Four

A Calm Before The Storm

Eli sits down at his desk in his office and opens the comm channel with the United Nations Security Council.

"Sorry it took so long to establish a clear communication channel," Eli said.

"We saw the footage of the attack. It could've got a lot worse," the first United Nations Security Council member said.

"And now we received word that several Plumber ships have landed in Bellwood," the second United Nations Security Council member said.

"Those guys have faced some of the toughest battles in this war so far. Also, the mastermind behind the attack, Legion has escaped," Eli said.

"What?!" a third United Nations Security Council member said.

"With him loose, Earth is in constant danger," another member said.

"Don't worry; we're working on a plan to capture him. That'll be all." He hangs the United Nations Security Council up. "If this is the end of days, then Legion sure picked the right week to do it," Eli said to himself.

A agent then enters the office. "Sir, Ben and Ken are back and so is the others," he said.

"Tell them to assemble in the war room." They both leave the office. In the war room, Eli enters the room to find the group already there. "I know I made some bad calls recently and I want to apologise for that. I know it uncalled for me to use the P.K.D, but when this is over. I'll put in a word to those politicians to decommission the database," Eli said.

"You don't owe us an apology, Colonel," Trent said.

"And we'll hold you to that," I said.

"It's good to see you recovered, Ben. Before we took shore leaves, there's one I forgot to mention. I forgot to tell you lot the reason why I set up the Guardian Initiative. Years before I founded Special Projects. I was a Plumber, working in deep space with one of the best Plumbers, my partner and my best friend, Devin Levin. Before his death and my resignation from the Plumber Corp, he came up with the idea to bring together a group of remarkable people and they'll fight the battles that humanity or the Plumbers could," Eli said.

"Who knew that Kevin's dad was responsible for creating the Guardians," I said.

"In the end, he finally got he wanted as it were," Eli said.

A agent enters the room. "Sorry to intrude, Plumber Supreme Commander wants a word with you, Colonel," he said.

"Excuse me for a moment," Eli said.

He leaves the room. "Now that he's out of the room. We need to figure out Legion's next move," Rex said.

"That could be difficult because he and the Dark Gods could be anywhere," Trent said.

"During your time knowing Eddie. Did he tell you any specific?" Carter said.

"Any clue you can provide may gives us a slight idea to what Legion is planning," Molly said.

"It just came back to me, all right," I said.

"We know he stole the Gloucester Island Tablet, kidnapped both Dr. Finn Turner and Prof. Malcolm McKay and stole something from the antimatter universe." Blake brings up a holographic display of the items that Legion stole. "This is everything we know he has stolen," Blake said.

Molly notices something on the display. "I hate to ask, but what's that huge chunky computer thingy?" Molly asked.

"That would be the energy stabilisation unit Prof. McKay is working on. The problem he had is that he couldn't find a suitable energy source to power it up," Blake answered.

As they talked on, I tried to remember the time I and Gwen spent with Edwin. Meanwhile, on the parallel Earth where Rex is from, Providence technicians are busy maintaining the tower's security systems. "Is there a problem with the systems?" White Knight asked.

"All systems check out," the first technician answered.

Dr. Holiday enters the room and places a file on the desk. "This is the latest report from Rex. Everything checks out and the revelation the research has revealed has still gotten me on edge," she said.

"The Consortium was manipulated to an extent. I wonder what else Special Projects haven't revealed. Has Bobo and Six come back yet?" he asked.

"They should here in the," she answered.

"The next few seconds," Legion said.

He and the rest of the Dark Gods enter the room and threw the unconscious bodies of Six and Bobo onto the ground. White Knight grabs his gun and aims it at them. "Who are you and what've you done to them?" he asked.

"I just rendered them unconscious, that's all. They put up a fight when we met in the lobby. Now then, drop your weapon," Legion ordered.

"Unlikely," he said.

White Knight opens fire on Legion and he grabs the bullet. "Interesting thing, bullets are. It usually takes a bullet start an unexpected event." He drops the bullet. "You thought you kill me with a bullet, a demi-god bent on universal domination. Grab him." Two of the minions grab White Knight and Legion walks slowly towards Dr. Holiday. "As for you Rebecca, I have so much use for you," Legion said.

She's terrified of him. "Stay back, I'm warning you," she yelled.

"Hush, this won't hurt a bit." He places his hand on her shoulder and brainwashes her. "Everyone, start getting the equipment up and running. Machinus, you take command while I go through the transformation process," he said.

"Of course, my lord," Machinus said.

Legion uses his powers to encase himself in a cocoon of pure energy. Back on my Earth, I sat on the main deck, watching the pier when Azmuth teleported in. "It looks like you've seen worse for wear," he said.

"It's good to see another friendly face. It's like my life is coming back to me," I said.

"Likewise, Tennyson. I heard about Edwin and I'm sorry," he said.

"Did you know about Edwin?" I asked.

"Not in the slightest, although I did pick a trace of dark energy on your when we first met all those years. But it wore off when you left," he said.

"I take it you're here on Earth for a reason?" I asked.

"I'm part of a Plumber convoy, we evacuated to Bellwood after Theta Prime was levelled," he answered.

"I don't like this war, for each defeat, it feels like I'm losing my humanity," I said.

"How could you say that? From time to time, I've seen you beaten the odds. Even in the darkest hour, you never gave up," Azmuth said.

"How can you beat something with god like power?" I asked.

"I don't know, I never done it before. In time, these people you got onboard will look to you for guidance and they'll look up to you for inspiration. I know you can beat him, you got to believe. There's another reason why I'm here." Azmuth then reconfigures the Omnitrix. "There, you got access to the master control program. You're going to need it in order to defeat the Dark Gods. See you on the other side, Tennyson," he said.

Azmuth teleports back to Bellwood, I stood up as Carter comes on deck. "Who was that you were talking to?" Carter said.

"Azmuth, the creator of the Omnitrix," I answered.

"Oh, just to let you know. The technicians are almost finished making the repairs and we're leaving in five," Carter said.

They head back inside as the Yamato takes off and heads back into the sky. In the war room, Trent and Blake are going over the findings so far. "Hey Ben, did you manage to remember anything?" Blake asked.

"Unfortunately no," I answered.

"Pity," Blake said.

"You did everything you could. I'm surprised to learn that the scientists who have been involved in studying the tablet for years were either went insane or died," Trent said.

"Special Project has encountered this problem, so they decided to shield the thing from driving our scientists insane," Molly said.

"Ever since the heist, Legion has become more unpredictable. It does make me wonder if this is all an act to him," Rex said.

Suddenly, something snapped in my head and I remember something. "Wait a minute, that's it. I remember what Eddie once told me. He wanted to be an actor when he grew up. The hostage crisis in London was a rehearsal for him. The breakout and the attack attempt on the Yamato was a preview night. So the question is, where's the show going to be held?" I wondered.

"Tyrants like Legion do often see themselves as a performer. But there's another problem, the scientists haven't figured out what the tablet does," Trent said.

"I think there's a reference to that in one of the reports." Blake picks the report up. "Here it is: Private Mosley found a relic on Gloucester Island, a tablet so old that it's not Japanese. Mosley touched the tablet, a portal opened and a creature came through. It took ten men to kill the creature, but when Mosley touched it again, the portal closed. Before it closed, Mosley caught a glimpse of a huge crimson red planet in the dimension. Later, Mosley described the planet was pulling toward them," Blake read.

Ken then realises something. "Wait, can the energy stabilisation unit Prof. McKay was working on can be converted into an energy amplification device?" Ken asked.

"It can do both actually, Prof. McKay once stated that not only the unit can stabilise energy, but it can also amplify it on a safe level," Blake answered.

Ken walks up to a whiteboard and begins drawing something out. "From what the report is describing, it looks like Dark Genesis; the Dark God home world is coming through. The planet itself is a thousand times the size of an average planet." Ken finishes drawing the equation on the whiteboard. "I know what he's planning. Legion is planning to use the Gloucester Island Tablet to bring Dark Genesis into the multiverse," Ken said.

"But that's impossible, look at the size of the tablet, it's huge," Molly said.

"It's possible that whatever the Dark Gods retrieved from the antimatter universe must've been used to reveal the tablet's true form," Trent said.

"There's still one problem, where on Earth is he going to find a suitable power source. The source will have to be continuous, otherwise the system will crash," Blake said.

It snapped and I remembered something. "That son of a gun, I know where he's going to get the power source. He's heading to Providence Tower," I said.

"Oh no, if he uses the tower's power source, it could bring the end of all things." Rex leaves the war room and heads into the comm room. Inside, he grabs a headset and speaks. "Holiday, hello, anybody," Rex said.

He was frustrated as we entered the room. "Legion's already there," Carter said.

"Then we have no time to lose. Has Special Projects developed a Universal Gate that's capable of sending a jet through?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's in the hangar bay," Molly said.

"All right then, Molly, Carter, get us the coordinates to the parallel Earth where Rex is from, a jet and access to the Universal Gate." Molly and Carter then head down to the hangar bay. "Everyone, suit up," I said. In the hangar bay, Molly and Carter arrived and Molly goes to the gate technician.

"Hey Molly, what brings you down here?" he asked.

"We need access to the Universal Gate," she answered.

The technician notices Carter boarding his jet. "He doesn't have authorisation," he said.

"And neither do I." She gives him a piece of paper with the coordinates. "Punch in these coordinates, now," she said.

"You two will be court-martialled for this," he said.

"Look, out there somewhere is a tyrant, waiting to unleash a Dark God invasion force onto a parallel Earth. Do it," she demanded.

The technician gives in as he notices Carter powering the jet up. "I'm so going to regret this," he said.

"No you won't," she said.

The technician powers the gate up. "Hangar Bay Universal Gate is online," the computer said.

In Eli's office, Eli is coordinating the counterforce to deal with the Dark Gods when an agent bursts in. "Sorry to burst in, sir. But we got a unauthorised takeoff in the hangar and use of a Universal Gate," he said.

Eli looks out his window and sees us getting onboard the jet. "They got it," Eli said.

"Sir?" he asked.

"Tell the helmsman to get the Yamato to Bellwood," Eli ordered.

Onboard the jet, we boarded the craft and strapped ourselves in. "I assume you got a plan worked, Tennyson. Otherwise, it'll be a short war," Carter said.

"Don't worry; I usually just make this stuff up as I go along. Now then, it's time for us to save New York," I said.

Carter drives the jet into position, takes off and flies through the Universal Gate. On the other side, we arrived in New York and flew into the city. "Well Blake, tell us some good news?" I asked.

Blake gets his laptop out and he powers it up. "I'm picking up a huge dark energy spike coming from a nearby office tower," Blake answered.

He shows them the map. "There, that's where Providence Tower is," Rex said.

"So what now?" Dr. Nexus asked.

"Carter, open the hatch. I'm going to have some words with the new tenants. In the meantime, find a safe landing zone." I used the Omnitrix to change into Jetray, Carter opens the hatch and I flew out of the jet. I made my way over to Providence Tower and I find the machine already activated. "It's lot bigger than it was in the blueprints," I said to myself.

Dr. Finn Turner and Prof. Malcolm McKay walk up to greet me. "Magnificent, isn't it. Six years of research has finally paid off," Malcolm said.

"Oh man, you two really are brainwashed. Well then, time to destroy this thing and go home," I said.

I fired blasts into the machine, but it didn't make a dent. "The unit is shielded, you can't break it," Finn said.

I revert back to my normal self and we made our way into the tower. Inside, I entered the office suite to discover a cocoon is there and a group of Dark Gods were waiting for me.

"Ah, I see our pawn has made it. We really should thank you for your contributions to the Dark God cause," Machinus said.

"I'm no one's pawn. Nice office, a shame about the cocoon. I take it Eddie's inside?" I asked.

"He is, soon, Dark Sai will rise and lead us to victory," Nez answered.

"So I was right, Dark Sai is using him as a host. What kind of grandfather would do that to his own grandson?" I asked.

"One that is determinate to restore the multiverse in his own image," Machinus answered.

"Right, along the way, you brought together The Guardians," I said.

"The who?" Machinus asked.

"The Guardians, it's what we call ourselves. The Multiverse's Greatest Heroes type thing. Also, you managed to make every one of us angry," I said.

"That's been the plan all along," Nez said.

"Let's do a headcount, there's the tokusatsu legend who defeated a empire twenty years ago. The Sorcerer Mage who stopped countless threats in the last five thousand years. There's the kid who can generate machines at will. An Anodite who is from a parallel Earth. A joint Plumber/Special Projects agent who's a skilled archer and a thief who can manipulate shadows," I said.

"We have an army," Machinus said.

"We have a Gauntlet and there's me. There's one other person who made angry and his name is Henry Walsh," I said.

"You little group doesn't scare us," Nez said.

"We'll see about that. When this is over, there'll be nothing left," I said.

"That's the general idea," Machinus said.

"You lot don't get it, there'll be no parallel Earths, no other life forms, no purpose. Is that how you see your new multiverse, filled with Dark Gods and no other races," I said.

"We'll make slaves out of the other races once this is over. Now then, surrender peacefully," Nez said.

"If there's one thing you should learn about us Guardians and that's we don't surrender that easily," I said.

"He knew you would say that. So we taken a hostage as leverage," Machinus said.

The minions bring in Verdona and I was outraged. "You cowards, how dare you use my grandma as a hostage!" I shouted.

"He was right about you, you all about anger and no sense. Now surrender," Machinus said.

"Never, we'll stop you and I will rescue my grandma. We don't give up, not now, not ever," I said.

I dived out of the window, changed into Big Chill and flew out of there. "After him, start the machine and bring in the fleet," Machinus ordered.

Portals began to open up in the sky as I escaped Providence Tower. A invasion force is seen coming through the portals and I landed on the ground to watch New York transform into a warzone. There's panic in the streets as everyone flees as I revert back to my normal self. Onboard the jet, Carter is outmanoeuvring the invasion force.

"I got bogies on my six," Carter said.

"No kidding. I don't suppose this jet of yours has guns?" Rex said.

Carter presses a button to release a joystick. "Be my guest," he answered.

Rex grabs the stick, presses the trigger and opens fire on the pursuing fighters. "We need to find a safe place to land. Have you got Ben's location?" Molly asked.

"I see him, he's in Times Square." An alarm goes off. "Ah nuts, we're hit. Hang onto something; this'll be a bumpy landing." I see the jet coming in fast; I change into Humungousaur, stopped the jet in its tracks and placed it on the ground. I revert back as everyone got out. "Thanks for the safe and New York is crawling with Dark Gods," Carter said.

"Yeah and that's not the worst part. The Dark Gods have turned Providence Tower into an invasion force magnet," I said.

"The tablet must be amplified to an extent. Our priority is get over to Providence Tower and destroy it once and for all," Blake said.

"And how are we going to do that. Look around, New York is turning into a warzone and there's no doubt that the tower is heavily fortified and guarded," Carter said.

"Carter's right, we got a huge task ahead," Dr. Nexus said.

Everyone then felt a tremor. "Eh, what was that?" A huge creature is seen walking, destroying everything in its path. "Wow, now that's a big Dark God," Dania said.

Blake sees a child, crying for its mother, the creature is about to destroy the child when Blake transforms into the Gauntlet, leaps into action and fights the creature. "You want to pick on someone, pick on someone your own size," the Gauntlet said.

They fought for a while and the Gauntlet came out victorious. The child's mother walks up to her boy and picks him. "Please tell me I'm seeing things?" Carter asked.

"No you're not," Molly said.

"Thank you," the mother said.

The Gauntlet jumps back to the ground. "I guess this team is ready. Right, it's like what Blake said. Our biggest priority is to recapture Providence Tower and destroy the Gloucester Island Tablet. Carter, I want you on that roof, I want eyes on everything," I ordered.

"You got it, I got these." He shows the group a set of headset communicators. "They're communicators, put them in your ears and we should maintain contact. Also, they're inter-universal, they're hooked to the Yamato's comm systems," Carter said.

Everyone grabs a communicator and places it in their ear. "Thanks, Nexus; can you give him a lift to the rooftop?" I asked.

"You better clench up, Justin Hartley," Dr. Nexus answered.

He picks Carter up and flies him to the rooftop. "We need to create a bottleneck, keep them in this area," I said.

"I got that covered," Dr. Nexus said.

"Rex, Dania, I don't us winning this thing without help. Find any Providence agents and tell them to provide support and evac," I said.

"Sure thing, Ben, let's go Dania," Rex said.

Rex and Dania left the area. "Rider, we going to need intel. Find any enemy communications, hack it and pass onto the team. We want to know what the enemy is thinking," I said.

"Right, see you on the other side," the Mighty Rider said.

The Mighty Rider summons his motorcycle, gets on and rides into battle. "Molly, start evacuating civilians from the nearby buildings. Knowing Providence, they may've set up an evac zone, find it and start evacuating people and Gauntlet." Gauntlet then looks at me. "Smash," I said.

The Gauntlet grins at that notion as leaps into action and start pummelling Dark Gods. Molly then realises something. "Wait, that leaves you. Oh no, you're thinking about facing Legion alone?" she asked.

"I am," I answered.

"You barely survived the last encounter. Please, think this though, I don't want to go to another funeral and worse, I can't imagine Julie being alone. Please, think this through," Molly said.

"She's right, if you go now, there's no guarantee you'll make it back," Dr. Nexus said over the communicator.

"It's my fault I unleashed him onto this multiverse and I'll want to correct that. I'm not a fool, but a brave fool," I said.

"All right, if things get pear shaped, you lot better go in there and get him out," Eli said over the communicator.

"Good luck," Molly said. We went in separate directions as we both head into battle. Rex and Dania encountered a group of Providence agents, holding the line. A creature rampages through the line and Rex punches it in the face and rendering it unconscious.

"Boy, it's good to see a friendly face," the agent said.

"What's the situation? Where's Six, Bobo, Doc and White Knight?" Rex asked.

"Communication with Providence Tower has been shut down due to the invasion. I assume you got a plan to recapture the tower?" he asked.

"We're working on it. For now, let's try and help the civilians. Hey, eye in the sky, what's the situation look like from up there?" Rex asked.

On the rooftop, Carter is shooting anything he sees. "It doesn't look good. The skyline is crawling with fighters and the military aren't having any luck punching a hold in the artillery on the ground. And Dr. Nexus is shooting a bolt of lightning at them," Carter answered.

"And he didn't invite me. I found a group of Providence agents and we're helping the civilians, Rex out," he said over the radio.

Somewhere in Central Park, the Dark Gods are setting up equipment in the centre as the Mighty Rider arrives at the scene and defeats them with ease. He immediately recognises the equipment. "Guys, we got a problem. The Dark Gods are setting up equipment. From the looks of the design, it's a tractor beam. A big tractor beam," the Mighty Rider said.

"It's happening all over the multiverse. It appears the Dark Gods are strategically setting up tractor beams all over the multiverse and the parallel Earth you're standing on is in the centre," Eli said over the radio.

"I'm going to try and hack it. To see what I can learn about their plan." Mighty Rider is about to hack the unit when he heard chanting. "Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Yeah and the translation means 'Come, Come, The Conqueror.'," Eli answered over the radio.

Back at Providence Tower, I arrived at the cocoon and I meditated for him to hatch. Back on the streets, Molly evacuates the civilians from the subways and onto the streets. "Everyone this way, hurry." A shadow covers the entire street; Molly looks up and notices a ship hovering the sky. "Guys, are you seeing this?" she asked.

"It's Dark Sai's most prized warship, the Leviathan," Dr. Nexus answered over the radio.

The ship aims it cannons at the civilians. "Oh no, everybody move, the cannon is about to open fire!" Everyone panics as they flee the cannon's blast radius. The cannon opens fire, the Gauntlet jumps in, uses his gauntlet to absorb the blast and deflects it back at the ship, causing a amount of damage. "Thanks for the save," she said.

"Don't mention it," the Gauntlet said.

"You did more than just damage it. The shields are offline and so is the weapons," Dr." Nexus said over the radio.

"I got confirmation on the damage. Now would a good time to do some damage," Carter said over the radio.

"Need a lift?" the Gauntlet asked.

"Don't mind if I do," she answered.

Molly hops on the Gauntlet's back and he jumps onboard the ship. Onboard, they broke into the bridge and defeat the Dark Gods. "That was easy," he said.

"Nothing is ever that easy." Molly walks up to the computer. "The shields and weapons are offline. I'm picking up an energy signature in the brig. It's Anodite." She brings up the security footage of the prisoner. "Guys, we've just captured the Leviathan and they got a prisoner onboard. It's an Anodite," she said.

"It's Verdona, I can sense her. Get her out of there," Dr. Nexus said over the radio.

"Right, we're heading over to the brig," she said.

Machinus jumps in, knocks Molly over to the side and the Gauntlet punches him in the fact.

"Get going, I'll deal with Machine Man," Gauntlet said.

Molly gets up and heads over to the brig and the Gauntlet engages Machinus in a fight. Back at Providence Tower, the cocoon hatches and Dark Sai comes out of the cocoon. "Hello, Benjamin," Dark Sai said.

He grabs me, tosses me out of the window, I change into Ultimate Spider-Monkey and landed on the side of the building. "You must be Dark Sai. But that's impossible, you're supposed to be dead," I said.

Dark Sai hovers above the sky and hovers opposite me. "I was, during the last days of the Infinity War, I've uploaded parts of my consciousness into my daughter, Cyan. She survived throughout the eons until her death by giving birth to my grandson, Edwin," Dark Sai said.

"And you were waiting inside of Eddie until he became fully aware of his heritage," I said.

"Correct, from there I began making plans to restore Dark Genesis to its former glory and bring about the end of the multiverse. Even if it meant manipulating others into doing my bidding and it paid off. Soon, a new Garden of Eden will arise from the ashes of a dead trillion souls and there's nothing you can do to stop it. Activate the tablet and bring in the rest of the fleet," he ordered.

Soon, more portals began to open up in sky as the rest of the fleet comes through and begins invading. I soon noticed a red beam coming from Central Park shooting up at the sky. I then see a huge planet coming through slowly. It was Dark Genesis. "I won't let you succeed. At the end of the day, one shall stand," I said.

"And one shall fall," Dark Sai said.

We engaged in a epic battle for the fate of the multiverse.