MegaMan NT Warrior (Rockman) Fan Fiction ❯ Past, Present and Future ❯ Iris and Zero ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter 17: Iris and Zero

It had been about 1 week since that air bike accident, and Zero had become more distant then ever. Dr. Cain insisted that it was probably the stress, but X was worried. Zero was not the type that would fall under stress. It had to be something worse. Much worse. Unfortunately X could not get any information from Zero himself. In fact, the crimson hunter had barely said more then four words to X during the past week. Also, Dr. Cain had gotten a little more...nervous, especially when X told him <and only him> about the air bike incident. Colonel, Iris, General, and other higher-ranked members of the Repliforce had moved into the Hunter's Base.

On a better note, Zero and Iris had gotten to be friends, although he never noticed her rapidly growing fondness.

"Iris..?" X whispered, walking into her room. It was night, and Iris was just getting ready for 'bed'. Iris whirled around to face him.

"You startled me, X..." Iris said softly.

"I need to speak with you." X said.

"About what?" Iris asked.

"About Zero.." X answered.

"What about Zero?" Iris asked.

"Have you noticed him become more...distant lately?" X asked.

"He's been much more distant then when I first met him. Is it a normal thing?" Iris said.

"No. It's not like Zero at all. And I am very worried. Is there any chance you can talk to him?" X asked.

"I'll try." Iris said, nodding.

"Thanks Iris. I owe you one." X said, walking out.

The next morning, Zero was combing out his very long hair in his bedroom. Without the ponytail it made him look very feminine... Iris walked into his room and giggled at the hair. Zero turned and looked at her.

"Gee your hair's even longer down then it is up, if that was possible." Iris said, giggling. "You look more feminine then I do!"

"Oh hush!" Zero said, smiling. "Beautiful, long, shiny, wonderful, flowing blonde hair is very fashionable now-a-days!"

"Among girls.." Iris giggled.

"Why you!" Zero got up and grabbed a pillow from his capsule. "I have a pillow and I know how to use it!" he said warningly.

"Oh yeah..." Iris laughed and grabbed the other pillow from the same capsule. "You're on!"

They started a very vicious pillow fight. And after a hard long battle <yeah right> Iris turned out to be the victor. As for Zero...well...he was covered with feathers. He looked more like a chicken then a hunter.

"I let you win...you know that, right?" Zero said, spitting out a feather.

"Suuure." Iris said, still giggling. "Well, what I was going to ask you before this pillow fight so rudely interrupted me was that it's such a beautiful day, and there had been no Maverick attacks whatsoever within the last week. I wanted to know if you'd like to go on a picnic with me..." Iris stopped giggling and tried hard to keep herself from blushing. She liked Zero a lot. But she doubted that he felt the same way about her.

"Sure.." Zero said, standing, and brushing off the feathers. After placing some food in the picnic basket. Reploids don't have to eat, but it did give them a small boost of energy. Mostly reploids eat for pleasure and social reasons. One big advantage with reploids was that they could stuff their faces and never get fat.

Then Zero hopped onto his air bike and Iris climbed on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Don't go too fast.." Iris whimpered.

"Ok." Zero said, then, with a grin, slammed on the accelerator. The air bike zoomed through the streets, Iris was screaming her head off and clinging for dear life. Then, after a minute, he slowed down so Iris wouldn't have an ulcer <assuming that reploids can get ulcers..>

Iris growled a few obscene words about Zero and his nonexistent mother. But Zero didn't hear them...as a matter of fact, the rest of the way to the picnic, he wasn't thinking about Iris, the picnic, or anything of the sort.

How come the mavericks have stopped their attacks cold turkey? Zero wondered.

"Hey boss...how come we stopped our attacks cold turkey? They'll think we gave up!" Cyber Peacock asked.

"Because Zero will do our dirty work for us. He is breaking, and now that Vile is just about repaired, tides will change in the favor of the Mavericks!" Sigma said with an insane laugh.

"Boss...how do you know Zero will join us? I don't get it! You always say how Zero's going to help us, yet he doesn't seem to be any nicer towards us!" Split Mushroom asked. Sigma turned to face him for a minute, deep in thought.

"Alright, Split, Cyber, go get the other mavericks. I need to announce something..." Sigma said, then turned and continued working on Vile....

Zero and Iris were sitting on a large blanket laid nicely on the floor, munching on small goodies that they packed. Well...munching is what Iris is doing. Devouring is a much better word to explain what Zero was doing...

"So.." Iris said, trying to think up some conversation. "Nice day, isn't it?" Iris looked up at the sky, smiling. Then looked back at Zero. Zero failed to notice that there was a birdie on his head... Iris giggled.

"What?" Zero asked.

"Oh...it's nothing.." Iris giggled.

The birdie started preening it's tail feathers. Zero devoured another sandwhich.

"Zero...I want to ask you something..." Iris said softly, trying to ignore the bird. "It's about X..."

"Huh?" Zero asked.

"He's been worried about you lately.." Iris explained. Zero lowered his head so Iris couldn't see his eyes.

"I see.." Zero mumbled. Suddenly, he felt something warm and wet on his head. He blinked, then reached one hand onto his head and felt a sharp beak close around his plated finger. "YEEEOOOOOOW!" Forgetting about what he and Iris were talking about, he leapt into the air, waving his arm frantically up and down. The bird had a good grip on his finger.

Iris, also forgetting what they were talking about, jumped onto her feet, laughing.

Finally able to wretch the birdie from his finger with his other hand, Zero threw it.

But before the birdie went 'splat' into the floor, Iris caught it.

"Aww. Don't kill it, Zero. It's just a birdie.." Iris giggled, holding the little creature with one hand and patting it with the other. The grey creature's little crest was down and it gave little hisses.

"What kind of bird is it?" Zero asked.

"A cockatiel, I think.." Iris said. Zero still felt something wet and warm on his head. He put one finger on his head then brought it down in front of his face to examine it. Suddenly, all h-e-double-hockey-sticks broke loose!

"THAT BIRD CRAPPED ON MY HEEEEAAAAD!!" Zero yelled, then quickly gathered up the blanket and basket and started putting everything away. He had to go home and wash out his blonde hair before the bird poop could drip down his head and make an even bigger mess. Then suddenly, to top it all off, it started to rain.

Iris laughed, the little creature flew away. Zero hopped onto the air bike and threw the stuff onto the handlebars. Iris climbed on behind him. Zero cranked on the accelerator. Iris grabbed his waist and screamed....

"You have all been gathered here for a special reason!" Sigma announced. Vile was now fully repaired and was standing by Sigma's side in silence. Sigma told him he wanted to talk to him in private after the 'gathering'.

Although Sigma acted as if he was talking to a huge audience, there were only 8 living maverick masters left and in the chamber: Split Mushroom, Cyber Peacock, Jet Stingray, Magma Dragoon, Web Spider, Slash Beast, Frost Walrus, and Storm Owl.

"A few months ago, I saw my creator in a dream…" Sigma continued.

"I think boss has had too many beers.." Split Mushroom murmured. Sigma blasted him, sending him flying about 10ft and into the wall, severely damaged.

"Anyone else want to insult me?!" Sigma snapped. The other 7 masters immediately shook their heads. "Good. Now you all wonder who my creator is, don't you? And you also wonder why this dream would make me stop our assault. I was created by the great Dr. Wily!" Slash Beast rose his clawed hand nervously. "Yes?!"

"I don't get it." Slash Beast said. "There are no known records that say you were created by Wily?"

"That's true. I was created a very long time ago, back when Wily first captured Elecman, Bombman, and the rest and turned them against Dr. Light. He created me to awaken 18 years after his death. But I was constantly updated with the latest technology. There was a computer that was built for the sole purpose of upgrading me, and when Dr. Wily found out about the reploid information, it was immediately programmed into me as well." Sigma explained.

"But how come you were good for awhile before becoming bad?" Slash Beast interrupted.

"I was never good. I am a virus, you dolts! My first name was simply 'the Maverick Virus' then I possessed my greatest masterpiece, Sigma. Ultimately I decided to keep his name and body, since he was very strong." Sigma answered.

"But what does this have to do with us hiding like this?" Jet Stingray asked.

"Because Zero was also built by the great Dr. Wily! And in my dream, Wily gave me some orders: He said that Zero was going to join us, when the correct time came. Unfortunately that may take a little while, especially with that girl Iris and her brother Colonel. So you guys are going to have to be a bit patient. If we keep fighting him, that may discourage him from joining us. Soon, I will frame Colonel's team, the Repliforce. If they're stupid enough to fall for it, and everything goes the way it's planned, then Zero will be with us soon enough! X would never harm his 'buddy', and once Zero kills X, there will be nothing to stop us!" Sigma gave an insane laugh. "Dismissed. Vile, come with me."

The masters left the room, and Sigma led Vile into a large laboratory.

"Vile. I know you like to work alone, and be your own boss. I also know you hate X." Sigma explained. "Especially since he killed you. I revived you for one sole purpose. Once you finish your 'mission' then I will let you go to do whatever you wish to do."

"What is it?" Vile asked.

"When Zero joins us, I will send him to fight X. I have this all planned out, you see. But, there's a chance Zero will not be able to kill X, or something might go wrong. Incase something does, I want you to watch over Zero; and if worse comes to worse, use this.." Sigma gave Vile a very large odd looking bullet that was made to fit in his shoulder cannon.

"If Zero can't do it, then I want you to shoot X. This is my most powerful missile, no matter how powerful the reploid is, this will destroy them beyond repair. However this missile took a long time and many resources to create, and this is the only one," Sigma explained.

"Why did you go through the trouble just to make me shoot a missile at someone? Any of your maverick masters could do it." Vile asked.

"Because you're known to have one of the best, most powerful, and most accurate shoulder cannons ever. And because I know you're reliable. I can't trust those idiots to do anything right. Especially something as important as this." Sigma explained. Vile lightly touched his shoulder cannon.

"Yes, it is powerful..." He said with pride. "It's so accurate and has such a long range that it could be used as a sniper if I wanted it to."

"Yeah whatever." Sigma said without interest. "Just do it" Sigma ordered, teleporting away. Vile inserted the missile into his shoulder cannon.

After they had gotten back home, Zero immediately raced into the bathroom to wash his hair. Iris, catching her breath because Zero had the accelerator on all the way home, started walking into her room when X grabbed her gently by her shoulder.

"Did you get Zero to say anything?" X asked quietly, concern in his voice.

"No, I almost did though.." Iris answered softly. "I'll ask him again in a minute, I just need to catch my breath...I told him not to go fast!"

X nodded and started walking to the training room to practice, right as X passed the bathroom door, it opened. Zero was putting his hair up in a ponytail as he walked out.

"Zero!" X called, turning to look at him.

"...." Zero looked at X. "..hey X."

"Zero, how come you've barely said 4 words to me this entire week?!!" X asked.

"X...I...." Zero paused, then turned and walked away. X blinked in confusion. Zero walked past Iris and into his room and shut the door. X walked over to Iris.

"You see what I mean?" X mumbled.

"Yeah..." Iris said softly.

I used to be able to tell X everything...why am I afraid to tell him about the air bike thing and that dream?

~Because you know he would drop you if he found out you were created by me..~

"Not you again!" Zero mumbled. "Leave me alone!"

~He would kill you the minute he found out you were made by me, and you know it just as well as I do! Why would someone as pure and good as he want anything to do with someone born from evil? A reploid is only as good as it's creator...~

"Shut up!! I'm not listening to you!!" Zero yelled.

~I'll leave you alone now...but just remember...you cannot escape your destiny....~

Then the voice was gone. For now...

End of Part 17