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Title: Mega Man X6: False Awakening
Chapter: Stage 06 "As a Maverick Hunter and your friend..."
Notes: Only one review for chapter 5? I see, you're shunning me. Well fine, have some Capcom Science then.

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"...Do you think it's possible?" X asked, after he finished relaying his meeting with Dynamo. "That Sigma is really gone?"

Alia remained silent for several long moments. "...Maybe," she finally replied. "It... makes sense, what Dynamo said. It's in line with what we know about the Sigma Virus..."

She gestured vaguely and began to explain her thought process, an exercise meant more to order her own ideas than for X's benefit, though he watched the Navigator closely as she paced in front of him.

"The reason Sigma has been able to come back over and over again has to do with the mutated nature of his DNA program. He's not the only case. In special circumstances, like the Erasure incident, a Reploid's DNA program - data containing their form, abilities, and memories - can temporarily exist without their bodies, as a kind of purely electronic life form."

"A DNA Soul," X remarked, remembering how Iris had chosen the name and her reasoning - a Reploid's DNA program was like their soul, the core of everything they were, their "self".

"Right. And DNA data, even in small lingering amounts, can be used to resurrect a destroyed Reploid, so it's easy for a new body to be constructed to fit his DNA Soul. Because he is not tied to a body in the same way, Sigma is able to essentially remain as a ghost." Alia paused, frowning faintly before shaking the stray thought away.

"But Sigma has another special ability," she continued, "to infiltrate and overwrite the DNA programs of other Reploids and robots. When Sigma changes another Reploid's program, he inserts a pieces of his own DNA data into them. So the Sigma Virus is essentially made up of fragments of Sigma's DNA Soul, which continue to be connected and can then influence the Reploids they are placed inside. When he is destroyed, Sigma can use those pieces to reconstruct himself. We know that much from Dr. Doppler's research."

X nodded again. Doppler had been the first to identify the Maverick Virus, and though his attempts to create a vaccine had been unsuccessful, his research findings remained invaluable.

"So what Dynamo said makes sense," Alia repeated. "Sigma spread his DNA Soul across the world and all of Eurasia in order to infect it. It's entirely possible that would be too much dissociation even for the Sigma Virus. There is also the fact that the Virus implanted in the Colony seemed to evolve into a different form that may not have preserved Sigma's personal aspects... The connection between the fragments of Sigma's DNA Soul may have simply been stretched too thin to hold together after you and Zero defeated him."

"If we take Dynamo's word for it," X commented sourly. In a way, Dynamo was the most confounding enemy X had ever faced. He wasn't infected, he wasn't out of his mind, he didn't seem to be completely detached from reality. But he had still sent Eurasia crashing into the Earth, despite the potentially catastrophic consequences.

Alia nodded distractedly. "I've been thinking..." she began again. "The Nightmare is very similar to the Sigma Virus. It infects Reploids and rewrites their DNA and cognitive programs, causing them to malfunction. At worst, even their appearance changes. However, I think... the Nightmare is not natural. It's artificially created..." Alia trailed off, her expression troubled.

"They're a lot alike," X agreed.

"The Nightmare Virus is much more potent. It sometimes kills the host when it infects them, and it can also survive without a host at all. Fortunately, that means we don't need a special vaccine to damage it; normal weapons will do," Alia continued to reason. "The Nightmare enemies are the Nightmare Virus in its pure concentrated state, and Nightmare Souls are the same, but inert. So the only thing we haven't been able to figure out at all is..."

"...the Zero Nightmare," X finished reluctantly.

"Even the investigators didn't seem to know much about it. It has the same readings as a Nightmare, and it's been absorbing Nightmare Souls into itself. Every time, it has been getting stronger and more coherent. " Alia trailed off, clearly uncertain of her tentative conclusions "...Maybe Zero's DNA data was incorrectly copied into a Nightmare. It might be using other Nightmare Souls to stabilize itself. But why would Zero's specific situation be so different? And why does the Nightmare have readings that are so similar to Zero to start with?"

"Zero... always had a unique reaction to the Virus," X admitted. "It's not that Zero was immune or unaffected by the Virus. Rather, he was able to absorb and process it. When Sigma infected Zero after reconstructing him in the second war, the Virus's effects just... wore off. Afterward, when Zero was scanned, there was nothing left of the Virus in his system..."

Alia's expression was sympathetic, and she didn't press for more information. She, more than anyone, could tell that his report about the Eurasia Crisis had been incomplete. But she also knew what it was like to suspect something terrible about a person you cared for, especially one that had disappeared from your sight.

She had shared her fears about Gate with X. So, X felt, he had to tell her something, if even just a part of what had occurred.

"When we were fighting Sigma at the Eurasia impact site..." X began, the words coming unwillingly, "Sigma said that he and Zero had the same potential. It came from the time when Zero first appeared, as a Maverick. Sigma was the one who defeated him, but both of them came into contact with something that changed their DNA programs. That was how Sigma gained his abilities..."

"...Just what happened there, at the impact site?" Alia asked hesitantly. "The interference was too much. We barely got any data."

X shook his head, as if trying to shake away the memories. "I... don't know. The entire area was saturated in the Virus. It was like the Nightmare phenomena. Nothing made any sense. I thought I saw..." He shook his head again, dismissing the notion. It had to have been a dream...

"It must have been a spacial anomaly, caused by the high Virus concentration," Alia said. "The Nightmare effects are the same thing. When a Virus saturates an area, the charged, digitized atmosphere allows pure data entities to materialize in the real world..."

X looked at her sharply, something like shock and suspicion showing on his face. "...That's what he said too..." he muttered to himself. But before she could ask, he changed subject. "Some of the Virus took on Zero's form. It was just a projection, but it had the same readings as Zero."

"The Zero Virus," Alia filled in. She remembered seeing those readings and trying to understand where they came from or what they meant.

"It appeared because Zero was in that place, where the Virus was so dense. It copied his data when he came close to it." X paused, wavering uncertainly. "The Zero Nightmare is so similar... maybe it's the same way. Maybe Zero is alive and came into contact with it. And that's why it took his form..."

Alia looked away. She didn't want to destroy X's hopes. "You had a dream about Zero, didn't you, X? Do you think it was connected to the Nightmare?"

"I don't know," X admitted. "But I believe Zero is somewhere out there. There's no way he would lose to Sigma. So he must be alive..."

But even if Zero was alive, there was no telling what state he was in. Even though Zero wasn't affected by the Maverick Virus in the same way as other Reploids, it still had a negative effect on his mind.

X gritted his teeth. "Are we... going to be forced to fight again, Zero?" he wondered.

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"You are in the Laser Institute," Alia told X as he teleported onto a high-tech landing pad, constructed partway up the side of a towering structure. "It's one of those places that doesn't officially exist, so we don't have much data on it." X eyed the jet resting on another landing pad nearby. What kind of place was this, anyway?

"But it's obvious that this facility is infected by the Nightmare, so I'll check it out," X said. Indeed, the entire area was cloaked in an unnatural darkness, the clouds that billowed past glowing an eerie blue-violet.

"Be careful," Alia warned him. "Things have been relatively quiet in the last three areas you visited, but this is the final investigator. There's no telling what will happen. Isoc, High Max... Gate... They won't let things end so easily."

"I know," X replied, readying his Buster.

He proceeded ahead cautiously, but there were no enemies in sight. Not even the silent, frightening Nightmares rose up out of the clouds or the walkway. At this height, the winds buffering X were the greatest danger. At least it wasn't raining, he told himself.

Suddenly, the walkway leading to the main facility cut off, dropping away into thin air. It was, X estimated with a practiced eye, too far to jump to the building itself, which rose up as a perfectly vertical monolith, only broken by a single maintenance tunnel opening.

"Now what?" he wondered. "I don't..."

X trailed off, watching in surprise as the air in the middle of the gap seemed to shimmer. A familiar yellow hard hat crawled out of what seemed to be nowhere at all, first perpendicular, then righting itself to stand correctly on thin air.

"It's a Met," X said obviously, still staring in surprise.

"...Yes," Alia agreed. "It's one of the units charged with maintaining the outer structures at this facility. It looks like a standard model. ...It's probably infected too."

"It's levitating," X pointed out, which seemed to be the far more important point. As if to mock him, the Met turned and spat out the same three shot pattern. To add to the insult, X barely dodged, too stunned to react properly.

"Maybe you should use your weapons," Alia suggested in a perfectly professional tone of voice.

X didn't thank her sarcastically, but he imagined saying it. Raising his Buster, he easily sent a single, well-timed charged shot at the Met, which was probably far more than necessary. Pieces of the unfortunate maintenance robot scattered through the air and disappeared into the clouds below.

Or rather, most of them did. X's eyes narrowed as he regarded the few fragments that remained "levitating" between him and the tunnel entrance.

"Lasers, huh..." he muttered to himself. Walking to the edge of the path, X extended his foot and prodded at the empty space beyond. His boot met nothing but air, and X momentarily lost his balance. Wobbling, he tilted forward and, to his surprise, found footing further out.

The air shimmered again, as it had when the Met appeared, but this time the effect lingered and strengthened until the half-opaque form of a catwalk appeared in front of X.

As he stepped out onto the newly-revealed path - separated from the rest of the walkway by a narrow gap - X stared down in surprise. He was still getting nothing from his sensors, which reported that he was standing on thin air.

"What a mysterious place," he muttered, heading onward again, sections of catwalk appearing as he stepped on them and disappearing again as he moved on.

The maintenance tunnel was dark and worn, though clearly well-maintained. Machinery hummed in the walls, making X feel almost as if he was traversing the insides of some great mechanical beast. As he jumped down a ladder to a lower section of the catwalk, the tunnel suddenly opened up into a wide circular passage that burrowed deeper into the interior of the Institute and then plunged down into its core. X could only guess what kind of experiments it was used for.

"...Huh," X said suddenly, coming to the end of the catwalk. He had crossed the round passage, but the pathway he had been following suddenly cut off, running straight into a blank wall. "...I still feel a little wind coming through," he noted, holding up his hand. Something occurred to him, and he reached out toward the wall, running his hand along it.

A few steps down, his hand passed right through. "Another illusion," X sighed. "Just what is this place?"

It was a maze, put simply, one that was further confused by the Nightmare-induced "blackouts" that rolled through the facility at seemingly random intervals and the increasing appearance of Nightmare Viruses.

X should have felt relieved to reach the core of the Institute, but instead dread welled up in his stomach.

"X?" Alia prompted him. "The central chamber should be just ahead."

"I can't believe Shield Sheldon was also resurrected," X said reluctantly. "His case went so badly, all because the Hunters made a mistake. He just wanted to protect the professor, but he ended up being labeled a Maverick, too. If only I could have been there in time..." X shook his head. "Do you think he might listen to me?"

Alia didn't reply right away. "...All the others chose to fight. And Sheldon was always very loyal. Like Blizzard Wolfgang, he will probably refuse to turn his back on Gate. X... that's his decision to make. There's nothing you can do about that. The Nightmares have to be stopped."

"Right. There's no time to waste," X agreed with a heavy heart.

The core of the Laser Institute opened up ahead of him, a giant round chamber with pipes running along the walls up to some mysterious device on the ceiling, perhaps a power generator or another laser. The room was half-filled with water, with only a narrow pathway made up of hexagonal, reflective plates that, together with the refractions from the pool, created a confusing, unbalancing play of light.

The effect was only made worse by the thick Nightmare atmosphere.

Squinting against the kaleidoscope-like effect, X took a moment to realize what he was seeing.

Shield Sheldon was there, or rather, what was left of him. His protective shells had been ripped off, and his body cleaved into two. A Nightmare Soul had risen out of his remains and floated easily into the hands of the Zero Nightmare, which absorbed the energy and momentarily glowed with its power.

"You!" X yelled, bringing up his Buster.

The Zero Nightmare turned, its moments so much smoother than before. It appeared almost solid now, not like a malfunctioning hologram.

"It's me, X," it said, its voice coming across cleanly, with only a faint reverberation to mark its unnatural origins. "Don't you recognize me? Let's fight together to retire the Mavericks, just like we used to..."

It spread its hands in a welcoming, unthreatening gesture, but X only scowled angrily.

"Stop it!" he demanded. "You can't fool me! You're just a fake."

The Zero Nightmare narrowed its eyes as if trying to figure out the meaning of his words. "Have you become so insane that you can't even recognize me?" it wondered. Its stance suddenly shifted in the same abrupt manner as before, like two unconnected frames spliced together. "That means you've become a Maverick... As a Maverick Hunter and your friend, I'll retire you myself!"

In the next instance, its saber was in its hand and flashing out in a diagonal slash. X gritted his teeth as he dodged, retaliating with rapid fire Buster shots. It infuriated him to hear this fake refer to the promise he had asked Zero to make, to stop X if he became a Maverick. This thing had no right to talk about that! To act like it was Zero!

The Zero Nightmare did not even flinch, but instead vanished, only to reappear behind him. Furious, X slashed at it with Zero's Saber. The Nightmare screeched the same way as it had before, and X noted with grim satisfaction that the Saber affected far more than an ordinary attack. It seemed fitting.

Although X hated to admit it, the Zero Nightmare was only a little below the real Zero in combat ability, and its tendency to vanish and reappear in another location without warning gave it an extra edge. Worse, every moment of the fight reminded him more and more of what had happened at the Eurasia crash site.

"...X...!"

Alia's garbled cry made X break away in surprise. Even as he jumped back, the Zero Nightmare suddenly faltered, its previously solid form becoming unstable and distorted.

An explosion tore through the core chamber wall, and out of the gaping hole and clouds of debris, High Max appeared, floating weightlessly despite his giant body. The Zero Nightmare turned to glare at him balefully, its image still run through by static, and High Max returned its ill will. Suddenly, X felt certain the two were somehow connected.

"Nightmare scum!" High Max growled, raising one giant hand. Energy gathered in the palm of his hand, but X could tell it was different than the attack he had used during their last encounter. It crackled like lightning and abruptly streaked out to envelop the Zero Nightmare.

"It's some kind of force field," Alia reported, her words occasionally interrupted by static.

The Nightmare growled and tried to struggle, but the force field High Max projected had it paralyzed. When he gestured sharply, the Nightmare was dragged into his grip, and High Max easily hitched its much smaller form under his arm.

"The force field you created works as predicted," High Max said, his slightly absent tone conveying that he was speaking across his own comm. "I have captured it. Returning now-"

Even though it was just a fake, X felt an instinctive urge to rush to its aid. It wasn't Zero... but it still looked like him, like Zero was being restrained and taken away. Without thinking, he pointed his Buster at High Max.

"Wait!" X yelled. "Just what do you intend to do with that? What are you planning?"

High Max paused, glancing at X disinterestedly. "We will end the Nightmare," he repeated Isoc's earlier claim.

"I won't let you go just like that! There are things you need to account for!" X told him. There were many, many questions Isoc needed to answer, starting with the illegal resurrection of Gate's Reploids.

"I am superior to you in every respect. A relic like you can't beat me," High Max replied. He would have certainly sneered, had he been capable of it. He raised his free hand as if to attack, only to stop suddenly.

"I have it!" Alia exclaimed. "I've cracked their transmission. I'm tracing it now!"

She wasn't a moment too early. Having apparently received new orders, High Max backed down and, after one last contemptuous look, teleported out, as X watched uneasily. Every instinct he had screamed at him to stop High Max.

"Yes! I have a lock on his destination!" Alia declared triumphantly. "It's... but that's... the Eurasia crash site? Why is he returning there?"

"I'll find out," X replied shortly, queuing up to transfer as well.

"X! Calm down!" Signas broke in over the comm. Naturally, he had been monitoring the mission of their ace Hunter. "We don't want to lose you. Return to Hunter Base and let us investigate the situation."

"...Sorry," X said. "But I'm going to end this, right now."

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Notes: Just to be clear, most of this DNA/Soul/Virus metaphysics is the Capcom party line. I'm not making this up. (:V) (Think of it this way: Reploids are like Transformers. They have Sparks.)

I am, however, utterly mangling X5. X doesn't explain, but I think the sequence of events went like this: after Eurasia crashes, Zero ends up in the middle of it; he becomes affected by all the Virus stuff; when X arrives, he and Zero fight; Sigma reappears, expositions, and is defeated; he tries to take Zero with him; Zero is heavily damaged, and both he and X get shot through by Sigma; but Zero gets off one last shot before shutting down.

I actually ended up having to write out an entire extra chapter to get things straight in my head.

In other news, Alia and X spend half the chapter bonding over their missing, possibly-psychotic boyfriends- I mean, providing exposition. Yes.

And now, X is making a list and checking it twice! Isoc, High Max, Zero Nightmare, Gate and one special "surprise" guest! All lined up to be taken down!

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