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

[The Republic of Atria]

"A few minutes? You don't have that long." Nightmare said popping up all over the planet, covering it in a literal blanket of darkness. "You can't kill me. Run away and I'm sure there'll be plenty of other planets I can break." He said. Alex was attacking the monsters Nightmare spawned. But for every 2 he cut down 4 more popped up to take their place. "Problem of the Hydra Goldilocks. I'm not holding back anymore. And besides, why are you helping them? How many times have they attacked or threatened our world? You should be helping me. I'm doing the rest of the universe a favor! They're hypocritical, violent and stupid. They're better off dead! You have no chance at beating me. You would have to use your full power. But you're afraid. You're afraid of your powers. Because you might hurt someone with them. Grow up!"

Alex stopped for a second thinking about what Nightmare said. The Masakis had threatened Earth many times in the past. And even recently they've done it. Not everything that Nightmare said was nonsense. Alex looked at the Masakis slightly conflicted. There were no civilians on the planet so there was no chance of that convincing him. Nightmare's plan was more to stall Alex than anything. "That's right Goldilocks. Now you're seeing the light. Funny how it took me to show it to you. You're the one with light powers. Look at how arrogant they are. Their gods don't even hold a candle to us. And they think they're some sort of big shots." Nightmare said. "How many times have we forgiven and forgot all their threats and attempts on Earth? This is just pest control. You hear me you little men?"

[Charmera]

"Whew... Well, that should do it."

Gilbert stood in the entrance to the Batcave, fully restored after its collapse at the hands of Salis. It had taken him a while, gathering the power necessary for the deed, but finally, it was done. He'd done his good deed for the month, seeing how this base was vital for the restoration of Gotham City. If he owed anything to the Batgirl (and that debt could only ammount to his breakfast, at most) then it was more than paid for now.

However, not everything was well. The young man was utterly exhausted, drained of energy, and as he looked down, he noticed that the arm he'd used displayed signs of rot, which meant that, for all of his preparation, he had overdone it. He felt his consciousness begin to numb even as he stumbled towards the exit, and at some point, he stopped being able to distinguish one moment from the next, with everything blurring together.

Without quite realizing how, he found himself out in the streets. Around him was an aura that slowly ground everything around him to dust, stealing its time in order to replenish his own power, or more accurately, the power of the Time Demon lurking inside of him. He was constantly moving, so the damage to his surroundings wasn't as great as it could have been, but even so, it was something noticeable. Moreover, he had restored his power by now, yes, but the damage to himself had been done. In exhausting himself to such point earlier, Gilbert had awakened a monstruous part of his psyche that was created when he was possessed by the Time Demon. He had lost control, and was now little more than a beast.

Even through all of this, his consciousness was half-awake, but there was little it could do. It was now a passenger to something far darker.

And so it was that the time beast in a man's guise found itself tearing through the streets, rushing through the buildings and leaving large gaps in them as a result of draining part of their very existence in his mindless rampage. He continued in this fashion until, eventually, he found himself stopped by something. Chains of darkness bound him to the place where he stood, and in front of him was a man in an elegant suit. He was old, gray hair on his head, but he seemed to be in a relatively good shape despite this. Had Gilbert been truly conscious, he might have noticed that the building he was currently in was a rather lavish one, belonging to a rich person no doubt. But none of that mattered now.

"I do not know who you are, but you should have thought better before breaking into the abode of Tobias Crowe." The old man stated factually, without boast or pride, as he held up his hand, clearly the one controlling the darkness that chained the young man to the ground.

Suddenly, a dozen armed men entered the room and trained their weapons at Gilbert, before firing. The bullets shred through him with ease, turning him into a mangled, bloody mess. By all means, he was dead, dead before he even hit the ground. He was dead.

Then the next instant, he wasn't.

Roaring, he arced both of his arms towards himself, as if harshly pulling something towards him via strings or chains. When he did this, all of the soldiers in the room screamed in unison. After a moment, the only thing that remained were their bones, and some slices of rotting flesh.

Tobias, however, stood impassible in front of Gilbert, still maintaining the chains, even though it was by now apparent that more would be needed to restrain the demon. "Well, well, it looks like you're going to be a difficult one, hmm? Let's see how you deal with this." He said calmly, and brought up his other hand, making a motion that was as if he was pulling something from the air in front of him. And then, in front of Gilbert, something manifested. It was a beast of darkness, its shape constantly shifting, though the one constant, its single glowing yellow eye, vaguely reminded of the young man it now faced.

The beast pounced on Gilbert, tackling him to the ground and rearing back its monstruous fist before sending it crashing towards his head. It was crushed instantly, his brains unceremoniously splattering across the floor and walls of the room. But death could not hold him, and so, in a moment, he was whole again, howling and struggling against the dark beast. He kneed it in the chest with strength a hundred times his own, sending it flying into the ceiling as he swiftly mended his leg, which fractured under the stress of the impact, causing him to howl once again in mindless pain and rage. As the beast came crashing down, he prepared to attack it once again, but this one time, it appeared that the beast was swifter, lifting him by the neck and repeatedly slamming its fist into his stomach, causing him to cough blood and even coming right out the other side, though his body was restored quickly after every single one of those instances. Finally, tired of the pain, he sent his fist barreling through the creature's chest with a force even greater than that of his previous attack, but the beast had no heart, and seemed unfazed as it simply continued pounding the man with all of its dark might.

It seemed like a stalemate, though a very unorthodox one: the beast could not truly kill Gilbert, but in turn, he could do nothing against the beast, all of his attacks being futile as they crashed against the mass of darkness that was his enemy.

But then, Gilbert took hold of the creature's glowing eye. It roared and roared, but he did not let go, clawing at it with an ever growing strength until finally, he tore it off. With a bloodcurdling scream, the creature collapsed into a pool of darkness that quickly scurried away into the shadows of the room.

"No... impossible... what kind of monster are you?" Tobias said, eyes going wide with terror as he faced the true beast in the room.

Gilbert roared once again, suddenly clutching himself as if he was in great pain, but then, he advanced towards the old man and placed a hand on his head. Tobias felt himself age in instants, his senses and his organs all failing one by one until he was well and truly dead. But it did not stop there, for even after death he was drained, his very bones turning to dust.

He was still wildly out of control, but the enemy was gone and so, for now at least, the beast in the guise of a man fell to one knee, resting for a moment.

Chorus walked in on the scene, a frown on her face as she looked upon the dead man and the other man standing over him. She unsheathed Verse, glaring at the man who killed Tobias.

Is that? Tobias?

Too young. No unfortnately the man he is kneeling over is Tobias Crowe. Poor bastard. Though... he looks older than I remember him being.

Wait so. What do we do now then? I mean our link to the Five is now gone.

Yup. Unless of course you have a time machine we're not getting him back. We're not going to get to Janice, and the trail will grow cold like a piece of ham left in the fridge too long. All our effort will have been in vain...

The grip tightened on the sword in rage. She had worked hard. No one who knew her could deny she had worked hard for everything for the life she had before she lost her voice. Sure there were people saying she was an overrated hack who got to the top of the charts with connections rather than actual talent, but in reality she worked her ass off at every performance and put her all into every song. And now all that work was going to be ruined.

Verse sensed her growing anger, and told jack to silence himself. He did not.

...You'll loose all the fame and love...

Sword gripped tight enough to strangle someone to death, her eyes were not squarely on Gilbert.

...And you'll never be able to sing again.

That was the last straw. Chorus screamed in rage, but nothing came out. A wire shot out and wrapped around gilberts neck, tightening. Bring him back! Bring my fucking voice back you asshole! She mentally shouted, putting all the blame for the shitty past few days on this one guy. Not often she resorted to attacking someone not attacking her, but she was tired and angry and cold and more than a little fed up at this point.

"A few minutes? You don't have that long." Nightmare said popping up all over the planet, covering it in a literal blanket of darkness. "You can't kill me. Run away and I'm sure there'll be plenty of other planets I can break." He said. Alex was attacking the monsters Nightmare spawned. But for every 2 he cut down 4 more popped up to take their place. "Problem of the Hydra Goldilocks. I'm not holding back anymore. And besides, why are you helping them? How many times have they attacked or threatened our world? You should be helping me. I'm doing the rest of the universe a favor! They're hypocritical, violent and stupid. They're better off dead! You have no chance at beating me. You would have to use your full power. But you're afraid. You're afraid of your powers. Because you might hurt someone with them. Grow up!"

Alex stopped for a second thinking about what Nightmare said. The Masakis had threatened Earth many times in the past. And even recently they've done it. Not everything that Nightmare said was nonsense. Alex looked at the Masakis slightly conflicted. There were no civilians on the planet so there was no chance of that convincing him. Nightmare's plan was more to stall Alex than anything. "That's right Goldilocks. Now you're seeing the light. Funny how it took me to show it to you. You're the one with light powers. Look at how arrogant they are. Their gods don't even hold a candle to us. And they think they're some sort of big shots." Nightmare said. "How many times have we forgiven and forgot all their threats and attempts on Earth? This is just pest control. You hear me you little men?"

"Well look and who's back. I thought you absorbed this joker or something." The thought came into Alex's head. Appearing next to the Golden Guardian was a green lady, covered in green with a green ring and a smile on her face despite the fact she one the same planet as a nightmare beast whom she was once afraid of. But fear didn't effect her. Not anymore. "Hey Alex, long time no see." She spoke. "Thought I'd see what you're up to. Probably came at a bad time but whatever." She shrugged. Then looked over to nightmare. "And I see you're here too... Still eating planets asshole?" She was perfectly aware of what she was doing, what nightmare could do and so forth, but she wasn't going to cower in fear of him every again.

[The Fallen Jedi]

- Snip -

Asumar and Kazuko charged forward with the Alpha Units, fighting alongside the first line of defense as they relentlessly cut down the opposition that Nightmare and his entities had posed, they listened to what Nightmare spoke about them, with Asumar Invading the Earth many years ago, before he had even met Alex or Nightmare, even with Kazuko launching an attempted clandestine operation on Earth to retrieve the Alpha and Omega Brothers. Asumar felt entirely guilty for attacking Earth just out of spite, and he knew that there would be nothing to do to reverse his guilt, but he continued to fight on "I may have launched an Invasion on Earth out of spite, but in the ensuing aftermath of the invasion, I've seen the light and how it only remained hidden behind my eyes when I turned away from the Light, but..." Asumar's Celestial Transformation activated on it's own as he never ceased fighting against Nightmare's entities.

"I now have people that I care for, the very people who had hope in me when I fell so low to the darkness..." Asumar traded a brief glance towards Kazuko before he continued fighting, his moves increasingly becoming a blur as he began to use the power of the Speed Force to tear through literal legions of Nightmare "I have a son who has faith that the Masaki Name can be redeemed, hope that I will one day redeem myself..." The Six Black Orbs that encircled Asumar's back began to vibrate rapidly, unleashing waves of spike-like tendrils that attracted themselves towards the Nightmare entities, serving as Asumar's extensions "If my son has faith that I can be redeemed..." Asumar's entire figure began to glow angelic blue as emotions of hope surged through him "Then I hope that one day..." A Barrier of Blue Energy surrounded his being as he began to power up "I WILL BE REDEEMED!!!" Asumar yelled as hundreds if not thousands of beams of energy shot forth from Asumar's Energy Barrier, going after every entity that Nightmare had spawned, and when they divided themselves, so did the Energy Beams themselves.

Kazuko moved quickly, communicating with the rich nature that lived on Sigma Galli Prime, Asumar's own resolve even fueling his own resolve "You may think that I would have attacked Earth instantly?" Hundreds of Vines emerged from the ground, with Kazuko riding the largest vine as he surged forward to meet the entities of Nightmare, his desire to protect everything he loves was burning strong within him "I know much more than to attack Earth until I have all evidence complied, they may produce entities as dangerous as you, but until the Governments of Earth will declare open hostilities towards myself or the Dynasty, then I will never attack Earth, no matter how beneficial it will be!" Although Kazuko did feel somewhat weary about the entities that the Governments of Earth produced, he pledged that no matter how agitated he became towards the heroes of Earth, Kazuko would never attack without any logical reason. The Vine that Kazuko rode on then nosedived down towards the armies of Nightmare, with Kazuko leaping off of it, speeding towards the ground like a missile.

Kazuko shifted his weight to his feet, allowing him to crash to the ground on his feet, and then with unnatural speed, Kazuko proceeded to attack Nightmare's entities head on, regardless of what happened "I will defend my home down to the last bit of blade of grass If I must!" The massive vine then planted itself on the ground, causing a mass of smaller yet sharper vines to shoot in every direction that the hellish entities were, with some of the vines grabbing onto their selected entries, throwing them towards Kazuko, who intercepted the entities thrown towards him and took them down with everything he had, not bothering to hold any ounce of his power against Nightmare, he had just pledged to protect his home down to the very last blade of grass and by the One-Above-All, he would maintain this pledge until the very day that he would die, if Nightmare was not defeated here, then his galaxy, HIS home would be destroyed and streets would run red with the blood of the innocents who were in no way involved with this current conflict, and to see such a hellish vision come true? Kazuko would have never forgiven himself as ever since he was born, he witnessed the dark ages of his people and even the golden ages of his people, golden ages that he himself struggled to establish, and Kazuko was very much unwilling to have it end here, even if he had to put his life on the line, Kazuko would defend his home until the end of time itself.

[The Republic of Atria]

"Julie! Hey. Long time no see. I did. But clearly that wasn't enough. He has some crazy hatred towards these guys for some odd reason. Like he's even more spiteful and manipulative than usual." Alex explained. Julie was certainly a welcome sight. An old friend. "Unfortunately I'm at a loss for how to beat him. I could go all out, but there's a good chance I fry half the planet in doing so. What I'm saying is that I'm open to suggestions." He said and burned away several blocks worth of Nightmare's darkness only for it to grow back. "Did I mention I finally got a girlfriend?"

"Where to begin with taking apart you fleshlings. The Martian. Someone has a ton of emotional baggage don't they? Let's play with that for a little bit." Nightmare said and created perfect replicas of some Martians. "Oooh. Alright Lantern. If you wanna trash talk. I'll teach you some manners." Nightmare said and sicced his constructs on Julie.

"Oh the brave and Mighty Asumar. God, the inside of your head is toxic. I think it would have been healthier for me to just jump into a star rather than list to you babble on and on and nonsense. Pride this, and Ryuichi that. Killian something or other, blah blah blah. But you've got emotional baggage too." He said creating constructs that resembled both Killian and Ryuichi. The constructs of Killian taunting him for being weak, and the Ryuichi ones asking why Asumar left him alone to face Killian by himself. "Yes Asumar. You'll be redeemed once I make a mess of what used to be your body."

"And yet you persist in designing weapons to combat them Kazuko. You rule an entire galaxy, and you're scared of one little mud ball? How pathetic. I really can't insult you because you're just that sad. So scared of nothing. You're like a little kid who thinks he tough until he gets knocked around once or a dozen times by anything bigger than a flea. Speaks volumes for your empire doesn't it?" Nightmare said creating constructs of Waller and Fury, who instead of attacking Kazuko, talked about various weaknesses of the Masaki Galaxy and how it could be brought down with minimal effort.

"Don't think I forgot about you Goldilocks. Prancing around playing hero and having sex with women. Well a woman. If you can call her that. She's half snake! Snakes aren't mammals smart guy. It ain't likely you'll ever have kids. Which I can be happy about. Last think I want is a bunch more of you running around." As expected, Nightmare created constructs of Naja, which began to berate Alex for everything from not being the perfect hero he was designed to be, to the size of his lil' Guardian.

[Charmera]

"Julie! Hey. Long time no see. I did. But clearly that wasn't enough. He has some crazy hatred towards these guys for some odd reason. Like he's even more spiteful and manipulative than usual." Alex explained. Julie was certainly a welcome sight. An old friend. "Unfortunately I'm at a loss for how to beat him. I could go all out, but there's a good chance I fry half the planet in doing so. What I'm saying is that I'm open to suggestions." He said and burned away several blocks worth of Nightmare's darkness only for it to grow back. "Did I mention I finally got a girlfriend?"

"Where to begin with taking apart you fleshlings. The Martian. Someone has a ton of emotional baggage don't they? Let's play with that for a little bit." Nightmare said and created perfect replicas of some Martians. "Oooh. Alright Lantern. If you wanna trash talk. I'll teach you some manners." Nightmare said and sicced his constructs on Julie.

"Well you could always take him off world. Nightmare is empowered by emotion. So taking away the object of his hatred might help." She commented. Then frowned. "Wait you have what-?" She asked, suddenly interrupted by Nightmare. She gritted her teeth in anger as she saw him summon the martians. "You DARE defile my people like that!" She snapped. A will to fight coursing through her as she blasted several of them. She knew they weren't real. But it still pissed her off, got to her as she blasted through them. It hurt her to do it, but she needed to destroy these mockeries of what her people were. Some tears stained her eyes as she tore through them, leaving nothing to regenerate. But she still had the will to do it. They're not real. She thought to herself. They're not real.

[New Neros]

-snip

Emerald Crusade
The God and his Goddess

The pump and the flare of testosterone begin to subside for Mir, who casually discussed with Ash on the parameters of the fight. "It's not the greatest of options, but in my time knowing Otto, he's still an Asgardian at heart. He puts up that front of being a good boy, justice, and all of that jazz, but deep down, he really does want to start throwing punches now and again. I found that out whenever we sparred." Mir thought towards Ash, a smile on his face. "I felt like the punching bag for his issues. Oh well, it comes with being a friend." Max nodded idly, knowing he had no place in Mir and Otto's scuffle - the two wanted to fight, so he let them. But still, it was good to see that Mir and Otto developed into a great friendship in such a short amount of time.

"We're here." Max said aloud, the two men escaping from the teleportation tube and entering a massive, cathedral-like chamber that was dimly lit and smelt fondly of flowers, for some reason. While Mir reacted to it by looking around, Max stared his eyes directly forward, eyeing the person who sat upon the throne meant only for him, but holding no anger or disdain in his glare - as he had intended to share his throne with her regardless. The returning stare of the girl was uncharacteristic of her, according to what Max knew, but their exchange was tense.

"What brings you...'here'?" The woman said, sliding a finger from her chin towards her lip, stopping at the corner as she looked down the bridge of her nose at her uninvited guests. "To my court..." She said, a slight tremor being felt in the distance, Max not daring to break his line of sight. "To my world..." The earthquake shook even mightier, Mir glancing backwards and then towards the woman again with a concerned face. "To the realm of the Mad Goddess...Valarie Valentine?" Mad Max began walking towards her, Val's face hardly changing as he did so.

A swath of gravitation began to assault the true Mad God, each step suddenly shattering the places on the floor where he walked, but it did not so much as break his stride. Now, concern grew on Val's face. She sat upright and pressed even harder, Mir having to dig himself onto the floor - the gravity assaulting Max drawing Mir into his very orbit. Objects around the room tore themselves from the walls and attempted to slam into him, but he offered only a hand - the shields, swords, and spears stopping their motion instantly. "Don't come any closer." Val commanded, to which, surprisingly, Max complied.

"Who are you, then?" She demanded, earning her full and undivided attention.

"Maxwell Morningstar." He spat, Val's face contorting as if she had seen a ghost, yet not one in real, everyday life. More like one in her dreams, a name she hears, a face she sees, now manifested before her here and now. Maxwell stood tall and muscle-bound, as Val had seen him, his blonde hair rather unkempt and dark, and his blue eyes striking and piercing deep into anything he looks at. Those same eyes she would see staring into her in her deepest of dreams. Yet, she didn't feel fear then, or here, but a sense of curiosity and ease. She would see those baby blues in the middle of a nightmare and watch as the storm clouds ripped away from the skies of her mind.

"And I'm Czar-Mir!" The Daxamite called, Val ignoring him and having no clue who he was.

"What brings you to my domain then, Maxwell?...And Mir."

"I require the use of the teleportation arrays."

"How do you -'"

"I designed and built them myself. In a world not unfamiliar to this one, actually. A cataclysm occurred, and things were put back together. However, they were not put back together correctly, and I intend to fix it. I came to ask permission from you, Val, but I was going to use them anyways." He said flatly, Val turning her nose up at the suggestion, but lowering her head down and concealing the upper part of her face.

"You may use them...but I need you to tell me something." She began, her face and head unmoving as Max picked his own up a bit to hear her better. "Where do I know you from? Why do I see you whenever I close my eyes? The way you talk excites my heart, your eyes set my heart on fire. They make me sweat and feel nervous, scared and excited all at once. Why do I feel like this, Maxwell? Who are you?"

Max felt a tug in his deepest emotions, a distant longing to embrace Val, but was overall ecstatic yet concerned. When Doom recreated the Multiverse, he fixed a lot of things incorrectly, it's fine, he's human, but one thing he got right was Val and her love for Mad Max. He dropped his eyes and smiled, walking over to Val as she cupped her hands around her eyes and face. For a moment, Maxwell thought of just keeping the world as it was, because Val still loved him, and they could still be together. But...something tugged at him to continue on his own crusade regardless, a human drive to not take the easy way out. He stood before the Mad Goddess, who lifted her face from her hands to reveal it's tear stained cheeks.

Bending down quickly and surprising Val, Max laid a light kiss upon her forehead, placing his hand on the side of her hand to balance it as well. She took a steep inhale of breath, her eyes widening and her pupils dilating incredibly as her mind tried desperately to remember the past. Maxwell tore himself away from Val, keeping his hand on her face for a moment. More tears from in her eyes as Val reached up and placed her own small hand on his large one, pressing it harder against her head. She understood who he was, what he was, and what he will be, but that was just something basic. She whimpered, muttering to Max, "Please...fix everything, okay?"

He gave her a stern nod, and broke his hand away from Val, the girl reaching out for it to hold on just a little bit longer. He had to, or else he would keep going and stall even longer. He wanted things how it used to be, and so did Val, so he hadn't the time to waste. Not another moment without her. Max looked at Mir as he walked, "C'mon." He said quickly, walking briskly down a carpeted hall towards the teleportation chambers. "Mobius awaits."

[The Fallen Jedi]

- Snip -

The Final Charge: The Sun Shines Brightly upon the Masaki

Asumar felt a pang hit his heart as the construct of Killian taunted his weakness, about being called inferior and weak, while Ryuichi's voice caused the greatest amount of harm to him, the guilt of having left Ryuichi without a father, even though brief, was so great that Asumar stopped fighting for a moment as his head hung low "I've made choices that badly affected the people I love, to make them feel the pain of loss that resulted in my death, It was the greatest mistake that had I ever made..." Asumar's teeth bared, his eyes kept hidden by the bangs of his hair "Father!" Asumar's eyes widened when he heard his son speak to him "I forgive you!" Asumar quickly looked up when he heard his son say that he forgave him.

Sure enough, Ryuichi made his appearance on the battlefield, fighting off the hellish entities that tried to approach his father, Ryuichi was fighting with every bit of unrestricted power that he had unlocked from releasing the emotional barriers from within him "Don't think for one second dad..." Ryuichi sliced through the avatars of both Kilian and himself "That I will never forgive you, I will be mad at you or even wonder why you leave me alone at times, but I know that you would do everything in your power to protect me, Kazuko, Shimura..." Ryuichi's fist vibrated as he sent his fist crashing into the ground "And everyone that you hold dear!" Ryuichi shouted, his words reaching out to Asumar.

For a moment, it seemed that Asumar's world had gone blank, leaving himself the only one remaining in this world, he recalled everything that he had done, from fighting Kazuko on Rhen Var, to his botched Invasion of Earth, even his experience with death when Kilian managed to kill him in cold blood: "When will you realize that I will never change, not until peace is reinforced with power!" "One day I will be even with Kilian, I will show him my true might..." Asumar's eyes widened even further when he heard his own voice on the verge of death "Ryuichi... Run..." This was the breaking point for Asumar. Letting out a yell, Asumar's power began to cause the ground around him to rise up, a newfound surge of power from the depths of his heart rising up and pushing his body to it's absolute limit without strain associated with the power-up.

The battlefield fell silent as Asumar's head snapped up towards the army of Nightmares, the burning resolve to protect his loved ones burning brighter than his rivalry with Kilian, and as a matter of fact, his rivalry against Kilian completely dissolved as his desire to protect his loved ones overshadowed every other priority that he had made for himself. "I will admit that I've made some mistakes in my life, numerous mistakes that made me doubt even my own existance..." Asumar took a step forward, causing Sigma Galli Prime to shudder at Asumar's overbearing presence "But don't you doubt that the day my son was born that I left him behind!" Asumar took off at speeds that not even he knew were possible, his voice resonating all around Sigma Galli Prime "I made sure that no matter what happened to me, my son would be taken care of and raised properly because if he fell, I would never forgive myself!"

Alt-Asumar's eyes opened when he realized that his entire spiritual essence was being expelled by the very same person who had willingly allowed him to maintain residence while he healed "What in the hell is happening?" Alt-Asumar wondered, before he heard Asumar's voice reach out to him, uttering only a single phrase "Protect the inheritor..." Alt-Asumar realized that he was being brought out for a reason, he chuckled as he allowed himself to be pulled out "It's about time..." Instead of a black mass being ejected from Asumar's body, it was a grey mass, revealing that Alt-Asumar's dark intentions had disappeared entirely, and the burden of darkness that the Alternate Counterpart was forced to inherit was now taken by Asumar himself, who now wanted to be the one to hold the burden of those he cared, Alt-Asumar included.

Upon emerging, Alt-Asumar looked around quickly, his entire body had been restored to the point before he was badly burnt by Talak, turning to his mainstream counterpart, Alt-Asumar nodded "Thank you..." Alt-Asumar spoke before he too joined his counterpart on the battlefield, fighting alongside him and his mainstream counterpart's son. Alt-Asumar let out a regretful sigh as he continued fighting "If only I had ended out like this Asumar, I would have someone to care about." Alt-Asumar said quietly, remembering how he killed his own universe's counterpart in cold blood. Alt-Asumar looked up to the sky with a slight smile "Watch over me my brother, what I do today was for everything that you tried to do for me!"

---

Kazuko came to a stop when apparitions of both Nick Fury and Amanda Waller came before him, taunting about how easy it would be to take over their Galaxy with relative ease. But instead of suffering a brief backlash of emotions like his brother, Kazuko smiled as he walked forward "No matter what, even if it would be easy to take control of my Galaxy..." Kazuko's aura flared to life as his happiness began to empower him "My home is special, like Earth is special to Alexander, to Kilian, to Talak, to Daud, to Dapp, to everyone who I have battled against..." Kazuko remarked, recalling the time that Daud and Dapp launched an attack on Rhen Var to teach Kazuko a lesson, one of which he never forgot, even thanking Daud for doing such a thing "Like them, I will do everything In my power to protect my home, the people who look up to me, and those who look up to me for guidance, I will show them the generosity and love that they deserve, and as the Grand Warlord of the Masaki Dynasty-"

Kazuko warped himself towards the apparitions of Nick Fury and Amanda Waller, both of his hands extended to the both of them "As Grand Warlord of the Dynasty, I hereby show you my resolve and my will, the living testament to my love for all life!" The two walls the kept the Grand Warlord's temple crashed to the ground, all of the divisions surging forward to meet Nightmare's entities in combat "My brothers, my sons, my creations, and those who wish to follow my path..." Kazuko began to donate his energy to his armies that reformed their ranks around him as the aura from each individual of Kazuko's second and third line of defense glowed brightly, as if they were the stars in the sky. An army of vines burst from the ground "Show them the power... OF THE MASAKI!!!" Kazuko cried out, his armies surging forward, being assisted by Spera's Tendrils of Pure Energy, and Kazuko's vines of nature, the entire Masaki Army charging forward with a mighty roar that echoed all across the planet, with Kazuko leading his forces forward in a mighty charge against overwhelming odds, but to Kazuko's forces, this was the charge of the Masaki, and if they were to die against Nightmare, they would do so with honor, not pride, but the honor they upheld in the name of the Old Masaki Dynasty.

[Charmera]

---

Garnet frowned when the Tengu leader dodged, but she did not particularly expect him to just go down without an issue. Every enemy that decided to get in her way had been rather stubborn thus far, so she doubted that would change anytime soon. The shadow beasts, Garlic, and now this bird scum, they were all little more than eyesores to her. The previous ones had all received their punishment, soon this one would as well.

First, though, she had to deal with all the underlings attacking her. As soon as the arrows were loosed against her, Shadow began galloping across the battlefield, dodging every arrow for its mistress while she fought against the hordes of Tengu with gun and blade, brandishing the crystalline sword with supernatural expertise as she released volley after volley of Misery's soul-destroying bullets upon the fiends attacking her. Much like Misery, the sword had endowed her with an ability to use it which she most certainly didn't possess before acquiring it. This, coupled with the rest of her armament and her powerful mount, allowed her to fight off the Tengu swarm with relative ease, picking off the archers with the gun while fighting off the melee assailants with her sword, though by the time she was done with the underlings, she was covered in their blood. Shadow, curiously enough, was completely unstained.

Seeing the Tengu leader attack her directly, Garnet grinned. This was what she had been waiting for. Quickly putting away Misery, she instead materialized Agony and met the Youkai's blade with her gauntleted fist, an explosion of red light following the impact as the sword shattered. She was about to follow up and stab the leader to death, but then, she heard Masami's warning. A distraction? What were they even distracting her for?

She soon realized, as Shadow abruptly moved to dodge a ball of fire sent towards her from beyond a nearby gate. Standing there was what could only be described as an enormous chicken with a beak engulfed in fire. Unlike Masami, Garnet did laugh at the sight.

"That's your trump card? That's what you were waiting for?" She mocked the unarmed Tengu leader as she leveled Misery at the Basan and fired.

---

The Chicken was surprisingly able to take the shot and resist the damage. The animal barely needed a soul to function, as it was little more than just instinct and fire. It would need more soul and physical damage to put this bird down. Though, considering the look of mad hunger on this things face, she might have to pump that damage in quickly. The bird vomited forth flame like a mad flamethrower, and the Tengu hopped on it's back. Smiling as the trained bird ignored it's kin and fought the mammal before it. "Yes! The Basan. Loyal to a fault and too brainless to die. Able to cook humans like the pigs they are."

Speaking of Mammals, Masami was dodging great big flaming balls of fire. Blue ghostfire signed the grass of the temple as the massive chicken charged. Thinking fast Masami charged the chicken, blasting it with her own fox fire. As she closed the distance between it she stabbed into it's birdlike flesh. She smirked, only to be suddenly tossed away. She rolled with the impact. Drawing another Katana that she generated, she charged the beast again, as it spun around breathing fire she looked for an opening desperately, some of her black clothing was being singed.

The Chicken decided to make it's charge, and the Kitsune barely dodged a sudden downwards peck as the chicken Made it's assault. Though that would prove to be it's undoing, for while pecking the Kitsune plunged her blade deep within the chickens neck. The beast stopped. Looked up.

Then started pecking again.

Crap! How tough is this thing? it was entirely possible it might be dying, the giant monster simply didn't realise it yet. It then got tired of pecking and breathed fire upon it's target, though the flame was considerably weakened. The Kitsune ran under the flame, towards the chicken as she jumped onto it. Summoning another blade she began sawing through it's neck. After a bit of this, where the chicken couldn't reach her, she finally managed to kill it, the chicken falling down. She sighed, blood covering her.

Suddenly she felt a slight glow, around her an aura of white apeared, the blood evaporating into red mist around her as she glowed. She felt it, a surge of power as a second tail came in next to the first. A smile of joy came to her face as she grabed it with a soft squee. "Finally! My second tail!" No longer would she be Masami the one tail in her Clan. She held the tail, inspecting it. Smiling for a moment. Then she turned to Garnet as the other Basan, wondering how they were doing.

[Turmenista]

"And you saved us again.." Magnus said, slowly opening the sphere of obsidian around the three. "Okay, Poseidon, your new friends are getting on my nerves!" He growled, thrusting his palms in the direction of the flashes.

Underneath the approaching, the sand caved in, swallowing all of the troops inside an inescapable chasm. He thrust another hand outwards, sending forth hill-sized modes of sand which hardened over the hole, trapping the enemies inside. For good. They wouldn't be bothering them anytime soon..

"Now, as I was saying or should be saying: We need a break."

Odysseus stopped. "You just thought of that? You never thought to give us at least a little break." He stared right at magnus.

Magnus quickly shushed Odysseus by placing a finger on his lips and saying "Sh...". "Get this, I'll get us our own little Private volcanic island off the coast of.. erm.. wherever we are-"

"UAE." Odysseus corrected.

"Yeah. Ooh-a-eey.." Magnus repeated, or, tried to. "Yeah, Let's.. Er.. Make that Island over there.. 'scuse me." He inched past Tina, thrusting an arm out at the nearby Arabian Sea.

The ground bubbled and shook as a chasm opened up in the seafloor. Jutting out, the rocks in the ocean morphed like clay into the shape of an island, complete with trees and a small mountain. As icing on the cake, there were some washed-up beach chairs and such, and a small cave for you know what.

"Anyways," Magnus wiped his palms. "Let's make this not get slashed in half by a Continent-cracker, alright?

[Zarkenis Ultima]

---

The string swiftly became so tight as to sever the young man's head from his body, causing it to roll onto the ground, his face contorted into a monstruous expression as his body turned around with erratic steps before finally failing to move properly and tumbling to the ground miserably.

But then, the ground around him seemed to slowly turn to dust, as did his severed head. His body, though, his body remained. Slowly it rose from the ground in an unnatural manner, his chest being the first thing to ascend, followed by flailing arms, with the legs lazily following the rest of the body. The head, of course, was absent, but as his body rose to a standing position, slightly hunched forward, his head began reforming on top of his bleeding neck, materializing and falling in place in mere instants, all of this right in front of Chorus. The expression that this new head wore, however, was the same monstruous, enraged visage worn by the rolling severed head that had been on the ground until moments ago.

The reformed beast in the guise of a man let loose a roar with what appeared to be the last shreds of humanity in his voice, and then charged towards Chorus with speed ten times faster than he should have been. He reared up his fist and prepared to deliver a fist to her face with a dozen times his own strength. He was enraged, which made him powerful and very dangerous, but in that state, he was also not very intelligent.

Either way, inside Chorus' head, she would hear something.

Woah woah. What the hell just happened? Why am I acting like an animal over there? And why is it so crowded in here?

---

---

Garnet frowned. She had expected that the bullet wouldn't actually put the beast down due to its nature, but this little damage? She hadn't foreseen that. Misery would do her little good in this battle, then. At least she figured that early on, so it wouldn't haunt her later. She put Misery away once again as Shadow galloped away, out of the range of the blue flames of the Basan, shadow mist lingering in the air over the path that the Phantom Horse crossed.

Finding herself at a relatively safe distance for the time being, she had Shadow stop and turn around to assess the situation, casually using the power from Longing to redirect a sphere of ghostfire to a hapless Tengu who had survived her swordbearing rampage. Getting in melee range with that thing would be an utter pain in the ass, and very dangerous to boot, considering it spewed fire at every moment. A glance at Masami trying to avoid being pecked to death by the other Basan only served to reinforce this notion, and so, the bloody blonde woman decided that it wasn't a good idea to get in melee range. But then, how was she supposed to kill that thing? Bullets wouldn't do the trick, and whatever was inside of the beast was likely on fire, so none of that would work. She briefly considered sending its own fire back at it, but that might backfire horribly.

So, naturally, she decided to go with the most unnecessarily elaborate, irredeemably risky and possibly messy plan, because it was the only one that seemed like it would work in her mind.

Turning back to the Basan, she rode towards it at full speed, seemingly uncaring about her own safety. However, just before meeting its fire, she vanished, disappearing into a portal at the last moment. She was out of sight now, at the very top of the temple. Without wasting a moment, the duo rode forth and jumped off the roof towards the Basan. By now, Agony was out and fully charged, housing enough power to level a skyscraper if allowed. Now in mid-air, she jumped off of Shadow's back in order to reach her target, while the Phantom Horse disappeared in thin air, leaving only a cloud of shadows behind.

Then, with a loud crashing noise and a burst of red light, Garnet slammed gauntlet-first into the Basan's side, releasing all of Agony's might.

When the dust cleared, where there had once been a fire-breathing chicken, there was now a gory crater, and blood raining from the sky.

"Is that all you have in store for me?" Garnet growled menacingly from the middle of the crater. But her scowl quickly turned into a grin as she saw something. The Tengu leader she was glaring at would hear a snort behind him, and feel his wings poked by Shadow's horn.

[Charmera]

---

The string swiftly became so tight as to sever the young man's head from his body, causing it to roll onto the ground, his face contorted into a monstruous expression as his body turned around with erratic steps before finally failing to move properly and tumbling to the ground miserably.

But then, the ground around him seemed to slowly turn to dust, as did his severed head. His body, though, his body remained. Slowly it rose from the ground in an unnatural manner, his chest being the first thing to ascend, followed by flailing arms, with the legs lazily following the rest of the body. The head, of course, was absent, but as his body rose to a standing position, slightly hunched forward, his head began reforming on top of his bleeding neck, materializing and falling in place in mere instants, all of this right in front of Chorus. The expression that this new head wore, however, was the same monstruous, enraged visage worn by the rolling severed head that had been on the ground until moments ago.

The reformed beast in the guise of a man let loose a roar with what appeared to be the last shreds of humanity in his voice, and then charged towards Chorus with speed ten times faster than he should have been. He reared up his fist and prepared to deliver a fist to her face with a dozen times his own strength. He was enraged, which made him powerful and very dangerous, but in that state, he was also not very intelligent.

Either way, inside Chorus' head, she would hear something.

Woah woah. What the hell just happened? Why am I acting like an animal over there? And why is it so crowded in here?

---

And he got back up...
After she had killed him...Huh.

Seemed she didn't need to worry about killing this guy. More likely she would need to worry about being killed by this guy. She managed to use her swordmaster reflexes to flip verse into a position where he could bock her foe. They both mentally grunted as they slid back from the strike, it's strength surprising Chorus. She whirled the blade back into a position where she could use it on the offensive and at least attempt to attack back. Which she did, a quick upwards swing of her massive sword, followed by a doward swing, finishing the combo with a spiral spin. With each attack she put her body's weight behind it, stepping forward to corner her foe.

You died.

So why isn't he dead?

Beat's me. I may have helped make this thing but I'm fairly sure this scenario wasn't taken into consideration.

Really? I would have considered it.

Yes, but you have analytical powers.

True. Alright. we're getting off track... She paused, as if reading a name. Gilbert. The short story is that you died.

That's not really enough.

I think it works. Let him work out the rest himself.

Shut up Jack. Verse spoke. Anyway, your a copy... of a soul. Like us, your an identical copy of the essence that makes up a person, stored within a blade wielded by out friend Chorus. As for your bodies current state...

It may have something to do with the other being within your soul, which I can sense. Perhaps. Just a guess.

Huh. You're actually not worthless Jack.

Yes. Perhaps that's what I should change my middle name to.

---

Garnet frowned. She had expected that the bullet wouldn't actually put the beast down due to its nature, but this little damage? She hadn't foreseen that. Misery would do her little good in this battle, then. At least she figured that early on, so it wouldn't haunt her later. She put Misery away once again as Shadow galloped away, out of the range of the blue flames of the Basan, shadow mist lingering in the air over the path that the Phantom Horse crossed.

Finding herself at a relatively safe distance for the time being, she had Shadow stop and turn around to assess the situation, casually using the power from Longing to redirect a sphere of ghostfire to a hapless Tengu who had survived her swordbearing rampage. Getting in melee range with that thing would be an utter pain in the ass, and very dangerous to boot, considering it spewed fire at every moment. A glance at Masami trying to avoid being pecked to death by the other Basan only served to reinforce this notion, and so, the bloody blonde woman decided that it wasn't a good idea to get in melee range. But then, how was she supposed to kill that thing? Bullets wouldn't do the trick, and whatever was inside of the beast was likely on fire, so none of that would work. She briefly considered sending its own fire back at it, but that might backfire horribly.

So, naturally, she decided to go with the most unnecessarily elaborate, irredeemably risky and possibly messy plan, because it was the only one that seemed like it would work in her mind.

Turning back to the Basan, she rode towards it at full speed, seemingly uncaring about her own safety. However, just before meeting its fire, she vanished, disappearing into a portal at the last moment. She was out of sight now, at the very top of the temple. Without wasting a moment, the duo rode forth and jumped off the roof towards the Basan. By now, Agony was out and fully charged, housing enough power to level a skyscraper if allowed. Now in mid-air, she jumped off of Shadow's back in order to reach her target, while the Phantom Horse disappeared in thin air, leaving only a cloud of shadows behind.

Then, with a loud crashing noise and a burst of red light, Garnet slammed gauntlet-first into the Basan's side, releasing all of Agony's might.

When the dust cleared, where there had once been a fire-breathing chicken, there was now a gory crater, and blood raining from the sky.

"Is that all you have in store for me?" Garnet growled menacingly from the middle of the crater. But her scowl quickly turned into a grin as she saw something. The Tengu leader she was glaring at would hear a snort behind him, and feel his wings poked by Shadow's horn.

The Tengu gulped as he turned to see shadow. A Darkness that was once in his eyes was now gone, and now was fear. "Look. Don't kill! Please. I won't fight!" He spoke. Then he saw the Kitsune heading towards them and ran towards her, getting on her knees. "<Please! Tell this crazy Gaijin woman not to kill me!>" He begged. the Kitsune frowned. Then picked him up and sniffed him. Then snarled.

"<You're masters stench. It's all over you.>" She spoke. "<Tell me where Lady Azami is, and I may consider sparing your worthless life.>" The Tengu gulped.

"<She's in that building!>" The Tengu pointed. The Kitsune frowned, looked over. Then sniffed. "No..."

"<She's gone. Or you've lied. Either way you're of no use to me. And you've killed many innocent humans and Yokai.>" She spoke. Then tossed him away, towards shadow. The Tengu began begging again, much to the Kitsune's disgust.

"You may kill him if you want. It seems what I was looking for is not here." She remarked. She sighed. Then moved towards Garnet and bowed. "Thank you for your assistance here. Thanks to you I have finally got my second tail." She smiled as she stood back up. "I am Masami Kazumo. I am a Kitsune."

[Mavorpen]

"This is disgusting." Ruby set her cup of coffee on the table in front of her and pushed it away.

"Yeah, coffee smells better than it tastes." Jamal stated. He almost began shifting his eyes across the room, but he stopped himself, as he knew it was unnecessary. He could pretty much already feel the gaze of the people around him in the shop. He wasn't surprised considering he hadn't bothered to change his appearance out of that of his Nova uniform; though he removed his helmet, because frankly keeping a secret identity wasn't a primary concern of his at the moment. "So, any particular reason why you're in New York?"

Ruby was silent for a few seconds before simply responding with "Apartments."

"You're...looking for an apartment to live in?" Jamal asked her. Ruby simply nodded and fell silent again. "You know, this is typically the part in a conversation when you ask how I've been." Ruby silently stared at him, or at least he assumed she was staring at him. He couldn't really tell with her sunglasses covering her eyes.

Jamal sighed. "Fine then." He jokingly cleared his throat and said, in a British accent imitating Ruby's own, "So, how are you Jamal?."

Then he responded to himself in his normal voice. "Oh, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"That's great, how was space?"

"Well, I'll tell you. It fucking sucked. I mean, usually it's not a pleasant place to be. It's harsher than any environment you'll find on Earth, and most of my time lately's been spent being a one man army. Forget trying to single handedly save the world. Try single handedly attempting to save the damn universe. I mean, normally I'd be able to enjoy the sights and visiting new planets, but I don't even have time for that anymore. But it's not like I have a choice, y'know? Everyone else is dead. And D'Vorah..." His voice grew softer and he buried his face in his right hand. "God, D'Vorah..."

Sorry, I'm pretty sure you don't really care about this stuff." Jamal said as he looked up at Ruby. Ruby, however, wasn't even facing him. Rather, she was facing in a completely different direction. "Yeah, I figured you didn-" Jamal began before he followed her line of sight and saw that she was looking at the windows at the front side of the coffee shop and the people gathered in front of them.

Jamal stood up and approached the group of people, some of which were taking pictures of whatever they were gazing at. "The hell is so important that it brings you guys away from your precious coffee...?" His voice trailed off as he saw what they were staring at. "...Fuck." He muttered as he saw Galactus, towering over the largest buildings in New York, standing smack dab in the middle of the city.

[Mavorpen]

Jamal immediately put on his helmet and flew out of the shop at breakneck speeds and found himself face to face with Galactus. "Hey Big G. What brings you to this area of the universe?"

Galactus, waving away the nickname and casual tone, simply responded, "Nova, The Kree empire is under attack by a dangerous enemy."

"Erm... Okay? Don't get the wrong idea, but I find it difficult to understand why a cosmic being would come all this way to personally tell me about something the Kree is having trouble with." Jamal said. He then continued and asked, "And why haven't I heard about this? Surely they would have sent a distress signal."

"The threat poses a major risk to the planet Earth. You would do well to take it seriously. And you are mistaken. They have sent out distress signals. In any case, my debt to you is paid, Nova."

"Right... Could you be a bit less-" Suddenly Galactus disappeared in a flash of light. "...vague? I guess that's a no." Jamal flew back to the coffee shop and approached Ruby, who was still sitting at the table. "So, I have to go back into space. This is probably the shortest vacation I've ever had. Good luck house, er, apartment-hunting." He again flew out of the shop and quickly exited the planet's atmosphere, heading in the direction of the Kree Empire.

Ruby stared down at the cup of coffee in front of her, picked it up, and took a sip. "Nope, still awful."

[Charmera]

-snip

Emerald Crusade
The God and his Goddess

The pump and the flare of testosterone begin to subside for Mir, who casually discussed with Ash on the parameters of the fight. "It's not the greatest of options, but in my time knowing Otto, he's still an Asgardian at heart. He puts up that front of being a good boy, justice, and all of that jazz, but deep down, he really does want to start throwing punches now and again. I found that out whenever we sparred." Mir thought towards Ash, a smile on his face. "I felt like the punching bag for his issues. Oh well, it comes with being a friend." Max nodded idly, knowing he had no place in Mir and Otto's scuffle - the two wanted to fight, so he let them. But still, it was good to see that Mir and Otto developed into a great friendship in such a short amount of time.

"We're here." Max said aloud, the two men escaping from the teleportation tube and entering a massive, cathedral-like chamber that was dimly lit and smelt fondly of flowers, for some reason. While Mir reacted to it by looking around, Max stared his eyes directly forward, eyeing the person who sat upon the throne meant only for him, but holding no anger or disdain in his glare - as he had intended to share his throne with her regardless. The returning stare of the girl was uncharacteristic of her, according to what Max knew, but their exchange was tense.

"What brings you...'here'?" The woman said, sliding a finger from her chin towards her lip, stopping at the corner as she looked down the bridge of her nose at her uninvited guests. "To my court..." She said, a slight tremor being felt in the distance, Max not daring to break his line of sight. "To my world..." The earthquake shook even mightier, Mir glancing backwards and then towards the woman again with a concerned face. "To the realm of the Mad Goddess...Valarie Valentine?" Mad Max began walking towards her, Val's face hardly changing as he did so.

A swath of gravitation began to assault the true Mad God, each step suddenly shattering the places on the floor where he walked, but it did not so much as break his stride. Now, concern grew on Val's face. She sat upright and pressed even harder, Mir having to dig himself onto the floor - the gravity assaulting Max drawing Mir into his very orbit. Objects around the room tore themselves from the walls and attempted to slam into him, but he offered only a hand - the shields, swords, and spears stopping their motion instantly. "Don't come any closer." Val commanded, to which, surprisingly, Max complied.

"Who are you, then?" She demanded, earning her full and undivided attention.

"Maxwell Morningstar." He spat, Val's face contorting as if she had seen a ghost, yet not one in real, everyday life. More like one in her dreams, a name she hears, a face she sees, now manifested before her here and now. Maxwell stood tall and muscle-bound, as Val had seen him, his blonde hair rather unkempt and dark, and his blue eyes striking and piercing deep into anything he looks at. Those same eyes she would see staring into her in her deepest of dreams. Yet, she didn't feel fear then, or here, but a sense of curiosity and ease. She would see those baby blues in the middle of a nightmare and watch as the storm clouds ripped away from the skies of her mind.

"And I'm Czar-Mir!" The Daxamite called, Val ignoring him and having no clue who he was.

"What brings you to my domain then, Maxwell?...And Mir."

"I require the use of the teleportation arrays."

"How do you -'"

"I designed and built them myself. In a world not unfamiliar to this one, actually. A cataclysm occurred, and things were put back together. However, they were not put back together correctly, and I intend to fix it. I came to ask permission from you, Val, but I was going to use them anyways." He said flatly, Val turning her nose up at the suggestion, but lowering her head down and concealing the upper part of her face.

"You may use them...but I need you to tell me something." She began, her face and head unmoving as Max picked his own up a bit to hear her better. "Where do I know you from? Why do I see you whenever I close my eyes? The way you talk excites my heart, your eyes set my heart on fire. They make me sweat and feel nervous, scared and excited all at once. Why do I feel like this, Maxwell? Who are you?"

Max felt a tug in his deepest emotions, a distant longing to embrace Val, but was overall ecstatic yet concerned. When Doom recreated the Multiverse, he fixed a lot of things incorrectly, it's fine, he's human, but one thing he got right was Val and her love for Mad Max. He dropped his eyes and smiled, walking over to Val as she cupped her hands around her eyes and face. For a moment, Maxwell thought of just keeping the world as it was, because Val still loved him, and they could still be together. But...something tugged at him to continue on his own crusade regardless, a human drive to not take the easy way out. He stood before the Mad Goddess, who lifted her face from her hands to reveal it's tear stained cheeks.

Bending down quickly and surprising Val, Max laid a light kiss upon her forehead, placing his hand on the side of her hand to balance it as well. She took a steep inhale of breath, her eyes widening and her pupils dilating incredibly as her mind tried desperately to remember the past. Maxwell tore himself away from Val, keeping his hand on her face for a moment. More tears from in her eyes as Val reached up and placed her own small hand on his large one, pressing it harder against her head. She understood who he was, what he was, and what he will be, but that was just something basic. She whimpered, muttering to Max, "Please...fix everything, okay?"

He gave her a stern nod, and broke his hand away from Val, the girl reaching out for it to hold on just a little bit longer. He had to, or else he would keep going and stall even longer. He wanted things how it used to be, and so did Val, so he hadn't the time to waste. Not another moment without her. Max looked at Mir as he walked, "C'mon." He said quickly, walking briskly down a carpeted hall towards the teleportation chambers. "Mobius awaits."

"We're not bringing your girlfriend along?" Ash asked out loud, even Val would be able to hear her. "Voice in Maxes head. Will explain when I return." She spoke to Val as Max left her behind. She then thought on Mobius. Mobius... Mobius... sounds familiar, though I've never been there myself and know nothing about it besides what you've told me." She explained. "Should be a fun adventure I suppose."

[The Rebel Alliances]

Daniel Carter/Sentinel-32 Yrs-Metropolis

All of the faces were here, everyone you would expect to see at a happy family gathering. There was my wife, my daughter, my sister and my friends. But there was one face missing, and this is no happy gathering. The casket had just closed, and the body of my child was being lowered into a hole. Six feet deep. Rain pelted my skin, and I refused to make any effort to keep myself dry. My eyes scanned around, desperately trying to find answers. Some reason or explanation why a father has outlived his son. Mayla's eyes were sealed shut by tears. Unable to even look at the sight of our only son's final resting place. Sabrina had a look of despair upon her face, and you could tell, she was fighting back a wall of tears. Like a sea wall holding back flood waves. As much as she rivaled August for their parents affections, the two were close, despite not spending as much time together as we would like. Even Daud, who had said nothing this entire funeral, made no effort to hide his own despair at our loss. But for myself, it seemed as if the skies had tried to cover the fact that I shed no tears. Not that I lacked the desire to, I was simply blank. Lost at my child being stolen by this diseased world. So far I had said nothing, but as the funeral was about to conclude, I was expected to deliver a few words, not the eulogy. For that had passed, but the words of a father.

But it would be more than that.

I slowly ascended to the forefront of the crowd. Umbrellas were scattered around in front of me, shielding the attendants from the weather. But my own suit was soaked, my hair plastered to my forehead and my glasses slightly fogged. Simple reading glasses, I gently removed them with my right hand and folded them. Placing them inside the wet fabrics. I then focused my eyes to the faces here. While my own family and friends were at the front and center, there was a mass of men and women who had never even met August. Natives of this world. The well to do, the mayor, the governor and even the President of the United States was here. Turning what was supposed to be the last moments with my child, into a national spectacle. There were no cameras, but newspapers would be written and most of the people here were simply trying to garner some humanitarian points for attending.

My glare covered them, but as my resolve fastened, I finally began my short address to everyone here. Coughing several times to clear my throat, I delivered my statement.

"Just a few days ago. I was discussing the possibility of staying here, of relocating to this world and helping to advance the light of Justice and hope here. As my own world, has largely fallen under the Protection of Infinite Justice. This world, your world, could have provided me the chance to make the same difference that I did in my own." I then paused, taking several moments to continue. "And provide the chance to reconnect with my own family. I can say now, that we will be here to stay. This loss wont force us back to our own world. To do so would be an insult to the memory of my son." I then closed my eyes, coming the closest to shedding a tear at the event so far. "This world is rotten, and while this happens everyday. Sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers have their loved ones taken away everyday. It is my own which seems to shed light to this disease, thriving just beneath the surface." Lightning flashed in my eyes, as I began to close the speech. "I will cure it. There will be no more room in this world for those who mock society's tolerance. My mission will be made here. To ensure that something like this, will never happen to one of your own children." I was grateful for the rain to hide my first tear, which cascaded down my left eye to my chin. "I will not fail you.....as I have failed my son."

With those last words, I released myself of the small platform, and began to retreat. I locked eyes with Daud, whom I could tell wanted so badly to say something. Anything, but we both knew there was nothing else to say. Nothing that I did not already know. As a father he lives with the fear that what has happened to me, could happen to him as well. The man, was truly different than the reckless mercenary he once was. I never said anything to him however. Not...one...word.

My own family had found their way to me, and together, we made our way to the lead car in a very long convoy. As they ducked inside, I held the door open, making sure I was the last to enter. Before I climbed in however, I turned my face to the heavens, and could find no solace in prayer.

This world needed to change.

I would make it change.

[The Republic of Atria]

"All that yammering. You're not leaving this planet alive. Okay, this planet isn't going to be alive, but neither are you. Oh you get the point. I'm gonna kill you... So on and so on. " Nightmare said making his constructs attack with superhuman strength. "Silly Asumar and your obsession with the Speedster. You and Alastir are practically stalkers. It's creepy. You know Killian is thinking about right now? I'm pretty sure he's eating something and saving lives. He barely registers that you exist. And you want to be just like him? Wow. That's kind of sad. Makes me feel better about putting you out of your misery. Kinda. I wanted more screaming and begging. But beggars can't be choosers right?"

"You're a sad and delusional man Kazzy. I came here expecting... I honestly don't know. You Masakis are inconsistent. Over emotional and over dramatic over the stupidest shit. It's like killing a soap opera. Which I hate, so it's all the more fun. How does it feel? To be attacked by people you once deemed inferior to yourselves, only to have to rely on their weapons just to keep you alive? I believe the term is irony. You try and try to create weapons, only for them to fail as if they were toys. How does that make you feel?"

"Oh Martian... I say it's easy to press the Masaki's buttons, but it's even easier for you. Jumped from one group of slavers to another. You just wear a green collar willingly. Funny how things work. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I have a question for you, why bother defending these idiots? All they do is try to win a nonexistent competition for who can build the biggest gun. Only to realize they've always been outgunned. They'll happily kill billions if it means saving their outdated toys. Kazuko just threatened to blow up the earth over those... Things. Whatever they are. Doesn't matter. They're junk. Doomed to be outdated since their creation."

"As for you Goldy. Same question. Why bother? They've done nothing to help you. In fact all they've been is a source of destruction. All they care about is themselves. Selfish and hypocritical." Nightmare taunted and saw he was trying to ignore the clones of his lover, but it really wasn't working. "I'm pretty sure she only likes you out of pity. You're not much better than the Masakis. The be all end all for superhumans, and you sit here flailing limpwristedly at me like it makes a difference. Fought Odin's brother to a standstill. Hell, you did the same to his wannabe probably, third cousin. And yet you mope around. Get over yourself. You have all the power and time to make gods jealous. And you're not doing anything with it. Don't worry though. I sure will when I'm done."

[Charmera]

"Oh Martian... I say it's easy to press the Masaki's buttons, but it's even easier for you. Jumped from one group of slavers to another. You just wear a green collar willingly. Funny how things work. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I have a question for you, why bother defending these idiots? All they do is try to win a nonexistent competition for who can build the biggest gun. Only to realize they've always been outgunned. They'll happily kill billions if it means saving their outdated toys. Kazuko just threatened to blow up the earth over those... Things. Whatever they are. Doesn't matter. They're junk. Doomed to be outdated since their creation."

"Slavers?" The green lantern gave a mockign short laugh at Nightmare. Wiping the tears away. She still foughts off "her people", her ring allowing her to outclass them severly "Have you ever been a slave Nightmare? Demeaned to nothing and forced to toil against your will. Treated like mere property and not like a living being? If anything, this Ring empowers me. It freed me from that life." She then noticed something. "Actually. You were a slave. Long ago you were little experiment Zero, earths plan to blow up everything they didn't like. You were going to be a weapon. You were going to do whatever uncle fury and aunt walker told you to do." She frowned. "As soon as I got out, I never wanted anyone to feel like that again, yet all you've been doing is devaluing and destroying life wherever you go. Why is that? You think that because you got control you get to put people through the same shit? Turn them and their planets into weapons like you did the Kree?"

"I'm helping protect these guys because life, all life, is sacred." She explained. "if they come over to earth, I'll be in line to kick their ass. But as soon as someone like you try to kill them, I have to defend them."

[Bentus]

Mia Aveline – Gotham City

---

Kross raised an eyebrow in surprise as Mia formed her own puppet clone, the creature appearing to be almost an exact replica of his opponent – if lacking the hateful smirk that now dashed her features. Well shit, that’s different. The young woman was clearly becoming increasingly agitated as the fight tore on, her every action driven more and more by anger and irritation. Under normal circumstances, Kross would have found this rather hilarious and would have capitalised on the situation – but unfortunately he quickly discovered that his opponent’s power seemed to get buffed to match her fury.

Before he could even flinch, Mia’s puppet leapt into an attack – striking at his own clone with an aggression and vehemence that seemed to defy the kind smile that ordained her face. Yet Kross had more immediate concerns to worry about: namely the razor-sharp Threads that were speeding towards him. Instinctively, the masked vigilante ducked under the lethal projectiles but realised too late that the action had left him unbalanced and exposed. A surge of adrenalin coursed through the hero’s veins as his muscles fired in concert to try and right himself, if he could react fast enough then it should be a relatively simple matter to –

Crap.

Kross’ eyes registered the high-heeled boot moments before it impacted his chest, severing his current train of thought and firing a fusillade of pain into his mind. The force behind the blow sent him flying across the rooftop, the strength behind the kick entire magnitudes greater than that which Kross had been battling moments before. Mia landed gracefully from the attack, having relished the satisfaction of the contact, but wasted no time in once again launching a foray at her opponent. She swung her parasol in a wide arc at the wounded Kross, who brought up his bow to deflect the feint, leaving his torso wide open to the flurry of bone-crunching jabs which followed. Mia had lost track of the two clones, and suspected that they’d both fallen off the roof or done something else similarly anti-climatic, but couldn’t care any less as she pounded the arrogant vigilante into submission.

Kross groaned as his ribs ached under the hammer-blows, laughing silently at the sorry state in which he found himself. He would’ve done so vocally as well, if it wasn’t for the minor issue of the infuriated woman wailing away at him or the fact that even the slightest chuckle would cause a sharp agony to course through his bruised ribs. Still, he couldn’t quite figure it out: it was as if he were fighting a whole different person, the speed and ferocity of this new opponent allowed him no respite for even the briefest counter-attack. Both of them recognised that the fight was swiftly nearing its conclusion, and Mia felt a final surge of triumph – of a self-satisfying sensation of victory. With an excited knowledge of finality, she noticed as Kross dropped his guard ever so slightly – his whole form almost appearing to move in slow motion. Seizing upon the opportunity, Mia launched her fist into the man’s jaw – her full weight and strength powering the punch – sending Kross once again flying backwards and landing prone on the floor.

The sharp pain that tore through Kross’ skull sent him into shock, incapacitating him for the briefest of seconds – but it was enough that he found the razor-edge of the parasol resting less than an inch from his neck. His eyes met those of Mia, the pair of orbs burning with barely contained rage and anger. A wide, threatening grin was spread across her face, savouring the moment of her victory. However, the woman found her arm frozen so close to finishing the deed – to ridding the world of this self-righteous, vexatious oaf. She glowered at Kross, her accusatory glare casting blame at her aggressor. No matter how much she desperately wanted to press her parasol onwards, to feel the faint resistance of the hero’s neck, her body refused to respond.

“You…” her voice wavered as the world suddenly started to shift and stir around Mia, her irritation growing as she realised that her triumph was about to be stolen from her. “Wha – what did you do?” The small figure swayed violently, a shudder of pain rocketing along her spine and causing her to double over in agony. Mia’s insides felt like they were burning, but when she opened her mouth to cry out anguish, nothing emerged. What’s happening to me? Were her last thoughts before she fell to the rooftop, her world turning black as the venom Kyle Vannis had spiked in her drink finally worked its way through her system.

---

Kross looked in in surprise as his fortunes seemed to shift so completely. Fair enough, perhaps it hadn’t been entirely fair, and it would be a bit rude to claim victory after his opponent had simply collapsed at his feet – but a win was a win. Besides, if nobody else knows… The hero looked over the motionless form which moments ago had been driven by a furious rage, taking his life right to the brink. Now, she appeared to be almost asleep – a serene innocence lighting along her face. Tch, almost a shame.

Almost.

Suddenly, the ground erupted around him as a hail of bullets impacted the roof. Kross shot to his feet with a loud curse, in part since he just couldn’t catch a break, and also since his wounds protested the rapid movement. He glared down at what remained of the crimelord’s men, taking potshots at the figure on the rooftop with their rifles – and Kross was in no state to take on such a large number of mobsters all on his lonesome. He looked one last time at the limp body behind him, before dashing into the shadows.

Written with the permission of Treko. Liable to be edited.

[The Fallen Jedi]

- Snip -

Regardless of how powerful Nightmare mad his entities, the Masaki Army continued pushing forward, following Kazuko into battle, with additional Masaki Guardians and Androids charging out of underground factors that were connected by massive Blast Doors out to the ground, along Starships emerging from hyperspace, producing Starfighters and Bombers that emerged from the hangers that flew down planetside to provide assistance to the armies that attempted to push Nightmare's armies back "All Starships prepare for Planetary Bombardment on Lord Kazuko's order." Alpha 01-12 said, the only Alpha Unit that had been unable to show up to the meeting, perhaps it was just sheer luck that Unit 12 didn't make it to the meeting, considering that he was in command of the second largest fleet that the Masaki Dynasty had to offer, which comprised of a Dreadnought, Six Capital Ships, and Twelve Frigates.

Asumar chuckled as he weaved harmlessly out of the way of numerous entities that tried attacking him, he found Nightmares attempts to taunt him hilariously "You fail to realize that I no longer want to be an enemy or rival of Kilian, my desire is to just protect the ones I love and bear the misdeeds of others in order to assure that they will not suffer as I have!" Asumar shouted, his fist vibrating as he punched through an entire group of Nightmare's Entities. This proved to be a fatal mistake as a group of Nightmare's entities jumped atop him, effectively pinning himself down. Asumar's energy began to surge as he knew he had to use his Support Armor to help him take out Nightmare's entities "I guess I have to-" Asumar stopped as he felt a wave of tendrils emerge from the ground, causing Nightmare's entities to fly in every direction.

The tendrils that had assisted Asumar weren't either Spera's or Ryuichi's tendrils, but were Alastir's tendrils. The Celestial God of Darkness walked forward with his hands clasped behind his back "I should have known that Nightmare would do something like this..." Alastir said with a growl as he just as easily brushed past Asumar and even the Masaki Army, reforming their ranks from behind Asumar and Kazuko. Alastir smirked as his foul aura began to surround his body "You just made a fatal mistake attacking one my Utopia Worlds, for you have no idea how long it took for the First Celestial Generation to create the planet, It is one of the last Utopia Worlds that has survived the natural evolution of the Galaxy." A wall of darkness formed from behind Alastir, protecting the Masaki Army as he stared down at Nightmare's Army as a lone wolf, his hatred for Nightmare growing with each passing second as he realized that Nightmare's presence was beginning to corrupt the delicate nature of the planet.

[Krytonus]

GRAVITY

SAN FRANCISCO
11:51 PM

The Hulk tries the same move on me from before by jumping out of the water at me but I know better and dodge to the left. As he soars past me I flip his gravity and he comes soaring back towards me. He's too confused to react as I smash his jaw with a fist as heavy as a bus. He roars and tries to grab at me but I launch him into the air again, directly above me. He snarls and extends an arm for a punch as he plummets towards me but again I move and he crashes into the ocean, sinking deep below the surface. I take a moment to catch my breath. Everything hurts and there is a sharp pain at each breath. I shrug it off and smash a superheavy leg into the Hulk's face as he jumps up, but he grabs it with a fierce grip. I try to shake him off, but this is the Hulk rather than a small child. He swings a fist and hits me in the chest. I densify myself as much as possible again, but nonetheless I am sent flying backwards. I think another rib is broken. Before I can right myself I gasp and sink beneath the waves. Just before I go under I see the Hulk jump at me. I flinch and make myself as dense as possible, but the hit never comes. I cautiously rise out of the water to a sight I couldn't have dreamed of. The Hulk is floating unconscious a few feet away from me with a tranquiliser dart the size of a fire extinguisher in his left shoulder. Above me, impossibly huge is a SHIELD Helicarrier that must have been cloaked or something. A smaller transport craft is flying down to pick up the Hulk. One of the soldiers aboard the VTOL jet points at me but I'm gone before they can try to get to me. As nice as it would be to be patched up by SHIELD for free, I need my identity secret. I fly back to San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge. The Hulk has made a huge crater in the road, but it seems like it'll be okay.

I land in a back-alley and dump my broken gear in a bin, changing into the clothes I kept hidden in a backpack. I ruffle up the clothes a bit, take off a shoe bloody myself up a bit before staggering down the road to a hospital. I sit myself down silently in a large waiting room. It takes almost an hour but eventually a Doctor is patching me up and bandaging my wounds. One of my ribs is badly broken, and I get it bound to keep it in place. When he leaves the room for a moment, I open a window and fly outside. As much as I'd like to thank him and pay for his services, I don't have that kind of money. I pull open the window of the abandoned building where I'm living (they don't think to lock the doors on the roof and high up, only the stuff at ground level) and flop down on the musty mattress I use for a bed. Sleep comes after what feels like an eternity of uncomfortable pain, and I welcome it.

[The Rebel Alliances]

Ralph the Rat-16 Yrs-Mystic Ruins, Mobius

The sun barely managed to penetrate the canopy of the rain forest, but that was hardly an issue. Our narrow escape from the ruins, as they rapidly flooded gave Scourge all the head start that he needed. The central Temple was just ahead, and if Scourge reached it first, then he would be one step away from attaining the power of the Emeralds. I looked back and pulled Trix up from the exit of the Temple, she was heavy with wet fur but looked up at me with eyes that told me to go on ahead. That she would be fine. I leaped from the Temple and landed in the thick underbrush, the path long hidden by the growth of the forest that had overtaken this ancient city. A whole civilization, wiped away by the ambitions of a few, and the Chaos they had unleashed. Minor scratches and scraped covered my body, but I would not allow it to slow me down. As I finally neared edge of the jungle, I traced my eyes to the scene in front of me. My hopes that Scourge would not possess all of the Emeralds were dashed as I saw Shade the Wolf, my ally, handing over the final Chaos Emeralds I stood there, stunned by the betrayel of my ally. Then realizing that if he was handing him our Chaos Emeralds, then surely, the Master Emerald was in pieces.

Scourge would not allow a limiter to the power he desired. The theory was confirmed when Scourge caught sight of me, and then arrogantly stepped down from the alter in which he had gathered the Emeralds. He smiled as he pulled a green shard from his jacket, and cast it at my feet.

"You lose, Rat." He then replaced the sun glasses over his eyes, swiftly turning his back on me.

"Now scurry off into the jungle and hide. I have a new world to build." As he began to make his way back up the alter, rage began to fill me. At my seeming inability to defend the scattered Emeralds, not knowing what I would do next, I thrust my hand out in frustration, which slammed Scourge with a hammer of telekinetic energy. As he slumped over on the ground, Shade leaped from the Alter and prepared a powerful overhead kick, he was always a talented martial artist. But a simple wave of my hand stopped him in mid air, as he froze solid. I pulled my fist to the ground and he collided with the dirt with near bone breaking force.

Scourge, as shocked by my new abilities as I, then used a burst of speed to blitz me. I thrust both arms out and shielded myself with telekinetic energy. He then resorted to quickly around me, as he ran so fast that earth and rubble began to spiral skyward in a tornado formed from pure speed. Then, finally he collided with my shield with such force, that he broke through and plowed into me. I was sent spiraling into the central alter, creating a large crater in the side.

As we continued our battle, neither of us noticed that small streams began to gravitate toward the seven Chaos Emeralds. At first they were simple trickles of water, then progressively they grew into larger pools and finally torrents of water crashed over the alter. The creation of an ancient threat had silenced our momentary battle, as both myself and Scourge stood and faced the monster which had destroyed ancient civilizations, and almost the modern world...stopped only by the hero of myths.

Perfect Chaos.

As water flooded from him, I teleported next to Trix and then teleported the both of us to the top of the highest Temple in the ruins, as everything else was buried under an endless sea of water, originating from the monster Chaos. I could see Scourge, in a blaze of green light barely outrunning the tidal floods. As he found his way atop of the Temple I had retreated to. We locked eyes, but he turned his attention upon the monster Chaos and directed his anger toward it, for stealing the power he had hoped to command. Jabbing a gloved finger at the beast, he issued his own threat, but the beast never took notice of it.

"That power, belongs to me! I am the wielder of the powers of Chaos! the descendant of the one who defeated you, and so help me, I will pry that power from your non existent hands after I defeat you!" But we were soundly ignored by the beast, not worthy of it's time or attention. Scourge fists shook, but he knew there was nothing he could do, at least alone.

"What do you say to a truce, Rat?" I peaked over at him as I tried to understand what he was saying. Scourge asking for help. He then glanced over at me, taking off his sun glasses.

"You know about these ancient beasts right? Is there a weakness to this monster? Any way to bring it down? How can I conquer the world if this thing destroys it?" I closed my eyes in thought. Describing the monster in detail.

"Legends say that once Chaos achieves perfection, or become Perfect Chaos, it attains powers on a god like scale. The monster can summon tidal waves and floods capable of wiping out cities in seconds, and given more time. Even threaten the world. It is supposed to be able to summon forth tornadoes of water, which could entrap attackers and suspend the largest of buildings after tearing them from the ground. It's body is malleable and nearly impossible to harm. As made of water, it can alter and reconstruct itself. It can fire destructive blasts from the spikes upon it's back, and fire beams of pure destructive energy which could destroy great sky ships in a single blast." My eyes then glared at Scourge.

"You have just unleashed a creature which not only has the power to end life on Mobius, but has almost done just that. Twice. His rage and anger is boundless, and defeating him will not end this cycle of death, he will simply return one day. His spirit must be calmed, brought to peace." Scourge snickered.

"So, are you gonna give it a hug?" He then nodded off in the monster's direction. "He is just over there."

"The brain." Scourge looked confused, and I said it again. "His one weakness, at least according to myths is his brain. Attacking it causes great pain and could possibly defeat him." Scourge then gazed out over the beast, and replaced his sun glasses and cracked his knuckles.

"Sounds like a plan, Rat."

He then curled himself into a ball, and started to spin rapidly. Preparing for his spin dash, I wrapped him in telekinetic force and launched him, vastly enhancing his speed. He rocketed over the top of the waves, as he approached the beast, being quickly picked up by a swirling cyclone. Then simply hurled back at our Temple. We had succeeded only in gaining the monster's attention, and the bloody and bruised Scourge refused to stay down.

However, in a blaze of orange light, my closest friend, Solar the Hedgehog arrived. I turned to face him, as he had come bearing gifts. Dropping the seven Chaos Emeralds at my feet, there was one glaring difference. They were all charcoal black. The power drained from them by Chaos, or so it seemed.

Scourge quickly scoffed at him.

"You show up bringing nothing more than useless jewels?" I cut him off.

"Not entirely, Chaos absorbed and used all of the Negative energy of the Emeralds. They still posses their positive energy. We can use that power, to turn on Chaos." Scourge shakily to his feet. "Fine, give it to me then, I can end this now." I simply shook my head. "Were you not listening? I said they still retain their positive energy. And a being such as yourself, one filled with such anger and hate. Cannot harness it. No Scourge, you wont be able to make use of it. Had you succeeded in draining the emeralds of their negative energy, it would have only resulted in you threatening the world." His face softened, as he retreated in thought. But then, something shocking happened, he began to smile.

"Well, it seems this is the end then. I wanted to use that power to ensure Mobians had to bow to no man nor Overlander. That we would be the dominant ones in our world. But the only way they will even have a world, is if you succeed." He then turned his back to all of us.

"It's decided then, Ralph...shoot me back at Chaos. I want another shot and bashing that monster's brains out."

I protested.

"It wont work! We just tried that." But now his voice sounded off with far more frustration.

"Do it."

I sighed, but I relented. Wrapping him up in telekinesis. Powers I had only recently discovered. I once more shot him at the creature, anxiously awaiting the results of the attack. Scourge was flying at Chaos, fist held back, but this time, the monster was ready. Opening it;s wide mouth, energy began to form in the center. As I yelled out in warning, there was nothing I could do.

Scourge was incinerated by the energy, my own powers of telekinesis powerless to shield him from the powers of Chaos. I fell upon my knees, right before the Chaos Emeralds, gems that received their name from the monster we now face. Clutching a single Emerald in my hand, I began to press it firmly, willing it's own power into me. The final resort to end this horror. Then in my hand, the gem began to shine a bright red. Then, the others around it returned to their original state, each one resuming it's original shine. As I dropped the crimson emerald, a golden energy surrounded me. I looked at my hands and fur, and realized that a new power had awoken.

I then shot off into the battle with Chaos, descending into battle between Perfect Chaos, and Super Ralph. By Aurora that is such a cheesy name.

[The Republic of Atria]

"Alright. I'm bored." Nightmare said to all but Julie. "Why don't we take the kiddie gloves off now?" He said and began to tear the ground out from beneath Alastir's barrier and shot spikes that tore through the Masaki armies. "Tiny god. You think this planet is still yours? Not anymore. It belongs to me." Nightmare then created a massive dome over Alastir's barrier. "This world is mine. I can do whatever I want with it. I'm going to kill it in front of you. Then I'm going to do the same to every other planet in this galaxy. You idiots have always bitten off more than you can chew. You got out of it by pure luck. Luck, like everything. Runs out." He said and the constructs faded, but the dome remained. He then created a much more powerful avatar. "Here you go. I'm ending this now. I'll consider sparing your lives if you beg." It spoke and smashed through Alastir's barrier before bombarding the entire area with black lightning.

Alex also got the chance to face one of Nightmare's avatars. But he wasn't having much luck. He punched through it, and the monster healed almost as fast as the blow came. He blasted it and even smashed it with chunks of the planet, but to no avail. "Come on! I can do this all day if I have to-" Alex's bravado was immediately interrupted by a blast of darkness that sent him smashing through the planet. He flew out and grappled with the monster only to have his strength matched. Even when he fired energy beams point blank at it. This was not going to end well.

However, with Julie, he made an actual personal appearance. "You'd be surprised Martian. I was designed to protect the earth. Used as nothing more than a weapon. They bribed me with small animals, kept me happy. Then they killed them. So I killed them. And everyone around me. They wanted me to be the deadliest weapon ever designed. Well... They succeeded. So now, I'm free to be the weapon they wanted me to be. That, and these Masakis are the most half baked imbeciles I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. It's like they all got 1 collective brain cell and are forced to share it."

[The Templar High Council]

Now that everyone had gotten their snacks, Kylie motioned them over to the booth she was sitting at. There, she happily munched away at her doughnut while her friends sat down.

"So..." Kylie began, swallowing her sweet. "What's the plan? We can't all live in Katie's apartment. We have Val's SHIELD people who were coming after us when we left downtown, and Katie and I have phones to call Agent Saunders. And if we do live in the apartment for a while, the neighbors might call someone because of how Naja looks. No offense though." Kylie drank some of her bottled milk before continuing.

"We need a solid plan moving forward. The JQs aren't going to end up living in a shitty apartment on the West Side of New York. We need to get BIG! So... where should we start?" Kylie finally quit talking, leaving open for others to discuss.

[The Republic of Atria]

"Come on. You're a Green Lantern." Naja said and took a sip of her coffee. "I can't be the strangest looking person you've ever seen." She said still noticing that people were staring at her. It was slightly annoying, but to a degree, she was used to it. "But yeah. Hiding out in an apartment is not what superheroes do. The Avengers have a mansion. The Justice League has a freakin' satellite. We don't need money so much as land and resources... And technical know how so we can set up computers and stuff. If we find a vacant piece of land we can use, Kylie and I can probably make some furnishings... Though land is expensive unless we want to use the Sahara desert or Australia. Both of which are all sand. But that shouldn't be too difficult to fix." Despite the looks she was getting from other coffee shop customers, she was enjoying herself. Being a founding member of what hopes to be a famous superhero team? Yeah. That was something to smile about.

[The Templar High Council]

"Come on. You're a Green Lantern." Naja said and took a sip of her coffee. "I can't be the strangest looking person you've ever seen." She said still noticing that people were staring at her. It was slightly annoying, but to a degree, she was used to it. "But yeah. Hiding out in an apartment is not what superheroes do. The Avengers have a mansion. The Justice League has a freakin' satellite. We don't need money so much as land and resources... And technical know how so we can set up computers and stuff. If we find a vacant piece of land we can use, Kylie and I can probably make some furnishings... Though land is expensive unless we want to use the Sahara desert or Australia. Both of which are all sand. But that shouldn't be too difficult to fix." Despite the looks she was getting from other coffee shop customers, she was enjoying herself. Being a founding member of what hopes to be a famous superhero team? Yeah. That was something to smile about.

"Well... I haven't really left Earth yet..." Kylie confessed. "Hal said that he requested backup, and then the ring came to me. But since I was only like 18 at the time, and apparently Oa is overcrowded with recruits from newly discovered sectors, Hal said to not worry about the intergalactic bit and get some training in on Earth." She sat her drink down, feeling a bit downcast now. "He said that when Oa had some space, and he thought I was ready, he'd take me there to go through all the official stuff. So... I just decided to finish up school and worry about that later."