Morning sun broke through the canopy, leaves shiftinging against each other in a gentle frenzy. Insects and mechaniloids scuttled along branches, unconcerned with a trail of smoke rising in the distance.
The newly remodeled theme park was in trouble. Attractions were running amok, as were the mechaniloids designed to operate them. Screeches of metal and civilians alike mingled in the ashen skies. Various attractions, once colourful and fun, were being destroyed by the very creations they had housed. A rhino-themed robot overturned a bus while nearby, a caricatured lion roared towards panicked civilians. Fires were starting everywhere, children screaming for their parents and parents yelling helplessly for their lost loved ones. Overseeing this brutal affair was a giraffe. The pseudoroid chuffed at her handiwork, the satellite dishes on her head controlling the rampaging beasts. Park security hadn't stood a chance against a threat from inside, she mused with a smile.
Another mechaniloid roared. Oh what fun this was!
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Sirens blared in Legion. Omega, who was currently struggling to put a brush through his ridiculous strands of hair, listened curiously as an announcement sounded frantically over the PA system. Apparently something was under attack? He regarded the information for a few moments. Boredom, and more than a few frustrating mats in his hair, decided his next course of action. Omega left his room briskly, following the PA's instructions as it called for any available Mega Men or volunteers to help fight some sort of crisis. He spotted Siarnaq rushing through the halls. He watched the ninja dash by before promptly deciding to travel with him. The Shadow Mega Man regarded his presence with a quick glance, but the pair remained silent until they were at their destination. They were the first to arrive, although the sounds of the other warriors clanking along wasn't far off.
The location that the pair found themselves in was the Master's meeting room. The splendid glass dome covering the regal space reflected the sun brilliantly into the great hall. Thomas peered at Omega, his grizzled beard failing to hide the confused frown directed at the arrival of the normally uncooperative mercenary. The red reploid countered the unasked question with a mostly emotionless glare and a slight shrug of his shoulders, "I was curious, and bored." Thomas snorted and ignored him after this, instead focusing on the Mega Men and other Legion staff currently filing into the room at a speedy pace.
"As you're all here, I'll inform you of the situation. Time is of the essence," he started. Thetis, the last in, gasped for air, muttering to himself about the distance between the meeting room and the pools as the great redhead continued. "As you may have just seen on the news, the newly reconstructed amusement park at area H was just attacked not long ago. Park security was unable to fend off the attackers, as the assaulting force was their own mechaniloid attractions run amok. It seems that someone is controlling them. The Guardians have been made aware of the situation, and are attempting to protect survivors and put out fires. However, there are also a large amount of mechaniloids filing into the park, and the ZX Mega Men are currently struggling to keep the numbers under control. We need you Mega Men to help get the situation stable faster. Lives are at stake. As for you," he looked pointedly at Omega, "You weren't really a part of the plan, but someone has to watch you I suppose. You will be assisting the Guardians in controlling the rampaging pseudoroids, as well as attempting to rescue survivors. This goes for anyone else without combat experience as well," he finished, his gaze roving over a growing assembly.
As Omega grumbled his unwilling consent, he noticed a quick, almost imperceptible glance between Thomas and Siarnaq. Well, what do you know. He really was going to be watched. Again. As the briefing was repeated for a few stragglers, the majority made ready to go to the transporters, and subsequently the park. Before they left, Mikhail had one last thing to say.
"Make sure you find the source of the problem, and fast."
Then they were gone.
x-x-x-x-x
When they were transported in, the chaos was evident immediately. Safar animal themed mechaniloids were running amok and attempting to destroy everything in sight except each other. As he surveyed the damage being dealt, Omega noticed that the mechaniloids were not the only thing with an African appearance. Despite the damage, he noticed signs of recent renovations, including a bulldozer and crane. The bulldozer was conveniently set on fire shortly afterward by a dragonfly-like pseudoroid shrotly after he looked at it. The Mega Men looked at each other.
"Well, that was quick."
"Look like we found the boss."
Said pseudoroid promptly started, jerking its vision towards them in shock. It had multiple orange-red wings which beat the air stiffly. Four arms were spread wide, flames spurting from green orbs on its wrists, more green gems affixed to the sides of its abdomen. Another gem on its chest glowed brightly. Its long, thin antennae twitched. It took one look at the group of Mega Men before whining in a juvenile male voice, "Oh... bugger."
It flew off swiftly, clearly intent on escape. Without skipping a beat, the party made to follow. Well, most of them. Omega was jerked backwards by a hand on his shoulder. He swiveled his head to glare at the Shadow Mega Man preventing him from further movement. Before he could retort, spoke plainly, "SUBJECT B.D.'S MISSION DOES NOT INVOLVE PURSUIT OF ASSAULTING PSEUDOROID."
Omega growled, having been cheated of a good fight, but realized that there was no argument he could make against that statement. Resignedly, he sighed, allowing himself to be led away by the Mega Man. It wasn't long until another group of people came into sight, mostly consisting of green-uniformed Guardians and rattled civilians. Next to them, fending off a particularly dangerous looking rhino bot, was the female leader of the Guardians. The rhino, on its last legs, attempted a charge at the Model ZX user, but was cut in half by her skilled bladework. As Siarnaq approached, she stiffened, then relaxed after identifying him.
"Oh, it's just you. Phew."
"INQUIRY; STATISTICS OF MISSION?"
Aile huffed, a reluctant grin on her face, "Doing better than we were, at least. Vent managed to spot the attacking pseudoroid not long ago, but it's darn fast. It ran off before he could do anything about it, but he did go off and chase it. Most of the lesser mechaniloids have been dealt with, but there's a lot of them and there's more appearing all the time, so it's been a hard job keeping up with it all. In a nutshell, it's a good thing you're here. But, where's everyone else?"
Omega, sensing a similarity in her story to what happened earlier, cut in, "They're all following that pseudoroid you mentioned earlier. Fire dragonfly, right?"
Siarnaq nodded his assent as Aile grimaced, "Well, hopefully they'll be able to catch him, but... he is really quite fast. What I don't understand is why he's running away instead of attacking. Usually the pseudoroid tries to kill everything in sight and then some."
"In all fairness, ma'am, you'd be running away too if you had half a dozen or so Mega Men after you," hollered another Guardian. He was a big, burly man with blue hair and a small goatee, and was currently trying to calm a survivor. His humor managed to make the small boy giggle a bit.
Aile smiled at this, muttering aloud, "Yeah, that's a good point. It concerns me though... this isn't the first time this place has been attacked." She looked to the side, her eyes slightly glazed, and Omega caught the hint of some history between her and the park. He promptly remembered that he didn't care, instead glowering at the pair.
"So, that's fine and all, but what am I to do?"
Siarnaq stared at him blankly, as per usual, but Aile showed a bit more emotion by frowning. "Well, knowing you, I would suggest looking for more survivors. With a pseudoroid running around, I would prefer to avoid sending out my Guardians except in groups. However, even in groups, my Guardians are having enough of a time as it is just guarding these survivors here," she motioned. "Any help herding some others into our protection wouldn't go amiss."
"Fine by me. I didn't have anything better to do, really," shrugged Omega, and without further ado he twirled around and started marching in a random direction. Siarnaq pursued.
Ash and smoke drifted through the air, blowing against the pair with a harsh, dry keen. Fires illuminated whatever wasn't concealed in clouds of blackish smog or shone on by the seemingly out-of-place sun, winking occasionally from high above. Colourful slags of metal littered the ground and walls. If it wasn't for the gaudy colours and shorter styles of buildings, Omega could have sworn that he was back at the residential district from before his capture by Legion. In fact, that memory was giving him some ideas. In particular, an idea to ditch the ninja behind him.
Several different variants of his plan milled through his head, but most of them would leave a great deal of suspicion on him. It took him a while, but he finally figured something out. It only needed one thing, and it didn't take that thing long to appear. Omega, perked up when he heard a cry in the distance. "I heard someone! Over there!" He shouted, running off in the direction of the yell. He ran as fast as he could, hoping to outrun Siarnaq enough that he was beyond the ninja's sensory range. His knowledge of Phantom's abilities came in handy for this. After leading Siarnaq in a couple of circles and getting the lay of the park, he suddenly broke off to the right when he knew the ninja would be questioning his actions. "There! Now I've got it! They're over there!" As he rounded a corner, he saw Siarnaq grinding to a halt far behind, having not expected the sudden turn.
Omega moved quickly. He had indeed pinpointed a survivor. After a few more tight turns at a breakneck speed, he spotted them; a child hiding behind the rubble along a lane. He didn't have a second to lose, he knew, for this to work. Omega yelped out, as if pain.
"Oi, stop! Don't you dare- Aaiigha!"
He transformed into Devilbat Ignis right then and there, and just as the girl turned to see what was going on, he'd grabbed her. She shrieked in terror as he launched himself into the air, flying up into the sky just above the alley where he had traveled down earlier. Just as he'd suspected, Siarnaq had come running right down it, running desperately to prevent himself from losing track of his charge.
"Kyeeheeheehee! I'm going to have fun with you!" he laughed triumphantly, squeezing the girl with his claws. She cried out again, this time in pain as his claws tore into her sides. Siarnaq saw this, as he was meant to, and abruptly changed course just before he would have gone onto the lane and seen Omega missing. The ninja jumped up the side of the building, having immediately decided that the helpless girl needed more protection than some practiced mercenary. Rightly so, thought Omega: his prisoner had started bleeding a little more than was healthy.
The red reploid flapped back the way he came, making a beeline towards a ferris wheel that had warped due to the heat below. Siarnaq, jumping along the rooftops below, spared a brief glance to their destination, then sped up as much as possible. Despite him supposedly being emotionless, Omega could quite plainly see a huge amount of concern on his face for the girl. Omega cackled, deciding to have a little fun and keep in-character at the same time as he teased the ninja trailing him. "Oh, does the mysterious ninja have a soft spot for little children? Kee hee, dearie me, perhaps he does! Too bad, so sad. She's probably an orphan now, too! But come on, she deserves to die, she couldn't even defend herself! We-eak, weaaaaaaak! Come on, people should be able to protect themselves! Hah! She was just too trusting I suppose! What, did she think you were actually going to help her? Or maybe she thought she could trust others to keep her worthless little hide outta trouble? Pathetic! Haa haa haaa!"
Omega deposited the girl on top of the ferris wheel just as Siarnaq reached the bottom. The pile of sagging metal gave a spine-tingling groan, protesting the extra weight on its delicate frame. Omega glanced down at the broken lower framework of the thing, which jutted out to the sky like the ribs of some great, distorted beast. "Better get up here soon, she trusted you to help her~! Bad choice if you ask me, hee hee hee!"
Siarnaq didn't need second bidding. Something in his demeanor had changed, as if Omega had hit upon some weak spot that neither of them knew of. Fury and determination showed in his eyes as he vigorously climbed the tower of melting scrap. Omega took the hint and flew off. He looked back after he was high enough in the air, just in time to see Siarnaq reach towards the girl, and to hear the squeal as the metal gave way. Omega smiled. Whether or not the two survived wasn't his concern. In fact, he'd prefer if they didn't. Animal joy arose in his breast as he flew towards the forest, setting a few more rides on fire for good measure. Oh, how he loved it! Chaos and murder!
A file of mechaniloids was filtering through the trees towards the park. Omega saw it, and smiled. Well now, maybe there would be more fun to be had if he followed the group to its source...
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Another team of Guardians had arrived back at the main group, survivors arriving with them, when the ferris wheel broke. Aile looked over just in time to hear a scream as the ferris wheel fell, and shock hit her when she saw who was on top of it. "Guardians, to the Ferris wheel!" she ordered, although it was an order she didn't need to give. They all surged as a group, the survivors coming as well. Horror was etched on their faces. They arrived to a scene of a frighteningly large fire, and a few more survivors who had heard the scream and decided to help. The entire group chipped in, attempting to douse the flames, and for a moment Aile couldn't figure out how everything had changed. Terrified survivors had needed the seasoned Guardians to aide them, but now? Now, she thought, everyone had to at least have seen some of it. Both a Mega Man and a little girl were in danger here, and that had sparked courage in even the most jarred of survivors. Something had gone terribly wrong, and it took the peril of an innocent and a veteran together to bring everyone back from the brink of shock. It was a testament to the true character of humanity.
Finally, the fire was doused enough that she could move in. Thetis and a couple of the other Mega Men had appeared during the rescue, having either given up on the dragonfly pseudoroid or prioritized the rescue of their comrade. The only sound was the grunting of the people working and the roaring of fire. Aile soon reached the center of the tangled mass of wreckage, dreading what she might discover.
In the middle, covered by red-hot bars, was Siarnaq, the Shadow Mega Man seemingly crushed by the metal. He was curled up tight underneath the beams surrounding him. Aile stared, stunned... then cried out in relief when he shifted. She flung herself at the framework surrounding him, slicing off and throwing pieces of it aside despite how it burned her hands. Atlas jumped in and held up the last, largest piece, which kept the rest of the ruined construct from falling on him. Even as the pair felt the sizzle of the wreckage, Aile grabbed Siarnaq, and the little girl he clutched protectively, dragging them to safety. Atlas gave a roar of pain, then dropped the beam and jumped free when she knew the others were out of harm's way. The ferris wheel finally succumbed to its own molten weight and fell to the ground in a heap. The crowd watching them cheered.
Thetis, whose ice had held up another part of the wreck, waved his staff in the air, "I'll get that damn pseudoroid who did this! I'll kill them!" he screeched in anger, dashing away to his former route. Siarnaq watched the boy leave. Exhausted and spent, the ninja's armour and skin were burnt away almost entirely. His scarf was half-gone, charred away, but the other half was clutched in the tiny hands of the girl holding him like a lifeline. He patted her gently even as she nearly choked him with her grip and the others closed around him.
"Shh, shh... You're safe now. Shhh, shhhh..."
The girl cried.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Skeletal wings cracked, torching the air as the demonic bat surveyed the landscape below it. Mechaniloids were filtering in thin lines between the trees, heading towards the park. However, judging by the width of the trails they were passing on, their numbers had greatly decreased since the start of the attack. Regardless, they were still coming in droves, which meant that someone was still commanding them. Odd, considering the pseudoroid should still be back at the park. Not that this bothered the God of Destrruction.
Omega flapped on, watching the surface below as the light of day was slowly choked by smoke. It was still bright out, but an acrid haze was settling over the forest beneath him. His keen ears picked up a strange sound off in the distance, and he directed his flight towards it. Soon he found himself above a clearing. The mechaniloids seemed thickest in the surrounding woods, but oddly stayed clear of the little field below. Sharpening his gaze, he noticed that there was a tall figure in the middle, surveying the beasts as they filed past. Satellite dishes were arrayed on its head like horns, ears swiveling around as it rotated its long neck to check on its charges. It seemed both elongated and equine. Yellow and brown splotches mottled its armour in an unusual pattern, and it was with this that Omega recognized the creature as a giraffe-based psuedoroid. It didn't take long for the red reploid to realize that it was controlling the mechaniloids. Unfortunately, attacking it in the current situation seemed rather counterproductive.
Then again, he wasn't called the God of Destruction for nothing. Numerous screeches of metallic pain rang out when the fighter dive-bombed the forest, setting it, and the robots within it, ablaze. Omega circled around as he prepared to land, allowing the giraffe barely enough time to jerk its head towards him as he alighted with a heavy thud. Wallaburn's bomb hit the ground where she would have been standing had she not jumped out of the way just in time.
Despite the loud introduction of her foe's presence, the pseudoroid seemed unperturbed. "Ah, the Model A Mega Man, is it? It seems you have a few new forms!" she said, her voice haughty and powerful.
Omega laughed, "I'm about to add a new one, too! Bring it, bitch!"
A snort was his only response. The pair took a battle stance, immediately taking the time to size each other up. Omega was waiting for her to make a move, the giraffe returning the favor.
"Hmm, I'll take it you're Ashe then? So brutish. Very well, I am Safari the giraffroid. I must say, I'm surprised you're here. I was expecting you to be more concerned with those defenseless louts at the park. Hmph. I suppose I overestimated the ability of my mechaniloids." She smirked, "alas, it seems I am not the only one. Perish!"
As she said that, Safari dropped her head and spread her antennae wide. They emitted signals powerful enough to move the air visibly, and before he knew it Omega was beset by mechaniloids from all sides. Most could not make it through the fire he spewed at them, but the more heavily armoured ones and the flying ones were having little trouble. He reverted to his own form, complete with armour, and unleashed merry hell on their ranks with a saber. It wasn't his original sword of course, but the benefits of being able to regenerate his entire armour extended to his weaponry, to a degree.
To what degree though, was proven shortly afterwards. Safari suddenly jumped in behind him, using her entire body to kick his back. Omega was caught off guard by the severity of the damage. She was two to three times as tall as he was, and used that to her advantage. His armour cracked and he was sent flying in shock. Mid-flight, he was intercepted by a pair of hummingbird mechaniloids, which exploded after diving at him. One had either particularly lucky aim or a drattably smart AI, as it'd aimed itself at his arm. He unconsciously let go of the saber, which sailed into a tree and shattered.
Omega hit the ground hard and scrambled up, teeth grinding in frustration. What was the value of being able to regenerate his armour and weapons if they were so brittle? It seemed he still had a ways to go with his new EX Combo... At this rate, he's have to undo and redo his transformation every time his weapon broke!
"Master?"
Omega shook his head, glaring at Safari despite his programming's interruption. "WHAT?" he replied angrily.
"If that's a problem, I can fix it! You need a sword, right? Well, I'll work on making it better, but for now I can make it so that you can make one anytime! Uh, they'll still be a bit delicate, but-"
"Is that all you have, Model A? Weak!" Safari broke in. Omega was still panting, trying to keep track of two conversations at once. Viral seemed to act rather like a navigator at times, and he wasn't really used to that sort of distraction. Especially not in the middle of a fight. Safari sneered, then took up her stance again. More mechaniloids appeared. "Here, I'll be nice for once! Fight something at the same level as you!"
Scores of animal-like robots appeared; Omega was hard pressed to fight them off as they bulled towards him. He tried to use a gun, but it began to crack shortly afterwards, unable to handle its own recoil. Sticking to swords it was, then.
"Yes, about that master. The metal you materialize is only so strong, the faster you make it, the weaker it is! Your gun won't even take its own recoil."
"You're proving a bit of a distraction," Omega muttered, getting a bit frustrated at the voice from his own systems. Safari glanced at him oddly. A bat flapped at his head before he quickly punched it into a tree. The internal conversation continued, Omega fighting away more and more mechaniloids even as his systems distracted him.
"Oh-oh, I am merely explaining your systems to you! I am being helpful!"
Omega frowned outwardly, "Not really,you're not-wait, I can materialize swords any time I want, right?"
"Yes."
"So, can I only do one at a time, or-?"
"No, you can technically make as many as you want, but it'll cost a lot of energy in the long run and they'll all be weak..."
"Doesn't matter! Unlimited blades... that works!"
Omega grinned. Safari sensed the change in the atmosphere, tensing and staring at him with a sour expression. "Guess what? INFINITE AMMO, BITCH!" He barked. He mimicked her stance, spreading his arms out to the side. She ordered her mechaniloids to charge, even as a pair of swords appeared in his hands. Another rhino jumped, its horn ready to impale Omega, only for him to bury one of the weapons up to the hilt in the thing's brain. He let go of the sword, cracked as it was, and materialized another. One sword was thrown as another ripped open a vulture from the neck down to the tail, spilling its fluid-covered parts across his face. Two more met their ends in the form of swords thrown like spears, and that started a pattern of Omega pin-cushioning everything that moved. Blades jutted out from eye sockets and splattered red fluids everywhere, fueling the flames and dousing ashen tree trunks. Safari had no choice but to defend herself with the bodies of her loyal servants. Dozens of bodies encountered hundreds of blades, and Safari was forced to command more and more of her minions away from the park and towards her adversary.
Then the flood of mechaniloids halted. The trees surrounding them were reduced to mere cinders and glowing black logs, barely a score of robots visible amongst them. Countless bodies lay at Omega's feet, the broken remains of swords piercing them. Omega was gasping for air, doubled over in exhaustion as he glared at Safari. The satellite dishes on her head retracted, forming themselves into orbs to rest.
"That's a rather unorthodox battle-style, even for a Model A Mega Man," she commented.
"I did warn you about the energy cost, master."
Omega growled, regaining his stature as his twin cores were finally able to catch up. On the other side of the clearing, Safari stood at her full height, glaring down at her foe before her. "Come to think of it, why use the Model ZX transformation so much... wait, that doesn't look like the ZX. Ah..." she sighed, "I wonder who you killed for that transformation? Hmm. Shouldn't matter I suppose. One pathetic Mega Man like you won't take too long for me to destroy."
Safari stomped the ground, then charged at Omega. He was momentarily taken aback, but managed to dodge the tackle. She kept running, finally skidding to a halt in the distance, where she turned around and executed a powerful jump towards him. He dodged, but she continued to jump around the arena in an attempt to crush him. Her moves were erratic and hard to predict. Picking up one of his damaged swords, Omega threw it at her. Its unstable core exploded after it hit, causing twice the original damage. The blow knocked out of the air. The red demon tried to get close for a finishing move, but the giraffe had quickly responded and opened up her satellites again, calling a couple of the mechaniloids over to cover for her. He jumped back at the same time he noticed that their numbers had increased again. Omega scowled. He had to finish this quick, or it could go on forever!
With that train of thought, he began charging up energy, accumulating the power in his arms. Mechaniloids tried to attack him, but he focused on dodging their attacks and getting close to Safari. She was jumping around again, but decided to try kicking him away when she realized that he was being rather insistent in following her. It was a mistake. Omega punched the ground with both fists, hollering in triumph as his giga crush pelted the landscape with laser beams. Safari was stood, stock still, her head outstretched and neck filled with holes. She fell over with a crash, a gap in her skull smoking and releasing sparks.
"Now who's pathetic? You couldn't fight on your own at all!" Omega grinned.
The giraffroid, against all odds, started to pick herself off the ground, twitching and jerking even as her core overloaded and the remnants of her brain ignited, "I was... never meant to... fight... I was a tool... to command them." she grated, "But with my... last breath... with my last command... I'll doom you!" Her body flopped to the ground, internal combustion and chain reactions causing numerous explosions in her corpse. Despite that, one last signal was sent out from her horns. "Come with me to hell!"
Omega watched her die blankly. He absorbed the DNA as it floated away from her death site, a gentle glow drifting serenely in contrast to the miniature warzone surrounding them. "Hell? Heh! Where do you think I came from from, eh?" Just then, a sound interrupted his gloating. A small army of robots had appeared, far more than he could handle easily in his current condition. Omega grimaced, turning to the oncoming horde unhappily. "Oh great, not again..."
They lunged. Once again, Omega was forced to materialize weapon after weapon to defend himself. Time he forced himself to be much more conservative than last time in order to minimize his energy usage. Numerous mechanic beasts perished namelessly to his blades, but where one went down, there was another to take its place almost immediately. Omega was starting to feel the pressure. He could handle it, of course, but it was tiresome all the same. Mechaniloid after mechaniloid attacked him seemingly without end. It was a dangerous game. The longer he held up the forces here, the more likely someone would come and find him, and the current situation would undoubtedly be a little hard to explain. Fighting off an army after randomly disappearing from supervision? He could only imagine how long the Mega Men would be yelling their heads off at him.
Not something he wanted, really.
A batty fell to the ground, its face torn in two just above the jaw, and a crickaleap was thrown into the maw of a jaguar-themed robot. The mechaniloid exploded, bringing down the pair. He stabbed another enemy, throwing it and his blade at a rhinoid when he realized that the weakened blade had gotten stuck. It exploded in the rhinoid's face, but the thing ignored any pain from the attack and kept up its charge. Omega jumped to the side, holding his other blade to the side as it missed him by inches. Its side now split open, the mammalian robot fell to the ground, its innards spilling freely over the clearing and proving too slippery for a tank-like hippo waddling in from behind. A group of bee rockets buzzed at his ears.
"This is proving to be quite a cumbersome fight, isn't it Master?" piped up the voice slyly.
Omega scowled at the program, "Alright, right here, we are setting down some rules. Don't talk unless I ask you to, or unless you really have to say something important, kapeesh? You're distracting me! Since when did you get an attitude, anyways?" he grunted as he swung a penguinoid overhead.
"Ah, well, it's not really an attitude, per say. Revision of the 'speech' protocol showed that it'd be easier to understand what's being said if there was a 'personality' to speak the words, otherwise inconsistencies would occur in the speech pattern."
"Are you telling me that my potential system developed a fucking AI!?" Omega shrieked.
"N-no no no! Nothing quite so complicated! The program developed to bolster the 'speech' program is just a basic program, it's not very complicated at all. Maybe on the level of a mechaniloid, really. It's just specialized in speech, that's all."
"So it sounds smart, but it isn't?" he questioned suspiciously. God of Destruction or not, he really didn't like where the conversation had been going.
"Precisely! You needn't be so worried, the potential program is solely for your benefit. If there were any sort of malware accidentally created, you can be sure that revision of the program would detect the abnormalities and delete or alter it immediately. For instance, during your rest last night, another of Weil's obedience programs had been detected, but it was left intact due to its nature."
Swinging his sword through another robot's face, Omega started at the news and was nearly hit by a stray shot from a mettaur, "WHAT!? Why was the program left?" He screeched, memories of Weil breaking through any calm pretenses he might have had, "Get rid of it! And while you're at it, either shut up or stop making my job so difficult! I'm fighting a miniature army here!" The red demon snarled as yet another stupid mechaniloid tried to attack him. "I mean, they're not even people! They're not bleeding properly! It's not very satisfying," he whined. Stupid robots, stupid potential system!
"Ah, master, that's very inadvisable! This particular obedience program was made by Weil ages ago, it is the one responsible for keeping the Maverick virus in your systems obsolete!"
Omega winced knowingly, "Okay. Maybe not destroy that then." After all, he wasn't sure whether or not he was immune to it...
"No master, I'm afraid you're not immune, not entirely. But, ah, I could solve a couple of problems in one go here..."
"Who gave you permission to read my mind?"
"Ah, sorry."
A batton bone was smashed into a tree. What a relic!
"Anyways, if you wished, I could attempt to make an EX Combo to deal with these mechaniloids. And it would deal with the virus permanently too, so no need for Weil's program!"
Omega took a moment to think it over. However, his intense hatred of anything Weil-related made the decision an easy one. "Go for it."
A hummingbird mechaniloid darted in. It exploded on the ground where he'd been but moments before. Another swarm of bee rockets swooped in and were promptly slashed to pieces alongside some leafy moths that attempted to obscure his vision. The hippo-robot from earlier had finally cleared the patch of slick guts, opening its mouth and charging a beam. Omega backflipped onto its head, snapping its jaws shut while jabbing a sword into one eye, through the skull, and out the other eye. One lengthy leap cleared him from the radius of the resulting explosion just in time.
"Got it, I'm finished master!"
"Then tell me what to do already!" And in less time than it took to blink, the data for the combo was in hid head. He stayed still for but a moment to process the information. Then he began to charge the energy necessary for the attack. "This had better work... Let's see what this Maverick Mayhem skill can do!" he hollered, imitating Safari's outstretched pose from earlier. A dark sphere of energy radiated out in a total-area damage style attack, darkening the atmosphere within a ten metre radius with malicious data. Dozens of mechaniloids were hit by the attack, their eyes beginning to flicker and their movements growing glitchy at best. With wild abandon they betrayed their comrades, flinging themselves with brutal instinct at their startled allies.
Omega breathed heavily, surveying his work as it ran rampant around him. "So, this unleashes the maverick virus on anything around me? Isn't that counter-productive to my health...?"
"It's alright- it's an invalidated form of the original virus. The actual virus itself is not contagious, not in this modified state at least. That's why the technique takes so much energy! The virus has to be manually transmitted. It uses a combination of Safari, Ejen and Scorzon's technique to infect a host within a certain distance. It might not work on more sophisticated mechaniloids, and will definitely not work on reploids as they have more sophisticated immune systems. If it can infect a host's neural systems, they're a goner, but it can cause the rest of their systems to glitch painfully even if the infection attempt is otherwise unsuccessful."
Omega nodded, "Good to know. Probably a bit too dangerous to use in most situations sadly. If anyone sees me using that and survive the encounter..." No, that would not be good. Not at all. "Anyways, I should head off I think. I'm tired enough as it is." The red reploid jumped up a tree, dashing along the branches to safety as the last of the revolting mechaniloids were taken out by their peers. A series of tree-hopping began before he'd turned back into Ignis and escaped to the skies.
Oh man, was flying ever useful.
x-x-x-x-x
After he returned to the park, Omega flew in behind a smoldering piece of renovating equipment before he transformed back into his own form, safely out of sight. The park was smoldering, but the majority of fires had been put out already. As he transformed to his normal form he neglected his armour for obvious reasons. This caused a slight problem with lack of clothing... transforming, quite frankly, wreaked havoc on his wardrobe. Looking around from behind his hiding spot, he managed to spy a charred souvenir shop. Hoping for the best, he made a mad dash to get there. Inside was mostly a lost cause, but some objects had managed to survive the worst of the blaze, including a pair of pants with one leg burnt off up to knee height. That being the extent of the salvageable clothing, Omega took it and left the shop. As he meandered back to the main plaza of the park, he worked on an alibi for his disappearance. He figured that whatever story he came up with, it would help his case a lot by looking charred and beat up, which he really wasn't at the moment. This was a small problem easily solved by a quick dive into the nearest burnt-down building. After he was thoroughly covered in ash, he figured he was good, and any story would likely work better now.
In the distance, he heard the Mega Men before he saw them. Thetis and Aeolus were dashing around, surveying the grounds for more survivors. A plan was hatched. Omega watched them a moment before he hid under a sign, slashing its supports, as well as his own leg, for good effect.
Thistis hollered as he came around the corner, "Oi! Anyone there? Did we miss anyone?"
BANG.
The sign fell on Omega, who cried out in pain for good measure. He needn't have bothered, really. Aeolus and Thetis had both started at the noise and had come to investigate. Omega grunted theatrically as the pair came towards him, acting out a drama of frustration and pain (that was less faked) from underneath the sign. The Ice Mega Man swore and pulled the sign off to the side as Aeolus helped him to his feet. "You! There you are, are you alright?"
"Do I look fine, jackass?" Omega snapped. As he stood, he made sure to favor his slashed leg (even though it really didn't hurt that much).
"Yup, he's good," Thetis commented.
Aeolus frowned, "We were looking everywhere for you and other survivors. Siarnaq told us that you'd had a run-in with some bat pseudoroid, how did you get over here?"
"After that damn bat got the drop on me, I'd decided to try and find a place to recover. Burns aren't very fun for healing though," he grouched. It wasn't all a lie, he thought to himself. Burns really were more difficult to heal, what with all the burnt bits in the way of the new metallic flesh. "Anyways, it seems that wasn't the end of my bad luck, I had one ride drop on me and I had to wriggle my way out of there. And then that sign dropped on me, as you saw. Not my lucky day, apparently."
"Regardless, we need to get you back to the main area. We may have caught the dragonfly, but that bat disappeared on us," Aeolus noted.
"I'd somehow figured that," Omega said as they left, grinning when no one was looking.
x-x-x-x-x
It was late night when the mess from the park was finally cleared up. The Legionnaires returned to their homes, weary, grumpy, and covered in charcoal and ash. The only one who seemed to have any sort of good spirits left was Omega, which the others presumed was just from feeding off of their own misery.
Flopping down in bed, Omega stared up at the ceiling, recapping the events from earlier. A thought bounced around in his head, and he called upon it. "Hey... voice-in-my-head thingy... you there?"
"Of course, master. How may I be of service?"
"I was just thinking, you know, if I want to call you up, calling you 'the voice in my head' is sort of long-winded."
"You could just summon me with a thought, master, you don't actually have to say 'voice in your head' ."
"That might not work so well if I'm focused on something, like a fight. It's still pretty long, after all. Tell you what, things are kinda going viral in there with the way the potential system keeps upgrading itself... why don't I call you that, Viral? It makes it simpler for me."
"As you wish, master."
"Very well then, it's settled. I am going to sleep. Viral, you are dismissed."
And with that he lost consciousness, slipping into the realm of slumber.
