Pandora

"Defectives must be disposed of..."

- Pandora as she prepares to strike down the awakened Grey

Pandora (パンドラ) was a mysterious character from Mega Man ZX and Mega Man ZX Advent who works to revive Model W. She is usually seen with Prometheus. She exhibits a calm and quiet demeanor and uses ice and thunder elements in battle. She bears the physical appearance of a 10-17 year old girl, but she is actually over 50.

Appearance
Like her older brother, Pandora fits the motif of Witch, her nickname. She wears an odd, egg-shaped helmet with a jewel in the center; however, what appears to be an egg-shaped helmet actually separates into two pieces, as first seen when Pandora takes the passwords from Model X and Model Z. Her white, blue and black scheme strongly contrasts that of her brother as well. Like Prometheus, her armor color changes when she uses an elemental attack; however, she has two color changes instead of one: a yellow and blue scheme for Thunder attacks and a light blue one for Ice attacks. She will attack with both elements if white-colored.

Personality
Even less is known about Pandora than her brother, Prometheus. She rarely speaks, and usually lets Prometheus handle communication. During the rare occasions when she uses her voice, she speaks slowly and softly with little to emotion within it. Like her brother, Prometheus, she is completely devoted to Model W (though, ironically, in Ashe/Grey's battle against her and her brother, they were also planning on destroying Model W, as well as all Albert had created.). Being "the voice of Model W", she seems to have inherited Dr. Weil's disdain and nihilism. Pandora also has a tragic side, believing that neither her or Prometheus can change their own inescapable destiny (something that Grey, her "little brother", isn't bound to), and just wants their suffering to end with "the destiny of destruction".

Background
Pandora is the younger of two sibling Reploids created by Master Albert as part of his plan to awaken Biometal Model W and become the ultimate Mega Man. Initially made as regular Reploid children, Pandora and her brother Prometheus were constantly tortured through perpetual confinement, until the day Master Albert permanently merged the two with fragments of Model W and commanded them to match Albert's Chosen Ones with a Biometal to further the Game of Destiny. Bound to Albert by a limited lifespan, Pandora followed Albert's orders for centuries in exchange for the possibility of returning to her capsule to reset her life cycle at regular intervals. Resentful of their suffering at Albert's hand, Pandora and Prometheus both awaited the chance to exact revenge on their creator.

Mega Man ZX
After Serpent had excavated the Biometals Model H, Model F, Model L and Model P prior to the game's events, Prometheus and Pandora approached Serpent. Several company workers mentioned that after their meeting, both Serpent and Slither Inc. changed their way of business. Pandora and Prometheus make their first appearance as Serpent's agents. After Girouette and the protagonist (either Vent or Aile) are critically injured at the door of the Slither Inc. head office, Pandora steals the passwords to the Model W core from Model X and Model Z under Serpent's orders. The three leave both Girouette and the protagonist for dead, while they resume their efforts to awaken Model W.

Later in the game, Pandora and Prometheus are sent by Serpent on board a Slither Inc. fleet with the mission to eliminate the Guardians. Although the two manage to reach the reactor of the Guardian HQ, they are confronted by Vent/Aile, who not only survived but also obtained Model Z and performed a Double Megamerge, becoming more powerful. Pandora retreats, allowing Prometheus to test the Mega Man by himself.

Pandora later reappears in the Remains of Area M, where she stalls the protagonist long enough to give Serpent the time to retrieve the Model W core. Soon afterwards, she leads a Maverick attack with Prometheus on the residential district of Area O in an effort to gather the Cyber-elves needed to feed the recovered Model W Core. Although the two join forces against Vent/Aile, they are still unable to defeat Mega Man ZX. It is revealed, however, that Pandora and Prometheus were both been manipulating Serpent from the beginning, taking advantage of Serpent's weak will.

Mega Man ZX Advent
When Grey is unexpectedly awakened from his capsule, Pandora appears to eliminate the "defective" as he was released before the mind control sequence was completed. However, Grey manages to fend her off and escape the laboratory.

After the incident, Pandora joins Prometheus to recover a Biometal from a Hunter train transporting the container to Legion. This second attack is thwarted by the protagonist (either Grey again or Ashe), who uses the Biometal to transform into Mega Man Model A. Depending on the player character, Pandora's role is different: In Grey's scenario, Prometheus scolds Pandora for letting Grey escape; in Ashe's scenario, Pandora asks Prometheus (who is fuming at encountering Ashe for the second time) who Ashe is, before Prometheus dismisses her. In light of this development, the two decide to leave after Prometheus enlists the new Mega Man into the Game of Destiny. It is later revealed that Prometheus and Pandora are sibling Mega Men, "DAN-001" and "DAN-002" created by Master Albert to further the Game of Destiny. Albert intentionally created with repeatedly short life spans so that they would not be able to betray him.

After Master Albert is uncovered as the creator of Model W, Pandora is one of the Mega Men sent to different locations in order to retrieve the scattered Model Ws. She is found retrieving one piece of Model W in the Scrapyard, and again with Prometheus in the Waterfall Ruins, after the two destroyed the local computer (which had been used to erase information about the protagonist from Legion) to prevent the Mega Man Model A from accessing the data, although they also briefly hint at their desire to kill Master Albert.

When the protagonist finally finds Albert in his hideout, Pandora and Prometheus take advantage of this unexpected opportunity and Pandora watches the Grim Reaper slays Albert himself, revealing the duo's hate and desire for revenge. However, she and Prometheus plan to hasten the Destiny of Destruction, as well as destroy everything that Albert worked on (including themselves, as indicated by Prometheus's line of "Going out with a bang" right before the fight), and attack Grey/Ashe. However, this leads to the two falling prey to Albert's true plan: the data accumulated by centuries of hatred is completely absorbed by the surrounding Model Ws, awakening the Biometal much like Vent/Aile's resent for Serpent awakened Model W years before. Albert himself reappears in a new body called "DAN-000", revealing to the protagonist that the one slain by Prometheus was a decoy and that the betrayal was expected from the very beginning as the final step of his plan. As the awakened Model Ws merge to create Ouroboros, the ultimate Biometal, the protagonist grudgingly escapes the collapsing structure, leaving the unconscious Prometheus and Pandora behind to survive and stop Albert at a later time.

Abilities
Unlike other Mega Men, Pandora herself is not based on any specific character, but her abilities can be considered a mix of Harpuia's abilities over lightning and wind, as she is capable of using electrical blasts, as well as charge her rod with electricity. She also has the ability to control her rod at a distance and use it in mid-air for long ranged attacks. With Leviathan's abilities over ice, which make her able to use icy blasts, those being solid fragments of ice. In addition, she switches freely between elements by changing between her white/blue color scheme and a yellow/white color scheme, resembling the Variable Weapons System originally used by X (or the elemental change-ability used by Copy X). Hence Prometheus is her exact opposite and complement, being a close-range fighter with power over shadows and fire.

Attacks

 * Homing Plasma (Mega Man ZX) - Pandora fires three bolts of electricity that try and follow the player.
 * Ice Doll (Mega Man ZX) - Pandora creates a snowman-like projectile which its top bounces a few times before breaking. When fighting her in Area O, the whole projectile bounces.
 * Electric Line (Mega Man ZX) - Pandora removes two parts of her helmet that create a ceiling of thunder that try and zap the player from above. Only used in Area X.
 * Flying Attack (Mega Man ZX) - Pandora will fly back and forth on the room while rising. Only used in Area X.
 * Cold Rain (Mega Man ZX) - Pandora removes two parts of her helmet that explode into shards of ice before moving to another position to repeat. Only used in Area X.
 * Cross Finale (Mega Man ZX) - Pandora removes two parts of her helmet that each generate their own element (one ice, one thunder). They each fire their own projectiles in a pattern before disappearing. Afterwards Prometheus comes and strikes from the top. Only used in Area O.
 * "Wand Spin" (Mega Man ZX Advent) - Pandora creates a barrier of electric versions of her staff that she use for herself whilst using two other to spin and attack the player.

Etymology

 * In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman to be created by the gods to punish mankind for tricking them. She was given to Prometheus' brother, Epimetheus, who fell in love with her. However, the gods had also given her a box of evils that she unwittingly opened and released upon the world; the only thing left inside the box was hope. Ironically, Pandora herself has long given up hope of being freed from Albert's clutches and wishes for the end of everything with the "Destiny of Destruction".
 * Her nickname, The "Witch," refers to an entity in folklore, primarily female, who often casted magic spells via staffs or wands, and were known to practice magic. Although stereotypically supplied with a pointy hat, they also can have elaborate outfit designs, like Pandora.

Trivia

 * It's implied by several employees that Serpent didn't become insane until Prometheus and Pandora arrived.
 * Interestingly, Prometheus and Pandora's Model W forms (the way they look during the game) look completely different from the spiky golden Model W forms that Serpent and Albert take.
 * Before the battle against Prometheus and Pandora in Mega Man ZX Advent, it is said by Pandora that they are Reploids, as she stated that they cannot return to their former bodies, albeit Thetis' Cipher stated that they were Reploid Siblings and their capsules that explained the limit of their lifespans.
 * Given the concept art and the flashback, their "former bodies" appear to be their "un-merged" form.
 * After Pandora and Prometheus fall to Model W's influence, the data which would be normally collected by Model A for its A-Trans is taken by DAN-000 instead, denying the possibility of copying their forms in the game.
 * The panel next to Pandora's capsule confirms her serial number as DAN-002 ("Doctor Albert Number Zero Zero Two"). Also, by the time her capsule is found by the protagonist, the panel states that she has 246939 seconds left to live, which means 2 days, 20 hours, 35 minutes and 39 seconds.
 * Being a creation of Master Albert, she could be considered "daughter" of Albert.
 * Pandora appears to show more interest in Grey than Ashe, as she is a little more talkative towards him. During their encounter in the Scrapyard, Pandora asks Grey if he hears "the cries of the world", and Grey agrees, accusing Pandora of being the one responsible for it. Pandora replies that the cause of the screams is none other than Grey himself and Albert, and leaves after mentioning the foreboding hint that Grey will fall in despair when he learns the truth.
 * Pandora was voiced by Shizuka Itou in the Japanese games and Rumiko Varnes in the US version of Mega Man ZX Advent.
 * Prometheus and Pandora are the only bosses who are fought in both Mega Man ZX and Mega Man ZX Advent.