The moment Vanda Darkflame created Paradox and became a Faction leader, her fate was sealed. She could have abandoned her place in the Universe, and continued operating in the shadows as a ninja. But Dr. Overbuild had decided that the Nexus Force needed a another Faction to study the Maelstrom, and he felt that Vanda should not be left out - she had only had a job working for Baron Typhonus for a few weeks.
Vanda Darkflame was always in Nexus Tower, watching the Shadow Orb. She looked into it a few times a day, not affected by the dark scenes she found. The Paradox guard, Meyer Muckrake, watched her each day. He seemed freaked out when she exited the visions, as if she'd been struck by lightning and burst into bricks.
Vanda was happy that Meyer gave tokens to minifigures that helped him. His pay was low, yet he seemed content guarding the Paradox area. When he was first recrutied, he seemed unfit for both Sorceror and Space Marauder. When he's early been smashed several times because of his lack of skills, Vanda had even allowed him to try out the Shinobi kit, but it was unfitting as well. He was given permission to create his own Paradox gear, as Augie Ninwells and Trek Furino had. His staff was infused with Maelstrom, and his armor was hand-crafted, perfectly sized.
One day, Duke Exeter reported an increase in Maelstrom energy in a newly-discovered area in Crux Prime, called Maelstrom Domain. It had many enemies originally, and was deemed to dangerous for all but the Faction leaders. If there was an increase in Maelstrom there, it could be devastating for the was effort on Crux Prime.
Duke Exeter asked Vanda if she could go and find the cause of the increase. Meyer Muckrake volunteered to go with her. So did Suturo Hatto. Duke Exeter looked uncertain. "Fine," he said. "But remember... some of you may not make it out..."
"Yes, Duke," Meyer and Suturo said. "We understand. But we will protect our leader at all costs... even if it costs our own lives."
Vanda looked a bit surprised. "No need for that. We will get in, find the cause, stop it, and get out."
A Nexus Talon dropship flew up to the room.
"Here's your ride," Duke said. "Jake is the best pilot I have. He'll get you in, no questions asked."
" 'Course not," the pilot said. "Anything for a Faction leader."
They boarded the dropship and it took off. They headed down to the battlefields below. As they reached enemy range, a watery shield formed around them.
Jake looked at the minifigs. "Camo field. They can't see us."
They flew over towards Aura Mar. Several minifigs of mixed Factions were battling their way through the Maelstrom there. The dropship cruised smoothly towards a rocky area outside the Mar. The shields flickered and died.
"Too much Maelstrom energy," Jake explained. "We're open for fire."
As he said it, Maelstrom Domain came into view. Mech Invaders and Stromling Invaders were everywhere.
"Watch out," Jake said. "We're gonna take flak."
And then the Mechs opened fire. Jake dodged the lasers and approached the rocky area quickly and swiftly. Spiderlings came in and fired quicker shots. Jake dodged and continued closing. Suddenly a console beeped.
"Whoa!" Jake said. Suddenly flak exploded around them.
"What's that?" Vanda yelled over the noise.
"AA guns!" Jake replied. "They're on the cliffs!"
Vanda looked and, sure enough, huge cannons manned by Stromlings were firing off the clifftops.
"Keep going," she said. "I'm taking them out."
"What?" Meyer said. "Wait, no-!"
Vanda jumped out of the dropship and came down on a cliff with perfect accuracy. Ronin Invaders approached her but she cut them down easily. The Stromling manning the gun jumped out and attacked. Vanda quickly sliced it and then threw a blade into the side of the cannon. She grabbed it and ran as the gun exploded into pieces.
One of these pieces happened to fly towards the next gun. It lodged itself in the firing chamber, and, as the round fired, the cannon erupted into flames. Vanda jumped along the clifftops, cutting down guns. Once she was done, Jake came and picked her up.
Meyer helped her in. "Nice work."
Vanda wiped sweat off her brow. "That was only part of the problem. Look."
She pointed down. Below, hundreds of Invader Maelstrom were crawling around. Several Dragon Invaders stood on sentry platforms jutting out of the cliff.
"That," Suturo Hatto said, "is very, very bad."
"I've gotta go." Jake dropped them off at the cliff. "Duke expects me for a new job."
Vanda and the others hopped off. Jake flew off into the distance.
"Now," Meyer said. "How do we get past all that Maelstrom?" He looked at Vanda.
She looked thoughtful. "I say we destroy the Dragons first. They are the biggest threat.
"Right," Sutoro said, unsheathing his katanas. His hat flared with lightning for a moment. "Let's engage them."
Vanda jumped down, fiding footholes. The Paradox members worked their way down, and reached the first Dragon. It's platform was fairly large, and a few Ronin Invaders stood around.
"Stay silent," Vanda ordered. "We must take this one quickly."
She jumped down onto the platform and charged the Dragon. It saw her and fired a huge strings of fireballs. She dodged most, but one hit her in midair. She flew backwards and hit the ground hard, her clothes smoking.
"No!" Meyer jumped from the cliff. He charged the Dragon, firing off bolts of Maelstrom from his staff. Suddenly, he stopped. He concentrated and suddenly he glowed with Maelstrom. A spinning tornado of energy expanded in front of him, and inside, miniature Maelstrom creatures spun. Vanda looked up weakly and saw the tornado. Meyer released the tornado at the Dragon, and when it was a few metres away it split it pieces... and Maelstorm came flooding out in it's place.
Spiderlings, Ronin, Admirals and Stromlings appeared on the ground. They all stood for a moment.
"Serve the Paradox!" Meyer yelled. Suddenly the creatures burst into action, attacking the Dragon. It spun and looked around, trying to target the creatures, but there was too many. One Spiderling broke off from the swarm and crawled over to Vanda. She was trying to get up. Then Spiderling began releasing short pulses of energy. With each pulse Vanda look better and stronger. The scorch marks on her clothes got fainter. Each pulse the Spiderling looked weaker and frailer. The Spiderling was healing her with it's own life force.
Vanda stood and looked to the Spiderling. She spoke something to it and it stopped releasing pulses, and slowly began looking less weak.
The Dragon was almost finished off, and distracted, so Vanda walked over to Meyer, the Spiderling follow behind her.
"Meyer..." she said. "How did you do that?"
"Honestly I'm not sure," he said. "My armor... it seems... different." He looked at it. It looked similar to a pair of samurai shoulderpads, but fatter in the middle. Purple lines glowed along the centre, and red stripes decorated it.
"It may be." Sutoro had jumped down from the cliff. "It is not like anything any other Paradox has ever worn."
"Yes," Vanda said. "Nobody, ever, in the history of the Nexus Force..."
Meyer felt awkward. "Um, how about we move on. We need to take down the Dragons."
"Right," Vanda said, looking at Meyer as if seeing him as a new person. They locked eyes for a moment, but them Meyer looked at the Spiderling following Vanda.
"Er," he said. "Vanda? What is that Spiderling doing there?"
"Oh," Vanda said. "He seems to like me. The Soomslicer could never maintain a Spiderling for long enough. It seems your tornado can create new pets." The spider hissed happily and shot a web and an orb of Maelstorm approaching, sending it into the cliff. Vanda laughed. "Thanks Meyer. I've always wanted Spiderling pet."
The trio quickly downed the remaining Dragons. Then they looked at the sea of Maelstrom enemies below.
"How are we meant to get through that?" Meyer asked. He kicked a rock off the platform. It fell around 10 metres before it began glowing purple and disintegrated.
"I'm not sure," Vanda admitted. "This is more Maelstrom than I've seen before."
"I've seen more," a voice said. Vanda looked behind her and standing there was a Space Marauder. His armor was scratched and burned, as if he'd been here battling Dragons for a very long time. His visor has a small crack in it, and there was a small hole in his shoulderpads. Inside you could see hundreds of tiny bombs. "Hello, ma'am. I'm Extreme."
"How are you here?" Vanda asked suspiciously. "This area is classified."
"My dropship crashed here," Extreme said. "I was flying to Aura Mar on a mission. I got shot down. I've been trapped here for two months, hiding in a small cave."
"Well," Vanda said. "How do we get past all that?" She pointed a katana at the Maelstrom.
"This." Extreme pressed something on his sleeve and jets began activating on his shoulderpads. He hovered to the edge and looked back. He said, "Follow me."
Then he backflipped off the platform, into the swarm of Maelstrom below.

Next chapter WILL be up tomorrow. I am just copying the chapters off Brickmaster7946's Paradox story on the Lego Forums. Link: /t5/Stories-of-LEGO-UNIVERSE/Paradox-Story/td-p/1920804/highlight/true