"System" [Megaman X, Sigma/Zero, T]

[artoni.livejournal.com]

Title: System
Author: artoni
Rating: T for Teen
Warnings: Forceful mindhacking. Ouchies!
Word Count: 382
Prompt: June 3rd - Megaman X: Sigma/Zero; 'branding', Crawling in my codes
A/N: I could rattle off on the reasons as to what kept me from being on time this Springkink round. Instead I hope it will suffice it to say they include power failure of my main computer, hard drive failure on my backup, my best friend losing her place to stay, and other such 'WHAT THE HELL, RL' events. I beg the forgiveness of all those whose prompts I took, and hope that they at least enjoy the results, late as they are.

---

In hindsight, it had been too easy. Not that Zero was able to fully appreciate it in this state; he could barely think past the pain, stumbling through the halls with his hands against his head. God, he could feel him in there, virus crawling through the lines of code that made up his program.

Sigma.

He could hear him, too. Laughing. Taunting. Zero snarled, unintentionally slamming himself against the wall in the process. "Get OUT!" he screamed, even as a sick twisted feeling began to spread.

No.

Yes.

"NO!" the Hunter screamed, falling to his knees. The metal underneath them dented as he hit it, and then his helm fell as well as he hunched over. Another scream erupted from his throat as his fingers dug into his helmet, ineffectually clawing at the virus that had settled itself within.

An outside observer would see light from within the crystal of his helm; a greek letter flashing with latin, flashing with blue as programs warred with eachother. Zero shuddered, shaking his head.

"Nnngh..."

Give up, Hunter. You're mine.

He threw his head back, another scream catching itself in his throat as his eyes widened as far as the systhskin would let them. For a few brief seconds, his world was nothing but pain...and the seconds of agony seemed to stretch for minutes, hours, days. When it abated, he fell forwards, panting with exhaustion as he stared blankly at the wall.

Is it...over?

"Zero!"

He tilted his head just enough to see the form of the Reploid who had been assigned to be his partner, approaching. As was the norm for him, he'd abandoned the rookie as soon as he could (X would have been a different story, he held some respect for the guy, but pairing him with a /rookie/ was just a slap in the face), but he felt a surge of relief as the white and gold form knelt down next to him.

"Zero, what happ-" he cut himself off, eyes widening. Zero...frowned.

"What?"

The rookie stood up and stepped back, looking terrified. As Zero felt the sick feeling within his systems again, he felt afraid as he pushed himself up.

"What?!"

What did he see!?

The twisting lines of code that raised his arms for him answered his question.