With Sigma's defeat, the Maverick Hunters set about rebuilding their structure and repairing the world around them. With a few exceptions, the majority of the formerly rogue Hunters were reinstated, and with the destruction of Sigma's body, the only copy of the remote control circuitry was destroyed.
X and Octavia, however, weren't as happy as the rest during the rebuilding efforts. Despite everything, no one knew enough to repair Zero in his present condition, and from the looks of things he would have to remain in stasis...indefinitely. Octavia was inconsolable over the loss of her 'Uncle Zero', sitting by his stasis capsule and staring at his floating, comatose remains. X remained by her side, wishing there was something he could do for her.
Alia made sure to keep them both well fed and online, talking to them whenever she stopped by with food, drinks, or bedding for the two of them. While X was certain that, like many of the female Reploids, she was under Octavia's adorable thrall, Octavia had noticed that Alia spent a great deal more time talking with X than tending to her. She found that oddly pleasing, but she decided not to say anything about it just yet.
Two months after the fall of Sigma, however, a new Reploid applied to the R&D Division of the med lab to work under Lifesaver. While this was hardly news, the thing that caught everyone's attention was that - on his application - he claimed to have the knowledge necessary to repair Zero. This was not a claim that was treated lightly, and both X and Octavia rushed to meet this 'new Doctor'.
The new Reploid had a very angular yellow face with a pointy white beard, pointy white sideburns, and a white mustache oversized for his face. He had two red eyes, one angular and one perfectly round. He wore a black, almost all-covering cloak, and what could be seen of his body under his cloak was blue. He also wore a cylindrical black and yellow hat with a green gem at the peak.
"Greetings," he stated jovially. "I am Serges. I understand you have need of a Doctor?"
X stared at Serges for a time. Something about him seemed...so familiar. Octavia, however, got straight to the point. "You said you know how to fix Uncle Zero?" she whimpered, her ears flat against her skull, eyes wide and hopeful, cuddling Varia in her forelegs like a teddy bear.
Much to X's amusement if not surprise, Serges closed both eyes and put one hand to his chest with a wince. When he regained control of himself, he grinned down at Octavia. "Yes, my little pony," he replied, patting her gently on the head. "I can fix your Uncle Zero."
As Octavia gasped excitedly, X leaned forward. "How?" he demanded. "Our best scientists have been studying his systems, but we can't do anything. How did you come by the knowledge?"
Smiling, Serges set the bag he'd brought with him down on the table, opening it up. In it were the missing sections of Zero's body: his leg units, his buster unit, and part of his torso. "I found these in the ocean after Sigma's Fortress crashed," he explained. "While damaged, they contained most useful data...as well as links to a data file from pre-End times called 'Project Animus'."
"Project Animus?" X asked curiously.
"Based on what I was able to tell when it forcefully downloaded itself into my hard drive before erasing itself in the original computer system," Serges explained, "it was written by Zero's original creator, as a backup in case he became damaged...and also as a means of allowing his systems to grow and develop as yours do."
X's eyes widened. "You mean...it's something like Dr. Light's hologram capsules?"
"Possibly," Serges allowed. "However, without having analyzed these capsules - or the Animus file - to any extent, I can't make a proper comparison. At any rate, I believe with the proper effort I can rebuild Zero, restoring his systems and functionality. However..." He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "Given how the file reacted to my attempt to read it, I fear if anyone is watching while I access the Project Animus file, it will self delete, erasing my mind in the process as it did with the computer system it was stored on. So I'll need absolute privacy to do my work."
X frowned, not sure he liked what was being suggested. To put that much trust in someone they'd just met, especially with Zero...
Octavia looked up at X with pleading eyes. "Please, Father?" she begged. "It's the only chance we'll have of ever getting Uncle Zero back..."
X did his best to resist, but he could never face Octavia at her most adorable for long. No one could. "Alright," he relented at long last. "But I'll want regular progress reports and to examine your progress on occasion," he told Serges.
The new Doctor smiled beatifically. "That will be absolutely no problem whatsoever," he replied easily. "If it's quite alright with you, I'd like to get started right away."
"Go right ahead," X directed, gesturing to the med lab.
An hour later, Serges stood in a private area behind the med lab, completely free of any cameras or other monitoring equipment beyond what he brought with him or built himself. Zero floated in his capsule, still comatose.
Once he was absolutely certain he was alone and would be for the foreseeable future, Serges spoke. "Activate Animus Protocol. Password: Drop It."
Serges seemed to go completely limp for a moment. When he raised up again, he stood completely differently from before. He took in the broken parts, Zero's comatose state, and the damage he had undergone, and gently shook his head. "Oh my son," he murmured, a different voice than before, "what have you done to yourself?"
Sighing, he pulled out various tools. "Well, it's time to get to work." He smiled as he began the repairs based on what he had originally designed.
DR. wily is still around
Holy cow, it seems like Wily was able to cheat death for the moment.
Ha ha! Old man. I knew that you could ham your way out of death.
I knew that there'd be some kind of crossover. Heheh.
IS VINYL GONNA SHOW UP TOO?????????????!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!
I honestly love the idea of Wily hijacking Serges to make repairs on Zero. JUST FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IF HE HAS TO PUT THE BOOB LIGHTS ON GIVE A GOOD REASON!!!!!
But now I can picture Drs. Light and Wily as Holograms spending all their time designing the armor upgrades and hiding them around the world so they can make bets on what sets X and Octavia find next.
My only complaint is I would have liked to see the Reploids who defected back from Sigma's rebellion rejoining their old lives, especially having Armored Armadillo stuck watching over Laura and Octavia while X is getting some repairs done or something.
6474869
There's still plenty of time for that.
Oh my gosh this is going to be awesome when will vinyl show up in this if posable
MAKE ZERO A GIRL! COME ON! DO IT!
6474868 She will, SHE MUST!
(Seriously, Tatsurou has already explained that the two fics are connected and play out in the same world, so while it's unlikely that Vinyl herself appears, there will definitely be something left by her that will interact with Octavia directly... Unless Vinyl herself was put in stasis.)
6474894 I second this motion of only because it would make for a hilarious awakening scene. Especially if Octavia starts getting confused enough to call Zero mom at some point.
6474889
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Both Doctors found a way to cheat death.
Nice touch with Serges being Wily. Now I wonder if he'll be responsible for Weil in the distant future
Wily is a maestro at beating death.
6474892 that would probably be impossible because by the time Vinyl grew up she would have to go home to equestria
How come Wily is still alive?
Definitely a master of cheating death.
6474917 MAKE HIM A GIRL!
6474915 Um does anyone remember the Reploid who made Octy's visor? The one who had knowledge of sound based technology, the one with the visor? I pretty sure that's Vinyl.
I see you're going through that rumored speculation, well it was more obvious in X6, but knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised if he did it multiple times just to be sure.
For a long time i thought Zero was a girl... you specifically said this Zero used to be a girl...
My point? MAKE ZERO A GIRL! Oh the lolz....
6475230 Well obviously he created an AI core based off of his own brain including all of his memories and his personality, then he placed it into a computer hard drive that would auto transfer itself to the nearest reploid hard drive upon activation of the computer.
God don't you know anything about advanced theoretical computing and IT?
6475353
When did that happened? Seriously, I don't remember that. I only know that he created Zero and the virus.
6475366 It is stated in one of the many endings for Power Fighters, or Power Battles. I get those two mixed up.
6475816
Oh. I only play the classic and X games.
6475837 It actually is a classic game. They were arcade games that were later release on the anniversary collection.
Hmm... I like how you're doing this. Rather than having Serges directly being Dr. Wily, it's more of an indirect coincidence (In that Serges just so happened to look somewhat like Dr. Wily, and Project Animus [The masculine spirit of a person's persona; clever] just so happened to upload into him at the same time)... unless that was a total lie and it's more complicated than that. I wonder what meeting the others would be like.
{Violen: I am Violen. I lift this up and swing it down.
X: *TWITCH!*
Octavia: Is something wrong, dad?
X: I don't know, but there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way...}
6475882
You have no idea how tempting it is to do just that with Violen.
6475996 Well, at least I can't come up with anything for Agile. I mean, he's kind of like Shadow Man in a sense, but you haven't revealed any interpretations of him yet. Well, see ya.
Woah there, for a minute I thought Serges dropped the base parts to repair Zero.
6475230 Even in the game canon Serges, like Isoc later in X6 , is HEAVILY implied to be Wily. The Japanese game script even has Serges call X Rock (Mega Man's Japanese name) for a moment before switching over to calling him X, as well as calling X a "ROBOTIC memento of Right". Right is Dr. Light's Japanese name, but its the word I caped that is more important. Pretty much every character, even in the Japanese versions, call X and Zero REPLOIDS. The major difference is that Reploids were all based on X's design, which Zero WAS NOT. Naturally X couldn't be a reploid either, but he is still generally called such by the cast. Serges calling him a ROBOT makes it very clear he knows X's real nature, and this use of terminology is another sign that at the very least Serges is from Pre-Cataclysm times, or has a great deal of knowledge from those times that was lost.
Combine this with the fact that it's heavily implied that Serges didn't just have the X-Hunters collect Zero's parts, but was actually FIXING them himself. Zero, like X, is unable to be fully analyzed. NOBODY can fully understand him, not even Dr. Gate in X6 and he managed to analyze more of Zero's data that anyone else in the X saga. Remember, canon X1 has Zero EXPLODING in the fight with Vile, leaving NOTHING remaining of zero from mid chest down, and only 1 arm remaining from that. For Serges to pull off fixing Zero's parts to such a great extent that all X and the Maverick Hunters needed was just to put the parts back together again to restore Zero's life, Serges would need a level of understanding of Zero that nobody else in the X saga has shown, EVER. (Well, nobody but Isoc, but then see the first line of this post...)
When you all that together the idea that Serges is Wily in a robot body becomes pretty clear. The guy even looks like Wily. Given that Light found a way to cheat death, if only in a partial manner, its only natural that Wily would try it as well, and try to one up Light. That is after all WHY Zero was made, to one up Dr. Light's super robot, X.
6475860
No, I mean this.
Classic Megaman
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/e/e6/MegaManSSB4.png/revision/latest?cb=20130615103425
Megaman X
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/megaman/images/7/7c/Megaman3MHX.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100616040717
6476110
Then Serges can be another of Wily last creations.
Or who knows. Capcom never revealed what happened to Wily.
Dr. Light's fate was the only thing that they showed in the X saga.
Are there plans on revealing what happened during the caytlism in the story?
6476244
Not in this story.
6476210 The only creations of Wily's that are known to have survived the Cataclysm are Zero, and the Maverick Virus. Though it is often theorized that Sigma's dog, Velguarder, is Treble, Bass' personal companion and another of Dr. Wily's creations. Sadly there is no actual evidence to support this fandom idea, but I still love the theory anyway. Later in X6 Isoc is shown to ALSO have better knowledge of Zero than anyone else, even Dr. Gate who had spent years analyzing Zero's data from the DNA Data and was able to produce things like High Max and the Nightmare Zero from it. Isoc, who never got to study or examine the DNA Data that Gate had, somehow knew Zero well enough to instantly incapacitate him with a simple energy field. When Zero later finds Isoc dead by unknown means, a disembodied voice calls Zero, "The Strongest ROBOT". Once again the terminology is key here. Lastly we have X5, where Sigma himself implies that Dr. Wily built his new body in that game. There is a LOT of evidence that shows that Wily "survived" the Cataclysm, and lives well into the X saga. So even if Serges was not Wily himself, its far more likely that Serges was a RECENT creation, rather than a survivor of the Cataclysm.
6475294 Oh right, forgot about that for a moment...
6476330
Is that name for Sigma's dog canon? I looked and couldn't find anything.
...that's why his name in this story is 'Classic'.
6476184 http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Mega_Man_2:_The_Power_Fighters
6476480 http://megaman.wikia.com/wiki/Velguarder I believe the name comes from the manga. I cant find the exact scan on the site.
6477062
Dang. That makes what I did officially a major deviation from canon...
...oh well.
6475294 its not.
6477943 Changing the name of a character so minor he isn't even named in the games themselves is a serious fuck up Tatsurou. How dare you fail to do proper research. You cant go around changing canon like that. Next thing you know there will be a small horse running around in power armor talking and blasting shit.
6478583
...that's sarcasm, right?
I ask because, without any emoticons, I can't tell whether or not you're being serious.
Huh, memory core and personality unit tied to a password that only three beings might know. Vinyl, Wily himself, and Serges. Clever way to both cheat and acknowledge death there old timer.
6479332 Yes, yes it was. I would have figured the last line would have made that clear, given that's exactly what is going on in the story.
6481768
That's why I had the inkling it might be sarcasm.