Chapter Four

The Threat

"Incoming transmission from Vincent Valentine!" said a computer in front of Wise Guy. He typed a command on the keyboard and a video feed of Vincent appeared on the screen.

"Ah, Mr. Valentine!" the enigmatic person greeted. "I see you're looking well."

"I'm calling about Hono, sir." He replied.

"Always about business aren't you?" Vincent didn't reply this time. "Very well, what is it?"

"Hono doesn't seem to be the type of person who could kidnap someone, let alone Kairi. If I were in his position I'd do it in the dead of night rather than in the broad daylight tomorrow."

Wise Guy seemed to be stroking his chin. "Hono is doing his job; if he fails he only gets a quarter of his payment." He started laughing. "Allow him to do his job and come back to headquarters. I need your status report written up."

"Yes sir." Vincent said nonchalantly. The video feed was cut off. Wise Guy entered a few new keystrokes. A green and black screen showed up on the monitor.

"Oh, Wise Guy, it's good to hear from you again!" said an intelligent, cool, and collected voice.

"It's good to see you too, Tron! I've got a task for you."

"I'm listening!"

"I've hidden a camera in the Castle That Never Was, Organization XIII's old hideout. I'm going to upload you into it. The reason is I want to know what Maleficent is up to. She's remained too quiet. She has never been one to sit still for prolonged periods of time. She must be planning something sinister."

"I accept. I promise not to fail you!"

"You must have been around Sora, am I correct?"

"Yes, I learned a lot about the personalities of Users from him." Users are those who use computers for any purpose, good or bad. "Okay, compress me and upload me into the camera's programming." Wise Guy nodded and typed some commands. A green bar appeared on the screen with a percentage below it. The bar filled in quickly and the percentage read one-hundred.

A red light lit up on a small robot. It started to hover over the floor. It turned around in its surroundings. It was inside a room with twelve glass tombstones looming over twelve panels with different weapons on them. Only one of them was lit with a blue light while the others were red.

"I'm in Maleficent's castle," Tron contacted Wise Guy. "Setting up live video feed now." Tron started hovering down a dark hall. He reached a balcony that had a glass barrier up for safety reasons. Tron noticed a few Heartless walk by. They were covered in armor and carried short swords for protection. The face plates they wore had a spiral design on them and on the chests were a black heart with a red thorn cross in the middle. Their feet were pointed and pierced the floor with each step they took. The head inside the helm had bright yellow eyes like all other Heartless. These were known as Armored Knights. They walked by without even noticing Tron. The security program heard voices from the room below.

There where people gathered around in a circle conversing with one another. The head of the group was a pale, green skinned woman. She wore a long, black robe that followed her for about two feet and a black, two-horned headdress that resembled the back of a dragon's head. The witch also carried a wooden staff that had a bright green crystal at the top and a raven was perched on top of it. She was the mistress of all evil; Maleficent.

To her left and right stood to others. One was fat and looked like he had two chins. He had pointed ears, black hair, and a small black nose. He had huge hands that could crush a handful of large pebbles. He wore a red undershirt with two navy blue shoulder pads, purple fingerless gloves, black overalls with two pale blue pockets with huge zippers, and blue shoes.

The second person was a tall and skinny mouse, although he looked more like a rat. He had big, black, round ears and a round black nose. He wore a black and yellow shirt, white gloves, long, green pants, and floppy black shoes. He had a thin black tail and two buckteeth.

There was a man with a hammerhead shark's head, a woman in an elegant red dress standing with a man with long claw-like hands and spiky blue hair, three young men with silver hair, a man with a black toga, blue skin, and flames where his hair would be, a skinny old woman with a feather headdress, and finally a strange creature that somewhat resembled a bipedal whale.

"Everyone," Maleficent announced. "The time is ripe. I will start releasing the Heartless upon the worlds again. You may use the Heartless to help you take control of any main sources of darkness within the worlds you are to conquer."

One of the silver-haired men came forward. He had neck-length hair with a bang that slightly covered his right eye. His eyes were a bright green and his pupils were like a cat's. He wore a black trench coat and a black outfit underneath. On the right side of his back was a huge black angel wing. "What about Mother?" he asked. "We need her for the Reunion."

"All in good time, search for the darkness resonating from within her and you will surely find her."

"But what about the Keybearer and his friends?" asked the shark-man.

"They also play a part in this. You're captain would surely know this."

"I'll use the power of time and make the past change which will change the future." Announced the woman in the red gown. She had jet black hair and violet eyes. Her hands were like long claws that could slice through anything.

"How will those two lackeys of yours get anything accomplished?" asked the whale-like creature. "Surely you could have made… better choices."

"Who are you calling 'lackeys', you alien blubber brain." The fat oaf insulted. This really made the ticked off.

"Ahh… Is the big whale gonna cry? Ha-cha-cha!" Said the mouse as he slapped his knee.

"Do you know who you're talking to?" asked the alien. "I am the Captain of the Galactic Alliance, Gantu!"

"Enough!" Maleficent shouted. "Pete! Mortimer! Stop this arguing at once!"

"Humph! You should keep you're men under control." Said a strange voice.

"Who dares enter my domain?"

A vortex of darkness appeared from the ground and a person in a long, black coat walked from within it. He had a hood over his head so nobody could see his face. "I do." He replied.

"A member of that old Organization," Pete gasped. "But I thought the little pipsqueak and his friends finished off the leader a few months back."

"I've been in hiding, biding my time to reappear from out of the shadows." He brought his hand up to his hood and grasped it. He lowered the hood, and the dark veil disappeared from his face. He had dark blue hair that covered the right half of his face, blue eyes, and pale skin. "I wish to exact revenge on the ones who destroyed Organization XIII." he said with a scowl.

"Maleficent," the fossil-like woman spoke up. "Are you sure it is wise for us to put trust in an old enemy of yours?"

"You desire to destroy Sora and his friends, too. Do you not?" Maleficent raised an eyebrow at the question. The Organizations surviving member knelt down in front of the blue-skinned man. "Lord Hades, I desire the resurrection of Organization XIII's deceased. Allow this and I will be in your debt."

"I like you," said the lord of the dead. "Tell ya what, no one now a days calls me 'Lord' Hades anymore. Call me that all the time, and I will do this. But, it will take awhile before any progress will be made. I can't guarantee that I will be able to revive all of them or any of them for that matter."

"You will not regret this, Lord Hades."

Maleficent grinned and chuckled. "What is your name, young one?"

The Nobody stood up and looked over at Maleficent. "I am Zexion, Number Six of Organization XIII. The Cloaked Schemer." He suddenly had a provoked look upon his face.

"Is something troubling you, Zexion?"

"You have a spy on the balcony above us."

"Uh-oh!" Tron gasped. The camera he was in started to hover away from the area. Many Heartless appeared and blocked his path. "Execute transferal sequence!" A small robotic Heartless sent a laser at the camera and made it explode into tiny pieces.

Wise Guy sat at the edge of his seat. "Tron are you alright!?"

"Yes," he replied. "Did you get the recording?"

"Indeed." The enigma sat back down calmly. "It seems the worlds are in more danger than I had suspected. We need Sora and King Mickey now!"