When Zero came to, he found himself being half dragged, half carried down a narrow hallway built of blue tiles. Dragging him on his left was Neon Tiger, and schlepping him on his right was good ol' Violen. Leading the mob was Vile, prancing with a spring in his step, as if he were leading a parade.

The cool draft in the hallway had brought the crimson Hunter to his senses, not that it did him any good...he was too weak to fight his captors. His limbs felt like they were all asleep. He didn't panic or get excited; something in the drug he had been shot with forbade it. He felt sleepy, but he found that he could talk, although his speech was slowed. In fact, as soon as he found out the situation he was in, he began to utter every curse known to human or reploid. Vile turned around when he heard the curses directed to him.

"Ah, so our new friend is awake!" Vile's normally seductive tone sounded happy, which was a first to Zero's ears. Vile walked backwards with ease. If he was worried about smashing into something, he didn't show it. "How do you feel?" He questioned.

For the first time since his awakening, Zero remembered his wound from the fight with Phoenix. Glancing at his now armorless arm, he saw that some idiot had put a very clumsy bandage on it, like that helped. The bandage was slipping off, and the wound was still bleeding his circulatory fluids.

"I...feel....like...a....pregnant whale....totally.....immobile." Zero spoke slowly to make himself as clear as possible. "And....I just...want....you to....know...I think....you....are.... a stupid......jerk, and.....I....hate you."

"That's the spirit!" Vile laughed. "Keep it up, and you'll fit in fine!" He turned back around.

Zero didn't know what Vile meant by this, nor did he care. It looked like he was going to die, or worse. He decided to get a question off his chest.

"Vile....."

"Yeeeeessss...?" Vile didn't turn to face Zero.

Vio and Tiger kept on marching. This was one long hallway. Suddenly, Vile veered sharply to the right. Zero's captors followed suit. They were walking down another hallway, this one made of dingy grey stone. The draft was worse than ever. Zero sighed, and asked, "Why....do....you.....want to.....destroy.....the human......race?.....Why do....you hate.....humans?"

Vile seemed pleased that Zero had asked that question. He launched into a speech, speaking with unwavering confidence, as if he had prepared the speech for such an occasion.

"You see, Zero," he began, "This planet houses several species. Not too long ago, humans were the dominating species, no questions asked. Then humans did something that may have seemed like a wonderful idea at the time, but was really the beggining of their doom. Do you know what that was, Zero?"

"Uh uh. Nope."

"Humans created robots! These mechanical creatures could accomplish tasks that humans couldn't dream of doing. The physical strength of a robot is uncanny. However, humans remained superior to them, due to the fact that they had emotions and their own free will."

Zero listened to Vile carry on. The guy barely stopped for breath.

"Then one day, " Vile continued, "Dr. Light, good old Tommy boy, decided, 'I think I'll make a robot that has emotions, it's own free will, and can think for itself!' Ha!" Vile laughed. "He may as well have said, 'I think I'll seal the fate of the human race!' So Tommy boy worked on his wonderful magical humanlike robot." (Vile left out the part about Bass stealing the plans of X's creation; "That will be explained later," he thought.) "That was your friend X, Zero."

"Well....whoop - de - doo," muttered the captive.

Vile was at it again, full speed ahead. "When the robot was finished, it was more like a human than a machine. And it had the strength of any robot. It was simply a wonderful creation. It was the beggining of a new species sharing the planet Earth...a species dubbed "Reploids." Now, one little problem occurred...humans got hooked on having reploids at their beck and call. They created thousands of them! Another problem soon rose: reploids, having emotions and the power of thinking, got tired of 'slavery' very soon. So many, like myself, have gone 'Maverick'. This led to wars, as you know, Zero."

Zero knew, all right.

Vile had stopped walking. It looked like they had arrived at their destination. However, Vile seemed determined to finish his speech. "Now, Zero, here's the problem with humans: From the minute a human is conceived and up to the day it dies, it seeks only one thing; domination. The problem with this is that reploids seek domination as well, as they have their own free will. You simply cannot have two dominating species on the same planet. The way I see it, it's now a matter of survival of the fittest, and reploids are clearly superior to those hairless gorillas. Humans have had their day in the sun; it's now time for the reploids to take this world. Humans have gone through millions of years of evolution to create us in the end, the perfect race; now it's time for them to go. We ARE the perfect race. As long as humans are cursed with hereditary, they'll never match us. Yet they fight, unwilling to accept their fate. I'm helping the world take a step for the better by destroying them. Once they're gone, there'll be only one dominating species, as there should be. Do you understand, Hunter Zero?"

"Hell no."

"That's too bad." Vile said with a mocking sorrowful tone. "I was hoping that you'd better understand why you're going to help us kill off the humans."