I wish X's storyline was told in terms of Ghost in the Shell technology. Then all this malarkey about spirit possession and [parasitic bomb] won't sound so hokey and out of place.
Which brings me to my first question: how is Zero "spreading the virus"?
Zero just does since he carries it. Zero was infected with the virus but it didn't turn him Maverick, in fact I think it turn him good if I'm correct. I think it has something to do with the fact that when Wily built him Zero was so violent that he wouldn't follow his orders hence why Wily sealed him in the first place.
Wily also created the virus and put it in Zero capsule so when Sigma and Zero duked it out the virus leaked out of the the capsule and both were infected so Sigma became a Maverick while Zero became normal for some reason. The only way Zero can become a Maverick is if he is controlled, shown in X2, or if a stronger virus infected him and a lot of it, shown in the bad ending of X5.
This is shown in the official works, but Zan or someone else can correct me or explain it better.
You know, the Sigma Virus always seems like it's changing and mutating and such. Who's to say that Sigma hadn't actually infected Lumine? To the best of my knowledge, the Copy Chips of the New-Gen Reploids only blocked all known viruses. I would think that if Sigma was mutated enough, he would somehow squirm into, say... Lumine. And then inject himself into, say, Axl... And lay dormant. Watching. Waiting...
And then you'd fight Axl in "Rockman X10" and it would all be in vain because after you beat him, Sigma wins, then Axl overpowers Sigma and makes a heroic sacrifice and never comes back ever again. Until Model A years and years and years later. :B
New gens are immune to the virus but apparently Sigma's DNA made them maverick, that seems to be the case with the 8 bosses and potentially the other ones as well. Alia said that they seemed to act like Sigma which bears some merit since all of them seem to have the exact same goal and say the exact same thing when you encounter them. Even Lumine's plan syncs up exactly like system despite claiming that he became a Maverick of his own will and was using Sigma, he's most likely acting like that because of Sigma's DNA.
There are indeed Mavericks that are Mavericks of their own will and/or not infected with the virus such as Vile in MHX, quite a few members of Repliforce such as Frost Walrus and Materex, Gravity Beetle, the 8 bosses in X1, Overdrive Ostrich, Flame Stag, the 8 Investigators in X6, and a few more. They are Mavericks because their insane, have some loyalty to Sigma, very destructive, revenge in terms of Gravity Beetle, or they're just simply dicks. They're just insane, brutes, or criminals not exactly infected.
But Lumine, despite his claims, doesn't seem like one of them to me since he acted exactly like Sigma.
As seen in these examples and the future they don't need a virus to be Mavericks, Mavericks can just be criminals and the term can even be applied to humans because humans can always be criminals like Mavericks.