Alternate Universe 02: Terrible twins.

In which a pair of children who lost their Mom to mavericks are not very considerate of the one trying to keep them alive, and a blonde swordsman gets caught in the middle.

"Weil? Is that you?"

Omega stalked out of the depths of his underground home. Nearby mavericks had alerted him that someone bearing Weil's genetic signature was rooting around the caverns near where he resided. Weil was his old friend, a man for whom he'd waited for for over a hundred years. He'd patiently remained in an underground labyrinth of twisted metal and stone, hoping against hope that the man would look for him near where the two had first gotten separated some hundred or so years ago. He had no idea how well Weil was doing. Was the man even alive anymore despite his inability to age? Was Weil mad at him for his failures? Would the scientist seek his old companion out, or leave him to rot deep below the surface of the earth? Maybe… Weil outright forgot about him? Omega waited tirelessly for his old friend despite his concerns, desperately awaiting any sign of the man's reappearance. More than a century of time had passed since he last saw him. Yet finally, finally, some hint of him had shown up. Weil's genetic signature, though faint, now pervaded the underground tunnels Omega had long called home.

Had Omega's patience paid off? Did Weil finally find him?

Eager to see the return of his scientist friend, Omega was easily able to catch the moment when something, or someone, screeched and ran out from under a nearby rock. A small shape skittered away from him. Acting on instinct, Omega leaped towards it. He practically straddled the small thing as he pounced on it. Another screech sounded mere seconds after the first, and he reacted immediately, one arm pinning the first target while his other arm snapped out to grab the second small shape darting the opposite direction.

Curious and confused, he looked at what he'd caught.

Two young children looked at him, terrified out of their wits. They screamed and struggled to get away from him. Both of the brown-haired youths jerked and wriggled and begged for their lives, their burnt clothes and scuffed-up skin revealing that they'd been in some sort of trouble today. Omega stared at his two captives, utterly baffled. He sniffed the air, letting all his senses observe his quarry. He'd been expecting Weil? So what was this nonsense?! As he watched the two kids and let his sensors work their magic, his suspicions were confirmed: These two children were indeed the source of Weil's genetic signal.

…What the fuck?

"You're… not Weil?" he asked, utterly boggled.

The young girl bucked like a wild animal and whipped her head around to bite him, which was an entirely useless gesture since she'd gotten him right on his armoured wrist guard. If Omega wasn't so gobsmacked by the whole affair, he might have found the gesture both pathetic and endearing. The boy yelled in horror and tried to tug away from Omega's grasp. The devil reploid had far too strong of a grip however, and the boy only succeeded in bruising his own leg.

"No no no! I don't wanna die! NO!"

"Maverick! Let us go! Aaaawaaauugh!"

Omega sighed as the two children wailed. He could already tell that he was in for one Hell of a day. He rolled his eyes as he gathered his wits, then let himself really look at the two children who were crying and struggling in his grasp. He found himself a bit surprised by their appearance. "You two… You're not Weil. But… you're related to him?" He could see it in their facial structures. High cheekbones and pointed chins. They were oddly similar in appearance to some pictures he'd seen of a much younger Weil. Despite his hopes, Omega had no idea what on heck was going on. Hopefully the kids had some clue about their heritage.

"W-Weil? Wh-who is Weil?!"

"We don't know a Weil! Please let us go! Please!"

Well that hope got dashed rather quickly. Omega looked between the two children thoughtfully, unsure of where to go from here. Normally he'd have offed the two brats without a second thought and called it a day, but the fact that they had genetic signatures extremely similar to Weil's meant that they were undoubtedly related to him somehow. Grandchildren? Great-something niece and nephew? Bastard progeny? Failed clones!? Omega sighed again, fervently wishing for the guidance of his old friend. Dealing with children was not exactly in his skillset.

Well, first things first. He'd have to calm them down if he wanted to get anywhere, as having two small humans desperately trying to escape from him was definitely not conducive to getting any answers. "I'm not letting you go-"

"No! Please!"

"Don't hurt us!"

"Don't kill us, mister maverick!"

"Please don't kill us! Waaaah!"

"Uwwaaaaaah!"

Both children fell into a crying fit, sobbing and wailing and flopping to the ground in despair. Omega growled, annoyed, but at least now they weren't trying to run away anymore. He softened his voice, "As I was saying, I'm not letting you go. But I'm not going to kill you, either. What are your names?" Despite his words he let his grip loosen, hoping that the illusion of freedom might calm them.

The boy was the first to speak, sniffing and sobbing between breaths, "My… my name is Vent!" He curled up and grabbed himself in a hug, clearly traumatized by some recent event.

"I-I-I'm Aile!" Said the other one, also in some sort of shock. She blinked and rubbed at a scrape on her arm as Omega lifted himself off of her.

The boy spoke again, "U-uaaaaah… M-mister Maverick? Thu-thu-thank you for being nice! P-please don't kill us!"

"Spare us mister Maverick! Please! Uwuh… uh… uwaaaaah!"

The girl began crying again. Her brother followed suit. Good grief, Omega thought to himself. What was his life spiralling into? Completely out of his element, he answered, "You're… uh… welcome?"

For a moment, the two children went dead silent. They looked at each other, sniffling and grimacing. The girl wiped off some snot that had been trailing down from her nose, the boy dabbing at some tears from his eyes. Then the two youths began sobbing anew, wailing with incredible gusto and throwing themselves at him. The two painfully gripped him as well as each other, bawling their eyes and lungs out loudly enough for Omega to wince at the volume.

Two children were crying themselves out and hugging him. What the actual fuck!?

Omega realized, with no small amount of dread, that his peaceful life was about to take a massive turn for the worse.

"Maverick!"

Shit, Omega grimaced. He'd already been spotted?!

A small field trip to survey the nearby area and hopefully find the brats some caretakers had ended up with him being unexpectedly located by a pair of hikers. Omega blamed the children for causing a complete ruckus. He'd had his hands full trying to reign in the little terrors. Not even a day had passed since they'd stumbled upon him, and they were already stretching his patience dangerously thin. Omega jerked, grabbing his sword to hopefully kill the witnesses before they alerted authorities, but the action meant that he had to let go of his grip on Vent.

Big mistake. The boy booked it.

Omega swore. He looked between the direction the child had run and the fleeing hikers, and cursed his panicked mindset. He was not equipped to babysit! What should he do!? Eliminate the hikers, or follow the boy!?

Judging by a mishap with a river earlier, where Omega had learned that Vent did not exactly have the best survival instincts (and that Aile loved egging him on), Omega made the decision to let the witnesses flee. He bitterly hoped this decision would not come back to bite him. Instead he raced after the boy, who was already making an insulting amount of headway against him. You'd have thought that tiny legs meant a reduced top speed, but no, the little rat was closer to the ground and took full advantage of that fact. Aile squirmed and screeched in his grip. She berated Omega for being a maverick in the same breath that she yelled encouragement towards her brother and his mischief. Maybe if he'd only had to take care of one brat, he could have intimidated them into submission. But sadly for the God of Destruction, the two imbeciles were determined to stick up for each other and tag-team his sanity into submission. If he tried to bully one the other would wreak havoc. Aile had already yanked on his hair twice today, and Vent had very nearly swiped the devil reploid's sword from the sheath at his hip. The pair of them were utter scoundrels!

It took Omega a lot longer than he'd like to admit to catch up to Vent and capture him again. Aile's struggles yanked on his arm hard enough that he nearly dropped her. The girl had wriggled herself upside-down in his grip, and was now proceeding to scream her head off with the indignity of it all and punch him wherever she thought it might hurt the most. "Meanie!" She hollered. Omega ignored her. Sure, she wasn't being too effective about where she was aiming her attacks and the vitriol in her words had long become inconsequential to him, but it was still distracting to say the least.

Omega tried to focus. He looked at the boy and snarled, "I told you Vent, you need to stay close-!"

Vent hollered in rage and grabbed at Omega's mouth. He pulled as best as he could, making Omega wince in pain as his lower lip got yanked. "No way! Nasty maverick! Let us go!"

"Yeah, let us go! Now!"

Omega groaned. The great God of Destruction, bullied by toddlers. He hoped Weil would appreciate what he was doing for the man's bloodline. If he didn't, Omega was going to riot. After all, his respect for Weil was going straight down the drain the longer these children plagued him. These two monsters were Weil's progeny?! The damn man should have kept it in his pants!

Girouette, known by most as Giro, looked at the report given to him by the commander of the Guardians and sighed.

Lately the blonde swordsman had become disillusioned with his ability to protect people. After seeing a massacre at the amusement park near Area C, Giro had gained an all new respect, and an all new despair, for the fragility and importance of life. Corpses had been everywhere in the aftermath of the maverick raid. So many of them had been children. He'd always wanted a kid or two of his own, but what kind of world was this to raise a child? When mavericks could come out of nowhere to slaughter so many civilians… were all his failed efforts to protect people even worth it?

Prairie had told him to take a break. Giro had considered it. He might even consider retiring entirely, too upset at his inability to save those who most needed his help. Maybe he could start a delivery business? Perhaps the best way for him to help others would be to make sure they didn't have to risk their necks traveling the badlands between towns. Couriers were the most common victims, after all. If he and Model Z took on the dangers of delivering parcels themselves, he might actually save some lives? All of these were thoughts for another time. As of now he was still employed by the Guardians. He was one of their most competent agents in fact, and it was this competence that led him to where he was now, reading a rather worrying mission report that had been given to him with orders to keep it hush-hush. Considering the usual transparency of the Guardian organization, the necessity of silence was an indicator of all sorts of bad things. "A Maverick signal has been detected traveling around the forests outside of Cinq Ville," the mission briefing explained, "the power level of this signal is incredibly worrying, to the point that both Legion and Slither Inc forces have been attempting to investigate for months now. Several of these recon units have gone missing or turned up dead. The locals are aware of the danger and the unknown maverick's presence has begun to cause civil unrest and paranoia. Giro, take Model Z and investigate these disappearances! Use utmost caution when approaching this foe. Put everyone's minds at ease, and eliminate the threat!"

Both Legion and Slither Inc forces had been quashed? What sort of Maverick was this?

Giro left on the mission immediately, desperately hoping that maybe now, maybe finally, he could save some lives. Perhaps he could find and eliminate the maverick before any more people fell afoul of it. He headed to the forests of Area A as quickly as he could, determined to end the monster's reign of terror once and for all. Giro fully expected that tracking down the maverick in the thick foliage of Area A would be an ordeal and a half, yet it took him a lot less time than he thought to find his foe. He heard some delighted screeches from some children start up out of nowhere, which caused him both curiosity and concern, then led him to stumble upon an unusual sight. The blonde man's jaw dropped at the mayhem before him.

There was no mistaking the intimidating figure. This was the maverick. Hateful red eyes blazed dangerously as it turned to look at him, pure spite radiating from its gaze as it stared back at him. An aura of menace and bloodthirst suffocated the air around the figure adorned in dark crimson gear. It didn't take Giro any sort of specialized sensors to recognize the palpable aura of power and threat this maverick radiated simply by existing. It was as if the universe held its breath around this being, terrified of its ire.

If not for the bags under its eyes, Giro might have been worried.

"Zero. Why am I not surprised? You always pick the worst times to show up."

Model Z was startled out of his shocked state, having gone stone-cold at the sight of the maverick. He spoke to Giro, "Careful, Giro! This one, Omega, he won't be an easy… uh, foe?"

Giro couldn't blame the biometal for his hesitance. There was no doubt that this maverick was dangerous. Recon units had been killed! The world itself seemed to cringe at his menace! But considering the shrieking bundle he held in one of his limbs, Giro could sort of understand why the maverick had been so quick to kill anyone who came across him.

A small girl, restrained only by one arm, screamed fury and indignance at her captor. It took everything Omega had to hold onto her with one hand, the other grasping the ledge they hung onto with a deathgrip. Another child was overhead, laughing and throwing chunks of moss at the red-armoured maverick below him, clearly overjoyed at his position of power. One of the squishy green plants bounced comically off of the red fins adorning the top of the maverick's helmet. The cliff face they clambered on shone dully in the afternoon light. It was a bright and merry piece of stone that stood in complete contrast to the shenanigans occurring upon it, smoothed with time and moisture that leaked down its side even though it hadn't rained in the area for days. Yet this slick surface hadn't deterred the kids in the slightest, as clearly the maverick was being outmaneuvered by the pair of children. It was obvious why few people survived their encounters with the enemy currently scowling at him. Maybe it was to protect the kids he was taking care of, or maybe it was to destroy any witnesses of the humiliation he suffered. Long story short, Giro wasn't entirely sure he could blame the robot for glaring daggers at him.

If he wasn't careful this would come to blows. With innocent children in the area, Giro was hesitant to risk a fight with such a dangerous figure.

The children seemed to think differently about this. Suddenly the boy stood up, "Catch me, mister Omega!" And with all the confidence of a child who'd done this sort of tomfoolery multiple times without any sort of repercussion, launched himself off the cliff.

Giro jerked to action with a gasp of shock, but was beaten to the punch. Omega yelped and dove, catching the boy mid-air. He twisted and flung both children skyward mere metres above ground level. The two kids whooped with glee and giggled as they landed in a bush. Clearly they were enamored with their little game. The maverick was not so fortunate, hitting the ground hard with a painful clunk that echoed throughout the woods painfully.

"That was fun! Again, again!"

"Whee! You're fun, mister Omega!"

The maverick merely groaned on the ground, blinking stupidly and clasping his hands slowly as he lay on his back. It didn't take long for Giro to realize that he'd landed on his skull and stunned himself.

Model Z seemed quiet for a moment. Then he spoke up, "Omega? I think, ah… Hmm. This is…. Well. Uh. I don't know what to say? I think we need to have a talk."

The kids squealed and ran opposite directions. Giro was startled at this, unsure of what to do next. Omega merely groaned again, rolling himself to his feet abysmally. "I'm not… Zero…! Don't even bother, you cretin-" He blinked stupidly, looking around for the children. "Uh. What? Kids... Kids go where? "

"They, uh, ran. Er. I can help? I'll get the girl?" Giro offered sheepishly as he pointed to where the escapees had fled. He couldn't believe he was offering this to a maverick, but, "...Truce?"

Omega glared at him. Then he groaned, his shoulders drooping as he submitted to what fate had in store for him. "Fine. Truce."

Giro nodded and confirmed, "Truce. At least until we get the kids back."

Model Z grunted indignantly, "Seriously. I am going to need an explanation, Omega. What the Hell."

"Can it until we catch the kids. Those brats are fast." Omega groaned. With a morose air of defeat, he stumbled into the bush after one of his two charges. Realizing the logic in this, Giro turned and ran after the other child. The Guardian shook his head as he went to rescue the brunette girl. He had no idea what a maverick (one that Model Z knew, apparently) was doing with two children in a forest, but making sure the two youngsters were alright took priority over fighting the dangerous being that had been guarding them. The kids clearly saw the maverick as no threat, which made sense as he'd gone out of his way to make sure the two little ones stayed safe. They had a truce, and Giro was going to have to trust that it would hold until he could make sure the children were alright.

Teaming up with a maverick to catch a pair of kids… This was going to be an interesting mission report to write for sure.

Giro winced as he heard screaming from the bridge of the Grand Nuage. Prairie's consultation with the Masters of Legion had gone sour. Giro didn't envy the poor Guardian leader's position one bit. How was one to explain to the three rulers of the world that they'd found a maverick of downright apocalyptic strength lollygagging in a forest near a densely populated city? One who was now running freely around their ship? And that they wouldn't be handing him over to the government because, to quote Omega himself, "If anyone tries touching me or those kids it's gonna be the Elf Wars round two, take it or leave it!"

Prairie was not having a fun time, and Giro felt rather sorry for her. The one time Giro has risked a peek into the bridge, he'd seen the top brass of the government furiously gawking at each other and fuming on the main screen. Master Mikhil had been squeaking non-sensibly ever since the 'Elf Wars round two" threat had come out, Master Albert was wearing the most stupified look he'd ever seen on a man, and apparently Master Thomas was pitching a fit to the point where he'd accidentally thrown his sword twice. Prairie tried to get Omega in there at one point to show the Masters why they weren't daring to try and force him into anything. The devil reploid had promptly flipped both his middle fingers out at the three old men, told them that if they tried anything he was going God of Destruction on their asses, and stomped out of the room. He'd blown up the door to the bridge on the way out. Considering that it was a blast door, it had certainly left an impression on his audience. It also meant that Giro could hear the resultant yelling from halfway across the ship (which was a frankly impressive distance, he had to admit).

Said maverick was now lounging idly in the Guardian infirmary. He was almost laid flat on his back on a medical bed as one of the two children he'd forcibly adopted, Vent, scrambled all over him to get away from the 'evil nurse' trying to give him shots. The other child, Aile, was dozing lazily on Giro's lap. She'd already had her round of injections and was happily sucking on the lollipop she'd been given, giggling at Vent's wriggling and whining as Omega tried and failed to restrain him without hurting him. The maverick would try to hold him gently, Vent would yell in pain and/or outrage, and since Omega couldn't tell which was which, usually let go of the boy, causing the whole cycle to repeat indefinitely. Giro idly stroked Aile's hair as he watched this all go down. He turned to face the maverick, "So... Just confirming here. Protecting Weil's legacy is your new mission?"

"Until he himself shows up, yes."

"I think you can understand why we consider that a threat," Model Z replied.

His warning fell on uncaring ears, "I'm not here to cater to some half-rate fake and his errand boy. I'll sheathe my sword long enough for you Guardians to find out who tried to murder Weil's progeny, and that's it. Got it?" Giro sighed despairingly as the man continued, "It's on you lot to figure this shit out. I'm staying right here! I can better protect the kids when I'm not in the field. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going soft," the maverick growled, "I just have my own priorities… such as protecting Weil's bloodline. Something I cannot trust you with! That's all it is! We're not allies, got it?!"

"Of course we're not allies! Do you think I can overlook all the people you killed!? And what do you mean, you can't trust us with them? We wouldn't hurt innocent children! We're not murderers, unlike you!"

"And yet you proudly claim that you killed Weil easily enough! Not that I believe you!"

"He fused with a space cannon that I blew to pieces!"

"The same space-cannon that should have killed you when it crashed. Yet here you are!"

"Play nice you two," Giro groaned. He knew the history between Model Z and Omega, or should he say Zero and Omega; Model Z had explained as much about it as possible once they realized who they were dealing with. Despite that, and despite him agreeing with Model Z for the most part, they were going to have to work with Omega whether they liked it or not. He was too dangerous to take on in a fight without serious preparation, a luxury they could no longer afford now that the maniacal menace was happily lurking around their home base. Giro was not going to leave him alone with the children, and like Hell Omega was leaving the children alone with him either. The one time the two kids snuck away from his surveillance, Omega had torn through half the ship looking for them. An impromptu game of hide and seek had never before had such collateral damage. It was a miracle no one had gotten seriously hurt; Giro was sure that if they ever tried to steal the children away from Omega on purpose, then they would not be so lucky a second time.

Giro had legally adopted the twins at the drop of a hat. His rash nature and desire to protect had gotten the better of him, as well as an order from the first Guardian commander to guard the survivors of maverick raids. The poor woman had suddenly come back from a secret research trip when the Guardians sent her a massive SOS signal with Omega's genetic code attached. She'd promptly started to screech blue bloody murder at the sight of the God of Destruction lounging around her base. The maverick had oh-so-tactfully laughed in her face in return. The only reason First Commander Ciel wasn't on the bridge right now, dealing with the Legion members herself, was because she was having an existential crisis in her bedroom.

Giro could relate. This was not the sort of future he could possibly have envisioned himself having to endure.

Giro adored the children. He'd always wanted kids, and these two were in desperate need of his parentage. And something about the timing just felt right to him. Adopting them felt like the only choice he could possibly make, and the correct choice at that. Unfortunately for him the world's oldest, most dangerous maverick was determined to co-parent them (though he'd bitterly denied such accusations when Giro said it to his face, instead stating that he was just guarding them. Tsundere prick).

May the gods have mercy on him, Giro bemoaned; The years ahead of him were not going to be easy in the slightest.

An unmanly, pain-laden yelp startled the blonde Guardian out of his reverie. He looked over to see Vent dangling off the bed by Omega's hair. Aile giggled loudly in his lap as Vent dropped to the floor and ducked into an open cupboard, Omega wincing as he tenderly touched the back of his head where his scalp had been yanked.

Welp. At least Giro wasn't suffering alone.