CHAPTER NINE

TRUST

Over the next few days, many more individuals arrived onto the fleet via dimensional jumps. Some of them were a Chinese military force led by a man named Shang and his fiancé Mulan, a multitude of princesses and their princes, and soldiers of every faction, including more Borg and Republic forces, but also knew ones appeared, including an army of a king named Stefan, who they had believed disappeared - or died.

Commander La Forge had finally gotten a job as mechanical advisor in the Archangel's engine rooms. Working closely with him were Data, Morpheus and his friends Tank and Switch, Johhny Blaze, and a royal prince named Phillip. The team's main job was to keep the seven secondary star engines online at all times. While working, Data and Phillip were busy working on one of the control panels. Phillip was, being medieval in heritage, very unfamiliar with the advanced twenty third century technology, but he was catching on quickly. While working alone, Data asked Phillip, "Phillip, may I ask you something?"

"Sure," Phillip said, struggling to get the wires to make enough slack to reach across a terminal.

"What is it to love? To truly love?" Data asked, his hands flying over the terminals at blurring speed. "Is it just to have affection? Does it require biological compatibility? Is there a certain time that must pass before love is reached?"

"You seem to be a very curious fellow," Phillip said, groaning as the wires refused to cooperate with him. Data looked over and briefly pushed Phillip's hands out of the way, readjusting the wires in a split second that finally gave Phillip the slack that he needed.

"It is just that since I am nonhuman, an android," Data explained, walking over to the other side of the control panel. "I cannot feel any emotion, and I therefore am incapable of feeling any of the deeper emotions that humans appear to feel and enjoy at a very high rate."

"Well, how do I explain it?" Phillip said as he pulled his hands out of the computer. "Love isn't really something you can predict, it just comes along out of nowhere and can overwhelm you like the greatest wave of the ocean. For example, when I met the love of my love, Aurora, when I saw her in that forest...dancing amongst the trees...I have never felt such a love as strong as hers in my heart."

"And may I ask where this Aurora is?" Data asked. Phillip fell awfully silent. Data was confused at first, but then said, "Please forgive me. Did I ask something inappropriate for this timer?"

"No, don't worry about it," Phillip said. "To answer your question, I don't know where she is. The last thing I remember was her trapped in the castle of her father, Stefan. The dark queen...Malificent, had cast a great curse over the land. But when she released that energy, something happened."

"What happened?" Data asked, his hands flying again, with careful but lighting fast precision.

"There was..." Phillip said, standing still, remembering what had happened. "An explosion, a great blast of fire. The next thing I remember was waking up in the arms of this woman...Gretel, I think her name was. I remember waking up in some kind of metal vessel. The only parts of the name of that vessel I remember were "death" and "star." I do remember that it was huge - some man named Luke said that it was as massive as the moon. I remember Luke and Gretel, and her brother whose name escapes me...taking me off to their ship, and took off, only to fall into a tunnel that cut right through the stars itself. When we emerged from it, we were so far that the world I had come from was nothing more than an unnoticeable speck in the sky."

"What are you describing seems to pertain to a space anomaly called a wormhole," Data said, closing the back panel. "A literal shortcut right across the fabric of space and time itself."

"How are such things possible?" Phillip exclaimed. "That sounds like something from the darkest depths of hell!"

"It depends on what you define 'hell' as," Data said, typing in a series of commands into the repaired computer. "From what I understand it as, it is a place where the tormented souls of the wicked are sent to be punished for all eternity. Am I correct in this assumption?"

"Yes," Phillip said, pulling a lever on the console. The auxiliary engine suddenly roared into life as the fusion process burst into its full fury. Data's hands flew over the entire console, pushing Phillip out of the way, and the shields around the engine rose, containing the wild power of the star generator.

"Well done," Data said. "Let us proceed with the other engines." As Phillip was just about to leave, one of Acreb's security guards rushed up and said to Phillip, "Are you Prince Phillip?"

"Yes, what is it?" Phillip asked, worry in his voice.

"We believe we have found your father, Hubert," the guard said, pulling Phillip along. "He is in most critical condition, so do not expect there to be much of a response."

transition

In one of the smaller medical bays, Republic medical drones and doctors from Acreb's fleet were standing over a rather plump man with white hair and a curling mustache. His large stomach was incomplete - parts of him where missing and scorched. His face was badly burned and one of his hands was almost completely destroyed. Phillip was led into the medical bay, where one of the doctors stopped him.

"If you're not a doctor, then you need to leave!" the doctor ordered putting a hand up to stop Phillip.

"If that is my father, then you have no right to stop me!" Phillip snapped. "You cannot..."

"Phi..." the man on the operating table whispered weakly. "Phillip...?" Phillip pushed his way through the crowd of doctors and saw that it was indeed his father, Hurbert.

"My son..." King Hurbert said softly, groaning in pain.

"Father," Phillip stammered, putting a hand on his injured father's shoulder. "I am so sorry..."

"Do not be..." Hurbert responded, closing his eyes. "No one...saw what was coming...

"My boy...can you...promise me t...this reque...st?"

"Of course, my father," Phillip replied. "What is it?"

"E..." the king whispered, losing consciousness. He whispered something else too soft to be heard. Phillip put his ear right beside his father's ear. After a moment Phillip stood up and said, "I shall father." The wounded king weakly smiled before slipping back into unconsciousness'. One of the doctors led him out of the room, saying reassuringly, "Do not worry. We will do whatever we can to save your father." Phillip nodded his head in thanks as he walked out of the room into the empty hallway. The solid steel doors closed behind him, and Phillip was left alone in the hallway.

Well, almost.

There was the sound of footsteps to Phillip's right. He turned his head, and he saw an old man walking towards him. He had grey, curly hair, a long black jacket, and a full suit. He had to look almost seventy or eighty years old. In his hand was a smoking cigarette. A pack of Morley's was in his jacket pocket.

"Who are you?" Phillip asked. The man approached him, not directly answering the question. He said instead, "I have heard about your father." He raised the cigarette to his mouth and inhaled a breath of smoke. Exhaling, he said, "It is most unfortunate, I know. I can offer you a way to save him."

"How?" Phillip asked. He was not sure who this man was, but there was a very uneasy feeling about whoever this guy was. Taking another inhale of smoke and exhaling, the smoking man said, "Did your father say anything to you?"

"Just a name," Philip replied.

"And what was this mystery name?"

"Elsa. That was it."

"Good," the smoking man said, dropping the burnt-out cigarette and smashing it with his foot. He pulled out another cigarette and lit it. After he replaced his lighter, he said, "We'll be in touch, Phillip." He turned and walked away as Phillip said, "How did you know my name?"

"I know many things," the smoking man said as his footsteps disappeared down the hallway. The smoke hung around his head like a dragon's breath. "Including your future, Prince."

transition

There was a massive, barren wasteland on an undisclosed planet, somewhere within the Milky Way. Across this wasteland was a single person. His name was Claude Frollo, an old archdeacon of the cathedral Notre Dame in Renaissance Paris. His robes were tattered and burnt, his face dirty, and his eyes cold and full of fear. He kept constantly looking over his shoulder as he clutched his robes to give himself some degree of warmth against the wasteland's blistering cold gusts of wind. His footsteps stretched far back from where he came from, but there was still nothing out there - not a rock, not a branch, nothing to give him any sort of clue to where he was supposed to go. He shivered against the wind as he muttered, "Damn that fool who sent me here! I would have been better off on the back of an old, blind, diseased pony!"

Just as dumb luck would have it, the instant those words had barely finished escaping his lips, his foot struck a hard metal plate. He groaned in pain as he clutched his foot and jumped back, almost falling backwards onto the cold sand. He looked down and saw that it was a round covering five feet across, and marked with only a skull with seven spikes on its head. That was all. But Frollo's heart leapt - in the fragmented parchment he had been given to summon him here, that symbol on the covering was the same symbol that had been the signature on the parchment. Frollo extended his other foot and tapped the center of the covering. The skull's eyes suddenly burst alight in red energy, making Frollo jump back in shock. The cover suddenly opened up as ten triangular plates that curled into the center. When they uncurled, the ground around it expanded until a long staircase was revealed. Frollo took a breath and descended into the darkness.

The air was foul, the stench of rotting flesh and sewer stung Frollo's nose, making him clutch his hand to his nose and mouth in disgust. He heard rats squeak and something crunch under his foot. He wanted to look down, but he saw something white under his foot. Frollo averted his eyes as quickly as he could - he did not want to look at what was at his feet.

The covering that he had passed through had suddenly shut, sealing Frollo in absolute darkness, as cold and as dark as space itself. As suddenly as darkness had fallen, torches suddenly burst alight. A massive tomb was spread out before him, access of which could be gained by another small, covered tunnel. Frollo descended into, and passed through, this tunnel until he got to the main body of the tomb. Huge statues of strange humanoid beings were the pillars of the massive structure, their heads distorted and monstrous. Hundreds of people, demons, skeletons, and self-aware animals were present, ready for some kind of ceremony. One of these self-aware animals, a huge lion with a coal black mane, turned to see Frollo, whose eyes were wide in shock

"Ahh, Father Frollo," the lion said slyly, walking up to Frollo. "It's good to see you again,"

"The same for you, my friend," Frollo replied, stroking Scar's mane. "Has the Dark One arrived?"

"He has," Scar said. "He is making the final arrangements for the ceremony. Come with me, please." Scar led Frollo towards the center of the huge tomb, narrating some of the features and the people in the tomb.

"You already know your fellow Necrados and some of their officers," Scar said as they passed by Jafar, his son Mozenrath, Ursula, the Horned King and a company of his Cauldron-Born, Shan-Yu, and others. But there were also some new faces. One of these new faces was Master Xenoheart, Ansem, Xemnas, and a long, skinny man with an incredibly long and skinny black beard, a zombie-like face, an eyeball that kept falling out, and a frail, old, malnutrition-infested body. On his shoulder was a tiny little white gremlin who couldn't stop talking or moving, and kept shoving the man's eye back in whenever it fell out.

"Rasputin," Scar said. The man with the problem eye looked up as his that problem eye fell out - again. Shoving it fiercly back into his head, he rasped, "Who is this?"

"This is Claude Frollo," Scar explained, motioning to Frollo. "One of our..."

"What is he to be here?" Rasputin snapped, getting in Frollo's face. Taking a long, creepy sniff, he snarled, "He reeks of a church - and something of a gypsy..."

"You are not to speak to an archdeacon with that ungrateful tongue of yours!" Frollo yelled, smacking Rasputin across the face. His eye popped out again and rolled across the floor some ways before the little white gremlin ran over and picked it up again.

"And especially not to your commander!" Frollo added as he shook his hand from the impact. Others had turned when they heard the strike, and many were raising their hands which were humming with magic or reaching for their weapons.

"Who are you to command ME?" Rasputin challenged as his gremlin climbed up his robes like a monkey and pushed the eyeball he was holding back into Rasputin's head.

"You would know better than not to insult a Necrado!" Queen Grimhilde, who was standing nearby, shouted, reaching for a dagger. Malificent and the Horned King, standing just behind him, had also noticed what was going on. Malificent raised her staff as the Horned King reached into his robes and half drew his ebony sword.

By now Rasputin's already pale face had gone pure white with horror as he stepped back into the crowd, stammering, "Oh! Uh - I - do not...uh...I did not know..." He did not want to actually apologize, but he did not want to piss off Frollo even more. He accidently bumped into the Horned King, whose eyes went red with fury. The King looked as if he was ready to tear Rasputin into a thousand pieces, when suddenly the pair of giant iron doors at the main altar of the tomb swung open. All eyes turned to the altar. There had to be at least a thousand soldiers of every evil faction there, who were all chattering amongst themselves or groaning (if they were undead) or giggling madly (like the voodoo minions, who were at the time without a master), who all fell silent and turned toward that who walked out of the altar.

It was Delten, who walked as if he was in great pain. His torso was swollen and obviously damaged, even under the armor that he wore. He limped severely as he half-staggered to the sacrificial table in front of him. On his left hand side was a crooked, wicked fellow whose eyes were as red as embers. He had on a large, ornate, ceremonial hat kind of shaped like a cylinder, and wore black robes that swept past his feet. On Delten's right was a beastly zombie with cold, pupil-less grey eyes, and a menacing, deformed snarl. It had on a horned helmet and was covered in dark ebony armor. A matching ebony bow and its arrows was on its back, and an ebony sword was on his hip.

All eyes were focused on Delten as he slowly, painfully, approached the table. Ahead of him was his personal ring of rulers, the Necrados, consisting of Scar, Claude Frollo, Hades (who had just been spotted slipping in, his blue hair lighting up part of the tomb), Malificent, the Horned King, Jafar, and the demon Chernabog, who was not there yet, but soon would be. Also in attendance were hundreds of soldiers and commanding officers from the Imperial Legion, ten or so Agent Smiths, a large horde of witches and Hagravens, a hundred or so random mercenaries in various gear, and a company of Gorn, their weapons glowing in the dim air of the tomb. There were also more…nefarious individuals there. One of the companies of soldiers there was a regiment from the Third Reich, transported right out of WWII via a time jump that Delten had personally created. Their Nazi banners stood upright in the dim light of the tomb as their commander kept a stern eye on both Delten and his men. Beside the military commander was a direct Nazi party member, one of the cruel, heartless, barbaric government officials, who had joined the detachment to witness the ritual.

"Welcome, one and all," Delten called out. His voice was weakened from his unexpected injuries, but still resonated with authority and pure, untainted, indestructible evil. "We are joined by the Necrados…" The members of the Necrados nodded their heads in recognition.

"The armies of the Imperial Navy," Delten continued. The Imperial Legion soldiers stood at attention, the clang of their boots on the ground echoing in the cavern.

"Even…" Delten snarled. You could almost hear the evil smile in his voice. "Fighters directly from the Third Reich."

"Hiel Hitler!" the Third Reich detachment shouted, saluting with one hand extended. As one Nazi held his salute, he felt a small rock hit him on the helmet. Since he was at the back, he was able to notice that it wasn't one rock that had fallen out of place – there was a stream of dirt that had fallen. Someone was up there.

High up in the rafters of the tomb, cloaked by magic and by dark clothing and a hood, a lone figure slipped out of sight, removing his hood briefly, wiping his face. Alladin was normally what one might call a "street rat" by some of the guards in his native Agrabah, and so had a reputation as a thief. He didn't like being called a thief or a street rat, but now, all of those years of pressuring to hide was now keeping him alive. He looked over and saw a man with short brown hair, leather armor, and an armored shotgun in his hands. He was coated in blades, guns, bombs, and other lethal weapons that would cause maximum damage when the two intruders would disrupt whatever ritual this was. The leather armored figure quietly snuck over to Alladin's position and said, "Are you doing okay, kid?"

"Alright, I'm okay Hansel," Alladin whispered so softly that he could not be heard. He was also using hand signals in combination with mouthing words to quietly exchange communication with the bounty hunter Hansel.

"What's our next move?" Alladin asked, motioning towards the altar. "Is it the big guy?"

"No no no!" Hansel silently replied, waving his hands around. "We don't have much intel on the leader of the guy leading the ritual, but what I have heard is that he can't be killed. We have to take out the mortals first, then bury the big guy."

"Which group do we take down first?" Alladin asked.

"Not down, out!"Hansel very softly hissed. "We kill anyone we can hit – and I have my eye on those guys down there…" Hansel pointed to the Third Reich detachment and 'said,' "If my reading on history is correct, those guys with the flags are the Nazis, a barbaric army that in one version of Earth's history, were responsible not only for starting two world wars, but also the slaughter of eleven million innocents, simply because they were not pure Arian. It was pure Arian blood, and everyone else was genetically inferior and to be executed – that was their mindset." Alladin was frozen in horror. Never had he heard of anyone, not even Jafar or Mozenrath, having ever done such a thing as genocide.

"Those Nazi guys," Hansel finished. "Are going to be the first ones to die. Now let's get going." Hansel very, very carefully snuck over to the other side of the rafters. Delten was addressing those present, trying to stay focused through the pain.

"I have summoned you, factions of all sides…to create the new Order that I shall rule. You give your allegiance to me…and you will have riches, powers, influence – infinite rewards await you.

"Of course, you will have to swear your undying loyalty to me and me alone," Delten warned. "And be willing to fight for my empire, to defend my empire…to die for my empire. None of you can imagine what you shall be rewarded with should the plan I will tell you succeed – however, disobey me, or refuse to join…" Delten's visor glowed red as he hissed evilly, "I shall send you into the farthest, blackest reaches of death itself!" The warning was so cruel, so evil, so inhuman, the tomb was quieter than it ever had been before.

"Now…let me show you what shall be the new empire…" Delten finished, turning around to the altar. The zombie in the ebony armor and the humanoid in the ceremonial robes each put one foot back and extended their hands. A bright blast of energy resonated in the tomb, causing Hansel and Alladin to scrunch up behind the beams high up in the tomb to avoid being blinded by the blast of energy that happened to go their way. A giant vertical circle of energy hovered just before the altar, and in that circle were visions – visions of a future yet to come.

Death was everywhere. Innocents were being burned to death in a split second and without mercy. Huge, glamorous palaces in land, sea, and air were all destroyed as billions died. Whole universes were forced under chain and blade point to become slaves for the new empire. Trillions of dark soldiers marched across the burning, glaringly bright landscape. Numerous dark entities could be seen, overseeing the new slave rule, including a giant eye made of fire, whose eerie voice paralyzed most of those who were in the tomb in fear when they heard a small snippet of the voice of that demon; several huge beings that towered above even the greatest palaces, all made of different things, like ice, stormy winds, lava, stone, etc.; vicious sea monsters like Kaiju and the Kraken; and many others. But the one thing that stood at the most was a glorified, almost propagandized version of Delten, standing above his empire, sword in hand. All of the soldiers and titanic monsters at his command all were bowing or saluting to the new leader, whose armor was soaked in the blood of his victims.

"As you can see," Delten said, turning around to face the crowd. "This will be the new empire – all of the power of the cosmos will be at my command, and all the revenge you ever wanted to extract shall be yours to extract. Untold riches await all of you who obey my command. With the power we shall obtain, WE will be the ultimate rules of life itself!"

At this, a massive uproar of acceptance rung out in the tomb, shaking the very air itself. The Nazi regiment saluted in the back, shouting "Sieg hiel!" But within the crowd, there were one or two villains who weren't exactly on board with Delten's plan, and one of them looked up into the rafters, searching for the two intruders that he knew were there.

Alladin looked at Hansel, who raised his shotgun, loaded with incendiary rounds. Alladin reached into his cloak, and he held several large handheld bombs filled with a mixture of C4 high explosive and Greek Fire – the worst kind of incendiary fluid ever made in history.

"WE will be the rulers of everything in this cosmos!" Delten continued as the applause and roaring of recognition continued. "There will be nothing that will stand in our way! We will rewrite the history of time and life, ITSELF! We will crush the genetically inferior and destroy those who dare appose…"

"No!" one of the crowd shouted. The tomb became deathly silent, and all turned to the one who had spoken. Delten's visor had lit up again in violent anger as others present began to draw their blades or other weapons.

"I will not do this!" Claude Frollo shouted, pushing his way out from the crowd as everyone's anger turned against Frollo. Delten's greatsword materialized on his back, and Delten drew it, the air around him turning into fire.

"What did you say?" Delten challenged.

"I am a man of God!" Frollo yelled, pushing to the very back of the crowd, who all had their crosshairs on him. "I will not allow this to usurp the word of the Lord! ALLADIN! HANSEL! NOW!"

transition

It could not have been any more perfect – one of Delten's new commanders was really a spy. Two days before, Hansel and Alladin had approached a stunned but angry Frollo, who had just gotten out of the inter-dimensional jump. Hansel immediately jumped to "aggressive negotiation" – negotiation at the point of a gun – to make Frollo repent. However, it was not necessary, for as luck would have it, another inter-dimensional jump had occurred on the Archangel, where Frollo was being held. The new set of arrivals was a powerful wizard named Yensid, where he, along with Doctor Nine, created a way for Frollo to see the future that would befall him should he continue down the path he was on. Upon seeing this, Frollo immediately transformed into a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge, and agreed to help out Admiral Acreb and his forces. He even was able to control himself well enough to have a request granted.

On the ship, a small group of elfish guards and clone troopers escorted a young gypsy named Esmeralda to the cell where Claude Frollo was. Alladin and Hansel, armed with a falchion and a shotgun respectively, were going to keep an eye on Frollo and not leave his side – if Doctor Nine's mental scans were correct, Frollo's obsession with the gypsy had turned into a murderous lust that led to the eventual fight between Frollo and the gypsy, alongside Frollo's former servant Quasimodo. Frollo had accidentally fallen down the entire height of Notre Dame right into a pool of molten cooper, but just before he hit the cooper, there was a blast of energy, and Frollo had found himself in the cooling chambers of Acreb's personal flagship, the Archangel. Frollo, being a very religious man, saw the last twenty hours of events as a sign of a second chance from the Lord. He had become a madman, and had almost lost his life because of it. Needless to say, there was an extreme amount of tension within Frollo's soul as Esmeralda walked in. The look on her face was only one of anger, and her hands clenched.

"What do you want, old man?" she snarled, her hand sliding across her body, reaching for something hidden in her robes. Hansel, standing only a few feet from the gypsy, saw the glint of the dagger, gleaming in the red light of the interrogation room.

"DON'T!" Hansel shouted, raising the shotgun and aiming it at Esmeralda's head. Alladin drew his falchion just as the clone troopers raised and charged their blasters and the elves raised their bladed staffs.

"Don't – even – think about it," Hansel warned, snatching the dagger away from the gypsy, his finger no longer over the trigger in standard gun safety position, but now directly on the trigger.

"You were brought here to make peace with Minister Frollo," Alladin shot, the wide blade of his falchion glinting brightly. "Not to kill!"

"Please, everyone," Frollo pleaded. "Lower your weapons, I beg you." Hansel slowly lowered his shotgun, as Alladin, the elves, and the clones lowered their own weapons. Esmeralda took a breath before saying, "What do you want from me?"

"I only ask for your forgiveness, gypsy," Frollo said, shifting in his uncomfortable steel chair. "I know I was arrogant, and had committed more sins against God than one should count…"

"You got that right," Esmeralda whispered under her breath.

"Hey!" one of the clone troopers snapped.

"No, no, she is right," Frollo said. "I was arrogant and foolish. The fires of the Devil's lust were burning too strongly inside me for me to understand the consequences of what I had done – against the church, against Paris herself…against you, Esmeralda.

"I have been shown my future should I follow the ill path that I have set out upon," Frollo finished. "And no more shall I walk that path, but that of the light. Esmeralda…I am truly…I…I'm sorry."

Esmeralda did not immediately respond, but looked at Admiral Acreb, who had been standing just outside of the cell.

"Is he lying?" Esmeralda asked harshly.

"No," Acreb said. His eyes had been glowing green this whole time, so brightly that some of the armor of the clones and elves were glowing in the green light. "He is speaking the truth – but I believe a good chunk of that apology is out of fear. Fear of the hell that will hit him should he continue his wild obsession. It is mostly out of fear…but not all of it." Esmeralda gave Acreb a hard, stone cold look at Acreb before turning back to Frollo. She paced back and forth for a moment or two before turning to Frollo, saying, "Why did you do it? How could you launch war on the people of Paris?"

"Arrogance," Frollo replied. "Stupidity, and cowardice. I was right – the burning desire that had been within me was, indeed, turning me to sin. I was a fool – I am not worthy of the rank of archdeacon of Nortre Dame. But gypsy – I mean, Esmeralda – I only wish for your forgiveness." Frollo held a hand out, the other clutching at the cross around his neck. His face had fallen into one of sorrow, of genuine guilt. He felt the lust build up within him…but Frollo remembered the old proverb "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Esmeralda was in deep thought for a few moments, but then, slowly, reached forward to take Frollo's hand. She withdrew suddenly, as if apprehensive. Hansel's trigger hand tightened around his gun's handle. He did not know it, but several of the clone troopers were doing the same. Esmeralda thought for another moment, and then, finally, took Frollo's hand in both of hers, saying, "Minister Frollo…I forgive you." Frollo exhaled deeply, plainly very relieved. Hansel relaxed his grip on the gun, for he had been gripping it to tightly that his knuckles were turning white. There was the sound of Alladin's falchion sliding back into his belt, and the shadows behind Esmeralda told her that the guards had lowered their weapons as well.

Acreb had moved into the cell y now, and was right beside Frollo and Esmeralda when the gypsy took the archdeacon's hands.

"Do you mean your forgiveness honestly?" Acreb asked sternly. After a few seconds, Esmeralda relied, "yes."

"And do you honestly intend to uphold your promise to set aside the flawed path you've fallen into?" Acreb asked the archdeacon.

"I do, sir," Frollo replied.

"Very well," Acreb said. He put his hands on Frollo's and Esmeralda's hands, and all of a sudden the gypsy and the archdeacon felt a sharp prick on their hands. Both jumped back in pain, gasping in shock.

"What have you done?" Frollo yelled angrily, rising from his chair. The sound of weapons cocking again stopped Frollo from taking out his anger on the Admiral standing before him. Acreb raised his hand, and two small injectors were attached to his palm, hidden by his sleeves until just the right moment.

"To make sure that neither of you go back on your promises," Acreb explained, showing his hand to those present. "I have just injected the both of you with a small dose of nanotech drones – tiny machines the size of atoms. For those of you who do not understand higher level science, each of the machines you have been injected with is only one millionth of the width of a single human hair."

"You've injected us with…machines?" Esmeralda gasped in astonishment, her hand now red and a tiny bit swollen.

"Many of them," Acreb said. "There are only a hundred nanodrones in the initial injection, but over the next several days they will multiply into millions, embedded in your flesh, your bloodstreams, and all of your major organs." Acreb raised a small device with an intensity meter on it, and pressed a button on it. Both Esmeralda and Frollo both felt a tingling in their hands, but nothing more. That is, until Acreb dialed up the intensity meter. Both of the hands that had been injected with drones both glowed bright red, with hundreds of small white dots flying around the injected areas. Both Esmeralda and Frollo screamed in pain, dropping to the floor, grabbing their glowing red hands. The red light on their hands was very slowly, but surely, traveling up their arms, increasing the amount of body area that was infected with that unbearable pain. Even the soldiers could not approach the gypsy nor the archdeacon as the torture went on. Acreb shut off the device, and the hands' glowing light disappeared.

"This is my only warning," Acreb hissed, his eyes glowing with mysterious but vicious energy. "If either one of you even thinks about going back on the promises that you have made here today, I will increase the energy to full power. What you just experienced was not anywhere close to full power – that was only test levels, about fifteen percent of total capability. Do not try and challenge me." Frollo was now leaning against the wall/floor joint, and he was panting like a dog who had just run the Boston Marathon. Esmeralda was shaking so much from the traumatic experience that she couldn't stand without Hansel's help.

"What kind of sick bastard ARE you?!" Hansel yelled, trying his best to keep Esmeralda on her feet.

"Do you have any idea of just how many people have betrayed me in the years that I have lived?" Acreb said in a very commanding tone. "How many people have almost undone my entire army, destroyed everything that I have built? No more! Now, there will be none of that.

"If either one of you backstab me," Acreb warned. "Not only will you two die, but everyone else that I have also infected. In order to kill you with these nanodrones, I have to kill everyone – I can only hone in on selected targets in test mode. When it hits lethal levels, everyone who has these drones will die." As Acreb walked out of the cell, the guards giving him a very wide berth, Frollo, panting, gasped, "How many are there?"

"Over three thousand," Acreb replied, disappearing from view. All that had remained in the cell were speechless from shock.

"How could he do such a thing as this?" Frollo finally said, hissing like a devil. He had just recovered the ability to stand on his own again, but his breathing was heavy and labored.

"He has ultimate control over every last thing in here," Hansel said, supporting Esmeralda as she limped out of the cell. "I don't think that there's anything we can do…"

"Except trust him," Esmeralda gasped, her breathing also labored from the traumatic experience. "And each other."

"I will not trust that villain!" Frollo snarled, being escorted out by two of the elven guards, who maintained a firm grip on Frollo. "I hope that God smites him down with all of his might–"

"I would not risk it," Hansel interrupted. "I've seen what the Admiral and his friend Presul can do. I don't know what they're capable of, but I wouldn't want to try to stop him." All of a sudden, three men suddenly blocked their path a couple feet ahead. They were Agent Smith – three of him.

"All of you will come with us," the one on the left (relative to Hansel and the others) said.

"Get out of the way!" one of the clones ordered, raising his weapon. The others were about to follow his example when the center Smith stopped him, saying, "We are not here to engage. We have no choice. We are but servants." The way he said it sounded monotone, almost zombie like. By now, Esmeralda could stand on her own, and she marched forward, ripping the glasses off of one of the center Smith, demanding, "What is with you people?!" She jumped back in shock, the glasses falling to the ground. The Smith's eyes, like the other Smiths, were just solid black – emptiness.

"They're infected," Hansel realized. "Acreb's gotten into their heads. "He – speak of the Devil!" At that moment, Acreb walked in, his eyes burning with fury.

"Yes, they are under my control," Acreb replied. "And if you do not obey my EVERY COMMAND, so will all of you. I am giving you a chance to live, and I highly recommend you take that chance.

"Come with me, Minister Frollo," Acreb demanded, reaching forward and dragging Frollo with him. "We have some things that need discussing…"

transition

And so it was, Frollo became an unwilling member of Acreb's resistance against Delten. In the dark chambers of the tomb, Frollo yelled, "I will not allow this to usurp the word of the Lord! ALLADIN! HANSEL! NOW!" As soon as the words had escaped his lips, a Greek Fire grenade flew out of Hansel's hand, directly at the Nazi regiment. The majority of them were killed instantly, while many others fell to the ground, screaming in agony as the flesh burned their skin away as if it was paper. The hundreds of other villains in the chamber were thrown into confusion as Hansel and Alladin hurled more Greek Fire grenades. After five or six more had been thrown, the two intruders leapt down to the ground. At that particular moment, a hundred or more Starfleet soldiers, clone troopers, elves, and Acreb's guards burst in, lighting the tomb up like a 4th of July celebration. Only in this particular instance, it was not a celebration, but complete mayhem and confusion.

As Hansel shot down minion after minion in his path, he only caught a glimpse of Rasputin making a break for the entrance of the tomb, sneaking around the battle via hiding behind the pillars on the sides of the tomb, slipping by everyone. Just as Hansel was about to turn around to fire, Scar leapt at Hansel, teeth bared and a horrifying roar bursting out of his throat. Just as Hansel was knocked down, there was a bright flash of blue energy. Scar fell into a heap on Hansel's left, falling on top of Hansel's arm. Standing over Hansel was a clone soldier who had just stunned Scar. The trooper wasted no time in pulling Hansel's injured arm from under Scar, pulling Hansel to cover. Grimhilde saw Hansel and the clone trooper jump behind a pillar, and she raised her staff, glowing in green fire, with the intent of ending their lives.

Suddenly, something slammed into her face, and she was sent into the back wall of the tomb, collapsing in a heap and losing consciousness. Standing over was the one and truly only Superman, his fist clenched and his cape billowing in the air that was blowing around the tomb. On his left and right were Batman in his upgraded armor and Martian Manhunter, his eyes glowing with power. Delten, who had just finished crushing a Starfleet soldier's head as flat as paper, noticed Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter appear. Before he could act, the armored draugr and the man in the robes rushed forward to attack, only to be vaporized by Superman's laser vision.

Batman was the first to lash out at Delten, bombarding him with a barrage of his newest set of weapons – Bat-grenades. The explosions covered Delten in a thick layer of hot, burning smoke, but did nothing to injure the demon, who leapt out of the cloud, his visor alight in fire. Batman charged at full force, but Delten barely even looked over at his direction to send Batman flying via a blast of telekinetic energy, sending Batman into a pillar, crushing both the pillar and Batmna's armor. The caped hero lost all sense of time, and seconds after, lost all vision, and blacked out.

Superman exhaled a breath of frost, which was easily parried by a wall of wild flames from Delten's fingertips. Another last blast from Superman's eyes bounced off of Delten's chest armor as if it was a mirror, and the fire breath did nothing either, only rolling over Delten as calmly as waves over a shore. Delten's ebony black sword appeared in his hand, which swung with more force than a master swordsman and with more speed than a thousand year old vampire's fist. Being faster than a speeding bullet, Superman easily dodged the multiple greatsword swings. Delten had other plans, however, launching a surprise uppercut swing, slicing Superman's arm. As soon as the blade touched Superman's skin, all of the horrifying memories of his life flooded into him all at once, and vastly amplified. Superman lost control of his flight and crashed into the ground. If that wasn't enough, Superman felt his throat being crushed by an invisible force that showed no mercy. As Delten held Superman in a telekinetic chokehold, a blast of psychic energy knocked Delten off balance, and as a result ending the chockehold. Delten roared with anger, unleashing searing fireballs quicker than an M-16 could shoot bullets. Manhunter's shape-shifting abilities easily countered, as well as occasional intangibility shifts. Then there was the barrage of punches that temporarily stunned Delten, and then another mental burst sent Delten back ten yards before you could blink. Delten's anger was so strong that the very air was literally dripping with fire and fury. Delten leapt forward and extended his hand, mustering all of the phsycic energy he could muster. At the same time, Martian Manhunter unleashed his blast. The two fighters' extended hands were only a few inches from one another, locking the two in a deadly mental battle. Most of the Necrados and other demons had long since teleported away, not wanting to get in Delten's way, and the rest of the sundry soldiers were crunched up behind cover, screaming at the top of their lungs for it to stop and firing their weapons blindly or completely paralyzed, unable to move from the shock of the battle.

The mental battle between Delten and Martian Manhunter was so evident that cracks suddenly formed in the air itself – giant, glowing white cracks that continued to expand, releasing incredible levels of light and energy. Alladin only had to notice the ball of lightning between Delten's and Martian Manhunter's hand to know that he needed to get away – and fast. He leapt behind cover just as there was a deafening explosion, and everything was gone.