When Worlds Collide

by Evolution Legacy

People all across Runeterra are disappearing and the League of Legends can't figure out why. But when a superhuman soldier from Earth get caught in an accident on a mission and sent to Runeterra, he becomes a catalyst that will spark a war between worlds. After all, the League of Legends never considered that the culprits behind the missing people is an Earth-based organization.

15. Chapter 14 - Bilgewater Burning

A/N: This chapter marks the end of the first Act of When Worlds Collide (in other words, you can call it a "season finale").

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for reading my story up till this point, and a special thanks to those who have waited over a year for me to get to his point.

Just before we get to the start, I'd thought I'd respond to last chapter's reviews (it'll be quick because like I guessed, there isn't many of them... (insert sad emote-con here... I guess...)

Hurricane Janna: I'm glad you're enjoying it! As for if Isaac is going to meet "moar" friends and fe-enemies... well... you'll have to wait in see! I was honestly a bit worried with taking so much time to "build the world" since people might not like it if the story stays away from action-scenes for too long, but it seems that I was thankfully wrong about that. As much as I also enjoy long chapters, it means that it takes a lot longer for me to write them, this chapter alone took around 18 hours to write and do a quick edit.

"Guest": Long hiatus? Me? Never... (cough cough)... anyways, glad you enjoyed the cliffhanger and the sex. And sorry about the typos, but as I've said before, editing long chapters is a boring as hell and tedious job. This chapter alone has over 21k works in it so you're likely to find a few typos again. I've also had someone pm about the location of a certain typo so I was able to fix that for future readers. So... a thank you to you and that certain other person, and I'll try my best to keep an eye out for typos as I write.

Like I've said before, there will be a break in updates after this one as I grind out the fine details for the next act and write at least two of the chapters together before updating (so that they can flow better). If you're curious, my profile page has a small section near the bottom where I'm posting my current progress every now and then.

Anyways, that's all, so please enjoy the Act/Season finale of the first act/season of When Worlds Collide.

A/N Update: June 12th, 2017 - So this chapter was written over a year ago (almost two years ago actually I think) and as such Galio did NOT have his updated appearance. So for the entirety of this story, Galio will have his pre-rework appearance. Sorry if that's confusing but you can thank Riot for that.

---

Before...

Bilgewater

"Isaac… Isaac….. YOU'RE GOING TO DIE HERE!"

Isaac's eyes shot wide open, darting around the room, trying to find the source of his voice that had just shouted at him. Only, he saw nothing but a cheap, dark, tavern room.

Wait… Isaac realized he was panting and sweating. He paused, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slowly exhaled, calming himself down. Just another bad dream… Isaac opened his eyes and was about to get up when he felt something move on his chest.

What the hell?

Isaac looked down, only to see Jinx's head resting on his chest with one of her hands resting on his stomach.

Why is….

Isaac suddenly remembered the events of last night. Oh… right…

The adrenaline that was about to start flowing though his veins receded and Isaac relaxed. He peered down at Jinx's sleeping face as it rested on his chest and noticed how peaceful she seemed.

You know… Isaac thought, with a small smile breaking out onto his face. If some stranger saw her right now, you'd never guess that she's a borderline insane, explosion obsessed lunatic.

Isaac looked out the window, seeing that it was still pitch black outside. It's not even morning yet… He sighed, quietly. He had been planning on getting up after his nightly nightmare, but he didn't want to disturb the woman lying on him, sleeping peacefully.

At least one of us is having a good rest… Isaac glanced back down at Jinx and felt his face heat up slightly at the thought of remembering last night.

Unlike all the times he had slept with Kasumi, which all felt more… calm and full of love, last night with Jinx felt like it was full of nothing but lust. Of course, that meant it was much more… wild, for lack of a better word, then Isaac's previous experiences, but he didn't mind it. In fact, it was exciting in its own way.

Keeping up with Jinx in the bed though was just about as difficult as keeping up with her everywhere else. She was constantly moving, whether when she was on top, under him, on all fours, it didn't matter.

She was just as wild during sex as she is… well… all the time I guess… Isaac thought as he reached down and picked up one of Jinx's braided tails, carefully, as to not to wake her. He played with it a bit as he thought. He hadn't been expecting, not at all, to have had (what he pretty sure was) a one-night-stand with Piltover's most wanted.

"Hmmm…." Isaac heard Jinx mummer something as she stirred.

Oops! Isaac let go of the lengthy braid and looked down at her face again. Jinx moved the hand that has been resting on his abdomen and pressed down on his chest as she slowly rose up. She yawned and half rose, leaning on Isaac as she did, which was rather hard to notice given how light she was.

"Wha...? Where?" Jinx muttered as she looked around the room, eyes half open, clearly still half-asleep. She turned her head until her eyes meet with Isaac's, who smiled somewhat sheepishly in response.

"Sleep well?" He asked, unsure of what else to say.

Jinx didn't respond, but after a few seconds, her eyes suddenly opened and an expression of realization came over her face. "Oohh… right…" Jinx chuckled and her face broke into a lopsided smile. "Forgot what happened for a second."

I could tell…

Isaac expected Jinx to say something else, but she just stayed half lying down, half leaning up on him smiling. He looked into her pink colored eyes and wasn't sure of what to make of her. I can never tell what she's thinking… if… she's even thinking more than three seconds ahead… ever?

After a few seconds silence, it turned a bit too awkward for Isaac to bear. He reached up and lightly grabbed Jinx by the chin, pulling her face towards him. It didn't take much effort, since Jinx moved forwards herself, and their lips met with a brief kiss. What started as one kiss became two, then several, and Isaac felt Jinx reposition herself so that she was lying perfectly on top of him.

"Hmm…" Jinx mumbled as she pulled her face away from his, a look of satisfaction on her. "That was fun… been a long time since I've done that."

"Makes two of us." Isaac replied, lowering his voice to the same level as hers.

Jinx's smile grew wider. "Well, if that's the case…" Isaac felt her hands go up and down his body. "It's still night, how about we have another round?"

Any resistance Isaac had at the beginning was long gone now. He grinned back at her and pulled her in for another kiss. As he did, he felt Jinx grab his manhood again and position herself over top of him.

Well were both still naked, might as well keep enjoying this while it las-

The moment was broken by a loud explosion outside. Followed by a second one, then a third and fourth all in quick secession.

Isaac broke the kiss and looked towards the window with a questioning look. What the hell was that?

"Huh?" Jinx questioned, also looking out at the window, "Well that killed the mood…" After a second she shrugged. "It's Bilgewater that kind of stuff happens every now and then."

Really? Isaac still had no idea what that was about, but something in his gut told him it wasn't normal.

He felt Jinx grab the side of his head and turn it so it was back to facing her and her crazy smile.

"Come on, forget about it!" She chuckled and moved her face closer to his…

And then there was another explosion, and the window shattered.

What the f-? Isaac thought and then sprained into action. He grabbed Jinx and rolled her to the side, opposite of the direction of the window, and off the side of the bed.

"OW!" Jinx shouted in pain as they fell on the floor, the sound of glass falling onto the floor and shattering gave way to the sounds of more explosions outside.

"THAT'S NORMAL?!" Isaac shouted as he scrambled to feet, but checked first to see if Jinx was ok. The anorexic girl was fine; she just looked up at him with annoyance as she held the back of her head.

"Well… not THAT MUCH but…" Jinx started to mumble. "It's just EXPLOSIONS, it's not like were under attack or something!"

JUST explosions!? Isaac couldn't believe he heard that from someone. But then he remembered that it came from Jinx. Never mind…

He moved so that he could see out the window, but couldn't get any closer to it since he was bare-footed and there was glass all over the floor. But from where he stood, he could still see outside good enough to figure out what was going on, but the large amount of shouting and screaming from outside gave him a pretty good hint.

But when he looked outside, he felt the temperature in his body drop.

Through the window, outside, Isaac saw a massive beetle-like looking aircraft hovering over the water inside the city, with bright flood lights shining around the city as if it was searching for something. This massive aircraft fired several shots that left quick, bright streaks of yellow and blue in the air, followed by sound of explosions not far in the distance. As the light from the fires and explosions emitted onto the side of the ship's hull, Isaac could barely make out the insignia of the Ascension on its side.

"What is that?" He heard Jinx ask as she stood up next to him.

"That…" Isaac spoke with a grave voice, "Is an Avenger class gunship… and its one of the strongest weapons in the Ascension's arsenal."

"Wow…" Jinx's expression changed to one of awe. "That's so coo-"

She was cut off by the sound of a low, deep-toned loud horn from the gunship's direction. Both Isaac and Jinx brought their hands to their ears as it rang loudly in there eardrums.

"What was that!?" Jinx yelled, trying to get over the sound of the horn.

"That's from that gunship!" Isaac yelled back. As soon as the sounded started to die down, Isaac grabbed Jinx by the shoulders so that she would look at him. "Get dressed and grab your guns! We're ACTUALLY under attack!"

Jinx looked back at him with a slight look of realization, the concept that they were under attack settling it. It didn't last long though, and her evil, sadistic smile returned, larger then Isaac had ever seen.

"Well it's about damn time!" She shouted her voice full of enthusiasm.

---

The sailors aboard the Fist of the Crown slept peacefully as the large seafaring vessel sailed though the Guardian's Sea. Unlike the sailors though, who had spent a good deal of their lives out in the ocean, a certain someone aboard the ship in a private quarter couldn't handle it anymore.

"Wie zum Teufel kann jemand schlafen wie diese?" A tall, very muscular man in his late thirties muttered out loud in his native language, which, to the people of Valoran, made zero sense.

How the hell can anyone sleep like this? Lieutenant Luka Schulz, aka Blitzkrieg, repeated to himself in his mind in English. The meta-human soldier, still clad in his armor which left him looking like a walking tank, rose out of the makeshift bed that had been provided for him for the voyage across the sea.

Forget sleeping on a battlefield, how can anyone stand to sleep sailing over the ocean in a ship made of wood? Luka shook his head, he had barely been able to get the minimum required hours of sleep each night, but it looked like tonight he wasn't going to get any.

Luka stood up straight and stretched himself out, savoring the feeling. The quarters that the ship's crew had provided for him was likely a storage room at one point in time before being cleared out and a sleeping sack thrown in it.

They we're probably less than happy to have an… what are they calling me? An "outworlder"? Yeah, that. They probably weren't impressed that an outworlder was coming aboard for a long sea voyage. Luka rolled his eyes. Whatever, he did find It kind of funny how every time he would walk past a crew member while they were at work, that said crew member(s) would suddenly tense up as if he was some kind of evil king.

Not that he was actually surprised. Fully clad in his armor, Luka knew that he had a very imposing presence. Helps when you're over seven feet tall and around three-hundred-pounds of reinforced muscle and bone… and that number isn't including the armor which gains me a few extra inches and about….

Well, it makes him weigh a lot more. Enough to the point that every time he walked, he noticed some of the sailors cringing, as if they were worried he could fall right through the ship at any moment.

Luka checked himself for his equipment. His rifle had been destroyed during the fight when he first arrive on this world, and the rest of his weapons had been confiscated, but returned once he had agreed to go along with what his jailors had purposed.

That petite blonde girl was quick the looker though… too young and innocent for me though. Luka chuckled on the inside. He wasn't forty yet, but he was getting there.

I've still got a few grenades… and two Glocks, but those damn pistols barely fit in my huge hands…

That was the drawback to being his size, it took him a few valuable seconds to properly fit his hand around a pistol's grip and stick his armored fingers into the trigger guard and around the trigger.

It's actually faster and more efficient for me to just THROW the pistol at someone and then follow up with a charge and an upper-cut.

Luka yawned, although he was actually feeling his fatigue wearing off.

"Hmm…" He muttered, "You there Goth?"

A small window appeared in his HUD, revealing a figure fully covered in 15th century gothic style plate armor. "Always, my friend." A voice with a French accent replied to him.

I've always found that curious…. Luka thought, Why does Goth have German style armor, with a name referring to that German style, and he's got a FRENCH accent?

Whatever, not important.

"Figured out what we're going to do once we meet up with Archangel?" Luka asked. The whole point of the boat trip was to go to this place called Bilgewater to link up with Archangel, who as the Demacians believed, was there. How they knew he was on the other side of the world? Who knows?

Got to be some kind of espionage secret or something…

Or magic… can't believe I actually have to take that bogus into account here…

Of course, Goth hadn't been thrill about the whole concept of magic being real either. His AIX partner had gone into a rather humorous state of denial for two whole days.

"I believe that our best choice of action, assuming we DO link up with Archangel, would be to go along with what the Demacians have planned." The medieval armored figure in Luka's HUD nodded, his face eternally hidden behind his sallet. "That is the best choice, because as of right now, they are our sole means of information and transport in this…. Err… world…"

Luka thought about Goth's opinion for a second, and then nodded in agreement. "True… but we should make sure were not being used without gaining something. I doubt these… Demacians are helping us out of the goodness of their hearts."

"Agreed, my friend."

At least we're handling this better now… Luka chuckled on the inside. When he and Goth had been told that they were on another world, he laughed at those who had said that.

Then they took him outside, and Luka, aka Blitzkrieg, was met with the sight of a medieval like city that sprawled as far as he could see.

That, and the fact that Goth couldn't find anything on the GPS or any kind of COM, convinced him, although he was still in a state of disbelief for a bit.

Two days after that, which had been spent reading up on the world that they now found themselves in (he was thankful that the Demacians had granted him access to a library, although a good deal of the books were not written in a recognizable text), the big-shot he had met in his prison cell who went by the name Garen had told him that Archangel was on his way to the port city of Bilgewater. In return for his assistance in finding information on a problem of missing people and a certain Demacian military ship that had been recently destroyed by an unknown force, Garen and his boss (some stoic, humorless guy by the name Jarven IV) had organized a small task force to accompany him.

And a big fucking ship… Luka thought as he exited his compartment and stepped out onto the deck of the ship, Fist of the Crown.

The Fist of the Crown was a ship that Luka had to put on par with either an Age of Discovery Ship of the Line or some kind of Renaissance battleship. The multi-deck ship had two decks below him that were lined with cannons, enough to probably turn any pirate ship into smoke within a minute.

And if that wasn't enough… Luka thought as he took a few steps out onto the deck. The moon in the night sky shined down on his armor, and he could hear the loud thumps every time he took a step on the wooden deck. In front of him in the center of the vessel, was a catapult on some kind of rotation device that gave it a full 360 degree range of fire. And near the front of the ship was a second catapult, both were designed to lob rocks coated in flame to ruin someone's day.

And… Luke thought as he turned around to look up at the navigator's deck, For overkill.

At the rear end of the ship on the raised deck, was a bloody trebuchet.

"I'm not sure why they find the need for catapults and trebuchets on a ship that already has cannons." Goth had observed when they had first boarded the ship.

Luka had just shrugged. He wasn't sure why either, aside from that it sent a clear message to any would be pirate.

Don't . Try. Anything.

Luka rolled his neck around, stretching it again. Ahh… that feels good… He thought blissfully and looked up at the clear night sky. A full moon…

"You know something Goth…" Luka said, "If you were to look up at this sky, and never be told that we were on another world, I'd assume that was the sky of good old Earth."

"Yes…" Goth voice echoed in his ear, "I find it curious that the moon is the same as Earth's own Luna. Of course if you look closely the stars have completely different patterns, which are a dead giveaway that we are NOT on Earth."

"True, very true." Luke nodded; In fact what had sealed the deal on their disbelief of being on another world WAS the night sky, when Goth had pointed out that none of the stars matched any kind of constellations on Earth, both northern AND southern hemispheres.

Luka brought his gaze back down to eye level. There was nothing aside from dark waters as far as he could see, and the deck was sparsely populated only a single digit number of sailors on the deck, just making their rounds to ensure everything was ok.

Luka causally walked towards the front of the ship. Why? He had no particular reason; he was just bored out of his mind. The time he had spent on this trip felt like a lifetime had passed. The few sailors that were on the ship threw him glances full of either suspicion or had traces of fear in them.

Of course, since I look like the bloody juggernaut like this.

Luka didn't pay it any mind. He was used to that kind of treatment. Whenever he and his squad went anywhere, he was the only who gained the most attention. Because I tower over every one of them… except for Jackhammer, who is close to my height. Jackhammer wasn't nearly as large as him though, but that was because Luka had received way more physical enhancements during the meta-human experiments than anyone else in his current unit had.

That's because, unlike everyone else, I'm an Alpha.

He thought about that for a brief second. Being an Alpha meta-human meant that he was, at least on paper, superior to everyone else in his squad since they were all from the Beta batch of Metas. The Alpha group was the first meta-human experiments that the Halcyon Corp had preformed.

It also had the lowest success rate and the highest fatality rate. Out of the five hundred children and teenagers that Halcyon had taken in (some by force, some had been "purchased" by means of human trafficking, Luka himself having fallen under the latter when his daddy sold him for some extra beer and drug money, the fucking drug abusing alcoholic he was), only sixteen were officially alive today.

Officially. That meant that it didn't't include the handful that were likely hiding somewhere in the world today. Correction, on Earth, not here on this world.

Unless, of course, one of my fellow Alphas managed to actually find a way to this world and go into hiding...

Luka stopped dead in his tracks at that though. Could it be possible?

...

...

He shook his head. No, no, that would just be something too complicated to speculate on.

"Something wrong?" Goth asked, likely due to his sudden halt and resuming of walking.

"Nothing, just a stupid thought." Luka shook it off.

Anyways, the Alphas had received way more enhancements then the Betas had, which had a huge factor to play in their fatality rate during the genetic and bio-experiments that he and everyone had been subjected to.

They lowered the scale of the experiments when they did the Betas, to try and decrease the fatality rate. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but out of the fact that hundreds of dead kids and teenagers were hard to cover up, and it was a total waste of resources.

That, and since the Betas were second, the freaks who did the experimenting already had an idea what worked and what didn't during the procedures.

Luka shook his head. Ahh, what the hell am I doing thinking about that?

He needed a distraction, nothing more, nothing less. This boring as hell boat ride is getting to my head... I either need a strong drink, a conversation, or a fight...

As if on cue, Luka heard a pleasant sound coming from the front of the ship. That sounds... kind of familiar...

Luka walked up towards the front of the vessel, and sure enough, there were two female figures near said section of the ship with their backs turned to him facing out at the open sea in front of the ship, one sitting down, and the other standing.

Each looked completely unique from that of the sailors who controlled the ship, and Luka recognized them both instantly from the fight that had started when he first arrived on Valoran.

As Luka approached them, he got a better look as to what they were doing. The girl sitting down was plucking on some kind of string musical instrument that he and Goth had totally failed to recognize. The girl herself though was an exotic looking beauty that Luka wouldn't mind spending some time with in a bed... if she wasn't clearly so much younger than him.

While I may be a man with a man's mind. I'm not a sick-o who would sleep with any girl... even I have standards when it comes to the age gap... most of the woman I've seen in this world so far are nearly young enough to be my daughter...

That thought aside, Luka did find the musical girl, who was dressed in various shades of blue with some traces of yellow, to be a busty beauty. Her lengthy blue pigtails that ended with a yellow color added to that appearance.

The other female though... gave Luka the chills. Unlike the blue haired girl who sat, clearly relaxed and playing her music, this one stood up straight, feet shoulder's length apart with her hands gripped firmly behind her back as if she was standing at attention.

But it wasn't her posture that made Luka feel uneasy, but her inhuman appearance. The female's skin was a light blue color, and had an inhuman texture. Parts of her skin looked soft, which the rest of it (like her stomach) appeared rough, as if it was some kind of armor. The blue-skinned woman, who clearly had the posture of a hardened warrior, was also clad in red plated armor that only covered a small portion of her body: her upper chest, shoulders, waist, upper thighs, lower arms and legs were the only parts covered. Almost the entire front of her body was exposed, but given the fact that her skin looked tough as nails, Luke was positive that a knife wouldn't puncture the she-warrior's skin.

Her head though was adorned by a large red helmet that stuck out at the sides, giving it the appearance of horns. Absent, was the two shield-like pieces that went over her hands and lower arms that Luka had seen during their battle at the Demacian Royal Palace.

That girl with music instrument, Sona i think her name was, also fought. She had some kind of strange sonic based attacks that Goth couldn't pinpoint how it worked.

The blue skinned girl also threw his AI friend for a loop. "Not a human!" Goth had proclaimed when he had scanned her. "Well... somewhat. Her frame is clearly female and humanoid, and some of her internal organs are the same, such as lungs and the uterus, but from a genetic level she is nothing like a human... it's like... some kind of alien humanoid reptile like creature..."

In other words, even Goth had no idea what the blue skinned she-warrior was.

"We can hear you coming a mile away with that armor of yours." A deep but clearly female voice said, with traces of hostility in it. He recognized it as belonging to the blue skinned one.

Luka shrugged, only a matter of a few feet from them now. "Wasn't trying to be sneaky, just curious." He said, keeping a friendly tone. While the girl with the music hadn't treated him poorly, the blue skinned one had always regarded him with suspicion and hostility since day one. "A private concert for one?"

The busty blue haired girl stopped playing and turned to face him. She had to look up though at Luka since he towered over her.

I bet she realizes that I could crush her like an ant right now... Luka thought as he came to a stop next to her, looking down at the blue-pigtailed girl. Of course... I'm not going to, got no reason to.

The girl named Sona gave him a slight smile in greeting and a nod.

"Hello to you too." Luka nodded back. Right, she's a mute... can't speak a word... Luka 's face changed to one of sympathy. He felt a bit sorry for the girl, but from what he had seen, she looked like the strong silent type anyways.

"Was that supposed to be a joke?" The blue skinned girl, who still had her back turned with her hands clasped behind her back, growled at him.

"Wasn't talking to you She-Hulk." Luka replied, still keeping a friendly tone although he knew damn well he was being rude. "But yes, hello to you too."

The blue skinned female mumbled something, and Luka could've sworn he heard her growl.

That one... actually scares me a bit... really...

"Was there something you needed outworlder?" A new, but also deep voice came from behind. Luka turned around and spotted a gargoyle like creature perched on top of the nearby mast.

This creature was by far, the strangest thing Luka had seen since arriving on this world. It clearly looked like a gargoyle, no matter how you put it, but its skin appeared as stone even while moving. He had glowing red eyes and its wings were a mix of yellow and the same grey, blue, teal blend that the rest of the creature's tone was. The gargoyle's hand's were massive and yellow, with talons that Luka was sure could tear though just about anything.

When Luka and Goth had first set eyes on this creature, Goth went berserk. "Never! Never! Never have I even fathomed something like this!" His partner had exclaimed in an over enthusiastic tone. At Goth's directive, on the first day they had followed the creature around (much to the creature's chagrin and the humor of the sailors) so the Goth could scan the creature over and over again until he was able to figure out what made it tick.

Which he failed to do. After an hour and a half, Goth's avatar threw his hands up into the air and shouted:

"MERDE JE RENONCE!"

Now, Luka spoke German, not French, but he was sure that "merde je renonce" meant something along the lines of "fuck it, I give up" or "shit I give up" in French, but he could be wrong.

Either way, they never figured out what the gargoyle-like creature actually was.

"No," Luka answered the gargoyle's question. "Just couldn't sleep, so I'd thought I'd go for a walk."

The gargoyle responded with a "hmm" and un-perched himself from mast. With a few flaps of his wings, he came to a landing a few feet from Luka. "Understandable..." The creature, which Luka learnt was named Galio, nodded to him. "You have mentioned your unease at sea."

Well, because unlike you, if the ship goes down I'm sinking to the bottom, I can't swim with this much armor on... you can just fly away... Luka thought before giving a shrug. "Not a fan of the ocean, prefer to have my feet on solid land."

Galio nodded again. "True, the ocean is not for everyone."

He heard a snort come from the she-warrior. "What? Scared of the water?"

Luka turned to back the blue skinned alien. "Hey, in case you haven't noticed She-hulk, this suit of mine..." Luka tapped an armored gauntlet against his chest forcefully, making a loud clanging noise that made Sona cringe slightly. "Makes me heavy as all Hölle, so if I end up overboard I'm sinking to the bottom like a bag of rocks."

The woman scoffed. "So then why wear all the armor?"

Luka laughed cryptically. He was a seasoned veteran of countless battles and had seen a decade more of blood than anyone else in his squad, Archangel included. "Please, I'm not foolish enough to take off my armor aboard a ship where someone is watching my every move." Luka crossed both his arms over his chest, standing up straight; he towered over all of them (although Galio was pretty close in height if he stood up straight on his stone legs).

"This is an alliance of connivance." Luka stated, "I need your guys help, and you clearly want something from me. And Archangel."

The blue-skinned warrior gave a humph. "True, there is no friendship here. But since this is an alliance of necessity..." She trailed off, turning her head so that she was looking back over her shoulder at Luka. Her inhuman orange, reptile-like eyes brought a slight chill to the tough, battle-hardened soldier. "We will always be keeping an eye on you."

Anyone could tell that the atmosphere was getting tense. Sona returned to plucking at the strings on her instrument, playing a soothing sound, as if trying to calm the mood down.

She might be a bit nervous since I AM standing right next to her and towering over her small frame. Luka thought while staring back at the blue skinned warrior whose name, he recalled was Shyvana. The warrior stared right back at him with her inhuman eyes, and Luka could easily tell what those eyes were telling him.

"Just try me."

She's an eager one... looks like she's just spoiling for a fight...

Of course, Luka knew that getting into an actual fight with the ones who were supposedly on his side... was probably not in his best interest.

Before anyone could say anything, Luka noticed a flash of light in the far distance beyond Shyvana.

Hmm? What was that?

He noticed that Galio perked up a bit too. Luka turned slightly to the gargoyle.

"Did you see that?" He asked. The moving stone gargoyle responded with a nod.

"What?" Shyvana asked and looked back out in front of her. "See what?"

"There was a flash of light just-" Luka began, but as he was speaking those words there was another few quick flashes beyond the horizon. "Those."

Then they all heard the sounds of distance explosions. Sona suddenly stopped playing and stood up, a concerning and questioning look on her face.

"I'm guessing that's not just a Valoran thing..." Luka muttered with a bit of sarcasm.

"No..." Galio replied with dull tone. Then they saw more flashes in the distance, shortly after followed by the sounds of explosions.

"That sounds like..." Galio mumbled.

Shyvana snarled loudly. "A battle."

... The Storm

Ezreal couldn't believe this was happening. One moment he was having a pleasant dream, the next he was forced awake by the sounds of explosions. At first, he wasn't sure what that was, maybe someone was drunk and firing off a cannon somewhere.

After all, it IS Bilgewater.

But then he heard the sound of shattering glass and distant screams, followed by even more explosions. And Ezreal realized something was truly wrong, so he scrambled out of bed and quickly got dressed.

To underline his point, a loud, deafening horn rang his ears straight down to his eardrums and made his head rattle.

What the hell was that?! Ezreal cursed mentally and threw the door to his room open. Just as he set foot in the hallway, another explosion went off, this one closer, and shook the building slightly.

This isn't normal! Not at all! Are we under attack?! Ezreal's mind raced. Before taking another step he reached into his backpack and grabbed his signature gauntlet, putting it on quickly. While he did that, he spotted Archangel's door bolt ajar. But instead of Archangel, Ezreal was confused by the sight of Jinx coming running out of his room, down the hallway, and run into a different room.

What? What was Jinx doing in- His thoughts were cut off the by the sound of another explosion. But this one was followed by the sound of a bell being rung somewhere in the distance.

That sounds like...

The ringing of the bell was followed by several more, and within seconds, a chorus of ringing bells echoed through the tavern.

Ezreal knew what those bells meant; they were in many towns and cities through Valoran.

It was the universal sound for "to arms, we're under attack".

Oh shit! This is really happening! Ezreal bolted down the hallway and slammed on Archangel's door with a fist. "Arch! Wake up! We're under attack!" He shouted.

"I know! Give me a moment!" Came a frustrated reply. Ezreal could hear the sound of him fumbling with his armor.

Is he not wearing his armor? Why...

Then he remembered seeing Jinx leaving his room a moment ago, and Ezreal felt a bit of heat flow to his face. Wait... there's no way he was... they were... no...

His train of thought was derailed by the sound of another series of explosions and loud bangs.

Now is NOT THE TIME! He shook his head and ran to Vega's room, slamming on that one too. Before he shouted anything, the door opened and Vega stumbled out, struggling to put his summoner robe on.

"What the hell is going on?!" Vega shouted over the sounds of distant screaming and what Ezreal was sure sounded like gunfire.

"Not a clue!" Ezreal shouted back before moving to slam on Jinx's door. Before he even raised his hand, the Loose Cannon herself bolted out, almost slamming into Ezreal as she did.

"Woops!" Jinx exclaimed as she and Ezreal barely dodged each other. "Sorry!" Her apology didn't sound sincere are all, even more so when she followed it up with her usual laugh.

"Jinx!" Ezreal shouted, and was about to say something else, but the lunatic cut him off.

"We're under attack right? I know!" Jinx's wide scary smile grew to epic proportions. "It's awesome isn't it?!" Her tone was that of a little kid, just told that they were going to some kind of carnival. "This is gonna be GREAT!" She exclaimed loudly.

"What?!" Ezreal shook his head. "No! No! What's even going on?!"

"It's those Ascension guys! There outside blowing everything up!" Jinx laughed menacingly. "Come on! Let's go get in on it!" She waved Ezreal and Vega on and bolted down the hall and down the stairs.

"What!?" Ezreal shouted after her before sprinting after the psycho.

The Ascension is attacking?! Why?! Ezreal felt a surge of anxiousness and fear wash over him. He recalled what he had learned and witnesses about the Ascension up until this point.

They were super advanced, evil, ambitious, and liked war. In a nutshell, that's what he thought of them.

And there attacking?

Ezreal reached the bottom of the stair case. The bartender that had made them clean up after the bar fight was cowering behind the bar counter, shaking. He barely caught a glimpse of Jinx running out of the tavern. Ezreal mentally cursed the lunatic and bolted after her.

"Hold on guys! Wait!" Vega shouted behind him. Ezreal didn't look back, but judging the sound of the summoner's voice, he was hot on his heels.

Ezreal threw the door of the tavern open and ran outside. Only to be met with the sight of hell on Valoran.

Bilgewater was in flames.

Several sections of the city were ablaze and everywhere Ezreal looked people were scrambling around, men, women, and children alike. Several of the piers were already destroyed, and multiple ships (both military and trade) were aflame.

Including the Ionian ship that had brought them here. Ezreal watched in horror as several of the Ionian soldiers jumped off the burning ship and into the water, some of them also having been on fire.

But what really caught Ezreal's eyes, was the massive beetle-like airship that was hovering some two-to-three stories over the city. The beetle like ship was raining down death onto the city, several streaks of yellow and blue were fired from the countless cannons and guns attached to the ship. Each shot hit the cities buildings and various wooden walkways that made up Bilgewater's streets, seeming firing at targets at random. Whenever one of the shots made an impact, it exploded, sending debris flying and sometimes setting the location ablaze.

What... Ezreal felt himself get dizzy at the sight. This had to be some kind of nightmare... he couldn't be witnessing this...

"Wow... it's even bigger than I thought it was!" He heard Jinx shout over the sounds of carnage with excitement. Ezreal looked away from the scene and to his side, he must've caught up to her without realizing it; they had come to a stop at the top of some kind of ramp that led down towards the docks. Jinx already had her trusty rocket launcher, Fishbones, out and ready, but her grin remained the same.

"What the FUCK is that thing?!" Vega shouted as he caught up to them, his voice clearly relaying his fear.

"That!" Jinx pointed at the flying death machine. "Archi called it something like an Avenger or something. It's supposed to be some kind of Ascension... gunship?" She half answered half questioned.

Ezreal noticed countless puffs of smoke popping up around the city, causing him to quickly glance around, trying to spot what was causing them. Even though it was dark out, the flaming buildings and the explosions from the so called Avenger gunship lit the city up as if it was sunny out. Which allowed Ezreal to see what was going on quite well, not that he wanted to be watching this.

All around the city, the citizens of Bilgewater, guards, pirates, and sailors were firing their flintlock pistols and rifles at aircraft, filling the airwaves with the sound of constant gunfire. Some of the people even tried (and failed) to throw flaming bottles and beer bottles at the ship as it rained death down onto their city.

Of course, none of them seemed to have any effect. Most of the shots did seem to hit the ship, but every time of them his the Avenger, there would be a spark where it impacted it and then nothing.

The armor on that thing looks thick as it can be! I'll bet nothing we have here can puncture it!

"By Avarosa..." Vega's voice was full of shock.

Ezreal felt hope fading, even more so as the ship returned fire at the many defenders. The young explorer watched in horror as several of the Bilgewatians in a cluster (both men and women) take a shot from one of the Avenger's guns, causing an explosion where they stood. When the smoke cleared, none of them were standing, but Ezreal could see limbs go flying away from the epicenter.

People are dying... So many people are dying... Ezreal thought, his mind frozen in fear.

Wait! Move it! What are you doing Ez?!

He slapped himself hard and shook his head, trying to focus again. "We can't stay here! We're sitting ducks like this!" Ezreal shouted, looking both at Jinx on his left and Vega on his right. "Come on!"

Ezreal booked it down the ramp, and he could here Vega's cursing and Jinx's manic laugher right behind him as the trio charged head-long into the battle.

---

"Got another bunch of primitives firing at us over there."

"Got em'... haha, look at those limbs fly."

"Set that building ablaze, onto the next one."

"Keep firing, keep firing!"

"Someone is shooting magic at us."

"Good thing we got that prototype magic shield then huh?"

"It's just a prototype, I don't know if it'll last long under a solid barrage of magic..."

"Less chatter, more shooting."

"Yes sir!"

"Deploy Shock Troopers, time to get this show on the road..."

---

From behind the piece of roofing on the surface, Ezreal leaned out from behind his cover and raised his gauntlet. He placed his un-covered hand next to it and drew it back is if he was notching an arrow.

And let it go.

"EAT THIS!" He shouted as his gauntlet shined bright and fired off a white light of energy at the ship. It sailed true towards his target, but dispersed mere feet away from the ship, causing a bright blue glow around the area it disappeared at.

To his right and behind something else he was using as cover (likely from a nearby destroy burning house), Vega lobbed a ball of flame at the same target, but just like Ezreal's shot, the same result occurred with that same blue glow.

"Damn it!" Ezreal heard the summoner shout. "It's got some kind of magic shield!"

"I can see that!" Ezreal yelled back over the sounds of constant gunfire, explosions, and burning buildings as the Avenger ship continued to rain death down on the city. He leaned back behind the piece of debris that he was using for cover "How do we stop that thing?!"

Ezreal leaned out of cover slightly to look up at the ship. It was slowly moving forward at a forty-five degree angle to his left, likely just advancing farther into the city to keep shooting.

At this rate, it's going to take the whole city out... Where the hell are the guards? Doesn't Bilgewater have ANYTHING to take this thing out?

Ezreal saw a rocket fly towards the airship. However, he spotted several muzzle flashes from some kind of machine gun on the ship, and the rocket exploded in mid air.

"Damn it!" He heard Jinx curse. Ezreal looked to his left where the psycho girl was standing in the open without any cover, with Fishbones aimed right at the ship. "Eat this!" She shouted and fired another rocket from her launcher.

But just like before, it exploded before impact.

"Hey that's no fair!" Jinx shouted, flinging her middle finger out at the ship. "You can't shoot my rockets down before they hit! Where's the fun in-"

She was interrupted by the sudden impacts around her as the Avenger fired at Jinx with some kind of machine gun. The lunatic screamed and cover her head with her hands as she ran off away from Ezreal, scrambling for cover.

"Jinx!" Ezreal shouted after her, unsure if his voice could reach her over the sound of battle. "Don't run off alone!"

Just as he finished yelling, he heard the almost deafening sound of the Avenger's loud horn, shaking the very ground he stood on as it blared.

"Ezreal!" Vega screamed at him after the demonic loud horn ended. Ezreal turned back to the other side to look at the panicking summoner's voice. He saw that Vega was pointing at the Avenger. "Look! The bottom of that ship is opening up!"

Ezreal glanced back up at the ship, and sure enough, he saw the bottom of the ship open up slightly. From under the beetle-like ship's belly, Ezreal saw several figures fall out of the newly formed hole. Just before the figures hit the still wooden dock beneath them, Ezreal saw brief flashes of fire on their backs, slowing there fall just before they landed on a lower section of Bilgewater city.

Jetpacks? Ezreal looked over each figure, their bodies illuminated by the fires in the night. Each one looked like the other, with a suit of armor that was navy blue, which seemed to be the color of the Ascension. Like Archangel, they were covered head to toe, but unlike Archangel's pitch black visor, these Ascension soldiers had glowing blue ones.

These guys don't look anything like those guards we encountered in the Everdeen Mines... These soldiers look... elite...

Suddenly, Ezreal remembered something Mute once said while they were in the Everdeen Mines...

"There is also the possibility that the Ascension will bring out their elite shock troops during the approach and subsequent fights. These shock troopers will be both heavily armored and will likely be equipped with jetpacks, which allows them to fly. If these troopers appear, they will be the new priority targets."

Ezreal looked the newcomers over again, whose numbers had swelled to over fifteen, and more were dropping out of the gunship above them. The ones who had already landed were already sprinting off the docks and onto the wooden plank-streets of Bilgewater, firing advanced looking rifles and machine guns at the Bilgwatians who were trying to shoot back.

Heavily armored? Check. Jetpacks? Check. Those have to be the Ascension's elite Shock Troopers...

Ezreal gulped. This wasn't like the time at the mines... this was the Acension's true strength.

And they weren't trying to hide it.

Ezreal took aim at the Shock Troopers below down by the docks and fired. Since he and Vega were on a higher section of Bilgewater, it gave them a perfect shot at the enemy.

The magical blast struck one of the shoulders in the side and sent him/her sprawling to the ground. But, to Ezreal's annoyance, rather than fall for good, the soldier rolled on the ground and stumbled back to his or her feet.

To make matters even worse, one of the nearby Shock Troopers to his target pointed up at Ezreal and Vega, with two other troopers raising their rifles and firing up at them.

"Shit!" Ezreal grunted and ducked back behind cover, causing the bullets to hit the top of the piece of roofing he was hiding behind. To his shock and horror, the bullets punched right through the cover, and Ezreal ducked down as more bullets ripped right through the wooden debris, right where his head had been.

Those machine guns are punching right though the roof?! But this chunk of wood is thick as can be! How powerful are those guns!? Ezreal glanced over to his side to see that Vega had fallen right onto his stomach with his hand over his head as his own piece of cover get reduced to splinters from where the summoner's waist would be and up if he had been standing.

We're sitting ducks out here! Ezreal looked behind him and noticed that the building, a house, that wasn't on fire, but was missing its roof. Likely shot off earlier when the Avenger arrived.

"Vega!" Ezreal shouted at the summoner, who tried to look up at him from where he was lying with his head covered. The summoner's formerly clean white robs were covered in ashes from all the smoke that surrounded the city.

Once he had the summoner's attention, Ezreal pointed at the building behind them. "Let's get in there! We're screwed out here!" He shouted at him.

"What?!" Vega yelled back before following Ezreal's finger and seeing what he was pointing at. He turned back to him and shouted, "Ok!"

"Come on!" Ezreal yelled and rolled away from his cover and sprinted the twenty foot distance to the building. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Vega was doing the same, only that he had only covered half the distance Ezreal had.

Come on! Ezreal looked back ahead, and glanced back over his shoulder... and his he felt his blood go cold.

Behind Vega, rising up from below, right where they were before was a strange armored figure being propelled upwards by a jetpack on its back.

This figure had a different kind of armor on, one that looked like a cross between the Archangel's own armor and those that the Shock Troopers wore. But this one had a pitch black visor that covered the whole face, and his or her armor glowed a bright blue.

"Hold..." Ezreal heard a toneless cold male voice coming from the direction of the hovering soldier, "They're mine..."

That one... has to be the leader... Ezreal gulped, He's coming RIGHT FOR US!, he looked in front of him again and saw that he was almost at the building's front door, with a window right next to it. He lowered his shoulder and slammed into the house's closed door, forcing it open.

As he slammed it door open and stumbled into the shack of a house, he heard a woman screaming plus that of two children. Ezreal looked to the side and saw a mother and a boy and girl, neither could be over ten, cowering under a table.

Ezreal's eyes shot wide in realization. By entering this house for cover, he had just endangered the lives of a family.

Oh no...

Ezreal turned back around so that he was looking outside, spotting Vega mere feet from the door.

But behind Vega was the glowing armored Ascension soldier, who had closed the gap between them with his jetpack.

"Vega!" Ezreal shouted, raising his gauntlet to fire at the new threat. I don't have a clear shot!

Vega looked behind him and came to a sudden stop, turning to face the new threat. He raised his hands and started to shout something when the glowing armored soldier landed right in front of him with his fist reared back.

And, combined with the momentum of his jetpack, drove his fist right into Vega's midsection.

The summoner was sent flying backwards at an angle, smashing through the window next to the open door where Ezreal stood.

No! Ezreal snarled. He couldn't let this man in. No matter what! He knew that if that glowing armored man made it inside, the family that was cowering next to him would surely die.

Not gonna let that happen!

Ezreal fired another blast from his gauntlet at the new threat, aiming right at its head. However, to his surprise, the glowing armored figure quickly raised an open hand and caught the bolt of magic in his hand. As soon as it impacted the armored open palm, the already glowing armor shined even brighter at the point of impact, but then, just as quickly as Ezreal's bolt had passed through the air, the shining blue light passed down the man's outstretched arm and towards his shoulder.

As soon as it reached his shoulder it passed behind the man's neck and the bright shining blue light appeared on the opposite shoulder and started to flow down the man's other hand. As it started to do that, he raised his other hand and pointed his index finger at Ezreal.

What th-

The bright blue light reached the end of the man's armored finger, and a pulse of blue energy fired from the tip of the finger, right back at Ezreal.

Ezreal didn't even have time to figure out what happened, he raised his hands to block the incoming blast, but failed. He felt the bolt of energy slam into his chest, sending him backwards off his feet. He landed on his back with a thud and a loud grunt of pain.

The blonde man shut his eyes in pain as felt his head ring as the back of his skull hit the hard wooden floor, which only added to his agony as he felt a flaring pain in his chest where he had been hit.

Uh... damn... Was all he could think as he started to cough, feeling a warm substance entering his mouth. He rolled over and propped himself up on all four, and spat out whatever was in his mouth, opening his eyes to see what it was. Although his vision had become slightly blurry, he could easily recognize the red liquid on the wooden floor.

I'm coughing up blood... only a little... but still... that's my blood...

"Humph... was that all?" He heard a cold voice from behind him. Ezreal made to look up and behind him, but a sharp pain in his chest from where the bolt of energy had hit him caused him to double back over and shut his eyes.

"Ghhh!" Was all Ezreal could manage and he clenched his blood soaked teeth in pain. He heard the sound of hard foot steps behind and start to circle around to the side.

Open your eyes! Open your eyes damn it Ez! He thought and did just that. Although his vision was still a bit blurry, it was starting to clear up. Regardless, he could make out the glowing boots to the side of him as the glowing armored man walked around him, coming to a stop in front of him.

"So... you're a champion of this... League huh?" Glowing armored man said. Since that cold, emotionless tone never changed, Ezreal couldn't tell if he was taunting him or not.

Still on all fours and trying to cope with the pain, Ezreal slowly raised his head to look up at the face of his foe.

Only to be met with staring down black visor of the armored man.

"Well, I had orders to take you champions alive..." The man began, before his left hand started to reach for a holster at his same leg, undoing a buckle there. "But both I and my scanners have determined that the only thing that makes you unique is that gauntlet of yours..." The man stated as if he knew everything with his emotionless voice.

Ezreal didn't move, fear starting to take over him, and he didn't take his eyes off the man's moving hand as the armored man pulled a pistol out of the holster that looked similar to the one Archangel had gotten from Irelia.

Only, that this one's barrel was glowing blue, as was the back of the gun.

Ezreal recognized that glow. It was mana.

That's... a pistol with mana?

The man let his arms remain at his side as he remained looking down at Ezreal. "So, I've decided that it'll be easier to take that gauntlet off your corpse..." The man announced Ezreal's death sentence rather simply, and raised the pistol, and rather than the man's hand or his shielded face, the young explorer found himself staring down the wrong side of a gun's barrel.

"Nothing personal. Goodbye kid." The man said coldly and Ezreal realized at that moment.

He was going to die.

But before his enemy from another world pulled the trigger, Ezreal heard the screeching of a kid again.

The man also heard it, because he didn't pull the trigger, and looked to his left, and Ezreal followed the voice.

Under the table, the woman tried to hush her two kids, who were looking upon the scene in front of them with absolute terror.

"Humph..." The man with the glowing armor responded to the interruption coldly. "Disgusting..." He muttered, and moved the pistol away from Ezreal's head.

And aimed it at the hiding family.

What?! Ezreal's eyes went wide. He was going to kill them? Just like that?!

"No!" Ezreal shouted, finding his courage once again. Ignoring the pain in his body, he bolted up and tackled the glowing armored man in front of him, sending them both to the ground in a "oomph!".

Ezreal tried to get up and start punching the man, but as he tried to get himself up straight he was met with an armored gauntlet in the face. Ezreal felt his entire world ring and shake as the fist hit him right above the noise, causing immense pain to scream through his head. He fell backwards off the man, both hands shooting to his face, and it took everything he had to prevent himself from shouting out in pain.

"Guess you still got some fight in you..." He heard the cold voice even though he was dizzy as hell. Ezreal rolled on the ground until he was on all fours again, but when he opened his eyes his vision was clouded with tears.

My nose! I think he broke my nose! Ezreal cursed, he also knew that blows to the nose caused eyes to water up. I can't see anything like this!

He tried to get up and keep fighting, but as he looked up, even though his vision was blurry with water, he saw that the glowing armored man was already back on his feet, and raising the glowing pistol at Ezreal once again.

Oh no... That accomplished nothing! Ezreal cursed, in the time it would take him to rise to his feet or try to tackle him again he would get shot. And then that family will be-

Suddenly, he heard a pained cry, and before Ezreal realized what had happened, he saw Vega rush into his view and jump at the soldier, trying to dive tackle him. The Ascension soldier saw him coming, and instead of behind tackled, as Vega slammed into his waist, the soldier stumbled back and wrapped both his arms around Vega.

As he did so, he dropped his pistol to the floor, hitting the surface with a clang.

Damn it! Ezreal cursed and quickly crawled towards the gun. As he scrambled for it, he saw though the corner of his eye the fight unfold: The soldier lifted Vega up, who still had his arms wrapped around his waist, up into the air with strength that shouldn't be possible for the man's size (he was the same size as Ezreal). With Vega up in the air vertically, the summoner's grip on the soldier started to slip. The glowing armored man turned slightly to the side, and slammed Vega onto the floor with a loud "humph!"

Vega grunted loudly from the impact as he landed on the floor face down. As he tried to struggle back to his feet, the soldier kicked him hard in the ribs, causing Vega to roll over and grunt even louder in pain. Ezreal could see the summoner's constricted face as he was undoubtedly in great pain.

"Annoying pests..." The cold toned soldier muttered.

Ezreal grabbed the pistol and rolled onto his side, aiming at the soldier as he stood over Vega. The glowing figure slammed his armored boot down on Vega's chest, and Ezreal could hear the sound of bones breaking. Vega's eyes went wide open, red from holding back tears and he gasped in pain.

As Ezreal raised his arms to aim at the soldier, the figure turned around, and looked down at Ezreal.

"Oh you little shit..."

Ezreal found his aim and pulled the trigger before the man could finish.

Eat this murder!

He heard the sound of the trigger clicking.

But nothing happened.

Huh?

Ezreal panicked and pulled the trigger again. Still nothing.

Before he could pull it again, the armored figure dashed the few feet over to him and kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of Ezreal. As the explorer gasped for air, the soldier kicked his hands, sending the pistol across the floor, and a few of Ezreal's fingers on his bare hand.

Ezreal would've cried out in pain if he had any air left in his lungs.

Why didn't it fire? Why didn't it fire? He repeated the question over and over in his head.

The glowing figure walked over to the pistol and picked it back up, inspecting it. "Hmm... no damage..." The cold figure muttered to himself. "Oh, and by the way..." Ezreal saw him walking back over towards him from where he was lying on the floor, still gasping for air.

The soldier walked around the two of them, both him and Vega, and turned to face them with his back towards the door they had originally entered though. As he came to a stop, he lifted one of his legs up and brought it down on Vega's chest, not nearly as hard this time, but with enough force to cause Vega to cough up floor.

"In case you're wondering why it didn't fire... the safety's still on." The cold voice explained to them.

What?

"You see, I never got the chance to take it off before firing it since we kept getting interrupted... and seriously, did you really think I would drop a prototype mana pistol on the floor with the safety off? That's just suicide..." The cold emotionless soldier with his expression hidden behind a black visor twirled the pistol around in his hand, paying no heed to the sounds of explosions and gunfire from the battle that continued to wage on outside.

"Now then, to avoid having that happen again... I'll just kill you both now and finish that family off after." The glowing armored figure pointed the barrel of the pistol at Ezreal's head once again, and this time, Ezreal felt that he was truly done for.

What could he do when he when his chest felt like it was on fire, his nose and fingers broken, and winded? And Vega was even worse off than he was.

Ezreal glanced at the summoner, his eyes were barely open and he was coughing up blood. From the amount of blows he had taken, it was likely his ribs were totally broken and his lungs had been damaged.

I guess this is the end of the line for us...

Ezreal looked back up at the barrel of the pistol that looked down at him. He heard a faint clicking sound as the safety went off, a sound that, while faint, sounded louder than any of the explosions and screams from the battle outside.

I'm sorry... Lux...

Ezreal thought about his girl for a second, knowing that he wasn't going to make it.

When he then suddenly saw a familiar black armored figure rush into view right behind the glowing armored figure.

A few minutes ago...

"WHY DID YOU TURN ME OFF?!" Mute shouted at Isaac. The look on her face in his HUD clearly showed that she was furious.

"Sorry! Not now Mute!" Isaac shouted back as he ran out of the tavern and quickly looked around to try and get a grip on the situation.

It had taken longer than he had hoped to put his armor back on, but after he finally did, he reactivated Mute and explained the situation to her.

She was NOT happy.

"Damn it Isaac! We'll talk about this later!" Mute snarled, clearly unwilling to let it go.

Face it Isaac, you knew she was going to raise hell when you turned her off.

The meta-human looked around. Most of the cities buildings, at least that he could see from where he was standing, were on fire. Several of the ships that were docked were also on fire, although Isaac could see sailors scrambling onto the armed ones and onto the ironclads in the distance. The Avenger class gunship had flow slightly past the tavern where he and the others had been staying, and was continuing to advance through the city, raining destruction and chaos down on it. On the docks, or at least what remained of them, Isaac counted twenty Ascension Shock Troopers, the majority of them were already rushing into the city but were taking fire from the Bilgewatians and pirates that were trying to resist.

"Holy shit..." Isaac muttered at the scene. He hadn't seen an attack this bad since... well... the Ascension War.

"I guess the Ascension finally decided to make their move..." Mute's expression had gone from an angry one to a concerning one. "Yep... that's and Avenger class gunship alright..."

Another window appeared in Isaac's HUD, bringing up a quick schematic on the aircraft in question.

"Known weakness: none." Mute gave the verdict. "Capable of transporting units of Shock Troopers and raining total death... I think we're in trouble Isaac..."

"You think?!" Isaac grumbled back loudly, he turned and ran down a wooden ramp, trying to come up with a plan to take down the Avenger. "Anything we can do?!"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Mute hastily replied. "Do the Bilgewatians have ANY kind of guns that could make a dent in it?"

"Doubt it." Isaac looked back up at the Avenger as he ran though the burning city. "But if we remove my inhibitors, I can."

Mute gave him a serious look. "No! Those are in place in your body for a reason! If we remove them-"

"I know what removing them does!" Isaac barked as he jumped over a piece of burning debris that blocked his path. "I could end up killing myself, but do you have any other solution to bringing that thing down?!"

Mute bit her virtual lip, clearly trying to think of a protest, but unable.

Isaac was about to give her the order to disable the inhibitors in his armor and the one that had been installed in the back of his neck near his spine, but something caught his eye.

He saw Ezreal and Vega in the distance, running towards a house that had had its roof blown off. But what caught his eye weren't his two companions, but the glowing blue armored figure that flew in behind Vega with a jetpack. Vega turned to fight the Ascension soldier, but took a nasty punch and was sent flying backwards threw a window of the same building Ezreal had run in.

Oh no... They need help.

"Mute! Scan that soldier!" Isaac ordered his AI as he came to a halt and tried to figure out how he was going to get there to Ezreal and Vega. Damn it this city is confusing! Ramps up, ramps down, everything is built around and up this damn cliff!

A scanning icon appeared in his HUD and a diagram came up where the schematics for the Avenger were a moment ago.

"Done... its meta-human! Shit!" Mute's hand went to the top of her helmet as her expression became concerned. "It's Altar!"

Altar? Isaac bit his lower lip. Like Isaac, Altar had come from the Beta group like himself. Altar's signature power was the ability to absorb energy though his hands, and then fire it back through his other hand, as if he was redirecting it back at its origin.

As Isaac tried to find a route to them he saw just that happen. A bolt of energy that looked like Ezreal's hit Altar, who then fired it back into the building before walking inside.

Oh no...

Isaac cursed, finally found a route and ran as fast as he could towards the house.

"Mute, tips?"

"Altar's well-rounded... he's strong at any distance. But if you fire your dark matter at him, there's a good chance he'll just redirect it at you, so don't risk it. My advice is to engage him at close range since you're both around the same height and weight." Mute explained as Isaac ran.

"Sounds good."

"Be careful though, that armor he's wearing isn't registered in any of my databanks. It might be an Ascension prototype."

That glowing suit? Isaac frowned as he ran. She's right, it looked weird.

As he ran towards his comrades, Isaac glanced down towards the docks to see the battle raging on.

The Shock Troopers had managed to advance up a level into the city, unfazed by the burning buildings around them. The Bilgewatians didn't seem fazed either. As the two groups got closer, Isaac saw a pirate leap at one of the Shock Troopers, swinging a cutlass at him. The Shock Trooper blocked the attack with its rifle, which was likely reinforced to handle such situations, and then knocked the pirate to the ground. Before the pirate could get back up, the Shock Trooper stomped on his chest and fired several shots into the man's head, killing him outright.

In the same area, another Shock Trooper wrestled with a male and female guard, and clearly had the upper hand. Not far from that, three Bilgewatians falling back for new cover were gunned down by a pair of Shock Troopers as they rushed up a ramp.

This isn't going well...

Isaac thought grimly as he ran, but then he saw Jinx pop up from behind a building in the distance. The crazy lunatic charged forward up to the edge of a ledge with her minigun out. As soon as she came to a stop, she opened fired on the Shock Troopers below, and even though Isaac couldn't hear her, he was certain she was laughing.

The Ascension clearly was expecting a minigun during their attack, as a good number of the Shock Troopers were out in the open since the flintlocks that the Bilgewatians were constantly firing at them with were only having an minimal effect on their armor. Jinx's minigun on the other hand, mowed down two Shock Troopers from behind, sending blood splattering everyone.

That got the Ascension's attention. A trio of the Shock Troopers turned around to return fire, but Jinx was on the move again. She sprinted away and out of their line of sight, but as she ran, she quickly spun around and lobbed a grenade at the soldiers.

As Isaac ran, he passed by a building that blocked his view of the events, but he was hoping that grenade took one of the Troopers out.

Suddenly, I'm glad we took that psycho along...

Isaac shifted his focus from the battle and on the objective of his sprinting. He was almost there, but since he had started running he hadn't seen anyone come of out it.

That either means there still fighting... or there dying in there.

Isaac raced towards the building's entrance, and got his answer.

Altar stood over top of Vega and Ezreal, who were both lying on the floor clearly unable to fight. Ezreal was curled up like a ball and heaving, while Vega was coughing up an alarming about of blood.

Altar himself, stood with his back to the entrance, and was aiming something at Ezreal.

NO!

Without a second thought, Isaac charged into the building. As he approached, Ezreal looked up at him, which caused Altar to notice that there was something behind him. The glowing blue armored meta-human began to turn around quickly, but wasn't fast enough.

Isaac's fist connect with the side of Altar's black, face wide and long visor with a loud thunk.

The meta-human grunted from the force and his body rocked to the side violently from the sudden and clearly unprepared for force, dropping a strange glowing pistol that was in his hand.

Suddenly a memory, well, more like a line he had once heard a British soldier say to him during the Ascension war echoed in Isaac's mind.

"When Meta-humans clash on the battlefield, one on our side, one on the Ascension's side. It's like a clash of titans... and we mortals just get the hell out of the way."

As his foe began to stumble, Isaac quickly grabbed the back of Altar's helmet and shoved his head downwards to meet his knee as he brought it up. There was a loud crack as Isaac's armored knee slammed into Altar's visor, causing the superhuman to stumble back and off Vega.

Isaac didn't let up though, and finished the combo with a violent upper cut that connected with the chin of Altar's helmet, sending the Ascension aligned meta off his feet and onto his back, getting a loud and painful grunt out of his foe.

Got him! Isaac thought, and although he wanted to check on Vega and Ezreal, he knew he had to finish the fight first. He drew one of his blades and made to leap onto his enemy before he could get up, but Isaac noticed that just behind where Altar had fallen, was a mother and her two kids hiding under a table, looking up at him with expressions of fear and shock.

It unsettled Isaac, knowing that the average person feared him. Children were terrified of his presence, and civilians wanted nothing to do with him.

Not now! Isaac pushed the thoughts out of his head and focused on the fight.

"MOVE!" Isaac shouted at the family, which got their attention. The mother must've realized what was about to happen, and she pushed her kids out from underneath the table and scrambled away.

Unfortunately, in the time it took for them to do that, Altar managed to get back to his feet.

Regardless, Isaac charged. He leapt at Altar and tried to stab him though his helmet, but the other meta-human caught his arm in midair and wrapped an arm around Isaac.

Damn it! Isaac cursed and slammed his knee into Altar's stomach while the two struggled in a hold. It didn't faze the other Meta and he lifted Isaac into the air, did a one-eighty, and slammed him down onto the table that the family had just gotten out from under like a pro-wrestler, snapping the wooden table in half.

Double damn it! Isaac cursed again as he felt his body shake from the force as his body hit the floor between the two halves. He dropped his sword in the process of all that, but quickly shook his head and cleared the dizziness out of his system.

However, before Isaac could get back up onto his feet, Altar's hands slammed down onto his throat and squeezed hard, filling Isaac's vision with Altar's blue armor and black visor that now had a small crack in it from where he had kneed him before.

"ARCHANGEL!" Came an extremely angry yet cold toned voice from Altar. The blue armored figure lifted up the black armored one and threw him into the wall next to the broken table, causing the mother and her kids to scream at the sight of the two fully armored soldiers fighting bitterly.

Isaac growled and briefly shut his eyes as he felt his head rattle from having it slammed into a wooden wall. He opened them back up just in time to see Altar's fist aimed right at his face coming at him at mach speed.

Shit!

Isaac quickly motioned his head to the side, barely dodging the blow. Altar's fist slammed straight threw the wall where his head had just been, sending wood splinters everywhere. Isaac responded by grabbing the back of Atlar's helmet again, and bringing to forward to meet his own in a vicious head-butt. Isaac heard Altar growl and stumble back, fist coming free of the wall as he did.

Isaac took advantage of the new room and brought his right leg up, and delivered a hard kick to Altar's stomach, sending him tumbling back onto the broken table.

"That all you got Altar?!" Isaac shouted back at the meta-human and jumped on top of him, the combined weight of the two armored soldiers caused the table to break again. Isaac quickly punched Altar in the helmet with a right hook and then followed up with a left one just as fast. He drove five punches into Altar's helmet and cracked his black visor in a different spot.

Break the visor, and I've got him! Isaac thought as he aimed another punch at the forming crack, but this time Altar raised his own hand in defence and caught it before it impacted. The blue armored meta-human thrust his other hand up at Isaac's throat, but he managed to smack that away and got a grip on his enemy's wrist.

The two struggled like that for a second, before with a loud "hah!" Altar threw Isaac off himself.

Damn it! We're the same size but damn does he have some strength! Isaac thought with anger as he rolled backwards and came up on his feet in a fighting stance.

And good thing too, because Altar charged right at him and tackled him into the wall. This time, the wall gave away and the two smashed right through it.

Fuck!

The two ended up outside for just a moment, before smashing into the wall of the next house and cracking it.

Isaac felt his teeth chatter and his skull ring as his head slammed into the wooden wall of the next house. He grabbed Altar and wrestled him off, and with a loud grunt, threw the other superhuman to his side and into the already damaged wall. The force of having a second heavy armored figure hitting it demolished the wall, sending Altar tossing into the next house and Isaac stumbling after him.

This house was already abandoned though, but the reason for that was a clear as day when Isaac followed the falling Altar into it.

This building is on fire... that can't be good...

Good thing their armor suits were fire resistant... well... Isaac's was to a point.

As Altar hit the floor of the burning building and rolled on the floor, Isaac spotted a piece of burning wood on the floor next to where he had entered.

Now, it would've been smarter if Isaac just grabbed one of his swords, but the red haze had fallen over him. All he cared about was killing Altar with whatever he saw, nothing more. And judging by how Altar was growling as he stumbled to his feet, the feeling was likely mutual.

He also ignored the blaring warning in his helmet that was warning him of the intense heat in the blazing house.

Isaac grabbed the flaming piece of word by the only section that wasn't burning and charged at Altar. As the blue armored Meta-human stood back up, Isaac savagely swung the piece of lumber horizontally, hitting Altar in the side of the head. The blue armored Meta stumbled back with grunt, and tried to get back into a fighting stance. Isaac didn't let up though, and swung the piece of wood at him again, hitting him on the other side of the head and sending him back a few more feet.

When Isaac swung the piece of wood a third time, Altar managed to duck underneath, the flames on the edge of the lumber licking the top of his glowing blue helmet.

Shit!

Altar leapt forward and delivered a haymaker to Isaac's visor since he had left himself wide open. Isaac's vision blurred at the impact that was thankfully absorbed by his suit, but he still stumbled back and dropped the wood.

Altar followed up with a second punch to the chest, causing Isaac to grunt in pain. Altar drove his metal fist into Isaac's visor again, followed by a second, and then a third. After the third on hit Isaac, he fell backwards to the ground, his visor already cracked from the second.

Fuck!

Isaac rolled to the side, narrowly dodging a curb stop from Altar.

"Damn you!" Altar growled at him, his voice clearly showing his anger but maintaining its cold tone.

Isaac rolled back to his feet and jumped at Altar. The other meta-human caught him and the both slammed to the ground, rolling a foot, and then the blue armored Meta kicked the black one off him. Isaac growled as he felt his back slam into the wall, thankfully not breaking this time. A warning went off in his helmet to tell him that he was on fire.

He also could feel his back getting extremely hot.

This wall was on fire! Damn it!

Isaac ignored the new pain and stood back up straight, glaring at Altar's cracked visor through his own cracked visor.

"Time to die Archangel!" Altar shouted at him, suddenly the armor on the back of his lower arms extended upwards, and a glow appeared just above the backs of his hands. Suddenly from the newly extended parts of Altar's armor, two blue bladed shaped objects just over a foot long appeared and extended out over the back of his hands.

"I've been wanting to test these out..." From the sudden change in Altar's voice, Isaac bet that the sick-o was smiling under his helmet.

Isaac's visor suddenly highlighted the two new weapons and a warning appeared next to them both.

UNKNOWN: EXTREME CAUTION

The sight of the new weapons, and that of the warning, combined with the pain in his back from having his armor on fire, cleared Isaac's mind of the battle haze.

"Oh shit..." He muttered, suddenly realizing that the fight had turned against him.

"DIE!" Altar shouted at him and charged. The combination of the lighting from the flaming building on his glowing blue armor and the glowing blades made Altar have a demonic appearance as he charged.

Isaac ducked down as Altar swung his right fist at him with a hook, trying to slice his head off with the new blades. Isaac quickly rolled to the side to dodge a second swing from the other hand, causing Altar to miss him and slice the wall behind Isaac with the glowing blue blades attached to the back of his arms. The blue blade cut straight though the wall without any resistance whatsoever, leaving a searing mark in the already ablaze wood.

Uh oh...

Altar charged at him again, with a jab aimed at his stomach that was meant to impale him with the strange weapons.

Isaac leaned to the side, causing the blade to miss him by inches. Now that he was focusing again, it was easier to dodge.

That and he HAD to dodge. He didn't want to find out what those blades could do to his body even with his armor on.

Isaac leapt back away from Altar and his frenzy, barely dodging another swipe at his head.

I need to get out of this building! There's not enough room to dodge here!

As if to underline his point, Isaac felt his back slam into another wall, sending another warning in his helmet off to remind him that he was, in fact, once again on fire.

I CAN FEEL THAT I'M ON FIRE YOU STUPID FUCKING HELMET!

Frustrated as he was, Isaac came back to his present situation when he saw Altar leaping at him, both arms out in an attempt to impale both of Isaac's lungs.

SHIT!

Isaac rolled to the left, but this time he wasn't fast enough. He felt something agonizingly hot rip though the edge of his left shoulder. He grimaced as he felt the searing pain of something incredibly hot pass right through his armor and clean though his shoulder.

GAHHH!

Isaac scowled in pain as he rolled back up to his feet and faced his enemy yet again, who had slammed both of his blades into the wall and was in the middle of pulling them back out with minimal resistance.

Seizing his chance, Isaac ran to the side and jumped at Altar and drop-kicked the Meta with his left leg in the same direction that Altar had just come at him from. All while trying to ignore the pain his shoulder and back while alarms went crazy in his helmet to warn him that he was not only on fire, but his suit have been breached.

The wall, which had already been damaged by the fire, gave out and Altar smashed through it.

Isaac quickly gave chase, and made to grab one of his swords.

Wait, if that blade just passed clean through my suit, swords are going to shit trying to parry it. Isaac thought as he ran after Altar as the other Meta rolled on his back and got back up on his feet. The two of them were now outside with the night sky looking down on them. Behind Altar, Isaac could still see the Avenger class gunship raining hell onto the city and setting even more buildings ablaze.

"You...piece of SHIT!" Altar growled at him and took up a boxer's stance, blue glowing blades illumining his black cracked visor.

"Just die already!" Isaac barked back as he took up a fighting stance with on hand on the hilt of one of the upper swords on his back, the other out open palmed.

Just before the next round of their private battle began, Isaac noticed something strange behind Altar in the distance. It looked like some kind of massive bird flying towards the battlefield carrying a humanoid figure.

Altar shuffled his feet, clearly waiting for a better chance to attack, giving Isaac a moment to satisfy his curiosity. He squinted at the bird-like figure in the distance, and realized what he was actually looking at.

What... the... hell...?

There was no doubt in his mind. It was red dragon flying towards them

... A dragon...

Isaac couldn't believe what he was seeing, a disbelief that tripled when his helmet highlighted the figure that the dragon was carrying in its talons towards the burning city of Bilgewater.

Around the highlighted figure, a few words appeared in his HUD.

FRIENDLY: BLITZKRIEG

No... fucking... way...

"Mute?"

"I... don't believe it eith-" His AI partner started to respond but suddenly yelled, "LOOK OUT!"

Altar had gotten fed up of waiting, and charged at him with a war-cry.

"DIE!"

Looks like I've got finish my fight first...

The Tide Turns

"Captain! We're all aboard!" A sailor shouted at a red coated pirate captain.

"Then prepare to fire ye land lubbers!" Gangplank bellowed at his crew as his men ran all around him, trying to get there ship ready for combat.

Gangplank turned around and scowled. Everywhere he looked, Bilgewater was on fire, and that damn airship was unleashing more hell on the city below it.

That boy hit the nail on the head... Gangplank snarled as he reached into his coat, and pulled out an orange. He bit into the citrus fruit and stared the ship down as it passed by the docks and went farther into the city. Every ship that it had passed over it sank; however, it had missed the section of the docks where Gangplank's ship was docked.

And, a bunch of the Bilgewater ironclads.

"Captain!" Another one of his mates ran up to him. "The ironclads are almost ready to fire!"

"Well tell them to hurry er up!" Gangplank shouted. Every second they wasted was another second that damn aircraft destroyed another part of the city.

Gangplank looked back at the aircraft and took another bit from his orange. Guess I'm calling in the backup...

The red coated pirate reached for his belt and pulled out a flare gun.

"Come on ye sea creatures! Get yer asses out here!" Gangplank yelled as he pointed his flare gun at the sky, and fired several shots.

Luka had never guessed that this was how his day was going to go... if anyone had predicted he was going to be going into a battle by having a bloody DRAGON carry him... he would've asked for his money back.

"What IS that thing?!" Shyvana shouted down at him where she was carrying him with her feet as they soared though the air towards the burning city of Bilgewater. Her voice had gotten even more malicious sounding after she had shape shifted.

Of course, both Luka and Goth had been completely surprised when she turned out to be some kind of dragon.

Firewall would've loved to see this...

"That..." Luka looked on at the sight of carnage that was before them, "Is an Avenger gunship... something that shouldn't be on this world..." Luka could hardly believe his own words, let alone his eyes.

The Ascension are here? And in force?

What the hell is going on?!

"That explains NOTHING!" Shyvana growled down at him, "What IS it?!"

"It's an airship that has enough guns on it to destroy an entire city!" Luka barked back, "Can't you see that dragon-lady!? If you fly to the sides of it or in front of it, you'll get reduced to dust."

The dragon just growled at his explanation. "So who are they?"

"The Ascension." Luka replied, scanning the burning city for any signs of a winning battle. From there distance, he couldn't see anything other than flames, explosions, and the Avenger. "Long story short, there the bad guys from my world."

"What are they doing on Valoran?" A more calm voice said loudly from behind Luka. The large Meta-human would look behind him if he could, but he knew who it was. Galio was flying behind them while carrying Sona, although they were going a bit slower.

"If I knew, I'd tell you." Luka shouted back at the gargoyle behind him.

As they got closer Luka could make out Ascension Shock Troopers fighting with the locals, and were kicking the locals' asses.

This doesn't look good... I really hope Archangel is here somewhere; we're going to need all the help we can get to bring that thing down...

He spotted several flares get fired from a wooden ship over to the side, and turned to look in that direction. Looks like that Avenger missed a few ships... Luka grinned as he noticed a handful of wooden ships and ironclads start to move in the waters, all of them turning to face the Avenger.

I hope they got some guns on those ships that can do some damage to that aircraft...

The ship that Luka had come on was still some distance behind them, but after they spotted the battle ahead, the Fist of the Crown had kicked full into gear. When Luka, Sona, Galio, and Shyvana had taken off, the captain of the ship was already ordering all the cannons, catapults, and the trebuchet to be loaded.

Luka bit his lip as he watched the battle. If we get too close to that Avenger, we'll just get annihilated... in that case...

. "Hey She-Hulk!" He yelled up at Shyvana as he tapped her foot.

"Why do you INSIST on calling me that!?" The dragon shouted back down at him.

Are you kidding? Now that I know you can transform into a dragon, it makes the comparison more relevant...

"You see that fighting down there on the streets? Or whatever is passing as streets?"

After a second, a puff of smoke emitted from Shyvana's mouth. "I see it..."

"Drop us down by that, we're gonna take those guys out first."

"What about that ship?"

"We can't hope to take it out on our own... and if we get in front of it we're doomed. So lets just secure the ground first."

"Humph!" Shyvana grunted. "Fine... we'll go with your plan outworlder..."

As they approached the battle, Luka noticed wall explode up and away from the fight by a couple of burning buildings. That's a bit out of the way...

"Goth, zoom in on that!" Luka pointed at the point of interest.

"Of course!" Came the enthusiastic response in a French accent. A window appeared in Luka's HUD with the site zoomed in. He saw a glowing armored Ascension soldier rolling to his feet on the wooden street. A warning box appeared around the figure in his HUD.

"Enemy Meta-human spotted! Codename Altar, Beta." Goth reported for him.

A Beta? The Ascension really IS here in full force...

Before he could say anything to his partner, Luka noticed a black armored figure appear from the same hole in the burning house. This one was the same size as the one he just learned was named Altar, but instead of glowing blue armor, this one's back was slightly on fire.

Another box appeared in his HUD, but rather than a warning, it was a sight he welcomed.

FRIENDLY: ARCHANGEL

Found you kid...

He watched as Archangel stood opposed to Altar, both of their armored suits were damaged. Archangel stood with a blade in hand, but Altar had two strange glowing blades that emitted from the back of his hands.

After a few seconds, Altar charged at Archangel, who rolled to the side to dodge.

"Goth what are those glowing blades?"

"I'm..." Goth began, but suddenly stopped. "We're being hailed... patching it through."

What?

"Blitzkrieg! Goth!" He heard a female voice over his suit's COM. He recognized it instantly.

"Mute, good to hear from you again. I've noticed you guys got a problem here." Luka replied with a slight grin on his face even in the face of the destruction that was laid out before him.

Mute chuckled slightly. "I'm sure you can tell. Listen! We'll take care of Altar, you and that... dragon thing... need to help the locals fight off the Shock Troopers, they don't have the technology to fight them."

"That's the plan." Luka nodded. "But what are we going to do about that Avenger."

"If we can get a combined assault on it, we might be able to bring it down or force it to retreat... but that can't happen if we're losing the battle on the ground."

"Understood, leave those Shock Troopers to us." Luka replied, and quickly checked his armor's systems. Everything is still working; well... aside from the things that were fried when we arrived on Valoran.

Luka glanced back the Archangel's fight. He tried to take a slash at Altar, but was forced to dodge another flurry from Altar's blades.

"What are those blades Mute?"

"Altar has some kind of mana-infused suit. But explanations will have to wait."

"Agreed, let's do this!" Luka slammed his fists together as they approached the site of battle, "Blitzkrieg out."

Suddenly, Shyvana began to dive towards the earth, causing an adrenaline rush to flow through Luka. He spotted that the Shock Troopers had divided themselves into two groups, one advancing up into the city, one that remained closer to the docks.

And, given the angle that they were diving at, Luka was positive that Shyvana was going for the ones in the city, who were battling a group of defenders.

Here we go... Luka thought as the ground rushed up to meet him. When they were a matter of meters from the ground, Luka felt Shyvana's grip on his shoulders vanish. He dropped the last few meters like a rocket heading to the ground.

I hope that wood holds!

As Luka hit the ground, he immediately rolled forwards, feeling his body shake from the force. As he came back up onto his feet, he found himself right behind a Shock Trooper who was in the middle of turning around to see what the noise was.

"Surprise scum!" Luka shouted and grabbed the Shock Trooper by the head, his massive gauntlet nearly fitting around the entirety of the soldier's helmet. Without even a grunt, Luka smashed the soldier downwards into the wooden plank, cracking the lumber. Just as quickly as he had smashed the head of the Shock Trooper into the ground, Luka lifted the soldier back up and grabbed him with both hands, and threw the stunned soldier at a burning building.

The sheer momentum of Luka's throw sent the screaming Shock Trooper through the wall, and he vanished from site in the smoke and flaming building.

One down.

Luka looked ahead of him, where the squad of Shock Troopers, who were still fighting the Bilgewatians, had all ceased their battle with the locals to turn on him, even though the Bilgewatians were still shooting at them.

Me verse eight? That's rather uneven...

For them!

Just before the soldiers managed to fire at him, there was a loud roar. Luka looked up, only to see Shyvana crash down onto one of the far soldiers, crushing the man/woman under her weight. Before anyone else could react, the dragon lady unleashed a torrent of fire from her mouth, bathing a pair of troops in fire. The rear half of the soldiers spun around to meet the new threat, only to have two of them dash away as they were engulfed in flames.

Shyvana swiped down at a third soldier and scooped then unexpecting trooper up, slamming him against the side of the cliff with a roar before throwing him away off into the distance.

Seizing the chance of having the Shock Troopers confused by the arrival of another Meta-Human and a dragon, Luka activated his own powers. He charged forwards, closing the gap in an instant with a pair of Shock Troopers.

"Goth!" Luka shouted at his partner as he reared his right fist back to deliver a one-hit knock out to the first soldier, who seemed to be trying to react to Luka's sudden close range.

A green lit flashed in the corner of his HUD to acknowledge that Goth had understood. On Luka's right elbow, a small slot opened up on his armor and a tiny thruster jutted out. As soon as it did, it ignited, and added to the force of Luka's punch.

Luka's fist soared right at the first soldier's head, smashing into it with the force of a train. The man's helmet dented in instantly, and his head launched itself to the side violently. The Shock Trooper stumbled back for a second before he dropped to the ground like a wet noodle.

The second soldier tried to take aim at Luka with his rifle, but nothing was faster than the Blitzkrieg!

Luka threw his left arm out and to the side in an attempt to back hand the other soldier across its armored face. As he swung his arm, two micro thrusters jutted out on his forearm, adding to the momentum of the swing.

The bottom of Luka's left fist slammed into the soldier's head with enough force to snap the soldier's neck to the side along with the soldier's head. Unlike the previous Shock Trooper, who had taken a second to fall, this trooper collapsed instantly.

Three down.. Luka quickly glanced over to see how Shyvana was doing, only to see her eviscerating another Shock Trooper with blow claws, rending the poor man in half.

That left a single Shock Trooper left, who had his machine gun trained right on Shyvana`s head.

Shit! Luka began to channel his power again to charge at the soldier. He didn`t want to bet that the She-Hulk`s dragon skull could hold up against a hail of bullets from a machine gun.

Just as he was about to charge, Luka`s eye caught a quick streak of lighting shoot out from above and strike the last Ascension Shock Trooper between the shoulder blades, causing electrify to flash all over his body. The soldier`s body shook violently as he was electrocuted by an unknown assailant, throwing the soldier`s aim off.

Who...? Luka's eyes darted upwards, only to see a strange anorexic girl with long blue braided twin tails smiling down at the soldier with a glowing pistol in her hands.

"ZAP!" The girl shouted and then erupted into a maniacal laugh.

Dunno who that is, don't care, but that bought me the time I need. Luka activated his powers and dashed at the last soldier, entering arm's reach in half a second. Luka reared his fist back, and combined with the thruster on his elbow, drove his fist as hard as he could into the side of the soldier's head, smashing the helmet inwards and caving the man's skull in.

The force from Luka's charged punch sent the man flying away and into the wall of the burning building, which he slumped against, lifeless.

That's all eight... Luka looked around, satisfied at his work. Now we have to deal with that rear squad and then the... He thought as he turned to look in the direction of the last Shock Trooper squad.

Only to see them scrambling away from a sudden tidal wave heading right for them.

What the...?

Although the Ascension soldiers had tried to get out of the wave's path, three of the remaining ten troopers failed to get out of the way and vanished from Luka's sight beneath the wave. As if the sight of the sudden tidal wave wasn't strange enough, a massive metal anchor launched out from the wave and hooked itself around a fleeing trooper, yanking the poor soldier off his feet and into the path of the wave.

What was that? An anchor? Luka furrowed his brow at the sight; trying to understand what was happening as the fourth Shock Trooper was consumed by the rushing water.

The tidal wave began to disperse as it reached the end of what remained of the docks. As it came crashing down, Luka saw three figures launch themselves out of the wave and towards the remaining six Shock Troopers.

Luka couldn't believe his eyes at the sight. Even with everything he had seen on Valoran to date, this took the cake.

The first figure was a blue fish, with small tentacles coming from its head. In its hand was a trident of sorts and a grin appeared on its face as it vaulted forwards, plunging it's trident into the back of a Shock Trooper trying to get to safety.

The second figure had an appearance that resembled a mermaid, but instead of a human upper body, she was still covered in scales. Unlike the grinning fish, she had a much more serious look on her face and in her hands was some kind of rod. The mermaid-like creature landed on the beginning of the docks and pointed her rod at another Shock Trooper, who was in the middle of turning around to face her.

A blue orb fired from the tip of her rod, flying right at the soldier who tried to raise his rifle. As it approached him, it rapidly expanded into a massive bubble of water, hitting the Shock Trooper and sucking him in. The bubble lifted up into the air and remained there, while on the inside, the Shock Trooper clawed at his throat as he drowned inside the bubble of water.

The final figure was a humanoid in a massive diving suit. This guy was likely taller than even Luka. The diving suit man with an anchor (same one that Luka had seen before) threw his weapon in the direction of two more Shock troopers who had turned around to face him. The anchor landed in between the two soldiers, leaving them both unharmed. The pair raised their rifles and opened fired on the man in the massive diving suit, the rounds from their guns bouncing off the heavy armor.

Then suddenly, the chain that connected the figure to his anchor shook, and the man was launched in the same direction that he had previously thrown his anchor, coming to a stop between the two Shock Troopers.

The massive figure picked his anchor up and swung it at one of the troopers in the same motion as if it was a golf club. The Shock Trooper didn't have any time to react, and the massive anchor slamming into him, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying into the air. He came splashing down into the ocean several meters away from where he had been standing.

The second trooper grabbed a baton off his waist and clicked a button on the grip. The baton lit up with sparks and the soldier reared his arm back to hit the massive figure with the electrically charged baton.

Only to have the small blue fish dash between his legs, smashing one of them with it's trident and sending the soldier to the ground. Before the Shock Trooper could recover, the massive figure in the diving suit brought his boot down on the back of the Shock Trooper's head, smashing it through the wooden street underneath.

Meanwhile, Luka stood in the distance, bewildered at what he had just seen.

"You know Goth... I think nothing in this world will cease to surprise me..." Luka muttered to his AI friend.

"I'm starting to believe the same thing my friend..." Goth mumbled in response.

Whatever... Luka charged himself up again, noticing that the surviving Shock Troopers had their rifles trained on newly arrived trio.

Let's finish this! Luka thought as he charged forward at the remaining enemies.

---

Damn it! Isaac cursed as he tumbled away, narrowly dodging another swing from Altar's blades. After forcing the fight outside, Isaac had plenty more room to dodge, but that was all he had been able to do. He couldn't parry the blows since those mana-charged blades would slice right through any sword he possessed.

That and my left shoulder is killing me... Isaac grimaced as he rolled back to his feet, remaining in a crouching position with the sword he held in his right hand out and ready. His left arm still functioned, but it was painful to do anything ever since one of those blades and seared right through his muscles.

If I try to blast him with my dark matter, he'll just reflect it back at me...

As he tried to think of how he was going to take his enemy down, Altar charged at him again, trying to punch his head with the blade on the back of his hand.

Isaac threw himself to the side, dodging it again and kept rolling until he had put a few meters between him and Altar.

"Stop struggling..." Altar's cold voice called after him as he tumbled away, "You're only making it worse for yourself."

Go to hell Ascension dog...

Isaac suddenly remembered he did have an ace in the hole.

No choice, I better use THAT!

Isaac got to his feet and immediately threw his sword at Altar. The Meta-human responded by cleaving the blade in half as it went for him, causing both ends to fly to either side of him.

"Was that all you..." Altar began to taunt him, but then he must've noticed what Isaac was doing.

Isaac stood up straight and took aim with Jackhammer's Glock.

Altar didn't move, instead, he suddenly lurched himself backwards and laughed. "A pistol?! You think you can kill me with a pistol?!"

Isaac couldn't help but to smirk at Altar's reaction. "This isn't just any pistol..." He said quietly, just loud enough for Altar to hear him. The blue armored Meta human suddenly dropped back into a ready stance, but cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Oh?"

"Yeah... this is Jackhammer's pistol."

"Wha-?"

Before Altar could finish replying, Isaac pulled the trigger. The enhanced bullet ejected from the barrel of the gun and soared straight for Altar's chest. Before it hit Altar, it triggered his shields and the bullet exploded just before impact.

However, the force was still enough to cause Altar to stumble back a foot.

Before Altar could react, Isaac fired again, and again. Both bullets hit Altar's shield and forced him back again and again.

"Damn you!" Altar cursed at Isaac and tried to charge at him, only to be forced to stumble back again after the fourth bullet hit him, Altar's shields collapsed with a brief flash.

Bingo...

Isaac unloaded the rest of the clip on Altar as his enemy raised his arms to shield his cracked visor. Each bullet struck his enemy in the chest, causing Altar to grunt loudly in pain and stumble back farther and farther away.

The first bullet hit Altar in the center of the torso, causing his armor's glow to vanish around the impact of the amplified round.

The second shot hit him in the left chest, putting a hole in the Meta-Human's armor.

The third round got him just below that, blowing parts of Altar's ribs aside and causing a fatal injury as the Ascension Meta-Human howled in pain.

The fourth and final bullet in the gun's clip struck Altar in the left elbow, shattering the armor there and severing the arm from his body from the elbow down. Altar fell to his knees after the final bullet, and started coughing from having his left lung punctured.

That did it... Isaac quickly dropped the now empty side-arm and prepared to finish Altar off with a blast of dark matter; and injured enemy was still a dangerous one.

As Isaac charged the dark power in his right hand, Altar suddenly bolted to his feet and charged at Isaac as if he hadn't be injured at all, letting out a blood-curdling scream as he did.

Oh no! Isaac cursed; Altar must've realized that he was done for...

And was making a final suicide charge.

Isaac stopped charging up the dark matter and reached for one of the last two remaining swords on his back, and at the same time tried to move backwards.

Need to slo-!

Isaac tried to get off his time slowing power, but just as he was about to, Altar's body slammed into his in a dive tackle. Isaac felt an intense pain in his left chest, as if his rib cage was about to explode.

As the two collapsed to the ground with Altar on top, Isaac couldn't hold his pain in and he let out a scream of pain. The new found agony caused him to lose focus, and unable to activate his time-slow.

Isaac glanced down to the source of his torment, and saw that Altar's last remaining blade had found it's way straight into his left chest.

Warning went off in his helmet and he heard Mute shouting his name.

That had to have punctured my left lung, not to mention totally fucking up some ribs!

Isaac grabbed Atlar's right arm with his left hand, trying to quickly force the Meta-Human's mana-blade out of his chest before Altar could move it around to do more damage.

A little more to the side... and that... would've... been my heart... Isaac found his thoughts difficult to form as pain invaded his mind at every angle, preventing himself from thinking clearly.

As he yanked on Altar's arm, the arm came out of his ribs much more willingly then Isaac would've thought... but that was only because Altar was swinging t around like a manic.

And it came up towards Isaac's left arm at the elbow.

NO!

Isaac couldn't react in time, and he watched in horror as Altar's glowing blue blade struck his inner arm at the elbow...

And cleaved it off.

Pain followed, and Isaac howled in pain as his arm was severed from just above the elbow. His vision flooded with water and he bit down on his lips hard, trying to withstand the pain.

The pain! The pain! The pain!

Isaac tried to focus; he knew that he was in mortal danger with Altar on top of him, getting ready to deliver the killing blow. Within seconds of turning the fight around, Altar had turned the tables back onto Isaac, even though he himself had suffered a fatal injury to his ribs as well.

Painpainpainpainpainpainpain!

It invaded Isaac's thoughts at every turn, he was completely unable to gather himself and think.

So his body moved on instinct. Still holding his second last sword in his right hand, Isaac's arm darted upwards as if it had a will of its own, bypassing all the thoughts of torment and agony in Isaac's brain.

As Altar tried to bring his arm down at Isaac's head, Isaac's own blade shot up.

And impaled Altar's head through his cracked visor.

The blade snapped what little resistance was left in the blue armored Meta-human's helmet, and plunged itself deep through the Meta's face. The visor cracked inwards from the invading steel, and Altar's body suddenly cringed and ceased up as if he had been told to freeze.

Isaac, trying his hardest to get a grip on himself, looked up at his enemy's face, still hidden behind what remained of his black visor. The blade that now stuck out of his face had blood drip down the sides of it and onto Isaac's chest armor. The mana-blade on Altar's last remaining arm flickered twice, and then vanished as if it never existed in the first place.

Without a word, Isaac used what little strength he had left to push Altar off of himself and to the side with a grunt. Isaac rolled to the opposite side and grabbed at the stub that was his arm.

My arm... my arm...

"Isaac! Stay with me! Please!" He finally managed to make Mute's voice out in his garbled thoughts.

"I'm... trying... here..." He grunted in reply, blurry eyes darting all over the place. On the dark wooden surface of the Bilgewater street he was lying on, he spotted his severed arm several feet away from him. Without any other thought, Isaac crawled with one arm towards it.

Need...to get... my... arm... back...

"Isaac! Take it easy!" Mute cautioned him, her voice gave away nothing but the tone of how worried she was. "I'm hailing Blitzkrieg to get him to come up here, so just hold on!"

As good news as that was... Isaac still only thought about getting his arm back. As soon as he got close enough to it, he grabbed it with his right hand and pulled it close to himself as if he was cradling a new-born baby.

The pain...

Isaac gritted his teeth and tarred his eyes away from his severed arm. His gaze wandered over to his fallen enemy. Altar's corpse was lying on its side in a pool of blood, with Isaac's sword sticking out of his visor. Behind that, in the distance, he saw the Avenger gunship, still firing at the cities various buildings.

That gunship...

Wait, what the hell am I doing?!

Isaac shut his eyes and tried his hardest to force the pain out of his mind. He was still in a battle! That gunship was still the main threat!

With enough effort, Isaac managed to bring himself back together.

Ok first, how badly injured am I?

He felt pain from his arm where it had been cut off, his shoulder and his chest where he had been stabbed, his back was searing from having been on fire at one point (or two points) in time, and the rest of his body was sore from being thrown through walls during the fight.

In short, he was in a fuck-ton of pain.

But Isaac tried to push that thought out of his mind and focus on the most dangerous injuries. He looked down at the stub of his arm and realized that he was hardly bleeding at all! The mana-blade that had cut his arm off had also cauterized it. He quickly glanced at his chest and his shoulder where he had been punctured before, but true to both locations, they took were hardly bleeding.

While Isaac was on that train of thought, he suddenly felt something coming up. He let go of his served limb and quickly slid his face-plate up as he coughed up blood.

Only immediately dangerous injury is my left lung...

Isaac grunted and tried to get to his feet as he hacked and wheezed.

"Isaac! Don't push yourself!" Mute said half gently, half shouted.

Thanks for your concern Mute... but I can't just lie here with that ship there... Isaac thought, unable to voice his words as he tried to bite back the pain. He felt some vertigo wash over him as he got up onto his knees and, finally up to his feet.

"Can't... wait..." Isaac muttered, reaching down to pick up his limb before standing up straight, fighting back the urge to collapse again.

"Isaac, please you're in no condition to fight!"

Tough... I can't just watch... I need to help bring that ship down...

"Just... get ready to ping our location... to Blitz..." Isaac mumbled as he half walked, half stumbled towards the gunship in the distance. As he walked, he felt the wind blow the heat, smoke, and ash against his exposed face from the countless burning buildings around him.

That gunship is going down!

---

Gangplank watched in satisfaction as the tidal wave collided against the docks. He didn't need to see the reinforcements leap out of it; he knew they were there with it.

They sure came er fast... must've been nearby... He thought. He had planned on his flare gun getting the attention of some of the local champions, and his gambit paid off. The combined forces of Fizz, Nami, and Nautilus, as well as that dragon and gargoyle he had seen fly in earlier would be able to fight off those damn Ascension ground troops that had landed earlier.

Haven't got er clue as to why Shyvana and Galio er here... but right now I don't give er shit!

"Come on ye scrubs!" Gangplank barked at his crew. "Get this ship turned er round and take aim at that gunship!"

As he ordered his ship, a few of the nearby ships, both pirate and ironclad, fired there cannons at the aircraft that was bringing destruction to their city. However, since it was difficult to hit an air target, only some of the shots hit the ship. From his distance, Gangplank couldn't tell if they were damaging the ship or not, but he didn't care.

"Fire!" He shouted as he pointed his sword at the aircraft. His ship shook as the many cannons aboard it fired a salvo at the air vessel in the distance.

Eat this you outworlder scum!

Suddenly a ship on Gangplank's portside exploded, sending pieces of lumber flying in random directions.

"What was that?!" A crewmember shouted in shock.

Gangplank scowled and grabbed the spyglass he had strapped to his belt. He peered though it and out at the sea, following his instincts.

And sure enough, there, just under a kilometer away, was a half submerged ship in the water, with a pair of large guns on its deck aimed at the remains of Bilgwater's navy.

That kid was right again! It's a submarine!

One of the guns flashed, and not even a second later, Gangplank heard another nearby explosion. He lowered the spy-glass and glanced to the starboard side this time. Sure enough, an ironclad had taken a hit, with the crew members scrambling away from the site of the damage.

Not on my watch... nobody invades my sea!

Gangplank grabbed his flare gun again and fired it off in the direction of the submarine.

"Come on lads! Let's go! There's a ship out er!"

As if following the flare as a beacon, Gangplank's ship and six other vessels sailed out of the port and towards the Overseer class submarine that was besieging the harbor.

Avenger's Fall

"Sir! All Shock Trooper units have ceased COM activity!"

"We've lost contact with Beta Altar as well!"

"Enemy ships are firing at us!"

"That bitch with the rocket launcher just took out a piece of our plating!"

"Someone get a lock on that dragon!"

"Hull is taking damage!"

"One of our thrusters just went out!"

"Turn this ship around! We're leaving! Abort mission! I repeat! Abort mission!"

---

Isaac stumbled forwards, trying his hardest not to fall as he made his way towards the Avenger gunship. He was almost in range of being able to unleash his own powers on it, to bring it down once and for all.

He reached the edge of one of the elevated wooden walkways of Bilgewater, giving him a good view of the battle.

The Avenger gunship had stopped advancing deeper into the city, and was trying to turn around as if it was fleeing. At the rear of the gunship was that same dragon Isaac had spotted carrying Blitzkrieg. The dragon was spewing fire from its mouth at the ship, while clawing at its plated hull with reckless abandon.

Isaac also noticed several small explosions occurring off to the side of the ship, and he quickly looked over towards the source: The Bilgewater navy was finally up and running and its ironclads were firing at the aircraft.

On the ground level, Isaac spotted Jinx and his squad-mate Blitzkrieg with their backs turned to him. Jinx took aim at the Avenger with her rocket launcher and fired. The rocket from Fishbones stuck the ship in the underbelly, dealing some damage to it. Blitzkrieg on the other hand, took a running start and then threw something at the ship, a grenade Isaac guessed.

Although throwing something up at a hovering aircraft was a pointless endeavor, Blitzkrieg's enhanced strength made it possible. The grenade exploded at one of the many thrusters on the bottom of the Avenger, causing it to short out and cease activity.

The various citizens of Bilgewater, who had survived up until this point, were still firing at the ship. Isaac spotted the woman with the eye patch from the political meeting aiming up at the ship with that same rifle she had early, firing at it. Next to the black haired woman was none other than Miss Fortune, who was firing her two large hand-guns as the ship passed over head.

Isaac's eye was briefly caught by the sight of two fish like creatures trying to help some wounded to safety. While he was certain Mute wanted to scan all of these weirdoes (in particular a gargoyle looking one that Isaac noticed was flying around), he knew that the priority was the enemy ship.

Time to add my own power to this...

Isaac took a deep breath and dropped his now detached limb to the ground, steeling himself for what he knew was going to be a whole new world of pain.

"Isaac, I would advise against this given your state!" Mute tried to get him to change his mind again.

Sorry Mute...

Isaac opened his eyes and focused deeply on all the dark matter around him, thinking only of a single word.

UNLEASH!

---

"Bring it down! Bring it down!" Luka shouted at everyone around him, from the locals with their flint locks, to the psycho looking girl with the rocket launcher, to the busty pirate lady.

"We're trying!" A woman with black hair and an eye patch barked back as she fired at the Avenger that hovered above them.

Luka paid her response no mind, and instead pulled a grenade off his belt. He pulled the pin, sprinted forward to get some momentum, and threw the explosive up at the ship. The grenade soared true, and exploded near one of the thrusters, damaging it to the point it became useless.

Damn it! That was my last! Luka cursed and turned to the barely clothed girl with the rocket launcher, his eyes darting to the grenades on her hips.

"You! Psycho! Pass me a grenade!" Luka half shouted over the sounds of battle at the weird looking female.

"Sure Archi number two!" The girl called him something strange and passed him a pair of grenades. Luka snatched them both out of the air and quickly realized something as he gripped them both.

She already pulled the pins on them?!

"You fucking idiot!" Luka shouted in annoyance, quickly turning away from her and lobbing the grenades at the ship. As soon he threw them both, he breathed a quick sigh of relief, before turning back on the blue haired girl.

"Why would you pull the pin WHEN YOU'RE PASSING THEM TO ME!?" He bellowed at the girl.

"Duh!" The girl responded with something rude as she fired her rocket launcher at the ship again. "Why would I pass dud grenades?! Of course I gave you live ones! Dur!"

"You're missing the god-damn point!"

"Well," the woman with the pirate hat chimed in as she fired her strange looking pistols at the ship, her bullets striking another thruster on the ship, causing it to start to hover awkwardly as another thruster was knocked out of commission. "That's Jinx for you!"

Jinx?! Her name says it all... Luka shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was having an argument like this in the middle of a battle. He glanced up at the ship and saw Shyvana tearing out a section of the plated hull.

Suddenly, the dragon ceased her actions and looked behind her as if she just realized something. Before Luka could ponder why she suddenly stopped attacking the Avenger, the dragon let out a howl and pushed herself off the ship, flying away.

What the? Luka turned around and looked up, trying to spot the source of his ally's sudden change in behavior.

Glancing up, he saw a familiar black armored individual with four massive purple/black tendrils spawning from his back.

Archangel! He's going all out!

But then he suddenly remembered what Mute had told him a few moments ago...

Oh no... His eyes darted to his comrade's left arm and sure enough, it had been cut off from the elbow.

"Archangel wait!" Luka shouted up at his teammate. If he used his powers on such a scale in his injured state, he was likely to deal as much damage to his own body as the Avenger.

His cry never reached his teammate.

Archangel's arm reached back and thrust outward at the Avenger, a massive purple laser of dark matter emitted from Archangel's only remaining hand. The laser of dark matter screamed over the battlefield and through the smoky night air.

The focused dark energy impacted right at the engines of the Avenger class gunship, tearing though the armor around it. Within a second of the massive bolt of dark matter's connection with the engines, several explosions occurred around the site of impact, and before anyone could say anything, the dark lance of energy punched right though.

The Avenger tilted in the air and suddenly started to spin faster, moving to the side at an awkward angle.

Good... but also bad...Luka thought. He turned to those around him who were half looking up at the ship, half looking up at Archangel, and shouted.

"It's coming down! Take cover!"

Some reacted to his words immediately and raced away from the battle, others took a second for his words to settle in, but they too quickly fled the scene.

Luka himself turned up to face Archangel and desperately tried to find a way up to him.

Hang on kid! I'm coming.

---

Isaac felt like screaming. His entire body all the way down to his bones wailed in pain. His last remaining hand felt as if it had been dipped in hot lava as he unleashed a massive lance of dark matter at the Avenger.

His vision started to fade but Isaac remained as focused as he could. He felt his mind scream at him to stop; his stomach's contents threatening to burst out of his skin if he didn't open his mouth.

His entire being was trying to defy what he was doing, but he didn't stop the attack.

Go... DOWN!

Isaac gritted his teeth to the point that he could almost feel his teeth shattering against one another. But still he focused on the tendrils that spawned from his back, having them suck in more and more dark matter into his body for him to fire out. The entire system worked like a charm, but at the same time, was killing him in the most agonizing way possible.

"Isaac! It's going down! Stop!" He could barely understand English anymore, but the words from Mute managed to tickle what remained of his sanity.

Isaac cut off the source of power like a flick of a switch. The purple laser from his hand vanished, and he ended the existence of the tendrils on his back that were lifting him up in the air.

He dropped back down a good meter, but the screaming pain in his body prevented his muscles from working. Isaac's legs buckled out from underneath him the moment they made contact with the ground, causing him to lay on the ground sprawled out like a starfish.

His vision blurred more and more by the second, and he barely focus. The sound of the Avenger gunship crashing in the distance sounded like it was from another world away.

Is... is... is... it...

Isaac tried to gather his thoughts, but pain and exhaustion from his body overrode all other processes in his mind. He could almost no longer feel his entire body, not just his amputated arm. As his eye's started to close, Isaac noticed spots of water appearing on his visor.

R...rain...?

He struggled to keep his eyes open... what if the battle was still ongoing?

Mute's face appeared in his HUD, in the center this time and much larger. His companion's digital face with the samurai helmet showed only concern, as if any of her previous moments of anger never existed.

"... Isaac..." Isaac could barely hear her, as if she was a world away and not inside his helmet. He could barely make out the concerned expression on her face. He could barely make out that same face as it turned to hold sadness.

"Mute..." Isaac mumbled as if he was drugged. "Is... is... is it... over?"

His AI friend, his only real remaining friend in the world nodded to him, a soft expression appearing on her face.

"Yes... Yes Isaac...the battle is over... you did it."

Isaac let out a sigh, like he usually did, and his eyes grew heavy to the point he could no longer keep them open.

I'm... dying... He finally realized what he was feeling... but he couldn't understand how he felt about it.

That kind of understanding was beyond him now.

"Go... good..." Isaac mumbled, before darkness consumed him.

---

The Avenger class gunship that had brought destruction to Bilgewater spun in the air like a bird caught up in a tornado. After taking the hit from the lance, the flood lights on the ship jerked all over the place, lighting up random parts of the city as it spun out of control and over the ocean that divided the city, towards the far side of Bilgewater where only minimal damage and some fires had broken out during the battle.

Without any control left, the ship's loud-horn sounded one last time, as if to ensure that the people of the city would never forget the ear shattering sound. As it did just that, the ship crashed into the side of the cliff, bouncing off, and then descending rapidly.

The Ascension's most dangerous weapon splashed down in the ocean, sending up a small wave that washed over the burning remains of the eastern docks.

Upon seeing the gunship go down for good, the captain of the Overseer class submarine decided that it was time to retreat. As the ships lead by Gangplank continued to fire at its sinking form, the Ascension naval vessel vanished beneath the waves of the ocean and out of sight.

And with that, the battle was over. As if to lament the massive and pointless loss of life during the night, rain began to trickle down from the sky, before turning into a thundershower.

While the weather did nothing to help the down mood of the people of Bilgewater while they sorted through their dead, it did help the people prevent the fires from spreading and destroying what was left.

But while the people believed that the terror filled night was finally over, the city's champions, and those from another world knew that this night was only the beginning...