DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the properties you will see here. All rights go to their respective owners.

The Dark Phoenix

Act 1 - Chapter 7

Sashi hurried down the hallway as fast as her legs could carry her. She was listening to her playlist in the rec room when she got the news. The former part-time sidekick could only hope that she could arrive in time before any damage could be done. The reason behind Sashi's panic was because Bebop and Rocksteady had called her saying that Penn had started to become aggressive seemingly out of the blue. According to the two mutants, the ginger-haired hero had suddenly flown into a fit of rage, screaming and ranting wildly as he did.

Currently, Penn was in his room, still shouting randomly as he did. When Sashi arrived at Penn's room, Bebop and Rocksteady were standing in front of it, only they seemed to be trying to keep the door to the former part-time hero's room shut.

"What are you doing?" Sashi demanded as she approached them.

"Trying to keep your boyfriend from killing us!" Bebop answered.

"Yeah, is very strange," Rocksteady continued. "One second, he is fine, then boom! He is breaking stuff like the Kardashian's ass on the internets!"

Sashi knew what was happening to her lover, but she dare not say a word to her teammates. Only she and Jazz knew that Penn suffered from PTSD, an ailment he hid from the rest of the league out of fear being removed from the team. Penn usually kept his outbursts under control with the medication, but no doubt the stress of the coming battle with the Phoenix had triggered an episode.

"I'll take it from here," Sashi stated. "You can go now."

"You sure? I mean-" the man-pig attempted to say.

"I said leave!" she snapped. "And keep this to yourselves!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the mutants answered in unison, scared of the young heroine before quickly leaving.

With the others gone, Sashi approached the door.

"Penn..." she began slowly. "It's me. I'm coming in, okay?"

There was no answer from Penn's side. So, braving for the worst, Sashi had the automated door open to reveal a room that had been torn apart with her lover standing in the center of it, clutching his head tightly in his hands. Sashi slowly approached him, trying her best not to upset her lover any further. Penn's head suddenly snapped up to look at his girlfriend with a mad look in his eyes. Eyes that Sashi knew secretly made Penn probably the most dangerous person on this orbital base.

"Sashi!" he said in an almost panicked tone. "Is it here yet?!"

"Is what here yet?" his lover asked.

"The Phoenix!" he exclaimed. "The thing coming to kill us all!"

Sashi had to be careful. If she set him off, then the damage he could do would be off the scale. Thinking quickly, she slowly put her arms around her lover and let him tightly.

"It's okay, PZ, I'm here," she assured gently. "I'm here...we'll be okay."

Penn's body shook violently as his anger and confusion surged through his body. But soon, those convulsions of rage died down. Seeing that he was stable for the moment. Sashi went over to the counter and handed Penn his pill bottle.

"Here, take these," she said softly.

Penn looked away.

"Penn," she said in a slightly tenser tone.

"Fine.." he finally relented before taking the pills.

Sashi let out a sigh of relief as Penn took his medication. She knew that the former part-time hero had to remain calm, or else no one on this Tower would be safe. For Sashi was the only person who knew Penn's true secret: That he was a metahuman. One who had an ability that made him possibly the most dangerous person on the team if he became violent. Suddenly, the alarms went off in the Tower, catching the duo off guard.

"Alert! We have a rouge meta in the Tower!" Sheila's voice informed everyone. "All available League members in the Tower are to subdue and contain her at once!"

The instant they were alerted to the situation at hand by the A.I., the six remaining leaders of the League immediately switched the screen in their meeting room from footage of Tokyo to security footage of the Tower, shuffling through the cameras to try and locate this so-called 'rogue meta.' All seemed fine at first until they switched to one of the cameras on the fifth floor nearby the infirmary. The mere sight of Hoist lying in stasis nearby a massive hole in the wall caused the leader's eyes to widen in horror, though none more so than Optimus, given the state of one of his Autobots.

"Ratchet, Hoist has been injured!" he reported the instant he activated his COMM-device. "We need you at Skyward Tower immediately!"

"Understood," the Autobot medic responded on the other side.

Once Ratchet shut off his COMM-link, Sheila materialized before the six leaders.

"You said something about a 'rogue meta,' Sheila," Danny pointed out. "What happened?"

"One of our 'esteemed guests' decided now was as good a time as any to go on a little rampage," the A.I. answered.

"Esteemed guests?" Kim repeated. "You don't mean-"

"It's the Phoenix!" a voice interrupted. "It's gotten to Yang!"

Caught off guard by this sudden interruption, the six heroes turned to the open doorway of their meeting room to see Ozpin, Oscar's body showing clear signs of exhaustion due to the headmaster's sense of urgency, dashing towards them. Upon hearing the news of the blonde warrior's sudden turn, Optimus approached his fellow Illuminati member.

"We'll need to move quickly then, Ozpin, if we are to help her," he stated. "What is her Semblance?"

"Uh, her what, now?" Jake questioned.

"Her Semblance," Prime answered. "Think Remnant's equivalent to what we call 'superpowers.'"

"And given her currently influenced state of emotion, Yang's puts this station and everyone on it at risk," Ozpin continued. "It allows her to absorb the energy from any damage she takes and can redirect it back at her opponent."

"So let me get this straight," Kim said as she placed two fingers and her thumb onto her forehead. "We allowed a living, breathing wrecking ball with a shotgun gauntlet and a metal arm that gets stronger with every punch we could throw at her AND has this deity influencing her mind to come aboard a space station with dozens of people inside that's currently seven miles above the planet...Why did you even remotely think this was a good idea, Prime?!"

"Because none of this should even be happening in the first place," the Autobot commander answered, a hand on his metal chin as he contemplated the situation. "What's currently happening to Yang and the others didn't happen last time until around twenty-four hours before the Phoenix arrived on Earth. You told me Director informed you that we still had four days, so this shouldn't be possible unless..."

Upon making a horrifying revelation, Optimus' optics widened in pure terror.

"...unless we have far less time than we thought."

In a panic, the last of the Primes quickly turned back to Sheila.

"Tell Dr. Director she needs to have her scientists estimate the Phoenix's arrival a second time," he commanded.

"On it," Sheila replied before her holographic form vanished.

"In the meantime, we must try and stop Yang's rampage before she causes any substantial damage to ourselves and the Tower, or worse, manages to make it to Tokyo to join the rest of the Phoenix's targets," Prime continued.

"So, are there any drawbacks to this Semblance of hers?" Danny asked the former headmaster of Beacon.

"It makes her powerful, but it doesn't make her invincible," Ozpin answered. "The hard part would be to try and deplete her aura while she's like this, but once we do, putting a stop to this will be much easier."

"Aura?" Jenny asked.

"A manifestation of one's soul," Ozpin answered. "We utilize it for many things, including forming sort of a protective barrier around ourselves."

"...Man, Remnant's biology is all kinds of whacked," Jake whispered to Guy.

"So, if we can't convince Yang to stop, we just need to break through this aura of her's to take her down," Danny surmised.

"I think I might know someone who can do just that," Washu's voice suddenly chimed in through the leaders' communicators.

The sound of the red-haired goddess' voice caused Danny, Kim, Jake, Jenny, and Guy to jump slightly while Optimus simply had to suppress a groan, contrary to Ozpin, who was more than willing to let one out.

"...And who might that be?" Danny asked.

"Why, my baby girl, of course," Washu answered. "She-"

"Out of the question," Optimus nearly growled. "Ryoko is far too dangerous to be sent after Yang."

"He's right, Washu," Ozpin added. "She could kill her if she isn't careful, as well as potentially cause even more damage to this station than Yang would be even remotely capable of."

"If Yang's as dangerous as you say she is, Ozzy, then Ryoko's your best shot at stopping this fit she's throwing before it gets worse," Washu argued. "Besides, she'll be a good girl. Right, pumpkin?"

A simple, irritable growl from the blue-haired space pirate was all the three Illuminati members heard.

"...Fine," Optimus sighed. "But we'll be observing her actions via our security cameras. If she does anything that might endanger Yang or the occupants of this station, we WILL put a stop to it."

"Deal's a deal," Washu replied. "Now, Ryoko, sweetie, why don't you go and play with the nice girl from Remnant, kay?"

"Ugh, yes, Mom," Ryoko chided.

With that, Prime and the others turned to the room's main monitor, Kim quickly shuffling through the Tower's security cameras to try and locate the renegade huntress-in-training.

Yang panted heavily as she continued to barrel down the seemingly endless maze that was the orbital station's hallways. Her fiery red eyes never fading back to their normal shade of lilac and a look of desperation mixed with fierce determination on her face. All the while, her manipulated mind continued to plague her with one thing.

"Gotta get to Tokyo, gotta get to Tokyo," she said under her breath. "Gotta get to Tokyo, gotta get to Tokyo!"

"Yes, my child," the Phoenix's voice echoed inside her head. "Do not let these walls contain you. Escape your oppressors and reach your destination. Then, you and the others shall prove your loyalty to me. Your undying love for me."

"I...I won't fail you," Yang responded. "I won't fail you!"

She then sharply turned to her right towards the main hub of the Tower's fifth floor. She ceased her sprinting to observe from the balcony to try and see if there were anything that pointed towards a means of escaping this prison she now found herself in. However, as she did so, she failed to notice a figure phasing into the hub from the ceiling. One that was now diving straight for her.

"Hey, Goldilocks!" a voice shouted.

Flinching slightly, Yang instantly turned around and looked up just in time to see Ryoko flying towards her, her right fist reeled back.

"Got your porridge right here!"

Before she could so much as even try to defend herself, Ryoko's fist harshly landed square on Yang's left cheek, the impact itself being nearly identical to that of being hit by a bullet train, sending her hurtling off of the balcony and onto the third floor of the station. Groaning in pain, the huntress-in-training slowly got back on her feet, only to then see the space pirate toss a duo of energy blasts from the palms of her hands towards her. Acting quickly, Yang shot a round from Ember Celica that launched her upwards and onto the fourth floor's main hub.

The instant she landed, she was greeted by Ryoko phasing through the bottom of the fifth floor's balcony and landing a few yards away from her, narrowing her eyes and smirking at the golden-haired warrior.

"Heard you were pretty tough, kid," the space pirate stated. "Tell you what, before I drag your ass back to the others, why don't we see what you're made of? I'll even let you throw the first punch."

In response, Yang narrowed her own red hues at her newest opponent.

"Big mistake," she retorted.

And with that, she charged straight towards her target, who simply gave a coy smirk in response, not even so much as breaking a sweat over exactly who it was she was fighting. The space pirate's hands glowed once more with energy before she thrust them forward, launching two more blasts from them. Acting quickly, Yang shot a round from her weapon onto the ground, causing her to be propelled upward right before the attack could hit her, detonating on the ground instead. She flipped over Ryoko, landing behind her before, whilst letting out an enraged battle cry, swung her left fist towards her back.

However, her opponent didn't even budge upon her attack making impact, almost as if she had punched a wall made of reinforced titanium. A look of shock overtook Yang's previously fuming face before the pain started to register in her hand. She quickly reeled her fist back and shook it to try and numb the pain. As she did so, Ryoko began to laugh mockingly.

"I'm sorry, was that a punch, or did a mosquito just bite me?" she remarked as she turned her head over her shoulder.

Upon hearing this insult, Yang's teeth began to grind angrily before throwing another punch Ryoko's way, this time with her robotic hand. But right before it could make its mark, the blue-haired woman snapped her fingers and seemingly vanished before the blonde's raging eyes. This, in turn, caused her to lose her balance slightly as her mechanical right fist swatted nothing but the air, but she quickly managed to regain her footing. Yang then impatiently observed her surroundings, trying to locate her target.

Suddenly, a sound was heard from behind and she quickly turned around, only to be greeted by a fist to the stomach. The huntress-in-training grunted in pain as a chunk of her aura was depleted. She then tried to launch her metal fist at the former pirate a second time, only for her to vanish yet again. A snarl escaping her lips, Yang tried to pinpoint where she might reappear, only for her back to be kicked by Ryoko. Once she regained her balance and shook the pain off, the blonde-haired girl attempted to swing her foot at her adversary's head, only for her to yet again disappear.

Exclaiming loudly and finally having enough of this charade, Yang started to listen carefully for the sound she heard right before she would be ambushed by Ryoko. The second she did, hearing it behind her, she immediately lunged her left fist at Ryoko's stomach and rapidly punched it five times. Once she had done so, she fired a dust round from Ember Celica to allow her to fly backward away from her foe. Confused, Ryoko was about to question this when she heard the sound of something beeping. She looked down to see five sticky grenades stuck onto her person.

Before the blue-haired space pirate could so much as utter a single word, Yang reeled her arms back, causing the grenades to be remotely detonated and for Ryoko to seemingly explode into a blazing inferno. Grinning triumphantly, the blonde bombshell thought she had bested her opponent, only for her expression to fade the instant she saw the flames start to fade, revealing a chuckling, practically unscathed Ryoko to her.

"That tickled," she remarked.

Without warning, the pirate flew towards her enemy at top speed before Yang could react in any way, delivering a series of quick yet devastating blows upon her. Yang tried her best to try and deflect the onslaught, occasionally managing to try and counter with a punch or two of her own, but she was only barely able to deflect a handful thanks to Ryoko's deadly speed, and any hit that Ryoko hadn't dodged had barely any effect on her at all. More and more of her aura chipped away as she continued to go on the defensive.

"C'mon, kid, I'm getting bored here!" Ryoko complained as she continued her assault. "At least put up SOME kind of fight before I-"

Before she could continue, her latest punch had suddenly stopped right before it could make contact. Perplexed, she looked down to see Yang's left hand gripping tightly onto her right arm, also noticing her golden hair appearing to have flames burning all around it.

"Careful what you wish for, bitch," Yang snarled.

With her semblance now active, the blonde-haired warrior wasted no time lifting Ryoko over her head with her hand still clasped around her arm before smashing her harshly onto the floor, the impact causing several cracks to form. The blue-haired alien let out a small groan before she got back up, only to then be greeted by Yang swinging her fist onto her right cheek. Unlike the previous attempts though, she very much felt the blow as it caused her to be launched through a nearby wall and into an empty quarter. Ryoko landed roughly onto the bed, snapping it in two as she did so, before placing a hand onto her now slightly bruised cheek.

"Ow...I actually felt that one," she stated in shock.

"Oh, you're gonna feel something a WHOLE lot worse soon," Yang responded as she stepped through the hole she had just created.

In retaliation, the pirate formed what appeared to be two small energy staffs into each of her hands as she got back on her feet.

"Bring it on!" she challenged.

The two then charged towards each other, Yang landing the first blow upon Ryoko's face, who reeled back slightly as a result. She attempted to swing one of her staffs down upon the huntress-in-training, only for her to sidestep out of the way and deliver two quick jabs to the space pirate's side. Ryoko, however, proceeded to elbow Yang in the face, causing her to stumble backward and for her nose to start bleeding slightly afterward. Knowing that her aura was running low and that her semblance wouldn't last forever, Yang then jumped back to avoid Ryoko as she swung her weapons down to where she once stood, hitting the floor and causing small cracks to form.

Now at a distance from her attacker, Yang shot several rounds from Ember Celica and the shotgun built into her prosthetic arm at Ryoko, only for her to backhand one round away from her and fly at great speed towards her, practically plowing through the offensives as she did so. She then ran right into the blonde, causing the two of them to be forced through a wall and land into an adjacent hallway. The two of them immediately got back up, Yang quickly attempting to roundhouse Ryoko in the face, only for her to grab her boot mere inches away from her face. The warrior of Remnant let out a gasp before a smirking Ryoko swung her body harshly into the wall, letting go of her foot as she did so, only to then quickly force her against the wall, holding onto both of her hands and placing her body against her back to hold her in place.

Enraged, Yang began to thrash around in an attempt to free herself, only for it to be futile as her hair went back to normal, an indication that her semblance had run its course.

"I'll give you this one, kid, that was more like it," an only slightly impressed Ryoko admitted.

"Grr! UGH! How bout you get your hands off me and we'll go another round?!" an angry Yang suggested.

"Not a chance, Bucky," Ryoko denied.

"...Who the hell is Bu-" a now slightly confused Yang attempted to ask.

"You and me had our fun, but now it's high time I drag you back to that overgrown, tin-plated boy scout before he and Washu start their nagging," Ryoko interrupted before looking up at a nearby security camera. "Hear that, Prime?!"

"GAH! Goddamn you!" Yang cursed as she continued her struggles. "Need...to get...TO TOKYO!"

However, at a nearby hallway, someone who was attempting to find this 'rogue metahuman' had heard the exchange from afar, and upon hearing the voice of the blue-haired space pirate, he began to snarl with pure, unbridled hatred.

"Rrrrr...Ry...o...ko," Grimlock growled. "...RRRRRYOKOOOOO!"

Hearing the Dinobot's enraged yell, the two combatants turned their heads towards the direction of the sound, just in time to see Grimlock appear from the nearby hall and turn towards the two of them, or more specifically, Ryoko, his sword and shield in hand.

"What the-!" was all Ryoko could say before she was smashed in the face by Grimlock's shield.

Upon the shield making impact, the alien released her iron grip on Yang, causing her to fall to the ground, all while her opponent was smashed through a wall by the Dinobot leader, the two of them disappearing in the dust before her blazing hues.

"Uh...thanks?" Yang said before continuing on her trek of freedom.

Back at the League's meeting room, the leaders, having bore witness to the throwdown between Yang and Ryoko, were about to send a team to pick the huntress-in-training up before she could do any more damage when they saw Grimlock's sudden attack on the former space pirate. The six of them, along with Ozpin, were completely caught off guard by this sudden development as Optimus immediately activated his COMM device.

"Grimlock, stand down!" he commanded. "Grimlock!"

No response was heard, making the Autobot commander believe that the leader of the Dinobots had intentionally shut his off.

"He seems...madder than usual, guys," SheZow pointed out.

"That is because he was one of many affected by Ryoko's attack on Cybertron," Optimus stated. "He and the rest of his team, before they were turned into the Dinobots, attempted to stop her."

"What did she do to them?" Danny questioned.

"...She nearly beat the five of them to death with her bare hands," Prime answered.

"...Yeah, I can see why he'd have a bit of a bone to pick with her," Jake commented.

"But now, with Shockwave's modifications amplifying his strength tenfold combined with his persistently aggressive demeanor, I doubt he'd relent before he manages to return the favor to her," Optimus summarized. "Combined with Ryoko's equally destructive tendencies, the two of them could tear this entire station apart!"

"Which is EXACTLY what we need when we already have a rogue meta doing just that," SheZow sarcastically stated.

"Then here's the plan," Danny responded. "The six of us probably have the best shot at stopping those two before they turn the Tower inside out. We'll go down there and try to get them to stand down. As for Yang, we'll need to trust the rest of the League to try and calm her down."

"I'll try and find Ruby and the others in the meantime," Ozpin added. "They might be our best chance at stopping the Phoenix from further corrupting Yang's mind."

No sooner than when the headmaster of Beacon finished that sentence did the station the heroes stood upon begin to shake slightly, no doubt the work of either Yang or Grimlock amidst their destructive rampages.

"Then we must move quickly!" Optimus declared as he and the rest of the League leaders ran out of the meeting room.

While that was going on, Grimlock continued to shove Ryoko through wall after wall with his shield, the floor beneath the two of them caving in with every stomp, until the two of them descended to the Tower's training arena, the space pirate flying backward and violently landing onto the floor of said arena.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" she angrily shouted as she got back on her feet. "That blonde you ran past was the rogue, not me!"

The leader of the Dinobots then lept onto the arena, causing the ground to shake and for Ryoko to lose her balance slightly.

"You...no...remember me...DO YOU?!" he yelled.

"Oh, I see," Ryoko replied as she placed her hands on her hips. "This is about me wrecking your home, isn't it? Alright, blah, blah, blah, I'm sorry, blah, blah, I changed since then, bla-"

Her half-hearted apology was cut short, though, by Grimlock swinging his massive fist onto the blue-haired woman, smashing her onto the floor harshly before grabbing her by her hair and bringing her up at optic level with him, said red optics blazing with hatred and the rage of an untamed beast.

"Me no interested in apology," he growled. "Me only want to make you BLEED!"

"Ugh, okay, I see how it is," Ryoko responded, clearing her throat before continuing on. "Me...SORRY. Me no do that...AGAIN. Me...CHANGED. Did that get through that empty head of yours, pal?"

"You really no remember me?" the Dinobot snarled.

"Nope," Ryoko answered. "Way you talk, I'd be bound to remember a dumbass like you."

"You...remember...Lightning Strike Coalition?!" Grimlock asked. "That ring any bells?!"

Hearing that name, the former pirate gave it a bit of thought before a look of realization and a mocking smile formed on her face.

"Oh yeah, I remember you now!" she said. "You're that big lugnut that tried to stop me from getting into Iacon. Say, how're those friends you brought with you? Didn't rough 'em up THAT bad, did I?"

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGHHH!" Grimlock roared before tossing Ryoko down onto the arena, a small crater forming thanks to the impact.

Ryoko proceeded to get back up once more, a look of perplexment overtaking her features. True, she remembered encountering this very Autobot along with five others when she attempted to pillage Iacon, but she didn't recall any of them being this strong or putting up this much of a fight.

"...Have you been working out?" she asked.

"Suppose I have to...thank Shockwave...for once..." the Dinobot leader growled as he slowly approached Ryoko. "Cause now...me, Grimlock...much stronger...than when last fought. Strong enough to RIP YOU TO PIECES!"

"Well, one thing's for sure..." Ryoko sneered as she formed two more energy staffs onto her hands. "...You sure did get a hell of a lot dumber than when I met you."

Having been mocked far enough, the raging Dinobot lifted both of his fists upward before bringing them down upon his target, only for her to dash out of the way and shoot several energy blasts at his chassis. They practically bounced off him, however, as he got out his sword and swung it towards her with blinding fury.

Elsewhere, Tenchi and the others were just about to get themselves situated in the Tower when the first alarms regarding a rogue metahuman inside went off, and the base itself started to shake violently. Washu later informed them of what was going on and told them not to worry, Ryoko soon begrudgingly phasing through the wall of what was to be her room to confront this rogue. Things seemed to calm down at first...and then another series of alarms and violent rumbles commenced.

"Oh, what now?!" Tenchi complained.

"Alert! We have two more rogue metas in the Tower!" Sheila's voice seemed to answer for him.

Then, without warning, Washu suddenly appeared before the inhabitants of the Masaki Household, causing each of them to jump in fright slightly.

"Hey, so, listen, don't get mad, but...we may have a bit of a problem," the redheaded goddess informed.

"What's going on out there?" Mihoshi questioned.

"I believe the better question is 'What did Ryoko do this time?'" a visibly annoyed Ayeka asked.

"Something along the lines of 'pissed off the leader of the Dinobots and got into a fistfight with him,'" Washu answered for the Princess of Juri.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ayeka sarcastically responded.

"Prime says he and the others are gonna try and break them up, but we all know nothing short of about a dozen atom bombs are gonna be able to slow Ryoko down," Washu added before turning to Tenchi. "Or, you know, a certain Jurian hybrid she's got the hots for."

"...I was afraid you'd say that," Tenchi replied. "And wait, what if Grimlock tries to eat me, or something?!"

"Look, you can either bicker with me or stop those two from sending this whole damn place crashing down to Earth!" the genius argued.

"Alright, fine, I'm going!" Tenchi relented before dashing out of the room.

"Don't think I'm letting you go out there alone, Tenchi!" Ayeka said as she followed. "Sasami, stay with Mihoshi and Kiyone!"

With that done, Washu teleported her way back to the rest of the science division (baring Sailor Mercury) in their lab, who all simply turned to her with narrowed eyes.

"...What?" she asked.

"Y'know, if you're as powerful as Prime said you are, you COULD go and stop all this right now, couldn't you?" Wheeljack asked.

"Oh, yeah, guess I could," Washu shrugged.

"...And you're not going to because...?" Lexington asked.

"Eh, don't feel like it," the goddess answered.

A hush fell across the lab as each of the smartest members of the Infinity League looked upon her with a dumbfounded look on their faces. Unsurprisingly, Peridot was the first one to speak out.

"Clod, are you for real?!" she exclaimed "'Oh, look at me, I'm the smartest being in the universe, but I don't feel like getting off my lazy BUTT TO DO ANY-'"

Before her tirade could continue, Washu took out a small, stick-like device and pressed it at Peridot's gemstone on her forehead, causing her to poof back into it, much to the shock of the others, all while Washu didn't so much as make eye-contact with her. The gem fell to the floor, the redheaded goddess waiting a few seconds before placing the device onto the stone once more, causing Peridot to instantly reform exactly as she was just a few moments ago, with a baffled look on her face.

"Did you...DID YOU JUST-?!" she stammered.

"Mm-hm," Washu interrupted, still not turning to face her as she did so. "Now, are you gonna stop bad-mouthing me? Cause I can have this thing start rearranging your molecular structure if I want it to."

The tiny Gem attempted to say something in retaliation but found that she neither had the words nor the guts to say anything and simply stomped her way to an empty chair next to Wheeljack.

"I. Hate. Her," she said.

"Join the club," Wheeljack replied.

As the clash between Ryoko and Grimlock began, Kelly, Heidi, and Debbie continued to guide the League's P.R. department through the Tower's hallways in an effort to get them to the teleportation room. Yang's sudden outburst could not have come at a worse time for them. They had just barely managed to empty their hub when the alarms began to blare, and Sheila's warning of a rogue meta echoed throughout the halls. The three of them were trying their best to keep their workers calm during this crisis, but it was becoming very clear that the longer they were in the League's orbital station, the more their chances of making it out alive dwindled.

Then, without warning, the station started to rumble as the ceiling began to crack, a large chunk breaking off and heading straight for the crowd.

"Get back!" Heidi shouted.

The crowd of petrified workers were about to do just that when...

"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!"

A beam of energy fired past Kelly, Heidi, and Debbie, making its mark upon the chunk of rubble, blasting it into tiny pebbles that harmlessly bounced off the P.R. department's staff. The three higher-ups then turned to see the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Mask, the latter lowering the palm he used to fire her attack.

"Follow us to the teleporters!" Sailor Moon called out. "We'll keep you guys safe!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Debbie responded as she and the others quickly dashed towards their saviors...completely oblivious to the interloper in the shadows that heard everything.

"Teleporters...Tokyo..." Yang breathed out as her aura continued to replenish.

Elsewhere, the rest of the visitors from Remnant, joined by Sakura and Ladybug, continued to sprint through the empty hallways, Ruby continuing to frantically try and reach her sister with her scroll, but to no avail.

"Yang, c'mon, answer me!" she pleaded.

The red-hooded girl was only met with silence, unfortunately.

"I still can't reach her!" she informed Sakura.

The arcade manager nodded once in understanding before activating her COMM device.

"Chun-Li, it's Sakura," she began. "Quick question, you wouldn't happen to have seen a five foot eight, REALLY pissed off blonde around the Tower, wouldn't you?"

"No, but the rumbling that's been going on seems to be coming from somewhere in the third floor," the Interpol officer answered on the other side. "Best guess is that the rogue's down there trying to reach the teleporters. Steve Austin and Garnet are leading a team down there to try and catch her."

"We'll be down there ASAP," Sakura replied. "Sakura out."

"Well, now that we know where Yang might be, what do we do once we find her?" Penny questioned.

"We do what we can to get that Phoenix out of her head," Qrow answered.

"...And if that fails?" Penny somberly asked.

A sinking feeling overtook the human residents of Remnant as they realized an all too likely outcome: They may very well be forced to fight Yang in order to save her. They wondered if they could even have the strength to do such a thing. Raise their weapons on someone they love. Someone that was practically like family to them, literally in the case of Ruby and Qrow.

"...We won't fail," Blake attempted to reassure her friends...and herself.

"Okay, Kelly, you and the others go first!" Usagi commanded. "Mercury, input the coordinates to the She-Lair!"

"I'm on it!" Ami responded as she darted towards the teleporters' main console.

Once the Senshi and the League's P.R. department made it to the Tower's teleportation room, they quickly made haste to try and get everyone out of the Tower as quickly as possible. However, right before the Senshi of water could make the necessary preparations, six of the teleportation pads suddenly shot a beam of light upwards, startling everyone inside the room and causing some of them, including Heidi and Usagi, to jump slightly. The lights then faded, revealing Ironhide, Warpath, Crosshairs, Cliffjumper, Bulkhead, and Ratchet to them, prompting a mass sigh of relief.

"Whoa, sorry about that!" Warpath apologized. "Hope we didn't-ZAP!-scare ya too bad."

"So, where's the rogue that punched poor Hoist's lights out?" Crosshairs asked as he readied one of his rifles.

"We think she might be somewhere on this floor," Makoto answered.

"And Hoist?" Cliffjumper asked.

"Still at the medical wing, last I heard," Minako answered.

"I'll tend to him then," Ratchet declared as he quickly lept off the pad he stood upon and ran out the room.

"The rest of you are with me," Ironhide said to the other four Autobots as he readied his forge. "Now, let's go catch a meta."

Each of the other Autobots nodded once in understanding before they, along with their commander, ran towards the currently empty hallway, some of the P.R. department being forced to step aside to allow them passage without the need of stepping on them first.

"I've got them locked onto Megadale now," Sailor Mercury announced as she finished punching in the She-Lair's coordinates.

"Okay, everyone, only one person per teleporter, we'll go in groups of ten," Kelly stated. "Now, let's go! Go! Go!"

Not needing to be told a second time, several members of the League's P.R. department hurried towards the teleportation pads, Kelly, Heidi, Debbie, and Usagi guiding them and ensuring that they follow Kelly's instructions to a tee. One by one, in groups of ten, the P.R. department's staff were whisked away safely to Australia until, after a few minutes, there were just the three higher-ups.

"Thanks," Heidi said to Usagi. "We owe you guys one."

Suddenly, the station rumbled once again, causing those that remained on the Tower to lose their balance slightly.

"Don't worry about it," Sailor Moon responded. "Now go! Hurry!"

The three P.R. higher-ups responded by leaping onto three of the pads, allowing Ami to activate the teleporters once more, sending them directly to the She-Lair and out of harm's way.

"Okay, that's the last of them," Ami stated. "Reconfiguring coordinates to Tokyo now."

As she went to work, the other Senshi and Tuxedo Mask nodded once and were about to step onto the teleporters when...

"Room for one more?" a voice harshly asked.

Once a yelp of surprise escaped Usagi's lips, she and the others turned to see Yang marching towards both them and the teleporters, her left hand punching her mechanical right palm as she did so, a loud clang echoing through the hallway. Acting quickly, Minako dashed towards the door's control panel and activated it, resulting in the blast doors closing and, hopefully, blocking the huntress-in-training from entering. However, the sound of a dust round firing from Ember Celica prompted the six of them to quickly get out of her line of fire right before the doors blasted off its hinges and crashed into the back wall. When the smoke settled, the heroes of Japan saw Yang continuing her approach towards them, her red eyes glaring right at them.

"Yang, listen to me!" Minako asked. "The Phoenix is messing with your mind! You have to-"

"SHUT UP!" Yang shouted, firing a second round as she did so.

"Mina, look out!" Usagi cried as she tackled her out of the round's path.

This action prompted the dust round to fly past her and into the back wall of the teleporter room, the resulting blast forming a massive hole in it.

"Uh, might wanna hurry up, Ami!" a frightened Usagi requested as she and Mina got back up.

"I'm working on it, Usagi!" an annoyed Sailor Mercury snapped as she continued to set the teleporter's coordinates. "Do you WANT us to be teleported to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean by accident?"

The guardian of love and justice was about to respond when she heard a loud impact and an angered yell coming from her right. She turned to see the blonde bombshell moving her left fist away from a freshly made, gigantic crater on the wall.

"...I think I might like my odds better down there over being stuck up here with her," Usagi meekly said.

As the warrior of Remnant got closer and closer, Usagi instinctively reached for her Spiral Heart Moon Rod as she frantically turned her head back and forth at Ami and Yang, when the sound of heels harshly clacking on the floor caught her attention. Then, Makoto brushed past Usagi and began to make her way towards Yang.

"Mako, what are you-?!" she attempted to ask.

The Senshi of thunder then stopped at the open doorway, prompting Yang to halt her advances as her new opponent crossed her arms, her ring and index fingers being the only ones splayed outward, while the antenna on her tiara rose up.

"You wanna get to Tokyo, you're gonna have to go through me first!" she declared.

"Your funeral, sparkles," Yang retaliated, raising her fists as she did so.

"You guys go on without me," Sailor Jupiter said to her friends. "I'll hold her off while Ami gets the teleporters ready."

"Mako, wait!" Sailor Moon pleaded. "This girl looks like she eats nails for breakfast! I don't know if you can take her alone!"

"Honestly...me neither," Makoto admitted. "...But right now, Rei needs you a lot more than I do, Usagi. Now go!"

With that, the guardian of love and courage flew towards Yang, grasping her with the thunderous energies of Jupiter surging around her body before plowing her through the back wall at the end of the hallway. A visibly concerned Usagi could only watch this while Mamoru, seeing his lover in a state of distraught, held one of her hands to try and comfort her, an action which she returned.

"Okay, coordinates are set!" Ami announced. "Everybody, get on!"

The others immediately responded by stepping onto the teleportation platforms while the Senshi of water readied a five second delay, allowing herself to step on after inputting a command to shut the teleporters down afterward.

"Be careful, Mako," was the last thing Usagi whispered before being teleported away to her hometown.

As that transpired, Mako continued to fly through several walls, Yang's back taking the impact, before finally relenting once she reached the rec room, tossing the huntress-in-training into the room's massive television screen, shattering it. Yang then fell onto the floor, several hundred shards following suit, as she stood back up to face her newest opponent, who was now cautiously approaching her.

"Yang, was it?" the guardian of love and courage asked. "You need to listen to me. Whatever lies the Phoenix is telling you, don't believe any of them. It wants-"

"She wants me to fulfill my destiny," Yang harshly cut off. "And I'm not gonna let any of you get in my way. So stay. The fuck. OUT OF MY WAY!"

All Sailor Jupiter could do was sigh before giving her retort.

"Well, so much for diplomacy," she muttered to herself.

The instant those words escaped her mouth, Yang, yelling in an enraged manner, charged towards the Senshi of thunder. Makoto, in retaliation, splayed her right hand to the side while sparks began to arc around it, hopeful that a new ability she had recently gained would put a stop to this.

"Jupiter..." she began as the antenna on her tiara began to glow a bright shade of green. "Oak...Evolution!"

She began to twirl around on one foot, going faster and faster as Yang got closer and closer, until finally, when she brought both of her arms upward, dozens of green, oak leaf-shaped projectiles shot out of her tiara and towards her target. Seeing this prompted the huntress in training's eyes to widen before quickly shooting off several rounds from Ember Celica, each shot allowing her to dodge the Senshi's onslaught. Every oak leaf that missed either made contact with either the wall or the occasional arcade cabinet, destroying the machines with a lightning charged explosion as well as leaving scorch marks on the metal walls.

Finally, one managed to make its mark on Yang, the detonation sending her flying backward whilst shocking her with several thousand volts of electricity before smashing onto a pool table, causing it to break in half. She barely had enough time to pick herself back up when she saw Jupiter dashing towards her. Acting quickly, Yang grabbed a nearby pool stick and swung it at her enemy, prompting Mako to immediately hold her arm up in an attempt to block it. The stick snapped in half against her arm, causing her to grunt in pain before swiftly stepping to the side to narrowly avoid a punch courtesy of the golden-haired warrior.

She then grabbed the metal arm that tried to strike her and pulled it up in a ploy to smash her opponent onto the ground, only for Yang to have it to pop off instead and for Makoto to lose her balance due to the sudden shift in weight.

"Wha-" a stunned Mako said, only for a fist to her right cheek to interrupt her.

The Senshi stumbled backward, dropping the prosthetic arm in the process and allowing Yang to grab it and reattach it to her right arm. With both her limbs now ready to fight, she dashed forward and started swinging her fists at Sailor Jupiter with the fury of a wild animal, prompting her to dodge and block as many as she could. Even so, it seemed like every other punch was able to land as Makoto struggled to keep up with Yang's unbelievable speed, so she decided to try another tactic and clenched her right fist as the energies of her guardian planet surged through it.

"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

With that declaration, she thrust her right fist upward. Inside it was the disc of electrical energies that she would normally launch towards her enemies. The instant her fist uppercut Yang's chin, the energies inside released with thunderous results, causing the warrior of Remnant to be launched up towards the ceiling. While she was in mid-air, Mako launched herself up towards her adversary, stopping once she was right above Yang before flipping forward and swinging her heel downward at Yang's stomach, causing her to plummet back down to the ground and smash roughly onto the rec room's bar.

The Senshi continued to float in the air, looking down at the dust cloud that was a result of her actions as it slowly started to dissipate. An eyebrow raised up slightly when she saw it reveal Yang back on her feet, glaring up at her opponent before loading up an ammo clip onto her weapon.

"That all you got?" she mockingly asked.

The protector of Tokyo simply chuckled in response before giving her answer.

"Nope, I'm just getting started," she said with a smirk.

Hearing this, Yang's mouth curved into a similar smirk.

"Good," she responded. "...So am I."

And with that, she fired a round from her weapon to launch herself towards Makoto, who in turn propelled herself towards Yang, both of them letting out a battle cry as they reeled their fists back.

Meanwhile, Grimlock had managed to tackle Ryoko through the training room's wall and into the main deck, the two of them falling onto the see-through floor at the bottom. The Dinobot leader had landed on top of Ryoko and delivered a punch right to her face before the blue-haired pirate kicked the massive machine off her person. She then floated back upright and started to launch a barrage of energy blasts at Grimlock, who instantly readied his shield to block them. As the blasts continued to detonate onto the shield, Grimlock slowly started to trudge his way towards Ryoko, only for her to then fly towards him, phase through him, and emerge behind him before delivering a swift yet powerful kick onto his back. This sent the Dinobot flying towards a wall, crashing into it before falling onto his back.

"Look, you overgrown toaster!" Ryoko yelled. "How many times do I need to tell you?! I'm NOT the enemy here!"

"Me, Grimlock, no care," Grimlock growled as he got back on his feet. "Me just want to bash Ryoko's brains!"

"Oh?" Ryoko inquired. "Well, me, Ryoko, say try it! When I'm done with you, there won't be enough parts left to fill a thimble!"

With a mighty roar, the Dinobot leader charged towards his enemy, swinging his fist towards her, only for her to fly upward to avoid it. However, because of this, she was unable to detect the powerful uppercut that smashed onto her person, sending her hurtling up before crashing onto the ceiling. Grimlock then lept up to the ceiling and grabbed the stuck space pirate, pulling her out as he began his downward trip to the floor. He positioned her to where she would land first and take the full force of the impact.

But Ryoko had anticipated this, and as such, formed her energy staffs into her hands, allowing the energies to begin burning into Grimlock's massive fist. The Dinobot howled in pain, causing him to release her, which allowed her to float herself in the air to cease her descent and allow her enemy to now take the full brunt of the fall. The gargantuan Autobot then crashed through one of the main hub's bridges and smashed face-first onto the floor.

"Now stay, boy!" the former pirate scolded. "I've gotta go find that damn girl again thanks to you."

She was about to depart from the hub, only for her to hear the sound of something practically plowing its way upward through the many bridges in the room. She looked down, seeing Grimlock once again leaping towards her...and he was in the final steps of transforming into a very angry, fire breathing, mechanical tyrannosaurus rex.

"...Oh, fuck me," was all Ryoko could say before the beast's jaws grabbed her.

Back with Yang and Makoto, the guardian of love and courage was currently charging towards the blonde powerhouse, who reacted by shooting two rounds from both of her weapons at her enemy. However, Sailor Jupiter acted quickly and swerved to the side to avoid the path of one dust round and slid underneath the second, shooting back up to her feet the instant she was beside Yang before delivering an electrically charged punch right to her cheek. The huntress-in-training stumbled slightly and Mako, attempting to take advantage of this, swung her right foot towards Yang's head, only for said warrior of Remnant to duck downto narrowly avoid in. Yang, practically roaring in fury, then used her metal fist to punch Makoto square in the gut. The guardian of courage doubled-over in pain, causing her to not notice Yang clasping both of her hands together before swinging it upward, cracking her adversary's chin and causing her to fall onto her back. With her opponent down, Yang tried to take advantage of her current state and raised her left fist upward, ready to use Ember Celica to finish this. But, very much like Yang, if Mako was going to go down, she was going to go down swinging. And to prove this, she rolled to the side right before Yang fired her weapon and flipped backward onto her hands, thrusting them up to bring her back to her feet.

Letting out an enraged battle cry, Sailor Jupiter used the energies of her guardian planet to practically launch herself at Yang, slamming the blonde huntress against a wall in the process. She then started repeatedly punching her across her body, sparks flying with every impact. In retaliation, Yang, when she wasn't blocking this onslaught, delivered a series of counter punches every time she saw an opening, forcing Mako to quickly go on the defensive for a short moment. After several seconds of this back and forth brawl, Yang managed to deliver a knee to Makoto's stomach, knocking the air completely out of her. This, in turn, allowed Yang to deliver a punch that was amped slightly by her semblance, which sent her enemy flying onto the pool table she had broken not long ago.

The blonde immediately began to storm her way towards Sailor Jupiter, only for her to quickly grab a handful of billiards, charging them with electricity before tossing them one at a time at her adversary. One of them managed to make their mark on Yang's forehead, the ball exploding upon impact with such a force that it caused her to flip backward and land roughly on her stomach. Seizing the chance she was given, Makoto dashed towards Yang, grabbing her by her jacket before she could get back on her feet, before thrusting her headfirst into a nearby arcade cabinet's screen.

She was about to pull her out to continue her attack, only for the cocking noise of Ember Celica to briefly catch her off guard. Knowing full well what her weapon was capable of, Sailor Jupiter quickly put up an electrical barrier around her the second before Yang fired a round out of her gauntlet. The barrier protected Makoto from taking the full force, but the blast was still powerful enough to cause her to slide backward a couple of meters away from Yang. When she finally stopped, her makeshift shield faded away, only for her green hues to catch Yang, snarling and grinding her teeth in fury while picking up the cabinet with her bare hands, lifting it above her head as though it was made of cardboard. With this new weapon, she proceeded to leap upward towards Makoto, intending on smashing her to a pulp with this cabinet.

"Oh, son of a bitch," was all Jupiter could say before reforming her shield.

The cabinet landed atop the barrier, causing the already now fragile floor to give way and send the two combatants descending through the floors of the Tower.

The thumping started to get louder and louder back with Mihoshi, Kiyone, and Sasami, prompting the two Galaxy Police officers to draw their weapons as they anticipated something barging into their room any moment, Mihoshi sticking close to a frightened Sasami to keep her safe. Both remained on high alert as the muffled sounds continued, whatever was causing them getting closer and closer. Then, without warning, something smashed through the ceiling of the room, causing the three occupants to look up just in time to briefly see Yang and Makoto's continuing fight, the two combatants and the pieces of the ceiling right in the path of the young princess of Jurai.

"Sasami, look out!" Mihoshi cried out as she pulled the child out of the brawlers' path.

The instant she did so, both the huntress and the Senshi landed onto the floor where Sasami once stood. Once the dust settled, the Galaxy Police officers and the young princess caught a glimpse of the two, glaring daggers at each other with cuts and bruises scattered across Makoto's body while Yang seemed to be fairly unscathed at first glance due to her aura taking the full force of the Senshi's offensives. Said Senshi's brown hair was also now out of its ponytail and flowing down her back thanks to her hair tie having snapped off, and her hands were tightly grasping onto both of Yang's to try and deter her from causing any further damage to both herself and the Tower.

This strategy was for not, unfortunately, as one harsh kick was enough to knock Mako off of Yang's person, causing her to stumble and trip over a pile of rubble. She was able to regain her footing quickly, though, and was able to charge back towards the blonde huntress-in-training to try and stop her from getting back on her feet. However, Yang was quicker to act and delivered a punch to the Senshi's knee that caused her to fall flat on her face. Yang then proceeded to grab her by her outfit and tried to lift her upward, only for several thousand volts of electricity to force her to release her grip and allow Jupiter to fall onto her feet.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Mihoshi, Kiyone, and Sasami quickly backing themselves away from the fight. She already had to hold back from unleashing the full extent of her guardian planet's power to prevent herself from causing any considerable damage to the Tower and those who inhabited it, and now she'd need to hold back even further since she was in a tighter space, and there were people trapped inside this room with the two of them. However, this didn't mean that the guardian of love and courage was going to go down without a fight, as evident by her surging up her right fist.

"Stay back!" Makoto warned the three of them.

The guardian of courage then attempted to swing an electrically charged punch to Yang's face, only for said blonde warrior to grab her fist and pull her opponent towards her, stepping aside as she stumbled forward. Once she was in front of her, Yang attempted to put Mako into a headlock, but only managed to wrap her metal arm around her neck before Jupiter bent down and swung her fist upward at Yang's left leg, causing her to fall onto her back.

With her adversary now down, Makoto began to approach her, only for Yang to then notice something above the two of them and shoot a round from Ember Celica that shot past the Senshi of Thunder and through the hole the two of them made.

"Missed," Makoto mocked.

"Wasn't aiming for you," Yang countered with a smirk.

With that, Yang shot another round that launched herself away from where her opponent was currently standing. Confused, Sailor Jupiter was about to go after her when a crashing noise from above caught her attention. She looked up, and her eyes widened with fright as the arcade cabinet that Yang had previously tried to smash her with had been freed from the wires that had kept it three floors above her. She quickly tried to run out of its oncoming path, only for it to smash onto the floor, causing a piece to bounce up and catapult Makoto to the ceiling, the impact knocking her unconscious before she landed roughly onto the floor.

"Sailor Jupiter!" Sasami cried out.

With that nuisance out of the way, Yang was about to dash towards the exit, only for a laser blast to brush past the top of her head, burning off a few golden strands of her hair as it did so. Her still fiery eyes caught wind of the strands falling towards the floor and snarled in contempt before swiftly turning to see Mihoshi pointing her pistol at her, a now pale Kiyone standing beside her.

"Oh, Mihoshi, why did you do that?!" she asked in a panicking tone as Yang began to storm towards the duo.

"I'm sorry! I thought that could take her down, and-!" Mihoshi responded in an equally distressed tone.

"NO, I MEANT WHY DID YOU MISS?!" Kiyone interrupted.

Yang then raised her fists towards the Galaxy Police officers, ready to punch their heads clean off, when suddenly, a purple whip shot from out of the shadows and wrapped around the golden-haired warrior's waist.

"Huh?" she said before being pulled out of the room.

The huntress-in-training then proceeded to be tossed down the nearby hallway once the whip unwrapped itself, causing her gut to slam right into the gauntleted fist of Garnet, the impact knocking the air completely out of her before she landed onto her back. She proceeded to shoot herself away from her newest opponent and get back on her feet, only to see that the fusion was not alone. Standing alongside her was the co-leader of this team meant to bring the blonde down, Steve Austin, and they were joined by Amethyst, Ibuki, Chun-Li, Bebop and Rocksteady, Queen Bee, Raphael, Trini, Cybersix, Casey Jones, and the Glitch Tech known as Zahra.

"Sorry, ma'am, we know this isn't your fault, but we can't let you go any further," Steve stated.

"We'll give you one chance to come back with us quietly," Garnet added.

Yang carefully observed the thirteen opponents before her, knowing that the odds were completely against her. Not only was she outnumbered, but Sailor Jupiter, in their earlier brawl, had taken out a good chunk of her aura, and even though her Semblance still had quite a bit of energy stored in her body, it was still finite and she'd run out of it fairly quickly. So, as her father had taught her, she couldn't just completely rely on it to win this battle. But, at this moment, getting to Tokyo was all that mattered in her mind, and she wasn't about to let them take her without at least bringing a few of these guys down with her. So, with this mindset, she raised both her fists up and prepared herself for an all-out melee.

"Come and get me," she growled.

While that was going on, Grimlock had smashed Ryoko through a wall that lead into the Tower's hangar bay using his dino-mode's head, causing her to be thrust into a pile of empty canisters meant to store fuel. The space pirate quickly floated back onto her feet just as Grimlock let out a malice filled roar before prepping to charge towards her again, flames spilling out of his jaws. In response, Ryoko simply brought up both of her hands and motioned her fingers towards her.

"C'mon!" she challenged.

The leader of the Dinobots was about to oblige when...

"Grimlock!" a commanding voice scolded from his right.

Snarling, he began to turn towards the source of the voice, transforming back into his robot mode as he did, eventually seeing Optimus standing in front of the other leaders of the Infinity League.

"Well, you guys sure took your sweet ass time," Ryoko sneered. "What kinda drugs you give your troops, Prime?"

"Don't antagonize him further, Ryoko," the Autobot commander warned. "We need to-"

His words were cut off, however, by Grimlock storming his way towards his leader, each stomp causing the floor to quake slightly.

"You LET her in here?!" he shouted, getting right in Prime's face as he did so.

"It was not my decision to make, Grimlock," Optimus corrected. "Washu believed that-"

"You really HAVE lost your mind, haven't you, Optimus?!" Grimlock interrupted once more. "Me no cared about you lying to us, but now you bring HER here after what she done do me and my team?!"

"Grimlock, please, if you would just listen to-" Prime attempted to reason.

"No! Me, Grimlock, done listening to you!" the Dinobot leader retaliated.

Before Optimus could further attempt to de-escalate this situation, Grimlock suddenly grabbed his shield and bashed the Autobot leader with it, sending him crashing harshly onto a wall.

"Grimlock, what are you doing?!" Danny exclaimed.

Ignoring the half-ghost, the Dinobot leader proceeded to turn back to Ryoko, marching his way towards the space pirate with his sword ignited in his hand. But before he could reach her, Jenny had flown up to him, morphing one of her arms into a pile-driver before smashing it against his head. Taking advantage of his disoriented state, SheZow then delivered a harsh kick to the Autobot's back, causing him to smash against the parked Megas' leg. Roaring with unprecedented fury, Grimlock transformed back into his dinosaur mode and charged towards the Glamazon warrior, smashing his head against Jenny as he did so when she attempted to attack him again.

The instant he reached Guy, Grimlock attempted to grab him with his jaws, only for the hero of Megadale to grab onto both sets of razor-sharp teeth and push them outward, the force of the Dinobot's mighty bite putting a strain on her. Suddenly, Danny swooped in and grabbed SheZow before making her intangible. This, in turn, caused Grimlock's jaws to snap shut and for him to fumble forward before reaching Kim, who delivered a roundhouse that, thanks to her battle suit, caused the Dinobot leader to fall flat on his back. This forced him to transform back into his robot mode, just in time for several of Ryoko's energy blasts to hit him from his right. Grunting in pain, Grimlock turned to see the former pirate glaring right at him, two more orbs of energy formed in the palms of her hands.

"Hey, you big bozo!" she shouted. "Thought your fight was with me! Or did you suddenly get too chicken knowing you'd get your aft handed to you?"

"Me, Grimlock, no bozo!" Grimlock snarled. "ME KIIIIIIIIIIIING!"

The Dinobot charged towards her once more, her sword raised upward to slice her in half, when suddenly, the Dragon flew onto his back and covered both of his optics.

"Lights out, dawg!" he jested.

"GET OFF!" Grimlock yelled as he continued to blindly charge towards Ryoko.

Not knowing exactly where the blue-haired woman was thanks to his newfound blindness, he was unable to anticipate her uppercutting his bottom jaw with one of her energy projectiles still in her fist. The energy within detonated, sending Grimlock flying upward before smashing against the ceiling, Jake managing to fly away mere seconds prior. As he fell, Optimus had finally gotten back up and dashed towards where Grimlock would land, tackling him to the ground while he was in mid-air.

"Grimlock, stop this!" he chastised. "This is exactly what the Phoenix wants. For us to fight among ourselves while it seeks a host unchallenged! We must-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Grimlock veered his head backward and smashed the back of his head against Prime's face, forcing him off his person before the Dinobot leader reached behind him and grabbed Optimus by his neck and threw him over his back and on top of Ryoko, smashing her flat on her stomach upon impact. He then tossed his leader away before turning to the other five leaders of the League, who were prepared to bring him down the only way Grimlock can be brought down: By force.

With a rage-induced battle cry, he charged towards them to confront them, all while Ryoko launched herself towards him while his back was turned, not wanting to let this fight go, even if she had to smash the League leaders to a pulp to finish it.

Elsewhere, Yang, letting out a similar battle cry to the Dinobot leader, smashed both of her fists onto the floor, causing the floor she and the others stood on to quake slightly and for large chunks of metal to jet upward, knocking a few of the stronger heroes back slightly and separating a majority of them from each other. Yang then rocketed herself towards Garnet, only for her to block her punch with her gauntleted hand before delivering a right hook to the face with the other. This caused Yang to fall to her side, but with one shot from Ember Celica, she was able to land back on her feet. She then swung her left fist towards the fusion, who countered with one of her own. Their fists collided, causing a small shock wave to burst out of the impact before Yang's mechanical fist made contact with Garnet's face. The Gem stumbled back a bit but was able to recover quickly and kick the huntress away from her and towards Steve Austin.

The Bionic Man reacted by extending his arm out in an attempt to have Yang smash into it once she reached her. However, the blonde-haired warrior was more than ready for that and proceeded to shoot a round from her gauntlet that allowed her to leap above Steve and land behind him. She delivered a powerful swing from her mechanical right fist, aiming for her opponent's back. Unbeknownst to her, though, the Six-Million Dollar Man had also anticipated his enemy's strategy and turned around at an incredible speed to have his hand block Yang's offensive. Her metal fist stopped dead in its tracks upon making its mark on Steve's bionic right hand, causing Yang's burning red hues to widen in surprise.

Taking advantage of Yang's state, Steve then proceeded to deliver an uppercut from his normal left fist that made a powerful impact upon the huntress' jaw, causing her to stumble backward, right into the path of Casey as he began to skate his way towards her.

"Goongala!" he shouted before swinging one of his hockey sticks towards his target.

Hearing his battle cry, Yang reacted by swinging her left arm back, causing it to smash into his weapon and break it in two. The vigilante barely had any time to react before Yang swiftly grabbed him by the neck with her metal hand and lifting him up off the ground. But before she could do any damage, Raph suddenly lunged out of the shadows and tackled her to the ground, forcing her to release her captive in the process. The second she landed on the floor, Yang kicked the cool but rude Turtle off of her, only for him to land perfectly on his feet beside Casey, right before a smoke bomb set off between the two of them, the smoke fading to reveal Ibuki with her kunais at the ready.

"Wait, wait, I think I know what to do now!" Casey stated as he eyed Yang's prosthetic arm. "Okay, how'd it go again? Uh, longing, uh, rusted, sixt-no, seventeen, uh...uh..."

As he continued off, Yang's expression of rage slowly turned to one of utter confusion...an expression that she saw she shared with Ibuki and Raph as they stared at their friend slackjawed, though with Ibuki's mask covering the lower half of her face, it was slightly harder to tell.

"Daybreak! Yeah, daybreak, uh..." the hockey-themed vigilante continued. "Furnace, nine-"

"What...What is he doing?" Yang asked, turning to the two ninjas of the trio.

"Per usual, something stupid," Raph grumbled while Ibuki simply slapped an open hand on her forehead.

"Wait, crap, am I suppose to say all this in Russian?" Casey questioned. "Ugh, better go get Rock and-"

"No, you better stop her, that's what you better do!" Ibuki snapped.

As she said that, Yang instantly regained her focus and rage before charging towards the three of them. She attempted to swing her fist at Raph's face, only for his head to duck into his shell before grabbing her and tossing her over his body and towards Ibuki. The ninja-in-training then proceeded to jump into the air with her leg positioned to strike the huntress-in-training, but Yang was able to shoot a round from her gauntlet to propel her further into the air, causing Ibuki to yelp in fright before crashing against a wall. Yang was then about to turn her attention back to Raph, only for an explosive hockey puck to detonate against her back, causing her to fall harshly to the floor face first.

With the blonde now down, Casey skated towards her once again with his second stick at the ready.

"Taste lumber, lawbreaker!" he said.

However, right before he could reach her, Yang managed to jump back onto her feet, and she raised her fists to block the stick from hitting her face. She then punched the vigilante away from her right before raising her metal arm to allow the shurikens that Raph had thrown her way to puncture it instead. The ninja turtle proceeded to pull out and twirl both of his sais as he dashed his way towards the golden-haired warrior. He was able to get one quick slash in that took out a small portion of Yang's aura, only for her to sidestep the next attack before grabbing Raph and swinging him at Casey as he again attempted to skate towards her. The turtle's shell slammed against his face and sent him flying through one of the room's doors and knocking him unconscious.

Yang was then about to toss Raph away from her, only for several smoke pellets to hit her face and detonate, forcing her to drop the mutant she was using as a weapon. Using the smoke as cover, Raph quickly made his escape as Yang started to cough and gag from the smoke that surrounded her. The one who threw the pellets, Ibuki, then jumped out of the smoke and landed a kick right across the huntress in training's face. The blonde stumbled backward, only for Raphael to then emerge as well and land several quick punches to her back. Yang angrily swung her left arm towards him, only for him to jump back into the smoke. While she was distracted, Ibuki proceeded to toss several kunais at her opponent, some of them making their mark only to bounce off her person thanks to her aura protecting her.

Enraged, Yang fired several shots from her weapons, only for the ninja in training to swiftly dodge every shot she took as she got closer to her adversary.

"Better get ready!" she said.

Ibuki then slid into Yang's legs, tripping her before thrusting both feet upward, launching her up and into the air. Ibuki leaped up in pursuit, performing several hand motions once she was above the huntress before reeling her left arm back, ki energy storing into her closed palm.

"Ougi: Kachofugetsu!"

With that declaration, she placed her hand onto Yang, allowing the ki energy within to release and blast her back down to the ground. Upon making impact, Yang's body created a small crater onto the floor before she harshly bounced up against a wall. She slowly slid back down to the floor, groaning in pain as, in her disoriented state, she noticed both Raph and Ibuki to sprint towards her before leaping into the air with their weapons drawn.

"Game, set, match!" Raph said.

However, right before they could finish this scuffle, Yang's arms suddenly shot up and grabbed the two ninjas by their necks, causing them to let out a surprised yelp and for Raph to drop both of his sais as their opponent slowly got back on her feet, glaring at her captives as she did so.

"You just HAD to open your mouth, didn't you, Raph?!" Ibuki irritably stated.

Before the mutated ninja could even open his mouth, Yang proceeded to toss Ibuki away before delivering a mighty blow to Raph's gut, knocking the air completely out of him. She then roughly forced him against the wall and pointed Ember Celica right at his head.

"Gonna make a nice bowl of turtle soup out of you, freak," she sneered.

"Oh, wow, how original," Raph sarcastically retorted with an eye roll. "Not like I haven't heard that one a million times already."

However, before the blonde huntress could do anything more, an energy blast from behind hit her right in the back, causing her to release her captive as she yelled out in pain. She quickly turned to face whoever was responsible, only to see that no one was there.

"What the-" she said in a confused state.

"Hee, hee," the voice of Bebop suddenly echoed through the hall.

Turning towards the direction of the voice, Yang was able to spot Bebop for all of a second before he cloaked himself. Growling in irritation, she shot two dust rounds towards where the mutant once stood, only for them to hit the wall that was behind him.

"Can't touch this!" Bebop's voice remarked.

Suddenly, Yang felt something invisible punch her across the face before delivering a kick that caused her to slam up against a closed door. She attempted to shoot her unseen enemy, only for her rounds to again fly past where she assumed he was.

"That the best you can do, you overgrown Boarbatusk?!" she shouted. "I fight pigs scarier AND uglier than you every day!"

Then, without warning, the floor below her began to shake as she heard several heavy stomps coming from her right. She turned just in time to see Rocksteady charging horn-first towards her. Acting quickly, she tried to make a run for it, but while she was able to avoid his horn, the tough skin of his head was still able to slam against her and knock her to the ground. She slid across the floor for several feet before picking herself back up, only to see Rocksteady gearing himself for another charge.

"You think the pigs are scary, try the rhinoceros for the size!" he boasted before running towards Yang.

Rather than flee, however, Yang simply gave an unimpressed look to the rhino-man before lifting both of her fists up. Expecting an easy victory, Rocksteady let out a hearty laugh as he reached his target...only to stop dead in his tracks. Confused, he looked down to where Yang was standing and gasped in terror upon realizing what had happened: Yang had managed to grab onto his horn and cease his charge with her bare hands.

"Uh...H-Have the mercy?" the former villain meekly asked.

"...Nope," was all Yang answered with.

And with that, Yang pulled her fist back before thrusting it at the rhino-man's chest, firing a round from her gauntlet the instant it made its mark, resulting in an explosion that sent him crashing through a wall and into one of the Tower's rooms. Upon seeing his partner in trouble, Bebop immediately decloaked and started making his way towards his friend.

"Hang on, Rocko, I got you!" he said.

Unfortunately, this mistake would result in Yang tackling him to the ground, the pig-man letting out a squeal of shock once he was on the floor. Made even worse was that she had managed to damage his cloaking tech with this surprise attack.

"Gotcha," Yang stated with a smirk.

"Hey, hey, hey, girl, that's just che-AAAAAHH!" Bebop attempted to say, only for him to be interrupted by Yang grabbing his leg and swinging him around.

"This little piggy went to get his ass kicked!" Yang remarked as she swung her opponent faster and faster.

Once she had reached enough speed, the blonde warrior finally released her hold on Bebop, causing him to be sent hurdling through the hole she had created earlier with his partner.

"MAMAAAAAAAA!" he screamed right before smashing onto the window, not cracking it, fortunately, and slowly sliding down onto the floor.

With two more nuisances currently out of the way, the muscle of Team RWBY turned her attention towards Queen Bee and Chun-Li, who were attempting to take her at opposite sides. The wielder of the bee Miraculous was the first to reach her and threw a punch towards the huntress' face, only for Yang to quickly duck down to evade it. She was then about to deliver a counterpunch to the gut, only for Chun-Li's right leg to swing towards her from behind with enough force to send her hurtling through one of the guest rooms' door. Yang finally came to rest once she crashed into the room's television screen and quickly got back on her feet just in time to see both Chloe and Chun-Li sprinting towards her.

Once the two of them reached her, Yang quickly delivered a roundhouse to Chloe that knocked her back slightly before blocking a punch from Chun-Li by grabbing her fist. She then swung the martial artist up against a wall by her arm only for her to free herself by slamming her boot against Yang's face, causing her to stumble back and allow Queen Bee to kick her back towards her previous opponent. Taking advantage of her enemy's disoriented state, Chun-Li, the instant she landed, reeled both of her arms back while gathering immense energies into her palms.

"Kikosho!" she shouted.

She then thrust both palms forward, releasing a concussive blast right in front of Yang that sent her flying through the room's wall back into the hallway, where she was then greeted by Amethyst in her Purple Puma form grabbing onto her in a headlock.

"Oooh yeah!" she said, using her best 'Macho Man' impersonation as she did so. "Expect the unexpe-!"

Her bit was cut short though by a struggling Yang slamming the back of her head against the Gem, forcing her to release her grip on the blonde huntress. Now freed, Yang proceeded to grab Amethyst by both sides of her head and lifted her over her shoulders and slamming her head-first onto the floor, the purple-clad Gem grunting in pain the instant her body made impact. She would have continued this offensive had she not suddenly noticed one of Raph's sais coming for her head. With a gasp of surprise, she quickly veered her head to the left and allowed the weapon to puncture the wall behind her instead.

It was then that she noticed that this wasn't Raphael's doing, but Trini's. For the former Yellow Ranger was standing at the end of the hall with both Zahra and Cybersix standing at opposite sides of her, and she was twirling the cool but rude turtle's other sai.

"Zahra, keep her busy," Trini commanded.

"Gotcha," the Glitch Tech responded as she charged the Hinobi rifle in her hands.

"Cybersix, you're with me," the original Yellow Ranger continued.

Nodding once in understanding, the artificial humanoid dashed towards the huntress with great speed, Trini following close behind. Yang was about to fire her weapons at the two of them, only for several energy blasts from Zahra's rifle to start hitting her from the side. Grunting in pain with every hit, Yang, with her bare hands, then picked up a large chunk of the floor and placed it in front of her in an effort to shield herself from the Tech's offensive as well as to try and separate herself from her two new opponents.

However, that strategy was quickly thwarted when Cybersix lept above the makeshift shield and landed onto Yang's shoulders before jumping off and landing behind her. She then swept her legs towards her adversary's, causing her to trip and fall onto her back right before Trini also jumped above the chunk of rubble and attempted to land onto the blonde. Seeing this, Yang quickly rolled out of Trini's path and shot back onto her feet fight as Trini claimed the sai that was stuck on the wall. As this was going on, Zahra had used the speed boost in her gauntlet to zip over to join her allies.

Snarling in contempt, Yang was the first to make a move, charging towards Zahra as she loaded another ammo clip into Ember Celica. She shot out a dust round towards the Glitch Tech, only for her to form a spring platform underneath her feet to bounce herself upward to avoid the projectile. She then formed a battle hammer into her hands and descended towards her target, her weapon raised above her head. Unfortunately, once she reached Yang, the blonde huntress simply grabbed the end of the hammer with her bare hands and tossed it and the startled Zahra towards Cybersix, who was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

In the midst of that, Trini proceeded to dash towards Yang, delivering a series of quick slashes with her borrowed weapons at her, some of which she was able to evade or block with either her gauntlet or her prosthetic arm, but others she was unable to, resulting in several small blows to her aura. She attempted to counter this onslaught with several quick punches and kicks in a ploy to get the original Yellow Ranger away from her, but Trini was naturally able to dodge nearly every single one of them, even without her Morpher. That being said, some of them did make their mark, and what did was a crushing blow to Trini's body that forced her to back away so as to narrowly avoid the next attack.

Seeing Trini in danger, Cybersix acted by jumping towards Yang and delivering a powerful kick to the side of her head that sent her stumbling away from the former Power Ranger, allowing her to catch her breath and check on the bruises her opponent no doubt left her. The golden hair warrior attempted to thrust her left fist at the hero of Argentina, but Cybersix easily evaded it by sidestepping out of its path and grabbing onto Yang's arm before swinging it towards a wall with all her might, resulting in Yang's body smashing against it. She slumped to the floor just as Cybersix sprinted her way, only for her to shoot a round from her weapon that launched herself at her enemy, allowing her to pin her against the opposite wall and smash her metal fist onto her face.

Fortunately, Cybersix managed to kick Yang off of her and was about to continue this brawl, when she suddenly shouted out in pain as what appeared to be green sparks arced around her body. She reached down to one of her pockets and grabbed a small vial, only for her eyes to widen in horror when she saw that, in the scuffle with Yang, it had shattered, and the sustenance inside had spilled out.

"Damnit!" she grunted before falling onto her knees.

Noticing her adversary's weakened state, Yang began to march her way to Cybersix, cocking her gauntlet as she did, only for Zahra to swoop in in front of her and punch her with a summoned extendable arm that sprung a boxing glove at the end of it right at Yang's face. The surprise attack was enough to send Yang flying away from the two of them.

"What, are we fighting a damn Super Sayian or something?!" the Glitch Tech exclaimed.

"Nah, I'd say this is more Super Sayian 3," Raph commented as Trini handed him back his sais.

"Hey, ya'll cut that weeb shit out and focus!" Bebop suddenly interjected as he and Rocksteady joined up with the three of them.

"Da! She is coming back!" Rocksteady added.

Sure enough, the five of them saw Yang charging towards them, teeth gritted and nostrils flaring in fury, only for Steve Austin to come in from the side and tackle her up against a wall, cracking it upon impact before punching her right in the gut.

"Yo, man, use the Stunner on her!" Bebop called out.

"I'm not THAT Steve Austin!" the Bionic Man snapped while Yang doubled over in pain.

However, taking advantage of the time the former colonel took in his response, the muscle of Team RWBY managed to punch the Six-Million Dollar Man off of her with both fists before delivering a powerful uppercut that knocked him to the floor. She was about to continue her assault when Amethyst suddenly struck her with her spin dash, causing her to stumble back into Chun-Li, who wasted no time delivering a quick yet devastating series of her trademark kicks to the huntress' back. The martial artist then jumped up, flipping herself feet first before splitting her legs and twirled her upside-down body to utilize her Spinning Bird Kick to further continue her offensive against her opponent.

When she was finally finished, Yang continued to stumble back before one of Garnet's fists shot out from behind her, making its mark on her head and sending her flat on her stomach. Groaning in pain, Yang slowly managed to get back on her feet, her body in a dizzying state, yet still she raised her fists up to keep going when...

"Amethyst, Ibuki, now!" Garnet commanded.

The instant those words were spoken, Yang immediately felt something wrap around her metal arm. Stunned, she turned to it and gasped in shock when she saw one of Ibuki's kunais, now at the end of a chain, wrapped around it. No sooner had she made this discovery did something then wrap around her left arm. Sure enough, it was Amethyst's whip. With their weapons now trapping her, the Gem and the ninja both pulled back as hard as they could to try and keep Yang at bay. A difficult task, seeing as though the huntress-in-training began to thrash about, yelling out in rage as she desperately tried to free herself. Ibuki seemed to give way to her sheer strength at first, but a helping hand from Colonel Austin was able to restabilize her control over her. Similarly, Rocksteady quickly ran up to Amethyst to offer her support.

"GAH!" Ibuki yelped as she and the Bionic Man continued their struggle. "Knew I should've given Mika a call! Feels like we're playing tug-of-war with a rhino!...Uh, no offense, Rocksteady."

"None is taken, Ibuki!" Rocksteady responded as he and Amethyst also had a tough time trying to keep Yang still.

"LET ME GO!" the blonde shouted.

Knowing this plan of her's and Austin's didn't have much time, Garnet quickly turned to Chloe to initiate the final step in bringing Yang down.

"Queen Bee, you're up," she stated.

Nodding once, the wielder of the Bee Miraculous immediately reached for her top.

"Venom!" she called out.

She then spun the tool in mid-air, catching it to allow energy to surround her hand and form what appeared to be a pulsating bee stinger. Her weapon now ready, the Parisian heroine began to make her way to Yang, fully intending on using the stinger to immobilize her as Garnet and Steve had planned. However, upon her raging hues catching sight of Queen Bee running towards her, Yang, seething in anger and flames sporadically bursting out of her hair, lifted her right foot and slammed it down onto the floor with enough force to shake the entire level of the Tower, causing both sides that were holding her to stumble slightly.

Instantly taking advantage of this, Yang, using all of her strength, swung the arm that was bound by Ibuki and Steve Austin towards Chloe, the ninja in training's hold giving way shortly before the Six-Million Dollar Man's, causing her to be sent screaming towards the frightened Miraculous wielded. Her body slammed against her's, causing the stinger to jab itself onto her body and causing her entire body to freeze before the two of them fell to the floor. Upon seeing the incapacitated Ibuki, Chloe gasped out in a panic.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" she exclaimed as she shot back onto her feet and tried to shake her frozen ally awake.

With one side down, Yang turned her attention to the other and pulled both Amethyst and Rocksteady towards her. Once the two of them reached her, the blonde thrust her metal fist towards them. Amethyst was able to spin dash out of its path, but Rocksteady wasn't quite as lucky and was punched right in the chest, causing him to fall roughly onto his back. The blonde was about to continue her offensive on the mutant, only for Bebop to try and jump at her in an effort to rescue his comrade. In retaliation, Yang swiftly grabbed him by the neck and tossed him at Chun-Li, who too attempted to try and get the drop on her.

As the chaos continued, Penn and Sashi continued to dash across the halls towards the sounds of the ensuing fight.

"This way!" Sashi stated as she took a sharp left turn, her boyfriend following shortly afterward.

The instant they made that turn, their eyes were greeted to what could almost be described as a miniature war zone. Cracks and holes scattered across the walls, large chunks of the floor torn off, dust all but coating the area, and right in the middle, a rage-induced young woman elbowing Trini away from her when she tried to attack from behind. Whilst the other heroes attempted to bring the Phoenix-induced heroine down, a horrified Penn and Sashi turned to their left to see Cybersix still laying against the wall in a weakened state and a hole leading to one of the Tower's quarters, an unconscious Casey Jones just barely visible. They then turned to their right to see Chloe still attempting to reawaken Ibuki as the five minutes she had before she transformed back got shorter and shorter, and behind her was another hole leading to the room where a knocked-out Sailor Jupiter continued to lie.

Seeing her friends in such a dire situation, Sashi instantly turned towards Yang, glaring daggers at her as she blocked an attack from Garnet and punched her in the face, knocking the shades she wore off of her head.

"Oh, she's mine," the former part-time sidekick snarled, cracking her knuckles as she did so. "I got a feeling the ass-kicking she's about to receive is gonna be JUST right."

She was about to storm her way to the fight when the hand of her boyfriend suddenly stopped her.

"No...I'll deal with her," he said.

Hearing this caused Sashi's eyes to widen, though not for the reason one might think.

"You sure, PZ?" she asked. "They're gonna know about-"

"I know, but I can't just let them or you get pummeled senseless by her," Penn interrupted.

Sashi was about to try and say something to try and convince Penn not to go after her but relented with a sigh before placing a hand on her lover's shoulder.

"Be careful, Penn," she cautioned.

"Hey...it's me," Penn remarked with a smirk.

As that was going on, Yang was currently blocking a punch from Steve Austin, grabbing his fist with her metal hand before headbutting the Bionic Man away from her. As he stumbled backward, the huntress-in-training then proceeded to punch him repeatedly in the gut before delivering a left hook that, thanks to her also firing a round from Ember Celica the instant her fist connected with Austin's face, sent him flying through the doors of one of the rooms.

"WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!" Yang shouted as she punched both of her fists together.

No sooner had she shouted that did she hear a sharp whistle coming from her left.

"End of the road, blondie!" Penn's voice declared.

The golden-haired huntress turned towards the source of the voice and saw Penn advancing towards her, a confident smirk on his face, while his fellow League members stared at the sight in utter bafflement.

"Relax guys, I got this," the former part-time hero boasted to his teammates.

"Wha-Maverick, what are you doing?!" Trini asked.

"Have you lost your damn mind, Zero?!" Raphael added. "Get out of here!"

"No, let him come," Yang retaliated, walking towards her newest challenger.

The two combatants stopped just a foot away from each other, staring each other down.

"So, brave or stupid?" Yang continued. "Gotta be one or the other for a scrawny punk like you to try and scare me. Which is it?"

"Eh, probably a bit of collum A, bit of collum B honestly," Penn shrugged. "But yeah, you really should be scared of me if you ask me."

A scoff escaped the huntress' lips upon hearing that.

"Okay, get ready to start swallowing your teeth then," she said as she reeled her fist back.

The rest of the heroes couldn't help but wince at the thought of that woman's fist coming down upon Penn, all the while, bewildering to them, he continued to smirk confidently to himself, even as Yang's fist thrust towards him with the force of a speeding truck. However, right before Yang's fist could make contact, Penn quickly side-stepped to his left, allowing an already stunned Yang to brush past him, before swiftly elbowing her in the back, causing her to stumble face-first onto one of the guest room's doors.

The other League members who bore witness to this surprising feet had their expressions of fear and concern fade to one of pure shock, all the while an ired Yang turned back towards her opponent and charged towards him, only for him to block every single punch she tried to deliver with her left fist and dodging every one she attempted with her right, metal fist, as well as the occasional kick Yang tried to deliver. After a few seconds, Penn crouched down and delivered a sweeping kick to Yang's legs that caused her to fall onto her back. She was quick to act, however, and rolled away from her enemy before he could grab her and shooting herself back to her feet.

Once she got back up, she noticed Penn taking a stance with both of his legs spread apart slightly and with both of his hands in a chopping formation. It was almost an exact imitation of the stance Chun-Li was in when the huntress-in-training first encountered the team that was sent to subdue her...and at that moment, it clicked with her.

"...Oh, crap, you're like this universe's Velvet, aren't you?" she asked.

"Dunno who that is, but I'll take it as a compliment anyway," Penn shrugged.

Even with this revelation now upon her, Yang was still fiercely determined to get out of this Tower and make it to Tokyo, through him and anyone else that stood in her way if she needed to. So, with that mindset, she propelled herself towards Penn, who lept upward similarly to something Raph would do to dodge her.

While this brawl continued, an astonished Chun-Li noticed Sashi was standing right next to her...smirking at the sight of her lover's fight with the huntress.

"...You knew about this, didn't you?" the martial artist asked.

"Can neither confirm nor deny," Sashi replied.

"Chun-Li!" Garnet's voice called out, prompting her to turn towards the fusion. "Get Cybersix to the infirmary, quickly! We'll stay here in case anything happens."

"Got it," the Interpol agent responded.

She then quickly dashed towards the still incapacitated protector of Argentina, narrowly avoiding a dust round from Yang's weapon as she did so, before assisting Cybersix onto her feet.

"We should have some reserve sustenance in the medical bay," she reassured. "C'mon!"

With that, she helped Cybersix out of the ensuing conflict, just as Penn kicked Yang across the face with a maneuver that Kim would have likely used.

"Gotta be honest with you," Penn began right before ducking down to avoid a dust round and blocking an incoming kick from his opponent. "It's been real easy predicting your moves."

He then shifted to the side to avoid Yang's fist from making contact with his face before backflipping away from his adversary, delivering a kick straight to her jaw as he did so.

"I mean, you only telegraph them like a bull in a china shop," the former part-time hero added.

Snarling in irritation, Yang proceeded to pick up two large chunks of the floor and chuck them towards Penn, only for him to jump above one before sliding underneath the second.

"My point exactly," he remarked with a smirk.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Yang shouted as she barreled straight for her enemy.

Maverick simply remained where he was, still giving her that same smirk, up until Yang was just a few inches away from pummeling his face into the floor when he leaped up into the air similarly to something the Ninja would do and landed behind her, all the while allowing her to crash through the wall and into one of the rooms. She landed harshly onto the floor and groaned in pain as her aura sparked around her, barely hanging on by a thread. She attempted to get back on her feet, only for Penn to jump onto her back and pin her down.

"Might need some help over here!" he called out just as the warrior of Remnant tried to thrash him off her person.

In response, Rocksteady, Amethyst, Steve Austin, and Zahra quickly rushed through the hole in the wall to assist their fellow League member.

"Dogpile!" Amethyst called out as she jumped onto Yang's left leg.

Zahra then proceeded to hold down the blonde's right leg while both Rocksteady and Steve Austin went for her arms, all the while Yang continued to thrash about in an attempt to free herself.

"Alright, she's pinned!" Penn cheered.

No sooner had he said that though did Rocksteady notice flames starting to emanate from Yang's hair as she began to seethe with pure, unbridled contempt.

"Niet, she is angry!" he retorted in terror.

The instant those words were spoken, Yang, with a mighty roar, used all of her strength to shoot herself back onto her feet, an explosion of power blasting the five heroes off of her. Rocksteady crashed head-first through the wall, which knocked him out cold as he slid down the hallway roughly. Steve was rocketed through the previously made hole and slammed into Garnet, knocking the two of them onto the floor. Amethyst managed to use her whip to stop herself from smashing against a door by wrapping it around a piece of hanging debris. Zahra managed to form a spring platform to bounce herself off of the wall she was flying towards.

As for Penn, he landed harshly onto the floor and heard a cracking sound the instant his right foot made impact. The pain began to set in soon afterward as he clutched his now broken right leg, causing him to let out a cry of agony.

"PZ!" Sashi cried out in horror as she rushed to her boyfriend's side.

She knelt down to his level as he continued to writhe in pain just as a crashing sound was heard coming from where Yang still was. She turned just in time to see said huntress-in-training punching a massive hole onto the floor and jumping down to the floor below. Raph and Amethyst quickly dashed towards the hole and looked down, but Yang was nowhere to be seen. They only heard the echos of footsteps, indicating exactly what she had done.

"Sewer apples, she's getting away!" Raph angrily stated.

"Well, what are we just standing here for?" Amethyst questioned as she readied her whip. "Let's get her!"

"Amethyst, no!" Garnet called out.

Caught off guard by this command, both the purple-clad Gem and the red-clad Ninja Turtle turned to see Garnet and Steve attempting to lift the still unconscious Rocksteady.

"She's wounded a good chunk of us," Steve added. "We need to get them to the med bay, stat!"

"Well, we can't just let her loose here either," Raph countered. "The teleporters may be shut down, but there's still the escape pods. What's to stop her from getting to Tokyo with one of them?!"

"You leave that ta us, kid," Ironhide's voice suddenly interjected.

The still conscious heroes quickly turned to see Ironhide and his team run into the aftermath of Yang's rampage.

"Sorry we're late," the Autobot apologized. "Had some trouble making it here with all this ruckus going on."

"No worries, old-timer," Steve responded.

"So, where's the-BOOM!-rogue now?" Warpath asked.

"She's down at the first floor now," Chloe answered as she continued to try and shake Ibuki out of her paralyzed state. "It's only a matter of time now before she finds our escape pods and-"

"GAH!" Ibuki suddenly shouted, wildly thrashing about and forcing Chloe to flinch away from her. "Wha-What happened?"

"I'll explain later," Chloe answered as she helped the ninja-in-training back onto her feet.

"You go help your wounded," Bulkhead said before he and the other Autobots turned to depart. "We'll make sure she doesn't make it to those pods."

"Thank you," Garnet responded before turning to Amethyst. "Help us with Rocksteady."

"On in," Amethyst replied as she ran up to the downed mutant.

"Raphael, you and Trini go help Penn with Sashi," Garnet continued. "Zahra, go get Jupiter. Bebop, go and help Casey."

"Roger," Zahra replied as she ran towards Makoto while Bebop dashed towards Casey.

"I'll guide Ibuki to the infirmary," Chloe stated as Ibuki continued to cling onto her.

"Gotcha," Steve Austin responded as he, Garnet, and Amethyst dragged Rocksteady away from the scene.

Over with Penn and Sashi, Raph and Trini quickly made it to the two of them to assist the former part-time sidekick in helping her lover back up.

"Easy, Zero, don't wanna put any pressure on that leg," Trini advised.

The still heaving Penn could only nod once in response as his three fellow heroes guided him towards the medical bay.

"While we're here, mind explaining just what the shell that was?!" Raph asked.

"It's called photographic reflexes," Sashi answered for her boyfriend. "It allows Penn to instantly remember a person's movements in seconds." [1]

"And you've known that for how long?" Trini asked.

"Just a few months," Sashi answered. "Even Penn didn't realize this for some time. Apparently, it's a genetic trait that's been passed down on his mother's side for generations."

Silence overtook the four of them for several seconds, no doubt thanks to a shocked Raph and Trini reeling this news in, until Raph, naturally, decided to speak his mind.

"Wait, so he's been a meta this whole freakin' time?!" he asked.

"What? You thought he survived the Multiverse by sheer dumb luck?" Sashi countered. "He's a one-man army."

"And why didn't he tell any of us?" Trini questioned.

Again, silence overtook the scene in an almost foreboding manner before Sashi finally answered.

"Because he didn't want to scare any of you."

Back with Yang, the blonde continued to march her way across the hallways, her red eyes shifting rapidly from side-to-side as she both searched for a means of escape as well as anyone waiting in the shadows to try and bring her down. As she continued on her journey, she noticed a massive hole where the door to the Tower's training room once was, no doubt thanks to Ryoko and Grimlock's earlier brawl in said room. She was about to enter it when the sound of a skateboard approaching her from behind caught her attention.

"Cowabung-ACK!" Mondo Gecko attempted to shout, only for Yang to swiftly turn around and grab him by the throat before he could reach her.

Before he could so much as speak another word, the huntress-in-training tossed him away like a ragdoll, the mutant gecko letting out a scream of terror before he crashed against a wall.

With that distraction out of the way, Yang resumed stepping foot into the training arena, taking in the sight of the massive craters, wrecked equipment, and patches of blood and energon from the Dinobot leader and the former space pirate's conflict. She looked around the area and noticed an open door on the other side. She was only able to take one step towards it when...

"Yang!"

The voice that uttered her name was enough to make the blonde powerhouse practically freeze in her tracks. She then slowly turned around to confirm her suspicions.

"B-Blake?"

There, standing before her, was Blake, her right hand clasping the handle of Gambol Shroud, but otherwise not preparing herself to confront her teammate. An outcome that she continued to inwardly hope wouldn't come to fruition. With the blonde's attention now on her, the cat-Faunus slowly began to cautiously approach her.

"Blake, wait, please, stop," Yang pleaded as she started backing away. "You shouldn't be here."

"Yes, we should," a second voice countered.

Yang swiftly turned towards the source of the voice and, sure enough, saw Ruby begin to approach her with Qrow behind her. She then noticed that, behind the two of them, stood Penny, Weiss, and Sakura, before turning back to Blake just as Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Marinette emerged from the shadows. Cold sweat began to run down the huntress-in-training's forehead as she desperately tried to hold the Phoenix back from influencing her to do something terrible to her loved ones.

"Don't you dare defy me, my child," the cosmic entity scolded inside Yang's head. "You know they only want to hold you back."

"Ruby...please...leave..." Yang begged as she turned to her sister. "I can't...I can't hold her back for very long."

"I told you we were going to get you through this together, Yang," Ruby stated. "And if we've gotta risk getting in your line of fire to do so, then so be it."

"Please!" Yang cried. "She...She's going to bring me...to my destiny. She...She loves me!"

"No, it doesn't!" Blake shouted, prompting the blonde to turn back to her. "Yang, it's using you! It doesn't love you! It just sees you as a host! A tool to manipulate!"

The Faunus let out a deep breath as some...less than fond memories came back to her.

"Believe me...I'd know," she stated.

Then, much to the surprise of the two League members present, Blake proceeded to toss her weapon to the floor before slowly approaching Yang.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Ladybug called out.

"Blake, no!" Yang pleaded. "Don't-AAAAHH!"

The blonde powerhouse quickly clutched both of her hands onto both sides of her head as a burning sensation ignited on the inside.

"Lies!" the Phoenix spat out. "She doesn't understand the true bond you and I share, Yang. Now, dispose of these pests so you may reach your destination!"

"Yang!" Blake shouted, causing the huntress' red eyes to focus back to her. "What is it doing now?"

"She...She wants me to...to..." Yang attempted to answer, not even being able to bring herself to finish that sentence. "N-No matter what I do, she won't...she won't shut up!"

"Then don't listen to her," Blake responded as she got closer and closer. "Listen to me. Focus on my voice."

"Dispose of her, Yang!" the Phoenix yelled, prompting the girl it terrorized to clench her eyes shut and move her head down as the pain got worse. "Now!"

"Hey!" Blake snapped as she grabbed both of Yang's cheeks and forced her head back up, prompting her eyes to shoot open. "Look at me!"

The blonde began to take several quick yet deep breaths as she continued to hold herself back from attacking the Faunus in front of her.

"You look at me," Blake repeated in a gentler tone. "I'm not giving up on you, Yang. I'm not going to abandon you. Not again...Never again."

As she focused on her teammate's voice, Yang's breaths began to slow down as the pain began to dissipate. She found herself, in the moment, cupping Blake's face as she did her's as she slowly moved her face closer to her's whilst her eyes began to flicker between the blazing crimson that had dominated her irises and her natural lilac hues.

"C'mon, Blake," Ruby whispered to herself. "Bring her back."

It seemed as though Blake's words may very well be reaching Yang, and the chaos may finally have been put to an end...until...

"There she is!" a voice shouted.

"Crosshairs, wait!" a second voice commanded.

This sudden commotion caused the pair to break away from each other in fright as they turned towards the source of the voices that caught them off-guard. They saw Crosshairs making a dash for Yang, Ironhide close behind, who was trying to stop him. Blake then noticed the Autobot sniper pointing one of his guns towards Yang and gasped in horror.

"NO!" she screamed as she jumped in between Yang and Crosshairs.

"Say cheese!" Crosshairs remarked as he pulled the trigger.

"BLAKE!" Yang shouted before grabbing Blake and throwing her out of the Autobot's line of fire.

No sooner had she done that did the energy blast from Crosshairs' blaster hit the ground in front of Yang, the resulting explosion sending her flying backward into a series of exercise equipment, all while Blake landed on her feet in front of Ruby and Qrow, they, along with the other inhabitants of Remnant and the two who greeted them, having their eyes widen in pure terror.

"YANG!" Ruby screamed as she, Qrow, Blake, and Weiss attempted to run to Yang's aid, only for Crosshairs to block their path as he approached the downed huntress, reaching his free hand down to grab her.

"That one was for Hoist, ya little cu-" he angrily declared.

However, right before he could finish that sentence or grab his captive, Yang's arm punched Crosshairs' open hand, causing it to bend backward at an unnatural angle, several mechanical bones snapping in the process. The Autobot's optics widened as the pain began to surge throughout his now broken hand. But before he could so much as scream in pain, Yang proceeded to thrust her mechanical arm forward, launching a grenade that attached itself onto Crosshairs' chassis before exploding, causing him to fall flat onto his back. The other Autobots on Ironhide's team attempted to try and get the drop on the one who harmed their comrade, only for their commander to block them with both of his arms.

"Hold your fire, Autobots!" he ordered.

"'Hold your fire?!'" Crosshairs exclaimed as he clutched his broken limb. "She broke my bloody hand!"

With the one blocking their path now out of the way, Blake, Ruby, and Qrow resumed their approach towards Yang, whose eyes returned to blazing a raging shade of red.

"Do you see now?" the Phoenix inquired, prompting Yang to grasp onto both sides of her head once more. "They deceived you."

"Yang, remember what I said!" Blake said.

"They only wanted to hold you back," the Phoenix continued. "To deny you of your destiny."

"Whatever that thing's telling you, don't listen to it, Yang!" Qrow added.

"You don't need them anymore," the Phoenix stated.

"Yang, fight it!" Ruby pleaded. "We know you can!"

"I am your one, true family now, Yang Xiao Long!" the Phoenix declared.

"Guys..." Yang gritted through her teeth as she slowly began to raise both of her arms, tears running down her shut eyes. "...RUN!"

She then thrusted both of her arms downward, allowing her Semblance to detonate outward, causing the three who attempted to calm her down to be sent hurdling backward. Ruby, Blake, and Qrow were able to land onto their feet, their eyes widened in horror as the one they loved glared right at them with pure malice.

"Autobots, scatter!" Ironhide commanded his troops as they began to position themselves around the wrecked training room. "We can't let her leave this room!"

Yang then began to storm her way towards Ruby, Blake, and Qrow, only for Penny to land in front of them, pointing two of her Floating Array swords directly at her.

"I apologize in advance for this, Yang!" the android stated.

With that, she fired two energy beams from her swords that made their mark upon Yang's chest, sending her hurtling towards Bulkhead, who deployed his wrecking ball where his left hand was before reeling it backward.

"Let's wreck and rule!" he declared as he thrust his arm towards his target.

However, Yang was able to see this just in time and fired a round from Ember Celica to shoot herself above the Autobot's weapon right before it made contact. While in mid-air, she fired several more rounds from her weapon at the stunned Wrecker's face, forcing him to fall back while Yang landed in front of Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Ladybug. The protector of Paris was the first to make a move, veering her yo-yo towards the huntress-in-training, only for her to swat it away as she charged towards the four of them. She then attempted to throw a punch at Marinette, who let out a frightened yelp and positioned her hands in front of her face. Fortunately, before Yang's devastating blow could reach her, Jaune jumped in front of Ladybug and deployed his shield, resulting in Yang's fist slamming onto it instead.

With Yang currently occupied, Nora seized this opportunity by flanking Yang from the side and smashing Magnhild against her stomach, causing her to stumble backward before doubling over in pain. She then dashed towards her mind-controlled friend and attempted swung her weapon once more, only for Yang to grab it with her bare hand and yank it out of Nora's arms. With her opponent disarmed, Yang kicked her to the ground and raised both of her fists up, but before she could bring them down, several shots from Ren's StormFlower guns started to hit her from the left. She turned to see him running towards her whilst firing both of his weapons at her.

"Now!" he shouted.

As Yang was distracted by Ren, she failed to notice Ladybug's yo-yo wrap around a surprised Nora's waist. Only when she felt the bubbly bomber's body pull away from her foot, causing her to stumble slightly, did she turn to see Marinette pull Nora to safety. Growling in irritation, she pointed her weapon at the two of them when...

"KAPOWIE!"

Hearing that noise prompted Yang to turn to her right just in time to see Warpath shoot the tank barrel in his chest at the floor beneath her, the resulting explosion sending her flying towards Sakura, who thrust both of her palms forward towards her target.

"Hadoken!" she called out.

The instant she said that word, a surging wave of energy shot out of her palms and hit Yang as she was flying towards her, causing her to fall flat on her back, sparks of her weak aura shooting out of her body as she slowly got back on her feet. No sooner had she done that did Cliffjumper, transformed into his vehicle mode, run into her, causing her to be launched several feet away before sliding harshly onto the floor. As she got back on her feet a second time, she failed to notice a large glyph form underneath her.

"Checkmate!" Ruby just barely shouted, hardly believing she was ordering an attack on her own sister.

Not even a second later, Weiss and Blake dashed towards Yang from opposite sides, delivering several quick slashes against her person with both Myrtenaster and Gambol Shroud. Fighting through the pain, Yang attempted to swing her metal arm towards Blake, only for her to jump backward and leave a Shadow clone of herself that faded into nothingness once her arm swung through it. She then tried this tactic again on Weiss, only for her to use her own Semblance to summon a glyph that she jumped onto and backflip off of, landing several feet away from Yang.

Once Weiss was out of the way, Ironhide, Warpath, Cliffjumper, and Bulkhead charged towards her from every direction. Knowing that she would lose this fight, Yang quickly tried to find a means of escape, noticing one of the open doorways as she did so. Running low on options, she jumped up to evade the four Autobots before they could reach her and shot herself towards the doorway. She then shot several grenades at the ceiling as her friends, family, and the members of the League ran towards her. Once the grenades were in place, she quickly ran out of the training room, reeling her arms back as she did so. Before any of the heroes could reach the open doorway, Ruby heard a beeping sound from above and looked up to see the weapons her sister had placed on the ceiling.

"GRENADES!" she shouted.

Hearing her warning, the heroes all came to a halt the instant the grenades detonated, causing chunks of the ceiling and whatever was on the floor above to come crumbling down, forming a makeshift barricade that blocked the doorway completely.

"Great!" Cliffjumper groaned in anger. "Now what?!"

"We'll need to go the long way!" Ironhide answered. "We can't waste any time tryin' to move this slag heap!"

Ruby nodded once in agreement to the Autobot's statement before she and the others ran towards the opposite doorway, barring Warpath and Bulkhead, who were busy assisting the wounded Crosshairs to his feet.

While that was going on, the League's remaining medical staff worked overtime as they continued to tend as best as they could to those that were harmed thanks to Yang's destructive rampage. Dr. Possible had finished handing Cybersix a vial of sustenance so she could replenish herself and was now heading to the still unconscious Casey Jones to tend to him. Doc was currently checking to see if Sailor Jupiter had a concussion of some kind while Ratchet was still undergoing Hoist's repairs, trying to heal his friend as fast as he could so he could focus on the unconscious Rocksteady.

However, in the midst of their work, none of them had paid any mind to the still resting ROM...and as such, were unable to see his hand beginning to twitch slightly.

With one final tightening of a loose bolt, Ratchet's repairs on Hoist were complete and was about to let him rest so he may now turn his attention on Rocksteady, but the instant he turned around, he was surprised to find ROM making his way off of the medical bed he sat upon and approach him.

"How long was I out?" he questioned with the utmost urgency. "Has the Phoenix arrived?"

Before the Autobot medic could answer, another rumble was felt across the Tower, causing everyone in the infirmary to briefly lose their balance.

"What is going on?" the Space Knight asked, fearing his efforts to stop the Phoenix may have come too late.

Back on the upper levels of the Tower, the leaders continued to try to separate Grimlock and Ryoko. SheZow and Jenny each grabbed the space pirate arm and began to pull her back, only for her to throw them off of her person, but rather than go flying into the wall, the two heroines corrected themselves in mid-air and flew right back into the fray. XJ-9 enlarged her fist before cracking the blue-haired woman across the jaw and knock her to the floor, but just as the android attempt to press the attack, Ryoko fired an energy blast that struck Jenny in the chest and knocked her out of the air. Danny, who was busy fighting Grimlock, saw his teammate go down hard.

"Jenny!" he cried out as he flew to her side.

"I-I'm good, Danny," as her teammate help her up.

"You're lucky I'm holding back, or you'd be dead right now!" Ryoko warned. "Now, stay outta my-"

A pink streak suddenly slammed into Ryoko as it smashed her through several walls. With everything SheZow had, she continued to ram the pirate through room after room in an attempt to at least slow her down. Soon, Guy had reached mess hall when he flung her into several tables.

"Stay down," the heroine ordered as she took out her laser lipstick.

"Do I look like someone who listens to orders?" Ryoko pointed out.

With that, Ryoko created her own energy blade before charging at her opponent. The two energy swords clashed with the combined force of two freight trains colliding. No sooner did the blades strike one another did the opponents start their duel. Ryoko's swings and swipes were erratic and fueled by anger, whereas SheZow's moves were swift and precise. If he survived this, Guy would have to thank the Ninja for teaching him how to wield a sword. With every blow from Ryoko's sword, SheZow could feel the very bones in his/her arms shake. What the space pirate lacked in skill she clearly made up for in sheer brute force. When the two combatants locked blades again, Ryoko took her free hand and sucker-punched the pink-powered heroine in the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs from the hit.

As SheZow stumbled back from the hit, Ryoko punched her across the face before grabbing her by the throat and slamming her into the ground. Ryoko kept her enemy pinned to the ground with her foot as she charged up for another energy blast. But before she could make a move, she was struck by an ectoblast in the back. Ryoko spun around to see Danny standing before her, but he wasn't alone. Alongside the half-ghost were Tenchi and Ayeka, and while Washu's daughter could care less about the Juraian princess, her whole world stopped when she laid eyes on Tenchi. SheZow took this chance to get out from under Ryoko's fold and wind up for a punch, only to be silently told by her fellow teammate to stand down.

"I think your boyfriend wants a word with you," Danny said before looking over to Tenchi. "You're up, Romeo."

"Wait a sec, I'm not-" the prince attempt to answer.

"Don't care, I've got a Dinobot to calm down," the League leader refuted. "Now deal with it!"

Danny and SheZow flew back into the fray in the fight with Grimlock, leaving Tenchi and Ayeka alone with Ryoko.

"I just want to say that this was all Washu's idea," Ryoko defended.

"Be that as it may, Ryoko, you still caused a riot!" the princess pointed out. "Have you forgotten that the Phoenix is on its way, and now, because of you, one of its potential hosts might've escaped to Japan?! All because you just had to pick a fight with that brute!"

"Hey, he started it!" the blue-haired woman shot back. "I was doing great until jerkasaurs showed up!"

"Maybe it's best you just stand down now, Ryoko?" Tenchi offered. "Grimlock's pretty riled up, and I don't know if Danny and the other's can stop him by themselves."

"So, are you suggesting that I just call it quits?" Ryoko asked. "Did you forget the part were Grimlock wants me dead?"

"There seems to be a line for that," Ayeka muttered.

"I heard that!"

"I think it's best if you just wait in the science lab with Washu until they calm down Grimlock," Tenchi advised.

A defiant roar from the Dinobot echoed throughout the Tower.

"That might be easier said than done," the Juraian princess noted.

When Danny and SheZow made it back to the fight, all the firepower the other leaders had were directed at the leader of the Dinobots now that it seemed that Ryoko was taken out of the fight by the object of her affection. Kim weaved in between Grimlock's legs and punched and kicked at his massive feet in an attempt to keep the titan's attention on her and not on Jenny and Dragon, who were flying circles above him in an aerial assault. Optimus had temporarily taken himself out of the fight after seeing a crack in the station's wall that, if left unattended to, could've proven deadly in a short time. Danny and SheZow flew in and delivered a combined punch to Grimlock, knocking him flat on his back from the hit. However, it was only a matter of seconds before the leader of the Dinobots was getting back to his feet.

"Think you can stop me, Grimlock?" he growled. "You just making me mad!"

"He's right, we can't keep doing this," Kim stated. "He's going to tear the whole Tower out of orbit if we keep fighting him."

"And we've got other things to deal with right now," the Dragon added. "Why won't he just stand down?"

"Because if there is one thing Grimlock refuses to accept, it's authority," Optimus said.

"Even if we could hold him down, we can't keep him here," Kim said "He'll tear the Tower apart even if we throw him in the holding cells."

"Then we must take him out of the Tower," Optimus concluded before looking over to Danny. "Danny, when I give the signal, I want you to turn the wall of the station intangible."

"Wait, are you suggesting that we shoot Grimlock into space?!" the half-ghost gathered. "I know he's a dick, but Grimlock's one of us!"

"Don't worry, I have an idea," Prime assured. "But first, I will need to contact Cosmos."

Cosmos was an Autobot who was used for deep space travel among the Autobots. Currently, he was in his spaceship form among the fleet ships waiting for the Phoenix's arrival. The other leaders had no idea what Prime was planning, but they knew that if anyone could stop Grimlock, it was him. As the leader of the Autobots approached the rouge Dinobot as he got back to his feet.

"So, just you and me, huh, Prime?" Grimlock mocked. "You think you tough enough to take me, Grimlock on?"

"I don't think anything, Grimlock," Optimus replied firmly. "I know I can take you."

With a roar, Grimlock threw a punch at his leader, only for Prime to counter it and box his audio receptors, thereby stunning him long enough for Prime to punch the larger Cybertronian in the stomach and cause him to double over. Grimlock roared in anger as he lunged at Optimus and wrapped him up in his arms to try and crush him, only for the Autobot leader to bring his hands together and slam them into his opponent's back, forcing him to let go before hitting him with a knee strike to the face.

"You always thought that I was soft. That I was too weak to lead the Autobots," Optimus said as he approached Grimlock, who stumbled back from the hits. "But the truth is that I've always been stronger than you. I just never had to prove it until now."

Grimlock threw a wild haymaker at Prime, who blocked it and hit the Dinobot leader in the vocal processor with an elbow strike and followed it up with a head butt to Grimlock's face.

"Did you forget who I was friends with before the war?" he continued in a stern tone. "Megatron taught me how to fight. And last I checked, you never could beat him in the Kaon gladiator pits."

Grimlock roared in pure rage as he tackled Optimus to the ground. The other leaders were just about to enter the fight when Optimus held out his hand to them to gestured who them to hold their position for now. Prime kicked Grimlock in the chest with enough force to get him off his person. The kick caused the renegade Dinobot to stumble back toward the wall behind him.

"Now, Danny!" Optimus called out.

As instructed, the fellow League leader flew over to where Grimlock was stumbling toward and placed his hand on it. Upon touching it, he let his powers flow through that part of the wall, making it go intangible for just long enough for Grimlock to pass through it and float helplessly through space. Once the Dinobot had been ejected from the Tower, Optimus initiated the second part of his plan.

"Cosmos," he called into his COMM. "Come in, Cosmos. Are you there?"

"Yes, Prime, I am here," the space-traveling Autobot answered.

"There's no time to explain, but we've had to throw Grimlock into space," his leader said. "Can you see him?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Cosmos confirmed. "He looks...quite mad."

"I want you to pick him up and detain him until this matter with the Phoenix is dealt with," Prime explained.

"Understood, Prime," the space fairing Autobot acknowledged before noting. "But what if Grimlock decides to be...well, Grimlock?"

"He won't," Prime assured. "Unless he wants to deal with me again."

"Okay, I am en route to retrieve him," Cosmos stated. "I will keep you updated on his status."

"Thank you, Cosmos," the Autobot Leader thanked. "Prime out."

The other leaders were in awe of what Prime had just done, but their admiration quickly faded when they looked around at the state of the Tower after the battle between the two titans.

"This didn't need to happen," Kim said. "We should've just dealt with Yang ourselves"

"I agree," Optimus said, much to the shock of the others. "This is yet another of my many mistakes I have made."

"It wasn't fully your fault, Optimus," Jenny mentioned. "We all agreed to let Ryoko go after Yang. We couldn't have known that Grimlock would go berserk like that."

"I did," Prime somberly answered. "I knew the history that the Dinobots had with Ryoko, and I still allowed her to roam this station freely."

"Speaking of Grimlock, what do we do about him?" the Dragon brought up. "I think it's safe to say that he's made a pretty good case to be booted from the League."

"I don't think we should kick him out...at least, not yet," Danny refuted. "What happened with Grimlock was partly our fault, so I don't think we should fully punish him for that."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with Danny on this," Kim added. "Grimlock's an asshole, but he's not the one to blame for this."

She then glanced over to Optimus.

"This one's on you, Prime," she added. "Like everything else going on right now."

Optimus lowered his head in shame. Kim was right, he was to blame for this destruction, and the others knew it too. It was then that Sheila appeared before the beaten and battered League Leaders.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a bit of a problem," the A.I. informed them. "It would seem that our blonde wrecking ball's nearing the escape pods."

Elsewhere, Yang practically limped her way through the hallways of the Tower, breathing heavily in exhaustion and desperate to try and find a means of escape. Her aura had been depleted in her previous encounter, and if she was to come into contact with the League again, she would surely lose the inevitable fight. No doubt they were mobilizing to try and find her, meaning time wasn't on her side. If she was to prove her loyalty to the Phoenix, then she needed to figure out how to free herself from this orbital prison now.

As her mind continued to race through plan after plan and scenario after scenario, she stopped to lean against a door she stood beside to catch her breath. No sooner had she done that did the sound of footsteps coming from behind snap her out of her state, prompting her to ready her gauntlet for whoever she was to fight next. However, once she turned around to face this person, she found, to her surprise, Oscar, standing at the end of the hallway.

"Hello, Yang," Ozpin greeted.

Despite his face being a familiar one, the blonde did not relent from her fighting stance.

"You here to try and stop me too, Oz?" she asked.

"No," the former headmaster of Beacon denied as he began to approach his former student. "I'm here to help you."

"Yeah, that's what the others said," Yang countered. "But they were just trying to hold me back."

"That's not what I wish to do, Yang," Ozpin denied as he stopped just a foot away from her. "You see...I believe you should become the Phoenix's host."

Hearing this caused Yang's blazing hues to widen in shock.

"Wait...really?" she questioned.

Ozpin attempted to answer, only for a surging pain inside his head to force him to clutch the side of it.

"What are you doing?" the voice of Oscar asked.

Similarly, Yang felt that same burning sensation inside her own mind, indicating that the Phoenix had returned to communicate with her.

"Don't trust him," the cosmic deity warned. "You and I both know what this man is capable of and the web of deception he has crafted."

"Please, Yang, we don't have much time," Ozpin stated, ignoring the farm boy's conscious attempting to intervene.

"Why should I trust you?" Yang sneered. "After all the shit you pulled? How you used me, my friends, and my family? Why would you even want me to become her host?"

"Because I believe, with it, you can put an end to all of that," Ozpin answered. "...By killing Salem."

Again, Yang's irises widened upon hearing his reasoning.

"Remember, Jinn only said that I could not kill her," the former headmaster continued. "And because of the power it holds and the fact that it was birthed in another universe, it might be our only shot at putting an end to her. You could save our world with the Phoenix, Yang. You could become Remnant's greatest hero."

"It's a trap, my child!" the Phoenix shouted. "He's only using you once again. Like the rest of your 'friends' have done. Once your guard is down, he will strike!"

"Maybe..." Yang whispered, speaking to the creature that invaded her mind. "...But we're kinda running out of options...and time. This might be my only chance to prove myself to you. And if it turns out you're right...then maybe I'm not worthy to be with you."

A hush fell over the scene for several seconds as the Phoenix weighed in Yang's words.

"...You do bring a good point," it concluded. "Very well then."

The golden-haired warrior took a deep breath before speaking to her former headmaster once more.

"Okay...say I do believe you..." she began. "...How exactly can you get me out of here?"

"The door you were just leaning against, it leads to an escape pod," Ozpin answered. "Just type in 'Tokyo' into the computer and it should send you down there."

Nodding once in understanding, Yang grasped both ends of the door and used all of her strength to slowly force it open. As she did so, Ozpin suddenly felt a surge of agony course through his body, causing the body he inhabited to fall to his knees.

"Sorry, Ozpin, but I can't let that happen," Oscar declared as his spirit fought for control over his vessel.

"Yang, hurry!" Ozpin shouted.

Making haste, Yang quickly jumped into the escape pod and began typing into the computer inside. As she did so, she saw something burst out of the wall in front of her. The smoke slowly faded to reveal ROM, his red diodes widening in horror the instant she saw Yang in the escape pod.

"DON'T!" the Space Knight exclaimed as he dashed towards her.

However, the coordinates were already set within the pod's systems, and Yang, now completely out of time, practically punched the eject button, causing the doors to slam shut, the muffled sounds of the pod jettisoning off the Tower being heard from the other side. A mortified ROM simply stared at the door for several seconds before swiftly and angrily turning to Oscar, who was still on his knees. The Space Knight grabbed him by the collar of his outfit and slammed him against the door, glaring right into the frightened farm boy's hazel eyes.

"Boy...do you have even the faintest idea what you've done?!" ROM asked.

But before he could interrogate him any further, a gunshot from his right was heard, and a dust round bounced off the side of his head.

"Let him go!" the voice of an angered Ruby demanded.

The Space Knight turned to see said silver-eyed girl pointing Crescent Rose right at him, her friends and uncle, along with the League members and Autobots that were with her, standing behind her. Before he could say anything in response, ROM then heard several footsteps coming from his left. He turned once more, this time seeing the seven League leaders approaching him.

"ROM, release him!" Optimus pleaded. "He is on our side!"

"Explain then why he willingly allowed one of the Phoenix's targets to escape," ROM countered, releasing Oscar from his iron grip as he did so and allowing him to drop down to the floor.

"What?" Optimus asked.

As this exchange was going on, Ruby quickly used her Semblance to Petal Burst over to Oscar.

"Ozpin, what happened?" she asked as she helped the boy to his feet. "Where's Yang?"

"Ugh...Ruby, I...I'm so sorry," he said in between breaths of exhaustion. "I'm sorry."

The red-hooded huntress noticed something about his voice, indicating that it wasn't her former headmaster that was speaking to her, but...

"Oscar?" she asked.

The farm boy simply nodded in response before continuing.

"Ozpin...he thinks...he thinks the Phoenix can kill Salem...I...I tried to stop him, but...but..."

"...But what?" Ruby asked.

"As I said, he allowed this 'Yang' you speak of to jettison to Earth in an escape pod," ROM answered for him. "I tried to stop her, but I was too late."

"He WANTS the Phoenix to merge with her," Oscar continued. "Ruby...he's using your sister as bait."

A stunned and horrified Ruby could only look at Oscar for several seconds as a tense silence filled the air, the rest of the heroes in the hallway, barring ROM, sharing a similar look of shock. Finally, Ruby's voice broke through the silence.

"What?" was all she could say.

"That bastard!" Blake shouted.

"Did you know about this?!" Kim exclaimed to Optimus.

"No..." the Autobot commander answered truthfully, an uncommon rage beginning to well inside his mechanical body. "None of us did."

"I-I'm so sorry, Ruby," a distraught Oscar said. "I tri-"

"Oscar, calm down!" Ruby interrupted. "You didn't do this. Ozpin did."

"Were Yang and Star truly in any danger?" Optimus questioned as he approached the boy. "Could they have been safe in their dimensions?!"

"I...I don't know," Oscar admitted. "But it would stand to reason that they weren't, given his track record."

"Well, why not ask him?" Danny questioned. "His soul is inside your body, isn't it?"

"It's no use," Oscar answered. "He's locked himself inside my head. I can't get him back out even if I tried to."

"Not the first time he's done that," Ruby bitterly added.

Suddenly, an enraged Qrow lashed out towards Oscar, Weiss and Blake being forced to hold him back out of fear that he may do something he'd immediately regret.

"If you can hear me in there, Oz, you better pray nothing happens to my niece!" he shouted. "Otherwise, I'll have that redhead that brought us here find a way to drag your ass out of Oscar so I can kill you myself!"

"Enough!" Optimus scolded. "We WILL ensure your niece's safety. You have my word."

He then kneeled down to Oscar's level, glaring right at the boy, though it was obvious who this scornful look was really meant for.

"But if you can, Oscar, tell Ozpin that this conversation is NOT over," he requested. "There WILL be words regarding this atrocity he has committed. And I would worry less about what he will do to him...and more about what Moon will do to him if she finds out he has inadvertently placed her daughter in the Phoenix's crosshairs."

The farm boy simply nodded once before the Autobot leader rose up and tightly clenched his fists in anger.

"I should have known better than to bring him here," he quietly told himself.

The other five League leaders observed Prime's actions in surprise. This was a side of Prime that they seldom bore witness to. A side that they couldn't even believe existed. Usually, Optimus was calm, kind, collected, and as wise as the oldest of sages. But now, here he was. Frustrated, angered, and tired. Understandably, the weight of his actions were now perched upon his shoulders, and it seemed as though, despite his attempts to correct his mistake, the guilt and stress were starting to take its toll on him.

And what was to come next would most certainly not help him.

"Optimus, the GJN is attempting to make contact with you," Sheila stated through his COMM.

"Patch us through, Sheila," the leader of the Autobots ordered.

"Prime, you were right to have our scientists estimate the Phoenix's arrival again," Dr. Director's voice said from the other side of the leaders' COMM's. "It seems as though it's traveling here at a faster rate than we previously anticipated. We don't have four days...at best...we have four hours."

Dread.

That was all the six leaders could hear upon receiving this news. They had far less time than they had previously anticipated. This creature was mere hours away from bringing death and ruin to their world.

"...So, what do we do now?" Danny asked Optimus.

"First, we will need to reassign the search teams we had ordered to Tokyo," Prime answered. "We will place them in several major cities across the globe to act as our last line of defense in case..."

The Autobot commander couldn't even bring himself to finish that sentence, causing the tension in the air to grow so thick that one could cut it with a knife.

"...In case what?" Kim finally asked.

"...In case we fail," Optimus somberly answered.

A hush overtook the scene as the other League leaders took in what Optimus had told them. As they took in an all too likely outcome they hadn't previously anticipated.

"...Sheila, send word to our search teams," SheZow finally requested.

"Already on it," the A.I. responded.

"Wait, what about Yang?!" Weiss cut it. "Can't we stop her before she reaches Earth?"

"Yeah, can't ROM just go after her or something?" Jake asked.

"No," the Space Knight denied. "The cybernetics that allow me to fly were damaged in my encounter with the Phoenix."

"And we obviously don't want to turn our weapons on her," Danny added. "Or send miss fists-for-brains after her again."

"Then we will have to place our fate in the Ninja's team and the Sailor Senshi to break the Phoenix's hold on her and the others," Optimus stated before turning to Ruby so as to give her some words of comfort. "Sailor Moon's power is unmatched amidst the Infinity League, and she is among the purest souls I have ever encountered. If anyone has a chance of saving your sister, it's her."

The red-hooded girl nodded once in understanding, though still had that feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach for what was to happen to her stepsister. Especially after Ozpin willingly allowed her to go to Tokyo.

"I will return to Blue Diamond to try and concoct a plan of attack against the Phoenix in the meantime," Optimus continued. "We still have a few hours before it arrives. Let us use them wisely."

But before anyone could respond, another voice rang through Prime's COMM device.

"Optimus! Optimus!" Cosmos shouted in a panic. "I'm picking up several energy signatures about to emerge from hyperspace next to the Alliance's fleet. You're not going to like who they belong to!"

Wondering just who his fellow Autobot was referring to, Optimus activated a small screen on his arm.

"Display their estimated coordinates, Cosmos," he commanded.

Wasting no time, the Autobot reconnaissance officer patched through to display an image of the United Galaxy's fleet. Not a second later, a fleet of ten gargantuan, purple-clad warships burst out of hyperspace alongside several smaller vessels of a similar color scheme. The design of these ships alone were a dead giveaway to a mortified Prime as to what faction they belonged to, with a dreaded insignia plastered on each side of the war machines being the final nail in the coffin.

"Decepticons..."

While Yang's escape pod rocketed towards Earth, Soundwave continued to observe the visitor from Remnant through Laserbeak's optics. He had his minion watch her destructive rampage throughout Skyward Tower, unseen by any of the base's inhabitants, carefully observing her strengths and weaknesses safely from within the Nemesis. And now that her escape had succeeded, his task was finished.

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE," he said to himself as he rose from his seat. "LASERBEAK, REPORT OUR FINDINGS TO MEGATRON AND BLACK HAT."

Saying nothing, Laserbeak detached himself from the Tower before cutting off the feed. The Decepticons' communications officer was about depart when he received a signal from Buzzsaw and Ratbat...no doubt one that had something to do with the Phoenix's other targets.

As Tommy and the other benched faced off with the strangers that now blocked their path to Tokyo, the anger building up in his body was stronger than it ever had been before. Whatever Xanatos and these monsters were playing at, he wasn't about to let them impede his destiny. However, he didn't want to drag this out into a conflict that might alert the League to their location, if that hadn't already found out, that is. In any case, he had to get these strangers to move at once.

There was a time that the White Ranger could've just as easily punched out the armored billionaire and that would've been that, but the fact that Xanatos had powerful friends in the government meant that things would only become more complicated. Not only that, but he had a truce with Goliath and his clan, which meant he may have to face the League sooner than he thought.

"What are you doing here, Xanatos?" he demanded. "My team and I are on a mission to protect Tokyo from the Phoenix. So I suggest you take your freak show and walk away right now."

"Yeah, about that..." Xanatos replied. "We know you and your 'team' are benched by the League and shouldn't even be here. Wanna try another lie?"

"And who you calling 'freak show?'" the werewolf snarled back. "Have you seen that kid with the big head?"

Blossomed glared at the wolf girl, but the White Ranger gestured for her to stand down.

"You didn't introduce us to your new friends," the Power Ranger mentioned. "Or why you're here to begin with."

"That's what I wanna know too," another voice suddenly added.

The two respective groups turned to see the Ninja and his team of heroes approach the two parties. Tommy clenched his fists in anger, knowing that they had been cornered into this position.

"Hiya, Xanatos, nice suit," the Ninja continued before glancing over to Will. "Hey, Will. Looking great for a guy who's supposed to be dead."

"Let's just say that the rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated," the GJN Agent answered in his usual sardonic demeanor. "And leave it at that."

"Uh-huh, sure," the League leader said, clearly not pleased with that answer before asking "Still haven't told us who these Universal Monster rejects are."

"They're my team," Will answered. "Task Force M is Global Justice's black-ops team to handle metahuman threats, such as the one your rogue friends are posing to the city."

"That's a lie!" Steven suddenly shouted.

"You, hush," Randy ordered. "I'll deal with all of you in a second."

"And where do you play into all of this?" Rena Rouge asked Xanatos.

"Because they work for me," the billionaire answered. "I was recently named GJN's deputy director."

Both teams of heroes were taken aback by that revelation. They weren't aware that Director had taken on a second-in-command. Obviously, she wanted to keep the former villain's recent induction to the Network a secret as she had with Will and his team of monsters.

"I'm going to have to put a pin in that for now," the protector of Norrisville said. "Right now, I'm here to bring Tommy and the others in."

He then drew his sword and pointed it at the deputy director, making Task Force M ready themselves for a fight, to which Xanatos raised a hand as a silent order for them to stand down.

"I couldn't agree more, Ninja," the armored billionaire stated. "I have no wish to start a war with the League. I owe a debt to Goliath and his clan for helping me protect my son from Oberon, and I'd rather not ruin my truce with him over this."

"Then why did you come down here at all?" T-Bone noted.

"Well, when a team of unchecked metahumans show up unannounced in a major city, it kinda makes the GJN nervous," Xanatos causally explained. "But now that you're here, we'll gladly hand them over to you and be on our merry way."

"And here I was looking forward to a fight," Winnie muttered.

"No!" the White Ranger exclaimed. "None of you will stop us from achieving our destiny!"

"White Ranger, you and the others have to stand down," the Ninja warned. "We know that this isn't your fault, it's the Phoenix's hold on you! You have to fight it!"

"I suggest you listen to him," Xanatos added. "If any of you make a move right now, then we will use lethal force to take you down if necessary."

Randy and his team were surprised by the statement, but they should've expected that. Will and Xanatos had a body count, and it seemed like the monsters had no qualm about spilling blood. Yet, despite their comrades' violent behavior, they wouldn't let them die at the hands of the GJN.

"Wait, you can't do that!" Pearl interjected. "They aren't themselves!"

"Sorry, bird-nose, but orders are orders," Phantasma refuted.

"We can stop them ourselves," the Ninja stated. "But if you touch them, then we'll fight you too."

"Do what you need to do," was all Xanatos could say to that.

The three factions stood off against one another in tense silence for several moments that felt like an eternity. With a battle cry, the White Ranger drew Saba, and just like that, the battle was on.

It took Wendy almost an hour to find a quiet place in the base to collect herself. She wanted to contact Mason, but she knew that if she tried to call him, someone in Black Hat's base might pick it up and trace it back to her and then be able to track her lover back to his hidden lair. She was so concerned about her and Dipper being discovered that she switched off communications with him for the time being. But she needed the moment's peace due to the burning sensation she felt in her mind. It had been growing stronger since she received her message from the Phoenix to go to Tokyo, and if she didn't find somewhere to recompose herself, then she may blow her cover in front of the villains. Fortunately, she found an empty hallway within the base, giving her a chance for a brief reprieve from her mental torment.

"Keep it together, Wendy..." she told herself. "Just keep it together...just a little longer, and you'll get what you want."

"You already shall, my child," a voice suddenly said in her mind.

The voice in her head rang out as the burning sensation grew stronger in her mind, forcing Wendy to clutch her head in response.

"I'm trying to reach Tokyo," she said out loud as if she was speaking to the cosmic force in person. "I'm working on a plan that'll prove my love to you!"

"That will not be necessary," the voice denied. "For this is what I wanted all along."

"What do you mean?" the ginger asked.

"It was my plan to have you far from the purge of Tokyo," the cosmic being explained. "You're much too important for me to lose."

"You mean..." Wendy began to surmise.

"Yes," the voice confirmed. "You, Wendy Corduroy, are the one that I shall bound with."

Wendy's eyes instantly filled with tears of joy. She, a mere human, had chosen by her cosmic master to become one with it and become a living god. She was so overcome by this revelation that she collapsed to the ground.

"Thank you...my master," she cried. "But why me?"

"Because you hold the most potential," the voice informed her. "You, a human, have shown that you alone are worthy of my love. The others in Tokyo may be strong in power, but you are strong in spirit."

"What will happen to them?" the teen inquired.

"If they live, they shall be your acolytes as you change this world into a paradise," the cosmic being told her. "With my power, you shall create a new Eden from the ashes of this world. You and your lover will be this Earth's new Adam and Eve as those who survive your reign shall worship you as the goddess you truly are."

"I won't fail you," Wendy proclaimed. "I will show you that I am worthy of your power!"

"I know that you won't fail," the voice agreed. "Be ready, for we shall be one soon..."

With that, the voice vanished, leaving Wendy to weep with pride from within her mask. However, as she was overcome in her joy, Wendy failed to notice that she was being watched. It was the Baroness, and while she was confused at first at the sight she had just witnessed, she quickly pieced things together. Originally, she had been tailing the Head huntress in order to corner her and force info out of her as to where she was hiding her daughter, but after seeing that strange display, it wasn't before long that she realized that her would-be-victim was, in fact, her eldest child.

She had no idea why she was here or why she going through this elaborate ruse, but it was obvious that her child was in some sort of mental pain. And to make matters worse, if she was discovered by any of the members of Black Hat's Society, she would surely be killed on the spot.

Baroness quickly ducked behind the pathway she was hiding behind and watched Head Huntress compose herself as she stood back on her feet. Wendy then made her way back toward the hall, forcing Baroness to make it look like she was coming up the same path. The two women bumped into each other, much to the armored villain's chagrin.

"You bump into me again, and I'll send Destro your head in an Easter Basket!" Head Huntress warned.

"Watch your tone with me, whelp!" Baroness shot back, trying her best to keep up appearances. "I could snap your neck with ease!"

"Now that I'd like to see you try," Wendy growled.

Baroness cursed herself for saying such things to her own daughter, especially now that it was clear that she still held a grudge from back when she and Stan were captured. But she had to make sure that no one would suspect the connection between them, lest it be exploited by those around them.

As the two villains stood their respective grounds, a shadow rose out of the ground before it twisted and morphed into Black Hat.

"Ah, there you are, ladies," he began. "Soundwave has discovered something in Skyward Tower and in Tokyo that they wanted to share with us. I think you two would be interested to see it for yourselves."

"...Fine," Head Huntress relented before looking back at Baroness. "Just keep away from me."

Baroness said nothing, instead only glaring back. But on the inside, Anastasia knew that now, more than ever, her daughter needed her protection. And while she had never been there for her daughter before, she swore that, here and now, she would defend Wendy with everything she had, even if that meant killing whoever attempted to harm her.

[1] - As shown in Chapter 4 of No Road Home