A/N: Good morning, everybody! That's right, shock of shocks, Ben 10 RWBY is updating a DAY EARLY! As it happens, this chapter actually ended up being a LOT shorter than the previous one… and I pretty much owe that to all the fighting that happens here. Because lemme tell ya, when you get right down to it, writing fight scenes might be hard, but that doesn't necessarily translate to them being LONG in and of themselves. So, with that said, how's about we dive right into things, shall we? Get ready for a surprise, because this is…

Chapter 68: Join Us, Part 2

…..

"…Van Kleiss."

The words dripped like venom off Rex's lips as he spoke the man's name. The man who had time and again sought to conquer his Earth and have EVOs replace humanity as the dominant species. The man who had been there at the Nanite Event all those years ago and had a hand in causing it. …The man who was holding an innocent girl against her will thanks to him taking advantage of her Stockholm Syndrome, only to constantly and without any mercy, abuse and use her like a tool. Rex's hatred for this man had not been quelled in the least since their last meeting, and it wasn't about to any time soon.

Especially since Kleiss himself was wearing the smuggest grin Rex had ever seen him with. "Ah, so you DO remember my name. I was worried that you had forgotten since it's been a while since our last encounter." He extended his arms out, gesturing to his followers surrounding him. "Well, what do you think of my Collective? The Pack, reborn anew!"

"It's about as good as the way YOU look." Rex countered, nudging his chin out at the cult leader. "Didn't think you'd grow your beard back. Never took you as a guy who'd like hobo chic."

Van Kleiss chortled at the comeback. "Hmhm, ah, good to see you still have that wit about you. In a way, I missed it." He raised his golden hand up to the catwalk above, where several of his Collective followers were perched. "But you must admit, this IS quite impressive, is it not? These people have joined me on a journey of self-discovery, and I couldn't be any more thankful to all of them."

Yang scoffed at the notion. "Pfft, yeah, sure, if your idea of "self-discovery" means being mutated into genetic freaks who are NOT normal in the least."

"Also, come on, even YOU know you're spouting a buncha bullshit." Nora stated bluntly.

"Hmph, nothing of the sort, dear girl." Kleiss shook his head in denial. "For you see, our group's mission is exactly what it says on the tin; to help those who feel worthless in life. And what better way is there to help than bringing in an entire new world order? …Through Nanites and EVOs, of course."

Rex tightened his fist so much that if he weren't wearing gloves, his hands would've bled. "I should've guessed that your Creepers were EVOs right from the start. But how the hell did you even GET more active Nanites? I made sure that every single one of them on Earth was deactivated… with a few exceptions like Bobo."

"Why yes, you did… almost." Kleiss began walking around as he explained, putting the team on high alert and keeping their sights glued to him. "Where do you think Breach took us when your world-wide cure was initiated? A place where we were effectively shielded from the wave's power so that we wouldn't be cured? A place that only SHE knew about?" He wore a knowing smile as he tapped his temple. "Think hard, Rex…"

The young EVO furrowed his brow, his mind racing to think of places that only Breach could— 'Wait!' Rex's eyes widened, the realization hitting him like a truck. "She… she took you to her pocket dimension. The one where she keeps her town full of things she likes!"

"Guh, creepy-ass place if you ask me." Skalamander scoffed, rubbing his gut uncomfortably. "Place gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"B-But, I thought it was destroyed." Rex muttered, placing a hand to his forehead. "I-It collapsed after she brought me there… didn't it?"

Biowulf clenched his clawed hand. "It seems that notion was greatly exaggerated, kid. Breach has a better handle on her pocket dimension than you think." His hand trailed across the room, toward each and every one of the Collective members. "It is where we are able to go in order to elude the likes of you… and where we collected the Nanites from its soil."

Van Kleiss took it from there. "And once we did, I had a portion of them injected into my body so that I could start naturally replicating them, which allows for the subsequent creation of our Creepers."

Weiss raised her hand with a quirked brow. "Uh, pardon me, but I thought that Nanite mutations were nigh-unpredictable. How are you able to make them all look the same?"

"An excellent question, young lady." Van Kleiss commended. "I was hoping to hear that one eventually. And the answer lies…" He raised his golden gauntlet over his chest with an eager smile. "…within me."

"…What did you do?" Rex asked, afraid of the answer.

"Through extensive research, an incredible amount of patience and several trials and failures, I have successfully found a way to not only absorb nanites… but replicate them." Van Kleiss curled his gauntlet fingers into a fist. "Not with my own body or gauntlet, admittedly, but still, being able to create Nanites has been incredibly useful so far. Because as you can tell, I can also create and control any EVO I wish, right down to its appearance."

"How?!" Rex snapped. "How the HELL did you do that?!"

Flexing his golden hand, Van Kleiss made several syringe-like needles pop out of his fingertips, unnerving the team with his manic grin. "Oh-ho, Rex, I've been quite busy these past couple of months. Making new allies—incredibly POWERFUL allies in fact—and finding new sources of power that will aid in my takeover of this new world. Quite the accomplishment, is it not?"

"It's NOT! It's SUPER creepy!" Ruby shouted.

Weiss' lips curled uncomfortably at that as well. "Yeah, it's just sick and wrong, no question."

Stomping his foot, Biowulf challenged the two on that. "Well, what you call "sick and wrong", WE call our salvation! Soon, the Collective will bring a new order of EVOs to this world. And eventually, we will return to the world we left behind to start fresh as well." His attention went to Jocelyn, the blonde flinching while Pyrrha stood her ground in front of her. "Jocelyn, please, what we seek WILL truly help you gain confidence in yourself. Once you experience what its like to be an EVO, you will experience bower beyond anything that you thought you could wield! With that power, you can take back your life!"

By this point, though, Jocelyn was in tears as she stayed firmly behind Pyrrha. "You… you LIED to me! You don't want to make my life better! You want to turn me and other people into MONSTERS like YOU!"

Van Kleiss sighed in disappointment. "And there it is. Everyone is so quick to take out the "M" word in regards to us…" He smiled proudly as Mitchel and Katie came up on his sides, the two bowing to him loyally. "Thankfully, the most devout members of the Collective DO recognize EVOs for what they truly are. Not monsters, but beings that are simply misunderstood." His eyes trailed back to Rex once again. "Surely you must know about that all too well, Rex."

"…Unlike you, I've KEPT most of my humanity, Van Kleiss." Rex refuted, sticking his nose up at the man. "I've seen you for who you really are, and if these people are smart, they eventually will, too."

"So you STILL travel down the path of heathenry?!" Mitchel stood up abruptly, whipping around and pointing to Rex. "The Exalted One has aided us in seeing the light!"

"He's shown us the way." Katie agreed… as she and Mitchell took out a pair of syringes from their pockets. "…And soon, you will as well."

The Omni-Hunters were left astonished as Rex momentarily paled, knowing exactly what was in those needles. "NO!" he dashed forward, reaching out to stop what they were about to do. "Don't do it!"

Mitchell and Katie didn't listen, pulling back their collars and bringing the needles above their necks. "For the Collective" they both said at once before plunging the syringes in… and injecting themselves with Nanites. The heroes gasped as the duo immediately began convulsing, their bodies twisting and evolving into new forms and shapes as Nanites could be heard powering up.

Mitchell's right arm began contorting and expanding into a massive set of claws—or more accurately, a large pincer—which was then covered in a thick, purple carapace that his skin had thickened into. His right hand remained with five fingers, but they were much sharper, and from out of his wrist, a black stinger jutted out. His lower jaw split into a pair of mandibles as his teeth sharpened, and his eyes glazed over in a golden yellow, becoming much rounder with several smaller eyes popping out of his forehead. His two legs suddenly split into four spindly ones, though they quickly grew so that they were much thicker and could support his weight. Finally, from the center of his chest, a pulsating, yellow energy core appeared, one that sent several yellow lines trailing out across his body. Overall, Mitchel appeared to be some sort of black and purple quadrupedal scorpion-like monster with a human-shaped torso and arms, with an overall monstrous appearance.

Katie, though, was a bit simpler when it came to her transformation. From out of her skin, long, sharp, pinkish-red feathers came bursting out, her facial features sharpening… and eventually forming into a beak. Her eyes glowed bright green as her pinkie fingers extended out into a pair of massive wings, her hands becoming clawed and deadly. Her legs became much more birdlike from top to bottom as well, talons included. Finally, as she flapped her wings for the first time, bursts of flame came erupting from out of her body, including a new hole in her back where a jet of fire suddenly propelled her into the air. In the end, Katie was now a humanoid avian creature, most resembling a bipedal bird of prey.

Initially, the woman was taken aback by her new vantage point… but quickly found herself to be enjoying the view. "Hah… o-oh my gosh, this is AMAZING!"

"I know!" Mitchell snapped his new claw, getting a feel for it while his lower lips split while he spoke. "I can already feel the power coursing through me!" He opened his pincer and thrust it into the air… and unexpectedly shot a beam of yellow plasma energy straight through the roof. Mitchell gawked at the display of power that he just performed and began to laugh, almost manically so. "Hah… hahaha! HAHAHA! YES! We're no longer weaklings! Our lives are in OUR hands now!"

"…Not in the least." Ren mumbled in horror, the Omni-Hunters very wary of the duo's mental state.

"This is bad." Jaune agreed, pointing his sword at Van Kleiss. "What the HELL did you do to them?! Answer me!"

Kleiss was nonplussed at the vague threat. "Hmph, I simple gave them what they've been asking for all this time… the power to control their lives. The day-to-day slog can be so taxing, so a break from the norm can do wonders for someone…" The cult leader came over to the two, setting his hands on their shoulders with a proud smile. "Now, the two of you need new names befitting of this new stage in your lives. What do you wish to be called?"

Katie put a clawed finger to the tip of her new beak in thought. "Hm… well… considering I'm a fire bird, I think using my mother's maiden name would be appropriate." The bird EVO narrowed her eyes at the team of heroes. "You will now call me Fenix. As Katie Williams burns away, I shall rise from her ashes."

"Ooh, poetic." Mitchell snapped his claw anxiously as he thought of his new name. "As for me, I wanna be called something cool. And considering I just blasted through the roof…" The scorpion EVO slammed his claw into the ground, causing a large energy ripple as the cement floor cracked. "You can call me Power-Claw! I'll blast my way through anyone who doubts the Exalted One!"

"Excellent!" With an approving clap, Van Kleiss smirked with anticipation. "Now, it is time to put your new powers to good use. The time for subtly is over…" He raised his metal hand and pointed to the heroes. "…Get rid of them!"

Power-Claw gave a vibrating hiss while Fenix let out a powerful screech, the two charging toward the heroes with Biowulf and Skalamander following with them. However, Rex had seen enough, and what he had seen did NOT sit well with him. "GRAAAH!" Pulling deep from his frustrations, Rex brought out his Block Party and raised the shields, using them to bash all four EVOs away. "ENOUGH!" He quickly exchanged that build for his Smack Hands, pointing a large finger at his adversary. "I'm not here to play your stupid games Van Kleiss! I'm gonna cure those two and then you're GOING to tell me where Breach is!"

"Ah, yes, Breach." Van Kleiss said knowingly. "Well, if you're hoping she would be nearby, you're sadly mistaken. She is currently back home… where she belongs. Speaking of which…" He pulled back his sleeve, speaking into his golden gauntlet; "Bring the others home, would you dear?" As if on cue, several red and black portals opened up, allowing every single other Collective member to leave without a trace.

"NO!" At this point, Rex was gritting his teeth as the four monstrous EVOs got back to their feet. He knew they wouldn't be that easily dispatched… but he couldn't deal with the four of them at the moment. He NEEDED to get to Kleiss. 'He's the only one who knows how to get to her. We HAVE to set her free!'

Just then, Rex felt a reassuring hand grasp his shoulder, and he peered back to see Weiss staring up at him. "We can handle Kleiss' cronies. You do what you have to do."

The young EVO's gaze shifted from anger to concern. "Are you sure?"

"Rex, we've faced worse." Blake piped up, unsheathing Gambol Shroud as everyone else readied their weapons. "We'll be fine. Besides, Ben and the others are on their way too, so—"

"Hmhmhm…" Van Kleiss chortled, gaining their attention once more. "Oh, I'm afraid you'll find that Mr. Tennyson will be… held up for quite some time. We've set a… "creepy" surprise for him and your other friends, as it were."

The Collective began laughing along with Kleiss, watching as the heroes grew ever more irritated. "Alright, they are officially getting on my nerves." Pyrrha thrust her hand up and pressed a button on Akouo, the javelin shifting and moving until it transformed into a compound bow with a laser string connecting each end. She pulled back on the string and an energy arrow formed immediately, much like Rook's Proto-Tool. "Let's take them out, shall we?" She

"Agreed." Ren said as he brandished Stormflower, but not before eyeing Jocelyn seriously. "Go, get outside and find a place to hind until the Plumbers arrive. They'll help you out from there."

Jocelyn gave a shaky grin before running for the door. "R-Right. A-And thank you!"

Once the young woman was clear, Rex rolled his neck, popping a few muscles to prepare himself. "Alright… everyone, pair off and take an EVO…" His and Kleiss' eyes met, both men prepared for combat. "…Van Kleiss is mine." Both sides gave out simultaneous battle cries as they charged toward one another, meeting in the middle of the garage for an all-out brawl.

…..

Just a couple short blocks away, Overflow had reconnoitered with Sun, Neptune, Ilia and Penny, the five of them rushing toward the warehouse as fast as they could. Thankfully, Penny was easily capable of tracking down the rest of the team via their scroll signals, so it wouldn't be long until they arrived at their destination. "Grandpa Max, we're closing in on the Collective's location. Are you and the Plumber's ready?"

"We're getting close, too, Ben. Just a few blocks out." Max replied. "We'll meet you there."

"Good, see you then." Overflow deactivated the Omnitrix's comm as he addressed his squad; "Alright team, here's how things are gonna go; we've gotta be prepared for anything once we arrive. If the Collective really ARE the Pack like Rex thinks, then they're no doubt very powerful. And if Rex has revealed their identities, I have a feeling that they'll stop holding back against us."

"Agreed." Ilia nodded. "And they're also likely to have a bunch of Creepers, too, so—"

"Wait!" Penny stopped in mid-flight and landed on the sidewalk, holding her arm out to stop the others. "I'm detecting a presence…" She switched her eyes to her night-vision mode and jogged up to a nearby alleyway, and sure enough, she saw at least three figures approaching from the shadows. "Show yourselves!" Penny challenged as her teammates all brandished their weapons, backing her up. "Are you with the Collective?!"

An echo of low, sinister chuckles could be heard after she asked that, and from out of the alley the trio of hooded figures emerged. They were all brandishing syringes as well, which they immediately stabbed into their necks. "FOR THE EXALTED ONE!" they all shouted before convulsing and morphing into a set of three large Creepers, their dead-eyed stares boring right into the heroes.

Neptune felt a chill go up his spin seeing their boney, disturbing faces and stretched-back, gnarled smiles again. "Ugh, I forgot how creepy these things are."

"Same." Sun pulled Ryui Jingu Bang apart into their gun-chuck mode, ready to engage. "But we can't let these idiots get in our way."

"Just don't let all three of them gang up on you." Overflow advised, bringing out a pair of water swords. "Otherwise they'll combine into a horrifying eyesore and become nearly impossible to take on all at once." And just like that, Overflow rushed into battle, his swords clashing with the sharpened claws of the center Creeper as they dueled down the alleyway.

But what the Cascan said made Neptune do a doubletake. "I'm sorry, they can do WHAT now?!"

"Enough chatter." Ilia whipped out her Lightning Lash and belted it toward the Creeper on the left, striking it with a strong electric shock. "Let's take these creeps! Penny, with me!"

Penny saluted and brought out her Floating Array arm blades, shifting them into their laser gun mode. "Affirmative!" She charged forward and let loose a volley of laser blasts that hit the Creeper straight in the chest, with Ilia following after her and vaulting off her shoulders. The chameleon girl landed straight on the Creeper's head and tied her Lightning Lash around its neck, delivering a much more severe shock to its system. The beast roared and staggered back into a wall, but Ilia was able to leap off and allow Penny to charge right into it, plowing it straight through the bricks.

Sun gave a nod over to his partner, signaling to go. "Alright, Neptune, let's hit it!"

The monkey boy charged forward, much to Neptune's surprise. "W-Wait, we're starting now?!" The blue-haired boy sighed and lowered his goggles, shifting Tri-Hard into its rifle mode so he could stay as far away from the beast as possible. While Sun delivered hard-hitting punishment from the front, Neptune circled around the beast and unloaded several Lightning Dust rounds into its body from all sides. Still, they didn't seem to be doing all that much compared to Ilia's direct attacks. "Gah, come on, dude, can we at least plan our attack first?!"

As he smacked his gun-chucks into the Creeper over and over to no avail, Sun had to admit that his blunt-force attacks weren't doing all that much. At most, they just left a few scorch marks, while Neptune's blasts were only leaving traces of a bullet wound. "Ugh, this seriously isn't working out too good. Did they get an upgrade?"

"Maybe? I dunno!" Neptune paused his attack and motioned for his friend to fall back. "Come on, we gotta rethink this!"

Further down the alley, Overflow had successfully backed his Creeper up on the other end of the Alley, bringing both of them out on the opposite street. The moment they emerged, all traffic came to a halt and people began screaming in fear, either leaving their cars entirely or turning around to drive away. Overflow saw an opportunity and kicked the Creeper straight in its chest, making it trip and tumble over the hood of one of these cars. Now in the middle of the street, the beast roared and leapt up onto the car's roof, only to then pounce at Overflow with its hands clawed and ready to strike.

But before it could, Overflow extended his arm, his sword destabilizing before the water blasted out straight into the Creeper's face, sending it back from whence it came. "Not to day, bug-eyes!" Controlling the water now, Overflow began surfing across the waterslide he was making, circling around the Creeper and gaining speed all the while. The beast tried to keep track of him… but all that did was make it very dizzy. It spun around so much that, eventually, it lost its balance and fell onto its face, which Overflow took advantage of and brought his remaining water blade down into its back, slicing a clean gash in its tough hide.

"GYAAAAAAUUUGGHH!" The monster rolled around, trying to clench onto its back to no avail.

"Hmph, yeah, not so fun being that big, huh—WOAH!" Overflow was caught off guard when the Creeper suddenly swung its arm and caught him in its grasp, pinning him against a nearby wall so that it could roar angrily in his face. Overflow winced, not in pain, but in disgust at the rank smell he was getting. "Ugh, ew! Two words; breath mint!" The creature opened its mouth, seemingly to chomp down on his head.

Seeing the open orifice, this gave Overflow an idea he was hoping to try. "Alright, let's see how you like this!" The respirator on the Cascan's face opened up and a stream of piping hot water gushed out into the Creeper's mouth, making it scream once again and go reeling back as it held its lips closed.

As he watched the beast writhe on the pavement, Overflow created a watery morningstar weapon and SLAMMED it straight into its head, bringing it down and rendering it unconscious. "All too easy. Now, how do I hold you in place…" The hero glanced down toward his hand, opening the hole in his palm. "Well, if I can control the temperature of my water, then maybe…" He thrust his arm down and shot a jet of ice-cold water onto the creature, only for it to then freeze completely upon contact. "Haha! Yes! I CAN make ice! Man, Overflow's a jack of several trades."

*BOOM*

The Cascan whipped his head around and saw another Creeper come crashing through a building, with both Ilia and Penny clinging to its back as it charged… directly at him. "Uh-oh, better move!" And that, Overflow did, but not before making a thin sheet of ice on the street. "Ilia, Penny, hop off for a sec!"

The girls weren't sure why he would want them to, but they followed his advice nonetheless. Sure enough, once the Creeper made it to the middle of the road, it slipped and flipped over onto its head, belting out an agonizing roar while clutching its cranium. "Hah, nice one, Ben!" Ilia commended. "Thanks for the assist, but we'll take it from here. Penny?"

"On it!" Penny brought out her Mechano-Crushers and launched herself at the beast, slamming one of her massive spiked hands into its chest. The Creeper sailed directly toward another building, but Ilia caught its hand in her whip just in time, using its momentum to instead swing it around and send it hurdling into an abandoned dump truck.

From there, Penny took hold of the monster in her larger set of arms and flung it high into the sky, where she followed after with her Air Heart jetpack. Once she was above the Creeper, she exchanged the jetpack for her Block Buster boots, falling straight down and smashing the spiked feet into it. The two came careening back down to earth… and then landed right in the dump truck's bucket, sending dirt and rust flying everywhere.

Ilia and Overflow watched as Penny climbed her way out of the bucket, giving them both a thumbs up. "Hah… target, subdued."

"Excellent work." Overflow approved, nodding both to her and Ilia. "Both of you did great! Now, where's Sun and Neptune?"

"GYAAAAAHH!" The trio snapped around just in time to see the aforementioned duo running down the street, with Neptune screaming as the Creeper chased after them. "Seriously, man?! How the HELL did you guys take yours down so easily?!"

Rolling her eyes, Ilia waved over to the blue-haired boy. "It's really not that hard! Come on, Neptune, show some backbone!"

"She's got a point, dude!" Sun stopped on a dime and skid to a halt, attempting to focus on his Semblance. "Time to take this seriously."

Neptune skid to a halt next to him, pointing his gun at the approaching monster. "Finally got a plan, huh?!"

The monkey boy raised a brow to his friend. "You could call it that, but you'll need to be a team player here. You'll need to get in close and give that thing a REAL jolt!" Sun's eyes snapped back to the Creeper as it closed in, raising a hand to swipe it at them. "And you better do it like RIGHT NOW—"

"KRAAAW!"

Team SN were taken off guard by the sudden crow from above, as were their friends. And shortly after, much to everyone's shock, something very odd happened. From out of nowhere… a woodpecker swooped in and flew straight into the Creeper's face, pecking and scratching at its eyes with its sharp toe claws. The beast bellowed and stumbled back, waving its hands up to try and shoo the woodpecker away. But all it did was change its position, pecking at the back of its head, its ears, and even its chin wherever possible. All anyone could do at that moment was gawk at what was happening in disbelief. "Uh… what's happening?" Ilia asked.

"For once… I do not know." Penny tilted her head stiffly, doing the calculations in her head. "The probability of a bird assisting us is less than point-one percent."

Overflow, however, narrowed his eyes at the bird, finding it familiar. "Wait… is that the same woodpecker that flew into Kevin's house?!" His focus shifted to Sun and called out; "Dude, I dunno what kinda deity blessed you, but I think you've got some sorta guardian animal on your side!"

His jaw dropping like a ton of bricks, Sun found that VERY hard to comprehend. "…You mean to tell me that I've got a freaking woodpecker as a protector?!" Briefly, the woodpecker stopped its assault, landed on the Creeper's head… and then saluted to Sun with its wing, before then continuing the annoying onslaught. "…I'm gonna find whichever god blessed me with a cockamamy BIRD and give them a piece of my—"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" Ilia advised. "This is your opportunity!"

"…Oh, yeah, it is, isn't it?" Sun began focusing on his Semblance again, his hair glowing bright. "Neptune, this is your chance. While Pecky's got the thing distracted, get behind it and then let him have it with Tri-Hard. I'll finish it off."

Without missing a beat, Neptune lifted his goggles and asked; "…You named it "Pecky"?"

"Oh, just go!"

"Alright, alright, fine! Jeez…" Flipping Tri-Hard up in the air, Neptune transformed it into its guandao mode before its blade split, bringing it into tri-dent mode. "Here goes nothin'!" With impressive speed, Neptune ran straight past the Creeper and then circled right back around so he was now behind it. And, with a quick slash to the back of its knee, he made the Creeper buckle down onto all fours. "GRAAAAH!" Shouting with a leap, Neptune then brought Tri-Hard's blade straight into its right shoulder, blasting a massive amount of electricity into the monster as the woodpecker flew away. Pulling back, he watched as the beast struggled to give out, calling out to Sun; "NOW, DUDE!"

His mind now focused squarely on the target before him, Sun's aura began glowing as four Via Sun clones emerged from his body. The four clones bound directly for the Creeper and then piled on top of it, wherein Sun brought up one of his gun-chucks. "Goodbye…" Sun kissed the barrel of his gun and took aim, "…and Goodnight."

*BANG*

The Fire Dust bullet sailed through the air and struck one of the clones, causing a massive burst of flame to flow through all of them before they all exploded in a glorious blaze. The now-charred Creeper was sent careening through the air and landed on top of a car, caving in the roof and sending glass flying all over. The Creeper slipped into unconsciousness, it the pain overwhelming it. And, within moments, all three Creepers returned to their human state, leading the heroes to gather them and tie them up.

"Woo-hoo! That's right, we laid the SMACKDOWN on these idiots!" Neptune pumped a fist into the air victoriously, which Sun was all too eager to bump back.

"…With a bit of coaxing, yes." Ilia commented with another eye roll. "So, what do we do with them?"

"The Plumbers should be on their way soon." Overflow informed, tapping the Omnitrix on his chest. "I just contacted them. But right now, we've got bigger things to worry about. No doubt these three were placed here in order to keep us busy while the rest of the Collective deal with our teammates."

Penny affirmed the hero's thought. "Indeed. The Collective must have known about our split-up strategy." She craned her head off down the road, pointing sternly toward the south east. "They should be in that direction. Come, let us—"

*SHOOOOM*

"Huh?" Penny and the others perked their heads up at the sudden sound of jet engines flying overhead… and were met with quite the surprising sight. A small, V-Shaped aircraft painted orange and yellow went zooming straight over their heads, making them duck as an intense wind nearly blew them over. They watched as the craft went flying over several buildings before ultimately landing… directly where Penny had pointed before. "Unidentified Aircraft approaching the location of the Collective's base!"

Sun's hands flew up to his forehead. "Oh for the love of—what the heck is going on NOW?!"

Overflow, however, knew exactly who that jet probably belonged to. "Hehe… that would be my surprise." The team collectively turned their heads to him in confusion, only for the hero to press the Omnitrix and transform into Four Arms, the Tetramand wearing a smirk of anticipation. "Come on. Time to go catch up with some friends of ours… and kick the Collective to the curb!"

…..

*beep* *beep*

*PEW*

*beep* *beep*

*PEW*

Weiss' concentration was at an all time low. She was TRYING to fight the enemy before her; the recently self-named "Power-Claw", but there was a constant stream of noise infiltrating her ears at the same time. An odd beeping followed by something being fired, but she couldn't tell what. She was constantly on the move as well to avoid the scorpion EVO's incoming blasts and the whip-like stinger that he lashed out from his arm, so Weiss couldn't exactly stop to find out, but from the sound of it, it must've been close by. Power-Claw laughed in delight before jumping straight at her, which she responded with creating a time-displacement glyph to increase her speed and get out of the way.

"Gah, so annoying." Weiss chided, both at the EVO and the noise.

Next to her, Pyrrha came to a halt as well, lifting up her new bow to take aim at the villain. "Tell me about it. He will NOT stay still. Perhaps it's time for a different approach…" She pulled back on her bow's string… and the irritating noise came back.

*beep* *beep* *beep*

Weiss did a doubletake at the sound, seeing that, on the back of Pyrrha's bow, there was a light indicator where three yellow blips came flashing up in the shape of a triangle, accompanied by the beeping sound. And she also noticed that, the longer Pyrrha held the laser string back, the brighter the energy arrow would glow. "Wait, is THAT—"

*BEEP*

Just then, in the center of the three yellow lights, a red light appeared, and that's when Pyrrha let go of the string. Her laser arrow was sent flying, only to then spawn off and separate into several arrows which darted around through the air before making impact with Power-Claw, blowing him back several feet. "GYAH!" Flipping through the air, the EVO managed to land on his four arachnid legs, slamming his pincer into the ground to stop himself. "Hah, not bad, red! Wasn't expecting that."

"Me either!" Weiss said, flabbergasted. "THAT'S where that stupid noise was coming from?"

"Indeed." Pyrrha affirmed with a cheery smile. "It's a charge indicator for my arrows. The moment the red light pops up, the arrow is charged enough for a BIG attack." The Invincible Girl was so bubbly as she explained how it worked that Weiss almost felt bad for complaining about it. "Isn't it grand?"

The heiress pursed her lips at the question. "Depends on how you perceive it, I guess. …But why do I get the feeling that you were inspired by Jaune's sword upgrade?" Pyrrha's smile didn't let up, which all but affirmed Weiss' thought. "Hmph, I figured as much. Does YOUR weapon speak now, too?"

"HEY!" Power-Claw shouted, thrusting his pincer and opening it to unleash another energy blast. "Pay attention to me, will ya?!"

Sharing a yelp, the pair dodged the yellow plasma beam and Pyrrha landed in a crouch, reaching into her belt to take out a vial of Ice Dust. "Perhaps this will answer your question, Weiss…" Pyrrha pulled open a compartment on the side of her bow and inserted the vial, closing it up… and the weapon spoke;

"Ice Dust Loaded—Ready for Charge"

Pyrrha smiled and knocked back the laser string, only this time, the energy arrow was glowing with a chilly blue color, with ice and snow already forming around it. "Take this!" Once she let the arrow fly, the Akouo announced; "Ice Arrow Strike!", and the projectile hit Power-Claw in the leg, freezing him directly to the floor.

"Grah! H-Hey!" The EVO raised his pincer and SMASHED the ice… a little too hard as his knee buckled in pain. "Grr, you'll pay for that!"

"Huh, you know, that's not too bad." Weiss admitted… only for a sly grin to form on her lips as a thought entered her mind. She spun Myrtenaster's inner barrel and focused on her Semblance again. "Say… why don't we take this to the next level, hm?"

"Oh, definitely." Pyrrha agreed, the two dodging yet another energy blast from Power-Claw. "Let us show this newbie how fighting is REALLY done!"

Power-Claw growled as he skulked closer to the duo. "What the hell are you two talking abou—AGH!" But then, he found that he couldn't move in the slightest… and that a large, black glyph had appeared around his legs. "W-What?! What is this?!"

Weiss raised her chin, showing her superiority. "This is what happens when you don't pay attention in a fight. Power is one thing, but it's how you USE that power that really matters." Weiss switched to her Ice Dust and created four more glyphs of increasing size in front of her and Pyrrha, all of them glowing brightly. "Now, it's time we put you…"

"…On ice." Pyrrha pulled back on her bow and aimed directly for the center of the glyphs, waiting until the fourth blip appeared on her weapon before unleashing the final attack;

"Ice Arrow Victory!"

The arrow once again split off as it traveled through the Ice Glyphs, collecting extra energy as they passed through each one. Power-Claw's eyes widened and he let out a scream as the projectiles made impact… and he was frozen in place in an instant. Weiss and Pyrrha cheered, sharing a high-five at their combo finisher. "Woo! Now THAT was fantastic!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yes, quite spectacular!" Pyrrha nodded. "Now, let's go help the others—"

*KRA-BLAM*

The girls screamed and fell back as Power-Claw's laser beam broke through the ice, freeing him from his prison. His mandibles chattered and his body trembled, shivering even from only spending a moment in the ice. "Th-Th-That w-w-was s-so F-F-F-FUNNY, ladies!" He thrust his other arm forward, sending out his segmented, arm-mounted stinger tail out toward them. "Now let's see how you like dealing with POISON! Prepare to be stung with FEAR by Power-Claw!"

…..

Blake had expected to fight many things tonight. A Creeper or two, Bishop and Scales—or rather, Biowulf and Skalamander as they had recently learned—and even the Exalted One himself. Of course, Rex had called dibs on Van Kleiss, and she couldn't blame him. If she was faced with HER sworn enemy, she'd gladly take the same opportunity. However, of all the things she DIDN'T expect to fight… a tall bird woman who shot feathers from her body that burned with red flames and were as sharp as steel was NOT one of them. She and Ren were currently dashing every which way around Fenix as she flew above them, flinging her arms to shoot said feathers as projectiles at them.

The feathers were so hot that, the moment they pierced the cement floor, it melted around it, which made Ren just a slight bit nervous. "So, any ideas on how to handle a fanatical fiery bird of prey?" he asked.

"Working on it!" Blake exclaimed, striking some more feathers away with Gambol Shroud. She was duel-wielding the sword and its sheath for this, as the feathers were many and they were quite fast in their flight.

"There is no hope for you!" the former Katie Williams cried out. "Just give up already and we can end this right now!"

Blake narrowed her eyes at the bird woman. "Oh, NOW you're trying the cooperative approach? AFTER you willingly transformed yourself into a giant bird?!"

"It was a necessary step!" Fenix argued, spreading her wings as she landed on a steel beam high above. "Through this incredible gift, the Exalted One has helped free my mind of all my past troubles. No longer am I weighed down by the expectations of society—the PRESSURES of everyday life! I feel incredibly free!"

The cat girl winced as Fenix preached her beliefs. Of course, she herself knew that going through life trying to live at least somewhat stably must have been hard for a lot of people, but at the same time… "Katie, listen, I understand where you're coming from. Life IS hard, and sometimes it feels like it'll kick you while you're down, but… is changing yourself into THIS really necessary?"

"I-I… Y-You're just trying to get in my head!" Fenix couldn't tell, but Blake heard it; the doubt that was in her voice. "There is nothing the Exalted One can't accomplish through using Nanites to better the world! You'll see! You will ALL see!" She extended her arms out once again, declaring; "When I spread my wings, you'd better be prepared for a force unlike any other!"

Blake sighed, loading a Water Dust capsule into Gambol Shroud. "I was afraid you'd say that. …Ren, NOW!"

It was then that Fenix could hear something behind her, but by the time she turned around, it was too late. "W-Wha-huh—GYAAH!" Ren had climbed up to the catwalk and then vaulted further up to her position, only to come running at her and deliver a double thrust kick straight to her midsection. He road down to the floor on her stomach and then launched himself off when they landed, taking aim with Stormflower and peppering her with Lightning Dust bullets. "GAH—AHG! STOP!"

"…You brought this upon yourself, Katie." Blake said in disappointment, focusing on her Semblance. "I'm sorry." She launched herself forward straight at Fenix, only to disappear in a split second and leave behind a shadow clone made entirely of water. The deluge came down on Fenix and she screamed, her flames going out all at once as she writhed in pain.

"GYAAAAAH! W-What—AGH! W-Why does water… hurt?!"

"You're literally on fire and you weren't hurt." Ren pointed out, going for one last shot. "Stands to reason that water makes you weaker… and this'll probably hurt too." Pulling the trigger, Ren shot a single round of Lightning Dust at Fenix, the water conducting the electricity all around her body and making her spasm in agony. Overwhelmed by it all, Fenix dropped to the floor, now unconscious as Blake reappeared next to Ren. "Great work."

"Thanks…" Blake sent a downcast look to the bird woman. "…I just wish we didn't have to do that to someone who isn't experienced in fighting. We need to get her and Mitchell back to normal, and get them the help they need."

Ren agreed unstintingly, placing a hand on Blake's shoulder. "And we will. But first, we need to take the rest of the Pack down. Come on, let's help the others." Giving a halfhearted nod, Blake followed Ren over to Weiss and Pyrrha, but not before giving Fenix one last glance past her shoulder.

'We'll find a way to help you. I promise.'

…..

Arcoss the room, Yang and Nora were currently working their way through a different opponent; Skalamander. Seeing the massive, bulky and frankly quite freaky EVO, the powerhouses of RWBY and JNPR agreed that he would be the one they'd need to take on. Yang was pummeling away at the massive, crystalline appendage he was using to block her attacks, chipping away at the gleaming rocks while Nora circled around and tried to take him off-balance with some hammer strikes. However, that proved hard when one of his eyes was literally pointed toward his back. Each time Nora went for a swing, Skalamander would simply jump out of the way with surprising height, taking the two girls aback.

"Bah-haha!" Skalamander gurgled a laugh as more spittle ran down the side of his lopsided mouth. "You think you little girlies can fool me? This ain't my first rodeo!"

Both Yang and Nora grimaced as he chuckled, the sight of his belly jiggling unnaturally as spit dribbled onto it unnerving them. "Uh… yeah, could you mind NOT talking?" Yang requested.

"Like… at all?" Nora added. "You're freaking us out."

Skalamander balked and raised his crystal arm. "Well, let's see if THIS freaks ya out!" All at once, several of the rock-hard crystals came shooting out at the two girls, forcing them to jump away as they imbedded into the ground where they once stood. Skalamander took the opportunity to go after Yang, thinking her to be an easier target. "GOTCHA!"

Yang let out a yelp as Skalamander swiftly swung his arm into her midsection, and then proceeded to charge her through several walls of the garage before coming back into the main room, tossing her into an old lift that bent when she crashed into it. "GAH-HAHAHA! Easy pickin's!" Skalamander grinned.

"You just made a BIG mistake, Scale Belly!" Nora rushed the reptilian EVO, tossing Magnhild up so that it transformed into its grenade launcher mode. Catching it as she jumped, Nora took aim and fired two projectiles at the walking, green gut, causing a massive, pink explosion that sent him flying back through the holes he had just made.

"GRAAUGH!" Skalamander landed in a heap, breaking as desk and sending old papers flying everywhere. Picking himself up, he leaned through the hole and growled; "Grrr, lucky shot, princess, but now it's MY turn to—hrrk!"

Just then, a hand reached out and grabbed hold of Skalamander's leathery neck skin, pulling him out and slamming him onto the ground. The lizard EVO looked up and, standing with a red-eyed glare, was Yang. She clenched her teeth as she took hold of Skalamander's skinny hand by force and asked; "Who's a little bitch?"

Skalamander went to roll onto his back and fling her off. "That'd be yo—AAAUUGH!"

Yang was too fast. With all her might, she wrenched his arm and bent the elbow at a very unnatural angle, an audible POP coming from the limb. "Wrong, try again. Who is… a little… bitch?"

*WHA-BOOM* A gasp escaped Skalamander's lips as he felt his crystal arm get SLAMMED down on hard, followed by an explosion before several tiny pieces of gem shards scattered everywhere. As best he could, he glanced over and saw Nora, her hammer planted down firmly on his larger, more tendril-like hand that usually held a surplus of crystals… but not anymore. "The REAL answer?" Nora squinted at the EVO. "You."

With a mighty battle cry, Yang wrenched on Skalamander's arm again and tossed him straight up into the air, making him scream as both she and Nora jumped after him. The two powerhouses readied a punch and hammer swing, both of them unloading a fiery strike into the EVO's gut and sending him straight back down… where he landed directly on top of Power-Claw. "GWAHH! Ach, Mr. Skalamander, what's this about?!"

"Guuuh…" Skalamander uttered in a daze. "Kid, DON'T mention this to any of the other members."

"Don't tell me that those girls are beating you!"

"They're stronger than they look!" Skalamander shot up to his four legs, clutching his dislocated arm with his larger one. "We've gotta regroup and—uh-oh." The two's conversation was cut off when they suddenly found themselves surrounded on all sides. Yang, Nora, Blake, Ren, Weiss and Pyrrha now all had their weapons trained on them, ready to fire at will. "…You've gotta be kiddin' me."

Weiss smiled victoriously. "Hm, good, we've got both of the four-legged freaks right where we want them."

Pyrrha furrowed her brow at Power-Claw in particular. "Excellent, now would you like to come quietly… or should I break out my poison arrows?"

"HA! You think poison can work on ME, lady?!" Power-Claw challenged.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should've specified; they're Hydra venom arrows."

With all eight of his eyes widening, the former Mitchell recalled the incident with the gigantic beast that had broken through their old hideout. "You… you killed that thing?"

"We did." Ren affirmed. "It was a spectacular battle, you should've stayed for it."

"Though let's face it, if you DID stick around back then, we probably wouldn't be here." Nora smirked. "That hydra would've had you all for lunch!"

Skalamander stomped his foot. "Shut yer traps! You aren't getting away with this for long…" He let his small arm go limp and raised his bigger one, with crystals already beginning to regrow in his hand. "Kid, let's switch it up. I'll go fer the weaklings an' you can take the tough ones."

"How is THAT fair?" Power-Claw questioned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, do I gotta remind ya who has the useless arm right now?!" Skalamander snapped before pointing over at the unconscious Fenix, lying on the cold floor not too far away. "Do ya WANNA end up like her?!"

Power-Claw's jaw dropped in disbelief. "No… Fenix!" Clenching his teeth with rage, the scorpion EVO let out a crying hiss and flung his pincer open, charging it with power as he aimed it at Blake. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!" As he fired his laser, Blake, Ren and Weiss were forced to double back, allowing Skalamander to follow after them.

Yang, Nora and Pyrrha, however, grouped up with one another, prepared to face Power-Claw. "You brought this on yourself, Michy." The Blonde Brawler slammed her fists together as her aura burned around her. "Now you're gonna learn what it means to be a bad guy who crosses our path. Ladies, GO!" The trio dashed toward Power-Claw, ready and willing to take him down.

…..

As all of that was happening, though, that left Ruby and Jaune facing none other than Biowulf… and Rex and Van Kleiss were in the midst of their own battle not too far away. The two Beacon team leaders were handling themselves fairly well in their fight with the bio-mechanical canine, their blades clashing against his jagged claws while they attacked him with the occasional elemental blast. Jaune had gone into sword and shield mode with Crocea Mors for the defensive and ranged advantage, but Ruby was all about putting pressure on the EVO with Crescent Rose, using her Semblance in tandem with her weapon as she usually did.

…And Biowulf was getting very annoyed. "Gah! AUGH! Would you—ERK! Hold STILL!" he growled as Ruby struck him from several angles.

The Hooded Huntress came to a stop, perched up on some nearby metal boxes. "Hmm… no." She zipped off just in time to avoid Biowulf's claws, which sliced through the metal like a hot knife through butter. "Also, ya might wanna watch out!"

"For WHAT—oh, that. AUGH!" As it happened, the box was actually a load-bearing one that had a container of metal barrels on top of it, and they all went crashing into Biowulf all at once. But the EVO wasn't about to let THAT stop him. He threw the barrels off of him and stood up… where he was met with Jaune and his shield blaster. *POW* "RAAUGH!"

"She was talking about me, Fido." Jaune quipped.

While that was happening, The Collective leader hadn't lost a step as he easily avoided and parried many of Rex's incoming strikes, smirking victoriously as if he had already won. Van Kleiss could see the rage that was burning behind Rex's eyes, clouding the EVO's judgement and making him sloppy. 'Excellent, just what I was hoping.' Kleiss thought to himself. 'But why not fuel the fires a bit more?' After dodging another attack, Van Kleiss caught the next one with his gauntlet, speaking to his arch foe. "I must say, Rex, you seem MUCH angrier than the last time we met. Has something happened?"

"What do YOU think?!" Rex brought his other Smack Hand back and instead exchanged it for a Bad Axe, cleaving it down toward Van Kleiss. "You've been hiding out on Ben's Earth, tricking people into joining your creepy cult, holding an innocent girl against her WILL, and I've been so STUPID not to realize it sooner!" With every point, he kept swinging, bringing out his second Bad Axe to hopefully put Kleiss on the back foot. "So yeah, I'm a BIT pissed off!"

But Van Kleiss shook his head. "Oh, but you really shouldn't be, Rex. After all, you've been rather busy for the past few months." However, he still kept his nefarious smile about him. "Although, on the other hand… you MUST have searched for us considering that you saw we got caught in that event."

Rex scowled at his long-time enemy. "Your point?"

"My point being that it's still surprising that you didn't figure it out sooner, even with all that was going on." Van Kleiss spread his arms out for emphasis. "After all, the signs were there from the start… but we were far too good at covering our tracks, I suppose." His grin grew maliciously. "Either that, or you ARE as ignorant as you believe yourself to be. You let us slip out under your nose and you have no one to blame but yourself. It's almost sad, really."

"GRAAAAAUUGH!" Rex went for another big hit… but Van Kleiss easily side-stepped and his metal gauntlet extended out. His hand balled into a fist before he brought the arm back around, delivering a strong, spinning lariat right into Rex's face and sending him flying backward, careening directly into Jaune.

Ruby gasped as the two of them crashed into an opposing wall, with Jaune struggling beneath his EVO comrade. "Urk! Gah! Dude, what the heck?!" The blonde knight exclaimed.

"S-Sorry, man, I just—OW!"

Jaune cut him off with a sudden hit to the head with his shield, glaring straight into his eyes. "No dude, don't be sorry for me. YOU'RE the one letting HIM get to you!" Jaune pointed to Van Kleiss without breaking concentration. "He wants to get a RISE out of you and it's working!"

Rex was taken aback by the reprimand, only for Ruby to come over and echo the sentiment. "Exactly! You've gotta calm down, put your personal feelings aside, and focus on the mission. It's what Ben would do in this situation, right?" There was a long pause as Rex just stared at her in stunned silence. "…Right?!"

That snapped Rex out of it and his expression hardened, putting his focus back up. "R-Right! You guys are right." He smacked himself on the cheeks as he stood, getting back on track. "I've gotta get my head outta my ass and stop worrying about the—RUBY, WATCH OUT!"

By the time Ruby received Rex's warning, though, it might as well have been too late. Biowulf had successfully snuck up on them and pounced straight at the Hooded Huntress, his claws ready to strike a killing blow. Ruby seemed to turn around almost in slow motion as the wolf EVO closed in on her, but as he was about to close the distance… something happened. From high above, a long tether shot down and wrapped around Ruby's waist, pulling her straight up as she gave a yelp of surprise. "EEYOW!"

"W-What the—" *CLANG* "OCH!" Biowulf instead slammed headfirst into Jaune's shield, the blonde knight following up with a pointblank shot of Lightning Dust to the chest, bringing Biowulf down in a writhing heap.

"H-How?! What?! WHO?!" Ruby's head snapped around, wondering just what had pulled her up and was now suspending her high above the battle. However, as she took notice of the tether that wrapped around her… she saw something familiar that was keeping it all together; a three-fingered claw. "…No, it can't be." Ruby muttered.

"Oh, but it DO be!"

Ruby gasped and whipped her head up, seeing a figure standing on the I-beam she was being suspended from. They dropped down the other side of the beam, holding onto the staff that held the tether so that they'd both be suspended from either end. And, as the person dropped down so that they were eye-to-eye with each other, Ruby's thoughts were confirmed; "ZAK?!"

With a salute, Zak Saturday greeted the Hooded Huntress. "Hiya, Ruby! How's it hangin'?" Down below, the battle suddenly paused when everyone heard Ruby's declaration, and the Omni-Hunters were left astonished by Zak's appearance. "Hey there, guys! Long time, no see!"

"I mean, it's only been a week or so." Ruby corrected before deadpanning. "Also, don't think I didn't catch that "How's it hanging?" joke."

"Great!" Zak gave a thumbs up. "That means my brand of humor is on point."

The rest of the team was still utterly dumbfounded, though. "Zak, what're you even DOING here?" Weiss asked. "I thought you and your parents had some stuff to take care of before you could even come to Bellwood."

Zak gave a nod down to her. "We did. And we were actually just wrapping up when I got Ben's message. I had already heard you guys were getting bashed on social media thanks to THESE losers." He pointed down to Van Kleiss and the Collective for emphasis. "So I figured, if I asked nicely, mom and dad would let us come to Bellwood ahead of them to help out. And fortunately, they did!"

Yang cocked an eyebrow up to him. "Wait, "us"?"

"Oh, yeah, one second." Zak put his fingers to his lips and whistled sharply, calling out; "Let's go, guys! Party's in here!" No less than two seconds later…

*CRASH*

"KRAAAW-KRAW!" Through an upper window, Zon came breaking through and stooped down toward the battle, astonishing the Pack as she dove straight for Power-Claw. She began flapping around him, scratching and pecking at him to make a nuisance of herself.

"W-WHAT?!" Power-Claw went to swipe at her, but she was able to avoid the strikes, flying just out of range. "I-Is this some sorta… Pterodactyl?! AUGH!"

Zon only picked up the pace after that comment, with Zak adding; "She's an Ornithocheirids, actually! She doesn't really like it when ya make that mistake. But you guys have MUCH bigger things to worry about than her." As if on cue, another window crashed and broke open… and the Collective were absolutely speechless by what they saw next. Leaping through the window was a MASSIVE wolf with smoke billowing from its fur, along with a blue collar around its neck and carrying a large… cat… gorilla… thing on its back.

"AAWWWRROOOOOOO!"

Ruby brightened up as the wolf's howl made the room practically tremble. "Smokey! Fiskerton!"

The Smoke Wolf in question gave a rallying howl as Fiskerton raised a fist into the air, giving his own unique battle cry; "GYAAAAYAYOOO!" With a massive jump, Fisk snarled and brought two fists down on top of Power-Claw's head, knocking him straight into the ground and giving Smokey the opportunity to rush in and grab him by one of his legs, thrashing him wildly about.

"WOO-HOO! Way to get 'em, big guys!" Nora cheered.

Skalamander backed up worriedly, having no idea what was happening. "W-What the hell even IS all thi—WAH!" Without warning, he suddenly tripped and fell right onto his face… before something BIT him in one of his legs. "GRAAAH!" He looked down and saw, to his astonishment, a Komodo Dragon appear from out of nowhere, glaring him down as it bit and slobbered all over his leg. "G-Get offa me! Come on, what's the deal?!" With a strong kick, Skalamander managed to force Komodo off… but when he tried to stand, he felt unexpectedly quite woozy. "W-Woah… w-why's the room an' my stomach spinning?"

"Oh, that'd be the venom from Komodo's bite." Zak informed. "Ya might wanna get that checked out ASAP." He craned his head back to Ruby with a small grin. "So, ready to get back down there?"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Returning the smile in kind, Ruby once again burst into a storm of petals, freeing herself from Zak's tether and allowing him to drop all the way down to the floor. Ruby reappeared next to him and before the Collective knew it, they were surrounded on all sides by heroes and monsters.

Van Kleiss was perturbed, but kept a stern face about him as he glared at the newcomer. "Who are you, boy? What are these beasts?!"

"The name's Zak Saturday." The young man reached his hands out toward his "beastly" brethren. "And this is my family of Cryptids. We're here to even the odds a bit… or rather, make 'em more overwhelming for you. Because if I'm right…"

*BOOM*

Everyone gasped and whipped around toward the far wall… where they saw Four Arms come skulking through with Ilia, Sun, Neptune and Penny at his back. "Ah-ha, yep!" Zak smirked. "I knew I saw 'em while we were flying in!"

"Haha, that you did." Four Arms laughed as he approached his team, nodding down to Zak. "Glad you were able to make it, Zak." His attention then shifted toward the Collective… or rather, the Pack, zeroing in on their leader. "So, Cinder was telling the truth. We finally meet… Van Kleiss."

Despite the crushing odds against their favor, Kleiss couldn't help but smile at the Tetramand. "Indeed, we do, Ben Tennyson. I've heard many things about you from my new allies." His eyes narrowed slightly at the hero. "They don't particularly like you all that much."

"Story of my life." Four Arms slammed his fists together. "You can tell me more when we take you in."

"We've got Plumbers surrounding the entire building, Van Kleiss." Ilia informed, aiming her Lighting Lash right at him. "There's no where for you or your lackies to run."

Power-Claw, having retrieved Fenix, gazed upon his leader for answers. "Oh, great Exalted One, what do we do?"

Using his good arm, Skalamander also hefted up Biowulf, similarly anxious. "This ain't lookin' good boss."

But Van Kleiss shook his head, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "Tsk-tsk-tsk, worry not, my friends. This is but a minor inconvenience." He raised a brow toward the Omnitrix bearer. "Of course, I don't expect you to know this, Ben Tennyson, but as I explained to Rex, I have a certain advantage that you have no hope in matching." He glanced toward his aforementioned nemesis, seeing the fear and realization in his eyes as he brought up his gauntlet. "Farewell for now, Rex. I'm sure we'll meet again very soon."

It wasn't long until the rest of the Omni-Hunters realized this as well, and Rex lunged straight for the cult leader. "Kleiss! Don't you—"

"BREACH!"

All it took was a single word, and with quick succession, three portals suddenly appeared out of thin air, swooping down and pulling the five Pack members into their awaiting orifices. The last to disappear was Van Kleiss, who gave Rex a smug, superior look before he and the portals were all gone. Rex landed on his knees in the spot where Kleiss once was, eyes wide and jaw slack at what just happened. Eventually, his jaw clenched and he let out a bloody scream, rearing a Smack Hand up and SLAMMING it into the floor. "GAAAAAAUUUHH!"

The rest of the team were left equally devastated as well, with some falling to their knees in disbelief. "…That didn't just happen." Blake muttered.

"After all we went through to track them down and corner them… they STILL got away." Sun slammed his staff down on the ground, blowing a chunk of concrete off. He moved over to Blake, wrapping his arms around her assuringly. "But don't worry, we've got some Creepers bagged and tagged, so—"

Just then, a beeping noise came from the Omnitrix, leaving Ben to transform back into his human self and answer it. "This is Ben, go ahead."

"Ben, this is Rook." the Revonnahgander replied. "We have arrived on the scene where you fought the Creepers. …I am sorry, but they are gone." If possible, the team only became more crestfallen when they heard that news, with Ilia, Penny and Team SN particularly bristled at that.

Shutting his eyes tight, Ben took a deep breath to calm his nerves. 'Of course, Van Kleiss would have THIS sort of contingency in mind. So long as he has Breach in his possession, he can run from us any time he wants.' Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see Yang staring up at him, her eyes sad, but calming at the same time. Ben sent her a small, reassuring grin before answering Rook. "Understood. Thanks, Rook. And don't worry, we'll get them next time." He deactivated his comm and made his way over to Rex, putting a hand to his back. "We WILL get them next time. And when we do, we WILL rescue Breach so Van Kleiss has nowhere to run to anymore."

Rex didn't respond, leaving many worried for him. It was only when Weiss went over and knelt next to him did he start to move again. "Rex, come on. We can't stay here." Her hand went to his chest as she draped her arm across his shoulders, helping him stand up. "What Ben just said, I promise we'll make it happen. Without a shadow of a doubt."

Slowly, Rex reached up and placed his hand over his, holding back tears of hurt and frustration as he walked with her out of the garage. "I know… I know we will. We HAVE to."

"Gah, dang it!" Zak stomped the ground, his Cryptid family all eyeing him in concern. "We came all this way to help and the bad guy got away! …We didn't make it in time, did we?"

Stopping on a dime, Rex whipped around and raised a hand toward Zak. "What? No, Zak, none of this was your fault." His lips managed to curl into a slight smile and he gave him a nod. "In fact, I appreciate that you showed up when you did. You really threw Kleiss off his game, and that's why he was quick to retreat. Next time, we just gotta make sure we stay on top of his moves."

"He's right, Zak, you shouldn't blame yourself." Ruby agreed. "Van Kleiss has someone who can portal him in and out of places under his thumb. We've just gotta free her and then hopefully, he won't be able to run away from us anymore."

"…Heh, guess this is what heroes deal with on a daily basis then." Zak said with a shrug. "I'm gonna have to get used to that if my fam's sticking around here for a while."

"Don't worry, we'll help ya out." Ruby jabbed a fist into his shoulder. "By the way, I've been buried in that New Teen Titans omnibus you leant me! It's SO good!"

Her excitement made Zak brighten up even more. "I know, right?! I'm glad you're enjoying it. How far are you in?"

"Issue 10. I make sure to read at least one a day so I—WAUGH!" Without warning, Smokey suddenly reared up and playfully pounced onto Ruby, knocking her to the floor so that he could lick her face. "WAUH! GAH! Hahaha! S-Smokey, stop, please!" She reached up and grabbed a hold of his muzzle, giving it a light pet as Komodo, Zon and Fiskerton gathered around her as well. "Haha, I know, I missed you too. It's good to see ALL of you, really."

As Zak watched his cryptid siblings all crowd around the Hooded Huntress, Yang, Blake and Weiss all joined him as well. "Hehe, wow, they still like her a lot." Yang commented, getting Zak's attention with a knowing glance. "Now I wonder why THAT could be?" she sent him a wink, which sent a chill down Zak's spine.

In fact, all of the girls were giving him the same expression, which only strained his nerves more. '…Oh god, play dumb, PLAY DUMB!' With a slight blush lining his cheeks, Zak shifted his gaze away from them and chuckled; "Ah, hehe, can't imagine why, honestly…" Putting on a serious face, he stepped up and pulled his adopted siblings off of Ruby one by one. "O-Okay, guys, give the girl some space, okay? She's had a long day."

"Yes, as have we ALL." Pyrrha agreed, flicking her hand and having her bow return to its javelin mode before putting it on her back. "And on that note, I think it's time we all head home. Tomorrow is likely going to be fairly long as well since we'll have to enter our mission report to Six."

Nora yawned and stretched her arms up, her and her team turning toward the hole that Four Arms made to leave. "Aw, yeah, THAT'S gonna be super fun." she muttered sarcastically. "G'night, everyone!"

After Sun and Blake exchanged a very personal good night, Team SN, Penny and Ilia went to leave as well, the latter staying to give a wave goodbye. "Yeah, we're going to have Max drop us back off at Kevin's place." Ilia sent a friendly nod over to Zak as well. "It was good seeing you Zak, hope to catch up properly tomorrow."

"Same here. Have a good rest, guys!" Zak saluted as he watched them and Team JNPR head off, leaving himself, Rex, Ben and Team RWBY behind. The cryptid researcher sighed, shifting his gaze between his siblings. "Well guys, we should get some rest, too. I'll get the cots set up in the Griffon, and—"

"Woah, woah, woah, what the heck are you talking about?" Ben halted, giving Zak a questioning look. "Dude, I wouldn't have asked you out here early if I wasn't about to prepare a place to sleep for you guys!" He moved behind Zak and Fiskerton, pushing the two of them out toward the hole. "Come on, you guys are bunking at my place for the night."

The Saturday siblings were taken aback by the news. "W-Wait, seriously?!"

Ruby gasped and clapped her hands together in delight. "AH! Awesome! Your first night here and you're already getting a sleep over!"

"Count yourself lucky, champ." Yang nudged Zak with her elbow. "Hope you're ready."

"B-But what about them?" Zak extended his hands toward his line-up of cryptid family members. "There's no way they can ALL fit in your house!"

"Oh, don't worry, we planned for that, too." Ben assured with a thumbs up. "Mom and Dad have got a big pitch-up tent for summer parties and stuff, so these guys can make themselves at home in there. We've even got spare sleeping bags and blankets for those who need 'em." He looked over to Fiskerton, Komodo, Zon and Smokey hopefully. "That sound good, guys?" One by one, each cryptid made an affirming noise and nodded to him, giving their consent. Ben went back to Zak and extended a hand. "So, what do you say, man?"

There was a moment's pause as Zak thought it over, but he let out a laugh and took Ben's hand in a firm shake. "Haha, well, if you insist. But I'm gonna be sleeping with my family in that tent, just so you know."

"I had a feeling you'd say that." Ben acknowledged. "If that's what you want, then I'm not gonna stop you." The Omnitrix bearer then put his focus onto Rex curiously. "Yo, Rex, there's always room for one more, if you're up to it tonight, that is."

Rex chuckled at the offer, but politely declined. "Hehe, I appreciate it, dude, but… I've gotta have a talk with Six and Doc about today." His countenance grew solemn as he stared down at the floor. "With Van Kleiss back, we've gotta be ready for him and whatever he tries to pull. And since he's replicating Nanites, that makes him even MORE dangerous now."

Ben, Zak and Team RWBY could all see just how serious Rex was about this, so the hero allowed it. "Well, alright. Just come on over if you need some stress relief, okay?"

"Hah, will do." With that, Rex went over and placed his hand gently on Weiss' shoulder, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, batata."

"Hm, buenos noches, mi amor." Weiss kissed him back on his cheek before he activated his Boogey Pack, flying out of the garage and back toward Plumber Base. "…Come on, guys, we should head home." As the group went to leave, though, the former heiress bit her lip in apprehension, wondering what exactly Van Kleiss' ultimate plan could be…

…..

Several hours later, in an undisclosed location, Van Kleiss was walking through the halls of his Collective's latest hideout. Thankfully, they always made sure to plan in advance should one be compromised, and even then, the garage was only temporary. 'With any luck, we will get an extended use out of this hideout… provided we don't receive any uninvited guests.' Still, the former EVO turned cult leader couldn't help but think on what had happened that day. Finally, he and Rex had come face to face once again, and he was delighted to see the rage that the boy had developed since their previous encounter. On the other hand, though… that other boy with the black and white hair left him confused.

"Just who is he…" Van Kleiss wondered out loud to himself as he opened the door to his private study, where soon, a meeting of the minds would take place. Inside the lonely and somewhat empty room was a large desk and chair, with a small device in its center; a holoviewer. Kleiss sat himself down and pressed the center of the machine, which lit up as it projected a holographic screen in front of him.

The screen was actually split down the middle, with one side simply having the letter "N" on it while the other had the letter "K". But soon enough, the image changed to two figures cast in darkness, with only just a little hint of light illuminating the edges of their features. Both appeared to be men with slicked-back hair and goatees, with "N" having a single-pointed one while "K's" came down to two points on either side of his chin. Aside from that, not much else could be made out aside from their dark eyes.

Van Kleiss smiled in greeting. "Gentlemen, good evening."

"Hello, Van Kleiss." K responded first. "I see the public event went just as you were hoping it would."

N chuckled to himself in amusement. "Hmhm, yes, Tennyson and that Salazar boy were lured out just as you expected. I had a feeling they wouldn't be able to resist preaching their heroic nonsense. Though I'm surprised that you cut the feed when you did."

Kleiss grimaced slightly. "That was on Biowulf's part, not mine. If it were my decision, I would have kept it rolling, to see if anyone online would blame Rex and Tennyson for the act of arson. After all, from the camera's view, no one would have seen the true perpetrator."

"Hm, yes… who do you think that could've been?"

"If I were a betting man, I would say that Cinder Fall girl." Kleiss answered. "From what we've observed, she has a propensity for setting things on fire."

K grumbled an agreement. "Hmph, yes… the Ministry continues to be thorns in our sides, even though we wish for the same goal of eradicating the Omni-Hunters." The shadowed man leaned forward slightly, showing off a bit more of his mouth and revealing the greys in his goatee. "Perhaps we should at least try negotiating with them, to see if we can work out a truce."

Van Kleiss gave a shrug. "Maybe we could, but I doubt they would listen… unless we met with their true leader. The supposed witch called "Salem"."

"Heh, best of luck with that." N mused.

With a shake of his head, Kleiss got back on track. "More to the point, while we successfully revealed our true identities to Rex and the others, there was… a strange complication." This perked N and K's interest, Kleiss could tell. "A new player has been added into the mix, a young man going by the name "Zak Saturday". He seems to be a Beastmaster of some sort, as he had several creatures under his command. Ring any bells?"

"Hmph, can't say it does." K shook his head.

N, on the other hand, was tapping his chin thoughtfully. "It does sound somewhat familiar… let me make a call to some of my connections and I'll gather as much information as I can."

"Very good, thank you." Kleiss' smile reappeared as he laced his fingers together. "So, how is our dear nanite-producing friend doing?"

"She's still stable, if that's what you're wondering." K replied. "Though she's still not too happy about her living conditions." He gave a short chortle as he added; "Heh, gotta admit, though, it's a pretty brilliant stroke of luck that her physical structure just so happened to be incredibly similar to your world's nanites, Van Kleiss."

"Indeed. It's not perfectly exact, but with the right tinkering…" Van Kleiss reached under the table, pulling out a container that was glowing blue and filled to the brim with fresh nanites. He saw his partners both grin at the sight themselves, watching as Kleiss inserted the container onto his arm, filling the gauntlet with nanites. "Hmm… ah, yes, that's very good. But we must create more if we are to accomplish our goal." His eyes narrowed in anticipation, standing up from his desk as he declared; "To repeat the Nanite Event… and bring the human race into extinction. Someday soon, EVOs will be the dominant species of this world... and then my own."

…..

A/N: Hoo boy, one mystery revealed, but another takes its place. Van Kleiss and the Pack may have been revealed to be the Collective all along, but who are these mysterious benefactors? …And what's this person who they've found who's body is able to aid them in replicating EVOs, presumably against her will? The plot thickens indeed…

And what's more, Mitchell and Katie, the most devout members of the Collective, have willingly become EVOs themselves! Gone are their human forms and in their place are Power-Claw and Fenix. Now, you may be asking; why did I just introduce a scorpion EVO when we already HAVE a mutant scorpion cyborg (who may or may not be showing back up soon)? Well, for one thing, I have future plans involving both Mitchell and Katie that coincide to what they've become. But secondly… would YOU want to be confronted with a scorpion monstrosity that can shoot laser beams? Yeah, didn't think so. But all in all, their transformation will make MUCH more sense later on in the story.

But, on a lighter note, as I foreshadowed in the last chapter, it's time for the return of the Saturday family! …Or at least just Zak and the cryptids for now since his parents are wrapping up their latest mission. Yeah, it's around this point in the story that Zak's going to become more of a staple, if you couldn't tell, though he won't be TOO prominent yet. His arrival will have an immediate effect next time, but nothing too big. …And yes, this means that the interactions between him and Ruby will be resuming, so keep your eyes on that, hehe.

On another note, though, Rex definitely isn't in a good mood after all of that. Finding out your arch-nemesis is back and creating EVOs again? Definitely not something you want to hear. He's probably gonna be a bit more reserved for a while, which means Weiss is also likely to be there more for him to help get through it.

Which includes NEXT TIME as the team decides to spread out for the day when Six calls for a bit more time off so they can take stock of what this means for their operations going forward. In that time, Rex and Weiss go off to have a date, as do Sun and Blake. Yang, meanwhile, decides to take Pyrrha and Nora to do a bit of shopping… where they run into somebody VERY unexpected. Ben, Gwen and Kevin also have prior arrangements… Charmcaster's probation hearing. So THAT ought to be interesting. The others, however, decide to hang out with Zak for the day… until they ALSO end up running afoul of someone… or rather a PAIR of someones. It's time for a certain duo of not-so-bright criminal bounty hunters to make their FIRST appearance in this story! …But why are they after ZAK?! Thanks for reading everybody, and I'll catch you later! Stay safe out there!