Future Los Angeles

The four teams see the Stark Industries building some feet away from them.

"My creator…" Reg said.

"What?!" Everyone asked confused.

"Wait, hold on, you're saying your creator's in there?" Patamon asked.

Reg nodded.

"So, Stark made you?" Deadpool asked.

"He is a genius, I would be surprised if he can't make something." Savior said.

"Yet he died fighting a guy with a gauntlet," Venom muttered, though no one heard him as he was currently not out of Eddie's body at the moment.

"Stark?" Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Can't say I've ever heard the name before."

"Okay, wait. Our Reg isn't created by Stark. And yet, you're created by Stark." Mister Mosquito said.

"Well, don't know what your Reg is like." Reg said.

"Ugh, these twists are so confusing!" Carl exclaimed.

"Not as twisting as learning you dated a clone…" Shido lamented.

"Twice." Kurumi purred with a smirk.

"OK… that put some images in my head that I didn't need to get." Savior commented.

"Ha! Luckily he didn't kill his girlfriend by knocking her…" Venom was about to make an obvious sex joke, but Eddie smacked his own head in an attempt to shut him up, which did work but also hurt himself at the same time

"You know, that kind of reminds me of the time when I dated this chick-" Deadpool was about to relay a story of one of his exploits until Savior shut him up with a smack to the back of the head.

"No one wants to hear that." he said, having heard the story before, forcibly he might add.

"I do! Was she pretty?" Asked Tohka. No one responded to her question however.

"We should head into the building at least, see what's in store for us." Nanachi said.

"I have a better idea, how about we don't?" Sylvester piped up, wanting to avoid danger.

"Too late, we're getting on with the chapter. About going inside Stark Industries. That's what the chapter's gonna be about." Milk said.

"Hey, fourth wall breaks are my bit!" Deadpool said.

"Not like he invented the practice." Carl said to the camera.

'McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines are confusing' Eddie referenced in his head.

They then proceed to go to Stark Industries. Later, they entered the building. Scarlet and her crew were quite surprised by the tech that was here.

"Oh my…" Wild Bill held his hat with a surprised look.

"This is the kinda stuff we'd expect out of the Armada, Cap'n!" Birgus noted.

"Mhm, they were certainly ahead of the curve," Scarlet agreed.

"Even if this be no magic, I an' I sense nothin' but power comin' from dis place," Old Scratch commented.

"All this advanced tech in one place, yet it keeps getting hijacked or destroyed. Stark really needs better defense." Savior said while looking around.

"I wonder if they have any of those high-tech cat beds around. You know, the ones with the warming device and built-in toys?" Sylvester said.

Upon the mention of cats, cat beds, and cat toys; Kurumi's eyes took on a surprised and interested look.

"Or maybe one of those hard-light training holograms from 'Punch-Out!'" Carl said.

"We don't even have one of those here." Someone came to them. And it is a girl. This is a variant of Grunhilde Serenity, but she wears a red-long sleeve shirt, white pants and black boots.

"Oh great, customer service. We can get some answers and it will only take several hours without the annoying elevator music." Deadpool commented.

Grunhilde looks at Deadpool with an annoyed look. "Who the hell is this guy?"

Deadpool walks up to her with an extended hand, "Hi, I'm Deadpool. Nice to meet you. Also, HOW COULD YOU HAVE NOT HEARD OF ME!?"

"We haven't…" Shido muttered.

"Didn't you draw someone like him before?" Tohka asked, which made Shido began to worry.

"Oh, yeah. Didn't Nia show us something about a 'dragon wave'?" Kurumi asked, though mainly taunting Shido for something he was not proud of.

Grunhilde sighed. "Anyways. I'm Grunhilde Serenity, and I am loyal to Tony Stark here."

"Where can we find Mr. Stark? Is he even in at the moment?" Savior asked.

"He is here." Grunhilde said.

Milk walked up to Shido, then shouted. "HOW CAN YOU DRAW DEADPOOL?!"

"Hey, hang on. I thought Rob Liefeld drew me." Deadpool wondered. "Or are you one of those fan artists? Please tell me you're not the cringy kind."

"I DON'T WANNA TALK ABOUT IT!" Shido blurted out, not wanting to revisit that part of his life again. Only reason he did was to help someone who needed it.

"If we could get back on track, please. Where is this Stark guy?" Sylvester asked, getting annoyed with the antics.

"If you would follow me." Grunhilde then leads the group to where Stark is.

They reached a room where a man was waiting for them.

This man has black hair and a mustache and wears a black suit, black pants and black shoes. This is Tony Stark.

"Ha, Grunhilde. I see we got visitors." Stark walks to them.

'How?!' Venom thought. As far as he was aware, Tony Stark had been killed in a huge battle for the universe. 'Is no one gonna explain the dead man walking?!'

Deadpool casually walked up to Tony and greeted him, "Hey, Iron Boy, how's the heart doing?"

"Fine. I don't know why you would ask that." Tony is confused at Deadpool's question.

"Oh, by the way, so sorry for borrowing your suit that one time while I was drunk. No hard feelings?" Deadpool said, listing off a ton of references.

"Excuse him, we have more important questions to ask you." Savior said while pushing Deadpool aside.

"Why of course. Ask away. I would be happy to answer all your questions. If." Stark said.

"If?" Savior asked.

"If there's a question I can't answer, then you're in bad luck." Stark said.

"Not a good sign." Sylvester whispered to Carl.

"Fair enough. First of all, not sure if you will believe us, but each of us come from different dimensions. We were sent to another universe recently by a portal that ripped us away from our homes, after doing some stuff there, we were sent here." Savior explained.

"Dimensions. Nice of you to notice. I noticed these dimensions once. There is actually one where I have died because of fighting Thanos." Stark said.

Here is where Venom officially popped out of Eddie again. "SEE! I told you!"

Eddie began yanking him back, continuing to do so until the alien calmed down. "Calm the hell down!"

Tohka ended up raising her hand as if she was in a classroom, doing this to Tony to get his attention.

Tony notices Tohka. "Yes?"

Tohka began to get a little shy, as if she was shy of the new person or because of what she was about to ask. It's just that, the moment she (this included Shido and Kurumi as well) saw the billionaire; she felt this weird surge of power from within him. She didn't know what it was, but it kind of intrigued them. "Um… I was wondering…" the code named Princess hesitated. "…

What's with that… glowing on your chest?" She finally asked, feeling the energy source within Stark's body.

Tony then looks at his chest. "Ah, good eye. It's technically my heart."

Both Shido and Kurumi cocked eyebrows, not expecting that as an answer. "Your… heart?" Asked Shido.

"Yes. You see, after some sort of accident, this heart here is my life source." Stark explains.

"So… it's your remaining Time then?" Kurumi asked, also wanting to know a little more. Just like Shido, this man had a huge abundance of energy in his body.

Stark sighed. "You can say that, I guess."

Kurumi went to ask something, but Shido nudged her. "Don't. Please don't." He asked her.

Kurumi gave him a sly smile. "Why, Shido-san?… Your not jealous, are you?" This was clearly another joke, considering the dynamic between herself and Shido, but all the same it made Shido flush a bit and deny the accusation.

"Anyway, what we need to ask is this: You think you can help us get back to our own dimensions? Seems like you know something about them." Savior asked.

"Unfortunately, no, I can't help you with that. I'm sorry." Stark said.

"Why not?" Savior asked.

Stark sighed. "Because, my invention, the dimensional gateway, is broken. So honestly, you're just stuck here. Until we figure things out."

"What!? We can't be stuck here! I have cartoons to film!" Sylvester exclaimed.

"And I have students to tutor." Carl said.

"Hmm…" Scarlet would look around the place for said dimensional gateway. "I wonder if that is what Kane would've used to get to El Dorado…"

"So a Strange portal is out of the question?" Venom asked.

"Sure. Go ahead and find him then." Said Eddie.

"We can usually find him in that Sanitarium place, right?" Deadpool asked.

Grunhilde sighed, sadly. "Strange is dead."

Everyone was shocked at that bit of information, some more than others. While Shido, Tohka, the pirates, and Kurumi didn't know whom that was; the Strange Guy sounded important.

Deadpool handed them a Doctor Strange comic that he had with him for some reason, "Here, this should get you up to speed."

"Why does he even carry those around?" Savior wondered.

"He actually loves comics. I wonder if he even has a comic about you." Milk said to Savior.

"Actually, I do." Deadpool said, holding a Savior comic up.

Savior could do nothing but stare in shock.

"Love it." Milk said.

Grunhilde sighed. "Why don't you guys just hang in here for a while while we try to figure out how to get you guys back?"

"I did want to see the sights of New York while we were here, but I guess we can just admire them from afar." Carl said as she looked out a window.

"Reg, if you come with me." Stark said.

"Yes sir." Reg and Stark then left the room.

"What is he doing?" Riko asked.

"He'll be fine. Don't worry. He won't hurt him or anything." Grunhilde said.

"After all, Reg did say that Tony is their creator." Sylvester mentioned.

Riko thinks. "You know, I didn't know Reg's backstory. As to how he is created and all. When I first met him, we were actually in the Illuminati base. I was at a meeting with the Illuminati members and all, and when we're done, I was about to head home, and that's where I met Reg."

"And you became friends after a while of spending time together?" Savior asked.

"Pretty much." Riko said.

"Okay, quick second here. Which Xavier is your Illuminati Xavier? I wanna know. Is it Stewart or McAvoy?" Milk asked.

"Huh?" Riko is confused.

"It's an in-joke thing. It's OK if you don't get it." Deadpool said.

"I mean, does he look like this, or this?" Milk shows up photographs of both Xaviers, who are Stewart and McAvoy.

Riko looks at them. "That one. I don't know the other one." She points at Stewart's picture.

"Should have thought so. I thought it was Stewart." Milk puts the McAvoy Xavier picture up. "Maybe he'll want this as a present from me." She gives the Stewart Xavier picture to Riko.

"Thanks?" Riko is still confused.

"Getting back to Reg, he didn't mention anything to you about his past? Nothing at all?" Savior asked.

Riko shook her head. "I do wonder why though. Why he didn't told me anything about his past."

"My two best guesses are either amnesia or he chose not to tell you." Savior hypothesized.

"Our Reg has amnesia." Mosquito said.

"Didn't Shido have amnesia once?" Kurumi asked. While she was not there for the complete fiasco, Shido's Powers did once go out of control, and did mention he did not remember anything when using them.

"You know, I don't know." Milk said.

"You do look familiar." Rikka looks at Kurumi. "Our reality's Kurumi did work for Brainiac one time, before she made a heel turn on him."

"Hold up, Braniac as in the big-headed alien dude?" Deadpool asked.

Rikka nodded. "He was a handful. And powerful as well."

"A creature with that much intelligence and an unbending need to cause pain and suffering is bound to be like that." Savior said.

"Whatever happened to Brainiac, anyways?" Milk asked.

"Well, he died. We killed him underneath a pyramid in Egypt while the Decepticon war was going on." Solty said.

"Huh, I always thought Hulk punched his brain out." Deadpool quipped.

Milk laughed. "I would like to see that." She laughed some more.

"So, are you just conversating, is that it?" Nanachi asked.

"What else can we do while Stark…does something with Reg?" Rikka asked.

"Sometimes by talking, you get to build your bond with others. Something we all wish most people could do instead of just jumping to conclusions." Savior said in a solemn tone. It was something he witnessed all too often.

"I like his words." Lucas nodded in agreement.

Tohka happened to look at Shido when Lucas said that, as he had done the same thing not just for her, but other Spirits like her, which included Kurumi.

"So, what brought you guys here, anyways?" Grunhilde asked.

"Well, to tell you the truth, we were on a rescue mission from the Meta-Verse Department Agency, where we were trying to save people from the notorious Kingpin, to which we succeeded, but the Agents left us behind. So, we tried to walk from Future Detroit, that's where the mission took place, and then we got ourselves sucked into another dimension. That's about it." Mosquito said.

"And now it seems like we're just walking through different worlds while trying to get home." Sylvester said.

"And call me crazy, but I think we're just pawns in someone's else's story." Deadpool said.

"Well, we don't know how you guys got here." Mosquito said.

"We all fell through portals of some kind, didn't we?" Asked Shido?

"Yep. Each of us were minding our own business until we were suddenly all together." Savior said.

"Be glad I wasn't taking a shower at the time." Deadpool said.

"That would make you a perv." Yucie said.

"At least you didn't take a girl to a lingerie store on their first date" Kurumi said with a smirk on her face while glancing at Shido, Shido himself looking embarrassed. To be fair, that wasn't his fault… the first time anyway.

"I was right in the middle of my break." Sylveter said.

"And I was just walking home from the gym." Carl said.

"Well, we were with the Illuminati members, until this portal opened up and we got sucked in. I would think Xavier would think that it must be the work of Sinister Strange or something." Nanachi said.

"Sinister Strange?" Savior asked.

"He is feared among everyone. He is an evil version of Doctor Strange." Marulk explains.

"Ah, evil twins… One of the most overused tropes of all time." Deadpool mused.

"We know some twins. They're the nicest people I've ever met," Tohka began, then added after a moment: "… if a little competitive…"

"We've been there." Milk said.

"Not exactly. You see, Sinister Strange is actually of a different reality. Although his past is unknown to us, he is known to cause some disruption in the multiverse." Riko said.

"So, it's one of those alternate timeline cases? What if he was evil? That kind of thing?" Savior asked.

"Exactly." Marulk said.

"Yeah, let's hope we don't end up in one of those timelines." Sylvester said while shivering.

"I'm beginning to wonder though. This place is now giving me chills." Nanachi said.

"Why's that?" Solty asked.

"Can't you sense it?" Nanachi asked.

Solty tries to, but then realizes. "Yeah." She makes a serious face.

Grunhilde looks concerned. "What?"

"I thought Stark was a nice person, didn't he?" Rikka asked.

"Unless it's a trap." Nanachi said.

It was here Kurumi spoke up, but in a low volume. "Want me to find out?" She said, as her entire body glowed to read for a split second, then it stopped. An odd humming noise was heard when she did this.

"Odd. I didn't know she could do that." Hinaichigo said.

"What in the world did she do?" Solty asked.

Shido pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing what Kurumi did. "You remember how she cloned herself when we first met?" Was his question to the group.

"Yeah, so what?" Lucas asked.

"Call it, long range cloning." Shido said. "A Her is probably spying on that Stark guy right now.

"Shit. That's a cool move." Milk said, amazed. Kurumi smiled cutely at the praise. Milk just winked at Kurumi, cutely.

Deadpool looked through the script of this very story, "Mind if I spoil a few things for you guys, it might help."

"What's the spoiler?" Milk asked.

"Let's see… more conversation… boring… plot point… Ah! The gang finds out that Stark is evil." Deadpool read.

"Wait? What the hell? No! It can't be! It's…Superior Iron Man." Milk realizes now.

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Your grand prize is a trip to Canada! Home of Niagra Falls, Maple Syrup, and Logan!" Deadpool cheered.

Savior stood up, "Come on! We have to save Reg before it's too late!"

"Why? Just why was I betrayed?" Grunhilde wonders.

"Because he hid the truth from you." Then, Ultron Sentries came into the room.

"Oh, cool. Opponents my size." Carl said as he put on his boxing gloves and pounded them together.

"Wait? Ultron?" Riko asked.

"Ultron's dead. We belong to the Superior Iron Man himself." One of the Sentries said.

"Well he's about to join him. As for you…" Savior says as he cracks his knuckles, "You're due for the scrap heap."

"I've picked my teeth with robots scarier than you yahoos," Wild Bill boasted, kicking off the battle by fan-firing shots of electricity from his six-shooter while Birgus would ram into one shoulder first.

The Ultron Sentries then start attacking the group with their lasers firing at them.

Savior got to work by flying towards the sentries and simply wrecking them up one by one. For example, he pulled off the head of one and and threw it at another. He also tore the limb off another and used it to beat down a few more until it broke.

"Hey, leave some for the rest of us!" Deadpool said as he whipped out his swords and started cutting through the machines.

Ironically when the 4th-wall-breaker said this, 3 more Sentries appeared behind him before he actually noticed them… that's also when white hands shot out of dark shadow pools on the walls, and one from the ceiling. Deadpool did finally notice this after hearing the sound of metal puncturing, where he saw these hands.

Some Kurumi clones poked their heads out and giggled at him, before pulling the now inactive bots into the pools with them. They would continue to do this type of sneak attack for the rest of the fight, assisting anyone if they got sneak attacked.

"Oh shit. Deadpool, behind you!" Riko said.

Deadpool casually shot his guns behind him, taking out the robots, "Thanks for the heads up." he said before he ducked a robot torso flying at him, "Dude, watch the face!" he said.

"Sorry, trying to keep us all from not dying!" Savior shouted back as he destroyed another robot.

Carl ducked and weaved through the attacks, surprisingly causing heavy damage with his gloves. "You put horseshoes in there, did you?" Sylvester asked him.

"Nope, they are lined with hardened metal." the Toon said before he punched a robot's head off that was sneaking up behind Sylvester. This gave the veteran toon extra caution to watch himself as he got out a mallet.

One of the Ultron Sentries is then going after Riko.

"Shit." Mosquito grabs out his guns, swings them around, then stops, then shoots at the Sentry, shutting it down as a whole. "The Gunslinger never misses."

"Nice pun. Stephen King pun, that is." Milk said, while trying to swipe at the Sentries with her sword made out of milk.

Shido and Tohka also were fighting some of the Sentries themselves, however Tohka didn't want to risk using Sandalphon at full power in this one building. The weapon would sometimes fire energy waves when she swings her sword, which could accidentally hit her new friends, so she had to hold back a bit… that didn't mean she couldn't still slice them though.

As for Shido, he used a different power, this time in the form of Raphael, a weapon from another Spirit of his world. Using both a lance and a pendulum, he attacked all the robots around him effectively and quickly, the weapon also bolstering his own speed as an extra effect.

"Hey Carl, get a load of this." Milk throws Carl a sword made out of milk.

Carl catches the sword in his gloved paw. He took a little cat lick from it, "Mmm… Tasty." before slicing a robot in half with it, "And deadly." He then passed it to Sylvester, who did the same thing, but actually decided to keep it.

Patamon then goes to use his ability. "Boom Bubble!" He shot out a big bubble out of his mouth, and it splashed one of the Sentries with it.

"Alright." Fukune grabs out her flute, then sings on it, to which it did shoot out purple lines of music, and it did hit some of the Sentries.

Deadpool danced to the music while striking down the Sentries.

"Yeah. We need a boom box for the job." Milk said.

"And some big-ass subwoofers!" Deadpool said.

"Fight now, party later!" Savior said, still destroying a lot more robots by swinging a chair around.

"Subwoofers sound nice too." Milk sliced some more robots with her milk sword.

Then after that, every one of the robots are defeated.

"Ha ha! You ain't all that scary, ya clockworks!" Birgus taunted.

Grunhilde then looks at the group. "We need to save Reg."

"Definitely. Let's go where that fake Tony took them." Savior said.

The team then runs out of the room and is trying to find Reg. After a while, they did find him, but he is strapped in a chair in some experimentation room.

"Well, this is disturbing." Carl quipped.

"Grunhilde." Tony appeared from behind Reg.

"Why did you lie to me?" Grunhilde asked.

"Because I didn't want you to know the truth. I have plans for Reg here. He is my creation. He doesn't listen to me, or my plans. I want him to be my war machine. But I found out he has emotions. Fuck that. So, I'll make him my war machine. You'll see." Tony said.

"He's not your toy, Stark! Let him go and we won't kill you!" Savior said.

"Try and kill me." Tony then gets into his suit made out of silver, and instead of having a mask, he has some sort of helmet piece instead. He is the Superior Iron Man.

Scarlet had found this scene eventually, keeping herself hidden for now and watching to make sure that she could make a move.

Kurumi (whether it was the real one or a clone was unclear) appeared before the group again.

"What the hell?" Superior Iron Man sees Kurumi appearing before the team.

"He's distracted. Go get Reg out of there. Kurumi, you deal with Superior bitch here." Milk said.

Kurumi gave her signature laugh as an answer, and immediately after that, over a 100 more Kurumi's appeared from the floor the same way she came into the room, making it even more confusing whom was the real one. They all also giggled the same way as well, which was a little creepy.

The privateer gasped. "What in the…?" She whispered to herself.

"I hope I'm not drunk again." Deadpool said.

"Shit." Superior Iron Man then starts shooting at the Kurumis, trying to kill some of them. While he technically did kill some, with them visually dying, the rest of them just flew around him. This was either to confuse him… or just screw around with him. Maybe both. They all still laughed, as if finding this amusing or mocking him.

"Dammit." He kept on shooting them, while missing at the same time.

Milk then ran to Reg, with him strapped to the chair good.. "Hey, Deadpool, wanna do the honors on untying him?"

"With maximum effort." Deadpool quipped before using his sword to cut the binds loose.

Reg then gets on the floor, looking pale.

"What did he done to you?" Riko walks to Reg.

"I don't know. He just readjusted my weaponry." Reg said.

"Well, you don't have to worry. You'll be safe soon." Carl said while helping him stand.

"Thanks, Carl." Reg said.

"We gotta get out of here." Riko said.

Lucas nodded, then turned to Kurumi. "Hey, we have to go. So finish up what…you're doing, and let's go."

One Kurumi took on a different expression. "Zafkiel." With that, a large clock appeared behind her. However, it only appeared behind one Kurumi instead of all of them… perhaps Shido could explain that later. "Zayain." She aimed her gun and…

BANG!

Much to everyone (excluding Tohka and Shido) shock, Superior Iron Man took on all negative colors… be he stopped in place. He was just floating in a single spot as if he was frozen in time. Everything else around the target was unaffected, such as the group themselves.

"Okay, I hope I'm not drunk again." Milk said.

"A time stopping ability?" Savior says as he pulls out his pocket time machine.

"Whatcha got there, some sort of fancy pocket watch?" Scarlet asked as the pirates looked to Savior.

"I an' I be sensing some powerful stuff comin' from that ting, Cap'n," Old Scratch warned.

"What in the world is that?" Riko asked Savior, looking at the pocket time machine.

"This is my time machine. I use it to travel back in time and stop crimes from happening. Really comes in handy. It also stops time as well so I can have more time to assess the situation. Seems like she can use that power as part of her being." Savior said.

"Nice looking Relic you got there." Riko is impressed with what the time machine does.

"Actually," Shido began to explain. "She spends her own Time to use her powers… literally." He said, and it took everyone less than a few seconds to understand. This girl actually uses up her own lifespan just to use her powers.

"That has got to be the worst drawback ever." Sylvester concluded.

"So, let me get this straight. Is she…I don't know. She spends her own Time. Does that mean she uses up her lifespan? If that is so, is there any way she can refuel, or something to that effect?" Lucas asked, knowing this might be a stupid question to that.

It was at that point both Tohka and Shido looked at each other, seeming to read the others thoughts. "… you don't wanna know." Said Shido. These people might be willing to help them, but maybe some things are better left unsaid…

Milk makes a grin. "I have a feeling he's hiding something." She giggled a little.

"So, since we stopped him, we have to get out of this building, and hopefully get out of this dimension. This was messed up then I thought." Nanachi said.

"If you have any ideas, now's a good time." Kurumi said. "Zayain only lasts for as much Time as I use for the bullet."

"Can't we just eat the guy, so he doesn't bother us again?" Venom asked. And for once, his host Eddie didn't argue about it.

"I don't think you should." Grunhilde shook her head.

"I say we get out of this building first. That's the first thing we need to do." Nanachi said.

"I second that!" Sylvester said quickly.

Nanachi nodded, then the team then left the room. "Oh! That reminds me!" Kurumi suddenly said, getting everyone's attention. "While Me was snooping around, I stumbled upon something."

Everyone that didn't understand her speech patterns looked at her as if she was crazy, or she just gave them the double-talk.

"What the hell did you find?" Milk asked, wanting to know what Kurumi had found. With another giggle, she snuck into a shadow pool, but it moved along the ground akin to a snake. Most of the group stared at the members of her own world for an answer, but their expression was as confused as they were… this was a common occurrence apparently. With little else to go on, they followed said shadow pool to another part of the building that was a little deeper inside, and to a door labeled: Subject Dark.

"Subject Dark? What is that?" Marulk asked.

"It's the Dark Knight." Milk said.

"Batman!?" Deadpool asked in shock.

Kurumi giggled, both finding humor in Deadpool's statement, and the fact he was very far off. "Why not take a peek?" She asked as she wiggled her finger to herself, walked backwards, and phased through the door using her shadow powers like a ghost.

"Dammit. We can't go through the door." Mosquito said.

"Hold on." Savior said as he simply pried the doors open with his strength. "Nothing to it." They all walked in to see Kurumi in the center of the room already.

"Shouldn't you knock first?" She said, an obvious joke. They went to Kurumi.

"What did you find?" Rikka asked. All the Nightmare Spirit did was point to her right… and they saw it.

It was some kind of humanoid being inside a glass barrier filled with infrared lasers (probably in case the being broke out or something) and all kinds of invasive equipment like surgery tools. Not only that, on a table in a closed glass container was what looked like a helmet/mask, some throwing disks that had very sharp blades on them akin to bladesaws, triangles that looked like bombs, a pair of sharp claw-like gauntlets that also had unreadable text a blue screen on one of them, and a stick… that's all they can make out of that particular weapon.

As for the being itself… creepy. That was one way to put it, nor was it human. It had large muscles and reptilian skin and their faces, which feature arthropod-like mandibles and no visible nose. It also seen possessed sparse, quills on their cheeks and above the eyes.

It was strapped inside the cell like a caged animal, and it looked pretty exhausted either due to lack of nutrition, or perhaps it tried to escape several times and was exhausted for that reason.

"What in all of tarnation…?" Wild Bill was taken aback by the creature's presence. Heck, all of the pirates were.

"That ain't no creature I've ever seen in the Spiral, that's for sure," Birgus didn't seem too threatened.

MADLAX brought out her guns, pointing at the creature. Not that said creature could do anything in its current state.

"That's…a Predator, isn't it?" Rikka asked.

"Yeah." MADLAX said.

"Did Irene Engel bring this guy here?" Pururu asked, confused.

"Don't think so. I mean, look at it. It looked beat up." Solty said.

"She got a point." Mosquito said.

"I thought I was ugly, but geez…" Venom said.

"You know what this thing is?" Said Savior..

"Yeah, we dealt with them once before." Said MADLAX

"There was also an alien species involved. They were called Xenomorphs," Silvia said. "They were henchmen of a Nazi warlord known as Irene Engel, so they're actually Nazis now."

"Sounds like nasty business I'd want no part of." Said Scarlet. "Heck I'd probably be fighting against it."

While the group debated about the Predator, Hinaichigo happened to notice a computer terminal nearby. It was still left on, and even still logged in. Whomever was here must have left in a hurry. "Hey, guys! I think I found something!" Said Hinaichigo, going toward this terminal to take a closer look. The others joined though it was a bit of a tight squeeze.

"Get this… Subject was retrieved on 20XX. Was Codenamed Dark… later study of Yautja Technology confirms this is in fact its real name." Hinaichigo shrugs. "Whatever the year 20XX is."

"It's fancy talk for scientists or whatever." Birgus translated for those who didn't understand fancy talk. "Go on."

Hinaichigo continued reading the data presented to her. "Subject, according to a memory scan, was born on its home planet. As we could only determine the written language of Yautja and not spoken, it has been labeled as Yautja Prime."

"What is a Yautja?" Asked El Toro.

"Probably that thing in there." Hinaichigo points at the Predator that is in the cell.

"What's a Yautja Prime? Is that like a leader of some sort?" Mosquito asked, looking confused.

"Could be." Hinaichigo said.

"You. You're the alien. What's a Prime?" Asked Sylvester, directing the question to Venom.

"It's home planet." Venom said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world

"Ah, I get it. Yeah. I thought it would be like Optimus Prime, but no, no, I was thinking wrong. Home planet, that's right." Milk nodded, then looked at the Predator, who goes by the name Dark. "You're such an ugly motherfucker. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most famous line."

"Ha! Reference. Here's one. GET TO THE CHOPPA!" Carl said.

"Is that a Schwarzenegger reference?" Milk asked.

The Predator/Yautja/Dark, despite being in a cell, attempted to lash out (perhaps not liking the comments made about it), but it wasn't much as it was strapped down tightly. It was probably still exhausted from whatever experiments were conducted on it. Some of the group flinched, not expecting it, but paid back attention to the file.

"Like most of his kind, Dark underwent vigorous training to go on 'Hunts'." Hinaichigo continues on. "Shortly after passing a test called 'the trails', Subject was immediately dispatched to a planet called BG-386 due to a distress signal sent by several Elite Yautja stationed there. Based on memories of Subject, we can conclude there was a large alien infestation of some sort. Many of Subjects 'Trophies' spoke of an unknown term known as 'Xenomorph' before he killed them."

"Excuse me?… Trophies?" Asked Himeno, needing to confirm what was just read back.

"At least when I kill, it's only rapists and those who'd cause harm." Kurumi said.

"We conclude this is perhaps the official name of that alien species, and these Xenomorphs, or 'Serpents' in Yautja terms, are their most respected form of prey. Subject appears to take 'Hunts' like a human hunter would… It is all for sport, and sometimes survival, however it has been noted no Yautja has ever targeted an unhealthy specimen. Perhaps this is a form of an honor code, further study is needed to confirm this." Hinaichigo went on.

"At least that's a given." Milk said.

"I know." Patamon said.

"Not that this thing would have been a bloodsport of a guy…yeah never mind." Milk said.

Hinaichigo looked a little bit annoyed. She was interrupted constantly, but continued to read after letting them talk and silence let her know she could continue. "A large scale Xenomorph hive had been created by the Xenomorph Queen, first in a controlled environment by humans of a company known as Weyland Yutani Corporation, but was later released due to unknown circumstances (unfortunately, Subject did not have any memories of the outbreak). These humans perhaps either wished to mass produce the aliens for weapons, research or profit (perhaps all three)."

"Regardless, during his mission, Subject had come across all Elite members, who were found dead by the time he arrived, to which he responded by expressing sorrow then setting their Wrist Bracers to overload. This was most likely done to prevent unwanted species from getting access to their advanced technology (it may also be tied to the aforementioned code of honor). Despite his best efforts, one Wrist Bracer ended up stolen, but had been recovered by sleathly entering the company HQ stationed on that planet, even after the Subjects' own kind's technology had been used against him."

"Subject entered a pyramid of some sort, before killing any remaining Xenomorphs in his way, and was ordered by a Yautja communicating with him (possibly his master or a higher up) to set the newly recovered Wrist Bracer to maximum overload to not only kill any interlopers, but to cave in the pyramid so no one else could ever find it. Before he could leave, he was ambushed by a Xenomorph that was dubbed ' Abomination'. It appeared to have characteristics to both Yautja and Xenomorph (we have insufficient data on this subject. Requires further study), and had superhuman levels of strength and endurance, being able to survive being submerged in lava before jumping out (it still appeared to cause great pain)."

"We could not retrieve the above memories, probably due to severe trauma in the Subject, but it appeared to be recorded in its mask." As Hinaichigo finished the report, there was a small video file attached to it. Maybe the researcher was going to email it? Curious, she opened the file.

What played was a first-person video (most likely from Dark's perspective), showing his journey throughout the planet. From stalking humans and androids, expertly dispatching large hords of Xenomorph in his way despite being a newly promoted Yautja, and finally defeated a larger Xenomorph in a combat arena outside the pyramid (most likely the same pyramid the report spoke of) then after getting inside, fought the Abomination in single combat and barely emerged victorious. The report was very much accurate, that thing was a monster, probably the most terrifying thing they've ever seen. A few times Dark was grabbed, but would barely manage to escape if caught. Not only that, the Abomination was also strong enough to cause the surrounding area to start caving in as well, hopping away and thrashing about.

A miracle happened when Dark finally landed the killing blow after a harsh one-on-one, silencing the beast for good, and it did not get back up. But the video didn't end there. The last thing shown was Dark emerging at the top of the company building, lifting the beast he just killed over his head before chucking it over the edge after an exhausted roar of triumph. Considering the group just learned about its trophy and honor system, this was probably since the Abomination was not a natural creature and therefore, there was no honor in saving a trophy of it.

Dark barely got back to his ship in time before the Wrist Bracer caused an Atomic Bomb level of an explosion, getting out of the blast radius by mere seconds. It didn't destroy the planet, but anything in the area was probably not gonna survive. The video finally ended with Dark plotting a course for another planet, this one also full of Xenomorphs.

It was quite the story. The young Yautja had been through so much in a short time, and was the only survivor of that planet by the information presented to the group.

"… so, what happened next?" Asked Savior, breaking the stunned silence.

"There's gotta be more." Said MADLAX. The story was an impactful one, but there seemed to be more that happened before and during that quest they just weren't seeing.

Hinaichigo looked over the file one last time, in case there was something she missed. "… doesn't say" She said.

"The Tony of this world must have gotten to him first." said Mosquito.

"We can't just leave it there like that." Solty said, looking scared all at once, but felt sorry for the Predator at the same time.

"I agree." Shido spoke up. "I mean, sure this guy killed a lot of people, but in the final moments of that video, maybe he was trying to do something good." His words got the group to think on this. Dark was a talented killer, that much was VERY clear, but the end of the video showed him acting without a given order first. "Think about it… maybe he didn't want another planet to suffer like that, so he decided to go off on his own and go after more of those zero-morph-things."

Tohka and Kurumi both reacted to Shido's words as well, as this was kind of how he met them. He gave both Spirits the benefit of the doubt, and it turned out they had reasons for causing destruction when they did.

Milk laughed. "That's Xenomorph, not zero-morph."

"Let's get it out. We need to know what it's doing here and why it's here." MADLAX said.

"I take it you've never watched a movie before? As soon as we let that thing out, it's probably going to kills us all. Probably not me or my masked friend here, but you get the picture." Deadpool said.

"I agree. We can't be too careful around these things." Savior agreed.

"You saw how this thing lashed out at us. Why would we wanna bring it with us?" Birgus argued.

"I agree with Shido, we can't just leave him in there. We should get that thing out. But I also agree with Savior here, be careful. He might attack if he can. He's exhausted, but he might attack." Solty said.

"Or, and here's an excellent idea, leave it be." Sylvester said.

"Grow a spine, will ya teach?" Carl scolded.

Riko then goes to the cell, cautiously. She then grabs out a mini bomb device, and puts it on the cell. "Everyone, get back."

Carl pulls out a blast shield from nowhere and puts it in front of the container. "Safety first."

Everyone got back, then the device exploded, exploding the front of the cell, freeing the Predator and also shutting down the infrared lasers. Of course, the alien was still bound to the wall inside the cell so it wasn't totally freed as of right now. It did have its head to the side, most likely to defend its face from the explosion.

Savior, Carl, and Deadpool got in fighting stances, ready to defend in case the creature attacked.

MADLAX cautiously gets into the cell, with her gun in hand. "Alright, alien predator. Why are you here? And what is your mission?"

Dark looked back slowly at MADLAX, but it didn't respond right away. It looked over the humanoid before him, probably wondering what possible torture he would have to endure next. He gave a few clicking sounds before actually answering. "What is your mission?" He asked, very similar if not exactly the same to MADLAX's voice.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Are you mocking me?!"

"Oh… yeah…" Hinaichigo spoke up, to which MADLAX turned back around. "Subject does not appear to speak any form of human language. Instead, it uses Voice Mimicry to an astonishingly effective degree, to the point where many personnel heard a coworker in one spot, but was not present." She read off a footnote back on the computer, thinking it wasn't important at first.

The group was even more shocked. This alien was something else. With an arsenal like that, he appeared to be the ultimate hunter, probably using that mimicking speech ability to lure unwary prey. It was done a few times in the video actually, though only on human targets.

"Now you tell me…" grumbled MADLAX.

The Predator spoke again, in a completely different tone of voice, probably mimicking something he heard again: "I want its organs functioning by the time it gets to the operating table."

It was a bit confusing, but Old Scratch figured out what he could possibly be trying to say, as Dark appeared to understand English, it's just he did not speak it. "I an' I can understand de beast. It wants us to experiment on dis ting."

"Experiment on him? But how?" The pirate captain wondered.

"Scratch…do you mind translating for us? This creature may know how we're supposed to do that," El Toro requested.

"It should be no big deal to me," Old Scratch agreed.

Dark grumbled while shaking his head downwards, which was a very human gesture. Perhaps something he picked up on. Clearly that's not what he wanted, then again that was probably obvious due to the fact he's been experimented on for quite some time. Quickly searching his memory, he mimicked another voice. A male one. "Standard formation… just another bug hunt."

Tohka was the one to respond this time. "Didn't those soldiers call those aliens bugs?" She asked, as quite a few times, some human soldiers from the video referred to Xenos as bugs… kind of a degrading nickname, as they didn't appear to resemble bugs at all. Serpents, the nicknames given by Yautja, was slightly more accurate.

"Better than calling them parasites." Eddie said. Venom agreeing.

"That was your mission, wasn't it? Or at least part of it?" Asked Shido, directing the question to Dark himself. The Predator nodded in response. Now they were getting somewhere.

"Where were you going before you were captured?" Asked Solty. The group of course already knew that, this was just a test to see if this thing was trustworthy.

Dark responded with more mimicry. "Xenomorph," he started, mimicking Hinaichigo's voice first. "Prime." Mimicking Mosquito's voice second (freaking the bug out for a second). This admission seemed to confirm Shido's earlier theory, how it went off on its own so no one else would have to deal with the horrors the young Yautja went through.

"I literally hate when he voice mimics. Our Predators did not do that. I don't think so, anyways." Mosquito said.

"Why were you captured… aside from the obvious I mean." Asked Solty.

Dark answered in the same voice as when he spoke about 'experimenting', probably originally said by the same person. The voice used was also cold and arrogant: "We'll unlock them all in time, but it would be soooo much easier if we captured one of you… to assist us."

The word "assist" was emphasized in that sentence, either by the mimicked voice or Dark himself (it was hard to tell). He also looked at the table containing his weapons and mask… the large group put 2 and 2 together quite quickly.

"… they wanted his technology." Grunhilde spoke in a scared tone. After seeing what the tech could do in that video, that would probably make the Tony of this world unstoppable. Silence plagued the room again for a good portion of time.

"… we should get him out." Said MADLAX, now sure of what they should do.

"No way! Did you see how easily he tore people and those Xenos apart?!" Said Birgus, still wary of Dark from before.

"Well, we can't leave them behind either!" MADLAX added with more resolve. "Think of what they'll do to him once we're gone! And what's going to happen to the lab rat when they no longer need it?"

Again, it didn't take long for the group to get what she was saying. If they left and Dark remained here, only God knows what other sick experiments this world's Tony would order, not to mention what will happen once they no longer need the Yautja. Taking the initiative, MADLAX put her gun away and grabbed a side of one of the metal straps keeping Dark trapped, but it was kind of tight. Dark himself just watched but due to a lack of a human-like face, it was unclear what kind of emotions he was feeling. "NRGH! NRGH!… You, avocado head! Come help me with this!" She asked Deadpool.

"Did you have to make it personal…?" Deadpool said, but walked over to help anyway. He probably could use his swords, but that would run the risk of accidentally hurting the hostage.

"Shido. Should we get its Angels?" Asked Tohka, misinterpreting Dark's weapons as one of their world's types of weapons.

"Yeah." He confirmed. They both tried opening it. "Of course it's locked." He grumbled. It was a pretty easy task if they could use Spirit Power, but just like with Deadpool's swords, this could run the risk of damaging the technology and render it unusable for its owner.

Kurumi tried using her shadow powers to reach in, but color her surprised when her hand didn't phase through at all. It just pressed itself like a normal hand would against an object. "Well ara, ara." She said. The Stark of this world must have thought two steps ahead, making the glass somehow unable to be phased through.

"I'm still logged in… maybe there's a command in here!" Hinaichigo said, getting back to the computer, hoping a console command of some kind existed to unlock the case.

Both MADLAX and Deadpool continued to pull, but nothing was happening. "Grrrrrr!… We'll get you outta there, just don't bite us!" Deadpool said.

WHIP!

Black tentacles then wrapped around straps MADLAX and Deadpool did not have hands on.

"Yeah, that's my job." Venom said as a joke, having taken over. He too began pulling. With the combined strength of all 3 of them, still nothing happened… at least, not at first.

*creeeeak*

The metal was starting to bend, but Dark wasn't free just yet, by the creaking sound just gave the trio more motivation and an energy/morale boost. Dark, seeing and understanding what these people were now doing, he too began to try and move his own body.

"It's working." Milk said, making a thumbs up. "Atta boy."

Venom, MADLAX, Deadpool and Dark all continued to pull and pull and pull some more.

*creeeeeeee-SNAP!*

One of the metal straps finally snapped off, but this caused the trio to be flung off in opposite directions. MADLAX and Deadpool were sent into walls Venom fell backward on himself… then the metal strap bounced off his head. "Owwwwwwww…" he groaned, rubbing his head.

MADLAX's eyes readjusted, but her vision was hazy. She saw a blurry form approach her as she reopened her eyes, along with clicking sounds. The form then appeared to kneel down, and run a hand above her. When her eyesight finally recovered, it was shown Dark was above her. The others watching this happen noted this was similar to how when he would approach a downed Elite of one of his kind… must be that honor code.

Dark then offered a hand with more clicking sounds… to which MADLAX took after a few seconds of debate. The strong Predator helped her stand back up. MADLAX was a little surprised, as she originally thought these things were just monsters… but this one appeared different.

"Sure… help the waifu first…" Deadpool grumbled upon getting up himself.

"Ugh. Beauty and the Beast all over again." Venom grumbled himself, mainly as a joke.

"Got it!" Hinaichigo said, having just got the command to open the container of Dark's technology. With a hissing sound, the locks disengaged and it opened upward.

"Here, handsome. This belongs to you." Kurumi joked, using one of her shadow hands to get Dark's mask and hand it over to him slowly. Dark reached up with both hand as his trademark mask approached him, which looked different from a normal bio-helmet. It was more bulkier and was green colored. He released more clicking sounds as he took it back.

A little later, Dark re-equipped all his stolen technology; the wrist blades first, disks second, triangle bombs third, and then finally his stick-like weapon, doing his bio-helmet last by reconnecting it as everyone watched this all happen. Once the helmet reactivated, it was in a normal vision mode while looking at the large group of strangers that helped him from his POV. He then cycled to thermal, then EM, before back to normal vision; probably just making sure his technology still works.

Dark gave a small roar of triumph/thank you. Looks like the group got a new member to add to the team.

"Alright. Since we got the beast out, let's get out of here. Because, who knows how long Kurumi's Zafkiel will last." Nanachi said.

"Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel like spending one more minute here." Sylvester said.

"I have to agree, this has been…quite the stop on the trip," Scarlet agreed.

"Then let's scat." Savior said. Deadpool then started scatting. "I meant go!" Savior said, clearly annoyed.

"See, you gotta be more clear with that." Deadpool said.

Afterwards, the four teams then went out of the building, and quickly went to…somewhere. What they have found, however, is a train.

"A train?" El Toro seemed surprised. "I have not seen a train in so long…wonder why it's here."

"All aboard the Polar Express." Milk said.

"SAAANNNTTAAAAA!" Carl screamed excitedly before running toward the train.

"I see someone has been watching 'Elf'". Sylvester said.

"Where do you think the train will lead us to?" Grunhilde asked.

"I'm not sure. But I do know this. It might not take us to the North Pole." Nanachi said.

Deadpool appeared randomly in the conductor's cabin, "Choo choo motherf******! All aboard the hype train!"

"Get out of the cabin, now!" A young girl with a sock puppet on her hand holds up a laser gun at Deadpool.

Deadpool awkwardly raises his hands and gets out, "OK, I didn't know this train belonged to someone."

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Savior asked.

"My name is Yoshino. Yoshino Himekawa. The train keeper. Where are you heading?"

"Yoshino?!" Both Shido and Tohka said in unison. Shido, Tohka and even Kurumi to a degree, were very shocked to see the little Spirit, here of all places… holding a gun and operating a train though, that was new.

"I see you knew me." Yoshino smiled. "I'll explain it when we get in." She added. This was a bit weird for the Spirits and Shido, for she seemed to be different than the Yoshino they knew. Perhaps like how this world had an Evil Tony Stark, this world may have a different Yoshino.

"We just wanna get out of this place." Patamon said.

"Scarlet Armstrong," Scarlet introduced. "And we've a long story to tell you, but we need to get out of this place."

"Preferably someplace far away. Maybe with a nice ocean view and five-star service." Sylvester said.

Yoshino looks at the Stark Industries building for a moment, then at the team. "Get in."

"I believe the correct term is all aboard, but you do you." Carl said as he suddenly had luggage with him.

"You don't question the train keeper. Just do as you're told, and you'll be safe." Yoshino said, calmly.

"I can tell by your aura that you mean us no harm. We'll gladly follow you." Savior said.

After a while, the four teams then made it onto the train.

"Oh, this is a bullet train. Nice." Milk nodded in acceptance.

"What's a bullet train?" Wild Bill wondered. "Last train I heard of was the Zephyr in Cool Ranch before it had that accident."

"My kind of train." Deadpool says while kicking back in his seat.

"I know why you're sent here. It is because of one evil entity. And that is…Sinister Strange. The evil Sorcerer Supreme." Yoshino said.

"Sinister Strange…" Scarlett paused to think about that.

"That be a name that do not inspire much confidence, Cap'n my Cap'n," Old Scratch commented.

"Yeah no kidding, sounds like a guy who enjoys kicking old ladies across the street," Birgus sneered.

"So Hoihoi-san's right. The Sorcerer Supreme is here. Maybe watching us and might strike at any moment." Mosquito said.

"Sinister Strange?" Savior asked.

"The What If Doctor Strange is evil guy." Riko said.

"Another one of those evil dimension guys like our old friend back there?" Carl asked.

Riko nodded. Then she turns to Reg. "You gonna be okay?"

"I think so. I'm not so sure yet. It's like, I might have a new power." Reg said.

"What did he do to you, Reg?" Riko asked.

"I don't know. I just don't know. I thought he was my father. But now, I'm questioning if he even is a true dad or not." Reg looks out the window.

"Don't worry. When it comes to loved ones, they often find their way back to you. In one form or another." Savior told him.

"Thank you, Savior." Reg turns to face Savior. "I kind of like you. You seem to be kind. Never letting anyone down. You're…a true savior to the world."

"We can all be. We just need to start by realizing that. Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad to have you on our side." Savior said.

Reg nodded.

"All aboard!" Yoshino honks the whistle, then the train gets moving, moving away from Future Los Angeles and into a void.

Meanwhile, back in the Stark Industries building, Superior Iron Man (still under the effects of Zayain) floated in place… then his coloring returns to normal, gets unfrozen and drops to the ground. Then he gets back up, slowly. "What the hell happened?"

"They got you. They stole something from you. And you'll get it back." Said a voice.

"And who are you?" Asked Superior Iron Man.

"I…" A strange man in clothing and a black cape came to him. "...am Sinister Strange. Join me, and we'll tear these realities apart. And then, the whole multiverse, as a whole."

Superior Iron Man looks at him for a moment, then smiles, evilly.

End of chapter