Birds tweeted happily as the morning sun rose. Clad in soft blankets of clouds, the sun slowly rose grudgingly into the sky, awakening those who lived in sight of it. A gentle breeze stirred, rustling the curtains in Omega's hanger and filling the room with the scent of morning dew. The familiar smell of dust seemed different than the red demon was accustomed to, but the red demon paid no heed. Instead Omega merely rustled under the covers of his bed, clawing the pillows he rested on.
Wait... hadn't he torched those?
He awoke with a start, glancing around the room with worry. The room had shrunk? What? And he had a bed, and where was his ship?!
Wait... this wasn't his hangar.
Omega settled down as his foggy mind finally caught up to his frenetic body, calming its movements and allowing his memory to return, clarifying his confusion. No, this definitely wasn't his hangar... it was Legion. The memories of yesterday's adventures came to him, and his tail swatted the air once in annoyance. He did it again for good measure.
I still have the darn tail? He thought, growling. His ears twitched, confirming that he still had those too. A lick of his chops at least gave him the satisfaction that they weren't quite the same as last night. His fangs had shortened considerably, but still poked out from under his lips even when closed. Inspecting his claws, Omega didn't fail to notice that the blanket he lay on had some rips in it, presumably from his sleeping on it throughout the night. Despite his restful slumber, he must have been moving around a bit and accidentally damaged it. Oh well.
He got up, stretching while doing so. Further surveying of his new room room showed nothing more to explore in it, so he set his sights on the door and the world outside. Sadly, upon reaching it he found it locked. Unable to open it, he resolved that opening it by force really wouldn't sit well with his captors. That didn't stop him from banging on it in frustration.
Thetis, on the other side, was startled from his impromptu nap when the surface he was leaning on began to vibrate with a resounding bang. He yelped and shot up, giving the portal a disdainful look as it rumbled again. However, realizing what it meant, he gave the occupant a holler. "Hey, morning in there, sleepy-head! Took you long enough to get up!"
Omega, on the other side, gave a snort and responded, slightly amused from having caught the Water Mega Man unawares, "Yeah yeah, whatever. Just let me out! I'm bored!"
Thetis rolled his eyes. It seemed, obviously, that the neko virus still had a hold on the mercenary. He replied accordingly, "Hey, you still have a tail, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry then, I can't do that. Master's orders."
Omega growled, "I don't care what the Masters say, I want out! Go get that Mikhail guy, or whatever his name is, if you have to! Just let me out!" he roared impatiently through the door, making Thetis jump. Tackling the barrier heartily to show his intentions, Omega snarled again. However, the door was reinforced. Thetis didn't jump the second time, but gave the blank surface behind him a level stare.
"I'd be a little more respectful of him if I were you, but, then again, if I were you, I wouldn't be in such a situation. Alright, I'll go see if I can get him, but it might take a while!" Thetis walked away, taking his time while the irate God of Destruction gave the door a final whack for good measure. Getting no response, he turned away. With nothing better to do, Omega returned to gazing around his new home, pondering a course of action. A window proved the only interesting distraction, so he went to it. It was a simple, square affair, still open from yesterday. A fresh breeze came in through it, ruffling the plain curtains bordering it. He tried to open it further, but found that it would not open much more from what it already was. Omega managed to stick his head and shoulders through the open window, but more struggling left him with the realization that his hips couldn't fit through thanks to various angles at play. Sighing with frustration, he looked down at the busy street far, far below. Noting to himself that it would be inconvenient to try and escape through there (he was pretty sure he'd be spotted on his way down), he sighed and resigned himself to just enjoying the view.
He heard a telltale sound to his right, and had to squirm uncomfortably to see that it was a megamerged Aeolus creating the noise. The Wind Mega Man, out for his version of a morning walk, had noticed the curious reploid long before he had noticed him. Making a beeline for the window, Aeolus had to stop and cling to the wall for a few moments after every few air-dashes to recharge his wings.
Omega noted this, wondering if the person who had designed the Model H had known to compensate extra propulsion into Harpuia's previous flight systems to compensate for organic or normal reploid weight. Not everyone was as lightweight in design as Harpuia after all. Sadly for the Model H, Mega Man, that didn't seem to be the case. While Harpuia could have flown continuously, it appeared that the Model H mega man needed to take breaks. As Aeolus neared the window, Omega frowned, growling at the intruder. He laid his ears flat in a threatening gesture.
The Wind Mega Man noticed this. He stopped, curious, then laughed. Taunting Omega from just out of reach, he performed some fantastic aerial maneuvers and sped off. Omega barked at him in anger, but couldn't do a thing in retaliation. Feeling rather cocky from this success, Aeolus flew off. From Omega's viewpoint, he watched as the Mega Man flew speedily towards Siarnaq. The Shadow Mega Man was also on his version of a morning walk, one that involved far more balancing than the usual. You had to be good at balance when your walk consisted of going along the miniscule ledges of an immense skyscraper.
Currently Siarnaq was hanging from a flagpole, keeping an eye on Omega. It seemed that Omega would have a literal and figurative shadow trailing him. He knew Phantom's history as a bodyguard, so him being a watchdog wasn't all that different. The red reploid snorted derisively at him all the same. As Aeolus scaled the building, Siarnaq merely watched blankly as Aeolus came closer. He obviously wasn't expecting Aeolus to have a mischievous streak this morning, so it took both him and Omega by surprise when Aeolus twanged the flagpole, dislodging the poor Shadow Mega Man and dropping him right on the mercenary gawking beneath.
With his hips still stuck in the sill, he couldn't dodge as Siarnaq hit the window, snapping it shut tightly on him. Winded, his back and stomach now hurting, he could only watch as Siarnaq, limbs flailing wildly in the open air, scrambled to dig his grappling claws into the side of the building. With an angry glint in his eyes, the ninja jumped back up to pursue the guffawing Aeolus.
With a few gasps of air, Omega managed to regain his composure and wiggle his way back into the room. As he closed the glass opening, he couldn't help but smirk when the aerial Mega Man squawked and a few kunai clattered innocently back down to earth. One even chinked off his window.
As the devil reploid continued to gaze out the window and nurse his belly, the door behind him opened. He looked, curious. Thetis, megamerged, had just dropped a small box by the opening. His lance was held out to ward away any attempts Omega might have to try and get out.
"Hey there! Sorry, Mikhail's busy at the moment. He'll be along in an hour or two though, it's a slow day. Here's some of your stuff by the way. Some of our guys brought it from your hanger."
Omega eyed the box suspiciously, but it seemed to be in order. Atlas appeared behind Thetis just as the dueling pair outside fell by the window in a tangle of limbs.
"Are they at it again?" Thetis questioned, "I've never seen two guys more obsessed with fighting..."
Atlas hit Thetis lightly over the head, "Don't you see what they're doing? They're sparring! Duh! As Mega Men, it's important for us to keep our skills top-notch! They're being responsible!"
Thetis looked at her doubtfully, "But, don't we have arenas here for that? Why would they do it outside, and on a skyscraper for that matter?"
Atlas rolled her eyes, "All the arenas are flat. You can't keep up your skills for a battle if you fight in the same arena all the time! You need to be prepared for any environment!"
Thetis did a double take, realizing her wisdom, "Oh, I see! Wow, they're so cool! Hey, want to go spar? I'm not so sure about using the side of a building, but even flat, those arenas are sounding pretty good right now! Besides, I've never sparred before."
Atlas looked at him, aghast, "Are you serious Thetis! We have to go change that, right now!" She proceeded to drag the youthful Mega Man from the room, waving a quick goodbye to Omega as she shut and locked his door on the way out.
Omega shook his head at their misjudgment of the situation. He looked back out the window, wondering whether or not to keep watching the pair. He wasn't too keen on getting the Shadow Mega Man dropped on him again, though, so he settled for inspecting what items the other two Mega Men had brought him. As he rooted trough the contents, he noticed that it was pretty much all clothes and a few other odds and ends. The contents were thrown haphazardly into the box, as if there had been some sort of rushed inspection of them. Frowning, Omega had to fold his clothes back up before he could store them in a dresser. His bucket and comb, which he unburied after lifting out another shirt, were dropped onto the bathroom counter for later use.
As he was taking out a pair of pants, the article of clothing crumpled into a ball, he noticed that there was something in the pocket. It was his wallet, still holding his money, the raider's card, and his keys. He gave a sigh of relief; apparently, whomever had searched his items hadn't done a very good job of it. This was very lucky for him. The raider card was one thing, but... His sinister charm glinted ominously as he admired it, twirling it in the light. No one remembered what Omega stood for, but if anyone had mentioned the wayward object to Copy X, well, that might not have turned out so innocently. He wondered how much sway Copy X had in Legion, then ignored that thought as there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it for now. Still, the possible consequences made him grimace a bit. He removed the object from his keychain and looked around, spotting a bit of string left over from the ball Pandora had brought in earlier. Sticking it unceremoniously on the side-table by his bed, he quickly crafted a necklace for himself with the charm acting like a dog-tag. He hid it under his shirt and returned to arranging his new den.
There was no sign of Mikhail by that time. An hour had already passed, and with no sign of the Legion Master, Omega realized that it might take longer for the sage to appear than Thetis had claimed. Another thing uirked him. He hadn't gotten his weapon back yet. The blonde growled grumpily; of all the thing's they'd glanced over in his inspection, it seemed that his weapon wasn't one of them. Drat. Then again, there was still more in the box. As Omega removed the last article of clothing from the small crate, his hopes to find his weapon were crushed. The only thing left was the book the old woman had given him.
He stood up, putting away the and muttering unintelligible threats under his breath. Legion was going to pay for this later. Mikhail was still absent, though, which meant that he was going to have to wait even longer for his revenge. With nothing else he could think of doing, he stared at the book. After all, it was either the book or another round of mediation. Meditation was nice, but curiosity won the round and he flopped onto the bed with the old text.
It was interesting to say the least. Hand-written lyrics were combined with stylized pictures of multiple characters, all of whom, despite their ingenious camouflage, he identified. At the end of it, he looked up at the ceiling and grinned.
"Ciel, you smart little bitch." Tales of the Sky. Of all the tidbits of information about him (or lack thereof) he'd seen while looking for himself in Legion's informational servers, all he'd found was mention of the book he held lightly in his grasp. History may have forgotten him, but someone hadn't. "Poor thing, you. Despite your great attempt at preserving history, whatever wiped it out didn't entirely spare you, did it?" he grated at the book. Omega had never really cared about Ciel, but the fact that she'd sided with Zero really didn't help when it came to his dislike of her. On the last page of the ancient book, he noticed a small little sentence scratched onto the back cover.
So shall thy Eternity fall and burn,
upon the day of the Demon's return.
He stared at it for a second, then laughed. "Eternity? Was that the Ouroboros!? Hahaha, Ciel, whomever wrote this here was the only one who believed you! What a shame that no one else will."
Omega was euphoric at the book. So humored was he that, in a fit of mischief, he used his newly acquired claws to inscribe a reply to the mysterious quote. Of course, he wrote in in the oldest language he knew. If anyone ever saw his reply, they would understand it about as much as the rest of the book. It was somehow hilarious to him, and he kept laughing. "You're right, I'm back. And there's nothing you dead wretches can do about it! Hah hah hah hah haa!"
He was so preoccupied with this that he didn't notice Mikhail enter the room with a slightly ruffled looking Siarnaq at his side. The sage gave him a confused look.
"I don't remember that story being a comedy."
Omega snapped his mouth shut, caught off guard. The two walked towards him, Siarnaq acting sentinel. Mikhail held out his hand, "May I see that?" Reluctantly, the book was handed over. After a quick inspection the old man's eyes shot right up, "Oh, this is the original? However did you get your hands on it?"
Omega shrugged, "Don't know, some old hag handed it to me. I'm done with it now, though."
"You won't mind me keeping it, then? It is an artifact, after all," replied the sage, who pocketed it without another moment to lose. Omega was instantly put-out from being cheated of his belonging, but made no visible protest. Model P hovered by his face, turning to Siarnaq.
"Siarnaq, we should be careful around him. He is hiding it, but he's feeling aggressive at the moment," warned the floating object.
Siarnaq nodded. Mikhail inquired, "Oh, did he say something?"
The Shadow Mega Man motioned a yes as the biometal returned to its owner. Omega took note of the fact that only the Mega Man seemed able to understand the biometal, apart from from him. He wondered if it was like some sort of cyber-elf thing. Not all reploids had been able to understand cyber-elves back in the day, something about data codes. Maybe it was a similar thing here? The other two finished a short conversation while Omega was pondering. Mikhail turned to him, "Well, anyways. Would you come with me? We need to get you set up with an ID."
Omega rose, suspicion riding on his features. Siarnaq hovered protectively by Mikhail, but shot Omega an unemotional stare that dared him to let the ninja use force. Omega conceded. He'd rather not fight the Mega Man unarmed. He kept his distance as he followed the two as they trekked through the halls of Legion. They entered an elevator, the object slowly lowering them through Legion headquarters.
The first process of getting an ID, it seemed, was getting a picture, the group stoppping i a room full of computers and cameras. After that, there was more walking to the records department where he told them he was a desert hermit, and let the others attempt to explain the rest. And then there was even more wandering around to another records room, going to the printing department, and so on.
Then there was the matter of a name. Still avoiding the subject, the red reploid dealt with it by simply telling them, "Whatever you want." Mihkail frowned, dissatisfied, so Omega ended up telling him the name given to him by the Gem Gang (against his better judgment, he thought silently). The Master seemed confused by it, but since "Blood Diamond" was as much as the red demon was willing to give, it was accepted and that was that.
Legion was large, and it took the better part of the day to get it all done. Mikhail and Siarnaq watched him like a hawk the whole time. Omega was pretty sure that, as a Master of Legion, the old coot should have more important things to do than watch one guy get an ID. Then again, if he was being put up that high on the old man's priority list, he was going to have to watch his footing very closely.
Despite the fact that he was deeply entrenched in his own thoughts, Omega couldn't help but notice that they were now just a few floors above ground level. Gazing around, he came to a startling conclusion when his eyes traced a series of long, sharp grooves in the floor.
He whirled, staring down Master Mikhail, "You! We're heading to the medical department, aren't we?"
Mikhail tensed, but replied, "Yes, we are. Like you were told yesterday, we need to see what the neko virus has done to your body. Your checkup doesn't need to occur immediately, but the sooner the better if something's been affected."
Siarnaq had calmly megamerged during the explanation, stepping in front of the Master protectively. Omega narrowed his eyes. His tail cracked the air aggressively. However, a sound behind him brought the attention of his ears, and he gave it a quick glance.
Vent and Aile, both megamerged in the ZX form, blocked any hopes of escape down the hall.
The sight of a familiar foe, the red reploid Zero, roused Omega's rage.
Omega snarled viciously, his eyes glowing red with anger. Hackles were raised and teeth bared at the Zero look-alikes. Aile was unnerved that he had shifted so quickly back into his snarling, feral mood. Omega shook his head suddenly, snorting. Calming himself down, he mentally chided himself for being so quick to anger at the appearance of the fake Zeros. This reaction was met with no small amount of relief from those present. Without warning Omega jumped to a large, open window, looking back at the sage, "Oi. I don't really want to be examined today. I've already been through enough already, thanks."
He jumped out the window.
Upon looking down, he realized that he should really have watched where he was going to land first. "Reeeooooowwwwrr!"
Splash!
The four he'd left behind looked calmly down at him from above. Mikhail smiled, "Well, fair enough I suppose. Some other time then?" He smirked and left. After a laugh, the others left as well.
Omega dragged himself from the pond, sopping wet. The cat part of him was thoroughly pissed off at himself for his lack of grace.
That, and you got yourself wet you idiot. Wet!
Cat and wet do not mix.
The great God of Destruction, in all his neko glory, padded into a corner to sulk.
After a good half hour of being disgusted at nothing in particular, Omega realized that no one had bothered to follow up in trying to catch him. Part of his pride demanded he be miffed at that, but realized the same thing that the Legionnaires must have. With him captured by them, they could do what they wanted at their own leisure. Why rush to get something done when you could do it whenever you wanted? Besides, they probably had more pressing matters to take care of, being a world government and all.
Instead of falling to the cat's instinct of correcting their abysmally disrespectful behavior towards him, he decided to do some meditation. Before settling down to do so, he inspected his surroundings for potential threats. Omega was currently situated in a small courtyard garden, heavily overgrown with leafy, concealing foliage. It must have been a less popular garden, for there was only one entrance in or out and he hadn't heard the thing open or close the whole time he'd been there. The late afternoon sun blazed on its slow descent to the horizon, casting long, dark shadows in the small space.
Satisfied, he closed his eyes and began with a systems check. He was more than a little shocked to find some sort of reminder from his potential systems!
Potential systems upgrade completed. DNA-Ashe, DNA-Grey and DNA-Model A similarities analyzed. Data synthesis complete, EX Combo information uploaded. Initiate EX Combo testing systems?
Omega blinked, but decided to see what it was all about. He read through the uploaded information. Then, he grinned, a malicious, triumphant smile that would've scared the daylights out of any being sad enough to have seen it. Well, that Ex Combo thing needed to be tested out, didn't it? Why not here? First, to choose a DNA. He chose one randomly, and with a victorious roar, he yelled out the name of the EX Combo.
"A-TRANS!"
x-x-x-x-x
Over the garden, birds rose in terror, screeching loudly to drown out the memory of the frightening event they'd heard.
It was not the triumphant roar that had scared them.
It was the resulting scream.
x-x-x-x-x
Omega, in a foreign body, lay gasping in pain. He writhed in agony as his systems screamed warnings at him.
Warning. Pain Recognition Systems overloaded. Temporary shutdown activated. Potential system loaded. Initiating recovery response...
Grey and Ashe, the Model A Mega Men, had one gift from Albert that neither of them realized. The Model A was designed that, during transformation, when organs melted and changed, bone structures shifted, and skin and armor ripped apart or reformed, they didn't feel it. In a merciful design, Albert had included programming where, during the transformation, the part of the nervous system responsible for pain recognition was blocked.
Omega didn't have that luxury.
As he lay in dull shock, his systems rebooting, he could do little but stare straight ahead. Red demon or not, the sheer amount of pain had struck him dumb. His internal systems were racing, trying to figure out where things were, and why they were suddenly two inches to the left, a centimeter too far to the right, or not there altogether. His potential system, whatever the hell that damned thing was, was apparently trying to reconfigure this or reprogram that, and it was messing him up rather well, his mental state nearly shattered in shock. Slowly, however, he recovered, moving his legs awkwardly.
The pain was gone, and his sense of touch returned. Even so, he took his sweet time regrouping himself.
His first attempts at getting back up were laughable. Omega first tried using his hands, having forgotten that he didn't have them anymore. The new additions to his form, the wings, proved too cumbersome for such a purpose, causing him to flop back to earth. This time Omega used his legs, raising himself as the burning tail cut through the air to retain his balance.
As he finally stood up, he looked at himself for the first time through Devilbat Ignis' eyes.
Familiar claws gouged the earth, his wings beginning to burn like they had for her. The tail was already fiery and now threatened to burn the foliage he was hiding in. If it hadn't been for his recent episode with the neko virus, the large ears would have proven hard for him to balance on his head. Omega flexed his monstrous forelimbs experimentally. They crackled and groaned with a lustful burning, seeking to devour the skies.
The skies... The God of Destruction turned his baleful glare to them.
Well, since he had just gone through so much trouble getting them... he might as well use them! With one powerful, meaningful stroke of those magnificent wings, he was off!
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Elsewhere, business as usual had come to a grinding halt.
With the mercenary safely tucked away in Legion, Siarnaq had come to Hunter's camp with the intention to investigate their charge further. Legion had not requested he do this; he'd come of his own volition. Part of his reasoning was to make sure nothing had been left behind when Legion staff had inspected the hangar sand seized everything within. Although it wasn't widely know, Legion staff were notorious for occasionally being lazy with a job. The ninja wanted to ensure nothing had gotten looked over. Sometimes people simply didn't know what to look for, after all.
Unfortunately, the earlier commotion of emptying the hangar (seizing a jet wasn't exactly easy or subtle) had attracted a bit of a crowd. Siarnaq had sighed at seeing a small group of people hanging around the empty building, no doubt a bunch of looters or something. This would make his job quite a bit harder, unless of course he intimidated them away with Model P.
Oh, if only it had been that simple.
The group, a ragtag bunch of fighters calling themselves the Gem Gang (hadn't he heard of them before from somewhere?), were not at all intimidated by seeing a fully megamerged Mega Man stalking towards them. In fact, it had exactly the opposite effect. The next thing he knew there had been a heated interrogation about their missing friend (apparently he'd been their ally for a while) and some accusations about, "How dare you treat him like a criminal! What has he even done!?" from a particularly shrill redhead. The woman was nigh on furious with him, as were the others, and no amount of explaining a potentially contagious virus seemed to dissuade them.
In fact, that little tidbit of information ended up with him getting stared down by the whole group. He wasn't too scared of this of course, but even the Shadow Mega Man had to admit to some... unnerving novelty when a pair of twins, a hulking behemoth of a man in green, three women in assorted colours, a purple sniper and a very determined man in white all decided to glare at you simultaneously. Especially the white one. You could tell who was the leader by his force of presence alone, although really, it was more of a 'notice me or else jerk' aura than anything actually intimidating.
They questioned him relentlessly until he admitted that their former member was on the mend. Siarnaq finally managed to convince them to shove off once he explained the situation as fully as Legion clearances would allow. As the group was leaving, the leader turned and gave him one final stare-down.
"He's our friend, and we may know less than you do about him, but if I hear you started anything with him or tried to hurt him...!"
The threat was left unfinished, the group stomping off. Finally free of them, Siarnaq let out a small sigh of relief before looking into the hangar. No luck. It had been thoroughly emptied. If there had been anything left behind by the Legion staff searching it, the Gem Gang had no doubt caught onto it and gotten away with it. Mission failed, Siarnaq returned home, unaware that his charge was also on a mission of his own.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Sneaking out of Legion had been pathetically easy. Omega knew that he'd be returning to that garden often. There were no cameras there, and after a certain distance, there were none higher up either. He'd left uninterrupted with but a few tentative flaps and looks behind him to ensure that no one in Legion had noticed his departure. Currently the fiery bat from hell was soaring gracefully high above the clouds, out of sight from the occasional person who looked up.
He traveled far, jubilant with his new ability. Flying was so opposite to life on the ground! He couldn't believe it! Before, he'd lived centuries stuck on or in the earth, forced to consider his range of motion on a flat plane. Now he could go literally anywhere! It was the great transition from 2D to 3D. It wasn't the netherworld, a prison with nothing but walls and spikes! It was empty, free air!
"Scrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
If the devilbat's face could have smiled, Omega knew he'd have the stupidest looking grin possible plastered all over it right now. Flying was amazing! He finally understood how Harpuia, so long ago, could have been so arrogant when dealing with others. After all, how could they know the freedom that he did? Other people were nothing but fools crawling all over a rotten chunk of land!
Of course, those fools were also the ones who controlled everything. How ironic.
In a hit of daring, Omega decided to dive through the clouds. Regardless of life and newly transformed limb, he dropped towards the surface far below him. Nothing but ocean and icebergs met his view, for he had flown far out from land. Banking steeply, he managed to avoid a potentially fatal crash on the water's surface, racing over it with as much speed as he could muster. He was having fun. A lot of fun. Hell, there was even a dolphin jumping nearby. Said dolphin, far in the distance, was jumping towards him. Only when it got close did he start to swear and desperately try to gain altitude.
That was no dolphin!
Oceatar's grinning maw peered up at him from below curiously. "Oi, Ignis, where have you been? We thought you were all dead after your last raid!"
Omega stopped, flapping slowly. Had Oceatar and Ignis been friends? This might be a useful conversation to him. He replied as best as he could, trying to be as convincing as possible, "Oh, around. Should it matter?" In the meantime, he desperately tried to remember what Ignis' personality had been like. He vaguely remembered her being quite the jerk, actually.
Thankfully, his voice had changed with his body to help with his act. Oceatar started swimming lazily in circles, laughing, "Yeah, you idiot, it does!"
Spotting a nearby platform of ice, Omega flew to it. It was a large expanse of frozen tundra, gleaming white in the last rays of the sun. He perched on the edge, looking down at the marlin pseudoroid, "So it does matter? To whom? Doesn't matter to me."
Oceatar followed him from out at sea, floating beside him in the water. He turned on his side to gaze humorously at Omega. Slapping the surface of the water lightly as he laughed, Oceatar sent a teasing spray at the fiery bat before him, "Oh ho ho! I knew it! I knew you were going to defect! I saw from day one that you didn't like that Scimitar guy when he forced our group to join his!"
"Oh, really?" Omega replied dryly, cocking his head. This had gotten interesting.
Oceatar somehow managed to appear sheepish, "Er, okay, so I didn't like him. I didn't know about you, but see, I was right! Especially when he told us all to try recruiting that one miserable sod. Tch, he really ground me up when I... well, whatever. I just don't like him either! Good for you for defecting!"
Omega took off into the air, 'playfully' dive bombing Oceatar. He clipped the marine reploid with his claws lightly. "So what, were you going to defect too?"
Oceatar rolled to his stomach in the water, not even bothering to respond to the attack, "Yeah, actually. I just wasn't sure about it, but now that you've gone and done it-"
Having assumed that Omega was just dive-bombing him for fun, Oceatar was completely taken aback when the fiery pseudoroid picked him clean out of the water, depositing him on the icy plain just before the weight of the fish brought them both crashing down. Even so, Ignis' claws skittered across the ice. Oceatar flopped in a panic.
"What is the meaning of this!? Ignis!" he yelled fearfully.
"You were right about one thing," Omega spoke ominously. Oceatar managed to twist himself around in time to see a bright flash of light.
Omega, who had braced for the pain of transformation, was pleasantly surprised when it didn't hurt quite as much as it had before (still made him wince heavily, though). He ignored his systems protesting and reprogramming themselves again according to his potential system. Instead, he smiled when Scorzon's poisonous tail embedded itself deep in Oceatar's gut, releasing its paralyzing toxins.
"Devilbat Ignis died."
Another flash was all that was seen. Oceatar emitted something between a yell and a gurgle, the poison already affecting his systems, "Who are you? Model A! Is that you, you damned Model A Mega Man!?"
His theory was cut short when Omega emerged in his own body, smiling evilly.
Realizing that the Model A Mega Men would never be able to manage such an utterly demoniac expression, he choked. In sheer terror, he managed to squeak out, "Who... are you... Albert?!"
"You don't recognize me from that polar bear swim? Oh dear, I'm hurt," cooed the God of Destruction. Oceatar's eyes shot open. Paralyzed and helpless on the ice, he could do nothing. The situation from before had completely turned tables on him. Instead of staring at a defenseless victim caught in his domain, he now cowered under the might of a fully armored God of Destruction, helpless. "Albert? Hah. You wish."
The last thing he ever saw was that evil, merciless smile. And the last thing he ever heard-
"Ware wa messia nari, ah hah hah hah hah!"
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Night had fallen upon Legion, but the onset of soothing darkness brought no rest with it. The Mega Men and their friends were searching desperately for Omega, but having no luck. Pandora returned from yet another survey of some random hall, and was about to look around her room again (it was the last place she'd expect him, but at this point in the search they had to look everywhere,) when she passed another searcher along the way. A quick exchange of info and the two were back at it.
Another half hour passed when a miracle happened. Out of some desperate hope, she had decided to look in his room. Siarnaq had looked in there earlier to see if he'd given them all the slip by staying in there, but maybe...?
Omega wasn't in his room. But he was calmly walking down the hall towards it like nothing was happening. The White Witch skidded to a halt, panting. After regaining her breath, she looked up at the amused demon staring down at her. "Where the hell were you?"
He grinned down at her. She realized, right then, that that grin was far too wide. "Oh, about!" he retorted cheerfully.
Knowing full well that a guy called the God of Destruction smiling crazily couldn't possibly equate to anything good, she gulped. She figured it was her responsibility to ask, despite not wanting to know the answer, "What are you... smiling for?"
He looked confused for a second, but the smile regrew and he pointed at his head, "Ears are gone!" Pandora was taken aback. Well... that was a good reason... maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought? "Well, I'm off to have a bath!" he crowed blissfully, interrupting any further thoughts she might have had. It was just as he slipped into his room that she noticed the odd smell. It was crisp and salty, but pungent like the sea... and something else. She gave the closed door an odd look before she went off to tell the others of his return.
x-x-x-x-x
As he soaked in the tub, Omega didn't even bother trying to wipe the grin off his face. Oceatar, he had to admit, was simply the best for sea travel.
Reflecting back on the day's events, Omega scrubbed himself down with a bar of soap, erasing the smell of the sea and the blood that had been caked on him just under his shirt. After brutally slaughtering the pseudoroid, Omega had tried out the new Icebreaker EX Skill that he'd gained. It was a powerful punch that let him shatter weaker objects like wooden boxes or blocks of ice, and he was sure eager to try it on someone's face when he got the chance. That could really break a few noses, at least!
But, then again... he mused, Using the EX Skill as it was meant to be used by the pseudoroid was sure fun too. After all, without a fist to punch with, he had to use that wonderful javelin nose. It wasn't called Icebreaker for nothing! Then there was the fact that he'd surprised more than a few boats on his way back. Imagine the looks on the faces of the sailors, cautiously steering past blocks of ice, when they suddenly had a malicious-looking pseudoroid launch straight out of the water at them, ice shattering in his wake and giggling like some insane clown, only to have that same pseudoroid just flop back into the water and disappear.
Man, they had scrambled! Omega didn't need to imagine their faces, since he'd stored the memory right where he could access it when he needed a laugh. He still needed his sword back from the Legion higher-ups, but for now, he had more than enough to amuse himself with. Besides, he could always plot how to steal it back later. It was nearly midnight when the red demon finally clambered out of the tub and watched it drain.
It looked a lot like blood, slipping away from a forlorn carcass through a crack in the ice...