Michael was beginning to realize the negatives of being a superhero. Obviously there was getting beat up, but now he realized that it was accompanied with constant worrying about how much of an insurance plan would be needed to cover the damages.

Also, it was his crush's house. So that's always gonna be a negative.

He did his absolute best to keep the destruction away from a grand piano in the main room. Omega-Xis didn't seem as concerned about it, and the two being out of sync wasn't helping their combat.

Michael still didn't understand much about their opponent. Omega-Xis had seemed very worried when the battle started, but all he had said was, "Gemini Spark. Don't let either of them hit you."

Unfortunately, he hadn't been too successful at that. He had been punched, thrown, and zapped by a his opponents very frequently. And yes, there were two of them. Each was very similar to the other in general appearance, being humanoid figures, in armored jumpsuits. One wore mostly white, and the other black. Each had a golden arm which continually crackled with electricity, the white's being his left arm, and the black having the right.

Michael barely dodged a punch from the white, but received a shock blast from the black, which caused him to slide along the floor a few feet. While getting to his feet, he asked, "Anything else you wanna tell me about these guys?"

"He's one of the most dangerous of those hunting me. He's intuitive. Powerful, and tricky enough to pull off things he couldn't do with just one body."

Michael jumped back off the floor as a fist came down as his previous spot. "Well, do you think I  can beat him?"

"Not if you keep giving extreme regard to things getting smashed." The alien said in a cocky voice.

"This is my girl's house, man. How would you act if this were where that...Lyra or whatever or her name is-"

"What? No, shut up. That's ridiculous. I have absolutely no relationship with her whatsoever. The very idea is...geez just leave it, alright?" 

Michael was surprised by the reaction, and smiled just a little. "Okay."

It was then that the black copy grabbed him with the golden arm. Michael was hoisted a short distance into the air, and struggled for a moment as the alien looked into his eyes greedily.

"Not good. We gotta get outta this." Omega-Xis said, as if that wasn't already obvious.

Michael swung his legs forward, which the alien easily avoided by moving its body slightly. Michael took advantage of this to thrust his legs backward, then forward once more, allowing them to swing up into his opponents body. The hit caused him to be released, but his unfortunate position resulted in him landing on his face. His visor was in a few places from the impact.

Michael spun around to find white Gemini Spark approaching behind. Michael wasted no time, charging him and throwing out a fist.

However, he was caught with one hand, his momentum stopped almost instantly. He was lifted up and smashed into the ground.

The hit left him a little dizzy, and his visor even more cracked than before. The alien lifted him again with one arm, dangling him above the ground. Omega-Xis was concerned. "This isn't right. This kind of strength...he's never been this strong before!"

Michael winced and tried to avoid screaming as the grip on his arm was tightened, and his arm constricted painfully. He heard footsteps slowly coming behind him. Then, for the first time in what had been about the longest few minutes of his life, someone other than Omega-Xis was talking.

"You got a pretty good one this time, Omega-Xis. He's quite the fighter." The black copy said in a gentle but intimidating tone.

Omega-Xis began speaking through the suit. "More than you'll ever be, Gemini."

Gemini laughed. "I think we're seeing a different stage of battle my friend. At the moment, you are defeated. Our victory is close at hand. We will have the Andromeda key."

Omega-Xis actually laughed. "That's great. Where'd ya get the power upgrade on whitey here?  I'd like to see your workout routine."

He chuckled briefly. "That would be thanks to my host. Very impressive, I must say. A little stubborn, and a lot like myself: unpredictable."

Michael struggled, but the hold was very strategic. His cannon arm was being held, and he was too far away for an effective attack.

Gemini frowned. "Enough of this. You have what I need, and we'll be willing to inflict a lot of pain to get it."

Michael screamed as the pressure on his arm increased, and a shock coursed through him. Omega-Xis gave a grunt, clearly in pain as well. "You're...never getting the key, Gemini."

The alien sighed. "That's a shame. You know, your bond is very unique, Omega-Xis. You have potential for great power, but you leave your host more vulnerable. These fleshy humans aren't the most durable things in the universe; enough pain might be very damaging to them."

Michael was angered. "I'll show you durable, you piece of-" The grip around his arm tightened further, causing him to stop and scream at the new amount of pain. The bones in his arm began to feel strained.

Gemini shook his head. "I guess things will have to be difficult." He responded before things went very wrong for him.

"Machine Gun Strings!" The voice of Lyra filled the room and seemed to echo from all around. A number of large glowing strings wrapped around the black Gemini Spark, appearing to cause him pain. Two large musical notes, seemingly made of yellow energy, appeared with a musical strum, and flew quickly towards him, bursting on impact and causing him to fall to the ground.

Omega-Xis gave a very brief and ineffective warning of, "Brace yourself," before Michael saw a flash and felt the hold on his arm disappear in an instant. He fell to the ground, a few feet to the side. He landed on his back painfully, and felt a swirling sensation in his stomach that made him wonder if he was going to throw up again.

"What...the heck was that?" He managed to gag out.

"Frequency change. Useful for getting out of sticky situations quickly. Normally it's a lot easier and less painful, but Gemini's electricity is messing with me."

"Awesome." Michael grunted as he got to his feet, a little woozy. He turned to look at the Geminis, but instead found his attention drawn to a new figure. She wore red-pink armored boots and a dress of the same color with two vertical white stripes. There were thick gold rings around her wrists, leading to her gloves that matched the rest of her outfit. Her helmet had two white domes positioned diagonally on either side of her head, and the rest of it was the same red as earlier, decorated with a pink heart in the center, and her eyes were covered by the blue visor that extended down from it.

In her hands was a blue-silver instrument that resembled a guitar in shape, but had an open mouth under the strings. There was what seemed to be a microphone at the top of the instrument, likely so that when held like a guitar, the user could sing into it.

Michael was unable to look away from her. He quickly deduced that it was Sonia, whose face, though determined, betrayed a little bit of fear and uncertainty. He continued to watch her as she stood there silently.

Omega-Xis was saying something to him, but for whatever reason, it wasn't registering. He just kept staring. That is, until Omega-Xis screamed at him at the maximum volume he probably could. "KID!!"

Michael snapped out of his state, turning his attention in time to get body tackled by Gemini White. He felt himself be grabbed and thrust up into a wall, the impact causing him to retch and almost throw up yet again.

This copy of Gemini was still silent as it had been, looking at him deeply as he struggled on the wall. Sonia's voice came loudly from the other side of the room. "Let him go!"

Gemini White looked over at her, as she stood in battle ready position, her fingers hovering over her strings. 

Gemini Black approached him from behind. "Leave it. The tide is no longer in our favor. We must...regroup."

There was a pause. Nobody in the room dared to move, and though White did not look back at his copy, they seemed to be hesitant. 

Finally, Michael was released, and White joined its companion. It placed a hand on the other's shoulder, and in an instant they were gone.

Omega-Xis was startled. "That's...that's not possible. Even with wave changes, we should have been able to see him. He was here one instant, and gone the next."

Michael groaned quietly. "Get over it, man." He winced as he got up, his damaged arm screaming under the weight of his body.

Sonia walked over to him. The two looked at each other for a while, before Michael began the conversation with, "So...this is what I do nowadays. How's that Youtube thing been going?"

Omega-Xis gave a grunt. "You're an idiot."

---

Michael was grateful to be out of costume. The tights were comfortable and efficient, but after a while they really started to chafe in unwelcome places.

Unfortunately, that was about the only good thing going for him right now. Upon returning to Light Labs, the doctor himself had greeted him, concerned that Rock had not returned and that he couldn't locate him. Which led to one of the worst handled moments in Michael's brief history of superhero-ing:

"What?" He said in response, "So Rock never made it back?" He immediately face-palmed.

Sonia turned to him. "Wait, so your friend Rock...is Mega Man?"

"You have a friend named Rock?" Lyra asked.

"I have never failed so badly..."

Omega-Xis seemed more concerned about something of more significance. "So you couldn't detect Mega Man anywhere?"

Dr. Light shook his head, the concern on his face becoming more apparent by the second. "I searched the entire city, and even neighboring areas. I have no idea what to think. The only way he could turn off that tracking system is if he was deactivated."

"Hmm. Or maybe..." Omega-Xis pondered, "...you've studied the examples we've seen of our species, correct?"

Dr. Light nodded in frustration. "Yes, yes of course. Any new information is important."

"Have you considered filtering out the natural waves our bodies create?"

The doctor froze. He rose a hand to his chin. "I suppose it could..." He didn't even finish the sentence before he had hopped onto his computer, and began rapidly typing sequences. It took a minute or two before he was able to re-scan, but he drew back in surprise and shouted, "We have a location!"

"Awesome!" Michael replied.

Omega-Xis wasn't so sure. "Maybe not awesome. Even at close range, our natural signals aren't enough to mask a tracking system, so the only explanation would be that one of our species would have to be interfering with the tracking signal from within Mega Man's own body."

Sonia, who was hardly following anything that was going on, asked, "But...are you saying that-"

"Mega Man has been compromised."

---

I opened my eyes again, but it was no use. The alien was still using me, putting me in this impressive but deadly new body. I tried to raise my finger. To even lift the appendage enough to demonstrate control.

I felt my efforts shut down, the force that my will pushed against growing stronger. He had noticed.

Gemini, as I had learned his name was, shook his head. "Please don't. Our time is not done yet."

I tried to speak, but simply stared at him. He noticed this and sighed. Instantly I felt my mouth open. "I won't let you use me like this." I told him.

"Believe me," he muttered. "I don't want to use you either. Sure, the abilities within your body make your copy naturally stronger, but your unfortunate tenacity is proving more of a pain than I had wanted. As soon as we have what we want, we will depart this place, and I will depart you."

"Not gonna-" I was cut off as my voice stopped again.

"Let me remind you who is in control here." His eyes stared deep into mine. "I hold the power over you. You will not be victorious as long as you struggle against me."

There was a knocking on the outside of the warehouse we currently waited in. "Ah. I almost forgot. I invited some friends for one last get together. Shall we meet them?"

He placed a hand on my shoulder, and my body unwillingly walked with him to the door.

---

There will only be one more part to this star force arc, but I hope you guys are enjoying it. The next chapter might be a few weeks, but until then continue to let me know what you think. Thanks!