Ronin's Secret

Coco, Rina, and Seira were near a lakebed area, right at the base of a cylindrical tower.

"Are you sure they'll show up?" Coco said on her phone.

On the other side was Noel, who along with the other mermaids, were at the pyramids. "Yes. If they're gathering all the Dark Treasures, then their next target will be either the Solar Crown, here at the pyramids…"

"Or the Crescent Dagger in this tower, right?" Coco said.

"Everyone, good luck!" Lucia cheered from her end.

"Remember who you're talking to. We got this!" Coco reassured. "Right, guys?"

"Yeah!" Seira said.

However, Rina's response was a few coughs, and her face seemed a bit red.

"You okay, Rina?" Coco asked.

"Fine," Rina claimed.

"Well, well, well…" Joel's voice was heard as he stepped out into the clearing. "An ambush. You brats are full of dirty tricks."

"We learned those tricks from fighting you!" Coco retorted.

"You're not getting the Crescent Dagger!" Seira said.

"As they say, 'You always want what you can't have.' But I disagree," Joel then revealed five Power Class DISKs. "Alright, let's do this thing! Ya ready to rock?! D-Smash!"

"Bringin' the house down! I'm Wrecker!"

"Punchin' on through! I'm Piledriver!"

"Bringin' the thunder! I'm Thunderball!"

"Crushin' the opposition! I'm Bulldozer!"

"Poundin' the foundation!" I'm Sledgehammer!"

"That's right! And together, we're…" Wrecker started. "THE WRECKING CREW!" Finished by the whole team.

"The Wrecking Crew," Rina said in a bored tone.

"Oh no, what do we do?" Coco asked sarcastically.

"See, that's the reaction you guys get! So blow those brats away with a big dose of style and get some respect!" Joel said.

"We're the Wrecking Crew, and we're better than ever!"

Then, a bird flew off in the background which seemed more interesting to the girls than the Wrecking Crew.

"They made their choice. Let's show them!" Coco said as she got ready to D-Smash, followed by Seira. However, Rina seemed unfocused as she just kept staring blankly. "Rina!"

"Yeah…" Rina responded meekly.

"Wasp! Vision! Hulk!"

"D-Smash!"

"Villains in town? Let's take them down!"

"Behold… the Vision!"

"SMASH!"

Hulk charged at the Wrecking Crew, specifically at Wrecker.

"Crowbar Quake!" Wrecker plunged his crowbar into the earth and opened up a fissure.

Hulk sidestepped to avoid the fissure but was intercepted by Bulldozer.

"Bulldozer Tackle!" Bulldozer tackled Hulk, pushing him toward the fissure. "In, you go!"

"Wrecking Ball!" Thunderball swung his ball and chain at Wasp and Vision who dodged by turning small and phasing through respectively.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Wasp said, however, she failed to notice Piledriver sneaking up behind her.

"Piledriver Punch!" Piledriver punched Wasp, sending her flying toward the tower.

As Vision returned to normal density, he too ended up getting ambushed, by Sledgehammer.

"Sledgehammer Swing!" Sledgehammer struck Vision with her hammer, sending Vision flying toward the tower as well.

"Wasp! Vision!" Coco and Seira shouted.

"Spoke too soon, little lady," Piledriver said, and he, Thunderball, and Sledgehammer all laughed.

"What the heck?! Were these guys always this strong?! Hey, Rina!" Coco called out, but Rina didn't seem to be listening, and her face seemed redder.

"Rina?" Seira called.

"Ah, sorry," Rina responded, getting her focus back.

"Hey! Keep 'em busy! We'll get the Dagger!" Wrecker said as he and Sledgehammer ran for the tower.

"That's not happening! You're not getting in that tower!" Hulk said.

"Hah! Who said we wanted to go inside?!" Bulldozer taunted.

"We are the Wrecking Crew!" Wrecker declared as his crowbar glowed.

"And this tower… is coming down!" Sledgehammer said as she batted away a part of the tower with her hammer.

Then, Wrecker took a swing as fire appeared in his eyes.

Wasp and Vision recovered and tried to stop them.

"I don't think so!" Wasp said.

"Wasp Sti-!/Vision Be-!"

"I don't think so, missy!"

"You ain't goin' nowhere, Bot!"

Piledriver and Thunderball stepped in to get in the two Avengers' way.

"Hulk, you must stop them!" Vision said as Wrecker and Sledgehammer continued to bring down the tower.

Hearing this, Hulk grabbed Bulldozer for a German suplex maneuver that caused Bulldozer to get buried in the side of the fissure, allowing Hulk to use him as a stepping ladder to get out and go confront Wrecker and Sledgehammer.

But then, the sight of Rina fainting caused Hulk to divert course and catch Rina before she fell. "Rina!"

Unfortunately, this gave Wrecker and Sledgehammer the time needed to bring the tower down.

"Wrecking complete!" Wrecker boasted, much to Coco and Seira's horror.

"D-Secure!" Joel recalled the Wrecking Crew and claimed the Treasure. "The Crescent Dagger is all mine."

"Not so fast!" Wasp shouted.

"Sorry babe, see you in your dreams," Joel said before teleporting away.

"They took the Treasure!" Seira said,

"Rina, you okay?" Hulk asked,

"I'm sorry… guess I'm not," Rina replied.

Back at the base, Rina was in a bed with a wet towel on her forehead.

"Let's see… Good news. Your fever's gone down a lot," Caren said as she checked the thermometer.

"Sorry, when we have more important things to worry about," Rina said.

"You should have said something if you weren't feeling well," Hippo said.

Hearing this, Tony recalled when he touched the Dimension Sphere and the residue energy left in his body but kept quiet.

"You didn't learn a thing from back then, did you?" Kaito asked.

"Back when?" Hanon asked.

"When we first worked for Maki's restaurant, she caught a fever but still tried to work," Kaito replied.

"Hey! I told you not to say anything!" Rina yelled.

"Rina, you were thinking you didn't want to be a bother right?" Lucia said, to Rina's surprise.

"That's nonsense! We're friends, remember?" Coco said.

"Yeah. No need to keep secrets!" Lucia said. "Right, Tony?"

"Uh, yeah. Communication is key to effective teamwork!"

"Right!"

"Rest easy," Hulk said.

"Thanks, partner. And you guys too," Rina said.

Later, as the evening rolled around, the team began discussing the next plan.

"The Crescent Dagger has been stolen," Thor said.

"We have to protect the Solar Crown at all costs," Cap said.

"And there's one more thing," Noel said.

"We have to get the Dimension Sphere back from Ronin," Lucia said.

That night, down in the lab, while Lucia slept on a desk, Tony and Pepper tried to figure out Ronin's identity, but they had no luck.

Then, Tony experienced a brief blur of vision.

"Tony, what's wrong?" Pepper asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Tony claimed.

The next day, at the Celebrity Seven's hideout, the team (minus Joel) and Imperious gazed down at the machine which stored all the Dark Treasures they had stolen so far, with a place left for one more item.

"Only one more Dark Treasure left. Once the Solar Crown is in our possession, the Dark Gate device will be complete and our goals will be achieved!" Imperious said. "Just you wait, Avengers… the time of your defeat is near." Imperious then let out an evil laugh.

Meanwhile, Joel and the Wrecking Crew had arrived at the pyramids for the Solar Crown.

"So the last Treasure lies here, huh?" Joel said. "Solar Crown, we're comin' for ya!"

"Wanna bet?" Lucia said as she and her friends minus Rina arrived on the scene.

"I missed you guys," Joel said.

"You're not getting that crown!" Lucia said as she got her DISK ready.

"Mighty Thor! Captain America! Captain Marvel! Wasp! Vision! Iron Man!"

"D-Smash!"

"For the glory of Asgard!"

"Courage, honor, freedom, and hope!"

"It's time to take flight!"

"Villains in town? Let's take them down!"

"Behold… the Vision!"

"It's counterattack time!"

"It won't go the same way this time!" Wasp said.

"Is that so? Go, Wrecking Crew! It's demolition time!" Joel commanded.

The Wrecking Crew all charged, with Thunderball making the first move.

"Bringin' the thunder!" Thunderball shouted as he swung his ball and chain at Captain America, who blocked with his shield.

"The shield doesn't break that easily!" Captain America declared. "Shield Throw!"

Thunderball was struck right in the abdomen by the shield but managed to keep himself from flying away by holding onto his weapon.

"That all you've got?!"

Bulldozer charged at Wasp, who turned small to dodge and readied her own attack.

"Wasp Sting!"

Despite taking a direct hit, Bulldozer recovered quickly. "Was that supposed to sting? It tickled!"

Piledriver charged at Thor and Captain Marvel with his fists ready. "Punchin' through! Punchin' through!"

Thor managed to block Piledriver with Mjolnir while Captain Marvel used her own fists.

"You've got more spine than the last time," Captain Marvel said.

"This is the Wrecking Crew!s true strength!" Piledriver declared.

Sledgehammer held up her hammer as she ran toward Vision.

"Vision Beam!" Vision fired red beams from his forehead, but Sledgehammer was able to deflect the beams with swings of her hammer.

"This level of performance is different from our initial encounter," Vision analyzed.

"That's 'cause we were just takin' it easy on ya the last time!" Sledgehammer boasted.

"Crowbar Boomerang!" Wrecker threw his glowing crowbar at Iron Man, who easily dodged by leaning to the side.

"You suck at batting so you wanna give pitching a try?" Iron Man taunted.

"What'd you say?!"

Then, Iron Man's vision began blurry again, leaving him dazed as Wrecker's crowbar came flying and struck him in the back.

"Iron Man!" Lucia shouted worriedly.

"Tony, you okay?" Captain America asked.

Iron Man turned to look at Captain America, but his vision was still blurry.

Then, the whole Wrecking Crew got together.

"Let's go, Wrecking Crew!" Wrecker shouted.

As the others got into position, Wrecker struck his crowbar into the ground, opening a fissure in the Avengers' direction. "Time to tear it up!"

"Sendin' you packin'!" Bulldozer charged through the Avengers.

"Poundin' ya flat!" Sledgehammer swung her hammer at the Avengers.

"Havin' a ball!" Thunderball threw his ball and chain at the Avengers.

"You guys ain't the only ones who know how to work as a team!" Piledriver said.

"The Wrecking Crew works together, as a force of evil!" Wrecker bragged.

"Our teamwork is stylish!" The whole team said as they posed.

"Were they always this strong?!" Noel asked.

"That kinda power's impressive!" Hanon said.

"Got that right! There's no way you can beat us!" Wrecker bragged.

"We'll see about that!" Rina's voice suddenly shouted, to everyone's surprise.

"Rina?" Lucia asked, then she noticed the Stark jet coming in, and from the jet, Hulk leaped out while carrying Rina.

"Hulk can beat you guys, easy!"

Hulk then charged, and the first to step up was Bulldozer, who after a brief struggle, started getting pushed back right through a sand dune.

"There ain't no way you can beat me in a power contest!" Hulk declared.

Then, the rest of the Wrecking Crew joined in.

"Bring it, big man!" Sledgehammer said.

"Let's take him down!" Wrecker said.

"Think you can beat all five of us?!" Thunderball asked.

The combined strength of all five was enough to match Hulk.

However, Rina was about to tip the scales again in Hulk's favor as her Biocode lit up. "He's not our only powerhouse!" Then, she took out Power Man's DISK. "Power Man, D-Smash!"

"Alright!"

"Need a hand?" Power Man joined Hulk and their combined strength was too much for the Wrecking Crew.

"We'll show you real power!" Power Man said as he punched Piledriver and Sledgehammer into a sand hill.

Hulk then grabbed Bulldozer and Thunderball and swung them around before tossing them into the hill where their beaten teammates were.

Seeing this, Wrecker started getting nervous. "No! It can't be!"

"So awesome!" Noel said.

Power Man then jumped onto Hulk's hand.

"Let's do it!" Hulk said.

"Yeah!" Power Man said.

"You guys aren't serious, are ya?" Wrecker tried to sound tough, despite visibly sweating (not from the desert heat).

"DYNAMIC SPEEDBALL!" Hulk threw Power Man at Wrecker.

"I'll show y-!" Wrecker tried to retaliate but was sent flying toward his teammates with a single punch from Power Man.

"Wrecker…"

"Piledriver…"

"Thunderball…"

"Bulldozer…"

"Sledgehammer…"

"And together, we're…" Wrecker started. "The 'Just Got Wrecked' Crew…'" Finished by the whole team.

"Bunch of big-talkers," Power Man dismissively said as he was recalled to his DISK.

"D-Secure!" Lucia, Coco, Hanon, Noel, and Caren D-Secured the Wrecking Crew.

"Thanks for the assist. Are you feeling better now?" Noel asked.

"Yep! Completely healed," Rina reassured.

"That's good to hear," Hanon said.

"You saved the day, Rina!" Lucia said.

"It was nothing. We're friends," Rina said.

"Hey hey, the show ain't over yet!" Joel said as he arrived on the scene, and with him was Ronin.

"It's Ronin!" Lucia said.

As the sun began to set, the heroes prepared for a showdown against Ronin.

"We have to get the Dimension Sphere back from them," Noel said.

"Too bad, 'cuz I'm not gonna hand it over just because you asked. But if you beat Ronin, I might reconsider it," Joel said as Ronin drew his katana and charged.

"He's fast!" Thor moved to intercept Ronin, and after trading blows, Ronin managed to push back Thor. "He's quite good!"

Next to step up were Hulk and Captain Marvel, who tried to attack with their fists and energy blasts, but Ronin's agility allowed him to dodge their blows. Then, he took out a nunchaku to hit Hulk in the face multiple times and knocked him back, then used the Dimension Sphere to unleash an energy wave that sent Captain Marvel flying as well.

Vision then appeared from behind Ronin and tried to strike, but the masked warrior saw it coming and moved aside before firing a beam of Dimension Sphere energy to counter Vision's own beam, with Ronin winning the struggle.

"He's got no openings!" Rina said.

"If he has none, we'll just make one! Shield Throw!" Captain America threw his shield at Ronin.

Ronin managed to block the shield with his nunchaku, but what he didn't notice was Wasp hiding inside the shield.

"You let your guard down!" Wasp said as she flew out of the shield. "Wasp Sting!"

Wasp managed to hit Ronin in the face with her energy blast, but he managed to hit her back with his nunchaku.

However, her attack managed to burn his mask, exposing his face.

When Ronin took off the damaged mask, showing his face to the heroes, they were all shocked, especially Iron Man.

The man behind the mask of Ronin was none other than Dr. Nozomu Akatsuki.

"Akatsuki…" Iron Man muttered in shock.

"It's Dr. Akatsuki?" Wasp asked in disbelief before being recalled to her DISK, followed by the Avengers except for Iron Man.

Then, Joel came out of the pyramid, holding the Solar Crown. "Good work, team! That's all of them!"

"The Solar Crown!" Seira shouted.

"Mission accomplished," Dr. Akatsuki said in a militant tone.

"Hey wait! Akatsuki, is that really you?!" Iron Man asked.

Dr. Akatsuki gave no response other than an emotionless glare, as Joel joined him.

"Later!" Joel and Dr. Akatsuki then teleported away.

"It can't be… Ronin was Dr. Akatsuki this whole time…" Iron Man said.

"What happened to him?" Lucia wondered.

As Iron Man tried to think, his vision suddenly started becoming blurry again as his head started becoming fuzzy.

"Tony, what's wrong?" Lucia asked, and he turned to face her but then he lost consciousness and collapsed. "Tony? Tony!"

"Is he alright?!" Caren asked.

"This is bad!" Rina said.

"Lucia, do it now!" Noel said.

"D-Secure!" Lucia tried to recall Iron Man to his DISK, but nothing happened. "D-Secure!" She tried again, to no avail.

"It's not working?!" Caren asked.

"But why?!" Lucia tried to shake Iron Man awake, but that failed as well.

A/N: For those of you who've seen the original Marvel DISK Wars, you might remember that Iron Man did figure out Ronin's identity earlier. But that was because of what Dr. Akatsuki said about Akira, who isn't in this story, and Dr. Akatsuki probably wouldn't say such things about Lucia, a random girl he happened to meet, even if he knows that she's special. So that's why Iron Man didn't figure it out until the unmasking.

But for now, it seems the Dimension Sphere did something to Tony and now he's in a coma and can't even be D-Secured. What will happen to him now? Stay tuned to find out.