The plot thickens... Considerably.

TRIGGER WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND MENTION OF DEATH/SUICIDE. READER DISCRETION IS STRONGLY ADVISED!

Romeo held still, his heartbeat racing. The voice spoke again. "Choose now."

A smile crept across Romeo's face. He said, "I knew when you first visited us that you weren't what you seemed. Wanna know how?"

"Go ahead." The barrel of some sort of ray gun brushed Romeo's neck, and the sound of Greg struggling on the ground behind them was heard.

"You see, Roman… I've never heard anyone call Cortes a great explorer. He was one, of course, but most people just call him a conquistador." Pause. "We surrender."

Roman chortled. "A clever observation, but that's to be expected from my own counterpart. A smart choice. Drop your weapons and kick them across the floor." Romeo and Amaya did as they were told. "Loki! Tie up the girl, too, then take their weapons and turn on the lights."

An emotionless voice replied, "Yes, master." Amaya felt a pair of cold hands grab her wrists and cried out as her arms were tied behind her. She was placed in a sitting position by the wall, next to Greg, who was groaning quietly.

Romeo and Roman remained in their positions. Romeo was totally at Roman's mercy. As the lights came back on, Roman said, "If you can guess why I'm here, I'll let you join me, Romeo."

Romeo snorted. "That's easy. You're here to take over my Earth. I'm sure the explosion on the ship yesterday was your fault, somehow. What've you done to my ship?"

Roman lowered his weapon. "Correct on all accounts. I needed to get you off the ship, so a diversion was arranged by one of my helpers. I hope your Robot was able to be repaired."

Romeo stepped forward and turned around. "Oh, yes. It took us a few hours, but he is in working order now."

Roman was a mirror image of Romeo, just with different colors. White hair with a black stripe, the burgundy lab coat, and topaz green eyes. "Do you want to rule the world with me, Romeo?"

Romeo looked over toward Roman's android, Loki. The android's skin had a strange orange tint to it, and his irises were a startling shade of red. He had black hair in a crew cut and was clothed in a plain black jumpsuit. He looked back at Roman. "I assume you have experience taking over the world?"

Roman nodded. "This one would be my third. It's really pretty easy, with nobody in your way. Right now, I have a working group of tiny droids finishing the rebuilding of the first floor of this ship into an energy weapon capable of vaporizing entire cities."

Romeo rubbed his chin and looked around the room. "Before I answer your offer… Answer one more question. How did you cause the explosion?"

Roman smiled. "A tiny robot that came through the Anomaly with me when I first visited. It slowly worked for the last few weeks to create a feedback loop in your gravity plating systems on the bridge. The bot was built to be invisible to your sensors."

Romeo nodded and paced around. "Very well. I'll join you." He reached his hand out, and Roman shook it.

Roman grinned sadistically. "Good. You can start by helping me rewire the power systems to feed the weapon better."

Romeo nodded and then looked over at Greg and Amaya. "You forget one thing. We have one PJ Mask still on the loose. He's in their HQ now." Greg and Amaya's faces both dropped at that; they had thought Romeo was just playing along. "I'm sure Loki could tidy up that loose end."

Roman was collecting the weapons that Greg, Amaya, and Romeo had brought with them. He placed them all in the pockets of his lab coat and responded by raising his eyebrows. "Hmm... Is that so?" He looked over at Loki. "Loki, let's teleport you down there. I'm sure you can keep up with him. Capture him if you can. I just want him neutralized. Only kill him if you must. Understand?"

Loki went to the transporter pad. "Yes, Master. I shall neutralize him."

Romeo typed on the controls, programming in a sequence to send Loki down. Greg shouted, "You traitor!"

Romeo ignored him, and instead energized the teleporter. Loki dematerialized. Romeo looked over at Amaya and Greg with a smile. Amaya quietly said, "Et tu, Bruté?"

Romeo shrugged at the Shakespeare quote. "When in Rome, Amaya, do as the Romans do." He turned toward Roman. "Now, about those power system changes…"

⁂⁂⁂

Back at PJ Masks HQ, Catboy had been listening to everything over Amaya's communicator. He muted the microphone on his end, so he didn't accidentally give away the fact that she had her communicator on her. "Alright, PJ Robot, Loki is somewhere near HQ, we don't have time to blast off. I need you to go hide, okay? If you see an opportunity to help me, do it, else, stay hidden! Go!" PJ Robot flew quickly toward one of the elevators.

Catboy said, "Okay, good… Computer! Initiate automa–" A giant crash shook the HQ, and there was a hole in the wall. Just inside of it was the android Loki. "Argh, dammit, Romeo! Computer, intruder alert!"

"Computer lockout mode initiated."

Loki stood there, crouched, and ready to jump. Catboy's heart was pounding hard. They stared at each other for a few seconds, sizing each other up. Finally, Loki jumped at Catboy, who was shocked at the android's speed. Catboy did a backflip and bounced back to hit Loki's face with a kick. Catboy exclaimed, "OW!"

Catboy bounced back, hopping on one leg. Loki must have been made of something substantial because he didn't even budge when Catboy hit him. Loki grinned savagely, and Catboy's eyes darted around. "Guess I can't fight, then, huh?" Catboy shot out of the hole in the HQ wall, followed closely by Loki. He had to come up with a plan and quick.

⁂⁂⁂

15 minutes later, aboard the Jenolan, Romeo and Roman were making progress on their upgrades. Romeo stood up from where he was working. "Done."

Roman looked over at Romeo. "Good. I should be done as well in a few moments."

Romeo sat down in a chair at a console. "I do have some questions for you, Roman. You said this would be the third time you've taken over the world… What compelled you to take over the second one in the first place? And why a third one now?"

Roman dusted off his hands as he finished his work. "Simple, really. I took over my Earth when I was 8. My policies were… Not smart. The invention that I used to take over the planet ended up causing a series of major disasters in the years after I forced the world to surrender to me. The planet was on its way to becoming uninhabitable, and I couldn't stop it. Many of my subjects died. I decided to build a ship, not dissimilar to this one, and investigate finding other universes." He sat down at another console and paused for a moment.

"After a few months, I accidentally created a dimensional rift, similar to you. The same thing you call the Anomaly. I found if I manipulated it just right, I could connect with other universes with others like you and I that had also discovered how to make them. I found one such universe where it wasn't an alternate version of us that discovered it, but some other intrepid scientist. I invaded his lab… and neutralized him. From there, taking over his planet was relatively simple." He smiled wistfully. "The scientists' name was Leo. Nice man. I hated that I had to kill him when he tried to stop me." Roman typed at the console.

Romeo's chest tightened at that statement. "Why did you move on from that Earth?"

Roman said, "I didn't sufficiently demoralize the people on that Earth enough. They rose up against me about a year ago. I realized about half a year ago that my forces wouldn't be able to stop them without throwing the planet into a nuclear winter. So, I started toward finding a new universe, and yours was the one I settled on. I spoke to many alternate versions of us, but I realized that you were the one most likely not to betray me at some point. And, that's why I'm here now."

Romeo laid back, tapping his toe in his shoe idly. "I see. Well, you chose wisely. There will be no deception from me."

Roman smiled. "Good." He stopped his typing and said, "My firing program is done. First, we must take out the American and Russian capitals. Do that, and the rest of the world generally listens closely to your demands. Luckily, from orbit, that will be a fast process. The main holdup will be having to wait for the positron cannon to recharge after we vaporize the American capital buildings in Washington, D.C. Still, it will only take 18 minutes to recharge. Barely enough time for anyone to realize that it wasn't some sort of freak meteor strike, and definitely not enough time for them to find us. It will even disrupt their communications technology for us."

Romeo was quiet for a moment, thinking as he tapped his toe. He stopped and replied, "You seem to have this all planned out. How do we start?"

Roman chuckled. "We wait. I've already programmed the firing sequence. We'll be in position above the city soon. I've programmed the thrusters to navigate us into position above our target."

Romeo bit his lip for a moment. "The weapon is already charging?" Roman nodded. "Good. Now, you must tell me more about your other two planets."

⁂⁂⁂

Back on Earth, Catboy was growing tired and had gotten a few cuts and scrapes from Loki at this point. He had just managed to form a plan in his head when his communicator clicked on. "Catboy?"

Catboy was surprised when he heard Romeo's Robot. He ducked under a flying kick from Loki and ran up the side of a building. He touched his hear and quickly said, "Robot!"

In his ear, Robot spoke. "Hello. Your PJ Robot has contacted me about your situation. He has a plan. My battery is not yet fully charged, so I cannot chase this Loki Android." Catboy dodged another swipe and jumped toward the wall of a tall building nearby, then onto the roof next to it. "However, if you can lead him into the courtyard of the museum, I am there now, waiting with your PJ Robot to spring a trap on him. We await you."

Catboy smiled. That plan was way better than the one he had just come up with. Looks like PJ Robot saves the day, this time! The hard part was going to be getting Loki over there. The museum was on the other side of the city. Catboy perched on a balcony and shouted, "Y'know, you're not as fast as I thought!" He leaped from the spot just as Loki got there. Back on the ground, he taunted, "Catch me if you can, loser!"

He continued leading Loki toward the museum for several minutes until finally, they were nearby. Catboy was exhausted, and it showed. Loki managed to land a kick on him as Catboy turned a corner, and the hero flew into a parked car. The car's alarm went off, but Catboy shakily got back up just in time to dodge a punch. "Good one! You almost had me that time!" Panting and in pain, he ran through the gate into the museum courtyard. He looked around frantically – he couldn't keep this up much longer.

He ran in circles around the courtyard, followed by Loki. Finally, they passed by a tree, and it looked like Loki was going to manage to catch Catboy. Robot's extendable arms sprung on Loki, and the android was trapped–the plan had worked. Catboy didn't know what they had planned, but he got out of the way. "PJ Robot, NOW!"

A beam of light hit Loki from inside a nearby bush. The android's movements were slowed, and Catboy said, "The Go-Slow Ray! Never thought I'd be thankful for that thing." We jogged over the Loki, who slowly swung at him. He dodged it easily. "Robot, can you disable this angry android?"

"Affirmative." Robot emerged from behind the fence, lifting Loki into the air. He used his arms to crush the android, scattering electrical components around the courtyard.

Catboy breathed easy and rubbed his shoulder that had collided with the car earlier delicately. "Thank goodness." PJ Robot flew out of a bush carrying the Go-Slow Ray and approached Catboy. "Good work, guys. Uh… PJ Robot, HQ has a big hole in it… I don't think we can take it to space without fixing that… Agreed?" The little robot beeped affirmatively. "Alright, remember yesterday, when I said prep the PJ Seeker for spaceflight? Is it still ready?" Again, PJ Robot agreed.

Catboy rubbed his head now. "Okay. Robot, you stay here and pick up Loki's parts. Make sure he's really out of commission for good, okay? We're gonna fly to space and save the day." Catboy wasn't sure if he could trust Robot and knew he wouldn't fit aboard the PJ Seeker anyway.

Robot said, "Understood. Please take care of my Master, Catboy."

Catboy nodded, and they ran. Catboy ran alongside PJ Robot. When they were out of earshot, Catboy said, "Did you tell him what Romeo was doing up there?" PJ Robot indicated no, and Catboy said, "Good. I'm not sure if Romeo has actually turned evil again or not, but if he had, Romeo could've proved to be an issue for us."

They went quickly, and once they arrived at the HQ, Catboy unlocked the computer. They resumed listening to Amaya's communicator feed just in time to hear Romeo say, "It looks like we're ready to fire."

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

Back aboard the Jenolan, Roman grinned, and replied, "Indeed. Target is locked."

Amaya said, "Roman, Romeo… Think about what you're about to do. How many people you're about to kill. Please, don't. Romeo has proven it, Roman! You don't have to take over the world because of what happened in your past!"

Roman raised an eyebrow. "My past?"

Romeo rolled his eyes and explained, "Oh, my original motivation to take over the world was because my cousin died in a fire when I was almost 6."

Roman chuckled. "Oh. I never had anything like that." He walked over to Amaya and patted her cheek gently. "You see, Amaya, my only motivation has ever been to take over the world. Because I'm better than you. And everyone else." He grabbed her chin forcefully. "Understand?"

Greg shouted, "Take your hands off her!"

Roman snorted as he and Amaya locked eyes with each other. Finally, she growled out, "Go to Hell."

Roman laughed, and Romeo followed suit. Romeo said, "She's feisty, huh?"

Roman let her go and stood up. "They always are at first. Don't worry. We'll break their spirits relatively easily." He walked back over to the console he was at earlier. "Let's get this over with."

Romeo let his gaze hold on Greg and Amaya for a moment before he turned to the big viewscreen, which had an image of the city they were aiming for. "Agreed."

Roman hit a button and said, "Positron cannon firing in 5 seconds."