The next two days with the Model W duo were little more than boring tension. Severely damaged as they were, bed rest was the most they could manage. Once they'd gotten past their initial apprehension about being under Guardian supervision, the two had no problem zonking out all day to recover. A much needed break for them, Omega thought honestly. The Guardians, medics or otherwise, would check up on the recovering pair regularly, playing friendly enough with the siblings and trying to pry out a conversation, but eyeing Omega with all due paranoia. He was never left out of sight. And really, who could blame them? He'd managed to overpower Grey and that was no small feat. But with Omega restrained by pre-programmed loyalty, as long as they did nothing to harm his charges, he seemed all too willing to sit in a corner and sulk. Especially after Prairie's admonishment earlier. Omega wasn't as unpredictable as one would think, given his devil reploid moniker.
If anything, it was Pandora and Prometheus that were the biggest wild cards. No one really knew if they were going to smarten up, or just go maverick again once they got up on their feet properly. Yet despite the situation, the Guardians seemed distracted. As if something else was going on. This was a potentially bad move as far as Omega was concerned. If the Guardians had any smarts, the immediate plan should have been to appease his charges as much as possible. Pandora and Prometheus (and him by default) could be possible allies for any scheme, and definitely wouldn't be desirable as enemies. Day two of recovery, and apart from waking up with the usual sly glint in their eyes, the two Model W users remained bed-bound overall.
Day three scrapped any possible plans.
Omega never really knew or cared what the world government was up to, or who ruled it. But that opinion was forced to change when a rush of medics brought a tall blonde man into the medical bay, screaming blue bloody murder and cursing a man by the name of Thomas with all his heart.
"Damn Thomas! That ruinous fool! First Albert, and then him!?"
"Master Mikhail, you are going to give yourself a heart attack."
"Thomas literally back-stabbed me through the heart on my last body, it is a little late for that!"
Omega, who had gone to the door to observe the commotion, simply frowned in confusion. Clearly something important was going on, but he was missing many pieces of the puzzle. Pandora and Prometheus, now strong enough to walk, came to the door in curiosity. Omega made some room for them and they all opened the door, leaning out and watching the chaos.
Whomever the tall blonde was, they seemed far more offended than actually hurt. Still, he was tottering around and unstable, and nurses were around him at every step. The man was still cursing up a storm, causing even the Model W duo to raise their brows.
"Master Mikhail? That doesn't look like him," Prometheus grumbled.
Pandora shot back a conspiratorial retort, "He said he had a... previous body. He may... have had a spare... like Albert."
"Asshole maneuver right there, that's for sure."
"And we care about this why?" Omega snapped at the pair, not at all appreciative of that fact that they were literally leaning on him to get a better look out the door.
"Good heavens, is that who I think it is?!" Mikhails voice shot out through the medical bay, absolute surprise and shock on his features. Any sort of complaining or conspiring against that 'Thomas' person fell short with the blonde man's slack-jawed appraisal of the Model W duo, currently leaning out of their room and spying like naughty children.
"You bet your ass it is!" Prometheus crowed, "you Legion bastards are going to have to try a little harder next time to kill us! Although if I've overheard right you're right on Albert's level of scheming! Spare bodies, pah! Coward!" The Grim reaper leaned out even further, snarling and gesturing wildly to show his anger. Unfortunately Omega was caught off guard by the maneuver and became unbalanced. Before anyone knew it, the trio had fallen right over. Omega managed to catch himself on the doorway, but Pandora and Prometheus went right down onto the ground in a heap. The witch had tried to grab something during the fall though, and Omega had been very hard put to avoid yelping out when she'd grabbed his hair and was now, in fact, tangled in it. Ow.
The poor medics didn't really seem to know how to process the scene that had just befallen their eyes (literally), but to his credit, the blonde Master of Legion just gave a disgruntled snort at the Model W users wincing on the floor. "Scheming? I'll have you know I am nothing like Albert. My scheming isn't evil, thank-you-very-much!"
He drew himself to his full height, as if preparing a retort, when the Guardian leaders all blundered into the room. Aile, Vent, and Prairie all stopped dead when they saw what was going on, and sort of just looked between the two groups. Even Prairie seemed rather nonplussed, but gathered herself quickly. "Ah... ah. Master Mikhail. I must admit your arrival was a bit... unexpected?"
"Might as well just call me 'Master' now, I do believe Thomas has betrayed me and run off just Albert did," replied the blonde sourly. His long hair shook as he growled and shook his head, "I had to rely on a backup body to get out of that mess in one piece, and even now I can tell my memory's a little off." He reared up, taking on a far more regal posture as he regained his composure, a surprisingly youthful face greeting the onlookers compared to his usual one (which Omega knew nothing of, of course). "I do remember something about you having reached the end of your lifespan, Prairie. I take it you've, ah, circumvented a few rules there."
Prairie seemed rather sheepish, Aile taking up the slack in the conversation, "Official story is that she passed away a year ago. But none of us could... well... We couldn't stand to see her go. Even if it did technically make us maverick."
Vent scratched his head in admonishment, but Mikhail just laughed at the ZX pair, "I would be a hypocrite to say she shouldn't live a long life! She's done more good than I, to be fair. Just be a bit more careful about keeping her under wraps. But for now I agree; the official story is that she's deceased." And here, the world governor gave Pandora and Prometheus a concerned look. "As are they, apparently. Now this, I am going to have to question severely. But, perhaps at another time. It's strange of me to be saying it, but we have some far more concerning news to deal with right now." And here, he turned to the Guardians and explained everything.
"Thomas betrayed me, as you may have guessed by now. He's apparently taken control of Siarnaq, Atlas, Aeolus, and Thetis, and has also managed to get his hands on some sort of Model W coding. He's trying to use it to take control of many satellites and other orbital bodies around the planet, including many of the orbital space cannons left over from the Elf Wars." He had to stop here when his audience of Guardians gasped.
"Orbital space cannons?"
"What!?"
"I thought many of those were decommissioned," Prairie shot abruptly. Everyone's gazes turned to her, then back to Mikhail when he replied.
"I they were, too. But not all of them apparently," the Master frowned, "and he's planning to... reset the world. I don't know what this means. Ah! But before I forget! It's most important!" The old politician rustled through some hidden pockets. What he brought out set Omega's hackles up. It was Model Z. Cracked, and obviously in some sort of sleep mode, for the eyes were dim and the biometal itself did not float as it usually would have. "I couldn't stop Thomas from damaging him, but... maybe there's something you could do?"
"Model Z!"
The conversation continued, mostly because no one knew how Thomas had managed to pull this ploy so quickly or what they were going to do about it. At least, no one who knew who spoke op. Omega discretely gained Pandora and Prometheus' attention, and they all retreated back into their room and closed the door with a click.
Omega growled. "That biometal...!"
"Damaged. Looks like its in a power saver mode. No need to be bothered," Prometheus started callously. Then his demeanor changed."The beans. Spill them. You look like you know something," Prometheus asked. Asked, not demanded, Omega noted with pleased surprised. He was more than happy to divulge.
"What they're discussing sounds a lot like the ultimate plan my former master, Weil, had," he began. The Model W duo listened intently, "It was called Operation Ragnarok. It was a multi-stage operation. First, devise a program that could connect and control orbital bodies. Lord Weil was exiled for 200 years from society, and used that time to construct a fool-proof program to hack and convert space cannons, satellites, and so on to his needs. Next, distract the opponent with numbers. Weil intended to acquire an army and use that to quash any resistance. My former master intended to rule the world but had no illusions that he'd manage it without some form of resistance showing up. If such resistance were to occur, he would attempt to destroy it with whatever armies he'd gained control of or built in his march to world control. The third stage of his plan was to build and launch his own orbital space cannon, which I believe he intended to call Ragnarok, to broadcast the program to other space bodies as well as act as an immediate form of suppression to any who would challenge him."
Omega took a breath before continuing to explain, "Sadly I am unaware as to the progression and success of Operation Ragnarok. As Weil's second in command and eventual avenger should anything have gone wrong, I should have been at the head of his armies suppressing any resistance. Sadly, during the army-building stage of the operation, I... became rather inconvenienced. Left for dead, really. Even Weil, the man whose soul resides within Model W, within you, had no idea I remained alive." He looked to the side subconsciously, "sometimes I didn't even know I had myself..." Omega shook his head, getting back to the topic at hand, "But judging by the current events, Operation Ragnarok must have progressed to the final stages in my absence. This could prove problematic for us if the man abusing Weil's Ragnarok program is not Weil himself.
"Which he isn't. Which I'm glad for," Pandora said firmly. "Model W is bad enough. I feel that Weil would be a bad ally for us," she said to Prometheus.
Prometheus, for his part, gritted his teeth. "Yeah. Seems as bad as Albert. Worse maybe. Speaking of Weil," Prometheus frowned, "Omega. Any other programming we should know about that he left in you? You're no good to us if you're gonna be forced to betray us at some point. Tell us your programming!"
Omega was a bit taken aback by this. But he understood. "Very well. I am Omega. Built by Wily in 20xx, tampered with by Dr. Cain in 21xx, and later refined by Weil late 21xx. My Primary programming is to destroy. Initially I had secondary programming to spread a virus to make other robots and reploids act maverick; although this feature helped result in the Maverick wars, it was made defunct as of my refinement by Weil. After this refinement, my primary objective was to serve and protect Weil, even if it cost me my own life. My secondary programming is now as thus; If Weil is killed, my primary objective again becomes destruction. All humans and reploids are to be destroyed. Everything is to be destroyed." Omega stopped here, humming, "However, my programming here is having some issues. I acknowledge that Weil appears to be dead. And yet his soul clearly resonates from Model W. I cannot destroy all life as that would undoubtedly result in the destruction of Model W. Who is Weil. Who I must protect. So instead..." Omega became consternated, thinking aloud, "I must... obey Model W. Because Model W is Weil? Because... Ah. My programming is unclear. I suppose this is a reason why I have sentience. Issues like this would become a horrible logic loophole for my programming otherwise." Omega finished his explanation.
"...So you're like, some really primitive reploid," Prometheus finished, slightly in awe. "Are you even a reploid? Being forced to follow your programming like that seems a bit... well..."
"I could be described as primitive in reploid terms, I suppose. Primordial. Whichever you prefer."
"The real question..." Pandora cut in, "becomes... what does this mean. For us now?"
"It means that I could have a horrible conflict of interest if Thomas is indeed using Weil's programming to restart operation Ragnarok under his control. Especially if he's using a Model W as a vector to do it," Omega explained. He wasn't familiar with long conversations like this, but he supposed having to spill his guts and explain everything to Pandora and Prometheus the first time they'd met had trained him a bit. "Or even worse for you, if Weil himself is assisting Thomas. Or, if Thomas has managed to program himself as having seniority over Weil or Model W, I may be forced by seniority programming to obey Thomas regardless. Thankfully Weil left a loophole that I do not actually need to actively seek out orders. Well. He may have at one point, but I found that I could annoy him. Er. He found that to be annoying when I realized how often I may... require input." Omega smirked and acted a little sheepish after having let that slip. He'd worked damn hard and endured quite a bit of flak to have Weil give him that loophole. He wasn't going to lose it now!
"To summarize I suppose. If Thomas is Using Model W to control the programming for Operation Ragnarok, it may cause a problem in my programming over whether to obey either him or you. If Weil is assisting him directly, I will automatically have to default to obeying Weil. However, as it stands, I do not actually have to actively seek out Weil to take orders from him. Or even know if he's alive or not, I suppose. So for you, the best thing would be to avoid Thomas' machinations and the potential to come face to face with Weil. Because then, I may not have to obey you any more if my programming thinks he would be a better candidate."
And as much as Omega was curious to find out about who this Thomas person was, he wasn't curious enough to chance the possibility of being forced to obey Weil again. Pandora and Prometheus were people who he thought he could get along with. They didn't know how to stop him using loopholes, or maybe didn't even care. And they respected, even feared him a little. That, he felt, was good enough for him.
One their end, Pandora and Prometheus were scheming. "Shit. So what do we do now?"
"We need to get away, I think," Pandora began, "and maybe... sabotage Thomas as much as possible. He is a threat to us... but... we cannot face him directly."
"You probably could if you wanted to" Omega said frankly.
Prometheus snorted, "And leave you by yourself? Fuck that. You're our new bodyguard! And, uh... well you did beat Model A. You're probably pretty tough in battle. Like hell we're gonna pass up the opportunity to have you fight for us!"
Pandora hummed, "So... the plan... I say we sabotage Thomas... perhaps we can offer the Guardians help... and when they go to face Thomas, we... make a getaway... retreat somewhere safe... and adapt our plans to whatever happens next."
"Good plan. Except, uh..." Prometheus frowned, "somewhere safe. I can't really think of any place that's really gonna be super safe if Thomas wins and starts blasting the planet with space cannons."
And this is where Omega squirmed, because he damn well knew of a place. He'd rather not go back, but... Well, he'd rather not be hit with space cannons either. They tended to hurt a little. "I know a place. I might need help finding the general region, but I believe there was a forest currently experiencing a gravitational anomaly nearby-"
"Area A."
"Yup. Area A."
The siblings nodded to each other before turning back to Omega. "So. Area A. After we beat some shit up and help wreck Thomas's plans, we get going to Area A, ditch the Guardians by the way 'cause I don't think they'll like us doing this, and you lead us to a safe hideaway. Good! This is a plan. Usually we were the pawns in any plans we were involved in, it's nice to have the cards for once," Prometheus grinned.
Omega blinked. "So."
"So." Pandora smiled. "We go... help the Guardians for now?"
"And high tail it afterwards!" Crowed the Grim reaper.
And with that, the plan was set.