscious is affected and some of the psychosis is transferred. I wish to assure you, dear reader, that you have not been affected by my psychotic mind. You were crazy to begin with.
