Alternate title: Don't play tag with the devil. Or hide and seek. Or Scrabble. Or… you get the point XD

A/N: Do I pass the bechdel test if I treat Vent like an honorary woman? Because feminism. (And also, he constantly hangs out with his sister and the other two (female) commanders. That's gotta count for something, right?)

I will be uploading the next FK chapter late October, but in the meantime I managed to polish off this little lot of ficlets/bonuses that were burning a hole in my WIP bin for well over a year! Let's be honest, a lot of you probably forgot about this fic XD. Speaking of new releases, Armoured Core VI came out recently. It's a mech game some of my friends are having a lot of fun with, so one of these ficlets felt appropriate to upload right now lol. This one's for you guys!

Bonus XIX

One moment the commanders were sat having brunch, the next, Vent shot up with a look of utter panic on his face, "Oh shit!"

Aile and the others leaped to his side, concern on their faces. "What is it? What's the matter!?" Aile asked, already reaching for the biometals.

"Omega's weekly fights. We forgot!"

"Oh SHIT!"

Vent and Aile dashed off to the training rooms, panic and guilt in their features. The last thing they wanted to do was break the tenuous trust they'd built up with the unpredictable man, especially not after they'd put so much time and effort into befriending him. They raced into the training room. Aile got out her communicator to contact Omega, but was stopped dead at the sight of the match currently going on. Foam mats were spread across the floor as two figures struggled on the ground, grappling and grunting in an effort to outmaneuver their foe.

Atlas and Omega, both in civilian gear, were wrestling.

Aile and Vent picked a spectacular time to view the show. With a roar of triumph Atlas viciously suplexed her opponent into the ground. Model F, bobbing on the sidelines, was screaming in victory and talking trash like a giddy ninny. Omega's blonde hair followed his downfall like a ribbon.

As the two separated to begin the next round, the God of Destruction's eyes caught onto Vent's presence. His eyebrow raised, "Oh? What are you two doing here?"

Vent coughed and sputtered a little, but then spoke, "Uh, we… Aile and I, uh. We're sorry. Our weekly fights… we forgot."

"Eh. It's fine." Both commanders blinked at the surprising amount of chill in Omega's voice. "To be fair, you two technically never stated who was going to fight me. I've been getting some good matches in anyways, as you can see." Atlas hollered at him to stop wasting time. Omega shouted an insult back at her, then turned to the commanders, "That being said! Seeing as you're here and volunteering…!"

Vent and Aile hadn't been volunteering. But they were dragged into the fight anyway, forced into combat without their biometals. To say they weren't prepared was an understatement. And unfortunately for them, Atlas had a mean right hook.

Bonus XX

It all started when Ciel gave Grey a hug.

"Thank you for all your help!" She said after one particularly stressful and zany afternoon in the labs, "I couldn't have done it without you! I could hug you right about now."

Grey turned back into his unmerged form, shooting a dirty look at the test subject that had decided to cause havoc for Ciel. The cheeky cyber elf promptly stuck its tongue out at him in response, so he ignored it as he shrugged and replied to her words, "Uhm… okay? If you want? I don't think I've ever had a hug before, so sorry if I'm no good at it."

Ciel looked a little stricken by this fact (why was she sad? Were hugs things that people were supposed to get a lot, and she was sad that he didn't? Grey didn't know), and rallied herself, "Well, that won't do. Let's get some practice in, then." She then proceeded to enfold the Model A Mega Man into her arms in what was easily the best, most wonderful, most warm gesture Grey never knew had existed.

Ciel didn't just hug him, as he later learned from Ashe. Ciel mom-hugged him. Put his head against the crook of her neck, reached her arms around, and firmly squeezed. Grey never before felt so loved or safe, and he didn't even know why. Up until then, all he'd ever gotten were pats on the back, hand shakes, and a bunch of friendly hunter jostling. Rustling his hair was a favourite for some reason, something Ciel herself had done a few times before. Never something like this. On that day, covered in bright chemicals and with his hair in disarray from the mischievous cyber elf that had been giving the scientific commander all sorts of trouble, Grey discovered the miraculous wonder that was a hug.

Grey liked hugs. He wanted more.

After helping clean up the last few splatters of lab supplies from the errant elf's rampage, the young Mega Man stepped outside the room. For a moment he paused at the epiphany he'd been subjected to. Then he realized, no, decided. Grey liked hugs. And he would have more of them. Starting with Ashe, of course! Ashe was smart and she knew a lot of stuff. Surely she'd be able to help with his brilliant new plan!

Grey went and hunted her down immediately. Before she could ask what was up, he demanded a hug.

"Er, okay? Sure." Baffled, but more than willing to acquiesce to his demands, she gave him a quick squeeze. He looked a little put-out at the gesture, so she asked him, "Not that I have a problem with it, but what's all this about?

Grey explained about the hug Ciel gave him. Then he talked about his plan to get even more of these gestures. Grey wanted more hugs. And he would get them! Or else.

Ashe couldn't help but grin at the plan. The look in Grey's eyes was undeniable; the kid would be adorable and relentless in his new pursuit. The moment she realized what was going on, Ashe knew, oh she just knew: She was going to have a ball egging him on.

Their first victim was Thetis. Initially, Ashe was half-expecting that Grey would want hugs from every unfortunate sod he could find, but thankfully he decided to be at least a little picky in his endeavor. Thetis, ambushed when he was enjoying some light rainfall on the deck of the Grand Nuage, was very emphatic and understanding about the request. He and Grey giggled as they tried to squish each other. It almost became a brawl, albeit a good-natured one.

Next was Atlas, who'd been swapping stories with some other Guardians. She gave a cheeky grin once prompted, pounced, and winded the poor boy with a lung-crushing bear hug that left him whistling instead of speaking. Ashe laughed pretty loudly at that.

Aeolus and Siarnaq were tracked down soon after, the pair of them enjoying some quiet time and tea in their quarters. Aeolus was rather baffled by the request, but at Grey's insistence, eventually relented and gave an awkward hug. Siarnaq took one look at the proceedings, timidly shook his head, and instead, gently offered Grey one of his older blankets. Despite its age it was well carried for, and very fuzzy. Grey dragged it with him for the rest of the evening.

When Vent and Aile were intercepted on their way out of the bridge, the pair grinned and instantly escalated the camaraderie. The next thing they knew, Grey was whooping with glee as Aile gave him a piggyback, then Ashe was conscripted into the mess soon after. Vent grabbed her around the middle and carried her like a sack of potatoes. Potatoes that screamed and cussed and squirmed like kittens in a bag, but still. After some more screeching and creative maneuvering, Ashe was finally able to escape from Vent and dashed away into the bridge. Grey appeared soon after as Ashe was bent over and panting from the effort, taking refuge from Vent next to the commander's chair.

Prairie just gave the pair an understanding look. She'd heard of Grey's mission through the grapevine. Ashe was impressed for a moment, but then again, with the shenanigans they were pulling on the ship, Ashe would have been surprised if she didn't hear about it by now. Ciel was there too. And so Grey was able to get some hugs from them. Prairie and Ciel were total mom huggers, Ashe noted slyly. Ciel had already given Grey a hug today, but apparently decided that, Hell yeah, she was up for a round two. Why the heck not.

The Model W twins required a bit more tracking down. Pandora was shy but firm once she got the hang of it. Prometheus paused, giving the two a suspicious glance. But he eventually relented, "Okay, fine, come here you little shits!" That particular hug did turn into a brawl when the two boys tripped over Grey's new blanket, hit the floor, and promptly blamed each other for making a mess of it. The two were tangled up in an instant. They squawked and struggled to get free of the melee as the girls laughed at their battle. In the end, it was decided that the blanket had won.

Then came the hard part.

Omega was asleep in his room when they located him. Ashe, upon realizing just who Grey wanted a hug from, tried to convince him to give up on the endeavor. Grey ignored her. So instead of retreating, they poked him gently to rouse him. Carefully, of course. That man had way too many options when it came to retaliating. The last time anyone startled him awake, he blew up his entire surroundings in an instant (then started asking everyone about what the Hell had happened, because he hadn't been aware enough to realize the whole ash-covered warzone had been the result of his own reflex). Thankfully he was roused without incident. The problem was, once Grey explained his imperative mission of getting hugs, well… Omega couldn't give less of a hoot. Other than a mildly affronted look for being disturbed, he barely reacted. He grumpily stared at them, "You woke me for this? Seriously?"

Grey tried his pouty puppy face. THE pouty puppy face.

Omega grimaced. He rolled his eyes. Then he flopped an arm out in a half-assed attempt to distance himself from the boy soliciting him for snuggles, "You want a hug, you do it elsewhere. Leave me out of it." There wasn't a lot of effort there though. He lazily pushed Grey away, shoved his face back into his pillow, and promptly conked out. So lazily, in fact, that the arm he'd used wasn't even retracted. And that, as far as Omega was concerned, was that.

Grey looked at the appendage, which was propped across half a mattress until it dangled precariously over the side of the bed. He looked at the centuries old war reploid that had denied his request for hugs. The determined boy then decided that he wasn't taking no for an answer. Grey shrugged as he glanced over at Ashe. "What was that saying? If you want something right, you gotta do it yourself?"

"Yeah? So what?"

"I'm tired. That's what." Grey explained. Omega's laziness backfired spectacularly. Apparently Grey was worn out from all his gallivanting around the ship, and thought that this was a good snoozing spot, because the next thing he did was shove himself under Omega's outstretched limb. "Good thing I got that blanket from Siarnaq!" Completely unconscious, the blonde fighter did not react in the slightest to this intrusion.

Ashe was trying very hard not to squeal. Because this was adorable. She managed to gather herself together, "This is a phenomenally bad idea. If he ever finds out, we're dead."

Grey nodded sagely. Despite the danger he smiled, "Then I guess I'll die happy. Right after my nap, maybe? Oh well." He clambered under the covers and shoved the unconscious reploid's arm further upwards, to give himself room to maneuver. Afterwards, Grey happily lowered it down so that Omega's arm ended up draped over the smaller reploid. He checked on Omega. No movement. Good! Grey had gotten his hug whether Omega wanted to give it or not. With victory on his face, Grey beamed at Ashe, "Okay! I think I'm good. Good night, Ashe!"

"Nighto!"

The female Mega Man left the room within short order, pondering the events as she scampered off to relative safety. Ashe was a mischief maker. Judging by today's events, some of her mischievous tendencies had rubbed off on Grey, too. But still, potentially annoying a guy called the God of Destruction, all in the name of hugs? Ashe didn't know if it was bravery or foolishness. Unlike Grey, she wasn't ready to put her neck on the line pissing off Omega like that. Well… okay. Maybe a little. She got a camera, and by the time she'd returned, Grey was already out for the count and snuggled into Omega's side. Omega was as oblivious as ever. Ashe grinned cruelly at the adorable sight.

"Fuck yeah. Blackmail."

Bonus XXI

Omega missed his old armour. You know, the big white knight thing that drove terror into his enemies at the mere sight of it, that had let him stride about the battlefields of the Elf Wars with ease, and wielded a giant kick-ass sword because Hell yeah why not. He missed that armour quite a lot.

So one day, he set out to fix that.

The Guardians trusted him quite a bit now. Perhaps a little too much. Sneaking off to Area N, carrying the occasional part or tool, was far too easy. Or at least, that's what he'd thought at first. One day, he was in the middle of trying to tighten up one particularly awkwardly placed bolt when he heard something he really, really would rather have not heard. Ever. Especially not in this situation. The sound of a Guardian commander clearing their throat, ready to launch into a lecture.

Omega had company. He slowly, carefully, ever so achingly, turned to look at his new audience.

That's how he found out that Ciel had tracked him down. Not only that, she had walked in on him upside-down, ass in the air, one arm lodged in one of the mech's joints for leverage and the other holding a tool that he had definitely not stolen from the head mechanic Silure, no sir, ignore the initials etched into it please. His legs were splayed to keep him precariously balanced on the mech's shoulder. On top of it all, Omega was completely, utterly unarmed. The blond male was covered in grease and dirt with his outfit askew, his armour flung to some far corner of the room and half-buried under a rag and two boxes of bolts. It was a compromising position to say the least.

Why the hell had he decided to leave his sword by the door?!

Ciel looked at him, said weapon in hand. She then looked at the massive spread of parts, chunks of metal, and haphazard wiring strewn around the cave. Her gaze wandered towards a very familiar, very incriminating, oversized white helmet that was dumped by a nearby boulder, which was currently being used as an impromptu table. Ciel scowled at the revelation of what he'd been up to. "Do NOT tell me," she began dangerously, "that you were secretly trying to repair your giant, fuck-off armour."

He recognized that tone. Uh oh. Yet there was no choice but to answer. "...I was secretly trying to repair my giant, fuck-off armour," he admitted boldly. Omega figured that there was no point in lying when he was so undeniably caught. He was already screwed. There was no point dragging it out any longer. Omega didn't even have the decency to look sheepish when he said this, because really? What else did he have to hide at this point?

Ciel gave him a look, "The same armour you used to slaughter countless civilians during the Elf Wars."

"Yup."

"The very same armour that made you a colossal killer robot, but also slowed your mental processes enough to turn you into nothing more than an unthinking machine of war!?"

"Uh…"

"Don't tell me it didn't. You weren't nearly as talkative then as you are now, and it took damn near forever for you to say even a single word, if I recall correctly."

Omega blinked in confusion and realization, "Uh. I mean. Huh. Yeah. I guess it did? Kind of sucked, but I figured it was just a side effect of being able to mind control others on a large scale? Though, side-effect or not, having all my main mental processes slowed down was a bit of a pain in the butt..."

"And you're sure it had nothing to do with Weil being able to control you better in that state?"

Omega stared. He stared very hard.

Ciel raised an eyebrow and frowned.

"I… hadn't thought of that…" Omega admitted plainly.

"Face it. You were only ever a tool to him."

Omega's face scrunched up, "Hey, just because you didn't like him doesn't automatically mean that everything he did was just using me for his own ends-!"

"So it's just a coincidence that partial segments of your DNA sequence are used to program Model W's offensive abilities?" Ciel noted. Omega went very silent as she continued, "Or maybe the fact that many of Model W's forms shared striking similarities to your various forms has absolutely nothing to do with him only using you only for your power? And then taking your power for himself when you were indisposed?"

"That's, uh, you're just projecting?"

"Serpent in his Model W fragment form had spiky white armour. In his core form, he was a gigantic, mult-coloured, humanoid monster," Ciel started, before continuing with derisive zeal, "Albert had long hair in all his forms, and turned gold when 'powered up', just like your knight armour here when it absorbed the Dark elf! In his final form he also used blades in various ways, as well as multi-elemental attacks." Ciel stood up straight as she delivered her final point, "And Pandora and Prometheus, who had a very high percentage of your DNA in their Model Ws by the way, were also masters of elemental attacks. Just like you! And the only reason that could have happened is if Weil used your data to supplement himself while merged to the Ragnarok space cannon. I doubt you ever gave him permission to use your DNA like that, hmm?"

Omega stared. His brow furrowed. Then he began cussing out Weil with all the zeal and spite he could muster, "Are you shitting me, that theiving fucking bastard-!"

"Oh, don't worry, it's not only your DNA he stole," Ciel added sweetly while Omega continued to rant. "Model W used a mix of three main DNA sequences. Yours, Weil's, and the Dark Elf's."

"The Dark Elf was made from me! That doesn't fucking count as separate DNA!" Omega raged.

"If it helps at all, at least this goes a good way to explaining why Pandora and Prometheus were such good matches for Model O," Ciel explained. She muttered to herself, "And also Vent and Aile too I guess. Though I'm not sure how I feel about Aile lamenting about not getting to use Model O anymore…"

If Omega heard that last little tidbit, there wasn't much indication he did so. Quite frankly, Omega was a bit too preoccupied with how Not Happy he was that Weil stole his abilities. "I thought he was a cool enough guy who was supporting my godhood, only now I find out he was just a pilfering, conniving little-!"

The rant continued, Ciel slowly starting to relax at the revelation. Sure, Omega having his armour again was not a good thing, but of all the projects he could have gotten himself into, this one was… well, okay, certainly not great, but not as directly harmful to her or the Guardians as some of the other things he did while bored. At least, not yet. Better yet, she'd finally gotten Omega to start cussing out his old employer. She and the rest of the commanders had been trying to get Omega to properly dislike that evil old coot for way too long. He was an original "Zero" all right. Stupidly loyal, insultingly strong, and a little too eager to default to fighting. That wasn't even beginning to account for the "literally too stubborn to die" thing going on, which was a terrible mix when you threw a power hungry lunatic like Weil into the equation.

Still, Omega fixing the armour could be an issue. Having a multi-tonne monstrosity that could amplify Omega's worldwide mind-controlling abilities was a scary thought even without Weil being around to take advantage of it. Thankfully this mess was something she could rectify with a few safeguards. "...Move over. I'm taking a look."

Omega moved over. His rant died down.

Omega no longer liking Weil was, to say the least, something of a consolation prize to this whole giant killer robot affair. As was the fact that she was now neck-deep into the guts of Omega's favourite toy without him batting an eye. He moved aside for her, even! The God of Destruction was hovering over her shoulder, yet was not only an ally, but an ally that obviously appreciated her opinions and expertise. He eyed her curiously when Ciel couldn't help but (figuratively, totally just figuratively,) drool a little at the exotic display of machinery in front of her. Weil had been an asshole, but he had been an asshole who was damn good at his job. Cerveau and Doigt, engineers she'd known way back in her teenage years, would have killed to get an opportunity like this.

She should really stop this project where it stood.

...Oh who was she kidding. She was like a kid in a candy store with all this tech! She was 100% taking over Omega's project whether he liked it or not. "Hand me that fastener. Now."

Omega obeyed.