AKA our favourite Model W duo tries to sneakily find a 'maverick', and Aile takes that as a challenge. Not one of them has any idea what they've gotten themselves into…

Several months had passed since the Mavericks first pursued Aile. For a couple of weeks directly after the incident, securing their territory became the top priority. Both her and her father made sure to patrol the caverns, occasionally taking out a haphazardly improvised landmark, scrubbing away numbers or arrows written on the wall in chalk or charcoal, or scattering suspiciously stacked piles of stones that they had definitely not placed themselves. The duo enthusiastically sabotaged every effort of their new foes to make headway into the tunnels and caverns their home was comprised of. Omega was especially happy to make a warzone of more than a few locations in the underground area, leaving behind an intimidating array of stone shrapnel, blade marks, and energy gun residue wherever he could. Even a few unusual mechaniloids had been found and summarily scrapped, viciously gutted and hammered to uselessness before their battered remains were tossed out the cave's entrance as a message. A very clear message. Any same person would think twice about entering the clearly dangerous region.

More than once during these endeavours, Aile swore she could hear something moving around in the caves alongside her, even if these sounds echoed everywhere and denied all attempts at honing in on the source. These times she laid low, hid in a poorly lit crevice or nook, or booked it back home as fast as was safe. Other times Omega came back with a satisfied smirk, having destroyed some trail markers mere minutes after they'd been placed. Apparently the sounds of miles-thick bedrock being suddenly shattered and blasted to bits left the maverick duo flighty and nervous enough to straight up disappear into thin air. (The sudden blasts that echoed through the tunnels certainly made Aile herself jump from time to time! He even caused a minor cave-in once, right on top of himself no less, and the grumpy scowl he wore after the incident made Aile cackle for hours.)

After the third time in a row of these near misses happening, her father told her that he suspected they had a teleportation ability. This was rather annoying for him, as it meant he couldn't catch the pair unawares to kill them… but as far as Aile was concerned, it was more than a little hilarious too. Especially the mental image of them being so scared they were literally Nope-ing away at the drop of a hat! What losers! Though all things considered, Aile couldn't exactly blame them for being scared when her Daddy was the one behind the unnerving bouts of destruction tailing them. It was an unfortunately smart decision on their part.

About a month passed before the pursuers got the memo. Or maybe they just got bored and scared of spelunking in a haunted cave that was easy to get lost in, and had begun to try other avenues. After that first month the mavericks' attempts to breach their subterranean stronghold died off almost completely.

After about two months of seeing zero sign of her enemies, Aile decided that she'd had enough of being stuck in a cave. She was also tired of picking through her rapidly depleting rations, and so started to explore again. But Aile was no fool, and always remained cautious when she left. That furtiveness was very often worth it. Whether it was dodging around a rare Slither Inc patrol or avoiding an overly paranoid park-goer, no one ever knew she was there until it was far too late to do anything about it. Sure, being slow as molasses was annoying. But patience was a virtue, and boy, did hers pay off.

Aile was skirting the top of a cliff when she heard voices, familiar ones, muttering together in conversation. She looked down and, lo and behold, a pair of humanoid mavericks were discussing plans. At the base of the cliff sat a female and a male. The male was immediately recognizable with his red eyes and teal cape, a massive scythe held in one hand as his other hand was used to point at something in the female's lap. He also had two fins off the side of his face, and an oversized horn in the center of his helmet. Aile mentally nicknamed him unicorn-head then and there. The other maverick, the lady, was comfortably sat on a rock with a staff in her lap and some sort of map device held in one palm. She wore white armour compared to her partner's dark purple, her helmet shaped vaguely like a large shell. The woman shifted when one of the bits of shale at her side came loose, but otherwise seemed occupied with figuring out the topography on the device's wide, flat screen, and discussing it with the other maverick standing nearby. Aile lay down, straining her ears in an attempt to hear what they were talking about.

"...Alternate entrances… what if there was… you think, Pandora…?"

"Can't… no luck tracking… What about… Prometheus…?"

Pandora and Prometheus. Aile thought she'd heard those names before, but it was still a good thing to confirm. She was lucky to have figured even that much out, as it was hard to eavesdrop on their discussion over the wind howling by the cliff. Speaking of the wind masking sounds… Aile had an idea. It was a bad idea. She knew it was a bad idea, she absolutely knew it, but the urge to commit crime and mischief was something she was never good at denying. Besides, if anyone was dumb enough to make themself a sitting duck while in the Imp of Cinq Ville's home territory, then what happened next wasn't Aile's fault.

After confirming that they'd been too preoccupied to notice her, the young troublemaker silently shuffled away from her vantage point and went back to a part of the woods that she knew was usually home to some security mechaniloids. The ones Aile were after were relatively harmless ones all told. It was pretty close by too, so no more than a couple of minutes were spent on this part of the endeavour. Aile grabbed a crickaleap. The green-eyed thing had hopped down from a tree to survey her, but didn't seem to know what to do when she grabbed it by the snout of its cannon. It kicked and twitched, but her hold kept the business end of its blaster far away from her. It wasn't the first time she'd grabbed one like this, and it probably wouldn't be the last. She skittered back to position.

Good. The mavericks were still there. The sitting one's large helmet was practically an invitation. Little blue tassels hung from the sides of the stupidly massive headgear, the maverick's teal hair draped over one shoulder. What clunky helmet construction! Not at all streamlined like her dad's! Aile leaned out, took aim, dropped her chosen projectile with impunity, then dashed away before even bothering to see if her shot had landed. Daddy told her not to do such things, of course, because standing around while waiting to see if you'd hit your target was a great way to get tagged by someone else. Aile kept her ears open anyway, and was rewarded for her efforts. There was a visceral clunk and a loud, undignified squawk.

Hah! Hit confirmed!

She didn't stick around for the retribution.

—-—-

Aile was no slouch when it came to evading capture. More than once she'd outrun or outmaneuvered some guard or city slicker, and even a few clumsy tourists who had been a little more perceptive than their cohorts, yet nowhere near clever enough to catch her. This was a skill that proved invaluable in the days ahead.

Pandora and Prometheus were relentless with their search, it seemed, even if not very accurate. Aile saw them a few more times during her forays into the woodlands. Dropping a crickaleap on Pandora's head, while memorable and hilarious, seemed to have spurred the pair on in their exploration of the area. Aile made extra sure to be cautious coming out of the caverns. She huddled down in bushes at even the slightest rustle, and kept to the more frequented areas. The latter thing happened because, more than once, she had spotted the maverick duo in the deeper regions of the woods rather than near the public walkways. For a while this seemed odd to Aile. Why stay so far out of sight? But then again maybe, like her, they were trying to avoid detection. Security patrols frequented the trails, probably due to Aile's mischief, and the pair seemed unwilling to be found.

At one point Aile had even been hidden in a dense cluster of berry vines, snacking on the tiny little delights, when she spotted Pandora at a distance. The female had accidentally scared off a flock of birds when her staff got stuck in a thicket. She'd been forced to pull it out harshly, and caused a racket of snapping twigs and ripping leaves as a result. Pandora had been blushing as she looked around worriedly afterwards. When the pale woman saw that no one seemed to have noticed, she'd sighed in relief and warped away. Heh. What a clumsy git, Aile chided mentally.

To say Aile was completely foolproof in her escapades would have been a lie, however. One day, on her way into town, she'd heard a shuffle overhead. Aile had looked up to find Prometheus leaping through the trees, having taken his search aerial. So close to Cinq Ville, the foliage was a lot thinner on the ground, even if the trees themselves were numerous. Prometheus looked down at the same moment she looked up at him. It was a damn miracle that she hadn't been spotted right then and there. (Or maybe it was just the ridiculously leafy bush she'd been under. That thing had been stupidly enthusiastic, even for a plant.) Aile lay breathlessly still when something else caught Prometheus's eye, and he leapt down to a patch of bare ground a short distance behind her, cape billowing behind him. He landed at the edge of the area. A gap in the trees above highlighted the small clearing, within which was a small spot of dirt she'd walked through recently. He knelt down, pursing his lips as he fiddled with something.

Something that turned out to be her own tracks.

Well shit.

Aile wasted no time in creeping away, quietly growing the distance between them. She found a rock along the way and thought of a quick distraction. She dared to peek behind her, saw Prometheus was still looking down as he followed her trail, and threw the piece of cobble as far away from herself as she could. The thing crashed down with a heart-stopping cacophony of leaves. The maverick startled, looked to the source of the noise, and dashed towards it.

Aile could see the walls of Cinq Ville. It wasn't far, no, not at all. She crept as fast as she could towards safety, gathering up a pile of grit in her hand just in case. She hit another clearing at the same second he randomly warped into it, glancing around with his eyes narrowed. He did a double take when he spotted her. Both tensed up. They stared at each other. Aile scowled, let out a moan of frustration, then sighed dramatically, "Huh. Guess I'm not as sneaky as I thought."

He perked up curiously when he saw her appearance, eyes honing in on her mask, "Hey, aren't you…?"

Aile threw her handful of dirt in his face and booked it.

True, the resulting chase was a little closer than she'd like to admit, but Aile still won it. The unicorn-head tried to teleport ahead of her position, snarling at the debris in his eyes. He moved his body in her direction as she ran past him in the brush, but Prometheus only ended up colliding with a tree when he attempted to lunge at her. Since relying solely on sound in a dense forest was clearly a bad idea, as evidenced by the new gash he was sporting, he took precious moments to clear his vision before trying to teleport again. Aile quickly juked him out by changing direction. Because of this he was temporarily left nonplussed when he reappeared and found nothing. The maverick's gaze snapped around. He spotted her once more, made to warp again, and as a result Aile swiftly darted to the side and belted across the large clearing outside of the city. She reached the door with time to spare as a cacophony of shredded plants arose from her last position.

That's when Aile stopped. Looked around. Waited for her pursuer to appear at the far end of the meadow around Cinq Ville, where she saw him pause in trepidation at the potential of being exposed. Their eyes met once more. She reached up, lifted her mask barely high enough so that she was SURE he could see her mouth, and blew him the loudest raspberry this side of Cinq Ville.

"Oh you did not just…! You little SHIT!"

She ducked into the town. If Prometheus was stupid enough to follow her into a city with lots of patrols and security forces, then whatever mess occured next would definitely not be her fault. Besides, the unicorn-head and his cohort had been very obviously trying to avoid Cinq Ville the last few times she'd spotted them. She'd bet dollars to donuts that even they wouldn't dare attempt something so foolish as entering the place. They weren't as good as her dad, after all. He could slip by and fight without peer, but them? They'd probably get caught and turned to mincemeat. And so, with that in mind, Aile proudly marched down the main street, full of herself and her success.

That's when Aile learned a very important lesson. A lesson that any good miscreant ought to know, and one which Aile was about to realize on a fundamental level.

Karma is a bitch.

Ten minutes later she was racing out of the city with multiple armed city guards, four Guardians (including one rookie), and a pair of Hunters after her. And those were only the ones she'd had time to count! She'd escaped them, of course, but had mentally freaked out in the meantime. There were actually professional groups after her now, and not just the incompetent Slither inc forces? Seriously!? What even was her bounty worth?! Aile wondered what she did to piss them off this much this time around. Maybe it had something to do with all those banners that had been up, or that blue-haired guy in the purple dress everyone had been staring towards or pointing cameras at. Yeah. That was probably it. She'd just picked a really bad time to accidentally crash a very important party or something. Totally nothing to worry about. (And crashed it she had; several people had gotten tangled up or flattened when she cut a line between two buildings, the colourful banners decorating it falling down on several bystanders, dress dude among them.)

If there was any sort of redemption to that little fiasco, it was when she'd accidentally streaked right by a very confused Prometheus. He'd likely been in the process of leaving the area, having assumed she'd be staying a while in the town. He didn't even have a moment to respond before she darted past him and yelled a cheeky, "OVER HERE, LOSERS!" He'd blinked at her in a stupor for all of a second before the massive crashing sounds of her pursuing party could be heard. The maverick wisely decided to bail rather than face an unknown force of enemies. He sent a few memorable cusses her way as a thank you for alerting everyone to his position, of course. How very polite of the man! She got a giggle out of the whole thing. There was nothing funnier than having her enemies chase her, run into each other instead, and then mangle the opposing party while she got out of the resulting shitstorm smelling like a rose.

Still, after that massive mess, Aile decided to lay low for a few days to hopefully throw everyone off her trail. Only a few days though. Boredom was a torturous thing at the best of times, and it wasn't long until she was once again waving a quick farewell to her frumpy parent as she meandered out of the dank, dripping halls of her childhood home. He glared at her as she left, fully aware of what had occurred a few days prior, "I don't like this, Aile."

Of course he wouldn't. He was overprotective as all hell, but Aile just shot him a cheeky smirk and stroked his ego a little, "Don't get your knickers in a knot, daddy! It was just a coincidence! I'll be fine. A few stooges with guard gear or a pair of mavericks with oversized sticks won't cause me any issues, you trained me after all. See you in a bit!"

"…Hmph."

Aile waved goodbye to her father, flicked on her trusty flashlight, and slipped off into the caves intent on yet another day of mischief. Finally! She'd waited long enough for things to die down! No doubt the security coalition had searched the city and surrounding areas tip to tail and come up with diddly squat. They would, as usual, have no damn idea where she was, or if she was even in the area anymore or had moved on. Surely there was no harm in a quick trip? As she put on her mask, Aile pondered about her course for the day. Maybe she'd raid the Innerpeace outskirts again? With any luck the interest of the additional Hunters and Guardians had died down too, and honestly? She really wanted a cinnamon bun right about now. If fortune favoured her, maybe she'd get there right after they'd been baked! Aile practically drooled at the thought of fresh-baked cinnamon buns, all warm and soft and dripping with frosting as the scent of brown sugar and cinnamon overtook the air.

Unfortunately for Aile, luck was not on her side today. Not even ten minutes into the dank, dark caverns, she heard a female voice whisper, "A light…?"

"Imp! We know you're there!"

Oh.

Oh no.

Aile quickly flicked her flashlight off, shoved her hand in front of her mouth, and tried to tiptoe back the way she came, all thoughts of fresh baked pastries completely forgotten. She recognized the voices. Blast it, how had the maverick duo figured out the ruse with the blanket curtains and the fissures? How did they know it was her? She heard the male, Prometheus if she recalled, murmur loudly, "Come out come out, wherever you are! Pss pss pss... Don't be a little scaredy kitty… we just wanna play!"

Hah. Sure. Like Aile was believing that. She shuffled silently away, hoping to get out of range. Yet despite her efforts, their footsteps followed her silent retreat. At the lack of response, there came an unhappy chuff. Pandora, frown infecting her voice, spoke up shortly afterwards, "Those little tricks you pulled... Very naughty."

Aile couldn't help but be distracted by the memory of the crickaleap. Her foot slid across the floor a little too hard, grinding in the dust and gravel. Aile realized what she'd done with a pang of horror. Gods damnit, it wasn't her fault she was so hilarious! She could only hope that their hearing wasn't as acute as hers was.

No such luck. The echoes betrayed her. The two Mavericks were on her in an instant, and Aile didn't even have enough time to turn around before the ominous glow of Prometheus's weapon lit up the corridor like a torch. Aile shrieked. She whipped her staff around at the man as he turned the corner and the maverick startled in return, having not realized how close he was to his prey. His quick reflexes prevented most of the damage she'd aimed at him; All Aile managed was a small nick to the face as he leapt away from the blow. Her flashlight clattered to the ground, partially lit.

Prometheus clicked his tongue, "Tch! Feisty!"

Aile snarled in response, backing away with the sharpened point directed at him, "Piss off!"

The darkly clad maverick snorted, taking a lowered stance with his scythe at the ready, "You're out of your league, kiddo. We're Mega Men, users of Biometal Model W! But you? Hah! Not even close. Drop your little stick before you hurt yourself." The gleam from his weapon and his eyes lit up the tunnel.

"Don't think for a moment," Aile threatened lowly, and Prometheus almost looked impressed at her vicious demeanor, "that I don't know how to use this."

Her opponent cocked his head in response, then locked eyes with her. He opened his mouth to say something, to distract her, but Aile heard a small movement of air behind her and turned around, slamming her weapon into Pandora. The woman raised her arm, deflecting the strike off a forelimb to protect the rest of herself from the blow. Aile didn't lose momentum; she whirled around quickly and slashed at Prometheus, who had lunged in for a grab, but felt cold arms grip her from behind instead. So Aile leaped backwards with a shrill yell, surprising Pandora and making the woman stumble as she was suddenly forced to bear Aile's full weight. The headbutt Aile gave her hurt them both. She kicked at Prometheus as both girls fell to the ground, Aile's mask clattering to the side in the confusion. It was a tempest of movement, which ended when Aile rolled off of Pandora and jumped away to get some distance. Her momentum worked against her; There was a yank as her staff was removed from her hold.

Pandora stood up, rubbing her chin with a frown as Prometheus tossed Aile's weapon far away down the tunnel. "Phew. You weren't bluffing there, kiddo. I'll give you that." He straightened up, "But it's about over. So, Imp, we're gonna have a few questions for you. Where are you from, how old are you? Who do you work for? Do you know anything about the strange maverick readings that show up in these woods from time to time? Who taught you to fight?" He paused his rant, gesturing dramatically, "Oh, but dearie me, that's a lot of things to answer now, isn't it? A whole dang script! Don't you worry your teeny little head about it though, you don't even need to say anything right away!"

"You will be… coming with us," droned the witch. She tilted her head as she took in Aile's maskless appearance, eyes hard and cold as ice. The corner of her lips curved gently upwards as she focused on her quarry. It was a hawk's grin. Aile couldn't tell if the woman's smile was fond or cruel.

"A grand ole' field trip. Sound like fun, brat? Plenty of time for us to get to know each other, and oh! You're already volunteering, how sweet," he mocked endearingly. Prometheus picked up her mask and twirled it in his hand, "You're actually kind of a cute one under this wannabe Halloween costume of yours, eh? What a great start to our little friendship! Thanks for playing along so nicely, kiddo, brilliant show! Although, you might wanna keep playing nice from now on, or else..." Prometheus leaned towards her with a harmless, predatory smile, offering his hand like a gentleman. Like a snake ready to strike, or a cat about to claw a mouse from its hole.

With a major threat in front of her and her weapon at the other end of the room, Aile did the only thing she knew she could do. She screamed from the depths of her lungs, "DADDY! HELP!"

The maverick pair winced at the volume. Prometheus scratched at his ear with a grimace. "Whoof. Good lungs there, brat. But, daddy? Who's daddy?" asked the maverick as he watched her, scythe held at the ready. He looked around the ruins, but when everything stayed silent, he returned his gaze to his partner, "She's got a father somewhere nearby?" After seeing no immediate threats, Pandora kept watch as Prometheus peered back at Aile with a nasty grin, "Who the heck cries out for their pappa anyways? Oh, daddy dearest, now where did he go?" He clicked his tongue in mock disappointment, "Tch! I wonder what kind of schmuck he is, bringing you down to a baddie-filled area like this? Mavericks like us could be hiding around any corner, you know? Bad parenting, very bad parenting."

"A terrible father… How unfair… for you."

Prometheus laughed in agreement, "You're right sis, it's terrible! Absolutely terrible! Or do you even have a daddy, brat? You bluffing?" The maverick watched her every move, looking her up and down, head to toe, as he crept towards her. Pandora circled in from behind. Aile shoved herself against a wall and crouched down in a feeble effort to protect herself, fear causing the corners of her widened eyes to prickle with tears. Daddy had to have heard her. He had to. Prometheus cornered her, scythe to the side to prevent escape. His voice was almost gentle, "Heh heh. Don't you worry sweetheart, we're not gonna hurt you if we can help it. C'mon kiddo, our boss was curious about you! Sad to say it, but you're coming with us whether we all like it or not. No point making it hard for-"

There was a screech of metal on stone. They all turned to look as a deep red blur raced into view.

"DADDY!"

"Oh shi-"

Omega barrelled into the pair of mavericks with all the force and grace of a plane crash, but exponentially more firepower. Aile figured now was as good a time as any to get out of dodge.

The fight was brutal and quick as she skittered out of the way, the sounds of clashing weapons ringing out in the underground tunnel. Shouts and grunts and yells were deafening in the normally silent region. Though they stood their ground for now, Aile could see enough of the fight to know that the attempted kidnappers would quickly fold to the God of Destruction's unyielding assault. This was especially true as they were repeatedly being forced to fight Omega at close range. The red reploid roared at his opponents, eyes glowing a pure crimson as his rage boomed and echoed throughout the caverns. Blade blurs and merciless blasts lit up the battleground with an ominous light.

Aile had trained with her father more than enough to know how to dodge some of his more widespread attacks. She was all-too-familiar with the swordsmanship that made staying the ever-loving hell away from Omega an opponent's only chance at surviving. This knowledge was an advantage the others definitely didn't have. Her father had deemed their practice together necessary, and boy, had it paid off.

Aile avoided the occasional stray shot and watched the maverick duo teleport around the narrow tunnel in an attempt to figure out his moves, to find any openings. This effort quickly turned into a blind panic once they figured out that there were none. Omega simply moved too fast. He could launch himself at the drop of a hat, blast them with energy beams that rose from the ground, swing his sword and hit them with the zephyr from the blade even if they were halfway across the room, use every available element with wild abandonment, and, most importantly, he was unrelenting. Omega was an utter monster on the battlefield. He healed himself. His signature weapon slashed through metal and stone alike. He beat and tore the snot out of Pandora and Prometheus no matter how many times they tried to escape. It even got to the point where they would try to teleport away and immediately get hit anyway because he already knew where they were going to be, because her daddy was hyper-attuned to his surroundings and out-predicted them and was just plain awesome. And that was if he was being generous enough to let them even attempt to teleport! More often than not he attacked just as they were setting up, forcing them to abandon the technique and block an attack that would otherwise have taken their heads. It didn't help that the mavericks were shit out of luck when it came to how noisy their abilities were in his vicinity. The duo were able to keep him at bay, to a degree, with their teleports and levitating and barriers that could pause his attacks for a brief-but-vital moment, and the fact that there were two of them and one of him, but in the end their team tactics wouldn't save them. The poor arena, their lack of experience, and the sheer onslaught of attacks they had to endure all worked against them.

Omega was called the God of Destruction for a very good reason.

"Gettim' daddy! Wreck 'em!" Aile cheered from the sidelines. Despite everything, Aile couldn't help but grin as she ducked a stray piece of shrapnel. Having a war god for a daddy rocked.

In the middle of the fight Omega suddenly paused, staring intently at Pandora as she slammed into a wall. He'd seemingly realized something important about her and was not happy with it. The pale maverick was right where he needed her for a killing blow. Instead Omega turned and blasted Prometheus to the ground, then leaped down the corridor to land in the spot closest to an alcove Aile was hiding in.

Mercy? From Omega?! Something was up.

When the dust settled her father snarled, pacing in front of Aile protectively as he held his blade out to the side. She kept herself as close to him as she dared, but not too close, as she knew her dad's area of effect all too well. But she also knew that the others could teleport, and wondered if maybe they would make one last, desperate ploy to get to her, so she had to consider that too. Speaking of them, Pandora was dragging herself up off the ground, swaying dizzily from a boulder Omega had indirectly dumped on her head after she dodged one of his slashes. That sort of thing normally crushed heads though, so Aile was a little impressed despite herself at the lady's endurance. (That dumb helmet had some merit, she had to admit.) Prometheus, however, was tripping and wincing as he tried to stand up with a leg that was twisted at a very uncomfortable looking angle. Clearly the more lucid of the two, he braced himself, watching Omega cautiously. Seeing this, Omega snarled again, "If it wasn't for your energy signature being so close to someone I know," he began, "then you'd be dead where you lay." The air hung thick with tension.

"They wanted to kidnap me! Take me away!" Aile yelped. Unicorn-head shot her a spiteful look for the tattle.

Omega paused, "Alive?"

Aile shuddered. "Alive."

"That's not reassuring. But it's going to work in your favour," her protector growled at the pair. The white female shook off the worst of her dizziness, the two paying rapt attention as Omega continued, "If she'd been hurt…!"

The pair looked equally flabbergasted and frustrated with the turn of events. Running into someone capable of thoroughly trouncing them was a possibility they'd clearly not accounted for. Prometheus spoke up, "We'd have loved to leave her be. But our boss, he-!"

"SHUT IT!" They shut it. "You tell your employer that this one is off limits. She is under my protection. If he wants to argue, he can come over here and talk. To me. In person." Omega reared back with a huff, ignoring a deep cut on his cheek as he bared his teeth, "Unless you know a man named Weil and are willing to connect me to him, then I had better not see you here ever again. Is that clear?!"

"We don't know a Weil."

"Then fuck off and die for all I care. GET OUT."

The two minions weren't stupid. They booked it as fast as they could, retreating as hastily as possible by teleporting away the moment they were able to stand up straight. This didn't stop the female maverick from giving Aile one final, indecipherable glance, though said glance was as brief as possible to avoid her indomitable enemy's ire.

Aile and Omega waited for the pair to leave with bated breath. She sidled up behind her father after the others were long gone and slowly, carefully, wound her arms around Omega to reassure herself that she was safe, and let him know that she was there. As she hugged him she realized just how fast his heart was pumping. He'd been worried, scared for her. It was obvious. Rather than risk hurting his ego by pointing this out, she softly thanked him, "Thank you, daddy. For protecting me."

"..."

He didn't say a word, but his hand reached over and gripped her shoulder. She snuggled in further, mumbling, "They said something. About being Model W Mega Men, and biometal. Do you know what any of that is?"

His reply was short and emotionless. Too short. "No."

The man was barely holding it together. Gods below, he really had been worried. She once again brushed over this fact, "Darn. I guess we can't ask them about it, either."

"I don't care," Omega said, his voice cracked and hard and furious all of a sudden, "I really don't fucking care. I don't care if they felt like Weil, I don't care what these so-called Mega Men are, I don't care about their coward boss who can't do anything for himself, I DO NOT CARE.'' He looked at her, his eyes filled with fury and fear and dozens of other emotions she'd never seen in them before, "I. Do. Not. CARE. They tried to hurt you. Even if they're connected to Weil, even if their boss actually was Weil, I do not care. I... I don't care. Why don't I… I'm not worried about Weil right now, or any of that? They could have hurt you." He turned around and embraced her, so suddenly and harshly and strongly that she could feel her bones creak. He sounded so small and scared and confused at the emotions he was feeling, "They could have hurt you."

Aile didn't say anything in response. She just rested her head against her father's chest. Her tried-to-act emotionless, harsh, sadistic, tough-love, evil and untouchable and doesn't-he-know-it deity of a father, who was borderline having a breakdown at the thought of her being hurt, and clearly had no idea what to do about this revelation. Aile continued to be quiet as he once again spoke up, "I've waited centuries to find Weil again. Centuries. Yet I don't care about him at all right now. They could have hurt you, Aile. They could have hurt you."

Aile smiled, "Love you, daddy."

He was silent. She pushed closer. And then, only then, did she hear him sigh, "...You too."

Aile smiled. And that was that.