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 10
Usagi and Minako were only able to catch the aftermath of Astrotrain ramming himself into Skyward Tower. Both of the Senshi ceased their dogfighting against the Decepticon forces to turn towards the sight of the triple-changer in his shuttle mode lying inside the middle of the League's base. Once the blast doors closed the hole he had made, a horrified Sailor Moon wasted no time activating her communicator to try and reach her friends.
"Sailor Moon to Skyward Tower, do you read me?" she asked.
All she was greeted with was static on the other side.
"I repeat, does anyone copy?!" she yelled.
Still nothing.
With her League COMM not being able to contact anyone for some unknown reason, Usagi then grabbed her old communicator, now strictly used to contact her fellow Senshi in events such as this.
"Ami, are you there?" she asked.
"I'm here," the Senshi of water answered, much to her leader's relief. "We felt some kind of disturbance here in the lab. What's going on?"
"Minako and I just saw Astrotrain ram himself into the Tower," Usagi informed.
"What?!" Ami gasped.
"Find anything out?" Donnie asked as he, Yang, and Blake were busy shoving a large cabinet against the lab's door.
"We HAVE been breached!" Sailor Mercury answered. "The Decepticons must have used Astrotrain as a trojan horse to break in!"
"I don't know half of what she just said, but it sounds like double the reason we should keep these creeps on the other side," Yang stated.
"I'll help you guys in a moment," Ami said before turning back to her communicator. "Donatello, Dr. Wakeman, Blake, Yang, and I are still in the lab. We're currently barricading the door to keep the Decepticons out."
"Okay, good," Usagi replied. "You keep doing that and don't let anyone that isn't a League member or one of Ozpin's or Washu's inside. We'll help out once we've aken care of Jhiaxus' fleet and the Phoenix."
"Uh, Usagi..." Minako meekly said before pointing out to something from afar.
The guardian of love and justice turned to what her friend was pointing at just in time to see a legion of Decepticons unlike any of the Seekers or Vehicons they had faced cutting a swath of destruction through their allies' fighters. Ship after ship was destroyed with only one shot from these new enemies. The one leading the charge then transformed into his robot mode, revealing the Decepticon tracker and leader of the Sweeps: Scourge. The blue-clad Decepticon proceeded to shoot down two Galaxy Police fighters with little effort.
"...Uh..." the intimidated Sailor Moon uttered before continuing her conversation with Ami. "We'll radio you any updates."
With that, she shut off her communicator and flew towards the legion of Sweeps, Sailor Venus close behind.
"Sailor Moon?" Ami said, her voice laced with concern. "Sailor Moon?!"
"Uh oh," Donnie suddenly said as he looked through the door's viewer. "Mercury, we've got company!"
There, standing on the other side of the lab's door, was Soundwave, dozens of supervillains standing behind him, each ready to tear through the League members to collect their prize.
"Little piggies, little piggies..." said Jetstorm as he hovered beside his team's leader, weapons beginning to charge. "...Let us in!"
"Shields up!" Donnie cried. "Shields up!"
"Already on it!" Sailor Mercury replied as she frantically began to type into her supercomputer.
It was most fortunate that Ami had, in her time as a League member, managed to connect some of Skyward Tower's mechanisms into her small computer in case of events such as this. Had the guardian of love and wisdom not thought of a precaution their enemies would already be in this very room. No sooner had she input several commands did a shield form on the other side of the door and the walls that separated the lab from the hallway, absorbing Jetstorm's laser bolts as he shot at it.
"OPEN FIRE!" Soundwave ordered as his shoulder cannon began to charge.
With that command, he, along with several other villains ranging from Princess Morebucks and the Cobra android known as Overkill to other Decepticons such as Thrustor, Sky-Byte, and Shatter, unleashed everything they had at the protective barrier.
Elsewhere, Duke was currently trying to radio in the situation to the rest of G.I. Joe while shooting down the B.A.T.'s that came after him and his allies down one of the station's many halls.
"Mayday, mayday, this is Duke reporting a delta-class emergency!" he said as he smashed the end of his weapon against one of Cobra's automatons, causing it to fall to the floor before he unleashed a barrage of bullets onto its head.
He then pointed his submachine gun at a trio of B.A.T.'s that approached him, only for him to discover that his weapon was out of ammo. However, the Joes' First Sergeant didn't deter in the slightest, as shown by him chucking the empty weapon at the androids, disorienting them long enough for him to pick up the slain robot's weapon and use it to gun them down.
"Cobra and several other hostiles have infiltrated Skyward Tower!" he continued as he shot more of his robotic enemies. "I repeat, Cobra and several other hostiles have infiltrated Skyward Tower! USS Flagg, do you read?!"
"We read you, Duke," the Joes' communications officer, Jill Morelli, AKA: Dial Tone, answered on the other side. "Unfortunately, with the teleporters down, we're unable to send any reinforcements for the time being."
"We're working on that," Duke informed as he gunned down more of Cobra's war machines. "We'll keep you updated."
"Understood," the comms officer replied. "Dial Tone out."
Suddenly, a sai bolted past Duke and flew into the head of a B.A.T. that managed to make it past the Joe's line of fire. Duke turned around and, sure enough, Raphael was sprinting by him to reclaim his weapon before decapitating another of the enemy's androids.
"I take it we're stuck dealing with these clankers by ourselves, huh?" the cool but rude Turtle theorized.
"Seems that way," Duke answered before taking out a pistol and shooting it at a B.A.T. that tried to ambush him.
Not long afterward, the sounds of something inhuman sputtering what seemed to be gibberish were heard coming from behind the duo. They turned towards the source to see a squadron of Putty Patrollers advancing towards them.
"Putties too?!" Raph exclaimed. "Gimme a break!"
The two of them readied themselves for the inevitable confrontation with Lord Zedd's foot soldiers. But before they could reach them, Jenny suddenly crashed through the roof above them, crushing two of them before shooting laser beams from her palms at the other Putties' Z's, destroying them with ease. This turn of events caused Raph to sigh to himself in relief as his and Duke's savior ran up to them.
"Sergeant Hauser, do you still have contact with the USS Flagg?" Jenny asked.
"Yes, but with th-" Duke attempted to explain.
"Perfect!" Jenny happily interrupted. "I need you to send them a message."
"Uh, what do you mean?" a perplexed Duke wondered. "What message?"
"We've still got a few of us that hadn't been patched up in the infirmary yet," Jenny answered. "Tell them that we're going to start moving them down there within the next five minutes."
"And how exactly are you going to get them down there without the teleporters?" Raph asked.
Almost as if on cue, a portal opened behind Jenny, prompting the Joe and the Ninja Turtle to ready themselves for another fight. Fortunately, it wasn't another enemy that greeted them, but Pegasus.
"Leave that to him," Jenny answered, pointing a thumb back at the Miraculous wielder as she did so.
It was pandemonium in the infirmary. Once word had come to the medical staff of what Pegasus was about to do, Doctor Possible, Ratchet, Doc, and Ratchet's medical protégé, Velocity, were rushing to ready the patients that they had yet to tend to for their transfer to the USS Flagg. Fortunately, Hoist's repairs following his encounter with Yang had been completed, and he was able to provide some much-needed assistance to the others. While that was going on, standing cautiously at the medical wing's currently closed door was the team assembled to guard the wounded heroes, consisting of Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Tuxedo Mask, Sailor Chibi Moon, and Ryoko.
Joining them were some of the patients that had made a recovery during this time. Sailor Jupiter had fortunately not been found to have a concussion following her fight with Yang and had been cleared right before the villains' siege had begun, the sudden jolting of the Tower being what woke the Senshi up. Along with her were the Ninja and Rena, who had to cut their 'alone time' short once the Decepticons' assault had commenced. Finally, there were Cybersix and Ibuki, whose injuries weren't as severe. They had been released once Cybersix received a vial of sustenance and Ibuki had been cleared of any major injuries from Chloe's venom, Queen Bee herself also among the heroes once she transformed again. Unfortunately, Penn's leg was still broken, with Sashi refusing to leave his bedside, and Casey and Rocksteady were still unconscious, meaning the three of them were the ones they needed to get out of the Tower fast.
Each of them were tense and ready for the villains to make a move on their wounded friends, especially since Tenchi and the others Ryoko assured would be here haven't arrived yet. Weapons were drawn, and abilities were charged as a look of unease overtook their faces. Suddenly, heavy footsteps and the sound of energy building up from the other side caused the League members and their visitors from Remnants' eyes to widen in horror.
"Everyone, get behind me!" Weiss shouted.
They did so, and not a second later, the former Schnee heiress plunged Myrtenaster to the floor, the ice dust within quickly forming a wall of ice that shielded her and everyone that stood behind her. Immediately afterward, the door in front of them exploded from an unknown force from the other side, causing the wall to shatter and for Weiss to be thrown backward.
"Weiss!" Jaune shouted as she flew past him.
Fortunately, the white-clad huntress was quick to act, forming a glyph behind her that she planted her feet onto, allowing her to thrust herself back to the group and land gracefully onto her feet. Only then did she and the others get a good look at who had besieged the infirmary. They ranged from small-time crooks such as the Gangreen Gang and supervillains like Duff Killingan, to a few Decepticons like Blitzwing and Motormaster, all lead by someone who made the three Autobot medics sneer in disgust once they saw him.
"Starscream..." Ratchet growled.
"My, oh my, we've certainly struck gold, haven't we?" the Seeker stated as he stepped into the infirmary. "Not only do I find three of your own currently 'out of commission,' and you sorry lot are all that stand in my way, but, do my optics deceive me, or is that the infamous Ryoko Hakubi you're currently harboring?"
"Just wouldn't learn from the last time I sent you crying back to Megatron, wouldn't you, Bitchscream?" the former pirate chided as her energy staff formed in her hands.
The Decepticon second-in-command simply sneered at her remark before turning to the four interdimensional heroes that were among their allies.
"Seeing as though you're all new here, allow me to introduce myself while you wallow in despair," he boasted as his null rays began charging. "I am Starscream! Air commander and TRUE leader of the Deceptico-GAH!"
His tirade was rudely interrupted by a sudden lightning bolt that exploded from Makoto's right palm striking him at the shoulder. This caused him to stumble back a bit as the Senshi of courage glared right up at him.
"And also the galaxy's biggest pansy," she stated before turning to the huntsmen and huntresses he was addressing. "Don't worry about him. All bark, no bite."
Seeing Sailor Jupiter's display of power, Nora couldn't help but grin like a kid in a candy shop at the sight.
"I like her," she whispered to Jaune.
"Yeah, I figured you would," her team leader admitted.
"RRRRGH! You DARE to strike at me, fleshling?!" Starscream shouted before turning to the other villains with him. "ATTACK!"
Not needing to be told twice, the legion of villainy, most of them letting out a devious cheer, ran towards the open door, all while their enemies charged back at them, not about to let a single one get to the wounded heroes.
Optimus attempted to bring his axed hand down upon his rival, only for Megatron to grab it with his free hand. Sensing that he'd attempt to strike him in this state, Prime quickly used his own free hand to grab the warlord's arm that had his mace at the end of it. Both sides struggled for dominance as their optics locked on to each other once more as they always had.
"What is the meaning of this madness, Megatron?!" Optimus demanded. "You wouldn't ally yourself with Black Hat's Society if it wouldn't serve your inane thirst for power! What is the reason for causing such senseless destruction this time?!"
Hearing that last sentence, Megatron couldn't help but let out a devious cackle.
"Am I truly to blame for this 'senseless destruction,' Prime?" he asked. "Oh no. This time, the blood of your League and the Autobots will be on YOUR hands!"
As he watched his old friend's optics widen in horror, finally realizing what he was implying, Megatron kicked Optimus down to one knee, still grabbing onto his arm as he tossed him against a wall. The Autobot commander slumped down to the floor as he groaned in pain, getting back on his feet as he saw Megatron slowly approach him.
"Did you really think you could keep this secret away from me forever?" the Decepticon leader asked as his mace retracted back into his arm.
Enraged, Optimus attempted to tackle Megatron to the floor, only for the former gladiator to grab him by the shoulders and kick him down. The Autobot commander barely had enough time to roll himself away from Megatron's foot coming down towards his chassis before getting back up.
"I must admit, old friend...I didn't think you had it in you," the Decepticon leader admitted. "You, an optimistic fool whom preaches his weak-willed ideals to bands of feeble sheep, would banish the legendary Phoenix to another reality, leaving its inhabitants at its mercy? And then conceal such a deed from even your most trusted soldiers?"
Having heard more than enough, Optimus proceeded to raise his Ion Blaster at his foe. However, the instant Prime pulled the trigger, Megatron quickly ducked down, allowing the laser bolt to instead singe the wall behind him before uppercutting Optimus in the chin. Disoriented, the Autobot commander stumbled back slightly as Megatron continued his speech.
"It's almost funny, in a way. Millennia of you and your Autobots demonizing me as a madman, and yet here you are now. Soon to be a pariah to your friends and allies, assuming, of course, I don't slay you on this day first. It was unfortunate that we could not be allies back on Cybertron. That we were destined down this path. For it seems that you and I aren't as different as you once believed."
"We are NOTHING alike, Megatron!" Optimus practically snarled. "I did what I had to do for Earth's survival!"
"And I for Cybertron's!" Megatron retaliated. "Your home! Oh, but that's right. You would rather cling onto this insignificant world instead."
"We've had this conversation before," Optimus sternly reminded. "We will find a way to save Cybertron, but I will not let it come at the cost of Earth or its people!"
"Spare me your hypocrisy, Prime," Megatron growled. "You were more than willing to damn another universe to the Phoenix's fire. Where was that mindset and that strength back when our people and our world suffered and died?!"
"ENOUGH!" Optimus shouted before tackling his old rival to the floor.
Once he had caught his opponent off guard and pinned him to the floor, Prime was about to deliver a blow right at Megatron's face in an attempt to shut him up. However, as he raised his fist upward, the sound of someone yelling out in pain caught him off guard. Optimus turned towards the source, just in time to see Black Hat toss Qrow with his now elongated right arm right at Penny as she attempted to fly towards him. Oscar attempted to jab Ozpin's can right at the demonic weapons dealer, only for him to sway to the side and slash his claws down at the farm boy, taking out a good chunk of his aura, no doubt.
"Oscar, you and the others get out of there!" Prime pleaded as he attempted to head towards the scuffle. "I will deal wi-"
However, the last Prime failed to notice Megatron swinging his arm at his legs, tripping him and causing him to fall face-first onto the floor. He tried to get back up, only for the Decepticon leader to kick him harshly against his side, forcing him to roll over onto his back. Megatron then bent down and grabbed Optimus by the chassis, forcing him up to make eye contact with his rival.
"Don't you dare turn your back on me, Prime!" Megatron shouted. "I will be the one to watch as the life fades from your optics! Not him!"
But before he could continue, his captive harshly slammed his head against his forehead, causing him to let go of Prime as he stumbled back in a disoriented state. Prime then tackled Megatron through several walls, decimating the empty rooms in his path in an attempt to slow his enemy down before stopping at the damaged mess hall, tossing his rival into an already wrecked food replicator. Optimus was about to continue the fight when he heard his COMM go off.
"Optimus, what the hell's going on down there?!" Washu shouted.
"Black Hat's Society has infiltrated the Tower!" Optimus answered from the other side of Washu's COMM. "Oscar, Qrow, and Penny are currently engaging him. I'm trying to assist them, but Megatron is preventing me from doing so!"
Almost as if to confirm what the Autobot commander said was true, the red-headed genius could make out a war cry from the aforementioned Decepticon warlord, followed by a loud clanging sound that then made way for static.
"Oh, great," Washu muttered to herself. "Now HE'S after the Phoenix too."
Instantaneously, her mind began to race with means to deal with this sudden obstacle, all the while Grapple, Wheeljack, Lexington, Peridot, and Professor Utonium continued their work on the Tower's weapons systems. She looked around to see if anything might be able to help when she focused her sights on Ruby. Said red-clad huntress had stationed herself close to the door that lead outside, Crescent Rose at the ready. Along with her were some other heroes that converged to Grapple's location: Leonardo, Arcee, Cammy, Liquidator, and the wielder of the Dragon Miraculous, Ryuko.
It was then that Washu noticed something rather peculiar about Ruby. Something that might be able to turn the tides against Black Hat if her hypothesis was correct...which it rarely, if ever, wasn't.
"Silver Eyes..." she said to herself. "Hey, Red!"
Hearing the living goddess' voice, Ruby irritably turned her head towards her.
"I have a name, you know," she scolded.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen," Washu brushed off. "I've got something in mind that might get these pests off our backs, but I'm gonna need you for it to work. You and I need to head down to the-"
"I can't just leave!" Ruby interrupted, motioning to Grapple and the others before continuing. "I promised them I'd protect them while they do their repairs. What if someone out there manages to-"
"If you don't come with me now, your friends and your uncle are going to die!" Washu countered.
Hearing this caused the leader of Team RWBY to fall silent, her eyes widening in horror as she realized Qrow, Oscar, and Penny hadn't contacted her at all since they departed.
"Kid, if she's telling the truth, then go," Wheeljack advised.
"I-" Ruby attempted to say.
"We'll be fine," the Autobot scientist assured. "We ain't as important to you as they are. Now go!"
With that, the silver-eyed girl nodded once to Wheeljack in response before turning back to Washu.
"Whatever you have in mind, it better work," she said.
"Hey, I got a good track record when it comes to this," Washu boasted.
"Cammy, you, Arcee, and Ryuko go with them," Wheeljack commanded. "There's a lotta slag happening out there, so it's best if they had some backup."
"On it," Cammy responded as she, Kagami, and Arcee approached both Ruby and Washu.
"Leo, you and Doctor Slattery stay here in case any of those guys try to take advantage of this," Wheeljack continued.
"Got it," Leo replied as he and Liquidator remained at their posts.
With that, the instant Washu opened the door, the five heroines darted out of the door and into the hallways, all while Ruby hoped their efforts wouldn't come too late. As they did so, the five of them stumbled slightly as an explosion out in space caused the Tower to rock slightly. Almost immediately, they regained their balance and continued on their way...failing to notice that Washu had dropped her interdimensional transporter.
Meanwhile, Kimberly continued to swerve out of a Sweep's line of fire as it continued to relentlessly go after her.
"Oh, I know you did NOT just shoot that shit at me!" she angrily shouted as the Firebird Zord continued to dodge its pursuer's laser bolts.
As the Decepticon huntsman continued its pursuit, Sailor Venus began her approach to give her friend some much needed assistance
"I got your back, Pink Leader!" she jested before shooting a Crescent Beam at the Sweep.
However, rather than destroying its target, the beam simply bounced off a protective barrier, destroying one rather unlucky Seeker instead, the force of the impact causing the Sweep to veer sharply to the left.
"What the-they have shields?!" a stunned Minako yelled.
"Minako, you picked one up!" Usagi warned via her COMM.
"Wha-I can't see it!" Minako panicked as she looked around for her pursuer. "Where is it?!"
"3 o'clock!" Sailor Moon answered.
Hearing this, the Senshi of beauty and love immediately turned to her right, only to see nothing but the ensuing battles from afar.
"Usagi, I don't see anything," she stated as she slowly started to turn towards her left. "What are you-AAAHH!"
Her shriek of terror was in response to a Sweep rapidly approaching her with great speed, firing its weapons at her. She barely had enough time to dodge the offensive and allow the Sweep to fly past her. Not wanting to allow it a second chance of bringing her down, Minako fired several rapid-fire shots of her Crescent Beam, draining the Decepticon's shields with six shots before finally destroying it with a seventh.
"THAT WAS 9 O'CLOCK, YOU DOLT!" Minako shouted.
"S-Sorry," Usagi meekly apologized.
Elsewhere, now that her attacker had relented, Kimberly boosted the engines of her Zord to try and give Mothra a helping hand as she continued to fight DesGhidorah. As she began her approach, she saw the Queen of the Monsters narrowly avoiding the Kaiju clone's black Gravity Beams before firing her eye beams at her enemy. The attack managed to make its mark on DesGhidorah's thick hide, causing him to bellow out in pain as Mothra pressed her attack. As she observed the confrontation, the Pink Ranger continued her approach when suddenly, several Sweeps swerved from both her left and right, Scourge himself leading the charge as they opened fire on the unsuspecting Power Ranger.
"Son of a-I need some help over here!" Kimberly requested.
"We're a little bit tied up at the moment!" Powerglide responded.
Said Minibot was currently evading an onslaught of laser fire from a Decepticon frigate alongside Cosmos and Sabre Jet. Noticing this, Sailors Uranus and Neptune quickly flew towards the Decepticon vessel from the other side before they broke off, Michiru heading for its engines while Haruka remained nearby the hull.
"Submarine Reflection!"
With her Deep Aqua Mirror pointed directly at the ship's engines, a torrent of water burst out and began to fill the insides of the engines, overflowing them and causing them to shut down.
"Haruka, now!" Neptune called out.
Hearing this, the Senshi of the wind rocketed towards the frigate, all while Cosmos and Powerglide quickly maneuvered out of the way.
"World...Shaking!"
Once she was close enough, Haruka slammed her empowered fist against the ship's hull, a massive dent forming as it was sent careening towards a nearby warship. The frigate slammed itself against the bridge before a sudden explosion ripped it in two, all while a chain reaction caused the larger craft to break apart.
"Thanks!" Cosmos said to the Senshi before he and Powerglide went off to assist Kimberly.
"Scrap! Scrap! Scrap!" Wheeljack swore as he fired several shots from his weapon through the crack in the door of the lab at the villains who were trying to break into the room.
As the Autobot engineer and the other heroes in the room fought to keep the villains from getting into the weapons systems, their options were growing more and more limited at this point. Though they were putting up a valiant effort, it was becoming clear that it wouldn't be long before the Society would manage to get into the lab and kill them all. Wheeljack knew that the best course of action was to try and drive away the villains, but with ammo running low, they wouldn't be able to hold them off long enough to make them want to break off their attack. However, there was still a way to give them a fighting chance.
"Wheeljack, the connection to this level's weapons systems should be back online," Grapple reported.
"Sheila, activate this level's defense systems!" the Autobot ordered.
There was no response to Wheeljack's order, either by voice or by actions. Instead, only a garbled mess of what almost sounded like Sheila's voice before it suddenly changed into a voice no wanted to hear at a time like this.
"I'm sorry, Wheeljack, but I'm afraid I can't do that," a sly voice that sounded exactly like Xanatos' replied.
"Coyote..." Lexington sneered.
Coyote. A member and often the leader of the Pack. A super-advanced android created by David Xanatos to be his body double in order to battle the Gargoyles in the past. Since then, the android had taken on a life of its own, and now it seemed that he had managed to infiltrate Sheila's systems.
"What have you done to Sheila?!" the Gargoyle demanded.
"Oh, she's still in here, and putting up quite a fight, might I add," Coyote answered. "But it's only a matter of time before I delete every single shred of her from the Tower's mainframe."
"And then you'll have control of the base," Wheeljack gathered.
"Precisely," the evil A.I. coolly confirmed. "And when I do, well...let's just say that you'll be getting a much closer look at Earth."
With that, Coyote departed, leaving the group of scientists to wonder who had managed to bypass the Tower's firewalls and upload Coyote into the Tower's system.
"Wakeman, Donnie, Merc, we got a big problem!" Wheeljack shouted into a modified COMM device used among the Science Division.
"Sheila's been hacked?!" Ami yelled.
"That explains a lot!" Donnie added as he, Yang, and Blake held onto the barricade that was in danger of falling over thanks to the villains' assault.
"Doctor, do you think you may be able to give her some assistance?" Sailor Mercury questioned.
"I'm already on it," Doctor Wakeman answered as she quickly typed away at a nearby computer. "But I can't work with those hooligans causing such a ruckus!"
Almost on cue, the barrage of laser fire suddenly stopped, bewildering the occupants inside the science lab. Taking advantage of this, Donnie pulled up his Turtle COMM and pulled up footage of right outside the door, Soundwave still standing front and center with his small army behind him.
"What do you bozos want with us anyway?!" the Turtle who does machines demanded.
"What? We can't simply trouble neighbors for a cup of sugar?" Jetstorm asked in an offended manner. "How rude!"
Wanting to shut him up, Soundwave didn't hesitate to smash his fellow Decepticon aside before approaching the camera.
"SURRENDER THE ONE KNOWN AS YANG XIAO LONG, OR DIE!" the communications officer ordered.
Hearing this alien robot from another dimension utter Yang's name caused the two huntresses' eyes to widen in shock, a look that the Turtle and the Senshi with them shared.
"Wha-How does that thing know who Yang even is?!" Blake asked.
"Soundwave's a master of espionage," Donnie answered. "Probably had that bird-brain, Laserbeak, spy on us...Which means..."
"He might know about the Phoenix's other targets!" Ami finished for him.
"Well then, we should warn them, right?!" Yang asked.
"Normal COMM's aren't good with Sheila hacked, but my T-COMM should be able to reach April, at least," Donnie answered.
"And my spare COMM should make contact with Sailor Mars," Sailor Mercury added.
"THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!" Soundwave suddenly interrupted, causing the four of them to jump slightly. "SURRENDER THE GIRL OR BE TERMINATED!"
"Oh, well, when you put it like that...yeah, fat chance, fatheads!" Donatello replied.
"Hey!" Princess shouted, flying up to the camera with fire in her eyes. "Do you know who I am, sewer-breath?! You can't talk to me that way!"
"What are you gonna do, Karen?" Donnie asked. "Go get my manager?"
Snarling with contempt, the child-supervillain charged up one of her arm cannons in retaliation.
"WHY YOU-!" she shouted before firing it at the camera, causing it to go to static.
And just like that, the laser fire continued. Donnie, Blake, and Yang were quick to prop themselves back up against the barricade, all the while Donnie quickly dialed April's number on his T-COMM and Ami readied her spare communicator.
"Mars, it's Mercury, do you read?" the Senshi asked.
"April, you there?" Donnie asked. "C'mon, pick up, pick up!"
"Donnie, what's going on?!" April responded from the other side of Donatello's T-COMM.
"I read you, Ami," Rei replied from the other side of Ami's COMM. "What is it?"
"We think the Society is going after the Phoenix's targets," Ami answered. "We need you to-"
"-get out of your quarters and go warn the others," Donnie said. "Normal COMM's are down, so you'll need to go get them in person."
"Got it," April replied.
"No problem," Rei responded.
With that taken care of, now there was solely the matter of keeping Yang out of Soundwave's clutches. And it was becoming clear with the cracks forming on the door that they were running low on both options and time.
"We can't stay in the lab!" Donnie stated. "We're practically sitting ducks in here!"
"You have any ideas?" Blake asked.
"Vents are too small, and that door's the only way in and out," Donnie answered. "I think I have a way to get us out there though."
"Lay it on us," Yang requested.
"Once the door's open, I'll toss as many of these out as I can," Donnie began as he held up several smoke bombs. "This should cover us and allow us to blow past those creeps in no time."
"Well, it's about as good as-" Blake was about to say, only for her eyes to catch something through the cracks in the door. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"
Wondering what she was referring to, Yang and Donnie both peeked through the cracks, their eyes being greeted by a hulking Decepticon with a cannon propped onto his shoulder approaching the door, the other villains cheering him on as they stepped out of his way. The mere sight nearly caused the color to fade away from Donatello's skin.
"It's Tankor!" he exclaimed.
"Well then, hop to it!" Doctor Wakeman interjected. "You four don't have all day!"
"Wait, what about you?!" Blake asked.
"I need to stay here and help Sheila," Doctor Wakeman answered as she pulled open a large hatch on the floor. "Don't you worry about me. I've installed several safety protocols to keep these brutes out of our lab."
"That thing's charging up!" Yang reported as she observed Tankor's cannon swirling, energy beginning to build up.
"Okay, guys, get ready!" Donnie said as he readied his smoke bombs.
Once Doctor Wakeman had hidden herself, Blake and Ami placed a hand onto their noses and mouths while Yang pulled her scarf up to cover the lower half of her face.
"Tankor..." the Decepticon muscle began.
"Ready?" Donnie asked.
The three heroines simply responded by nodding once.
"...PULVERIZE!" Tankor shouted.
With that single word, the Decepticon's cannon fired, blowing the door and the barricade away. Almost instantly, Donatello tossed all of his smoke bombs out the freshly made hole. They then detonated into a cloud of smoke that immediately blinded every villain in the group. Amidst their coughing fits, the four heroes dashed by them right under their noses, careful not to be spotted by any of the mechanical evil-doers that weren't affected by the smoke. By the time the cloud finally faded, all that was revealed to the villains was an empty lab, filled to the brim with several tools and inventions courtesy of the most brilliant minds in the world.
"I got first dibs!" Princess declared as she attempted to fly into the room.
"Like hell!" Katnappe challenged as she grabbed her by the hair to stop her.
"NEGATIVE," Soundwave suddenly said, much to the duo's surprise. "COYOTE DETECTS SEVERAL SECURITY MEASURES INSIDE THE LAB. IT IS NOT A PRIORITY."
"Surely you jest!" Sky-Byte argued. "We mustn't let such an opportunity pa-!"
"FOCUS ON THE TASK AT HAND!" Soundwave ordered.
"...Yes, sir," Sky-Byte meekly replied.
"COYOTE HAS LOCATED BLOSSOM UTONIUM IN HER QUARTERS AND SAILOR MARS OUTSIDE HER'S. CAPTURE THEM," Soundwave furthered as he turned towards the hallway the four heroes had run through to escape his thrall. "WE MUST SPLIT UP TO COVER MORE GROUND. ONE HALF OF US WILL PURSUE YANG WHILE THE OTHERS GO AFTER BLOSSOM AND SAILOR MARS."
"Dibs on your team, boss," Jetstorm gleefully responded. "I love a good cat and mouse chase!"
"SCORPINA WILL BE IN CHARGE OF THE SECOND TEAM," Soundwave said to the other villains. "WE WILL CONTACT YOU IF WE REQUIRE BACKUP."
Their orders made clear, half of the villains, now lead by one of Lord Zedd's top generals, dashed down one hallway while Soundwave and the other half ran down another.
Tommy had just finished decapitating a B.A.T. with Saba when a Putty tried to get the jump on him from behind. It wasn't long since April had arrived in his quarters to inform him that he and the rest of the Phoenix's targets were who the Society was after, and he wasted no time trying to reach Steven's room, for his was the closest to the White Ranger's. Acting quickly, Tommy grabbed the Putty behind him by its neck and lifted it up and over his head before slamming it to the ground. He then slammed his foot atop the Z on its chest, destroying it.
With that annoyance taken care of, the White Ranger was about to continue on his path to Steven's room when all of a sudden, several hair-like tendrils grabbed him by his arms and legs. The bearer of the White Tiger Power Coin could only gasp as he was lifted up into the air and thrown towards the source of the tendrils like a ragdoll. Once he landed on the floor, he looked up to see Sedusa's hair retracting back towards her scalp. Standing with her was one of Danny Phantom's many ghostly adversaries, Skulker, a foe of Kim Possible's, Monkey Fist, Cobra's main saboteur, Firefly, a mutant enemy of the Ninja Turtles, Spider Bytez, and standing front and center of this nefarious team was a face all too familiar to Tommy, Goldar.
"Ha ha ha! What's the matter, White Ranger?" the servant of Lord Zedd boasted. "Not used to being outnumbered?"
"Nah, was just wondering who I was gonna hit first," Tommy answered as he got back onto his feet and readied himself for this confrontation. "And I wouldn't act so high and mighty, Goldar. Cause it looks to me you didn't want to face me in a fair fight knowing your ugly mug'd just get smashed again."
"Bah! I don't care how I win," Goldar countered. "So long as I am the one who lands the killing blow!"
"Uh, pretty sure you missed the part where Black Hat said he wanted him ALIVE," Sedusa reminded.
"We'll claim one of his other targets!" Goldar argued. "I only took part in this raid so I could claim the White Ranger's head!"
"Not gonna happen," Tommy rebelled. "I don't care how many circus freaks you have on your side. You're still never gonna beat me!"
"We shall see, Ranger," Goldar growled before pointing his sword at his hated enemy. "Attack!"
Not needing to be told twice, the other five villains charged towards the White Ranger, who immediately pulled out Saba in preparation.
Meanwhile, right outside the closed doors of the medical bay, Tuxedo Mask had managed to kick an oncoming Putty away from him, allowing Jaune to slice Crocea Mors across the Z in its chest to finish it off. He was then quickly forced to use his shield to block an explosive golf ball from Duff that was heading straight for his head. The villainous golfer was about to try this tactic once more, only for a puff of smoke to form behind him, fading to reveal Ibuki as she slammed her palm against his back to send him to the floor before tossing a kunai at a B.A.T.'s head. While that was going on, Nora had managed to shoot several grenades to drive Motormaster off when a B.A.T. tried to grab her from behind. Her reaction: Elbowing it right in its mechanical face, sending it flat on his back before turning Magnhild back into its hammer formation.
"Fore!" she shouted happily as she reeled her weapon back.
One mighty swing was all it took to bash the Cobra robot's head clean off and send it right at Blitzwing's face. The triple-changer grunted in pain before quickly turning to the huntress who was responsible. He then pointed his weapon right at Nora as she smashed a Putty to pieces when...
"Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"
An orb of thunderous energy hit Blitzwing's back, sending him hurtling through a nearby wall and into an empty living quarters. Hearing what had happened just a few feet away from her, Nora turned to see Makoto with both of her open palms thrust forward, sparks still surging through her arms.
"Saaaaay, you wouldn't happen to be looking for a best friend, would you?" Nora pondered as she approached the guardian of courage. "I can see our pair name already...THUNDER THIGHS!"
She had shouted those two words as she held Magnhild up high with both her hands, pink electricity visible around her eyes...much to Mako's confusion.
"...Uh..." she uttered as she tried to form a response when she suddenly saw something behind the bubbly bomber and gasped. "LOOK OUT!"
She then dashed towards Nora and grabbed her to get her out of the path of an incoming Null Ray blast. The explosion that resulted sent the two electrokinetics flying up against the closed door to the infirmary. Once they landed on the floor, the duo looked up to see a very irate Starscream marching towards them.
"No one makes a fool out of Starscream and gets away with it!" he shouted at Makoto.
"If I had a yen for every time I've heard that one..." Sailor Jupiter muttered as she and Nora got back on their feet. "You take him from the left. I'll take him from the right."
"Thunder Thighs," Nora whispered with a grin, shifting her weapon into its grenade launcher form.
"I'm all for being your friend...but that name needs work," Makoto retorted.
With that, the newly formed duo charged towards the Decepticon air commander, Jupiter heading left while Nora ran right. His anger focused more so on the Senshi of thunder, Starscream immediately turned to Makoto and fired several shots from his cannons, only for the protector of Japan to swiftly dodge them all. He was so fixated on trying to turn Mako to dust that he failed to notice Nora running up to his right foot, hammer at the ready.
"Nora SMASH!" she shouted.
She swung the hammer with all of her might, slamming it against Starscream's foot, resulting in a massive dent as the sound of metal crunching echoed throughout the hallways.
"AAAAH! MY FOOT!" the seeker cried out as he started hopping up and down whilst clenching his damaged foot.
Suddenly, a zap of electricity caused him to turn back to Makoto, who was floating up above the Decepticon, lightning crackling in her fists as the antenna in her tiara rose up.
"Supreme...Thunder!"
A powerful blast of electricity then burst out of the antenna and headed right for Starscream. In an act of cowardice, the air commander quickly ran out of its path, causing it to hit an unsuspecting Nora instead and send her flying backward and into a wall. She slumped back down to the floor in an almost lifeless state as the thunderous powers of Jupiter surged throughout her body, much to Makoto's horror.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!" she exclaimed as she quickly floated back down and dashed towards the huntress.
But before she could reach her, Starscream proceeded to run in between the two, cackling in a mocking manner as the Senshi slid to a stop.
"Kusottare!" [*] Mako angrily shouted at the Seeker.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! Quite a shocking turn of events, wouldn't you say, wretched Senshi?!" Starscream jested.
However, a sharp whistle caused him to cease his mocking instantaneously. He turned around towards the source of the sound and found, much to his fright, Nora, back on her feet with electricity sparking through her body and hammer while a few random strands of her red hair stood upright.
"Hey," she greeted with a smirk.
Not even giving her opponent enough time to scream in terror, Nora then boosted herself up towards Starscream's face, bashing Magnhild right at his cheek, resulting in a thunderous explosion that sent him through a wall and into one of the Tower's many staircases. Once she landed back on her feet, the bubbly bomber turned towards a stunned Makoto and began to approach her.
"How 'bout 'Live Wire?' That sound like a better pair name?" she inquired.
Sailor Jupiter's response was to smirk before giving her ally an electrical fist bump.
"Now that's more like it," she answered.
Suddenly, the sounds of several B.A.T.'s heavy footsteps and several Putties speaking gibberish caught the two of them off guard. They turned to see about a dozen of each approaching them. The duo turned to each other, smirking before nodding once and rocketing towards their enemies.
While that was going on, the Ninja plunged his sword deep into the Z of a Putty before throwing an electro ball at a B.A.T., shutting it down instantly. He then performed a backflip to dodge the laser blast of a second of Cobra's androids, causing it to take down a Putty by accident. While in midair, Randy sent an Air Fist to finish the Android Trooper off. The second he landed though, two more Putties tried to get the drop on him, only for Rena to swoop in and deliver a roundhouse that sent the foot soldiers of Lord Zedd away from her lover while Queen Bee intercepted a third that tried to get the drop on her fellow Miraculous wielder. No sooner had she done that did a portal open nearby the two of them, Pegasus stepping out along with Sashi.
"Status report," Randy requested as he decapitated a Putty.
"The Joes and I managed to get Casey and Penn to the Flagg safely," the Miraculous holder informed. "The medics are readying Rocksteady as we speak."
"How long do you think that should take?" Alya asked whilst grabbing an ambushing Jackal before tossing him right at his sister.
"A couple more minutes should do," Pegasus answered.
Right after he finished that sentence, a B.A.T. aimed its weapon at the Parisian hero, but before it could fire, a glyph formed right in front of it, causing it to shoot that instead. No more than a second afterward, Weiss jumped down from a second glyph in the air to slice it vertically in half.
"These guys are a serious pain in the ass," she said, slightly out of breath as the heap of the Cobra machine fell to the floor.
"Ugh, tell me about it," Chloe replied.
Suddenly, a duo of Putties tried to lunge at her from behind, only for Ryoko to fly up to them and grab them by their necks before flying upward. The former pirate then proceeded to smash their heads together with such force that they turned to dust almost instantly.
"What are you talking about, Ice Queen?" she gleefully asked. "I'm having the time of my life over here!"
Meanwhile, Sailor Chibi Moon had managed to get Killgore off of her head and slam the tiny robot onto the floor before kicking him away. No sooner had she done that did three B.A.T.'s attempt to open fire on her from behind. However, right before they pulled the trigger, Tuxedo Mask quickly swept the small lady away and just barely managed to dodge the laser fire. But right as he managed to get his future daughter away from danger, Mamoru found himself surrounded by more of Cobra's war machines, some of the ones in front of him shifting to the side to allow Destro to approach him.
"Sailor Moon isn't here to save you this time, boy," the head of M.A.R.S. Industries stated.
"Who said we needed saving from you, chromedome?" Mamoru retaliated as he set Chibiusa down.
With that said, Chibiusa quickly grabbed Luna P and threw it onto the ground, a flash blinding the Cobra robots and their leader, Destro being forced to shield his eyes. Not long afterward, several hearts shot out from where Sailor Chibi Moon stood, her Pink Sugar Heart Attack destroying several B.A.T.'s while Tuxedo Mask charged out of the light and tackled Destro to the floor. The leader of the Iron Grenadiers immediately punched the protector of Japan off of him to get back on his feet, but Mamoru was able to quickly brush off the attack and slam his cane against his enemy's metal head. This did little to phase the Laird of Castle Destro though, who quickly grabbed his holstered pistol and took aim.
"Tuxedo La Smoking Bomber!" Mamoru shouted whilst pointing his palm at Destro.
A beam of energy shot out of his hand, managing to make its mark on the arms manufacturer's hand and causing him to drop his weapon. Seizing the opportunity, Tuxedo Mask, delivered a roundhouse to Destro's chest, knocking him against a squad of Putties who were in the midst of fighting Cybersix. While the protector of Argentina had managed to destroy one with a punch to the Z, Destro quickly grabbed the second, very much surprised Putty, and hurled it towards Mamoru, who barely managed to dodge the foot soldier's body by sliding underneath it.
But before Sailor Moon's beloved could reach Destro, Hyena proceeded to lunge right at him and shove him against the wall. With a crazed grin, the member of the Pack was about to sink her metal claws into his chest, but before she got the chance, Ren quickly swooped in and kicked her off Mamoru's person before using StormFlower to shoot a B.A.T. in the head.
Amid the all-out riot that was going on, Starscream had been thrown like a ragdoll against a nearby door by one of Makoto's Sparkling Wide Preasures and struggled to get back onto his feet when he noticed Ryoko approaching him from his left, cracking her knuckles and smirking at the Seeker. In a panic, the air commander was about to try and make a run for it, only to see that at his right was Weiss summoning her massive Armor Gigas while glaring right into his optics.
"Scrap!" he cursed in fear. "I-I've got to get out of here!"
Desperate, he turned to the door he had been knocked against but didn't even get the chance to try and open it. For something had already knocked it off of its hinges. The treacherous Seeker screamed in fright before the door came down upon him, pinning itself against his lower half. As he struggled to free himself, Slag, in his dinosaur mode, marched his way into the room. Obviously not wanting to try their luck against a Dinobot, the remaining villains and Putties quickly made a run for it. Upon reaching the still struggling Starscream, Slag stopped and looked down at him.
"Excuse me," he said.
The fighting having now temporarily ceased, the heroes took this time to catch their breath as the Dinobot continued to approach them.
"Thanks for the save, but seriously, Slag, why can't you go through doors like a normal bot?" Randy asked.
"Me, Slag, and doors no get along," Slag answered.
Suddenly, Makoto noticed her communicator going off, answering it to see Ami running down the hallways alongside Donnie, Blake, and Yang.
"Ami, what is it?" she asked.
"It's the Phoenix's targets!" Sailor Mercury answered. "The Society somehow knew what was going on and are after them!"
"They tried to ambush us at the lab!" Donnie added.
"Wait, what?!" Sailor Jupiter exclaimed. "Where are you right now?"
"We managed to get Yang out of harm's way for now, but there's an army of supervillains that are probably after us right now, and Soundwave's leading the charge," Ami answered. "We could really use some backup."
"Got it," Mako replied. "I'll lock onto your signal and head straight to your location."
"Use our old communicators," Ami advised. "Wheeljack said that the Society managed to hack Sheila, so our normal COMM's are down."
"What about Rei?" Mako asked. "Did you manage to reach her?"
"I have, and Donnie managed to reach April," Ami answered. "They're making sure the others know about this too. I'll try and keep in touch with both of you. Mercury out."
"Be careful, Ami," Makoto whispered to herself as her communicator shut off.
"Jupiter, what's going on?" the Ninja asked as he and Rena approached the Senshi of thunder.
"This attack was all so Black Hat could get to the Phoenix's targets," Sailor Jupiter answered. "Mercury's keeping Yang safe for the time being, but she's gonna need some help."
"Can you trace her?" Cybersix asked.
"Not with my League COMM. She said something about Sheila being hacked," Makoto answered. "But we still have our old communicators, so we can use that to track her."
"Ratchet, what's your status?" Randy asked through his COMM.
"We've managed to clear the infirmary," the Autobot medic answered on the other side. "We're all safely on board the USS Flagg now."
"Well then, what are we waiting for?!" Ibuki asked. "Let's go give Mercury some help already!"
Agreeing with the ninja-in-training's statement, the heroes quickly ran down the halls, Sailor Jupiter pulling out her old communicator and praying they can get to her fellow Senshi in time. As they did so, Starscream, once the coast was clear, managed to finally push the broken door off of him and get back to his feet, obviously not pleased with his recent humiliation.
"RRRGH! I am going to be rid of at least ONE of these wretched 'heroes' if it's the last thing I do!" he yelled.
With that, the air commander ran in the opposite direction the group of heroes took, his null rays ready to kill.
Back with Tommy, the White Ranger managed to slide underneath an ectoblast courtesy of Skulker's wrist cannon before uppercutting the ghost right at his jaw. The hulking specter stumbled back slightly as Tommy attempted to strike him again, only for one of Sedusa's tendrils to grab him by his left ankle and send him flying towards Monkey Fist, who proceeded to chop kick him right across his helmet. However, the leader of the Power Rangers managed to backflip himself to where he landed on his feet and blocked a second offensive from the simian enemy of Kim Possible. At the same time, he pulled out Saba to slice one of Sedusa's hair tendrils as it went for him a second time before using the blade to block one of Spider Bytez's mutated spider legs from stabbing his chest.
"I conditioned that this morning, you bastard!" an enraged Sedusa yelled as she retracted her damaged tendril.
The White Ranger then lept upward before splaying both of his legs to kick both Monkey Fist and Spider Bytez in their faces, all the while letting out a 'Hyah!' as he did so. However, as both villains reeled back, Tommy, the instant he landed back on his feet, saw Firefly pull out a submachine gun and open fire. Acting quickly, he used Saba to deflect the bullets as he advanced towards the Cobra demo man, only for him to smash the end of the weapon against his helmeted face once he was out of ammo. Suddenly, a green ecto-wrist blade was seen going for his neck, forcing Tommy to duck down to avoid it before clashing his sword with Skulker's other wrist-blade.
In his distracted state, he failed to notice Goldar landing right behind him, and the instant he spin-kicked the ghostly hunter away from him, the hound of Lord Zedd swung his own blade down upon Tommy's back. The impact failed to slice his flesh, but several sparks exploded from where he was struck, causing him to cry out in pain before falling flat on his stomach.
"Resorting to...ugh...cheap shots now, Goldar?" he mocked whilst fighting the pain he was in.
Spider Bytez, seeing an opportunity, attempted to bring one of his spider legs down upon his back, only for Tommy to roll out of its path and allowing it to jab itself into the floor. Right before the mutant could free his appendage, his opponent swung Saba towards it, slicing it clean off and causing him to yell out in pain as he clutched his wound. This victory was short-lived, however, as Skulker had retaliated by launching an ecto-net towards Tommy the instant he got back up, encasing him inside. He was, fortunately, able to use his weapon to free himself, but no sooner had he done that did Sedusa sucker punch him right in the face with one of her tendrils. This, in turn, caused him to stumble backward towards Goldar, who wasted no time elbowing him in the back to send him onto the floor again. Tommy attempted to get back up, only for Goldar to pin his foot down onto his back, allowing the other five to gang up on him and begin to relentlessly beat him while he was down.
Down one of the nearby halls, Steven had managed to shield both himself and Star from a trio of B.A.T.'s that opened fire upon them. Once their weapons were out of ammo, Steven held his shield above his head, allowing Star to jump onto it before boosting the Princess of Mewni towards the androids as they reloaded. One blast from her wand managed to blow one of the robot's head off before she landed behind the remaining two. With a war cry, she immediately lept onto one's back and twisted its head to break its neck, allowing the heap to fall to the floor. The last remaining B.A.T. tried to aim its now loaded weapon at her, only for Steven's shield to come flying in to bisect it at the waist. The shield bounced against the wall at the end of the hall, allowing it to come back to its owner.
However, before the duo could celebrate their victory, the sounds of someone grunting in pain echoed throughout the hallway.
"That sounded like the White Ranger!" Steven pointed out.
Both him and Star instantly ran towards the source of the sound, seeing their fellow target of the Phoenix being beaten senselessly by Goldar and his team.
"Oh, no you don't," Star sneered.
The princess from another dimension didn't so much as hesitate to aim her wand right at Goldar's face, shooting a spell that caught the winged monster off guard and sent him flying up against the wall. The other five villains ceased their beatdown of the White Ranger to turn towards the newcomers, Steven readying his shield and Star charging another spell into her wand. Goldar, once he slid down to the floor, snarled at the two of them.
"Take the boy!" he ordered. "Kill the Mewman!"
His team responded by charging towards them, Firefly immediately opening fire at Star, only for Steven to quickly shield her from the bullets.
"Go give White some help!" Star said as she turned her wand into its staff formation. "I'll keep these clowns on me! Bunny Rabbit Blast!"
Before Steven could even attempt to try and get Star to reconsider her tactic, she had already shot a blast of energy and rabbits from her wand to propel herself up and towards the villains before aiming it at Firefly's submachine gun.
"Dagger Crystal Heart Attack!"
A barrage of heart-shaped daggers shot out of her wand, making their mark on Firefly's weapon and slicing it in half. The demolitions expert of Cobra tried to retaliate by tossing his destroyed weapon at Star, only for her to kick them away from her before landing and shooting a spell at Spider Bytez to keep him away from her.
While this was going on, Steven made a mad dash for the White Ranger, only for Goldar to lunge towards him. But before he could bring his sword upon them, Steven quickly made a bubble shield that protected both him and Tommy before expanding it outward, causing Goldar to be sent hurtling through one of the already damaged walls and into an empty room. Once he was taken care of, the descendent of Pink Diamond grabbed his fellow hero's hand to help him up.
"Ugh, thanks, Steven," Tommy thanked as he fought the pain he was in. "I owe you one."
"Don't worry about it," Steven replied.
Suddenly, the sound of Star grunting in pain caught their attention. The two of them turned just in time to see the Princess of Mewni being thrown towards Monkey Fist by Sedusa's hair, the simian martial artist proceeding to spin kick her right in the gut. Tommy attempted to run into the fray to defend her, only for him to fall to one knee as he felt a sharp pain in his chest, a clear sign that some of his ribs might be broken. A look of concern overtook Steven for both him and Star. The three of them were hopelessly outnumbered, and it was only a matter of time before Goldar shook off his own injuries and went after them once more.
Then, it hit him. A possible means to even the odds.
"White, I think I have an idea," he stated.
"Do tell," Tommy responded.
"First, I'm gonna need you to dance with me," Steven instructed.
"...Uh, what?" a confused Tommy asked.
"Trust me. It's only gonna be awkward for like a second," Steven assured.
Back with Star, she had managed to kick Monkey Fist away from her, only for Skulker to grab her by the back of her head and smash her face-first against the wall, nearly breaking her nose due to the brute force the ghostly hunter used. He then tossed her aside, allowing her to slide against the floor towards Firefly, who held her down with his foot. The demolitions expert of Cobra proceeded to pull out one of his pistols and aimed it directly at Star's forehead. However, the second before he could take the shot, a bright light engulfed the entire hallway, forcing everyone to shield themselves. Star, seizing this opportunity, punched Firefly's leg, allowing herself to be freed before she lept away from her enemy. The flash lasted several seconds before it subsided, prompting everyone to focus their attention on the source.
When the light faded, a new figure stood where Steven and Tommy once stood. It seemed to be a Power Ranger of some kind, given the helmet and shoulder pads that bore a resemblance to the White Ranger's. However, the gold highlights were now a bright shade of pink, and the crest on the armor was now in the shape of a star, a large, pink diamond-like jewel adorned onto it. The figure also held a sword similar to Saba, only it was now mostly in a similar shade of pink with the white tiger head that of a pink lion. Seeing the perplexed villains stare at him, the mystery Ranger got in a fighting stance before pointing his blade right at them.
"Alright, you freaks, how 'bout you try your luck with me...the Diamond Ranger!" the stranger, a fusion between Tommy and Steven, declared.
"Ya think changing your costume's gonna do you any good, you damn-?!" Spider Bytez attempted to retaliate.
However, before he could finish his sentence, the Diamond Ranger had already lept towards him with impeccable speed, kicking him right at one of his eyes with a force so great that pink sparks flew across the hallway and sent the mutant screaming through one of the already weakened walls. Sedusa attempted to seize the opportunity to grab him, but the fusion had already summoned a shield, not unlike Steven's from his gemstone, to block the offensive. He then used his now razor sharp shield to slice off the tendril and kick her away before instantly turning around to block a punch from Monkey Fist. The simian-like nobleman delivered a series of lightning-fast punches and kicks to his enemy, only for the Diamond ranger to block each and every one single-handedly. He even placed his left hand behind his back in an almost mocking after he had retracted his shield, further enraging his adversary.
Several seconds passed in this one-sided matchup before the Ranger grabbed Monkey Fists right arm and twisted it, causing him to cry out in pain before being = tossed with little effort towards both Firefly and Skulker, knocking them both down. The entire time this transpired, Star observed everything with giddy astonishment.
"Hey Steven, if you can hear me in there, do me next!" she called out. "That looks like fun!"
Growling in irritation, Skulker got back on his feet and tossed a pair of ecto-bolas at his target, only for the Diamond Ranger to use his sword to slice them in half before charging towards the ghostly hunter, who instantly readied his arm blades.
"You're helmet's gonna be quite the trophy once I pry it out of your cold, dead body," he sneered.
He charged towards the fusion, blades ready to decapitate his enemy, only for the Diamond Ranger to bend backward to narrowly avoid them before bashing his shield across his face, swiftly following with a roundhouse kick to his jaw that was powerful enough to send him flying. Once he landed, he, along with the other five villains, realized how hopelessly outmatched they were and made a run for it, all while Goldar stepped out of the hole he had inadvertently created.
"Cowards!" he snarled. "I'll have your heads for this!"
"Looks like it's just you and me now, Goldar," the Diamond Ranger declared as he approached the servent of Lord Zedd.
"And you had the gall to insult me for not fighting you alone, White Ranger," Goldar growled as he readied his sword. "What excuse do YOU have?"
"We figured this'd be a good means of getting even," the fusion answered.
Before Goldar could even think of a retort, the Diamond Ranger had already sprinted towards him, bringing his blade down onto him and forcing him to block the offensive.
Elsewhere, Ruby had managed to slice a B.A.T. in half with Crescent Rose as she and Washu lead the group of heroines tasked with rescuing her uncle and friends from Black Hat's clutches. A trio of Putties attempted a counterattack, only for Arcee to gun two of them down while Cammy dashed towards the third.
"Cannon Spike!"
With a mighty backflip, she managed to kick the Putty's head clean off before Ryuko plunged her sword into its Z to finish it off. During this, Ruby's silver eyes focused mainly on her scroll, which displayed the aura meters of Oscar, Qrow, and Penny. Each time they went lower and lower, her heart sank deeper and deeper as she feared the worst would come before the five heroines could reach them.
"How much further?" Ryuko questioned as she decapitated a B.A.T.
"They're still a floor down, but we should be right on top of 'em soon," Washu answered as she observed a device of her own.
"Just hang on a bit longer, guys," Ruby whispered in an attempt to reassure herself.
Black Hat cackled sadistically as his claws slashed at Qrow, taking a large chunk of his aura as he yelled out in pain. The Huntsman retaliated by swinging Harbinger at his neck, decapitating the demonic weapons dealer instantly. Unfortunately, Black Hat easily recovered from this otherwise fatal blow as his neck instantly reattached his head to his body. Penny attempted to seize the opportunity by jabbing several of her swords into his person, only for his head to turn itself completely around to face her, causing the android to let out a gasp of fright. He then flashed a toothy grin at her before grabbing the wires attached to her weapons, swinging them and the robotic girl they were also bonded with towards Qrow, who had reconfigured his own weapon into its shotgun formation. He failed to shoot it before Penny's body slammed against his, sending them crashing against a wall.
Oscar, meanwhile, attempted to swing Ozpin's cane at Black Hat, only for him to bend his body to the side in an inhuman manner before slashing his claws at the boy. Thankfully, he was able to block this blow with The Long Memory, but barely.
"Oscar, you must let me take over!" Ozpin pleaded inside the farm boy's head whilst he deflected more of Black Hat's swipes. "I've never encountered him, but I've heard of Prime's past struggles with Black Hat. He will kill you if you keep holding me back!"
"Agreed," Oscar thought. "But the instant he's taken care of, you're going right back inside, you hear me? I can't risk you doing something like what you did to Yang again."
"Deal," the former headmaster of Beacon responded.
A glow appeared in Oscar's hazel eyes as he jumped away from Black Hat's claws, readying himself for Ozpin to take over once more. However, right before the switch was completed, Oscar, all of a sudden, cried out as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down, horrified to see Black Hat's hand phasing through his aura and into his body. His breathing became more labored as he looked back up, his gaze locked onto the demonic arms dealer, his hand stretched to him as he grinned with devious glee.
"What...What are you-?" Oscar attempted to ask.
But before he could finish his sentence, Black Hat, with one mighty pull, tore what his hand was gripped onto out of Oscar's body: The soul of an equally shocked Ozpin. The farm boy screamed in agony as his body felt as if it was being ripped in half from the inside, all while Qrow could only watch in horror while Penny, also stunned by this sinister deed, assisted him back onto his feet.
"My Gods..." was all Qrow could say.
With the headmaster's soul now ripped from its host, Black Hat tossed Ozpin away like a rag doll, causing him to phase through the walls while Oscar slumped down to the ground, unconscious. His grin never fading, Black Hat proceeded to retract his outstretched arm and placed both of them behind his back as he slowly approached his intended victim.
"Qrow, get Oscar as far away from here as you can," Penny requested.
"What are you-?" Qrow attempted to ask.
Suddenly, the protector of Mantle rocketed towards her enemy, grasping onto him as she smashed his body through a wall to get him away from the injured Oscar. Unable to protest the risk the android was taking, Qrow obliged by Penny's request and dashed towards Oscar, picking up the unconscious farm boy before running in the other direction.
While that was going on, Optimus had narrowly avoided Megatron's mace, only for the Decepticon leader's free left fist to deliver a blow to the side of his face. One that was powerful enough to send him stumbling into a ruined replicator.
"Tell me, Optimus, how does it feel?" Megatron asked as he swung his mace towards Prime's head, only for him to roll out of its path. "To stand where I once stood millions of years ago on Cybertron."
The Autobot commander attempted to get back onto his feet, only for his rival to retract his mace and grab him with both of his hands. Megatron then lifted him up, only to ram him, face first, into a wall, earning him a grunt of pain from Optimus.
"To be deemed a traitor. A monster. Cast aside by this League of yours and even your fellow Autobots."
As he spoke, he tossed Prime onto a nearby table, resulting in it breaking in half once his metal body made contact.
"All because you dared to act as no one else had the courage to. All in an effort to save your precious new home."
As the last of the Primes attempted to get back up, Megatron firmly planted his heel onto his enemy's chassis, pointing his fusion cannon towards his head.
"Carry the agony of your ultimate failure to the Pit, Prime."
But before he could finish this ancient rivalry once and for all, something came crashing through the wall on his right, prompting him to turn his head in a perplexed manner. This was just in time to see Penny tossing Black Hat away from her, causing the demon to smash against a wall. Taking advantage of this development, Optimus knocked Megatron's cannon away from him before grabbing the leg of the table he had crashed onto and throwing it at his opponent's head. The leg made contact with Megatron's metal forehead, causing him to fumble back and allow Optimus to jump back onto his feet and deliver an uppercut to Megatron's chin that practically launched him upward, causing him to crash through a nearby wall.
While that was going on, Penny fired several shots from her swords at Black Hat, only for him to twist and bend out of their line of fire and lunge angrily towards the robotic huntress. But before he could reach her, a powerful laser bolt caused him to explode into a black, liquid-like substance that smeared into the wall. Stunned, Penny turned towards where the surprise attack came from, her eyes greeted by Optimus approaching her, his Ion Blaster drawn.
"Penny, are you alright?" he asked.
"I am still functional," Penny answered. "But my aura can't take much more of this."
"Where are Qrow and Oscar?" Prime asked.
"Something's happened to Oscar," Penny stated as she recounted the sight she had bore witness to. "This creature we face, I-I don't know how, but-"
A malevolent chuckle interrupted her, prompting the robotic duo to shift their attention to the wall Black Hat's remains were smeared, just in time to witness the arms dealer molding himself back together.
"The boy has half a mind to thank me, Prime," he mocked as he placed his top hat back onto his head. "Given what we've found out about this 'Ozpin' friend of yours, it must feel positively euphoric not having him stuck inside his head for a change."
The Autobot's blue optics widened in horror as he took in what his foe had said.
"Black Hat..." he practically spat. "What have you done?!"
Unfortunately, right as he was about to fire a second shot from his weapon at Black Hat, the sound of Megatron roaring with fury broke his concentration. From behind the leader of the Autobots, Megatron had smashed himself through the rubble of the wall he was sent through, fury consuming his red optics as Optimus quickly turned himself around to face his greatest enemy. At the same time, Black Hat lunged himself towards Penny, forcing her to form a shield with her swords to block his offensive.
Back out in space, Mothra narrowly managed to dodge DesGhidorah's black Gravity Beams and swiped one of her forearms across the Kaiju's underbelly. The demonic beast howled in pain, only for his left head to clasp his jaws onto Mothra's left wing and toss her towards a Decepticon frigate. The impact decimated the alien vessel, but Mothra was otherwise unharmed as she corrected herself and screeched aggressively at her adversary, who hissed in retaliation. Mothra's counterattack came in the form of her shooting her eye beams at her enemy, only for the cloned Kaiju to flap his wings to launch himself upward to avoid them before all three heads fired their Gravity Beams at their target. Mothra was quick to evade two of them, but the third managed to graze her right wing, singing it as she screeched in pain. Seizing the opportunity, DesGhidorah flew up to her, grabbing her by both of his clawed feet, readying himself to finish her off. However, before he could do so, one jab from the benevolent Kaiju's stinger forced DesGhidorah to release his grip, allowing Mothra to retreat into the floating graveyard of various alien vessels that met an untimely demise.
As that was going on, Hotaru saw Mothra's troubles and began to fly towards the scene to assist her, only for her to notice the Phoenix swooping towards her. Acting quickly, she managed to pull up her Silence Wall to block the creature's flames from scorching her. Unfotunately, even for one as powerful as Sailor Saturn, the Phoenix's flames were already proving to be a challenge for her to deflect, as she was already beginning to struggle to keep her barrier intact. Thankfully, before the shield gave way, several missiles began to hammer into the Phoenix's left wing, prompting it to cease its attacks and turn towards whoever was foolish enough to attack it. Hotaru too turned to face her savior, seeing Sabre Jet, missile launchers armed, with Sailor Pluto, Jetfire, the Megas, Superion, and dozens of alien starfighters behind him.
"Go give Mothra help!" Superion called out to Sailor Saturn. "We'll keep it on us!"
Nodding once to the group's bravery, Hotaru quickly flew towards DesGhidorah as he continued to chase Mothra through the wrecked vessels. As she did so, the Phoenix roared in anger towards those who stood in its way of gaining its great prize.
"Alright, you oversized flame-broiled chicken, in the immortal words of the greatest robot ever, I say to thee..." Coop declared as he gripped the Megas' controls. "...Bite my shiny metal ass!"
As that transpired, Blossom and Sailor Mars were both practically swarmed by supervillains and their grunts not long after the Senshi of war warned the commander and the leader of the Society's intent. One Puty attempted to lunge towards Blossom, only for her to use her ice breath to freeze it in place. She then shattered it with one kick to its chest, the shards making quick work on a nearby B.A.T. Rei, meanwhile, who stood back to back with Blossom, managed to roundhouse Femme Fatale away from her before using the fires of Mars to torch several cockroaches sent after her courtesy of Roach Coach. The flames managed to melt the robotic body that contained him, revealing the roach underneath as he scurried away in terror.
However, not long after this minor victory, Overkill rushed in from Rei's left and cracked her her across the jaw with his robotic fist, sending her to the floor, the sound of her body making impact catching Blossom's attention.
"Sailor Mars!" she cried out.
She quickly tried to fly over to the Senshi to assist her, only for Scorpina to grab her by her hair and toss her towards Princess, who was more than happy to deliver a devastating blow to the Powerpuff Girl's gut using a gauntlet left over from her old Fibre-o-tomic-omic suit.
"Aw, Blossom, you're not looking so good," she stated, her voice laced with mockery. "What's the matter? Did that stupid bird scramble your brain?!"
Before Blossom could respond, Princess grabbed her by the head and slammed her knee against the Powerpuff's face, knocking her flat on her back. Sailor Mars, seeing her friend in distress, quickly jumped back to her feet before Overkill could smash her skull in, causing the android to punch a hole into the floor and get his fist stuck. Rei followed suit by blasting the mechanical menace with a torrent of fire before shooting her crossbow at a B.A.T.'s head. She then made a mad dash towards Blossom, who had managed to fire her laser eyes at Princess, only for her to absorb the attack with one of her gauntlets. Just before Sailor Mars could reach her, however, Scorpina lunged at her from her left and pinned the Senshi against the wall, grasping her by the neck.
"Consider this payback," the general of Zedd and Rita sneered as Rei struggled to free herself.
With her free hand, she positioned her sword towards the guardian of love and passion's neck. But before she could make the final blow, Rei grabbed onto her arm and superheated her palms, singing Scorpina's flesh and causing her to release her grip as she screamed in pain. No sooner had she landed on her feet did Sailor Mars lift her right hand to her face, the flames of her guardian planet surrounding her.
"Mars Snake Fire!"
Lunging her hand towards Scorpina, Rei cast the flames towards her enemy, a large fire snake driving itself against her chest and sending her flying away.
The chaos did not go unnoticed, as Randy's team could hear the sounds of the battle echoing through the halls, causing them to stop dead in their tracks.
"Sounds like they made it to Blossom and Sailor Mars!" Rena stated in horror.
"Slag, Chloe, Weiss, think you can give them some backup?" Randy asked.
"Me, Slag, say no problem!" the Dinobot answered.
"Call me if any of you spot Blake or Yang," Weiss said to her friends.
"Will do," Jaune replied.
"Everyone else, follow me!" the Ninja commanded.
The rest of the group obliged, running alongside him as he and Alyah sprinted through the halls, leaving the trio tasked with assisting Blossom and Rei.
"I don't suppose either of you have a strategy, do you?" Queen Bee asked.
In response, Slag transformed into his triceratops mode.
"Hop aboard!" he answered.
"...Yeah, I figured as such," Chloe replied.
Still, it wasn't like either the Mayor of Paris' daughter or the former Schnee heiress had anything better to think of to face the horde of villains that awaited them. So, utilizing one of her Glyphs, Weiss jumped up to Slag's back, grasping Chloe's hands to help her up before the Dinobot charged down the halls towards the ensuing battle.
Groaning in pain, Scorpina attempted to get herself back up, watching as the one who set her ablaze tackled Princess away from Blossom. She was about to try and ambush her once more when her communicator went off. The general of Lord Zedd looked down to see the face of her team's leader.
"STATUS REPORT," Soundwave requested.
"We've engaged Blossom and Sailor Mars," Scorpina informed. "Still no sign of Xiao Long."
"ALL OTHER OPERATIVES, REPORT," Soundwave ordered. "HAS THE TARGET BEEN LOCATED?"
"Nope," Shego answered, plasma igniting in her palms as she spotted something. "But I just found something even better."
The henchwoman smirked to herself as she observed Kim beating back Mocktopus, only for Himcules to try and get the drop on her from behind.
"Agh! No," Fishface exclaimed as he quickly dodged one of El Tigre's swipes. "I should have known joining you idiotas was a bad idea!"
"I ain't found shit!" an impatient Fuzzy Lumpkins shouted as he stalked the empty halls, his trusty rifle in his hands. "I swear, if I don't get ta shootin' somethin'-"
Suddenly, a black mass quickly rushed past Fuzzy from his right.
"Huh?" he uttered.
It was then that he felt something was amiss and looked down to see, much to his shock, that his weapon was gone.
"Looking for this?" a voice asked.
The pink-fuzzed villain quickly turned around to see Blake standing a few yards away, holding his weapon in her hands. Just this simple sight alone was enough to cause several veins in his head to start pulsating as he practically started to turn red with anger. He then charged towards the unintimidated Faunus, intent on ripping her to pieces.
Elsewhere, Soundwave had played the audio of the confrontation to his fellow Decepticons via the crest in his forehead, which shut off immediately after hearing Blake's voice.
"LOCATION CONFIRMED," he stated before looking down to his human allies. "ASSUME YOUR POSITIONS. AWAIT MY COMMAND."
"GIT YER PAWS OFFA MAH PROPER-!" Fuzzy practically roared.
However, once he reached Blake, he simply ran right through her as she seemingly vanished in a puff of smoke, much to his confusion.
"...ty?" he finished.
A powerful kick from behind courtesy of his former target then sent Fuzzy flying up to a wall, causing his head to smash against it, knocking him out. Blake then landed on her feet before tossing the weapon she had confiscated away while Yang, Donnie, and Ami emerged from their hiding spots.
"Someone definitely got an 'A' in her kawarimi classes," an astonished Donnie remarked.
"That takes care of him," Blake noted. "Where do we head next?"
Suddenly, an explosion from the group's right sent the four of them onto the ground, sliding down the empty hall as they started coughing from the amount of smoke that now surrounded them. As it cleared, they looked up and saw Tankor approaching them, Thrustor rolling beside him and Jetstorm floating behind him.
"Don't really see how that matters, putty tat," Jetstorm answered for Blake. "No matter which way you go, they're ALL dead ends! Now hands in the air, fleshbags!"
"Yeah, hands in air, fleshbags!" Tankor repeated, only for Jetstorm to smack his head from behind.
"Shuddup!" he snapped.
Knowing who this trio was after, Blake immediately jumped in front of Yang, Gambol Shroud drawn, while Ami and Donnie quickly joined her.
"Doesn't have to end this way, you know," Thrustor said. "Just give us the girl, and we might consider sparing your lives."
"I'll sweeten the deal with a ball of yarn and a bowl of Friskies," Jetstorm mocked, optics locked on Blake.
The Faunus sneered at his insult before responding.
"Even if I were dumb enough to trust someone who goes around calling themselves DECEPTicons...I'll die before I give her up."
"THAT CAN BE ARRANGED," a familiar voice replied from behind.
The four heroes turned towards the source to find, sure enough, Soundwave, standing at the end of the hallway, his fingers already reaching for a button on his shoulder.
"RAVAGE, KILL HER," he ordered.
With the press of the button, a large cassette shot out of Soundwave's chest compartment, which transformed into Ravage, who hit the floor running towards Blake. The robotic jaguar tackled the Faunus away from the group, much to Yang's horror.
"Blake! she exclaimed.
She attempted to run towards her teammate to assist her, only for Soundwave to press his eject button a second time.
"RUMBLE, OPERATION: APPREHENSION," he said.
This time, a blue cassette shot out, transforming into Rumble as he flew towards the unsuspecting Yang.
"LLLLLET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLE!" he declared before smashing himself against Yang, the two of them being sent through the ground to the floor below.
"Yang!" Ami shouted, only for Tankor to set his foot in between both her and Donnie and the hole Rumble had just made.
"And just where do you think YOU'RE going?" Jetstorm inquired as he and Thrustor joined Tankor.
In response, Sailor Mercury summoned the aquatic energies of her guardian planet while Donnie pointed his staff at the three metal giants before them.
Back with Optimus and Penny, the android huntress managed to evade several tendrils Black Hat shot towards her by flying around them, occasionally shooting at him with her swords. But no matter how many times her attacks made their mark, the demonic arms dealer managed to heal himself in a matter of seconds. She analyzed her opponent from top to bottom using the scanners built inside her in the hopes to find a potential weak spot, but to no avail. So, for now, she could only go on the defensive, dodging Black Hat's attacks and occasionally using her swords to act as a shield.
Things weren't much better for Optimus. The wounds he had taken in his fight with Megatron were clearly starting to take a toll on him. He was covered from head to robotic toe in dents and scratch marks and was heaving heavily from exhaustion. Even still, the Autobot leader refused to let his foe win and, as always, would fight him to his dying breath. With that mindset, he deployed his axe once more and swung it at Megatron, only for him to sidestep out of Prime's path and counter with his mace. The instant he swung his own weapon, the spikes dug themselves deep into Optimus' side, causing him to cry out in pain as energon began to leak out of the wound.
This did not go unnoticed, as Penny, hearing Optimus' struggle, stopped flying and turned to see the heroic Autobot fall to one knee as he clutched the freshly made wound his rival had given him. Unable to ignore a plea for help, she boosted her rockets towards Prime, only for her to stop seemingly without reason. A gasp of fright escaped her as she noticed both of her arms had black tendrils wrapped around them. Deviously chuckling, Black Hat, the tendrils that caught Penny jutting out of his back, slammed the robo-girl onto the floor with such force that it caused a small crater to form and for what little remained of Penny's aura to dissipate.
Groaning in pain, Penny was completely helpless to stop Black Hat from lifting her up once more, a third tendril shooting out of his back. The third tendril suddenly sharpened itself as it aimed for its target's midsection.
Back with Ruby and the others, Washu suddenly stopped running as her device began to beep at a rapid pace, prompting the other four heroines to slide to a halt.
"Are we close?" Arcee asked.
"If by close, you mean 'we're right on top of 'em,' then yeah, I'd say we're pretty close," Washu answered. "They're down at the floor below in the mess hall."
"Forget the elevator then," Cammy suggested. "We should take the stairs to save us some ti-"
The Delta Red agent's words were cut short as Ruby's scroll began to go off. The red-clad huntress wasted no time pulling it out, and what she saw nearly made her heart stop. Though Qrow and Oscar's aura readings remained stagnate, Penny's had been completely diminished. In an act of desperation, she pulled Crescent Rose out and shifted it into its sniper formation before firing several shots to create a large hole in the floor that lead to the next level of the Tower. She then used her Petal Burst to fly through the hole, Arcee, Cammy, and Ryuko following close behind.
The instant Ruby's feet hit the floor, her silver eyes were greeted with the sight of Penny being completely bisected in half by Black Hat's tendrils. The red-hooded girl's skin turned white as she stood completely shellshocked, forced to witness such a horrific act a second time, all while memories of how the android first met her end came flooding back to her. And just like before, she had arrived too late to prevent this.
Optimus had witnessed this sinister deed as well, his blue optics widening in horror as he attempted to charge towards Black Hat. However, right as he took the first step, Megatron kicked him down to the floor before firmly planting his foot onto his enemy's back. He then crouched down and grabbed the back of Optimus' head, forcing him to watch as Black Hat threw Penny's torso onto the floor.
"Let this one be the first to fall because of your misdeeds, Prime!" Megatron stated.
Fortunately, it seemed Pietro took some precautions when he rebuilt his daughter to ensure she didn't meet the same fate twice. For though sparks danced across her wound and several wires were hanging out of her, Penny was somehow still alive and able to attempt to crawl away from Black Hat. However, she didn't get far, for the arms dealer firmly planted his foot onto the back of her head.
"Time for you to take a little trip to the scrapyard, tin soldier," Black Hat said, his voice dripping with devious glee.
He then began to put pressure onto Penny's head, intending on crushing it to finish her off. However...
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ruby screamed.
Sighing irritably, Black Hat turned towards said hooded girl, who was seething with anger and pointing her weapon right at him as hot tears poured out of her eyes.
"And who are you?" Black Hat asked nonchalantly.
"I'm the girl who's gonna blow your goddamn face off if you don't step away from Penny!" Ruby answered.
"HA! I'm sorry but was that a threat?" Black Hat mocked.
Suddenly, a dust round exploded out of Crescent Rose, completely obliterating the demon's head the instant it made impact.
"It was a promise," Ruby snarled.
Unfortunately, this, like so many efforts before, proved to do little to slow the leader of the Society down, for, in a matter of seconds, a tendril wrapped itself around an unsuspecting Ruby's waist and lifted her into the air. As that was going on, Black Hat's head reformed itself, the arms dealer this time not in quite as good of a mood as he was in before.
"That. Hurt," he growled. "Just for that, I'm going to make you watch as I rip this pretty little toaster's heart out!"
A dozen tendrils shot out of his back, each of them aimed for Penny's torso as she could just barely raise her left arm up in defense. Ruby thrashed around madly in an attempt to free herself when suddenly, she felt a very familiar sensation developing in her eyes, which seemingly began to flicker a bright shade of white. The huntress ceased her struggle as she, of course, questioned how this was even possible in the first place without any Grimm to trigger this.
But at this point, she really wasn't in the mood to ask any questions.
And so, in deep concentration she closed her eyes for two seconds before opening them back up, causing a beam of light to shoot out of them, which made its mark on Black Hat. As the light relentlessly enveloped him, his eyes widened as he began to feel his demonic flesh melt right off of his body. The demonic supervillain let out a blood-curdling scream as his eyes were set ablaze and the tendrils on his back burned away into nothingness. Several agonizing seconds passed before a second blast from Ruby's hues sent the wounded arms dealer through several walls, sending him far away from the mess hall and allowing Ruby to fall back to the floor.
As that was going on, Megatron had a look of amazement overtake his face as he loosened his iron grip on Optimus.
"I don't believe it," he whispered to himself. "...He DOES have a weakness."
Now freed, Ruby wasted no time sprinting towards Penny, picking her up in her arms.
"Penny! Penny, speak to me!" she choked out. "Please, say something!"
"R-R-R-Ru...-R...Ru...-u...ub-R-R-R..." Penny uttered.
Seeing her in such a state proved to be too much for the leader of Team RWBY, whose eyes once again began to glisten as tears began to fall once more.
"Please, Gods, no, not again," Ruby wept. "Not again!"
In her state of distraught, Ruby failed to notice Megatron approaching the two of them until his shadow began to loom over them, prompting her to jolt her head towards the Decepticon leader, all while Cammy, Arcee, and Ryuko quickly rushed towards them to give them backup.
"A most interesting set of optics you have there, fleshling," Megatron said before pointing his fusion cannon at the five heroines. "I'll make sure to put them to good use once I've plucked them from your corpse!"
But before the former gladiator of Kaon could fire, Optimus suddenly charged into him, pinning him against the wall as he fought the pain he was still clearly in.
"Ruby, quickly!" he called out as his foe struggled to release himself from his hold. "Get Penny to the science lab! It's her only chance!"
"We'll cover for you," Cammy offered. "Ryuko, go get the rest of her!"
The wielder of the Dragon Miraculous did just that, dashing towards Penny's lower half and picking it up before she, Ruby, Arcee, and Cammy ran out of the mess hall. No sooner had they done that did Megatron slam the back of his head against Prime's face, forcing the Autobot commander to release his hold. The two of them faced off once more, an uncommon look of fury in Optimus' optics.
"This has gone on far enough, Megatron!" he shouted. "End this now, or I shall end you!"
Hearing such a threat, however, did not cause Megatron to falter. No, instead, it caused him to erupt into a fit of maniacal laughter.
"THAT'S the spirit, Prime," he complimented. "A pity for your Autobots that this side of you hadn't come out more often. Perhaps then you might have been able to stop me on Cybertron."
"If you chose not to surrender, Megatron...then so be it," Optimus responded as he readied himself to fight his oldest enemy once more. "One shall stand..."
"And one shall fall," Megatron finished for him.
With that, the two Cybertronians charged towards each other, their fight reigniting.
Elsewhere, April, having warned Aelita of what was to come, had used her blade to decapitate a B.A.T. before driving it into a Putty's Z. As she did so, Angel shot several of her energy fields to destroy several of Cobra's androids. As they held off the horde of foot soldiers, Baroness observed the duo from a nearby hallway, hiding from the two of them as she activated her communicator.
"The targets have been located," she informed. "Converge on my coordinates at once."
With that, she went back to observing the two heroines as they took down more and more of the Society's foot soldiers, all the while thinking back to her daughter and hoping that her boyfriend would be able to enact his part of the plan without hindrance...less he wants him to deliver a slow and painful death by her hand.
Mason ignored the chaos going on around him as he and Wendy went through the hallway. It was almost funny in a way, considering this would be the last time he would be able to able to walk inside the orbital station, only this time it was as a villain. He looked over to Wendy, who, even under her mask, he could tell she was suffering. At this point, Wendy was struggling to keep up or even hold onto her axe, for that matter. As Mason rounded the corner, he found himself staring down the hall at his greatest regrets. There, standing in the middle of the hall, was Ford and Mabel. Mason clenched his fists upon seeing his family members, already knowing that this moment was bound to happen.
[*] - TRANSLATION: "Motherfucker!" (if anybody out there knows Japanese, let me know if that's not the correct translation)