Hi everyone, nice to see you all again. We are nearing the final battle of this special for Avengers of the Multiverse. While I do enjoy writing it, I feel I've added a few too many characters in this particular story, so I'll do my best in the future to keep it at a more manageable number (this is also why I've said before why I won't add any more franchises to this series, to avoid overloading my cast).
With all that being said, let's get started.
Part 6
Charmcaster's castle in Legerdomain was now under the complete control of the Cabal. Already they had begun to put the finishing touches on their machine that would bring their plan into fruition. Four massive pylon-like machines had been built around each corner of the castle's perimeter, each of them looking like a mix between advanced alien technology with magical components, particularly the large dark red crystals at the very top of each device.
The vast army of ghost-like entities known as Sleepwalkers appeared to be the labor force of this project as they attached the panels and connected the cables along the ground that led to the castle. They seemed like an effective work force, enough so that Vlad Plasmius couldn't help but smirk at their diligence.
"Ah there's nothing more useful than an army of obedient and unquestioning drones." The half-Ghost commented as most of the Cabal, save for Modula, joined him.
"It would seem everything is prepared." Van Kleiss said, observing the readings on his hand-held device. "Our dimensional disrupter is synced with Dagon's unique energy signature. Once it's activated, it'll bring all of it together into this realm."
"With Legerdomain itself as an indefinite fuel source for our machine, we'll bring Dagon back with no problems at all!" Drakken stated. "Other than the fact that it would tear a bit through a few of our own home dimensions and cause tears in the fabric of reality in said worlds but… hey, no plan is perfect."
"While Dagon's reconstruction is essentially guaranteed at this point, there remains the critical mater of controlling him." Vilgax reminded. "Should we lose control of this entity, none of us will survive. I have been on the receiving end his power firsthand, and it is not to be trifled with."
"That is why we've brought in our 'magical experts' if you will." Argost said. "Their powers, along with ours, have been enhanced in this realm. But that provides us with such grandeur opportunities than raw firepower."
"We've already concocted a spell that combines our respective magics into one, designed specifically into this particular task." The Dark Dragon continued. "This spell will be implemented the very instant Dagon begins to reform and will integrate within his very being. By the time he has fully reconstituted himself, he will be under our total control."
"We'll have a god as our plaything!" Drakken shivered with delight. "Oooh. I just gave myself goose pumps." He said as he clicked his fingers together with anticipation.
"The Avengers will undoubtedly try to stop us." Van Kleiss said. "But with time passing differently in this realm, we've had all the opportunity we can afford to construct our machine. When they arrive, it'll already be too late."
"And the first thing we'll do with our little god-weapon, is to aim it at those meddlesome children and their friends and watch them break!" Vlad grinned, clenching his fist. "Finally, we'll be rid of those teenage whelps that have caused each of us too much trouble!"
"And they will be just the first." Vilgax said in agreement as they watched the castle-sized machine become complete through the Sleepwalkers' labor. "All of creation shall be ours, and there will not a being that dares stand in our way!"
Charmcaster's eyes slowly opened, as she tried to shake the cobwebs from her head, she quickly found herself unable to move. "Wha… what?!" She awoke in shock, finding herself restraint in a ring like device, her arms and legs pulled in separate directions and held by energy-restraints. She tried to use her magic abilities but found herself unable to.
"Do not bother struggling." She looked with a glare to see Addwaitya smirking smugly at her. "A special kind of energy restraint that prevents even someone of your prowess from using her abilities."
"Addwaitya." She snarled hatefully. "I don't know what you're up to, or how you got back, but it will be the last mistake you make, I promise."
"I doubt that very much, my dear." Modula stepped forward with Nocturne, Rani Nagi, and Pandarus beside him. "Nocturne, you have my thanks for keeping her asleep all this time."
"Of course, we wouldn't want a crazed magical girl running amok now, would we?" Nocturne bowed humbly.
"So, the infamous Charmcaster…" Modula greeted as he stepped closer toward her. "The troubled young woman who sacrificed over six hundred thousand lives to bring only one back. How the mighty have fallen."
"What the hell do you want from me?" She glared at the general. "The Alpha Rune? To rule over the realm of magic and harness its power for yourself?"
"I wouldn't worry about such a lowly trinket, though I'll hold onto the Alpha Rune for insurance just in case. But even that pales in comparison to what we have in store." Modula explained.
"By any chance pretty lady, are you familiar with the being known as Dagon?" Pandarus asked.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "The Old One… but he was destroyed…"
"Not quite destroyed." Modula said. "I won't bore you with details, but after his previous defeat, his essence was scattered across multiple universes. It is mine and my esteemed colleague's wish to bring him back together, to be used as the ultimate weapon."
"You're either crazy or stupid." Charmcaster told him. "Even if you were to bring something like that back together, you can't possibly hope to control it."
"That's the thing when it comes to the multiverse, it opens so many more possibilities than just one universe would allow." Modula replied. "We've already devised a means to both reassemble and control the so-called Old One."
"One of our masters possesses the abilities to control unique creatures superior to that of the pathetic humankind." Rani Nagi chimed in, slithering around the restrained Charmcaster. "That combined with similar dark magics from other worlds has allowed us to create a unique spell."
"One that we'll use as Dagon reforms." Addwaitya added. "We'll draw his power into Legerdomain as its own natural mana fuels the machine that will reconstruct him."
Charmcaster groaned in annoyance as he rolled her eyes. "I've heard this kind of thing before. A bunch of crazy old people get some plans of grand delusion, and they think it'll let em rule everything. Most of the time it ends up blowing up in their face."
"You'd certainly be one to talk, given your failed attempt to resurrect your father." Modula said, causing Charmcaster to look at him with a gasp. "Oh, that's not quite right, is it? Let me rephrase that. You were successful at resurrection your father, but he chose to return to the dead once he saw how far his precious little girl had fallen. You had all the power of this extraordinary realm at your fingertips, but you chose to let it waste away for a childish dream." He said with a chuckle. "How pathetic."
Charmcaster practically growled as she narrowed her eyes at her captor. "Say that to me again. I dare you."
"And what? You can't escape those restraints, but do not worry, we have no intention of killing you." Modula said.
"Let me guess, you either want me on your side or just to serve as an example, right?" Charmcaster assumed.
"Not quite. You have a more central role in our plan. In fact, we can't do this without you." Modula told her, causing her to look in confusion.
"Legerdomain itself will serve as a power source to fuel our machine, but we still need a conduit that will allow us to channel our spell directly into Dagon's essence." Nocturne explained. "And you, my dear, shall be that very conduit."
"The spell will be cast directly upon you, and the machine that you are now connected to, the same machine that will bring Dagon back together." Pandarus stated. "Such a shame though…" he cupped her face in his hand. "A beauty such as yourself would have made an excellent candidate for my 'Miss Magical World beauty pageant'."
"You should feel honored my young thorn." Addwaitya said mockingly. "You are essential in the resurrection of a god."
"A god that we shall use to conquer the entire multiverse." Modula finished as he slowly walked away.
For one of the few moments in her life, Charmcaster was genuinely afraid. This plan of theirs, it might just work. With her acting as a conduit, especially with her own magics further enhanced by her stay in Legerdomain as well as it being her very birthplace, she would indeed be essential in the resurrection of Dagon. And if this controlling-spell were casted on her directly, they may indeed be able to control the Old One. If they could do that, nothing would stop them.
"No… No don't… please… You have no idea…" She tried to beg.
"It's too late." Modula stood by a console as he looked toward his associates. "You may begin."
One-by-one, Addwaitya, Rani Nagi, and Pandarus began to stand in a circle around the restraint Charmcaster as she desperately tried to pull herself free, but the restraints wouldn't budge. Nocturne hovered above her as he nodded to the three magic-users. They closed their eyes and began to concentrate their respective powers, a dark red magic circle that seemed to mix runes and glyphs of different types of magic appeared on the ground below them with Charmcaster in the center.
"Asha-vakano-kairen-sokoko. Vestita kaira-rula-ren. Haya-gresha-zaika-no. Asha-vakano-kairen-sokoko. Vestita kaira-rula-ren. Haya-gresha-zaika-no. Asha-vakano-kairen-sokoko. Vestita kaira-rula-ren. Haya-gresha-zaika-no. Asha-vakano-kairen-sokoko. Vestita kaira-rula-ren. Haya-gresha-zaika-no."
As they began to chant, the three lifted their hands in the air as a dark red magic sphere appeared in-between their palms and casted bolts of the same color up toward Nocturne. He was able to catch the intersecting and joining bolts in his hand before channeling it into his own power, placing his free finger onto Charmcaster's forehead to place the spell directly into her mind. The second it entered; her eyes turned the same dark red color.
"The spell is now within her mind and will slowly work its way through her very being." Nocturne reported.
"Then the time has come." Modula grabbed the lever on the console. "Let our conquest of the multiverse begin!" He pulled down on the lever, causing all the machines and cables within the room to light up before it all traveled along the ground and throughout the entire castle.
Outside, the Cabal watched from the central courtyard as they saw their massive machine being activated. Energy spread throughout the cables and directly into the pilons on each corner of the castle. The machines slowly rose, the dark crystals glowing the same color before bolts of energy shot upward at a diagonal angle before coming together high at the center of the area. This collision resulted in a massive sphere of glowing red energy forming, and the second it formed, several large tears in the dimensional boundary began to appear across the glowing purple sky of Legerdomain.
"It's working!" Vlad grinned as they saw trails of golden energy being pulled from the dimensional tears and converged into the energy sphere, which would only grow from the influx. "Dagon's energy is being drawn like a magnet!"
"It'll only be a matter of moments before he is fully reconstituted." Van Kleiss smirked evilly.
"Hold on… looks like we got another tear up there." Drakken pointed up at the very center of the sky where a rather large dimensional tear formed, one so big enough that they could see the dimension on the other side.
This world looked awfully similar to Legerdomain, only it had a dark green sky to it as opposed to purple. It also showed what appeared to be an ancient city within. Vilgax recognized this new dimension immediately.
"It's the world of Dagon's origin." The alien tyrant identified. "It would make sense that there be some trace of his power there."
"Something else appears to be emerging from that tear, however." The Dark Dragon could see with his Eye of the Dragon ability, further enhanced by Legerdomain's mana. "Living creatures of sort. The same ones that serve the Dagon."
"Ah yes." Argost walked up with a chuckle. "And just as their master will now serve us, so too will they." He activated his Anti-Kur powers as the sickly green aura formed in his eyes.
Meanwhile, in another area of Legerdomain, a massive multi-colored vortex had opened, allowing the Avengers Quinjet to enter the magical dimension.
"Whoa…! Look at this place!" Illana said in awe as he and several of the Avengers and their allies gazed out the window at the new dimension all around them.
"It kinda looks like the Ghost Zone, only different." Danny commented.
"Why is the ground so windey?" Ron asked as he and Rufus saw the pathways stretching in multiple directions, including up and down as well as diagonally. "Seriously, I'm getting dizzy just looking at this place." He said with Rufus already looking dizzy himself, falling backwards into Fiskerton's hands.
"Welcome to Legerdomain." Gwen said as she and Hex stood near the controls with Kevin at the controls, his beloved Zed right by his side. Both she and her former enemy concentrated their respective magics as an aura enveloped the Quinjet.
"I was really hopping we wouldn't have to come back to this hellhole." Kevin said.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Lance questioned to Gwen and Hex.
"The spell we just placed on the Quinjet which should allow us to land." Gwen answered.
"Why would landing be a problem? Let's just go down." Tucker said.
"The sky and earth aren't parallel in this dimension." Hex explained. "Those that have magical abilities can travel between naturally, others who do so by non-magical means may find themselves unable to return to the ground easily."
"Yeah, found that out the hard way." Ben commented.
"So, try not to fly, huh?" Rex said as he gazed out the window to see the bottomless abyss of the near infinite realm with a very narrow path of ground below them. "Yeah, that could be a problem."
"What about ghosts?" Sam asked. "We can fly."
"I am uncertain." Hex answered. "I have never seen your kind enter our realm, but I would advise against it to be cautious."
"Oh yeah, definitely a problem for us then." Dani added to Rex's previous statement, with Zon giving an annoyed caw in agreement.
"Octus, what can you tell us about this place?" Lance asked.
"It is overflowing with energy, the same kind that that appears to make up the molecular signature of magic." Newton reported as his internal scanners tried to make sense of everything outside. "It might take a while to get a proper analysis, having only just been introduced to the concept of magic recently."
Doc looked out the window with an equal amount of amazement. "Look at this place… there's so much to learn here. If I were to just take a sample, I bet I could identify whole new elements."
"Welcome to the realm of magic, hon." Drew teased her husband, but was drawn to the sound of her son groaning as Zak felt his head before lying back deeper in his seat. "Zak?"
Fiskerton, Zon, and even Komodo all went up to him with concern. "My powers…" He opened his eyes to reveal they were already glowing with their typical orange aura. "They're way stronger here… even more so than when we were in Kur's tomb all those years ago…"
"I'm feeling ya man! I'm all fired up right now!" Jake stated as he felt an influx of power through his own body, despite being in his own human form.
"That makes two of us!" Ron fired up his Mystic Monkey Aura, which surged even brighter than before. "I feel like I can lift a whole mountain right now!"
"As we suspected. Our magical abilities have been further enhanced by our presence in this dimension." Lao-Shi answered. "But we must maintain control and not let it overwhelm us." He said, allowing Ron and Zak to tone down on their respective powers.
"Yeah, well if we're going up against an evil space god, I think a little power boost wouldn't hurt." Fu commented.
"What about you, Max?" Kim asked as the aforementioned man sat casually in his seat, twirling his cane. "I mean, you did say one of your past lives lost it just by being in here."
"Because he didn't have this." Max said, flashing his cane.
"Your cane?" Danny asked. "What's so special about it."
"Believe it or not, this is Merlin's wand." Max revealed. "It acts as a kind of lens to help focus my magic, so I don't get overwhelmed. Yeah, I can definitely feel my already crazy power being super charged here, but as long as I got this, I'll be fine."
"Okay, if you say so." Kim accepted. "You know I trust you, but I'd rather not deal with a crazed and juiced Maxmillion right now, especially considering we might end up fighting an evil god."
"Totally understandable. Trust me, I may be crazy, but there's no way I'm losing myself here." Max confirmed.
"What about you, Breach? Feeling okay?" Rex asked with concern.
"My powers aren't magic, Rex. I'm fine." She replied.
"I know, but… we're in a crazy dimension and dealing crazy dimensions is your thing so…" Rex tried to find the right words without sounding offensive or anything.
Breach then gave him a teasing grin. "What? You worried I might relapse or something? Go back to my crazy stalker phase?"
"Uh…" Rex wasn't sure how to respond to that, but he did look a little worried, which only caused Breach to laugh.
"I'm kidding. Don't worry, I'm fine." She assured. "But it was sweet of you to be concerned about me. I know I didn't have the best mentality back then."
"That's good." Rex said with a relieved smile. "But seriously, I'm glad you're here."
"Yeah, me too." She agreed with a genuine smile of her own.
As the Quinjet continued to fly through the space of Legerdomain, they didn't seem to encounter any trouble, at least for the moment. Seeing how they had a brief moment of calmness, Ben decided now was the best time to address the upcoming elephant in the room with his cousin.
"Hey Gwen, think we can talk in the back for a minute?" Ben asked as he stood up and approached her.
"Yeah, sure." She nodded, having a feeling what he wanted to talk about.
"Something wrong?" Danny asked.
"Just a quick talk, don't worry." Ben assured as they left the cockpit.
The Tennyson cousins stood in the cargo hold near the back of the Quinjet before Ben spoke. "Gwen, we need to have a talk."
"Let me guess, Charmcaster?" She already had a feeling he'd bring this up.
"She committed genocide. Wiped out thousands of innocent lives." Ben told her. "I know she just wanted to see her dad again, but that was seriously messed up."
"I'm not denying that." Gwen replied. "Charmcaster crossed a serious line that day. But, I don't think she's malicious in intent."
"Um, have you forgotten all the times she tried to kill us, even when we were kids?" Ben reminded. "Or tried to take over the world for herself?"
"Well, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to kill us and became a friend." Gwen pointed out.
"Kevin and Charmcaster are two completely different people, and you know that." Ben said. "Look, am I hoping that we'll save from the Cabal and Dagon? Yeah, I am. But, at the same time, we can't just leave her here like we did last time. In fact, even leaving her here back then was a mistake. After what she did… we should have brought her in. I know she was depressed after her dad chose to leave again, but that was the best opportunity we had to bring her in."
"And you might be right about that." Gwen agreed. "Charmcaster has done so much wrong, and we can't overlook it. But at the same time, I don't want to repeat what happened with Kevin, where we just dumped him in the Null Void and forgot about him until we saw him again five years later. If we do end up bringing her in, I want to also see that she gets the help that she needs."
"So, imprisonment and therapy, huh?" Ben said. "I think we can work with that. I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page here. And the same goes for Hex too when this is done. He might be helping us now, but we still got a job to do."
"I know. Don't worry, I know what we gotta do." Gwen confirmed with a nod and a confident smile, to which Ben returned with one of his own.
Back up front, while Kevin remained at the wheel of the Quinjet, Tucker walked up toward him, briefly petting Zed on the head. "So, this Charmcaster lady, is she hot?" He asked with his typical grin; this caused Danny, Sam, and Danielle to roll their eyes while missing the subtle glare from Hex.
"Oh yeah." Kevin answered with a smirk. "Score of one to ten, solid fifteen."
"Nice." Tucker grinned.
"Wouldn't ask her out though." Kevin quickly added.
"Why not?" Tucker asked.
"Dude, did you missed the part where we said she committed genocide? She's hot, but she's also a total nutjob. She'd sooner kill you than ask you out." Kevin told him.
"Eh, wouldn't be the first time a hot super villainess tried to kill me." Tucker shrugged off.
"You're funeral." Kevin brushed off, he then turned to notice the glare Hex was giving him. "What?"
"Nothing." The dark magician turned his attention back to the Legerdomain.
"Got a problem with your niece going all psycho?" Kevin questioned. "Figured you'd be proud of her, given you're not exactly on the nice list yourself."
"My family business is none of your concern."
"Your 'family business' has endangered innocent people." Lance said, standing up to march his way toward Hex. "And now, it may just threaten the entire multiverse. So, it most certainly is our concern."
"Yeah, gotta agree with Lance on this one. And we don't agree on anything." Rex added. "You got a problem with how your niece turned out? You don't give off the impression of a positive role model."
"No, he doesn't." Zak also put in. "Dude here is pretty high on the Interpol criminal data base."
"And I'm pretty sure you don't name yourself 'Hex' cause you wanna be a good guy." Jake also said.
"Plus, he's got a skull painted on his face. So, unless he's a fan of punk rock or something, I'm getting plenty of bad guy vibes from him." Ron added with Rufus squeaking in agreement. Even Fiskerton, Zon, and Komodo eyed him wearily, while Zed just growled at the dark magician.
"I have already said this to all of you." Hex said, standing up to face many of the glaring heroes. "I have no intention of earning your admiration or forgiveness. I have my reasons for assisting you, and once our objective is complete, you can do what you will with me. I do not care for your opinions."
"Maybe you should, considering we're putting a lot of trust in you to get us to where we need to go." Danny told him. "You know more about this place than anybody else here, even maybe where to lure us into a possible trap. So, I'd still be very careful if I were you."
Hex narrowed his eyes at the young leader of the Avengers with Danny doing the same.
"Okay, okay, that's enough. All of you." Illana stood up. "Look, you all have every reason to doubt Hex. He's committed a lot of wrong doings, among them is helping the Cabal get this far. But I know for a fact that we have many people here who also fought on the wrong side at one point in their lives."
This caused Breach, Kevin, and even Dani to look somewhat uneasy before Kim stood up to speak as well.
"I think I also speak for everyone that once this is over; Hex will be made to pay for his crimes." Kim said as she glanced at Hex. "But for now, we have a common goal. I believe him in that he wants to save his niece, and we need to stop the Cabal and Dagon, so for right now, let's put our tensions to the side and focus on what we need to do, especially considering the fate of several universes, our home worlds, are at stake here!"
All the Avengers on board and their allies had listened intently, with Max being the first to do something, which was clap his hands with a smirk. Though he was the only one to clap, everybody seemed to get the gist of what they were trying to say.
"You're right." Danny accepted. "We still got a job to do, everything else can wait." He still turned toward Hex. "But you will answer for what you've done, there's no way you're getting out of that."
"Very well." Hex accepted. To be honest, he had long since abandoned any plans for conquest when he thought his niece was dead. Since then, he was dead inside, having thought he lost the only family he had left after his brother gave his life so that he and Charmcaster could live. But now, he had a chance to do the right thing and save her, and he was not about to let it go to waste. After that, if he survived this ordeal, he would surrender himself to the Avengers.
"So, how long until we're supposed to get there anyway?" Sam asked. "Couldn't we have just used a portal to go straight to the Cabal?"
"I've never been to this dimension before, I wouldn't know how to guide us. Why do you think we brought Hex here in the first place?" Breach reminded.
Suddenly, Newton's eyes lit up, causing him to stand straight from his seat. "I'm detecting a massive surge of inter-dimensional energy, and it's incredibly unstable."
"Yeah, I feel it too." Max said, looking serious. "I can feel the magic in this space being distorted."
"There is only one explanation for such an event." Hex stated. "The Cabal have begun to piece Dagon back together."
"We're out of time then. We need to move, now!" Danny said.
Suddenly, the entire Quinjet shook. "What was that?!" Rex questioned.
"Something hit us…" Kevin looked out the window, only for his eyes to widen in shock. "A lot of somethings!"
From a floating piece of land above the Quinjet, a large group of strange looking creatures leapt down and onto the Quinjet's haul. They began to tear away at it with their teeth, as well as shoot red energy beams in every direction, particularly at the wings and engines.
The ship was already shaking and rocking hard with alarms sounding, just as Ben and Gwen came back.
"What's happening!?" Ben questioned.
"We're going down!" Kevin alerted as the Quinjet began its rapid descent.
"Everyone, join hands! We're going intangible!" Danny exclaimed as he, Sam, and Dani transformed into their respective ghost forms, even Ben transformed into Big Chill. They all managed to find a way to link up with one another with their hands, claws, or even tail in the case of Komodo.
Danny, Big Chill, Sam, Dani, each channeled their respective powers to spread their intangibility to all their friends and allies within the ship, just before it crashed on a large floating island. It skidded across the ground on its underbelly before coming to a halt, most of its outer haul was wrecked and on fire, with several of the attacking creatures having died in the crash like, as if it were something akin to a kamikaze attack.
Stepping out of the totaled ship were the Avengers and their various allies, all still intangible and completely unharmed for the most part, though somewhat dizzy as Danny and his team let go, along with Big Chill who turned back into Ben.
"What hit us?" Rex asked with a groan.
Fu Dog took a few whiffs of the air before his fur stood up on end. "Uh on, my doggy senses are tingling folks. Got the same whiff from before with all those mind-controlled folk."
"What? More Esoterica?" Jake questioned.
"No, worse." Gwen said, gazing upward with everyone looking to see all across the rocky cliffsides all around them were crawling with monstrous creatures. They were large, green and grey lizard-like creatures with gelatnus bellies, and red teeth like markings on their faces, and they came in various sizes. There were well over a hundred of these creatures as they snarled at the heroes below.
"Lucubra!" Ben exclaimed. "They're from Dagon's world!"
"Guys… I'm sensing Argost's Anti-Kur power from them…" Zak said, feeling his head. "They're being controlled."
"Looks like the Cabal's already got their plan rolling." Kim said with a feeling of dread in her voice.
"We got no choice, we gotta fight them off!" Danny stated.
"Um, Danny, have you forgotten that we're all kinda grounded and most of us fight while we fly?" Sam reminded, only for her and Danny to gasp in shock as a dark red and black aura enveloped their bodies, same with Rex, Dani, Illana, Lance, Octus, Zon, and even Ben, all courtesy of Hex who's hand glowed the same color scheme.
"What are you doing?!" Drew questioned as she drew her fire sword and aimed at him.
"The spell I've casted will enable them to fly without being disconnected from the ground. We cannot afford a handicap at this time." Hex explained. "All those who can fly by magical means should be fine on their own." He eyed Jake, Lao-Shi, and Max in particular.
"Oh… thanks, man." Dani smiled while everyone else just looked in surprise.
"Save it all for later, here they come!" Kevin stated as they saw all the Lucubra charging at them from the cliffside.
Immediately, they all drew their weapons or donned their respective transformations, in which case for Ben, he had transformed into Heatblast. Kevin absorbed a piece of the Quinjet's metal debris, Lance and Illana activated their respective armors, Jake and Lao-Shi both transformed into dragons, Rex formed his Smack Hands and Punk Busters, and Ron fired up his Mystic Monkey Aura.
"Don't let them get too close!" Gwen advised. "They can feed of your thoughts and mind control you!"
"Got it." Danny nodded. "Octus, see if you can fix something up for Tucker from the Quinjet's weapons and make it quick."
"Understood." Octus replied.
"Yeah… I'd feel a lot more comfortable fighting demons with a weapon." Tucker agreed as he took cover behind a rock.
"Mind if I join you?" Fu Dog also hid behind the rock.
"Hey, look at the bright side of things." Max smirked as the Lucubra army came ever closer. "Some of us here are super-charged, and since these things are just mindless monsters… we don't have to hold back!" He declared as he was enveloped in a surge of bright white and sparkling magic. Max twirled his cane enthusiastically before leaping high into the air, well over a hundred feet, and came back down, holding his cane up like a weapon.
"YEEEHHAAA!" He cheered as he crashed down in the middle of the army, slamming his cane down and creating a large explosion that shook up the whole floating island and obliterated several Lucubras.
"Ah yeah, let's not let have him hog all the fun!" Ron grinned the same way as he was the first to charge, followed by everyone else as they opened fire with what long-ranged attacks they could to take down the front most of the large pack before engaging in a massive brawl.
Danny flew over the horde, unleashing a surge of Ecto-energy onto the Lucubra below, blowing away several until one leapt to pounce and pin him down. But he quickly shot cyan Ecto beams from his eyes to freeze that Lucubra, and shattered it with a single punch. Even as four Lucubra surrounded him, Danny charged his fists with Ecto-energy before blasting and pounding away at the monsters surrounding him.
Sam formed a broadsword construct of her own Ecto-energy to slice a Lucubra that tried to jump onto her, while also forming a whip of the same energy to snap at two of them attempting to corner her. She found herself coming back-to-back with Kim, both sharing eye contact and grins as seven Lucubra surrounded them. As they all leapt at them, Sam and Kim joined hands before the former lifted the later up with her strength as a half-ghost, channeled her Ecto-energy through Kim to create a construct resembling cleats on her feet with razor sharp spikes. Sam spun Kim around as she dealt multiple rapid-kicks into the faces of each of the Lucubra to crush and pierce their faces in before throwing Kim up into the air, her Ecto-cleats vanishing while she flipped mid-air and landed both her feet onto the head of another Lucubra to crush it.
Ron's own Mystic Monkey Aura surged even greater than before as he threw out a punch, meant to only punch a single Lucubra, only for that Lucubra to be explode with a splat upon contact, while also creating a shockwave that blew back ten more Lucubra behind it.
"Whoa…" Ron looked at his hands in awe, with Rufus doing the same. "Magic dimension super charge!" An excited grin that was all teeth appeared on his face. "Who's ready for Mega Super Monkey Kung Fu?!"
"Booyah!" Rufus exclaimed as Ron leapt back into the fray.
Heatblast, Jake, and Lao-Shi flew above much of the horde as they unleashed a massive inferno, with the dragon's own fire breath being twice as large and powerful as before. Their power combined with Heatblast's was enough to reduce many of the Lucubra to ash in seconds.
"Yo, I'm packing even more heat than before!" Jake exclaimed.
"This dimension is enhancing our magical capabilities as dragons." Lao-Shi said. "It would be unwise not to use it to our advantage."
"G, are you actually telling me to not hold back for once?" Jake asked, wanting to make absolute sure.
"Since were about to go up against an evil god, I don't think holding back's gonna help us." Heatblast commented.
"Indeed, Jake. As your grandfather and master, I am hereby ordering you to cut loose." Lao-Shi encouraged.
A grin of pure excitement appeared on the American Dragon's face. "Yo, you hear that freaks? The Am Drag's about to put the major hurt on ya'll!" He flew into the horde of Lucubra down below, claws and fire breath at the ready as Lao-Shi and Heatblast provided him with extra assistance.
Rex ran with his Punk Busters while using his Smack Hands to punch and crush all the Lucubra he ran into before charging at an incoming big one that was even taller than he was with his builds. The larger Lucubra collided with Rex, who used his Smack Hands to try and push back while digging his feet in with his Punk Busters. But in this match of pure strength, the larger Lucubra appeared to have the advantage as Rex was being pushed back.
"Sorry, but I'm not about to get out-torroed!" Rex lifted his right Smack Hand and spun it rapidly before punching into the Lucubras face, breaking through its skin as his rotating fist scrambled up its insides. Rex pulled his fist out just as the creature died right as Rex retracted his builds, only to find seven more Lucubra in front of him. "Of course." He sighed in exhaustion as he formed his BFS.
All seven leapt at him at once, only for a red portal to appear in front of him, sucking in the Lucubra. He glanced behind him to see a smiling Breach and looked past her to see another portal opening up over a pile of jagged rocks, where the Lucubra all fell out and ended up getting pierced by said rocks.
"Have I mentioned how great it is that you're on our side now?" Rex asked with a smile.
"You have, but I won't get tired of hearing it." Breach replied.
Dani and Illana hung back by the Quinjet's ruble to provide covering fire as Tucker and Fu continued to hide with Octus working through said rubble. Ecto beams and energy blasts from the ghost and armored girls appeared to keep the Lucubras at bay, but when several surrounded them, the monsters unleashed red energy blasts of their own, prompting Illana to raise her armor's shield around herself and Dani as they stayed in front of their friends.
"Hey, not to rush, but we are kinda fighting for our lives right now!" Dani stated.
"Octus…?" Illana looked to one of her dearest friends.
"Almost… Done!" Octus pulled out what appeared to be a rifle-like machine and handed it over to Tucker. "It is a makeshift rifle I made from the Quinjet's turret-systems. Not one of my finest works due to being rushed, but it should suffice."
"Well maybe you can do a bit of a test run on the guy behind us!" Fu Dog exclaimed as a Lucubra climbed down from the cliffside toward the group, causing Tucker to turn around and instinctively pull the trigger, unleashing rapid-fire energy blasts that gunned the Lucubra down, it's corpse falling to the ground.
"Whoa… Okay, me likey." Tucker said with a grin, looking at his new weapon.
"Hey uh… think maybe you can throw a dog a bone here?" Fu Dog tried to give the puppy-eyed expression to Octus.
"Yes Fu, I made one for you as well." Octus handed him a near identical looking rifle.
"Good man." Fu grinned.
"Well what are we waiting for? Fight magic with technology!" Tucker grinned as he gave his own impression of a war cry with Fu Dog, charging into the fray and firing their guns at any Lucubra that was in sight.
"Yeah… we should make sure they don't die." Dani commented.
"Agreed." Illana nodded.
"Of course." Octus also said as they flew into the fight, blasting their respective attacks of Ecto-energy, blue energy beams, and white bolts to take down many more Lucubra.
Kevin converted his right arm into a shield to block a pouncing Lucubra, which allowed Zed to leap up and tackle that very same Lucubra, biting and ripping into its throat to kill it. When a second tried to get the jump on her, Kevin quickly ran forward, his right arm transforming into a spear which he used to pierce and kill the monster.
"Ugh, I so did not miss these things." Kevin groaned as he and Zed turned to see a group of at least twenty Lucubra charging at them.
Fortunately, assistance came in the form of Lance in his Manus armor, who fired his gatling cuffs to gun down those up front while also unleashing a salvo of missiles from his armor's shoulders to obliterate the rest, leaving only splattered remains.
"Whoa… that is one badass suit right there." Kevin grinned. "You and me are definitely tricking out my ride when this is over."
"Let's survive this first." Lance said, though underneath his armor, nobody could see the grin he also shared before they went on the attack again.
Zak rode on Zon as she flew over a group of Lucubra, the Saturday son firing both his Claw and Fang at a Lucubra, the matter-anti-matter clash of his weapons caused the Lucubra's body to liquify as it fell. Several tried to jump down at them, but Zak fired his Claw's grappler to knock one back as Zon flapped her wings to knock the others back, but they were both knocked down from behind by one that snuck up on them.
It would seem that Zak and Zon were surrounded on all sides, but blasts of fire and energy managed to push back the Lucubra as Doc and Drew came to the assistance of their son, Drew using her fire sword to decapitate one Lucubra before blasting two more point blank while Doc smashed one's face in with his Battle Glove before unleashing a sonic-wave to knock three back.
Fiskerton roared as he charged the Lucubra as well, grabbing one by the face, lifting it and throwing it into another. A third tried to come at him, but Fiskerton leapt over its pounce to grab it by the back of its head and shoved it into the ground. He then picked it up and threw it into a group of two. Komodo tackled a Lucubra himself, rolling with it on the ground as he snarled and bit into it. Even as the Lucubra sprouted some tentacles from its head to feed off Komodo's thoughts, the komodo dragon bit down and ripped them off before biting into its neck to finish it.
"Thanks guys." Zak said as his family flanked him.
"Zak, think you can control these things?" Drew asked. "Your powers should be stronger here."
"I've been trying to." Zak revealed, his eyes glowing orange. "But I'm being pushed back, and I don't think it's just Argost's power, it could be Dagon's."
"Which means these things aren't here to stop us…" Doc said with realization. "They're just trying to stall us!"
Gwen extended her fingers to shoot several beams of mana from all ten of her digits, which shot through and curved around to take down more than twenty Lucubra in front of her. On her side was Hex, who waved his staff to throw a wave of dark magic to incinerate a whole line of the monsters. Floating high above them, Max rode on a sparking cloud before pulling back his fist to generate a trio of small fireballs before throwing them out, which grew and split off into a multitude of meteorite like objects that obliterated countless more Lucubra.
However, despite the efforts of all the heroes present, more and more Lucubra appeared out of nowhere to replace their fallen brethren.
"They just keep coming!" Gwen exclaimed.
"Even with our powers enhanced by Legerdomain's natural mana, we will quickly exhaust ourselves before the main threat even arrives." Hex said.
"Then it's time to end this now." Max said, glancing upward to see a floating path of ground well above them. "Hey! Everyone! Get to the path above us!" Max broadcasted his voice with magic so that everyone heard him.
"He's right!" Doc added. "This is just a distraction!"
"Everyone move! Now!" Danny ordered as he quickly flew in to pick up Tucker as he, Sam, Heatblast, Dani, Illana, Lance, Jake, Octus, Lao-Shi, Rex, and Zon took to the air with Gwen and Hex following after them, using magic to hover; while Breach quickly created a portal, allowing the rest of the Saturdays, along with Kim, Ron, Kevin, Zed, and Fu Dog to escape and get up onto the path from the other side of the portal Breach opened up, which she jumped into after everyone else.
"Okay, now that everyone's a safe distance away…" Max looked around to see countless Lucubra surrounding him from all sides, ready to rip him to pieces, but he wasn't the least bit intimidated. A powerful surge of his sparkling magic formed around him.
"...TIME TO BRING DOWN THE THUNDER!" He hollered as he lifted his cane straight up, calling forth a massive lightning bolt of pure magic from the skies of Legerdomain, which was drawn to his cane like a lightning rod, before he drove the bottom of it into the ground, sending all the gathered energy through the very island itself. Already the foundation at the very bottom of the floating landmass was beginning to crumble before the entire island broke apart. All the Lucubra fell into the bottomless abyss with the remainder of the island, leaving absolutely nothing left.
Needless to say, nearly everyone on the path below looked in absolute awe; even those that knew Max the most, such as Kim, Ron, Jake, Fu, and Lao-Shi, were nothing short of shocked at the display of destructive power below him. Even Hex was rendered speechless.
"Whoa…" Tucker pretty much spoke for everyone with that one word.
"Who is that man anyway?" Doc questioned.
"Oh, just the reincarnation of Merlin from our world." Kim answered absentmindedly. "Pretty sure we already told you guys that though."
"To hold that much power… even further strengthened by Legerdomain's mana…" Hex couldn't find the words. "He may be stronger than Gwendolyn and Charmcaster combined."
"I believe you…" Gwen nodded.
Max then casually hovered back up towards them on his sparkling cloud, holding his cane over his shoulders. "Look, you know I just love seeing that sort of reaction… but we are kinda trying to prevent the end of existence so…"
Suddenly, roars of thunder sounded everywhere, causing the group to look up and see multiple growing tears in the skies and space of Legerdomain. More and more were popping up by the second and they seemed to be growing in both size and numbers.
"Oh yeah… that's definitely not good." Fu commented.
"Legerdomain is becoming unstable!" Hex exclaimed. "If this process is not abated, the entire realm will be torn asunder!"
"And who knows what's next after that if Dagon comes back!" Gwen added.
"Octus, please tell us you know where all this is happening!" Illana hopped.
"Yes, the epicenter of this inter-dimensional tear appears to be in that direction." Octus pointed outward, even off the path where they all could see the tears becoming larger and more numerable the closer they looked.
"No time to fly there! Breach!" Rex told her.
"I'm on it!" She immediately opened a large portal underneath the whole group, which she lifted to encompass everyone and teleport them to their intended destination.
Back at the Charmcaster's castle, Modula and the rest of the Cabal watched in greater anticipation as the giant red energy sphere grew more and more, hovering higher into the skies of Legerdomain as more energy seeped in from the dimensional tears, feeding into the sphere as it continued to grow, already it seemed like a sun was forming in the realm of magic.
"It's working…! IT'S WORKING!" Drakken hollered.
As they continued to bask, Van Kleiss gazed behind at a familiar red glow he knew all too well. "And it seems we have company."
The Cabal turned around to see Breach's portal open as she, the Avengers, and all their allies step out to face their enemies as the portal closed behind them.
"Ah the Avengers, and friends." Argost greeted. "Come to witness the resurrection of our pet deity?"
"Shut it down! Now!" Danny ordered as he and all the heroes aimed their weapons, readied their respective powers, or made combative stances.
"We couldn't even if we wanted to, Daniel." Vlad said to him specifically. "Dagon's power is all but completely regenerated! Nothing can stop it now!"
"You have no idea what you're doing!" Gwen exclaimed. "You're going to destroy this entire dimension and tear apart at least three other worlds to bring Dagon back!"
"A handful of dimensions in the infinite possibilities of the multiverse? I'd say that's akin to plucking a few insignificant leaves off a mighty tree." The Dark Dragon dismissed.
"No reasoning with a bunch of nutjobs, huh?" Max dismissed.
Hex stepped up to the front and aimed his staff at the Cabal. "Where. Is. Hope?" He practically gnashed his teeth at them.
"Ah Hex, didn't notice you there." Drakken commented. "So, you betray us? Don't worry, your niece is alive, we need her for this."
"Nothing you fools can do will stop it." Vilgax declared.
"In fact, it's already done." Modula grinned as the gargantuan sphere grew to what appeared to be its maximum size, evident by the fact that no more energy leaked from the tears. "Dagon lives again!"
No sooner than when he said that the sphere began to pulsate, shinning brighter than a star. This forced everyone below, hero and villain, to cover their eyes as the dark and unholy light of the ultimate destroyer shined throughout all of Legerdomain. The light itself began to take something of a physical shape, the upper part remaining somewhat spherical while the lower portion seemed to sprout something akin to tentacles as a pair of dark red eyes glowed in the center.
When the light subsided, and all could see what had appeared before them, everyone had their own unique expressions to them. To the Avengers and their various allies, they could only look in shock and even terror, especially with Ben and his team, even Max looked uncharacteristically frightened. To the Cabal, they gazed up in amazement or simply smirked evilly.
Floating in the skies above Charmcaster's castle, was the massive beast that resembled something of an octopus. It's thick green skin, long and enormous tentacles that looked like they could crush entire mountains, and the pure malice in its soulless red eyes. The creature let loose an evil laugh that may as well have echoed throughout the dimension of magic.
The Dagon had returned.
"I live!"
Done.
Yep, Dagon is back. The Cabal have successfully resurrected him and appear to have a rather solid plan on how to control him. Vilgax was one with his power in the Ultimate Alien finale, so of course he knows more about it than anyone. With that knowledge, he and the Cabal were able to concoct a spell that combines Argost's Anti-Kur powers, the Dark Dragon's own dark magic, and the magics of the other magic users under their employ, fuel it's power with Legerdomain's mana and channel it directly into Charmcaster who's body is acting as a channel for their machine to bring Dagon back.
I hope that all makes sense.
The Avengers are in for arguably the most difficult fight of their lives as they must find a way to contend with the Cabal and the Lovecraftian god that is supposed to be under their control. The final battle of Night of the Beyond is coming up and I have big plans for it.
Until then, stay safe and stay healthy out there. Love you guys.
