Legends of the Halcyon Era – Noh Way Out: Janine, Fenix, and MegaMan Magnus’s Encounter

Previously, in Legends of the Halcyon Era…

After going on a journey of discovery and personal growth to another world that the Diggers from Terra could never have imagined, they finally returned home with new allies, new insights, and new secrets.

Unfortunately, the joy of the moment was short-lived, as they discovered the town of Monroe was under attack from an old enemy. Delving deep underground, the Diggers and the Dragon Knights from Avion teamed up to put a stop to Trevor Creed’s plans to raise a nigh-unstoppable force from the distant past to use for his own selfish ambitions.

After the Knights departed, the Diggers went their separate ways for the time being, with some of them planning to see Fenix off again that night. But unbeknownst to the others, Black Steel would be attacked by an unseen assailant in his own ship, and Adam Powers and Katrina would soon follow from more of the same, ultimately bringing the Sky Shark down in the forest north of town. Meanwhile, Celeste and Nytetrayn would run into two more of the machines, prompting the latter to discover a new ability.

As evening began to break on Monroe Island, Fenix, Janine, and MegaMan Magnus were all back at the old apartment, waiting for Nytetrayn and Celeste to return from their impromptu walk so they could all go out for Fenix’s “farewell” dinner.

Inside the apartment, a knock could be heard at the door.

“You went away and left me long time ago,” Fenix sang as he approached the entrance to his temporary domicile. “And now you’re knockin’ on my door,” he continued as he answered the summons.

Before him in a triangle formation stood three tall, lanky machines, each with limbs ending in what looked like four-fingered hands and a cylindrical “head” with a ruby red lens acting as much as a face as it was an eye.

“…sorry, no solicitors after 5pm,” Fenix said before he slammed the door. “Hey, you guys! I think we got company, and it isn’t the chuck wagon!!”

“That’s supposed to be ‘welcome wagon,’ dumbass,” said Magnus.

“Is it your dad?” asked Janine, who walked in wearing a cosplay of Kasumi from “Dead or Alive”, as she’d hoped to finish recording one last quick video before packing everything away. “Pretty sure we didn’t invite him to the dinner.”

“No,” said Fenix. “I think they’re some kind of Reaverbots…”

Outside, the lead machine looked back at its companions, who stared back with their red lenses. It turned back to the door and knocked again.

“…and surprisingly polite ones, at that,” Fenix added, before he grabbed his nearest gun – a .45 caliber pistol – and then opened the door again, concealing the weapon behind his back. “Hi. Is there a way I might be of service to you, gentlemen?”

The three robots just stood there, simply staring at Fenix.

Fenix looked over his shoulder and called out, “Hey, Magnus? I think these might be relatives of yours. You wanna try talking to them?”

Magnus came up behind Fenix and looked at the visitors. “Uh, hello? Que pasa? Ton lave-vaisselle vient de manger ma chaussette?”

The second and third machines shifted their focus to regard Magnus, the first unflinching from its view of Fenix.

Janine stepped into partial view, and said to Magnus “You just told them ‘your dishwasher just ate my sock’.”

The third of the machines turned to focus on Janine, and upon doing so, a few sparks seemed to shoot from its head and neck joints, before it shook it off and resumed its unnerving stare. All the while, none of the machines said anything.

“Um, okay. Would you like to come in?” asked Fenix, earning him sharp glances from the other two. “What?!” he asked them in a loud whisper. “They’ve been good so far!”

Fenix and the others backed away from the door, and the first machine entered, with the other two following. Janine stepped out from behind Magnus to get a better look at their guests. This gave the third machine a better look, and after a quick spin of its head, it resumed its steely gaze at its chosen subject.

As she swayed back and forth on her feet, the robot’s optic sensor continued to follow her movements closely. Janine tilted her head. “With the way that one keeps following me, I’m not sure if I should be worried, offended, or flattered.”

Magnus decided to try again. “Could we indulge you with something to drink?” Realizing they didn’t have mouths, he added “Wait, hold on…”

Regardless, the machine fixated on him shook its head in a “no” manner.

“Okay, well,” Fenix said, as he looked around their living room. “We don’t have much room, but if you want to make yourselves at home, maybe tell us what brings you here…?”

The lead machine looked back at the other two, then turned back to the Diggers. The first two machines raised their hands at Fenix and Magnus, revealing shining red jewel-like lenses not unlike their eyes – or those of a Reaverbot, for that matter. The second machine smacked the third in the back of the head with a rattle as it continued following Jan’s swaying, and after a moment, it too raised its hand-lenses at her.

“Guys, I don’t think they want a picture,” said Fenix. “Well, that one might,” he added, nodding towards the one fixated on Janine.

“Janine, you might want to excuse yourself to the bedroom to get one of Fenix’s ‘toys’,” Magnus said.

“Magnus, I hardly think this is the time or place for that! Besides, you know I’m in a relationship now!”

“I meant one of his guns, Jan.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well, if I killed everyone who wanted some of this, you two would have been in the ground long ago.”

“I mean, you did try to kill me and Nyte when we first met,” Fenix said. “Though to be fair, you weren’t our first priority…”

“Focus, people,” Magnus said, his irritation at the situation becoming more apparent.

The first two machines’ – and after a moment, the third’s – hands began to hum with the sound of energy charging up as their lenses began to glow.

“This is stupid,” Fenix said, as he pulled the gun he’d been holding behind his back out and held it point-blank at the first machine’s would-be “head” and squeezed the trigger.

In the instant it took for the trigger to release the hammer, strike the primer, ignite the gunpowder, and send the bullet firing down the barrel, the machine allowed its head to fall to the side in a limp, almost inhuman way, taking it out of the path of the projectile. In another instant, it snapped back to its normal position.

At the same time, Magnus had raised his own hands and let loose beams of energy at the other two machines, who managed to dodge in similarly-contorted ways.

Janine let out a high-pitched yelp as she took cover behind Magnus while the machines resumed their normal positions and opened fire on their targets.

Fenix and Magnus expected something like this, leaping aside of the blasts, with the latter grabbing Janine in the process.

“My apartment!” Fenix cried out as energy bullets peppered the walls and furniture, no doubt ensuring there would be no return on their deposit.

“My apartment!” Magnus countered, before forming a blade of energy in one hand and swinging it horizontally, sending a wide wave of energy at the three assailants.

The three machines maintained their focus on their respective targets, and bent over backwards on all fours to dodge the wave of energy that ripped through the area around the door and surrounding walls. They then turned in place to face their prey, like a pack of wild, mechanical animals.

“Looks like the die is cast. Let us take this outside!” Magnus said, as he took Janine and jumped through the window, shattering the glass as Janine let out a panicked yelp. Fortunately, his mechanical frame was not only able to withstand any damage, but also protect Janine from taking any of her own.

The second and third machines turned and pursued their quarry out the door, the latter popping back in to close it. Meanwhile, the first machine and Fenix remained inside.

“You think you’re fast, do you?” Fenix said. “Well, I’ve got 16 barrels of whirling fun that wants to have a friendly debate about that!” Tossing the pistol aside, Fenix’s left arm converted into its Gatling gun mode, and he opened fire at center mass on the machine.

It leaped up to the ceiling, grabbing its surface with all four of its hand-like claws, and crawled quickly to get behind Fenix before it dropped down to the floor. Despite never flipping in the process, the robot maneuvered its limbs in a contorted manner to land on all fours before taking on a crouching, hunched stance to raise its front manipulators to open fire with its palm-lenses once again.

Fenix followed the movement of the machine and brought his Gatling arm up to its face and once again opened fire.

Aside from the machine managing to literally save face, both attacks found their mark at the same time as each combatant was picked up and thrown backwards into the nearest partition, leaving cracks in the drywall.

“Well,” Fenix said as he hastily pulled himself to his feet and examined the considerable damage to his armor, as the blasts had managed to crack through it almost completely. “If Tom ever comes back, he’s probably going to be pissed. And if not him, the landlord.”

Meanwhile, the machine likewise returned to its feet, pulling itself up by reaching behind it. It almost seemed surprised to note that its own armor had several punctures in it.

Fenix reached up to his back and grabbed his beam sabers, and rushed his opponent, swinging the energy blades wildly. “I should thank you!” he said as he advanced. “Normally, Nyte would never let me do this inside!”

The machine raised an energy shield before it to block the beam swords, and once the opportunity presented itself, it used its arms to grab Fenix’s and extended them to push the Digger away. Fenix skidded across the floor, he tried to break its grip using his mechanical left arm. Once Fenix was across the room, the machine released its grip on him and its arms quickly retracted, and then it simply watched Fenix without making any movement.

Beneath his visor, Fenix raised an eyebrow at the machine’s sudden act of nonaggression while he tried to get his breath.

Once ready, he again raised his Gatling arm, but withheld his fire. The machine continued to watch the masked Digger, with no movement forthcoming.

Fenix then hurled the beam saber in his other hand at the machine’s head like a javelin, but the machine tilted its head slightly and safely grabbed the projectile by the handle as it passed by, then deactivated and tossed it back into the middle of the room harmlessly.

The Digger once again opened fire with his Gatling arm, triggering the machine’s shield. He used the distraction to run forward and snatch up his saber, reignite it, and ceased just outside of his opponent’s melee range while using the length of the saber blades to slash away at it.

The machine used its arms to parry the barrage of sword strikes, but ultimately began to see the result of going bare-knuckle with Fenix’s sabers. Its arms began to get hacked up bit by metallic bit, up to the point that its entire frame began to crackle with bolts of electricity running down it. Its frame began to shudder as it staggered forward.

Taking no chances, Fenix executed a double-slash at the machine’s waist level, causing the machine to split right in two. Fenix spun around to a kneeling position on one knee as the two parts of the machine exploded behind him, vaporizing and leaving a nice, sooty black all over Fenix and the living room – save for any parts immediately behind Fenix or the furniture.

“Solicitors will be executed,” Fenix said to himself as he returned to his feet, pleased with the quippy one-liner. His satisfaction proved short-lived when he noticed the corner of his cape had caught fire. He humbly put it out.

Out on the streets, a few men tried to hide their excitement at seeing someone like Janine appear before them in such a revealing outfit, while some of the women gasped. All looked on with curiosity, however, as the two robots scampered after her and her giant friend in hot pursuit.

“Think you can distract them?” MegaMan Magnus asked her.

“Just watch me!” Janine said, as she broke away, her cybernetic stalker close behind. The second machine remained focused on Magnus, aiming again with its right lens and firing.

With Janine clear, Magnus leaped straight up into the air and hurled a ball of energy down at her pursuer’s back. Sensing the incoming attack, it leaped over the incoming attack, landed on its hands, and continued its chase.

“Damn,” Magnus thought as he turned his attention towards his own personal assailant, and hoped that his effort might make some small difference in her situation. He fired a wide beam of energy from his hand down at the robot that picked him as its target, but it raised an energy shield that dispersed the blast.

Magnus held off on further attacks in favor of studying the machine from the air. It reciprocated for a number of moments, before suddenly leaping high into the air, even higher than Magnus’s current position, just out of view.

Before the former Annihilator Unit knew what was happening, a big ball of metal fell down towards him like a cannonball, or perhaps a meteor.

“Oh… shi–” Magnus began to say, interrupted before the second word could leave his vocal processor. The transfer of energy sent Magnus plummeting towards the ground as the machine remained aloft. Before making impact Magnus managed to get off a couple of blasts of his own at the red-eyed attacker, blowing it away and forcing it to unfold and land gracefully on its hand-like feet, while he smashed into the ground and left a crater upon impact.

“Ugh,” he said as he sat up, holding his head. “Did anyone get the number of that truck? I think it was carrying a shipment of buses…”

Magnus pulled himself to his feet as an aura of red energy began to swirl around him. The machine merely whirred and clicked as it observed its large subject, but otherwise did nothing.

“How strange,” Magnus pondered. “Why does it not attack? Unless… they aren’t meant to defeat us.” He looked around, as some of the people from the town who had returned and weren’t in hiding looked on. “No matter, I cannot allow this to drag out any further and risk allowing innocents to come to harm!”

Using his back-mounted jets, Magnus surged forward, the fingers on his right hand curled into a massive fist as he quickly approached the mechanoid, and threw it forward with all his might as he entered striking distance. The machine was able to catch the attack with its energy shield, holding it back from reaching him.

The towering MegaMan grimaced behind his mouthplate and raised his other hand to emit a powerful energy blast, which the robot was able to again block with another energy shield.

Magnus growled, though in truth, some part of him was enjoying this on some level. It reminded him of old times, when he was a big deal, before East’s attempted coup. Before everything… changed.

He quickly disabused himself of the notion, and poured on the power as he continued to press against his opponent’s shield with increasing force. And while the shield did not give, the machine’s footing began to, as it started to slide back, raising mounds of dirt behind its ersatz heels.

Finally, Magnus broke away from the shield and used his momentum to quickly circle around the robot, putting it between himself and a long stretch of empty road.

The machine’s head swiveled around just in time to see Magnus’s twin fusion cannons finish configuring into place atop his shoulders. It continued to watch, waiting for his next move.

“Say ‘good night’!” Magnus yelled, as the twin cannons unleashed two massive waves of energy at the other mechanical being, engulfing it in the light and drowning out whatever last sounds it might have made beneath a thunderous boom.

When Magnus stopped, the only signs that the machine had ever existed were the two narrow trenches running down the stretch of road before him.

Elsewhere in town, the third machine continued the pursuit of its quarry, though it didn’t seem to really be firing at her. Rather, it seemed like the shots were more of an attempt at goading her into fighting back.

Finally, Janine decided to stop and give it what it wanted. Her energy generators might be offline, but she still had the strength and durability that was natural for a System Unit with a cybernetic skeleton. The kunoichi-clad cosplayer turned to face her pursuer, and assumed a fighting stance as she bounced back and forth lightly on the balls of her feet, ready for the machine to make a move.

The mechanical menace stopped as Janine did, and continued to monitor her, following her movements up and down. It seemed almost hypnotized, or like it was in a trance.

As Janine slowly began to move in closer, she kept an eye on the robot’s lethal hands, just in case it decided it wanted to play laser tag again. If it did go down that way, she had no desire to be “it”.

The machine began its own slow approach, while onlooking men weren’t sure whether to run to safety, or risk possible death by watching the beautiful Bureaucratic Unit. In most cases, those who had significant others found that they had little trouble making the decision for them, usually with audible results.

Janine tried her best to ignore them. She normally wouldn’t mind a crowd, but knew she needed to keep her focus.

She threw a punch at the robot’s head, only for it to raise an arm to block the attack, then a kick, which it blocked with its leg. She pushed off the blocking leg and leaped back and out of range as the machine attempted a punch of its own, assuming her stance once more.

The machine mimicked her bouncing motion from before, and was quickly met with a roundhouse kick to the camera-like head, which spun a time or two before it resumed its focus on Janine, and tried some boxing-styled moves of its own.

It successfully delivered a blow to her shoulder, causing her to back off as she nursed what she expected would be a nasty bruise. In the meantime, the machine simply watched her.

Janine took a look around to see just how much of an audience they had managed to draw, and found there were still several people still watching. She sighed, as she really didn’t want to go this route, but at least she was wearing a good outfit for it.

She took on a slightly different stance and moved her hips from side to side, and soon got the rest of her body into it. As she moved back and forth as if to the beat of music only she could hear, she gave the machine a smoldering gaze that would make a human pass out from blood loss through their nose, if not just pass away entirely.

Slowly, she began to move towards the machine, which fortunately for it, had no blood to lose. It remained focused on Janine, motionless but for its head bobbing back and forth along with her movements. Soon she was within striking distance of the machine, and continued to watch it with that look of temptation in her eyes.

Now she was right up next to it, her gifts from a long-forgotten creator now nearly bouncing against the metallic framework of the machine. She was practically cuddling it now, as she cautiously wound her arms over its shoulders and gave it a most inviting smile. Her arms went around its neck as she pressed herself against it, her pupils dilating, all while the machine continued to make no move against her.

Janine took the robot’s head lovingly into her hands, and in an instant, gave it a twist sharp enough to sever most necks, be they organic or mechanical. The machine’s body fell and crumpled to the ground before it started to dissipate, its head still in her hands.

“Huh. That actually worked.”

With that, she tossed the head over her shoulder and she began to walk – almost stomping – back towards the apartment in what she hoped was as unappealing a way as she could get away with, leaving the onlookers wondering what they’d just witnessed as she declared “Okay, show’s over!” As for the head, it too dissolved before it even hit the ground.

As she neared the now even more humble duplex, she arrived just in time to see Magnus till and char the soil with his fusion cannons.

New to Legends of the Halcyon Era? Looking to catch up, or just re-familiarize yourself? Then check out the Character Profiles page!

Legends of the Halcyon Era is a work of fan fiction set in the world of Mega Man Legends. It is largely adapted from a series of freeform RPG sessions, combining ideas from several contributors, and further fleshed out here in a prose format.

David Oxford, also known as LBD “Nytetrayn,” is a lifelong Mega Man fan who, along with his wife Nadia, has co-written the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide and Mega Man X Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide from UDON Entertainment, and runs The Mega Man Network (themmnetwork dot com). You can also find him on Twitter @LBD_Nytetrayn, Bluesky @LBDNytetrayn, and @themmnetwork on both, and on Twitch and YouTube under the name “Nyteworks.”

You can also find Legends of the Halcyon Era as it updates at Archive of Our Own, and on Mega Man Legends Station!

Character designs by LBD “Nytetrayn” and Victor Campan. Cover art by Victor Campan. Logos by Tabby Ramsey.

Thanks for reading!

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.