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

[Charmera]

---

Gilbert began charging towards Chorus once again.

Naturally, this resulted in him ending up sliced and diced into pieces.

Well, no, not really. Just keep killing me and you'll eventually beat some sense into him, I guess. I'm not usually this much of an ass, must've lost control of my power after fixing the Batcave.

Gilbert reformed rather quickly, however, but once again he seemed stunned for a moment. His expression no longer seemed as animalistic, and though his mind was still clouded by rage, still a beastlike fascimile of his own self, it was beginning to wear off, somehow. Slowly.

This had it's pros and its cons. For one he was closer to clarity, but on the other hand, he also had the brains to drain Chorus' deadly spider web.

I think just a couple more times should do it. Oh, and I'd be quick about it if I were you, I seem more dangerous.

Gilbert then proceeded to demonstrate the wisdom of his soul self by stomping the ground with a hundred times his own strength, causing the severely weakened building to begin rumbling and shaking violently under the pressure. He then used some of the drained energy from the wires to reform his leg, which shattered from the impact, and charged towards Chorus once more.

By the way... Who are you guys? And Chorus, how did you end up fighting me in the middle of Gotham? If you don't mind me asking that is.

I'm jack!

Amy

And I am Verse. The blade in which you are held. he explained. We were on a quest to return Chorus' voice to her, after it was stolen by Jack.

Nothing personal! I think... If y0u already have soul abilities you tend to loose memories and stuff. Though don't ask me why...

Chorus mentally nodded. She wondered... what if she could kill him twice in rapid succession? It would minimize risk to her. She could only die once after all, and she couldn't trust Gilbert to resurect her with Verse either.

Her eyes went blue. Activate Analysis

Time stopped from her point of view, all the souls had their minds suddenly working at utterly incomprehensible speeds.

Gotta kill Gilbert twice in rapid succession. Any ideas?

---

---

Garnet frowned upon hearing the question, and observed Masami intently. She had seen the Kitsune fight against the Tengu, she was good with the sword, a natural ability unlike her own, and she also had other powers, from what she'd seen. She could definitely hold her own, but even then, the blonde woman was apprehensive about having another companion, given what had happened to the last. She didn't want to go through that again.

But then, she had the feeling that she'd definitely need that extra help in facing whatever was to come, and this woman certainly seemed like she would be a greater help in combat than her previous companions had been, not to mention she didn't seem as prone to disappear.

"Alright, if that's what you want, I'll let you come along." She finally said. "But first... do you know any place where I could take a shower? And preferably get new clothes too. I know I'll probably get myself dirty again in this kind of quest but I don't exactly fancy riding across the world covered in bird blood." She stated, hoping Masami would know some place. The fox woman was bound to know more about the local area than she did, at least, considering how she was from the area while Garnet had popped out of a portal not too long ago.

The fox woman smiled, then went into fox form and hopped on top of Shadow, behind Garnet as they weren't yet that friendly. She was lying on the horse so that his back was under her furry stomach. She had shifted back to single tail to conserve energy. "There is an Inn in the village near this temple. It's not too far from here, though I would keep out of sight of the villagers. They're not used to blood drenched westerners walking into their Inns for a shower.

She was glad to be hunting with a partner of sorts. The past few months of tracking alone had been quite lonely, so finding a companion of sorts was rather nice. Especially as she seemed skilled with her weapons.

[Charmera]

"If I'm not mistaken, you attacked me first. Sure, I may have took over the Kree homeworld a few months ago, but let's be honest, they were asking for it. Plus I saved it from Ultron so it wasn't a total loss." He explained. "Excuse me for a moment." He muttered annoyed while turning to Alastir and Spera. "You're supposed to be in the middle of dying. I'm talking to someone right now, and if you so much as touch me, I will rip this planet into pieces. Now go do the universe a favor and off yourselves for me. If you think I'm hard to fight right now. Try fighting me in space. Now go be good little gods and die for you planet." Turning his attention back to Julie. "You see what I'm talking about right? I'm pretty sure their body count is even higher than mine. If I'm supposed to die because of what I've done, then they die with me for what they've done."

"Point taken. But did I summon a bunch of clones of your dead race to fight you? Plus weren't there innocents on that planet?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. She noticed Spera, frowning. She wondered if he could even take nightmare with whatever power boost he had. She doubted it. Plus he was kind of fucking up her negotiating. When nightmare spoke she frowned. "No one has to be killed nightmare. No one has to die." She explained. "You don't have to do this nightmare. You may have the power to kill them, but you also have the power to not."

[Charmera]

"No. But that's because no one knows what I am. Hell, I don't even know that. And besides. I didn't just do it to you. It was a convenient thing to use against you. The others are getting a very similar treatment. You should've see how red Blondie's face got when I insulted his schlong using his pet woman's face. Yes there were innocent people on Hala, but when Alex got me off they went back to normal. If anything, I did good because Ultron is probably worse than me." He then thought about when Julie said that no one had to die. "Okay then. Mindless husks it is." Alastir and Spera making an appearance only to threaten him wasn't going to help them much. "You can glow all you want Spera. But the second you touch me, I will crack this planet like an egg. The core will be the yolk and your stupidity will be everything else."

"What you are doesn't really matter. Racial instincts and appearances are only skin deep. What's in the mind is what really matters." She then frowned deeper. "Torturing me with images of Martians isn't exactly comparable to insulting someone's penis. You knew about the pirate ship. Surely you know what happened before..." She paused, images coming back of a world on first. Her parents chocking on ash and her just barely being whisked away. She had to resist the urge to tear up again. She frowned when he mentioned mindless husks. "Okay. An improvement, but still kinda violent. Can't we solve this in a way without permanent damage? Can't you just knock them out or something?"

[Charmera]

"If I'm not mistaken, you attacked me first. Sure, I may have took over the Kree homeworld a few months ago, but let's be honest, they were asking for it. Plus I saved it from Ultron so it wasn't a total loss." He explained. "Excuse me for a moment." He muttered annoyed while turning to Alastir and Spera. "You're supposed to be in the middle of dying. I'm talking to someone right now, and if you so much as touch me, I will rip this planet into pieces. Now go do the universe a favor and off yourselves for me. If you think I'm hard to fight right now. Try fighting me in space. Now go be good little gods and die for you planet." Turning his attention back to Julie. "You see what I'm talking about right? I'm pretty sure their body count is even higher than mine. If I'm supposed to die because of what I've done, then they die with me for what they've done."

Naja

"Good point. But You and I, Kylie, we could still go grab some space rocks from the asteroid field and sell them. Your ring has a scanner, right? I've seen John so all sorts of stuff with it. It doesn't have to be in space, we could easily do the penthouse thing. I'm more for the grabbing the rocks filled with vibranium, and then selling them to a really rich guy." She explained while taking a bite out of her doughnut.

"I could use some vibranium too. I mean that stuff is pretty neat." Katie replied. She had her own plans for that sort of thing. "Though... I guess that might defeat the purpose of selling it..." She admitted.

[Charmera]

- Snip -

As the lightining struck Alt-Asumer, he fell down to the ground, having felt the Black Lightning impact him for a moment before all of his nerves were severed, but he still remained alive even after all that. Seeing his counterpart rush to him, Alt-Asumar smiled "Ah... yes..." Alt-Asumar said with a smile as he looked up into the sky "This was a fitting end for someone such as myself..." Alt-Asumar looked and saw the expression of shock and sorrow on many of the group's faces, but chuckled as he brought his hand out to his Counterpart's Kazuko, who took his hand as well "I know you can sense that my heart was once evil, my evil was responsible for your brother's hatred towards Kilian, but I only sealed the deal when I killed you in my universe..." Alt-Asumar's eyes began to slowly close as he continued to smile "I...only wish that I had made second thoughts in my home, but now... I've atoned for my sins..." Alt-Asumar smiled as the light in his eyes faded away, his eyes closing for the final time.

Kazuko held onto Alt-Asumar's hand, his head hung low as he payed his respects for his now deceased Alternate Brother "You may have been evil before..." Kazuko whispered as he placed Alt-Asumar's hand over his (Alt-Asumar's) heart "... But to make a sacrifice for the sake of many, you've proven that even the worst people could be redeemed, and for that, may you rest in peace... brother." Kazuko slowly rose, looking towards Julie "Thank you..." Kazuko said as his hair fell over his eyes "... For everything you've done Julie, If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask whatsoever, and I shall do everything in my power to help you." Kazuko said blankly as he sullenly walked towards his temple, with Asumar, Ryuichi, and the Alpha Omega Brother's in tow. While the Masaki Guardians carried the deceased Alt-Asumar towards the Grand Warlord's Temple, with Alastir and Spera departing as soon as Nightmare's mass had retracted itself.

Julie smiled slightly, glad this was solved on the least bloody way. "Your welcome. I just wish I had tried this sooner. Perhaps we could have avoided a lot of trouble by talking." She explained.

"Hmmm... Well. I do hate you the most. You know what. I'm going to give Julie's idea a try... Right after..." He said shooting a bolt of black lightning at the Alternate Asumar. "I make no promises. But Julie was nice enough to save all of your asses. When you're done thanking her for how good of a person she is, I'm leaving." He said retracting his mess from the planet. "If this doesn't work out, then I'll be back to blow up your world!" He finished in an oddly cheery voice not typical of him.

Alex didn't know what to make of the situation. Julie somehow managed to talk down a creature seemingly made of pure malevolence and actual darkness. Yet somehow, it seemed she actually befriended him. Julie was his friend and Nightmare was well... His arch enemy. But Julie had more luck in dealing with him in the last ten minutes than he did for the most of his life. Which wasn't all that long. He floated over to his Martian friend, avoiding eye contact with Nightmare. "Julie... I have no freaking clue how you did what you did. But just be careful okay? If things get out of hand, you know where to find me." He said and took off.

Julie suddenly and unexpectedly wrapped her arms around Nightmare in a hug. She reasoned he deserved it. "If there's anyone who should be thanked. It's you. You resolved this in the best way possible. I really appreciate that." She explained to nightmare. "We should keep in touch. We're both telepaths. You should be able to reach me if you want to talk at any time."

Then when Alex spoke, she turned to face him. "Simple. I talked to him." She spoke with a smile. "I'll be fine. I can always reach you after all."

[Charmera]

"I doubt the outcome would've changed that..." He stopped when he saw the Martian hugging him. "What... What are you doing? I demand an explanation!" This was quite literally the first time someone grabbed with with intentions that didn't involve attempting to cause him pain. Jarring, but at the same time it wasn't bad.

"It's a hug." Spoke Julie. A small frown appeared on her face. "The universal sign of affection and compassion. "You've never been hugged before?" She suddenly looked concerned, then wrapped her arms around him again. "Thats horrible..." She spoke. "It explains a lot but still... Every sentient deserves to be hugged. The people who made you really were heartless..."

[Charmera]

---

Her voice was stolen? But she's a singer! That's just awful.

As time seemed to stop completely around them, or more accurately, around Chorus, so too Gilbert stopped. Had this been actual tampering with the flow of time, it would have had no effect on him whatsoever, but as it was merely Chorus' consciousness speeding up to an incomprehensible velocity, there was nothing he could do. Perhaps, had he been conscious and known about the ability before, he would've been able to compensate, but this wasn't the case.

Let's see. I'm going to try to punch you again- So predictable- which means you can dodge to the side and behead me or stab me or whatever you wish. That'll take care of the first time, but I can come back as you've seen plenty of times now. So you'll have to stab me again as soon as I twitch.

That sounds good.

Yeah... We'll have to hit him twice... though... I have something a little more... cool in mind. She quickly shared her idea with the others. Then she put her plan into action.

As was suggested, Chorus dodged to the side, moving so that Gilberts charge would take him strait in front of her. Using that split second, she slammed upwards with the blunt end of Verse, to send him flying into the air. While she bought some time with him in the air, quickly she spun a weblike net below, using wires to create a web structure where her would land. Then, as he reached the end of his fall, she would turn verse and slash upwards, hopefully decapitating her foe. Either way, she hopped off the web and would let Gilbert fall onto it. Once he showed he was alive again, she would force the web to contract, crushing and slicing him to death. It wouldn't be pretty, but at least she wouldn't die. Once he was inteligent again, she would let him out.

---

And so, the blood-drenched Westerner somehow made it to the inn while at the same time staying out of sight of the villagers.

After showering, Garnet stepped out of the bathroom, using a towel to finish drying her hair. Her old clothes had been discarded earlier, drenched in red and stinking of blood and sweat, though thankfully she was able to erase that scent from herself. She now wore some clothing provided by the locals that Masami had procured for her. She wasn't quite used to the style, but she had to admit those clothes were comfortable.

"Did I miss anything interesting?" The blonde woman asked Masami as she put aside the towel, picking up the black glove that was the dormant gauntlet Agony, as well as her two bracelets, Despair and Longing, though she had left the rest of her equipment back with the Phantom Horse, who was outside the village, in order to avoid drawing attention to herself. "If not, we should get going, or Shadow will get impatient."

"Not really." The Kitsune spoke, staring at the Inn. She seemed concerned. A hood over her head covered her ears and she was now in no tail form. She sniffed. "Somethings wrong with that inn... or maybe I'm just going crazy..." She frowned, hopping onto shadow. "Eh, Whatever it is I can come back later. For now let's see what your path holds Garnet." She continued.

[Charmera]

"It's a hug." Spoke Julie. A small frown appeared on her face. "The universal sign of affection and compassion. "You've never been hugged before?" She suddenly looked concerned, then wrapped her arms around him again. "Thats horrible..." She spoke. "It explains a lot but still... Every sentient deserves to be hugged. The people who made you really were heartless..."

"No... It's not entirely true that I've never been shown affection. I had a puppy." He said creating a little construct of a baby black Labrador. "I loved the puppy. They took it away if I didn't do what they wanted. I played along until one day they killed it. I admit I may or may not have overreacted and may or may not have killed most of them. Which is where I got the name. So they built a fancy trash can and tricked me into it. I wasn't as smart or as powerful then. I was freed by Ultron. Who I promptly... Played with. Alex met me for the first time and I kill Ultron in front of him." He explained unaware of Ultron's seemingly limitless backup bodies. "You know the rest. That's my life story." Why he decided to open up to the Martian? Why was he feeling affection when previously there was no room in his mind for such a thing? The most obvious answer was that he felt for her past. It wasn't too different than his.

"That is cruel... I wasn't aware of how horrible Fury and Walker were treating you. They took away your only friend..." The Martian replied, tightening her hug slightly. Not so it would be uncomfortable. "Thats not fair. No one deserves to be treated like that. Used like that and punished like that." She supposed it was only fair if she shared something."When I was a slave... they used to just beat me if I didn't do as I was told. Sometimes if they were in a bad mood they'd torture me with a lighter or an open flame." She related. "I had one friend too. A kryptonian. Alara. Younger than me." She spoke. Julie was reluctant to say what happened to her. The Kryptonian's fate was not one she liked to bring up. "We were tossed into an isolation cell together with a large piece of kryptonite. I tried to save her, but... she died slowly and painfully and there was nothing I could do." She shared.

"I'm so sorry I misjudged you." She spoke, letting go of him. "I didn't think I could talk like this,,, to you. Of all people I should know to look beyond the surface..."

[Charmera]

"I can't imagine that. Great. Now I have to find them and kill them. Kryptonians are rare. That's like killing a unicorn." He said and went quiet for a moment. "So this is what it's like to talk to someone without killing them... Wait. Are they even still alive? And another... I shapeshift very often. To the degree where I don't even know what I really look like..." Questions flooded his mind for the second time in his life. What did he look like? Where was he supposed to go? What was he supposed to do? Why was he starting to feel things for Julie that he never felt before in his life?

"Oh. Most of them are already dead." She explained. "Died in prison or during the last battle. When the GLs tore their warfleet apart many of them simply commited suicide rather than be captured. And some did so in jail." She sighed after she said that. "There are probably some remnants floating about in the stars, but no ones head from the Reavers in years..."

Although, there are rumours a new Reavers fleet is being assembled. I should probably investigate...

She smiled when he made that observation. "Yeah. Isn't it nice?" She asked. "I mean, fightings fun but talking to someone is a lot nicer. No one trying to set you on fire..." She paused. "As for what you really look like... I might be able to help. Though your shapeshifting is different from mine I could at least try."

[Charmera]

"Oh. Most of them are already dead." She explained. "Died in prison or during the last battle. When the GLs tore their warfleet apart many of them simply commited suicide rather than be captured. And some did so in jail." She sighed after she said that. "There are probably some remnants floating about in the stars, but no ones head from the Reavers in years..."

Although, there are rumours a new Reavers fleet is being assembled. I should probably investigate...

She smiled when he made that observation. "Yeah. Isn't it nice?" She asked. "I mean, fightings fun but talking to someone is a lot nicer. No one trying to set you on fire..." She paused. "As for what you really look like... I might be able to help. Though your shapeshifting is different from mine I could at least try."

"You got me excited for nothing. Oh well. We could go around and take care of as many slavers as we come across." He suggested. Sure it gave him an excuse to hit something, but this time it was justified. "We can do good cop, bad cop. I've watched too many TV shows. Namely by reading it from people's minds." He wondered how she would be able to help him with his shapeshifting issue. "As far as I know, I was just a blob of sentient darkness. I control what I look like down to the molecular level. It's not what I do look like. Which isn't much. It's what I SHOULD look like. From my experience. People relate darkness to bad. And in most cases, it's true. But without it. You can't have light. That's enough philosophical nonsense for one day. What do you think I should look like? I can be anything. And real me... Mostly just a puddle."

"Maybe we could. Though you would have to promise not to kill anyone." She replied. "I watch a lot of TV too. It's actually been pretty useful in learning earth culture and adapting myself." Julie explained. Then she cocked her head slightly to the side when nightmare asked what he should look like. "I honestly don't mind the silloutte look that much. Or the tentacles really. I actually kinda like them..." She said. "You can look whatever you want to look like." She then paused. "Though... I suppose the same offer is up for you. I could look like most anything too. Of course I have more restrictions than you in my shapeshifting, but I can turn into most anything."

"Also, apart from hunting down pirates and slavers... What else would you want to do? I don't have much going on right now so I'll be free for a while."

[Charmera]

"Maybe we could. Though you would have to promise not to kill anyone." She replied. "I watch a lot of TV too. It's actually been pretty useful in learning earth culture and adapting myself." Julie explained. Then she cocked her head slightly to the side when nightmare asked what he should look like. "I honestly don't mind the silloutte look that much. Or the tentacles really. I actually kinda like them..." She said. "You can look whatever you want to look like." She then paused. "Though... I suppose the same offer is up for you. I could look like most anything too. Of course I have more restrictions than you in my shapeshifting, but I can turn into most anything."

"Also, apart from hunting down pirates and slavers... What else would you want to do? I don't have much going on right now so I'll be free for a while."

"Ugh... Fine. I won't directly kill them. If they get a heart attack because I scare them, then I take no blame whatsoever." He agreed after thinking on it for a few moments. "Some of it is good. Some is bad. And... Wait. What? You... Actually like them? And how I look now?" The first time he had ever been complimented on his appearance. Ever. He would blush if he had the capacity to do so. "You mean to tell me there are other things to do than find people to not unalive? By all means. Enlighten me. Because that sounds boring." He was a weapon. destroying things was all he knew. But since the Martian girl was willing to talk to him rather than go straight to punching him, it was worth listening to her at least for the time being.

"Fair enough..." She then smiled. Julie thought it was kinda funny how he reacted to her complements. She could practically imagine Nightmare blushing. "Yeah. I do." She spoke, actually blushing herself for a millisecond. "Well... We could explore the Galaxy. See what se can find among the stars. We could transform and go see a movie in cinema. Watching TV telepathically is not nearly as cool as seeing a film in theatres..." She paused. "We could go visit famous sites on earth... Or anywhere in the galaxy! Hell I have a green lantern ring, which makes space travel very easy."

---

Alright, alright, you can let me out now. I feel bad for myself here, to be honest.

Indeed, everything happened just like Chorus predicted. Gilbert's body was decapitated, the head tumbling to the ground miserably. And when he had reformed once again, he was crushed and sliced to death, mangled beyond repair, or so it would seem at least. Yet, his body soon began reforming once again, all the damage caused by Chorus' web of sharp strings being rewound and subsequently negated, the body returning to an uninjured state.

But this time, he did not seem to wake up immediately. He didn't even seem to be alive at all for several moments, until finally, there was a spark of life, and Gilbert's eyes shot open. He sat up with a gasp and immediately clutched his head with both hands, closing his eyes and groaning.

"Ugh... my head's going to burst..." He complained.

Tell me about it. I think I just got absorbed five times over.

For the time being, Gilbert seemed far too occupied with the splitting headache he was having as to notice the state of the room, or its other occupant.

Speaking of being absorbed multiple times... What exactly does that do?

I... Have no idea...

Can we even get him out? I mean he's right there...

Again... I don't know. Though it's very doubtful...

Chorus frowned shething verse. Doubtful? That doesn't sound good for him.

Chorus supposed she should help the man. She gave him a hand, intended for him to grabb should he need it. If he tried anything, she had already mentally prepared wires to skewer through him like javalins.

"Our apologies for killing you so often. It was nessecary to stomp your insane rampage." spoke verse.

[Charmera]

Katie
"There. That should be all the programming sorted for "Gurlz_Only" version one point one." Spoke Eric as he handed over a small usb drive to his girlfriend. The guy had glasses, green eyes and quite distinctively white hair. He dressed scruffily, though he was clean shaven and quite gaunt. A small frown crossed his features for a split second. "What?"

Katie sighed as she grabbed the usb. "Nothing... Just don't talk about this kind of stuff in public. I'm already suspicious enough." She spoke, there were bags under her eyes. She had been balancing the books and setting up administrative systems for the JQ. This was her pet project, her baby, but it was taking a toll on her.

"Katie, could you stop being so paranoid?-"

"I'm not paranoid."

Eric paused, "Well... Um..." He paused again. "I'm worried about you, okay?"

Katie smiled weakly. "Don't worry. I'm fine!"

She then heard a familiar voice. The mutant turned around, seeing her friend Jasmine, whom she greeted with a smile.

"Hey Katie!" She paused. "And Eric..." She seemed to go down in mood when she addressed Eric.

"Hey Jazz." She replied, then frowned slightly. There was something different about Jazz. She looked, felt and smelled a little different from normal. Plus her glasses were gone. Around her neck was a chain assuredly holding a necklace, but Katie couldn't see what it was.

"Haven't seen you too in a while..." She spoke, smiling.

"Yeah... You haven't been around much."

Jazz paused. "Not really, had... A visit from some family. Some... Developments occurred."

"Developments? That's..." Katie replied. "Nice" and not at all suspicious...

They paused awkwardly for a bit. In truth, Katie was a little wierded out. Jazz was an ex of hers, and she had a tendency to obsess and cling. She could be a little creepy. And right now her star was giving off that vibe... But there was something else there too...

She hoped Kylie would remember they agree to meet here...

[Charmera]

-snip

-Snip-

The third will be the first to be heard, her ascension heralding the second age as her radiant glory is shown. She will be the Shepard for the lost, and will direct the seekers to new purpose.

The first will come next. Though none will recognise him. He will wear a different skin to that which he once wore, yet his brightness will shine through. The sheppard must protect him. For he is the true King.

The second will have always been there. The King must be protected from the second by the Sheppard, for once she imparts her darkness, fate will be sealed. A second empire will form and all will be subject to her hunger and cruelty. She will be the Snake.

Find the Sheppard, she will protect the king and slay the snake. If the king is lost, all is lost and a thousand more eons of darkness will come. If the sheppard is lost, all will be lost and a thousand more eons of darkness will come.

If the snake wins, there will be no darkness. For she will have swallowed us all.

"There will be no darkness... For she will swallow us all."

Ash gasped. For the first time in untold years she gasped. She was surprised by her ability to do so. She could not see, but she felt wet. She wondered why she could possible be wet at all. It didn't really make sense. Last thing she remembered was the light of the soul machines and her body turning to dust...

Dust. Then...

She found her memories coming back. Eons upon eons of life... Unlife more like it... Flooding back to her. She was so numb. So cold. So hungry. Eternally hungry for sensation. So alone. So alone in her shell she called armour.

But, this felt different... It... Felt familiar, yet forgotten. Like putting on an old suit you never wear on again. She reached up and touched her face and felt.... Skin... Wonderful skin...

She smiled and laughed, opening her eyes. For the first time in years she saw. She truly saw! She couldn't believe it. It had worked. She laughed again, this time an extended laugh of pure happiness and joy. Her eyes teared up as she saw her hands.

With a grin wider than one could think possible, she looked at the glass and punched it. It shattered with conaiderable force, even the metal of the container simply ripped apart from. The pure force of it. She then stepped out. She marvelled at little things like her weight. She was light to herself, but it was a change from being practically weightless. Soul armour protected well but weighed almost nothing.

She twirled, getting used to the mechanics of he new body. She smiled a different, more mischievous grin as she noticed she was naked. She decided to hold off on getting herself clothes until she payed a visit to Max and Mir... Especially Mir... She wanted to see their reactions to her now supernatural beauty. It was vain to think that yes, but it made it no less true. Pheromones and Magic had made Ash now naturally pretty much impossible to ignore. Weaker willed beings would be unable to resist her at all.

Although, one downside to all this was when she tripped. Her new strength meant that this sent a tremor across the current floor. Picking herself up, she telekinetically moved all he water from herself and tried again. Another trip. Another shake.

She had to relearn walking it seemed. It didn't take too long, but she was a tad bit embarrassed. It didn't take her too long to get to the room which Max resided in. She smiled as she walked in, completely nude. "You missed my rebirth. Vokor does it feel good to have a body again... Thank you so much for helping. I can never repay the debt I owe to you." She spoke the to Max. "Any idea where Mir is?" She added.

[Charmera]

Julie smiled widely as she found the carnival. It didn't take long to find one. She herself was disguised as a human, similar feature, merely her green skin was gone. She smiled as she held the hand of another being, and in her other hand was a whole spool of cotton candy. She had taken Nightmare on a tour of the universe, seeing sights, playing games, watching movies. Of course occasionally she had a job to do, but most things she encountered didn't orovide too much challenge to her ring powers combined with her Martian ones. "So Nightie, how would you rate this stop on our cosmic romp so far?" She asked. Taking a chunk out of the pink fluff of sugar. "Hmmm. There's one thing humans definetly got right: their food. Their deserts are the best."

[Charmera]

So the next few weeks were spent following Julie around the universe doing all sorts of things that for once, didn't involve him having to liberate people's something from the rest of them. The interesting part is, he was enjoying himself despite going several weeks without having caused bodily harm to anything. At first it was mostly her dragging him along, but eventually he gave himself a normal human appearance as not to cause undo distress. To his surprise, it worked. They were at a carnival, which was strange for him. It was rare that he was surrounded by some many people not either screaming and running away from him. "I got to hand it to you. This isn't terrible. And I'm actually happy. And no one is dead!" Luckily, no one heard him over the commotion, but it was nice. "...Thanks. For... You know."

Julie smiled. "No problem! It's the least I can do." She replied. "There's so much you haven't done... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it with you. Being with you too..." She replied. Then handed Nightmare her stick of cotton candy. "You want to try it? I know you don't have to eat but you can taste right?" She asked. "But yeah. It's great being with someone rather than being alone... Plus your a pretty decent guy, you know that?" She asked as she giggled slightly. Then blushed. "Thank you too." She added.

[Charmera]

Small Time Skip, Later that Day


Abandoned City, Arabian Peninsula
Prelude to Fight

Unknown to the fighters whom were currently residing in the Empty Quarter, there was another android Odysseus had not listed they would be fighting: Android 17. Brushing a hand through his jet black hair, he had to be by far one of the most powerful members of this force Red Ribbon and Hydra were sending to deal with them.

"Hmph." 17 said, grinning slyly. "Looks like they've decided to wait us out. They've fallen into our trap. They won't expect for us to attack them first, while they're resting."

"I agree." Agent Zeus said, obnoxiously inhaling a Sandvich. "Classic Military Move- they wouldn't expect us to attack while they're sleeping.."

The ground suddenly began to shake from an earthquake, toppling a few loose buildings in the process. Hades stood up, expecting the golem or the rock-girl to appear out of the ground in front of them all, but, it seemed it was only a tremor. "What was that?" Agent Zeus asked, spinning up his BFG. Hades settled down. "It was nothing. Go back to eating your idiot sandwich."

"When I get my hands on that pink gum-looking thing," 13 said, placing a fist between his palm. "I'm gonna redefine the definition of an ass-whoopin on her. She's been a bad girl."

"What else is you gonna do?" 15 asked, chuckling.

"I'm not going to do that you- dumbass!" 13 said. "That's something either 14 or 17 would do."

"Where is this pink thing anyways?" Zeus asked, scanning the area for any ki signatures. "I can't see shit in this God damn desert."

Out of nowhere, however, came a spike of energy. The sound of an instant transmission came from behind the Androids, as Zeus's proximity alarms went off suddenly. A long roundhouse kick sent all four androids into four different buildings, respectively. Coming from the IT site, Myosai steadied herself and charged a bright purple-white ki sphere into her two palms in front of herself. She then split her hands apart, Aiming both at the buildings and down at Hades and Zeus at the ground, Myosai both fired off two powerful Ki beams at the two targets. All of the targets dodged out of the way, however, but if they hadn't, they most likely would have been vaporized. The majin then unsheathed Janemba's Dimensional Sword and her own Ki-powered sword, merging the two weapons together to form one final weapon.

"Oh look. Pink thing arrived early." 13 said, grinning. "Ey, girlie, you better get ready for the whooping of your life!"

"I brought friends." Myosai grinned.

Just as she said, another tremor went through the sandy terrain. A drill-like rock formation pierced the ground, unleashing Magnus, who would have brought along Odysseus and Tina. The fissure, opening up right next to Zeus and Hades, knocked both of them out of the way and allowed Odysseus to strike.

First, he brought out his lever action shotgun, placing the weapon directly onto Agent Hades's forehead. Agent Poseidon pulled the trigger, blasting half of the Mutant-Augmented Human's face off and blowing him back several feet. Swinging the weapon around by the lever, the weapon dissolved into visible particles, re-assembling to form a fully-loaded Carl Gustav right in Agent Zeus's face.

"Eat this, motherfucker!" Odysseus yelled, squeezing the trigger. The force from the one-handed firing of the Carl Gustav sent Odysseus to the ground, and also blew off Agent Zeus's entire right arm and half of his face, leaving him to regenerate slowly and painfully. "God damn it! The motherfucker blew off my arm AND my face!"

Zeus's armor began morphing, rapidly repairing and self-assembling itself to up-armor itself, to compete with the high-tier Magnus and Tina and Odysseus's power weapons. While his face had to regenerate, he could deal with the Carl Gustav blowing half of it off, by producing an armored helmet piece of his armor around his head.

Zeus bashed his fists together, spinning up his BFG. "It's clobbering time, bitch!"

"That's not your line!" Magnus yelled.

While all of this was happening, 13, 14, and 15 looked at 17, whom was grinning still. "The other 17 should be arriving shortly. I will be ready by then. In the meantime, please deal with the pink creature." He ordered.

"Ya got it, bud." 13 grinned. "This is gonna be good. Let's kick some ass and chew some bubblegum!"

"Is he going to steal all our rock puns? That's like 20% of the fun of fighting right there." Tina sighed apathetically. In truth she was still a little tired and felt a little lazy, so she decided to see if she could finish this quickly. She slammed her foot down onto the ground to cause the ground to shift to sink and then suddenly soldify, so zues feet would be trapped. And then she summoned two massive earthen fists and proceeded to whale on the human.

[Charmera]

---

"I didn't know you were so eager to see blood again." Garnet remarked.

With that, she mounted Shadow as well, but instead of taking off immediately, knowing where she was meant to go, she paused. There was the voice in her head once again, the whisper, the familiar tug. It told her where to go, and it was not the strange dome in the barren world. It was a different place, but she knew, deep down inside her, that she had to go there first if she wanted to succeed in her mission, to vanquish the shadows stalking her at last.

Shadow seemed to perceive this as well, its bond with its mistress greater than what was apparent to any other, and so, the beast took off with its two riders. One second, it was on the soil of Japan, but the next, it had vanished completely from there. Suddenly, Garnet and Masami were in a blank space between dimensions, with Shadow following the thin, elusive path that led from one to the other. All around them, there seemed to be nothing, an absence of everything that would exist, the Phantom Horse and its two riders clearly an anomaly inside of that pervading, everlasting emptiness.

Then, just as quickly as the journey had started, it ended.

They now stood on a large corridor which led to a stairway. However, between them and these stairs, dozens of demons wielding swords and halberds appeared from portals made of swirling darkness, charging towards the two riders of Shadow. Garnet frowned, drawing her gun and firing at them, though some of the bullets seemed to glance off of their rusted armor, and even those that were hit did not go down immediately, despite seeming weakened.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight through this." The blonde woman said to her new companion.

"Indeed." Replied Masami. The journey had been disorientating, but she had to adapt quickly in order to survive her new environment. She glowed with shimmering fox fire as suddenly two tails popped out from behind her and suddenly everything became much clearer. Her blade materialise in her hand, though it could have been anything really. She was a tad bit annoyed they were dropped in the middle of a conflict rather than being able to stalk and assess, perhaps stealthily dispatch them. But she was nothing if not adaptable. She blocked an attack with a sword, glaring at the demon who struck at her. "Anything you can tell me about these demons?" She asked, suddenly sending forth a wave of fox fire at the horde and the one in front of her.

---

I don't know what being absorbed multiple times does, either, but I think... it makes me stronger, though I'm not sure. I don't think you can get me out of here either. I am right there, and I don't think that trying to shove me back into myself is going to work very well, not to mention it doesn't sound very pleasant. For better or for worse, I'd say you're stuck with me now.

Gilbert, still clutching her head, listened to the voice outside that claimed he was killed several times in order to be stopped.

"Insane rampage?" He mumbled. "Fuck... That's right... I did this."

Finally he stopped clutching his head and instead put his hands to the floor in order to help himself up. "I have to fix it..." He muttered. But before he stood up, he noticed the hand that was extended towards him. "Thanks." He said as he took it and got back to his feet.

After that, he started surveying the damage he had done, remembering bits and pieces of what had happened while his powers had gone out of control. But before he could reach any meaningful conclusion, he did a double take on the person standing in front of him, noticing it wasn't someone the voice from before could belong to. It wasn't a man, to begin with, and then, it also happened to be someone he recognized.

He blinked twice.

"Um... I suppose it's not a good moment to ask for an autograph?" He asked sheepishly, confused by Chorus' presence here. "What's someone like you doing here, anyway?" He then blinked once more, realizing something else. "...And where is the man who spoke earlier?"

"That man was me." spoke Verse. "Chorus would love to talk if able, however due to a recent incident a shadowy origination stole her voice. Which makes things like talking and singing... Much more difficult."

"Were on a quest of sorts to return her voice to her, but unfortunately you seem to have killed our only lead." the blade spoke, Chorus pointed at the man, half dust and half corpse.

"And yes. I am a talking sword. I have also copied your soul five times in the process of killing you."

Meanwhile, in verses head.
You seem surprisingly okay with the idea of being eternally trapped in a sword. Why is that?
Amy seemed to mentally analyse the newcomer. Id concur your hypothesis is likely true. You see we all grant Chorus a power, and if your presence is as strong as it feels then whatever power you give is going to be quite... Powerful.

[Charmera]

She hoped Kylie would remember they agree to meet here...

Nope.

Nope nope nope.

She totally forgot. Until RIGHT NOW.

While she was unpacking her belongings from her backpack at JQ Tower.

"Aw crap," Kylie mumbled, flopping down on a couch in the living area. "I hope it's not too important." Before she forgot, Kylie sent Katie a text to let her know she wasn't going to be there.

Code: Select all

Srry, I forgot 2 go 2 the library. Is it important?

The tower turned out great thanks to Naja's friend Killian, AKA SuperFlash. He had it all built in no time at all. Literally. And the top 5-or-so floors were dedicated solely to the JQ. Living rooms, a kitchen, more than needed bedrooms, a situation room, and much more. Kylie could probably get some batting practice in on the roof if she wanted.

But she still hadn't seen Cora since she left a while back. Not knowing that she was in the tower, talking to Val shortly ago. Kylie was too tired from school to worry about it, so she just turned on the TV to something funny, watching and laughing loudly.

Katie quickly checked her phone as it beeped. "Sorry..." She insincerely replied. Then when she saw the text her mind panicked.

Fuck... No wait! You can use this.

She quickly grabbed Eric's hand. "Oh. Crap! Totaly forgot. We agreed that we would have lunch at his really fancy place so we have reservations and that was the restaurant texting me now. We're already late so we better run." She spoke lightning fast, then ran out with Eric even faster.

Eric frowned once they were out of earshot. "Is it me or is she different... Like, more pretty...?"

"Say what?!"

"But more awkward and wierd..."

"Oh... Well I noticed the second part I guess."

Eric frowned. "Your ex is really wierd..."

"And yours aren't? You used to date a computer before I came along..."

Eric blushed. "ELBA wasn't just a computer!"

"Whatever you say..." She smiled, revealing she was only teasing her boyfriend. "Come on, I'll bring you to the JQ HQ. I think you'll like the changes.

Katie also texted Kylie back.

Code: Select all

Thank you so much. You just saved me from my creepy Ex...
You know Jasmine right?

[Charmera]

Nightmare

"Sure. I'll give it a try." He said and took a bite as best as he could. "Hmm... And it melts in your mouth. You're right. If there's one things humans did right, it's food. Well... I've never had a friend that talked back before. That and the murdering and taking over planets... But I know humans have an expression for this... Judging a book by it's cover." He said looking around as they walked by a Deep Friend Butter on a Stick Booth. "This would probably kill me if I were human..."

Julie looked over to the sticks. She quickly finished off her cotton candy. "Hmmm.... Fried butter... Wonder what that tastes like." She looked at it then frowned. "Eh. Probably not worth the calories... Although I'm not sure if Martians can get fat. "But yeah. I really should have tried to do this ages ago... I mean shouldn't superhero types like me be trying to search for more peaceful solutions rather than just bashing heads in? It comes off a tad hypocritical when our first response is to punch people when were trying to promote peace after all..."

[Charmera]

Katie also texted Kylie back.

Code: Select all

Thank you so much. You just saved me from my creepy Ex...
You know Jasmine right?

Code: Select all

Nope.
Who's she?

Kylie responded, in-between bouts of laughter. "Key and Peele, how do you do it?" She asked aloud.

Wait, was there something else I had to do today? Kylie thought. I don't remember anything, but then again I forgot about meeting Katie... Staring out the floor-to-ceiling window near this one living room, Kylie wracked her brain trying to remember. K&P didn't make it any easier, distracting her with Nazis and balls of yarn. "Now THAT'S funny!" She yelled in glee.

"Hi Kylie, I've missed you."

"CORA!" Kylie shrieked. As expected, she jumped up and ran to hug her. Kylie might have tackled them into a wall if Cora wasn't so strong. "Where ya been? We've been doing things for the past week, like stopping robberies and crazy people. You missed all the puns, girl! All. The. Puns." Kylie smiled while embracing her friend. Was this what she forgot?

Nah. Kylie was surprised by this, so it couldn't be that.

Code: Select all

Jasmine Ezekiel King. Like I said. She's my creepy Ex.
Could you do my a favour and ask Val to put her on the blacklist...

Suddenly Katie saw someone crash into the JQ towers. Something hitting it. Going into work mode she quickly used a nearby pay phone to connect to the electricity so she could make her way into the building. Popping up on the same floor as Kylie, she looked around. "What happened! I thought I Saw someone crash into here."

[Charmera]

Ashy

Balance

Max slowly turned his body around at the sudden, unfamiliar voice calling out to him. Though, he felt the tremors of something fairly powerful - though he chaulked it up to either Mir training or Otto doing whatever business he was up to at the moment - not the return of the Vokornians. How could he miss such a pivotal moment in the universe? Well, the person behind him would be the reason. She had short-cut black hair and a firm, toned build with large breasts, and upon looking at Ash, a dirty look on her face. "And who might you be?" The girl asked, looking from Ash and then to Max, Ashy's nude form the immediate topic.

"Uhh..." Max said, tearing his eyes away from the Vokornian's physical form and directly into the girl's eyes. "You see Val...this is Ash. That voice in my mind..."

Val crinkled her nose at this reveal, looking from Max's face back to Ash, then quickly twisting her head away in a huff. "Fine - have fun with your naked ladies." She said, walking out of the room with some stomps, sending equally powerful tremors throughout the palace. Max sighed, but quickly remembered that Ash had asked him a question.

"My friends owe me no debts, Ash." He said, avoiding eye contact with the revived Vokornian. "But, Mir is training on the second floor. Third door down, you can't miss it - big double doors. You can go see him there, I have something else I have to take care of real quick." He said, walking past Ash and heading for his large doors, leaving the nude woman behind and entering the beautiful, crisp air of the reborn Madworld. He felt the powers of the Chaos Emeralds drone within him, but what was chaos to order, and above all, Balance?

The mighty goddess hung and floated through the air, but Max did not know her personally. As old as our galaxy, he only knew of her and what she did. "Mighty Goddess," He called out, "I welcome you to my home. What is it that you desire?" He asked, throwing in a small quip on her nature. In truth, the only longing Max felt in his heart was to go and be with Val, calm her down, make sure she isn't upset over the whole Ashy business, but, that played second fiddle to a Celestial wish-maker, sadly.

Oh it works. Better than I could have ever hoped! Yes! she thought. Ash found joy in Max's surprise and discomfort. Especially as he had trouble looking away from her. Still, she wished she had not upset Val. She actually liked her quite a bit.

She shrugged, reasoning she could deal with it later. After all they were two reasonable adults who could settle their differences amicably once she explained that her nakedness was more out of a desire to elict a reaction and to show off rather than seduce her boyfriend. She walked into the training room with same grace she had years ago. A smile on her face as she pushed forward the double doors.

She paused as she watched Mir do his pull up. She felt the higher gravity, though it did not strain her as it would a normal human. She noticed it though, and realised some of her power must be held back at this point. She turned her mind to the being in the room. She smiled seductively as she saw the rippling, flexing muscles of Mir. She noticed the sweat on his back highlighting this. With a smile she moved toward him. She noticed them more now, as if she had seen the world only in black and white, and was now being introduced to high definition 3D.

"So, how many have you done?" She asked. She moved perhaps a little too close to the man as he worked.

[Charmera]

"What the hell was that!?" Kylie yelled, breaking out her ring and donning her suit. She was in the living room, and her room was a floor above, so she flew as fast as she could, leaving Cora behind, and opened her door to...

4 people in her room, and a broken window. One was red, one was shiny, one looked naked, and the other was too late to enter Kylie's vision before it was tinted with rage.

"Get out... OF MY ROOM!!" She screamed, swinging her ring and creating a wave of energy to push them all out from where they came. Weirdos are fine on the street, but this is KYLIE'S ROOM. It is sacred, and no amount of caped weirdos are going to enter it without her saying so.

And she said: no.

Adam unconsciously created a barrier of energy to shield the group from Kylie's fit of rage. "See? Your hardheadedness's led us to being attacked now by the very person we came here to find!" Jamal said at Ruby. He turned his attention to Kylie. "Uh, sorry but, we're really not here to fight."

"Well, I'm up for a fight." Ruby said, slamming her right fist into the palm of her left hand.

"Shut up!" Jamal shouted. "You've done more than enough to antagonize her."

"Maybe she just doesn't want naked men in her room." Ruby said, pointing at Adam, who had just now realized that he was naked.

"Oh..." Adam muttered, looking down at his body. He snapped his fingers and he immediately became clothed.

"Hey... Uh... What the fuck are you guys doing in our tower?" Asked Katie. Electricity was coursing from her. The lights in the building flickered slightly as she drew power from the building too. "Look. I don't care if your here to kill us or for trick or treating. Couldn't you have just used the front door? I mean we have to pay for that! I have to sort out the budget! Do you have any idea how much glass costs to move up this many floors!?" She asked, furious.

[Charmera]

Naja

She had heard a bunch of noise from above, and had to find her way to the floor in which it was happening: Katie's room. In which she saw someone who had a small resemblance to Alex, and a few others. "Umm... Am I interrupting something? I heard yelling and something about the Kree?" She asked making herself completely visible rather than just peaking inside the room. "Katie. We made that sign for a reason. Even if it is a bit weird, I hoped that you would at least follow your own rules."

Katie shrugged. "Hey, I didn't invite these guys. They crashed through the window and everyone started freaking out." She replied. "well. I freaked out too but that's beside the point. Aparantly they want Kylie for a bit."

[Charmera]

Cora made her way to the living room with the others when Naja came by asking what was going on. In the excitement neither Naja or Katie seemed to realize Cora was back from her trip, so she walked up to them and smiled, "Hi guys, I'm back." She said simply with a smile.

Katie was as sudden and swift in her greeting of her best friend in the world ever. She shot at speeds that made leopards look like overwheight slugs, she wrapped her arms around her friend and embraced her. "Cora! Oh my god you're back! I'm so sorry I didn't greet you!" She spoke as she let go and smiled. "I'm so glad your back! Now the whole team is together again... Well... Kylie is going to go to space, but mostly together!"

[Charmera]

Ember
Ember isles

Normally Ember would be incapable of staying outside of the spotlights for longer than a day, but more pressing matters have forced her attention. The little 2 feet tall, 5 feet long baby dragon had a bit of a growth spurt and was now an 11 feet high, 26 feet long angsty teenage dragon. And just like any teenager, rules were not something he exactly liked, and being a dragon he was every bit as smart, if not smarter than a human adult would be. "Azure! How many times must I tell you to clean yourself before entering the house after having taken a swim in the volcano. I decorated this place just the way you wanted it and you're getting lava all over your room." Azure simply responded with a short powerful exhale which basically translated to an I don't care.

"Don't you take that tone to me young man, now clean up after yourself, blow the lava away, drink it up, I don't care just make sure you get rid of it." Azure responded by looking away and walking away, as a response Ember vanished and appeared directly in front of Azure "Azure Puff Emberson! As long as you live in this house you will follow the rules of this house! Now clean up your room!" Ember was really mad, but Azure wasn't planning to back down just yet, this time he released a powerful roar that could be heard across the entire island wile blowing blue fire in Ember's direction. Azure's fire had grown very strong, no metal or stone could take it without melting, but he still wasn't even close to the level Ember was at.

So ember simply responding by roaring back and blowing her hellish red fire against Azure's blue flames. Azure's flame might be able to melt almost anything, Ember's fire could rival and beat the fire of a star. The blue fire was quickly overpowered and the hellish red flames from Ember quickly enveloped Azure, it didn't harm him one bit of course, but this wasn't about hurting it was about showing dominance. And as soon as it was made clear Ember was still the dominant one, Azure walked over to the little pools of lava he had made and licked them up wile muttering grumbling noises of protest under his breath.

Ember sighed and walked outside the room giving Azure his privacy "It can be so hard being a single mom, you'd think that once they grow old enough to help around the house things get easier, but then you discover your little boy became an angsty teen with raging hormones that tell him to fight the system. Probably not even realizing how good they have it. Oh well, in the end there's nothing more rewarding than a child's adoration, and I know he still has that. Even if he hides it behind that shell of hormones."

"They grow up so fast don't they? Though, really I wouldn't know..." Commented Aqua. As usual she had snuck up behind ember without realising it. Her ability and control over the three states of water made getting almost anywhere quickly and quietly vey easy for her. "Oh! Sorry if I came up here unannounced. I thought I could talk to you since your my only friend and all..." She spoke. "I mean I tried to make friends with a bunch of Dolphins, but ummm... Dolphins are real jerks, let's just leave it at that."

She moved a little more towards Azure. "It must be nice having a kid..." She remarked.