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The Dream Machine Chapter 7: Defiance “So the virus doesn’t affect him at all.” Dr. Sky said thoughtfully as she punched up something on the computer. Zero nodded. Zero was back at Dr. Sky’s lab again. It had been a week since Zero returned to the Maverick Hunters. Even though the number of vehicles the Hunters had was significantly reduced from before the Eurasia Incident, they still had quite a selection. Zero managed to get his hands on a motorbike that could withstand the sand storms and returned to Sky’s lab on it. He left without telling anyone where he was going. It wasn’t unusual for Zero, who often left on missions by himself anyway, so he didn’t think anyone would give it another thought as long as he turned up when he was needed. Dr. Sky sat down on one of the chairs and bit the index finger on her right hand, deep in thought. She remained like that for several seconds, then clapped her hands together. “I’ve got it. It’s all theory, but I think I know what happened with X.” Zero extended one hand, gesturing for Sky to go on. “Well, you said he forgot all about his past with you before the Eurasia incident, right? The Zero Virus… that could be considered part of his past with you…” Dr. Sky got out of the chair and paced quickly back and forth in front of Zero. “So if one of his programs was actively blocking or erasing his memories of you before Eurasia, it’s possible that it has including the Zero Virus as one of its targets; effectively giving him immunity to the Zero Virus.” “That’s similar to one of Dr. Cain’s theories.” Zero observed. “Hm..” Sky stopped pacing. “I should meet this Dr. Cain sometime.” Dr. Sky turned back to working on the computer. “It must be some program, if it managed to defeat the Zero Virus with that kind of speed. It’s too bad we haven’t pinned it down yet. It could be used to get rid of the Zero Virus problem once and for all. I wonder who came up such a powerful program. Was there anything else wrong with X?” “Aside from the strange way he spoke right after he got up, no.” Zero told Dr. Sky about the way X acted. About how he suddenly got confused, then the cold look in his eyes. Dr. Sky didn’t shed more light upon the subject than either Douglas or Dr. Cain. There was little to no scientific data to work with the description “X looked cold.” Dr. Sky, though, had something to say about X’s behavior. “It’s more likely that reaction had something to do with X’s missing memory than the Zero Virus.” Dr. Sky stated. “You said one of the other Maverick Hunters described something like this to you before, so it’s something that occurred before he was infected with the Zero Virus. I’d bet the farm that the thing affecting X’s memory is the very same that’s making him behave differently.” “Bet the farm?” Zero repeated, studying Dr. Sky with an amused expression on his face. “First the 20th century toaster, now the 20th century expression? Are you also a historian?” “A ha ha!” Dr. Sky chuckled. “I’m just weird. Anyways.” Dr. Sky moved to the recharge pod set up in the center of the lab. “Off to bed with you.” Subtle details about the expression on Sky’s face told Zero that she was worried about him. She still had a smile on her face, but the slightly down turned corners made it look like a stage smile. “Maverick Hunters have bedtimes, too.” She joked. “I’ve made some adjustments since the last time you were on it.” “What kind of adjustments?” Zero offhanded asked as he climbed into the recharge pod. Dr. Sky leaned over the pod and looked very serious. “Did it hurt last time?” Dr. Sky asked. “It looked that way.” “Don’t be silly.” Zero snapped. It seemed that Dr. Sky expected this reaction, because she didn’t flinch at all. “I’ll be fine.” Zero insisted. “Let’s just get started.” Dr. Sky nodded softly, and patted the recharge pod once before heading off to the computer terminal at the back wall of the lab. “It’s ready.” Dr. Sky prompted. Zero closed his eyes, and the large monitor changed from a string of codes to static. A smaller screen to the lower right corner of the large monitor displayed data the data that was previously on the large screen. Unlike the first time, it only took seconds for an image to start appearing on the screen. Zero was on this hands and knees in what looked like an old warehouse. The view was third person this time. Behind Zero was a kind of stasis pod Dr. Sky had never seen before. Shards of glass were on the ground around Zero, who started to stand up. “What was that?” Someone said in the background. Metallic footsteps approached, and a door off screen slid open. “Who’s there?!” The same person demanded. A reploid, probably a guard, appeared on the screen, looking at Zero nervously. “Who are you?” He demanded. Zero glared at the guard, causing him to take several steps backwards in fear. “Stop!” Zero drew a sword with his left hand and it came to life with a menacing crack. The guard got out his own weapon and fired several shots of laser at Zero, who easily evaded them. As Zero dodged the last shot, he disappeared from the guard’s view. The guard barely had time to gasp before Zero’s sword slashed towards the guard from behind. The blade came within inches of the guard as he rolled forward. The guard darted behind some crates, and called for reinforcements on his radio. “Intruder alert!” The guard’s voice trembled as he spoke into the radio. “Building R4. Send reinforcements now!” Zero attacked again, leaping off the crate that the guard was pressed against, narrowly missing the guard who broke into a run. Zero seemed to be giving the guard time to dodge his attacks, and was quite entertained by watching the guard scramble from behind one crate to another. He had numerous openings to finish the guard off, but he did not take them. The chase finally ended when the reinforcements arrived and fired their weapons at Zero. Zero moved with sharp precision, dashing from the shots, or blocking them with this saber. The first guard took this time to make a run for the exit. After sizing up the guards advancing on him, Zero dashed towards the group, and counterattacked with a flurry of swings from his beam saber. He landed on one knee at the entrance of the room, which was suddenly void of all sounds. An annoyed look crossed Zero’s face as he dropped his beam saber; it was shorting out from being hit by the gun fire. The guards behind Zero each fell to the ground with a crash. The guard at the doorway watched in horror as his teammates hit the ground. His eyes slowly shifted towards Zero, who wore a crooked smile. The doorway slid closed. Zero stood up, flanked by the smoke of the burning pile of metal behind him. The screen went black. Dr. Sky thought Zero woke up, but turning around she saw otherwise. “You like chasing people.” Dr. Wily’s voice made Sky whip back around towards the monitor. Wily was on the screen, standing across from Zero. “You could have killed that guard ten times over, but you chose to hunt him instead.” Wily sighed deeply. “How is it now, when you have to follow orders on who you are allowed to hunt, and who you must protect?” “I’m something different than what you know, Wily.” Zero said flatly. “It’s easy to try to throw me off with meaningless declarations, Zero. I know you better than anyone else in the world, including yourself. Why do you think you rose the ranks of the Maverick Hunters so fast? It wasn’t only because you were good. Oh, no. X is good too, but have you wondered why he is still a Class B hunter while you took command of the hunters?” Wily paused, not really expecting an answer, but for dramatic effect. “You hunger for the kill! With less people in command above you, you could work more freely. Moving about as you wished, not having to take prisoners when you didn’t feel like it. Of course, you are still restricted by the rules and regulations of the Hunters, but I’m here to make you see the follies of that. The signs are all there, Zero.” “The more I talk to you the more I’m convinced you have no control over me.” Zero narrowed his eyes, which were neon blue. “You’re more full of it than Sigma.” “Defiance! Yes, that was programmed, too.” Dr. Wily rubbed his chin in thought. “Talking to you might not be the way, but I’ve got something in the works already.” Wily’s eyes moved. For a brief moment, he seemed to be looking right at Dr. Sky. Sky blinked, and noticed Wily was looking at Zero once more. A figment of her imagination or not, this had Dr. Sky very concerned. How did Wily know where to look? She wasn’t surprised that Wily knew about the monitoring. If Wily’s program had access to Zero’s data banks, then it was just a matter of checking them. But being able to interact with the outside during the monitoring? This meant Wily’s program had a very good understanding of Sky’s machine. Or perhaps it was just a coincidence. The screen went black again, and Zero started to get up from out of the pod. Dr. Sky stood in place, with the image of Wily looking at her burning in her mind. There are no coincidences. Sky thought to herself. Wily is going to be trouble. Fan Fiction - Top |
