Alternate Chapter title: Omega can have a little violence, as a treat.

Bonus VII

During their next trip to Hunter's camp, Vent and Aile came to the rather unfortunate realization that maybe, just maybe, Albert wasn't the only Mega Man whose ego they'd take down a peg.

Grey and Ashe were in the region, and no one could ignore that fact. The two could be heard boasting loudly, their voices carrying in the wind that travelled gently through the mercenary establishment. A few Hunters, who were the local bounty hunters, handymen, or whatever else they were paid to be, rolled their eyes at each other whenever a particularly loud comment could be heard. Dust stung at Vent and Aile's eyes as they slowly but steadily entered deeper into the area. Birds twittered gaily in the nearby trees and bushes, the distant roaring of a waterfall adding to the surprisingly peaceful ambience of the camp. Aile huffed, readjusting her hair tie as the breeze battered at it.

"Welp. Guess we should pay them a visit while we're here, huh," Vent thought aloud, looking up as he heard another round of laughter ring out.

"Yeah, the kids'll probably be mad if we don't. Grey and Ashe sure do like having all the attention sometimes, don't they?"

"Ah, they're kids. We all want to be the center of the universe at that age," Vent laughed in reply. The two, having agreed upon a course of action, made their way towards the commotion. As they approached, it became more and more obvious that the Model A Mega Men's behaviour, while it may have annoyed some, was being heavily encouraged by others. A crowd was gathered in the distance. Youngsters asked all sorts of questions, fighters new and old sought advice, a few people squealed and asked for photos and autographs, guild members applauded, and so on, all queries and compliments being grandly accepted by those at the core of the fuss. It wasn't long before the ZX pair were noticed, some of those at the edge of the group looking at them in awe or confusion.

"Hey, look who it is!" Ashe, the more forward of the two Model A youths, boldly greeted the approaching group as she stood confidently in her gaggle of admirers. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, silver strands whipping about in a breeze as light reflected off of the navy armour and light jumpsuit she wore.

As the crowd parted, another figure was revealed. Despite being slightly shorter, a little more scarred, and having two strange red cables from his back, he looked a lot like the girl beside him. "Look, Ashe, they've got someone new with them," Grey said curiously, peering over at the new arrivals.

"Oh yeah, a new guy? Nice to meet you! Come to bask in our glory?" Ashe teased, striking a pose. Grey giggled at the action, then smiled lightly as Vent and Aile, along with their tagalong, went nearer. "Red eyes are a little unusual though. What's with that? Isn't that supposed to be a maverick thing?"

Vent and Aile prepared for the worst. Omega was travelling with them this time, although thankfully he was dressed in civilian gear. This was their reason for being in the camp; to help train Omega in how to act casually and interact with others outside of the Guardians. Thankfully, Omega had been stir-crazy and allowed the concession of leaving his armour behind. Faced with a choice between continued boredom or handicapping himself, the warrior reploid had given up his intimidating gear in favour of being afforded a little more free reign outside of the base. (He still had his sword, of course; neither of them was suicidal enough to try and pry from him.) Acting in such a peaceful manner was rather a huge step for him. This was especially true since he was a reploid who was, quite literally, born and raised for the purpose of fighting wars. Sure, he was walking around in a place where there were tonnes of battle-hardened mercenaries ready to deploy at a moment's notice, rather than some city full of squishy civilians who thought something as harmless as an upside-down mettaur constituted a threat, but, well. Baby steps.

Overall, the whole thing was a resounding success. As long as Prometheus didn't go through with his threat to steal Omega's armour again, then they were golden. Seriously, Omega and Prometheus were just too much alike for anyone's comfort; That relationship was becoming more than a little scary. The last thing anyone needed was for the former Model W to take it one step further and traipse around wearing the God of Destruction's armour, while said God of Destruction chased him around trying to get his gear back, lasers and sword beams and absolute hax amounts of giga attacks and all. One such incident had already been more than enough for a few centuries, thank you! They definitely didn't want any recurrences. The one weirdo who'd somehow gotten footage of the tail end of that debacle had been an absolute nightmare to hunt down, and who knew if they'd be lucky enough to keep that kind of event a secret if it happened a second time. Or, y'know, if they got a repeat of what happened that other time Pandora hid his weapons on him. The less said about that clusterfuck, the better. Who knew she could be such a prankster? Or that implying that it was flirting would get the unfortunate sod who'd said as such locked up in the infirmary for a week?

Totally worth it of course. Thon had been everyone's hero for a solid month, ZX pair included.

Vent and Aile didn't want to begrudge the Model A Mega Men their victories, but… when it came to saving the world, the two kids really had no idea sometimes. How could they, when the ZX pair went so far out of their way to head so many things off at the pass? For example, Omega, by himself, was a walking can of calamities. Whether it was the dormant maverick virus in his systems, the remnant data from the Dark Elf that could allow him to mind control reploids on a world-wide scale, his ability to break the barriers between reality and cyberspace with his presence alone, or the fact that even the most innocent attempt to access his data or DNA could make his mental self-defense protocols go berserk (causing him to mindlessly wipe out everything within eyesight of his current location, and like hell the bastard would stay still in that state), there were just way too many things that could go wrong with him at a moment's notice. Factor in Pandora and Prometheus, who really did deserve a second shot at life but who were quite frankly less than sane and who had access to similar technologies (screw you both, Albert and Thomas!), and it really didn't make anything easy for the poor Guardian organization.

Grey and Ashe had saved the world once. There was no doubt about that. But after countless Model W core incidents, the mess with Serpent, or even just dealing with Omega on an hourly basis, the ZX siblings had to admit that the boasting was starting to grate on their nerves a little.

Omega ignored the comment about his eyes. Instead he just lifted his eyebrow at the pair scathingly, "Bask in your glory? Not interested."

Aile spoke up, trying to break up the inevitable fight, "Hey you two! This is Omega! He's a bit rough around the edges, but he's one of ours."

"Yup! He's still a bit new to civilian missions, but we're proud to have him," Vent added. Omega shifted his posture slightly towards them, and the ZX Mega Men knew more than enough of his body language to know that he was acknowledging the comment. Judging by the slightly lowered shoulders, he was happy about it, too. They respectfully overlooked the gesture.

"Oh? A mission man, then? Can't say I've heard of you before, and I've heard of a lot of people!" Ashe scoffed.

"Maybe he's new, and just wanted to see what guys like us can do?" Grey added, oblivious to the overconfidence in his own words.

Omega surveyed the two Model A Mega Men, eyes scanning the pair thoroughly. Then he looked back at Vent and Aile, affronted. "This is the Model A pair? Seriously? Do those two ever shut up about themselves?"

"Be nice," Aile grumbled, but her heart definitely wasn't in it this time around. It was a sad day when you empathized with someone called the God of Destruction over a pair of kids just having a little harmless fun, but here they were.

"What? Scared we'd kick your butt?" Ashe chortled, a hand on her hip.

"More scared that you two don't know what 'put a sock in it' means," Omega retorted smartly. Vent actually cracked a grin at that one.

"Ooooooh," Grey smiled, "what would you say about that, Ashe? 'Them's fighting words' or something, right?"

"Right you are!" She replied, beckoning at Omega with a come-and-get-it gesture. "But you'd better know, if you're any good, we're gonna copy you once we beat you! Get ready to give up your data!"

"No," Vent and Aile commanded simultaneously. Their stern voices brooked no arguments, and was a tone Omega had learned to respect the hard way more than a few times. The red reploid immediately backed down, looking to them for guidance. Turns out the guy was, despite his unpredictable and violent nature, perfectly happy following orders if he respected the person giving them (which was no doubt a consequence of his military background). It was something that had saved their backsides more often than not. In fact, as they earned his trust and respect, they found that he'd even back them up voluntarily on occasion.

Which is what he did now, "Agreed. No dice. You don't want my data, it'll make you go maverick."

Grey's eyes went comically wide, "Huh?"

"Bit of a hidden 'screw you' my creator put in my genetics. Copy the data anywhere without the proper precautions, and you'll let a virus loose on your systems that'll make every trojan horse and worm you could possibly think of, combined, look downright cuddly."

"Wait, really?" Ashe looked sceptical, "I'm pretty sure you're just pulling my leg here."

"Oh no. It's real. You would not believe the headaches it's caused us," Aile admitted sourly. Whether it was from the virus itself, or Fleuve's utterly enraged ranting caused by said virus turning every other computer into the digital equivalent of swiss cheese with a side of rabies, she wasn't exaggerating the headache concerns in the slightest.

Grey frowned, "Huh."

Omega suddenly grinned cheekily, "Actually, come to think of it, go ahead! I'd love another war, they're fun."

"No. Bad Omega. Bad," Vent scolded playfully. Omega snorted at him.

Aile shook her head, "Even you wouldn't want another two of you running around destroying things mindlessly, would you? You'd be out of a job!"

"Damn straight. Screw that nonsense. I'm not accepting any applicants for competition at this point and time, please leave a message at the tone, beep."

Vent really started laughing then, getting a grin in return from Omega. He'd started as a bloodthirsty, battle-obsessed maniac, but now? Aile couldn't stop the smile that formed on her own face. They'd really made strides, hadn't they? He was still battle obsessed, obviously, but just a little less relentless about it. The wicked sense of humour he'd begun to show was just an added bonus.

The look on Grey's face might have said otherwise, "Uh. Are you guys… okay? You're saying some pretty weird stuff."

Aile scoffed, "Old person things. You'll get it eventually."

"And then you'll wish you hadn't."

"Piss off you two! I know what age you are, and that's not old!" Omega's eyes narrowed playfully as he glared at them in mock offense.

"Okay, we get it, grandpa, you're ancient."

"Excuse you!?" Omega actually did look offended at this.

Aile added to the insult despite the danger, "Oh right, there's gotta be at least a half dozen greats in there. Sorry!" She wasn't sorry in the slightest.

Ashe laughed, although it was a little nervous, "Okay guys, wow. You adults are so weird sometimes."

"How old are you anyways? You don't look much older than they do," Grey asked innocently.

Vent covered Omega's open mouth with his hand, cutting off any answer the devil reploid could have come up with, "Old enough, and that's where we're gonna ask you to butt out a little. No offense."

Grey shrugged, "None taken." Seeing as the kid lived in Hunter's Camp, people keeping a few potentially dodgy secrets was nothing unusual.

Omega, unhappy with Vent's gesture, promptly grabbed said Mega Man and threw him into a wall. Grey and Ashe both looked startled, but Aile just guffawed, "Hey, nice toss!"

Vent grimaced as he looked up at her, patting away some tan soil that now clung to him; a signature of Hunter's camp. "I kinda deserved that, didn't I."

"Weird. Just so weird," Ashe muttered conspiratorially. Omega dusted himself off, baring his teeth at Vent a little as he settled himself down. Said teeth, the Model A Mega Men noticed, were just a tad sharper than they should have been.

The Model A biometal finally made their appearance, floating out of Grey's pocket before it hovered between its two chosen ones, "These are the two that supposedly fought all the Model Ws up until you guys showed up? Wow, they're not as cool as they seemed when they first showed us their ship."

"Oh, so there's your little tin can. Was wondering where they were hiding," Omega noticed.

"Tin can!? I'll show you a tin can, you big, stupid-"

"You can hear them?" Grey asked in surprise, completely ignoring the tirade that Model A had started on as Omega pointed and laughed at the biometal's response. He looked like he was re-evaluating the blonde man that stood in front of him, "I didn't know you were a Mega Man too."

Omega looked bored, "Not a Mega Man. Besides, biometals are basically just a cyber elf stuffed in a metal box, I'm more surprised that people don't hear 'em." He muttered grumpily, "They're not even that good as far as elves go..." Thankfully, only Vent and Aile heard that last bit.

Ashe tilted her head, "Not a Mega Man?"

"Aaaaaaand that's enough of that." Vent intercepted. Or at least, he tried to. He glared as he turned to his and his sister's charge, "Don't even think about it."

Omega thought about it. He pondered aloud to the grey haired Mega Men, "You know, there's something that's been bothering me about you two."

"Oh?"

"I've fought a lot of people, but I haven't fought either of you Model A twerps ye-"

He didn't finish his sentence. The ZX siblings tackled him to the ground with a loud, "NO!" that could be heard halfway across Hunter's Camp. More than a few bystanders perked up, their attention on the possible scuffle brewing in their midst. One even reached into a bag for some potato chips, clearly stoked at her good timing with grocery shopping.

"No! Not recommended, zero out of ten, don't do it you two!" Vent began.

"We are warning you, this is a phenomenally bad idea!" Aile finished.

Grey looked at the two blankly for a moment before he gave up and shrugged nonchalantly, as if none of this was really a bother or a threat to him, "He's got a point though. If he's hanging out with you he's probably an okay fighter? Can't say I'm not a little curious…"

Ashe grinned cockily at the pair on the ground, who were still trying to weigh Omega down, "Oh come on you two, how bad could it be?" Grey smiled sweetly beside her as the two prepared for battle, raising his weapons in a polite challenge. Ashe was considerably less polite about it. Her chest was puffed out as she approached with a confident swagger, and she stuck out her tongue, "Some random dude you picked up versus two Mega Men who saved the world? Maybe we can't copy his DNA, but it doesn't mean we can't have a little fun! Put 'em up!"

"I like how you think!" Omega grinned, and his red eyes glowed in eagerness. Literally. One of the Hunters watching the event did a double-take.

Vent and Aile looked at each other, picked themselves off the ground with a sigh, and gave the three some space. "You know what? Fine. Can't say we didn't warn you. No killing, Omega!" Omega shot up with a smile far too eerie and bloodthirsty for anyone even remotely sane. Despite wearing nothing but civvies, the man was fearless as he readied himself to face the Model A Mega Men. Aile smirked. Yep. As fond as she was of them, it was time to knock the two kids' egos down a little. Besides, they were the ones that picked this fight. Some consequences had to be learned the hard way, "Oh, and Omega? Do try to keep your clothes in one piece this time. It's really hard to find replacements when you routinely burn down everything in a five block radius."

Vent rolled his eyes, "Come to think of it, try not to do that this time, yeah? The Hunters won't like that much."

"Spoilsport," Omega snapped at the brunette, but his previous frustration had melted from his features. If anything, the upcoming battle made him look positively giddy. This fact was not reassuring. Omega brought out his sword with a blur of magenta light, sporting a grin that would have sent a chill down even Albert's spine as he stared down his foes. The crimson light in his eyes glowed strong enough to make any maverick jealous, the very air itself seeming to react to his aura of sheer bloodlust. One old-style reploid in the crowd looked at Omega in shocked recognition, cussed a blue streak a mile wide, and ducked out of the way. Other bystanders backed away at the sight.

Grey and Ashe, watching all this go down, started to look significantly less confident.