Chapter 9

The Replicators came just as the Watcher and the ships disappeared into the time portal, and the portal disintegrating immediately.

The Replicators knew of the existence of the Line from one of the Borg they had melded with.

They were determined to get there first.

But in order of victory, the creatures called the Borg would have to be obliterated.

But the Borg were now more formidable opponents; with their giant ship, and now advanced minds.

The Borg ship turned to the Replicators.

"You cannot defeat us, Replicators," The Borg said, in a way that the Replicators could understand. "We will find and control the Line first, and then you and your kind will be nothing more then a memory." The Borg then laughed in a low, almost insane, way.

Then the Borg ship fired…

"There it is…" Palpatine said, as the cloaked ship landed inside the docking bay. "Make sure that you do not hurt anyone that may be inside unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Yes, my master," Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Count Dooku all said at once.

The ship suddenly uncloaked…

"Who are those people?" Dr. Doom said to himself, as he uncloaked the ship. If these beings knew that he was coming soon enough to meet him here, then the chances where good that they were willing to talk or he would be dead by now.

He opened the gate, and slowly stepped out. His eyes went over the four individuals that were standing there, waiting for him. Then his eyes met with Darth Vader's…

"You!" said both of them, and both jumped at one another. Vader's lightsaber came sliding out of his suit, and into his hand, igniting on-route, while Dr. Doom pushed a button on his left grey gauntlet, a replica of Vader's lightsaber came out of his suit. He grabbed it, and a red energy blade erupted at the top of the lightsaber.

The two blades met, knocking both men back slightly at the impact.

"What are you doing here?" Doom demanded, taking a swing at Vader's helmet.

Vader deflected the blow, and tried a parallel attack. "I would ask the same thing of you, but I doubt that you will live long enough to tell me."

"Stop this petty brawl at once!" Palpatine ordered, and both lightsabers came out of the two men's hands, and into his own wrinkled ones.

"Now…" Palpatine said, "Tell us who you are, and why you just attacked my apprentice?"

"My master, I know this man," Darth Vader said, "But that was almost a year ago."

"When was this, my apprentice?"

"When you sent me to find the Jedi Master in the Rioj system…"
"Yes, I do remember that."

"He was the being that stopped me from personally killing the Jedi."

Darth Vader and Dr. Doom looked at each other very carefully.

"Why are you here?" Palpatine asked Doom.

"When I saw your battle with those other beings, I had thought that you would be extremely valuable allies."

Vader scoffed. "What could you give my master that is worthy of an alliance?"

Instead of answering, Doom pulled out another lightsaber from his gauntlet. "I have powers beyond anything that you could ever imagine," Doom said.

"Such as…?" Palpatine inquired.

"From my last… encounter with your apprentice here, I was able to get a scan on his lightsaber…" Doom said, and with a wave of his hand, the lightsaber flew from Palpatine's hand, and into Doom's, "…among other things."

Palpatine's eyes widened slightly. "Interesting…" He said. "You have some extraordinary power."

"Does that make this… a partnership?" Dr. Doom asked.

Palpatine put his hand out. "For the time being…"
Doom nodded, and the two shook hands…

Admiral McCoy squirmed, as he started to get his body to start moving again. He looked at the others on the Enterprise E, and saw that Picard, Jim, and Spock were already up.

They were all surrounding the body of Q.

"Bones, are you alright?" Admiral Kirk asked, coming over to help McCoy up.

"Oh, I'm just fine and dandy!" McCoy exclaimed, as he let Kirk pull him up. "Why should I not be alright when all creation is going down the # drain?"

Kirk sighed. He had to agree with Bones that it was unnerving to be one of the ones chosen to survive the great destruction, and actually be one to try and save it.

"Try and pull yourself together, Admiral," Ambassador Spock said, coming over to them. "If will not help anyone if you have a heart attack and die."

McCoy huffed, but he still nodded.

But Picard was not listening to the former Enterprise crew's conversation. His eyes were fixed on Q. Next to him, Data was standing and Dr. Beverly Crusher was kneeling down, running her tricorder on the unresponsive omnipotent being.

"Is he dead?" Picard asked, watching Dr. Crusher's moves.

Beverly Crusher looked up, meeting Picard's eye contact. "I don't know." At the sight of Picard's eyes, Crusher irritably said, "Jean-Luc, I can't even pretend to know what I am dealing with."

"She's right, captain," Data confirmed, slightly nodding his head.

"Mr. Data, did you recognize the energy that the Borg used on Q?"

"No, captain… I don't believe that Starfleet records have ever encountered such a superior energy weapon before."

"Is it possible that there is such a weapon that is able to kill a being such as Q?"

Data cocked his head. "Again I say, captain, I have no idea."

"What is your analysis of Q?"

"Starfleet has no phrase of reference for an omnipotent being ceasing to exist."

Picard looked down at Q. If it was possible, Q looked very pale. His chest didn't move with any rhythm of breath, but now that Picard thought about it, he never remembered looking closely enough at Q to see if he breathed at all.

"Q just can't be dead… he just can't."

As much as Picard would rather jump into piles of Gargas II vermilion slugs, he knew that he didn't want Q to be dead. If it was even possible, Picard found himself feeling a sense of… loss… at the thought that Q could actually be dead.

…Never to come for any more surprise visits…

…Never taking Picard on another puzzling adventure…

It just couldn't be true.

Picard knelt down beside Q's still form. Q's form and expression pasted on his face made him look almost… peaceful.

"# it, Q," Picard whispered, for Q's ears only, "You know that you won't let me get the last word in."

Still, Q's form remained motionless.

Picard grasped Q's wrist hard. "Q… I swear that if you don't open your eyes right now, I will… I will…"

Picard gave up, and closed his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt another hand move on his. For a minute, he thought it was Beverly's hand, in an effort to comfort him. But then he realized that the hand was too big, too large… it wasn't Beverly's. But who…?

He looked up, not sure who was holding his hand: and the smirking face of Q, who's other hand was on Picard's.

"That was a beautiful thing to say, Picard," Q said weakly, "I love you, too."

Picard could still see that Q was very weak.

Picard pulled his hand away from Q in disgust.

"I should have known nothing could kill you… as if we should be so lucky," Picard said, adding the last sentence bitterly.

Q scoffed, waving a hand at Picard. "Oh, don't try to fool me, Jean-Luc… I know you were thinking how much you would miss me if I was gone."

Not waiting for a response, Q slowly got up to his feet, and stretched.

"I feel like I did that one time with my old friend 0…" But Q trailed off. "No time for that now. Where's the observer or whatever his name is?"

Again, without waiting for a response, Q snapped his fingers, disappearing in a flash of light.

That was when Picard chose to speak. He turned to Worf.

"Open a visual to the Enterprise," Picard commanded.

Worf looked down at his console, and then looked back up at his captain.

"Visual open, captain."

The viewscreen turned on, and Captain Kirk was again visible along with the rest of his crew.
Picard started talking.

"Now listen very closely: I want all the superior staff and the heroes of your ship on my ship at 1600 hours. We need to talk."

Kirk nodded.

"We'll be ready."

When the connection closed back to the insignia of the United Federation of Planets, Picard looked at his crew, the heroes, and the three older men of the old Enterprise that were on the bridge.

"I would like if all of you would join us."
Then he went to the turbolift, and said "deck eight."

The turbolift closed.

Picard waited patiently as the turbolift went on its downward decent into the ship. Unexpectedly, the turbolift stopped before it got to its destination on deck eight.

The turbolift door opened, revealing Lieutenant Commander La Forge, Scottie, Major Samantha Carter, and their newest arrival MacGyver.

La Forge made eye-contact with his captain first of the group.

"Captain, you won't believe what MacGyver did!" La Forge said, as he came inside the turbolift next to Picard.

"What would I not…?" Picard started to say, but Scottie interrupted. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen!"

By now, the entire group was inside the turbolift.

"What is?" Picard demanded. La Forge put his hands up and started moving them as he talked, a way, for people who knew him well, to tell that he was extremely excited.

"MacGyver just fixed the Prometheus!" Then, looking up, La Forge said "engineering" and the turbolift began to move once again.

Picard was shocked. For someone to fix an alien technology, someone who knew absolutely nothing about it, was absolutely astonishing… but for someone like MacGyver…?!

"But that's not the best part," Major Carter said, and Picard fixed his gaze on her, "It's not as much that he fixed it, but how he fixed it."

"He fixed it with…" La Forge said, pulling out a data-pad, "chewing gun, a rubber band, a paper clip, a empty water cup, a piece of transparent aluminum glass, a piece of…"
Picard put his hand up. Now he was now beyond shocked.

He was gob-smacked.

"You mean to tell me," He said very quietly, "that MacGyver fixed a shield generator, a weapons system, and life support with those kind of items!?"

La Forge nodded. "If you're shocked by hearing about this, you should have seen him fixing the ship..."

But at that moment, to that utter thankfulness of Picard, the turbolift stopped, opening up to deck eight. Picard quickly stepped out and then turned, looking pained, the four people still in the turbolift.

"Although I would much rather spend time hearing about Mr. MacGyver's thrilling discovery, I have some pressing business to attend to."

Before any of the four could speak, the turbolift closed, and as it did Picard let slip a small smile.

Susan Richards (a.k.a. The Invisible Woman) was sitting with Reed Richards and Ben Grimm, three of the four members of the Fantastic Four, as sitting in the Ten-Forward Lounge, wasn't listening to what her husband was saying. She was thinking about what kind of trouble her brother was getting himself into on the other spaceship.

"Sue… are you listening?" Reed asked, touching her shoulder.

Sue was momentarily startled, and looked up at him. "Sorry, Reed," she replied, "I was just…"

"You were looking over at those two men other there."

Sue nodded silently, and looked back over. The man who he had heard was called "Batman" was sitting by himself in the corner of the lounge, occasionally drinking his Romulan ale.

"He just looks so… lonely." Sue said, sighing.

"Batman has always sent that impression to those who know him well." A voice said from behind the Fantastic Four. They turned around, and behind them was the woman that they knew as Wonder Woman.

"You know his well?" Reed asked.

Wonder Woman nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Why is he like that?" Sue asked.

"No one really knows. Batman is more comfortable to stay in the shadows except when there is a battle to be fought." Wonder Woman said, her eyes also on the Dark Knight.

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Sue asked.

Wonder Woman shook her head sadly. "No… he feels that the best warrior does not make friends… only acquaintances and enemies."

"What a poor man…" Sue said sadly.

But, not exactly the reaction Sue thought she would get from the remark, Wonder Woman laughed. "Batman is many things," she replied, "but he is definitely not a man to be pitied…"

20 minutes later, all senior officers of the two Enterprise ships, superheroes, and telekinetic holograms of Q and the Watcher (due to the fact that the real Q and Watcher were "leading" the ships) were all sitting at a long, oval-shaped table on the Enterprise E.

Cassidy was standing in the corner, after a complete check-up from Dr. Crusher to make sure his homicidal tendencies had totally submerged.

"So are we on the right track to finding the Line?" The Black Dagger, the first one to speak at the meeting, asked the holo-Q.

Holo-Q shrugged. "There is no way of knowing. Remember that there are an infinite number of universes, and most of them are now destroyed by this anomaly. If we try to just enter them, they may destroy all matter that enters them."

Then under his breath, holo-Q said, "And I hope that the Borg go into one of those."

But then he continued, "That is why the Watcher has taken a lot of time to find the next possible universe to check. One wrong calculation, and everyone, including Watcher and I will simply… cease to exist.

"But we know that the Line has to be in a certain general galaxy, because of certain prophesies that have come from it. The Line was many things, but it did not want to be anonymous. It wanted us to know about it, so it created prophesies that it would create, so that we could have an inkling of what it is capable of."

"Sounds an awful lot like someone I know," Picard said, producing for the first time a light laugh from the group.

"Oh, go soak your head, Jean-Luc," An irritable holo-Q said, "It could only improve the reflection on your head."

Holo-Q sighed, and then continued, "We also know that, even though the Line stopped, its universe did not fall in oblivion. It has said in one of the prophesies that nothing could destroy its galaxy, not even the Line itself.

"So the only thing we can do is to look in certain galaxies in certain universe, and hopefully we will find it before our enemies do."

Then his voice had urgency in it. "I now have some doubt if we can. What I saw in the Borg and now the Replicators is like nothing I have seen before.

"The Borg somehow got emotions. And that is the scariest thought of all." Q shuddered. "Just the thought is terrifying: Borg that can assimilate higher beings and, if you can imagine, have a sense of humor."

Wolverine extended his claws. "Can't you just use all your power, and just take them all out of existence?"
To Picard's surprise, Holo-Q looked actually horrified at the thought. "That is something I cannot do no matter the situation!"

Then he calmed down. "I can't because I would not only destroy them, but destroy us all as well. The power that I used on them is about… one millionth of the power that I actually have, but I used that amount of power for good reason.

"When any being, including the Q, has ultimate power, the being must understand how to use it."
Picard replied in a low voice, "It always seems to me that you are never squeamish with how you use your powers."

Holo-Q raised a finger. "Now, now, Jean-Luc," He said, with a smirk. "I freely admit that I do sometimes tend to be a little careless when the Enterprise, and of course you, are concerned; but that power that you see is about as far as I can go.

"Also, I have learned in the few instances, that when I use that high power, I have no control of the outcome of it.

"So, technically, I could destroy every Borg everywhere; but what if I also destroyed every Klingon, every Romulan, or… every Federation citizen. It would not be worth it, now would it?"

When no one answered, holo-Q smirked. "I thought not."

Batman looked puzzled. "I think that while we are finding the Line, we should try to find out why the Borg have…"

But then Batman stopped suddenly. He started to have a sneaking suspicion of a fear that just made itself known. No, it couldn't be… the thought in and of itself is absolutely terrifying! But is it possible? As much as he was horrified at what he might here, Batman asked the question that he dreaded to ask.

He looked urgently at holo-Q. "Are there many insane individuals in the Borg's universe?"
Holo-Q shook his head. "Not since the days when Kirk roamed; why do you ask?"

Batman sat down at one of the chairs. "I think I've solved the Borg's emotions. Q, didn't you say they laughed in a very peculiar way?"

Holo-Q nodded.

Batman put his hand on his chin. "Since my arrival on this ship, I have done a lot of research on the enemies we are dealing with. The Borg assimilate other beings to bring themselves closer to perfection as a species, right?"

This time, Picard nodded.

Then Batman turned to Carnage, or as he was now called, Cassidy. "And you say that the Borg assimilated the Joker."

Then the dawning of what Batman was saying hit them all.

"What you are saying is that not only do the Borg have emotions, but are also all criminally insane?" Spider-man asked, shocked to his very essence.

Batman nodded. "From my data, when the Borg took over the Joker as part of the Collective, the Joker had such of an insane factor in the very core of his being that it overloaded, and then took over, the Borg Collective."

Captain Kirk put his left hand on the back of his neck. "So…what do we do about that?"

Holo-Q shook his head. "There is nothing we can do about it. But all that is not the worst of it.

"You have to understand, the Borg have always been a threat, but your humanity always had one thing going for you: your feelings and emotions. Also, the Borg have never killed if it didn't give them an advantage, and the Borg were mostly, and I stretch mostly, predictable, since they are nothing better than evil, walking machines.

"But if what Batman is saying is true; the Borg will now be more of a threat then they have ever been before. Instead of thinking like inhuman machines, they will all begin to think like robot homicidal maniacs. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a new obstacle between us and the Line… quite as sweetheart, huh?"

After what seemed like an eternity, the Joker felt life in his body once again.

Ahhhh… how life felt good again… it had been too long. How comical it was that now, in a time when he thought he was dead, Jack Napier finally appreciated what it had felt like to be alive.

Now… it appeared that he would have another chance. Jack Napier would have a second… or was it Joker? Was he Jack or was he Joker? Joker or Jack? Jokerjack? Jackjoker? By now both names seemed almost fused together, making the two names one. But something was wrong…

He felt that he was… different, somehow. It wasn't that he couldn't feel his body… on the contrary, he felt better than he had ever felt before.

But it… it was something on almost a mental scale. Something had changed inside his brain. Something was pounding in his head… but… but it wasn't physical pain. It was mental pain. What was happening to him? Why was he in pain? What was this… tingling sensation that would not cease?

He opened both of his eyes. But instead of clear, unadulterated light; a red light filled his entire line of sight. Why was it red?

But then the pounding in his brain became more pronounced, until now it was so close he could almost grasp it.

But that was all irrelevant.

Wait… where did that thought come from? Joker-Jack became to have a sense of fear. Why had that thought come into his head? He did not put it there.

Joker-Jack then had a feeling, no, almost a command, to look down at his body. Nearly instinctively, he obeyed without question.

He then saw what he had become.

Black implants were sticking out of every part of his body.

But then, for some reason, Joker-Jack didn't care anymore. He felt the panic and terror of the last few moments almost magically evaporate from his very being.

All he knew was one thing; and one thing only.

Kill the others, control the Line.

Then Joker-Jack felt a chill fall all over his entire body.

The pounding in his head now came to full comprehension:

This mind had the voices of a thousand whispers, all talking to him in unison.

The multitude of voices then became more than just whispers… now they were the voices of cold, dark beings.

But then they were no longer cold. Now they hold something… something wrong, but then right… or was something right, but then wrong. Joker-Jack held a black, gloved hand to the side of his head, trying to clear it. Instead he felt the implants that had been surgically graphed into the side of his head.

"You are responsible for giving us new life. We thank you."
Then the voices hardened in tone. "As a reward, you are no longer the individual known as the Joker. As of now, you will be known as…Jokotus, new Spokesman of the Borg."

At that moment, Joker-Jack screamed in unison. The unbearable pain was searing through him. He wanted it to stop… wanted it to stop… to stop… stop… STOP!

Then Joker-Jack ceased to exist.

Jokotus stood up from the surgery Borg table slowly. He felt his legs go to the ground, almost on their own accord. He walked slowly, as a newborn child just starting to walk. The being Joker was no longer alive. Jokotus had taken his place.

Jokotus now stood on the bridge of the Borg Mega-cube. Jokotus looked down, and saw hundreds of Borg at different stations, then looked up again, and watched the battle unfold between the Borg and the Replicators.

Unlike last time, the Replicators were now the ones starting to retreat.

Jokotus smiled.

Then the smile widened, filled with lust for bloodshed and murder.

The Replicators began to back off slowly as the Borg blasted them with the heavy green plasma.

Then the battle finally began to change.

Hundreds of the Replicator ships were trying to escape, while the ones that stayed behind were destroyed.

The Replicator finally actually noticed the Borg at that point. They realized that they were a threat.

A threat that it would soon be imperative to be neutralized…

"Look at their magnificence!" Palpatine said, as he and the crew of the Death Star watched the battle unfold. "If we could only take these beings' technology…"

"It is quite a prospect to ponder." Dr. Doom agreed.

Darth Vader looked towards Dr. Doom, and remembered their last encounter. Vader had been sent to kill a special Jedi Master on a vague star system. It had seemed like an ordinary assignment, one that would be finished in no more than three days. But then this… Dr. Doom had appeared out of nowhere, and stopped him from finishing his mission.

It was the first and only time that Vader had ever personally failed a mission.

And he was not planning on being too forgiving.

"What are we going to do after they finish their little tap-dance?" Doom asked Palpatine.

"We follow what is left…" Palpatine replied, and grinned, "And conquer the rest."

Vader looked at Doom for a moment, and then turned to Palpatine. "May I speak to you privately for a moment, my master?"

"Of course, my apprentice," nodded Palpatine.

They walked out of the screen room, and into Palatine's personal chambers. Palpatine looked back at Vader. "What is it, Lord Vader?"

Vader's raspy breathing filled the air for a moment, until he said; "What are we to do with this… Doctor Doom?"

Palpatine smiled. "Why do you wish to know, apprentice?"

"I do not trust him."

"Neither do I, but he is a bonus that may help us win this war."

"He is a dangerous threat, master."

"I have taken that into account."

"What he becomes hostile?"

"It won't matter if he is or not. His fate will remain the same regardless."

"And that is?"

"Kill him, of course. But not until he gives us what we want…"

"What he becomes hostile?"

"It won't matter if he is or not. His fate will remain the same regardless."

"And that is?"

"Kill him, of course. But not until he gives us what we want…"

Dr. Doom smiled beneath his metal mask at the words of his hosts that he could hear through a hidden audio device.

Did they really expect one of Dr. Doom's intelligence to be so naïve? As if he would really give them anything without his complete control… the thought itself was almost laughable.

They will soon learn one is best to never underestimate one like him. And they will learn the hard way of this fact…

The Death Star came into the battle with weapons blazing, just like the Old West cowboys.

Shooting in select areas, the Death Star send spider drones flying to penetrate the Borg defenses, but they never got far enough to the shields before the Borg blasted them.

Jokotus stared impassively at the insignificant flies that had the audacity to attack the power of the Borg.

They would be assimilated, of course.

Jokotus was the one who had given the Borg their new advantage, and with that advantage they were easily able to dispatch the Replicators.

Finally, the Borg had destroyed every part of the Replicator fleet, and assimilated all of the ships that tried to escape.

It was funny, though. The feat had almost been too… easy. It was not nearly as good of a fight as the Borg now wanted. No… now craved. The Borg now craved for more blood, for more ships and individuals to conquer. Who cared about assimilation? It was all no longer important. Now it was the cravings of murder that drew the Borg… and what the Borg craves… they will receive…

After making sure the task was done with the Replicators, Jokotus stood on the bridge, thinking hard. What would they do now? The Replicators were not enough of a challenge, not enough bloodshed… but where to get more?

Then the thought came back to him.

The Line.

The Line had the power to let Jokotus take anything the Borg wanted.

Including everything that existed.

The possibilities were endless… unlimited feedings of death. Oh, the thought seemed too good to be true. All the cultures that the Borg could have with just a thought… The blood that would pour over every corner of the galaxy…

Jokotus licked his white lips with anticipation.

They now knew where they were going.

After the path of Q.

Jokotus tracked the Watcher's path, and followed through the time-space portal, where they disappeared.

But unknown to them, a small invisible group of six ships followed, led by a creature dressed in a black cloak, that would at all costs control the Line.

At all costs…