AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, so you might have noticed that the chapter titles are different. A while back, my collaborator suggested that we should divide the story into acts, and I decided to go ahead with it as a means to try and improve the story structure. See, the thing is that we've got ideas for action sequences (such as the one you're about to read) that are so large scaled that they'd be the climax of a different story, despite us having a while to go before we get to the actual climax. So, rather than it being a standard action sequence, this will instead serve as the kicking off point for Act 1's climax. Now as for how many acts there will be and how many chapters they'll consist of, we're aiming for three while the amount of chapters isn't concrete, but hopefully it'll be a consistent number throughout.
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 9
As Rena entered the medical wing, she found herself in the middle of what looked like a triage center in the midst of a battlefield. The three-way fight between the Phoenix influenced heroes, the Ninja's team, and Xanatos' team of monsters had certainly taken its toll on the League. Though they had managed to fight off the GJN agents, they had suffered some serious injuries in their mission to bring their mind-altered teammates back to the Tower. Ford, Doc, Ratchet, and Dr. Possible, now joined by the Autobot's back-up medic, Velocity, had been tending to wounded the best they could, but since it was only the five of them on the Tower, it wasn't an easy task. Though Rena was among the few who only walked away with a few cuts and bruises, the same could not be said for her lover, who had been gravely injured from when Task Force M had ganged up on him during the fight.
The French heroine found the Ninja lying on one of the medical beds in the back, using his art of healing to help mend his wounds. In order to keep their reunion private, the fox-themed heroine threw the curtain around the bed as a way of deterring anyone from interrupting them. The second she saw him, Alya threw her arms around her lover and embraced him tightly, only to quickly let him go when she heard him let out a hiss in pain.
"Sorry!" she quickly apologized.
"It's okay, sweetie, you didn't know," the Ninja replied. "How's everyone else?"
"Well, no one's in danger of dying, thankfully," Rena assured. "But they're not going to be able to help out much either."
"Once I'm done healing, I'll lend Doc and the other Medics a hand," the Ninja said. "Knowing our team, no ones gonna wanna sit this fight out."
"Maybe you should," his girlfriend advised. "After what those girls did to you..."
"Ah, relax, honey," the Ninja playfully brushed off in an attempt to help calm her down. "It's oka-"
"It's not okay!" she suddenly snapped. "I thought I was going to watch you die today!"
The Ninja was about to assure her that he was fine, but then he saw the tears that were welling up in his lover's eyes. She didn't need to say anything to show that her lover's beating had greatly disturbed her. It made the hero of Norrisville realize that if he had truly died today, then he would've died not knowing who his girlfriend really was under the mask. So, seeing the right course of action, Randy reached up and suddenly pulled off his mask right in front of his lover, making her gasp in shock at what she just witnessed.
"Why did you-" she attempted to say.
"Because you're right. I could've died, and I don't want to leave this world before showing the woman I love who I am under the mask," the hero explained, touching the side of her face as he did.
Alya was stunned by the gesture. Back when she and Nino were an item, they knew about each other because of Ladybug revealing their identities to one another due to circumstances. But this was different. This time, her lover had willingly revealed himself to her. An act she refused since they had started dating. Alya kept telling herself that if she didn't know who the Ninja really was, then maybe she could better prepare herself for the worst if it happened. The problem was that the worst almost happened today, and she still wasn't ready for it. Now, here she was. Looking upon the real face of the man she had fallen in love with, and she couldn't think of anything to do or say except for one thing.
"Trixx, let's hide," she said.
As ordered, the Kwami left Alya's body, revealing her true self to her boyfriend, who was taken aback by the gesture. Trixx floated away from the space so the lovers could be alone for the moment. The two looked at one another in stunned silence before the Ninja finally spoke.
"I'm Randy Cunningham," he introduced.
"Alya Cesaire," she replied, still unsure about this whole situation.
There was another brief silence before Randy spoke up again.
"It's nice to finally meet you," he said with a small laugh to break the tension.
"It's nice to meet you too," Alya answered with a laugh of her own. "I know I'm not the most attractive person out of my costume, but -"
"I think you're beautiful," Randy cut her off. "Even more so without the mask."
"Smooth move, Mr. Cunningham," his girlfriend teased. "You're not so bad to look at either."
"Oh, that's a lie, and you know it," Randy answered with a laugh. "I've got a face only Rocky Balboa would love."
"You mean love to punch," Alya mocked with a smirk.
"Oh, that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Randy answered with a smile. "Come here, you!"
Randy suddenly reached out and took Alya into his bed all the while they laughed. The two kissed one another deeply, their bodies intertwined with one another as they touched one another's skin for the first time. The two broke the kiss and gently pressed up against one another's foreheads as their hands interlaced with each other's, simply enjoying the peace between them. True, there was a battle on the horizon, but for this one precious moment, they had each other. And that's all that mattered to them.
"Excuse me," Dr. Possible's voice began from the other side of the curtain. "It's everything alright in there?"
"Everything's perfect," Randy answered, staying right where he was.
"Can I get you anything?" the surgeon furthered. "Morphine? Bandages?...Birth control?"
The two lovers brushed a united shade of deep red at that last part.
"N-No thanks, Dr. Possible, we-we're good!" the Ninja quickly assured. "You can go now!"
Randy could swear that he head Kim's mother snicker from the other side of the curtain as she left, making Randy feel all the more embarrassed. Just then, Randy's COMM switched on, to which he angrily sighed in response.
"Yeah?" he said, trying his best not to sound annoyed.
"It's Danny," the half-ghost said. "I'm just calling to see how your feeling."
"I'm still patching myself, bro, but I'll be able to get back in the fight soon enough," Randy answered "Al-I mean, Rena Rouge is helping with my recovery, hint hint."
"Oh...OH!" the fellow leader realized. "Well, once you're 'recovered,' meet us up on the main deck."
"Understood. Ninja out."
With that, Randy switched off his COMM.
"So, how much time do we have?" Alya asked as she began to kiss his neck.
"I'd say about twenty minutes," her lover estimated as he began to nip at her ear. "We can get a lot done in that time."
"I'll say," his lover moaned as she felt his hand travel down her back. "This going to be so much easier without the suits on."
"Yeah, but not as fun," Randy teased as Alya removed his hoodie and tossed it on the floor. "Shelia, put a force field around this bed for twenty minutes."
The A.I. said nothing witty (thankfully) and put the field around the bed, making everyone else in the medical bay feel a bit uncomfortable. But at the moment, neither of the lovers cared. Because, for twenty minutes, the world only consisted of the two young heroes and their love.
Black Hat's global call to arms had brought every member of the Society to the demonic arms dealer's island. The plan was simple: Once Skyward Tower's shields were down, the villainous horde would use Astrotrain to smash into the Tower and slaughter everyone they found while giving Wendy the time she needed to bond with the Phoenix. The triple changer attempted to voice his worries that he may not be able to hold everyone for a long period, but Megatron reminded him that their journey to and from the orbital base would not be a long trip. As Black Hat remained underneath the island preparing his secret weapon for the coming battle, the other villains talked amongst themselves about what was to happen next.
"Man, this is too easy!" Jack scoffed. "Why didn't we think of this sooner?"
"Because back then, the League wasn't distracted by a cosmic monster heading for Earth," the cyborg member of the Pack, Jackal, reminded him.
"It's a shame that most of the League that are up there are too busted up to fight us," Jackal's sister, Hyena, noted. "I was hoping for a real fight."
"Well, from what I hear, it's only the League leaders and a handful of heroes left to protect the base," Jack said.
"Not to mention those freaks they apparently got from another world," one of Jenny's enemies, Himcules, furthered.
"Bah! I don't care who is up there so long as I can slay the White Ranger!" Goldar declared.
"And that goes double for Kim," Shego added. "Nobody touches her but me."
As the villains continued to talk among themselves about how they would finally kill their respective heroes, a voice cut through the cacophony.
"Ooooh, what'd I miss?" the voice curiously asked. "I'm gone for, like, a second, and this place turns into a fucking roman orgy!"
The collective villains turned their attention to the new voice to see one of their felly Society members who had arrived late to the gathering of evil. The newcomer was none other than Junko Enoshima. A wildcard among the Society that Black Hat had personally broken out of a supermax prison before she could be transferred to wherever the GJN had been moving villains. The demonic arms dealer said that Junko was a valuable asset to the Society. However, the other evil-doers were unsure how some fashion model was going help them in their war with the Infinity League. However, their opinion of her changed when they discovered the sheer amount of chaos she was capable of.
In her quest to bring about what she called 'the ultimate despair' to the world, she had tormented, murdered, and driven hundreds, perhaps even thousands, completely insane. Her methods even off-put some of the major members of the Society. Despite her playful persona, Junko was a mastermind in her own right and had the fighting skills to back her intellect. Dementia had a personal axe to grind with the girl, for she was close to Black Hat whenever he thought of a new scheme for the legion of villainy to carry out. At the time, Junko had been sent on a mission to find the immortal Heylin warrior, Chase Young, and try to finally convince him to join the Society of Supervillains. Chase had been offered the chance in the past, but he had declined, saying that this unity among the forces of evil was foolish and that he would not bow to the likes of Black Hat, whom he had no fear of. So, when Junko's name came up in a list of people that Chase was hunting for some unknown reason, the demon sent the goth to go to him so that she may speak with him in person. [1]
However, rather than return with the immortal warrior, Junko had returned with a normal man who looked more like a beggar than a warrior.
"Who's the runt?" another Pack member, Wolf, questioned.
"Yeah, weren't you supposed to get Chase Young?" Katnappe added on.
"Chase Young's dead," Junko answered simply. "You want me to go dig him up or something?"
The entire room of villains gasped and began to mutter among themselves, stunned by this news. Chase Young was a master of evil, and to have him dead shifted the balance between light and darkness out of their favor. Just then, the ghost of the Heylin witch, Wuya, flew up to Junko's face to confront her over what she had just said.
"It's not true!" she refuted.
"No, he's dead as Dillinger," Junko reaffirmed. "I guess that's what you get for trying to summon some eldritch god or some shit. So, I brought his apprentice here as a consolation prize."
"This pipsqueak was Chase's apprentice?" Wolf grunted as he sized up the young man. "He looks more like his butler to me."
"Yeah, even I could kick his ass," Jack commented.
"So tell me, runt, did Chase teach wax on/wax off?" the man-wolf mocked, earning a handful of laughs from the crowd.
In response to that, the young man suddenly transformed before the villains' eyes. His body grew, twisted, and morphed into a humanoid version of the Indonimus Rex that towered over the fellow gene-spliced human. The dino man suddenly grabbed a now very stunned Wolf by the throat and hoisted him into the air so he could look him in the eye.
"How's this for wax on/wax off, 'runt?'" the I-Rex growled
With that, he slammed Wolf into the ground so hard that he made a small crater upon impact with the ground.
"Boys and girls, meet Yuya Nomoto," Junko introduced as Wolf crawled away from the titan. "Or, as he'd rather be called, Brute Indominus."
"That has Mercer's handiwork written all over it," Drakken muttered to Shego.
"Yuya here has some payback he wants to dish out on a friend who stabbed him in the back. Gutted him too on top of that," the ultimate despair explained. "So, he agreed to join our merry band of bastards if we help him murder the ever-loving shit out the one who betrayed him."
It was then that sound of slow clapping could be heard among the crowd. The villains parted ways to reveal Black Hat as he approached Junko and her new recruit.
"Splendid, Junko, most splendid," the demon congratulated. "Chase a loss, but I'm sure Mr. Nomoto will make a fine addition to our Society."
With that, Black Hat departed to make the final arrangements for the coming siege. The arms dealer had to conceal his wicked grin, for the news of Chase Young's apparent death brought him such great joy. Chase Young was among the very villains that not only refused to join the Society, but also had the power to fight back should Black Hat try to retaliate. But now, with the Heylin gone, that meant he could draw in more villains to his cause without others looking to Chase's defiance as an excuse to refuse his offer. As Black Hat departed, some of the villains had a question they had wanted to ask Junko something since she had joined the union evil.
"So, Junko, we just gotta know..." Black Cuervo began. "What did Black Hat offer you to convince you to join up?"
"Well, it's kinda silly, really," Junko started. "You see, I've got everything. Good looks, a brilliant mind full of despair, and a desire to kill the world thirty times over. But lately, I've been feeling like I've been missing something."
"Missing something?" Zartan repeated.
"Yeah, and it's something you guys all have," the mad fashion model replied. "I'm a Satan without a God. No one to match wits with. No one to try to stop me when I'm close to total victory. No one to break the will of after I kill their loved ones right in front of them. One I can push to very edge until they either rise above it and defeat me or snap and kill me."
The villains looked at her in confusion, clearly at a loss as to what exactly she was trying to get at.
"I want my own hero to fight," Junko finally stated. "Black Hat said that, if I joined the Society, I'd find the right hero for me to have as my arch-rival."
"Wait, time out!" Jack spoke up as he tried to understand all this. "You're saying that you joined us because you WANT to have a hero to fight you?"
"I thought I was being pretty clear, dumbass," the goth chided. "I mean, what's the point of spreading the joy of despair if no one is there to make you put some goddamn effort into it?"
"So, have you found anyone that's struck your fancy yet?" Hyena inquired.
"Nah, so far, I've come up with squat," Junko answered. "But I'll know it when I see them. It'll be that feeling of hope they'll project that'll make me want to crush them with the endless power of despair!"
Meanwhile, Dipper and Wendy continued to keep away from their allies, more focused on the betrayal they were about to commit against their friends, and in Mason's case, his family.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" Mason inquired to a feverish Wendy.
"Are you?" his lover countered. "I'm fine with turning on those bastards who stabbed me in the back. But you know who you'll have to face when we attack the Tower."
Mason knew exactly what Wendy had meant by that. When the attack on the Tower would happen, there was a good chance that the traitors would run into Mabel and Ford. Though Wendy was at peace with what was about to happen next, Mason still had some apprehension. As much as he'd like to have his sister join him, he knew that she would stand with the League. Ford, however, whether he wanted to fight or not, was getting one anyway. For his nephew, who once idolized him, wanted nothing more than to pummel the man who had a hand in causing his lover so much pain with his secrets.
"I'll do what I have to," was Mason's answer. "Just try to get some rest until we're ready, okay?"
Wendy nodded in response to that. Just then, Black Hat approached the two former heroes.
"Mason, a word if you wouldn't mind," the demon requested.
Mason, worried about what wat exactly Black Hat wanted, still stepped aside in order to speak with him, knowing best to obey the arms dealer.
"If this is about my loyalty, you don't have to worry," he assured. "I'm not an idiot. Wendy and I know better than try anything against you."
"Oh, I'm well aware of that," Black Hat answered. "I wanted to know if you have any...inside help on taking down the Tower A.I."
"You mean Sheila," Mason gathered. "Sorry, but she was SheZow's A.I., and she was pretty secretive about her setup when she uploaded her to the Tower."
"But you must have some thoughts on how to overcome it?" the head of the Society insisted.
Mason thought for a few moments before giving his answer.
"Sheila's too powerful to be stopped by any virus your scientists could try to come up with," he began. "Your best bet is to try to fight her on her own terms. Soundwave would take her, but I'm sure Megatron has plans involving him, and I doubt you have XANA on your side."
"No, but we do have the next best thing," Black Hat mentioned. "Thank you, Mason. I appreciate your input."
With that, Black Hat departed. Mason was almost left stunned. He was just complimented by one of the masters of evil. Something he rarely got from any of the League Leaders. Keeping that compliment in mind, Mason returned to Wendy's side, ready to take the fight to his former team.
Jenny hated moments like these. The calm before the storm. The waiting was insufferable, no matter how many times she had been in this position. Whether it be waiting for her test scores at school or waiting for an alien armada to invade the planet, it always made her feel anxious regardless of the circumstances. The servos in Jenny's brain were going a mile a millisecond at this point at all the possible outcomes of what might happen next. Given their newest data on the Phoenix and its arrival time, they now had a little over an hour before it arrived, and no one knew what was going to happen next. The other leaders, aside from the Ninja, who was taken to the medical bay to treat his wounds, had spread out throughout the Tower. All of which were going about various last-minute preparations for the coming battle with the cosmic being.
"Sucks, doesn't it?" a voice said.
Jenny turned to see Danny approaching her. She gave him a grin, even though her nerves still put her on edge because of the coming battle.
"The waiting, I mean. You never get used to it," he continued.
"Yeah, it does," Jenny replied.
The two stood in silence for several moments, looking out the window together and watching the vastness of space before them.
"So, what's the Ninja's status?" XJ-9 finally asked, breaking the silence.
"It was pretty bad, but Ninja's art of healing fixed up most of the wounds he took," the half-ghost answered. "Though I don't think he's 100% just yet."
"What about the others?" the robot girl inquired.
"Their injuries range from bad to worse," Danny informed her. "Optimus and Kim both suggested that we move them off the Tower, but we simply don't have the time to do that."
"And what about White Ranger and the others?" the fellow leader questioned. "Are we sure they're okay?"
"I'd like to say that they're fine, but I'm not really sure," Danny admitted. "They knew what they did was wrong, but they couldn't help themselves. The White Ranger told me that he and the others knew we wouldn't fully trust them for now until the Phoenix is dealt with, so they're going to contain themselves in their quarters for now. Once Wendy gets here, we're going to get Sailor Moon to heal her mind too."
"And what if they freak out again?" the robot asked.
"Well, then we're fucked," Danny said bluntly. "Aside from Ozpin's group and Washu's messed up family, there's only a handful of us left who are healthy enough to fight them if they go nuts again."
"I don't suppose we can get Sam to lend us a hand?" Jenny inquired.
Sam Manson, once a human, had been changed into the new protector of mother nature after the strange force called the Green and its emissaries, the Parliament of Trees, chose her as their new avatar after their previous champion, Undergrowth, had gone mad. [2] Danny looked away upon hearing his ex-girlfriend's name being spoken to him, making Jenny instantly regret ever bringing it up.
"I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized. "I was thinking about-"
"No, it's okay, Jenny," Danny assured her. "I actually did talk to Sam and asked if she could help us, but she couldn't. She said that the Green needed her now more than ever."
"I'm sorry about what happened between you two," Jenny mentioned. "I knew you loved her."
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Danny answered. "It was mutual, and honestly, I kinda figured between protecting Amity Park and the League that it wasn't going to last. At least this way, we can still see each other."
"I hear you," Jenny agreed. "It's the reason I stopped looking for a relationship for a while now."
"Wait, but I thought and that Brad guy we're...you know..." the half-ghost tried to say. "A thing?"
"I thought about it, but I chose not to," the robot girl explained. "It wouldn't be fair to either of us, what with my life being...well, this, all the time."
"Superhero life, am I right?" Danny joked, earning a small giggle from his teammate. "But I guess that's just the way things go. We don't get to chose who lives, who dies, who tells our story."
"Did...Did you just quote Hamilton?"
"N-No"
"You did! You totally did!"
"Okay! Yes! I watched it on Disney+ after Kim and Shezow wouldn't stop talking about it!" Danny finally relented.
"Look at you, Mr. Phantom, being all cultured," the robot noted with a smirk.
"Hey, who says I can't like musicals?" Danny asked.
The two heroes shared a laugh at that, easing the tension in the air. Danny hadn't felt happy in days, so it was nice to just kick back for a moment and talk with someone he considered to be one of his closest friends. But sadly, that short-lived moment of joy was quickly struck down when Danny noticed something from the other side of the windows. From where he and Jenny were standing, he saw that the weapons Decepticons' ships were beginning to turn. Not toward the vastness of space...but toward Skyward Tower itself.
"Jenny, look ou-!" he attempted to warn her.
But before he could finish his sentence, all hell broke loose.
As that was transpiring, Ugasi had just escorted Rei to her quarters per Kim's instructions and, joined by Mamoru, Minako, and Chibiusa, was heading towards the medical bay to pay Makoto and the rest of the injured a visit. Not long afterward, however, Sailor Moon heard the sound of her communicator and answered it.
"Usagi, are you there?" a seemingly urgent Rei asked. "Usagi!"
"I'm here, Rei," Usagi answered. "What is it?"
"I'm sensing an aura of deception," the Senshi of war stated. "You need to-!"
"OH MY GOD!" a horrified Minako exclaimed.
Turning to see what her friend had seen, Usagi's eyes widened in horror the instant she saw the Decepticon fleet beginning to turn their weapons right at them. Acting quickly, the guardian of love and justice frantically searched her surroundings to try and find shelter before laying eyes on the open door that lead to the still completely trashed training room.
"Everyone, follow me!" she commanded as she ran towards the open doorway.
The others followed close behind as the fleet's weapons began charging.
"Sheila, shut the training room's blast doors!" Sailor Moon shouted once everyone was inside. "Hurry!"
The A.I. obliged, allowing the doors to come to a close. The last thing the protectors of Japan saw was the flash of an ion bolt hitting the window, shattering it right before the blast doors protected them from being ejected into space.
This sudden offensive did not go unnoticed by the 'allies' of the Decepticon fleet. For a mortified Yellow Diamond bore witness to this betrayal from the bridge of her vessel. Acting quickly, she turned to her first officer, Hessonite, hoping her actions wouldn't come too late to save Steven.
"Open a hailing frequency!" she commanded. "NOW!"
From the bridge of the main battleship, Jhiaxus observed with his hands behind his back as his fleet's ion cannons barreled against Skyward Tower via the windows of his vessel. To his left and right were screens displaying the captains of the other capital ships in the fleet. Among them were the Decepticon generals known as Obsidian and Strika, master strategists Windburn and Grindor, and the Pretender referred to as Bugly. These Decepticons were among the most brilliant militaristic minds on Cybertron and were natural picks for Jhiaxus when it came to assembling his fleet.
"Continue to fire upon the League's station," the vice-admiral ordered. "We must keep the shields down so that Lord Megatron can enact his part of the plan."
"The Autobots and their allies will likely try to mount a counteroffensive, vice-admiral," Grindor pointed out. "I suggest we launch our Seeker and Vehicon armadas to deal with them."
"Agreed, Grindor," Jhiaxus responded. "Make it so."
"At once, Jhiaxus," Obsidian replied.
With that, the screens switched off, all while the Decepticon admiral took in the sight of war as he had always done. However, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by the approach of one of his fellow Decepticons, Demolishor.
"Vice-Admiral Jhiaxus, Yellow Diamond is attempting to make contact with us," he informed.
"Ignore her," Jhiaxus instructed. "We must maintain focus on Skyward Tower for the moment."
"But she may very well be mounting a counter-attack against us!" Demolishor pointed out. "We must eliminate this threat now so that-!"
"She knows better than anyone to not trifle with the likes of us," Jhiaxus stated with a smirk. "Besides, if she wishes to maintain order for the United Galaxy, she wouldn't dare open fire. Less she wishes to declare a second war against us."
"My Diamond, the fleet isn't responding," Hessonite informed.
In a fit of rage, Yellow Diamond slammed her fist against her chair's armrest, snarling with contempt for the Decepticons.
"Patch us through to Cybertron," the Gem matriarch ordered. "That one-eyed junkheap has a LOT to explain."
"Oh, that can't be good," High Five nervously said as he and his team looked up at the sky after seeing a massive flash of ion energies engulf it for a couple of seconds.
The Glitch Tech known as High Five, along with his partner, Miko, had been teleported down to earth as part of a team to protect Johannesburg. It was a part of the massive second line of defense the League had set up in case the first line of defense in space fell during its battle with the Phoenix. Their team consisted of the Road Rover known as Blitz, Steg of the Extreme Dinosaurs, the strongman of the Mummies, Armon, Cover Girl of G.I. Joes Martin Slattery of the Earth Corps, and the Autobot speedster, Blurr.
Already fearing the worst, Fives switched on his communicator to try and call Skyard Tower, hoping that it was still there.
"Skyward Tower, come in," he began. "This is the Johannesburg team. Do you copy?"
Static was the only response the Glitch Tech got, making his insides fill with dread. Not wanting to accept this, Fives called again.
"Skyward Tower, come in," he repeated. "Is anybody there? Do you read me?!"
Again, only silence.
"Oh, that's it, man!" Blitz cried out in a panic. "Game over, man! Game over!"
"Get a grip, Blitz!" Cover Girl ordered.
"Get a grip?! Did you not notice the part where our base was blasted to bits?!" the humanoid Doberman reminded the Joe.
"Not necessarily," Steg commented. "If Skyward Tower was destroyed, we would be seeing its debris falling into Earth's atmosphere right about now."
"Unless whatever's up there vaporized it into a million, teeny-tiny atoms," Miko mentioned before getting a look from High Five. "Right, sorry, not helping."
"I think Steg's on to something. Maybe whatever attacked the Tower just knocked out its COMMS," Martian theorized. "It would probably mean that the teleporters are out too."
"Well, if that's the case, then that would mean that we can't get in touch with the other teams here either," Cover Girl said.
"Which means our chain of command has been broken, and we're left without a way to send messages to our fellow troops," Armon concluded. "That means if and when the Phoenix arrives on Earth, we will be left uncoordinated for a counterattack."
Armon was right. Without their COMMS or teleporters online, the ground-side teams would be unable to better coordinate their efforts to fight the Phoenix when it arrived, nor would they be able to receive any word about any other areas around the world that would need their help, or be able to reach them for that matter. It was then that High Five looked at Blurr, who was still trying to reach Skyward Tower, when he got an idea.
"Blurr, who fast are you?" he asked.
"HowFastAmI?" the Autobot scoffed in his usual fast speaking voice. "That'sAStupidQuestion. I'llHaveYouKnowThatIWonTheVelocitronGrandPrix18TimesInA-"
"Slow words, Blurr, slow words," the Glitch Tech reminded him.
"Oh...right," the Autobot replied, slowing himself down to a normal speaking speed. "But to answer your question, the League has labeled me the fastest member of the entire team, despite what White Pantera has claimed."
"Good, because your gonna need to be as fast as you can be," High Five stated.
"What are you talking about, Fives?" Miko inquired.
"Think about it. We have four speedsters on our team," her partner began. "All of whom can run across long distances in seconds."
"...So?" Miko asked, still not getting it.
"It means we have a way of talking to each other!" Cover Girl realized.
"Exactly!" Fives said. "If Blurr can reach the other speedsters, then we can set up a link of communication to the rest of the teams on Earth with them passing along information to each team across the planet. Like a Pony Express on steroids!"
"But what about getting in touch with the Tower?" Martin pointed out. "We still need to establish a link of communication between us and the leaders."
"Assuming it's still up there," Blitz glumly added before a glare from the rest of his squad.
"I think I might have a way to fix that," Steg spoke up before directing his attention toward Blurr. "Before you go find the other Speedsters, go to Paris first."
"What's in Paris?" Armon asked.
"The Miraculous Team," the humanoid Dino began. "And one of them might be able to reach the Tower."
"Pegasus!" Miko and High Five said in realized unison
Pegasus was a newly made member of the various Miraculous holders who, while not a speedster, did possess the power of teleportation which allowed him to travel vast distances in seconds. If anyone could reach Skyward Tower, it would be him.
"Precisely. If Pegasus can get to Skyward Tower, then he can be our link between us and the leaders via his teleportation," Steg explained.
"Then Pegasus can deliver their orders to the speedsters, who can then pass those orders between the teams on Earth," Cover Girl concluded. "That's genius!"
"Good thinking, Fives my man," Miko congratulated before hugging her friend.
"Okay, Blur, you know what to do," Steg said.
"Back in a flash," Blur said.
With that, the Autobot zipped off toward Paris, seemingly vanishing from the team's line of sight in a mere nanosecond. Then, suddenly, Blurr came right back equally as fast.
"Quick question: What if Skyward Tower is destroyed?" the Autobot asked.
"Uh, better tell Pegasus to hold his breath before going up there," Fives suggested. "You know, just in case."
"Gotcha," Blurr understood before racing off again.
Jenny's eyes slowly opened as she found herself lying on the ground. Her optics had to readjust from the ion bolts and laser fire the Decepticons struck the Tower with. Though the attack had blown out the windows that the leaders were standing in front of, the Tower's shields managed to keep everyone from being sucked out into space. However, the resulting explosions devastated the inside of the room. As Jenny pulled herself off the floor, brushing the debris off her person as she did, she began to look around the room for the rest of the other leaders, hoping that they hadn't been killed.
Fortunately, before the offensive struck the Tower, the leaders managed to save themselves from harm, though they were tossed around the room like Jenny was. The instant the others rushed into the room to alert the half-ghost and the teenage robot of what was going on, Danny had managed to grab hold of both Dragon and Optimus and turn them both intangible before the blast struck the Tower. SheZow had jumped in front of Kim and protected her from the blast thanks to her invulnerability, though they were both flung across the room from the force of the blast. Thankfully, the Ninja was still on the lower levels getting patched up in the medical wing, so Jenny was certain that he was unharmed as well.
"Okay, whoever's not dead, sound off," Kim called out to the others.
"We're good," Danny answered for himself at the other leaders he saved.
"I've got a few dents, but I'm fine," Jenny assured.
"Nothing I can't walk off," SheZow also said.
"Ninja, are you guys okay in the med bay?" the redhead asked over the COMM link.
"We're all shaken up down here, but we're good," the other leader replied. "I'm heading up to where you guys are now."
"Negative, you and Rena remain there with the rest of the medical staff," Kim denied. "We need as much of us spread out among the Tower in case these guys managed to board us. I'll see if I can't get some reinforcements down there."
"Got it," Randy responded.
It was then that Optimus received a call from Grapple.
"Grapple, what's the situation?" the Autobot leader inquired.
"Well, it could be worse," the architect began. "That blast knocked out our long-range COMMS and our teleporters. So, we can't contact our teams on Earth or go back and forth from there until we get repairs done."
"How long do you think it will take?" Optimus asked.
"Hard to say, Optimus," Grapple admitted. "With most of the science team focused on our countermeasures and Hoist still in stasis, it's just myself and Jeremy who can do any of the repairs. So, it's going to take some time."
"Understood. I'll see if Wheeljack can take some time to help you out. Just do what you can for now, Grapple," Prime said before signing off.
"So, what's the bad news?" Danny asked.
"Grapple says that we're cut off from Earth at the moment," the fellow leader informed the others. "He and Jeremy are doing what they can, but there's no telling how long it'll take until we have power back to our COMMs and teleporters."
"That was a hell of a hit we took. We need to make sure that we're not in danger of falling out of orbit," Kim addressed "Sheila, are you okay?"
The female A.I. appeared before the leaders, much to the relief of them, especially SheZow.
"Shockingly, yes," she said. "I'd rather not do that again, thank you very much."
"Patch me through to engineering. We need to talk to Bismuth," Kim ordered.
As instructed, the A.I. pulled up a screen of Bismuth, who was currently in engineering with smoke billowing behind her and red lights blaring behind her. The Gem had an important job on Skyward Tower. It was her job to run maintenance on the power core that kept the League's orbital base from falling out of the sky. The core gave off high levels of radiation, which meant only a handful of the League's members could get close to it. Fortunately, thanks to her unique biology, Bismuth was unaffected by the radiation.
"Bismuth, what's the core's status?" Kim questioned.
"She's pretty shook up from that hit we took, but we're still in stable orbit for now," Bismuth replied. "I can have the core back to full power, but it's gonna take me about an hour to get this place fixed up. In the meantime, don't send anyone down here. There's a radiation leak after the blast cracked some pipes. Nothing deadly, but I doubt any of you guys would wanna get sick at a time like this."
"Understood, Bismuth. Keep us posted on the repairs," the League leader acknowledged. "Kim out."
"Great, so we can't call anyone or bring anyone up to help repairs," SheZow pointed out. "Anything else broken?"
"I guess now's a good a time as any to mention that our security system and most of the power to our defense grid has been damaged," Sheila coyly added.
"Of course it is," Kim groaned. "Sheila, tell Grapple to get our weapons systems back online first."
"What about the COMMS and teleporter?" Danny asked.
"The Phoenix is still less than an hour away," the teen agent retorted "If we're going to go against it AND the Decepticons, then we need to be able to fight back."
"I'm in agreement with Kim," Optimus added before looking over to Sheila. "Sheila, locate Washu on the Tower and ask her to assist the science team with the repairs. They might go faster with her help."
Sheila vanished in order to carry out her task. No sooner had she down that did a portal suddenly open up before the leaders. The six heroes readied themselves for a fight, fearing that they were in the midst of an ambush. Thankfully, it was not a foe who stepped through the portal but a friend. It was Pegasus. The portal-creating hero of Paris and ally of Ladybug.
"Ah, I see that you are all alive," the shades wearing hero greeted. "I had calculated that there was a 94.7% chance that Skyward Tower was destroyed and you were all dead."
"Gee, thanks thanks for the vote of confidence," SheZow said. "What are you doing up here, anyway?"
"Well, shortly after we lost contact with you, High Five formulated a plan by having me act as a conduit between here and Earth," Pegasus explained. "You tell me your orders, to which I go back to Earth and tell it to the speedsters, who in turn spread the order across the globe at a rapid pace."
"That's a good plan," Jenny added. "you made a good call recruiting him, Optimus."
"Okay, your first orders are to go down to Earth and assure everyone that we're still alive," Danny said. "Then, go find the Pink Ranger and tell her to get the Firebird Zord and any other fliers ready. Because we're going to war."
Meanwhile, outside in the vacuum of space, Powerglide and Jetfire had pierced through the planet's atmosphere, still carrying their precious cargo, when the two aerial Autobots noticed the massive fleet belonging to their foes positioned not far from Skyward Tower. They had noticed it right as every ion cannon on every vessel unleashed a barrage of firepower onto their friends' base of operations, causing their sparks to sink and for Powerglide to gasp out in horror.
"Oh, no..." was all an equally distraught Yang, who was still inside Powerglide's cockpit, could say, knowing the ones she loved were still inside.
"What are the Decepticons doing here?!" Jetfire shouted.
Just then, Cosmos, in his UFO mode, flew up beside his fellow Autobots.
"Thank Primus, you're alright, Powerglide!" he said in a panicked state.
"Cosmos, what the frag's going on?!" Powerglide demanded.
"They arrived just as you and the others engaged the Phoenix's hosts!" the Minibot answered. "They claimed that they came in peace, but not long after the others arrived in the Tower, they just started opening fire on us!"
"Wait, don't tell me you guys just trusted them!" Powerglide exclaimed. "Why else would-"
"Seekers! Seekers!" Jetfire alerted.
Sure enough, right in front of the three Autobots, three squadrons of the Decepticons' primary aerial soldiers were coming up towards them in their terrajet modes, weapons aimed directly at them.
"Sunstorm, I'm detecting an organic life signature coming from inside the red Autobot's cockpit," a feminine voice from within a primarily purple-clad Seeker informed.
In response, an orange-clad Seeker, the aforementioned Sunstorm, focused on the aerial Minibot to try and get a good look as to who was inside. The instant he saw Yang's bright, gold hair and lilac irises, he knew exactly who this was.
"It's the unknown metahuman Megatron informed us of, Nova Storm!" he concluded. "You and your squadron apprehend her and the Autobot carrying her! Acid Storm, take out the green Autobot. That traitor, Jetfire, is all mine!"
"Uh, you fellas mind takin' a rain check?" Powerglide asked. "Cause I kinda got better things to deal with than you clowns right now."
"Powerglide, you focus on getting Yang to the Tower," Haruka's voice suddenly said through the red-clad Autobot's COMM's, no doubt thanks to Jetfire's own communicators. "We'll cover for you."
The sounds of heels clacking were heard before the former Decepticon carrying the Outer Senshi interjected.
"Wait, where are you guys going?" he asked.
"...Outside," Sailor Uranus answered simply.
"Wha-Outside?" a dumbfounded Yang repeated. "...In space?!"
"Our body structures can handle the vacuum, if that's what you're wondering," Michiru responded.
"Besides, you guys are gonna need all the help you can get against THAT," Haruka added.
Before any more objections could be raised, the sound of Jetfire's back bay door opening was heard, causing Yang to turn her head back to the red and white Autobot, noticing the four Outer Sailor Senshi flying out from behind and barreling towards the Seekers.
"Setsuna, would you like to go first?" Michiru inquired.
Sailor Pluto simply nodded once in response before readying her Garnet Rod.
"Chronos Typhoon!"
With those two words and a swing of her staff, a strong cyclone burst out of the orb of her weapon and towards the squadrons of Seekers, causing them to spiral out of control right as they were about to fire their cannons at their enemies.
"There's your opening, Powerglide!" Cosmos stated. "Go! GO!"
Wasting no time, Powerglide immediately fired his boosters, rocketing him and Yang past the squadrons and towards Skyward Tower, shooting down two Seekers as he did so. Seeing this, Acid Storm transformed into his robot mode and pointed his weapons at the Minibot, but before he could fire them, a volley of laser fire hit his back, causing him to grunt in pain and turn to see Cosmos approaching him.
"Hey, now, I thought your fight was with me!" he pointed out while transforming into his robot mode.
Once he was close enough, the green and yellow Autobot delivered a sucker punch to Acid Storm's face, causing him to fly towards Sailor Uranus, who took this opportunity to slice off both of his null rays with her Space Sword.
While that was going on, Jetfire, now transformed, was busy dodging the flames roaring out of Sunstorm's flamethrowers.
"I use to have such respect for you, Jetfire!" the Decepticon shouted. "You were gonna lead our armies to victory on Cybertron! Now look what you've become!"
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I was blind back then to what you Decepticon scum truly were!" Jetfire retaliated as he charged up his rifle. "I see perfectly clearly now!"
With one shot, he managed to hit one of Sunstorm's flamethrowers, causing the energon inside to detonate and completely blow the orange-clad Seeker's right arm apart. Sunstorm cried out in pain as he clutched where his limb once was, unable to notice Jetfire rocketing towards him before the former Decepticon sucker punched him right in the jaw. As his enemy floated aimlessly in space, Jetfire noticed something out of the corner of his optic and saw a swarm of Jet Vehicons heading towards Powerglide.
"Cosmos!" the aerial Autobot called out.
"Already on it!" the Minibot responded as he transformed into his UFO mode and flew towards his fellow Minibot.
"Where do you think you're go-GAH!" Acid Storm attempted to say, only for a torrent of water to send him flying away.
With that distraction to Cosmos taken care of, Michiru lowered her mirror and turned to Setsuna and Hotaru.
"Go give Powerglide and Cosmos some backup," she said. "Haruka and I will cover for you."
The two Outer Senshi nodded once in response before quickly flying towards the Minibot duo. Cosmos was able to shoot down three of the Vehicons, causing about half of them to turn their attention towards him whilst the rest kept their focus on Powerglide. The ones that approached Cosmos opened fire, prompting the yellow and green Autobot to quickly swerve out of their line of fire, revealing Setsuna darting towards them, an orb of energy manifesting at the end of her Garnet Rod.
"Dead Scream!" she shouted.
She then thrusted her rod towards the Vehicons, firing the orb their way. Some of them, in a panic, managed to bank out of its path, but one was just a hair too late, causing the energy to detonate outward and obliterate the entire squadron.
Meanwhile, Powerglide was busy swerving from side-to-side to avoid the Vehicons' laser fire when Hotaru rocketed past the entire enemy squadron, using her Silence Glave to slice one of them in half before positioning herself in between the Vehicons and Powerglide.
"Silence Wall!" she exclaimed.
Bolts of black lightning then erupted from her scythe, enveloping itself into a protective barrier that surrounded herself, Powerglide, and an astonished Yang, who watched as the laser bolts from the Vehicons now began to bounce off the shield.
"I've gotta get me one of those," she muttered to herself.
"Now's your chance!" Sailor Saturn stated to Powerglide as the three of them got closer and closer to Skyward Tower's hanger bay.
"Hold on to your lunch in there!" Powerglide warned.
"Wait, what-?" Yang attempted to question.
Her concerns were cut short, however, as Powerglide boosted his engines to full power, causing him and the occupant inside to zoom out of Hotaru's shield and into the hanger bay in just a couple of seconds. Inside, Wheeljack was awaiting Yang's arrival when he saw Powerglide flying directly towards the bay at full speed, causing his optics to widen.
"Kid, KID, YOU'RE COMING IN TOO FAST!" the scientist shouted into his COMM. "What in the name of Primus are you-?!"
Before he could finish that sentence, the Minibot zipped through the bay's protective shield and transformed into his robot mode, ejecting a screaming Yang out of his cockpit before correcting himself to where he was now in front of the shield. Once he had done so, he quickly transformed back into his jet mode to rejoin the battle. As that was transpiring, Yang was hurdling towards Wheeljack, who jumped upward and safely grabbed the huntress before she could hit the wall.
"Gotcha!" the Autobot said as he landed back on his feet.
He then lowered himself to place Yang back onto the floor, said blonde huntress stumbling as she heaved heavily.
"I...NEVER...want to do that again," she just barely breathed out.
"Showboatin' punk," Wheeljack grumbled.
However, the two of them were interrupted by an explosion rumbling throughout the Tower. Realizing there were more pressing matters to attend to, they quickly darted out of the hanger and towards the science lab.
Elsewhere, the blast doors to the training room opened, revealing to Usagi and the others the massive hole in the wall in front of them, as well as the Decepticon fleet continuing to open fire upon the Tower. The shields had formed a protective barrier that prevented anyone from being sucked into space, though it didn't manage to relieve the feeling of dread that filled the hearts of Japan's greatest champions. Then, just as they were still reeling in this sudden development, Usagi spotted the Outer Senshi flying past them, several Seekers and Vehicons giving chase.
"Did you guys see that?!" a shocked Sailor Venus exclaimed. "We need to go and help them!"
"Right," Sailor Moon agreed. "We'll use the closest airlock."
She then turned to her boyfriend and future daughter.
"You two go take shelter in the science lab with Ami," she continued.
With that, she turned to depart along with Minako, who had already gotten a head start, when she felt a hand grasp onto her's.
"Be careful out there, Usako," Mamoru pleaded.
"I will, Mamo," Usagi reassured as she turned to face her beloved and plant a quick kiss onto his cheek.
And with that, she departed, hoping that she and Minako could provide the Outer Senshi some reinforcements before it was too late.
"My Diamond, we've established connection with Shockwave's lab," Hessonite stated.
The Gem matriarch said nothing in response. Rather she glared right at a massive screen directly in front of her as it switched on, revealing the Decepticon scientist staring emotionlessly back at her.
"Yellow Diamond," Shockwave greeted. "I trust that Jhiaxus' fleet has-"
"Opened fire upon the humans' base despite our orders not to?!" Yellow Diamond snapped. "Yes, it certainly has!"
Hearing this, Shockwave fell silent for several seconds, Yellow Diamond obviously not able to tell his reaction due to his lack of facial features. Infuriated, the commander of the United Galaxy's fleet stood from her seat and began to approach the monitor.
"Explain yourself," she snarled. "And why we shouldn't expel you from our alliance this instant!"
"I assure you that I had given my former mentor specific instructions not to violate your terms," Shockwave finally answered. "Once the situation regarding the Phoenix has passed, I shall be more than willing to surrender our archived transmissions to you and Funaho to prove my innocence."
"Even if I believed you, what reason could Jhiaxus have for this betrayal?" Yellow Diamond asked, still not fully trusting that Shockwave was free of guilt.
"It is likely not a logical reason," Shockwave answered. "Such actions could risk not only in our expulsion from the United Galaxy Alliance, but also to another war between Cybertron and Homeworld. Two outcomes that I cannot allow to happen for Cybertron's sake."
He then turned his back to Yellow Diamond and began to walk away from the console in his lab as he continued to speak.
"As such, I am granting your fleet authorization to launch a counterattack against Jhiaxus and his forces."
Hearing this caused the Diamond's eyes to widen slightly in surprise. This was not the outcome she had anticipated. She had expected significant resistance from the scientist, as well as a reason for this sudden offensive, be it either to eliminate the Autobot's leader while they had the chance or an act of revenge against the Infinity League for causing Megatron so many setbacks over the years. Still, she wasn't going to complain in the slightest. For now, she needed to focus her efforts on stopping this attack before the Tower could be destroyed.
"I will attempt to make contact with Jhiaxus in the meantime," Shockwave continued as he turned to face Yellow Diamond once more. "I'll see if I cannot either put an end to this or, at the very least, find out why he has turned on you."
"Very well then," Yellow Diamond responded before closing the hailing frequency and turning to Hessonite once more. "Relay Shockwave's message to the rest of the fleet. Tell them to prepare for battle."
Jetfire let out a grunt of pain as a Seeker's laser blast hit him in the shoulder. He quickly retaliated by pointing his own weapon at the one who caught him off guard and pulled the trigger, destroying the Seeker with a few shots of his rifle. Afterward, he placed a hand on his singed shoulder before noticing a trio of Vehicons flying his way.
"Space Sword...Blaster!"
Suddenly, a barrage of energy blasts came in from Jetfire's left, obliterating the Vehicons in a matter of seconds. The former Decepticon turned just in time to see Sailor Uranus fly past him with great speed, using her Space Sword to slice through the underbelly of another Seeker's terajet mode, causing it to explode shortly afterward. She then caught a glimpse of Powerglide firing his pistol at the engines of a Vehicon that was flying after Michiru. This caused the Decepticon grunt to spiral out of control before colliding with a Seeker, destroying both of them.
"Thanks!" Michiru called out before firing a blast of aquatic energies from her mirror to take down another Seeker.
"No prob!" Powerglide responded while punching a Vehicon that attempted to ambush him in the face.
Said Vehicon began to float aimlessly for a second before beginning to reorient himself, only for a blast from Setsuna's rod to blow his head clean off. Said Senshi of time, joined by Hotaru and Cosmos, flew up to the now assembled group, who looked upon the Decepticon fleet that continued to barrel their cannons onto Skyward Tower. But before they could even try to do something about it, they spotted a second wave of Seekers and Vehicons approaching them, now joined by two small frigates.
"Well, I'm open for suggestions," Sailor Uranus stated. "Any ideas?"
Suddenly, Jetfire heard something approaching from the rear and turned to face the planet behind them. A smile overtook his face upon seeing what it was.
"Yeah," he said. "Move!"
He then quickly flew out of the newcomers' path, bewildering the rest of the team for a brief moment. However, once they saw what was coming towards them, they instantly followed Jetfire's example and flew out of the way, allowing a volley of laser bolts to shoot towards the enemies, obliterating several of the fighters and even splitting one of the frigates in two. Not long afterward, the Pink Ranger's Firebird Thunderzord, its cannons glowing from within the barrels, zoomed past the team and towards the Decepticons, followed close behind by the combined form of the five Aerialbots, Superion, and the combined form of the five Technobots, Computron. The group let out a cheer for their freshly arrived reinforcements, all the while a back hatch opened in the Firebird Zord.
"Alright, Armbruster, you're up!" Kimberly said inside her Zord. "Let's see what that new suit of yours can do!"
Immediately afterward, a man in a silver suit of armor rocketed out of the Zord and began to fly beside Superion. Inside the armor was one of the newer members of the Earth Corps, Bradley Armbruster. AKA: Sabre Jet. A pilot in the US Air Force that suffered a horrific crash after an encounter with one of the lesser-seen of the Inhumanoids, Sslither, that paralyzed him from the waist down. Fortunately, the Earth Corps assisted in his recovery by supplying him with an exosuit built from the wreckage of his jet, due to the wreckage being so entangled into his body that extracting it from his body wasn't possible, that allowed him to walk again. This, in turn, leading to him joining the group in their fight against the Inhumanoids shortly afterward.
Now joined in battle, Sabre Jet wasted no time pointing a small arm-mounted missile launcher directly at the second frigate and fired a small missile that flew past the other fighters. It made its mark on the bow of the ship, completely decimating the bridge and causing a chain reaction that caused it to explode into several pieces.
"Good shooting!" Kimberly complimented before switching channels to Skyward Tower. "Sheila, establish a connection with the others."
"Already done," the A.I. responded.
"Okay, everyone, form up and follow my lead!" Kimberly commanded. "We've got to try and take out the Cons' cannons before they do any more damage to the Tower."
"Roger!" Powerglide responded.
"Mind if we join?" Sailor Venus' voice suddenly asked.
Hearing the voice of the Senshi of beauty and love, Kimberly turned to her right towards Skyward Tower and saw Minako, along with Usagi and ROM, with the Megas not far behind, approaching her and her newly assembled squadron. Their numbers now greater, the Pink Ranger turned her attention back to the Decepticon fleet and fired the thrusters of her Zord to approach it faster, her comrades close behind.
"VICE-ADMIRAL," said the communications officer of the command ship, a clone of Soundwave known as Soundblaster. "MULTIPLE ENERGY SIGNATURES DETECTED. ESTIMATED DESTINATION: OUR FLEET. LIKELY GOAL: LAUNCHING AN OFFENSIVE MANEUVER."
"Is that right?" Jhiaxus asked, smirking. "Contact Windburn at once. Have him break off the attack on Skyward Tower and lock on to our little 'welcoming party.' Once they're close enough, tell him to fire at my command."
"AFFIRMATIVE," Soundblaster responded, relaying Jhiaxus' message to Windburn's vessel.
As the heroes got closer and closer to their destination, shooting down several Seekers that attempted to ambush them, they noticed one of the warships ceasing fire on Skyward Tower. Before any of them could so much as question this action, the vessel slowly began to turn itself to where its primary cannons would soon be pointed right at them, prompting Kimberly's eyes to widen in shock.
"Looks like they noticed us!" she stated through her COMM. "Begin evasive action on my mark!"
Inside Windburn's battlecruiser, the Decepticon Commander observed as his ship prepared itself to obliterate this puny effort from the Infinity League to thwart their mission. He grinned sinisterly to himself as they foolishly continued their approach and kept his optics fixated on them...meaning that he failed to notice Yellow Diamond's own vessel splaying its fingers towards his ship, energy beginning to build up in its fingertips.
"Commander, Yellow Diamond's ship is preparing for attack!" a Vehicon shouted in a panic as the alarms finally started to blare out.
Hearing this managed to snap Windburn out of his trance, his optics widening in shock.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed as he swiftly turned towards the Gem war machine.
But before he could so much as bark out a command, five beams of energy shot out of the ship's fingers, piercing through the Decepticon warship's shields and causing the entire bridge to burst into flames, blasting everyone inside, including the ship's commander, into pieces. Several massive explosions ripped through the ship's hull before one mighty blast caused it to split in two.
This sudden surprise attack did not go unnoticed, however, as Jhiaxus, hearing the explosions from afar, jolted towards the source of the sounds just in time to see the destruction of Windburn's ship. Clearly having not anticipated this swift betrayal, the vice-admiral of the Decepticon fleet angrily began to march towards Soundblaster.
"Contact Yellow Diamond at once!" he shouted. "I want to know what the meaning of this was before we blow her and her ship out of the cosmos!"
But before Soundblaster could comply, the bridge's screen burst to life, displaying an image of Shockwave before Jhiaxus.
"That won't be necessary," he informed. "For it is you who must explain your own betrayal, Jhiaxus."
Hearing the voice of his former apprentice scold him, Jhiaxus angrily turned back towards the screen and slowly began to approach it.
"There's been a change in our plan, Shockwave," he began. "Lord Megatron himself ordered the attack on the Infinity League's base."
"And that gives you credence to believe this justifies going against mine and the Alliance's strict instructions?" Shockwave questioned.
"Of course it does!" Jhiaxus snapped. "I shouldn't have to remind you of all Decepticons that Megatron's rule is absolute. His word final! You and all who fight as Decepticons live only to serve him, and him alone!"
"Jhiaxus, allow me to disclose something about myself to you," Shockwave retaliated. "I serve only one master...and that is logic."
A stunned Jhiaxus could only stare at his student for several seconds before opening his mouth to try and rebuke his statement. However, the Decepticon scientist interrupted him before he had the chance to do so.
"And it is logic that dictates that maintaining our position in the United Galaxy is critical to ensure Cybertron's survival, as well as our victory over the Autobots. As such, I will not allow anything to put that position in jeopardy."
"Megatron...will have your HEAD FOR THIS!" Jhiaxus yelled.
"Perhaps," Shockwave admitted. "...Assuming you survive what is to come next."
Before the Decepticon vice-admiral could question that, the alarms in the bridge screamed to life.
"Vice Admiral!" Demolishor shouted. "Yellow Diamond's fleet is assuming attack formation! Several squadrons of fighters are approaching us!"
Jhiaxus slowly began to put everything together...and slowly turned back towards his pupil. The monster he had crafted that may have very well brought about his doom in what could almost be seen as a cruel joke at the vice admiral's expanse.
"You gave the order for the fleet to attack us, didn't you?" he practically snarled.
"It was the logical course of action," Shockwave answered. "Farewell, my old mentor."
With that, the screen shifted to the United Galaxy fleet that was now positioned to attack the Decepticon fleet. Swarms of Gem, Cluster, Jurain, Salamandrian, and Galaxy Police fighters approached them like a swarm of locusts looking to feast on a farmer's vulnerable crops. All the while, the Infinity League members that were out in the vacuum still approached them, now having gained an army to back them up.
"Strika, Obsidian, continue your assault on Skyward Tower!" Jhiaxus ordered. "We must continue to give our lord his opening!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral," Strika responded.
"All other vessels, target the fleet, target the League, target everyone, I don't care!" Jhiaxus barked. "SOMEBODY FIRE!"
While that was going on, the League members observed what had transpired with bewildered surprise as they observed the fleet frantically trying to position their crafts for a three-pronged attack on them, Yellow Diamond's fleet, and Skyward Tower.
"Uh...anyone wanna tell me what just happened?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Allow me," said Yellow Diamond's voice, now patched through to the League members' COMM's, catching them off guard for a second. "It seems as though there's been a minor change in allegiances, so to speak."
"Yeah, that's kinda the running theme with the DECEPTicons, in case you hadn't noticed," Powerglide sneered. "Seriously, what in the pit made you think-?!"
"I'm not certain what caused this sudden betrayal," Yellow Diamond sharply cut off. "What I do know, however, is that Jhiaxus' fleet is now being designated as hostile by the United Galaxy and shall be dealt with as such. Our cannons will need time to recharge, so I've sent in reinforcements to aid you in combating them."
"We appreciate it, grand commander," Kimberly replied before modifying her COMMS systems to get in touch with said reinforcements. "This is the Pink Power Ranger. All wings report."
"Homeworld Gems, standing by."
"Cluster, standing by."
"Salamandrians, standing by."
"Juraian forces, standing by."
"Galaxy Police Force, standing by."
"Alright, here's the plan," Kimberly stated as the alien fighters formed up around the League members. "We focus our attacks on those two ships that are still attacking Skyward Tower. We go in and hit those cannons hard and hit them fast."
"Understood," a Salamandrian pilot replied.
"Roger that!" Sailor Venus added.
"ASSUMING OFFENSIVE FORMATION," Computron informed.
The small army began to increase their speed towards the Decepticons, focused on Obsidian and Skrika's warships when they noticed several Seekers and Vehicons exiting the hangers of each of the capital ships.
"Uh-oh, here comes the welcome wagon!" Sabre Jet stated as the enemy fighters approached them and opened fire, all the while the remaining capital ships that broke off their attack on the Tower opened fire on the United Galaxy fleet.
"Spread out!" Kimberly commanded.
As they returned fire, the space heroes scattered about the intergalactic battlefield, several fighters on both sides being among the first casualties.
"Too many of 'em!" Superion shouted as he fired his massive cannon to bring down two Vehicons and a Seeker.
"Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, you two come with me!" Kimberly said as she weaved the Firebird Zord through the oncoming debris and fired her cannons at some of the enemy forces. "We'll start the first attack run!"
"We're right behind ya, Pink Leader!" Minako replied as she fired a Crescent Beam to destroy a Vehicon.
The two Inner Senshi formed up close to the Firebird Zord as the trio approached Strika's ship, flying around the cannon fire that immediately greeted them.
As the battle continued, inside the Tower's science lab, a majority of the Science Division continued their work on trying to figure out how to combat the Phoenix whilst trying to tune out the muffled explosions and occasional rumbling. Joining them were Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Chibi Moon, Ryoko, and the League's visitors from Remnant. The latter heroes had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the now cured Yang once word reached them of Usagi's efforts to save her and the others, as well as the fact that she would be heading for the lab for her metal arm to undergo some repairs.
That anticipation gave way to fright and concern the instant the Decepticons' batteries began barreling down on the station, and after the tenth rumble and thirtieth muffled explosion, Weiss was the first to say what was no doubt on the others' minds.
"This station will hold, won't it?" she asked.
"Not to worry, dearie," Dr. Wakeman assured. "Skyway Patrol kept this station in tip-top shape to the bitter end and the repairs we've made to it since then will ensure our survival."
Just then, the door to the lab opened, revealing both Wheeljack and Yang to the others.
"You guys do see what's going on out there, right?" the Autobot scientist asked.
But before anyone could answer that, Ruby practically exploded towards her now caught off guard sister, arms at the ready.
"YAAAAAAAAAAANG!" she cried out in joy.
She then tackled her stepsister to the ground, arms wrapped around her in the mother of all bear-hugs while Yang struggled to breath.
"Oh, Yang, I was so worried!" Ruby yelled. "I thought you were a goner!"
"Ruby, please...stop..." Yang groaned.
Realizing what she was doing, Ruby quickly released her grip on the blonde and got back on her feet...only for Yang to then embrace her herself, much to her younger sister's surprise, but she returned the exchange without a second thought. Weiss and Blake then noticed tears beginning to flow from their teammate's eyes and quickly rushed over to join in a group hug to try and comfort her.
"I'm so sorry..." Yang choked out. "I tried to fight her, but I..."
"It's okay, Yang," Blake reassured. "It's okay."
As Team RWBY continued to embrace each other, Qrow, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Penny observed, smiles of relief overtaking them, all while Wheeljack approached his fellow brainiacs.
"Wheeljack, what's going on out there?" Sailor Mercury asked.
"That Decepticon fleet ambushed us!" Wheeljack answered. "Shoulda known they'd pull this kinda slag!"
"Well, we better stay put here for now, then," Donnie concluded.
"Speaking of, wasn't there a reason goldilocks came here in the first place?" Washu questioned.
"Oh! Right," Yang chimed in as her team ceased their embrace. "Here."
She then proceeded to advance towards Dr. Wakeman, lifting up her metal appendage as she did so.
"Mercury said you might be able to fix this," she stated.
"The locking mechanisms seemed to have been damaged," Ami added.
"Well, here, let me take a look at it then," Dr. Wakeman responded.
Obliging, Yang handed the scientist her metal arm, who immediately placed it onto the table and got out a set of tools.
"Ya know, I could probably get it fixed faster if I-" Wheeljack attempted to interject whilst slowly approaching the robotic enhancement, trying to get a closer look at this weapon from an alternate universe.
"Ah, ah!" Peridot interrupted, immediately getting in between both Wakeman and Wheeljack. "Bad Jackie! Back! Back!"
"Okay, okay!" Wheeljack relented with his hands up. "I ain't a fraggin' dog!"
Then, all of a sudden, Sheila materialized in front of the League's science division, catching them and the others off guard.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important," the A.I. greeted.
"What is it, Sheila?" Lexington asked.
"It seems the Decepticons' little surprise attack had damaged our communications network and our defense systems," Sheila answered. "The leaders want some of you to go assist Grapple with the repairs."
"I'll head up there right now," Wheeljack offered. "Washu, Utonium, Peridot, Lex, you guys come with me."
With that, the Autobot scientist and his makeshift team dashed out of the science lab.
"What about the rest of us?" Tuxedo Mask inquired.
"Kim wants as many of us stationed across the Tower in case the Decepticons managed to board us," Sheila answered.
"Okay, then here's the plan," Ruby said. "Weiss, you, Jaune, Nora, and Ren go to the infirmary. If these guys manage to make it inside, chances are they'll want to go after anyone there first and foremost."
"Got it," Weiss responded.
"Chibi Moon and I will go with you," Mamoru added.
"Eh, count me in too," Ryoko offered. "I'll go see if Tenchi and the others wanna join."
With that, the former space pirate flew up to the ceiling, phasing herself out of the room.
"Yang, you and Blake stay put here," Ruby continued as she turned to her stepsister. "If you hear anyone outside that isn't any of us or the League, barricade the doors and don't let anyone in."
"You're the boss, sis," Yang replied.
"Penny, Oscar, Uncle Qrow, you're with me," Ruby furthered as she turned to the last three of her group. "We're gonna go with Wheeljack and the others to make sure their repairs go off unhitched."
"Understood," Penny replied.
With everyone having their objectives set, the groups departed, each of them determined to make sure any Decepticon that dares to step foot in Skyward Tower quickly regrets that decision.
Back out in space, Usagi, Minako, and Kimberly had managed to close in on one of the ion cannons that fired upon their team's orbital base.
"Eagle 20, Fox 2!" Minako remarked as she pointed a finger directly at the cannon.
The three heroines unleashed everything they could at the war machine, Usagi using her upgraded Heart Moon Rod, now her Moon Kaleido Scope, Minako firing several Crescent Beams from her fingertip, and Kimberly hailing down an onslaught of energy bolts from her Zord. However, once the projectiles made their mark, they were greeted by a protective barrier that separated the cannon from them much to their shock.
"Damnit!" the Pink Ranger cursed as she and the Senshi continued to approach their target. "Girls, pull up! Pull up!"
The three of them banked sharply upward, ascending the Decepticon craft as they shot down a few grunts that tried to get the drop on them.
"Pink Ranger, what's your status?" Sabre Jet asked through the Ranger's COMM.
"The ship's completely shielded!" Kimberly answered. "We didn't even dent it!"
"There's gotta be something that's projecting that shield in the first place," Usagi suggested whilst she and her companions dodged several laser bolts that ran rampant across the galactic battlefield.
Hearing this exchange, Cosmos quickly flew up to Computron, who had punched several Vehicons that attempted to ambush him.
"You hear that?" the Minibot asked.
"ANSWER: AFFIRMATIVE," the Technobot gestalt replied. "INITIATING SCANNING SEQUENCE NOW."
Computron then turned his head towards one of the capital ships and focused his optics squarely on that, leaving him open for a surprise attack.
"ESTIMATED TIME LAPSE FOR COMPLETE SCANNING OF DECEPTICON BATTLESHIP: 7.49251 CYCLES," he announced.
"Translation?" Minako requested.
"Seven minutes," Powerglide stated.
"We must protect him then while he acquires the ship's schematics," ROM declared as he used his Neutralizer to shoot a Seeker in the head.
"You got it, my shiny, chromed out brother!" Coop replied from within the Megas.
The machination of war from the future proceeded to fly right beside Computron and unleashed the absurd amount of weapons at the squadrons of Vehicons and Seekers that attempted to ambush the two of them, completely obliterating them within a matter of seconds. More of them, as well as three cruisers, tried to launch a counter-attack when...
"Me, Grimlock can help with that!" a familiar voice snarled.
Suddenly, the Dinobot leader, who had been ejected into space following a destructive fight between him and Ryoko, used the boosters in his legs to fly up to one of the Seekers and slice it in half. He then grabbed a Vehicon by its wing and tossed it with all of his might towards one of the cruisers, causing the robotic grunt to smash through the bow and cause it to veer to the left. This, in turn, caused it to collide into a second cruiser, destroying both of them.
"Ryoko lucky!" Grimlock shouted as he smashed his fist against a Seeker before shooting down two more. "Only thing me, Grimlock would want to smash more than her...are Decepticons!"
While that was going on, the battleship commanded by Grindor began to plow through the enemy forces in an effort to reach Yellow Diamond's vessel.
"We're in range of the enemy's ship, commander," a Vehicon informed.
"All batteries, prepare for attack!" Grindor ordered.
Once it was in position, the Decepticon warship began to fire its side cannons at their target, a relentless onslaught of laser fire barreling down on the Gem ship's hull. All the while Seekers and Vehicons took down any starfighters that tried to intercept them.
Inside the matriarch's personal spacecraft, the entire vessel rumbled violently as the Decepticons' offensive rained fire upon them, several Peridots being knocked off their feet as Yellow Diamond angrily gripped onto her command chair.
"Initiating counterattack!" Hessonite said as she frantically typed several commands onto her console.
The hand-shaped spaceship then proceeded to grip itself into a fist before rocketing towards Grindor's ship.
"Full power to starboard shields!" the Decepticon strategist barked.
No sooner had his crew reacted did Yellow Diamond's craft slam against the Decepticon capital ship, throwing everyone onboard the bridge to their backs as sparks practically exploded all around them. Cracks formed on the bridge's windows as the ship veered slightly to the right.
"Damage report," Grindor demanded as he got back to his feet.
"Half of our starboard cannons are currently offline," a Vehicon informed. "Shields currently operating at 68% power."
"We won't be able to last much longer against Yellow Diamond like this," Grindor concluded before activating his COMM device. "Launch all Orbital Assault Carriers! Focus your attack on the enemy's engines!"
Like a swarm of hornets sent to defend their nest, waves of the Decepticons' much larger, operator-driven ships, the Orbital Assault Carriers, flew out of the warship's hanger. The pilots wasted no time cutting a swath of destruction through the Alliance's fighters as they tried in vain to stop them from nearing their leader's ship. Hearing the destruction from afar, Usagi ceased her efforts to try and pierce through Strika's shields to turn towards the ensuing conflict. Not long afterward, she saw Haruka using her World Shaking to punch away a Seeker that tried to attack her girlfriend.
"Haruka! Michiru!" the guardian of love and justice called out.
"Got it," Sailor Uranus responded, rocketing towards the Alliance fleet with Sailor Neptune close behind.
As they neared their allies, the OAC's had managed to easily destroy a Cluster frigate and were nearing Yellow Diamond's engines.
"Open fire!" one of the squad leaders ordered.
The weapons on the crafts began to charge, but right before they could fire, Haruka swooped in and sliced the cannons off of five of them, causing the OAC's to explode soon afterward. Not long afterward, a ball of aquatic energies managed to take down two more before Michiru flew up beside her lover in front of their opposition. Seeing the Decepticon fighters reform and aim their cannons at them, Sailor Uranus clenched her right fist as it began to glow.
"World...Shaking!"
With that, she hurdled her attack towards the OAC's.
"Evasive maneuvers!" a squad leader shouted.
The remaining starfighters quickly scattered about, but the attack still managed to detonate against one of them, the resulting explosion destroying seven more. The OAC pilots began to shoot their weapons at the Outer Senshi, only for them to evade the barrage of laser bolts while keeping their attention on them and not Yellow Diamond's engines.
Meanwhile...
"SCAN COMPLETE," Computron informed as ROM shot down a Vehicon that tried to swoop in and shoot the combiner down. "ANALYZING SCHEMATICS OF DECEPTICON BATTLESHIP NOW. LOCATION OF SHIELD GENERATOR: UNDERSIDE NEAR THE ENGINES."
"Got it!" Sailor Moon responded as she began to fly towards the bottom of Strika's ship, Minako close behind to shoot down anyone that tried to interfere.
Soon afterward, she approached a dome-shaped protrusion that was nearby the engines. Assuming she had found the shield generator, she pulled out her Moon Kaleido Scope, the jewel embedded in the hilt beginning to glow.
"Moon Gorgeous...Meditation!"
The leader of the Sailor Senshi proceeded to thrust her Kaleido Scope towards her target, several thousand glowing shards shooting out of it and raining onto the ship's shields. Several seconds passed before the shards broke through the barrier and began to pierce through the defensive mechanism, causing it to explode and for the shields all around the ship to fade away into nothingness.
"What is happening?!" Strika yelled as the bridge began to shake slightly.
"General, our shield generator has been destroyed!" a Vehicon informed.
In a display of her fury, the Decepticon general slammed both of her hands onto the nearest control panel.
"All available fighters, converge on my location!" she shouted. "Don't let any of that filth anywhere near our cannons!"
She could see from the bridge some Vehicons, Seekers, and even one or two OAC's changing course and approaching her ship, only for them all to be immediately shot down by the Firebird Zord before it swooped by the window.
"Armbruster, Venus, Pluto, now's our chance!" Kimberly stated.
With an opening presenting itself, the Pink Ranger wasted no time having her Zord zoom towards the now vulnerable cannons, Sabre Jet, Minako, and Setsuna following close behind. Kimberly commenced the assault by firing her Zord's weapons at the cannons as they continued to fire at Skyward Tower, Sabre Jet launching several small missiles at the ones she missed, followed by Sailors Venus and Pluto shooting several blasts from Mina's fingertip and Setsuna's Garnet Rod respectively. In a matter of seconds, every single cannon that had barreled down on the League's base were completely destroyed.
"Hoo-ah!" Kimberly cheered. "Morphinominal work, guys!"
This setback did not please Jhiaxus, who growled in contempt as he witnessed Strika's warship ceasing fire.
"Obsidian, increase firepower at once!" he commanded into his COMM.
"At once, Vice Admiral," the Decepticon general responded on the other side.
"Soundblaster, contact Bugly and have him change course to give Obsidian back-up," Jhiaxus ordered his communications officer.
"NOT REQUIRED," Soundblaster replied. "HAILING FREQUENCY DETECTED. SOURCE: BUGLY'S BATTLESHIP."
"On screen," Jhiaxus ordered.
Soundblaster did as he was commanded, and just a few seconds later, the bridge's monitor displayed an image of the Pretender standing in the bridge of his own vessel, with what seemed to be a look of panic in his optics.
"Vice-Admiral, our scanners are picking up a large mass of cosmic energies approaching Earth's orbit," he informed. "...The Phoenix is here."
Out of the corner of every eye and optic, every participant in this battle saw a mass of flames approaching them as the cold vacuum of space seemed to heat up all around them. A look of dread overtook them as everyone turned towards the source. There, approaching them, was the Phoenix. It was every bit breathtaking as it was petrifying. A mass of flames in the shape of a gargantuan firebird of death and destruction, its piercing, blazing eyes locked straight at Skyward Tower as it began its approach, paying no mind to the hordes of Decepticons that it flew through, turning them to ash the instant they made contact.
"Full reverse!" Bugly screamed as the Phoenix got closer and closer to his ship. "FULL REVE-"
It was too late, however, for anything to be done. For the Phoenix's wing sliced through the hull of the battleship like a knife slicing butter, causing a chain reaction that caused the war machine to blast into several pieces, some of which were incinerated as they flew into the cosmic terror.
Inside the Tower's science lab, Yang could only look out a nearby window as she saw the being that manipulated her mind begin its approach. Her skin practically turned white as she began to take several deep, quick breaths as she went into a panic. A feeling that no doubt, the others whose dreams had been plagued by the Phoenix shared with her. Seeing this, Blake quickly ran up to her teammate and firmly grasped her hand into Yang's left palm, who tightly squeezed the Faunus' hand back to try and comfort herself.
While that was going on, the six active League leaders had too witnessed the cosmic deity's arrival, a look of fear on each of their faces. No one dared to so much as utter a word as they had realized that this was likely to be the endgame, and they were completely unprepared for it. Both due to the downright cataclysmic circumstances as well as their inability to properly ready themselves. None, however, were as filled with dread as Optimus. As he stared at the beast he had banished many years ago, a sense of both fear and guilt ran through him. For now, his actions might not have only cost him his friends' trust, but also their lives.
However, at that moment, when all hope had faded, Jenny suddenly spotted something coming up from the planet below.
"Guys, look!" she said.
The other five turned just in time to see a brightly lit form approaching the Tower with great speed. No sooner had they done that did Mothra practically explode through the light and fly past the League's orbital station, her target now being the Phoenix. A sense of relief and hope filled their hearts as they observed the benevolent Kaiju continue her approach towards her ancient foe.
They weren't the only ones who bore witness to this, as both Blake and Yang were able to get a good look at Mothra as she flew past them. The two huntresses watched the Kaiju in awe as she moved towards the galactic battlefield.
"Oh...it's beautiful," Blake commented.
"What is that?" Yang asked.
Suddenly, the two of them noticed Ami approaching them, standing right beside Blake as she too observed the sight.
"That...is Mothra," she answered. "The Queen of the Monsters."
Back out in space, the Phoenix suddenly ceased its approach, sensing a presence she had not felt in eons. She turned towards the source and saw Mothra screech aggressively as she continued flying towards her target. Seeing a face she had not seen in billions upon billions of years, the Phoenix practically hissed in resentment.
"You..." it said.
The Queen of the Monsters proceeded to tackle herself against the Phoenix in an effort to get it away from the League, jabbing her sharp, mantis-like forearms through its body. However, the cosmic terror manipulated its body to where its flames flowed past the Kaiju and out of its grasp. It reformed behind Mothra and let out a torrent of fire from its mouth, Mothra swooping out of its path and firing two energy beams from her eyes that hit the Phoenix dead on. The firebird screamed out in pain before using its claws to grasp onto Mothra and throw her against the hull of one of the Decepticon battleships. It then tried to jab its beak through Mothra's heart, only for her to thrust her abdominal stinger through her opponent's body.
This caused the Phoenix to release its grasp on Mothra, allowing her to fly away from the creature. However, the Phoenix was able to swipe one of its wings towards her ancient foe, the impact causing the Kaiju to spiral out of control for a few short moments. Once she regained control, she was forced to quickly shield herself with her wings the instant she saw the Phoenix shoot its fires at her once more.
"You've grown weak since last we met, Mothra," the Phoenix stated as it continued its attack. "You've given birth to your offspring in my absence, haven't you? And yet still you try in vain to thwart me. Brave...but foolish."
It was at that moment that Mothra's shield wained, the fires burning her as she screeched in agony and was thrown through a nearby Decepticon freighter, the impact alone completely destroying it. Mothra quickly regained her composure, only to then see the Phoenix soaring towards her.
"You couldn't be rid of me even at your strongest," it pointed out. "What makes you think you had any chance against me now?"
However, right before the cosmic force could reach her enemy, a mass of black lightning-like energies surged through it, causing it to halt its advance and wail in pain.
"Because she is not alone," Sailor Saturn answered for the benevolent Kaiju as she plunged her Silence Glave deeper through the Phoenix's back.
"Who...DARES?!" the Phoenix shouted as it fought the immeasurable pain it was in.
Hotaru then proceeded to cease her offensive, quickly flying past the Phoenix before staring it down beside Mothra.
"I am an emissary from the abyss of death," she introduced. "Protected by Saturn, the planet of destruction, guardian of silence...I am Sailor Saturn."
She then thrusted her scythe forward towards her enemy, glaring directly into its eyes as Mothra roared once more at her old rival.
"And I have returned to cast you into the void where you belong, abominable invader!" the guardian of death and rebirth declared.
She proceeded to fly quickly to the Phoenix's left, shooting out a large, powerful beam of energy from her weapon whilst Mothra fired her eye beams at her adversary's right. The cosmic horror cried out in agony as it found itself unable to move while both Hotaru and Mothra kept up their relentless assault.
...It was because of this that neither of them noticed a Kraang portal seemingly moving on its own and opening behind the two of them.
Back at the Tower, Optimus noticed this sudden oddity and motioned towards his fellow League leaders while they were in the midst of cheering Mothra and Sailor Saturn on.
"Something is coming up behind them," he stated, his optics widening in terror when it began to open. "It's a Kraang portal!"
Hearing those two words was enough to prompt the others to cease their cheers almost instantaneously, a similar look of shock on their faces.
"Wait, what?!" Jenny exclaimed.
"How did Sheila not pick that up?!" Kim added.
"Sheila, come in," Guy frantically requested. "Sheila!"
However, once the A.I. appeared in front of them, something was immediately off. The image had static corroded all over it, and all that came out of her was a garbled mish-mash of nonsense. The leaders, concerned over her well being, were about to ask what the problem was, only for her to flicker in and out of existence. Then, right before she faded away completely, for a split second, the image was not that of Sheila...but of what appeared to be a Coyote.
That was all the leaders of the Infinity League needed to confirm their worst fear: Sheila had somehow been hacked.
Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, the six of them turned back to the Kraang portal. From the other side, they could see only a cloud of blackness at first. Several lightning strikes briefly illuminated the silhouette of a winged, three-headed beast that approached the duo who were holding the Phoenix at bay. Suddenly, without warning, the creature burst out of the portal and flew towards Mothra, revealing itself to the now horrified be a black-skinned clone of the dreaded King Ghidorah. The clone, DesGhidorah, grabbed the caught off guard Mothra by her wings using the left and right heads, forcing her away from the Phoenix. Unable to contain it on her own, Sailor Saturn was forced to break off her attack and evade the inferno the cosmic entity sent her way.
The baffled heroes naturally had one nagging question on their minds: Who was responsible for creating such an unholy abomination like this? Then, as if fate was answering that question for them, once DesGhidorah began to fire three blasts of his black-colored Gravity Beams towards Mothra, its wings lifted up, revealing, much to the leaders' dismay, the logo of a Black Hat.
Sadly, it seemed the situation was destined to somehow still go from bad to worse, as they suddenly felt the Tower shake violently, a loud crashing noise heard on the floor below. The six heroes struggled to maintain their balance as Kim immediately activated a screen on her gauntlet to display secondary security footage of the lower floor due to Sheila being out of commission for the time being. The others gathered around her and saw, to their shock, Astrotrain, having rammed through the wall thanks to the damage the Tower's shields took, lying on the floor as a blast door closed the hole he had made. His cargo bay doors opened to reveal a grinning Black Hat with an entire legion of supervillains, Cobra agents, and Decepticons standing behind him.
"Oh..." Danny started.
"...shit," Kim finished.
"Quickly, warn as much of the League as you can!" Optimus commanded as he began to dash down the hall.
"Wait, where are you going?!" Jake asked.
"I will deal with Black Hat myself!" Optimus answered.
As these events occured, the rumbling didn't go unnoticed by the group making their way to Grapple's location to help with repairs. Everyone screeched to a halt just outside the power source for the Tower's defense systems once they felt the ground beneath them shake.
"Sounds like we're being boarded," Washu stated.
"Ruby, you stay with the others," Qrow said to his niece as he, Penny, and Oscar turned to her.
"We will investigate this," Penny added.
"Keep in touch," Ruby responded as she held up her scroll. "Contact me immediately if anything happens. Be careful out there."
With that, the trio of huntsmen turned around and ran in the opposite direction to confront this new threat, all the while the door to the weapons systems' power source opened, revealing Grapple motioning to them.
"Quickly now!" the Autobot architect said.
Not wasting even a second, Wheeljack, Utonium, Peridot, Lexington, Washu, and Ruby ran inside, the red-clad huntress taking one last look at her uncle and friends, praying to the gods that they'll be okay as the door shut in front of her.
While that was going on, those that were in the science lab also felt the floor quake slightly.
"Sounds like the castle's been breached," Yang stated.
"We better get started barricading the doors then," Donatello concluded. "Yang, you help me with the table."
Nodding once, the blonde was about to walk towards the turtle who does machines when...
"Ahem, aren't you forgetting something?" Dr. Wakeman asked.
Yang turned to see Jenny's mother holding her fully repaired metal arm, handing it back to its owner.
"Thank you," Yang said as she put it back into its socket.
"No worries, dear," Dr. Wakeman replied. "Oh, and I've taken the liberty to give it a few extra modifications if that's quite alright with you."
Wondering what exactly she meant, she leaned over to Donnie as the scientist went to assist Blake and Ami with several objects to barricade the entrance with.
"Should I be worried?" Yang whispered.
"Eh, I wouldn't be," Donnie answered. "Now, if this was Wheeljack we were talking about, THEN I'd be terrified."
Meanwhile, Black Hat was the first to exit the makeshift Decepticon trojan horse, deviously smiling with his shark-like teeth showing as he imagined all the horrible, painful things he would do to every single wretched hero onboard this station. The next ones to exit were Goldar, the Baroness, and Soundwave.
"You three have your targets and your teams," he informed.
Goldar and Baroness looked down at a device displaying several images to them, Goldar's showing the White Ranger, Steven, and Star, while Anastasia's revealed April and Aelita. Soundwave, meanwhile, looked down at a screen on his right arm, showing him images of Yang, Rei, and Blossom.
"Bring at least one of them back alive," Black Hat ordered.
With that command, the three of them ran down the halls in search of those who were in the Phoenix's thrall.
"The rest of you..." Black Hat began as he turned back to the others still inside Astrotrain. "...Let the slaughter begin!"
Everyone inside let out a cheer as they began to practically flood out of the triple-changer, weapons drawn for some, abilities charging for others, all with the intent to wreak havoc on their hated rivals. During this, Destro tossed a Kraang portal right beside Astrotrain which opened to allow several robotic soldiers to begin marching into the Tower.
"Battle Android Troopers, to war!" he ordered as he pointed forward. "FOR COBRA!"
The automaton soldiers followed their orders without question, weapons drawn as the last squadrons of them as well as the last of the villains had entered the battle. This allowed a visibly annoyed Astrotrain to transform into his robot mode.
"Ugh! You're lucky I was able to make it here in the first place," he grumbled. "I was SO tempted to just start jettisoning some weight to get you idiots off my back. Starting with Starscream."
The demonic weapons dealer was about to threaten his mode of transportation for his remark, when suddenly...
"Hold it right there!" a voice suddenly shouted.
Both Black Hat and Astrotrain turned to see Penny, Qrow, and Oscar running towards them.
"I'll just leave the four of you to get antiquated," Astrotrain jested as he ran to join his fellow villains.
"Yes, you'd better," Black Hat sneered before focusing his attention on the three warriors from Remnant, his smile returning to him. "You three must be new here."
"You could say that," Qrow responded. "And who the hell are you supposed to be? The boogeyman?"
"Oh, no, no, no, no," Black Hat denied. "...I'm the one who ATE the boogeyman."
"Right..." was all Qrow said before he pointed Harbinger in its shotgun formation directly at Black Hat.
Seeing this, Penny pulled out her Floating Array swords and began charging them while Oscar readied Ozpin's cane, The Long Memory. Upon realizing the huntsmen and huntress' unorthodox style of weaponry, the arm's dealer chuckled sinisterly in amusement.
"Want to see what MINE can do?" he asked.
Before any of them could answer, he pulled out what appeared to be a silver Walther P38 from inside his suit and pointed it at Penny. None of the inhabitants of Remnant seemed too concerned with such a small, seemingly puny weapon, meaning they were totally unprepared when the gun fired an unnaturally powerful energy blast from the barrel. A wide-eyed Penny attempted to boost herself away from its line of fire, but the blast managed to hit the ground below her, resulting in her letting out a frightened yelp as she was sent flying against a wall.
"Penny!" Oscar exclaimed.
However, before either he or an equally shocked Qrow could try and do anything to help her, Black Hat began to fire more blasts from his weapon, laughing with devious glee as he forced the two of them to spread out to try and avoid the laser fire, unable to get anywhere near him. However, as Black Hat continued to fire upon the three huntsmen, he heard the sound of massive footsteps coming up behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Optimus Prime charging toward him with a look of fury in his optics.
"Your fight is with me, Black Hat!" Prime shouted.
"No, Prime, your fight is with HIM!" the demonic arms dealer corrected.
Black Hat flung his sidearm at the Autobot leader. As it threw through the air, it transformed it its robot mode and tackle Optimus through the wall once it was close enough. Black Hat turned his attention back to Oscar and Qrow as they used the time they had to assist Penny back to her feet.
"Now then..." he said as his fingers grew into blade-like claws. "Where were we?"
Back with Prime, the Autobot commander, now lying face-first onto the floor, groaned in pain as he attempted to get back on his feet. However, a massive, mechanical foot suddenly slammed onto his right hand.
"Oh, Optimus," an all too familiar voice growled with devious glee. "Look what you've done."
Despite already knowing just who stood before him, Optimus still looked upward, his blue optics being greeted by...
"Megatron?!" Optimus said in shock. "You've joined Black Hat's Society?"
"I've joined with no one," Megatron refuted. "I came here so I can personally rip out your optics!"
The Decepticon warlord then pointed his fusion cannon down at his old rival, only for Prime to transform his right hand into his energon axe, cutting deeply into Megatron's foot. The former gladiator released his hold on Optimus, causing him to jolt back to his feet and slam the cannon away, causing it to fire at a nearby wall instead. Megatron retaliated by transforming his own right hand into his mace and swung it at his foe, commencing their clash.
"VISUAL CONFIRMATION," Soundblaster reported as an image displayed the hole Astrotrain had made. "LORD MEGATRON'S MANEUVER WAS SUCCESSFUL."
"Excellent," a smirking Jhiaxus responded before reaching for his COMM. "Obsidion, break off your attack. We may now focus our efforts on this pitiful resistance that dared to challenge us."
The vice-admiral of the Decepticon fleet then pressed a button on his COMM-device to speak to someone else.
"Scourge...release the Sweeps!"
Mabel lost her balance as she fell to the floor in her quarters by some unknown force that violently shook the tower. She had been taking shelter in her room during the Decepticon's barrage on Skyward Tower so she could make sure that her pet pig, Waddles, was safe. But this felt different than the cannon fire from before. This time, it like something had slammed into the station itself. After she made sure that her pig was okay, she quickly grabbed her batons before racing out of her room and into the hallway, where she saw Kim running past her.
"What's going on?" she called out to the leader.
"We're under attack!" Kim answered quickly as she stopped to speak to her.
"By who?" Mabel asked.
"Everyone!" Kim declared. "The Society, the Decepticons, Cobra, even the Red Talon's among them!"
Hearing that name made Mabel's heart stop. In a single, sad moment, Mabel suddenly realized what had been truly happening. Her brother had not only donned his villainous persona again despite his promise to her that he would stop, but now he had joined forces with Black Hat as well. It broke her heart that her own sibling had backstabbed not just her but the entire Pines family with this act. She didn't know why Mason was doing this, or how Wendy played into this, but unlike him, she was going to keep her promise.
"Kim, wait..." she began slowly. "There's something you need to know..."
[1] - As seen in the now complete miniseries "Savages."
[2] - As seen in Sam's Spotlight.