Angel: I saw Monsters at Work on Disney plus this week. I love that the original cast is back, and the 3D looks great, especially on a TV budget. It feels like the movie's art, just more polished. And I like the new characters, Cutter is my favorite, love her.
The only problem I have is the main character, Tylor. He feels too…OC for me. I sympathize with him enough as well as the whole rough adjustment to laughter thing. I just find Tyler a bit…bland in personality from what I've seen, but hopefully I can get over that problem.
Pieces of the ground flew as the dead KVNs laid around, with the Lord Commander revealing himself to the group. Bolo stared at him as he showed them his evil grin. He had a partly melted grin, glowing yellow eyes, and he was as tall as Bolo now. And he looked very armored...
He let out a laugh at his new form, looking at himself. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" What was even more terrifying was that his mouth wasn't even moving.
"You're no Titan!" Bolo screamed at him. "And you never will be!" He grunted as he had to cover his eyes with his arm.
The Lord Commander simply stared at him, and turned his right arm into a full sword. Bolo opened his mouth in horror as he realized what he was planning to do.
"No! Get out of here, now!" He shouted to the team.
"Dad?! What are you doing?" Nova cried out loudly.
The Lord Commander chuckled and lunged forward Bolo. "Bolo!" Gary cried out as the Titan took one last look at his daughter.
"I love you, Nova."
"DAD!" She ran up towards the door and then the Lord Commander stabbed him, causing her to freeze with a look of horror. She panted heavily as she looked on, unable to move or speak. Bolo groaned as he looked at the stomach wound, with green blood around it. The Lord Commander chuckled, lifting him up into the air.
"And just like that, Bolo falls. I thought you'd give more of a fight." He glanced back at his friends and his daughter, all of them gasping.
"Bolo," Gary gave a look of horror of having to witness that.
"Peace out..." He murmured weakly, tears streaming down Nova's face. She backed away slowly, covering her mouth with both hands. The Lord Commander grabbed his head, looking back towards the ship.
"You should have given me what I wanted, Nova. And now...this is the price."
He then RIPPED off Bolo's head and Nova let out a blood-curling scream at this. Gary's lip quivered as his body floated away from them, kneeling on the ground. He glanced at Quinn and then Nova ran off. The two followed after her. The Lord Commander threw Bolo's head away, with green blood dripping from it...
Nova reached the window and pressed herself against it, whimpering as she saw his head and his faded yellow eyes. She started to weep as she stared at his lifeless head. "Papa..."
"Bolo..." Sheryl murmured as Little Cato walked up to Nova, Gary and Quinn entering the bridge.
"He could've been our new daddy..." Fox gave a dismayed look as he looked towards the ground.
"He killed Bolo!" Little Cato screamed in a panic. It felt like just yesterday that he got Bolo's blessing to be Nova's boyfriend...
"This...this can't be happening!" Avocato stated with wide eyes.
"Believe it. It's happening," Biskit commented with no emotion, arms crossed.
Blue essence suddenly emerged from Bolo's head and went over to the Galaxy 2. It surrounded Nova and turned purple as she stared at her dead father's body. She was so angry and so furious that she wanted to take it out on the one who killed him. Her eyes went purple in a furious rage, clenching a fist. Her teeth started to look like Bolo's as a purple aura surrounded her, her hair lifting up.
"What's happening?!" Little Cato exclaimed as they could only stare. "Starlight?"
Then Nova stepped back and let out a huge purple beam towards the Lord Commander, hitting him in the chest. He was knocked back into the remains of the Earth while she was screaming in anger, glaring towards him.
"We need to go, go, go, go!" Gary ran towards his seat.
"He killed Bolo!" Little Cato pointed outside.
"Mom! Hurry, before Nova exhausts herself!" He called out.
"On it."
She turned around and flew the ship away from the area. The Lord Commander looked at them from what remained of the Earth.
"But the KVN Net!" Quinn protested to the group.
"Quinn, it's gone," Gary told her the hard truth. "Get us out of here, now!"
"We can't lightfold when Nova's using her powers, we don't know what it'll do to her!" Ash argued back.
"Starlight, stop!" Little Cato stood in front of her and she blinked, quickly stopping what she was doing.
"Here we go!" Sheryl pressed a button and flew past the asteroids. The Lord Commander flew after them and they picked up speed. He was literally running after them and he tried to grab the ship but missed. He tried again and again, damaging the ship in the process. Avocato braced himself from the sparks and Gary gritted his teeth. If this continued, they'd be floating out in space.
"There is no escaping," He declared, holding out a hand to the Galaxy 2. "You end here!" The ship slipped right through his fingers.
"No," Sheryl narrowed her eyes. "Nova, distract him!"
She lifted herself up into the air again, lifting up her arms to send out a bright purple flash. It blinded the Lord Commander, but also affected Nova at the same time because of whatever Bolo gave her.
Once the flash was gone, Nova's appearance was now different. Her hair was thicker and longer into a left side ponytail that reached her feet. It was mostly purple but with a blonde ombre on top, and her white tips at the end were now gone. There were also three strands of white and blue sticking out from the ponytail, and it was also decorated with a large white star with purple ribbons hanging from it on her left side. Her purple crop top showing her stomach had long puffy white sleeves that came to her hands, her mini skirt layered with purple and yellow. Her shoes were knee-high white boots. Her eyes now had pale yellow star-shaped flecks in them that glimmered around her orbs.
"Whoa!" Little Cato exclaimed at her.
"Lightfold!" Sheryl demanded and they did so, disappearing. The Lord Commander recollected himself and slid to a stop, growling at their escape. He was about to go run off to find them, only for Invictus to stop him in his path. He just groaned at him.
"Lord Commander..." He let out a grumble. "You were supposed to bring me Mooncake and Nova!"
He just gave a grin in response. "Sorry to inform you, but there's been a change in plans."
"You defied me," Invictus stated as Titans started to appear around it. "And now, because of you, you have given Nova an advantage!"
"You swore to make me a Titan! And because Nova wouldn't do it for me, I did it myself. Killing her Titan father was just the first step of my revenge towards her. Now you've kept your word."
"This is not a promise kept," Invictus denied him. "This is a rebellion started. Let me remind you who...I am..." He started to glow red and Lord Commander glanced around at the other Titans.
"Well, get on with it!" They lifted up into the air and reached out towards him.
"I know what you're all feeling right now because...I'm feeling it too," Gary spoke up after they had sat in silence. "So I'll just say it. Bolo's dead." He gave a brief glance to Nova sitting in the back. Her knee was lifted up to her face, where she was hiding it from everyone, her other leg dangling above the ground.
"Chookity pok..." Mooncake murmured slowly, floating over to Nova and bumping her head. She gave no reaction whatsoever.
"He was a really good dude," Little Cato murmured, going over to Nova and hugging her. "I'm so sorry, Starlight."
"Yeah," Gary stood up from his chair, walking down to the floor. "He was..." He looked away, remembering all the good times he had with Bolo, including recently...not to mention that Bolo and Nova were separated for so long, and now...she didn't have him in her life anymore. And she was now an orphan... "And he will be missed."
"Don't forget...the Lord Commander is now a Titan," Sheryl pointed out.
"I nearly did," He pointed at her. "What a relief that I remember that nugget of information. Thank you," He crossed his arms angrily, a bit pissed that the Lord Commander got what he wanted.
"The hyper-transdimensional bridge is also lost somewhere in space," Biskit added in.
"That's also a big one."
"And the KVN Net's destroyed," Avocato stated as well.
"And Invictus is still out there and getting more powerful. I can feel it..." Ash murmured in worry.
"And we've got a changed Nova now..." Fox glanced back at the girl and they took in her new appearance. She actually reminded them of Bolo because of the blonde parts, but she still had resemblance of her old look with the white and purple locks of hair. And also some new parts that had yet to be explored if her eyes gave any indication.
"I get it, we're screwed!" Gary shouted in dismay. "We're totally screwed! We're unbelievably screwed! And yet..." He gave a pause and they just stared at him.
"And yet...what?" Little Cato asked in confusion, still hugging Nova a bit. He glanced down at her and she didn't even look up.
"I'm not sure. I was hoping if I started the sentence, that somebody would finish it off in a really smart way."
"I got nothing," Little Cato shrugged a bit, looking around. "Anybody else? No. Kay. Yeah, we got nothing."
"HUE, please," Gary begged the AI, who came up a second later.
"I got nothing, Gary. Sorry."
"So, that's everything," He sighed in dismay.
The other members of the Team Squad glanced at each other, unsure of what to do as they looked back at Nova. "I don't know what to say to her," Gary admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Even after I saw my own dad die...I still have nothing." It was probably because Nova didn't have that much time to bond with her father since he was usually away, and their situation was totally different. It took Nova a while to accept him as her father, and...now he was gone.
"Nova..." Avocato walked over to her and she made her hand into a fist.
"Go away," She growled out.
"I know this is all new and weird for you, but you could get rid of the Lord Commander and Invictus on your own," Quinn told her. "Your father must've passed on his power to you. You're powerful as the Titans now! You're practically the next Bolo now, so you can hel-"
"You don't GET IT!" Nova suddenly shouted, looking up at all of them as her eyes were red. "I don't want this! I never asked for this!" She looked at her sleeves and at her hair. Their eyes saddened at her; she was only given these powers because of Bolo's death, so now she had to put up with them and with the pressure of defeating their enemies. While also trying to guide them like Bolo did. "I want these new powers out of me! Someone take them from me, I don't want this responsibility! I don't wanna be the next Bolo! I want..." She bit her lip, hiding her head back on her arm. "Papa..." She whispered tearfully, sniffling.
"What are we gonna do?" Little Cato asked the team, frowning sadly towards his girlfriend. He didn't know right now what he could say or do to make her feel better...unlike the Arachnitects, she witnessed her last family member's death...
"Yeah, what do we do, Quinn? Hm?" Avocato wondered defensively, glaring at her.
"Uhh, what's that supposed to mean?" She glared right back, gritting her teeth.
"The only reason we're still here in Final Space is because of you," He pointed at her, giving her another glare. She clamped her mouth with an angry look towards him. Nova rubbed a temple at this. She REALLY did not want to get pissed off right now, considering that she was mourning her father. But while they shouldn't have stayed, Invictus would've terrorized the galaxy if they left, so she wasn't sure what was the right choice in this case.
Gary stood in front of Quinn. "Look, we can't fall apart now, alright?"
"I think it's already too late for that one," Fox added in sadly, glancing at Nova.
"Right," Gary pinched his nose. "Thank you, Fox, for that. Let's get started with repairs on the ship and get the Dragon Hawk 5 back to 100 percent." He placed his hands on his hips with a brave look. "Sound good, Team Squad?"
KVN floated over to him. "You heard the man, get to it. Avocato, get over here and plug these holes." He just sighed and walked off. "Little Cato, Nova, I need you over here. Fix this!"
"No," Nova told him simply and Little Cato helped her stand up with a sigh, annoyed.
"You see this? Fix it."
"Ash, you terrify me. You stay put and do nothing," The robot warned, earning an eye roll. She just sighed as she flipped her hair, walking off.
"Okay."
"Sheryl, get over here and compliment me," She also left the room.
"Nope."
He groaned at this as everyone left. "I expect this all done in 20 minutes, people. Chop chop!" He either didn't realize that they weren't going to do it, or he just felt like he wanted to be in charge, which he clearly wasn't...
"Come on, I'll get you whatever you want in the mess hall," Little Cato told Nova as they walked down the hall.
"Wait," She looked up at him. "You don't want me to talk about Bolo's death?"
"I'm not gonna make you if you don't want to. You can tell me whenever you're ready, or we can just...talk about anything," He shrugged with a small smile and she smiled back at him, grateful that he was giving her time to grief on her own if she needed it.
"You know, you do too much for me," She told him plain and simple. "You had me ever since you took care of me for 60 years with no expectations in return, Cato. You don't need to do anything else."
"I know, but I know you by now. So...let's just have a good time, right? Besides, we gotta do something to celebrate your new look."
"Right," She closed her eyes, almost looking much better than she did several minutes ago. Gary and Quinn smiled at the two, finding them adorable right now. "You don't think it's weird that it reminds people of Bolo?"
"No. You still look like you. Like you did when we first met."
"You almost got me there in the feels, I'll give you that one," She looked away in amusement and he rolled his eyes, equally amused.
After she got a well-needed snack and talk with Little Cato, the two of them were helping out the rest of the team with repairs. Biskit walked by, holding a toolbox. He popped open a panel and started messing with the wiring for some reason.
"And this one, and this one! Oh, boy. All of these have got to go!" He started pulling out wires.
"Hey, hey!" Sheryl ran over to him. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! You can't just rip energy transfer piping out."
"Oh, yes, I can! Oh, it's just a cluster! Oh, nest! Oh, wow!"
"Oh," She gave him a slightly annoyed look. "You really are insane, you give Nova a run for her money."
"Pfft, I can definitely agree on that one," Nova muttered to herself. With his whole 'shipping' thing and unprompted actions that mostly work in their favor, he beat her by a landslide in terms of insanity. Sheryl then left the hall, reaching the hall with the bedrooms. She stopped in her track as she saw Ash alone, looking out the window.
She narrowed her eyes as she could hear the whispers of Invictus. She wasn't sure if Nova was also hearing it, but it was so strong that she couldn't ignore it...
"Hey, Ash," Sheryl spoke up and she looked away, concerning the woman. "You good?" She got no answer in response. "Ash?"
"...You know, this is the first thing you've said to me in a while," Ash confessed to her.
"Well, I'm not much of a socializer," She took a deep breath. "But, I can always tell when someone has something on their mind. So?"
"So what?" She crossed her arms and Sheryl walked around to face her, leaning against the hall.
"So what's on your mind?"
"Have you ever felt torn...between two worlds?" Ash asked slowly, still looking towards the outside. Sheryl looked out too.
"I have, actually."
"What side did you choose?" Ash wondered curiously.
"Looking back on it...the wrong one."
"...I don't know if I belong here anymore," She murmured, looking towards the ground.
"You do," Sheryl leaned in a bit closer.
"And what if this is the wrong side?" She questioned skeptically, looking out and still hearing Invictus.
"Ash, I'm worried about you," Sheryl told her. "You sure you're okay? I don't like this. Things might not have gone the way they did with the Lord Commander, but before you get in over your head, I think you should talk to your siblings about-"
"I'm not going to talk to them about this," Ash interrupted with narrowed eyes. "My brother and my sister are fine. They don't need to worry about me! I'm the one who has to look out for them, not the other way around. I'm never better."
Sheryl heard something and looked back out. They could see something wrong with the sky, as part of it was in different colors than the rest. And not in a good way either. "That doesn't look right..."
"Invictus found us," Ash told her with no hint of surprise. The Zombie Garys fell down from out of nowhere, heading right towards them. Sheryl immediately took off into a run as an alarm went off. She turned on her communicator.
"Red alert! We've got company."
"I am close, my child," Invictus spoke up, with Ash's eyes glowing purple.
They landed on the ship and crawled everywhere, starting to tear it apart. The door opened and they looked up as the alarm was blaring. "What is it?" Gary asked as Sheryl came back to them.
"It's another swarm of you," She informed, which honestly made him a little unnerved. Mostly because those were other versions of him under the tyranny of Invictus.
"We now have multiple hull breaches," HUE pulled up an image of the ship to show them. "I would strongly advis-" Then the power cut out when one of the Zombie Garys pulled out the wiring, shutting everything down.
"Og, crap, they killed the power," Gary stated while holding a glow stick, Nova forming an orb of light.
"HUE's offline," Quinn stood up. "They're sabotaging the ship. We gotta wipe them out fast."
"Wow! This just keeps getting better and better," Avocato spoke up sarcastically.
"Mmm," Nova glared at him for being a smartass, and Quinn seemed to share that sentiment, if not for added reasons.
"Okay, break up in groups," Gary advised the team.
"I'm with Avocato," Quinn stated immediately, holding her own glow stick. "Let's go."
He sighed as he looked away. "Great."
"We'll get them off the hull."
"Alright, okay," Gary walked up to Little Cato and Nova. "You're with me, son and Nov."
"Oh-ho, sick," He grinned, pointing up at his adopted father.
"I know it's sick!" The man agreed, pumping his fists.
"Sure, why not?" Nova casually agreed.
"I'm gonna be on Team Biskit! A solo special-op squad populated exclusively by this guy," He gestured to himself. "Because when I hunt, I hunt alone," He hugged his gun, cocking it. "Team Biskit is also a lifestyle brand with T-shirts available at the gift shop. Waaaaoooow!"
"Remind you of anyone?" Gary smirked knowingly at Nova.
"Please, I'm not that invested into my own death sentence tonight," She rolled her eyes and Biskit pouted up at her. She could get where Gary was coming from since Biskit did kinda remind her of herself, but she wasn't definitely on Biskit's wavelength.
Little Cato looked around and found that they were still missing someone. "Wait, guys, where's-where's Ash?"
"Ashy?" Fox looked around for her.
"I was just with her," Sheryl jerked a thumb to the hall. "Fox and I will go back for her."
He nodded and readied his cannon. "I'm ready to kill Gary!" He earned weird looks from the others. "Oh, not the real one," He winked at them. "Unless you want me to."
"No, we do not mean to kill the me in the room!" Gary reminded him. "All right, let's make this quick. Search and destroy," He turned his robot hand into a sword. "And then...destroy some more," He then turned it into the cannon.
"Oh yeah!" Nova pumped a fist. After what happened earlier, she was ready to let out all of that rage onto people who deserved it. She looked at Avocato and then glanced back to her team. "Start without me, I'll be there in a minute."
"Be careful," Little Cato warned her as he ran off with Gary and she scoffed as the rest of them separated.
"Still not something that needs to be said." Avocato was about to run off when she grabbed his arm. "What's with the anti-Quinn attitude, dude? Did you forget how this all came about?"
"This all started when she had the idea for us to stay here and defeat the Titans!" He argued back, grabbing back his arm. "Stay out of it, Nova. This isn't your fight."
"If you're gonna get pissed at Quinn for something that started over a decision that you made all on your own that you were fine with before, then I'll make it my fight!" She gritted her teeth at him and he paused. "Quinn has been here longer than anyone, and you don't think she doesn't deserve a chance to get back at Invictus? Even if we do leave now, it's still gonna raise hell for everyone, which includes Little Cato, by the way."
His eyes widened at her deduction and he was about to speak up when she cut in. "Yeah, I know the whole reason you're acting like a bitter asshole towards her, big shock for someone who just saw her father die! I know things look bad now, and you don't agree with her about how we should be living. Believe me, I personally would've preferred to go home if it meant my father was still alive. But don't forget that there are other dangers out there too."
"So you'd rather have Bolo die than to go home?!" He asked her incredibly.
"Don't go there with me," She warned him furiously. "Your beef is with no one but yourself, not Quinn. I can tell you still hold some prior resentment towards her. I don't know what it is, but you need to get over it before it holds you back entirely. Just like when Quinn got poisoned and told no one until it bit her in the ass! You're the one who made the choice in the end to stay, and you could've gone home right then and there instead of making your own grave! Think about that instead of some petty bullshit."
And with that, she left, Avocato glaring at her. While she had a point, he still didn't like the fact that not only were their lives at risk, but Little Cato's as well...
"Everything okay?" Little Cato asked her gently as she joined back up with her team.
"I'm fine," She rubbed a temple. "I just hope that they can tough it out..."
Quinn and Avocato glared at each other as they ran down the hall. They put on their helmets and the door opened. They immediately opened fire, with the army surrounding them. They took one side each without having to say it (or probably because they didn't want to).
"Nice job," He told her sarcastically over his shoulder.
She then sighed wearily, purposefully bumped into him, and fired past his face. "What the hell?!"
"You've been at me all day," She narrowed her eyes. "You got a problem, say it to my face."
"Yeah, you know what?" The Ventrexian told her while firing at a Zombie Gary without looking. "I do have a problem with you. I'm gonna die here with my son, and it's all your fault!"
"You could've left," She reminded him. "You didn't," Quinn fired behind her back. "That's on you."
"Ugh," He groaned at getting this told to him not only by her, but by Nova as well, but neither of them saw the problem. They ran towards the elevator, firing at the zombies while doing so. Quinn turned back while firing and then jumped backwards, both of them falling. Some of the zombies follow after them. "You always have to play the messiah, don't you?"
"What the hell?" The woman asked in confusion.
"I'll patch the breach! I'll save the world! We have to kill the Titans!" He mocked her.
"And the alternative is what?" She growled back.
"Living!" He exclaimed before they both heard growling. They looked up ahead to see that the Zombie Garys had somehow cut them off, flying right towards them. They fired rapidly and one of them grabbed Quinn's feet. She turned around and fired. When they landed in another room, Avocato defeated all of them with ease. He turned to her with a sigh. Both of them took off their helmets and he turned around to her fully. "We got it."
"Got what?"
"Final Space poisoning," He took off his wrist bracelet and showed her his arm, which indeed had the poisoning on it.
"You and Little Cato?" She glanced up at him.
He stared at her for a couple of seconds. "...No, Quinn. All of us. Gary, too."
She gasped at this, feeling horrible now. "Even Nova?"
"...I'm not sure," Avocato furrowed his eyebrows in thought. He himself hadn't seen Nova's arms, and no one else, including her, had commented about her specifically having it...
"I didn't know," She looked away.
"Now you do," He walked off and her eyes turned towards the ground with a sad look. If she had foreseen this, she would've never asked them to stay behind...
Gary, Little Cato, and Nova walked down another hallway, all of them armed. The Ventrexian was holding Nova's hand in an assuring way, both of them hearing clanging. It had been silent between all three of them until the man finally said something.
"You know what? It's, uh...it's been a minute since we've had a one-on-one," He smiled down at Little Cato. "Or, I guess, a two-on-one. Which is perfectly okay!" He held up his hands in defense as Nova glanced up at him. "I don't have a problem with you coming with us, Nov! At all! I-"
"Gary," She interrupted with a weak smile. "You don't have to continue. I get it. Thank you."
He smiled a little in relief. "Yeah, it has," Little Cato changed the subject.
"How you guys holding up, spider-cat?"
"I think I speak for both of us when I say we've been better," He looked up at Gary.
"I...feel scared. And lost," Nova closed her eyes, hugging herself. "And...a little empty to be honest."
Gary's eyes softened at her. "Yeah, I...I've felt that," He thought about how he watched his father die by going to close the breach all those years ago... He glanced at the two, having a knowing look on his eyes. "Let me see it," He moved the glow stick over to them and Little Cato moved down his glove to show his Final Space poisoning. He glanced up at Gary while Nova looked away. She was the first person to know about it, since they both shared a room, and it wasn't like he could keep that a secret for long from her, nor did he want to. She didn't take it too well, but the two agreed that they'd face it together.
"It's still early. Nov, show me."
Little Cato and Nova gave each other a worried look, neither of them saying anything and she didn't do anything. "...What?" He asked in confusion and she took a deep breath. She moved away her left sleeve and...
There was nothing there.
His eyes widened as he examined her arm closely, but she showed no sign of the poison. "...You don't have it," He looked up at her in shock and she shook her head. "Is this because of your dad passing you over to be-"
"Don't finish that question, please," She interrupted as calm as she could. She really didn't want to be compared to Bolo or to be seen as his successor...
"Was he even immune?" Little Cato couldn't help but ask. She told him about her lacking the poison as soon as he showed her his arm.
"I have no idea," The girl murmured in thought. Bolo had been here for as long as them, and they only now had the effects. But since he was dead, she couldn't say for sure. The answer was most likely a no, considering that the other Titans didn't have the symptoms, but she was still a humanoid alien first and foremost, and not an actual Titan like them.
"And what about you?" Little Cato asked him, putting his glove back.
"Hey, don't worry about me."
"Meaning yes," Nova deadpanned and he gave her an annoyed look.
"Wow, way to ruin the mystery and intrigue for me, Nova."
"She really didn't," Little Cato murmured to himself. A clang was heard, getting their attention. Nova pointed her guns forward immediately as they looked up ahead. "What is that?"
"Alright," Gary spoke up as they stared walking. "I'm gonna flash my flashlight down the hallway. It's gonna light it up, right? And we're gonna—and we're gonna see. We're gonna see what's down there."
Little Cato came to a stop. "Wait."
"Gah! What?" Gary asked as the two turned around to him.
"This is really not the time for waiting," Nova glanced behind her in case something jump-attacked them.
"What if something bad's down there?" He whispered to the duo.
"Well, then, we kill it," Gary answered plain and simple.
"Which is why we have these?" Nova waved her guns up.
"Oh, yeah. Diggin' the math. Nice and simple," He grinned, following after them. The girl chuckled at him.
"Oh, one of these days, I need to give you a Killer 101 class..."
"Okay," The blond murmured as they continued walking, chuckling to himself. He pointed his flashlight towards the ground, waving it around. He then saw the aforementioned gift shop on his left. "Oh, that's where the gift shop is." He chuckled as they turned to the right. "Oh, hey, ready?"
"Hell yeah," Nova nodded in agreement.
"Ready," Little Cato agreed too and they walked further down the hall. He waved the flashlight again until he noticed the bunch of Zombie Garys, all of them with their backs turned. They looked towards the trio and headed straight for them. The three gasped at the incoming army.
"Whoa, snap! Fire!"
The trio opened fire on the group, knocking several down in the dark. They backed up into the hallway, only to be met with more of them.
"Oh, crap! Run!"
"This shit got real quick!" Nova exclaimed in disbelief as they ran in the opposite direction, the Zombie Garys ready to kill...
Sheryl and Fox ran into the hallway where Ash was, the woman using the flashlight from her gun. "Ash?"
"Ashy, where are you?!" Fox hollered and Sheryl elbowed him.
"Keep it down or they'll find us!"
They sprinted forward and then came to a stop, pressing their backs to the wall. They looked around the corner to see Ash's body surrounded in a purple aura just like with Nova's powers, but unlike with her, Ash had a...different presence. Especially with her blank stare and the Zombie Garys surrounding her.
"Oh, poor girl. Come home."
The two immediately got defensive and came out of hiding. "Ash?" Sheryl pointed her light at the group, one of them turning around and running up to them. Fox and Sheryl fired, hitting him in the shoulders, but he landed over Sheryl, causing her to drop her things.
"No! Ugh!" Sheryl grunted as a sword came out of his arm.
"Think of it, Ash. A world without death."
Sheryl struggled with the zombie as Fox ran over and tried to pull him off, but he elbowed the Tryvuulian in the face, knocking him onto the ground.
"Ash, help...help me!" The woman wheezed out.
"Where you and Fox can be together again."
"Ashy! We need help!" Fox cried out, but it was like talking to a brick wall at this point.
The zombie then stabbed her in the arm and she let out a cry of pain. Another one ran up to Fox and bit him on the shoulder, causing him to cry in pain.
"Let her die, my child, so all of us can live," Invictus told her, the other zombies surrounding her like they were in a cult.
"Gah!"
"Yes," Invictus said proudly upon seeing the two in agony, begging to be saved.
"Ash!" Sheryl called out, head butting the zombie towering over her. He snarled at her and she tried to reach for her gun with her injured arm. She finally got it and shot the zombie. "No," She shot the one off Fox and then knocked down the others. Fox looked up and ran over as Ash's hair went back down. "Ash!"
"Snap out of it, Ashy!"
She was just staring with her eyes still purple. "Come on!"
The woman finally snapped out of it, running down the hall with them.
Nova, Gary, and Little Cato were surrounded as her back touched the wall. She gritted her teeth and was about to fire when all of them were suddenly dead thanks to Quinn and Avocato nearby. They joined the trio.
"Gary!"
"Quinn!"
She grabbed his arm and lifted it up, seeing his poisoned arm. "No..." She murmured in guilt upon seeing it.
"Yeah, that, um, just showed up."
"I am not dealing with another person hiding their poisoning on this ship," Nova warned him.
"I've doomed us all, Gary," Quinn held her head while the two Ventrexians shared a hug. She glanced back at the two as the boy looked at his arm, looking back at her. "You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me," She closed her eyes, not wanting to look at them. Nova gave Avocato a look, and he looked away while letting out a small whistle. Yeah, if she ever learned about what happened back there, she'd probably raise hell for him...
Gary placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her around to face him. The two shared a hug. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," He gave a small smile.
"We should get to the engine room and get the power back on," Avocato advised them.
"Let's go," Quinn stated and they ran off together. They reached the engine room to find the Zombie Garys already there. They were either pulling at wires or hitting at the engine. "Gary, they're tampering with the engine."
"They're trying to leave us dead in the water!" Gary glared at the group.
"What's the plan?" Avocato asked curiously as they gathered together.
"Guns blazin'. Fat and thick, baby," Gary held up his weapons.
"My kind of plan. Let's do this, buddy."
Little Cato glanced around for his girlfriend. "Um, where's Starlight?"
They noticed that she was no longer with them, and then they heard the sounds of what sounded like fighting going on. They looked into the room to see Nova emitting a huge yellow beam at the zombies, similar to what her dad did when he was in Wisconsin with Gary and Quinn. Once she dropped it, there were piles of ash where the Zombie Garys were.
"Or...that," Avocato blinked in surprise.
"You know what? I surprisingly feel a bit better than I did earlier today," She confessed to them, reaching underneath her and flipping her hair coolly.
"Wow! You know, I was wondering if you had the same powers as Bolo and whether or not you wanted to use them now, but...I'm impressed. G-Good work there, Nova. A little creeped out since those were me, but still good job," Gary gave a nervous thumbs up.
More of them appeared and they wasted no time fighting back. One of them appeared behind Little Cato, knocking him onto the ground. He elbowed him off and pinned him, only to get bitten on the hand. He let out a scream, staring into the eyes of the zombie. He shot it clear through the head and Gary got hit with purple blood on his body.
"Oh! Oh! Gugh...come on!" He looked at himself in disgust. Quinn pulled the lever and smirked as the power came back on. The engine glowed purple as HUE was started back up.
"HUE is back online."
"You okay?" Nova looked at Little Cato's hands.
"I'm fine," He grunted a little, watching as she covered his hands with hers. A purple/yellow glow came from them and she released him. He wiggled his fingers a bit and found that he wasn't in pain. "Wow. You get better every single day, Starlight."
She blushed a bit, clearing her throat. "Thank you, but that was a lucky guess. I've only healed Bolo before."
"HUE," Gary wiped himself off a bit. "Locate the rest of the Garys."
"Locating...they're on the bridge."
"Not for long!" Nova spun her guns into her hands. Before they could leave, a bunch of zombie hands reached out from below.
"This just keeps getting better!" Gary stated in annoyance, Avocato looking up ahead in shock. The blond followed his direction and was dismayed to see why. More of them were running up to the group. They fired back at them in all directions, moving out as they fought back. They defeated two in the hallway, Little Cato and Avocato acting as back-up. A few more appeared from up front and Nova whistled to Gary and Quinn in front of her, gesturing for them to move. They did so and she made her hands into fists in front of her. Several purple star bolts shot out from her fists rapidly, knocking them all down. They turned a corner while still firing. Gary looked a bit uncomfortable killing...well, himself, but after seeing the looks on their faces, he quickly got over it.
Sheryl was dragging Ash down another hall while firing at the zombies in their path, the alarm going off. They reached the bridge to find that Mooncake, KVN, and Biskit were already dealing with more of them. "Chookity pok!"
One of them went up to Ash and she grabbed his wrists. Mooncake caught wind of this while Fox was firing at them, shouting in rage. "Chookity pok!" The little green alien fired his moon beam to knock the zombie away from Ash.
Biskit was not actually fighting, though, as he was doing something. "Normally, Team Biskit is an individual slice of fighting excellence, but I like you, so I'm gonna make an exception." Turns out he was working on the cookie machine, which he just modified. "Eat cookies!" He pointed forward as the cookie machine acted as a weapon, somehow getting rid of the zombies. "I live for this!"
One of them tried to grab Sheryl, but it got shot down by cookies. "Come on and get 'em! I've got plenty more! Mrrroooowwr!"
Sheryl reached the captain's chair. "Spool the engines, HUE!"
"Got it. Spooling now."
A zombie reached out behind her, only to be stopped by Ash, who pinned him to the wall with her powers. Sheryl jumped around and sat in the seat, giving her a salute. "Cheers!" The others reached the bridge.
"Get us the hell out of here!"
"Yup. With pleasure," Sheryl smiled in agreement, taking off the ship. Ash was still holding the zombie hostage as he looked feral and nightmare-ish, unlike the Gary that they knew.
"Ash, kill it," Gary ordered her.
"I can't," She stated, to Nova's confusion. Ash had no problem killing the zombies before.
"That's Invictus. Kill it," He told her again. Nova looked at the zombie again and blinked, seeing something that she hadn't seen in the others. His eyes were a bit narrowed than the rest, and it gave her the sense that he was a bit more reluctant than the others.
"Wait, Ash," Little Cato held up a hand. "Can you and Starlight pull the Invictus out of him?"
"Why?" She asked in confusion.
"Yeah, why?" Gary looked a bit annoyed.
"He might know something. A clue," He explained to them.
"That's what I was thinking too."
"A clue?" Gary had more of a curious look.
"Yeah, a clue."
"A clue to what?" He raised a brow.
"Everything," Little Cato gave a sheepish smile. "An all-in-one everything clue," He crossed his arms proudly and Nova gave a small laugh.
"Not exactly how my mind worked with it, but okay."
"Those exist?" Gary was still confused.
"Oh, they're rare, but, oh, yeah."
"I don't know how I know, but Cato's right on the money with this one. I can sense something in him, I don't know what," Nova glanced at the Gary.
"I mean, if we can get an everything clue, yass! Alright, Ash, Nov, can you blast Invictus out of the Gary?"
She looked back at the zombie, not really sure. Nova placed a hand on her shoulder. "If we could do it with Avocato and I could do it with Fox, we've got this."
Ash smiled weakly and Nova pointed her hands at the zombie. There was more of a struggle unlike last time, because Ash had only done it once, and Nova had already done it twice now. Ash's eyes turned black as Nova's eyes went purple. The zombie growled and eventually, they pulled Invictus out of him. He slowly descended towards the ground, coughing up purple liquid.
"Oh, snap, it worked!"
The zombie groaned as Little Cato and Nova stepped up. "Who are you?"
"...Gary," His voice sounded very weak. He stood up and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Goodspeed."
"How did you get here?"
The former zombie took a few deep breaths. "I closed the breach...and then I found myself drowning in an ocean of space!" He let out a groan, looking back up at them. "I died."
Sheryl slowly stepped up. "And the other Garys?"
"...The same!" He let out a weak gasp. "Every timeline flows into Final Space," He placed a hand on Gary's shoulder, who had a sympathetic look as the former zombie cough. He looked back up at them. "Every one of us sacrificed our lives."
"...Except me," Gary said in realization.
He looked to the side and saw Quinn, slowly going over to her. "Quinn." She stepped back a bit, feeling a bit awkward since she wasn't his Quinn. "I've...I've been trapped here for so long!" He placed his hands over his eyes, squeezing them into fists. "And you never...came for me."
She looked back towards them as they only stared, but Gary himself felt a little heartbroken to hear that. He couldn't believe that all of those Garys never reunited with their Quinns, and that those versions of her left them there.
She let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry."
He breathed heavily, struggling to breathe. "But...but you're here now," He placed his hands over her shoulders. "...You didn't give up on me."
"...And I never will," She placed her hand over his, giving him an assuring smile. He was about to say something, but his breathing became ragged and he stepped back. He eventually fell to the ground and lost his breath, falling dead in front of her. Quinn stood up as Nova, Ash, Little Cato, and Gary stepped up a bit.
KVN flew over to him. "He's dead!" He scanned the body, flying backwards in shock. "Did anyone tape that? Because I could play that over and over and over and over and over." Nova pushed him away in annoyance as Quinn went over to Gary.
"It's strange knowing...that in every timeline...I gave my life. Every timeline except my own."
Her eyes saddened a little. "Gary, they only stopped the Titans temporarily." She smiled in a assuring way at him. "You're the one who's gonna finish Invictus off."
He perked up at her smile. "Hell yeah! I just got chills."
"Uh, hey, guys," Avocato called out. "You're gonna wanna see this."
They joined him at the window. "Holy..." Quinn couldn't even finish her sentence.
"HUE...what are those?"
They were looking at multiple planets. "They appear to be multiple Earths, Gary." He opened his mouth in shock at them and they flew over to the pile. "Fascinating. With every Gary that closed the breach, there was an Earth that got pulled into Final Space."
"Wait...does that mean inside every one of those is a Titan ready to hatch?!" Sheryl realized in shock.
"Ooh. Chookity pok..."
"So that's why they wanted Earth. To build an army," Gary glanced at Quinn.
"Oh fuck..." Nova's arms sagged at this, a look of dread on her face.
"That would be a terrifying thought," HUE stated what everyone was thinking. Gary closed his eyes, Quinn looking away. She thought about how she was putting the team in danger and then lifted down Gary's collar to see the poison getting worse. She closed her eyes and stepped away. Everyone stared at her as she thought about what Avocato told her.
"...HUE, change of plans. Scan for the hyper-transdimensional bridge."
"What?" Gary questioned in confusion.
"We're getting out of here."
"What about the Titans and Invictus?" Sheryl added in.
"If we don't stop them, they'll eventually tear into our home, and Invictus isn't going to just forget about us!" Nova gestured to herself.
"That plan failed," Quinn argued back. "From now on, everything is about keeping us alive and together."
Avocato smiled at her decision. "Yeah, gotta say, I like that plan."
"It's an excellent plan," Gary agreed too.
"I am seeing nothing wrong with that plan," Little Cato smiled, Ash looking skeptical.
Nova took a deep breath. She would have really liked to stick it to Invictus, but she suddenly remembered that Little Cato still had the poison. That was just as important to her than avenging her father, so she was ultimately okay with this. She nodded at Quinn.
"Ash? What do you say?"
"...Honestly, it's the opposite of what Nightfall would do," She narrowed her eyes in defense. "She never would have run from a fight." Fox placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look that said not to go there.
Quinn flinched and looked down. "I disagree," Gary joined her side. "I mean, who would know better than Quinn?"
"Yeah," She smiled happily with him by her side. "HUE?"
"Calculating multiple locations for the bridge. But there's no guarantee it's still functioning."
"Nova? Can I see your arm?" Avocato asked her suddenly, confusing them all. "I just need to see."
Nova removed her sleeve to reveal nothing. Avocato gasped in realization, looking up at her. "You don't have the virus…"
"Yeah…" She bit her lip.
"Do you know what I'm getting at?! Nova…you could be the cure to the Final Space poison."
Everyone gasped in shock, Nova opening her mouth in disbelief. They stood in silence as they let that fact sink in...
Somewhere else in Final Space, the Lord Commander was still facing Titans. He lunged forward and sliced a Titan's torso. He looked back at all of the dead Titan bodies, feeling proud of himself. "Ah!" His sword turned back into his arm. "Invictus! Now to remind you who I am!"
Angel: TV Tropes brought up something that confuses me, and that's the Final Space poisoning. If it's supposed to infect everyone in Final Space, why didn't the hidden civilization show ANY symptoms? Or Tribore and Quatronostro, for that matter? We're not told that anyone is immune, well, maybe Bolo is immune since he didn't have it before he died. His wound from his fight with Oreskis is what started his illness in episode 7, not the poisoning. Aliens are not immune to it, Avocato has it too. So how come it's affecting only the Team Squad and no one else? That civilization was still technically in Final Space before they left, even if they were hidden to the outside, and yet they seemed totally fine! Quinn was in Final Space for far longer, so I can buy that she would get it. But Gary and the others have been there in LESS TIME than Quinn, and yet only now they got the poison. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe Invictus is immune to it also, but then you have the Lord Commander, who is also an alien and yet not affected (that is, unless his recovery made him immune when he was brought back to life).
I wouldn't have such a problem with this if everyone except maybe Bolo got the poison at some point, or if we didn't have so much death in the latter half of this season...