PLANET ATHIA (BATTLEWORLD)

Out in the green fields of the island of New Alandra, which was now without its protective shield and under green clouds, a massive white light flashed out of nowhere, and as it dwindled, appeared the superheroes of Earth, the Beyonder's chosen 'Champions of Good' and, quite possibly, the only ones who can now save the planet which was now in ruin, courtesy of Victor Von Doom and his fellow 'Champions of Evil.' Strangely enough, an enormous transparent dome with white electricity coursing within soon covered the entire island, taking the place of the shield that had disappeared.

Naturally, all of the heroes looked up at the shield with confusion, but Logan looked up at it with narrowed eyes, as he had suspicions of what was producing this new shield, or more accurately, who. "That better not be coming from who I think it is!"

Another one of the heroes looking up at the sky was a distraught Peter, who gazed at the green skies with a look of distress covered by his mask. "Okay," Peter said nervously, with fear clearly evident in his voice, given his new eerie surroundings. "Not since the fight with Galactus have I felt this freaked out right now!"

Clint, the ever-seasoned archer who's seen much worse since becoming an Avenger, could only roll his eyes in aggravation at the clearly scared Peter. "Pull it together, bug," the annoyed archer hissed. "Losing your marbles won't make things any better!"

This response prompted Steve to walk towards Peter and try to help ease the young man's fears. "I'm afraid Hawkeye's right, Spider-Man," Steve said to the masked hero with a stern but soft tone, then looked around to address his fellow heroes. "We need everyone here to keep a cool head if we're going to get out of this."

Over in the X-Men's group, Bobby heard the Super Soldier's words and habitually took this moment to use humor and bravado to mask his anxiety about the situation. "Well, hey, I got no problem in the 'cool head' department."

Instead of laughter, the rest of the X-Men, minus Forge, all started daggers at Bobby as his humor wasn't exactly helping matters either. All of which caused them to yell this in unison. "NOT NOW!"

As Bobby sheepishly hung his head in shamed silence, Forge looked on at Bobby with sympathy. "Well, I thought it was cleaver," he whispered in support of the ice-powered X-Man, but he did not have much success.

Logan, after giving Bobby a tongue lashing with his fellow X-Men, turned his attention to Steve and the other heroes. "Okay, obviously, we're on the planet that Beyonder creep chose to have us and every super-powered psycho on Earth kill each other."

Another X-Men, Ororo, soon spoke up but with a saddened look on her face. "And its people are enslaved by the villains," she said sorrowfully, for whether as an X-Man or as a kind goddess who used her powers to aid villages in Africa, she always felt for people who were in need, especially those who were oppressed. All of this made her more determined to end the conflict, not just to return home but also to free the people who reside here and, hopefully, restore their home.

Over with Avengers, Tony, now in full Iron Man armor, looked around his new surroundings while, at the same time, glad that he and his teammates didn't arrive semi-conscious as they did back in the Beyonder's throne room. "And many of them running to this island. Where, according to the Beyonder, lost its shield due to a mole. Still, it was nice of Alien Don Johnson to send us here WITHOUT making us feel like we were on a bender!"

This arrival on an unknown planet prompted the cautious Rhodey, Tony's best friend and self-appointed War Machine, to charge up his wrist-mounted repulsers, as his instincts as a soldier prompted him to get ready for the battle ahead. "Looks like he wants us to get down to business."

Susan, despite wanting to hurry up and get the Beyonder's experiment over with and save the planet's inhabitants from villains, remained cautious in regard to the team's current location. Well, before we do that, we need to find out where we are EXACTLY on the island."

Daisy 'Quake' Johnson was in complete agreement with Susan's statement and stepped forward to Steve, her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. operative and someone who she held in high regard and respected his leadership skills, especially when she fought alongside him against one of Galactus's heralds, Terrax when the cosmic being attempted to consume the Earth. "Mrs. Richards has a point, Captain Rogers. We do need intel." Daisy told Steve, using a respectful tone, that she would be her superior, Nick Fury. Before continuing, she briefly turned Carol and Jan into heroes who could fly. We can send some flyers into the air and give us a bird's eye view of our location.

Another one of Steve's allies and former partner, Bucky Barnes, let out an irritable sigh as he was in the middle of trying to make things right for his past as the Winter Soldier, and wanted to win this little war game that the Beyonder set up so he could get back to it. However, as someone who fought in World War II, he knew that knowledge of the battlefield was what was needed to survive any conflict, despite being one who, admittedly, found a thrill in rushing into life-or-death situations. "Might as well," said the cynical Bucky as he crossed his arms. "It's not like we can go find and ask the locals."

Back with the X-Men, Scott 'Cyclops' Summers' red eyes grew wide behind his ruby quartz visor when he heard Bucky's last sarcastic remark. He knew that the one person who could find any inhabitants and gain some understanding about what was happening on the island was Jean, as he remembered that her psychic abilities further developed thanks to time-displaced Charles Xavier's training. As such, he turned to the woman he loved to say her name, along with Logan, who had the same idea. "JEAN!" Both Scott and Logan called out in unintentional unison, and once they heard each other's voice, they turned and started daggers at one another in anger and envy.

Jean could only roll her eyes in irritation, for she knew that Scott and Logan had a rivalry for her attention for years and couldn't believe that they couldn't put that aside even on another planet. "Yes?!" Jean called out forcefully, getting the attention of the two men that she cared for deeply.

Naturally, this startled Scott and Logan enough to make them turn to her nervously, but it was Scott who was the quickest to answer her. "Use your telepathy and see if you can locate natives on the island."

Glad to see that Scott showed concern about the team's predicament and became the leader she always knew him to be, Jean calmed herself to use her telepathy. First, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves and clear her mind. It didn't take long for her to begin hearing voices in her head, which, in actuality, were thoughts of people around her—something she had to work through when her powers first began to manifest. However, what caught her attention were the sounds of crying children and fearful men and women. This prompted Jean to channel her energies into her head, and as she glowed in a pink aura, she focused on the terrified those coming from the right side, and more specifically…

ESTA VILLAGE

…which was a village right in front of the mountain where the city of Avalonia. The villagers, all terrified men, women, and children, all moved quickly in three single-filed lines as they made their way through three large, round portals composed of sparking white mystical energy. On the other side of each portal was a vast, rocky cave that was underneath the mountain that housed Avalonia. These portals were being produced and kept open by the islands' mages, which were all young Athian men and women in multi-colored robes and were once pupils of the original mages of the Allied Kingdoms. However, since the villains' hostile takeover of the entire planet, these former students had to take their teachers' place after the sacrifice they made to help make this island a base of operations for the resistance, as well as a new safe haven for the people forced to abandon their homes in their respected countries in order to escape bondage.

High above Avalonia, as well as the island itself, was that of the White Knight, levitating in the air with his arms stretched outward and glowing with white energy as he produced the electromagnetic shield that encompassed the entire island so the villagers could run to safety. Events which transpired not far from…

THE HEROES' LOCATION

…where Jean was starting to feel the strain of the villagers' thoughts and thus stopped concentrating and fell to her knees in exhaustion.

All of this prompted a worried Scott, along with an equally concerned Logan, to kneel next to her and hold her shoulders to keep her from falling on her face. "JEAN!" Scott called out fearfully, for any time he saw the woman he loved in peril, it immediately caused flashbacks of the Phoenix incident.

"I'm fine," Jean reassured, despite feeling like her head throbbing with so much pain, it felt like she allowed an elephant to stand on it.

Though Logan was concerned about Jean's well-being, he knew that he and the rest of the heroes needed information and fast, and thus regretfully began to ask her. "Did you find anyone?"

Jean answered Logan with a nod, pushing through the pain for her teammates, and then pointed to the right side. "About a few miles over there, I read the minds of a few villagers abandoning their village and going through three mystic portals leading into the shelters below their city."

Naturally, Jean had the attention of all the gathered heroes, and the one to ask the red-headed psychic was Steve Rogers, who approached her with a severe but still soft demeanor. "Did you see who they were running from?"

"No," Jean regretfully replied, shaking her still-aching head. "They were leaving as part of a safety protocol whenever their shield went down."

Like the rest of her comrades, Jan remembered seeing the shield go down back in the Beyonder's throneroom, but at the same time, was perplexed about this new dome covering the island, and thus pointed her right index finger up at it with a look of confusion. "Okay, but what about THIS shield?"

The next hero to voice his opinion in regards to the second shield to disappear was the Fantastic Four's Reed Richard jumps in, as he, too, was curious about the new shield covering the island, both as a scientist and a man who cared about saving innocent lives. "Yes, was it produced by some backup generator that needs to be repaired?"

Jean knew that the shield was being made by the Alliance's White Knight and, more importantly, who he was behind the helmet, hence why she seemed reluctant to answer.

Logan, on the other hand, was already convinced that the identity of the White Knight was someone that he and his fellow X-Men knew very well, and he let out a grunt as he waited for Jean to say the name.

Meanwhile, as Earth's heroes discussed among themselves, they did not realize that they were not the only ones in the area, as they were being watched by Hagen, who used his size-altering abilities to shrink his body and his blue and white uniform, to the size of a cherry and spied on the heroes while hiding within a bush just a few feet away from them. All while wearing goggles, which helped him zoom in and out on his unsuspecting targets. "Attention all units," Hagen whispered via a com-link in his pointy ear. "I have a visual on some intruders on the island! They appeared to be Ultimates, but they look…unusual. Way more than the ones we're used to fighting."

Back in the sky, the White Knight heard Hagen's broadcast via his helmet, and despite the amount of strain he was in by producing his shield, "Could it be…?" The White Knight thought to himself with a glimmer of hope, for Hagen's description of the island's 'guests' sounded like the Earth heroes that HE knew about and, given the circumstances, prayed it was them as he, his comrades and the rest of the Athians on could use their help. "Hagen, transmit what you're seeing to my channel! Quickly!"

On the other end, Hagen followed the Knight's orders and transferred what he was seeing on his goggles over to the Knight's helmet, where he saw the video feed behind his black visor. Once the Knight saw that they were indeed the heroes of Earth, two powerful emotions rushed through him. One was delight, as the much-needed help to end this conflict had finally arrived. While the other was irritation, as he wondered what took them so long to get here. Nonetheless, the Knight wasted no time in letting Hagen know that the 'Ultimates' he was seeing were not the enemy. "Hagen, no! Those people are-!"

Suddenly, the White Knight's reply was cut short when a thin white energy beam came speeding out from the right and struck the Knight in his back, causing him to scream in pain and stop concentrating, causing him to fall to the ground below, and worse yet, his shield to slowly disappear.

As to where the beam came from, it was revealed to have been fired at the top of…

ALANDRA TOWER…

….which was Avalonia's fifty-foot tower, and more specifically, near the giant, nonfunctioning Athian Strone. The shooter was a female whose entire body was covered in a black, scaley body suit that hugged her thin but athletic frame, and the only three things not covered were her two green reptilian eyes and the ring on her right finger. She had used a laser rifle to fire the shot at the White Knight and had done so near a control panel, which she destroyed, hence why the Athian Stone no longer generated the shield. With her two targets eliminated, the scaley woman dropped the rifle and placed the tip of her right index finger up to her ear to use her commlink. "The White Knight is no longer a problem," she said in a cold, emotionless tone.

"Oh, I can see that, as well as the other idiots for 'colleagues,'" replied a young male voice on the other end, referring to the Knight's dropping shield. He was the one who helped the scaled woman sneak into the city to lower the shield and, thus, put everyone on the island at risk by betraying the people he once called 'friends.' "Now, meet me at the rendezvous point. We can allow our friends within the Ultimate Empire to have their fun."

"Understood, lover,' the scaley woman replied with a sly smirk, then channeled her energy into her ring, and as it glowed, the scales on her body moved upward like a wave, and her body turned invisible, which made it easier for her to reenter the building so she could meet up with her partner, the traitor of the Alliance, and they can make their escape together and allow the villains to destroy the island and everyone on it. Something that was now likely with the White Knight's shield going down and causing panic among the people. Be it the citizens still in the city, and even in…

THE HEROES' LOCATION

…where after hearing Jean reveal the White Knight's identity, they soon received another shock when they witnessed the shield slowly go down and soon grew worried. All except for Hank Pym, whose arrogant mindset as Yellowjacket didn't seem to be bothered by this development. "Well, that can't be good," he said, sounding nonchalant, as if not realizing the severity of the situation.

Tony couldn't help but be agitated upon hearing Hank's remark, as the Hank Pym he knew before the mental breakdown was a pacifist scientist who took catastrophes like this seriously. Not only that, but Hank's personality change reminded Tony of the arrogant fool he was before becoming Iron Man, all of which angered the Armored Avenger and made him miss his friend all the much more. "Yeah, thanks for the insight," Tony retorted sarcastically, as he was worried that he and his teammates would also have to worry about keeping Hank from acting rash while also trying to save the planet.

Also saddened by Hank's arrogance was Jan, for standing in front of her was not the kindhearted scientist she fell in love with, but was instead replaced by an aggressive, unstable brute whom she and the rest of her team had to put into an asylum. However, for the sake of her teammates, Jan kept these feelings to herself and just focused on the task at hand. And, once the plan was made, she would keep an eye on Hank to make sure he didn't make things worse, much to her dismay.

As the heroes looked up at the sky in concern, a worried Hagen was more concerned when he heard the White Knight screaming in his com-link. "Knight?! KNIGHT?!" Hagen exclaimed, then, for a moment, looked up in the sky and watched in horror as the electromagnetic shield dropped to the ocean and disappeared entirely. All of this led to him coming to the terrifying realization that something must have happened to the Knight, the man who helped liberate not just him but the people of Ava and the rest of the citizens of the Allied Kingdoms. As the stunned Hagen looked forward, he gazed at the Earth heroes once more and automatically assumed that THEY must have been part of it in some way. All which made him seethe with anger. "Why you filthy…!" With thoughts of avenging the white-clad hero, he grew to respect. Hagen placed his ear to call the rest of his comrades to help him subdue these costumed intruders. "Attention, all units…!"

Meanwhile, the heroes were now even more worried about the second shield's disappearance. One of said heroes, the X-Man, Hank 'Beast' McCoy, was the next to vocalize his concerns with wide-open eyes. "It appears that something has happened to our 'brave knight.'"

The Fantastic Four's figurative and literal hothead, Johnny Storm, only rolled his eyes and let out a disgruntled groan, as the shield falling was a sign that things were only going to get more difficult. "No way can this get any-!"

Before Johnny could finish his sentence, an alarmed Peter immediately pointed his right index finger at the young man to cut him off, all with narrowed eyes of annoyance behind his bug-eyed lenses. "Don't you dare finish saying that!" Peter exclaimed, knowing all too well that nothing good ever happens when someone utters that phrase. "The last thing we need right now is to be jinxed!"

This remark caused confusion within Vision, as it was slang that he often heard his teammates, specifically Jan, use. He was trying to understand it so he could communicate with his team better and be a little bit more of what the android wished he could be: human. "Jinx? Is that word often used when one is tempting fate?"

Suddenly, the heroes' conversation is brought to an abrupt halt when they hear a loud, angry war nearby. As they turned in the direction of where they heard it, they saw that the scream belonged to Hagen, who by this time was enveloped in a white aura and had grown from the size of a cherry to a massive size that could be comparable to a battleship. The now giant-sized Hagen looked down at the heroes, who to him were now the size of insects; he let out an enraged snort and was determined to make these new 'Ultimates' pay for what they did to the White Knight.

As for the heroes themselves, they all instinctively got into readied stances to defend themselves against the giants that stood before them. Along the way, Peter let out a discouraged sigh as he got into a bent defensive posture, then regretfully answered Vision's question. "Yep, that would be it."

With rage in his eyes, the enormous Hagen raised his right fist back and allowed his anger to flow as he let out this scream. "ULTIMATE SCUM!"