Afterlife

by GrimMoody

Bass is in the X series in this fourth entry to my Mega Man quintology. Coping with a darker future, mechanical obsoletion, and a brother inadvertently responsible for the death and destruction of many is too much for Bass to cope with. Only hope can keep Bass and his friends looking forward into the future.

8. Sibling Rivalry

Things were getting pretty good for Bass. He was getting more and more used to being in a new enviroment, finding a place for himself amongst the Hunters and dealing with his past. One of the very first things Bass did once Roll was complete was to see what he could do about getting the patent back from Miyamoto Mechanics for his endurance armor (which they called Armor SC12). Unfortunately, one of the problems with this was that the armor had been made by Crystal Bot, not him. Being a robot, Bass had few rights, and that would still be a problem even if Crystal had written a will. Luckily for him, the Maverick Hunter attorneys were top notch, and Miyamoto wasn't interested in a long, drawn out lawsuit, during which time the armor's production would surely be halted. So a settlement was arranged, and Bass ended up with the right to produce the armor himself, provided that the didn't sell it. Bass could give it away, if he liked, but with Armor SC12's expensive manufacturing process he wouldn't be able to make much in the long run. Of course, Bass only wanted to have this armor for himself, so he was fine with that.

Money was beginning to prove a problem for him. In the past Forte never bothered about cash. With Wily he stole what he wanted, so cash was irrelevant, and in his good guy days Crystal always sold her energy crystals or built things for money. There had been no need for him to even think about finances. Not so any longer: now he had to work and the economy wasn't particularly great either.

Forte got to work on that immediately. His first order of business was to prove to the publisher that he had been the one to write Robotics: Futile Questions for the Mechanical Future. That set him up for a follow up philosophy book that would discuss the first book in depth and how the expectations of it had either come to pass or not. The only problem was Bass' author name. Going by "Ben Foster" again wasn't really a option, particularly because he didn't want to be known as a robot or just be a human that coincidentally happened to have the same name. This annoyed Bass, as he sort of liked it. Roll suggested "T.B. Foster".

"What does the T.B. stand for?" Bass asked.

Roll winked. "It stands for 'The Best', of course!"

Naturally, Bass wasn't going to say no to that.

Bass did join the Hunters, and finished the test as a B rank, barely. The trouble was, as he began to do missions, he began to see exactly how lucky he had been in his fight against the first Mavericks he had encountered. His purple buster was very sad, and even with the double crystal busters Bass's attacks were barely mediocre in the fights against renegade robots. If he was close enough, the sheer density of his armor allowed him great, powerful punches and kicks, but this still left him vulnerable to swords, particularly plasma or energy ones.

"You're better off throwing me at them!" Bass complained.

X only smirked. "Don't tempt me."

Signas was very clever. He chose to send Bass on missions where he would have technical work to do, letting the other members of the team fight for him. Other times, he sent Bass on bodyguard missions, a side service of the Maverick Hunters. As much as this bruised Bass' ego, he made decent tips at it. He was still sent on some of the harsher missions, and Bass gained a reputation amongst Mavericks and Hunters alike for ripping off the limbs of his enemies. He and Alia spent hours going over technologies to help him find better weaponry.

Bass didn't spend all of his time fighting or trying to make money. The robot museum in Giga City needed tending to; they knew little about past, and Bass decided he was going to pay back the zenny they spent on him with information. Aengus R was delighted to see him operational and relentlessly asked all kinds of questions. This annoyed Bass to no small degree, so the next time he brought Roll and let "little miss social" deal with it. Both of the first generation robots donated their memories to the museum, and in the end Aengus made back plenty more than a million zenny from it; he was the one who heard firsthand the stories of the past from those who had been there, and people from all over came to Giga City, boosting the economy significantly.

From this success, Forte decided he would write a series of histories on the past. Between earning money and fighting alongside Axl, Bass couldn't be happier. Things were really starting to go well for him.

Well, good for Bass. I'm glad he can get everything he wants... Bitter, Zero refrained from commenting aloud. Bass...that's all people talk about now. Except when they're talking about Forte.

Zero knew it wasn't quite true. Plenty of gossip was going around about both of the "brothers", though Zero avoided dwelling on what they said about himself. Zero gruffly walked off to Restore Room A1, where reploids would go to rest, have their memories backed up, and have their minds scanned for viruses. Most reploids just called this "sleep". He opened the door. Each reploid had their own capsule to rest in, and other than the computer panels beside these, there was nothing else to the complex. Not risking security, this was an interior room, so no windows. Zero didn't care about that. He just approached his capsule and mindlessly pressed a few keys before pressing a green button on the side. It opened with a shffft.

Zero knew it had been several hours since his last rest, and he had just spent over fourteen hours fighting miscellaneous missions against whatever Mavericks he could. It was high time he deactivated for a while. He ran his hands over his face. But the more he stared at the empty capsule, the more he didn't want to get in. He was restless. More than that, as dark as his waking musings had been, he was in control of them. He could ignore his subconscious and focus on an activity. His dreams however, did not let him go. Any malevolence his waking mind could conjure paled in comparison to the ghastly midnights his nightmares forced upon him. He couldn't bare to see that aged face, even one more time...

Speaking of midnight, his chronometer told Zero the time: 11:54.

Zero impatiently smacked his hand against the button, walking off as it shut behind him. He didn't need sleep. Robots could go without it for plenty of time - it wasn't even real sleep anyway. Zero left the room and headed for the navigation office. He was just fine; why not hunt a few more Mavericks?

The red hero strode through the hallways, and if any reploids had been there to see him, none would have been able to guess the level of his inward turmoil. Zero kept it very well hidden from himself, much more everyone else. His pace was as confident and steady as it had ever been, decieving most people into thinking that he was fine.

He wasn't. Whatever acceptance Zero had managed to develop for his brother had soured, fading. Bass' presense had changed everything for him. Before then, Zero had been an anonymous robot, an enigma from who knows when and created by a stranger. The common Hunter only saw a loyal friend. And then Bass had to come in, and now Zero was a reprogrammed bad guy, a potential danger. Most of the Hunters were able to look past this, but recruiting levels were at an all time low. Everyone whispered about Zero and about why he had been built. From the way they silenced when Zero passed them, they could only be talking about one thing.

That fateful day when Axl had brought Bass back to Hunter HQ, Axl had been very excited and told everyone he knew that Bass was back, and who could really blame him? It was the robot he was designed after, and a first generation besides. Who could have guessed he would attack Zero right off and know everything about him? Bass himself came up with the only passable reason, though even that admitted far more than Zero liked. But he had to be grateful for what he could. At least Bass didn't mention the virus.

"He was built to kill me, Rock, and X." If Zero was in the room, this was the part where Bass would turn and give Zero an ugly sneer. "But he failed at all three because he sucks."

That instantly reminded him of the one thing he was grateful for about Bass: he didn't have to pretend he was happy about Bass being there. Gruff and self-centered, Bass never seemed to miss an opportunity to make cheap insults about him or criticize his armor or hair. Zero didn't care that much about defending his design (what did he know about that sort of thing?), but it was wearing at his patience. That, along with his boasting about his own fighting skills, made Bass' presense for extended periods of time intolerable. He didn't suspect that Bass was being intentionally malicious, but that almost made it worse. Conflicts can be dealt with, but changing someone's attitudes are quite another.

Zero inwardly applauded Commander Signas. His indefinite source of patience was impressive. Not once did Bass make Signas lose his temper, and the Commander even got Bass to stop calling him an evil overlord. Signas had to maintain discipline, and that sort of nickname didn't help.

Signas is a saint. I wish the Catholic Church recognised robots for it.

Zero's metal feet sent scattering echoes through the empty hall. He guessed a lot of the Hunters were on duty. The 103rd squad was also in training, and their restore rooms were near this section of their HQ. Thinking of that kept him from realizing that much of his annoyance about Bass had to do with everyone else, rather than him. Now that they knew about Dr. Wily, his creator (Zero cringed again at the thought), many Hunters just stared with their blank eyes, obviously thinking of how horrible it would be if the Hunters hadn't reprogrammed him a long time ago. Zero didn't like to be looked at this way. Fortunately, over the years he had developed a selective attention span. It was surprisingly easy to ignore them. That didn't mean he wanted to have to ignore them. He missed being acknowledged for the good he had done, not the evil purpose that was his first designation. It wasn't about being admired; Zero just wanted to belong.

And Axl. Axl didn't hate him, that was obvious. But at the same time, Axl was very impulsive. He would do and say things without realizing the consequences. And once he had heard the truth about Zero, Axl's first impulse was to immediately forgive and forget everything. But over the past weeks, Axl had started thinking more about the Red Alert team. They were like his family, and without the Maverick Virus, there would have been no need to destroy them. The young Hunter didn't want to blame Zero for their deaths, but every time Zero had a mission with him, he could see in Axl's face the inevitable ponderings. Axl didn't have much control over his mind or emotions, and as much as he tried to smile, there was always a frown behind it.

Other than that, Axl simply wasn't around that much any more. As much as Axl also admired X, he always tagged around Zero, as they had been closer when the youngest Hunter joined them. But now he was Bass' disciple, following him not unlike the "puppy" that he had once been for Zero. But that wasn't too bad. Why wouldn't Axl want to know more about the robot he was based on? They had similar fighting styles as well, so it was only natural. If only the times when Zero did see Axl weren't tainted.

Alia was the worst. Axl's shunning was unintentional, but Alia outright scorned Zero. She always made a fuss about upgrading Bass or about technology when the two worked in the lab, especially if Zero happened to walk by. She made a point of laughing harder at his stupid jokes, listening more carefully to whatever topic Bass was going on about, or complimenting extravagantly as Bass learned more about modern technology.

And of course Bass is too much of an ego maniac to notice.

They didn't always get along though. Alia wasn't the sort of person that tolerated too much of Bass' arrogance, or anybody's, really. In what would prove to be a very awkward moment, Zero had found himself in the middle of an argument between the two.

Hmm? What's this? Zero reached on the top of the navigation computer, pulling out a barely noticable disc. The label on it read Buster TL23, and it was in Alia's handwriting. Zero avoided sighing. I guess I better bring this back to the lab.

Zero paused at the doors once he reached them. Shouting?

"After everything that's happened?" That was Alia. "I need my data to continue my experiments! You can't do this to me!"

"Hey look, you know what you have to do to get it back." Forte, acting casual, was making an obvious effort to keep control, but the yelling wasn't doing any good. "If you don't, well, it was dumb of you not to make back ups."

"That was my back up! You deleted the file from my computer!"

"And whose fault is that?"

"Yours!"

Zero entered to find a very flustered navigator and a moderately serene Bass (he seemed to have control in the argument) engaged in some kind of staredown. Reluctant as he was to stay, Zero just wanted to hand the disc back and get it over with. He went over and handed the disc to Alia.

"Here, is this yours?"

"Oh!" Alia started as she saw the disc, and she tentatively took it from Zero. "...Uh, thanks..."

"What?"

Bass snapped and cursed. Zero knew it had to be the data that they had been fighting about. But surprisingly, Bass didn't seem mad at him for returning it. He was mad at Alia. Frustrated, he flicked his hand at Zero as he glared at her, and she...was that guilt? This was getting weird.

Zero stood there as the silence persisted. "I don't know what you two are talking about, but leave me out of it."

And Zero left, biting his lip and grimacing. Man, that was awkward!

Actually, basically any time with Alia was awkward. Every time Zero was near her, all he could think about was the many lives the Maverick Virus had changed for the worse. Her dark gaze never let him forget. If only it hadn't been for him, there would be peace. And if X was nearby, being gloomy over the war (bless him, he never once blamed Zero), then Alia's cold stare fell on him. Even if he didn't look, he could still feel it. So he always made reasons to avoid her, and if he had to be in her presense, he said as little as possible.

But why did he blame her? Any of the Hunters would have acted the same way if they knew that the Maverick Virus was truly the Zero Virus. X was a good friend, and Axl was kindhearted, but how would anyone else react to the news? Zero was not particularly social, and he had always had more admirers than friends over the years. They wouldn't act any different from Alia if they knew the truth, and their admiration would turn to shock and scorn. Humans had died and reploids had been destroyed because of him, too many to count. He didn't deserve any different.

X was still his best friend, and so far the only person who never held his past against him, even unintentionally. But he was spending so much time with Roll now. Zero smiled as he remembered that she too cared little about his origins. He was hesitant to be close to her, however. As wonderful as Roll was, there was something about her brightness that disquieted him. There was no real reason for it. Zero could only guess that when there was so much darkness writhing about and conflicting inside of him, he somehow couldn't stand up to cheerfulness. So Zero let those two hang out together. He could have easily joined them in anything they did, as Roll made few distinctions between him and her brother, but his heart wasn't in it.

The trouble with that was, when Zero hung out with X, he generally always let X decide what they were doing, whether it was playing cards or talking to some new recruits about work. Alone, Zero didn't know what to do with himself.

Now, all these thoughts are easy to say and describe, but had anyone asked Zero, he wouldn't have been able to explain it all himself that clearly. All the issues were muddled in his mind, and besides that he didn't care to think through his pain - he wanted to drown it. And that was why he was heading back on his fifteenth mission that week, and it was only Wednesday night.

Layer, now she had been a real blessing, a true friend. Zero felt especially lucky that she was his navigator, rather than someone else. He had wanted work, and she would find it for him. Every time he came to the command center, Zero would arrive and see that Layer had found mission after mission for him. She never questioned him or judged him, but simply told him the situation and wished him luck. He could see the worry in her eyes as he left more and more often, but if he wanted to go out again, Layer only handed him his subtank.

Zero had to wonder why he never really noticed Layer's kindness before. Hadn't she always done her best for him? But every time he took the teleporter out, he would glance back at her and wonder if she would still be his friend if she knew about the Maverick virus. Zero didn't let himself question it for long. She was his friend now, and he wasn't going to jeopardize it.

So the red Hunter opened the door to the operations room, where Palette was standing at Layer's station, and they were talking like always - they were the epitome of best friends. And Zero could see why Palette was Axl's navigator: she was just as chirpy as him.

"Oh hey, Zero!" Palette waved, acting as if she hadn't seen him twice already that day. "How are you?"

"Fine." he answered. "Isn't it the end of your shift?"

"Yes it is. I was just about to go out dancing with some of the Hunters. You wanna come?"

Zero gave a sideways smile. "No, thank you."

Palette flung a hand in the air, feigning disdain. "Whatever! You never come with us!"

"I can't dance."

"If you can fight, you can dance!" she scoffed, then laughed. "You have fun, Zero!"

Palette said her cheerful goodbye to Layer before leaving, happily skipping along to the door as she exited. Zero turned to Layer, wondering why in the world her creator designed her with her purple bangs hanging over her eyes. But that didn't stop her from being a good navigator, and her personalized station with a chair, commset, and wrap-around desk with a large monitor and various computer systems had been customized specifically for her.

"Alright, where am I going now?" Zero asked. "Are there pirate Mavericks to deal with in the ocean? Business in America? Robbers?"

Layer sighed. "You're not going anywhere."

Zero raised his eyebrow, looking like he wasn't wondering if Alia had told Layer about the virus.

"You've been working yourself to death for the past two weeks, Zero." Layer explained, nervously rubbing her fingers together. "I...I can't be responsible for something like that. I mean, you outrank me, and if you wanted to you can order me to send you out, but you haven't been keeping yourself maintained. You spend so much time fighting now...it's not like you."

Is it that obvious? Zero mused. Or is Layer simply perceptive?

Layer was a navigator, and it was her job to make sure that the Hunters she watched were in good condition. She was built to know if they needed work. Zero understood, and without a word he turned away to the door. Maybe he had been too rough on himself. But it was the best distraction...

"Wait, Zero please..."

The tall Hunter turned back. Layer was standing there, up from her seat, looking at him with the very pity Zero dreaded. She took only two steps towards him, too nervous to come any closer.

"Look, Zero...I want to tell you something." Layer had a hard time not staring at the floor as she spoke. "This is something I've never told anyone, and in fact Signas is the only one who knows about it. I...was designed as a cyber thief by my creators."

Layer looked up at Zero with hesitation and fear, her eye for once being visible from under her purple hair. Zero didn't move, but there was no judgement in his expression.

"It's not something I like to think about." Layer went on. "But before the Hunters reprogrammed me, I was responsible for stealing thirteen million zenny in a time of only two years."

The girl-bot dared to come closer, and she placed a hand on Zero's arm. "Zero...please...you're not the only robot with a dark past. You've always been sort of...reclusive but ever since Bass got here it's only been getting worse. You're not the evil robot your creator meant you to be. You've overcome all of that...just like me. You don't need to be afraid of that past anymore. That's over now, and you're a wonderful person. Please...just let go."

Her eyes pleaded with him, begging him to say something. But after all that, Zero just felt angry. Why in the world was Layer comparing herself to him? They weren't anything alike. And what was a mere thirteen million to all the death and damage caused by the Mavericks? Suddenly the urge rose up on its own to tell her everything about himself - the entire truth about the "Sigma" Virus. It was on the edges of his lips, ready to leap into the air and make itself known. And then Layer would see that they were nothing alike. She was a normal reploid, and he was a curse.

And she would stop being his friend. Surely as soon as he told her everything, she would hate him just as much as Alia did. More than anything else, Zero did not want that.

"I can't..." was all Zero said. It was a response to his own thoughts, not Layer's request, though it might as well have been. Zero gently pushed away her hand and went for the door, departing without revealing any of the sullen thoughts that coursed through his mental data.

"I don't think of you any differently now than I did before." Layer said suddenly.

Zero only paused. It was difficult for him to keep his thoughts as only thoughts instead of saying them directly to his navigator.

You would if you knew the truth about me...

And Zero left. He sighed once the door was securely closed behind him. So he couldn't go out and take out his stresses on the the Mavericks. That meant he was alone, trapped there with his thoughts. He'd have to find something to do. Sleep was out of the question. Nights like these he would have his dreams, terrifying ones of his old master...Dr. Wily. It felt weird to give the man a name, but the nightmares haunted him no less. It was just a simple, human name. One mention of it off-hand now brought Zero back into the darkness

But if Layer wanted him to have a tune-up, then he grudgingly admitted that he probably needed it. Someone would be working in the tech lab, even in the late hours of the night. They could check his vitals. For a robot working as a Maverick Hunter, there was no end to the the upgrading and maintenance that needed to be done. Zero headed for the lab, hoping that it wasn't Alia's turn to work that night. He wasn't up to seeing her glance over at the door to see who it was, and then wither once she noticed it was Zero.

Zero was going at a rather slow place, and it wasn't long before he heard a strange sound. It was singing. A male voice, but a soft one, as if the singer was absentmindedly going on, not wanting to be heard. It was a Korean song, as Zero's language database told him. The red Hunter didn't recognise the particular tune that it was, but it sounded nice. He peeked through the door, opening it silently (a skill he was particularly good at).

Bass?

He curiously watched as his brother moved from the various computers on the walls to a portable energy booster which lay on a repair table. Bass had taken the armor panel from his right buster and was tinkering with his buster's output modulators. Zero told himself that he shouldn't be surprised. Bass stopped singing as he stared at the computer monitor, narrowing his brow in deep concentration - and looking very grumpy as he did so.

"Either tell me what you want or go the hell away."

Zero started. "You saw me?"

Bass turned to face his brother, rolling his eyes. "I really hope you weren't trying to stay hidden. You're so obvious. Now either do whatever you need to here or go away. Don't just stand there staring at me. I'm not that interesting."

Zero looked down one of the dark hallways, noticing only the pale light coming in from the moon as it struck through the windows. There was nothing else for him to do, so he just entered the lab. Bass had already gone back to work, and he was poking his screwdriver uncertainly at his own buster. Zero sat down in a nearby chair, watching.

"What are you doing?" Zero dared starting up a conversation with the irritating dark robot.

"Trying to figure out how much power my busters can stand." Bass spared an evil glance so that Zero would be absolutely certain that he was being a distraction. "These dang pea shooters are driving me nuts!"

"I'm surprised that you managed to live this long with those things." Zero commented. "Most Mavericks have much more powerful weaponry. You're very lucky."

Zero looked up and frowned. Bass had manipulated his visage into the perfect evil mask: his eyes narrowed, glinting with hatred, while at the same time, one eyebrow lifted, twitching. His nose wrinkled in complete disgust, and his lips parted just far enough to reveal the sharp points of his fangs.

Zero rolled his eyes. "It's a compliment, okay?"

"Don't you have anything better to do than annoy me?" Bass returned to his work, grabbing some pliers. He pulled some wires out of the booster, preparing to hook it up. "I've got to do some tricky wiring so I can hook up this power booster and figure out exactly how far I can go with this, and -"

Immediately the red reploid grabbed Bass' arm and took it away from the booster. "You're hooking up the wrong wire. If you hook the booster to the that section then you'll fry your innards and explode. Don't you know that?"

Bass snatched his arm away and hissed. "I know! That's why I took down the power level!"

Zero tapped on the nearest computer display, and Bass cringed once he saw the numbers. Zero was right.

"So, exactly how much of Roll did you build?" Zero folded his arms. "Not quite as good as you think you are, huh?"

Forte's face puckered with the force of 100 lemons. "Shut up."

"That's what I thought."

"Look, why are you even in here, anyway?" Bass snapped.

That was a good question, and for some reason Zero answered it honestly. "I couldn't sleep."

"Sleep?" Bass retorted as he went over to recrunch his numbers. "You reploids are lame. Robots shouldn't sleep. That's like the number one benefit of having one."

"You're still thinking in terms of robot ownership." Zero said. "Besides, the 'sleep' we go through is because we're too powerful to operate indefinitely without periods of rest. Unlike you."

"So if you can't sleep, that means you're getting weaker, right?"

The ponytailed bot shook his head. "That has nothing to do with it. I keep having these dreams..."

He instantly regretted saying that, and he slammed his mouth shut. Zero very rarely mentioned anything personal if he could help it, and when he did it was just to X. But he hadn't had the chance to spend time with X for a while, and now it came out on his own. Zero, on edge, began to expect more of Bass' inane teasing. Surely he'd have something nasty to say about Zero's nightmares.

But he didn't.

"Dreams?" Forte frowned in thought as he continued messing with his machinery. "Dr. Light explained that to me when he was talking about X once. He says robots with X components - reploids, basically - have two sets of memories, and one is related to something called emotional synapsis. A normal robot can delete something and forget all about it, but if a reploid does, traces of the memories are still there. Those 'dreams' are just old data flying around in your head. Either that or you're accidently accessing the internet in your sleep."

"The don't call it the internet anymore. It's Web World Interface."

"Whatever. So what do you dream about, anyway?"

Zero let a strained sigh through his teeth. There was so much to be told - the old man, the orders, the evil laugh...

"Dr. Wily." he answered simply.

"Really?" Bass' grin was a nightmare and a half. "Now this I've got to see! Here, I think I can recover the memories and put them on this monitor."

Bass quickly patched his right arm back up, wriggling the fingers to make sure that he was all set. He unplugged the energy booster from the computer and took out a wire, sticking one side into the monitor's visual port. The other end was headed straight for Zero, but the red robot flinched.

"That only happens to true reploids." Zero objected. "But I'm not a reploid. I'm not made from X parts."

"Yeah you are." Bass swatted away his arm and plugged in the wire to Zero's neck. "Wily stole some designs. Why else would old memories still be around?"

Zero was astonished. He was made with designs from X? The belief was too good to give into.

"You...you're sure?"

"Yeah," Bass answered as he busily tapped buttons on the monitor's console. "Heh, it's not like Wily could build anything but crap without ripping off Light somehow."

Zero was doubtful about that. He knew better than Bass about the virus and his own construction: Wily was not to be underestimated. That much was immediately obvious as Bass converted his thumb into a zip drive and jammed it into Zero's neck without so much as a "hold still". Confusion, small at first, appeared on Forte's expression as he searched through the darker, subconcious parts of his brother's mind, looking through for damaged or hidden files. Zero paled; what exactly was he seeing in there?

"This is so weird." Bass said. "Everything about your mind is so...backwards. Nuts. Loopy-"

"I get the picture." Zero impatiently hissed.

Bass acted as if he hadn't heard, and he shook his head. "I seriously don't get reploid CPUs. You're even worse than that stupid one Alia made me work on the other day. It's like you're supposed to have some sort of control program, but it's gone and the rest of your head is just trying to work without it. I think. Crap, you're just lucky nobody can hack through this mess. This is so stupid."

"Alright, that's enough." Zero was tired of this, and he reached for Bass' arm to pull it away.

"Hold on, I found something."

The monitor blinked into life, and Zero dropped his hand without noticing that he had done so.

The view of the screen showed a dark place. There were things in this place, but the faint light was only enough to make strange shadows of whatever the things were supposed to be. There was only enough time to take this in before the lights flicked on, and everything became known as a mess of machines and robot parts. The floor, barely visible from the perspective of the memory, showed only scattered nuts, bolts, and a few tools on cold tile.

Haunted, Zero could only watch. He didn't recognise the room, but it could only be the laboratory he was created in. He just knew it.

The view went downwards, confirming this assertion. There was a bare power core, still glowing blue even with the lights on, and two upper appendages. One was clearly an arm, but the other on the right was a stump. All there was for legs were two thick beams and a rather complex joint in the middle. He didn't seem to have any feet, though a small, metal table in the corner seemed to have some red armor that looked like legs.

"Muahaha...HAHAHAAHA!"

Zero jumped. He knew that laugh.

"Hello, my greatest creation." A wild-haired man, wrinkled but gleeful, approached, rubbing his pale and twisted fingers together. "I am your master, Dr. Albert A. Wily, the most ingenious robotics engineer this world has ever known!"

The doctor followed up this introduction with another round of hearty, appalling laughter. Zero cringed.

"Gag..." Bass muttered.

"And you, my priviliged machine," Wily finally continued, the laughter not completely gone from his voice. "You are my masterpiece! The one robot destined to let this world know that I am the best! You are the mighty Zero, champion of all robots, but there are others standing in your way." Dr. Wily's sinister motives poisoned his tone, he and his hideous smile appeared. "You must destroy the creations of the pathetic Dr. Light! It will be easy for you. I have made you with so much firepower, so much knowledge, that even miserable 'Mega' Man with be nothing for you to defeat!"

Zero took a risk and glanced over at Bass. The dark robot's eyes could not contain the sheer hatred he had for his master. He too had heard similar words from Wily at his activation, Zero guessed.

"But there is one robot greater than all of these, and he will prove the real challenge, the real test of your might!" Wily went on. "His name is Mega Man X. I don't know if he is complete, or when he will be if he isn't now. That doesn't mean that we can waste any time. I am going to upload all that I know about this X into your CPU, and I want you to study it. Know his weaknesses, and tear him apart when the time comes! You will have the ability, once you are finished. Hahaha, Zero, you are the most magnificent robot ever to exist! No blue idiot can ever get the best of Dr. Wily! Bwahahahahahaaa!"

As Wily laughed, the memory's Zero slowly lifted his left hand - the one that wasn't a stump. Wily barely noticed it in time.

"What?"

A shot of red plasma flew from the buster, and if Wily weren't such a wiry little man, then more of him would be scorched than one side of his hair. "AAH! WHERE DID I PUT THE REMOTE?"

Wily dashed over to the table in the corner as the buster clumsily pointed there, but just as it was ready to fire again, Wily pointed a small something and everything went black.

"AHAHA! Hahahahaaa!" Bass burst out, laughing. "You SHOT at Wily? Hahaha haa...that was so great! Too bad you missed! Ahahahaa!"

Forte bent over double, laughing deliriously and with no sign of stop. Zero felt a little sick staring at the now dark screen. He wasn't sure how he wanted to feel. While it was hard to hear his purpose so clearly from his creator, at the same time he felt let down. He had been expecting something more from Wily, but the doctor wasn't how Zero had imagined him to be.

"Hey you guys." Axl had slipped into the room unnoticed. "What's so funny?"

"I wish I knew myself." Zero eyed Bass, who seemed finally ready to recover from his fit of hilarity.

"Oh man, kid, you really missed it!" Bass still laughed. "We found this old memory of when Wily first did a test activation of Zero, and it doesn't take two minutes for him to try and shoot the bastard!"

"Wow! Did he hit Wily?"

"Sadly no." Bass said. "But it's the thought that counts. Sheesh, Zero, you weren't alive for five minutes and you were already smarter than the stupid robot masters. I'm proud of you."

"I don't know why I did that." Zero said uncertainly.

Bass shrugged. "You weren't supposed to remember. Wily probably deleted that memory himself."

"Is there any more?" Axl asked. "I want to see some too!"

"Let me check..." While laughing, Bass had removed his thumb from Zero's neck, so he plugged it in again. "Alright, hm, I found two more. Here's the one dated earlier. First let me load them into the computer."

"Alright!" Axl grabbed a chair and pulled it over next to Zero, sitting there happily.

"And starting..." Bass hit the enter key.

"Good morning, Zero." a more subdued and stern Dr. Wily appeared on the screen, tightly fingering Zero's emergency remote. "It's time to run some tests on you. Most importantly, the obedience tests."

Axl immediately covered his mouth, snorting with laughter. "Aw, he's scared of Zero!"

"Quiet! I'm trying to listen." Bass said.

Wily started by ordering Zero to do simple things, like stand on one leg or lift his arms. Because the memory was through Zero's own eyes, it didn't show much of his body. What glimpses they did see of his hands showed that he was closer to completion, but he had no busters.

"Can he talk?" a new voice said.

The perspective turned and allowed another robot to be seen, Quick Man. The boomerang-bot was sitting casually on the side, and beside him was Needle Man. Both of them looked ready to shoot just in case something went wrong with Zero. Quick Man was especially doubtful of the new robot, and he sneered at it disdainfully.

"I haven't installed his voice box yet." Wily said. "There's less backtalk that way."

"I don't get it, Dr. Wily." Needle Man's voice took on a mournful tone. "I mean...we're great robots. Why do you need to replace us?"

"Because none of you can defeat Mega Man X." Wily said with impatience. "Now don't complain. I'm letting you see my secret project, so just be grateful. Alright, Zero, come over here."

Zero obeyed, walking over to his master and standing before him as the latter inspected him. Wily scrutinizing glare went up and down the robot, and he seemed unsatisfied with something. Turning around, he started rummaging around with some armor, and in doing so he had to put down the remote. It lay there on the table, unguarded and forgotten. Zero snatched it and smashed it in his hands before anyone could take action, and when Wily turned and saw what his robot had done, he screamed in fear.

"Stop him, you idiots!"

A flood of needles distracted Zero from Wily. A few embedded themselves in the tall robot, but he only ignored them. No matter how many needles were fired at him, Zero just kept on running to the offender. Needle Man tried to send out his needle helmet to stop Zero, but Zero grabbed it and swung Needle Man into the wall. The poor robot master was so stunned that he could do nothing to stop Zero from ripping him to bits. Quick Man wouldn't be taken so easily. He hopped around the room with his boomerangs sailing straight on through to the rampaging machine.

"Haha!" Quick Man laughed. "You're too slow!"

Zero stood there for a moment, letting Quick Man taunt and jeer. Quick Man got too eager, just as his opponent had suspected, and he also got too close. A metal hand snatched Quick Man in the middle of his jump. Zero slowly crushed the Team 2 robot's neck, letting Quick Man squirm and writhe until finally his operations would work no longer.

That done, Quick Man hit the floor, clanging. Zero paid no attention to the sound. He snapped his head around, catching the sight of Wily trying to head for a set of concrete stairs. In three of his long strides, the mechanical monster reached the evil doctor.

"Wait!" Dr. Wily lifted his hands in front of his face, as if his brittle, skinny arms could actually do anything against the machine. "If you kill me, then you'll never be completed!

Zero paused, and after a moment Wily smiled weakly. It had worked. Only not. Letting a few seconds of peace pass, it was only moments before Zero's reached down, intending to snag his creator by the collar of his lab coat.

"Hey old man, what's making all this noise? Are you trying to build something stupid again?"

All three of the viewers jumped back at that voice.

Bass came down the stairs, distracting Zero. He looked with the least curious of eyes at Zero, grimacing disdainfully at the incomplete robot.

"So what the hell is that thing supposed to be, old man?"

"SHUT UP AND DEACTIVATE HIM!"

"Why?" For good measure, Bass hopped over the railing of the stairs, landed, and leaned casually against the wall. "What'll you give me if I do?"

"Stop being a smartmouth and do it already!"

Zero looked at the newcomer momentarily. Bass was silent as he stood to the side, unlike the screaming-himself-red-in-the-face Wily at his feet. Zero reached down for Wily.

"Bass, you no-good boltsack!" Wily screamed. "What are you doing? Deactivate him already!"

"You took your time repairing Treble, so I'm taking my time helping you. Anyway, this is what you get for trying to build more of your idiot junk-bots."

Zero snatched up the scientist from his tight fetal position, staring at Wily curiously like he was a specimen of some sort. However, his interest level abruptly dropped, and the half-built robot brought his other hand around Wily's awkward little neck.

"JUST KILL HIM! NOW!"

"Now kill I can do!"

A few purple bursts flashed across Zero's eyes, and he dropped his creator for the far more challenging victim. Dashing to the back and gold fighter-bot, Zero was mere seconds away from ripping him apart when Bass himself dashed away, firing his plasma pellets all the while. This opponent wasn't as fast as Quick Man, but he was certainly smarter. And he was getting closer...

The screen cut to black. Zero blinked uncertainly. But even he thought it was funny; Axl found it funnier still.

"I can't believe it, were you guys always fighting?" he laughed.

"I can't believe that I killed him twice, and he still isn't dead." Bass remarked, eyeing his brother with annoyance.

"Twice?" Axl asked.

"Eh, one and a half. The other time it was a fake."

"You're crazy if you think anybody can defeat Zero!" Axl said. "I mean, it doesn't matter how strong they are, Zero always lives! He got killed by Vile, had his parts stolen by the X Hunters, he ran a shuttle into a space station, and he got blown up by Sigma! I mean, after all that, I'm convinced he has to be invincible!"

Bass swore, glaring with only the slightest hint of jest at the red reploid.

"Oh shut up, Mr. I-Can-Survive-A-Nuke." Zero rolled his eyes and changed the subject. "But anyway, do you remember that? What happened after you shot me?"

The dark robot shrugged. "Yeah, I remember. I guess Wily just wanted me to remember in case I needed to kill you again. After that, Wily yelled at me for damaging you so much and told me to leave. Heck, if I knew it was you I would have destroyed the entire lab."

Bass said this without condenscention, but it had an immediate darkening affect on Zero. Fortunately Axl completely missed it, going on as if the comment had been about the weather. "Hey, I wonder if I'm as invincible as you guys. "

"It seriously doesn't bother you to know you're based off Wily-bots?" Forte was doubtful.

"Why not? I mean, with you as my dad, well, that's really cool!" Seeing Bass' annoyance, Axl winked. "Hey, and I guess that means Zero's my uncle. Awesome!"

Zero chortled some. "You really stop thinking like that, Axl. Why do you think Bass goes on about robots not having family? Think about it. If robots have family, then we're related to Aqua Man."

Axl jumped back, shuddering but not without cheer. "Ha, that's awful! Crap, I guess that means we're related to Top Man too...and Oil Man...ew, Clown Man was pretty creepy too! And Spring Man was just lame."

"How do you know about all these losers?" Bass asked.

"X had the information from one hundred old data discs stored in his memory. From time to time he spoke of what little he knew of them." Zero's attention turned to Axl. "You see, Bass has a reason to not refer to things in terms of being related. Who would want to be related to the old robot masters anyway?"

"Some of them were kinda strong for their time," Axl said. "I get ya, though. I mean, hey, I tease Bass about it all the time, but I don't really mean it."

"You better not." Bass' comment was sour. "Think about it. If robots have family, then Crystal Man is my 'brother', making Crystal Bot my niece. And if you're our kid, then that means-"

"Aaagh! Okay, I get it, I get it!" This time, Axl's shuddering was absolutely devoid of amusement. "Gross!"

"On that happy note," Forte's sarcasm was evident as he pushed a few buttons on the computer. "Let's see the last one."

Zero's eyes opened. He was complete. He could see the extent of his red and white armor, and his long hair streamed out beside him. He was lying on some sort of panel, held upward. The room around him was the same laboratory it had always been, though this time everything was messier than usual. It felt almost abandoned.

It wasn't, though. Calm, gentle footsteps echoed, becoming louder as they approached. Dr. Wily once more stood in front of his creation, and a remote stuck out of his pocket. Unlike before, he didn't seem afraid of Zero any longer. He also was older; new wrinkles lined the contours of his face, particularly the ones on his head, or else they were just accentuated by his baldness. Wily stooped a little lower, walked at a slower pace, and had the appearance of weighing much less. But the liveliness that marked his earlier appearances was still there, nonetheless.

"You are complete, Zero."

The old man, as if doubting his own words, tapped a bit on Zero's shoulder armor. The ping it made rang out cheerfully, and Wily seemed satisfied by it. He grinned, exposing haggard teeth.

"You're ready for your destiny." Wily's dark smile floated hauntingly over him. "You can destroy X, and any other weakling that dares defy you. You are the mightiest robot that has ever existed. Without my genius, no one will be able to do any better! I have a plan, and everything must be done according to it. You won't activate now, but when you do, remember this one thing: you must kill Mega Man X! Make the world suffer for ignoring my genius!"

Wily backed up some from Zero to allow himself a complete view of his robot. He inspected Zero with cautious eyes, and while he seemed to express doubt, the inspection only made him the more gleeful the more he looked.

"Zero...my masterpiece. Go after him! He is my nemesis! Our rivalry is what gives me motivation in life! Now go, destroy him! That's an order!" For the slightest moment, Wily's eyes softened. "...Make me proud."

The screen went blank, and all three robots just sat (or stood, in Bass' case) there, frozen in place. Axl again was the first to speak.

"That one wasn't funny. It was...creepy."

The others couldn't help but agree, which they did in silence. Zero rubbed his eyes. He knew this memory. He had seen it more than often enough in his dreams.

"Hmph. Bass, please tell me there's some way these can be deleted out of my head."

"How would I know?" Bass scoffed. "I barely know how to even restore these kinds of files. Your best bet is to put them in a seperate file in your head, one that you can't automatically access. That way you won't have to look at them and someone that knows what they're doing can delete them. Best I can tell you to do."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Are you alright looking at these, Zero?" Axl was starting to get worried. "I mean, it's about attacking your best friend."

Zero shrugged, grinning at little at the reploid beside him. "I haven't obeyed Wily this far. Why would I start? I'm fine, just...disappointed."

"In what?"

"In Wily." Zero's smug laugh caught Axl off guard. "I was expecting to be built by this evil and mysterious mad scientist, and this is the best that I get? I knew he had built some weak robot masters, but this is just ridiculous. I was built by a bitter, crazed old man out for revenge. It's sad."

From here, Zero's mood tempered, and he felt his spirits sag. It was sad. Here he was, one of the world's strongest, and he was built because a man who lived a century ago felt bad about himself. The world now was plunged into what seemed like an endless war with a perilous virus because of the same. It was both hilarious and depressing all at the same time. All it took was one hateful person to bring gloom and devastation to so many. It amazed Zero. He leaned back in his chair. That was when he caught sight of Bass, whose expression was a blend of bleak irony and jolly spite, with just a tinge of superiority. There was no doubt: Forte knew exactly what Zero was thinking.

He leaned in closer, grinning enough to show his fangs. "Welcome to my world."

Zero immediately blasted out a foul curse, shoving Bass (on purpose) into the repair table (by accident). That didn't stop either Axl or Bass from cracking up, and after a bit Zero himself joined in.

"BASS!"

All laughter ceased, and all three bots stared at the door. There in the open doorway was Roll, posed like a frantic manga character, frozen with arms out and eyes wide. She collected herself a little and looked around the room, her worried face going from corner to corner of the lab.

"No one else is here, right?"

"Lifesaver was here a little bit ago." Forte said as he got up off the floor. "He went to get some parts so he'll be back at some point."

"Do we have a few minutes at least?"

"I guess..."

The girl-bot in red quickly entered, making sure the door's panels slid shut behind her before she ran up to the guy-bots. "I think I have an idea how to cure the Maverick virus!"

Everyone was instantly attentive, and Zero stiffened without realizing it as the others gathered around his chair.

"Okay," Roll began. "Bass, you remember when you were arguing with Jewel Man?"

"Yes." Bass growled in response, squinting his eyes with hate and trying to ignore Zero (who made no effort to hide the fact he was judging Bass). "Thanks for reminding me."

Roll shook her head in earnest. "No, don't think about that. That was a distraction. Crystal Bot had the Maverick virus, and she fixed it on her own! When Jewel Man...was being horrible, she just got up all on her own and nobody thought to question it!"

Zero started. "The virus is that old? I thought that I was the only one with it."

Bass was doubtful. "Roll, we have no way of knowing if it was that virus. It was probably one Wily programmed specifically for her."

"Whoa!" Axl objected. "That's not what you said the first day you got here! You noticed automatically what virus it was when Signas described it to you."

Bass despised being contradicted, and he had to remind himself not to bare his teeth. "It sounded the same as what I knew then about the Maverick virus from records Proto Man stole. I don't have any proof that it was the same one as on Crystal. Though...what I researched of it now it seems similiar, with the whole rewriting AI thing..." Bass scratched his chin. "I just don't know!"

"If it's similar then maybe you can help!" Roll said with all the optimism of a true Light-bot, in just the right tone to irritate Bass. "You worked on Crystal to help her finish getting it off of her systems! You saw what was wrong with her head! I just know you can figure this out!"

It was as if someone had asked Forte to babysit, he was so repulsed. "Look, all I did was run some of her anti-virus programs, and we don't have any of those now. I don't know what worked, or even if it worked! All we know is that she mostly acted normal. Maybe the virus was just...dormant or something."

"I know that people have pretended not to have the virus for a while." Axl said. "But can the virus actually be dormant?"

Bass glared at Axl, flicking a thumb over at Zero.

"Oh yeah...hehe...I guess so..."

"Why are you being so doubtful, Bass?" Roll protested. "I mean, look at the job you did rebuilding me!"

Zero snickered, and Bass glared over at the taller Wily-bot, hoping it would somehow get the idea across that Zero would regret mocking him (it didn't). "You shut your trap!"

"I'm just glad that Alia was there to help you." Zero said, not put off in the slightest. In fact, Bass' annoyance only motivated him further. "Poor X couldn't handle his sister exploding."

"You two are the worst." Roll said, hands on her hips just like mother. "Bass, don't worry. If you need help, I'm sure Alia would love to lend a hand. I know that there might not be any connection, but...well there has to be! Think about it! Zero and X have been friends for a long time, and X has always been safe! There's something inside X that keeps him from getting the virus! Wily tried to make it so that X would be vulnerable, but he always underestimated Dr. Light and he probably never understood what he knew about X's parts anyway. So he could make it so robots like X could get the virus, but not X himself! He's immune to the virus!"

Bass shook his head. "What does that prove? None of the Hunters got the virus from Zero."

"That's right!" Axl piped up. "It's always been from the outside. From Sigma."

"Wait...X was exposed to it." Zero spoke up. "I remember it...during the space colony incident Sigma released a mobile version of the virus and X couldn't evade all of it. It weakened him, but he never succumbed. He has to be immune. But still," Zero turned to Roll. "I don't know if that will help. X's data can't be analyzed properly. Whatever makes him immune is unknown."

"That's what makes Bass so important!" Roll turned to him eagerly. "Crystal Man was the one to steal the X plans from our labs originally, and since he wasn't good enough at AI or CPUs to understand it, he had to make Crystal Bot more like X so that she could operate. And that's why Crystal Bot could overcome that virus she had - she was like X! Oh, Bass, you were the one that worked on her! Dr. Light told you all about X's mind in the hospital! You're the only one who knows enough about Dr. Light's work to have any chance! We might actually be able to beat this! Please say you'll help!"

Forte was completely dumbfounded. No one had ever begged for help like this, and while flattery was usually the best policy in his case, technology was the one area that he was totally unsure (other than babysitting). There was no telling how long working on the virus could take, and to work on science that would not lead him to a brand new pair of superbly devastating and particularly destructive busters was an enmaddening thought. Yet, unexpectedly, his thoughts turned the other direction on him. Glancing at Zero, Bass knew that he could access those mostly deleted memories only because of what Dr. Light had told him. He had the ability to at least try.

Bass closed his eyes. He had failed in stopping the wars long ago when he had the chance, and now he had no right to say no. He grinned.

"Eh, I'll see what I can do." Bass finally agreed. "But not by myself. Roll, signal for Alia. I'll need to go over the memories I have of working on Crystal. She'll probably know more than I do about how it's supposed to work. At least I hope so."

"I'm on it!"

As Roll scurried off to the telescreen to call for Alia, who was doubtlessly somewhere still in the complex, Bass approached the computer desk. He searched through the mess he had made of the counter and pulled out a drive. Sticking it into his neck, he addressed Axl.

"Hey kid, you take this drive over to Signas so that he knows what's going on." The drive was fast to load, and Axl obediently took it once it was done. "These are all my relevant memories on it, and it'll explain better than anyone can."

"Right!"

And Axl ran off. Zero got to his feet. There were better things he could be doing. Let them sort out their science; he would try to find something else to do. X would be back soon, but not so soon he couldn't get in a short rest in his restore room. He hadn't forgotten what Layer had told him, and he knew he needed some work. Let Bass and Alia have the lab for now. He could always come back later. Forte, however, caught sight of this attempt.

"You stay there a minute." he said. "I want to check for more of those deleted files, if there are any."

Little as he wanted to stay, the thought of having more of his dreams sickened him. His creator might be less of a spectre to him, but that lessened his disgust none. He sat back down, giving in.

"Alright."

Zero allowed Bass to hook him back up to the computer, and the latter set up the computer to automatically search for deleted files. Zero was glad; he didn't like Bass sifting through his memories. He couldn't tell what Bass could see and couldn't. If Bass was aware of his disgust, he didn't show it. He was too immersed in his own work at the computer. He had to download his own memories so that Alia could see as much as she could of Crystal Bot's head. From the sheer annoyance splattered all over Bass, it was easy to tell that his work was taking a lot of concentration.

Alia entered then, and once she noticed that Zero was there, she did her now normal routine: avoid looking in his direction again and make a fuss about whatever she could with the others present. Roll was eagerly telling Alia everything as the navigator went her way to Bass' side. Alia looked over his shoulder, and all three started going on about scientific things - and Roll did as best she could to keep up with the other two. Bass might not have been an expert, but he at least knew the terminology.

Zero was quiet. He avoided letting out a sigh, wishing he had just told Bass no. Though, sitting in silence near lively people was at least a little better than being alone, the awkwardness was getting to be too much. He peered back over his shoulder at the monitor.

Just a few more seconds...there must not be many deleted files on my system.

"Hey Roll." Bass said, waving her over to the computer. "C'mere a minute."

"Okay. What do you want me to see?"

Though the dark robot had been pointing at the monitor, as soon as Roll looked at it, Bass promptly grabbed her arm and they both disappeared. Alia started as she saw them teleport away, and she cringed with obvious sickness. Zero couldn't tell if it was because Bass was somehow being annoying or if she just didn't want to be alone in the same room with him, but just in case it was the latter, Zero unplugged from the computer and began walking away. Behind him, Alia sighed, and an accompanying noise sounded rather like her fist pounding into a countertop.

"No, Zero, wait."

Alia's voice was tainted with dread resolution. Zero faced her, a bit stunned. It was the first time she had directly spoken to him for weeks. The effort must have been terrible for her; she was slumped over, holding one arm as she reluctantly approached him. Alia managed to lift her head up, though Zero wished she hadn't. The pain in her eyes was too much to bear, and her lip trembled with hate or grief.

"I just want to say...I'm sorry."

Alia choked on her words, forcing herself to go on though she saw no reaction in Zero. "I...I wanted so badly to hate you. I was angry, but you don't deserve how I've treated you ever since I found out. Even now...I have to apologize, but I just want to tell you everything that's happened to me because of the virus, how everything went so wrong. I can't. It's not right. You know how bad these wars have been. I don't need to explain that to you."

Shivering, Alia had to turn her gaze down the floor again. "I thought I hated you, but...Gate...I'm just so mad...you saw how Gate was and how much he'd changed. It was the worst thing to me then that someone I knew so well and had done so much for science and good could turn so evil that quickly. When I found out about you, that was so much worse! You're a hero...and I'm supposed to be your friend. You're not a horrible person at all, and if we lost you to the virus...I just can't go through that again!"

She let out a sob, but she forced it down and steeled herself looking up directly at Zero. "I'm sorry I tried to blame you for everything. It wasn't right. Please...forgive me."

Zero said nothing. He may as well have been a stone, and his expression gave away nothing. Zero was used to keeping himself contained, and even in this circumstance it wasn't difficult, even if on the inside he feared that his grief would tear him apart. Yet not all of it could stay down. He had plenty to be ashamed of, and his head hung slightly. His resolve wavered, and he couldn't maintain eye contact any longer.

"Don't worry about it." he said. "You have every right to be angry."

"That's just it. I don't have the right." Alia protested. She stepped forward. "I know you must feel guilty, but I also know you. You never wanted any of these wars to happen and hate it more than any of us, even me. If you had the choice then you would have stopped the virus. I can't blame you for something that wasn't in your control." She took his arm and continued, even daring to smile. "I promise that I'll do everything in my power to end the Maverick virus. Even if I never come up with the cure, I promise that I'll still be your friend. If you can forgive me, anyway."

That meant more to Zero than he could say. He looked up, returning the smile Alia gave. He wondered why they had never been closer friends before. Zero admitted to himself that he spent most of his time with the fighter-bots, as he was far more task-oriented than people-oriented.

You know, maybe that's not such a good thing. I better work on that. Zero smiled. "Consider it forgotten."

"Come on, let's get some scans going, I've got a promise to keep." Alia said, happy for once. Zero finally noticed that this apology was beneficial for her as well; now she didn't have to pretend that everything was alright. "If Bass was able to learn a thing or two from Dr. Light, then he'll know how to get into that head of yours."

Alia pulled him over to the computers so that he could once again plant himself on the chair. Zero wasn't particularly eager to be worked on, but it was for the best. He was just glad that things were going to settle down between him and Alia.

"Speaking of Bass, why were you two arguing the other day?" Zero asked.

"Eh...we were arguing about you." she bit her lip. "Um, he wanted me to apologize to you. The disc you gave me was some data he was hiding from me until I did."

Zero's brow wrinkled at once. Bass did that? "You have to be lying."

"No. He said, and I quote, 'if I have to put up with that whiny little girl moping around here for much longer, you're going to suffer'."

The red Hunter laughed at once. "Just when I thought Bass was capable of being nice."

"Bass? Nice? You're smarter than that."

It was out of character for his brother to be that way. Zero relaxed, not minding as Alia restablished his network with the computer. Maybe, now that this was cleared up, things would go more back to normal. As normal as it could be, in any case. Zero thought about his brother. He realized he did have a lot more to be grateful for. Bass had rescued Roll, and anything that made X happy did the same for Zero. And Bass did help with those old memories. Since they were restored, maybe the nightmares were over. Perhaps Alia knew how to delete the memories entirely.

Zero opened up radio communications. " - Hey Bass. - "

" - What? - "

" - You can come back to the lab now. Alia did what she was told. - "

" - Good. Be there in a sec. - "

" - Oh, one last thing. - "

" - Yeah? - "

" - I hate you. - "

" - Not as much as I hate you, Sis. - "

Zero chuckled. That was his brother alright.

\\\\\\\

Author's Notes:

- Okay, y'all, I have a problem with people who come and flame in the reviews. I'm going to have to ask that y'all keep all of your messages polite. If something about my stories bothers you, then feel free to say so, but be mannerable about it. If you wish to flame me, please do so by pm. I will happily address your concern in private, which is where I prefer to deal with complex story problems, not by my author's notes. Let me make it clear that I don't mean negative reviews in general. Go ahead and point out my flaws, just don't freak out about it.

I'm really sad that this had to happen, and quite frankly I was expecting a lot more hate at the beginning of this story, not this far along. A fanfiction is not worth getting hateful over. Please review with helping me improve in mind.

Thanks to my reviewers and peeps, and I hope you enjoy the story. Just remember, if there's something wonky goin' on in the plot you don't like, just trust me. I've had this plotline in mind for most of a year now, and I know where I'm going with it. Love y'all!

On to better things!

- Ironically, Bass is not a bass. He's a tenor. Oh, and Zero wasn't obvious when he was hiding at the door, Bass is just paranoid about people watching him. Also, both of them are left-handed. Not that that has anything to do with anything, but yeah.

- No, I'm not pairing Alia and Zero. Save that for your own fics. ;) Also, I don't think the whole Layer/Zero thing would work out either. It's just not a thing Zero would do with the virus still in him, and after Iris, who knows? Just doesn't seem to fit the character.

Darkhydra

=======Gloom Kraken

"Be my friend, or else!"

Gloom was meant to clean the oceans, but over time became very lonely. He recieved the Maverick virus and became a happier person. He loves to tear boats apart. His tentacles rip off armor, causing damage taken to increase, and he can also bite the player and send out ink that blinds the player. Beating him earns the player the Kraken whip, which can also be used to swing on things.

Dark led to gloom and hydra led to kraken. Easy peasy. Sounds really cool, I think.

Vienrider

=======Buck Junker

"I'll turn you into something useful! Hold still!"

Buck is a deer robot with very muscular arms. He's great at punching, and he hates pollution. He will take junk that he finds lying around and "recycle" it - turn it into a mechaniloid. He can suck up the player with his vacuum, and if he catches them he kicks them across the room. He also charges and throws junk. The player that beats him gets the Junk Kicker, which enables the player to suck up smaller bots and kick them at other enemies.

I went with "vie" which means "to contend" or to go against, and "buck" is a synonym. Like buck the system, I guess. Junker is a reference to cars.

I think I'll do some for the peeps that favorited me too.

Maverick Hunter Phoenix

======Hawker Blaze

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome."

Hawker is, of course, a hawk. He is a very angry bird, but also vain, thinking that he is the handsomest of all the Mavericks. Anyone who disagrees with him gets shot by flames, which Hawker throws out of his mouth. He can also leave trails of fire as he flies. The player that beats him gets Blaze Line, which enables the player to leave a trail of fire behind them.

This was easy. Looking up "hunter" got me "hawker", which is great with the bird reference. Phoenixes have fire, so there ya go. Hope you like!