Deep within the walls of a facility, two figures dropped down into the middle of a highly secured room. One of them quickly began typing into a device on her wrist as the security measures within the room suddenly shut down. "Okay, we're all good," Alisha said, smirking.

The young boy beside her huffed before making his way towards the case in the middle of the room. "You beat me by just a few seconds," Heath said under his breath.

Alisha smirked down at him before pinching his cheeks. "Aw, are you upset because I out hacked you. Don't get all pouty on me. I've been doing this since I could walk. Besides, isn't building supposed to be your forte?"

Heath reached up and aimed a metallic fist at the camera in the corner of the room. "Yes, yes it is…" he said before something fired from his wrist. It hit the camera which sparked for a few moments before going back to normal. "Last minutes of footage has been deleted and set on a loop. No one will know we were here."

"Not bad kiddo," she said.

Heath scowled. "Don't call me kiddo…" he said bitterly.

"Oh, aren't you edgy," she said ruffling his hair. He swatted her hand away and crossed his arms, only amusing her even more. As capable as he was and as tough as he acted, he was still just a kid. "Alright. Let's get what we came for," she said before walking over to the case.

Inside the small glass case was a little blue ball shaped pod with the numbers 628 written on it. Heath sprayed a small bit of gas from his wrist, and a set of laser motion sensors were revealed. "Thanks," she said before easily deactivating them. "Now come to mama…"

She reached up and put the claws of her gloves on the class, then made a small circle in it before poking it out. "You deactivate the weight sensor?" Heath asked.

Alisha rolled her eyes. "Who do you think you're dealing with kid?" she asked before grabbing the pod from its case. She looked over it and smiled. "Part one of the mission complete. Hard to believe O'Neil tech put in so much security just to protect this little thing."

Heath grunted. "I'm surprised they got their hands on it in the first place. Info on that thing says it's some kind of alien genetic experiment. Things used to run wild over Hawaii from what I could dig up. They're still there, but they've settled down now. There were a handful that just couldn't be reeled in though. This is supposed to be one of them."

"How well informed you are Heath," Drake said from over their com links. "Because of the destructive nature of these experiments, the government did their best to keep information on them under wraps. But if what you and Alisha dug up is correct, then this creature will be a valued weapon for us."

Alisha raised an eyebrow. "You sure you can tame this thing? Heard even its creator couldn't get a good handle on him," she said suspiciously. They didn't need another wild card like Alex on their team. One was more than enough.

"Ideally, we shouldn't have to. The creator of these experiments designed them for the specific purpose of evil. Once it's awake and aware of its situation, it'll follow us willingly."

Alisha put the pod inside of a case before putting it away. "Whatever. And our second objective should be right over… there," she said looking across the room. A large hulking metal figure was laid up against the wall. "You're up kid."

Heath cracked his neck before walking over and jumping onto the metal giant's back. He held his hand out, and suddenly a cord shot out from his sleeve and plugged itself into the back of the robot's head. After a few moments, the robot's eyes slowly began to light up. "Alright, should be ready to go blue boy."

"Hey! You haven't been on the team long enough to go assigning nicknames kid," Charles' voice said in an irritated tone.

Heath groaned. "Whatever. Just hurry up and hack this thing. It's got a half decent defense system so I'm not going to be able to keep this link open for-"

"Done."

Heath looked slightly surprised. That Charles guy seemed like a goofball, but he had to admit he knew what he was doing behind that keyboard. Heath jumped back down beside Alisha, and the two watched as the robot slowly began to rise up to its feet. "Objective number 2, complete," she said.

"Excellent. Download the blueprints and operational systems, then lead it out of the city so one of our teams can pick it up. I've no doubt a few Leaguers will attempt to stop it, so just draw their attention away and clear a path. I'll send backup to assist you soon enough."

"Copy that," Alisha said before turning off her com line. She looked towards Heath. "So, you finally get the chance to test out all that new gear kid. Are you excited?"

Heath balled his fist up, a smirk spreading across his face. "Of course…" He couldn't wait to see what his new body could do with all the upgrades and new tech the Alliance had given him access to. He felt sorry for anyone who got in his way.

Nia walked down the sidewalk, AJ skating beside her, as they headed towards the high school. Nia knew her brother would be heading right towards the school to come get her, so she figured she'd meet him halfway so they could go to AJ's house together.

"So this stuff, Chinese food, it's really as good as you say?" she asked wide eyed. The way he had described it made it sound so flavorful and delicious.

AJ smirked and nodded. "Oh yeah. It's like a waterfall of flavor in your mouth. My favorite is orange chicken," he said rubbing his stomach.

The blonde's mouth began to water. "You mean they actually have chicken that tastes like oranges? Wow, Earth really does have amazing food!"

AJ scratched his head. "Well, that's not really what it tastes like but… you know what, I'll just let you try it for yourself. You'll see what I mean," he said.

Nia looked even more eager. She would never argue with anyone who called her a glutton. The girl just plain loved food, and Earth seemed to be full of it. AJ had told her about pizza, burgers, corn dogs, and all sorts of other foods she was eager to try. She had decided that she wouldn't even think about leaving Earth until she tried them all!

"So blondie, you haven't told me where you're from yet," AJ said.

Nia froze, the question catching her off guard. AJ had asked her about it before, but she knew her brother hadn't wanted her to let anyone know who they really were. "Uh… nowhere important…" she said casually.

AJ smirked at her. "Keeping secrets blondie?" he asked playfully. Nia blushed and looked away from him. Why had she always been such a terrible liar?

"My brother wants to keep it a secret. He doesn't want to bring attention to us…"

He put his hands behind his head. "Seriously? Just how straight laced is that guy? Does he let you do anything fun?" he asked.

Nia frowned. "Hey, that's still my brother!"

"Right, right, sorry. But he seriously won't even let you say where you're from? Why keep it a secret. Are you guys like royalty or something?" he asked. Nia flinched yet again, and AJ's eyes widened. "Wait… you are, aren't you? Holy shit, you're totally an alien princess!"

Nia quickly covered his mouth. "I just said nobody was supposed to know that!"

AJ smirked, feeling embarrassed. "Sorry. I just didn't know I was hanging with royalty. Should I like bow and stuff when I greet you from now on?" he asked.

Nia sighed. "Please don't. I came to Earth because I just wanted to get away from being a princess for a little while. I wanted to be… I don't know, normal I guess. Just anything to take my mind off of the throne for a little bit," she said.

AJ looked confused. "Wait, the throne? If you two are royalty doesn't your brother get the throne? He's older than you right?" he asked.

She nodded. "I mean, yeah. But only queens rule in Mewni. If he was an only child I think it'd be different, but since I was born it goes to me by default," she explained. "Honestly I think it'd be better if he was the one to rule though. Astro is so much better than I am at this stuff."

AJ tilted his head. He had never heard of Mewni before, but he just assumed that's where she was from. He also couldn't help but note the sad tone in her voice. Almost like she didn't want to be queen. "Really? Him?"

Nia nodded. "My brother is like a living legend back home. He's so strong, and everyone looks up to him. He's good at magic, as good as my mom. Whenever he shows up everyone just knows everything is under control. He always knows what to do and… I don't know how to live up to that," she said rubbing her arm. "That's why I came here. My mom said coming to Earth helped make her into the queen she is now, and I'm hoping it'll do the same for me."

AJ whistled. "Wow, that's pretty heavy stuff," he said. "For what it's worth, I think you'll turn out to be a great queen. I mean I ain't really savvy about royalty or anything, but you stuck your neck out for me and I was a total stranger. You'll do way more for your people I bet."

Nia smiled at the kind words. "Thanks…"

"No problem blondie. Just remember that I got your back. You need anything on Earth, or back home, you just call," he said smiling and poking his thumb to his chest. Nia stared at him, her cheek emblems beginning to light up. "Whoa, that's new…"

She looked confused. "What? What's new?"

"Your cheek thingies. They're lighting up. I thought they were just tattoos or a birthmark or something. Is that normal?" he asked, reaching up and poking her cheek.

They lit up even more and she quickly moved his hand away. "Yeah, it's fine. It's just… a thing with my family. They light up and change sometimes," she said half truthfully. She knew her emblems reflected her emotions, and they had even lit up before.

But this time they felt warm too. That was kind of new.

"Huh, weird. Well, we should get going I guess."

Nia nodded. "Yep." Suddenly the two heard a loud explosion. The ground shook beneath them for a moment, and the two looked at each other confused. "Uh… is that normal on Earth?" she asked, looking confused.

"In Townville, yes. But it doesn't mean anything good," he said, narrowing his eyes. What the hell was that sound just before… wait a second! "Shit!" he shouted before taking off.

Nia still looked confused, but ran after him. "AJ, wait up! What's wrong?!"

"That sound came from the direction my mom works!" he yelled before pulling out his phone. It might have just been a coincidence, but he needed to be sure. "C'mon ma, pick up!" The phone rang a few times, but no one picked up. "God damn it!" he yelled.

His mom might have had it on silence, she usually worked that way. Or it might have been on the charger. Or she might have been out of the room.

But to hell with might. He needed to know that his mom was okay.

He rushed towards the building with Nia right behind him. The blonde had no idea what was happening, but she hoped his mother was okay. She looked down at her wand, which was still in the form of a necklace.

If it came down to it, she'd have to use it.

Astro had been halfway towards Nia's school when the explosion went off. Unlike everyone else around him however, he paid it no mind and just kept walking. Whatever was happening was none of his business, and he was still trying to lay low. So he just kept looking forward and kept walking. If something bad was happening he was sure the heroes would handle it.

As he kept on moving he couldn't help but notice a crowd of people standing in front of a large building with the words 'O'Neil Tech' spread across the front in big letters. From what he could tell, that had been where the explosion had come from.

If that was the case, why the hell were they crowding around it? When something like this happened on Mewni the citizens were smart enough to run and stay away until he or one of the other knights came to deal with the problem.

A scream suddenly pierced through the air, and Astro glanced over to see numerous people in white coats running out of the building. Well, at least some of them seemed to be thinking clearly. He continued walking, ready to get out of here.

Or at least he would have if he hadn't turned to see something bursting out of the front of the building, sending dust and debris everywhere. Everyone in front of the building screamed as a large mechanical figure stomped its way towards them.

Now everyone began to back away and start running. All except the two police officers who had parked in front of the exit gate. One of them grabbed the radio from the car and began yelling into it, while the other pulled out his gun and started yelling towards the robot.

Astro sighed and shook his head. He had no idea what that thing was, but he could tell this wasn't going to be solved by yelling at it.

The robot tore down the exit gates, and the police officer fired at it. The bullets didn't even slow it down, and the robot soon brought one of its feet back before kicking the car. The police jumped out of the way, but the car went flying through the air and headed right towards…

A mother and her baby…

"Oh come on!" Astro shouted in both anger and annoyance. He rushed forward as fast as he could towards the woman. She tried to move out of the way, but she wasn't moving fast enough. He reached down and snatched his keychain off of his belt loop before raising his hand.

It glowed brightly before taking its true form, as his sword. He jumped up and raised Ocean's Kiss before swinging. The car was cut clear in two, and the two halves of it landed around the women instead of on her.

He landed down in front of her. "Are you alright ma'am?" he asked looking worried. The woman looked at him stunned but nodded slowly. "Good, now you should get somewhere else, it obviously isn't safe here."

The woman quickly thanked him before running off. Astro turned around and glared at the robot. He really, really didn't want to get involved in anything like this. But a part of him just couldn't sit back while people were in danger. He had to do something.

He rushed towards the robot, ready to cleave it right in two with his sword, but suddenly a figure flew down in front of him and attacked. He barely had time to raise his sword and block the large claw that came for his throat. He was pushed back a few feet as a large figure with reddish skin stood before him. He was dressed in red, and had bright orange hair. "Not bad moss head," the boy said, smirking evilly.

Astro was about to question who he was, but suddenly another attack came from behind. Astro ducked down and jumped away as another hulking figure appeared behind him, this one was dressed in green however, and had jet black hair. "Damn, thought I had him…"

"I've never seen you before," Yet another figure appeared, but unlike the other two, this one was much shorter. She was blonde, and wore blue clothing. She smiled towards him, and it unsettled Astro. "You one of the Vanguard's newbies?" she asked, placing her hand on her hip.

Unknown to Astro, he stood off against the Nightmare Triplets. Some of the Alliance's most powerful and vicious members. He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not with the Vanguard, or with anyone. I've got no reason to fight with you. All I want to do is stop that thing."

"Well, that's too bad then. Cause our job is to make sure you don't stop it," Carnage said, raising both his claws. "So we're gonna have to squash you!"

Astro growled. "I don't want to hurt you…"

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Priss said before signaling her brothers. Savage and Carnage both smiled before rushing in towards him, and Astro raised his sword up.

"Fine then…" He'd had to cut countless down in situations like these. Three more was nothing.

The robot stomped towards through the streets, everyone running and screaming as it headed outside of the city. Charles would have just remotely flown it out of the city, but the thrusters in this thing hadn't been finished yet. So he was stuck walking it to the city limit where one of their groups could swoop down and pick it up.

He couldn't wait to get this thing back to base. Between him, Heath, and Eightball, he was sure they'd come up with some clever modifications to add to this behemoth.

Across the street from the robot, Nia and AJ watched with stunned expressions. The two of them hadn't expected to see anything like this as they had headed towards the building. "That's… that's the new security droid my mom's been working on," AJ said shaking his head. Why was it out here? Why was it rampaging through the city? None of this made sense.

He then scowled. Well, whatever the reason, this thing needed to be stopped. He didn't see any heroes around, so it looked like it was up to him. "Blondie, go on and get out of here. I'm going to distract this thing," he said, turning towards her. Nia was already gone however. He looked forward and saw her charging towards the robot. "What the-?! Blondie?!"

Nia bit her teeth as she charged forward at the robot. She had no idea why she had rushed forward towards that thing. She saw people screaming and in danger, and she just moved.

But she was already halfway there, there was no turning back now. She grabbed her necklace, and her wand quickly turned back to its sword form. As she got closer however, she realized she had no chance of cutting this thing down. It was at least twelve feet tall.

She needed something stronger.

"The wand should take whatever form you want."

She remembered her brother's words, and then gripped the wand tighter. She focused her thoughts as much as she could. She needed something bigger. Something heavy. Something that could do some real damage. Something like….

The wand suddenly began glowing again, and once more changed shape. AJ watched in shock as it suddenly turned into a large hammer, larger than Nia herself. He was even more stunned when the girl yelled and swung the thing like it was nothing.

The hammer collided with the robot, knocking it off its feet and back a few feet. It crashed down onto its back, the ground shaking under her feet as it did.

Nia breathed heavily and looked down at the downed robot. She then slowly began to smile. "I… I did it! I did it! I beat this metal man! Ha! I totally-!" The robot suddenly began moving again, and pushed itself up to its feet. Nia paled. "Uh-oh…"

She really needed to stop celebrating early…