Berserk

**Berserk** is the sixth chapter of Mega Man X: Unit 49's Season 2.

Dated August of 2182, Dr. Henry Snacman's note tells about the recovery of the Earth's surface two years before the events of Mega Man X7 and the Maverick Spring era.

To prevent Ardie from being disposed, Henry took him to his own house in a safe zone of London's surface and put him to work with him on his project. Meanwhile, Saturn was acting strange and was evicting Henry, while foccusing on creating combat gadgets for the defective Paragos 0.

   On August 23rd, during the RaDoRB's office move back to the surface, the internal security was lowered. The officials were expecting external attacks, and not that a member from the organization would sneak into one of the main computers and access confidential information. Files that only Director Seigen could access had been stolen, and his pupils became suspects. Saturn fled to a hideout in the surface before the news were spread, along with all his creations and equipments. After learning that, Dr. Niels called an emergency reunion.

The RaDoRB tried to contact Saturn for two days, and got no response. A desperate employee called the Maverick Hunters against the will of his superiors and Mega Man X was required, with no effect. Henry was no longer a suspect and got permission to stay home, and then, on 25th August, Saturn entered the headquarters unnoticed and attacked the RaDoRB with the weapons he had built for Paragos 0, searching for Henry. Saturn was almost killed by the security, but found his way to get to Niels using the construction plan of the facility he stole. Niels revealed that he knew the truth about the atrocities ordered by the Director, including the disposal of Gate and all of his creations. Angered, Saturn hitted Niels with his axe, although he missed his vital organs. Dr. Seigen finally showed up, while Niels tried to sneak out.

Seigen justified his acts with the tragic past of the Trailblazer and was upset with Saturn, since he was the one who gave him autonomy and knowledge, and that all of the researchers he had disposed were to become like Saturn. Shedding tears, Seigen states that, since Saturn had failed to follow the path he wanted, he was to be set in an endless cycle of failure, and even if he succeeded, he would be eliminated in the end. Saturn then threw Seigen on a wall and finished killing his master with a head shot.

Dr. Rubix and the security could not reach the place in time to prevent Dr. Niels from being brutally cut in a half by Saturn's axe. Dr. Rubix throws an imprisioning cube, but Saturn manages to jump off the windows at the cost of his leg thrusters.

After hearing the news, Henry gets his weapons and goes after Saturn before he finds his house. In the middle of a storm, the two finally encounter in an alley. Saturn says all the people who were disposed by Dr. Seigen did not do anything wrong and were induced to become "Irregulars". He then begs Henry to join him and lend him the reactor, so he can use it as the missing piece of Paragos 0 and show the molecular scientists the true potential of his technology. Henry says Saturn lost his mind after making a pointless bloodbath, and Saturn shows disappointment towards his only friend and hope.

Eventually, Henry loss to Saturn, and the Maverick offered him one last chance as the founding stone of a new era. After getting denied once again, Saturn blames Henry for prolonging the suffering of all humans and Reploids, and that he would find another route to perfection, even if it demanded more blood to be spilled.
Saturn was about to kill Henry with his missiles, until Ardie hold him and self-destructed. Before dying, Ardie told that Henry *delayed his demise*, and now he was only returning the favor.

Henry was hit by one of Saturn's missiles and got several second-degree burns, while Saturn somehow managed to crawl out of the place in the verge of death. After hearing about the incident, Signas started to ponder whether a Special Pursuit Squad should be created for that case.

Many days after the battle, Dr. Rubix visited Henry to investigate Saturn's story and learn how he became a Maverick. The following statement shows Rubix's worry about a potential threat that could not be stopped even by a Virus vaccine:
*Theoretically, certain syllogisms and logical conclusions can make a Reploid believe it is fair to break up his own pre-coded morale and start plotting against mankind... that is my biggest fear. How far can go a Reploid with true evil beliefs, not moved by a zombifying Virus? How can we even think of a cure other than **rewriting their minds**? Would that be ethical?*

### **Trivia**

* Saturn refers the society as a "demon-haunted world". This is a reference to a book written by the person in which Dr. Seigen was inspired, Carl Sagan. The book's name is *The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark*.
* Rubix is the same researcher that appears in Zero's ending in Mega Man X6. He says that the only way to find a cure to the Maverick Virus is by studying the root of all viruses, that is, Zero. However, since the world was very fragile during the Maverick Spring, Zero decided to not go to his labs. That implies that Zero's sealing actually occurs several years after X6.
* Rubix mentions about rewriting the minds of the Reploids, which, decades later, would be done indirectly by one of the functions from Mother Elf, born from his Sigma Virus antibody research.