Well, here's the next chapter. It was originally going to be longer but I thought the chapter end made more sense as a full chapter in its own right...

Enjoy!

After using the "Key to the Past" to bind his entire scientific complex into the side door of an armoured van for easy transport of resources and equipment, Albert Wesker had quickly arranged for it to be taken directly to the epicentre of the temporal waves the Master's detector was going wild over.

There was no mistaking it. At least two of the Instruments of Time were contained at this one location.

Which is why he was now walking through the containment facility (floor 2) for the test subjects of his various experiments. While officially he was discerning which of them could be useful to him in the battle that would no doubt ensue on their arrival in Gotham City, he had one in particular on his mind right now...

The facility echoed with banging and screaming, but Wesker took no notice. It was to be expected at this point. Many of the other subjects had regressed into mindless beasts and now tried to tear at the walls of their cells in a futile attempt to escape their confinement. Others pleaded for their release...

The subject Wesker had come in for, however, sat quietly despite the uproar around him. The old man raised his head as Wesker approached.

His right arm from the elbow down and both his feet had lost all shape and consistency, becoming a greenish black slime that dripped to the floor of his cell, joining a puddle of the stuff at his feet.

"Good evening, Mr Wesker", he said, his voice somehow not drowned out despite the cacophony around him. He nodded to the other cells. "No luck with your other experiments, I assume?"

"No results of interest", said Wesker, touching a wall-mounted control panel. A device within the cell siphoned off some of the slime oozing from the man's arm and legs, delivering it to Wesker in a secure vial. "I may have to dispose of most of them".

"Are you planning on keeping Subject 2.07.4A over there?", he asked, nodding to a young woman who looked relatively non-mutated, but still pounding on her cell walls in a berserk fury.

"Oddly specific of you", he said. The old man had, on several occasions before, tried to advise Wesker in experimental procedures and results, and while a good portion of his advice was either trivial and elementary or ideas Wesker himself had come up with much sooner (and already tested), just as much seemed to turn up useful results... "I don't see why that particular experiment should be of interest. It turned out the same results as all the others on the T7.4 sample".

"I've seen some anomalies that would suggest otherwise", the experimental subject said.

"I'll keep that in mind", said Wesker simply, walking away with what he had come for. As he reached the door, the oozing man spoke again.

"Did you find anything interesting on your trip?"

How did he know about...

"That's none of your concern", Wesker replied, before closing the door behind him. "Instruct one of the new Carnages to come down to subject containment", he said into a communicator. "Tell them they can dispose of all the subjects on floors 3-6".

"Director Wesker, the exterior transport has just passed into the Gotham time plate"

"Good", he said as he marched out of the area. "Notify me if you see any sign of combat or the Instruments..."

Wesker didn't see the creature watching from the corner of the ceiling, listening to his every word. (Understandably, since it was invisible)

The melting man in the cell smiled to himself. Soon it would begin...


Taskmaster approached the arranged meeting location - Gotham Cathedral - to see a small, familiar figure

"Thought this place was a little too ostentatious and cliche for you", he said.

"Well, it wasn't my first choice, but it's a serviceable enough landmark that I could be certain wouldn't be missed", he said. "Besides, I didn't choose this location".

"Of course not", said Taskmaster with a chuckle, looking to the cathedral doors to see another familiar face. "Huge spire, fancy brooding architecture, not a lot of trees... you must be right at home, Saruman!"

"You didn't come here to fool", commanded Saruman. "Do you have what we requested?"

He tossed the golden fragment to the small dog. "There's your Sword fragment. Now pay up!"

Dogbert passed the fragment to Saruman. "It looks genuine, what do you think?"

"I sense some remnant of the Sword of Timelines' great power within this shard", he said. "Very well, mercenary. Have your riches!"

Dogbert produced a suitcase and handed it to Taskmaster. "We were actually about to infiltrate Bowser's castle. We could pay you double what's in there for your services..."

"There will be no need for that", said a voice, as a silver-masked, blue-uniformed figure approached. As the others looked to see him, Cobra Commander held up a different silver mask. "We already have what we came for".

"Commander, I don't think this is the right mask", said Dogbert. "Our reports show all the real Instruments give off a distinctive golden glow. Perhaps a counterfeit or replica..."

Saruman took the mask from Cobra Commander, studying it as he had with the Sword Shard. "This is the true Mask, though its power appears to have waned somewhat..."

"Lemme see that", said Taskmaster. "I've seen two and a half Instruments, I think I can tell a real one..."

"Dogbert, who is this?" said Cobra Commander, seemingly noticing Taskmaster for the first time.

"He's a mercenary I hired to operate within our enemies alliance", said Dogbert. "He just brought us a shard of the Sword of Timelines..."

"The sword was broken?!" exclaimed Cobra Commander. "When did this happen?!"

Taskmaster handed back the Mask. "It's an Instrument all right, but it's lost most of its power..."

Saruman and Cobra Commander looked round at the mercenary with surprise, and even Dogbert raised an eyebrow.

"Relax, I'm not going to run off with it or anything..." he said.

"We have our prize already , said Saruman, getting quickly back to the matter at hand. "We should return to our domain at once".

"No", said the Commander. "I have a better idea. We could come out of this with all five Instruments and remake the universe right here!"

Dogbert was intrigued. "Do go on".

Cobra Commander pointed skyward, toward the tears in the sky that the now-gold Time Eater was currently wrenching further open with its hands. "That distortion can be seen across timelines, and there are those who can sense the Instruments of Time from a distance. We have the Mask and a piece of the Sword already, as well as our secret weapons and our armies, and those of Xehanort and Solidor. We will conquer this city and our enemies will bring the other Instruments to us!"

"It'd have to be perfect", said Dogbert. "If everyone is coming here then we would have to take on all our enemies at once... And there is always the possibility that others might anticipate this time and place to become hotly contested and keep their Instruments away..."

Unnoticed by the others, Saruman slipped the shard of the Sword into his robe.


As hordes of Dantinis, Uruk-hai, Heartless and all manner of other assorted henchmen descended upon them, the eight fighters - Meta Knight, Rayman, Larten, Sparkster, Gatomon, Sly, Zero and Ryu, stood in a defensive formation, weapons at the ready.

"I've got to say, this is a lot more enemies than I'm used to dealing with at once, said Sly, ducking under the swing of an Uruk-Hai's blade and tripping him up with his cane. A Cobra soldier with a jetpack flew above him and took aim with a machine gun, but Meta Knight slipped in between them and deflected the bullets with his sword. Before the soldier could redirect his aim, a Blackheart-themed Dantini was hurled at him, sending both of them crashing to the ground.

"Yes, a stealthier approach could have been more forthcoming here", said Larten, flitting around behind a Large Body Heartless and slashing it from behind. "However, we have been located now..."

"...We'll have to fight our way through", said Ryu, as a large swarm of Shadow and Neoshadow Heartless closed in around him. "TATSUMAKI SENPUKYAKU!" he shouted, his kick spinning into a whirlwind and sending the surrounding Heartless flying.

Kari glanced around, bewildered by the huge battle surrounding her. She had been through battles before, but this was a lot more crowded than most of those she and Gatomon had faced before and it was hard to keep track of what was going on.

"Don't worry about these guys!" said her digimon partner Gatomon, as she dodged two Vergil-Dantinis charging at her from opposite sides, causing them to stab one another. "I've got them covered. Most of these guys are barely up to Rookie-level..."

"Look out!" shouted Sparkster as the ice-cream van hurtled toward them. Everyone scattered to either side to dodge the speeding vehicle. As it passed, Meta Knight plunged his sword into the side. Rayman threw a detached hand out, grabbing Meta Knight's hand as the van pulled him away, and whatever force kept his limbs and body together pulled him after it. The legions of mooks closed in after it, splitting the party.

"You're going to need more than this to stop us!" said Zero, slashing down an Uruk-Hai as Ryu blasted another that had been leaping at Zero with his Hadouken.

"I quite agree", said a voice from above Zero, before a bolt of energy hit him in the back. Looking behind him as he got up, Zero saw the crowd backing away as Sigma strode toward him. Sly and Ryu rushed to help Zero before the ground in front of them was blasted by missiles.

"You're not going anywhere, Cooper", said Clockwerk, flying high above the battle. "I have you right where I want you".

Zero looked back to his friends for a moment before turning back to Sigma. "Fine. I've beaten you before".

"Ah, but I'm not the same as I once was, maverick hunter", said Sigma, casting off his cape and drawing a green laser blade similar to Zero's own Z-sabre. As he was about to slash out, however, a white blur shot across in front of him and slashed a series of three deep gashes through the armour on his chest. As Gatomon turned round for another attack, however, Sigma's hand shot out faster than she anticipated and grabbed hold of her.

"Gatomon!" shouted Kari.

"Well, I must say this intrusion was unexpected, but not unwelcome", said Sigma as a series of panels in his arm began to light up. "In fact it gives me the perfect opportunity to demonstrate..."

Zero flew in on another attack, but was launched back and away as a burst of light exploded out.

"...a few recent upgrades!"

Gatomon was gone from Sigma's hand as he became visible again. His armour had changed white, robotic angel wings emerged from his back and a metallic visor covered his upper head and eyes.

"What have you done?!" growled Zero as Kari took a step back in shock.

"Reploids such as ourselves are capable of copying the weapons and abilities of others by absorbing data", Sigma said, rising into the air. "So what do you suppose we could do with a whole physical entity made only of data? I absorbed her, simple as that!"

Larten leaped back as Baron Dante slammed a fist down where he had been standing, a ripple of blue energy emanating through the street from the impact.

"Back off, Crepsley's mine!" said Murlough, pushing the Baron aside as he advanced on his foe. Baron Dante scowled, but he turned to look for a different opponent nonetheless.

"Do you need any help with this, Mr. Crepsley?" said Sparkster, levelling his sword with Murlough, but Larten shook his head.

"That will not be necessary", said the vampire coolly. "Focus on helping the others for the time being..."

Before Sparkster could answer, he saw a ring of energy blast across the street, Ryu catapulted along with it, but the master martial artist skidded to a halt on his feet, looking back up to the air where Sly was still running along the rooftops from Clockwerks attacks.

He moved his hands to one side as a wild sphere of blue energy formed between them. "SHINKU..."

But he stopped suddenly and rolled to the side moments before Baron Dante's magic slammed down where he had been standing.

"You'll do", the huge green menace said as Ryu faced his new opponent.

Meanwhile, Murlough and Larten had slipped away from the others, crossing swords as they fought down a narrow alleyway. Though he was clearly being outclassed, forced onto the retreat and taking several minor cuts, Murlough was clearly enjoying the fight a little too much...

Larten forced the insane Vampaneze back out into the open, and quickly used the additional space to catch Murlough off-guard, first slashing horizontally and cutting his foe's arm clean off, then stabbing Murlough through the heart. Even then, Murlough began to chuckle...

"You find this situation amusing?" asked Larten.

"You don't even know what you're up against!" said Murlough with a grin, putting a hand on Larten's sword arm...

Suddenly Larten's arm was being frozen solid, ice spreading across the vampire's body from where Murlough had touched him.

"See, Cobra had a big collection of vampire blood. And not just vampires from our timeline either..."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Larten, flinching from the pain of his blood and flesh freezing solid as the ice reached his shoulder. He tried to pull his arm free, but it wouldn't move.

"This freezing thing was from some vampire called Dio or something", said Murlough, before tightening his grip on Larten's arm until it shattered. As Larten clutched what was left of his arm, Murlough picked up his own severed arm from the ground, not even bothering to remove the sword from his chest. As he held the severed limb in place, it reattached itself, leaving only a slight scar in its place.

In a fraction of a second, Murlough was on the offensive again, stabbing out with a knife. Larten only just saw the attack coming at all and tried to dodge, taking the knife to the shoulder rather than anywhere vital. Seeing an opportunity, he pulled his sword free of Murlough's chest, but as he raised it to block another attack, Murlough dissolved into a cloud of black fog. He turned quickly as Murlough re-formed behind him, the wound in his chest and the scar around his arm already gone. He blocked Murlough's attack but the force of it hurled him back, through the glass front of a cafe where people sheltered from the chaos outside. Larten struggled to his feet as Murlough slowly approached. Without any warning, some kind of red beam shot from Murlough's eyes and through Larten's leg, forcing him back to his knees.

As Larten looked up at the enhanced Vampaneze, he saw a bat-like silhouette rise up behind him...


"Who's there?" demanded one of the two guards stationed at the high-security materials store in the extended Tricell laboratory.

"It's only me", said and old man, slowly walking toward the store. "Just here to pick something up".

They relaxed for a moment, until they saw the man's melted slime hand.

"He must be one of the test subjects" said one of the guards as the two pointed their firearms at the old man. "How did you get out?"

The man chuckled. "You know, for all his testing and analysis, Mr Wesker doesn't really know who or what I am in the least".

He raised a hand, dripping in the same dark slime that oozed from half his body. "If he did, he would have realised that the enclosure he had me in was never sufficient..."

"S-stay b-b-back!" demanded one guard, clutching his rifle as the man approached.

"Look at you, cowering at an old half dead mutant. You're pathetic!" the other guard shouted at his colleague. "Get out of the way!"

He pushed the fearful guard aside and raised his gun. "Eat lead, freak!"

He fired, but the bullet swerved to the right before it reached him. The fearful guard could only watch in horror as the old man slowly walked toward the angry guard firing a gun at him repeatedly, every shot deflecting at the last moment. When he ran out out of bullets, the angry guard took his gun and swung it like a club at the melted man.

As it made contact, the gun suddenly exploded.

"Now let's see..." said the melted man, tapping the now-unarmed guard on the forehead as he got to his feet.

The guard's head crumbled to dust.

His partner finally worked up the nerve to run for it.

The man turned back to the containment cell he had been looking for. He had a few of his powers back (magnetism, fear, anger, fragmentation and disintegration at least), but nowhere near all of them, and this organic body he had been stuck in for the last fifty years was worryingly killable. All it would have taken was one of those bullets to actually hit him, and he might have been "killed".

It was time to remedy that.

He had regained his telepathy decades ago, but working with the five monsters he had been creating had made Albert Wesker resistant to psychic intrusion. It had taken him months to pry out the details of a single entity, whose location had changed rather a lot over the past week or so.

As he finished typing in the code, a single cylindrical container, full of a squirming red mass, emerged.

The Carnage Symbiote.

The old man tapped the glass, and the container exploded, sending reinforced glass flying everywhere. The symbiote immediately latched onto the nearest and best host it could find, the melted man...

As the symbiote formed around him, it began to take on a darker shade as it absorbed the essence of darkness within, turning completely black in some places, while other areas turned a brighter red. Mechanical components and dark metallic plates emerged from the man's body and moved to cover parts of the symbiote. He pushed his hand into his chest and pulled out a pitch-black mask, and as he placed it over his face his eyes glowed a malevolent red.

Makuta Teridax had returned.

Searching the symbiotic memories, the Makuta "remembered" every previous host, every being brutally killed by Carnage and Cassidy, everyone consumed by the Prototype, every planet subjugated or destroyed by Frieza as Zarbon watched on.

Entertaining as it was, it was irrelevant to his current goal...

He also remembered Heller's battle with Bowser over the Mask, the safeguards surrounding the chamber where Wesker had locked the Key, the Sword sealed away in a gauntlet. Coupled with the scouting Stitch had completed under his control into Galbatorix's empire, he had the locations of four out of five Instruments of Time.

The Orb had presumably scattered to somewhere from either the Sheriff's or his own memories. Without it, the collection of the other Instruments would take much longer, but Teridax was prepared to wait. He was used to planning schemes that took millennia to reach fruition if the prize at the end was worthy enough.

Reality would soon be his...