Work Text:
Gate has never been the same since that day...
The day he found out what all Alia had been doing behind his back, killing the reploids he put his heart and soul into creating and making it all look like freak accidents. He knew everyone he thought he could trust was against him now. He had already lost his position, his reputation, all because the people on top didn't like what he and his reploids were trying to do. He always thought to himself that it was because they couldn't handle him being better than them, that he was making progress too fast for their liking. This wasn't going to stop him, nothing could. He had become something scarier: a man with nothing to lose.
This new attitude about his projects and research is what led him to the Eurasia crash site that fateful day. He stood there scrounging the remains for what felt like hours pursuing the key to his research, and he had finally found it: a fragment of Zero. This was the break he's been needing since before he lost his position at his old lab. He finally has a piece of the mysterious reploid he's longed to understand, and his eagerness to begin his research is off the charts, making him cackle with excitement and crazed intent.
Not long after he found the piece of Zero, it had led someone else to him: Sigma. While being neck-deep in his research of the fragment, trying to gleam anything he could about the red maverick hunter, he's contacted by a strange obscured face with red eyes on one of his monitors.
"You must be Gate", the mysterious figure says "I have noticed your efforts regarding the fragment of Zero you have. An associate of mine intends to rebuild him, and needs that part as well. I will be sending them to your lab soon."
"Wait, you can't just barge in on my research like this, who are you anyway?!" the scientist demands of the strange figure on his screen.
"Who do you think I am?" the figure replies coldly, expecting the genius scientist to have already figured it out by now.
"You're... Sigma, aren't you?" Gate responds, looking at the figure with a slightly perplexed expression before lifting his head up to let out a maniacal chuckle. "You want me to help this associate of yours rebuild Zero huh? I'm in."
"That is correct, and more. This associate of mine possesses experience building a wide variety of robots and great knowledge of Zero's innerworkings. Knowledge not even a dedicated researcher like you would know", Sigma adds "he is also interested in your Nightmare project and we have great plans for it once Zero's repairs are complete. He will be meeting with you soon."
The monitor with Sigma's obscured face soon cuts off leaving Gate alone to proccess what just happened. Before long, he bursts into maniacal laughter. For the first time in years, someone has recognized his work. He doesn't care that it's the most evil reploid to ever live. Besides, Alia is with the Maverick Hunters now, and who else would be a better partner for him to get back at the woman that ruined his life. Perhaps it's the SIgma virus messing with his mind already, but whatever this euphoria is, he's craved it for years.
This mysterious ally Sigma mentioned turned out to be an interesting person himself. He's another reploid scientist, being taller and looking older than Gate. He introduced himself as Isoc and brought with him Zero's remains from the Eurasia crash. There isn't much left, just his head, one arm, and a chunk of his upper torso connecting the two. Isoc seems confident about this repair job though.
"Oh it's been far too long since I've had a lab this great" the old reploid exclaims, "I hope you don't mind me making good use of it... Gate I believe?"
"Yes, that's my name. You could say I'm eager to learn what you have in store if you really think you can repair Zero from this horrible condition" Gate replies. Isoc can hear excitement in the younger scientist's voice and is amused by this, chuckling before continuing.
"Ohoho, I know you've been trying to solve the secrets of Zero for some time. Your enlightenment will only be the start of our partnership. I see great potential in you" Isoc says.
The two quickly get to work. Their plans go far beyond Zero though. Once he's repaired, the two turn their attention to Gate's Nightmare project, reworking into an upgrade for the weakend Sigma Virus. Gate was also eager to make use of all the knowledge he gleamed on Zero's inner workings to make a powerful robot of his own: High Max. Next in their work was the most important part. It's time to unleash the new Nightmare Virus on the world. Isoc had promptly loaded it into the repaired Zero to "return him to the side of evil" as he described. Isoc also proposed they form a team of reploids posing as investigators of the Nightmare phenomena that would follow the release of the virus. Gate had the bright idea to suggest reviving the eight reploids he built that had been previously terminated for various reasons, some tied to the actions of the woman Gate now loathes with every fiber of his being. When Isoc heard this idea, the idea of using eight robots with unique specialties as part of their plan was oddly... nostalgic to him, so he and Sigma agreed to it.
The eight reploids couldn't be harder to revive than the one the two have already been working on in the shadows: Sigma. Sigma has been able to communicate to them in his virus form through the original monitor, but desires a new body to fight X and Zero with at some point. Gate was a pioneer in technology for reviving reploids so he was the perfect man to go to, his vendetta against the Maverick Hunters only made things easier. Using his tech to revive Sigma proved to work, but it seemed as if his DNA had been tainted by previous revival attempts which was making him weaker. Sigma didn't care when this was pointed out to him, and insisted Gate continue.
Gate and Isoc have been making fast progress with the revivals of his eight reploids. Sigma's is slower, but still going as smooth as it can given his degenerated DNA. As the two scientists work, Sigma is pleased with the progress and High Max is occupied training off of simulations of X and Zero. Isoc is noticing the drive Gate is working with and is impressed, but also curious.
The old scientist speaks up from over Gate's shoulder, "Gate, this process has been going perfectly so far, but you seem even more passionate about these reploids of yours than the rest of what we've worked on. Why is that?"
Gate stops working and turns around to talk to Isoc. "Well, you know I built them previously as we're resurrecting them like Sigma. The circumstances I lost them to were... less than ideal." This seems like a touchy subject for him, which just makes Isoc more curious.
"Less than ideal, were they killed? By who? Who would try to destroy such great creations?" Isoc responds, trying to play into Gate's ego a bit to get a better answer. He's studied the younger reploid intently in their time together. He knows he's holding some kind of grudge against someone regarding his old work. Isoc would know, he has a lot of experience with being cheated by an old colleague.
"Yes, killed in an attempt to ruin my reputation and get me kicked out of my old laboratory" Gate says, the anger picking up in his voice much to Isoc's amusement, "the one behind their deaths was my own assistant. I can't believe her!"
Isoc's interest is even more piqued now, excited to see Gate's emotions coming out. "Your assistant huh? Ooh this is much more interesting than I thought. Let me guess, the whole governing body was against you and chose her instead?" he asks, wanting to see how similar Gate's experiences really are to his own.
Gate's breathing is picking up with his internal temperature, a mechanism to try and cool him down. "They didn't just pick her over me, they wanted her to betray me as part of their scheme, and she went along with it! The woman I thought I could trust most just gone like that!" he exclaims, now getting the attention of both Sigma and High Max. Isoc is cackling more, wanting to feed into Gate's anger, his... evil.
"Betrayal from someone so close to you must sting, but just how close were you?" the old scientist asks, digging deeper for the details and roots of Gate's insanity.
"We... We were dating. I loved her, but she used me! She freaked out when I caught her!" Gate yells before taking a moment to catch his breath and calm down just a bit, "She's with the Maverick Hunters now, must be trying to escape what she did..."
"Ohoho yes, the Maverick Hunters. We'll get to show her a thing or two once our preparations are complete don't you think? I can imagine how gratifying it will feel when she gets infected with the Nightmare, sees all we've done, and how it ties back to her actions. The look on her face will be to die for I promise you" Isoc proclaims before bursting out into maniacal laughter. However, he's shocked to see that Gate hasn't joined him in this. The younger scientist looks more defeated and just done with this.
"Maybe, but I'm starting to just not care anymore. I don't care about her, I don't care what happens to her. At least in the end I got to fuck her in the ass" Gate says sounding defeated before leaving the room to take a break after this.
He's left the other occupants in a state of shock. Isoc's mouth is agape from the sheer boldness of his statement and it even got the emotionless High Max to look a little surprised. Sigma soon speaks up from one of the monitors after some silence.
"What did he say? He fucked her in the ass? Maybe we should not keep him around once we finish. What do you think Isoc?" Sigma speaks with a mix of confusion and disgust, as if such a topic is something he's not very fond of. Isoc on the other hand is still too shocked to give Sigma a proper answer.