"Alright, this is really starting to piss me off," Atlas growled loudly.
A trio of Mega Men were pacing around the statue in the center of the Legion garden, their postures ranging from tense to embarrassed. Birds tweeted nervously, a gentle breeze blowing as the afternoon sun slowly crawled towards the horizon. Siarnaq twitched at every shadow that moved while Vent scuffed his feet guiltily against the uneven stone path, still dripping wet from his adventure in the river earlier. The Guardian leader turned to the irate woman in response to her outburst, "Hey, hey, calm down. We're not getting anywhere working ourselves up like this."
"AFFIRMATIVE," agreed Siarnaq, his eyes darting around the clearing all the same.
Atlas frowned at her comrades, "Tch, you weren't there when he had Grey. I'm not worked up, I'm being cautious," she grumbled, rubbing at a wound.
"For someone as temperamental as you, it's the same thing," piped Ashe from nowhere.
Vent smirked as his sister, Aile, appeared from behind a large fern alongside the other Model A Mega Man. The older female smiled consolingly at the fuming Atlas, then turned to the other two, "Any sign of him yet?" she asked.
"NEGATIVE."
"I'm worried. With him on the loose like this..." Vent shook his head, letting the sentence hang.
"No need to worry. I just checked in on Grey," Aile started, "he's taking a nap to recover, but otherwise he's fine. As for the mercenary, Mikhail did some calculations. Judging by how fast he's going through the stages, he should be out of feral mode right now. He'll probably go hide somewhere to recuperate since Atlas really did a number on him. He can't escape Legion unnoticed, so he'll come back to us one way or another. We can keep looking for now, but he probably won't be found until he wants to be."
Vent sighed, but nodded in agreement at the sound logic. Atlas grimaced.
"That's all very well and fine to say, Aile, but you saw how much blood he lost. I know I hit his heart. Chances are he's dead in a ditch somewhere."
Aile scowled back, "And I also saw how he got back up and ran off despite you so say 'getting his heart'. Sorry, Atlas, but the evidence is against you in this one."
"Yeah, yeah, maybe I missed and got an artery instead, so what?! He still bled like crazy! He may have survived the hit and ran off to recuperate, but ended up just finding a hole to die in," she muttered aloud. "Almost a shame, he was a good fighter..."
As the two girls continued to argue, Vent simply shook his head, "I don't know about you," he said to Siarnaq, "but I have a feeling that it won't be as easy as him just dying somewhere. He's done some pretty unexplainable things in the past. I think he'll pull through whether we want him to or not."
The ninja gave him a blank stare. "AFFIRMATIVE."
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Omega, nearby the group, scampered carefully back up the wall of Legion, having overheard the conversation on his way down. "Well, not going down that way..." he muttered to himself, claws clicking against stone and concrete walls. His cat-like figure alighted on the top of the wall separating the garden from the rest of Legion, tail swishing impatiently.
The group down there were right about one thing; Judging by the sheer vastness of Legion, the red reploid wouldn't be going anywhere without at least being seen, or worse, caught. Sooner or later, he'd have to return himself into Legion's greedy mitts, and he was none too happy about it.
Omega's fangs were slowly shortening to a more manageable length, although enough remained to stick out like twin daggers. Their placement was still quite foreign, and he kept licking them in annoyance. His mane was also becoming less noticeable and the fur that had sprouted along his entire body faded with it. It was still going to be a few hours before it was completely gone, though. Pointed ears tilted as he considered his possible courses of action.
He could keep hiding, but that would be cowardly. Not really his preferred modus operandi if he could avoid unless. Not to mention that, if the searchers got serious, he'd be in for a lot of annoyance when he was finally found. The longer he delayed the inevitable, the worse any repercussions were going to get.
Maybe he should try harder to escape Legion, his strength was more than sufficient and would... no, there's no way he could get out without being spotted. Stealth wasn't his specialty. Quite the opposite, if anything. Escaping would involve revealing a lot more of his strength than he'd like.
He could turn himself in... wait, where had that thought come from?! No way!
Thinking back on it, sneaking out of Legion wasn't too bad of a plan. Perhaps he could get away with stealth after all, he'd certainly been getting better at it. No one really noticed him when he was playing inconspicuous... oh wait. They might notice the tail and ears. Not to mention his lack of ID would effectively remove all of his chances of getting through the gates. So what about the walls? He quickly inspected the material he now lay on. No, not that either... even if he got over them, there was nothing but desert on the other side. He had no qualms about wandering about the desert, but unless he hurried out of sight, he'd be spotted right off the bat. Kind of hard to hide in a flat wasteland. All escape plans would be immediately botched unless there was a huge sandstorm going on, and even that might not foil whatever scanning equipment Legion had at their disposal.
As he was pondering his different options over and over, a small mechaniloid managed to sneak up on him. By the time he noticed that something was there, it had already scooted. He let it go, thinking it was just a stupid bird or something. However, as it landed on its master's outstretched arm, the hawk mechaniloid sent the information of Omega's coordinates to the PDA that Aeolus held.
"Good bird. Now, go tell Siarnaq, I'm not taking him on alone," the green swordsman commanded. Once the Shadow Mega Man had been contacted and gathered the necessary materials, it took little time for them, and their allies, to hone in on the location.
Omega was suddenly snapped out of his contemplative reverie when the Wind Mega Man flew up beside him. He snarled. Aeolus landed stiffly, pointing some sort of long, thin staff at him as he did. It had an odd type of apparatus at the tip, and Omega wasn't interested in finding out what that thing did.
His decision had been made for him.
As far as Aeolus was concerned, he wasn't too fond of the idea of getting close either. Omega's appearance had only barely started reverting to his original state. The white tiger was still covered in silver fur, and only the chest, forearms and thighs had shed enough fur to allow his black skin to become visible.
Aeolus' hawk returned, screeching at Omega, and he arched his back and hissed in response. Aeolus tried to inch closer while Omega was distracted, but the diseased reploid noticed it. He bared his brutal fangs. Even for a Mega Man, having teeth that big facing your general direction wasn't a pleasant experience. Aeolus backed off.
Omega suddenly jumped, yowling. Aeolus took to the air reflexively. It turned out that the action was unnecessary; Omega had landed poorly, and was now struggling to stay on the top of the wall, his back feet scrabbling furiously to gain some purchase.
The red reploid snarled, tearing out the new dart embedded in his upper thigh. He suddenly felt sluggish as he tried, and failed, to climb back onto the higher ground. With a grunt he dropped, smacking painfully into the ground several stories below.
"Oi, Aeolus, what are you, chicken? One cat jumps at you and you fly the coop!" Atlas joked roguishly from a distance. Aeolus made a rather off-colour reply, causing her to laugh at his slightly out-of-character frustration. Nearby, Aile stood with her feet planted widely and a gun held high. The other Mega Men gathered to her, the guardian lowering the tranquilizer held lightly in her grip, "Well, that was a nasty fall. Who wants to go first?" she indicated towards Omega's landing site, not being the one to have to get there first. After a fall like that, she had no doubt that the mercenary would be pretty irritated. Not to mention that getting hit in the butt with a tranquilizer would make pretty much anyone cranky, she admitted to herself.
As Aeolus landed, she could see that Vent had already run well ahead of her. She sighed and followed suite as Siarnaq dashed noiselessly alongside her brother. Atlas, not quite as enthusiastic at being the first to find the pissed-off neko, jogged along with her. "Nice shot, Aile," she complimented, "although I must ask why that area in particular. I didn't realize you thought about him like that-"
"Atlas!" Aile blushed profusely, staring at the Fiery Mega Man guffawing beside her.
"Ahahaha! Knew that'd get ya," she smiled. Aile couldn't help but giggle. Atlas wasn't the most eloquent person, but her brutal honesty and quirky sense of humour did have its own charm at times.
"I had bad aim, that's all. You were the one staring," Aile retorted cheekily.
Atlas choked, glaring at Aile and her comeback. "Let's go catch up already," she snapped abashedly. She ran on ahead, leaving Aile laughing behind her.
By the time she caught up, Aile was gasping for breath. Omega was in a corner, hissing viciously from behind a concealing fern. An area of compacted dirt nearby, filled with fur and crushed leaves, showed where he had rather unceremoniously landed. The other Mega Men stood at a respectable distance, cutting off Omega's escape from the moss-covered alcove by Legion's grayish white walls. A tree nearby had its bedraggled leaves spread in a umbrella-like canopy overhead, shading the majority of the small section of moist jungle. Smaller ferns and other plants provided plenty of cover for Omega. Because they couldn't see him clearly, none of the others were too enthusiastic about getting close.
"Alright, we know you're there, come out already!" yelled Aeolus.
Although Omega hated to admit it, they had him beaten this time. Even though none of the Mega Men knew his exact location, they had shut off any escape routes from the general area. If he wanted out he'd have to go through them. Unfortunately, thanks to the dart, he was having enough of a problem seeing straight, much less walking. Nonetheless, he tried to sneak forward. Alas, that only gave away his position as he started leaning immediately. Overcompensating for the movement, he crashed into the nearby fern.
"SUBJECT LOCATED."
Siarnaq jumped forwards with one of the odd spears. It was jabbed under the fern, the tip hitting Omega's side. Omega snarled, grabbing the spear and attempting to whack Siarnaq with it, but the Mega Man was too quick. Releasing the object and jumping backwards, he managed to avoid the swinging stick. However, he was unable to avoid it when Omega irately threw it at his head.
He fell backwards with a startled thunk as the object hit him squarely between the eyes. The others ran forwards to cover the poleaxed Model P user.
"Ouch, that looked like it hurt. You okay Siarnaq?" asked Vent.
The shadow mega man sat up unsteadily, "SYSTEMS... SYSTEMS FUNCT... URRRRGHK."
"Wait, did he actually say something that sounded human? Oh dear lord call a doctor, he's gonna die!" Atlas laughed. Siarnaq gave her a smart rap on the kneecaps with the spear in response as he got up, leaving her the one sitting down and cursing.
Omega was also cursing. The dizziness had gotten worse. Apparently, the things on the end of the spears that the Mega Men were carrying were tranquilizer devices. He's just gotten another dose and could barely stay up. Deciding that he's rather be somewhat conscious then completely conked out when Legion got him, he decided to call it a day.
"Alright... alright! I give. I'm coming out," The God of Destruction wobbled out meekly, standing on all fours. The fur loss had started to affect his face and belly now. He tried to stand up, the result rather shaky.
"Aw shit, he's going to the next stage already?" groaned Atlas.
"Stages? This bloody disease... or whatever it is... has stages?" he growled in response, worried about what was happening to him.
Aile tutted, "Yeah, I guess you weren't around when the first outbreak occurred, were you? We'll explain on the way back." She made a sudden movement towards him, reaching forward to support him. His instinctively raised his hackles and hissed, backing up.
"Oh, not quite out of feral yet. Well, I guess I should be relieved?" she frowned, caution returned. Taking a no-nonsense approach, she surged forward and grabbed him anyways, "Yes, this disease has stages. The first is the onset stage, where you start to act cat-like. The next is the first neko stage, where you look like a cat. Then there's fear stage, then feral, followed by the contagious stage, another neko and the recovery..."
He growled and spat as she tried to drag him out of the woody area. As far as she was concerned, now that he'd given up, it was best to get him inside as soon as possible. She hoped that acting like the whole incident was nothing would help, but it didn't. Omega was still too jumpy, and decided to wrench away from her unexpectedly. Attempting to run away, he didn't notice the uneven ground until he was stumbling over it. Nor did he notice the tree.
Wham!
Atlas howled with mirth. Omega struggled vainly, his tail cracking through the air in extreme irritation.
Aile shook her head. Well, at least with his head stuck in a tree he wouldn't try running away again...
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
By the time she and the others had worked him out of the natural headlock, the tranquilizers were working fully. Omega, his mind foggy, meekly let them carry him to the Master's chamber, where he met Mikhail for the first time.
His first impression was of a kindly old man, blunt but honest. He came to the conclusion rather quickly when the Master took one look at him, swore in front of an audience, and redirected the Mega Men to take him to a room somewhere. He was right on the verge of some sort of "contagious stage damnit, we'll have to reschedule the examination for later. We can't have all of our poor doctors get sick with it too."
Whatever that meant.
He was shoved into some clothes and rather swiftly deposited in a room which, unbeknownst to him, wasn't too far off from where the other elemental Mega Men were stationed. The door was shut and locked, but at least the window was open. As he glanced around, his head finally started to clear. He shook it several times trying to get it to clear faster, but it didn't work. He growled. How annoying!
Omega looked around his new prison. The room was comfortable and fairly spacious, the walls white and clean. An adequately sized bed dominated the center, gray and bland. Beside it was a small end table and a trash can. To his side, a small bathroom stood with the door half-open. The whole thing was bright but extremely plain. A note was folded on the end of the bed. He picked it up, reading aloud to himself.
"To the nameless mercenary; we of Legion regret to inform you that while you are infected with the disease known as the neko virus, we are required to maintain a protective custody of you. This will last several weeks at least, longer if necessary, past the end of the recovery period to ensure that you are no longer contagious. In the meantime, a room has been provided for your comfort, and if you wish, your personal effects may be brought from your home. The requested items will be searched and returned to you as soon as possible, or as allowed by your ruling administrator.
We thank you for your patience. Welcome to Legion."
On the bottom of the typed note, a small message was hastily scrawled, which Omega again muttered to himself as his mind was still a bit foggy,"Welcome to Legion! I'm Mikhail, and I'll be your administrator while you recover. Sorry about having to lock you up, but the neko virus hasn't been around for a while, so we want to make sure that this isn't some new strain. While you're here, we'll have to do a quick medical examination or two. Don't worry, it's just a scan or a few small tests, nothing invasive. While we're doing that, we might as well get you set up with a Legion ID. Your lack of ID is somewhat noticeable, not to mention the complete lack of any records.
We'll be expecting a history from you. Sorry, but that's how it goes. Now, I won't see you too often, I've got too much stuff to do being one of the Sage Trinity and all. We'll try not to keep you here longer than necessary. Sincerely, Mikhail."
Omega sighed despondently, the message finally breaking through his addled mind. Well, wasn't this going well. Something seemed a little too convenient for Legion with this whole mess, what with him catching the virus and all, but he couldn't really argue that. Legion was the government, right? In government, what they say goes, no matter what evidence he had against them. The Sage Trinity... weren't they the big-wigs of the whole lot? Well, that was just great. The highest level of government had pretty much just told him "We're watching you", so it's not like he could just run off like he wanted any more. He shuffled, unsettled. The net was closing in around him, and right now there wasn't much he could do about it.
Despite his currently depressing predicament, Omega still managed to notice, out of the corner of his eye, a little object floating just outside his new window. It was the Model A biometal. He considered it for a moment, watching as it entered.
"Hey there! You probably can't hear me, but guess what! We're neighbors now, so there are gonna be some rules! First off-!" it started menacingly.
Omega snatched it in his teeth before it could finish. With a quick electric shock he stunned the protesting biometal. A flick of his wrist swatted it away. Silly little thing, interrupting his alone time. He sat down as it bounced back towards him, ignoring his own uncharacteristic actions.
He hit it away again.
It bounced back again.
The whole situation suddenly became a game, with him swatting the poor biometal around the room. It started to recover from the stunning, only for Omega to stun it again. He gnawed it a bit, finding the pressure on his over-large teeth oddly pain-relieving. The red reploid hadn't even realized when his teeth had started to hurt. Tail flicking, he removed it from his mouth after careful consideration. Who knew where it had been, after all. Instead Omega turned it over and over in his claws, studying his prey. He covered it with his paws, hiding it, then uncovered it to make sure it was still there. The process repeated several times. Without even realizing it, he started to absorb the DNA.
Model A DNA obtained. No EX Skill data available. Scanning DNA for further data.
Potential system update available. New program sequence available. Install program sequence, "EX Combo"?
EX... Combo? Eh, whatever. Omega set the data to download, then released the quivering biometal.
"Oi... oi! You jerk! What the heck did you do?!"
Omega crouched, ready to pounce. He eyed the biometal curiously, kneading his paws and waving his tail excitedly.
"Whoa whoa whoa, we're not going through that again! I'm outta here!" The biometal shouted, flying out through the window. Disappointed, Omega watched the thing leave. He disdainfully yawned, then began checking his fur for cleanliness as if he'd intended for the biometal to get away all along.
Yeesh, still a lot of the cat left in me, he thought to himself. Ah well, nothing he could do about it. His inspection of his fur was completed (nothing was wrong with it, all was clean, hunky-dory, etc). Yawning, the neko'ed reploid considered the bed, but thought better of it. Curling up in a patch of sunlight on the floor, the God of Destruction decided to have a cat nap. And he did just that.
x-x-x-x-x
Model A shot out the window, booking it as fast as a little floating rock could go. He re-entered the Legion building, shaking himself off.
The absolute nerve of that guy! Treating him like a chew toy!
Model A was so deep into its own thoughts that it didn't notice the glare it was getting from a motherly Mega Man nearby.
"So there you are!"
Model A gulped as he saw Aile. However, he absolutely shuddered when Ashe stepped out from behind the Model ZX Mega Man, "You! You little jerk! What was the meaning of that? You went into the mercenary's room, didn't you?!"
Uh oh, busted. He puffed himself up indignantly, "I was just checking up on him! Geeze!"
"Just checking up on him!? That's bull and you know it! I told you to stay away from him when he's sick like that," Ashe objected.
"Ah-aaah you won't shut up, will you? I was just going to play with him a bit since he was weak and all..."
Ashe's eyes popped open, "Uh, model A, are you okay?"
Realizing that his "ah-aah" had sounded a lot like a "nyaa", Model A decided to expand on what he thought Ashe might be suspecting, "Oh, yeah, come one, just a little game of cat-and-mouse. Meow, you know. Just to pay him back for earlier, nyaa."
"Oh goddamnit Model A, please do not tell me you've gotten infected!" She gawked, aghast.
Model A cocked his head (or rather, his entire body) to the side curiously. He didn't say anything, instead enjoying the looks of sheer panic the two women were giving him. Then he couldn't take it anymore. "Bwaahahaahaahaahahaa! Oh my gosh, the looks on your faces right now! Ahahahahaha!"
Suddenly understanding the prank, the two looked at each other in confusion, then glowered murderously.
"Oh hey guys, bwahaha, come one, you gotta admit, that was pretty funny- uh, guys? Guys? Come on, it was just a joke, don't look at me like that... ulp!"
Elsewhere in Legion, Model Z barely looked up as Model A's screech echoed through the halls.
"He's done it again, hasn't he?" sighed Model H.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
In the gloom of underground ruins, Pandora, Prometheus and Seraph were not off to a good start. Even after having located the minuscule crack in the desecrated mass grave of the Ouroboros, they had realized that there was no way into it. Their only hint on how to get there was from a map detailing a nearby cave, one that the at least one of the siblings was somewhat familiar with. With nowhere else to go, they set out for it.
The cave, it turned out, led to the infamous Area M, the site of the first Model W found by the Model ZX Mega Men and Serpent Inc. As they navigated the toxic-looking wastelands and greenish crystalline landscape, they noticed numerous piles of desolate scraps, the only remains of mechaniloids destroyed by the Mega Men. Navigating the area was tricky and somewhat dangerous, but the abandonment of the area by any other mechaniloids made it a lot easier. Murky water lapped at their feet or dripped eerily in the distance as they explored the underground labyrinth.
The bulk of the area was dead and deserted. Spikes were rusted and broken from age and wires hung uselessly from the ceiling like rotted vines. The walls, which had previously glowed with the Model W's power, were gray and lifeless.
"Awfully cheery place, isn't it?" Seraph remarked sarcastically.
Pandora remained silent while her brother snapped back, "Oi, no one told you to come. You were the one who insisted that you come along to 'investigate'."
"It's very important that I follow all possible leads."
"Just what are you investigating, anyways?" Pandora asked slyly.
Seraph, preoccupied with avoiding another spike-filled pit, replied automatically, "It's an affair of the cyberspace police, it's not a concern for civilians."
Prometheus blinked, "Cyberspace?"
The blue investigator jerked his gaze to them, realizing that he'd let something slip. He frowned, then sighed, "Forget it. I'm not going to explain that." Prometheus made as if to ask more, but after seeing the expression on the man's face, he let the question go. The siblings wouldn't be getting anything out of him soon.
In almost no time the group reached the end of Area M. Prometheus growled in annoyance, "Well geeze, look at this; it's the transporter! Looks like this lead was a dead end, buddy. So much for your leads, and ours." He kicked the transporter lightly in frustration. However, Pandora was a little more observant of their surroundings, having been here before.
"Hmm? Look over there," she pointed at a large pile of boulders stacked against the opposite wall. "I don't... remember seeing those there last time. They're a little... out of place, too."
Indeed they were. While the natural colour of the rock was a plain, sandy gray, the boulders in question were anything but. They almost glowed a dark greenish-blue, and appeared to sparkle slightly as if they were made of a translucent glass.
"Yeah, definitely something up with those," noted Prometheus. Pandora stared at the pile of boulders blocking the wall, thinking.
"Something's... bothering me... ah! I remember! I think there... was a door in that wall... last time I saw it. I didn't have time to... investigate earlier though, since we had to... attack that residential district. Now that I think back on it... it was really nagging me for a while after."
Seraph had already begun to take a closer look at the rocks, "They're partially data based. We're on to something here." He began glowing a bright white, and an instant later, he was chucking the boulders out of the way with ease. The sibling's brows raised. Appearance wise, he now looked similar to Model X when megamerged, but with numerous wing-like projections covering his body.
"You aren't a Mega Man, are you?" inquired Prometheus.
"No I'm not. Are you going to stand there staring or help me out?"
They stepped up to assist, and the last of the boulders were soon removed. Behind where the cave had collapsed lay a door, pristine and unearthly."Yes! I... I knew there was a door!" Pandora crowed happily. Without further ado, the ancient metal obstacle was opened. As the group walked inside, they noticed a drastic difference from their former surroundings. They were in a series of long halls, connected together by a vertical shaft. The halls were laid out to be roughly on top of each other, and were long and narrow. The walls, unlike in Area M, glowed with a lively and bizarre aura in contrast to the deathly atmosphere of Area M; it was not the evil of Model W, but it certainly was not natural either.
As they entered, a mechaniloid attacked. It was quickly dispatched by an expert slash from Prometheus. "Looks like we hit the jackpot here," he exclaimed gruffly.
The trio walked down the first hall before staring down the shaft. Pandora spoke up, "I suppose we should start at the bottom first... Uhm, there's enough room on my staff for only two people though. We'll have to make several trips-"
Seraph jumped into the air, smirking, "Or I could just fly down with you. What, did you think these were for show?" he said, indicating his wings.
"Let's get this over with," Prometheus interrupted, his tone short.
They dropped down to the bottom floor, landing with a clatter of metal-clad feet. On their way down, they passed a ledge occupied by a mechaniloid. After backtracking to destroy the robot, they noticed a small data disk in the shadows behind where it stood. The female Mega Man cautiously reached for the object, "Here, I'll take that. I... always bring a disk reader with me. It'll take a minute... to get it working, though. Let's keep going." As she fiddled with her disk reader, the other two landed at the bottom of the shaft once more, Pandora floating down casually on her staff behind them. The group followed the short hall to its end. Three doors lined the walls, but any attempts to open them proved futile.
Prometheus humphed, "Rats."
"Ahah! Got it! Oh... the data's damaged..." Pandora mumbled loudly. The others came to see what she had discovered. "There's not much here I'm afraid," she told them, "there was an... image... at some point, but the disk is old and too worn out. The data file isn't much better..." She showed them the results of her protable scanner attempting to read the disk, the ancient file showing clear signs of decay, its files disjointed to say the least. "All it says... is 'This mysterious reploid... ancient ruins... destroyed... warrior. At least... file name is intact? Although... what does 'Omega' mean? Isn't that... the symbol for bad luck?"
At the mention of "Omega", Seraph had stiffened and paled visibly.
"Oi, what's up with you?" Prometheus frowned, casting the blue reploid a suspicious glance.
He answered with a solemn stare, "I was hoping not to have toinvolve you in this, but it appears that the situation has changed." He turned to them, his arms crossed, "You asked about cyberspace earlier. Well, I'm actually a member of something called the cyberspace police force. We're a group that tries to keep the peace in cyberspace, as well as this world as well."
Prometheus regarded him suspiciously, "Cyberspace... police force? So, does cyberspace actually exist or something? I thought it was just the reploid version of heaven; no evidence that it's real, but people believe in it anyways. No offense meant, I'm just skeptical," he grunted.
"Well, it's real all right," Seraph answered, "don't tell anyone though, the last thing we need are a bunch of idiots running around doing something stupid and thinking 'I'll just go to cyberspace it's fine'." The siblings nodded in understanding as their travelling companion continued, "Anyways, I'm investigating an anomaly we in cyberspace call 'the Netherworld'. We're not exactly sure what or where it is, but it has started acting up again. At the moment we believe it to be a mis-formed part of the barrier between reality and cyberspace, but to be blunt, we need to find out more about it before it causes any harm. Omega..." and here he paused, "Omega is a reploid we have connected to this netherworld. I just never thought that I'd get a lead this powerful so quickly..." he dashed back along the hall, turning to them, "Hurry up, please. We need to investigate the last hallway that we spotted. I'll go ahead." He flew out of sight.
The siblings took a moment to look at each other, absorbing the information. Shrugging, they followed him after mounting Pandora's staff. When they caught up to him, he was standing stock still, staring.
Prometheus jumped off the staff, running to catch up, "Hey, what're you staring... whoa..." Just as he and Pandora reached the angel reploid, they noticed the exact same thing that he had. The walls and floor of Area N disintegrated into nothingness, small fragments of ground floating and melding with the area that came next. That area, in all its foreign majesty, simply defied description. As well as some of the more noticeable laws of physics.
"Is... is this the Netherworld that you were talking about?" Prometheus commented meekly, his voice muted with awe.
Seraph snapped out of his reverie, turning to the reaper reploid, "Yes... I think... that that's exactly what this is. Never... never did I expect to find it so quickly..."
He stepped forwards carefully, "This realm... it's unstable. We must proceed with caution. You two," he looked at them, "I have a feeling that the data disk was a warning. The reploid in question on that disk is extremely dangerous. If we come across him, please, run." Taken aback by his seriousness, Pandora and Prometheus could only nod.
Still, they gulped down their nervousness and pressed on. After defeating a few minor mechaniloids, the siblings remounted the staff to navigate around some of the more pointy obstacles in their way. Taking note of some disappearing blocks and a wall, Pandora was careful where she flew as she maneuvered the obstacle, as was Seraph. When they came to the great sea of spines, however, Prometheus couldn't help but shudder.
"I don't care how dangerous of a reploid that guy was, I don't think even he would have wanted to bother with that nasty lot."
As they flew over the spikes, the group was so preoccupied with avoiding more of the disappearing platforms that they failed to notice something below; the crumbled remains of boulders, hidden among the dangerous spires, and the path they made across the pit. In a short amount of time, they reached the other side safely, dismounting and/or landing in the small alcove on the other side. A single door stood ominously at the end, leading into a chamber of unknown size. However, judging by the fact that the other parts of the area expanded into eternity, it was anyone's guess as to what was on the other side.
"Here we go..." Seraph cautioned. He stepped forwards, opening the portal with great trepidation
They stepped inside.
Inside the chamber... was nothing.
As large as a sports field, a ragged roof loomed far overhead. The walls to their left and right were non-existent, dropping off into the abyss, but a wall was present straight ahead. They entered slowly, surveying their surroundings. They reached the other wall.
"I guess we got ourselves worked up for no good reason, eh?" Prometheus giggled nervously. The group hesitantly surveyed their surroundings, some sixth sense alerting them that something just wasn't right. Unable to find the source of their paranoia, however, the trio had no other option than to return whence they came. Seraph was still stunned by the vastness of their surroundings, and so didn't notice the data collecting behind them when they were halfway back.
"W-w-w-ware-re wa-a me-me-meshia-ia n-n-nari!"
The data attacked!
"Scatter!"
The group split up. The program in the stopped in the middle of where the scattered fighters had once been, unsure of who to attack first. As the trio regained their composure, they were able to see what had attacked them. It was a ghostly apparition which physically sputtered even as it stood still. The thing was partially immaterial, its face indistinguishable and vacant. Small streams of data could be seen through its translucent skin and dark red armor. Dirty-white locks of hair appeared down its back, some seemingly suspended in midair as other sections of it disappeared and reappeared randomly. The sound of a door locking affirmed that there would be no escape without any of the trio even having to search for the source of the noise.
With a hollow howl, the data locked onto a target. It dashed at Prometheus, screeching. Taken off guard by the figure's sheer speed, Prometheus was hit heavily in the chest as the apparition barreled past him. It turned, striking him down with a saber strike, then stopped again as it fizzled.
"Brother! Back off you beast!" screamed Pandora, instinctively running towards the two to protect her sibling.
"Omega! How dare you!" roared Seraph. He was about to rush in as well when the very air itself blinked and changed. He was forced to stop suddenly as an odd machine appeared, then dissolved, then glimmered into existence again before his very eyes. With Prometheus out of commission and Seraph temporarily disoriented by the scenery change, there was nothing between the malicious program and the defenseless white witch as it turned to answer her challenge. It stopped flickering for one short, clear moment as it locked onto his victim.
Omega's face creased in a vicious snarl of pure fury and malice. His red eyed glowed. And somehow, its face looked all too familiar.
Pandora let out a yelp, ducking to the side as it suddenly lunged, howling with triumph.
Her dodge failed. While she managed to avoid the deadly violet zephyr aimed at her, a quick punch from its unarmed hand winded her. She fell to the floor. The moment she hit it, the false Omega was on her waist, pinning her. One hand went to her neck, choking her with its intense grip, and the other raised the sword. A vicious grin covered his immaterial face as it pointed its weapon at her heart.
Is this it? She wondered to herself, is this is where it all ends? Prometheus, I'm sorry. Forgive me, brother.
In that one last, clear moment, she saw the program shift its grip on the sword, preparing to end her life. The next moment, several tonnes of flying cyber-elf fury heartily tackled the red demon from the side. Pandora gasped, scrambling off the ground as her attacker was sent flying, bouncing off the ground and rolling to a stop. Shaking itself like a dog, the program complained angrily and wordlessly at its assailant. It was a costly action. Several rings of light came from above, encircling the demon. They shrank instantly, binding him. Fizzling dangerously, the program snarled in rage at its opponent. And what an opponent!
Seraph had pulled out all the stops. He levitated mid-air, six large wings spread wide. Huge, clawed gauntlets encased his forearms while white and gold lines etched out regal details across his light blue armour. A halo glowed majestically around his head, appearing like a crown, and was attached to his helmet by the red gem on his forehead. Unlike his original seraph form, however, Copy X had modified his armour since then. The triangular apparatus that had replaced his legs originally was now split in two, guarding his thighs instead of eliminating them.
Seraph landed, staring down his dissipating opponent. "This is the end for you, demon!" he bellowed as he walked forwards. Encased in the glowing bonds, the demon could do nothing but shriek as Seraph grabbed him, slamming him into the wall, the tips of his claws burying themselves into the teal surface.
The red glow in the demon's eyes died. His immaterial face blank, Omega's glassy eyes stared back expressionlessly at Seraph as its body, slowly at first, began to revert to data. The data conversion became faster and faster until, seconds later, there was nothing but fragments of information floating in the air, scattering to the corners of the netherworld. The golden rings set by the angelic reploid dissipated as Seraph turned and looked at the data float away. He seemed as confused as he was relieved.
"Yeah, we did it!" Prometheus shouted, right before breaking down into a fit of coughing. "Urk... still recovering. You okay sis?"
She smiled, nodding at her brother, "Yes, thanks to Seraph."
"It should not have been this easy."
"Huh?" Prometheus blinked. Seraph was staring into space, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Omega... was much stronger than that. A single attack should not have killed him so swiftly." Copy X stared at the scenery, which still flickered back and forth, "This place... I've seen this sort of thing before, but never so damaged. A memory... that's all this is. Is that all that was left of you, Omega?"
Prometheus glanced at him curiously, "A memory? How can that be? This place is physical!" He slapped the ground to prove his point, The greenish surface easily stopping the force directed at it.
"Only in appearance... let me explain," began the blue reploid slowly as he engulfed himself in light, returning to his more peaceful form, "This place is a barrier between the real world and cyberspace. In cyberspace, matter is decided not by matter or atoms, but by data. Therefore, the whole of cyberspace is in fact a memory of the real world, where the souls of deceased reploids, and the occasional human, spend their afterlife until they are reincarnated. This place is similar, it would seem. However, cut off from the rest of cyberspace, it seems that solely Omega's memories dictate the shape of this place. And, judging by the appearance of this place," Seraph explained, indicating the black orb in the sky, "Omega's data must have been heavily corrupted when he died."
"Who was Omega, though?" Pandora asked.
Seraph looked sadly at a small orb orb of data reforming itself where Omega had 'died'. "Omega was the reploid reputed as the God of Destruction. He destroyed many lives and crushed many hopes. It's best not to look into him too deeply, there's nothing there but murder and suffering. But, even for him, this is a sad fate, whether or not it is deserved."
"How so?"
"Because this whole place simply is a rip in reality, a ragged anomaly that shouldn't be," he replied, pointing at the orb. "Long ago, cyberspace and reality used to be very close. Cybernetic beings could literally walk from a door from one world into another. This was because the barrier between the two was thin and weak. Omega had the unique ability to tear that barrier, and his very presence threatened to merge the two together. It would have been catastrophic. When he died, though, the barrier he'd torn came back suddenly, and the two worlds were forced apart once and for all. The separation was so sudden that it created this place, the only real space where one can walk from one world to the other... theoretically. The moment that the two worlds were torn apart, the instant that this place came into existence... it must have torn him apart, too."
The orb was slowly growing larger, glowing a dull, sickly red.
"What you see, that glowing orb, is nothing more than a fragmented recollection. It's his last memory, probably from the fight that occurred just before he died. A memory doomed to repeat itself in agony forever."
"What about his soul?" Pandora asked suddenly. "Cyber elves are souls, right? It kinda looks like one, but..."
Seraph looked over, "his soul... I wish I knew. It may have been torn apart as well, destroyed. For all we know, that's the last remaining piece of it right there, trying to revive itself." He shook his head sadly, then motioned the others to follow him. They left the room and the glowing orb behind. Soon after they reached the other side of the fatal expanse and were now near the hallway that led to the transporter.
Suddenly there was a deep rumble. The group jumped in surprise as the already unstable environment began to degrade even further. "Huh? What's going on!?" the Grim Reaper growled.
Seraph scowled, "That memory sequence may have been a defense mechanism. Like a security code, some areas of Cyberspace are designed to defend themselves from attack. This place may be no different. We need to escape before it collapses or fights us with something worse." Grabbing the two again, he flew as fast as he could towards the exit. As they reached the final hall, he reverted to his civilian form and kicked open the door, leaving the siblings scrambling to regain their balance. They ran through the door, closing it as sparks and storms of data began to whirl in Area N. However, despite the loud rumbling coming from the area, all noise disappeared when they closed the door.
Seraph blinked, waiting for something else to happen once they were through the portal. Nothing happened. He tried to re-open the door after a minute or two of waiting. There was nothing behind it but a rock wall, plain and sandy.
"Well, that's the end of that I guess," remarked Prometheus.
"It would appear that this door will no longer work. It's likely that the Netherworld has closed itself off. No one will be returning through this portal for a while, if ever. What a shame..." noted Copy X, a wistful tone to his voice. He turned to the others, "Well, this was certainly an interesting experience. I hope you'll excuse me, but I'll be off to report these findings to the rest of cyberspace. Oh, and before I go..." He pointed meaningfully at the pair, glaring, "If you tell anyone about cyberspace being real, or about what I'm doing in this world, then I am afraid I will have to 'take you there' myself. I'll make sure that there won't be any evidence either, even if it means that I have to drag the pair of you kicking and screaming through a portal alive, bodies and all." One slash of his hand later and a cyberspace door appeared. He gave them a meaningful, menacing glance before opening the door, entering it, and disappearing along with it.
The pair were silent. Prometheus coughed nervously and spoke up, "Well, I don't know about you, but I don't think that I'll be saying anything about him or cyberspace anytime soon."
"The masters asked for a report on our findings though. What are we going to tell them?" Pandora pondered.
"We've got the whole return trip through Area M to figure that out," replied Prometheus, "so come on, let's get to it!"
x-x-x-x-x
When Pandora and Prometheus returned to Legion, it was to the sound of many sighs of relief and laughter. When they inquired about the light heartedness, they were told of Omega's little rampage. The two couldn't help but laugh at Atlas' rather comical re-telling of the story.
"So there I was, when the stupid bugger pounces Grey! He couldn't even get his priorities straight when it came to the most dangerous person there, so I had to go teach him. I smack the guy off Grey, who's screaming his head off at this point by the way. We had a good ole' brawl then, me and that flying furball, and dont'cha know, he hates shiny things! So I showed him my grand shiny knife, have to be fair and all. He hates operating tables too apparently, you should've seen him tearing outta that room yowling blue bloody murder when we showed him one. Anyways, as I was saying..."
"Can someone please get her to quiet down?" pleaded Aeolus, "my ears can't take it any more, and neither can I!"
"Then you shouldn't wear them out boasting about yourself you great ninny!"
"You're one to talk, fool!"
"At least I don't say fool every other word!"
"Why you-!"
When the story (and resulting spat between the wind and fire Mega Men) was finished and Prometheus fit to burst at the antics, Pandora disappeared to find Mikhail. After she finished her much altered report on their findings, she asked him for a favor. He listened to her request knowingly, a mysterious little smile on his face.
"Yes, you may. We'll start work on the conversion immediately. By the way, his contagious stage should have worn off by now, feel free to go in."
She thanked him, gave him the biometal and ran off to deal with something. Mikhail chuckled to himself. He knew, more than she did, how Pandora was starting to feel about the mercenary. He's seen it happen many times before with the younger members of Legion's staff.
"Ah, to be young again," he reminisced.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Omega awoke somewhat as a knock sounded on his door. As the lock turned, he shifted enough to lazily eye whomever was entering his domain. He remained splayed leisurely on the ground despite the intrusion.
Pandora opened the door, noting that the red reploid had decided to sleep on the floor rather than the bed Legion had so nicely provided. She mentally rolled her eyes at him. Stubborn git. "Hey, just checking to see how you are. Didn't fall out of bed, did you?"
He snorted disdainfully, "The sunlight was on the ground, not the bed."
"There's no sunlight now though. Why don't you... get back on the bed? It's less dirty."
That did the trick. Omega turned a distinctly baleful glare in the direction of the floor, then hopped quickly onto the blanket-covered piece of furniture provided to him. He checked his remaining fur for dirt. The red reploid stared disdainfully at a patch of muck for a bit, as if pondering whether or not to lick it off, but managed to stop the urge and simply dusted it off with his hand instead.
"There, that's better, isn't it?" she soothed.
He lied down with his back to her, ignoring her. She received no more than a tail flick in response.
She smiled behind his back. Well, at least when he was affected by the neko virus, he was less likely to attack someone, barring feral mode of course. Something about a cat's pride made it less likely to attack something that irritated it, as if to show that the nuisance was worthless and not worth the bother. Well, that was the explanation she was running off of, anyways. The White Witch discreetly crept up behind him. He finally realized that something was up when she sat down on the end of the bed, her weight making a small indent on its soft surface.
"What do you want?" he grated at Pandora, his back to her. She answered him by scratching behind his ear. He growled, his tail flicked again, but for some reason he actually relaxed. "Oh you bitch, that is not going to... why the hell does that feel so good anyways? Higher."
She did as she was told. She chuckled, irritating him further, but since a reaction would make him lose the temporary bliss from the ear-scratching, he didn't pursue the issue. Omega grunted noisily, resigning himself to the fact that this stupid virus was making him act weird and there wouldn't be a thing he could do about it until he was over it.
A small ball of yarn was dropped in front of his face. He lazily batted it.
"I do hope you know that I hate you right now and am so going to make you pay for this later," he growled lightly.
"Of course."
They both fell silent. Omega continued hitting the ball of yarn before began tearing it apart gently. The yarn was curled around his fingers in an impossible mess, but it was still fun trying to see if he could make a bigger mess.
"Oh, by the way, you're purring."
Omega stopped dead. Whoops. He was purring, wasn't he?
"You tell anyone this and I'll kill you."
"Of course."
"Brutally."
"Of course."
He continued his game with the yarn. However, it had started to become boring. Seeing as White wasn't much of a threat, he yawned, curled up, and went to sleep.
Pandora slowly sat up when the purring stopped. She leaned over, looking at the blissfully sleeping face of the devil reploid. The Witch smiled. So, her experiment had worked. The last time her brother had gotten sick, she'd wanted to know a few things about what the virus did. Of course, Albert had locked him up faster than either of them could blink. Even he didn't want the virus loose in his labs, after all. But the purring was certainly more than she'd expected! As she left the room, her mischievous expression grew dead serious. She looked back at the mercenary one last time. His ears twitched lightly as his chest rose and fell slowly, peacefully. His features were blank and almost emotionless except for the not-as-large-as-before fangs forcing his mouth into a grimace.
Then, because of heaven-knows-what, he snarled. His tail and ears thrashed and his hands clenched. For a single, clear moment, his expression changed.
Omega's face creased in a vicious snarl of pure fury and malice.
But this time, his eyes were shut.
Pandora shut the door, locking it quietly.
Now she knew why the face was so familiar...