"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."-Mark Twain

May 16th

It's been two months since Sigma took control of the Maverick Hunters and he and his hunters have been able to prevent any further injury to the population. Everyone is starting to breathe a little bit easier...

I am a little worried about X. He seems unsure of his place in life and what Dr. Light had planned for him. But given time, I'm sure he'll find his way...

"What's our current situation?" Sigma demanded. He was furious. Some maverick reploid had demolished not one but two entire squadrons. How, he didn't know. But it was his job to make sure that people were safe, and so far it didn't seem like he was doing a very good job of it. The robots hiding behind the large rocks in front of the worn down building turned around in alarm.

"Commander!" one of them shouted.

"Where's that red maverick that wiped out Garma's units!?" Sigma continued.

"In, inside. He's inside that door," one of the robots stuttered out in fear. Sigma frowned and continued walking forward towards the mentioned door.

"You may leave now," Sigma ordered. "I'll take care of this personally."

"By yourself Commander?" the hiding robot asked.

"I don't want any more of my people being sacrificed," he growled out. He stepped through the doorway to see the maverick reploid finish tearing apart another with its bare hands.

Sigma frowned at the brutality and studied the maverick. Its design was like no other he had ever seen.

The maverick turned to him and Sigma got a good look at its face. At first, he had mistaken the maverick for a girl when he saw the long blonde hair, but the face was clearly masculine. A glowing pair of red eyes stared at him from beneath a red and white helmet. The helmet had red protrusion like horns on the sides. A blue gem was at the helmet's center.

The rest of the maverick's armor was mainly red and white with black under armor and golden highlights.

The maverick grinned demonically in a rather terrifying way and Sigma resisted the urge to shudder and prepared himself for the coming battle. The grin was one of a predator, a pure bred killer, a murderer. It was obvious to Sigma that it was built for that purpose, but by who was unknown. It had to be a formidable foe if it had taken down that many hunters.

Sigma frowned as the maverick rushed him immediately with a roar. This was a matter of life or death. One of them wasn't going to live on to see the next morning and judging from the carnage on the floor, he knew there wasn't a very high chance of him making it.

He dodged the attack effortlessly and the maverick gave him a confused look. This robot is different than the others, the maverick realized. With a growl, he let out a series of punches which Sigma dodged. With a roar of his own, Sigma kicked the maverick away, who blocked it with his arm, but was sent flying by the force.

The maverick grinned evilly as he picked himself back up. Perhaps this was going to be an interesting fight.

The two charged each other again and each dealt out blows. Sigma growled to himself as he tried to figure out how to take down his opponent. It wasn't that he wasn't landing any blows on it; it was just that the blows he did land didn't seem to faze the maverick at all. Somewhere along the way, the maverick had ripped out a pipe as Sigma took out his own saber, and somehow, the piece of metal didn't melt whenever it came into contact with Sigma's energy saber. In fact, Sigma was rather concerned that it didn't melt. The maverick had to be producing some sort of energy field that protected the metal. Was that what was keeping the maverick from getting damaged too?

Sigma knew this maverick was different than all the other ones he had faced. And he knew the maverick was only toying with him. There was a darker power in that maverick's hands that for some reason he wasn't using. There was something that was just oozing of the maverick in sickening waves, but he didn't know what it was.

He tried to get the upper hand over the maverick by knocking a nearby crate over on top of the thing, but that backfired. The maverick reacted far faster than had expected once more confirming his theory that the thing was holding back, and kicked it right back at him. Sigma dodged the crate, but failed to dodge the maverick's next attack as it swept the maverick hunter off his feet with a loud clang. The maverick proceeded drive the pipe through Sigma's arm and part of the cement below, effectively rendering it useless. It then stepped on Sigma's hand to get him to let go of his saber. All of this was done within milliseconds, leaving Sigma no time to react.

Sigma cried out as the maverick's heavy metal boot crushed his hand and he let go of his saber. He growled at the maverick staring down at him and produced the nastiest glare he could muster. Currently he was trapped, but if he could only distract the maverick long enough to use his legs to shove the maverick away . . .

The maverick knelt and grinned down at him nastily. "I'm impressed," it laughed at him. "You've lasted far longer than any other hunk of junk I've gone up against. Then again, I am holding back, but nonetheless." The maverick leaned in closer. "I think I'll keep you. A few upgrades and you'll be a worthy servant."

Sigma roared as he tried to kick the maverick, who laughed and dodged effortlessly, leaping off of the maverick hunter and bounding away.

"Not today!" Sigma growled out as he yanked his trapped arm off the pipe and picked up the saber, quickly getting back to his feet, but not once letting his eyes stray from the maverick. "Or any day for that matter!"

"Oh, did I say you had a choice? My bad," the maverick sneered. Sigma roared and charged the maverick, swinging the sword at him with his good arm. The maverick laughed as he dodged and danced behind the maverick hunter.

"Is that all you've got?" it taunted. Sigma growled and turned around.

"What the hell are you?!" he demanded. The maverick laughed.

"I'm a god," it announced. Sigma growled and once again lunged at the maverick who continued to laugh at his attempt.

"God?! The god I know would never murder innocent lives such as you have!" Sigma roared out. The maverick laughed.

"Oh, you mean that pathetic little fake god humans worship? Oh please, I'm a real god. Not a fairy tale. I'M THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION! And this entire world will bow down before me!"

Sigma roared and charged at the maverick who dodged and grabbed Sigma's neck, holding him up against a nearby wall.

"You're no god," Sigma growled out. "You're a demon."

"Eh. God. Demon. Same thing," the maverick shrugged. "Either way, I will rule this world."

Sigma growled at tried to slash at the maverick who quickly let go of him and leapt away before the blade could touch him. Sigma grinned internally as his auto repair informed him that it had restored functions in his damaged arm. That was a surprise he could use to gain the upper hand.

With a roar Sigma ran forward, bringing his saber down on the maverick who leapt to the side, the side with Sigma's damaged arm. The maverick hunter grinned as this was exactly what he wanted the maverick to do and in a burst of speed he leapt forward to grab the maverick with his injured hand, holding it in place as he quickly brought the saber down on it.

He believed victory was his. That was until his entire shoulder burst into pain as his previously injured arm was tore off. The maverick danced away from Sigma's saber with ease now that it was free. Sigma dropped the saber and glared at the maverick who merely smirked in his direction, holding his shoulder with his good arm. He hadn't seen the maverick's arm move, yet that was clearly his arm in the maverick's right hand.

"Did you really think that that was going to work? I was well aware that you probably had a repair function that restored your arm. In fact, I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long."

Sigma growled at him and lunged, but it really was a hopeless fight to begin with. He was outmatched and out gunned. There was no chance that he was going to make it.

This was further proven in the next few minutes as the maverick brutally beat Sigma down. It grinned as it knocked Sigma to the ground and stepped on his head, the grin widening as Sigma screamed in pain, his metal skull starting to bend and break under the pressure.

Then after what felt an eternity for Sigma, the maverick gasped and let out a cry of pain of his own, stepping away from the downed maverick hunter and grasping his head in pain. The gem on his forehead had an odd looking 'W' in it and it appeared to the source of the maverick's pain and Sigma's hope. Now filled with hope at the chance to take the maverick down as he mysteriously screamed in pain, Sigma got to his feet and gathered up all that was left of his energy, delivering a hard punch to the maverick's forehead.

The blue gem cracked and the maverick's eyes went dim as it fell to the ground with a clang, inactive. Sigma panted as he stood staring down at his near killer as his feet shook and his entire body was on the verge of shut down. Without another word, he left the maverick where it lay and made his way outside to where the other maverick hunters were waiting, holding his shoulder as it sparked.

"Sir!" they shouted as he exited the building.

"Get that maverick shipped off to Doctor Cain's! I want that thing studied!" he ordered. The hunters shouted out a chorus of affirmative's.

"Sir, are you okay?" one of them asked.

"I'll be fine," he growled out. "Now get to work!"

"Yes sir!"


Doctor Cain had never seen anything like it before. Scratch that. He had. But this was different. This programming . . . there was just something wild to it. It wasn't wrong. No, in fact, it was leagues above anything this current civilization had to offer. It was just . . . unnatural.

From what he could decipher from the programming itself, the robot in question was designed to be an android, much like X. But there was a sense of feral intentions hidden deep within the lines. This robot wasn't designed to be a human interface unit like X was. It was designed for war.

It was programmed to handle any weapon imaginable with ease and destruction. It could respond to things several whole seconds faster than the most combat ready reploid of this time.

Cain fully believed Sigma when he said that it had taken down entire units of maverick hunters. He didn't understand much of the programming, but it was definitely designed for combat.

If they could manage to fix the android and get it to fight on their side then Doctor Cain fully believed that all maverick problems would disappear overnight. This thing, this maverick, that was currently laid out on the table before him was arguably the most destructive piece of technology Doctor Cain had ever seen, and he'd been inside a nuclear missile base.

And yet, he didn't know how to fix it. The robot's forehead gem had been smashed, a couple of the shards had dug deep into its skull and scratched the surface of its I.C. chip, the heart of its programming.

The programming had been damaged, but by just how much had been uncertain. He'd repaired a few lines that he knew for sure how to fix, but he was an archaeologist for a reason. Programming wasn't his specialty. Neither was robotic design, but that career was doing rather well for him at the moment.

Doctor Cain sighed and looked up at X as the android placed a cup of coffee in front of the roboticist turned archeologist.

"Thank you," Cain muttered. X gave him a brief smile and looked at the robot on the table. He winced.

"They didn't clean him up before giving him to you?" X asked, taking a glance at the coolant and reploid blood that covered it's hands and armor. Cain shook his head wearily.

"Sigma seemed to think that it was important that I got to working on it right away. Besides, it gives me a sense of the dire situation that might occur if I'm not careful."

X frowned at the robot and hummed in agreement. A robot like that going crazy here? The idea itself was incredibly horrifying. While the android was strapped down for safety reasons, they really weren't sure of the robot's capabilities. In all reality, the metal bars they were using to hold the maverick's body down might not be able to withstand against its strength.

"Are you any closer to figuring him out?"

"No, he's just like you X. Another android. But he wasn't programmed by Doctor Light. No, . . . there's no way. This programming is just too wild. I . . . well to be honest, I don't know who built him. I can't even tell you how old he is. He might have been sealed away and protected from outside sources like you were."

"Did Sigma say anything about where he was found?"

"An abandoned warehouse? To be honest, Sigma didn't give me much information to work with. He was pretty beat up and I don't think he was feeling very well. He nearly died and I think it took a toll on him. He was a bit snappy when he got back."

"Beat up? I haven't seen him since he left. How bad was he?"

"His armor was just about toast, his arm was ripped clean off. There was some major damage to his head, but lucky for him it didn't damage his I.C. chip. To be honest, after looking at this programming for five hours, I'm surprised he's still alive. This thing's a war machine, X. If Sigma hadn't have stopped it then in that warehouse . . . I don't think even a nuke would have ended its reign of terror. This thing has resiliency."

X was silent for a while after that, gazing at the still android before him, lost in thought.

Cain frowned. "Sigma did say though that the only reason he did win was because the maverick's gem started glowing and it screamed in pain. He said something about a 'w' but I couldn't get much more out of him from it. He seemed a bit off."

"A 'w'? For some reason that rings a whole bunch of alarm bells with me, but I can't put my finger on it. Do you think that perhaps he was from Doctor Light's time?"

"It's highly possible. I mean, Doctor Light wasn't the only roboticist that worked with robot masters. There were quite a few others. I just thought that he was a bit more advanced in his work."

"Wasn't Light competing with another roboticist?"

"The one that tried to take over the world?"

"Yeah?"

"You think this is his work?" Cain asked. X glanced at the programming.

"Maybe?" he paused. "I mean, you said the programming seemed wild, right? I don't think Wily was very sane at all by the time he passed away."

"Didn't he pass away before Doctor Light though?"

"No, he disappeared. And he reappeared a few years later with a . . . war bot. . . Cain . . . do you think this is it? I mean, the 'w'. Wily was known for putting 'w's all over his work. "

Doctor Cain frowned and studied the maverick in front of him. "I . . . I don't know, X."

"I . . . don't understand. I thought all of the robot masters were destroyed."

"This isn't a robot master, X. I mentioned that before, didn't I?"

"How do you know?"

"I don't. Not really. I'm not a roboticist, remember? It just . . . it looks a lot like yours, X. But there's something feral added to the mix," Cain said. He studied the programing as X looked over his shoulder.

"This looks like he's still operable," X commented. Cain nodded.

"He is, but there's just so much that I don't understand with this coding that I'm not sure if he's going to go maverick or not."

"How do you know what's damaged?"

"There's a few lines that are obvious; those ones I've already fixed. From there it's all about looking at what makes sense and what doesn't and try to pinpoint possible areas with the impact scratches on the I.C. chip. But to be honest, none of some of the possible areas make sense. Even the areas I did fix don't really make much sense. Like, I get what their supposed to be, but I don't understand why the coding was placed there and not someplace else. He's like you X, he just doesn't make sense."

"Well, save what you do have and take a break. Sitting here all stumped and upset isn't going to fix anything."

Cain sighed and obeyed, clicking the button in the upper left hand corner that would save the programming to the android's I.C. chip. An error box popped up on the screen, the flashing red box drawing the archeologist's complete attention.

"What in the world?" Cain started. "I thought I was able to edit!? He's more like you, X, than I thought." The next few seconds was a flurry of clicks as Doctor Cain struggled to get the changes to save to the android, but the program refused to change. After a while Cain sighed and backed away from the screen.

"Perhaps you're right, X. Maybe I do need to take a break. I can't seem to figure this thing out any more than I could figure out you, but at least from your systems I could derive some form of human like A.I. system. This? I'm not even sure if this is designed to be human!" Cain exclaimed. X frowned as he glanced over the programming.

"Why not?" he asked. Cain looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

"The programming. The way it's programmed, yes, I'll admit, it does seem a bit feral, but I don't think it really is. From what I can tell, this android's just going to have an extreme thirst for battle and an impulsive nature. Well, I think it will seem impulsive, but that line there mentions something about assessing the situation, so I think it's just designed for quick reactions in battle. Why this android's creator would add so many battle protocols in its primary programing is beyond me. Honestly, I think that's a bit overkill, but battle would be entirely instinctual. I think. Then again, I'm not sure."

". . . Where are you seeing all this?"

"Well some of it I fully understand, like those four lines there, but the rest of it is more of a . . . gut instinct? I don't know. . .I'm just getting a sort of vibe? It that what you would call it?"

"He's not even awake and you're already getting vibes off from him," Cain muttered. X gave the man a lopsided grin.

"To be honest though, Doctor Cain, I really don't think you should try and repair the lines that were damaged. I mean, some of them are okay, but the others just give me a really bad feeling. Like that right there. I'm pretty sure that that is intended to be an order for eliminate target, but I don't think this is just about eliminating enemies, I think that it more of an assassin sort of approach. Like he was specifically designed to kill someone."

"Who?"

"Who else from Wily's time," X stated as if that solved everything. Cain frowned.

"Doctor Light has been dead for years."

"Yeah, but his last invention is still around."

". . .you . . . you think that this thing was programmed to kill you?!" Cain exclaimed. X nodded.

"The pod. . . the pod mentioned that something like this might happen and that I would probably have to prepare for it, but I didn't think that it would be much of a problem so soon, I thought that I would have a bit more time than that. But I suppose if your name is being broadcasted all over the world as being the father of all reploids things were bound to happen. . . . Doctor Light and Wily were enemies and Wily was extremely hateful of everything Light did. It really wouldn't be all that surprising."

"I . . . I suppose not. . . you know, you know a lot for someone who didn't even know how to cook mac and cheese when he came out of the pod."

X's face turned an alarming shade of red. "The pod skipped over a few things!"

"Seriously X, you don't use a cook book for Kraft mac and cheese," Cain continued, an amused smiled on his face as he watched the android groan.

"I know that now!" X exclaimed. He huffed and turned away from the archeologist who was laughing at his discomfort. "The pod never told me that some recipes were just on the box. . ."

Cain laughed out loud at the android.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," X stated. Cain continued to laugh. "But seriously, you should take a break."

Doctor Cain nodded and stood, grabbing his cane and allowing X to guide him out the door, the android happily talking about whatever random thing that had happened that day, seemingly unphased by the fact that Doctor Cain was trying to reactivate someone who was programmed to kill him.


A few hours later, Doctor Cain rubbed his hands together nervously as he watched the team begin the first steps to activate the previously maverick android through a computer screen. Doctor Cain had been unable to change anything in the android's program, much like he couldn't for X. Determined to have an unstoppable robotic weapon on their side, the council ordered the android awoken. If it was still maverick, they would try to reason with it and if it couldn't be reasoned with they would detonate the entire room, permanently ending the maverick's tyranny. If it wasn't maverick anymore for whatever reason, then they would treat it like any other new built, introduce it to the world and convince it to join the maverick hunters. (That seemed to be the goal of this entire operation.)

For his own safety, Doctor Cain was not allowed to be inside the room during the operation. X wasn't either, as they feared that the two meeting would trigger a maverick response in the red android. However, X wasn't even around to watch the event through the screens as he was currently busy telling another maverick hunter recruiter that no, he did not want to join the maverick hunters. He was perfectly fine not destroying his own kind, maverick or not, thank you very much.

Cain sucked in a deep breath in anticipation as a council member informed the team to wake him up. With a nod, the leader of the group in the room, hit the activation buttons on the computer and the red android's systems slowly came online.


He awoke slowly, his systems informing him that there had been damage to his I.C. chip and some coding and memory had been lost. Which was funny, because he couldn't remember a damn thing so some was really all. Unless that weird dream he had prior to him waking up was considered a memory. He'd be having nightmares of crazy old guys for years to come if that was true.

He opened his eyes, not missing the way a human like robot sighed in relief when it looked into his eyes. He groaned and moved to sit up, but was prevented from doing so. A glance downward told him that he was being held down by metal bars.

"Why am I tied down?" he asked. A human like robot rushed to his side to undo the restraints.

"A safety precaution," the robot answered. "We were unsure of your programming."

Now free, he sat up and looked around at the group of human like robots as they stared at him with curiosity. Instinctively, a gloved hand reached up to his cheek, brushing against it briefly.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked, hoping to snap the group out of the odd trance they were in. They looked stupid. One of the human like robots shook his head, snapping out of his daze.

"N-no. Um, do you know your name?" the robot asked, figuring it would be best to start with basic protocols in this sort of situation. In all honesty, based on the stories he had heard, he had fully expected to die today.

He raised his eyebrow. Why? Did they not wake him? He knew from the instant he woke up that they weren't his creators, but even if they just woke him up, shouldn't they know his name?

What even was his name? Zero, his mind informed him. Yes, he was well aware of the number zero. Zero, it repeated. What? Zero what? Zero dogs? There were no dogs in the room thank you very much, he could tell that for himself. He had eyes.

Zero.

He frowned. His mind just wouldn't shut up about that number. Was that his name or something? Was that what was going on? Why was he named after a number?

Having no other clue as to what his name was, he went with it. The crazy old man in his dreams had called him Zero anyways, so he figured that probably was his name, but why Zero? That wasn't even a normal name!

"Zero," he answered the human like robot. In all honesty, the name felt right, but he couldn't help by wonder why Zero of all things. Why not Infinity or Orion or Bob? Wait, no, not Bob. Bob was a horrible name for him. He couldn't be Bob.

He glanced around the room, his mind instinctively identifying emergency exits and his eyes falling on four hidden cameras for no more than a second each. He was being watched. Were they really that concerned about his programming?

One of the human like robots brought over a mirror for him to look into while another rattled on about how society worked. Society? Who needed civilization? . . . Apparently these people.

Zero took one glance into the mirror and frowned. Hair. Lots and lots of hair. Seriously, where did it all come from? He pulled it around his head and inspected a few strands. They were all individual strands, none of them split of into two strands or anything. But how? The hair tie at the back of his head was probably only the size of a quarter. How it spread out to become a thick mass of hair spanning the size of multiple basket balls was beyond him.

He glanced at the human like robot that had been speaking.

"Why do I have so much hair?" Zero asked. The robot opened its mouth a couple of times, clearly not expecting that sort of question or to be interrupted.

"I don't know sir," the robot answered after a while. Zero glanced at himself in the mirror.

"Who designed my armor? Most of it looks badass, but there's some parts where it's just what the hell?!" Zero continued. The human like robot shrugged and stopped speaking, seeing that the red android was clearly more interested in its own appearance than listening to him.

Zero inspected himself for a few more seconds and then turned to the human like robot next to him. "Soooo, what type of robot are you?" he asked. The robot sighed. He'd covered that earlier, but it seemed that his theory that the android hadn't listened to him was correct.

"Reploid. Short for replicated android. Our designs were all based off of X's, an android, and were originally created by the great Doctor Cain-." The robot was cut off by Zero.

"Yep, politics."

"That's not even-."

"Do you see this face? I don't care. It sounds boring so it's gotta be politics," Zero deadpanned. The now identified reploid blinked at him. Zero looked around the room, and turned to the reploid when he saw nothing interesting.

"Soooooo, am I allowed out of here, orrrr?" he asked. The reploid blinked and then glanced up at one of the cameras Zero had seen earlier. Zero noticed this and waved at the hidden camera with a smile. The intercom clicked as a voice blared over the static.

"He can leave, just have somebody follow him. He is a new built after all."

Zero frowned. New built. He didn't like the term. He was fairly certain he had more fighting experience than everyone in the entire room. How he knew that, he didn't know.

"So how tight of a leash do I have to have on?" Zero asked. The reploid that had been explaining things to him finally got tired of dealing with him and snapped.

"Just shut up, be polite, and you'll be off the leash before you know it."

"But I already know that I'm going to be on a leash so that-," Zero started, but was cut off. Apparently it was his turn.

"What did I say about shutting up!? God, I hate new builts," the reploid stated.

"I hate old builts?" Zero stated, the insult ending as more of a question because he was sure that the reploid before him was younger than he was for some reason. The reploid glared at him. Zero decided to call him "Boss 'roid" in his systems.

"Just shut up."

Zero shrugged and followed the reploid out of the room. "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he commented.

"Shut up," Boss 'roid snapped. Zero made a face as one of the reploids from behind walked up beside him.

"Uh, you do know what politics are right?" he asked. Zero gave the reploid a glance.

"Yeah, I'm just messin'. He gave off a bad vibe so I decided to be an ass. Politics was the first boring subject that came to mind," he stated. The reploid shook his head.

"Oh boy, you're going to be a riot."

Zero grinned at him. "You wanna join?"

"No thank you."

The red reploid continued to grin and turned to face the snappy reploid that was leading down a ridiculously long hallway. "Oi boss! How much longer till we get there?"

Zero was ignored.

"Hey! . . .Hey! . . . Hey Boss! . . . hey Bo-!"

"ARE YOU DEAF?! SHUT UP!"

"No, my hearing's like fifty times better than a human's, but that's not the point. Boss, this is really urgent."

"What," Boss 'roid moaned out.

"How much longer till we get there? Cause I swear you're so old that if we walk any longer you're going to fall apart on me and I can't let that happen, you feel?"

"I frinkin' hate you."

Zero laughed.

Author's Note: Yeah . . . Zero's a bit of an asshole. . . My editor hates him. Personally, I think that this starting personality fits him and leaves room for a lot of growth and development into the maverick hunter we all know and love. For some reason, I imagine him as being a pain in the ass towards everybody and being perfectly happy with it. Of course, this will change but the need to cause trouble will probably stay with him, just not as bad as this. Chapter 9 has some rough spots in it that are really confusing, so as soon as I straighten those out and get my editor to look it over, I will post it.