Mega Man 1. Raider

Hey all! Welcome to the newest installment of my Omega fanfic series! I'm sorry it took so long to upload, I ket forgetting to get around to it. Once again, thanks to DarkShiftRising and Captain Greene, my beta readers, and thanks to you for all being patient and sticking with this story!

Synopsis; The red demon, Omega has finally left Legion and joined the Dark Prophecy raiders. But all is not well. Not only is Legion now after his head, but the raiders are hiding something dangerous... and yet, what if the greatest threat to the God of Destruction wasn't from the outside, but from himself?

* * *

Morning dawned brightly on the surface of the clouds, gentle yet fiery colours reflecting off the pristine white vapour swirling in the winds. Cold, yet crisp, the sky was sharp against the skin of a single reploid on the deck of a mighty airship blasting its way through the air, the dark greys, blacks and purples of its hull reflecting the oranges of morning's light. Atop the ship the lone figure stood, platinum hair whipping in the gales and red eyes glowing with the rising sun. Slitted pupils glared at the scenery and the tainted mockery it made of the ground below. A landscape of clouds and a horizon of fire below a grey, pre-dawn sky. Calmly viewing the topography of his surroundings, Omega, the God of Destruction, was as cold, harsh and unforgiving as the sky which he viewed.

As the sun rose, Omega carefully shifted his grips on the airship's rail, using it to help him stretch, before once again lapsing into an immobile, watchful silence. Below him, he knew, the majority of his new raider allies were likely just getting up and about. Preparations for the new day would be occurring soon. However, the hour was still early. Having not slept a moment since joining, the Red Demon had instead wandered around the ship until he'd found the decks and promptly decided to stay there. The reason was simple enough. He wanted some time to himself to think. But of what, he had yet to discover. The most he could do was reminisce, and as such, he did. His thoughts wandered from when he first escaped from his imprisonment in Area N, all the way up to his meetings with the mega men, their reactions to him, and finally to his betrayal of Legion.

Well, one could only call it a betrayal if they squinted hard enough... after all, he'd never willingly joined them in the first place. They had convinced themselves of his innocence, and now, they were enjoying the results. He smirked to himself, the gesture lasting only a moment. The fruits of their labours were no doubt rather rancid.

The main door to the decks opened. Footsteps clanged softly against the metal surface below, slowly coming up behind him.

"I'd wondered where I was going to find you. Aren't you a bit chilly out here so early in the morning?"

Omega turned around to face the leader of the raiders. Scimitar stood solemnly, a curious expression upon his pointed features. His long black jacket cracked and swayed wildly in the breeze, its purple edges dancing through the air.

"Didn't notice it really," Omega replied casually, leaning back against the rail. The two observed each other for a moment.

Scimitar broke the silence by tapping his sleek, dangerous looking helmet, a grin on his face, "Well, we're not really accomplishing anything out here. When you're ready, we can head on in and I'll show you around. I really do owe a lot of my success to you, so it's the least I can do."

Omega snorted, prying himself up, "Sure. Might as well go in now, I'm not accomplishing anything out here."

"Straight to the point as always. Well then, welcome to my ship, the Blight Brouillard!" he crowed. He span around, his coat following his movements, and beckoned for Omega to follow him into the ship. And so, Omega did.

XoXoX

The tour of the Blight Brouillard started off rather smoothly. He was familiar with the top floor, the deck, so Scimitar barely paid any heed to it. They took an elevator, located in the vessel's midriff, down to the bottom of the ship, beginning from the first floor. The 'ground floor' as the crew affectionately called it, was the lowest floor of the base, and a secondary observation deck. The raider leader pointed at a few short halls leading away, mentioning that it was also the location of many of their manned turrets. Further along was the entrance to the engines, and Omega stiffened somewhat once he saw the generator.

"Never seen the Ciel system before? Apparently some genius of a scientist made it, but it's hard to copy. You have no IDEA what we had to go through to get some blueprints for it, the Guardians and the power companies are _very_ sticky-fingered."

"Who gave it up in the end?" Omega asked instinctively, his mind pondering the connection between the guardians and the Ciel system. He supposed the resistance would have had to go somewhere...

Scimitar huffed, "Power companies, of course. The guardians are notoriously stubborn about their being goody-goodies. Or they're just too dim-witted to recognize an opportunity... But, I'll give them credit for the 'airship-as-a-base' idea. I'll be blunt, we outright copied them."

"A good idea is a good idea, after all," Omega nodded in understanding.

The tour continued, once again they took the elevator up a floor. Omega queried about this, but Scimitar quite plainly told him that while, yes, they did have stairs, he was the boss and he was going to use the elevators, exercise be damned. Besides, he looked cooler stepping out of an elevator, he joked. Omega laughed in response as they took a quick look around the second floor, which contained some residences and the storage bays. Some other raiders waved as they passed. They momentarily skipped the third floor, heading to the fourth. Scimitar chuckled, "And here's one of the places most of our crew are familiar with, after the cafeteria of course. The medical rooms!" He stepped aside, indicating the general location of the recovery wards. Omega's new leader turned to him with a small frown, "Unfortunately, I do have to touch on a bit of a problem here. I know you're a strong fighter, but even powerful men can make mistakes. If you're comfortable with it, I want to know if you'd mind letting us take a quick systems scan."

Omega returned his look, a glare edging into his features, "That's precisely the reason I left Legion, Scimitar. I don't give out my info..." his voice turned into a dangerous growl.

However, before Omega could even start to get worried about the situation, Scimitar smiled, as if completely unaware of the danger he'd nearly put himself in, "Well, fair enough! Just asking! If you don't want to do it, then that's that. No questions asked, no scans made. The only thing I was a bit worried about is how you're going to react if we have to use any of our medic's weird healing concoctions on you. We've had it before where someone reacted badly, not pretty let me tell you. If you don't want a scan, then, at the very least, would a small blood sample be all right? I just don't want my star player having an allergic reaction is all."

Silence reigned in the hall. Omega squinted at the raider in front of him, an expression of consternation upon his face. Then he let out a sigh. "I suppose I'll have to. I don't think I'll react to anything, but it's best to be sure." Besides, it was only a blood sample. Not a full scan. How much could that hurt?

He entered one of the medical rooms with Scimitar, some of the staff grinning and cheering at their leader's presence. He smiled back before going over and speaking to them about the procedure he wanted. As they scurried about gathering their materials, Omega couldn't help but feel the hairs on his neck raise at the sight of the operating table and the doctors nearby. He was staring at them worriedly. His unhealthy fixation was soon noticed by the head doctor, who tutted to herself and patted his arm unexpectedly. "No worries love, you can just sit down here and I'll take care of your arm in a jiffy!"

She led him to a nearby chair, sitting him down quickly and fussing over him, conveniently blocking his view of the other nurses' proceedings. "Come here now, I've just gotta grab this here, sorry, oh look your hair is a mess! Have to move it out of the way here-"

"Oi, what're you doing?" Omega snapped at her. She had grabbed a strange, hand-held device, and was currently running it down his forearm.

"Just finding a vein sweetie."

"I don't know why you need a freaking machine to find a- Ouch! Watch it!"

The head doctor smiled, the thick needle held delicately in her hand piercing Omega's arm, "I needed it because A; we know you're not a regular reploid, thus you may be built a bit differently, and B; because it was a lot faster. Ah, here we go, all done!" she chirped. The moment the needle was out of range, Omega, whose nerves were beginning to get the better of him, vacated the room hurriedly. One or two of the nurses behind him chuckled as he left. Scimitar followed soon after, watching Omega wearily rubbing his arm where the needle had gone in.

"Bloody hell what was that all about!?"

Scimitar smirked, "Er, my apology there. I should have warned you about Merrain, she's pretty no-nonsense about her job. Actually," he muttered, "scratch that, she's just plain not very gentle about the whole thing."

Omega grunted in annoyance before deciding to point his attentions elsewhere in an attempt to cool his temper. Wherever he looked he saw the same metallic colours of the ship, showing that the raiders preferred function over fashion, or comfort for that matter. His gaze was attracted by an oddly thick door at the end of the hall. "Hey Scimitar?" he started.

"Yes?" the raider leader answered.

"What's that door there for?" Omega finished, pointing at the door. It was the same colour as the others, a stainless steel grey, but it appeared more like a blast door than anything. Multiple security panels were located right beside it, showing that it was currently locked, and would likely need several security codes to get in. As he noticed the door, he also saw how there were several oddly shaped panels along the halls, moreso than had been in other sections of the ship. Panels that, Omega knew due to experience, most likely contained defence turrets. A heavily guarded and locked door? Omega was instantly curious.

And Scimitar, much to his chagrin, was not about to sate that curiosity. "That's one of our research and development rooms. I'm glad you brought that up actually. Not to be rude, but I'm afraid you're not going to be allowed in there anytime soon. As much as we all like you here, you only just joined. Even though you're getting a larger run of the ship than most of our new recruits, that particular place is... well, off limits. _Very_ off limits."

Omega kept staring at the door for a moment, his blank face hiding the concern underneath. He couldn't help but remember what the Iguana pseudoroid, Iggy, had told him just last night. How could he? It was what had kept him up...

Nonetheless, he turned to decorated man beside him, smiling as if e didn't have a care in the world, "Okay, no worries. I understand completely. Ah, now, I believe there was one more level for us to finish touring?"

"Oh right, yes! The best one!" Scimitar grinned. "Come on, this way." He walked off, Omega diligently following him. As the two headed towards the elevator once more, Scimitar struck up their conversation again, "Now, most of this level you've seen already. Remember from when you trained the kitsuroids? That's the floor! So, you've already seen the few residences and training rooms that were there already, as well as the transportation terminal close by, but, I will admit, you missed my favourite room on the ship." The pair got onto the elevator, soon arriving on the third floor. Omega took in his surroundings once again, the usual steel walls, panelling, and sturdy doors of the ship greeting his gaze. A large crowd of raiders were milling around the deck too, including three kitsune-shaped pseudoroids. One of them, the red one, waved. Omega smiled back. Scimitar grinned behind him, patiently waiting for Omega to give him his attention.

"There's the data room and general laboratory right there, they're in the same room for ease of use, and, here we go, the best view in the whole ship...!"

Striding forward confidently, Scimitar boldly stepped towards a door at the very end of the hall. It opened for him swiftly, heavy gears grinding behind the walls. As Omega followed him into the room, he couldn't help but be impressed. Near the entrance to the room, another door, marked 'captain's quarters', was nestled securely in the wall. Numerous consoles dotted the room below an enormous window which viewed the sky outside. Operators were sat working diligently below a raised platform in the middle, the main console, where Scimitar had sat himself down. Alfredo, the first mate, was stood near his side, directing the operations in the bridge to cease momentarily at their leader's return. Everything went silent, every soul in the room watching the activity between the raider leader and the former mercenary, the red demon, Omega.

"So, what do you think of our humble little ship, hmm?"

Omega drew himself up to his maximum height, observing everyone in the room with a cold glare. He gazed out the window at the clouds outside, no longer reflecting the fires of morning. Then he looked back to Scimitar, a bloodthirsty, malicious smile gracing his features.

"I think I like it very much."

XoXoX

Elsewhere in the world, the mood was much grimmer.

Deep within the halls of Legion, in a room hidden from public view, a solemn crowd was gathered around a table. They sat in silence, artificial lighting creating a dim sheen across the spartan surface they all leaned over. Two of the figures, the Masters of Legion, sighed heavily and looked at each other. This brought them the attentions of the others around the table. Eight mega men stare blankly at the government leaders, silence reigning, until Mikhail finally spoke.

"What has happened, has happened."

The others seemed surprised, glancing at each other before the aged man continued his speech, "That man we all thought had changed for the better has now shown us his worst. This betrayal has hit us all deeply, but we cannot dwell on it. What we need to do is to figure out how to deal with this problem before it escalates. It has affected a lot of things... morale, the tournament,us. I know we will likely never understand why this happened, but that's not our focus for now. We need to find a solution."

"I don't get it!" Ashe suddenly snapped. The silver haired mega man pounded her fist furiously onto the wooden surface, "he was one of us! I thought... _we _thought, he was a nice guy! I mean... he saved my life at one point, you all know that... I thought he could change! I thought..."

"Input. You thought he was one of us." Siarnaq spoke. The ninja reclined backwards to the stunned gazes of his comrades.

One of them, the fiery tempered Atlas, seemed a little less shocked than the others and questioned her comrade's sudden comment. "I'm not gonna argue with what you said there, but... Well, Siarnaq, I don't mean to offend, but-"

"Inquiry, but what? Response; Did you think my past history of being betrayed would elevate the difficulty for me?

"Wow, okay, Siarnaq is talking normally, something really wrong is going on here!" squeaked the blue-haired teenager, Thetis, a slight panic to his voice. Siarnaq turned to him and raised his eyebrow.

"Response. I am perfectly all right. In fact, my condition is above normal. I have had time to consider things. Hiding my emotions and who I am is not going to solve anything." He turned to look at the others in the room, "Input, I am not the only one who thought so either. Subject B.D., Blood Diamond, also echoed this statement shortly before leaving Legion's care. Subject B.D. did not betray us because subject B.D. was never on our side in the first place." Although he spoke in a flat tone, Siarnaq's voice contained just enough force to convey the brutal honesty behind his statement.

The room fell silent once more as the assembly considered that statement. Aeolus, arms crossed and his fists balled discreetly, was the first to reply, "You're right. We forced him to come to us, and this sort of action should not have come as a surprise. No doubt he was doing what any one of us would have done in his situation; play his captor's thoughts and emotions to his own desires. We all thought we could trust him because we all wanted to trust him. We were fools. And now it's cost us."

"The tournament will continue despite this," Thomas spoke forcibly, "despite the raider's attempts at unnerving us. Their terrorism, as far as the media, and you, should be concerned, only caused damages. The sole 'death' of that incident, one of the members of the planning committee, will not stop this event. We can't halt an international celebration just because one raider group got a little farther than the others with their heinous acts. And the bounty we've placed on _each_ and _every_ one of their heads will show the world that we will_ not _tolerate such acts!" he roared. Nods of agreement were echoed from every member of the group.

Still, one face showed far more consternation than agreement. "Don't you think people will make a connection when the guy who died looks exactly the same as one of the men you just posted a huge bounty for?" Vent asked.

Mikhail answered, "No they won't. It will be hard to make that connection if we never release a picture of the so-called 'diseased'. Besides... with any luck, he'll be in our hands, dead or alive, before anyone wonders why a previously unknown mercenary has such a huge price on his head. Actually, I doubt that will even occur to them. He's tough enough that I'm sure he'd have earned that sum by himself eventually."

"He's not tough enough that _we_ can't handle him." A new voice shot. The small crowd turned, and more than a few of them jumped at the sight before them. Prometheus, in full armour, had just opened the door to the assembly. The end of his scythe slammed into the ground as he scowled, his knuckles standing out in high relief due to the tight grip on his weapon. "He is afraid of Legion! That's why he was always trying to stay low before, and after, we captured him. I don't care how strong he is. We'll take that bastard down!"

"What the devil-!?" Aeolus yelped.

"How-!?"

"Relax," another voice said. Pandora entered the room, her calm footsteps echoing in the silent chamber, "I suppose we neglected to... give you all a proper warning. Masters, if you would?"

"Ah, yes. Well, it was a bit of a secret at first, we didn't know how it was going to turn out, but..."

Thomas, noticing Mikhail's difficulty in broaching the subject, decided to help, "Not long ago, scouts had located a strange energy source near one of the Ouroboros crash sites. Pandora and Prometheus investigated, and managed to find a strange new biometal."

"A new biometal!?"

Vent growled, "What was something like that doing hiding by an Ouroboros crash site!?"

Thomas held up his hand for silence, "I'm not sure. However, our scientists have done all sorts of tests. What they found is that it lacked most, if not all programs necessary for megamerging, it did not have an AI, or even most of the basic specifications of regular biometal. From what we've seen, we believe it was... experimental."

"A failed experiment to boot," Mikhail added.

"Yes. A failed experiment." Thomas nodded. This sparked a curious and suspicious reaction from the rest of the mega men in the room. However, Thomas ignored this, continuing his speech, "Despite this, with some upgrades, we were able to replace Pandora and Prometheus's Model W cores with the new biometal. With some adjustments, they can now properly megamerge, and de-merge, much like the rest of you."

"And what about the Model W?"

"Destroyed. Completely and utterly."

A sigh of collective relief echoed through the room.

"The fact that you found it near the Ouroboros still concerns me," said Aile, her ponytail following the lean of her head.

The masters both turned to her, "So for it seems that is was more of a coincidence than anything. Without the Ouroboros cracking open the ground in the region, we likely would never have found it. That does bring up another point, however." Thomas turned to the others, "as much as I hate to say it, none of us are sure who we're really dealing with. Although the bounty refers to him as the silver sell-sword because of his hair colour, we know pathetically little about his true origins."

The assembly was quiet, taking in the information. Pandora and Prometheus looked at each other emotionlessly. Unbeknownst to the others in attendance, they knew _exactly_ who they were dealing with.

"All we_ do_ know," Mikhail continued, "is that he's a custom-built model, he doesn't have proper identification in _any_ record we look under, and the earliest he was ever spotted seems to be shortly after the Ouroboros crashed. We've looked at the possibility of him being an Albert replacement model, much like Grey was supposed to be... but before now, we've turned that idea down due to his aggressive attitude and strange mannerisms. However, there's not enough evidence to truly falsify that claim. Whatever he is, we can't be caught off guard again."

"Hah! No, we won't be!"

The sharp tone shattered the atmosphere like glass, all in attendance turning to Prometheus, whose scythe was held upwards like a banner, "It doesn't matter what or who he is! He messed with Legion! He messed with us! He messed with _my sister_!" The scythe came down, leaving a zephyr through the air. "No one gets away with that! _No one_!" he howled.

Pandora, who was standing beside him, gripped her staff tightly, "My brother is right. He needs to go down." she looked up, fiery determination in her normally passive eyes. "We tried our best to make things work out with him, and he rewarded our efforts with nothing but scorn and derision. If I may, I propose that my brother and I be put to the task of... of destroying him."

"That's a rather extreme measure, Pandora. I understand that you're hurt from what he did, but creating a task force just to nullify a single man-"! Mikhail began, surprise and hesitation on his features. However, he was interrupted shortly after.

"Input. Subject Pandora is correct. We cannot afford weaker measures. If he cannot be captured properly, then eliminating subject B.D. is the best course of action."

Both Masters were silent for a while, glancing at each other, before Thomas spoke up, "You are right. We tried to be fair and considerate before, but it seems that won't be a viable option from here on out. Very well. The two of you may hunt him down, and kill him if necessary."

"Input. Information gathering is also important. Neither subject Pandora nor subject Prometheus specialize in this field. Requesting permission to join the task force."

Thomas nodded once, "Very well."

"The best of luck then, to all three of you." Mikhail said sagely.

"If you need any help, feel free to ask! I owe that jerk a fight anyways!" Atlas roared, her fists punching the air to show her enthusiasm.

"I'll take you up on that sometime, Atlas!" Prometheus grinned, "the more the merrier, after all!"

"A valid point. The more of us that face him at a time, the less his chances of winning are.

"You're right! Yeah!" Ashe grinned.

"Don't mess with the mega men!"

"I don't care how powerful he is. If he gets in a fight with all of us mega men at once, he won't stand a chance!"


	2. Out of the bag

Mission 1, chapter 2- Rival

Hey y'all, sorry it took so long for the next chapter! I've been really bad at keeping to my 'once-a-month' schedule lately... At any rate, I just wanted to hit you all up with a reminder plot-wise. Remember, guys, how Omega couldn't use his Ignis form for flight anymore due to certain circumstances? Well, let's just say it's problem fixed... (Chapter 31 of "Happy Anniversary" if you want more info).

Also, happy birthday Megaman! And a merry Christmas to all!

* * *

Deep underground, amidst sandy stone and dust from countless ages, a figure stood before a blank rock face, the light from his red eyes and forehead gem illuminating the tomb-like cave. Behind him was a door leading to Area M, a place filled with the dead remnants of an insidious biometal, and the devastated crash site of the Ragnarok space cannon. Before him was the rock wall.

A rock wall that should have held a door.

Seraph sighed in frustration. He turned around from his solemn guard when a brilliant green light shone out of nowhere, illuminating the room in full detail before fading down to a glowing ball.

"Any news, Jackson?"

"No, chief. Nothing different from the usual."

"Very well. Continue your work."

The ball of light, the hacker elf Jackson, disappeared, taking the light along with it. Seraph returned his emotionless gaze to the wall, a mild frown upon his face.

The netherworld. A realm, a barrier, between reality and cyberspace. But, ever since having removed the model O biometal, it had disappeared, or at least its entrance had. Seraph knew though, he just knew, that they hadn't seen the last of it. But whatever the key was that opened the realm, it eluded him, as did the lock and the threshold it opened.

He turned his back and walked away.

XoXoXoXoX

Omega was once again out on the deck, enjoying the solitude and the force of the elements available upon the hull of the Blight Brouillard. The wind blasting his face and cracking his hair out in a long trail behind was was surprisingly calming to him, whereas most might think it a nuisance. He had just begun to ponder how often he would be out on the deck in future when the sound of a door opening caught his attention. He looked over to see Alfredo, as well as another man, standing just beneath the doorframe. Alfredo, the aged second-in-command, came out to meet him while the other leaned against the door. Something about the man had caught Omega's eye, but he couldn't place just what it was.

It could have been the man's lean, well-toned frame, the cocky manner in which he crossed his arms, or the man's hip-length, spiky hair whipping in the gale. It could have been his harsh, pointed face, Or it could have been the piercing golden eyes staring him down angrily, almost jealously, as Alfredo approached.

"Well hello there mercenary. How are you?"

"Just fine, thanks," Omega replied, his attention snapping to the aged man. "What did you want?"

"Well first off, and this is really not important, but calling you mercenary is a little impersonal. Do you have a name or nickname you'd like us to use?"

"No," Omega replied bluntly.

Alfredo nodded slightly, "Well, fair enough. We'll come up with one then if you're alright with it. Now, secondly, we have your first mission ready. Alpha, get over here please!" he hollered.

"Tch," grunted the man at the door. He strode confidently out onto the deck, sunlight glinting off of his brilliant golden hair. He stopped just before Omega, staring him down, before arrogantly tossing his hair and turning to Alfredo, "Yes, boss?"

"Do show some manners, Alpha. You're going to be working with our newest member here on his next mission."

"I have to work with stuck-up here?" Omega growled. Something about the gold male beside him had rubbed him the wrong way, and it wasn't hard to guess what.

Before Alfredo could comment, the golden-haired raider had snapped back at the first mate with a derogatory comment, "Hah, boss, why don't we just call this guy the old bastard? He's certainly got the hair colour for it!" he laughed, grabbing a lock of Omega's hair and tugging.

"Alpha, that is enough!" Alfredo shouted. Alpha immediately quieted down. "You two are going to work together, and I do not want you at each others throats instead of at our enemies'!"

Omega turned to the older raider, ignoring the quiet mutterings of his soon-to-be partner, "So anyways, what's the mission?"

"Just a training one really, the pair of you are going to a recently procured weapons factory of ours and picking up some supplies. However, we're a little worried about the allegiance of some of the workers there, so we want you to show them a strong presence and make them fear even the _thought_ of mutiny. Sound all right to you?"

"Works for me," Omega replied

"Tchah! I guess I'll show the rookie how it's done!"

Omega turned, baring his teeth at the other raider as he smiled cockily at his new partner, "Tell you what, old guy, you sit back and watch how things are done while I-"

"Alpha," Alfredo said calmly, "a word, if you would please."

Alpha shut up immediately, sedately glaring at Omega as the two walked off. Just before they left his sight, Alfredo turned to look at Omega, "Alpha here will meet you in the hangar in a few minutes. If you would go ahead, please."

"Certainly."

With that the two disappeared. Omega followed shortly after, entering the ship and walking to the elevators before heading to the bottom to wait for the others. It didn't take long. He had just started inspecting the small ship that, presumably, they were going to use for the mission, when Alpha hurried into the room, hair somewhat dishevelled.

"You took your time," Omega shot mildly, inwardly grinning at the angry snort he got in response.

"Did _not_, geezer."

"Call me geezer again and I'll make _you _feel old," Omega chuffed.

Alpha was quiet. Silence reigned between the two, tension just below the surface. Omega could tell that the golden man wanted to say something, but that he was struggling to keep quiet. The red demon decided to patronize him a little, since he really didn't want to be making enemies this early in his raider career. And so, instead of goading him further, he enquired about something that had started bugging him.

"So your name, or at least code name, is Alpha?"

"Yup."

"Why Alpha?" asked Omega curiously, if a little bluntly.

In response, Alpha just gave yet another cocky grin, "Because I'm the best of the best! The alpha dog, the big kahuna, the strongest raider on this ship! I'm a special model they made after they studied all the mega men and every other strong guy or mutos blueprint they could find!"

"The strongest you say? We will see." Omega replied, a strange, knowing tone to his voice. He turned and left for the shuttle, Alpha left staring after him silently.

"Yeah. We _will_ see..."

XoXoX

The trip to the factory was relatively quiet. Apart from some minor briefing before they set down, not a word passed between Omega, Alpha, and the two men driving the craft. The silence was moderately uncomfortable, mostly stemming from a mildly seething Alpha, but Omega assumed that was related to the talking to he'd received earlier. He decided to ignore his partner for the time being, instead peering through the windshield as they travelled.

An hour passed before the ship finally lowered through the clouds, slowly making its way towards a small, rather inconspicuous building built into a mountainside. Whether it was due to elevation or the season, snow and ice lay thickly over the bedrock forming the mountain range below, creating an even more treacherous terrain than usual. Considering the steep slope, jagged peaks and cracked stone, Omega was glad that they were flying in. The building itself was well camouflaged by the layers of frozen precipitation on it and the frost surrounding it, the steel structure barely visible below.

"Hold on, this might get tricky," one of the pilots spoke. Omega considered himself in no danger whether or not their ship landed safely, and couldn't care less when the vessel hit a sudden bout of violent turbulence. The high winds off the mountain brought powdery snow crashing against the window, but the cargo shuttle was made of sturdy stuff. It finally landed on top of the building, a resounding _clunk_ echoing through the hull as it touched down.

"About friggin' time," muttered Alpha. He was the first out when the hatch opened with a hiss, freezing winds invading their ride's interior soon after. Omega took a little more time, opting to scope out his surroundings as he left. One of the pilots followed him out. The trio then entered the building, Alpha impatiently glaring at the others on more than one occasion.

Once inside, the pilot stopped shortly within the entrance. After a quick salute to the fighters, he stated smartly, "Whenever the supplies are ready, come and get me."

Omega nodded, turning around to delve deeper into the unknown area. Alpha, it seemed, had ignored the pilot and gone ahead. Omega jogged lightly after him, taking note of various security systems and hallways as he went. Not sure which way to go in the subterranean facility, he followed the main hallway, dim lights only barely illuminating his way forward. Soon he heard voices beyond a nearby door, knocked, and entered.

Inside, Alpha was conversing with a pseudoroid that barely reached his and Omega's chest height. It was very round and friendly looking, oversized eyes and large arms giving it a child-like visage. It was based on a sloth or similar animal, brown and tan hues covering its armour-plated body.

"Oh! Hello there!" it greeted in a high pitched, male voice. Omega nodded to it in return, a small, noncommittal grunt serving as a sign of recognition. After a quick, small smile, which was oddly strained, the pseudoroid returned to its previous conversation with the golden raider. "So anyways, as I was saying, the shipment arrived not too long ago, so it's good timing on your part. The rest of the crew here is... staying out of the way, so I'll be able to lead you two straight to the weapons. We managed to get a fair few of those rifles your boss liked, as well as a grenade launcher or two..."

The exchange continued as the small pseudoroid beckoned the two raisers to follow him. Alpha took the lead while Omega followed silently, eyes cautiously skirting around the small base. Something seemed rather off about the whole affair. Despite the laid-back attitude of the other two, Omega decided to keep his eyes and ears open, silently watching for anyone to make a wrong move.

The pseudoroid quickly lead them through numerous winding, twisting halls and corridors, finally arriving at a storage bunker of some sort. A thin, horizontal slit in the wall led to the outside, the makings of a blizzard howling just beyond the thick glass in the long window. Omega was briefly distracted by the scenery, but his curiosity was soon sated. Feigning disinterest, he continued gazing around the room and at the various crates when the other two stopped their walking and the pseudoroid slammed his overlarge palm into a crate enthusiastically.

"All the good stuff is in here, bud. Here, I'll show ya."

Alpha stepped aside as the pseudoroid started fiddling with the lock on the crate, large claws making the ordeal a lot harder for him than for most others. However, it was opened in due time, the psuedoroid pleasantly chatting all the while.

"You know, I gotta tell ya, being a raider really is something else. It sure is a hell of a lot better than what I was built for. I mean, seriously, I was made for a kids show! How humiliating is that! Geeze, I tell you, they go on about reploid and human equality, but us pseudorids just don't exist as far as any of them are concerned..."

Alpha turned to look at Omega, the pair of them raising their eyebrows as the sloth mutos continued chattering incessantly. With a roll of his eyes the golden haired raider turned back to the crate, which the sloth had disappeared into.

"...But still, out of all the things that have happened, I've come to realize..."

"Come on in there, hurry up!" Alpha growled. Silence. A minute passed before the raider sighed, leaning into the crate. "Oi, what's-?"

"I don't want to be a raider anymore."

_BLAM_.

Omega jerked to alertness, grabbing the stunned Alpha, now sporting a painful red wound that bled heavily upon his forehead. "You all right!?"

As Alpha grunted a response, Omega was forced to dodge a hail of bullets from the traitorous pseudoroid. He'd appeared from the crate, holding a machine gun.

"Urk, he missed, barely. Got a graze though," stammered Omega's partner.

"Nasty one. Yeesh." replied the devil reploid, ducking behind another crate as they were pinned down by bullets. "Hmm. Someone had weapons training, that's odd for a mutos."

"You're telling me," blinked Alpha. "What's up with that?"

"Maybe something to do with his design. Sounds more like he was built more as an entertainment model than a combat one. Hold on." Omega dashed out of cover before Alpha could utter a word, swiftly running around and dodging whatever fire he could. He jumped on top of a crate silently after the ordeal, taking some time to summon a gun. By the looks of things, the mutos wouldn't be running out of ammo anytime soon. Best to end things quickly. Charging his weapon despite the fact that he knew it would be too fragile to survive afterwards, Omega aimed at the sloth's location and waited. Gunfire continued to rattle from around a corner. Finally, a brief pause. The sloth looked around the corner, taking a second taken to look for his foes.

It was one second too long.

Omea fired, the charged energy ripping apart his weapon and zooming swiftly through the air. It caught the surprised sloth's shoulder, instantly blasting it apart as the damaged limb fell to the ground.

Normally Omega would not have taken such a manoeuvre, but his guess that their foe wasn't designed for battle had proved itself accurate. The sloth hid back behind his crate, panting, bleeding and moaning in pain.

Alpha had heard the commotion. The pair converged on the wounded mutos' location.

"You were a fool to try to take out members of the Dark Prophecy!" Alpha crowed triumphantly, "and now you're about to pay!"

"Dark Prophecy..." the sloth grunted. Omega stopped suddenly, his instincts shrieking. "You lot, you lot are the worse! In all my days of being a raider, we've never seen anyone so vicious and dangerous! I may not survive today, but neither will you!"

Alpha keyed in just in time for the pair to hear the cocking of a gun. The pair tried to hide behind anther crate, but it was too late. An explosion ripped through the room, shattering the window and sending the crates flying. The wall was destroyed, crates and busted weaponry rocketing into the air, shrapnel slicing apart anything nearby. Both remaining raiders were flung from the room into the storm outside, gravity taking its toll as the pair, sporting new wounds, fell into a deep, icy crevasse. Omega tried to double jump to a wall but slipped on the coated surface. He looked down to gauge the best way to land... and realized that he, if he valued his life, should not land at all.

Although the mists hid most of the bottom from view, the glint from large, jagged spears of ice was unmistakable. Alpha yelled in fear as they approached, and no amount of luck could have saved them from what was to come.

But luck was never something Omega relied on.

Just as Alpha was sure he was dead, large claws gripped his back and abruptly halted his descent. The raider, winded, looked up at the claws and the reploid it was attached to, before releasing a yelp of surprise and reaching for a weapon.

"Who the hell, where did you-!?"

"Shut up and let me fly! Argh!" Omega screamed, putting every ounce of energy he had into flapping his wings.

Viral had done a masterpiece. Omega was now in a form that resembled some ominous mix between Wallaburn, Temporoc and Devilbat Ignis. A dark red and black colour scheme, matching his own characteristic armour, added to the demonic effect. However, something was wrong with the new form. Although everything was much more proportionate than the last time he'd attempted it, his wings were giving him problems, every flap releasing waves of pain. Just as he flew back into the hole in the mountain, one of the wings gave out, his shoulder ripping apart. The two tumbled across the floor, bouncing and skidding, blood splattering on the ground every time they hit. Alpha was back on his feet first, glaring around the room to assure its security, before returning his gaze to Omega, who was stumbling to his feet with one shoulder half open and both arms limp.

Omega grunted, focusing even as Alpha continued to stare. One bright flash of light later and Omega was back in his humanoid form. He quickly swung his arms, then massaged the formerly wounded shoulder. Silence pervaded the wrecked hall, only the wind's howling interrupting the tense atmosphere.

"You never told us you could do that." Alpha stated quietly.

"Now why would I?" Omega snapped back after a moment. The red reploid closed his eyes, sighing. When he next opened them he saw Alpha, still staring at him with a mixture of emotions. Anger, hatred, confusion and shock marring his features, yet for some reason, jealousy stood out among all others.

"...You're going to have some explaining to do when we get back."

Omega huffed. "I will explain nothing. Not to people I only just met, people that I don't fully trust. If you can't figure things out for yourself that's not my problem." Although he said it with a calm, assured tone, inside he was really worried. He'd worked so hard to keep his secret from Legion, and the very first of his raider missions, boom, his secret was blown out of the water quicker than a cat with a jetpack.

"...Whatever. Let's get this over with."

The two headed back to the ship.

XoXoX

Upon arriving back at the ship, tensions were high. They remained so, the entire trip back to the Blight Brouillard passing in strained silence. At one point the golden-haired Raider excused himself from the back and left for the front. The door closed. They didn't open for several minutes, but when they did so, Omega immediately questioned his comrade.

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what that was all about?"

"Minor debriefing. Just a quick overview of how the mission went, was all."

Omega stiffened visibly. Alpha simply sighed in response, a resigned air about his frame.

"Just relax, geezer. I haven't given him the juicy bits yet. Just wait until we get to the base, then we'll sort things out."

And so they did. Upon arrival on the Blight Brouillard, they saw Scimitar waiting solemnly in the cargo bay, watching their ship without giving away so much as a hint towards his thoughts. Omega was indicated to wait as he and Alpha left for another room. Everyone was tense.

In the echoing quiet of the hangar, the sound of the door opening was a welcome distraction. A thin looking raider saluted the silver-haired occupant of the bay.

"Your presence is affably requested by... wait, that's not very affable, is it?" stumbled the raider. Eyebrows raised throughout his audience before he finally summoned the courage to finish. "Er, yeah, what I meant to say is, the Cap'n would love ta see ya in the bridge. He also wanted me to make sure ta tell you that he's not mad or anything? Don't know why he told me to say that. Cap'n never gets mad..." he mumbled.

Omega simply got up and walked past the raider without another word.

When he arrived in the bridge, most of the activity therein seemed to cease. Scimitar faced the window as the clouds whipped past, Omega's vision soon turning from him to elsewhere in the bridge. Alpha was huddled by the door, glaring at him even as Omega's eyes roamed the room. When his gaze returned to Scimitar, all eyes turned to him.

"Is suppose this is about-"

"No need to tell me." Scimitar turned, a paper held in his grasp. He lightly let it drop onto a nearby console, not even bothering to look at it as it fell. Omega observed it long enough to realize that it was a wanted poster... a wanted poster of him, titled 'The Silver Devil'. "It seems that the Masters are trying to hide something. All of our sources in Legion say that they know very little about _who_ or _why_ this person, you, has suddenly come out of nowhere with such a large sum on their heads. There's also rumours that they're getting a special squad ready to take you down. Of course this is just speculation. None of our sources were in on the meeting the Mega Men and the Masters had. At least, not directly. So this is all second hand info. Coupled with the recent... _data_, from Alpha... well, this is obviously something Legion wants hushed up quickly." he turned to Omega, a blank expression clouding his eyes. "Of all the things this would point to, and considering fairly recent events... Am I, perhaps, to believe you are an experiment of Albert's?"

Omega stayed silent, attempting to gauge the mindset of his captain. Scimitar, however, remained unreadable. He finally chuffed loudly, "I suppose that's what it looks like, doesn't it? But like I said to Alpha. I'm not saying anything's for certain until I think I can trust you enough."

"Fair enough. As long as you work for us, I couldn't care less where you're from."

"Good." And with that, Omega left. Behind him the bridge stayed oddly quiet, Scimitar and Alfredo appearing deep in thought.

"So, we were wrong, perhaps?" Alfredo finally spoke. The raider leader turned to him, consternation decorating his face.

"I'm not so sure. Just because all the evidence points to him not being... the _kind_ of person we thought he was... Well, that's not to say he still can't be beneficial. An Albert experiment can still be useful. We have our own evidence, and we have my gut. Tell me, is yours telling you the same thing mine is?"

"That this seems a little too easy to be the truth?"

"Exactly," Scimitar nodded. "But like I said. If he works for us loyally, I can have no complaints. Punishing someone just because of their abilities seems rather counter-productive. I'd much rather he be working for us than against us."

"Of course."

"Besides. If push comes to shove... we are more than capable of shoving back. Isn't that right, Alpha?"

Alpha, who had remained silent, merely continued his watchful gaze of the door that Omega had left through. He finally broke his vigil, golden eyes staring at his leader like a hawk. "Aye. That we can."

XoXoXoXoX

As Omega settled down in his room for the night, his mind raced, not able to settle on any particular issue. So much had happened in the last few days that his mind was still reeling. Leaving Legion. Being a wanted man. Joining the raiders. Being forced to reveal his secret (because, really, even if he'd let Alpha die, how was he going to explain what happened? Besides, losing your partner on your very first mission was _not _something he wanted to be on his record.). And to top it all off, his failed transformation. What had gone wrong?

"The shoulder joints, master!"

Omega jerked, surprised. "Oh, Viral? Yes? What's up?"

"Sorry master, I made a bit of a mistake. I used Temporoc's wing joints in the design when Devilbat Ignis' were more suited for flapping. My apologies. I've already modified the DNA to accommodate that little hitch. Your form should be perfectly fine and ready to go the next time you try it, master! I promise!"

Omega grunted. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Thanks."

His eyes closing, Omega let himself drift into a light slumber, the fact that his door was not only locked, but also had a dresser blocking it, allowing him just enough security for shallow slumber to take hold.

But it was a slumber filled with worry, restless thoughts, and heavy foreboding.


End file.

Mega Man