When Things Go Wrong.

Starco cliche

He was not supposed to be here. He should have been at home, enjoying nachos and chilling, but no. He was here, hanging onto a grappling hook that was slowly reeling up onto the highest tower of a castle. He was breaking into St Olga's to rescue his best friend. His best friend who, had been captured and was now trapped in St Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses.

Star hadn't being attention. That was the only reason she hadn't been able to kick the ass's of the four masked men that had taken her. They had gotten hold of her wand and overpowered her. Marco had managed to knock out three of them, but the fourth had dragged Star, kicking and screaming into the portal. Marco hadn't been able to do anything about it. But he wasn't letting his best friend rot in that hell of a school.

He had returned home with Star's wand, and immediately prepared for a rescue mission. And that included asking Janna for some equipment.

On any other day, he would have asked Janna how she had gotten her hands on a retractable grappling hook, a laser cutter, lightweight body armour that dispersed electricity, camera jamming equipment, tasers, and a cell phone with inter dimensional reception, but today, he let it pass, forming a plan with her to get Star back, and after two days of careful surveillance and planning, they were ready. The plan had five steps.

- Infiltrate the van that the new princesses were brought in.

- Have Janna slip away into the grounds and disable the tramelfydion crystal in tower three while Marco finds Star

-Meet on the balcony above the entrance hall

-Set EMP to disable all security and electrical items

-Use scissors to escape

If everything went according to plan, they would be in and out within twenty minutes. But things never went according to plan, and so an hour time window was set.

The first two phases of the plan had gone off without a problem. The tramelfydion crystal was disabled, Marco had Star, and all three of them were zeroing in on the rendezvous point. Until the grappling line he was on was cut, and Marco fell. Luckily, Marco's body armour had another one built into the arm, but this one wasn't as powerful. The bad news was that it was a trap, and Marco was forced to watch as his best friend was recaptured. And that was how he found himself reeling up the side of the highest tower.

"Marco, you there?" Marco's earpiece crackled.

"Abort Janna, Miss Heinous has Star and we need to get out of here." Marco replied, desperate to save Star. Mrs Heinous was not going to let her live after this.

"Rats, we gotta move, meet me in front of the gates, I'm nearly there and we can portal out of there. Plus, I have an informant who seems to be more then willing to share his information on where they might be taking Star." The last part made almost made Marco feel sorry for her informant. Almost.

"I swear, I will tell you, just don't let the thing near me!" Marco arrived at the gates to the sound of screaming. His eyes widened in shock. This was not what he wanted! Getting information by scaring the captive was one thing, but torture was another.

"JANNA!? WHAT ARE YOU DONG?" Marco yelled as he rounded the corner. What he saw shocked him. Janna had one of the guards huddled against the wall, and in her hand she held a… centipede? The guard was babbling uncontrollably now, and Janna was nodding her head looking smug. When she was done, she looked away from the guard and smiled.

"They're taking her to a special prison dimension where she will be executed with seven other girls who tried to escape the castle." She said calmly.

"The execution is in a month, which gives us plenty of time to plan and rescue the prisoners, and we can kick ass doing it!" She looked so convinced. Marco shook his head.

"We aren't waiting any longer. This has gone on long enough. I'm going to remove Mrs Heinous and her school, and send them into the farthest dimension I can think of."

"Guns blazing?" Janna asked.

"Guns blazing." Marco confirmed. "It's time I put my sixteen years of badassery to use." He said, and pulled up his hood.

The first thing they saw when they stepped out of the portal was a cave. A massive cave. It glowed an eerie red, and the floor was well worn. "They've been through here." Marco said, and walked into a hallway filled with steel doors. The hallway seemed to go on forever, and the pair crept quietly through the shadows.

"Damn." Janna replied. "This is a seriously cool cave, if we get out of this, I'm making this my hangout zone."

"Quiet, I hear something." Marco commanded. Janna complied instantly. The pair crept forward, and looked on. The sounds were coming from outside the hall, past the steel doors, and through a pair of massive gates. Marco and Janna ran towards them and looked into a massive arena.

"Oh no."

"what is it?" Janna asked.

"They're using the princesses to fight to the death. The executions are really just the princesses trying to earn their freedom!" Marco realised, his eyes widening in shock.

"No…" Janna breathed, looking just as disturbed as Marco.

"Lets go join them!" She cried enthusiastically, a maniac grin on her face.

"No!" Marco growled, holding her back. "I will deal with this."

"Indeed you will." came a sinister voice from what Marco figured was a hidden speaker. The voice raised the hairs on his neck, and he pushed Janna behind him.

"What do you mean? I refuse to fight any of them. I want Star back." Marco declared. The voice laughed.

"Not the princesses you won't. But I have a deal. Make it through the three rooms after the gates, and I will free all the princesses."

"What?" Marco asked. Miss Heinous wouldn't give him what he wanted just like that. He looked through the gates.

"That room will be filled with guards, all carrying guns set to kill. I'm giving you one chance to turn back."

"Marco…" Janna said slowly. "I think this is a little over our capability, maybe we should leave and come back with a different plan?" Marco faced away from her.

"No" Marco said, and looked through the gates.

"I've done something similar before." He looked older, sounded older, like he had experiences more then a fourteen year old had a right to.

"Marco?" Janna asked.

"I can do this." Janna stepped back.

"Go home and prepare for first aid, if I don't join you within twelve hours, I'm dead." Janna nodded and walked back.

"I believe in you." She called. The gates swung open without a sound.

"Enter, if you dare."

Marco stepped forward into the arena, and in that moment, he was no longer Marco, the best friend of Star and the "safe kid." He was Marco Diaz, the survivor of dimensions, the hunter of the forger of scissors, and the tamer of the dragoncycle. His survival instincts kicked in, and in an instant, he was 30 again, and surviving the afflicted forests on his search for Hekapoo.

The gates on the side of the arena opened up, and armed guard filed in.

"There are one hundred and twenty three of these. Good luck making it past the first room." And with that, all the guards all levelled their automatic rifles at him.

"Bring it."

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Star struggled against her restraints as Miss Heinous circled the table she was strapped to evilly.

"Your boyfriend is going to sacrifice his life in a hopeless attempt to get you out and save you, you know that right?"

"He's not my boyfrie-" Star stopped halfway, biting back the automatic reply. What was he? He was certainly her best friend. That much was easy. But recently, she had been feeling something else for him, something deeper. Butterflies in her stomach whenever he hugged her. A feeling of jealousy whenever he talked about Jackie. The small longing to hold his hand when they walked. What was he to her? But Jackie… He'd had a crush on her since kindergarten. Would he feel the same? Star shook her head. This was interfering with her ability to concentrate, which wasn't one of her strong suites anyway. Then what Miss Heinous said fully sank in.

"His life?" She whispered questioningly.

Miss Heinous grinned like a true villain.

"Yes my dear, his life. If by some miracle he makes it past the third room, I will give you too him and release the princesses. But that's not going to happen. In fact, he won't even make it past the first."

What have you done?" Star gasped.

"Why don't we see?" Miss Heinous replied and switched on a large screen. Whatever she expected to see, an empty room full of corpses and bullet casings was not it.

"What?" She screeched. "How?" Star smirked, despite her situation.

"Marco is going to kick your ass."

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Getting through the guards had been easy. They were so slow, and he hadn't needed to hit any of them, they just shot themselves trying to hit him. Marco grinned. The next room lay before him, waiting.

"Enjoying yourself Marco?" Miss Heinous' voice echoed through the room, magnified by the hidden speaker.

"Your last experience is nothing compared to what you have to do now, and if you succeed, I'd like to see you get through that door." Miss Heinous sounded too pleased with herself. Marco looked at the massive steel door set into the stone wall and grinned.

"I'll give a nice show then."

Suddenly, a fierce roar echoed through the chamber. thunderous footsteps shook the chamber, and a massive thing entered. It was a thing. that was the only way to describe it. It had massive tusks coming out of it's face, and a mane of frills coming out of the neck, and a long tail with flaps on it. It reared up on it's hind legs and let out a bellowing roar. But didn't attack Marco. Marco looked closer at it. The beast was massive, but it's body was out of proportion. The tusks were massive compared to the rest of the body, but they were shorter then he'd imagined. and stubby. The legs didn't look large enough to support its bulk. Then it dawned on him. This was a a baby. A terrified baby. Marco stood there stunned. If the baby was this small, how large was the adult? To large to fit in this cave, he supposed.

His heart quickened as he approached the cowering baby. It may have been a youngling, but it could still squash him without a second thought. Marco carefully moved closer. The beast roared again, but it was weak this time. As he got closer, he saw ugly scars along it's pearly skin. Marco got closer. The beast whimpered. Marco was within touching distance. The beast was looking at him with a mixture of fear and hurt. Marco's fear evaporated, replaced by anger. What sick person would do this to a baby? Marco reached to the creature and ran his hand along one of it's scars, just above it's mouth. He gently stroked the beast's face, and smiled as it cautiously nuzzled his hand. Marco stayed there, gently petting the creature for a while, until the voice rang over the speakers.

"NO! Kill him!" Miss Heinous yelled. The monster turned it's massive head and growled menacingly, it's warning growl rumbling violently through the cavern. Miss Heinous shut up.

"Looks like I'm not the only one with a hatred for the headmistress hey?" Marco said, stroking the creature's neck.

"Can you get me though that door?" Marco asked, and the beast looked at him. With a flick of it's head, the beast swung Marco onto its neck. Marco grinned. It sure could.