Maverick Virus

SPOILER ALERT

The Maverick virus was originally created by Dr. Wily for the programming of his latest robot… Zero. The virus was designed to be ruthless and lethal against all who opposed it.(Zero was intended to kill Megaman, Protoman, Bass and all of Dr. Light's creations.) And because of it's viral nature, it could be passed on to other machines to make them the same way. However Dr. Wily was unable to ever release Zero. (Dr. Wily died before he could.) So Zero slept for decades until well after Megaman X was discovered and cloned.

Though he was eventually uncovered and released. When awakened, Zero destroyed an entire squad of Maverick Hunters on his own. This prompted Sigma to intervene (at the time Sigma was the strongest Hunter). Sigma engaged Zero in combat and was decisively beaten. Zero was about to deliver the deciding blow when another Wily Program activated and cause Zero to recoil. Seizing the momentary diversion, Sigma struck Zero in the head (breaking the glowing crystal on Zero's forehead). The shattering of the crystal allowed the virus to escape Zero's body and infect Sigma.

There are 5 known types of Maverick Virus. Each with it's own properties. These viruses are:

This was a special type of virus, created by Sigma and used to cause the Eurasia space colony to crash. It's effects on reploids are largely unknown because it was never released on Earth. It's true purpose though was to combine with the Sigma Virus and infect Zero. (Which resulted in the recreation of the Zero Virus.)

The maverick virus is a weakened form of the Sigma Virus that is passed on from any infected reploid to another. (Though it's name is also used as the catch all for viruses that cause reploids to become maverick.) Due to this virus being weaker, it can take that much longer for the effects to take hold.

This was a modified form of the Zero virus that Dr. Gate created after he came into contact (and was corrupted) with the Zero virus. It's infectious powers are not as strong as the Zero virus (though it is stronger than the Sigma virus). Though when it does infect someone, it instantly causes them to become hostile to everyone. When it combines it also has the unique property of becoming an exact replica of Zero (called Nightmare Zero).

The Sigma virus was created when Sigma became infected after he defeated Zero. It took a long time to turn Sigma into a maverick and it's power was diluted substantially in the process, but when it finally did it also fundamentally transformed Sigma's own programming/will and forever merged it into the virus. Sigma uses this to infect others and recruit them to his cause.

This is the perfected form of the maverick virus. And the one that Zero initially had within him. It is the most powerful of all the types. Extremely infectious and can cause disastrous effects for most reploids. Zero on the other hand becomes extremely strong when he contracts this one.

The maverick viruses can all infect reploids simply by coming into contact with them. (The virus itself materializes in the world through nanomachines, much like those in sub-tanks). Though this method is usually quite slow and dependent on the reploid's defenses being weakened. Certain mavericks also have the power to inject the virus directly for quicker/more deadly effects.

Unlike human viruses though, repeated exposure to the maverick virus does not increase resistance to it. Rather it actually causes a reploid to become more susceptible to it.