Author's Note: Gee, what did Zero do at the end of X.6? ...I don't know, and neither will you since this episode focuses on a couple of completely new characters. We are now going to delve into the minds of several baddies just to see what they could possibly have in store for X. This episode won't be anywhere near as cool as X.6, however it is still a must-read just for the villain's sake of storyline. Sorry about the poor grammar this time around, I don't really have the time to check it with University taking over a large portion of free time.

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   "vile: a. morally base, depraved, shameful, abject, disgusting" -Oxford English Dictionary.

Yaven Enterprises - 3rd Basement
Cluster One, Australia
November 8th, 2093
The Present

   The dark prison began to flicker into his view, subjecting him to feelings he had never felt before...or had he? Strangely, this man could not remember his own name. He felt like parts of his memory were being turned on and yet, they were strangely lacking in detail. Parts of his memories were of intense anger and hatred, but he realized that these emotions also caused him grief and the pain of loss. He could barely make out that he was in a chamber of some sort, a large red panel glowing above him.

   "Reconstruction process complete," came a voice from outside.

   "Begin primary system resurgence," replied another, raspier voice. The man felt that he knew that voice from somewhere before. Looking down, the man realized that he had no body. The feeling of noncorporeality began to sink in, but he couldn't scream no matter how hard he tried.

   Suddenly, a blue flicker appeared and began to materialize, forming body parts which seemed to surround his existence. The dread feeling of non-existence remained, however now he found he could move some parts of this new body. He was wearing metal plates over his shoulder which clasped a cape as well as a metal plate over his chest. He seemed to be in some sort of ablasive armor which had no colour except for the many shades of blue.

   "Begin the third procedure, I will inform the boss on our success," came the raspy voice again.

   Before the man could try to place the voice again, he was racked with sudden intense pain.

   ***

Yaven Enterprises - 73rd Floor
Cluster One, Australia
November 8th, 2093
The Present

   The room was extraordinary. The ceiling was two stories high with a large chandelier hanging from the middle of it. The floor was a plush grey carpet and stretched across the entire room, which was large enough to accomodate a desk, set of computer controls, and a table with at least a dozen leather chairs. Huge windows made up the entire western wall looking out onto the city of Cluster One from a view of at least seventy stories high or more.

   A man in a dark grey business suit was sitting at the desk, filling out papers and going over statements. The large oak doors across the room began open letting more light into the room, reflecting off the businessman's eyes. He looked up from his papers, brushing his long stringy purple hair from his face to see who had just walked in, the long thunder-like insignia across his left eye glinting in the new light.

   "Sir, we have completed constructing the holographic body and have repaired the rest of the program," said the man with the raspy voice, "It will only be a matter of time before the code begins to fall into place, reforming his memory."

   "Thank you Agile, you may take over on the Iris Project from now on. I have some business to attend to with the Senator first, however I will handle the hologram personally," said the businessman.

   Agile nodded and walked out from where he came. The businessman put his hair back into a ponytail and went over to the computer console behind his desk. He turned it on and a visual appeared of a woman in red working at a desk outside large oak doors.

   "Miss Lee, when will Senator Genolt be arriving?" asked the businessman.

   The woman turned to face the computer visual, making eye contact with the businessman.

   "I've been informed that he arrived outside the building a moment ago. I'll send him to your office when he arrives, sir."

   "Excellent. That will be all Ms. Lee," said the businessman before turning off the screen.

   The businessman stood and walked to the table at the center of the room. He sat down and waited until the large oak doors opened and a short chinese man with a beard walked through.

   "Good afternoon Senator Genolt," said the businessman with his friendliest voice.

   "Good afternoon Mr. Yaven, I've come to discuss the delay of the shipment," replied the chinese man in a rather impatient voice, thick with an accent.

   "Ah yes, I believe I have already had them delivered and they should arrive by the end of the day," said the businessman matter-of-factly.

   "Look! No playing games, you won't get paid until I have them!"

   "When you are as powerful as I am Senator you begin to," said the businessman with a pause, "...not care about money. I merely deliver these to you because I wish to see you use them."

   "We can't afford to lose our position in Cluster Four, we may need more weapons," whispered Genolt.

   "Senator, whenever Mars requires my services I respond with open arms."

   "...Have you been supplying both sides Yaven?" asked Genolt.

   "No I have not. I wish to have Cluster Four succeed for my own personal reasons. I'm sure that you have your own personal reasons for supplying Cluster Four," replied the businessman with a smile, "I suggest that you don't keep your brother waiting for my shipment."

   Genolt glared at the businessman. The businessman returned the slow gaze with a piercing stare. Genolt began to tremble slightly at which point the businessman stopped smiling.

   "Good day Senator," said the businessman before Genolt hurried out the door.

   ***

Yaven Enterprises - 2nd Basement
Cluster One, Australia
November 8th, 2093
The Present

   The man woke up, no longer in the dark prison. Looking around, he could see a wall of consoles on the left and a darkened glass window which made up the right wall. Up ahead was a door and behind him was the dark prison. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that he couldn't. The entire place was empty, but it did not make the man feel anymore alone. Looking down, he saw the same holographic body below him. The door across the room opened and a strange man walked in. He had strange purple hair with an insignia of some sort across an eye.

   "Hello, and how do we feel this afternoon?" asked the businessman with a smile.

   The man kept walking towards him until they were front to front. The blue hologram was at least a foot taller, looking down at the businessman.

   "Well, well. I see I'll have to re-activate that voice of yours."

   The businessman waved his hand and the hologram felt his voice find itself.

   "...What...Who the hell are you?" asked the hologram.

   "I'm an old associate of yours. Rather cleaned up in this business suit, so I may be looking sharper than you at the moment. Although I must admit that the blue tinge does wonders for your complexion. At any rate, I'm sure you can remember your name at least."

   The hologram thought about it a bit until the name came to him from his horrible memory.

   "...Sigma. Wait a minute," said the hologram. Suddenly, wave upon wave of memory began to hit him, causing him to remember everything he ever felt, all at once. Sigma began to scream from the emotional pain, feeling completely helpless to his past as it overtook his senses.

   "I'm impressed. You seem to be taking the atrocity of your past fairly well," said the business man with gentle yet harsh sarcasm.

   Sigma looked up through the pain and recognized the voice of the businessman.

   "You...--Vile! What the hell?"

   "Gee, almost blew my cover," laughed the businessman, "No, people call me Yaven now. I'm supposed to be Russian or something like that."

   "...How?" started the hologram before faltering under the pain.

   "Hmm...let's see, you went kaboom about five years ago and suddenly I'm reconstructed. I thought, 'Gee, I guess Sigma requires my services again.' Imagine my surprise when I find out that I'm working for someone else. Well, hell, I was never a good storyteller anyway. I ended up acquiring a lot of political power. You'd be amazed at how they just hand it to people like me."

   "I somehow doubt that's the whole story, if it even is the story at all," coughed Sigma.

   "Well, I guess you'll just have to trust me. I do have some good news for you though," said Vile.

   Vile motioned for Sigma to bend down so that Vile could whisper.

   "You're not Maverick anymore," whispered Vile.

   Sigma's eyes widened, but he had realized it already. For some reason he associated being Maverick with emotions he no longer had.

   "Gee, I guess you still have holes in your memory. Well that's okay, because they're rebuilding it line by line every day," said Vile with a smile.

   Sigma just looked down at Vile in shock, he couldn't remember specifics, but he did remember doing horrible things. The past events began to get so overwhelming that he broke down in shock and began to cry.

   "Hmmm, you're useless at the moment, but I will require your services later. I hope you're all back together by tomorrow...that's when the real test begins."

   Vile left the room through the door, shutting off the lights. The dull blue glow from the new holographic body of Sigma was all that was left to light the room.

   ***

Yaven Enterprises - 2nd Basement
Cluster One, Australia
November 8th, 2093
The Present

   Agile stood in the middle of the training hall. It had a metallic blue floor with a curved semi-circle forming the walls and ceiling. Part of the semi-circle on the left was cut away, allowing for a stretch of darkened glass. Agile took off his overcoat, leaving him to wear only a pair of black jeans. His chest glistened in the string of lights overhead as he faced the woman wearing her own uniform. Her whitish hair had a showing of a purple tint as it fell in slight curls over her face. Agile found that her eyes were an eery blue, but he definitely agreed on the black leather version of the catholic priest outfit. It was too bad that her body didn't match the conformity that Agile enjoyed imagining.

   "Are you ready Iris?" asked Agile in his threatening raspy voice.

   "Yes sir," replied the woman in a cold sterile voice.

   Agile brought his leg back into an offensive stance and faced his opponent. He immediately lunged forward with incredible speed. Iris immediately readied herself, but fell over from the attack by Agile. Agile got to his feet and helped her up.

   "No, you still don't understand how to activate the Absolute Zero Maneuver," said Agile.

   "I merely require practice. The ability is there," answered the woman.

   "Of course, but remember that the longer the ability is activated, the more damage your own system takes! You have to learn how to turn it on and off at a moment's notice. As it is, your reflexes are as slow as 3 milliseconds. The procedure itself takes at least four seconds, so you must remain defensive until that point. If you enter battle with such pathetic speed, you will be overtaken," said Agile angrily.

   The woman nodded and readied herself for another round of combat.

   Agile came in for another attack, bringing his fists in quick succession across her chest. Iris managed to fall back and trip Agile on her way down. Agile fell back onto his hands and sprung back up. Agile then went to punch Iris again, but found that she had caught his hand in mid swing. Agile hadn't even seen her move to parry, the speed was so incredible. Suddenly Agile felt a tingling over his chest and flew back six feet. Looking up, he saw that Iris hadn't even moved. Suddenly, she was in twelve places at once, throwing punches at where Agile used to stand. Iris stopped and looked down at her hands in amazement.

   'What the Hell did Vile equip her with?' thought Agile to himself. He had never seen movements like that before and it seemed to defy all laws of physics as he knew them. Iris also seemed surprised by the maneuver she had done.

   "W..what did I just do?" asked the woman in amazement.

   "I don't know..." said Agile. He found her voice relatively warm and comforting. It was strange that she was always cold when conducting business with the boss, but never put up any facades when he was teaching her. Agile had been taking care of her training and memory reconstruction for the last few months. He found that she did not have any recollection at all of her past life, which was probably for the best. Agile himself knew he was based off a model designed by Sigma during the first part of the Reploid Wars, however he was not the reploid that he had read about in the records. He was never able to grasp how hard it must be on Iris who must have feelings of the past everyday. Still, he taught her the only way he knew how. He knew that Vile had outfitted her with a strange body he couldn't understand. He didn't even know how Vile acquired the technology, not just for Iris, but for his entire base of operations. It didn't concern him however, he knew that they would be fighting for a worthy cause. He got the impression that somehow X was the key for relieving the slavery and repression which all reploids faced, but he never did understand why.

   Iris walked over and helped Agile up to his feet.

   "I'd like to see you try that again," he said.

   They immediately repositioned themselves and Agile prepared his primary attack pattern. His fingertips retracted into his hands, replaced by blades. Iris looked on and Agile nodded in confirmation that it was time for the final test.

   Agile immediately came in to attack, but strafed at the last moment. He attacked Iris from the side, but found that his hands went through her like a mirage. The mirage dissipated and Iris was standing in an attack position facing the surprised Agile.

   Agile went in for an attack, knowing that Iris would disappear again. 'Perhaps she is going faster than the speed of light in short bursts...but that's impossible!' thought Agile in a stupor. He felt a tingling in his back and he immediately shot forward with incredible speed into the floor. Agile brought his hands up and punched towards Iris, missing her completely as he intended. He then brought his leg into a sweeping kick towards the left, guessing that she would dodge to that area. His guess was confirmed when the sonic boom created by the sheer speed and force of his leg went right into her body, knocking her into the wall on the other side of the room. She stood up clutching her chest. He saw circuits jutting out through the tear across her clothing.

   Iris ran towards Agile and then instantly disappeared. Before Agile could react, he felt his head get caught by a blow, causing his body to flip over backwards into the glass, putting a large crack in the window. Agile swept his fingers over his face in order to parry a follow-up and Iris suddenly re-appeared on the ground, her left arm sliced off and lying adjacent to her body. Apparently his follow-up had caught her, but he didn't see or hear anything happen. Now Agile was completely confused and decided that he should review Solieu Fields and Vogler Quanta before continuing a fight that exceeded his sensory intake. He knew that travelling faster than light was possible, however it was only done by military transports between Venus and Mars and the technology was impossible for solitary units. At least, he thought it was.

   Iris began to convulse violently and she started to scream in pain, thrashing about on the floor wildly. Agile rushed over and determined that he must have disabled her control over the system and now she couldn't shut it off. All he knew was that prolonged exposure to the Absolute Zero Maneuver would kill her eventually. White gas began to form along her wounds, creating mist which stayed close to the floor in the entire room. He took off her black leather trenchcoat, revealing the white silk shirt and black jeans underneath. Knowing what lay beneath and also knowing that he wouldn't like what he would see, he removed her shirt. What lay underneath the shirt was merely an assembly of wires and strange glowing crystals which made absolutely no sense to Agile. He only knew that it hurt him to be reminded that she didn't have any sort of body beneath the clothing that she wore. That's why she always wore complete clothing, because she only resembled a human appearance from the neck up. Frantically searching for a cut-off device, he rummaged through the clutter of wires, until finally one of his actions managed to stop her screaming and she lay there unconscious. Rebuttoning her shirt, he went to the ventilation control near the door to remove the mist. Further analysis confirmed that it was Sodium, however he did not understand the mechanics behind it. He just knew that he was lucky that Vile suggested to demoisturize the entire room to prevent any particularly nasty reactions to the gas.

   The door next to the controls opened and Vile walked through. Agile bowed slightly and went back over to help Iris to her feet. She was only now regaining consciousness through her auxiliary systems.

   "Hello Agile, how is everything going with our lovely Iris here?" asked Vile.

   "She is having difficulty adapting to the new system, however I am pleased with her progress." answered Agile, "however I do worry about her state of mind and past experiences before reactivation."

   "Well, when I found the program, there was barely any code left to activate a toaster. Still, I have a feeling that she will come in handy. Especially when testing the new systems we have designed for the lovely lady here," said Vile with a nod and his smile.

   "You have high hopes for her development with the new technology, but how can I teach her how to use it, if I don't even know how to use it myself?" asked Agile.

   "Just teach her what you know, the rest will come in time. The technology used to build her is not available to the general public. I am certain that in time she will come to best even you in combat, Agile."

   Agile helped Iris to stand on her own.

   "When are we going to make our first move against him?" asked Agile.

   "If you are referring to X, I have already sent a...welcoming party just to inform him that another game will be afoot very soon. Considering his current state of mind, I have concluded that now would be the best time to attack," said Vile.

   "What? Why didn't I go with them to ensure victory?" asked Agile.

   "Because I do not wish my task force to win. This is a very delicate situation which must be handled carefully. There is more at stake here than just X's life!" answered Vile in anger.

   Agile nodded. Vile smiled and turned to Iris.

   "I hope you have been adapting well to the new life that I have presented you with," said Vile.

   "Very well, thank you," said Iris with a cold sterile voice.

   "Don't worry, we'll have you fixed up and now that we have the first reaction to using that system, we should be able to design a failsafe method to make certain that it will not happen again," said Agile.

   Vile reached into his pocket to pull out a crumpled up piece of film.

   "Well then, I hope you are ready to take out your first target. I do not expect you to kill him, however I do want you to engage him in battle and return your analysis and gathered specifications of his capabilities. Do not make verbal contact with anyone at anytime," said Vile slowly.

   Vile straightened out the photo and handed it to Iris. It was a picture of Zero holding a totebag getting off a plane.

   ***

   Author's Comment: Well, this one was not as exciting as the last time, but I'm sure you can appreciate the fact that I'm warming something up. Hopefully you're all enjoying this so far, but just in case you wanna flame me, you know how to get a hold of me. Just as a last note, I think it's the shortest episode I've ever written. Oh well, I'll get my next shot to impress all of you next week.

Michael Raymond Vendittelli (LimousineDriver)