"And the amount of times they mention their stupid thumbs!" Vitani was saying.

Scar nodded understandingly. "It's quite absurd. I once got insulted for having a reliance on oxygen, although I think that was less to do with me and more to do with my conversation partner..." His emerald eyes widened. "My word, speak of the devil."

At that moment, Loki wandered into the room, wiping blood off of his staff with a scrap of cloth.

"Ah!" he said when his eyes landed on Scar. "There you are. I wondered where you had gotten off to."

"Evidently, right here."

"Quite."

"Um," said Vitani.

"Pardon me, where are my manners," said Scar. "Loki, this is my daughter, Vitani. Vitani, this is Loki, the man who plucked me from the vacuum of space."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," smiled Loki.

"The pleasure's all mine," replied Vitani, "how do you do whoa, whoa. What was that about space?"

"We can discuss that later," said Loki. "But for now, I must ask. Scar, how many people have you killed since arriving?"

"Ah, well, killing isn't my plan," Scar said deviously. "As you can plainly see, I have established myself in their medical bay. Anyone who comes here to heal their wounds will find only me!"

"That's not what you told me," said Vitani.

"Yes it is. Be quiet."

"That's very impressive, Scar," said Loki patronizingly. "I'm sure that's working like a charm. Do you want to know what I've done?"

"Sure, whatever," said Scar.

"Well. Firstly, I stabbed the big man who shot me earlier. Then, I stabbed the scarred man. Then, the big man again. Then, the soldiers. The red one gave me a nice shoulder bruise with his firearm, but the blue one just whimpered something about a church. Then, I had to stab the big man a third time. By now, I had realized stabbing him only seemed to make him angry, so I abandoned that project. I made my way up here, being sure to evade the now thoroughly incensed man, along the way searching for my brother, so I could stab him."

"That's... impressive," said Scar.

"I thought so," smiled Loki. "But I can always do better. Which brings me to my next question." He pointed to Vitani. "Are you going to finish that?"

Scar chuckled. "Why, we can of course make exceptions, can't we? Who said we have to kill everyone we found?"

"Maleficent," answered Loki. "As I recall, her exact words were, and I quote, 'Kill everyone you find'."

"Hard to argue with that," said Vitani. "Although you should. Please argue with that."

"What's the matter, Scar?" said Loki, his tone growing venomous. "What happened to hating your family? Being content to see them all burn?"

"There's an exception to every rule..."

Loki scoffed mockingly. "You're just weak. If you won't kill her, I'll be happy to."

"Can we investigate other options?" asked Vitani, throwing a pleading look to Scar.

Scar felt himself begin to sweat.

"You're a coward, Scar," smirked Loki. "You want to get off this ship still breathing. That's not going to happen if you turn your back on me."

"What are you going to do?" asked Vitani desperately, who felt as though she had her back to a cliff. "You wouldn't kill your own daughter."

Scar yearned for a distraction, which was partly why he yelled "Look, it's Maleficent!" However, it was mostly because Maleficent had just entered the room.

"Astute," she said dryly. "All going well?"

"Well, actually -" Loki began, but Maleficent cut him off.

"Excellent. I don't really care. I'm here for another reason."

"And that is?" Loki asked, annoyed.

"So far, my modification to the Death Note has proved wonderfully successful. However, I still have some experimentation to do." She smiled at Loki. "The others think you immortal. Shall we test that?"

Loki's eyes widened. His mind instantly understood the situation but his body reacted marginally too slowly. He went to dive across the room, but Maleficent anticipated which direction he would go. She shot green fire and hit the god right in the face. He paled briefly, still in motion, and then crumpled. His inertia carried him along the floor for a while, but he soon came to a stop, his staff clattering away. He lay, face-down, unmoving.

"Well..." said Vitani, "at least that looked painless. Right, Scar?" She turned around and Scar wasn't where he had been. With Maleficent in the doorway and no other cover in the room, it was obvious he was hiding under the beds. Vitani rolled her eyes.

"Painless, hmm?" Maleficent said, focusing on the lioness. "Yes, you make a good point. I had better reserve this for those I cannot deal with in more simplistic ways. Thank you for the advice."

From under the bed, Scar heard Vitani begin to say "Well, you can show your gratitude b-". That's as far as she got. Scar heard a thump, and Vitani exhaling painfully. Then, two more thumps, followed by another. A thump on the other side of the room, a quiet thump, a loud thump, and then the thud of Vitani's body falling to the ground. And then, Maleficent's laughter.

"Now, Scar," she called. "You may have noticed I no longer need you – not that I ever did, to be frank. But come out now and I'll consider keeping you as... I hesitate to use the term 'pet', since that denotes some degree of attachment..."

Scar huddled under the bed, head under his paws, for what little protection it offered him.

"No? Very well. I'll set fire to the whole room in th-"

Suddenly, Scar felt the entire ship shake with a mighty vibration, one even more powerful than the explosions which had claimed the engine room and bridge. The bed nearly fell over as the ship lurched forward and then sank back.

"What caused that?!" Maleficent glided out into the hall, forgetting Scar.

The lion gently crept out, satisfied she had left. Vitani raised her head, her breathing rattling, and glared at him.

"Great going," she growled. "That was amazing, Father. First-class heroics. I'm so glad you were here."

"Hush," he snapped, but his expression was sorrowful, not angry. He looked over his daughter's wounds. The prognosis was not good.

Vitani waved a paw in front of his face. "Listen. Listen. See the red thing?" Scar saw the device she was pointing to – the Medigun, which had fallen to the floor during the quaking. "It's... important," she continued. "Something about not being hurt. You can... you can use it to..."

Those were the last words she spoke. Scar sat quietly, staring at the bodies of Vitani and Loki.


Clank activated his thrusters, propelling Ratchet out of the reach of Bison's hands. Jak crouched nearby, collecting himself after a painful blow from Bison. He glowed white briefly, and then hopped to his feet, completely uninjured. He ran at Bison, firing into his back. When he was close to his enemy, he elbowed Bison in the back, unbalancing him, and then roundhouse-kicked him in the face.

Bison, despite having to juggle Ratchet, Clank and Jak, was still performing admirably. So admirably, in fact, he grabbed Jak by the throat and began to literally juggle him via a series of uppercuts. Ratchet managed to break his combo by unleashing another blaster salvo on him. Bison allowed Jak to fall, but charged at Ratchet again.

Bison smacked Ratchet away and tore Clank off of his back. He raised the tiny robot into the air victoriously.

"I'll crush you!" roared Bison. His steadily growing list of injuries had taken a toll on his eloquence.

At that instant, the ship rocked with a mighty shudder. Although the people inside the ship had felt it to a great degree, the shaking was even more pronounced on deck. Ratchet and Jak struggled to remain on top of the ship. M Bison's footing became uncertain, so Clank seized the opportunity to blast him away with some rocket thrust. Bison stumbled away til he stood at the absolute prow.

"Come on," pleaded Jak. "Just die."

"Never!" roared Bison almost hysterically. "You can never kill me!"

Ratchet, Clank and Jak all shared a mischievous look. "I believe there's only one way to verify that," said Clank.

"Right behind you, pal," agreed Ratchet. He readied his biggest weapon while Jak set his MorphGun to the Peacemaker setting.

Bison managed one final laugh. "As if you could poss-"

"Shut up," said Jak. He and Ratchet fired in unison, producing two massive gouts of energy. They struck Bison simultaneously and threw him into the air, speeding away from the Halberd.

##

Thor and War Machine flew over the desert, Sly balancing on the latter's back.

"I've been getting bits and pieces of communication," said Rhodes as they approached the Halberd. "Things are pretty bad from the sound of it."

Thor was about to say something, but instead saw something and hastily swerved to dodge it. M Bison flew past them, moving in the opposite direction. He spun in the air, his limbs flailing limply.

Sly, Thor and War Machine shared looks as the warlord disappeared into the desert.

"Huh," said Sly.

The three soon touched down next to Ratchet, Clank and Jak, who had watched Bison's trajectory with no small amount of pride.

"Good work, guys," complimented Sly. "I guess that's one less guy to worry about."

"For the last time, it's not them who are the problem!" yelled Jak. "Maleficent's the issue here."

As he hurriedly filled them in on the sorceress' new abilities, War Machine looked out into the desert. "I'm going to check to see if Bison's really dead," he said, rising into the air.

Ratchet went to say something, but then checked himself. "Yeah. Good idea. You do that."

"Be right back!" War Machine took off into the desert.

"I shall investigate the ship," said Thor. "Good luck." He hefted Mjolnir and flew into the bridge.

"So," said Sly. "What are we going to do about this Death Note thing?"

"Revan said he had a plan to stop it," said Jak.

"Was that plan 'make Aang go nuts'?" asked Sly dubiously.

Jak looked at him. "What?"

"I saw from the air. Honestly, how have you guys not noticed yet?" Sly lead them to the side of the deck and pointed. The three others followed his gaze.

Aang was flying in the air, screaming and shooting fire and rocks at Revan, who danced below him. Revan seemed unconcerned, as though he was waiting for something more important.

"All in favour of going to the other side of the ship?" asked Ratchet. The others nodded urgently in unison.

"I think I saw Iroh over there anyway," said Sly. "I'd like to check he's okay."

"Right," said Jak. "That's a good excuse for avoiding that kid."


Bentley, Phoenix and Layton came to a stop, the latter two gasping for breath. They were now far from the boardroom and, they hoped, any other homicidal invaders.

"Oh man," groaned Phoenix, hand over his face. "I think I'm going to be sick. Poor L..."

"Don't you deal with such things as your profession?" asked Layton, in an attempt to calm him down.

Phoenix shook his head. "I just talk about people's necks getting snapped. Doesn't mean I like watching it."

Suddenly, the whole ship shook under their feet. Layton and Phoenix steadied themselves on the walls while Bentley frowned.

"That sounded important," he muttered. "I'd better go see what that was." He wheeled himself down to the end of the corridor and placed a bomb on the ceiling.

"Where are you going?" asked Phoenix, as the bomb blew a hole in the ceiling.

"I can use my boosters to travel up to the top of the ship, and get a vantage point to assess our situation," explained Bentley, gesturing to the small rockets on his wheelchair. "The view is always better from the rooftops."

"Can we stay in touch, at least?" said Layton.

Bentley threw a small communicator to him. "Here, take this. You have your phone, Mr Wright?"

"I do, yeah."

"Good luck then." Bentley went to under the hole and then ascended to the ship's next level, propelled by his boosters.

Layton turned to Phoenix as he pocketed the communicator. "What would you like to do?"

Phoenix shuddered. "Hide in a cupboard?"

Layton nodded stoically. "Your fear is not misplaced. I believe we should travel to the centre of the ship, since, to be frank, neither of us are any physical match for these sorcerers and mercenaries."

"Good point, well made."

With that the two descended further into the ship.


Maleficent arrived at the side of the ship, ignoring the flames which were beginning to creep through the vessel. She blew a hole in the ship's wall and looked out into the expanse of debris outside, wondering what had caused the explosion.

She soon found out. She felt herself suddenly and violently be pulled through the ship's wall by an unseen power. She landed in the sand and whipped her head up to see that Revan had grabbed her with the Force and forced her outside.

"Ah, if it isn't you again," she greeted with an intentionally obviously forced warmth. "Not satisfied with living? Want to ensure your death by my hand?"

"Actually, I've taken a page out of your book," he replied smugly. "I have someone to do that for me now."

Before Maleficent could respond, she was unbalanced by a huge gust of air, knocking her forward. A spike of stone came from the ground and struck her in the face, sending her airborne. She barely had time to focus her vision on her attacker, a young boy floating in the air, before he blasted her with a huge gout of flames and sent her spiralling away.

Aang roared and flew after his new target, instinctively knowing she wasn't dead. Revan ran after him, pleased with what he had wrought.


Horrible opened his eyes blearily. He was met by a skull hovering over his face. He yelped.

"Easy," said the skeleton. "You don't want to aggravate your wounds." Horrible was perturbed by the skeleton's smooth voice, but this quickly reminded him of who he was speaking to.

"Skulduggery, isn't it?" he wheezed.

"It is. It's good you remember my name. It's a general courtesy you afford to people who stop you from falling to your death."

"Thanks..."

"Any time."

Horrible rubbed his face. "What happened?"

"Iron Man went nuts and broke your shuttle. Everyone's gone, either fighting him or to get the Death Note."

"What happened to him?" asked Horrible.

Skulduggery shrugged. "I don't know. I turned off my phone."

"Why?"

"Difference of opinion between me and Command," explained Skulduggery, expressing the word distastefully. "Specifically on the matter of you not dying."

"I guess from the fact I'm still alive that you won the argument?"

"Won. Abandoned. Same thing."

Horrible sat up with some difficulty. "Thanks... again. So now what?"

"First things first. Are you okay to be moved?"

Horrible considered the question. "I... yeah. I am."

"Good. Going to Maleficent's castle seems a little pointless now, seeing as I saw both shuttles head back to the Halberd. So I suggest we go back there."

"Lead on," grimaced the Scientist.

Skulduggery sighed. "I suppose it's time to turn my phone." It flicked on. "Hmm. 54 missed calls."

"That's a lot..."

"Probably not that important," shrugged Skulduggery. He pressed a button to get more information on them. "Five of them from Valkyrie. Nevermind. Let's go."

He hooked his arm under Horrible's armpits and lifted gently into the air. Then he flew forward as quickly as the doctor was comfortable with, leaving Fox behind.


Luigi was heavily wounded. He hadn't fared well against Tai Lung, but it was the explosion, and the resulting shower of sharp fragments of wood and metal, which had really injured him. He dragged himself through the wreckage, which was becoming increasingly copious as Aang and Maleficent waged their explosive conflict nearby.

He pulled himself past a corner and bumped his head into a black leg. He looked up to see Revan towering over him. "Thank-a goodness!" he choked. "Someone to help me!"

"My thoughts exactly," purred Revan.

Luigi stared at him, confused. Before he could ask his meaning, Revan lifted him with the Force and threw him into the air.

Revan watched with pride as Luigi's flailing form intercepted a green projectile from Maleficent's staff which had been aiming for Aang's face. The blast was absorbed by Luigi, who ceased moving immediately. Aang continued attacking Maleficent, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened.

"Hey!" A voice from behind him caught Revan's attention. He turned to see an injured Sarge lying in the rubble.

"You team-killing fucktard!" he swore. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Maleficent's blasts are lethal," explained Revan calmly. "And a dying Luigi is worth much less to the war effort than a fully powered Avatar."

"But why can't you just block those blasts with rocks or something?" asked Sarge furiously.

Revan considered this. When Maleficent fired again at Aang, Revan lifted a scrap of debris and pushed it into the blast's trajectory. It nullified the fire just as effectively as Luigi had.

"Oh," said Revan. "Whoops. How embarrassing. This is more efficient. Thank you for your valuable input."

"Statement: There's no need to be so kindly to the rabble, Master," offered Revan's cloak.

Sarge had weakly raised his shotgun to shoot Revan. He pulled the trigger and Revan casually twirled his gun around. The result was Sarge inadvertently shooting himself in the torso.

"Son of a bitch..." gasped Sarge upon being shot, sinking even further into the rubble. Revan strode away from him, lifting more pieces of rubble and pushing them into the air.


Thor flew through the bridge, past the headless HK-47 and the crumpled Meta Knight, and past the boardroom, ignoring the copious fire spewing from it into the corridors. He landed outside the med bay, deciding that medical supplies might soon be in high demand among the mortals.

He stepped inside, looking around with a good-natured expression. His slight smile immediately died when he saw the pale body on the other side of the room. He almost dropped Mjolnir as he approached it. When he turned it face-up, his terrible suspicions were confirmed.

His poor brother, Loki. Dead.

He let out an anguished cry, his eyes tearing up. He lifted his brother's head with one hand, examining him, desperately hoping for some sign of life. But somehow, his brother had been killed. The fact he assumed such a thing to be basically impossible amplified his grief tenfold.

"Are... are you Thor?" a quiet voice queried from the shadows. The Odinson whirled around, snarling. His watered eyes affixed on two lions, such as he had seen in the Pridelands – a female, dead, and a male, grieving.

"I am," he said, his emotions steeling under the pressure of his sorrow. "Who did this to my brother?!"

"Maleficent," Scar practically whispered. "Maleficent killed him."

Thor roared and began spinning Mjolnir. Scar pressed himself to the ground, terrified that the Norse god would take his rage out on him. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"The Midgardians call me an Avenger," said Thor, his eyes burning. "So, I will avenge!"

He shot Mjolnir to the side, blasting through the Halberd's wall as though it was paper. Scar watched him disappear, awed.


Maleficent yelled in frustration, irked that her fatal spell was constantly stopped from ending Aang by Revan. She abruptly changed tactics, moving a pile of debris to entrap Aang. The Avatar immediately began fighting his way out, but it gave Maleficent time to spin on her heel and shoot at the dark Jedi nearby.

Revan lifted a piece of debris in front of his face. The blast shattered the debris, but Revan was untouched. Maleficent fired again, and again Revan defended himself.

"You're a fool," Revan remarked as he drew closer. "The Death Note was this beautifully efficient thing. There was no avoiding it. It was cosmic. And what do you do with it? You make it work off of brightly coloured, easily deflected projectiles. Moron."

"I don't quite have the time to listen to you blather," rejoined Maleficent. "But if it really bothers you that much…"

Revan gasped as he felt a spike of metal launch out of the nearby wreckage and impale his torso from behind. His breath caught in his throat and he slowly sank to his knees.

"As you yourself demonstrated, for all the powerful and complicated tricks a sorcerer can learn," said Maleficent dryly, "nothing beats the simple majesty of moving objects through the air."

"Oh, yes," spat Revan, feeling blood pooling in his mouth. "Nothing quite like it."

Maleficent raised her staff to finish Revan off. As he fell forward, Revan shoved his hand to the side. A mountain of debris cleared and slammed into Maleficent, flinging her away. Revan sank to the ground, drifting out of consciousness, and tried to focus on his breathing.


Scar hadn't wanted to leave the med bay.

Honestly, he hadn't wanted to do anything. After seeing both Loki, his new friend, and Vitani, his estranged daughter, killed by Maleficent, his mind had essentially switched off. But seeing Thor's willingness to avenge Loki, despite their history, had inspired him to action. He had picked up the Medigun in his mouth, gave one final wistful look to Loki and Vitani, and entered the increasingly smoky corridors.

Turning a corner, he almost bumped into Spoony, who was urgently trying to find his opponents, Zat in hand. Spoony's eyes widened, then narrowed, upon seeing Scar.

"Ah, how lucky for me," said Scar, placing the Medigun on the ground. "A familiar face."

"Last face you'll ever see, you son of a bitch," said Spoony, pointing his weapon at him. "Though you are lucky it's so handsome. Why aren't you dead?"

"No time for that," said Scar shortly. "Tell me where Maleficent is. I want to help you stop her."

Spoony glared at him. "Oh, do you now? Why's that?"

"I have every reason to oppose Maleficent," snarled Scar. "She's taken everything from me in one fell swoop!"

"Sure," growled Spoony. "Let's let the known traitor give us some 'help'. How stupid do I look?"

Scar's demeanour, already stretched thin over stress, quickly unravelled. "No, please!" he begged. "I'm telling the truth!"

Spoony simply struck Scar in the head with a shot of blue electricity. Scar's eyes widened in pain, and then unfocused. His legs fell out from under him and he collapsed on to his side. The last thing he saw was Spoony preparing to fire a second time before the black void of unconsciousness claimed him yet again.