Nova had just left through a portal into some dimension no one had ever truly seen before. The rest of Team UNITE, as well as the entire basement of Dexlabs, was silent aside from the rumbling of the Gateway. Doctor Automata established communication with Nova immediately, and though the connection was shoddy at best, they were able to talk to Nova as she traversed the In-Between. For an extended period of time, they had lost contact with Nova entirely, and upon restoring contact, everyone learned that Nova had been struck by lightning. Aides immediately were sent into a panic as they tried to figure out what that meant in the In-Between while the Doctor reassured Nova. Upon her entering the next universe over, the aides immediately mentioned that a "dimensional storm" had come over Nova; a phenomenon in which energy would condense and travel the In-Between, grabbing more and more energy until it came into contact with something that it could transfer that energy to. Furthermore, those storms, whenever they came across a drone, would completely vaporise the drone, and the fact that Nova had been caught in one and survived was surprising on its own.
Team UNITE stuck around for the rest of the day, and the day afterwards, but eventually they would go on to return to their mission without Nova. Ranger Athena, as the second official member of Team UNITE, would assume responsibility as the new leader of Team UNITE in her absence, and the group spent the first two weeks helping "The Providence Splinter Cell" set up bases across the Townsville area. The first they set up was a large, publicly known camp in Genius Grove, taking over an entire street not too far from Mandark's House and the Infected Zone that had been established surrounding its perimeter. This would be the primary scientific base of this "splinter cell" of Providence and would be run by Doctor Holiday almost exclusively. It would also be the home base of Team UNITE, thanks to Athena's house being within the Providence base's perimeter. Although she could've just as easily stayed with her extended family in Peach Creek under the protection of the recently-completed Cul-De-Sac cardboard fort, Athena decided to move back in with her mom so she could allow Bronwyn to work with Holiday directly, attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding the deactivation of nanites.
A second base focused on reconnaissance would be established in the Haunted Ridge Bean Scout's camp, both as a way to protect the heavily vulnerable area and to keep tabs on Providence HQ and, by extension, White Knight. Captain Calan had been assigned to run this base and it had become the primary residence for Rex, Bobo, and - strangely enough - Breach, who showed up at the front gates one day and demanded to be let in. Providence immediately called upon Team UNITE, and a deal was made to let Breach in, so long as she agreed to never use her powers within the base. Stranger still, she had agreed, and Providence made daily reports on her activity; she never once used - or appeared with intent to use - her powers. Everyone at this base knew the true story behind the Providence split, even Breach, and had been paying extra close attention to the shadowy organization pulling Providence's strings, the Consortium; their possible alliance with the Fusions was dangerous, and if a hostile takeover was attempted at any point, the rest of Providence needed to know immediately.
A third base was currently being constructed on some island off the coast of Orchid Bay called Skull Rock. Meant to be a new HQ, the base would have an above-ground part known as Outpost S, as well as a component underneath the island known as The Reef. Construction was being headed by Agent Six, who had assumed the responsibility of being the leader of this splinter cell. Few people had ever been to Outpost S - not even Team UNITE had been given that honour - but it had been rumoured that Van Kleiss himself made an appearance had a short yet productive conversation with Agent Six, then left with no evidence that he was ever there beyond a supposed alliance between Agent Six's Providence and Abysus.
As time would go on, Team UNITE would help heroes and villains alike with petty problems and interpersonal squabbles. Whether it be Professor Utonium being suspicious of Father, countless conflicts between the Eds and the Kanker Sisters, or Billy and his strange new neighbour, Him getting into fights about posters hung up around Endsville. About 4 weeks into Nova's disappearance, they received news that her communicator had just come through the Gateway on board a reverse-engineered drone; Team UNITE took this to mean that Nova was alive on the other side but for whatever reason had decided to stay in the alternate universe, at least for the time being. The very next day, they received more new and strange news; the entire Candy Pirate Fleet had just appeared off-shore of Candy Cove, with the Sweet Revenge itself heading straight for dry land, covered in scars from an obviously one-sided battle at sea.
Team UNITE appeared to Candy Cove, an army of KND Operatives and Urban Rangers already assembled nearby. The team made their way to the front of the crowd just as the Sweet Revenge made landfall and came to a halt over a park in the southern part of the neighbourhood. Planks of wood scraped off and fell onto the ground, exploding into Fusion Matter and coating the Cove in more than enough of that alien goo to warrant a new Infected Zone. Candy Pirates poured off the ship in droves, chased off their own flagship by mutated beings of candy, wood, and kegs of root beer, Fusion Matter, and a horde of Spawns. Backing up the entire crew as the last man off his own ship was the captain of all candy captains, Stickybeard, obviously not willing to let his ship go down without its captain. He sword fought with the mutated candy pirates, took out the walking root beer barrels' legs with a handheld candy cannon, and stepped on any fusion spawns that got too close with his candy cane peg leg. Soon, however, the terrafusers that had attached themselves to the ship began to rip the Sweet Revenge apart - larger planks and crates beginning to be manipulated by the strange gravity that Fusion Matter put off - and Stickybeard was forced off the ship. The rest of the fleet arrived during this final stand, ships taking up their places on the coast. The fleet was tiny, with maybe only 10 ships total, if they were lucky, which signalled to the group that they had already taken on heavy losses while at sea.
"Wait are we waitin' for?" asked a voice next to them. "Numbuh Five thinks it's time to go have a chat with her old pal Stickybun."
Athena nodded and quickly fell in line as Numbuh Five marched her way over to where the Candy Pirates had taken up residence. The young Ranger spoke up, "Hey, Numbuh Five. Didn't realise you were here."
"Numbuh Five wasn't supposed to be here, but someone got too lazy to come when he was asked," she responded, shrugging.
"Numbuh Four?" Athena posited.
"Numbuh Four." Numbuh Five confirmed.
As they approached the makeshift Pirate Village that was quickly being set up, they noticed it was worse than they thought; they could only see one other Candy Captain outside of Stickybeard, and the number of pirates was drastically low. Every single ship, with the exception of a lone schooner, showed damage that, while not as bad as the Sweet Revenge, was clearly not something to be scoffed at. Most were just a light breeze away from completely falling apart. Candy Pirates quickly loaded candy off their ships, stacking the clean crates together and piling whatever was clearly not safe into a small mountain on an island in the Cove.
Stickbeard noticed Numbuh Five approaching and cautiously laid a hand on his candy cutlass as he bellowed, "Ahoy there, landlubbers! We be jus' makin' this here our 'ome fer a while if that be not a problem."
"It won't be if ya can agree to behave while you're here, Stickybeard," Numbuh Five warned.
"Without me ship bein' able to sail that there won't be an issue. I can behave fer as long as I 'ave to be 'ere." stated the ship captain earnestly.
"Well, that was easy," Numbuh Five stated, turning away, "Numbuh Five is gonna go take a nap now."
"Hold on a second, Numbuh Five," Kerry jumped in, "Captain Stickybeard, if I may, how did you all manage to get this beat up?"
"Yarr," mumbled Stickybeard, "yarr, that be the question o' the hour." He looked back at the village and motioned for Team UNITE and Numbuh Five to follow him. As they moved, he began, "It all started when the aliens attacked me ship while I slept in me quarters. They completely caught us off-guard an' drove us out o' the suburbs an' into the sea. We was lucky enough to able to drive 'em off when we reached open waters. I managed to get most o' me fleet to report in, but the aliens found us again an' completely wiped the floor with us. I lost most o' me fleet. This here be all that be left, to me knowledge."
"I'm... sorry to hear that," Agent Bronwyn replied, dropping her head to look at the injured sailors that littered the beach, burns encompassing most of their bodies, cuts and bruises doing the rest of the work. Most were unconscious, some barely hanging onto their consciousness, good eyes fluttering open and closed, light breaths escaping their chapped lips.
"Yarr, I be sorry too," growled the large man who led them across the camp. "This here be the only ship that there somehow managed to evade the aliens, the Jolly Roger, an' this here be its talented Cap'n, Chocolate Charlie."
"Cap'n Stickybeard! Jolly to see ye again. Ye be doin' okay?" replied the plucky young individual as they jumped up from their own command, shaking hooks with the larger man.
"Yarr, I be doin' alright, kid. This here be Numbuh Five, me number one rival."
"Jolly to be meetin' ye!" declared the younger captain.
"Numbuh Five ain't the one ya wanna be talkin' to. These folks are here with an offer for ya," Numbuh Five quickly responded, motioning to Team UNITE.
"An offer, eh?" Chocolate Charlie asked, surveying the three people closely.
"We're Team UNITE," Athena began, "I'm Athena with the Urban Rangers. This is Kerry with the Plumbers and Agent Bronwyn with Providence."
"Bronwyn, eh? Ye be a sight fer sore eyes-" began the captain.
"Not interested. Girls only," Bronwyn scoffed.
"'m not a boy or a girl," Charlie shrugged.
"My point stands," Bronwyn growled, crossing her arms.
"Arr, 'm not tryin' ta start a fight 'ere. Me apologies." surrendered the pirate.
Kerry cleared his throat and stepped in between the two, quickly stating, "A-Anyway. Asking you to behave isn't the only request we have. We'd like to ask for your assistance in fighting the Fusions."
The two captains looked at each other, then back at the group before them. "Look, we yay to behave. We don't 'ave the people to spare to 'elp fight these aliens." Stickybeard spoke plainly.
"What if we got you supplies to help rebuild? I'm sure we could have some Urban Rangers and KND Operatives here to help out in 30 minutes flat," Athena suggested.
"Free o' charge?" Charlie asked. Stickybeard held up a hooked hand.
"We don't want no help from the Kids Next Door," stated the older man, getting so close to Athena that she could smell the root beer on his breath. "An' we especially don't want 'elp from the Rangers."
"What if we helped you with the Sweet Revenge?" Athena suggested.
The pirate belly-laughed. Charlie took the question instead, "What makes ye think ye be able to avenge the Sweet Revenge?"
"We've been doing this for a while now," claimed Bronwyn.
"Numbuh Five'd join them, too," Numbuh Five said.
The pirates - Stickybeard still in the midst of laughing himself to death - shared a glance before Charlie chimed in, "Ye know what? I be likin' ye. I'll 'elp ye too."
"Harr-harr-harr! If ye manage to clean up me ship at all, I'll be reconsiderin' yer offer," laughed the other captain. "Someone's gotta look after these lubbers, after all."
With that, the group of five returned to the Sweet Revenge, an Infected Zone already almost finished with being established around the massive Man o' War. The group took the Dexbot and its warp pad into the new Infected Zone, climbing the hovering planks and crates to reach the deck of the ship. There, the group was ambushed by the ship's new crew of Fusion monsters. Candy Buccaneers, Fusion Spawns, and barrels of contaminated root beer shambled up and down the deck, but when the group had arrived, they all stopped and charged at once, taking most of the team off-guard.
Numbuh Five shrugged off the Spawn that had jumped towards her head, smashing it with her foot as it flopped to the floor. Kerry formed a vine shield around himself as scalding hot Fusion Root Beer was flung at him by a Barrel Basher, dismantling the shield. Kerry smashed the monster with his extended vine arms, turning and throwing a fireball at one of the Buccaneers rolling towards Bronwyn on her flank as she dealt with a small group of Spawns. Athena swashbuckled with a Buccaneer as the two rose up and up on a fusion matter covered crate headed straight for the crow's nest. Athena took a decisive swing at the Buccaneer with her bat, taking its wooden head clean off and causing the monster to explode, the matter being collected in Athena's new NanoCom 2.0. As the crate came to a stop, Athena jumped into the crow's nest and dispatched the smaller Buccaneer stationed there rather quickly.
From way up here, Athena was able to get a full view of the surrounding area; the Candy Pirates had seemed to have finally gotten everything sorted out, and the ships that were only a few more splinters away from being irreparable were being pushed into the ocean and burned. Urban Rangers and Operatives had come face to face with the invading force of Fusions near the border into Peach Creek and were fighting a winning battle, easily taking down the monsters as they advanced. Below, her team was finishing off the last of the remaining crew, and Terry had set fire to one of the Terrafusers. However, as Athena looked around the new Infected Zone, she saw a Fusion Spawn rising up on a plank of wood that everyone else had seemingly missed. She picked up a candy sabre off the ground, seemingly left there by a pirate before he abandoned the ship, and jumped over the railing and onto a piece of cloth as it travelled to the top of the mainmast. As she did, she made eye contact with the Spawn, which smiled as it convulsed, a disturbing distorted cackle escaping its fanged maw. Right before Athena's eyes, it sprouted arms, legs, a head, and clothes, taking on the form of Numbuh Five.
"Figures," Athena mumbled.
The Fusion pulled out two Blue Raspberry Pop Guns and began shooting at Athena, who managed to dodge the relatively slow-moving blasts at first but quickly began to only be able to let them graze her. Athena swore after each hit, trying to shrug off the pain. The two platforms soon converged and Fusion Numbuh Five did a backflip onto a large floating set of planks that stretched between the top of the foremast and mainmast, shaking the platform as it landed.
"Oh, now you're just showing off," Athena shouted, making a leap so she stood on the opposite side of the plank from the Fusion. As the Ranger gained her balance, she drew her new sword and held it in her hands nervously. "S-so. Only one is g-getting down from here. A-and I intend for it to be me. Just so you know."
"Intend, for, it to be... me. Just, so you... know," mocked the Fusion, its voice choppy, broken, and unsure.
"O-kay that's new," muttered Athena.
The Fusion cackled and unleashed its first volley against the Ranger as she ran forward and slashed at the Fusion. It made a clear cut and stunned the monster, but her body reformed around the cut as she elbowed Athena in the neck, dropping her to the ground. The Numbuh Five impostor then threw her guns to the side - which turned into Fusion Matter and re-absorbed into her body - and picked Athena up by the backpack, tearing it to shreds, the contents falling to the ground below. An open pocket knife fell out along with the rest of the pack's contents and stabbed the Fusion in the foot, causing it to stagger and allowing Athena to crawl away, standing up behind the Fusion and bashing her bat over its head. The bat immediately exploded into splinters and metal, but once again gave Athena enough time to slice at the Fusion's neck with her sabre. Once again, the Fusion reformed around its missing limb, reconnecting its head with ease.
"Oh, c'mon, that's not even fair!" Athena complained, taking a direct blow to the stomach.
The Fusion stood over her as she fell to the ground once again. It kicked her new sabre to the ground below and summoned two new Pop Guns as it kneeled down. The popsicle barrels attached to either side of the Rangers head as she said her prayers and made peace with her life. But, the shot she was expecting never came. Instead, when she opened her eyes again, Charlie stood over her, candy sabre stabbed through the Fusion's left eye. It dropped the Pop Guns and, as Charlie pulled the sabre out of its head, collapsed on top of Athena, exploding into Fusion Matter around her. A lot managed to land on her, burning her significantly, but most was absorbed directly into her NanoCom. As she sat up and rubbed her neck, a small golden earring slid down her torso and into her lap. She recognized it as belonging to the real Numbuh Five. Charlie helped the girl up, watching as she pocketed the earring.
"That there been some jolly good fightin' ye just did there, lass," expressed the pirate.
"Um. Thanks," Athena replied, wincing in pain as she stretched.
"Ye know, I be almost tempted to ask ye to join me crew. Ye 'ave the capability o' bein' an absolutely outstandin' swordfighter if ye put in enough practice," Charlie said, outstretching the sword he had just used to defeat the Doppelganger to Athena. She noticed his own was fastened tightly to his belt.
"You... you think so?" stammered Athena.
"Aye, that I do, lass. That I do. Now, take this here thin' before me arm gets tired an' I decide to change me mind," they responded, hiding a smile.
Athena smiled and took the sabre from the pirate in front of her. Kerry, Bronwyn, and Numbuh Five rose up on a plank behind the captain. Kerry immediately jumped over and nearly tackled Athena.
"Oh, my stars! I thought you had died when I saw all your stuff fall to the deck! Are you okay?" he asked, checking over her wounds.
"I'll be okay," Athena assured him, wrapping her arms around him. "Thanks."
"I'll take a look at you when we get back to the MRC," Bronwyn added, a small smile creasing her lips, "I'm glad to see you're okay, though."
"Oh, Numbuh Five!" Athena said, fishing the earring out of her pocket, "The Fusion dropped this."
"Woah. Ew. Numbuh Five's good. Numbuh Five's got plenty of other earrings. You hang on to it, maybe you can turn it into a Nano Numbuh Five. Numbuh Five thinks she might've seen that Dex was developing a Nano of her for the First Wave," replied the former leader of Sector V.
Athena smiled and pocketed the earring again. "So, er. Can we get down now?"
The next day, the Candy Pirates formally signed on with the growing Alliance of Earth. Athena turned the earring in with Dexter, who - along with Athena's own Imagination - turned it into the first Numbuh Five Nano. Aboard Oswald, Bronwyn was readily able to heal Athena's burns and bruises. Athena offered a spot on the team to Captain Chocolate Charlie, who politely declined, saying they "needed to be there fer their crew". They did, however, agree to be an ally if the team ever needed them, offering up the Jolly Roger as a method of sea transportation if that was ever something that was required. Team UNITE continued to do odd jobs for the heroes and villains across the Suburbs, fighting off Fusion after Fusion. All the while, Athena continued to try to learn to sword fight, but without a proper teacher, she never did get very far.
Word on Nova was usually sparse, with the occasional update from Automata saying that a drone had detected her energy signature off in the distance. That was until one day when Automata had informed them that Nova and a small group of others had been detected entering a portal and returning home. The team dropped everything and rushed to Tech Square, finding their leader exhausted, dazed, confused, and most alarming of all, ready to completely destroy Gateway. The team decided independently to not press her on what had happened. They did notice, however, that her appearance was unrecognizable; she was taller, with short, messy partially bleach white, partially green hair. Bronwyn identified several discoloured spots that covered her skin as vitiligo. But something was familiar about this new Nova to the rest of the team. As if they had seen her before. They all agreed on this, but none could quite place why that was. They remembered Nova's odd behaviour from before she left, how she sometimes would seem like a different person altogether, but the specifics around those times were fuzzy at best and had disappeared completely from their minds at worst.
Stranger still, the team woke up in the morning to discover that she had disappeared once again, only to reappear in the mobile research centre moments later, knowing she wasn't there when they woke up. Even stranger still, however, was what she said to them when she did reappear.
"Hey, guys? Don't panic, but I think I might be a time traveller."