Vent was at a bit of a loss on why he was so hesitant to open the package- he had already lived through a rather nasty can of worms this past week, so how was this one going to be any different?
'Just open the stupid thing already and get this over with!' Model F suddenly demanded, almost causing Vent to jump out of his skin for a moment. 'I'd like to see what is in this thing before Prairie decides her scanners are working again.'
'Model F…' Model H sighed, 'You can access Vent's memories just as well as the rest of us. You know exactly what's in the package whether Vent opens it or not.'
Model F then gave a rather miffed scoff. 'And you know full and damn well that I don't like waiting in suspense. Just get it over with Vent.'
The boy let out a heavy sigh. "Alright," he agreed. "Alright, alright." Then he started to work to open the package. In a few moments, he was pulling out the very object Sho had to break down Juno's door to get: a photograph. The photograph wasn't too old, if his memory served him right, as Juno had brought it back with her when she returned to Giro Express.
The picture in question was not a photograph of Juno- it was a Reploid with light green hair and blood red eyes. The Reploid was positioned so that her back was slightly facing the camera, and her head was turned just slightly as if someone had caught her doing something inappropriate. The cheeks on the Reploid was flushed and her expression looked just as flustered.
'I remember this photograph…' Model Z decided to announce. 'Girouette and Juno were discussing it when she was moving back in. She was quite fond of the picture because it was candid, and captured the (in her own words) 'natural adorableness' of that Reploid.'
"Did Juno ever give her a name?"
'Dora, I think. But I feel that it was implied as a nickname.'
Knowing this information, Vent looked back at the photograph with new thoughts. If this truly was Pandora before Model W took control of her and Prometheus, then Vent was starting to see why she would be more hostile toward him. But as he tried to rationalize his enemy's hatred of him based on shared relations, another nagging thought came to mind: This was what Model W did to innocent people…
If Vent wasn't terrified of Model W before, he was pretty certain that he would be now.
. . .
Meanwhile, Aile was spending her downtime playing with Rush in the control center- Prairie didn't particularly mind, and it was mostly a way for Aile to know exactly when they found Model W's signal. At a certain point, Prairie became distracted at Aile and Rush and turned to look at them. Instead of telling them to be more quiet, she just looked at them and smiled.
"Aile..." the commander spoke up, earning the girl's attention, "I'm sorry that I keep putting Vent and your lives at jeopardy. If there had been a way for you two to meet without this war around us, trust me when I say that we would have done it. Maybe if we had, Giro wouldn't be..."
Aile tilted her head at Prairie curiously; Rush seemed oblivious to this and started to lick Aile's face happily.
"Prairie," the girl then cautiously started, "Did you have feelings for him…?"
Suddenly, Prairie's face flushed a deep red as she gave Aile a flabbergasted look. "W-what?! No! Outside of the Guardians, I… I didn't even know him. And he was… happy with Juno. And Vent. They were his entire world, and he loved them more than anything."
"But…?"
"Sis… Sis had built him. She created him to look similar to-"
"Someone you cared about." Aile cut in. "Or someone that had cared about you, and your Sis."
It took Prairie a while to answer, but eventually she nodded and agreed with, "Yeah. Someone exactly like that."
"Commander," one of the girls in operations spoke up, "We have confirmation of Model W's location."
"Pull it up on screen." Prairie requested, turning her chair around. Aile got up too, to get a better look at the screen as well. Rush trotted behind with his tail wagging eagerly. After Prairie typed in the coordinates, an image of the building in question was displayed before them.
"It's the Slither Inc. building." Aile remarked.
"Aile," Prairie then instructed, "I'm going to add the mission data to the transerver. Could you go find Vent and get there immediately?"
"Of course!" Aile agreed. "Come on Rush."
The dog let out an enthused bark as the two started to leave the control room. Before they did, Aile turned back to the commander.
"And Prairie?"
"Yes?"
"Please don't feel bad about what could or could not have happened. I'm grateful that you've given me this opportunity. It's because of you that we've been able to fight for what's important."
Before Prairie could give her humbled reply, Aile and Rush left the control room.
. . .
"Why does this place have to be so freaking gorgeous?" Aile idly bemoaned once she and Vent had entered Slither Inc. "Aren't villain lairs supposed to be dark, and horrifying, and… I dunno, menacing?"
Vent gave an absent shrug as he looked around Slither Inc's main lobby. The room was adorned with rather expensive looking chandeliers that seemed almost untouched by the Maverick activity inside the building.
"Maybe it gets worse as we go?" Vent suggested.
"Or maybe Serpent had a bigger ego than what everyone thought." Aile mumbled in return. Giving another indifferent shrug at the notion, the two continued onwards in their quest to find Serpent.
The two quickly made their way upwards in Slither Inc's vast building. They made pretty decent time until they came upon a room filled haphazardly with capsules- a small, frantically glowing orb inside each of them made the two stop and stare.
"Cyber Elves…!" Vent realized.
"Why are there so many…?" Aile questioned as well. The duo then turned to each other to see their increasingly paled complexions before quickly moving further in.
At the end of the hall was a door that led into another room, this one was also filled with far too many trapped Cyber Elves, along with a piece of Model W. Standing near Model W was Serpent, admiring the malignant Biometal thoughtfully. When he noticed Aile and Vent's entrance, he turned to them and gave a crafty sneer.
"You must be wondering why we need so many Cyber Elves to awaken Model W..." the Reploid teased to the children. "As if children like you could ever understand that! Their fright… It becomes the power that drives Model W!"
"What?!" the twins exclaimed as the ground started to shake beneath them.
Serpent only let out a satisfied chuckle as he withdrew a smaller fragment of Model W's body.
"Model W, it's time!" the insane Reploid declared as he held the Biometal high in the air. "The despair and fear of this country are yours!"
Reacting to the command, the Biometal let out a sonic screech of pain that broke all the containers in the room. Vent and Aile had to cover their ears in defense- the screech almost too deafening to ignore. The Cyber Elves that had been trapped in the containers floated to Model W with a struggling resistance, looking as if they were being pulled to Model W against their wills.
"By joining us, the weak are freed from their suffering!" Serpent continued, his pitch gaining a hysterical tone to it. "The chosen one, Mega Man, will save the people! That is the glory of Project Haven!"
"How is sacrificing the people of this country going to save them?!" Aile demanded, readying Model X's buster for a fight.
"Our power is the result of many sacrifices, child." Serpent then hissed at her. "We are the chosen ones. It is destiny for the last of our kind to rule. Model W is not about destruction; it is about rebirth and evolution! Survival of the fittest! It's the classic struggle for life!" Serpent turned to Vent before adding, "Look at you! You're only able to stand before me today thanks to the power of Model Z absorbed from that red Mega Man! Everything has been leading up to this moment. Just… us… three!"
Cackling, Serpent welcomed Model W's power as if finished absorbing the last Cyber Elves and quickly transformed into his own Mega Man armor.
"Your fear and despair combined with my joy in victory… They shall be the ultimate gift to Model W!" Serpent declared with a nasty grin before charging at the duo. Aile released her charged shot at him, just barely getting out of the way in time. The hit landed, but Serpent was still coming at them.
"Aile!" Vent unintentionally shouted, charging up the Z saber. The boy made a triangle kick at a nearby wall and managed to hit Serpent from above. The attacked stunned the Maverick for a moment before he recovered, and attempted to kick Vent with his overpowered strength.
"Hey Serpent!" Aile shouted, now Merged with Model P, "Think fast!" Without any other warning, Aile fired nothing short of a small torrent of kunais at Serpent, each one landed on him with great precision and force that it caused him to stagger back. Quickly switching to Model F, Vent charged Model F's busters to full force and unleashed a double attack that caused Serpent enough damage that he fell to the ground.
From the ground, despite being clearly beaten, the insane Reploid started to laugh.
"What's so funny, Serpent?" Aile questioned him with some hostility. Serpent didn't seem to acknowledge her as she warily started to come closer. As she walked over, she noticed something purple pulsating at Serpent's fingertips. By the time she realized what it was, the last words she could hear was Vent shouting her name, and the world going black.