In the daytime, they are just like all of us. Just normal citizens with normal lives. But there's something about these people few only know about... For when the wicked rise and disaster comes, they become Black Scorpion and the Beetle Force! And on our last edition...
Wave-Maker: I'm sorry, it took some time, I know. But today, of all days, you will be free once more to enact your vengeance on the ones who wronged you! Isn't that what you want...(He brushes the steam off of the glass to reveal...)Aftershock?(A flashback montage shows all of the villain's moments)With just one touch, you will be in my master's thrall! Well, time to go to work...
Gangster Prankster: Your situation isn't a when matter, it's an if! And believe me, you ain't getting outta this tight squeeze anytime soon!
Argyle: Actually, bro, I think it's gonna be the other way around.
Gangster Prankster: Argyle?(Black Scorpion uses her ring to zap Jestina and the other girls)
Black Scorpion: That was just a warning shot. Now, give me back my car!(Jestina shakes her head defiantly)
Gag: You obviously don't know the squatter's rights rule, don't you?
Wave-Maker(OS): Dudettes, I don't think she'll ever learn it!(Just as the Beetle Force has broken free, they are besieged by energy beams from a familiar pair of shockwave gauntlets)
Steve: Aftershock...
Aftershock: Better than ever!
Windfall: Nice Sting Cycle you've got there, Ms. Walker. Though, I think it's got a little too much black!
Black Scorpion: Cut the chatter, Aldridge.(To Jestina)And you! Give me back my car!(Jestina growls furiously)
Wave-Maker: Sorry, dudette. Squatter's rights, after all!
Specs: Aftershock. Gangster Prankster...
Slugger: And Breathtaker makes three!
Franklin: Now, release your hostage!
Edmund: Eleven on four? I'll take those odds.(A mysterious voice soon rings out for all to hear)
?: Then here comes a new challenger!(A scarlet-clad heroine appears)
Aftershock: And who are you?
Evan: She's, our friend!
Ramon: Hola, Sofia.
Franklin: Sophie.
Sofia: So, I hear you're the new Beetle in town.
Steve: Got that right.
Wave-Maker: Whoa! Seems I underestimated the power of female surfing potential, dudette. You know, your old man was just as gnarly of a dude when we hit the waves together.
Black Scorpion: My father was a surfer?
Cameron: Well, once again, the Tech Squad helps save the day. Right?
Steve: Tech Squad?
Evan: Yep. Louie, Maybelline, Amaya, and Cameron.
Steve: Kinda like Tech Support.
Cameron: Yeah, and we're dang good at what we do.
Franklin: Then again, I kinda feel like Vertigo is blindsiding our friend...
Who amongst Vertigo's evil warriors stands between Darcy and the truth today? Who will return to challenge Steve and the rest of the Beetle Force? And how will they fight back? The heat will be on!
(At the Phoenix Institute, a robotic war machine is examining something familiar...or someone)
Warpath: Subject: FireArm! Weapons: Prosthetic gun arm.(A flashback montage shows all of the villain's moments)My army of mechanical soldiers needs a commander, and once you are 100% repaired, you will be that commander!(He soon gets a newspaper from one of his Mecha-Soldiers)Hmmm, so our general's fraternal twin is once again putting mud on the police force, is he? Well, we shall remedy that in due time!
(Meanwhile, Lucas has just arrived at the station just as his fellow officers are looking at the same newspaper)
Lucas: Yipes! So, what's going on here?
Ramona: Our mayor claims that we're "obsolete".
Lucas: Dang...
Franklin: Well, I just don't see how these "Mecha-Soldiers" are going to bring justice to this world.
(As said soldiers are being shown from City Hall, their real master is on the sidelines)
Warpath(through communicator): Get ready. On my command, set all weapons to termination!
Artie: And rest assured, my brother's machinations will never again threaten our fair city so long as these Mecha-Soldiers are defending it...
Warpath: I'm afraid they won't be doing that for you and this city, sir.(The people are scared once his troops turn on them)Oh dear, now I've gone and spoiled the surprise. Oh, always doing that. But you see, our general has his own message for the people...(With FireArm standing beside him, Warpath lets his missiles loose on a few portions of the city)This city's ours for the taking!
Sofia: Don't go announcing your apparent victory, Warpath!
Warpath: What's this? Women fighting as soldiers?
Black Scorpion: What's so wrong with that?
Warpath: In wartime, women worked in the medical field, built the machines! It was the men, their husbands and eldest sons, who did all the fighting. Seeing you and that Scarlet Striker Beetle warrior here is enough to make me retch!
Sofia: Well, don't do so on either of us!
Warpath: Attack!(The gang and their friends are all beset upon by the Mecha-Soldiers)
Franklin: Geez. It's like every time we think we've got one, another one steps in!(Warpath, unfortunately, cannot seem to shake off Black Scorpion, though)
Black Scorpion: Still think women aren't fit for war?
Warpath: Retreat!(The Mecha-Soldiers pull out of the area, with FireArm not far behind)This isn't over, Black Scorpion! This is only the first battle. The war has yet to begin!(Back at the station)
Ramona: Does that walking tin can actually think we're not cut out to fight him?
Lucas: Well, I don't really know what beef he's got against you, either.
Strickland: Listen up. Warpath has just been spotted near the armory.
Specs: Count us out, Cap. Every time we try and take down one of his tin-plated troops...
Slugger: Is when a new one steps up to take its place!
(Meanwhile, another brand of Warpath's army is hijacking the armory)
Warpath(on the phone): Listen soldier, these Cyber-Troopers are a good idea; they're working fast, and nobody, but nobody suspects a thing! And Polaris-she, too, is a beauty. At least there's a few women I can enjoy!(He soon sees the Stingray moving towards him. Naturally, he fires his missiles. And it looks like Black Scorpion is totaled once again!)I figured you'd show up to harass me again, Black Scorpion, which is why I've come prepared!(Our heroine is put in what appears to be a makeshift jail cell)I understand if you don't know who I am, but even you must be made to understand why my disdain for your gender is so deep...
(Over a decade ago, young Paxton sits at his desk with a model kit.)
Diana: What kind of a game is that?
Paxton: It's not a game. It's a scale model of a Bell X-1 Rocket Plane. The plane that broke the sound barrier.
Diana: The sound barrier must be pretty hard. Because this plane is all smashed up.
(She takes out some pieces.)
Paxton: It's not smashed. I'm gonna build it. Stop touching everything! You'll mix up the pieces!
Diana: I've never heard of toys that come already broken.(Paxton angrily glares at her.)I'm going. Never say I don't go when you want me to go, because I'm going. Like that.(She snaps her fingers.)The minute you want me to go, I'm on my way out of here. No waiting.
Paxton: Go already!
Diana: And if you say please, I go even faster. Because when the...
Paxton: Grrr!(The next day, young Paxton paints the model in the dining room. Diana suddenly appears beside him.)Augh!
Diana: Is that the same broken plane you were fixing yesterday?
Paxton: Don't do that! I need to concentrate!
Diana: That's a pretty color.
(She accidentally spills a paint bottle of orange paint over the building instructions.)
Paxton: Augh!
Diana(nervous laugh): Bye.(She runs away.)
Paxton: Hrr...(Later, Paxton and a friend of his walk upstairs.)I've been working the plane all week. It's hard, but I'm almost done.(They enter Arthur's room and find Diana holding the plane's fuselage.)Diana, don't touch that! The paint isn't dry!
(He snatches the plane away and sees fingerprints all over it. Diana's fingers are colored orange.)
Diana: Ew! Mommy, Paxton made my hands orange!(She runs out.)
Baxter: I never thought about it before, but being an only child is nice.(Later, Paxton puts the finished model on a stool in his room.)
Paxton: It's the best thing I've ever made. I can see it now... Paxton, the world's first pilot to have ever built his own plane! This calls for a celebration snack!(He walks downstairs with their dog. Diana comes out of her room.)
Diana: Did I hear you say cookies?(She sees the plane in Paxton's room and sneaks inside. But moments later...)Paxton. You made that plane all wrong. It doesn't fly at all.
Paxton: No, Diana, I made it exactly ri... What?!(Outside the house, the sky has become gray; almost as if a storm is brewing. Paxton looks up at the open window, then down at his smashed plane.)My perfect dream, in ruins.
Diana: If it could break the sound barrier, falling out of a window shouldn't be able to break it!
Paxton(angry): I told you not to touch it!
Diana: You build it all wrong! Did you even read the directions?(Paxton furiously grits his teeth and makes a fist really tightly.)It didn't fly for one second! It's not my fault if you made a plane that can't fly.
Paxton(enraged): I told you... NOT TO TOUCH IT!(He raises his fist and hits Diana on the arm. She falls down and looks blank for a moment. Then she runs away and cries painfully.)
Warpath(VO): That was one of the very moments when I learned how incapable women were on the warzone. Soon enough, it wouldn't be the last... I was a soldier in the war in Iraq, and let me tell you, it was a blast...at first.
Lana: Out on patrol, are we?
Paxton: What? Who are you?
Lana: Lana Riverton, I'm new here.
Paxton: Listen, Lana. You may not know a lot yet, but I'm technically your superior. And that means, you should...(Lana already has a grenade launcher aimed at the enemy base, so while Paxton is talking to her, she is busy aiming it)Whoa! Don't even touch that thing, Lana. I'm your superior, after all, and that means I need to be the one to...(She fires a grenade from the launcher. Needless to say, Paxton is once again outraged after all these years)
Lana: What? If it could break the sound barrier, then surely...(The pair notices enemy troops have just caught on to them)Run!(But as they try to make it back to base, they are intercepted by missile fire)
Paxton(angry): I told you not to touch it!
Lana: Look, I don't think we have time for this. And besides, I was the one holding the darn thing in the first place!(Paxton stops for a moment, furiously gritting his teeth and making a fist really tightly before running again)And, you know what? Maybe, if you hadn't been such a jerk, I would have not fired that grenade in the first place! It's not my fault if you tried to make a statement.
Paxton(enraged): I told you... NOT TO TOUCH IT!(This time around, he pushes Lana instead of doing what he did to his sister all those years ago. But as she runs, a missile hits Paxton dead-on)
Warpath(VO): She took everything from me once she got back to base! Your father was at the helm of an investigation, but nobody cared at all what happened to me...except for him.(We soon see Vertigo picking up the fallen Paxton, rebuilding him into Warpath)He gave me another chance to lead my own army into battle! But I won't recruit you into our fold, Black Scorpion. Personally, I don't think it'd be a good idea. And why would it? We both have had our sides picked the moment tragedy struck us both.(They soon enough see that someone has come home, and brought a few more people with her)
Diana: Paxton?
Warpath: Diana? Lana?! You've brought him here?!
Dimitria: I hardly couldn't believe it when Diana wanted to come back home. I must say, this is quite the development.
Diana: Paxton...
Warpath: Things have changed, sister. I go by Warpath, now!
Lana: You do? Paxton, just where is this coming from?
Warpath: Why don't you ask my fellow soldiers that, Lana. I think you'll recognize a few of them, since you're such a stickler for the news...(The ladies and Artie turn to see Commander Polaris, FireArm, Aftershock, the Quakemakers, Wave-Maker, Jestina, the Gangster Prankster, Windfall, Breathtaker, and Vertigo)
Artie: I see your gang has grown, brother.(Chuckles nervously)
Vertigo: Naturally, brother. Look, I know you wanted Black Scorpion jailed, and personally, I, too, never expected to see this kind of craftsmanship. But still...
Warpath: Yes sir!(To FireArm and Polaris)Call the troops. We lay waste to the city at dawn!(Everyone else leaves at their own pace, except for Dimitria)
Dimitria: Of all the villainous traps in all the criminal minds in all the world, you had to fall to a cheap jail cell made entirely out of cardboard. That's just pathetic, and I really expected more out of you!(She leaves as well)
P.I.X.I.E: Ouch, didn't expect to hear that. Still, if those rust buckets are guarding the doorway outta here...(Suddenly, the fire suppression system is activated, short-circuiting the two Mecha-Soldiers guarding the doorway out of the basement.)Go, now! Head toward the elevator.
Black Scorpion: Who are you?
P.I.X.I.E: A friend. Just keep moving.(Dodging some Cyber-Troopers on her way out, she is soon met with a new car)I call it, Turbo Scorpion! Faster. Sleeker. Shinier. And more immune to enemy attacks, you can thank me later.(As our heroine takes her new set of wheels for a test drive, she soon gets a call from none other than Evan)
Evan(through comm): You remember your new friends, don't you?
Black Scorpion: Actually, I wasn't expecting your friend to come and save me like that.
Ramon(through comm): And you won't believe how many car dealer websites P.I.X.I.E had to go through before she found the one, you'd most want.
Franklin(through comm): Yeah, yeah, yeah... In case you two haven't noticed, the police are being swarmed by Warpath and his army! You leave FireArm to us, BS. I know you've got a score to settle with that woman hater!(Meanwhile, Warpath is watching the carnage from far away)
Warpath: I see you've managed to escape my carefully laid-out cell, Black Scorpion. But you cannot escape your fate. Sooner or later, you will be defeated! This is war, after all. And it will never cease, until your side or mine admits defeat! Come, it is time...to die.(The two fight a decisive battle, with neither willing to give up. Eventually, our heroine comes out the victor)I see. So, it seems my piece of the truth has inspired you to keep pushing onward... Interesting. It seems the war has just begun.(On his own communicator)Full retreat...for now.(A few minutes later)
Evan: Well, we won that battle.
Franklin: Yeah? Well, if you ask me, we're still far away from winning this thing. The flames of war may be doused now, but they'll burn hotter than ever come another day. And when such a day comes, we must be ready!
THE FORECAST FOR THE NEXT EDITION IS DOUBLE THE TROUBLE...! And if you're Darcy and the Beetle Boys and Girl, you may need more than a coat and an umbrella to tackle Hurricane and another brand-new menace. This latest storm warning takes effect on the next edition of the most tumultuous team-up never seen before!