Given the new context of this chapter, since it isn't as simple as being re-written, this chapter will replace A Brother's Rage in the rewrite of ZXA:R.

A few days had passed since Neal's confrontation with the Four Mega Men. While Prairie, the three Operators, Vent, and Aile all knew about Neal flatlining back then, they agreed to keep it under wraps. It would only take one person's slip of the tongue for Lily to find out, so only they in addition to Rose and Muguet knew about it. While coming back from the dead could be something worth bragging about, should Lily have heard that Neal actually died back then, it might have broken her down even worse on the inside. Needless to say, the group kept that little tidbit under their hats.

Neither Prairie nor Neal spoke of what transpired on the roof, given that they hardly crossed paths during the next few days. Seemingly after that, Prairie became absorbed in working the bridge, having become a bit quiet and not speaking unless necessary. Since neither of them said anything to hint that they'd kissed, unlike that incident, no one drew any conclusions on that matter.

At the same time, Neal spent many an hour on the roof of the Grand Nuage, laying on his back and looking up at the sky above, sometimes watching them transition to stars. Without the light pollution created by any of the big cites, he had a clear view of all the constellations in the heavens. He didn't talk much either, and Model E had remained in Neal's sock drawer for the time being. Lily, being unaware of what had happened, asked Neal why he was being quiet. In response to her question, he simply said he had a lot on his mind. When she wouldn't take that as an answer, he'd give her a brisk hug and tell her later, essentially sticking a pin in it until a later date when he felt she'd be ready to hear about it.

Then there came the issue of Neal's stuff, which Vent had arranged to be shipped from storage to the Grand Nuage, leaving his parent's belongings behind. The majority of it was clothing, though a few were miscellaneous knick knacks, baubles, odds & ends, and a few books with black bindings. Out of the odds and ends, Neal kept a slightly-worn World Atlas, and the black-bound books weren't porn mags like some would think, but a few… legally ambiguous, hand guides for various purposes from, as he'd told Prairie, Slim Cognito. After sorting his clothing out, Lily taking a few of his hand-me-downs that were included, the bulk of the rest was shipped back to storage.

In addition, after having sorted out his belongings and when he wasn't on the roof, Neal would visit Fleuve's lab, where Pandora was still undergoing scans and monitoring since the rescue mission. She remained as she was after the Model W fragment had been removed from her, down to the hole through her outfit. A blanket had been placed over her naval so she wouldn't get a cold, and since she appeared to be breathing easily now, Fleuve had determined that she would wake up as soon as she was ready. At the moment, a series of scans had been finished on the two pieces of Livemetal, and at the moment they were awaiting future use in Fleuve's vault, with Prairie being the only one to have a key. Would they be used to create a new Biometal, or would it simply be used for experimentation? That had yet to be determined, as Neal stood by Pandora's capsule for an hour or so each day watching her sleep.

"So... she's been like this for about a week huh?"

"Two days short of a week, but yes, her condition has yet to change," Fleuve stated from his work. After Pandora's condition had stabilized, he had to check up on her less and less.

"Hmmm... I see..." Neal said as he looked at the horizontal tank, what looked like a glass capsule over her. Holograms scanned her every few minutes tracking her condition, but for the mostpart she didn't move that much, aside from the gentle rise and fall of her chest. "While asking a stupid question to get a stupid answer, why hasn't she been changed out of those clothing? I don't know what happens to one's clothes during Megamerge, but after getting back, I noticed they were a bit ripe."

"I guess for modesty. Prairie only asked me to monitor her condition, and as long as the smell doesn't get too bad, there will be no need to change her outfit," the short scientist stated.

"Okaaay... and yet why is it that every time I wake up in a hospital bed or something, I'm stripped down to my boxers with only a medical gown?" he asked.

"Policy is related to gender," was his reply.

"Another question... Does the screen have to be up? If not, can she hear what's going on around her?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I heard it helped coma patients to wake up if there was someone talking to them," Neal stated with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Hmmm... Well, the scans can be run without the screen up. I guess it's more for observatory convenience," he said as he pressed a few keys, the glass screen sliding down into the table.

"Huh.. She's a tad ripe, but not unbearable," Neal said as he pulled up a seat to sit next to her. "Hey Pandora. How you doing, are you doing okay?" he asked the sleeping greenette, before turning to the lab wall where the safe probably was. "Are you absolutely sure there's nothing left inside those two chunks of Livemetal?"

"I've scanned it multiple times, and like with Model E, there are no traces of Model W's original data left," Fleuve explained. "Plus, there haven't been any voices in anyone's head lately, so we're pretty much in the clear."

"I hope so," Neal said, still a bit uneasy about his "Dark" form. He only hoped tapping into that kind of power was exclusive to him flatlining. Then again, if the Four ever ganged up on him again, he might end up going white, dark, and evil. What was worse that he didn't know whether transforming a second time would make it permanent, if his darper perspective on the world would remain, and worst of all he was afraid that if Prairie tried to calm him down again, that he would only hurt her instead. The unknowns were what terrified him the most.

"So is this going to become a regular thing for you?" Fleuve asked, earning an odd look from Neal. "Talking to girls in a coma I mean," he elaborated.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Neal said with a shrug before he looked over to the greenette, seeing that her towel had come slightly loose. "Here you go. I'll just take care of that," he said as he tucked the ends of the towel under her sides, a light mewling sound catching his attention as he looked to her face. "Fleuve, I think she's waking up," the teen said, keeping his voice low.

Looking up from his control panel, Fleuve could only widen his eyes at how sudden the greenette's awakening was. Regardless of whether Neal's actions woke her or not, hopefully she wouldn't be a problem. Especially since her Biometal, or what remained of it, were only good for paperweights.

"I'll get the others then. They'll want to know about this," Fleuve said as he exited the lab, leaving Neal and Pandora alone as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Mmmm... Mmmnnnnnn..." Pandora groaned as she sat up, bringing a hand to her head as she rubbed the soreness away. When her eyesight came into focus, her eyes widened before she practically leapt off the table and wrapped her arms around Neal's neck. "Neal! I thought... I thought it was all a dream!" she said nearly strangling the life out of him.

"Pandora... you're crushing... me..." Neal cried out as his fingers twitched, the door opening behind him a moment later as Prairie, Vent, and Aile came into the room. The next moment he felt the vice grip around his neck lessen, but only because now Pandora was hiding behind him timidly. "Pandora, what's wrong?"

"I'm... worried..." she said softspokenly, shaking a bit as she tried to make herself as small as she could. Looking over his shoulder and remembering the stories he'd been told about her past and her relationship to the Guardians, he could begin to understand where she was coming from.

"Guys... maybe you shouldn't make any sudden moves. Pandora still seems very shaken," Neal said waving his hands placatingly.

Prairie was about to object to that, but a sudden scent wafted towards her, causing her to bring her hand up to her nose. "Neal. She stinks."

"Yeah. She is a bit ripe," Aile stated, though turned away trying to be more discreete about her reaction to the scent. "Maybe we should get her showered?"

"Yes. We'll also need to get her a change of clothes," Prairie said turning to the side. "Pandora, if you'll come with us, we'll get you cleaned up," she said walking towards Pandora, only for the greenette to cling to Neal's back, shaking a bit.

"No, I... I want to stay with Neal..." she said timidly, feeling more vulnerable than she had in years. This of course surprised the others, although Prairie narrowed her eyes dangerously, which wasn't helping the situation at all.

A moment passed, the atmosphere in the room tense before Prairie sighed and decided to let things slide for now. From what Neal had told her about Pandora, and what had happened regarding her Model W, it was understandable that the girl was frightened and clingy, waking up in a strange place where she hadn't exactly been the most welcome guest in the past. Admittingly she didn't trust the greenette any more than she did beforehand, but she looked so frightened shivering behind Neal the way she did, and soon felt her anger bubble away.

"Very well, then. If Neal isn't opposed to aiding you clean yourself up, he may do so," she said relaxing her shoulders. "However, this only a one time thing," she stated making a clear set of guidelines. "Should you change your mind or feel uncomfortable, another woman can assist you in his place. Deal?"

"D-Deal, and th-thank you," Pandora returned, a smile tugging on her lips as she eased her grip on Neal's shoulders, slightly more relaxed as the tense atmosphere began to wane.

Prairie on the other hand could only sigh at how innocent she was being right now. Truthfully, neither her or her brother ever really killed anyone, but in certain instances they had to retire from being Guardians simply because they had to use more force, and thinking back onto how Albert had been manipulating them, it would only make sense that they'd want to do their jobs without being punished too much.

"I'm guessing staying right outside the door won't be enough will it?" Neal asked over his shoulder, Pandora shaking her head again as she hid a bit behind him, peering around him to see Vent and Aile slightly relaxed, but slightly wary. "*Sigh* Okay. Let's get you cleaned up. Aile, can you get a set of clothes ready for her when she's done?"

Man, this is not how I thought I'd spend my day, Neal sighed to himself a few minutes later in the women's communal bathroom*, wearing a green pair of trunks with blue stripes down the sides as he washed Pandora's back while she lathered herself up with soap. Don't look at her ass. Don't look at her ass. Don't look at her ass, he though in a desperate mantra as he tried to keep his eyes above her waist. Crap I looked at her ass! he cried to himself, suddenly feeling very dirty.

"Neal..." Pandora said cutting him off from his thoughts. "Thank you for staying by me."

"Well, why wouldn't I stand by you?" he asked looking back up. Semi-tone. Nice shape. GAH! I did it again! I don't wanna get beaten up for being a pervert! he cried mentally fisting his hair as his eyes trailed past her waist.

"Well... I've... The Guardians and I aren't really on the best terms," she said as she ran shampoo into her hair nervously. "... Without Model W... I won't be able to defend myself," he said before her voice trailed off.

"... You're worried that someone might react negatively for you being around?" he asked, earning a nod in return. "Well don't worry about that. I've heard the stories, but I know you're a good person. You only did what you did because you were forced," he said as he used the back scrubber to give her back a good scrub. "Now that Albert's dead, you don't have any reason to do what you were forced to anymore."

"You... You really think that?" she asked in surprise.

"Of course I do. You didn't seem the type to lash out at us anymore," he said setting the brush down. "I'm just glad we don't have to fight."

"... What about my brother? Do you know where he is?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Sorry. You were the only one I found down there," he said sadly. "If I'd tried to dig around the rubble, I may've caused a cave-in, and I'm not built for the water. I'm... sorry I couldn't do more," he sighed as his shoulders slumped.

"It's alright," Pandora returned, surprising him with a smile as she looked over her shoulder. "I don't think he was down there anyway. He might have just gone out to get some energy to help his injuries, and you just happened to get to me first."

"Well, it kinda did look like someone hacked their way through the doors, and when I did get to you, you were probably already dug out," he returned. "If that's the case, I'd be more than willing to help you find him. You are siblings aren't you?"

"That's right. Fraternal siblings actually," she elaborated. "Prometheus is older than I am, but only by a few minutes if I remember correctly. As for how long I've been working under Albert… all the time seemed to blend together, and the three-day intervals were too numerous to count," she said disheartedly. "I... I don't look old, do I?" she found herself asking the teen behind her, hoping she didn't look too old now that she was out of her Model W armor. There was some slight aging from when she was first fused to the Model W fragment, and while her mind was around that of a teenager's, she wanted to be sure that by de-merging, that her age didn't catch up to her.

"Old? No way. You look young enough to be fifteen... seventeen at the most," he said as he caught his eyes trailing down her budding curves, but quickly pulled his gaze away upon realizing what he was doing. Give the guy a break. He was being more or less forced to help a girl clean herself, and she valued his company over her modesty. In the end helping her clean herself was the lesser of two evils.

"You really think so?" she added hopefully. "I'm... I'm glad you think so. I thought, if ever, that I'd be much older if I ever got out of my armor," she said with a sigh of relief, only for her expression to sadden.

"Is there something the matter?" Neal asked.

"... I appreciate your encouragement, but... to tell you the truth... I'm terrified," she said bringing her hands to her chest. "Even if it was forced, Model W always made me feel so safe. Pain was only temporary, but now... I don't think I'd be able to protect myself if it came down to it."

"Don't worry Pandora. I'll keep you safe. I promise," Neal said placing a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Her skin's so smooth. I wonder if Prairie… Gah! Why can't I keep my head out of the gutter? he mentally cried to himself. He'd heard of how perverts got beaten up, and that no one would sympathize with them. Hell, this one old guy who wrote smut novels got caught peeping once, and had both arms, six ribs, and a number of organs broken and ruptured as punishment.** He could only imagine what the Guardians or Aile would do to him, and the feelings he thought he was feeling for Prairie were very real. He didn't want to screw up and miss out on something great by doing something incredibly stupid.

"Oh thank you Neal!" Pandora cried as she suddenly rounded on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing the two of them crashing to the wet floor, causing Neal to cry-

THINK UNSEXY THOUGHTS! THINK UNSEXY THOUGHTS! THINK UNSEXY THOUGHTS! into his head as the smiling girl clung to him, his face turning as crimson as Model ZX's armor as the girl continued to hug him in the nude. His body's reaction to this much contact with a member of the opposite sex really wouldn't help his case if someone walked in on them at that moment.

"Neal, are you okay in there? I heard something hit the floor," Aile's voice echoed from the other side of the door.

Oh crap… Neal thought to himself.

At that moment, Aile began to walk into the bathroom to check up on how the two were getting on with cleaning up. Neal thought his life flashed before his very eyes, but thankfully he was able to wriggle free using Pandora's accumulated suds, setting her back down on the stool she'd been using before Aile saw what had happened. Not before he accidentally "copped a feel" however, since the soapy suds across her body did nothing to help his grip on her skin.

When the brunette walked up to them, a towel now around her figure in case Pandora was calmed down enough to let her help, all she found was Neal scrubbing the girl's back with the backscrubber, his face red from what she believed to be dutiful overexertion.

Regardless of all that he'd been through, that moment in the shower was probably the closest to death he'd ever come without actually dying. No matter how he tried, he couldn't get the silky smooth texture of the greenette's skin out of his mind, and the emotions running through his mind when the two of them fumbled around before Aile walked in on them. Their bodies rubbing against one another... he'd carry those memories to his grave and tell them to no one.

NO ONE I SAY!

"Well, you two seem to be getting along well," Aile said as she saw Neal dutifully helping the girl get cleaned after who-knows-how-long. "Neal, I'm very proud of you. I'd think in your situation that you'd try and take advantage of her, but you've really impressed me so far," she said with a smile as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Y-Yes. Nothing perverted going on in here, hahaha..." he laughed with a forced grin as he rapped the side of his head. He hoped the steam in the room hid that fact.

"Per...verted? What does that mean?" Pandora asked, looking over her shoulder at the red-faced teen.

"Trust me, it's instinctual," Aile stated offhandedly. "Hey Neal, you haven't showered lately with all your moping, have you?" she suddenly asked.

"Well, no, I-"

"Man you're hopeless," Aile said, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she hung up her towel on the wall. Neal covered his face with his hands, only to peek between his fingers and see the brunette was wearing a modest one-piece blue swimsuit. "Sit down and don't move. You're probably just as thorough as Vent is," she said while grabbing a second stool and forcing Neal onto it.

"B-But what about Pandora? S-Shouldn't she take priority?" Neal asked her nervously.

"Don't worry, I'm clean," the greenette returned as she turned around, Neal quickly whirling around so he faced Aile, the blush on his face magnifying ten-fold. "Besides, you scrubbed my back, so the least I can do is scrub yours," she said as she rubbed soap onto her hands, forming suds between her palms before she began to run her hands around Neal's shoulders, down his back and around his sides. Aile attacked his scalp fervently with the shampoo, as though he were just a kid who couldn't clean himself.

This can only end badly, Neal thought to himself, remembering all the stories he'd heard before about guys getting beaten by girls when they got a tad too touchy. "Aiee!" he cried as he felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his back, a pair of... Pandora's body pressing itself up to his back as the greenette began scrubbing his stomach, her chin resting on his shoulder as he became very rigid.

Looking up from what she was doing, and then to Neal's reaction to Pandora's... cleaning techniques, Aile saw fit to speak up and say- "Pandora, maybe you shouldn't be that thorough."

"Why not?" she asked innocently as she continued running her hands along the front of his body, catching his chest and causing Neal's blush to intensify. "Prometheus and I used to bathe together all the time when we were kids."

"Well you can't because... I mean that you're... You can't just..." she said, struggling to find the right words. She may've been terrifying as 'The Witch', but she's nothing more than a big kid, she thought to herself at how carefree the girl was being in such close proximity to a near-naked teenager. "It's a guy's prerogative to scrub himself there. Just... stick to his back for now," she finally found herself able to say, before she grabbed the bathpan and filled it with cold water, dumping it over his head and rinsing off the shampoo bubbles before picking up the conditioner, all the while as the teen back the cry that threatened to leave his lips. "Neal, when did your hair get this long," she then asked, reaching over his shoulder and to his back, the teen blushing at the close proximity of their bodies before she brought several long locks of blue-tinged ebony hair to view. "I just noticed it's down to your waist now. Wasn't it shoulder-length before?"

"Well um... I didn't really notice," Neal admitted. All he really did in the morning was groom his hair so he wouldn't look like he just rolled out of bed. He never even considered that he'd find it as long as it was. "What do you think could've caused it?"

"Hmmm... Maybe it was when you turned into Dark Neal. I thought your hair being like it was, was just because of the Biometal, but maybe that much energy being pumped into you caused your metabolism to be accelerated to the point that it just grew that long," Aile said as she ran her fingers through it. Neal began to blush, only for it to intensify when Pandora started running her fingers through his hair too.

"No split ends or anything. I'm jealous," Pandora said, being somewhat more talkative as she ran her fingers through his ebony locks.

What next? Prairie joining in wearing a bikini tank top? he asked sarcastically. Then again… he trailed off, not necessarily opposed to the prospect since he was willing to admit the idea appealed to him.

"If you're going to keep it this long, then you'll have to take better care of it," Aile said as she began to wring some more shampoo into the waist-length locks. Before Neal could respond however, a new set of footsteps echoed off the bathroom floor.

"Well look at you Goldie Locks," the fierce-looking red-haired reploid said coming into view, clad in only a towel that hugged her curves tightly. "Maybe I should call you Playboy Goldie Lochs from now on, huh? You've already got your own little harem forming, heheheh," she chuckled with a wide grin.

"Cedre, what're you doing here?" Aile asked, surprised that the red-haired woman had decided to step out of the engine room at that very moment.

"Came up to clean up, and what do I come up to but Neal getting felt up by two pretty girls," she said walking over to them before resting a hand on a wall, Aile blushing at the insinuation while Pandora remained blissfully ignorant. "Hey Neal, got room for one more?" she chuckled to the blushing teen, her towel falling a moment later revealing her to be as nude as the day she was born. It went without saying what his answer was since he fell to the floor wide-eyed.

"Cedre! That's indecent!" Aile cried as the red-haired woman blatantly stood as nude as the day she was born.

"Like you're one to talk Ms. Ponytail Short Shorts," Cedre said stepping up to Aile, who had gotten up to try and cover her up with the towel. "What're you trying to do? Flaunt that cute 'lil rear of yours for Jailbait over there?" she asked as she suddenly pinched the brunette's rear, causing her to jump with a squeak, her face a tad red as a result.

"I'm n-not flaunting a-anything!" Aile cried rubbing her rear as her blush failed to die down. "I was just helping Neal get cleaned up since he may be as hopeless as Vent."

"Well there's one thing I know for sure. Neal certainly seemed to be enjoying all the extra attention," she said with a lewd smile as she pointed to the downed teen, Pandora fawning over him as he laid sprawled out on the floor, a bit of blood coming from his nose as he twitched occasionally.

"N-Neal! Have you no shame?" Aile cried as a blush rose on her cheeks.

"Don't even bother. Kid's suffering from sensory overload," Cedre said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Hah! Looks like someone's taking some initiative," she chuckled as she pointed to the greenette. When Aile looked over her shoulder, her face turned as red as the woman's has as she saw Pandora beginning to poke the bulge in Neal's shorts with a curious expression on her face. Almost like that of a child who had found something they'd never seen before.

"Pandora! Stop that!" Aile said slapping the girl's hand away with a blush on her face, causing the greenette to *eep* while the red-haired woman was left to her own thoughts.

Heheh, with the Commanding Officer, the Softspoken Sorceress, and the Ponytail Girl, I could write my own book series, Cedre thought to herself with a chuckle that would've sent chills up the other's spines. Hmmm… Maybe I should add the 'Red-Haired Habanero' too, heheheh, she laughed to herself. Of course, she wasn't physically interested in him, but the kid was pretty cool. Then again, he wasn't that bad-looking either. If only I were a few years younger... Nah, age wouldn't stop me anyway. Oh! she added with a perverted pelvic thrust, completely unnoticed as Aile stuttered out that what Pandora was doing to Neal was wrong, the boy still twitching occasionally and only semi-conscious.

Why do I feel so used and dirty? Neal said to himself a few minutes later, a tinge of pink still on his face from the bathroom incident. Think unsexy thoughts, think unsexy thoughts, think unsexy thoughts.

"What'cha thinkin' about kid?" Vent asked sitting down in the cafeteria, which was thankfully quite empty.

"I wasn't thinking about your sister in a swimsuit!" Neal suddenly blurted out.

"O... kay..." Vent said with an eyebrow raised before he let out a chuckle. "Heheh, look at you. Finally decided to join the hippie club?" he asked pointing to the teen's waist-length hair.

"Hey, at least mine doesn't go past my ass," Neal huffed. "Ero-hippie."

"Not a perverted hippie!" Vent cried in outrage, just as Prairie walked into the room.

"Neal, how did Pandora's... cleaning go?" the blonde asked through clenched teeth, her smile somewhat forced which didn't go unnoticed by Neal.

"Nothing! Nothing happened!" Neal cried defensively before regaining his composure. "Ahem. Anyway, Aile said she was going to lend Pandora some clothes until we decide what to do with her."

"O... kay..." Prairie said, her eyebrow twitching under the brim of her hat. Calm down Prairie. Take deep breaths. Neal wouldn't fool around. He isn't that kind of guy, she thought to herself as she began chanting her mantra. Neal is not a pervert. Neal is not a pervert. Neal is not a pervert.

"Hey Neal, looks like Pandora's taken a shine to you. How'd you think that happened?" Vent asked, jabbing Neal in the side with his elbow.

"She's just scared, and I'm her emotional support," Neal stated, trying not to think back on what would forever be referred to -only in his own mind- as the Communal Bathroom Incident. "How would you feel if you woke up without any powers, and surrounded by people who have a bone to pick with you? Because I think that's how she feels. She and her brother didn't exactly make any friends with the Guardians during their... tour of duty, and she's just worried that someone may try and attack her."

"Wow... she's really opened up to you, hasn't she?" Prairie said in a bit of surprise. By reports and some personal experience, Pandora hardly spoke at all, letting her brother do most of the talking.

"I guess. Maybe it's because she sees Model E as a Model W. Maybe it's because I had been visiting her and was there when she woke up. I don't know, but I'll need a way to keep an eye on her until she learns to trust people again. The Guardians seem like nice people, but then again... Serpent seemed like a nice person too, and he'd been screwing everyone over for the better part of a decade, so I'll withhold my judgment for now," he said with crossed arms.

"If you really feel that way..." Prairie said as her brow twitched behind the brim of her hat. "Maybe we should see to getting you in the same room," she said between her teeth. She had to keep herself out of the equation and think of what's best for the Guardians.

"But what about Lily? Isn't my room getting kinda crowded. I don't really want to be too far away from either of them for too long," Neal said a bit nervously.

"The room you were in was one of the ones for new recruits. There's one four-person bedroom available, and since you've been doing such a good job lately, I think you've earned some better accommodations," she stated as her thoughts trailed off. You really have earned it. Truly, you have. You proved you were willing to die to protect us. All of us... she thought sadly at the memory of Neal's body. If you believe in her, then I'll choose to believe in her too. It's the least I can do for… everything, she thought with a ghost of a smile as she remembered her first kiss. He hadn't been opposed to it and didn't jerk away, though something told her it might've been his first kiss too. I wonder...

"Well, I guess that'll work," Neal said, rubbing the back of his head cutting Prairie off from her train of thought. "Do you have anything like a dividing curtain we could use? I'd like for Pandora to have a bit of privacy. Lily too."

"Certainly!" Prairie stated, a little louder than she thought she would say. "I'll lift the lockdown on the room. Vent, why don't you help Neal move his and Lily's stuff into Room 356?" she asked before heading off.

"At least I won't have to go halfway across the city for this 356," Vent grumbled to himself.

"I'm guessing by the code that it's on the third floor, fifth hall from the left, and room number six?" Neal asked.***

"Yeah. It's a little confusing at first, but you get used to it," Vent sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "But still, what're the odds that you'll get a room with a window both times? You're even on the same floor as me and Aile."

"Life's just full of surprises isn't it?" Neal said with a shrug as he got back to his glass of water. "Still, I'm worried about her brother. Prometheus. He wasn't down there when I found him, and it looked like Pandora had been dug out beforehand. Do you think I did the right thing taking her from there?"

"Well if it's Prometheus who made those holes in the doorways, then if he comes here, hopefully the two of you can explain things," Vent said while shrugging his shoulders. "If anything, I'd hate to have to fight the guy again. Aile and I've gotten stronger in the past few years, but he's one of those guys who will always put up a good fight. No matter how strong you are."

"Yeah... I just hope it doesn't come to that. If anything, I hope I can help Prometheus too, but if I use the same method, I might leave him defenceless as well. I guess in this case it would be up to choosing the lesser of two evils, but I just don't know what to believe right now," he said crossing his arms.

Elsewhere in a darkened airship, dark purple in color and shaped like a shark****, a lone figure sat against the wall, almost stock still like a statue. A few minutes later, the monitor flared to life, though only through an Audio-Only transmission. Opening his eyes, another pair on his head glowed ominously as his eyes readjusted to the sudden light in the dark room.

"So. Have you found her?" he asked.

"Yes. She is currently in the Guardian's hands," the voice on the other end said, causing the one in the room to scowl slightly. "It has been a few days since Thetis failed to retrieve her, and-"

"Remind me again just why he only retrieved one of us," the figure spat stepping into the light, revealing himself to be Prometheus, his armor now repaired and his energy revitalized.

"Thetis said he couldn't carry two of you at the same time, so he took you back first," the voice of Thomas spoke. "Personally, I think he was being lazy, though I do imagine he couldn't get too far with the additional weight."

"Yeah... Speaking of which," Prometheus said as he crossed his arms. "Did he do anything to me while I was unconscious?"

"Say again?"

"I said... Did he... do anything to me... while I was unconscious?" Prometheus enunciated quite clearly with a hint of distaste.

"Not that I am aware of."

"Hmmm... It's all the better than. Had the guy grouped Pandora, I would've chopped him in half with my scythe," he said as he brought his weapon out in a flash before bringing the blade to the air, which now shone a dark red color on the verge of black instead of white on the verge of blue.

"Regardless, we have the Guardian Base's location. It's your mission to try and get her back. If you are unable to, then retreat. Do not let them know anything of our plans."

"And why exactly would I fail?" he asked.

"The previous time you invaded the Grand Nuage, both Vent and Aile were able to make you retreat. Also, the one who took down the Four before you joined us is there as well. While you may have experience, should he begin to copy your techniques with that power of his, it would be advisable to retreat before he gains too much. Just because he only made one move apiece in that 'Dark Form' of his, does not mean he lacks the capability to do more."

And leave Pandora with those Guardians? No way in hell. If they've done anything to her, I'll paint that ship red, he thought to himself. "Is that all?"

"For the moment, yes. Your ETA should be twenty minutes given they don't change course," Thomas spoke before the screen cut off, leaving Prometheus in darkness once more. Just how he liked it.

It was around twenty minutes later. Neal had taken to moving the bulk of his odds & ends to his room, while Vent was stuck moving Neal and Lily's clothing into room 356. When they arrived, Neal saw that it was at least twice as big as his original room, if not more so.

There was a thin metal wall separating two bunk beds, a metal bureau at the head and foot of each respectively, a slightly larger fold-out table from the wall that had actual chairs, a somewhat larger shelf at the far corner of the room, and what looked like a monitor on the wall; three by four the bottom bunk of each bed was a wide hexagonal window, giving a clear view to the outside than Neal had gotten in his previous room. Seeing that there wasn't any dust, he remembered something about a lockdown, and realized that the air had probably been drained out of the room to remove the requirement for constant cleaning.

"Well, it's certainly bigger than my last room," Neal said as he looked around, setting his odds & ends on the floor before loading up the shelves, taking explicit care to place a white book with red and blue font on the shelf face-up, as opposed to the usual standing position most would put their books in. There's plenty of room anyway.

"Yes, well, these are some of the better accommodations in the Grand Nuage," Vent said while wheeling the gurney into the room. "Just don't get your hopes up about getting private quarters. That's Captain's privilege only, and there's only one mobile base in the Guardians so this is as good as it's going to get."

"I don't have a problem with that," Neal said as he set out the last of his odds & ends. "Besides, I kinda like having Lily around. She's kinda like the little sister I always wanted but never got."

"Yeah, well, just remember that Pandora will be staying here too," Vent stated, "And on an airship, it's easy to get isolated from the Transerver room should you need to escape."

"Vent, I am not a pervert," Neal enunciated. "I'm not the kind of guy who would take advantage of Pandora."

"I never said anything like that."

"You insinuated it."

"Touché."

The next moment the ship shuddered slightly causing the two to almost lose their balance. Looking out the window, Neal saw a large purple-colored airship flying alongside the Grand Nuage. It wasn't nearly as big, a fraction at the most, but what caught his eye was what looked like a boarding platform connected to the roof.

"Vent, Neal, someone's trying to get on the Grand Nuage," Prairie said coming up on the monitor. "I've already sent Aile ahead. Vent, head to the roof to back her up. Neal, only follow if you're able to. I don't need your injuries getting agitated."

"Got it," Vent returned as the monitor shut off. "Well Neal, looks like things just got busy again. You up to this?"

Neal's response was to toss Model E in his hands a few times before catching it with a dynamic flare. "You kidding? I was born ready."

Running into the sunlight and wind, Aile came to the sight of a slightly familiar vessel sinking its teeth into the roof of the Grand Nuage. What really irked her was that it took so long to get the ship repaired after both the last time someone tried something like this, and when they had their emergency landing on the Ouroboros. Not really a Three-Point landing, but at least they were able to get the ship off again. It took almost the entire month after that and before the Maverick Raid at Plaza 7 to repair the bottom plating, but after it was done, the Grand Nuage was spick & span as it ever was.

Or at least until this joker decided to mess up their roof with their loading platform. Seriously, what was wrong with flying over the Grand Nuage and jumping down from there? The Hunters did it all the time and still got the job done.

It was at the moment the boarding platform door opened that Aile was cut off from her thoughts. Cyan polymorphic hair whipping around in the breeze, Aile's eyes widened when she saw the scythe-wielding Prometheus step out into the light, a passive look on his face before his gaze landed on her.

Mega Man ZX Soundtrack – Fate Deep-Seated Grudge

"Well well. If it isn't the Model ZX Mega Man here to greet me," Prometheus stated with a slightly more bored tone than he'd been known to bear. "I assume you think that with just me here and my sister captured that you'll be able to defeat me so easily? Well think again. With that fool Albert's chains broken, I've been able to increase my power above what I had held previously!"

Captured... Doesn't he know that Neal rescued Pandora from the bottom of the sea? From the sound of things, he didn't escape on his own... I'll have to try and get him talking to see what he knows. He might lead us to whoever started the Maverick Raid in Plaza 7. "Megamerge!" she shouted as she transformed into her Model Z form in a flash of light, Prometheus' eyes widening before a grin plastered his face, the now-blond's hair fluttering in the wind as she held her sword proudly.

"Well if this isn't a surprise, then I don't know what is," Prometheus said with a smirk, almost like he was... happy, with what he was seeing. "And here I thought only Giro could use Model Z. This is certainly a pleasant surprise. Without Model X diluting its true potential, maybe I'll get a true battle of blades this time around. Who knows? You might even prove more of a challenge than the man himself."

"So then it was you who fought Giro back then?" Aile asked, trying to keep a level head. It was bad enough that she and Vent began to lose themselves when they entered Area H.

"That is correct. I had Pandora step back that time around, and Serpent only dirtied his hands after you and the kid showed up," Prometheus returned. "While she preferred to use her magic, and Serpent only used Model W, I chose to fight him on equal terms with my scythe. Used a couple fire attacks when he pressed me, but in the end, I won."

"... And you say you're here for your sister?" Aile asked, getting a ghost of a nod in return from the Reaper Mega Man. "It isn't my place to say whether she'll stay or not. She's still recovering from-"

"What did you do to her!" he demanded.

"We didn't do anything to-"

"Bullshit! You Guardians might claim you're on the good side, but you're still as human and as flawed as the rest. Catch one of us at your mercy and you'd become no different than those humans who run away from us Mega Men in fear, persecuting what they don't understand! The very same humans who are jealous of their own creations, stealing our immortality and usurping our bodies for themselves!"

It looks like Neal was right, if even Prometheus can agree with him.

"Since it looks like you won't be moving out of the way of your own volition," he said swinging his scythe around before releasing the blade. "I guess I'll just have to force you out of my way!" he said with narrowed eyes, neither noticing that the sky had turned a haze between dark blue and neon green when his anger spiked.

Mega Man ZX Soundtrack – Onslaught

"Aile! Are you alright!" Vent cried as he ran out onto the roof, his eyes narrowing when he spotted Prometheus brandishing his scythe, and a few cut marks on Aile's armor. "Prometheus!" he cried in outrage as he raised his buster and began firing his charged shot, Prometheus bracing himself for the attack when the Blue Mega Man fired his shot, only for a magenta-colored blur to intercept the attack, catching it on a thin crimson blade before deflecting the majority of the energy to the sky. "Neal, what the hell!"

"Vent, this is obviously Aile's fight," Neal said lowering his blade, keeping an eye trained on Prometheus in case the guy went for a sneak attack. "If she wants our help, then she'll ask for it. Until then, I'm going to have to ask that you keep your attacks to yourself."

"Why do you always get in my way?" Vent demanded.

"Because I know the world isn't as black and white as you've led me to believe that you believe!" the now-blond male countered. "It isn't just Aile fighting Prometheus until you came along to bail her out. It was her coming to terms with Giro's death by fighting on her own terms."

"... Aile, call me in. We can take this guy," Vent stated.

"No."

"What?"

"Neal's right. This fight... this is one I have to do on my own," Aile returned.

"Then let's get back to it!" Prometheus said as he suddenly lunged at the now-blonde female, their blades clashing as she was forced to her knees while Prometheus pressed on his attack. Vent tried to fire another shot in, but Neal got in the way, shaking his head as he watched the fight from the corner of his eye.

"Vent, what kind of message do you think you're sending your sister by continuously trying to interfere like this?" Neal asked again as Aile used a charged slash, the shockwave sending Prometheus skidding back a bit before he got into the fight. Vent didn't have a real answer to that, so Neal began speaking again. "What you're showing is that you lack the faith to let Aile fight on her own. I understand that you're only looking out for her, being siblings and all that, but the two of you won't be together forever. Someday, the two of you will part ways, and you'll have to believe in her strength. Strength that she can't gain if you keep breathing down her neck like this!" he said firmly, Vent lowering his X-Buster as he saw Aile deflect Prometheus' scythe with a reverse-handed slash.

"I guess you're right... but if things get out of hand, I'm stepping in."

"Never said you couldn't if it came to that," Neal said as he crossed his arms and allowed his E-Rapier to disappear, relaxing his stance as he watched Aile fight.

After stepping back a bit, which was more like he glided an inch above the ground, his polymorphic cyan hair suddenly glowed before stabbing itself into the roof of the Grand Nuage. A moment later, golden and red lances bathed in flame suddenly shot up at Aile from the floor, all of which she dodged with the exception of the last one, which grazed her across the thigh. Vent tried to step in, but Neal held him back as Prometheus suddenly floated into the air, four pyrokinetically-born skulls made of purple flames appearing at his sides before they began to launch fireballs at Aile. However, in the wide open spaces they were easy enough to dodge, but were soon growing irritating because they just wouldn't let up. The next moment however Model Z pulsed from inside her, causing the girl to smirk before she suddenly became stock-still, her arm held back pre-swing confusing Prometheus, since she was still a fair distance away from him.

"Step Sword!" Aile cried as her body flickered out of existence, a red-tinted afterimage-esque copy of her appearing before Prometheus. In the instant it was there, the afterimage slashed with its sword, catching two of the fire-spitting skulls and nearly scratching the crest on the front of his helmet before disappearing, Aile rematerializing where she was before speeding off. The next moment Aile felt another pulse from her Biometal, and, following the compulsion, quickly traced a red triangle into the air before swinging her sword across her left, launching it through the air before it struck Prometheus, sticking to his chest. The next moment Aile blurred out of existence before coming up on him. "Delta Ray Edge!" she shouted as she quickly slashed him three times, sending him back and would've launched him over the edge of the ship had he not caught himself with his scythe.

"Well, I must admit, you've shown just as much, if not more potential than that man did. However, I'm afraid I'll have to cut our fight short here. HYAH!" he cried as he suddenly launched a shockwave from his scythe across the ground and catching Aile in the chest, sending her flying back. At the moment Neal slid across the ground and caught her, the Reaper Mega Man then had to dodge a charged shot, and then another, both from Vent as he stood between Aile and her opponent.

"Prometheus, your fight is with me now," Vent said as he primed his buster.

"Ha! As if you'll do any better. You don't even have a real weapon. Just that toy on your arm," Prometheus smirked.

"Maybe so, but since we've last fought, Model X got a little upgrade," Vent said with a grin, the initials V.E.S. superimposing themselves onto his line of sight before three emblems appeared.** The next moment he fired his charged shot, though unlike before, this one was bright yellow, and even when Prometheus blocked it with his blade, it still caused a jolt of electricity to pass through him, paralyzing him for a moment before he shook it off.

"So, the Model X Mega Man has decided to grow a pair, huh?" Prometheus smirked as the last of the electricity left his systems. "Well then, let's see how far you've progressed from the whiny kid I fought so many years ago," he thought as he lunged at Vent, who responded by firing a few buster shots from his X-Buster, the Reaper slashing them or deflecting them along the way.

At the same time, Neal looked around and saw that the sky was flickering between sky blue and the neon green and dark blues from before. Answering the unspoken question, Model E could only reply-

"Cyber Space. It appears that conflict involving Mega Men cause it to manifest. This time however, instead of a door, it seems to stem from the area of conflict and affect the surrounding area."

Yeah. I noticed right when Prometheus attacked Aile that last time, that odd feeling spiked, he said as he held out a hand to the girl and helped her to her feet. The next moment he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and, looking over his shoulder, thought he saw a red and blue ball of light fly into the garage before disappearing down the elevator.

"Those two... could it be...? What're they doing here?" Elpizo asked himself, having recognized both balls of light and keeping that line of thought from Neal since it didn't bear importance in the given situation.

Meanwhile down in Fleuve's lab, while Vent, Aile, and Neal fought against Prometheus, just not at the same time, he was dutifully working on his console running through some of the data on the Livemetal collected from the former Model W. All the necessary materials were present to make a new Biometal, but unless they found a way to re-graft the two nearly-indestructible pieces of metal together, they'd have no way of recreating such a thing.

At least not unless they could find two programs with a 100% compatibility rate to insert into both.

The next moment, his screen flashed to white before suddenly turning black, a white ball surrounded by red, yellow, and blue energies appearing on the screen before outdated lines of code began to stream through his systems. The next moment he heard a mechanical clicking behind him, making him look over his shoulder.

"What the hell?" Fleuve said in shock as the vault door suddenly opened of its own accord. The next moment two balls of light, one red and one blue, suddenly flew into its confines before a brilliant flash of light nearly blinded him, forcing him to tear his eyes away from it and shield them. A few seconds later after the light subsided, he ran over to the safe to check on its contents, only to fall on his ass as the two objects suddenly flew out and nearly took his head off before flying out the door, which by coincidence someone had walked up to and caused it to open. Said person was Congre, who had finally decided to come out of his room, only to be sent screaming back to the fourth floor.

"... *Sigh* Well, there's two months of therapy down the toilet," the diminutive scientist sighed as the residential coward ran like a chicken with its head chopped off.

Mega Man Zero Soundtrack - Deadzone

Vent's fight with Prometheus had been grand and all, but nowhere near as close to Aile's fight prior. The brunette had used the V.E.S. to great effect by launching an array of fire, electricity and ice element attacks at Prometheus, catching him off guard since there wasn't any real pattern to it. However, he'd weathered through them and eventually caught the Blue Mega Man across the chest, sending him flying to the side. Before he could move in for the finishing blow, the same magenta-colored blur from before materialized in front of him, Neal's right fist cocked back as a white and red-armored boxing glove had completed charging up, a neon green glowing ring around his wrist before it suddenly impacted into his gut, a spike of energy flying out of his back as the ring exploded, bringing him to his knees as the now-blond backflipped a few yards away.

Damn! I let this guy catch me off guard, Prometheus cursed as he held his gut, which felt like he'd been hit by a pile driver. At the same moment he felt a strange sensation washing over him, but he'd contemplate later. "So now you want to take a shot at me, huh?"

"Prometheus, I can take you to Pandora, but you have to let go of your weapon and calm down," he said trying to talk the guy down.

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" Prometheus raged as he suddenly rushed at Neal, scythe at the ready as he performed an overhead slash. Neal hopped to the side before deflecting the blade away, then rushed Prometheus with his E-Rapier only for the guy to glide backwards out of range.

The next moment his hair shot into the roof before a golden lance suddenly shot up at Neal's chest, only for him to dodge to the side again. He then began to run at Prometheus, rolling to the side at the same speed as his Dash technique as each golden lance punched its way out of the roof intent on hitting Neal. When the now-blond-haired teen got inside his guard, he began to charge energy into his left knee before spinning around to his right, the red-glowing joint striking Prometheus in the stomach when it came around the left, knocking him back before he fell to his knees.*

"Dammit! What the hell was that?" Prometheus cried as he held his stomach with both hands. If the pain from before was bad, then getting hit in the same spot again was worse. After shaking if off, he grabbed his scythe with one and used it to bring himself to his feet.

"I'm not just going to tell you how I fight," Neal returned, resisting the urge to rub his sore knee in front of his opponent. I thought if I charged energy into my body like I do for the Pile Bunker I could increase the power of my physical attacks. It actually did, but since my body isn't designed to use energy like that, it caused me a bit of pain, he thought resisting the urge to fall to his knee, which ironically was the reason he wanted to fall to it in the first place. I'll just have to take it easy on that kind of thing. Leave it up to my weapons to do the fighting for me.

"You think this pain will stop me? Well think AGAIN!" he shouted as he flew towards Neal once more, his scythe at the ready as he appeared to have recovered from the jumping knee kick that hit him earlier.

Geez, this guy just won't let up, Neal thought as he used his E-Rapier to deflect the blade to his side, taking the time to let his sore knee recover as he tried to form some sort of strategy. The guy wants to see Pandora, but right now he seems too unstable to be let into the ship. He might end up tearing down a few walls, and if he gets too far in... he thought as the image of the scythe-wielding maniac attacking Prairie entered his mind. No! I can't let him pass! Not until he comes down from his power-high.

At the same time in the bridge, Prairie watched the fight with a morbid fascinationas Neal battled Prometheus, almost to an equal level. Gardenia, Tulip, and Marguerite were watching too, though on and off so that their ship wouldn't hit anything important or fly anywhere it shouldn't. Just because there weren't that many giant airships flying around the sky that they could crash into or well, you know, smash like a bug on a windshield, didn't mean there weren't restricted air zones.

The next moment however a smaller holographic screen popped up on her side, calibrated to track new and/or fluctuating Biometal signatures. Looking at it, she spotted a pair of small red and blue Biometal. The angle wasn't that great, but she could tell that they were shaped like Japanese magatama beads of opposing shape so that they would form a complete yin-yang shape, roughly below the size of a normal Biometal. Changing cameras to follow the two anomalies, she then saw that Pandora was wandering around the halls a bit timidly after word had gotten out that the ship was under attack. Her eyebrow then raised as the twin Biometal stopped in front of her and appeared to be talking to her. And of course since only Chosen Ones or those they allowed could hear Biometal, and she was watching the other side of a screen, it only looked like Pandora was moving her lips and the other two were simply nodding.

Those two Biometal... Where did they come from? she suddenly thought in shock.

"Commander, it's terrible! Someone's hacked the vault, and the two Livemetal fragments have... well, escaped!" Fleuve suddenly cried over the radio.

"What? When did this happen! Who did it?" Prairie demanded.

"That's the weirdest thing. It looked like a cyber elf, and the two Livemetal fragments just took off after a red and blue ball of light shot into the vault, which only you should've been able to open with your key!"

Looking back to the monitor, Pandora appeared to have a shocked look on her face, probably at what the two Biometal were saying to her. It didn't take long to connect the dots that those balls of light were cyber elves. Especially with the freaky light show going on just outside since the fight started. Neal had briefed her on her trip to a cyber space during his recovery when she asked how he got Kyudoka, Jet, and Nikola. And as for who hacked the monitor, and in tandem, the vault, there was only one person she knew who would be a cyber elf, and only two who could be the ones talking to Pandora through their new Biometal forms right then. However, she'd withhold her judgement for after she saw Pandora megamerge, which she hoped she wouldn't use for evil. Or at least the Guardian's definition of evil. Thinking back on it, a cyber elf turning a Model W into another Biometal made two cyber elves turning two halves of a ex-Model W into two twin Biometal wasn't that much of a stretch either.

"Don't worry about the two Livemetal fragments. They're... in good hands," she sighed to herself as Pandora suddenly ran up to the elevator, which seemed to go down to her and open before she got in and shot up to the top floor. Neal, I hope for you're right about Pandora. I really do.

Mega Man ZX Soundtrack – Trap Factory

Back on the roof, both Neal and Prometheus fought after Aile and Vent had been defeated. While at first glance it would seem that Neal's E-Rapier wouldn't stand a chance against Prometheus' scythe, what surprised them was that the blade's rigidity allowed him to deflect the larger weapon and get a few slashes in of his own. Since that time, he hadn't tried using the jumping knee kick, but for the most part, it was a battle of blades that seemed evenly matched. Or... would have been had Prometheus not used both his fire-spitting flame-skulls and his ground lance attack, catching the magenta-armored Mega Man in the majority.

The next moment he was hit with the butt of Prometheus' scythe before being forced to the ground, the Reaper Mega Man standing on his biceps a moment later and effectively pinning him to the ground as he raised his scythe above his head.

"I'll ask you once again. Will you... let me... see... my sister?" he enunciated, keeping the blade ready for a decapitating head-slice should the Model E Mega Man try anything. Before he could answer however, a set of footsteps and a new voice suddenly echoed across the battlefield.

"Prometheus! Please stop this!" Pandora said running out onto the field, wearing what Aile wore when she was younger. The only thing really keeping her from looking like a greenette version of Aile was that her hair was styled differently. However, it was undeniably Pandora, which Prometheus recognized with an understandable level of shock. The girl had been in white and blue/yellow/ice blue armor for several decades at the least.

"Pandora? Your Model W has been removed? But Albert said safely remoiving it was impossi-" he said before suddenly stopping, growing deathly quiet for a minute before throwing his head to the heavens and shouting- "ALLLBEEERT YOU LYING SONOFABITCH!" he shouted before regaining his composure, then looking towards his sister, whom he thought would never be seen out of her armor again. "Pandora, while I'm not unhappy that Albert's chains have been more-thoroughly cast aside from you, I have to ask. Just what did the Guardians do to you while I was away."

"Prometheus, nothing's been done to me. Neal," she said motioning to the teen that Prometheus was standing over, "risked his life to save me, and put his trust in me when no one else was willing to. So please... don't hurt him."

"... Fine. He wasn't my target anyway," Prometheus said as he lazily rested his weapon against his shoulder. "I'd ask how you got two strange Biometal, but I'll ask later. For now, it's time to get going. Now that the two of us are up, we can go about destroying all Albert made."

"... No," she finally said after a minute, earning a confused look from Prometheus.

"What?"

"I... I don't want to destroy the world anymore," Pandora said soft-spokenly, holding her trident-like weapon between herself and Prometheus, mentally forming a wall between them. "Prometheus... Suffering leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to more suffering. Albert is gone, and while we're still here, it doesn't mean we can't live for ourselves. We can end this conflict-"

"Are you saying you've forgotten what that bastard has done to us!" Prometheus demanded in a harsh tone, causing Pandora to flinch. "He made us suffer for decades, binding us on a short leash. Leaving us out of our maintenance capsules until the last possible moments just for the fun of it. The humans of this world treated Albert like he was a god, just because he made their lives easier for them. Are you saying you're just going to forget what he did to us?"

"I never said I'd forgotten!" Pandora cried. "But... There's no use holdingon the past forever. We've both been given a fresh start. Why can't we just use it?"

"Hm. I see what's going on now," Prometheus said before narrowing his eyes at Neal. "This guy's brainwashed you with his fancy ideals. His black-and-white policies. Well if you aren't willing to leave because of him, then there's only one option left to me," he said raising his scythe into the air.

"No! I won't let you hurt him!" she called out as a pair of magatama-shaped Biometal appeared in her hands, red in the left and blue in the right, each with white faceplates with crests above their optics matching their respective colors. "Dual... Megamerge!" she shouted suddenly bringing her hands together, the two Biometal coming together with a soft -click- sound as the two formed a near-perfect yin-yang symbol, the two faces horizontally aligned as their eyes both glowed brightly.

"Biolink established. R.O.C.K. System, Activated!" two feminine voices then said, a maelstrom of red and blue energies spiraling out of the two Biometal and covering Pandora in a curtain of energy that turned purple. The next moment there was a flash of light, and Prometheus was stopped at the new sight that greeted him.

Pandora was now garbed head-to-toe in a black skintight bodysuit, over which she wore white-colored form-fitting body armor that conformed to her shape, covering her shins, thighs, forearms, and biceps, leaving her knees, elbows, and shoulders exposed. She wore a white sleeveless jacket that stopped right above her midriff, light grey trim around the collar, down the front, and on the pockets. Around her waist she wore an armored bandoleer similar to Aile's Model Z form adorning her waist, but with the gem in the left bold glowing red and the one on the left blue. Around her wrists and ankles were somewhat thinner yellow bands, but what really came to his attention though were the elements of duality her new form possessed, giving her new form a pseudo-harlequin-esque motif.

On her left foot she wore a red-armored shoe similar to her previous ones, her right shoe blue, and both possessing thin light-grey soles. On her left shin she had blue armor down the front with a split down the middle with a red counterpart on her left, with spaces left open at the fronts for her knees. On her left shoulder she wore a blue and white-armored guard with red optics, while on her right shoulder she wore the red-armored equivalent with blue optics. On her left forearm she wore a red-armored gauntlet with a blue gem inset in the middle, a blue-armored gauntlet on her right with a red gem inset in the middle. She wore a blue white-fingered glove on her left hand, and a red white-fingered glove on her hands.

Her helmet had been changed greatly from her previous form as well. Over her eyes she had a partially-polarized purple visor with a notch the middle that let her nose poke out. Though you could still see her crimson eyes unobstructed, the visor served to hide her previous identity as a Model W Mega Man. At the base her helmet was black and formed a shell of sorts around her head, but allowed her polymorphic hair to flow down her back like it had previously, two polymorphic lochs of hair framing her face, the one on the left with a red bead a few inches from the tip, while the other had a blue bead. Over her forehead she had a multifaceted diamond-shaped emblem with the bottom end poking over her visor a little bit above the notch, its color white but changed to red and blue depending on the light. Around the crest on her forehead were two aerodynamic white fins going over her head with blue trim on the end of the left fin and red on the right. On the sides of her helmet was a white-armored band that went around to the back of her head, a red-colored glowing jewel on the left and a blue-glowing jewel on the right connected slightly to her visor, which would appear to be feeding the semi-clear plastic their color.

If he could see her back behind her back behind her polymorphic green hair, he could see a red and blue yin-yang like symbol with light grey circuits connecting to her arms, legs, and helmet, almost acting like a regulator of sorts.

Holding her hand to the side, a white staff as tall as herself with a gold-colored stud bearing a rectangular opening on the end appeared. The top end of the staff now had what resembled a gold-plated trident with an articulated spherical crest where the three points connected. Spinning it over her head and around her waist, she then held the weapon towards her brother, a thin light-green blade of plasma coming off of each point.

"Prometheus, I won't let you hurt him. Not when he believed in me when no one else would," she said brandishing her trident-like weapon in his general direction. While it had three points like a trident, there was clearly more to it than some would think.

"Well... aside form the evident changes to your... attire," Prometheus said, slightly shocked at her new transformation. "He must really have you wrapped around his finger because you've already mentioned that four times," he scoffed. "I'll ask about your... twin biometal later. Right now I have to take care of this human scum," he said raising his scythe, the now-blond-haired teen's eyes widening as he tried to get free.

"Neal!" Pandora cried as she rushed forward, but knew she wouldn't reach the now-blond in time. At that moment she thought to throw her weapon to him, thinking he'd be able to use it to catch the weapon. However, before she could to so, a sickening wave of black energy suddenly shot out from the boy, causing Prometheus' hair to flutter wildly behind him right as his blade descended towards his neck. The next moment before the blade could connect, a white-clawed hand suddenly caught the end blade right as it descended towards his neck, sparks flying off the armor as Neal's right hand had reached up and caught the blade, now resembling his Dark Form as the bone-white armor began to creep up his forearm, his eyes glowing pink.

"Rrrrrggghhhh!" Neal shouted as the armor had begun creeping up his bicep, his eyes glowing brightly before he clamped them shut. "AH! NO!" he cried out as he threw his legs over his head, catching Prometheus in the back and sending him into the air. "No... I won't... use that power again!" he cursed as he clenched his fist, the bone-white armor slowly retreating to his hand, his claws beginning to evaporate revealing the white-fingered gloves beneath before the last of the armor disappeared. The darkness in my heart is still there... but I won't rely on it for power. I owe those who believe in me that much, he said as he felt the last of the dark energy leave his system.

"So... that's the power that defeated four Mega Men with such ease. I'm intrigued," Prometheus said after righting himself mid-flight. "Tell me, has this world ever wronged you greatly? We could use someone like you in our plans," he said of course referring to his plans, not Thomas'. He would only work with the red-haired Sage as long as it served to benefit him and his sister. After that, screw him.

"Heh. While the people of this world may be nothing but lemmings running headlong over cliffs, the only one who truly wronged me is long dead. I have no reason to try and destroy the world. I kinda like the world actually, even if it is flawed," Neal huffed, feeling the last of the darkness leave his system as he felt the haze clear from his mind.

"Hm. What a shame. I thought since you wielded a Model W fragment that you would understand our plight," Prometheus spoke.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Model E's voice demanded into the open air, causing Prometheus to raise an eyebrow.

"Yours talks? That's new for a Model W fragment," Prometheus said before shaking his head and turning to his sister. "Pandora, why do you truly want to stay here? If it's because you think you owe this boy, then-"

"But I do owe him!" she cried in protest. "He chose to believe in me when no one else did. He gave me hope that I could lead a normal life. He became my friend, even when he knew about my past."

"... If that's what you really think..." Prometheus stated. "Then that means our ideals conflict with one another! The only option left is to fight!" he cried as he rushed at her with his scythe ready.

Is that how I really sounded? Vent asked himself. Thinking back on it, I must've been a real dick.

Prometheus opened with a swing, but Pandora caught the blade between the prongs of her trident, sparks flying as the two struggled, Prometheus clearly superior in strength as he eventually forced the weapon down. The next moment however Pandora smirked before shouting- "Attribute Change!"

The next moment, the blue portions of her armor began to bleed their color into her white armor, the white coloration bleeding into what was once blue. At the moment the color transition was complete, her trident's blades turned light blue to accompany the sudden decrease in temperature, the spot where the two blades made contact hissing as ice crystals began to form, only to be flash-melted. She then spun her trident around behind her before catching Prometheus' left hand between two of the prongs, and then sending it into the ground, a thick ice crystal freezing his hand onto the deck.

"You were always a bit thick-headed, so I think I may have to really drive the point home. Attribute-Change!" she called out as the blue and white portions of her armor returned to their original positions, only for the red and white to bleed into one another causing the majority of her armor to become red. She then raised her trident above her head, the two side prongs coming together as the sphere at the center clicked, causing the three blades to come together in a spear-like shape with a single large blade, which was now red with some steam rising off of it as it met the cool air.

The next moment she swung it down towards him, quickly flipping to the side with his immobilized hand as a fulcrum before the red-colored blade impacted the ground. Instead of cutting into it however, a sudden explosion sent the Reaper Mega Man flying back, his hand leaving its icy prison as he rolled across the deck before he eventually came to a stop. Looking back at the impact point, he was shocked to see that her explosive attack hadn't left any damage.

Okay, so her weapon's trident form can control ice, and its spear form can control explosive fire, but then… wait… where are her electric attacks? he suddenly asked himself, trying to figure out where her original secondary element had gone.

"I'll ask again. Will you just calm down and listen to reason?" Pandora asked, earning nothing in reply than a stubborn grunt. Well, I haven't really done that much yet, so it's expected he won't give up. However, I think one more push should do it, she thought as she reverted back to her Default Form. She then transformed her weapon into its Trident Form before holding it in reverse.

The next moment, Prometheus could only watch in fascination as the staff's body slid back into the trident's mounting before the two side prongs folded down, a trigger folding out of the main point on the bottom before Pandora brandished what looked like a rifle.

So then her weapon isn't only a trident and a spear, but it's a rifle as well? Prometheus suddenly gaped at the three-fold weapon.***

"Prometheus, seriously, don't make me do this. Neal's my friend, and eventually they might be my friends," she said motioning to Aile, Neal, and Vent with one of the fins on her helmet. At the same time, a low whining sound could be heard as the white parts of her armor began to bleed to yellow, the source being the emblem on her back that was spinning within its mount.

"Really? You think just because you got a little upgrade that you can take me?" Prometheus asked as he got to his feet. "Well then, if you think you've got what it takes, then give it all you got! Come on! Right here! I'll even benefit you by not moving!" he shouted as he pat his chest.

"Fine then. You asked for it," Pandora said as she steeled her resolve and took aim at her brother. "Nova... BLAST!" she called out as her rifle-shaped weapon released a charged shot as large as herself, the recoil sending her flying backwards into the air as the massive silver-colored blast sparking with electricity tore through the air with a thunderous roar. Prometheus, awed by the force of the attack, was unable to raise his scythe in time to block the attack, taking the full force of the attack head on, his feet skidding against the Grand Nuage's roof before his body punched through the railing, a massive column of smoke rising before he reached the edge of the figurehead at the ship's bow. When the smoke cleared, while Prometheus himself was okay, his armor was slightly smoking, his scythe held limply at his side as he smirked.

"If this is where you want to stay... I won't force you to leave..." Prometheus panted. "However, if any of you... do anything to her..." he said looking at the three. "I'll come back here and kick your asses," he said before he fell off the figurehead. Calling out, Pandora ran to the figurehead, only to be slip off when the Grand Nuage suddenly shifted to the right, the ship Prometheus arrived on flying off to the right as he caught himself on its roof using his scythe.

"Prometheus..." Pandora sighed as she fell to her knees, de-merging as Neal came up to her, clearly exhausted from the fight as he de-merged.

"Panora... While I'm happy that you showed up, I have to ask... Where did you get those?" he asked motioning to the dual biometal in her hands.

"Well... It was really weird. When the two of them came at me, I thought those two pieces of Model W had... well... come back for me, but..." Pandora trailed off as she thought back onto what happened.

Flashback Start (Being Narrated)

It was a few minutes after the attack on the Grand Nuage was announced. At the moment, everyone who didn't need to be in the halls retreated to either their rooms or the nearest ones. For the majority of the ship, that left only her out in the halls as she tried to make her way to the roof. However, she just couldn't seem to make her way to the roof.

The next moment however, a red and blue ball of light, each containing something within, suddenly rushed at her. Thinking that the two Model W fragments had come back for her since they exuded the same feel, she quickly recoiled and waited for the torment to start only again, only for nothing to happen. Opening her eyes a few moments later, she saw a pair of magatama-shaped biometal with white faceplates looking back at her.

"Hey there Pandora," the red one said in a feminine voice.

"How're you doing?" the blue one asked, also in a feminine voice.

"Um... I'm... fine..." the greenette returned weakly, not really believing what she was hearing.

"Well then. I guess you're wondering why we're here-"

"And how we're as we are now. That's easy enough-"

"To explain, but we'll do that later. For now-"

"We need to get you to the roof. Neal and Mr. Elpizo need your help," the blue one finished, Pandora tracing their speech patterns to finishing one another's sentences.

"Um... Okay, but before we get to the roof, I have to ask..." Pandora returned. "Just who or what are you?"

"I'm Crea," the red biometal spoke as a hologram of a red-haired girl appeared around it, her hair styled up with pink streamers forming horn-like points, and garbed in a pink purple-striped outfit with a ribbon on her chest and a disconnected kendama toy in her hands.

"And I'm Prea," the blue biometal spoke as a hologram of a red-haired girl appeared around it, her hair styled like the other but pointed down behind her head and was bound with black streamers, her outfit burgundy with crimson stripes and a bow on her chest, a yo-yo hanging lazily off her finger.

"And we're... the Cyber Elf Sisters, now Dual Biometal Model C and Model P," they both chorused together as flame-shaped wings in their opposing colors flickered to life out of golden bases floating above their backs.****

Flashback End

"And that's how it all happened," she finished, causing silence to reign for a few minutes before Vent decided to callously break it.

"The fuck?"

Smack

"Ow!" he cried having been smacked across the face by Aile, who had yet to de-merge, and thus having given him quite the slapping to the de-merged brunette.

Back then, when that guy's right hook got me, for a second I thought I was going to de-merge, Prometheus thought to himself a few minutes later as he laid back against the wall of the ship. The sensation of it was like the power leaving his body before you returned to normal, but never until now did he feel that sensation since Model W was implanted into him. Now however...

Would it be possible for me to de-merge? To regain my original body and yet keep Model W's power at the same time? he asked himself as he looked down at his hands, the monitor flaring to life a moment later catching his attention and breaking him from his musings.

"Prometheus. I have received confirmation that you have failed in your mission."

"I recall you saying to retreat if conditions were not favorable."

"That is correct, though I still wish to know the reason."

"The magenta-armored kid used his Dark powers, and was stronger than initially suspected. I figured you wouldn't want him gaining an additional edge. Especially if he can replicate my Fire Skull attack."

"That is true. What of Pandora?"

"She's fine. They've found a way to safely remove her Biometal from her from what I've gathered, but otherwise, she's alright," Prometheus returned.

"... This is most unsettling. Still it does not change our plans a bit. I assume they didn't learn anything?"

"As far as they know, this was an isolated incident, led and executed by me. They shouldn't have any idea of your involvement."

"... Very well. However, when you return to base, make sure you are not seen. That is all," Thomas said before the screen cut off, leaving Prometheus in the darkened room.

Hmmm... a friend, huh? Prometheus wondered as he walked over to the wall and turned on the lights. That look in her eyes as we fought, it was... determination. A look I thought I'd never see in her again, he said as he walked over to the porthole, catching a glimpse of the Grand Nuage even as it began heading in the opposite direction. For now... I'll leave her as she is. No need to tell Thomas everything, and it might even give me an edge against him in the future. Until it becomes important, I'll leave my sister in... Neal's, hands. At least he isn't the kind of guy to take advantage of her in that situation, he said before placing his hand over his stomach, his eyes narrowing before he shouted, "De-Merge!"

A little humor at the beginning, and just for the record, this won't turn into a Harem-type story. Also, just because I mentioned nudity doesn't mean there's enough of it to change the rating, so it's staying at the T-Rating it's at now. I only used the base description necessary to get the point across.

Also, flushed out Prometheus' personality a bit this time around after having done some more research. In addition, I re-designed Pandora's Biometal after running the new idea across Kuraselache, who helped me see the Plot Hole with Model M. Made it Cp (like the Double Megamerged Zx) instead of Pc for obvious reasons. That and it's Crea & Prea, not Prea & Crea.

P.S: How come no one out there is reviewing aside from two people? On the original I got a fair number, but so far only two people have been reviewing. No offense, but what gives?

Author's Notes:
* Imagine the women's side of the communal baths in Japan. Any anime will do if you need an idea, but it's mostly tiles across the floor, baths, benches, and bath pans. Steam a-plenty too.

** Guess who?

*** It's been a while since I've played Mega Man ZX, but in my mind, the Grand Nuage has five floors (like the Resistance Bases before it), and is wide enough to accommodate five rows with the third being the "Main Aisle". The engine room is on the 1st floor, the Bridge, Lab, and Transerver room are on the 3rd, and the door to the Roof is above the 5th floor, which according to the cutscene where Prometheus and Pandora storm the Grand Nuage (after you complete four missions), empties out into a garage-like room. This is also supported by pictures I've been able to catch.

**** The same kind Serpent had during Mega Man ZX. Different from the Raider ships in ZXA.

*** Both are ProtoMan's attacks from the MegaMan EXE timeline. One is the Super Chip from various games, while the other is a Giga Chip from MegaMan Battle Network 5.

** Variable Energy System: Is the device that allows Zero to use Fire, Elec, and Ice attacks without changing armor. Is similar to X's Variable Weapons System, but isn't used for replicating enemy attacks. This program is what changes Zero's various EX-Skills into elemental forms.

* Jump Knee Kick, a Fighting-Type poke'mon move used by Scrafty. I remember seeing it in Poke'mon Black & White episode 33 if I remember correctly, and it looked like a cool move.

** Zero's helmet, but white instead of red, a visor like Ryuusei no Rockman's, and a diamond-shaped emblem on the forehead. Just without the points behind the earguards.

*** Pandora's new weapon is like the Gokai Spear that Gokai Silver from Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger wields.

**** If my description wasn't clear enough, Crea and Prea's "avatars" (X self-projecting his robed form from his Cyber Elf body) resemble Mirabo and Maribo from the PS2 game Samurai Legends: Musashi Miyamoto, the twin Maidens of Fire. Just with flaming cyber elf-esque wings.