Out in the desert, things were still going badly. Ironwerk was clumsy in his new body, but he was certainly strong, and it took everything in the heroes' power to keep him and his deadly weaponry away from Sly.
"I'm picking up a distress call from the Halberd," reported War Machine, as he wrestled with Ironwerk.
"That's not good," murmured Sly, circling the two and prepared to dodge.
"Wait," grunted Rhodes, and Sly waited for good news. "It cut off suddenly."
"That's worse," replied Sly gravely.
Ironwerk threw Rhodes off and fired a blast at Sly, which was intercepted by Thor. The Norse god took the blow as though it was nothing, and then he threw Mjolnir at Ironwerk, knocking it backwards.
"You think we should head back?" asked Sly, helping War Machine stand using his good arm. She-Hulk charged at Ironwerk, grabbing him from behind, but it managed to knock her into Thor.
"This first," growled Rhodes. He suddenly remembered something. "Someone hit it on the head!" he roared.
Thor nodded and shot Mjolnir at Ironwerk, catching it on the crown of its helmet. It staggered back, snarled, and abruptly went silent as the golden eyes deactivated.
There was deathly quiet for a few moments. Then, one of Iron Man's hands began to move. The hand reached to his chin, and managed to grasp the bottom of the face-plate. Then, with evident difficulty, it tightened, pulling on the thinner metal. It slowly wrenched the plate upwards along its hinges. The superheroes (and thief) watched in awestruck silence as the golden alloy gave way to a chin, a beard, a worried smirk.
"Can you hear me now?" asked Tony.
"Tony!" exclaimed War Machine.
"One and only. I've love to talk at length, but time is short. Clockwerk thinks he's got the glitches ironed out, but since I'm talking to you, we know that's not the case. But we can't rely on this. The longer he's offline, the more likely he'll spring to life again at any second."
"So, what do we do?" pressed She-Hulk.
Tony frowned. "I can't do much from inside my own suit."
"Well, we're not hurting you," said War Machine forcefully.
"Understandable attitude," grinned Tony. "Okay. Plan. Thor! Your lightning powers up the Arc Reactor."
"What would you have me do?"
"Blast me. As soon as Big Bird wakes up, hit me with enough juice to overload the reactor. With luck, the suit's circuits will shut down, Clockwerk will turn off, and I won't get too much molten metal in my eye sockets."
Thor nodded and prepared Mjolnir. War Machine asked "Are you sure this is safe? What if your Arc Reactor cuts out?"
"Oh yeah. Kinda forgot about that. Listen -" began Tony. The eyes of the suit flickered back on, and the faceplate slammed back down, cutting him off. Clockwerk screeched at Sly and flew forward.
"Time to go!" yelled Sly. War Machine grabbed him and took off, flying in a tight circle, Ironwerk close behind him. Thor fired a few bolts of lightning, to no effect.
"Gah! I cannot strike him!" he complained.
She-Hulk gritted her teeth, and when Ironwerk flew by her, she grabbed its ankle, causing it to lose balance and slam into the sand. She pull it upwards, locking it in a wrestling hold, and screamed to Thor "Shoot!"
Another warrior would have hesitated. Another warrior would have allowed Ironwerk the precious seconds it needed to escape. But Thor was of Asgard, where such acts of valour were to be respected without question. So with nothing more than a battle cry, Thor loosed a stream of singeing lightning into both Ironwerk and She-Hulk.
Tony watched the suit's power level soar up to 475% and beyond, until overshooting the limit and, with a shower of sparks, breaking. She-Hulk gave a shout of agony and let go of Ironwerk, but it was too late. The suit's eyes were grey, and the armour lay still. Clockwerk was quite literally powerless.
War Machine landed, and Sly hopped off of him. "Tony! Walters! Are you okay?" asked War Machine. Thor strode over and tore the face-plate off, revealing Tony was unharmed.
"Good job, everyone," he said. "Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's... take a day. Ow."
"Is Clockwerk down for good?" asked Sly suspiciously.
"Hard to say. If I repair the suit, he'll probably still be in here. But the suit won't recover by itself, so we're safe for now."
Thor checked She-Hulk. "She is injured, and unconscious, but should be fine."
"Super," said Tony. "You guys should go on ahead. I'll stay here and have deep, meaningful discussions with She-Hulk."
"You sure?" asked War Machine.
Tony nodded. Or at least, he moved his head upwards as much as he could with his inactive armour. "Positive. Go. Pry me out later, I'll be fine."
War Machine smiled under his helmet. "The sacrifice play." He gave Tony a quick salute, and then turned to Sly. "You heard him. Back to the Halberd."
Clank landed heavily on the deck of the Halberd. He looked up just in time to see a fireball erupt out of the windows he had just been thrown through. A metallic shard, wreathed in flame, shot out and embedded itself next to him. Clank examined it momentarily and determined it was a piece of Meta Knight's mask. He feared the captain had not survived the blast.
This made it all the more disheartening when out of the smoke and flames billowing out of the windows came an unmistakeable muscular figure. Clank just about managed to make out the figure's sadistic grin before it leaped down to the deck, splintering the wood where it landed.
"Well now," chuckled M Bison. "Seems like your puffball friend misjudged the power of his explosives. A rookie mistake really." Bison's eye took on a nostalgic glint. "Oh, I could tell you tales of errors I made with bombs back when I was starting out. They're quite funny, with hindsight. But instead of telling you them, I think I'll just crush your metal skull like a walnut. I'm on a schedule you see."
Rolling his shoulders and patting out the few small fires which had started on his scorched uniform, Bison began to advance on Clank.
"I don't suppose I can make you reconsider this?" asked Clank hopefully, backing away a few steps.
"Let me put it this way," said Bison, not bothering to immediately catch the robot and instead content to stalk him slowly. "Your entire nerd room failed to talk me down. In battle, I only listen to force."
Clank stopped backing away and smiled. "In that case, I suppose I'm fortunate."
Bison cocked his head, smirking patronizingly. "Oh? And why is that?"
At that moment, something exploded against the back of Bison's head, disorienting him. Several more projectiles erupted against him: high calibre energy bullets. Bison twisted his head to see Ratchet grind down the length of one of the Halberd's wings, blasting at him with impressive accuracy.
While Bison stumbled to the ground, temporarily over-powered, Ratchet leaped off the wing and rolled over to Clank.
"What did I tell you?" he said, smiling despite himself. "When things started exploding-"
"We'd meet up," finished Clank, returning the smile.
"How precious," sneered Bison, clambering to his feet. "So - Ratchet, isn't it? - it appears Fate has deigned we shall once again face each other in combat."
"I hope for your sake you've been playing nice with my friend here," replied Ratchet, "because him and me work best as a team."
Bison's brow twitched. "You mean to say that not only are you going to battle me with weapons, but you intend to gang up on me as well? Have you no sense of honour at all?"
"Listen buddy, you can do something honourably," retorted Ratchet, as Clank affixed himself to his back, "or you can do something effectively. And nothing's more effective than a bit of teamwork."
M Bison rolled his eyes. "Spare me. Your twisted sense of how a gentleman battles appals me. But no matter - I am, after all, M Bison. While I would prefer to destroy you in honourable, man-to-man combat, I am perfectly capable of defeating you in any physical contest."
"Ratchet, his confidence is not misplaced," warned Clank from his usual position. "This man just shrugged off a sizeable explosion with no apparent ill effect."
Ratchet scoffed. "Whatever. Five minutes against the two of us and he'll be bawling like a baby."
Bison's grin slowly returned. "So, the rematch is on then, eh? Very well! Prepare yourselves for the greatest battle you have ever been involved in. I will show no mercy as I pummel you into dust. I will leave no iota of your feeble body spared in what will be the most crushing defeat you have ever experienced. I will hit you so hard your unborn children will have bruises - and they will be unborn, because you are not going to survive this duel. For you see, that is what happens when you challenge a god - that, is what happens when you challenge M Bi-"
It was at this juncture that a shuttle tore out of the sky and slammed into M Bison, promptly exploding. The metallic wreckage sat there, immobile, with sparks lightly sprinkling out of some extremities. Ratchet and Clank stood there in silence, unsure of what to do with themselves.
In a matter of seconds, a blue blur also fell from the sky and landed in a roll. Despite this, the landing was evidently painful, as the blur gave a masculine grunt of pain as it changed into a heap.
"Uh," said Ratchet, as it seemed the most appropriate thing to say at the time.
The heap which was once a blur looked up at the Lombax. "Oh, hello Ratchet," it said in a gravelly voice.
"Jak?" asked Ratchet incredulously. He offered his hand and helped Jak stand up. "Did… you do that?"
Jak merely grinned devilishly.
Fifteen seconds earlier
Revan had caught Jak up on Maleficent's deadly new powers. He was about to ask Jak if he had any idea where the second shuttle had gone, but the impromptu pilot spoke first.
"We should be coming up to the Halberd now," Jak announced.
Revan leaned over and looked at the wrecked airship. "Dammit. Looks like we're late to the party. We have to land immediately."
Something on the deck caught Jak's eye. "Say, you Jedi can jump really far, right?"
"Right," answered Revan defensively, not sure where Jak was going.
"I intend to land this thing immediately," explained Jak. "Very immediately. How do you like the sound of getting to the Bridge as soon as possible?"
Revan looked out of the shuttle and down the several stories to ground level.
"I'm listening," he said.
And so
Jak looked up and saw the black figure of Revan stand just inside the bridge, having made the jump out of the rapidly descending shuttle into the broken windows. Revan gave a brief wave to Jak and then turned on his heel, entering the smoke-filled wreckage.
"Thanks for taking care of Bison," said Ratchet, snapping Jak's attention back to the deck. "To be honest, I didn't really feel like going up against him again."
"Don't worry about it," answered Jak.
"Please Jak," piped up Clank, "you shouldn't be so modest."
"When I said 'don't worry about it'," snapped Jak, "I meant that you should forget about Bison, because we have much bigger fish to fry right now!"
"Oh," said Ratchet dejectedly. "And what are those?"
Before Jak could answer, a metallic groan cut him off.
"I'm afraid for all your talk of more important meals to prepare, I'm still not cooked all the way through!"
Jak and Ratchet whipped around to see M Bison lifting the shuttle over his head. With a grunt and much bulging of the muscles in his arms and legs, Bison hefted the shuttle over his head and threw it off the Halberd. He then steadied himself and entered a combat pose. Although his uniform was now in tatters and there were some gashes on his exposed torso, his body was obviously still functioning perfectly well for the most part.
"Son of a Qwark!" swore Ratchet in disbelief.
"Is this guy unstoppable?!" exclaimed Jak.
"I prefer 'implacable'," corrected Bison with his undying wide grin. "It's a much nicer word."
"Gentlemen," announced Clank, "it appears our work is not yet finished."
Ratchet hefted his weapon. "But it will be soon. Jak, willing to lend us a hand?"
Jak snarled, drawing his Morphgun. "Dammit! I guess so, but I'd rather be dealing with the bigger problem."
"Right now," said Bison with a dramatic shrug, "I'm your entire world."
Bison charged.
"Face my fist-tastic justice, evildoer!"
Murray threw a punch, but Tai Lung grabbed his fist with ease. Murray retaliated by punching the snow leopard in the face with his other hand, making Tai Lung stagger back.
"Hah! You're stronger than you look, hippo!" Tai Lung leaped towards Murray, unsheathing his claws mid-air for effect. Murray hopped backwards, barely dodging Tai Lung's sweeping slash.
"Comes with the territory, pal. My friends need me to be the strongest guy around!" Murray said as he unleashed a barrage of punches onto Tai Lung's torso.
"You and I could have a most enjoyable battle," noted Tai Lung, knocking Murray's legs out from under him with a kick. "But that will have to wait. Currently, I'm looking for someone." He picked up the nearest thing on hand - which happened to be a paralysed Luigi - and threw him at Murray, sending both tumbling down the hallway.
Footsteps were approaching him. Tai Lung spun around and roared at his new opponents. "Who's next?" Valkyrie snapped a fireball into her hand, Auron brought his sword off his shoulder, and Sokka drew his boomerang.
Tai Lung smiled. He was in his element.
##
"Sokka's down this way," Aang yelled to Toph, dragging her by the wrist. "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" protested Toph, who was having difficulty navigating the battleship's corridors. "What's the rush?"
"I saw a giant leopard go that way!" spluttered Aang.
"Oh," blinked Toph. "Yeah, that is kind of bad."
Aang turned a corner and almost ran straight into Ty Lee.
"Excuse me," said Ty Lee politely, smiling widely. "But did you just say something about a snow leopard?"
"Yes!" answered Aang. "It went that way!"
"Okay, I'll tag along with you then!"
Aang was briefly confused by Ty Lee's grin, but decided that there were more pressing matters at hand. The three continued running through the bowels of the ship, and soon came to a larger hallway. The sound of a battle was nearby. Valkyrie Cain was thrown out of a nearby door, landed on her feet, and shot back in, her coat fluttering from the force of displaced air.
"I think we found the right place," said Aang.
"Just maybe," agreed Toph.
They went to go inside, but someone yelled behind them. "Stop there!"
The three turned. It was Revan, out of breath from running. In one hand, he clutched Meta Knight's sword.
"Aang! ...Toph," he said. "I need to speak with you."
"But…" Aang glanced at the door in front of him. "People are getting hurt in there."
"It's just a distraction. There's a far worse threat, and I need your help in fighting it. Whoever's in there, I'm sure my friend Ty Lee can handle it."
"Thanks!" chirped Ty Lee. Then her brow furrowed slightly. "So you don't want me to stay?"
"Just Aang and Toph," said Revan diplomatically. "You're needed in there."
"Well, okay! Yell if you need me!" Ty Lee skipped over to the door, looked in, and said "It is you!" before cartwheeling inside.
"So what's this super important thing you need us to-" began Toph. She couldn't finish the sentence due to the fact she suddenly fell unconscious.
Aang yelped. "What just happened?!"
"Apologies," said Revan. "I stunned her. It's so much easier to hold someone when they're not squirming."
"Statement: You are as wise as ever, Master," came a voice from somewhere within Revan's cloak.
He grabbed Toph, holding her roughly by the hair, and pressed Galaxia against her throat. "You have five seconds to go Avatar State," said the Jedi calmly, "before I kill your friend here."
Aang was almost speechless with shock. "Wh… why are you-"
"As I said. We're facing a formidable opponent, and I need you. Well, not you. The Avatar. Three seconds."
Aang tried to knock Toph out of Revan's hands with a gust of air, but the Jedi's grip was too strong.
"Please," begged Aang, "I can't do it at will!"
Revan said, "Zero seconds," and cut.
##
Tai Lung and Ty Lee had begun fighting with gusto, dodging each other nimbly.
"It's good to see you again, girl," smiled Tai Lung. "However briefly."
Ty Lee laughed. "Good one! I'm glad to see you're okay."
Valkyrie shared a glance with Sokka. "Is… there something wrong with that girl?"
"You don't know the half of it," he replied, throwing his boomerang.
Tai Lung caught the boomerang, used it to deflect a sword swing from Auron, and then kicked Auron in front of a fireball Valkyrie had thrown. The swordsman grunted and hit the wall, but remained standing. Tai Lung dropped the boomerang and turned his attention back to Ty Lee.
"He seems to be focusing on her in particular," noted Valkyrie, preparing shadows. "Maybe we should leave the two to fight and go find the other invaders."
Ty Lee fluidly ducked under one of Tai Lung's punches and disabled one of his legs and an arm.
"Isn't that a little cruel?" asked Auron, realigning his sword.
Tai Lung threw himself forward, grabbing Ty Lee and jabbing a finger into her stomach.
"I guess," said Sokka, "but remember he attacked us first."
Valkyrie was about to respond when a scream of rage tore through the ship. Everyone turned to face the direction it had come from just in time to see the wall erupt into a multitude of splinters. They were thrown backwards from the force of an explosion. Ty Lee and Tai Lung flew into the desert, still trying to hit each other. Not seeing Auron, Valkyrie focused on the air around her and brought herself and Sokka – who was screaming like a little girl – into a safe landing.
"The hell was that?" she exclaimed when both were on their feet, some distance from the ship. Sokka didn't answer. He was staring in silence back the way they had come. Valkyrie followed his gaze.
Floating in a huge bubble of moving air was Aang. His tattoos were glowing brightly. When he opened his eyes, they were also glowing blue. The bubble had ripped the rear hull of the Halberd open, and now the tower was slowly collapsing towards Aang. Without looking at it, Aang moved his arms and the tower was buffeted away by wind as though it was as light as a feather. It crashed into the sand nearby. Aang snapped his attention to someone Sokka and Valkyrie couldn't see, and hit them with dual streams of fire.
"This is bad," said Sokka. "There's no stopping him when he's like this." He thought for a moment. "Wait, maybe it's good! He's got all his powers back; maybe now he can stop the invaders!"
"That's super," said Valkyrie, watching Aang propel a black figure through the air with a spike of stone, before floating debris around himself to use as projectiles. "So... will we just stay here then?"
"I'll admit that going back doesn't look like a great plan..."
"Well, in that case, let's go looking for the others. I think they were thrown pretty far."
##
Tai Lung landed on a sand dune, impacting forcefully and sliding down its slope. He was turned over slowly, and eventually came to a stop at the bottom facing up, looking at the starry night sky.
He tried moving and found that once again his limbs had failed him. He sighed. Things couldn't get much worse.
It was at that moment that a pink blur slammed into the dune above him, rolled down, bounced off his chest, and came to a stop near him.
"Phew! That was close," said Ty Lee. "I thought I was done for. Thanks for breaking my fall!"
"My pleasure," wheezed Tai Lung. "If you're so grateful, maybe you'd undo what you've done to me?"
"Sorry. I can't." Ty Lee's smile was evident in her voice. "You paralysed me as well. I can't move!"
"Oh." Tai Lung tested a few different ways of dragging himself away, and found none of them would get him out of the hole of sand he was in. He was stuck.
"... Truce?" he said.
