Two days had passed since the Vigilant defeated Knight and KnightCorps collapsed, the company falling apart after all its criminal activities came to light and the imprisonment of their CEO, while Odaiba slowly healed over the damage the corrupt megalomaniac had caused.

Currently, it was mid-afternoon, and Tai was relaxing in what was in his mind, the best way to relax, relaxing on his couch with Sora in his arms as she leaned in and kissed him, the two lovers enjoying one another's company, with both having made excuses that the other believed about where they were and what had happened to them during Knight's psionic control of the city.

Breaking his focus on the television program they were watching, Tai smiled as he looked upon Sora and told her with a heartfelt tone. "I'm glad you were safe. I don't know how I would react if some maniac was controlling the girl I love like that."

"I felt the same way, Tai." Sora said in reply, expressing the same love on her face as she stared at the brunette, hiding the irony that she was bound to her Mistress' will, before moving herself down and resting her head on Tai's lap, just loving being so close to him and enjoying the occasional moments she didn't have to think about anything revolved around her dark persona.

Like Davis and Kari, Sora had known Tai since they were little, and even back then, she felt a strong connection to him, and always found an excuse to be around him.

Even after Kari 'enlightened' her and elevated her to her right hand, Sora still held her strong feelings for Tai, something Kari used as a way to control the fiery girl, with Sora firmly believing that once Kari's plans had come to fruition, she and Tai would be together forever, that they would have their own place together in her new, dark world.

As Sora continued to relax, Tai smiled and gently caressed Sora's hair, showing his affection for the girl he loved, for Tai had loved Sora from the moment he first met her.

In his eyes, she was beautiful, sweet, smart, caring and brave, and the fact that she loved him back only made him feel even more happy, though when they were younger, there were times he thought he'd lose her to Matt, but his former friend's turn to crime thankfully ended that possibility.

Thinking about the blond brought a frown to Tai face for a moment, having once thought of him as his best friend, but as the years when on, Matt turned down a dark path, causing pain not just for Tai, but to the blond's own family, one of the reasons he was glad TK was with the Protectors, happy to see the young boy walking a different path than his brother.

However, as much as Sora was enjoying her time with Tai, she froze up a little as she heard Kari's dark voice fill her head.

{Come to me, our next move is about to begin.}

Hearing the whispers of her Mistress in her mind and unable to disobey, Sora looked at her watch and sat up, acting like she had just looked at the time, and said. "Shoot, I'm going to be late for work. Sorry, Tai, but I need to go."

But before leaving, she engaged him in a quick but loving kiss.

"Alright. Have a good one." Tai said with support, having believed Sora was working as a fashion designer downtown, while she believed he worked as security on the side, and that Davis was doing his work studies with him every once and awhile.

"You too, handsome." Sora said in reply as she smiled and walked out the door, before her face turned serious as she made her way towards her own apartment, which held a gateway to the Dark Fortress.

"Tai..." Sora sighed, before thinking with a small smile. 'I hate keeping this secret from you, but I cannot disobey my Mistress. But I know once V-Force and the Protectors are gone, Kari will allow us to be together for as long as we desire, you'll see...'

-Later-

Dressed in her Night Queen outfit once again, Kari sat on her throne as she saw all her followers kneeling before her, where the arch villainess said. "The time is almost upon us, but there is one obsticle we need to remove to ensure our victory. V-Force must die."

Each member of the Dark Legion smirked at this, now knowing their task would not be distraction or taking out some item of magic, but an assassination, one that would shake all the heroes to their cores.

"What do you have in mind, my Lady?" Dark Hawk asked as she looked up at her Mistress, where behind her mask, Kari's dark smirk grew, having already planned for V-Force's demise.

-A few hours later-

With great urgency, the Protectors made their way towards a power plant at the edge of Odaiba after hearing a report that the Dark Legion was attacking and that the workers were being attacked.

'I don't know why or what the Night Queen wants with some power plant, but whatever the reason, we're going to stop the Dark Legion here and now!' V-Force thought with determination as Dragonheart, Seraph, HiTech, Vixen, Songbird, Fireguard and Zephyr flew next to him, while Red Nova, Lilly, Thunderstrike, Cyberstriker and Darkblade moved on the ground to reach their destination.

With KnightCorps gone, and the Cartel seemingly pulling out of Odaiba after their botched attempts, that left the Dark Legion remaining as the one true threat to the city, and the Protectors vowed to end their terror once and for all.

Arriving on the scene, V-Force and the others made their way inside the power plant, seeing that within, and almost the various knocked out guards were most of the Night Queen's main forces.

"It's about time you got here." Fang commented as he dropped an unconscious guard.

"Beating these guys just wasn't giving us the same kick when we face you losers." Fusionist then added with a dark laugh as Ironfist and Charm Mistress moved next to him, while they saw Deathstrike, Asta and Stryker dealing with a few other guards, Dark Ivy smirking as she surrounded the area in vines, leaving Psychonis and Shadowknight looking at the heroes, with the dark witch smirking wickedly at them.

"I don't see Dark Hawk, Red Phoenix or the Night Queen, so keep your guards up." V-Force said to the others as they started to approach the villains, each staring at either their usual opponents, or thinking of who they could help fight.

However, once the Protectors were within the boundaries of Dark Ivy's thorn wall, the heroes became confused as the scared guards all gained dark smirks.

It was then, much to the surprise and shock of the heroes, that all the guards, even the unconscious ones, turned into shadows and changed forms, revealing themselves to be Shadow Warriors in disguise, where the shadow demons all let out fearsome battle cries as they rushed at the heroes, while the winged ones took to the air.

But even with the numbers greatly against them, V-Force and the others all charged ahead, each making contact with a selection of shadow demons, which they began to clash against.

While Vixen stayed back, setting herself down and focusing, trying to recite an incantation to purify the area and rid them of the shadow demons, her focus was broken as a dark wave of energy rushed at her, causing the red haired heroine to glare as she saw Psychonis approaching her.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to let you destroy all the work my Mistress put in to get you all here." Psychonis said with a dark smile, encasing her hands in pitch black magic that she then threw at Vixen, who countered by raising her staff and forming a spiritual wall before her.

But though her barrier stopped the dark energy blasts, looking ahead, Vixen saw Shadowknight charge at her, where he swung his blade, managing to shatter the wall, before he moved in to finish Vixen off.

However, having an ally looking out for her as well, a blast of pure light struck Shadowknight in the side, throwing him aside and allowing Vixen to slam her staff into his face.

"Thanks for the assist." Vixen said as Seraph landed beside her, not taking his eyes off of Shadowknight, watching the armoured warrior get back up and prepare to fight once again, where he and Psychonis circled the pair of heroes.

"What do you say, handsome?" Psychonis asked, confusing Seraph, thinking she was speaking to him, before the dark haired sorceress added with a dark grin. "You take on the brat and I finish what I started with my pain in the neck?"

"Don't call me that, just kill the girl." Shadowknight then said in an emotionless tone as he drew his blade up and charged at Seraph, who brought up his light blade and blocked the attack.

"Oh, I love when you get so serious." Psychonis purred, before getting serious herself as she charged at Vixen, encasing her hands in her black magic and trying her hand at close combat, showing she had more methods to fight than just using long range.

But even with her skills, she grew frustrated as Vixen countered each attack with her staff and a few swift kicks.

"Fine." Psychonis said with a snarl, backing away and allowing her dark magic to circle her completely.

"I guess we'll do this the old fashioned way, only this time I will crush you!" The dark magic user declared releasing all the dark energies that circled her being, forming a giant lion shaped blast at Vixen, who held her staff out, allowing her own energies to consume her, before releasing it from the staff as a giant fox, with the two blasts clashing and almost looking as though the very spirits of the animals created were fighting.

Nearby, another familiar fight was going on as Dragonheart and Fang, with both their arms glowing in orange and blue energies respectively, clashed with one another, with each blow sending small shockwaves out as the pair fought.

"C'mon Dragon breath. Show me what you really can do." Fang said as he swung his claws at Dragonheart, extending them out with his energies, but found the hero strike back, releasing a stream of orange energy from his right arm and producing a draconic claw that clashed with Fang's, angering the blond.

"I don't know about you, asshole, but I'm getting sick of us fighting all these years. Let's end this already!" Dragonheart yelled as he pushed Fang back, who leaped back a few feet, before rushing in as the two clashed once again, both determined to take the other down, only Fang expressed a dark smile behind his helmet as he said back. "I couldn't agree with you more, only this will be your end!"

Nearby, both Red Nova and Thunderstrike did their best to dodge as Fusionist and Charm Mistress were on them, the villain gathering the elements around him to form weapons that he threw at the pair, while the psionic villainess used her powers to try and amplify her partner's.

But also working as a team, Red Nova produced a stream of flame around his being, with Thunderstrike running around her partner, building up the intensity and range of the inferno, before Red Nova released the devastating blaze, striking down Fusionist and Charm Mistress, angering both in the process.

"That was your fault!" Charm Mistress declared as she glared at Fusionist, then stared down at herself. "You better wish that didn't burn my costume, or else I'll put you six feet under."

"Oh give it a break. I'll make you a new one." Fusionist yelled as he got up, before adding under his breath. "One with a muzzle."

"I heard that!" Charm Mistress yelled as she got up and glared at Fusionist, who paid her no attention as he then slammed his palm into the ground, causing it to shake for a moment, before jagged pillars of rock and stone began to pop out of the ground, heading towards the pair of heroes, who jumped out of the way as the spiked objects tore through everything in their path.

"Focus on them, or did you forget the Boss is watching?" Fusionist then questioned in a serious tone as he looked at Charm Mistress, who gulped for a second, not only because he was right, but because the change in Fusionist's attitude scared her sometimes, causing the psionic villainess to shut her mouth and refocus on taking the Protectors down.

As this was happening, with the heroes and villains trying to settle old scores, Cyberstriker found himself once again in a close combat battle as he and Ironfist fought, the tai chi hero doing his best to avoid the cybernetic villain's fist as he missed being smashed to pieces, leaving a large crater where he once stood.

"Stand still and fight me instead of running around like a coward!" Ironfist yelled as he swung his arm around to try and hit Cyberstriker, who ducked just in time, before leaping up to deliver a swift kick to Ironfist's face, causing him to stagger back a few feet.

"Fine, if you want to play it that way!" Ironfist then let out with a continued rage, growing irked by the tai chi hero's silence and calm nature, before his metallic hand began to pulse with energy, surprising Cyberstriker, before the villain slammed his hand into the ground, creating a shockwave, not only causing Cyberstriker to stagger around, but before him, the ground erupted and a large section of stone slammed into his gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall to his knees.

"And how is that fair?" Cyberstriker asked through his groans, but found Ironfist gave no reply as he instead charged at the tai chi hero, drawing out a long and thick blade from his right arm, which he planned to use to slice Cyberstriker in half.

But frustration filled the cybernetic villain again when his attack was stopped, not by Cyberstriker, but by Darkblade and her katana.

"Remember, he's the bad guy, he cheats." She remarked, managing to get a slight gap between their blades and kick Ironfist in the chest, not only causing him to stumble back, but it allowed the master swordswoman to help Cyberstriker back to his feet.

"Everything ok?" She asked, trying to keep her cool, but behind her mask, she was worried for her brother.

"All good." Cyberstriker replied with a thumbs up as the siblings prepared to resume their fight with Ironfist, who glared at them as his blade crackled with energy.

Nearby, HiTech and Stryker were having their own fight as the two shot beams of energy at one another, both trying to push one another back.

"For a so-called 'made genius', you're running out of ideas, Styrker." HiTech commented, causing Stryker to scoff at the words and say. "Funny, I was about to say the same to you. I've analyzed our previous battles and I know your moves before you can even think of them."

"Besides, I for one, always have new ideas!" Stryker then yelled with a laugh as HiTech saw something start to cover the villains body, where the tech hero's scanners quickly picked up on what they were as he whispered in shock. "Nanobots?"

When the nanobots stopped swarming, they solidified into a new tech armour around Styrker, one slightly larger than HiTech's own, with the tech villain now encased in dark purple coloured armour, with his head covered by a slender helmet that had a pair of yellow slits resembling eyes and leaving no other visible facial features, except two pincer-like horns that extended from the top.

His being was covered in a thick armour, with HiTech not only seeing that from his arms, which now numbered four, four energy-like wings emerged from his back, leaving Stryker looking more insect-like in his appearance.

"Magnificent, isn't it? A combination of my genius and the tech KnightCorps no longer has use for. I am much stronger now, stronger than you!" Stryker yelled as his extra hands joined in and powered up his attack, pushing HiTech's beam back and forcing the tech hero to quickly move to prevent himself from, being incinerated by Styker's attack, before looking to see the villain flying up at him as four energy blades formed in his hands, keeping HiTech on the defensive, less he wanted Stryker to end him.

Below the two tech users, a battle of plants was forming as vines crashed and twisted with one another, while moving along them, Lilly used a pair of thorn-like blades to fight and parry against Dark Ivy as she used a pair of thorn covered whips on her end.

"You know, as much as I hate to say it, we do have a lot in common." Dark Ivy said, swinging her left whip around, which Lilly parried and swung her blades toward the villainess, only for her to rise up as one of her dark vines extended from beneath.

Curious, Lilly asked. "How do you figure?"

"For starters, we both love plants." Dark Ivy said, using her power to bring a thin vine to her, where a dark purple flower bloomed, taking it into her possession and adding. "Not to mention we both are cute and can probably get most guys to do what we want, even without powers."

"But what separates us is I'm willing to do anything to crush you." Dark Ivy then said with a more sinister voice, crushing the flower in her hand, before a pair of vine rose from the sides of Dark Ivy and shot down at Lilly, who brought up a pair of her own in order to protect herself.

"We are nothing alike! I fight to protect those I love and care for, while you, you only care about your vanity!" Lilly declared as she went back on the offensive, not only managing to push back Dark Ivy's vines, but summoning a third, it shot at the villainess, slamming into her side and knocking her from off her vantage point.

"How dare you!" Dark Ivy cried in rage, wishing to end the foolish girl once and for all, before a dark grin appeared on her face as she believed she knew how to do so.

"I guess you're right, I do only care about me." The plant villainess confessed, keeping her grin as a line of dark vines grew by her side, wrapping around one another until they formed a near perfect copy of herself, freaking Lilly out a little at the sight and this new ability.

"Me, me, me." Dark Ivy and her vine copy said darkly, as did the several that then grew around Lilly, before the copies tried their hand and leapt at Lilly.

However, while the copies shared the same dreaded feeling Lilly got from the original Dark Ivy, her vine blades were able to cut through them with no problem, leaving the plant using heroine to comment. "Your plant friends might look like you, but they are almost as weak as you are."

"How dare you!" One of the Dark Ivy copies yelled, where another added with a shared anger. "We'll grind you into mulch!"

Meanwhile, above them, Fireguard was locked in a close combat battle with Asta, who used his daggers to try and cut the fiery hero down, while slightly below them, Zephyr did her best to dodge the bullet fire from Deathstrike, who stood on the roof of one of the plant's buildings as he fired energy bullets at the heroine, before activating his rocket launcher as he fired a missile, one Zephyr dodged as she said in a mocking tone. "Missed me!"

"I don't miss, my dear." Deathstrike merely replied in a calm tone, confusing the heroine for a moment, before turning as the missile exploded a little bit above here, where a large net came down from the smoke, wrapping around Zephyr's being as she struggled to get out, falling towards the ground.

However, Zephyr felt herself freeze up, a chill ran down her as Deathstrike pressed his gun to the side of her head, grinning down at her as he said. "And now to finish what I started."

But before he could fire, Deathstrike quickly jumped out of the way as a powerful blast of flame pushing down Asta, causing him to crash right where the gunslinging villain was standing, before, acting quickly, Zephyr focused her elemental energy and released it with a powerful cry, not only cutting through the netting that restricted her being, but it slammed into Deathstrike, knocking him back and crashing into the barely recovered form of Asta.

"Thanks for the save, my love." Zephyr said with a sincere smile as Fireguard landed next to her, where he smirked and said. "For you, anytime."

The pair then watched their enemies stand back up and prepared to fight them once more, knowing that with two marksmen as skilled as Deathstrike and Asta, they would have to be cautious.

But looking at one another, both knew they could depend on their skills and their teamwork.

As all these battles were raging on, V-Force and Songbird were left to fight the small army of Shadow Warriors, battling the ones on the ground before going after the ones in the air.

"What was the point of all this? Radioactive materials and the Night Queen just don't mix." V-Force though aloud, knowing the psychological mind of Night Queen better than anybody.

"There doesn't seem to be..." He then began to say, only for a pair of winged Shadow Warriors to crash into him, cutting his thoughts and pushing him down to a three way graded platform near the top of the plant.

"V-Force!" Songbird yelled in concern, only to quickly go on the defensive as all the Shadow Warriors then began to swarm her.

V-Force, seeing Songbird in danger, quickly got to his feet, and was about ready to fly up and help her, before most of the area around the platform was covered in flames, a familiar laughter being heard as he looked up to see Red Phoenix in the air above, before another sinister laugh caught his attention, causing him to look to see Dark Hawk standing before him, running her blade along the railing and causing a few sparks to spread in the process.

"Looks like you fell for our little trap. My Lady did all this, so that I may have the honour of finally ending your pathetic life." The dark assassin said with a dark laugh, while realization finally hit V-Force, this was all a trap, a way to lure him into a situation to kill him off and as much of his team as possible.

'Damn it Davis!' V-Force mentally cursed himself as he extended hisi energy blades, knowing that, while he was good at close combat, Dark Hawk's reputation was well earned, while also knowing he had to keep some focus on Red Phoenix.

"Now, die!" The assassin yelled as she quickly closed the distance, swinging her blades as she thought against the hero.

All the while, from her private sanctum in the Dark Fortress, Kari watched with a dark smile at the view orb before her, watching V-Force and Dark Hawk fight.

"Very good my servants. Soon, V-Force will be no more. My plans will come to fruition, and with Davis at my side, I will rule over our new world forever." The Night Queen declared, looking forward to the final blow.

And though part of her wanted to have had Davis destroy her foe, she was glad that V-Force's end would come soon and that she and Davis would finally be together.

Meanwhile, V-Force did his best to block against Dark Hawk's attacks, before he felt himself bump into something, looking behind to see his back literally against the wall, turning just in time to see Dark Hawk before him, her right arm reaching back as she prepared to plunge the blade in her hand right through his face.

"So long, 'hero'." Dark Hawk said mockingly as she lunged the blade forward, a clanging sound of metal piercing metal being heard throughout the area as some of the fighting stopped as both heroes and villains looked toward the noise.

However, for a brief moment, the assassin was confused, as she did not feel the sensation of her blade piercing flesh and bone, before feeling a powerful kick to her stomach, causing her to skid a few feet, quickly regaining her composure as she realized what had happened.

V-Force had move just enough that her blade missed his head, but had pieced his helmet, which was now stuck to the wall behind him, allowing everyone to see the hero's true face as he got into a fighting stance, ignoring the fact he was unmasked and glaring at Dark Hawk, remaining determined to defeat her.

"My, my, such a handsome face." Dark Hawk commented, before drawing her blade forth again and adding with a more sinister voice. "It's a shame I'm going to have to cut it, along with you down."

Meanwhile, one thought went through the minds of all the Protectors, and, unbeknownst to them, Red Phoenix and Fang. 'Oh Fuck!'

"Mistress, what are your orders? Mistress?" Red Phoenix asked through her comms, but found the Night Queen not answering.

On her end, Kari's hands were shaking, her body trembling and her eyes widened in shock and disbelief as she mumbled. "But... but you were supposed to be at my side..."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Dark Hawk, but I'm not going down that easily." Davis declared as he quickly closed the distance between him and the assassin as the began to trade blows, managing to avoid the strikes and slashes of Dark Hawk's blades, while getting a few hits in on her.

"My, my... that handsome face... the way you fight... if I wasn't spoken for I'd say I'm falling in love here!" Dark Hawk declared as she continued to fight.

"Sorry but there's no way I would be drawn to a psychopath like you!" Davis yelled, drawing back his right arm and smashing it into Dark Hawk's blades, knocking her off balance and to her back.

Staring at Davis, then looking past, behind her mask, Dark Hawk grinned, seeing Red Phoenix had a clear shot at him, knowing that with one final blast, she could eliminate V-Force once and for all.

But before either could make such a move...

{Cease the fight and return. That is a direct command.} The Dark Legion then heard their leader then command, confusing them as they still had the upper hand.

"But Mistress..." Psychonis began to say, only to hear the Night Queen's voice yell. {I said now!}

Giving a small growl at the fact they had to retreat, Dark Hawk declared. "We'll settle this later."

Dark portals then opened behind each of the Legionaries, where they turned and entered, closing behind them, while the shadow demons all faded into shadows, allowing the Protectors to sigh in relief, before a great worry filled them as they saw Davis retrieve his helmet and fly down towards them, concern filling them that their enemy now knew who V-Force really was.

-Meanwhile-

"What happened? Why did we retreat?" Fusionist questioned, feeling like they could have finished the Protectors off this time, while most of the group were confused as well.

Even if they couldn't defeat them all, Fusionist was certain that a few would've met their ends.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the Legion were wondering what happened, Sora and Matt stood before the entrance to the Night Queen's chambers as guard, having been commanded to make sure nobody entered and disturbed their Queen.

But from what they could hear, both were disturbed and worried themselves.

Inside her chambers, Kari was laughing insanely, and an equally insane look on her face as though she heard the biggest joke in the world.

"The man I love is also the man I hate, no... no!" Kari let out with a laugh as she felt her sanity slipping even further. "Davis cannot be V-Force...This is all a big mistake... it's all wrong... V-Force is nothing but pain to me, a constant problem that prevents me from achieving the goal I want to accomplish with my love... Davis is my soulmate, he would've told me about this, would he...? I... I..."

And from his view in the Dark Realm, Zhaitan smiled wickedly as he thought with a growing pride. 'All is going as I have foreseen.'