We're back with another chapter.
Chapter 13: Fortress Falls Part 1
Earth 5: Paris, France
After Ben divided them into their respective teams, they were all prepared to travel to the areas that had been heavily invaded by Novatron forces. However, Ladybug was deeply troubled by this because she only deals with bad guys who have been turned by her and Cat Noir's arch enemy, Hawk Moth, and that dealing with aliens and other dimensions were a completely different ball park for her. Despite his continual flirtation, her partner is a terrific friend and supporter, therefore she wanted he was here with her. She was accompanied by Zak Saturday, Randy Cunningham, Juniper Lee, and Octus, and they were in Paris, which served as her home on Earth 1. Her biggest hurdle, she believed, would be surviving her first day at a new school. She worried that if her parents, closest friend Alya, and especially Adrien messed up, they would all be gone.
June jolted her out of her thoughts with "Hey, Ladybug." "You okay?" she inquired.
She said, "Uh," pointing at June and the other boys. She stared out the window with a melancholy expression, "I-I'm fine June, just a little nervous." Paris is my hometown and the place where all of my family and friends are; after today, I worry if I'll ever see them again.
Zak nodded in agreement . "Actually, I am concerned for my family as well as the rest of the globe, I understand you Ladybug but my family never raised me as a chicken."
Randy looked down and said, "Mom's probably flipping her lid about where I am." He stroked his temple and said, "I didn't even stop to say goodbye or leave a note to her or my best friend, Howard." He then grinned and said, "Ugh man, in the off chance we do make it out of this, she'll ground me for until graduation." But if she didn't, she wouldn't be my mother.
June responded, "Same with my grandma. Ever since I was born to become the new Te Xuan Ze I never enjoy being a protector from magic to everyone on my earth, but sometimes I always enjoy it because my grandma supports me along with my brother; without them, I would never have become the protector that I am today but they will freaked out where I go."
Octus remained silent as he observed, feeling sorry for his new comrades who were sorely missing their home dimensions. "The planet of my origin has great technology, so perhaps my buddies and I can give you a way to get back to your home dimension after this is all done."
Ladybug grinned. "Really, Octus? You'd do that for us?"
Octus informed them, "Think of it as a token of appreciation for protecting my home," but then he sensed something. "We are getting close to where we are going."
Zak gestures with a solemn tone, "He's right, look below." To their collective horror, they all saw the Novatron fortress, which was just next to the Eiffel Tower, as well as the mayhem that was taking place in the streets of the stunning city.
Randy sighed, "Man, it's almost as bad as Sherman was."
Zak lowered his gaze. Bring us down gradually, Octus, he commanded. "We must remain silent for the duration of this mission."
Octus responded, "Agreed."
Two twins, a boy and a girl, were grabbing onto their mother as she tried to carry the two of them to safety. She was running towards her car but it was blasted to pieces, forcing her to fall down on the ground with her children. The streets of Paris were filled with G3 soldiers who were firing at the Novatrons as well as fleeing citizens who were trying their hardest to escape the Novatron army that was trying to take control of their once peaceful city. The mom covered her children with herself as a barrier to at least rescue her children as she watched a mech stand over them and point its blaster at them. But a tiny black orb struck the mech's head before it could fire. The phrase "Smoke Bomb!"
When the dust settled, the mech stood transfixed and several of its components disintegrated, revealing the Ninja with his sword in hand. Red smoke had engulfed the mech and slicing sounds could be heard. When he noticed soldiers approaching him, he exclaimed, "Oh yeah! Epic ninja takedown!" Ladybug then used her yo-yo to wrap a car around a car and flung it at the soldiers, crushing them to the side.
She grinned at Randy and said, "Now that was an epic Ladybug takedown."
Randy said, "Touché."
Zak swung in utilizing the grapple function of the Claw to swing by. He booted one Novatron in the face and stretched his weapon like a staff and hit another across the face. June used her magic force shield to repel the blasts. Behind her, Octus sent electronic blasts. He said, "Drive these guys away from the people, it'll give them a chance to escape!" When Ladybug ran by June and used her Yo-Yo to latch on a ship, she threw the pilot out and enabled the ship to crash upon additional Novatrons while firing magic energy blasts at the soldiers.
June observed that the fortress had sent additional forces in their direction. She yelled out to her comrades, "Heads up, guys!" More of them are on the way.
Zak urged them to go to that building because "we can't take them all, it'll take too long." The party rapidly avoided the Novatrons' laser fire, took cover on the first floor of an apartment building, and watched as ships searched the city for their targets—targets that their master had ordered to be killed for their persistent interference—while they searched for them.
I can trust these people, Randy said, taking off the top of his mask to let some sweat out. "Starting to wish Ben came with us." "That Way Big form of his could put an end to this in no time."
He pointed at the complex and said, "We don't need brawn to win this fight, we just got to take out that fortress." Every soldier, tank, and ship are coming from that direction; we must somehow destroy it so that they cannot launch an attack.
"Zak, that is a good plan," Octus said." But there is no way in without a fight, and I doubt we'll be prepared to carry it out."
June sighed, "Yeah, I mean, it's not like we can just drive in or something."
Zak noticed a Novatron tank standing alone in the corner and had an idea. "Actually June, I don't think that's a horrible idea."
The Novatrons going within the tank had not yet been able to locate any signs of their intended victims; they believed they must have left the city and were now simply looking for any people to kill when it detected a few energy signatures. "Sir, it appears that the human insurgents about whom our leader warned us have been discovered by our scanners."
The squad leader raised his fist to order the tank's driver to stop. They complied with his command to "you two with me." The three troops got out of the tank and started scouring the area for signs of their opponents. One of them was looking inside a ruined store when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned around, but Ladybug's punch knocked him out. The second soldier heard it and went to investigate, but as he was being pulled into the shadows by the chain around its leg, Randy drew out his revolver and shot the alien. The squad leader desperately searched the area for his foes but was caught off guard as Octus surprised him and Zak blindsided him by tripping him with the Claw.
Zak threw a grenade at the Novatron as June was hovering over the tank and pounded on the door. The bomb sent an electric wave that knocked the driver unconscious. Zak commanded as they entered the tank and sealed the door, "Everyone inside." He questioned the advanced robot, "Octus, think you can pilot this thing?"
The manual controls were examined by Octus. The robot took control of the tank and accelerated toward its destination—the fortress—saying, "I believe I can comprehend the essentials of its functions, even though its technology is unusual."
June questioned, "So what's the plan again?"
The plan is straightforward, according to Zak, "we use this tank as a disguise to infiltrate into the Novatron's fortress, and from there we can execute a little sabotage that might impede their invasion here.
Randy questioned, "And if they make us out?"
"Then we die trying," Zak said.
Randy answered, "Okay, I just wanted to make sure."
To their relief, they soon saw the Novatron fortress come into view. The main entrance opened once the tank was close enough, and they watched as soldiers worked on the fortress' monitors while others entered into the jets and tanks. At this point, the tank drove past some soldiers, but they paid it no mind because they assumed one of their own was inside. Say "Stop there." When the others and Zak went outside, they made sure to be quiet because it wasn't yet time to identify themselves. Zak pointed to the row of tanks. Although they could all see the major controls on the top floor, they still had to worry about the soldiers and war machines. The ideal strategy is stealth; a full frontal assault would be too perilous. All that is left to do is figure out how to enter the main area.
Octus stated, much to everyone's amazement, as his holo-matrix transformed him into a Novatron soldier, "Perhaps I can be of assistance."
Randy gasped in astonishment, "Woah! Octus, is that you?"
The disguised robot responded, "Indeed." I had already scanned a number of Novatrons, so utilizing this disguise would allow me to access their controls of this castle without them suspecting anything. My holo-matrix can display whatever holographic image that comes to mind in order for me to blend in with the environment more.
Zak smiled, "Nice." "The rest of us will do our part while you're doing that, good luck."
Octus dispersed from the group without much difficulty because the passing Novatrons mistaken him for one of their own. He saw his allies sneak up on the war machines, indicating that they were prepared. Now it was his turn, so he entered the main control room and peered at a camera screen. The people inside the room noticed when he put his hand on it and transmitted an electronic pulse that turned off the screens and turned off the entire room.
A soldier asked the disguised robot, "What's going on?" "You there, what on earth do you think you're doing?"
Octus responded with a powerful punch to the face before deactivating his disguise and shocking them with many volts of electricity until they fell asleep.
Zak handed out circular devices to the rest of the party, who then put them in as many ships and tanks as they could. When they were all done, they gathered back up. "And...boom." Zak pushed the trigger, triggering the mechanisms that set off a series of explosions that reduced the entire collection of combat machines to a burning pile of debris.
Randy yelled, "So Bruce!"
Zak said through his communicator, "Octus, we're good here, what about you?"
"I've taken care of the soldiers in the control room, but if we want to completely destroy this complex, may I suggest shorting out the entire power grid here? It only requires a concentrated amount of electricity," the control room officer said.
The group heard Octus say, "Go right ahead, buddy." As an electric shock swept through the entire fortress, shutting off the power and making sure to only strike at objects that resembled Novatrons, the entire structure was powered down in a matter of minutes. Octus then left the control room and reconnected with his team.
Octus declared, "Mission accomplished."
Ladybug yelled, "Alright!" and gave June a high-five.
Randy lifted his fist, "Who's the cheese? We're the cheese!"
"This is Zak Saturday, we've shut down the fortress in Paris. Tell your men to bring some cuffs for each Novatron in this place, Solomon."
"Congratulations. Well done." Solomon said.
Turning to his friends, the young scientist. "Let's hope the others have the same luck we do. This is one place down."
The conflict was still far from over when G3 forces finally barged in and captured the Novatrons that were just starting to awaken.
Tell me what you think.