"Galloway!"
The Professor could hear Hawk Moth yelling as he entered the room. "Ah, my cowled friend. What seems to be the problem?"
"You know what the problem is.", the super villain replied. "People have started to directly appear in my lair, which I remind you, is supposed to be a secret." Then he noticed that Galloway had a woman with him. She had blue-green hair and was dressed in a royal-like outfit. "And who's this girl?"
"How dare you address me like that, human?", the woman snapped back. "I could destroy you with little effort."
"Now, now Mylene.", the Professor said, calming her down. "We still have need of him. For now." The. He turned to his other ally. "The people appearing here have no knowledge of this building's location. Once I have concluded with what I need on this planet, they will still have no knowledge."
"And what do you still need on Earth?", Hawk Moth asked with some impatience.
"All I need is one more Akuma. Alixandra Kubdel, also known as Timebreaker. She can help me go back and ensure that the conference on Gundalia fails." Then he sent out the last of his mutant butterflies. "It's a good thing I held onto some of the extract I took from Dr. Tomoe's Daimon pods*."
"Don't forget, you promised to build me a new, stronger mechanical Bakugan.", Mylene said. "That was my demand in exchange for my services to your invasion plans."
"Be patient.", the Professor snarled. "It's hard to build a fully functioning artificial Bakugan witho only a few lines of leftover code and a pile of recently decommissioned bombs. You're just lucky I decided to pick you over your friend at all. I could have just let my other Vestal contact be my only help." He started again at the message signature, a clockface with the 11, 12 and 1 replaced with a J, a Q and a K. "Bring the others in here. We must make plans for the total conquest of a universe."
Elsewhere on Earth, Mira and Ace's brawl with Gaia was not going well. For any major damage that Wilda or Percival caused to the corrupted Gorem, Gaia would bequeath another 1000 Gs. Just when all seemed lost, Ace threw an Aquos Bakugan to Mira. "It's something Gus told me to give you.", he stated. "Use it to end this match."
Mira scanned it with her Bakumeter and then nodded towards Ace. Then she threw the Bakugan out. "Bakugan Brawl! Bakugan, stand! Aquos Blast Elico!" The large reptilian humanoid stood proud in from of Mira and Ace, who was reminded of how this Bakugan had once beaten him and Percival without taking a hit. Then Mira activated the ability Ace had told her about. "Ability, activate! Elemental Blue!"
"What?", Gaia cried. "But that card -."
Elico launched his attack before she could finish that thought. Diablo Gorem was frozen solid.
Diablo Gorem has been ejected from the brawl. Battle terminated.
With this problem dealt with, Mira and Ace jumped through the dimensional portal Ace had arrived from, recalling their Bakugan in the process. Gaia fumed, as she did likewise with her partner. "This isn't over, Mira. I will destroy you eventually." With that said, she dissolved into the ground, making her way to the others.
Back in Paris, Dan and his party materialised in a classy looking hotel lobby. "I thought I told you to think of somewhere with good security.", Masquerade said to Ladybug.
"This place has had less Akuma attacks than others in Paris.", Ladybug replied. "Compared the Louvre, this place is a Fortress. At least the lower floors.", was Ladybug's response.
"What's an "Akuma"?", was Dan's question.
Cat Noir answered him. "They're basically like the things that just attacked you. They're basically normal people, empowered by their anger and a magic butterfly to become super villains intent on revenge against the one who wronged them in the first place."
"Of course!", Dan realised. "Runo and Shun must have been angry that I ran off on them without saying goodbye. That means that -." With a look of horror on his face, he picked up his Bakumeter and sent out a signal. "Anyone who can decipher this code, please respond." He knew that, with the fact that Shun and Runo had revealed themselves to him, any others wouldn't be willing to answer the signal.
Luckliy fo Dan, someone was able to answer the call. It was Mira. "Dan, is that you? Because if so, then this is the second piece of good news I've had all day."
"Mira!", Dan cried out in joy. "Oh I am glad to see you're not some weird super-powered freak."
"I see you've had a run in with the others.", Mira replied. "Julie attacked me and forced me to abandon the Research Lab. I'm currently on the Vestal Destroyer With Spectra, Gus and Ace, but I'm going to make my way to your co-ordinates."
As Dan and Mira discussed what had happened to the two of them since Dan left (namely the attack on Gundalia and the troubles in Paris), Masquerade picked up a flagpole, stand and all, and used it to seal the doors by jamming it through the handles. As he did this, a large, portly middle-aged man in a business suit and a sash came bounding up to him.
"Excuse me, sir. What do you're doing?", the man demanded.
"I'm safeguarding this place from an attack.", Masquerade replied calmly. "I suggest that you also have all the windows closed, ventilation turned on, drains blocked and lightbulbs unscrewed."
This just made the man outraged. "I beg your pardon, sir. I won't tolerate such a drastic -."
Masquerade, clearly tired of this man already, grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall. "I'm losing patience with you, "sir". Either you do as I say, or say goodbye to the people working in this hotel."
"You can't do that to him," Cat Noir protested "he's the mayor of Paris. You kill him and you'll get sent to jail."
"Go ahead and try.", Masquerade said smugly. "I don't legally exist, so I can get away with anything I want."
Conceding that maybe this lunatic had a point, the Mayor nodded in agreement to him. Masquerade let him go and he went over to the desk. "Close off the windows and drains. And cut the power.", he told the secretary in a panic.
"Okay, Mira. Tell Spectra to try and scan for any Gundalian life signals in the area.", Dan said over his Bakumeter. "And meet me by the large palace-like structure with the glass pyramid."
"Will do, Dan.", Mira replied. "Over and out."
After hanging up, Dan turned to Ladybug and Cat Noir. "I think we should compare notes.", he said.
Elsewhere in the city, the Aquos Akuma, Tidal Wave, finally caught with his teammates. Like the others, he wore armour based on his Bakugan partner Radizen. However, due to Marucho being shorter and younger than the other Brawlers, combined with the fact that Radizen was basically a humanoid chicken, his armour more resembled cartoonish spandex than the others.
"What took you so long, Tidal Wave?", Wind-ja hissed. "Gaia got here faster than you, and she set off last."
"Getting across the ocean isn't as fast as travelling through lights.", Tidal Wave replied. "Besides, you've barely done any better. Dan and Ladybug managed to escape you easily, I overheard."
"Only because they had Masquerade and his transporter card.", Lightwave fumed. "No way they could be anywhere on Earth by now."
"That's not a problem.", Gaia replied. "I can find them by sensing vibrations in the ground. Once I find 4 that match up with the weight of our targets, catching them is a matter of asking for directions."
