Without any other options and an undeniable offer on the table, the Guardians had wasted no time in finding a target. Better to let the devils fight their enemies than themselves, after all. After a quick scan, a biometal signature was found. Pandora, Prometheus and Omega were teleported near the location via the transporter on the Guardian ship.
Omega immediately stepped back, slipping into some nearby shadows. "Take the lead, my masters..." he said, but the sneer in his words was chilling even to the Model W siblings.
Prometheus scratched his nose and chuffed. "Sure thing big boy! Pandora? Let's go!"
Without further ado the group forged ahead. Their current location was the outskirts of a city, but said outskirts had been in decline for some time. The outer walls, built long ago to repel maverick attacks, were cracked and rusted. Parts had fallen away, revealing shabby buildings. Here and there a resident flitted between old alleys, the shouts of children and civilian conversations faded from distance. Omega stayed away from the walls, sticking to the low brush and foliage to hide himself from view, but Pandora and Prometheus boldly stayed to the roads and trails surrounding the area. A resident spotted them at some point, yelped, and ran off yelling about two red eyed mavericks.
Pandora huffed while her brother just grinned. "I kinda of like being able to walk in the open, eh sis?"
Her response was to hum, a small, pleased smile on her face. Prometheus could sense a streak of mischief behind it, but his mild mannered sister was not as likely as him to act on impulse so he just smirked in response. Instead the pair just turned as another resident came to see the commotion, caught two insane grins from the Model W pair, and wisely ran hell-for-leather to safety. After that, there were far fewer people that ventured outdoors. It seemed that people in the city outskirts knew full well to keep an eye out for the presence of mavericks and to stay somewhere safe when they were spotted. Half an hour of walking around and searching the vicinity revealed no elemental Mega Men immediately visible. Pandora looked around ponderously, "Hmmm... brother? Do you think... we will find... our target soon?"
"If we make a racket, sure," Prometheus noticed, "but how to go about that..."
"The destruction of the nearby city would be noticeable. Very noticeable. A few screams ought to get their attention," Omega noted blandly from behind a shrub, his voice low. And yet, despite his calm words, his somewhat eager demeanor gave him away.
"Hah! True, you brilliantly bloodthirsty bastard!" Prometheus laughed. He frowned soon afterwards however, "But that doesn't mean we're gonna draw anyone out. They might be on orders to stay low, and sending a bunch of people running and screaming wouldn't help us out in that regards."
Pandora came up with the answer, her eyes still roving the city outskirts. "There is... a strong information network... out here. If something happens... everyone will know." She pointed towards the city, and an older teen cursed and hid behind a slab of wall, his attempt at spying unsuccessful.
Prometheus twirled his staff, disappearing with it as he warped. The next thing anyone knew there was a very high pitched scream from behind the rubble. Prometheus crowed, "Go on then! You heard her, didn't you? We're looking for someone, a Mega Man that should be in the area! If I don't have a Mega Man here in the next ten minutes, I'll just have to have a massacre instead! Ah hah hah hah!" Pandora watched her brother drive the spy from behind the wall. He brandished his scythe at the boy as the teen scrambled along the ground, fear catching the youth's breath in their throat as he scrambled to get back up on his feet. The teen was gone in but a moment.
The grim reaper reploid casually strolled back to his sister, twirling his weapon giddily. "Heh, did you see him run Pandora? Turns out I scared him so bad he fell backwards out of fright! Poor thing! I hope he's better at fetching than he is at standing! Ahahahaha!"
Pandora giggled. Omega couldn't help but crack a grin, red eyes blazing. "Destroying a city or two together would certainly help us learn each other's prowess in battle. I approve of this course of action."
"Destroying a whole city by ourselves? Never really managed that before, but if you think we'd have a shot at it I'm all for it eventually," Prometheus mused. He narrowed his eyes at Omega, "But you! Back off for now. Wait until the Mega Man actually shows up to show up yourself! That was the plan, remember nitwit?"
Omega said nothing, simply melting into the shadows of overgrown landscaping and abandoned forest. Red eyes gazed sternly at the two Model W users, glowing from the shadows ominously, before slowly dimming as Omega dampened his energy output to help stay hidden.
Prometheus grunted before turning to his sister with a grimace. "It's like trying to get a cat to play tricks. Bloody thing doesn't want to listen!"
Pandora leaned in conspiratorially, "Less of a cat... and more of a demon. He is... more sly than we're giving him credit for. Bound by contract, but... if he does not like us..."
Prometheus sighed, "Hmph. Yeah." He scratched his chin in thought, "Oh well. We'll keep an eye on him. He's gotta obey us no matter what for now anyways, so... meh. We'll just wait for that Mega Man and see how well he fights later. He did bring up a point, we never actually saw him in action face to face... I wonder if we'll be able to fight well together?"
Pandora hummed in agreement. The two waited for a moment, surveying the scenery. Then Pandora hummed. "Do you think... he could really destroy a whole city...?"
"With us helping? Probably. By himself? Guess we could always find out if we wanted to, really," he grinned. A few more minutes passed. Halfway through their time limit, as Prometheus was testing his scythe, their quarry appeared. Red eyes appeared first, glowing brilliantly from the shadows, before a nearly skeletal ninja appeared, stalking forwards. He was watching the two emotionlessly, as if awaiting their next move.
Siarnaq, the shadow Mega Man, had appeared. The wielder of the Model P was as solemn as ever. He walked forwards, noting how relaxed Pandora and Prometheus seemed at his presence.
"Tch! 'Bout time you got here, you lazy freak. I was about to start mowing down a few buildings if no one showed up!" laughed the Model W male.
His sister cocked her head, blinking, but saying little. Siarnaq took this as his queue. "RESPONSE TO SUMMONS NECESSARY. SUBJECTS PANDORA AND PROMETHEUS WERE AN UNEXPECTED OUTLIER TO MISSION SUCCESS. INQUIRY. SUBJECTS PANDORA AND PROMETHEUS WERE BELIEVED TERMINATED. YOUR CURRENT PRESENCE DENIES THIS DATA."
"Albert may be dead, but we're very much alive and kicking!" Prometheus gloated. "although I hear Albert's just old news for you elemental Mega Men now. That red bearded fool, Thomas... isn't he the one pulling your strings now?"
Siarnaq tensed. "INFORMATION IS CONFIDENTIAL. STATE DATA SOURCE IMMEDIATELY."
Prometheus just brandished his scythe playfully in response, "Can it ninja boy. I wanna talk to the bigwig, not the errand boy! Or better yet, you do it for me!" He slammed the end of his scythe into the ground, snorting. "Drop a line to your boss and tell him we're here!"
"That will not be necessary. He already knows."
A haughty voice came from the sky. Floating down regally was the Model H Mega Man, Aeolus. His wings and posture were spread wide as he landed, showing no signs of worry despite facing two of the most fearsome Mega Men alive. "You fools made your presence very well known. Siarnaq, are there any civilians nearby?"
"NEGATIVE."
"Good. This conversation is not for the ears of infidels," he replied. The wind Mega Man crossed his arms, reserved, yet somewhat curious about the two before him. "Thomas is taking no chances with you. You will come with us, peacefully, and you will join us. Or else. Two loose cannons such as yourselves cannot be allowed free reign."
From the city emerged the other two elemental Mega Men. First was Atlas, the fiery female grinning in anticipation, while besides her was the meeker aquatic Mega Man Thetis. He looked quite a bit more nervous, but also hopeful. The group spread out, nearly surrounding the Model W Mega Men on on side.
"Hah! What a welcoming party! He's not taking any chances with us, is he? Trying to outnumber us? Oooooh we're so scared. Didn't even have to tell them about that Guardian moon base to get 'em all here," giggled the grim reaper, not at all intimidated. He kept to his word with the Guardians though, and put emphasis on something that, for anyone else not in the know, was a piece of slipped info.
"You ought to be. Two to one odds aren't good at all for you weaklings. I can smell the blood from your injuries from here!" That was Atlas, her knuckle busters armed and ready. She brandished them eagerly, "Not that you would have done well even at full power, cowards. The odds are against you!" her eyes narrowed as she gave Prometheus a strange look. "And what do you mean, moon base? Tell us what you mean about a moon base!"
Pandora ignored her question, gave only the barest smile, and raised her hand gently. "The odds... are they against us...? No, silly... They are not. Come... servant." She beckoned. The servant came. Siarnaq gave a very uncharacteristic double take as Omega finally slunk into the range of his sensors, and Thetis whined at the sudden change of odds. Aeolus crinkled his nose at the diagnostics his systems were giving him.
"You. Who are you?"
The postures of the four Mega Men changed only ever so slightly, but it was apparent to trained eyes; they were nervous. And even they didn't know why.
"Our... servant. One whom even Albert... knew nothing of." Pandora said, cutting off any response Omega could have had.
"One more fool makes no difference!" Aeolus spat, although he was still taken aback by the events. "You can't hide your diagnostics from me. You two are still damaged! A third weakling Mega Man can't help you, even if you did pull him from nowhere!" His words were forceful, but the lack of faith in his own words was plain to see.
"They said the Guardians made our biometals. Did they make yours too?" Thetis asked Omega, almost friendly in his inquiry. It was as if he was trying to avoid what they all knew was coming. Siarnaq and Atlas remained stoically silent. A moment passed. Pandora and Prometheus merely watched, curious, as Omega huffed. Suddenly the devil reploid's eyes began glowing fiercely as he bared his teeth.
"Don't mistake me for some half rate copy. I am no Mega Man. I am an original!"
"It matters not. If you won't back down, we'll beat you into submission!" Atlas growled. She motioned as if to attack. The other three did the same.
"Then you'll meet the same fate as your predecessors!" Omega replied, snarling.
The fight was on. Pandora and Prometheus immediately began warping, and Omega charged Atlas head on. It took less than a second for the God of Destruction to find an immediate flaw in his battle plans. If he wasn't careful, he was going to hit his allies very quickly. Pandora was suddenly above his head, firing off a large bouncing object made from ice in Aeolus' direction. The shot scattered the wind Mega Man, but also halted Omega, who had just been about to fire off a salvo of vertical lasers to force Atlas to a distance. Instead, he was forced to dodge backwards when Atlas sensed his hesitation, surging forwards with a heavy punch. Omega ended up right next to Siarnaq, who had dashed around to avoid Prometheus warping in next to him. Kunai clashed with a magenta sword, and then another blade entered the fray as Aeolus seized his chance, aiming towards the one being bogged down.
Omega had exactly the move he needed to get some air, and punched the ground. A wave of energy blasted out in orbs. His attackers retreated with a yelp, but another yelp came from his teammate.
"Oi! Watch where you're aiming!" snapped an irate Prometheus, patting away at an energy burn on his cloak. "I thought you were supposed to be some combat ace, geeze!"
He was soon cut off from further insult by Aeolus firing off a cyclone towards him. The wind Mega Man laughed as Prometheus retreated, "You brought a very poor ally, didn't you!?"
The rest of the fight proceeded much the same, Omega trying to hold off the brunt of the onslaught while simultaneously holding back as much power as he could for fear of damaging his teammates. Pandora and Prometheus did what they could to pick away at the outskirts of the battle, warping in and out at random intervals to surprise whom they could, their guerrilla tactics paying off, but only very slowly. Too slowly. They were avoiding the majority of the damage, but the necessity of their action was plain to see. They were flagging far too quickly. Worse yet, they were sabotaging Omega. He had no idea when they were warping in, and more often than not he had to stop short of a move that would have changed the tide of battle because one of his allies was too close. They dueled across the landscapes, evasive tactics by both Omega and the Model W siblings driving the fight into a game of chase. A game where the four elemental Mega Men realized that unlike his allies, Omega couldn't warp. And that made him an easy target.
Two minutes into the fight Omega was at a breaking point. An ice dragon from Thetis had caught him unawares. The normally quiet fighter howled in utter rage. Such unearthly ferocity brought a halt to the fight, but a small one. Just a moment, and nothing more. But it was the moment Omega needed. It was then, when everyone was staring at him in fear, even his allies, that he noticed that one combatant had been avoiding the fray even more than Pandora and Prometheus. Thetis was at the farthest edge of the fight.
Of course, Omega realized. This was a fight on the ground. Leviathan, the base for Thetis' biometal, was not as good on the ground as in the water. If the aquatic Mega Man didn't keep his distance, he'd be shredded in the melee, all but useless out of water. But he'd made a fatal error. He's given the arena too much berth, hoping to be able to charge up and fire his icy dragons from afar.
It was just the distance Omega needed to avoid hitting his allies.
With a shout he fired himself forwards, leaping through the air with such speed he left a trail of afterimages behind him. Thetis was caught unawares. His face was surprisingly calm, the shock dulling his reaction for what was coming next. "Hyuh?"
Omega's signature seven-slash combo cut him down mercilessly. Blood went flying. Thetis fell to the ground, dead or alive, who knew, but Omega raised his sword again once more to finish the blue boy off for good. Siarnaq came between him and his prey, blocking with a shuriken-shaped shield. But Omega didn't care. The small part of his mind that had been worried the whole time about hitting his teammates? That part wasn't there any more. There was blood in the air, and Omega wanted more.
He fired off a slew of lasers. Siarnaq, swift as he was, had somehow grabbed Thetis and tried to leap out of the way. But he wasn't swift enough.
"GCK!"
Needless to say, his red scarf got a lot more red. Suddenly there were two Mega Men down. Aeolus looked shocked, and Atlas' tough exterior had absolutely cracked. She stood there in horror. Two people, two comrades, down right before her eyes, before anything could have been done. Omega recognized the PTSD right away. So, a soldier then? Omega laughed. He laughed.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
Prometheus caught Aeolus' back, distracting him as he turned to defend himself, but Pandora's attempt to sneak attack Atlas was avoided. The fire Mega Man screamed, bearing down on the God of Destruction to save her allies. To try and recover the odds that had oh-so-suddenly flipped on their head. Omega simply caught her knuckle busters in his hands, flinching at the pain, but his cackles soon grew in volume.
"Ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA! Foolish Mega Men! You'll die the same way your ancestors did! FIGHTING ME!"
Atlas found herself thrown into the quickly growing pile of blood and bodies nearby. The fight behind him stopped at this point. Aeolus, between Pandora and Prometheus, should probably have been fighting the two Model Ws for his life, but all three of them had stopped to watch the apparent executions in shock.
Atlas stood up, panting, between Omega and his victims. She tried to raise her buster guns, but it was obvious that she was terrified. Omega stalked forward, grinning. Behind her Siarnaq struggled back up, blood flowing from vicious plasma wounds as he tried vainly to carry the still form of Thetis over his shoulders.
"Fefnir died a tool. He never had the strength face me head on... so he let someone else do it for him, and paid for it with his life. The same with Leviathan. The same with Harpuia! But, oh, Phantom..." Omega sneered at Siarnaq, "Well. I never got a shot at him. That coward did all the work for me. Just like you! Throwing yourself in front of my sword like that? My my, how silly of you. At least it wasn't your own blade this time, isn't that right Model P? If you can even hear me, worthless thing!"
Siarnaq quailed. Atlas seemed in no mental condition to defend him, and Thetis was... in dire need of medical attention. There was no question there. It seemed like nothing could save the Mega Men from their sudden dilemma. And indeed. Nothing could save them.
At least, not how they expected.
It was a truly calamitous beam. Not even Omega could have produced it. It smashed from the heavens onto the city, bright as the sun. Everything was wiped out in an instant of brilliant light and a unimaginable boom of exploding air. Omega went flying. Everyone did. A shockwave of dust and ash spread like a tidal wave from the center. The Mega Men and Omega were swept up by the force, blasted away from the epicenter like leaves in a gale.
Thomas had fired a space cannon.