Sequel to HA. The Omega Zero 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? Rated for safety. Discontinued, plot summary to be posted.

Hey all! Welcome to the newest instalment of my Omega Zero fanfic series! Once again, thanks to DarkShiftRising and Captain Greene, my beta readers, and thanks to you for all being patient and sticking with this story!

Disclaimer: this work is a piece of fan literature intended merely for entertainment and is non-profitable for myself, the author. Most characters and locations in this fic are the creations and property of CAPCOM, and as such I claim no creative rights to them. The only thing I will claim is that this story and writing are indeed my works, and may not be used without my permission as quite frankly I am putting a shitload of effort into them and will NOT abide by anyone stealing my ideas!

That all being said, thank you very much for reading my fic(s)! Please enjoy!

Morning dawned brightly on the surface of the clouds, gentle yet fiery colours reflecting off of 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 false 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 grip 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. The hour was still early however. 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 he did as such, thinking back on his recent escapades. His thoughts wandered to when he first escaped from his imprisonment in the enigmatic Area N, all the way up to his hectic 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 new arrival, the leader of the raiders whom he now served. 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 doing much of 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.

x-x-x-x-x

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 as they exited. They instead 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 functioned as 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 C.I.E.L. 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, those 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 from his time would have had to go somewhere...

Scimitar huffed, "Power companies, of course. The Guardians are an organization notoriously stubborn about being a lot of goody two-shoes. Or they're just too dim-witted to recognize an opportunity. But I will 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 to go 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 wander around the second floor, wchi was home to some residences and the storage bays. A few raiders working in one of the bays waved as they passed. Afterwards the pair momentarily skipped the third floor, heading to the fourth. Scimitar chuckled as they exited the elevator again, "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," he threatened, 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 even 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 codes to get in. As he noticed the door, the red reploid 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? He 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 last night.

Nonetheless, he turned to decorated man beside him, smiling as if he 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 area adjacent to an enormous window that 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."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Elsewhere in the world, the mood was much more grim.

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 Thomas, eyebrows lowered, continued the 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 cannot be 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 minor 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 took his turn to answer, "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 blunt 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!?" Ashe yelped.

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 either. 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!"