Was planning to update the chapter a few days ago, until cold strikes that I'm too dizzy to check everything before upload. Anyways, enjoy!

End of Era

Chapter 18 – Wind, Fire, and Shadow

Waves of fire, icicle rain, and swirling tornadoes had taken out a huge army of mechaniloids surrounding Atlas, Aeolus, and Thetis, but the next wave of enemies were slowly approaching them. Vent was slashing mechaniloids left and right to cover for Aile and Ashe as their combined efforts in handling their busters took down the farther enemies. Even as more enemies were approaching them, they could tell that the enemy's numbers had decreased from when they first came.

Ashe and Aile would steal glances at the lab's entrance in worry, though the targets of their worry were different. The brunette was worried for the safety of Estelle as a protective mother, while Ashe was worried about what her former comrade was planning. Vent was too busy to notice, but the other three Mega Men were sharp enough to notice their movements.

Aeolus looked over to his wife, giving her the eyes which said that he had a plan in mind before he directed his gaze towards the entrance. Atlas understood the gesture, responding with a nod before she turned to the direction where the entrance was. A bunch of mechaniloids were blocking her view and Ashe was near her line of sight, which would be easier for her to gain access to the lab later.

Atlas brought her knuckle busters together before she slammed both of them to the ground with all her might, "HAH!"

A huge wave of fire quickly swept away the mechaniloids, creating an opening leading to the entrance. The silver-haired Hunter was surprised by the burning flames suddenly passing by in front of her, barely missing her, "H-Hey! What was that for?!"

"Don't you just stand there looking like a fool!" Aeolus yelled out as he quickly slashed away the mechaniloids in front of him before taking a quick look at Ashe, "Get in there already! We know what you want to do and those kids will need your help too!"

"But-"

"Go on without us, Ashe!" the Hunter looked at her brunette friend as she continued aiming her buster at the enemy mechaniloids, "I know that there are things that you want to ask Grey yourself and…" Aile looked at Ashe with a pleading look, "… please protect Estelle for me… She's more attached to you than me…"

"Aile…" Ashe looked at her friend for a moment before looking around at the others, who gave their nods of approval. The Hunter gave them one last nod before she dashed towards the entrance, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get the booty for us!"

With Ashe out of their sight, Thetis let out a chuckle, "She's always like that, huh? It reminds me of the old times…"

"Yes, yes, but if you continue on making unimportant comments at times like these, I'll make sure you're punished," Atlas casually shrugged his comment off before raining down the mechaniloids with bombs she shot out of her knuckle busters, "Maybe hanging you down from the base using your shirt should be enough."

"Oh, come on!"

Aeolus only let out a sigh from hearing the two's comments, "Oh, brother…"

Storm was running through the long hallway with barely any light to illuminate his path. He went through the narrow hallway in his humanoid form as he tried recharging the energy spent on his transformations. He had a feeling that he would need to fight soon that he had to be ready, energy wise.

He didn't feel that he needed to help Estelle right away as he trusted her that she could handle things on her own for a while. He had seen her fight before, though he had some concerns when he saw her latest fight in the city. He knew that she was strong enough on her own, but the display of power he saw back then didn't truly look like she was herself. Even so, he wasn't in the best shape to help her or to get into a battle.

It didn't matter to them as fighting wasn't their main objective. They only needed to buy some time for the adults to get in and help them fight as they were limited in their transformation period. Their mission as members of the Guardians there was to get some answers and if necessary, put a stop to Grey's plans. Some truths had come to light, but they still needed some answers to the questions in their heads to connect the facts.

The long hallway finally came to an end as the green-haired teen went into the room at the end. The interior of the room was different from the one where he, Estelle, and Iris encountered the ninja reploid. The room he was in only had a single old computer in the middle of the room with diagrams and charts pinned to the walls. The age of the paper used to draw them had made the information on them unreadable and the drawings barely visible anymore. Cables were scattered around the room as well, connected to the still-operational computer in the middle.

Storm approached the computer, hearing the whirring sounds it was making. The shape of the machine was foreign to him as he had never seen anything like it. He could try operating it to see if he could get something useful in it while he was there. If the brunette had passed by the room, he was sure enough that she couldn't do anything to get information out of the computer.

The teen tapped on the dusty screen cautiously and expected that the computer would either show him a holographic screen or activate a trap. Nothing in the room moved abnormally after a few seconds and Storm directed his gaze towards the screen once more. A loading screen was shown and after a few seconds of waiting, a complicated chart was shown. Even after his father taught him about various scientific things, the chart was barely comprehensible to him.

"What… is this…?"

Letters he couldn't recognize had appeared next to the chart, with lines showing up next to point several things drawn in the chart. There was one pointing at a reploid-like image, one pointing at a person-like image, and another one at a rock-like object. The person and the rock object looked like they were recently added to the chart while the reploid image looked like it had been there longer. The person and the rock object were connected to each other and the line connecting them was connected to a bunch of random interconnected lines. The reploid image was also connected to the random interconnected lines. At the bottom right corner of the chart, there was a single W-shaped black marking.

Storm took a silent moment to think as he was trying to understand what the chart had meant. He could assume that the random interconnected lines would be some sort of network which were connected to a reploid and a person-rock pair. The person and rock pair would most likely be a Mega Man, though he had never seen a Biometal with the shape like a rock.

He took a closer look at the available buttons on the old computer. He couldn't figure everything out on his own, but the adults might have an idea what it was all about. If only that he could save the chart's data into a datadisk-

"H-Huh?!" Storm looked at his feet in surprise as an object fell on his feet. A datadisk was there, which was something he needed, but he didn't type or push anything on the computer. He picked it up, not fully aware that he was no longer alone in the room.

"Consider it a present, if you can make your way out of here alive," Storm turned to the direction of the voice before the door where the teen came from was shut tight, "I'm impressed that you managed to find this place."

"You!" Storm shot him a glare, "You were the one with Grey back in the city!"

A smirk formed on the reploid's face as he removed his hooded cape, revealing the black and red armor beneath it, "Correct. I'm a clone reploid, just like the others, with the data of a reploid called 'Omega'."

"An enemy of my parents and their comrades," Storm had pulled out Model H from his pocket, "I know that I've heard that name somewhere before."

"Looks like someone is eager to fight," the reploid pulled out his purple saber as he approached Storm, "If you've learned about the level of my power, then you should know that having two Biometals with you isn't enough. After all…" the reploid swung his saber quickly, making a gash wound on Storm's hand as Model H got knocked off his hand, "I am the God of Destruction!"

The teen quickly took a step back to dodge a second slash and did aerial backflip to dodge another. He landed a few meters in front of the closed door and quickly transformed into his Model F form. The reploid slammed his saber afterwards, but Storm had raised his knuckle busters just in time to block the incoming attack. The teen's imbalance in his Biometals' usage was beginning to show as his enhanced strength wasn't enough to maintain his position.

The reploid had pushed the teen down without too much trouble and used the momentum to push himself back. Storm's back hit the door from the force, leaving him open for the reploid's flurry of charged shots. The attacks hit both the teen and his surroundings, creating a smokescreen around him as he took the hits. The extra weight from his knuckle busters was a hindrance as he wasn't used to them, but it didn't prevent him from coming up with a plan to take advantage of it.

While the smokescreen was up, Storm slammed his knuckle busters hard on the ground, creating a couple of fire walls heading for the reploid's direction. The unexpecting reploid took the hits before stepping back to recover himself, only to give Storm a span of time to recover his dropped Biometal. The reploid's attempt to foil the teen's plan had failed as Storm threw a small bomb at him, earning him enough time to get Model H back to his possession. While the teen was planning on transforming to the form he was more used to right away, he decided to put the form switch aside temporarily for when the time came.

Storm turned back to face his opponent, only to take a powerful punch on his face. The teen didn't have time to react and took the hit, sliding him back a few meters. He wiped the traces of blood dripping from his mouth and aimed his knuckle busters at the reploid, who quickly dodged out of the shots' pathways. As he did so, Storm let out a smirk as the shots he fired turned to the left side where the reploid had dodged. While the shots didn't look like it had dealt much damage, it was enough that the teen was giving him some chip damage every once in a while.

The reploid had countered with his own half-charged shots as well which the teen could easily dodge, but an electrified shockwave at the end wasn't expected. The elemental disadvantage would be harmful enough for him that he decided it was time to transform into the form he favored the most. Even with the elemental disadvantage gone, the attack would still deal quite some damage that he would still have to dodge. The jets on his back had helped him to air-dash upwards, saving from the powerful attack.

Just as Storm was slowly descending back to the ground, the reploid had already run towards him with his purple saber ready to strike. The teen put both of his own sabers in front of him to block, but the power of the reploid's swing had easily knocked him back to the wall. The reploid had charged in once more before Storm could recover, ready to strike down the final blow on him. He put his saber in front of him for a dashing trust and Storm was too weakened from the damage to move away that he braced himself for the attack.

He closed his eyes, but the attack never came in contact with him. When Storm opened his eyes once more, he saw a familiar purple armor standing in front of him. The purple saber had met with a pair of kunai knives and lifted to a harmless position, avoiding it from piercing through the teen's weakening armor. The teen stayed still as the man with purple armor turned around, showing the single glowing red eye under the helmet.

"He is not your level. Do not push yourself," Storm's eyes grew wide as he recognized the voice, but the newcomer didn't bother starting a conversation with him and turned back to the black and red reploid in front of them, "The end is near. Do you still insist on doing this? Grey is truly not your master."

The reploid scoffed as he took his saber of the kunai knives, "So what? I'm only a war machine, unlike those two defects! I don't need to care about anything as long as I can destroy something!"

"Siarnaq!" Storm called the man by his name, but the ninja didn't budge from his position as the teen slowly rose to his feet, "What do you mean 'the end is near'? What is it that's ending?"

Siarnaq slightly turned his head to look at the green-haired teen whose armor was fading, "Ashe did not say anything, I see," the ninja turned back to the front as his voice remained emotionless, "Good. Now stay there and wait until I am finished."

"No," Storm had switched to his Model F form and dragged his feet to stand by the ninja's side, aiming his knuckle busters at him, "I can still fight… I'm not as weak as I used to be as a kid!"

"You have your mother's stubbornness," Siarnaq commented before he got a few more kunais ready in his hands, "Do not push yourself too far. I cannot bear the sin of letting two of their children die on my watch."

Storm only gave him a silent nod before he shouted as he charged at the reploid with his knuckle busters. The reploid had dodged the first punch by stepping back, but was followed by a flurry of kunai knives thrown at him. The reploid countered by swinging his saber around to knock them out of his way and released a charged shot at Siarnaq, only to have the ninja disappear into thin air.

The reploid was distracted by Siarnaq's sudden disappearance, not noticing that Storm had come to his side with a couple of powerful punches. The reploid was knocked back from the attacks, letting the teen follow up the attack by sending out a fire tower towards him. Siarnaq had appeared beside the reploid, throwing a few shuriken at him before using a few more to surround himself like a barrier.

The reploid quickly shot the shuriken away, but the ninja had disappeared once more. Storm had dashed towards the reploid when he let his guard down, with the teen using his Model H once more and bringing his sabers down to the reploid's. An electric-charged three-hit slash managed to hit the reploid, knocking his buster down before he could counter with a charged shot.

Storm quickly took a step back before creating a big cyclone around the reploid and changed back to his Model F form. The constant form change was starting to take a toll on him as he almost dropped to his knees from exhaustion, but forcibly pushed himself back to his battle stance by shooting the ground. As the reploid was stuck in the cyclone, Siarnaq was showering him with both kunai knives and shuriken.

The teen took a deep breath as his red armor started glowing with burning flames forming on his feet. The ninja had noticed the sudden increase of power coming from the teen, looking at him with a surprised gasp.

"OVERDRIVE!"

Flames burned away the tiles around Storm as some on his feet even melted from the heat. The cyclone was gone and the reploid was dropped back to the ground, but the teen had dashed towards him before the reploid could hit the ground. He had left a trail of flames as he moved and spread his arms wide before bringing them together in front of the reploid with a burst of flames.

The reploid's armor had slightly melted from the heat, but Storm wasn't done yet. He had switched back to his Model H form with glowing green armor, which was starting to become invisible. The teen made another step back and let his jets carry him upwards a little before he dove down with his pink sabers to cut through the reploid.

The energy spent had made Storm's reflexes slow down, especially as his sabers only cut off the reploid's free arm. He wasn't fast enough to dodge when the reploid swung his saber towards his chest, but a strong force had pushed him away from the attack. Storm slid across the slightly-melted floor tiles before his transformation disappeared completely.

Siarnaq had intercepted the attack and blocked it with his kunai, but the strength possessed by the reploid's single arm was still too strong to knock away on his own. The ninja had seen Storm's desperate overdrive attack before and it had given him the idea of using his own to finish off the reploid. He purposely let the saber hit the side of his arm, letting the ninja free from the reploid's grasp to activate his own overdrive.

The reploid could see it coming, though he wasn't expecting to see a similar kind of overdrive being activated. The room had become pitch black to him, with many sharp objects stabbing him from all sides. For the first time in his short activation time, he could finally feel pain which had rapidly become unbearable to him as he let out a pained yell.

With the pain all over his body being more and more unbearable, a glint of red light was visible in front of him. A voice with a cold tone was heard before the pain on his body disappeared all of a sudden and he couldn't see or feel anything else.

"This is for them. Goodbye."

Siarnaq stood above a mess of metal and cables which was formerly the reploid before he transformed back to his own reploid form and turned back to the teen. Storm couldn't really see anything as everything happened so fast that he couldn't really follow. He was leaning on the wall next to the door as it slid open when Siarnaq approached him.

"Why… why are you helping us now…?" Storm asked weakly as the ninja simply sat on his legs beside him.

"My only chance to atone," Siarnaq replied calmly, "I was aware of your younger sibling's presence, but I could not protect them from harm. I could only atone for my failure by leaving the Guardians at that time. This time, I shall protect you even if my life is at stake."

The teen only let out a pained chuckle, "What… a fool… Just like… Father said… about you…"

Storm collapsed to the side, which had broken Siarnaq's calm demeanor as the ninja looked at him in panic. He grabbed the teen's wrists and the calmness returned to his face, feeling that the teen had only just fainted out of exhaustion. He wasn't out of the woods yet as the injuries Storm had taken had to be taken care of soon. When he had recovered, the ninja had also needed to explain a few things the teen had asked before as the Hunter had told nothing to any of the other Mega Men.

The two of them disappeared from the site, transferred out back to the base for medical care and a long explanation.

I'm dropping in some clues to the legacy here as putting everything on the next chapter as I originally planned would be too much. Estelle's turn to fight is coming up next!