Infinite Justice: Beyond (Marvel,DC,DBZ X/Over, IC, Open)

[New Rnclave]

Mira:

Mira's heart stopped for a moment, almost out of sheer disbelief. While a prodigy and fighting genius, he'd thought the Saiyan to drunk on power to really break down his plans so much.

" It won't save you." Hiroshi continued. " You're just live every other would be 'Conquerer'. All talk. But when your faced with a powerful opponent, you tuck tale and play dirty."

The aura around the Saiyan is intensified for a moment as the Maned Warrior leveled a glare at him. Signaling the fight would continue at any moment.

" You think that shield is going to stop me?" Hiroshi asked, his voice abnormally hostile. " I'm going to stop you here and now for everything you've done, and would've done if given the chance."

" Are you ever going to stop whining about the things I've done? Look at you Saiyan! You've failed to protect that pitiful brat of yours, twice! You've cheated on that red woman and now walk around with such guilt that you-"

The violent response was immediate, and Mira was prepared for it. In the blink of an eye, the blue demon twisted in the air, blasting away through the sulphur scented air. The glowing golden bolt chasing him through the air.

'Just a few more moments and I'll be ready for another attempt at this planet. If nothing else, it'll wear Hiroshi down a few more pegs.'

Before he could begin planning his next assault, Hiroshi's leg blurred into view above him, swinging in towards him from above. Raising his arm to block the strike, the Maned Saiayns foot made contact with the electrical field, leading to shocks, spasms racking Hiroshi's frame. Forming a bolt of hellish energy in his hand as Hiroshi danced backwards, Mira lunged forwards, unleashing the bolt at point blank. The response was immediate, a grunt coming from the Saiyan as it carried him off into the horizon, the bolt glowing brighter and brighter as it reached critical mass.

As soon as the blast detonated, crimson light filled the sky, a plume of inky black smoke and magma filling the sky.

" Well you certainly did talk a big game." Mira remarked, speaking to the Saiyan who'd reappeared right back behind him. " But you're power tells a different story."

" Why are you... Why are you so damn arrogant?" Hiroshi asked, Mira turning in him and seeing an almost bewildered expression in his face. " Your attacks so far have been... pretty pathetic, I've got more injuries from the environment then you."

Pausing, Mira sneered back at the Saiyan.

" We'll just see where all that big talk gets-"

As soon as the gruff words escaped Mira's threat, Hiroshi disappeared again. This time not from speed, but from teleportation, a recent skill he'd acquired if Mira'd guess. Pulling his arms in close, Mira raised his guard.

" Fine!" Mira chuckled, his arms surging with energy as he prepared another attack. Another orb of ki appearing between his fingers, small like before, but rapidly growing. Grinning, Mira continent to laugh, even as his shield fell.

An enormous crack rang through his skull as soon as he felt the boot connect with the back of his head. Immediately he lost grip on the orb he'd formed so far, blasting forward from the sheer force of the blow. His brain rattled in his skull for a moment, making him almost black out before he threw his arms out, pushing energy in every directions.

"DIE!" he screamed furiously, drawing energy into his left hand, before swinging out back out towards Hiroshi, sending hundreds of tiny red orbs flying through the air, trying to make contact with the Maned Saiyan.

The golden warrior slipped through the gaps between the blasts and they rained down on the already ruined landscape. Explosions mixed with ice, and sometimes lava, rose into the air as the bolts of ki missed their target. Striking out towards him in panic before he reached him with his other hand, intent on counter attacking, the demon found only air as Hiroshi moved past his fist, before slamming his elbow into his face. What followed, was only more excruciating. A fist hit his gut, then his chest, then his jaw, before two feet crashed into his gut. Spitting blood up for a brief moment, the Demon lunged forward trying to slam his fists back on Hiroshi in response. Blinking out of sight, Mira already knew he was behind him.

An elbow was driven into his back, sending him falling helplessly towards the ground.

Breathing in and out heavily, Mira pulled himself from the rubble, screaming incoherently as he stared down the Saiyan, the warrior simply floating in the air. Standing on a small patch of icy ground, Mira surveyed the hell he'd helped create, the Hell he'd created through an attempt to destroy the planet, and fight Hiroshi.

Rocketing off the small island, Mira arrived in front of Hiroshi, his fury evident. His frame swelling with energy, waves of force rolled off of him, the Saiyan hardly flinching from the power Mira was unleashing.

" How's this beating me thing working for ya? I'm having fun." The Maned Saiyan chuckled, crossing his arms as he glanced over the beaten and bloodied demon.

Gritting his teeth, Mira could think of no proper reaction to Hiroshi, but to bark in fury, drawing more chuckles from the Saiyan. The universe had given him a chance to conquer it, yet it came back and spit in his face by letting this trash achieve a power beyond his own.

The only response Mira could find was a straight punch from his right arm. Swinging beneath the strike, the Saiyan threw a simple elbow in response, the attack snapping Mira's jaw shut violently. It almost felt like his head was going to come unattached, muscles in his neck straining and ripping in response, the only sure indication that his skull was still connected being the feeling he had in his hands. Managing to pull his head down, Mira saw the golden bolt closing on him, the Saiyan reaching for his arm.

'I will not continue to be embarrassed!'

Powering up his eyes with energy, seconds before Hiroshi made contact, Mira shot two twin bolts of ki from his eyes, the bolts impacting the unsuspecting Saiyan, flinging him backwards, his frame rocketing backwards until it burst through a spire of ice, disappearing from sight.

Stopping his flight, Mira raised both arms above his head, energy surging through his limbs as he prepared another go at Acros. By the time Hiroshi got back, he'd have another trial for him.

[Illica Falki]

Vera was left scratching by Kiris turning around and speaking to the dog, but the pup happily barked a goodbye back. Deciding not to dwell on that, she goes back to setting up the living area for the puppy.
She still hasn't come up with a name for the pup yet, but she might decide that with her fellow YB members. Kiris seems quiet fond on the little puppy, so she'd probably want a say in it's name, Xyri and Ren would probably be interested too, both of them seemed to like the pup. Mars didn't seem that interested though, which didn't really affect Vera, nor did she really care why. Atleast most of the people liked the pup.
Meanwhile the pup continues to explore the YB Tower, curious about it's new home.

---

---

*Snip*

Eva continued to follow the figure on the rooftops, until she saw him enter a house. She cursed to herself, her optical camo is still broken, meaning she'll have to rely on her own sneaking skills to keep from being seen. She takes a breath to calm herself, before dropping down and sneaking towards the windows to get a view of what is inside, and hopefully get an idea of who this person is. She needs to know more about this person before confronting them about the attack outside of the bar.

[Deminis]

Eva continued to follow the figure on the rooftops, until she saw him enter a house. She cursed to herself, her optical camo is still broken, meaning she'll have to rely on her own sneaking skills to keep from being seen. She takes a breath to calm herself, before dropping down and sneaking towards the windows to get a view of what is inside, and hopefully get an idea of who this person is. She needs to know more about this person before confronting them about the attack outside of the bar.

Damain sit in his chair, three cans of mountain dew sit infront of him each being drained quickly. Three sets of eyes are each trained on their own screen, as three hands control the mouses and another six mash rapidly on their keyboards, Another 360 head shot noscope from the far left screen and it all pauses, a small bleep goes off in the center screen, Some one is on the roof. Did they find me again? or is some idiot just messing around, iether way i better check it out he thinks to himself as his arms begins to merge together. His 3 faces twisting into themselves in a disgusting manner as he pulls up his hood and makes his way to the stairway, best part about living on the top floor is personal access to the roof. As he pushed the door open he noted the silence not an idiot for sure His bones began to harden, a thin dense barrier just under his skin, just enough to stop a high caliper round. "Hello? Anyone up here?"

[Altito Asmoro]

Eva continued to follow the figure on the rooftops, until she saw him enter a house. She cursed to herself, her optical camo is still broken, meaning she'll have to rely on her own sneaking skills to keep from being seen. She takes a breath to calm herself, before dropping down and sneaking towards the windows to get a view of what is inside, and hopefully get an idea of who this person is. She needs to know more about this person before confronting them about the attack outside of the bar.

Damain sit in his chair, three cans of mountain dew sit infront of him each being drained quickly. Three sets of eyes are each trained on their own screen, as three hands control the mouses and another six mash rapidly on their keyboards, Another 360 head shot noscope from the far left screen and it all pauses, a small bleep goes off in the center screen, Some one is on the roof. Did they find me again? or is some idiot just messing around, iether way i better check it out he thinks to himself as his arms begins to merge together. His 3 faces twisting into themselves in a disgusting manner as he pulls up his hood and makes his way to the stairway, best part about living on the top floor is personal access to the roof. As he pushed the door open he noted the silence not an idiot for sure His bones began to harden, a thin dense barrier just under his skin, just enough to stop a high caliper round. "Hello? Anyone up here?"

"Wow!"

Len heard steps upstairs as he was in the kitchen. Someone is in here as well? How he doesn't notices it? Or he was just being ignorant lately? No matter. It means, that whoever up there may or may not know his location and therefore posed great dangers for both of them. He could flew away from the house but it required him being...revealing himself to the public in the process. Smashing to the roof or blast red laser to the roof sounds good, and it may attracts less attentions. He prepared his foot at the floor, before launching himself to the direction of the roof, may surprises whoever up there.

[The Greater Gambia]

Hong Kong

Zhao sat at the back of the bar, watching his target, having a drink with two of his co workers. David Chan was the new Police Commissioner of Hong Kong. Ever since he took office, crime had dropped to incredibly low levels within a few short months. Obviously, he was a threat to the many triads that operated within the city, which is why the 14K Triad had payed a lot of money to hire Zhao Ming-Hua to take him out. Zhao stood up and walked up towards the Commissioner.

As Commissioner Chan and the two other officers turned around to see who was coming, Zhao spat cobra venom into one of the police officer's eyes. The man fell to the ground, rolling around in agony as he covered his eyes. Commissioner Chan and the other police officer reached for their guns, only to be stopped by Zhao. Zhao's arms turned into octopus tentacles and lunged out towards the two men. One arm grabbed Chan, throwing him into the wall and knocking him out. The second police officer pulled out his gun and fired a shot. People became fully aware of what was happening and began to run out of the bar. The bullet grazed his arm, but nothing serious. Zhao smirked as he wrapped his tentacle around the officer.

"Congratulations. Your the first person in 5 years that's managed to hit me. Recently, many haven't been able to get that far." Zhao's smirk changed to a more neutral expression.The officer screamed in fear as he was thrown up in the air He bowed his back as hundreds of quills grew out of his back. The officer's screaming ceased as he was impaled on Zhao's quills. Zhao retracted the quills, dropping the man onto the ground. Zhao stood up right again and stretched his back. Its cracking echoing through the room.

Zhao noticed that he had some blood on his face and grabbed a napkin to wipe it off. He then reached for his phone and put on the military anthem of the People's Liberation Army. He turned up the volume on his phone but was having difficulty hearing it. He looked down to see that it was because of the screaming man at his feet that he spat at earlier. The man was probably blind by now. Zhao proceeded to stomp right on top of the man's throat, silencing him. He turned up the volume again, much to his satisfaction. Commissioner Chan regained consciousness to the sight of his two friends, both lying dead and mutilated at the feet of their killer who was just lighting a cigarette. His face had a look of horror.

Zhao looked over and saw the Commissioner stricken with fear. He paused the music and took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Ah good, dear Commissioner. You're awake, at least this means you don't have a concussion.Anyway, the Triad didn't say you had to die in any particular way. Just that I had to deliver your head to them by the week. Soooo, the means of your death are up to me. Well, I'm going to let you get a.... 2 minute 49 second head start before I hunt you down." Zhao put the music back on. The Commissioner snapped out of his gaze and booked it through the door. Zhao just stood their leaning back against the bar counter smoking his cigarette.

[Charmera]

Hong Kong

Zhao sat at the back of the bar, watching his target, having a drink with two of his co workers. David Chan was the new Police Commissioner of Hong Kong. Ever since he took office, crime had dropped to incredibly low levels within a few short months. Obviously, he was a threat to the many triads that operated within the city, which is why the 14K Triad had payed a lot of money to hire Zhao Ming-Hua to take him out. Zhao stood up and walked up towards the Commissioner.

As Commissioner Chan and the two other officers turned around to see who was coming, Zhao spat cobra venom into one of the police officer's eyes. The man fell to the ground, rolling around in agony as he covered his eyes. Commissioner Chan and the other police officer reached for their guns, only to be stopped by Zhao. Zhao's arms turned into octopus tentacles and lunged out towards the two men. One arm grabbed Chan, throwing him into the wall and knocking him out. The second police officer pulled out his gun and fired a shot. People became fully aware of what was happening and began to run out of the bar. The bullet grazed his arm, but nothing serious. Zhao smirked as he wrapped his tentacle around the officer.

"Congratulations. Your the first person in 5 years that's managed to hit me. Recently, many haven't been able to get that far." Zhao's smirk changed to a more neutral expression.The officer screamed in fear as he was thrown up in the air He bowed his back as hundreds of quills grew out of his back. The officer's screaming ceased as he was impaled on Zhao's quills. Zhao retracted the quills, dropping the man onto the ground. Zhao stood up right again and stretched his back. Its cracking echoing through the room.

Zhao noticed that he had some blood on his face and grabbed a napkin to wipe it off. He then reached for his phone and put on the military anthem of the People's Liberation Army. He turned up the volume on his phone but was having difficulty hearing it. He looked down to see that it was because of the screaming man at his feet that he spat at earlier. The man was probably blind by now. Zhao proceeded to stomp right on top of the man's throat, silencing him. He turned up the volume again, much to his satisfaction. Commissioner Chan regained consciousness to the sight of his two friends, both lying dead and mutilated at the feet of their killer who was just lighting a cigarette. His face had a look of horror.

Zhao looked over and saw the Commissioner stricken with fear. He paused the music and took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Ah good, dear Commissioner. You're awake, at least this means you don't have a concussion.Anyway, the Triad didn't say you had to die in any particular way. Just that I had to deliver your head to them by the week. Soooo, the means of your death are up to me. Well, I'm going to let you get a.... 2 minute 49 second head start before I hunt you down." Zhao put the music back on. The Commissioner snapped out of his gaze and booked it through the door. Zhao just stood their leaning back against the bar counter smoking his cigarette.

"He killed them." Ling spoke with shock as she saw the man slaughter those two men. She gritted her teeth. They didn't ask for trouble, all they were doing was protecting their Co worker, and they died for that. It was horrible. She had to resist the urge to vomit. She wasn't use to the blood and guts stuff honestly. She suppose she was going to have to get over it. She stood at the other side of the street, using her xray vision and super hearing to tell what was going on.

"Do not engage Red Fist. Remember the mission," Said a voice in Mandarin.

'The mission? Did you go deaf? He killed them! And he's going to kill the commissioner."

"We are well aware Red Fist, but you cannot take such a heavy handed aproach, otherwise we'll never find the triads he's working for."

'So we let someone die because he might show us whom he's working for?"

"Yes. To save more."

Red Fist shook her head, and then tuned her comm link out as she stood. She couldn't let someone die, not even if it meant they loose track of the triad. She sped forward, crossing the street and grabbing and opening the door, ripping it off it's hinges in the process. She then tossed it away, though she meant only to open it, she reasoned this was good enough. She walked forward, looking to Zhou. "Zhao Ming-Hua. I am agent Red Fist. You are coming with me to be held accountable for your actions."

[Siliarba]

Sam

Sam was a little worried when DeeDee shooed her demon servants off. The Grimm sister was a little worried that DeeDee would be angry that she had snapped at her. However, DeeDee seemed quite reasonable and was explaining to Sam her perspective of the situation. Sam softened a little as DeeDee spoke. It became clear that DeeDee cared about Sam in her own way. It was difficult for Sam to get used to, but maybe she could after awhile. After all, she had to admit she liked DeeDee as well. She was exciting, strong and confident. Sam looked up to her and thought she a fascinating individual.

Sam was pulled out of her thoughts when DeeDee asked what Sam wanted. Sam was a little taken aback by this. This was definitely the first time that DeeDee had ever asked Sam anything like this. Usually she was either flirting or giving orders. Sam honestly wasn't sure what to say at first. What did she want? From DeeDee? From life? Sam was always haunted with insecurity, so she really didn't know the answer to this. She finally decided to just go with what her heart told her and what was on her mind at the moment.

"I want to get to know you better DeeDee. I need to know that I can trust you, and that you're genuine in your care for me. I'm grateful for everything you've done for me so far, but if I'm going to continue with your lessons, I need to know more about you." Sam told her teacher, wondering how the half demon would react.

DeeDee

"You humans are weird, regardless I'm eventually going to put you through this test, either as a teacher and as an actual test or out of revenge and then as payback." I smiled, I wasn't lying but I would expect the first option would end up being the most likely one. "Regardless I brought you here to test you and testing you is still what I'm going to do. The demons won't harm you, not tonight, but I'm not bringing you back to the hotel until 8 am. So either you find a place here you can sleep or you find a way back to your hotel on your own or with the help of a demon if you can convince them." I slapped Sam's but rather hard, slightly harder than I wanted, first time I slapped someone's but wile I was in demon form and my power at that stage is simply higher. It might've hurt a bit but not for long. "See ya tomorrow Shirtless, I'll be raiding the mini-bar in your hotel room until you either show up or I have to pick you up."

And just like that I teleported away from here straight in to Sam's room raiding the mini-bar just as I said I would.

[Charmera]

“Are you going to throw me out too?” Spoke a voice from within the room, a Russian accent still vaguely detectible, but the individual seemed to have developed a British one, though she could revert back to her old accent if she chose. It seemed to come from the darkness in the room, confirmed as a light came from that part of the room, a lighter lighting a cigarette. The same lighter she had for years. She guessed the professor knew she was there all along, or maybe he didn’t, who knew?

“Memories… I remember when I was like them. So young and eager to learn.” She remarked. “We’re you ever like that?” She inhaled smoke and then inhaled it as the cigarette was moved from her mouth.

“We may be able to get funding for our little project.” She said, as if that was her reason for coming her. There was something else too. But it was always good to get the good news out first.

"I was quieter than them." He replied flippantly. "And more bloody respectful." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Odnetso." He called out, waving his hand vaguely in Checkov's direction. He had known she was there, but she had a habit of slinking around like that, and he figured he wouldn't ruin her fun- Besides, so long as she was quiet, what did he care? When she continued, he smiled broadly. "Wonderful. How did the board take it?"

He floated upwards in his (rather tall) study, browsing the shelves that lined every wall. "Onievni murbil supturroc!" He opened his palm and the tome that the student had attempted to read before flew to his hand. He returned it to his place. "Hmm. I need to renew the wards. Looks like some of the sentient books are making mischief again." He shook his head, then turned to Alex for her answer.

Spells used
Odnetso - Reveal.
Onievni murbil supturroc - Locate the corrupted book.

"Decently. Honestly a lot of them still have the same irrational fear their ancestors had for my own forebearers, and likely only voted to allow us the land out of fear we'd turn them into toads. Though perhaps that's what you wanted. After all you did send me." Alex joked. Then sighed as she looked at the books. Hearing Loss' remark. "You know, some of the dark tomes aren't that bad, just... as cliche as it sounds, misunderstood." she remarked. She was used to reffering to any and all magical books as people. It was more common that they were than weren't. Words had power, and magic words had exponentially more. It only makes sense that would breed sentience. "Then again. There's tomes even I won't play with. Far too bitter and hateful." She remarked.

"There is... some bad news." She remarked. "Some of the board members don't wish the project to continue. There's talk of taking us to legal court." She paused.

Nico
Nico was standing in shocked silence when his sister finally spoke up. He looked over at her, seeing that she was quite upset herself now that she knew the truth. He had been right all along, but that didn't even cross his mind at the moment. He took a step closer to Cat and held her two gloved hands, making sure not to touch her actually skin so that he didn't get hurt. "I didn't want to be Cat, really I didn't. It's been killing me inside since that night I found out. But we still have each other alright? We have to stick together now, and figure out the truth of all this." Nico said to his sister. Mars sat back a bit awkwardly. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he was pretty sure that Cat had said that her mother was the voice on the recording. That meant that one of their parents was some kind of thief at a minimum. He was quite curious to figure out what exactly what was going but knew that brother and sister needed a moment here so he merely sat by in silence next to Kiris.

Roy
Roy gave a small smile when Hannah said she wanted to hangout. He listened to her speak as they headed upstairs toward his room. As they walked he saw Hannah point to her ears, saying that she had been born with them. "I'm sure that must have made it hard to fit in." Roy said, knowing how cruel children could be. When they got inside and turned on the light Roy was shocked at what he saw. It was a large room with two Queen sized beds and a walk in closet. Not to mention the huge flat screen TV hanging off the wall. This might not have seemed too incredible to others, but to Roy it was. It was the first time he had ever stayed in a hotel before.

As he sat down on the bed in a curious manner he heard Hannah's question about him. He pauses a bit, not sure what to say. He didn't want to scare Hannah away with his very troubled past and show all of the emotional and psychological trauma he had endured. Still, he knew she was genuine in her interest in him, and part of being friends was being able to open up to each other so he had to try. He decided to focus on the newer, more happy parts of his life for now.

"Well, right now I'm living in New York. With a group of friends, who are well... Kind of superheroes. They're called the Justice Queens. They took me in a few months ago, and they were really nice to me. They understand what its like to be different, so I've been with them ever since." He told her, pausing a bit before deciding to break the silence with a question of his own. "So what about you and your sisters? Have you three been traveling together for a while?" He asked his new friend. The three of them certainly seemed close, and even though Roy didn't want to pry, he couldn't help but wonder where they're parents were. Though you could easily say the same thing about him in turn.

Cat
Cat nodded, inhaling. She had a darker look now, one of anger. She held her brothers hands a little tighter than she perhaps intended. "I want answers... maybe they did this to us! Who knows?!" She exclaimed, the anger felt odd, talking about her parents. Her kind and patient father, her warm and strong mother. She needed to know why they'd do this. She turned to the Young Bloods. 'We're not alone though." She turned to Nelli. "At least. I hope we're not. Look. I know I was perhaps not as friendly as I could have been. For that I'm sorry. My life has been tearing apart at the seams." She explained. "I may be making a leap, but I assume you don't like it when people are hurt. But it seems that's what our parents do. Hurt people. We need your help if we're going to stop them from doing that. Because... we may not be able to fight them when the time comes. It may be too hard."

Hannah
"Psh. Fitting in is overrated." She paused. Her animal ears drooping. '"The problem is when people think you're a freak. When they're scared of you. My sisters were lucky. Sarah is enchantingly beautiful and charismatic, Sam is smart and pretty. Me? I'm the freak who turns into a werewolf." She paused. "But, fuck it, there are benefits to being scary. For one, if I flash my lovely rows of teeth people tend to give me what I want. Plus I'm the toughest out of the three of us, and I pride myself on being so."

She then cocked her head as Roy spoke. "Well, I did ask about what happened to you before. Like. Your childhood and stuff." She spoke. "I mean, you got to see part of my inner self, my Dragon self. So it's only fair you reveal something within."

"As for your other question. We've been traveling for as long as I can remember. Dunno what happened to my parents, but Sam and Sarah took good care of me."

[The Greater Gambia]

Hong Kong

Zhao sat at the back of the bar, watching his target, having a drink with two of his co workers. David Chan was the new Police Commissioner of Hong Kong. Ever since he took office, crime had dropped to incredibly low levels within a few short months. Obviously, he was a threat to the many triads that operated within the city, which is why the 14K Triad had payed a lot of money to hire Zhao Ming-Hua to take him out. Zhao stood up and walked up towards the Commissioner.

As Commissioner Chan and the two other officers turned around to see who was coming, Zhao spat cobra venom into one of the police officer's eyes. The man fell to the ground, rolling around in agony as he covered his eyes. Commissioner Chan and the other police officer reached for their guns, only to be stopped by Zhao. Zhao's arms turned into octopus tentacles and lunged out towards the two men. One arm grabbed Chan, throwing him into the wall and knocking him out. The second police officer pulled out his gun and fired a shot. People became fully aware of what was happening and began to run out of the bar. The bullet grazed his arm, but nothing serious. Zhao smirked as he wrapped his tentacle around the officer.

"Congratulations. Your the first person in 5 years that's managed to hit me. Recently, many haven't been able to get that far." Zhao's smirk changed to a more neutral expression.The officer screamed in fear as he was thrown up in the air He bowed his back as hundreds of quills grew out of his back. The officer's screaming ceased as he was impaled on Zhao's quills. Zhao retracted the quills, dropping the man onto the ground. Zhao stood up right again and stretched his back. Its cracking echoing through the room.

Zhao noticed that he had some blood on his face and grabbed a napkin to wipe it off. He then reached for his phone and put on the military anthem of the People's Liberation Army. He turned up the volume on his phone but was having difficulty hearing it. He looked down to see that it was because of the screaming man at his feet that he spat at earlier. The man was probably blind by now. Zhao proceeded to stomp right on top of the man's throat, silencing him. He turned up the volume again, much to his satisfaction. Commissioner Chan regained consciousness to the sight of his two friends, both lying dead and mutilated at the feet of their killer who was just lighting a cigarette. His face had a look of horror.

Zhao looked over and saw the Commissioner stricken with fear. He paused the music and took the cigarette out of his mouth.

"Ah good, dear Commissioner. You're awake, at least this means you don't have a concussion.Anyway, the Triad didn't say you had to die in any particular way. Just that I had to deliver your head to them by the week. Soooo, the means of your death are up to me. Well, I'm going to let you get a.... 2 minute 49 second head start before I hunt you down." Zhao put the music back on. The Commissioner snapped out of his gaze and booked it through the door. Zhao just stood their leaning back against the bar counter smoking his cigarette.

"He killed them." Ling spoke with shock as she saw the man slaughter those two men. She gritted her teeth. They didn't ask for trouble, all they were doing was protecting their Co worker, and they died for that. It was horrible. She had to resist the urge to vomit. She wasn't use to the blood and guts stuff honestly. She suppose she was going to have to get over it. She stood at the other side of the street, using her xray vision and super hearing to tell what was going on.

"Do not engage Red Fist. Remember the mission," Said a voice in Mandarin.

'The mission? Did you go deaf? He killed them! And he's going to kill the commissioner."

"We are well aware Red Fist, but you cannot take such a heavy handed aproach, otherwise we'll never find the triads he's working for."

'So we let someone die because he might show us whom he's working for?"

"Yes. To save more."

Red Fist shook her head, and then tuned her comm link out as she stood. She couldn't let someone die, not even if it meant they loose track of the triad. She sped forward, crossing the street and grabbing and opening the door, ripping it off it's hinges in the process. She then tossed it away, though she meant only to open it, she reasoned this was good enough. She walked forward, looking to Zhou. "Zhao Ming-Hua. I am agent Red Fist. You are coming with me to be held accountable for your actions."

Zhao turned to see who had entered and shrugged.

"Ah, it's one of you hero-types. You do realize that you've now done more damage to this bar than I have, right? I mean, sure. He isn't going to get that many tourists here now because there's been two, almost three murders here. But hey, in this part of town, it was only a matter of time." The song ended, Zhao took one more whiff of his cigarette before stomping it out next to the two dead bodies. He then attempted to walk past her to get to his target.

"Oh, by the way, that costume looks ridiculous. I'll never understand why you hero-types insist on wearing such dumb attire."

[Charmera]

"He killed them." Ling spoke with shock as she saw the man slaughter those two men. She gritted her teeth. They didn't ask for trouble, all they were doing was protecting their Co worker, and they died for that. It was horrible. She had to resist the urge to vomit. She wasn't use to the blood and guts stuff honestly. She suppose she was going to have to get over it. She stood at the other side of the street, using her xray vision and super hearing to tell what was going on.

"Do not engage Red Fist. Remember the mission," Said a voice in Mandarin.

'The mission? Did you go deaf? He killed them! And he's going to kill the commissioner."

"We are well aware Red Fist, but you cannot take such a heavy handed aproach, otherwise we'll never find the triads he's working for."

'So we let someone die because he might show us whom he's working for?"

"Yes. To save more."

Red Fist shook her head, and then tuned her comm link out as she stood. She couldn't let someone die, not even if it meant they loose track of the triad. She sped forward, crossing the street and grabbing and opening the door, ripping it off it's hinges in the process. She then tossed it away, though she meant only to open it, she reasoned this was good enough. She walked forward, looking to Zhou. "Zhao Ming-Hua. I am agent Red Fist. You are coming with me to be held accountable for your actions."

Zhao turned to see who had entered and shrugged.

"Ah, it's one of you hero-types. You do realize that you've now done more damage to this bar than I have, right? I mean, sure. He isn't going to get that many tourists here now because there's been two, almost three murders here. But hey, in this part of town, it was only a matter of time." The song ended, Zhao took one more whiff of his cigarette before stomping it out next to the two dead bodies. He then attempted to walk past her to get to his target.

"Oh, by the way, that costume looks ridiculous. I'll never understand why you hero-types insist on wearing such dumb attire."

Ling moved in front of him, her body blocking his path. She wasn't in the mood for being ignored."Doors can be replaced." She remarked. "Lives can't. I don't like it when people kill innocents for money." The Kryptonian tightened her hands into fists. "Also, ripping on my outfit? Really? I didn't realize I had to dress fashionably when punching aliens and criminals." She remarked, making an attempt to grab him by the shirt, reaching out to the man and putting a hand on his shirt. "One more chance. Either come with me willingly or I'll drag you back to the Mainland."

[Tomia]

Sam
Sam frowned a bit at DeeDee's words. She was just going to leave her here all night? How was Sam supposed to find her way back? She had no idea where the hell she was. Still, she knew that arguing with DeeDee was pointless and she'd just have to go alone with it for now. Sam let out a squeak as DeeDee slapped her butt and then disappeared. It hurt quite more than Sam had expected and she couldn't help trying to rub the pain away.

After that Sam merely sighed and began wandering through DeeDee's barren domain. She didn't know what she would find here or what it would be like. It was totally uncharted territory. She soon found what seemed to be an entrance to a large forest and she decided to head that way, to see if she could find some shelter, or maybe someone to help her find a way out of there.

Nico
Nico was a bit surprised at how tight Cat was holding his hands, but he didn't step away or anything. Cat's anger at him finally seemed to be melting away, and it seemed to now be focused on their parents. "We'll bring them to justice sis, I promise. I know it won't be easy, but we can't just let them keep on hurting people and breaking the law."

Mars listened to Cat's words and nodded, "Of course we'll help in any way we can. It's our job to protect this city, and we'll always do that when we can. We should probably alert the while team about this. If you're parents are running some kind of criminal empire, we'll need all hands on deck for this one." Mars said before hitting a button on his computer that sent an alert to each of the Young Bloods, telling them to meet in the command center for a meeting. Mars had given each one of them a private phone that he had specially made to serve as their communicators.

"Come on, let's head upstairs. The others should already be there, hanging out with Vera's new dog." He told them as he led the group up the stairs out of the lab before turning to Cat and Nico, "So, I'd there anything you know about your parents that might give us a place to start in the investigation?" Mars asked Nico and Cat.

Nico thought for a moment. "Well, they work in a really large office building, that they well... kind of own. It's a pharmaceuticals company, one of the biggest in the country actually. Maybe they have some secrets in their office there." Nico said before turning to Cat, "You have any ideas sis? Maybe if you touched Mom or Dad, or one of their associates, we could get some evidence to turn in to the police."

Roy
Roy stiffened a little when Hannah asked about his childhood. He started to panic a little as he thought about it. He hadn't shared his pst with anyone, not completely, not even Valancy. Was he ready to show someone else the scars of his past? In many cases they were actual literal scars. Under Roy's shirt were a number of cuts and wounds that were remnants of his early youth, when he literally had to fight for survival on a daily basis. Still, Hannah made a good point. She had shared a secret with him, he supposed he owed her the trust to do the same. And when Hannah said that she never met her parents, he realized that maybe they had a connection and could understand each other. He was silent for a little while until he finally spoken up.

"I never knew my parents either. I don't know where I came from or who any of my family are. I was dropped off in a small South American village, at an orphanage. Things weren't east there though. They called me 'demonio' which means demon in Spanish. You see when I was younger I couldn't control my powers, so my body often let off this dark aura that I couldn't control. The other children in the village..." He paused, his breath a little shaky. "Well they were cruel. They would take turns beating me up, and every day I had to scrap by for food." Roy started to shake a little at this point, the memories flooding back to him. "I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. And sometimes, sometimes I wonder if they were right. If I am really a monster." Roy said, a small tear falling down his cheek but he quickly wiped it away, hoping Hannah didn't see it.

[The Greater Gambia]

Ling moved in front of him, her body blocking his path. She wasn't in the mood for being ignored."Doors can be replaced." She remarked. "Lives can't. I don't like it when people kill innocents for money." The Kryptonian tightened her hands into fists. "Also, ripping on my outfit? Really? I didn't realize I had to dress fashionably when punching aliens and criminals." She remarked, making an attempt to grab him by the shirt, reaching out to the man and putting a hand on his shirt. "One more chance. Either come with me willingly or I'll drag you back to the Mainland."

Zhao backed away a few steps. His arrogant smirk turning into a scowl.

"Mainland? Well, I guess they would find a replacement, eventually. So, let's see what you've got!" Zhao spat venom into her eyes, hoping to blind her. He then jumped back across the room, putting some distance between them. While the venom would usually be a winning blow during a regular fight, he somehow doubted it would be here. He took a crouched stance, turning his arms into tentacles. He began to make wave motions with his tentacles, trying to provoke her into attacking first.

"Bring it on, xiǎojiě!"

[Finland SSR]

A Heart of Darkness

Frank Mayhem

---

"So... you said you're from Earth, right?" Itaku muttered while we were flying through the Heran skyline, towards the so-called Aistii Cathedral. No matter how hard I searched, I found no entry for it in my internal database. Not even a single drop of information about it, not even a hint, not even a single reference. There was literally nothing that I could pre-emptively know about it, which made it all the more mysterious. Either it doesn't exist and Itaku is leading to a trap or... I've got nothing. At least, her question can break the monotony of seeing the same exact thing for miles - rocky, cold, tundraic, barren plains, devoid of even a single person, animal or plant. I thought this planet was densely inhabited?

"Yeah, though saying 'from Earth' is a stretch, I suppose. I just happen to spend most of my time there." I replied.

"Huh. You know, that would make sense. If you weren't one of the Scourge, I'd probably mistake you for an Earthling. But, wouldn't it be tough to live among living beings? I mean, if they notice you, they run."

"Earthlings are unaware of the Celestial Army's existence. I can live pretty safely among them."

"That's odd. Usually, such a weak and at the same time rich race would be an immediate target of theirs."

"Earthlings have been pretty lucky so far, yeah, but they can also negate their fragile physiology by attracting powerful alien and mutant warriors to help them."

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of it. What do the Earthlings call them again... Su-su... Soupheroes?"

"Superheroes."

"Ah, right. You... you're also a superhero, right?"

"Not really a recognized one, but yeah, I help out once in a while."

"You know, I've heard of talks of the Earthlings using their supers to help alien races in their struggles. Is this one of those missions? Did you come here because of the authorities back there?"

We suddenly took a sharp turn around a large abandoned tower and went north.

"No, not exactly. I was originally going to... search for someone." I continued the conversation.

"For who? For me?"

"No... not for you..." There was no reason for her to know about Xicor and stuff.

"Then for who?"

"...It's nothing."

Itaku frowned. All organics are suspicious and curious in this kind of situation, which really frustrates me.

"If you're going to Hera for someone, then it obviously can't just be nothing important." she replied, then suddenly changed the topic. "Say, are there any other... friendly Celestial Androids, like you?"

I was silent. She didn't concede. "I mean, is it common for an Android to be born with free will?"

"Almost certainly not."

"How does it even happen?"

"...It was a stroke of luck on my part."

Itaku turned back to looking down, and almost immediately stopped to a halt. I didn't notice it for a moment, and flew a good chunk of a mile before stopping.

"What's wrong? Why did you stop?" I asked.

"We're here. Aistii Cathedral."

I looked down to the surface below us - nothing but dry and inhospitable tundra, with only a few rocks thrown in, up to the horizon. I saw nothing that would resemble a "cathedral" or a building. Sure, we're a dozen miles above the ground, but such an object must be pretty huge, huge enough to be seen from this high up, or at least that's what Earth cathedrals made me believe.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah."

As she said that, she immediately dropped the flight mode and started gracefully falling towards the barren ground. Huh. Herans are known to be a really pious and religious race, but knowing and believing that this patch of land, not any other one, not the one over there, contains a massive cathedral takes real faith. But so far, Itaku doesn't seem like a person that would just casually lie about something like that, and it doesn't look that dangerous, so why not give it a go? With this thought, I turned off the flight module and immediately began to fall. First slower, slow, rather slow, then things started to get fast as gravity kept pulling onto my body, on and on, adding more and more energy to the freefall every second. The same thing was happening to Itaku - not like she was exempt from the laws of physics or something. It's starting to get dangerous, though... Hera has incredibly strong gravity, and this equates to a much, much stronger pull. My GUI was registering a speed of 3 kilometers a second and rising, at which point the ground started getting much scarier. Such a crash could level down a continent or something, which is not good.

Really not good. I'm not even in Influx... and that means this will hurt... The planet is milliseconds away by now. Okay, close my eyes... Where's Itaku? Oh, she's still falling- WHAT?

We're... still falling? The ground, the square right beneath us stopped getting closer. We were still falling - at 5 kilometers a second by now - but it looked like we were floating, in a stationary position. I took a look to the side... and everything's clear now. It's not that we're falling - just that the ground beneath us was falling with us - the earth around it didn't, thus making a huge shaft. It's a really elaborate entrance...

Itaku gave me a thumbs up, signalizing that everything's going as normal. Or at the very least looked like trying to give such an impression. Well, it's not normal to me! Earth doesn't have... slabs of ground that fall with you-

The travel ended in a screeching halt, as the slab of ground slammed into the end of the "elevator" while we were suddenly stopped in mid-air and started hovering in the air with no sense of up or down.

"Come on, now fly," Itaku spoke and flew out through a massive hole to the left. I followed. It looked like a man-made cave, what with being more or less cylindrical, but rather old. I took an isotope scan - the rocks are at least 10,000 years old. Damn, even the Celestial Army wasn't around back then, not to mention me! Surely, this was built for a whole other purpose than being an Ismodeus invasion failsafe. "Cathedral" sounds like something religious to me.

There's a light at the end of this tunnel - maybe that's where we're heading? Apparently, yeah - Itaku dashed through the exit, and as I followed through and arrived into what is supposed to be the unknown, forgotten Aistii Cathedral, I...

I...

Well...

I don't even know where to begin with this...

Well, first of all, it, the massive room that composed the Cathedral, was big. Like, really big. I'm not talking skyscraper or building big - think miles wide, miles tall. Just the pillars themselves, arrays of which being seemingly built to support this mechanically impossible structure, were as large as Celestial Army transport ships - and those are huge, if you were unaware. The sides were decorated with columns, some paintings and sculptures from glass and stone, as well as having gateways to other, smaller rooms, maybe for housing, maybe for libraries. The whole thing wasn't that much decorated, but it did not need to be - the gargantuan size alone was enough to shock any new visitor. And myself, as a new visitor, I certainly was shocked. In the center of the Cathedral was a massive statue of what appears to be a Heran fighting off a generic monster.

All in all, it was a sight to behold. None of the Earthling wonders compare. There were a number of green and red... specks... on the ground...

Oh boy. If they all will take as much time to persuade as Itaku, I may as well quit now.

[Mavorpen]

A Tale of Life and Death: Chapter II
Endless: Part I

Star-Lord jolted awake and began taking sharp, deep breaths. He looked down and found himself tied in a chair, wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and boxers. He frantically looked around, but all he saw was darkness. The only bit of light illuminating the room came from the chandelier hanging above him, casting a cone of light, the base of which formed a diameter of roughly 30 feet. He sat for a couple of seconds in pure, agonizing silence. Finally, something stirred in front of him.

"First, I have something to confess to you. I have changed." A female voice said from the depths of the darkness. Star-Lord immediately recognized the voice. "And I am proud of this fact. All that we've been through, all that we've seen, it would be madness to think that it wouldn't change us. It would almost be, you would say... ridiculous. We've traveled from one end of the Galaxy to the next. We've put our lives in each other's hands."

The figure moved closer out of the darkness and revealed part of the woman's face, revealing her green skin, but it was impossible to make out fully, especially under the hood the woman wore. "I believe it has made me more spiritual. Not in a religious way. My father ruined religion for me. I grew up watching him worship Death, after all. Religion means nothing. We've also, you and I, met too many so-called superior beings who have revealed themselves to be anything but. As I said, we are...spiritual."

The figure continued forward and revealed herself to be none other than Gamora. "And because of this, I think things have more meaning than I used to. I think the galaxy and the universe are connected in ways we will never fully understand... but just knowing that they are calms me. It lifts me. I'm okay with not knowing everything about the universe because I know I'm not supposed to. But there's one thing I do need to know. One nagging question that I cannot live without the answer to anymore..." Gamora pulled her hood back and entered the circle of light completely, standing in front of Star-Lord.

"Gamora, this is really not cool!" Star-Lord shouted.

"Peter Quill, of all the billions of people and creatures and beings in the entire galaxy, here we are, just the three of us. No one else knows we are here." Gamora said.

"I don't even know where here is."

Gamora began nonchalantly inspecting her gun, ignoring him. "So, you're going to answer my question. And you're going to tell me the truth because I know when you lie. You're going to tell me the truth because you owe it to me. You know that this lie you've told me is driving me mad." Star-Lord hung his head in silence. "What deal did you make with my father Thanos that you are still alive? Where is Nova? What happened to Jamal? How did you survive the Cancerverse? How did you survive a suicide mission into an imploding nightmare universe?"

"Gamora, that's more than one question." Star-Lord said, looking up at her, his expression filled with regret.

Gamora looked down at him and her eyes narrowed, wearing an expression that more than communicated the fact that she was not going to take no for an answer. "The answer... you know this... the answer will not make you happy."

"I am not seeking happiness, Peter. I am seeking the truth. We are seeking the truth." Gamora said.

Star-Lord looked at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I told you, there are three of us here." Another figure stirred in the darkness behind Gamora and began walking forward. "I'm not the only one who doesn't buy your lies. I'm not the only one who wants to know the truth. And I'm certainly not the only one who is owed a proper explanation for why you are here before us--alive-- while Jamal is not." The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to be D'Vorah.

"Y-you took me to the Negative Zone?!" Star-Lord said.

"Perhaps the last place one would think to look for you, Peter." Gamora said. "Plus, while I'm not savvy on hurting you--as I do consider you a close friend--I'm willing to bet D'Vorah is more than willing to use a form of persuasion that is more...physical in nature."

Star-Lord stared at D'Vorah for a few seconds and then hung his head as he closed his eyes and released a sigh. "I think you know the truth, already. You must believe, that when Nova and I dove into the Cancerverse as the Fault was closing around us, trapping us, we did think we were Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid."

...

Jamal and Star-Lord charged at Thanos. Jamal fired a gravimetric beam at him and Thanos raised his left hand, blocking it and charging an energy blast with his right hand.

Butch Cassidy? Sundance Kid? What does that mean?

It's an Earth movie reference.

Peter. What does that mean?

We were---we thought we were sacrificing ourselves to keep Thanos in the cancerverse as that universe imploded around him. And us. We thought we were going out in a blaze of glory.

Star-Lord looked down at the Cosmic Cube in his hand.

A hero's death. Call me selfish if you want to, but...Drax was dead--I wanted it to mean something. Stopping Thanos once and for all, for all time, was worth it.

Thanos roared.

Shoving that Cosmic Cube up his purple butt as the universe folded down around him... Well, wouldn't that make every damn thing we've been through worth it? Not only would our universe survive...but maybe you guys would get to live the rest of your life. Finally, without the burden of your nightmare of a father hanging over you.

But...?

It didn't go quite as planned.

Jamal fired at Thanos's feet, knocking him off balance. Star-Lord took the opportunity to jump up and hit Thanos across the face with the Cosmic Cube. Thanos was sent flying into the air hundreds of feet away until he landed in front of the crashed Sanctuary.

"I can't believe this, Quill--we finally have Thanos on the ropes and literally no one will ever know." Jamal said as he flew beside Star-Lord who was using a jet-pack.

"I know right! Seriously, I finally have something to brag about and you're the only one here." Star-Lord said.

"Technically, I have half of the bragging rights."

"Okay, you can have one quarter."

Thanos scowled as he looked up at the two. "You should give me the Cube. It is the only way you will live."

"Huh. Call me crazy, but I believe him." Jamal said. "I have a better idea, though. Why don't we take the Cosmic Cube you're always pining for and shove it up your purple butt!"

"You're not gonna believe this..." Star-Lord flew down at Thanos and raised his hands in front of him, firing cosmic energy from the Cube. "That's literally what I was gonna say!" Thanos was knocked away and bounced on the ground multiple times like he was a stone skipping across a lake until he crashed into a raised piece of the planet.

Thanos stood from the rubble and smiled--his armor somewhat cracked and cut. "You do not have the knowledge or the physical power to wield that, Peter Quill. And you don't know this, but that Cube can get us out of here. And I'm the only one of us who knows how to do that." Star-Lord and Jamal landed in front of Thanos about 40 yards away.

"Well then, thank goodness you're here! I'll just give you the Cube and we'll all hold hands and sing the soundtrack to Xandu and fly on out of here together. I'm sure nothing bad will happen to us once I give you my trust and allegiance." Star-Lord said sarcastically.

"We're all going to die here." Thanos snarled.

"Yeah, no shit." Jamal grinned. "Star-Lord and I brought first row tickets to watch you die. Besides, are you supposed to be happy about the idea of dying?"

"I seem to remember that as well, my good friend." Star-Lord said. "So, could you, y'know, hurry it up already?"

"You're wrong, Peter Quill." A voice said from behind the two. "No one dies here."

Star-Lord and Jamal turned to see Drax, alive and well. "Drax, Baby! I'm so glad to see you! And... it looks like you've been working out." Star-Lord said, commenting about Drax's increased muscle mass and size that was nearly equal to Thanos himself.

"We thought you were dead." Jamal said.

"As did I. But, no. Thanos did not kill me--but damned me to this disease of a universe. For all your bluster, Titan, you do not know how to use your power." Drax raised a fist to the sky. "But I prayed to the cosmos to deliver vengeance to me. I prayed for you to appear before me, and they sent you here. I'm going to kill you, Thanos. I'm going to show you your own beating heart."

Thanos grinned devilishly. "Will you, now? I suggest you simmer down, dog."

Drax and Thanos charged at each other, both of them throwing a punch that, when it clashed, shook the planet they were on. The shockwaves knocked Jamal and Star-Lord back. "If it will be the last breath I take, it will be a life well spent, as long as it results in your death!" Drax shouted. Thanos jumped into the air and brought his fists down upon Drax.

Drax was just a hair's breath quicker as he reeled back his fist and punched Thanos with a left hook. He then punched Thanos in the jaw with his right fist, causing Thanos to spit out purple blood. Drax then punched Thanos square in the chest and leaned forward, forcing Thanos to fall back down to the ground. He then began pounding on Thanos repeatedly, each punch creating a wider and wider crater.

"We should end this." Jamal said.

"No, we should help Drax."

"That's what I meant. Time to end this once and for all." Jamal flew off to assist Drax.

...

"Hold on..." Gamora stopped him. "Drax was in the Cancerverse?!"

"I share your disbelief." D'Vorah said.

"Drax thinks that all this time, all these fights with Thanos using the Cube's power to beat on us... that all that time, for all his big talk, Thanos had no idea what he was doing with the Cube or the Infinity Gauntlet." Star-Lord said. He averted his eyes to the left. "Look, I... I just don't know. That's why I was reluctant to use the Cube myself. I was afraid that I was doing something completely different from what I actually intended--that maybe I was using it completely wrong. I thought I was ready to die, I really did, but if even Thanos didn't know how to use the Cube...What if I used it on him and instead of killing him I sent him back to our universe. Or what if I somehow made him even stronger--inadvertently making him a legitimate cosmic God? How would I be able to deal with that then?"

"You had him dead to rights." Gamora said.

"If I had him dead to rights, he'd be dead to rights."

"The three of you against him. One of you with the d'ast Cosmic Cube. The only explanation I can think of for Thanos still being alive is... He took it from you." Gamora stated.

No."

Gamora raised her eyebrow and cocked her head in suspicion. "Then how is he still alive?"

...

Thanos roared and uppercut Drax from beneath the rubble of the ground, stopping Drax's repeated assault. "I despite you, Destroyer!"

"Oh well, I tried to stay back and give an old friend a well deserved moment of old school revenge, but..." Jamal crashed into Thanos like a yellow comet, pushing Thanos back into a nearby mountain. "Probably best to just put you down once and for all."

Thanos punched Jamal in the head. "You do NOT lay hands on me!" The punch connected completely, as Jamal did not have the time to put up a gravimetric shield. The punch created a thunderous crack as though Jamal had been struck by lightning. Thankfully, Thanos was unable to continue his assault, as despite Jamal not being able to put up a shield, he was able to counter with a powerful gravimetric beam point blank in Thanos's face.

Thanos was knocked back into the base of a mountain and buried under some rubble. "Nova!" Jamal heard Star-Lord call out as he flew to him from behind with his jetpack.

"I'm good. Head's still on, but I won't lie, that hurt like a motherfucker." Jamal said, holding his head.

"Get out of there!" Star-Lord shouted.

Jamal regained his senses and looked through the hole in the mountain that was formed when Thanos was knocked into it. Millions of red, glowing dots appeared in the darkness of what appeared to be a cave.

That's when the Cancerverse just up and decided to remind us that we weren't alone.

Millions of insects--each roughly the size of a medium sized dog--charged at them. "Geez!" Jamal shouted as he fired a gravimetric beam at them.

"And I was really starting to like this place." Star-Lord said.

"Yeah, maybe we could split rent on an apartment here!"

"Back up--I'm going to switch my elemental gun to hurricane."

"I will not be touched!" Thanos screamed as the insects swarmed him and buried Thanos underneath them.

The swarm continued forward as Jamal fired gravimetric pulse after gravimetric pulse at them. It was as though their numbers were endless. "Take Drax and go!" Jamal said.

"No!" Star-Lord protested. He raised the Cube into the air and shouted "NO!"

It was instinct. I didn't consciously think it. It just...happened. We were in real trouble, I was holding the cube, and, well...

The Cosmic Cube exploded with power. A spherical wave of blue cosmic energy dispersed in all directions. It washed over Thanos and the Cancerverse insects, completely incinerating the insects while Thanos screamed in pain. Star-Lord opened his helmet's facemask and stared at the Cube in disbelief. "I--I didn't mean to do that!"

This is where the doubt really began to set in. Where my confidence waned and uncertainty began to fester in my mind. It was energy I could not control. Rather, it controlled me.

"Give it to me." Thanos commanded as the energy began fading away, revealing that Thanos's armor had been completely obliterated--the energy released from the Cube leaving him with cuts and bruises all over his body. "Give it to me before you kill us all! You have no idea what power you hold. You have no idea the suffering you are about to endure just from touching it. You are not prepared to die today, Quill. Not truly."

"Actually...we kinda are." Star-Lord said, and raising the Cube into the air again, bits of energy leaking out of it as he prepared to use it again.

"Peter, no! Drop it! Give it to me!" Jamal shouted from behind him.

"You were. Yes. You had a moment of sacrifice, but that moment has passed." Thanos smiled with a triumphant look as though he had already won. "Now, here, you are in the face of real death and you fight back. You fight with everything you have. You are not ready to d--" Thanos was cut off as Star-Lord shouted and released the energy of the Cosmic Cube once again and and forcing the Mad Titan to his knees.

"Quill, just drop it!" Jamal desperately said. "Quill, can you hear me?!"

Naturally, I couldn't. It wouldn't let me.

Thanos stood up again as the blue cosmic energy of the Cube leaked out in the shape of a flame. "Now you want to rescue your friends from this hellish place! Now you think of what you have truly left behind! Give me the cube!" The flames of the Cube began to travel up Star-Lord's arm, causing him to shout in panic.

"No! you die here by my hand, Thanos!" Drax said.

"Then we're all going to die here!" Thanos snarled.

"Then so shall it be!" Drax shouted back. The flame continued further up Star-Lord's arm and it reached his shoulder.

The thing is, Thanos was working me over, trying to get what he wanted, but...

"Then all that you have fought and sacrificed for in your entire lives will have been for nothing! Give me the Cube and I will get us home!" Thanos held out his hand.

Everything he was saying was right on the money. And on top of that, the Cube was taking control of me.

...

"You handed the Cosmic Cube over to Thanos?!" Gamora said, crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"What?" Star-Lord said, raising an eyebrow in genuine confusion. "No."

Gamora leaned forward. "Your moment of ultimate truth and you completely failed."

"No."

"Stop lying!"

"Stop interrupting!"

"The Cosmic Cube had you, and you cowered from it's power.

"Gamora. You're wrong. Shut up."

"You are choosing your words poorly, Quill."

"Gamora..." D'Vorah interjected herself in the middle of their back and forth bickering. "If I may--Quill may be an idiot, but he's not that much of an idiot. At least, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. For now."

"Gee, thanks." Star-Lord said. "Anyway, the power of the Cosmic Cube was eating me alive. And you have to believe me, I was willing to go all the way with this. I was ready. I truly was.

...

The Cancerverse was churning and vomiting on itself. And the cube--it had me.

"Peter! Drop it!" Jamal shouted as the Cosmic Cube encased Star-Lord in a sphere of cosmic energy. Star-Lord looked down at the cube, entirely encapsulated by the power and allure of the Cube.

"Give me the cube, Peter Quill. Or you will die here, along with your friends." Thanos said. "The Cube's power is consuming your weak human flesh, and when it finishes, I will simply pick the Cube up off of the ground and find my way back home." Thanos grinned. "Instead, hand it to me, before you warp the Cube's core--before you ruin any chance at survival. And I will get us all back to our universe. To our galaxy." Star-Lord reached out in front of him and winced as he appeared to struggle to prevent his arm from moving on its own.

"Peter, no!" Jamal shouted.

"You are survivors! All of you. And you can survive this, too!" Thanos growled.

Star-Lord suddenly looked away. "I have a better idea." With a thundering boom, the Cosmic Cube released it's most powerful blast of cosmic energy yet. It entirely encapsulated Thanos and sent him flying into the remains of a building, where he screamed out in defiance.

Star-Lord dropped the cube and collapsed to the ground, gripping his head in agony. "Quill!" Jamal called out.

"NOOOO!" Thanos screamed out as his body was incinerated in a flame of cosmic energy until he was reduced to a mere skeleton. Then, his body exploded, reduced to absolute nothingness.

Star-Lord jolted up and watched Thanos's final moments, and once he was gone, there was a lingering silence. "I did it." Star-Lord muttered under his breath in disbelief. "I--I finally killed Thanos."

"Holy shit! Bravo, Pete!" Jamal exclaimed with a wide smile. "I can't believe we didn't get that on film. That was unbelievably amazing. How are you feeling? Did the cube do any real damage to you, or...?"

"Well, I could use an Advil." Star-Lord chuckled.

"If Thanos could use the cube to get home, maybe we can as well." Drax said. The three of them gathered around the Cosmic Cube.

"Thanos couldn't use the Cube to tie his shoes." Star-Lord remarked. "All that big talk. He thought he killed you, Drax--and all he did was send you here. We keep forgetting he is a deluded loony tune with a fixation on Death so creepy he makes the d'ast In-Betweener look like the Gamemaster. We keep taking him at his word when he is just a big crazy f--"

Star-Lord suddenly coughed up blood as something pierced his body. Jamal and Drax could only open their eyes and mouths in shock--speechless--as they watched Thanos shove his fist straight through Star-Lord's chest. The two quickly realized that they could not linger, however, and Jamal fired gravimetric beams from both of his hands as Drax picked up the Cosmic Cube and hit Thanos straight in the head with it.

Thanos was once again incinerated and reduced to nothingness. "What the fuck just happened?!" Jamal shouted. "Thanos was dead! We saw him die!"

Drax knelt down besides Star-Lord's lifeless body and lifted his head up slightly. "Our...our brother has fallen. That was not the death he deserved."

"Seriously, what the fuck is happening?! I don't under--" Suddenly Jamal was interrupted by pained screams from off in the distance. Drax and Jamal glanced at each other and the two rushed in the direction of the screams. The two reached their destination to find Star-Lord kneeling down on the ground screaming--alive, and naked.

"Peter?" Jamal asked, his voice laced with utter bewilderment.

"Wh--what the hell just happened?!" Star-Lord stammered as he took deep, panicked breaths while swearing profusely.

"You... you were dead. No, you ARE dead. Over there." Jamal said, pointing in the direction of Star-Lord's corpse.

"What?!"

"Thanos killed you back over there." Drax said.

"Death clearly is not the end in this universe." A familiar deep and gravely voice rumbled from behind the group. They turned to see Thanos walking down from a hill a couple of yards away. "At least, not for creatures like us. It makes perfect sense, in hindsight."

"Does it now?" Star-Lord said.

"It would be foolish to think that the cosmic concepts of our universe would apply across all universes. That they would apply to this place. Life and death is a constant of our universe but those constants do not apply here. We are not born of this universe. We are not made of the cancer materials of this universe. This is a place where Life had finally defeated Death. We cannot die here."

"That means we're stuck here. Here. With you." Star-Lord said.

"Then we've succeeded. That's what we came here to do in the first place." Jamal said.

"No." Star-Lord frowned. "We thought we were giving one last hurrah. We thought we were going out in a blaze of glory as long as it meant keeping him here and watching him die. We didn't think we were going to be stuck here in some neverending cycle. This is worse than Death. This is not what we came here for. We have to get out of here."

"This, we can agree on." Thanos said, stopping in front of the group. "That final glory of death is being denied to all of us." He spat.

"And why should we trust you, exactly?" Jamal asked.

"I fully admit that I somewhat...overreacted when Death turned away form me for good. I was overcome with rage--an unbridled fury that I needed a specific target to unleash upon. However, being killed twice now by the Cosmic Cube has allowed me to come to my senses."

"Does it hurt?" Drax asked, walking up to Thanos.

"What say you, Destroyer?"

"I'm asking you. When you die here? Does it hurt?"

"Yes."

Drax tapped Thanos on the forehead with the Cosmic Cube and Thanos once again was obliterated until there was nothing left of him. "Okay, that was funny." Jamal said with a huge grin, trying hard to hold back his laughter. A bright red light flashed off in the distance about 300 or so yards away and was followed by a loud scream.

"Is that Thanos over there?" Star-Lord asked.

"Yep, that's him." Jamal responded.

"He sounds frustrated."

"Aww, poor Thanos."

"In all seriousness, though..." Star-Lord turned to Drax and Jamal. "What are we going to do here? We really have to get out of here, and Thanos'll be back any minute."

"We can't kill him...but we can leave him here." Drax said.

"Can we? I don't know how to use the Cube. None of us do." Star-Lord admitted. "And we can't let him back into our universe. If we did and he hurt one hair on one little living planet's head... it'd be on us. I can't live with that. None of us can. So, we either stay here or we--"

"Peter!" Jamal suddenly shouted, pointing behind him. "We've got company."

Star-Lord turned to see the Revengers who--for all intents and purposes--should have been dead. But, they weren't. "Ah, flark."

[Mavorpen]

"I am the Reclaimer, newly ordained Aspect of Death. I am one of few beings that fights the war on two fronts- The physical world as well as the cosmic plane. It is... Tiring. I have discovered that my presence alone around the perversities of nature allows their death to come more easily, thus, I offer a solution to both our problems- I accompany your soldiers, giving them the ability to destroy the invaders more easily, whereas I am more easily able to reinforce the Abstracts." The Reclaimer turned towards the Surfer. "Surfer. You have died and been reborn many times, I can tell. One day soon, we will have to exchange words about that." The Aspect of Death turned again towards the Queen. "Neither of us has time for considering, Queen."

Queen Medusa listened closely to every word Reclaimer said. "I accept the offering of your services in fighting against the invading forces from the Fault. We have been receiving reports of your actions at the Fault, though we had no idea who you truly were nor what your intentions were. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we are relieved that you are on our side. The Nova Corps will be leading the forces assisting Galactus fight the Galactus Engine."

[Galnius]

Ling moved in front of him, her body blocking his path. She wasn't in the mood for being ignored."Doors can be replaced." She remarked. "Lives can't. I don't like it when people kill innocents for money." The Kryptonian tightened her hands into fists. "Also, ripping on my outfit? Really? I didn't realize I had to dress fashionably when punching aliens and criminals." She remarked, making an attempt to grab him by the shirt, reaching out to the man and putting a hand on his shirt. "One more chance. Either come with me willingly or I'll drag you back to the Mainland."

Zhao backed away a few steps. His arrogant smirk turning into a scowl.

"Mainland? Well, I guess they would find a replacement, eventually. So, let's see what you've got!" Zhao spat venom into her eyes, hoping to blind her. He then jumped back across the room, putting some distance between them. While the venom would usually be a winning blow during a regular fight, he somehow doubted it would be here. He took a crouched stance, turning his arms into tentacles. He began to make wave motions with his tentacles, trying to provoke her into attacking first.

"Bring it on, xiǎojiě!"

Across the street, in a shabby bookstore, a young boy sat observing the situation.So that's my competition, huh? he said, an amused look on his face. The boys name was Sin Law, a bounty hunter. Until recently, he had been waiting for an opportunity to take the officer, feeling mildly annoyed when Zhao showed up. However, the arrival of the super was just what he was waiting for. He set into place two illusions, one to affect the fighters and the other the police officer, who stood stunned by Zhao. For the combatants, a full scale illusion would be set in place affecting all senses of the officer running off and taking a left, running in that direction for a few good miles occasionally firing over his shoulder. This, of course, was a distraction for the main illusion, a simple ocular illusion affecting only the cop. While the illusion cop, the only one the combatants would see, would run off, the real one would be lured into the store in search of assistance, only to find himself knocked unconscious by Sin with a chloroform rag. Another Sin Lae sat in the center of the trials, relaying what the first was doing."As you can see, my competitions direct approach is too extravagant. You shall have your man within the next 10 minutes to do whatever you want, AFTER I'm gone." As for myself, I think I may have to watch this fight unfold.

[Illica Falki]

*snip*

Hearing the person on the roof, Eva stops for a moment, she may had just blown her chance to get info on this guy...
She decides not to throw in the towel and flee just yet, and she carefully starts climbing up the side of the building, to get peak of who it is up there, this could be someone else entirely different from the person she was following. Reaching the ledge of the roof, she carefully peaked over the top, seeing a person facing away from her. It takes her a moment, but she does notice differences in this person and the person she tailed, but the chance that he could be working with that guy makes her thinks better of confronting this one. She starts carefully climbing onto the roof, but when the person she followed bursts through the roof, she stops and drops back down to keep out of sight. Who was I following all this time... she thought to herself, starting to think of a way to escape from the area without getting attacked...

[The Republic of Atria]

Irredeemable: Finale

Xander was dead. Or rather, it seemed the insane man had finally been defeated by Galactus. Though at the cost of Earth, at the very least, he wasn't free to roam the universe. Galactus went ahead with devouring the planet. Most of the life had already been extinguished, so there was no qualms there. However, as thoroughly as Galactus erased him, he wasn't quite dead yet. He was energy, and energy could not be created or destroyed, but his form was so disrupted that it took substantially longer to reconstitute himself. Galactus was busy helping himself to Earth, and his ship was left undefended. Xander smashed into it, and by the time Galactus had finished devouring it, he discovered that Xander was in his ship. Big G made his way back inside to see him holding a weapon. "Human... Your power is impressive. Very few have been so resilient in their attempt to stave off death. Put away the Ultimate Nullifier and I shall make you my new herald."

"Your new herald?" He scoffed. "I'll pass. I've got the Ultimate Nullifier. This universe is my bitch. You've already taken out one of the biggest threats to me. All's left is you and space space morons. And I'm sick and tired of being treated second class. I don't serve anyone anymore! I do whatever I want and no one can stop me! NOT EVEN YOU! The mighty fucking Galactus! You're powerless!"

Attempting to fight the human would cause far more damage than it would be worth. He had the Ultimate Nullifier and was busy shouting off random nonsense. "Enough. Human. Explain to me. What could the universe offer you that you did not already have? Were you not amongst the protectors of your world? What has taken your mind that you now wish death upon everything around you?"

"Ungrateful neanderthals! I help and I help. I make the world a safer place. And they're all- You're scaring people. That's not how we do things. You're not above the law. You can't just invade other countries because- Blah blah fucking blah. They're all dead. Problems are now completely solved. Maybe now I can go find someone who'll treat me like I deserve. And if not. I'll kill them and find some people who will. I've got time." He hissed. Xander's mind was pudding. And that was putting it mildly. He was a murderer. "Ya wanna know why I'm gonna go keep helping people? BECAUSE I'M A SUPERHERO!"

"Return the Ultimate Nullifier to me at once, and I will allow you to go on this quest." He didn't care what Xander did or what he was prattling on about. But leaving the Ultimate Nullifier in the hands of a psychotic man like him was far from a good idea. It could easily wipe out everything in the universe. And given how unstable the man was already showing himself to be, it wasn't entirely unlikely that he would press it. And trying to force it out of his hands would practically ensure that he would activate it. Not a risk even Galactus was willing to take.

"How about I think about it for a minute- Nah. Not gonna do that. See. If I give you this little gizmo. Then I don't know that you're not just gonna keep it away from me and blast me again. See, with this, I can keep you in line and off my back. I don't want to have to keep dealing with you, so it's better to have insurance. Pickin' up what I'm throwing down here?" He asked. "Like I said. This universe is my bitch! That means, you, Galactus. Are my bitch as well. Get used to it."

"Mortal, you will understand that you are in no position to make demands. You know nothing about the device in your hand. The damage you would cause not only to yourself, but to the rest of the universe is beyond your feeble comprehension. Return it at once or I will be forced to take it from you." Galactus demanded, trying to convince an insane man that he shouldn't have the power to wipe out the universe in a pity party. Of course Xander thought about it for a moment. Galactus could tell Xander was actually thinking about whether or not to follow with with his command. "You're understanding. Return the Ultimate Nullifer to my possession and leave my ship. I will not oppose you."

Xander looked at Galactus, back at the Ultimate Nullifier, thinking about everything that is, was, and ever would be.

And he pulled the trigger.

[New Rnclave]

Hiroshi:

'Damn it!'

The bitter coldness of Acros wore at him, pulling at his aura. The glow from his energy was the only immediate light source, allowing him to survey two sizzling holes in his dogi. The Demon was slowly creeping up on him in power, or he was slowly losing power. Either way, it was becoming increasingly hard to overwhelm Mira with sheer force, even if the Demons frame more than showed the outcomes of their last few tangles.

In the distance, across the frozen wastes of Acros, Hiroshi could feel Mira's rapidly rising power, which meant he was ready to make another attempt at the planet.

However counterintuitive the plan seemed to be, the Demon was determined to wear his power away through continued clashes and attempts to destroy the planet. He couldn't lie at this point though, it was working, it was slowly becoming incredibly taxing to force his power to the surface.

Shattering the world before him, Hiroshi dove through the portal, the cold icy landscape being replaced by a man made hell.

Reemerging onto a flaming patch of rock, a warm, almost comforting glow illuminated the planet, but Hiroshi already knew it wasn't a sun. Tracing his eyes upward, the Halfling followed the light, his eyes connecting with the source. Black lightening rolled over and off the Orb of Destruction, almost the same as before, accept this time, it seemed much larger.

'This needs to end. Now.'

A almost mocking cackle emerged from above, ringing in his ears above the pulsating sphere. Clenching his fists, Hiroshi steeled himself, his brow knit together in frustration.

"What's wrong Saiyan?" The laugh came. " Are you surprised that you've been outsmarted again? That even if you stop this attack, I still win?"

'He's right. If I stop this attack, I'll wear myself down even more. If I do that, I practically leave myself at his mercy, but if I don't stop it, this planet is destroyed, and if I can't escape it, so am I. Billions will die by this thugs hand. Maybe if I get to him before he launches it, I can-'

" But we both know you'll throw everything you have into stopping this attack won't you? Hiroshi Mako, the runt son of a Saiyan refugee and a psychotic King. Hiroshi Mako, not a warrior who's achieved the pinnacle of Saiyan power, but a failure who couldn't even protect his daughter, a pathetic man who stood by and watched as someone broke her neck!"

Something bubbled up in his chest, and he could almost feel the fire spreading through his veins. His teeth grinding together, Hiroshi's vision narrowed on the wretched creature before him. It was the same fire that burned in his chest when he'd faced Frieza. The fire that'd come alive when Garlic had threatened his daughters life. The mighty flame that'd allowed him to overcome Broly.

But this fire was different. This was the fire in his chest that'd come when he'd faced Broly down for killing his daughter. A raging fire that'd pulled at the edge of his soul.

Waves of snow and rubble picked up into the air all around him, swirling around him like a roaring cyclone. Golden light poured off of him, swirling in every direction. He was going to stop this attack, and defeat this demon once and for all.

" I don't care how many times we have to clash. I'm going to stop you once and for all. The you're no different than any other worthless soul, Hell will still accept you."

With a snide grin in response, Mira only chuckled.

" Oh really?" Mira laughed, before pulling his arms back, readying to release the attack." Remember that sentiment when you arrive in Hell. I'm sure all the denizens will enjoy the story if have you stood up to the master of this universe!"

Throwing both his arms down a second later, the gigantic sphere of energy began to tip downwards, towards him and Acros. In front of him, the world turned to blood, darkness, and fire. It was for the briefest moment, the crushing sense of shame and failure he'd felt, manifested in his chest. The shame for being incapable of defending his own child. It, and its master, were going to strip all that he'd had left away. If he couldn't stop it, it'd lead to his own destruction, and the death of anyone else he had left that he cared about. He'd fail the universe, and he'd fail Tomia.

But beyond his despair, was the thing he chased after his whole life. Victory.

Pulling his arms into his sides, a savage look overtook his features. Tensing himself, the golden aura around him grew higher and higher from his frame, and the pulsing thrum echoed almost as loudly as the impending attack. Every challenge he'd ever faced, had been marred by his own fear of failure. He was brash, instinctive. He'd doubted himself and the choices he'd made for far to long. Any challenge he'd conquered had only only resulted in victory because he had put aside his fears and apprehension in favor of giving it every he had. For once, it was time to put all of his fears aside, and win.

'I did everything I could to save Mom. I did all I could into saving Tomia from Garlic. Now, I'll do everything I have too, to defeat Mira and make it home.'

Roaring, Hiroshi drew his power back into himself, his skin growing brightly with the power of a Super Saiyan III. His hair sparked more and more violently with lightening he'd created himself. In a whoosh of raw power, his retracted aura blasted outwards, sending out its own gust of wind. The already scorched and ruined land around him picked up, tons of rubble being blasted aside, massive twisting flows of magma stopping in their tracks. It was almost as if the world itself had stopped turning, holding its breath. Even the incoming orb of destruction slowed its descent, twisting in almost slow motion. The ground beneath the sphere churned and simply evaporated into the air, Hiroshi did was pull back into himself, bracing himself for its arrival. Pointing his hands upward, The Saiyan-Kaioshin felt the attack almost fall into his hands.

Beyond the sounds of Acros dying, his own pulsing power, and the booming echo of the sphere, Hiroshi could hear Mira cackling, in his mind, his victory was assured.
Looking into the heart of the orb itself, his strength stretching above and beyond his limits, Hiroshi pushed back with all of his might. The churning mass of death and destruction swirled as it picked up just inches above the surface, before inches became feet. The void left created a vacuum, drawing in fresh magma, seemingly filling the crater, save for the center. Gritting his teeth, sweat poured down his face, dripping over his now pronounced brows.

The cackling beyond the attack stopped. Even as muscles tore in his forearms, blood vessels bursting in his face and arms, flames lapping at him and the world around them, Hiroshi did the only thing that felt natural at the time.

'Im going to stop him, I promise Tomia, for you and Claudia.'

He grinned.

With one great motion, pulling his overextended arms in, the entirety of the orb shifting, Hiroshi built up tension in his frame, his energy swirling and condensing around him. With a heave, the sphere meant to destroy Acros lifted from the planet, before being cast freely towards the Heavens.

[Altito Asmoro]

*snip*

Hearing the person on the roof, Eva stops for a moment, she may had just blown her chance to get info on this guy...
She decides not to throw in the towel and flee just yet, and she carefully starts climbing up the side of the building, to get peak of who it is up there, this could be someone else entirely different from the person she was following. Reaching the ledge of the roof, she carefully peaked over the top, seeing a person facing away from her. It takes her a moment, but she does notice differences in this person and the person she tailed, but the chance that he could be working with that guy makes her thinks better of confronting this one. She starts carefully climbing onto the roof, but when the person she followed bursts through the roof, she stops and drops back down to keep out of sight. Who was I following all this time... she thought to herself, starting to think of a way to escape from the area without getting attacked...

As Len smashed through the roof, he reached the sky. Not very far from the roof but it's enough to see his surroundings. He turned his head to the left side and saw a...person? It's not clear who is she or who is he, but it is absolutely clear that this person wears a suit or some kind of it. So he had to introduced himself, right? Like a normal person would do.

"Hello. Who are you and what are you doing in here? And are you the one who went upstairs? I don't see other person here than you, though. I forgot to use my x-ray vision, and decidedly just went up here. So, yes, please answer my questions or I will have to sort to violent actions to have you answer my questions." said Len, nonchalantly.

[The Republic of Atria]

Irredeemable: Epilogue

Nothing. That's pretty much all that was left. Well. There was one thing left. Xander. Shocked at himself and faced with the fact that he just wiped out his entire universe, with him being the only survivor, because he was too much of a coward to end himself along with everything else. He couldn't believe what he had done, and it was too late to feel sorry for himself. He was angry at everything and all of the nothing. Blaming everyone else for his mistakes rather than accepting that he was where he was because of his own stupidity. He wanted a second chance. He hoped and prayed to whatever or whoever was left to hear him. Which wasn't much, but after a large period of time had passed. He couldn't pin point how long it had been. Anywhere from a few hours to several hundred years, but something or someone must have heard his prayers, because he saw a light open up. A portal. His first instinct was to fly through it. Where he was greet by a young man. "Well. You're something interesting. An anomaly. I thought that universe was dead, but I could see a large, single source of energy. That must have been you, correct?" He asks.

"Yeah... Who're you?" Xander asked.

"I'm your new best friend. I know who you are. I've seen plenty of you. Not you specifically, but different versions. Greatly different from one another. Some, you're a hot headed brute, others, you're just a man with no powers. Some, you don't even exist. Some, you're a god. But never mind all of that. I've got much to explain to you. Tell me, how would you like to be the protector of the perfect Earth?" He asked.

Was this the second chance he was looking for? Yes. It wasn't going to slip through his fingers. "Of course. That's all I ever wanted."

"My friend, Xander. I can tell you right now, this is the start of a beautiful friendship..."

[Jorliefstreiken]

Rise of Steel

Antibios stood in front of a supercomputer, which took up an entire wall. The screen glowed green with the program loaded up on it. On the wall wires and circuit boards stuck out of the glacial ice. The whole rigged hummed with a power seemingly impossible for humans to have made it. Of course they hadn't. That would be absurd. No, Antibios had built this himself, using parts from other super computers and frankensteining them together to create the behemoth before him. Of course he would plug in to help it, as not even this, this marvel of quantum computing, could handle processing the entire internet at once. Behind him the robots clicked and whirled, their prototype strain of technovirus making them more akin to clocks than droids. One of them, a little girl, had half of her head replaced by gears. Antibios than stuck his finger into a USB port and loaded up the technovirus schematics. He than began processing.

He saw flashes of red, white, blue, black. He saw rainbow cats and plenty of pussies. He saw Swedes and Americans. In the end it was all the same. They would all fall before him. He quickly found the source of it all, one beating center from which it all came. Oddly enough it was emanating from the house of a Doug McJoe-Darven of South Porkerton, Kentucky. The heart of the internet beated with the force of a billion souls. Sticking out his hand, Antibios downloaded to the source both the schematics for the technovirus, but also a computer virus as well, to spread the technovirus to any currently powered on internet/ cellular connected device. The source gave one final beat before turning red and holding still. Antibios returned to his body, ready to witness the destruction.

Peter Parker walked in central park, holding the hand of his girlfriend, Mary Jane. She happily walked along side him when suddenly she got a text. Peter had left his phone at home so he waited for her to check it. As he waited he noticed that pretty much everyone in sight was also checking their phones. Then as suddenly as the text came, it happened. He saw it happen to a woman first, out of her phones charger port came a spike of... things. They stabbed her through the chin. She fell to her knees, black liquid oozing from her wound. Peter looked to MJ to see if she was all right. He was treated to a sickening sight, His girlfriend, a look of shock on her face, held off the ground by a swarm of things coming out of her shattered phone, which had fallen next to her. They crawled into her body through any opening, black stuff coming out of her mouth and eyes as they did so. Once all of them had entered her, she fell to the ground, on her hands and knees. She shook violently as metal crept out of her ears and mouth. Peter could only watch in horror as she slowly converted into a machine. She stood up, her robot body looking just like her old one, only with metal skin, red eyes and the fact that her feet were now permanently heals. Pete felt his spider sense tingle and quickly swung off, even as MJ raised her arm cannon to shoot him.

Antibios watched as the world infection rate. For once, even he couldn't help but feel just the smallest piece of sorrow for the humans. Just a small piece though. Couldn't grow soft, now could he?

[Mavorpen]

A Tale of Life and Death: Chapter II
Endless: Part II

"Okay, stop! Just stop!" Gamora stopped Star-Lord and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You're lying now."

"I'm not." Star-Lord insisted. "The Cancerverse is this corrupted, warped, screwy version of our universe. Everything we have of value is a nightmare over there. Suddenly we're surrounded by these maniacs that call themselves The Revengers." Gamora took out a knife and cut the rope that was binding Star-Lord.

"I made a mistake coming to you like this." Gamora turned to D'Vorah. "He has nothing of worth to tell us, as it turns out. I'm sorry." Gamora glanced at Star-Lord. "You and I--we will never speak again."

"They were like demons. We were surrounded." Star-Lord continued.

"Shut up!" Gamora shouted.

D'Vorah placed her hand on Gamora's shoulder. "Gamora... we opened this door. We were the ones who agreed that we deserved to hear the truth. We brought this upon ourselves. I can't help but feel that you want to convince yourself that he is lying because you are afraid of the truth." Gamora averted her gaze and then looked back at Star-Lord.

"Look, I was very happy to never open this door for you." Star-Lord said. "But she's right, you did this. If you never want to talk to me again after I've finishes, that's fine. But you are going to let me finish--you are going to hear the truth from beginning to end. You guys were right--you deserve at least that much from me."

...

It was us versus them. A fight to the death that quickly became a game of keepaway as soon as these demons found out we crashed their universe holding a cosmic cube. It was power, and they wanted it. And then Thanos showed back up. It took somewhat over an hour before we realized that he was fighting alongside us. I mean, I can hardly believe it myself even now. Thanos. Fighting with us.

These Cancerverse Revengers also wanted us dead, but we all knew that wasn't going to happen. We couldn't die. Sure, we could be hurt. We could be wounded. Our guts could spill out of our bodies and we could bleed all over the place. But it was a fight to the death and we couldn't die. It was an unending fight. It just went on and on. It went on for hours. Eventually, everything became a blur, and as a result, I barely remember anything specific from the fight itself, save for when everything really went to hell.

It was pure chaos. Star-Lord narrowly avoided being clobbered in the face by the oncoming Mjolnir thrown by Alt!Thor. Meanwhile, Thanos was grabbed by Alt!Giant-Man and lifted into the air as Alt!Mar-Vell fired a beam of energy at him. Jamal was being chased by Alt!Quasar and he fired a gravimetric beam at Alt!Captain America, who blocked it with his shield. Drax was busy holding back Alt!Iton Man.

It just kept going... And I know Jamal was thinking the same things I was. We had, unequivocally and undeniably, made a huge mistake.

Jamal, noticing Alt!Thor going after Star-Lord, fired gravimetric beams from both hands at Alt!Thor. He would have incinerated him, had he maintained the attack. However, he noticed Alt!Captain Marvel flying at him from behind, reeling back and preparing to punch him.

We chased Thanos into Hell, and we thought we were so d'ast heroic. And now...not only do we have Thanos to contend with, but we have to deal with every horrible thing in his horrible place that won't let us die and won't let us leave.

Jamal quickly turned and fired a gravimetric blast that hit Alt!Captain Marvel in the face. Again, however, he was interrupted before he could finish her off, as Alt!Thor came from behind and wrapped his arm around Jamal's neck. Alt!Captain Marvel took the opportunity to once again charge the restrained Jamal to deliver a punch.

So let's say, miracle of miracles, we fight off these Revengers. We someone beat up an entire crazy army of anti-Avengers. Then what's next? What's behind door number two?

Alt!Iron Man fired Repulsor Beams at Star-Lord, who was running away, with his Element Gun in hand.

What's after this? What nightmare is coming right behind this one? A nightmare version of you--D'Vorah and Gamora? Or me? My father? Any of our friends or loved ones? What's coming next?

Star-Lord abruptly stopped and turned around, firing his Element Gun at Alt!Iron Man, releasing a torrent of lightning at him.

How long can we hold onto this cube? And on top of all of this, I was hungry, and thirsty, and tired. Suddenly I began worrying about more than dying at the hands of those nightmarish creatures. I began wondering whether I could die from other means? If I couldn't die there, what happens if I never ate? Could I starve to death only to be brought back to die of starvation again? What happens if I lose an arm, and then I die? Do I come back hungry and armless? How soon until all of us--Jamal, Drax, and I--go mad and start turning on each other?

The lightning hit Alt!Iron Man directly, apparently causing his armor to short circuit, as it released crackling blue energy that forced him to be locked in place in the air and then fall to the ground. Alt!Giant-Man saw the entire thing and attempted to charge at Star-Lord. Suddenly, Drax jumped into the air and punched Alt!Giant Man in the left cheek, making him spit up blood.

Drax. I was jealous of Drax. He wasn't thinking about any of these things. He was given a second chance to fight his fight.

Alt!Thor flew down and knocked Drax across the face with his lightning imbued Mjolnir, sending him flying to the ground and creating a small crater. Drax sat up from inside of the crater--blood running down his face out of his nose--and grinned.

I was in hell...Drax? Drax was in heaven.

Thanos was hit simultaneously with from his right and his left by energy blasts from Alt!Mar-Vell and Alt!Quasar. He extended his arms out to both sides and slowly pushed the blasts away. Then, he roared and released a wave of energy in all directions, knocking the two back. Thanos then jumped into the air and landed on Alt!Mar-Vell. He clasps his hands together, raised them in the air, encased them in energy and prepared to slam them down upon Alt!Mar-Vell.

How soon till Thanos makes his move on us among the chaos? How soon till he tries to make a deal with the residents of the Cancerverse against us?

Alt!Quasar blasted Thanos from behind and knocked him off of Alt!Marvel. Thanos snarled and fired a beam of energy at Alt!Quasar's head. His head was completely destroyed by the attack, and a large shadow formed around Thanos. Alt!Giant-Man's hand slammed down on Thanos, causing the ground to violently shake.

The only glorious part of this entire battle was that none of these Revengers were having any of Thanos' bluster. He was in full-on 'Thanos the Conqueror' mode and they were just hitting him. Not that that stopped him.

Thanos' fist exploded through the back of Alt!Giant-Man's hand, causing blood to fly everywhere. Thanos emerged from Alt!Giant-Man's hand, with a wide, barbaric smile plastered on his face.

No, of course not. They couldn't just shut him up. You know what he's like when he wants to prove himself. He will do whatever it takes for them to respect and fear him. Like an old-school Earth mob boss, Thanos was ready to roll up his sleeves and show everyone what a badass he was. And he was relishing in it all. That is, until...

Alt!Giant-Man lifted his hand up and grabbed it with his other hand, screaming in pain. Thanos grinned, enjoying his pain. Thanos looked to the left and his grin immediately faded and his expression was that of pure horror as he watched Alt!Mar-Vell racing towards the Cosmic Cube that was laying on the ground. "No..."

The Cube was in the open.

"Oops. So close!" Jamal said as he flew between Thanos and Alt!Mar-Vell and grabbed the Cosmic Cube. He continued flying to see if he could regroup with Star-Lord. "Okay, maybe it's time to open this cube up and see what it can do because this is not going to end the way we--" Suddenly Jamal was smacked in the face hard by Alt!Captain America's shield having been thrown at him, forcing him to drop the Cosmic Cube.

"Oh, no..." Star-Lord said as he watched Alt!Captain America pick up the Cosmic Cube, laughing triumphantly as Alt!Mar-Vell, Alt!Thor, and Alt!Captain Marvel stood behind him and smiled.

And just like that... I'm forced to watch as all of my theoretical questions about how bad this could all go becomes reality.

---

The Guardians of the Galaxy Home Ship
Outskirts of the Milky Way Galaxy

"Please don't touch my stuff anymore." Rocket Raccoon sat next to Groot at a table. Sprawled all over the table were individual parts that when put together would form a large gun. One such part was being held in Groot's hands. Behind them, at the entrance, Drax sat to the left of the door.

"I am Groot."

"That's no excuse!" Rocket said. "Don't touch things willy-nilly. I have a system. If you had things, I wouldn't just up and touch them without your permission. Respect the system."

"I am Groot."

Suddenly, the door opened and Gamora entered the room. Groot and Rocket turned their heads around. "Oh, hey, the princess of pain has returned. Where the heck have you been, Gamora? We've been callin' you for hours." The two turned their bodies in their chairs as they followed Gamora as she ignored them and walked up to a door to their left. The door opened and she entered it, grabbing a backpack and beginning to stuff things in it.

Just then, the door opened and Star-Lord entered the room, fully clothed in his Star-Lord outfit. "You know, Quill, when you two come back separately, it still looks like you two were--"

"Can it, Rocket. Did Gamora come back here?"

"Oh, this will be good." Rocket chuckled as Gamora walked out of the room and stopped in front of Star-Lord.

His helmet retracted back into a collar he wore around his neck, revealing his face. "I can't believe you are doing this."

Gamora stared at him in disbelief and then pointed at herself. "You can't believe me?! I joined this team because I trusted you. I trusted you all with my very life. And you, Drax." She pointed at Drax, who looked up at her. "I held you up as a creature of honor. And then I discover that you're anything but."

"Woah, what happened?!" Rocket asked.

"Rocket, do you know what happened to these two in the Cancerverse? Do you know what happened to our compatriot Nova?" Gamora asked him.

"Er, no, of course not. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't pretty, but..."

"And you don't question why they're alive and Nova isn't?"

"I'm just happy they're alive, frankly." Rocket said. "I thought the cool thing about is is that we don't question or judge each other. If they got something to say, they'll say it."

Gamora scoffed and began walking away. "It doesn't matter what I say." Star-Lord said to Drax. "She doesn't believe me even though I told her the truth."

Drax's jaw dropped and he stood up. "You told her?! You made a promise to never speak of it!"

Gamora stopped and walked up to Star-Lord and leaned forward, pointing her finger at him mere inches from his face. "You really don't get it, do you Quill?! I believe you, okay?! I do! I just can't believe that you kept all of this from me--from us--this whole time! I pray we never cross paths again." She said with a scowl.

"Gamora, please don't leave." Star-Lord said.

Gamora stopped at the doorway leading out of the room and leaned on it. "You looked me right in the eye! I asked you and you looked me right in the--"

"And I looked Jamal right in the eye and he asked me for a last request. He asked in his final fate... Look, you are one of the most noble and honorable persons I've ever met. Tell me you wouldn't have honored his last request. No matter what."

"Okay..." Rocket said with a smirk. "Now you have to tell us what happened."

Gamora hesitated for a second before turning around and frowning. "Fine. Tell them. Tell them what you told D'Vorah and I."

"We were all as good as dead..."

...

...Struck in a universe we did not belong in and battling nightmare versions of Earth's mightiest heroes.

"you come here, you wreak havoc, you destroy everything you touch." Alt!Captain America grinned. "You bring this--this weapon of mass destruction into our home? We're going to destroy you and then we're going to go to your universe and take it."

Thanos, Drax, and Star-Lord gathered in a triangle with their backs to each other. "You can't kill us." Star-Lord said. "You know very well that we don't die here."

"Huh. That explains why this fight was such a pain in the ass despite the fact that we have the clear advantage in terms of numbers. Well then..." Alt!Captain America held up the Cosmic Cube. "If you do not die, let's see what happens then." He pointed the Cube at the group and it began glowing blue as cosmic energy leaked out of it. A orange streak flew past, and suddenly Drax and Star-Lord were gone. The Revengers watched as Jamal carried the two away and then turned to Thanos who stood before them alone.

"They left behind Thanos. I guess they aren't too fond of you, Titan." Alt!Giant-Man said.

Alt!Captain America smiled as the Cosmic Cube glowed even brighter. "I'm going to enjoy this." He fired the energy from the Cube at Thanos, grinning as he was devoured by the blast and screaming out in pain. Once the attack subscided, Thanos fell to his knees. "I will eat your bones." Thanos growled. "Each and every one of you."

Jamal dropped Drax and Star-Lord a couple off feet from the ground and then landed next to them. "Dammit!" Jamal said, kicking a rock next to him. "We're really screwed, aren't we? We're never making it out of here..."

"Are they coming for us?" Star-Lord asked.

"Actually, they seem a bit preoccupied." Drax watches as off in the distance the blue energy of the Cosmic Cube regularly flared up like the Sun.

As the three of us watched the fireworks of the Cosmic Cube being used, I began to wonder whether the Revengers were beating down on Thanos or if Thanos was beating down on the Revengers. I knew in the back of my mind that what I was really asking was who had the Cosmic Cube. I found that I didn't have to wait long for that question to be answered.

The largest explosion of cosmic energy from the Cube expanded outwards in the distance, and they watched as Alt!Giant-Man's body was destroyed as well as several other smaller bodies flying into the air. Blue cosmic flames littered the landscape at where the fight took place, and out of them walked Thanos, holding the Cosmic Cube in his hand.

Star-Lord facepalmed. "Well, we're f--" Suddenly Drax ran forward. "Drax, what are you doing?! We should be, y'know, running!"

"No! No more running!" Drax shouted. "You guys can run if you want to, but this ends now."

"I must say, Destroyer, your courage would be quite admirable were it not extremely foolish." Thanos said as he pointed the Cube at Drax. Before he could use it however, Jamal and Star-Lord both fired at him. Jamal hit Drax straight in the face while Star-Lord hit him in the knee and knocked him slightly off balance. Drax took advantage of the opening and brought his fist down on Thanos's head, forcing him to drop the Cosmic Cube.

Thanos recovered quickly however, and grabbed Drax's head. In one quick motion, he tossed Drax several miles away. Thanos then ran for the Cosmic Cube, but Jamal blasted him in the head once more and Star-Lord blasted the Cosmic Cube, making it knocking it away. Thanos tried again to grab the Cube, but Jamal and Star-Lord both fired at the Cube, knocking it away once more. Thanos then turned to them, his expression filled with rage. Then, his eyes widened just before Drax smacked him in the jaw with Alt!Thor's Mjolnir.

I may have been wrong, but I heard that nobody on Earth is worthy to actually pick up Thor's hammer under normal circumstances. Apparently it's enchanted or something. But, I guess that evil, twisted version of Thor and his hammer doesn't count. Or, maybe it does and Drax actually was worthy. Either way, Drax almost had the bastard for a moment.

Drax brought Mjolnir down on Thanos, but Thanos caught it with his right hand. "You think this punishes me? I get to kill you again and again and again!" Thanos reached out and wrapped his hands around Drax's head, aiming to rip it off. Drax elbowed Thanos in the face and then once more tried to bring down Mjolnir on Thanos's head. Thanos however again caught it and then threw Drax miles away just as he had previously.

Thanos then quickly turned and lumbered to the Cosmic Cube. All of a sudden, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in horror. "No...NO!" He shouted as Jamal reached down and picked up the Cube with his right hand.

"Peter, I want you to do me a favor when you get back. Don't tell anyone about this." Jamal said as the energy of the Cube encased him. His body became bright blue as it began physically absorbing the power of the Cosmic Cube. Jamal flew forward and knocked Thanos down to the ground with the Cube. He stood over Thanos and Thanos screamed as the energy leaked out of the Cube and washed over him.

It all happened so fast. At first, I wasn't sure what was happening. He made a decision. No conversation. And then we both knew that he had decided to sacrifice himself--that this was the way he would go out.

"You know, it's funny. I imagined that there would come a day where I'd put this whole Nova Prime stuff behind me. Y'know, retire, settle down back on Earth, maybe have some kids." Jamal chuckled.

"Jamal, stop!" Star-Lord called out.

"The thing is, though, I'm perfectly fine with trading all of those things to get you guys out of here and rip Thanos in two. I have the entire Nova Force inside of me. I have the power to use the Cube effectively...I hope. I will get you guys home. I went along with your plan to not use the Cube, but hell, whatever happens next can't be worse than this."

"Jamal, stop talking like that! You can come too!" Star-Lord said.

"No, I can't." Jamal's body changed and his Nova Prime costume disappeared, leaving behind only the three lights that was on his chestplate. He had fused with the Cosmic Cube itself and as a result, his body was now made out of pure cosmic energy. "You don't understand. I'm the door." Jamal began to float into the sky.

"Jamal, please, you don't have to do this!" Star-Lord shouted.

Jamal smiled. "I'm serious, you guys. Don't speak of what happened here to anyone. Not to D'Vorah. Not to Gamora. Not to Wendell. No one. It'll help them get over it easier. Promise me."

"NOVA!" Thanos shouted as he coughed up blood. Jamal raised Thanos into the sky next to him and the energy of the Cube exploded outward, covering everything in a blinding blue light.

...

He asked me for something before he died...trying to save our lives.

Star-Lord lay face down in the middle of a barren wasteland on an unknown planet. He was awoken by a flash of blue light in the sky. He jolted up and looked up to see to see two humanoid figures in the sky. One was large and bulky while the other was thinner and shorter. The bulkier of the figures was pushed away from the smaller one and landed roughly 100 yards away to the left of Star-Lord. The thinner figure then expanded outwards slightly and then shot off into space, releasing one final glimmer of light and then fading away.

That's why I lied to you. I loved him like a brother. And with his final, dying wish, he asked me for one last thing. It killed me to do it--I wanted to tell everyone, especially you--but I had to do it.

Star-Lord looked to his right and saw the unconscious body of Drax. He rushed over and knelt down, putting his fingers to Drax's neck to check his pulse. He sighed a breath of relief as he confirmed Drax as still being alive. "Oh, thank God."

But you know, there's something even worse. I know for a fact that if he knew...if he knew that he would be accidentally saving your father's life as well, he would not have done it.

Star-Lord looked to his left and saw Thanos rise up. Star-Lord and Thanos stared at each other for a good 10 seconds before Thanos simply turned around and walked away in the opposite direction.

Pretending that we understand Life and Death is easy. But we don't. And we don't like to admit that fact. We don't like to admit that we're ignorant about other universes and that we don't fundamentally understand the rules to all of this. But, the simple truth is that we don't. Thanos thought he knew the rules. But, clearly he didn't. He didn't know a damn thing.

...

"Rocket, you said that we don't need to know everything." Star-Lord said, sitting down next to Rocket, Groot, and Drax, with Gamora standing in front of them. "And you're right. But it's okay. We don't need to know everything. However, we need to know that we can trust each other, no matter what. I...I was so torn." Star-Lord looked up at Gamora. "Either I betray him or I betray you. No matter what, I betray someone. So, I understand if you hate me. I understand if you leave. I understand if Jamal's watching right now from the afterlife and also hates me. But, I hope he still sees me as his good friend. And I hope you stay. He asked us to keep this from you because, deep down, he loved you. And I did it because I loved him. And, for all the shit we put each other through, we all love you."

Gamora stared down at him with her arms crossed for a few seconds. Then, she turned around and walked through the automatic door leading into the next room. "Oookay. So, either she's gonna come out here with a battle-axe and put us out of our misery or, I don't know what." Rocket said.

Gamora turned left upon exiting the room and walked a few steps. She leaned against the wall next to the door and shed a single tear.

...

The front door to a mansion opened, and Karnilla extended her arms out, wearing a wide smile. "D'Vorah!" She exclaimed gleefully, floating forward to D'Vorah and putting her arm around her. "I was pleasantly surprised when you showed up at the front gates. To what do I owe the pleasure of being visited by the Queen of the Negative Zone?" Karnilla asked as she led D'Vorah inside.

"Where is he?" D'Vorah asked bluntly.

Karnilla stopped and cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

D'Vorah frowned and stopped as well. "Don't play dumb with me, Karnilla. Despite your casual and nonchalant demeanor, you do, in fact, have feelings. You do, in fact, consider 'us' to be your friends. You would have contacted me about something as serious as his death. The only reason you would not do so is if he was, in fact, not dead. So, I ask you again...Where is Jamal?"

[Deminis]

-snip-

-snip-

Damian spins around suddenly, holding his right arm over his head and his left tucked in by his side, ready to strike. He waits for a moment to see if the stranger offers any hostility. I sure hope this guy isn't NSA... i'm fucked at this range if he is... "Yes I came up here, My alarms went off so I came to check it out... i'm the new security guy..." Damian bluffed the last part, but he did so with a practiced heart rate, no creature on heaven of hell could be able to tell the difference. "Who are you? And why did you put a whole in the roof." Damian relaxed to look down the hole "And my stay room..."

[The Silhouette of Adventure]

"I was quieter than them." He replied flippantly. "And more bloody respectful." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Odnetso." He called out, waving his hand vaguely in Checkov's direction. He had known she was there, but she had a habit of slinking around like that, and he figured he wouldn't ruin her fun- Besides, so long as she was quiet, what did he care? When she continued, he smiled broadly. "Wonderful. How did the board take it?"

He floated upwards in his (rather tall) study, browsing the shelves that lined every wall. "Onievni murbil supturroc!" He opened his palm and the tome that the student had attempted to read before flew to his hand. He returned it to his place. "Hmm. I need to renew the wards. Looks like some of the sentient books are making mischief again." He shook his head, then turned to Alex for her answer.

Spells used
Odnetso - Reveal.
Onievni murbil supturroc - Locate the corrupted book.

"Decently. Honestly a lot of them still have the same irrational fear their ancestors had for my own forebearers, and likely only voted to allow us the land out of fear we'd turn them into toads. Though perhaps that's what you wanted. After all you did send me." Alex joked. Then sighed as she looked at the books. Hearing Loss' remark. "You know, some of the dark tomes aren't that bad, just... as cliche as it sounds, misunderstood." she remarked. She was used to reffering to any and all magical books as people. It was more common that they were than weren't. Words had power, and magic words had exponentially more. It only makes sense that would breed sentience. "Then again. There's tomes even I won't play with. Far too bitter and hateful." She remarked.

"There is... some bad news." She remarked. "Some of the board members don't wish the project to continue. There's talk of taking us to legal court." She paused.

"If I wanted you to turn them into toads, I would've said so- As irritating as they can be." He chuckled, before his expression became sombre once more. "This is actually one such bitter manuscript- Some of my contacts say that it once belonged to a Lord of Chaos. I've sealed it with more wards than I can count and haven't ever opened it." He shook his head. "Anyway. Bad news?" He turned towards her again, returning the dark tome to its place and frowning. "Legal court? That... May be a problem. I don't think I actually exist, according to the British government." He shook his head. "Regardless, I'm sure it won't come to that. I'll schedule a meeting on..." He floated down to a slightly oversized calender near the door. "Can you cover my afternoon class on Thursday? It's Advanced Magical Histories. All my notes are in this file." He opened his hand, pointing at Alex. "Te madav da ame, reprocamull micedret." A folder came out of the bookshelf near the roof and flew down, floating in front of her. "Have you ever noticed that the more literal you are in your spells, the easier it is to cast them?" Loss mused. "Though I suppose most don't have the luxury of enough time to do incantations that long."

-Spells Used-
Te madav da ame, reprocamull micedret - Go to her, notebook thirteen.