Chapter 83: The New World Inferno

Thanks to the efforts of Riku and Lunalei, it didn't take very long to organize all available hands they could at a single meeting place on the outskirts of Seattle.

Their group consisted of the two of them, plus Mew, Kairi, Serra, Leo, Lunis, Alura, Samantha, Solaris, Shina, Auris, Mark and Violet.

Lunalei got immense stage fright seeing all these people standing around expectantly for her breakdown of everything going on.

She hung over her tablet and took her paces, still running off a slight high from her dad's hug.

They had hopefully chosen a good spot to avoid anyone catching wind of their conversation. There were plenty of open fields between here and the nearby road, and the city hung far in the distance.

As far as Vida was concerned, he was trying to be true to his justice and accepted time in a jail cell for now. Until they got a hold of Catherine to examine his biology, there wasn't much they could do about his powers. And there were bigger fish to fry.

Riku surveyed the group and muttered, "Is this everyone?"

Auris addressed the obvious green-skinned elephant in the room, "Unfortunately, I still cannot get a hold of Gabriel."

Shina then remarked, "And calling in the other Planetary Aurians seems like a waste for this mission…"

Mew crossed his arms and said proudly, "Well, our family's all ready to go."

Which caused Kairi to slightly slump forward and murmur, "Yeah, uh, I was gonna say…"

She gestured to Serra doing preparatory sit ups while Leo patiently listened to the grown-ups conversation, "What the hell Mew?"

Mew smiled, "What? They're ready for this."

Kairi groaned, "Are you SURE?"

Mew squeezed his eyes shut and chuckled, "Positive!"

She fixed her posture with a mumble of, "Aaaalright."

"Huh, I thought you'd be more upset I was training them up."

Kairi narrowly glared at him with the clear intent that she wanted to shout, "Once again, your instincts proved correct. And besides, it's not like we have much of a choice."

Samantha punched her hand into her fist and declared, "She's right! We need all hands on deck for this!"

Mew tilted sideways and wondered, "I like the enthusiasm Sam, but don'tcha think you're out of place here?"

Samantha laughed heartily, "Someone's gotta be moral support!"

Solaris then chimed in, "And don't worry about our kids. Michael's keeping an eye on them."

Lunis added further relief to the atmosphere, "Just like Zelene's watching over Xander."

Only to then tuck her curled fist into her chest and whisper, "I wonder if I should've made sure Stella's ok first…"

Lunalei poked her head up and murmured, "What was that?"

"N-Nothing dear. Carry on with the mission briefing." Lunis said, holding her arms down before her legs and smiling.

Lunalei then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "W-Well, honestly, this should be enough people to gather up all the crates."

She then looked her dad in the eyes, who looked back with a subtle nod telling her "You can do this".

It felt weird understanding the language of fatherhood after all this time, but it made her feel welcomed instead of timid.

She then stood proudly before the group and raised her voice, "Ok, listen up, I'm only going to go over this once!"

She flicked her tablet screen and summoned a small projection of the globe, "Assuming the information Vida gave us is accurate, the supply crates should be somewhere in…these areas."

Silver lights spawned in hundreds of different spots.

"Holy shit…!" Shina recoiled, "You got that lit up like a disco ball!"

Lunalei nodded, feeling a little embarrassed by the comparison, "Y-Yeah, well…"

She shook her head and stood proud, "Now, he claimed that a lot of these were moved. So we're not going to fly in and gather them up right away. I've got my computer back at home running a scan of these areas using a sample of the powder from the crate I secured. That'll take a few moments, but once we've got the locations locked in-"

Solaris swung his fist out, "We burn it all down, and that's the end of their bullshit!"

Lunalei nudged her glasses up in a haste, "No burning, Uncle! This powder is flammable!"

He clicked his tongue extra hard, "Tsk…!"

Alura raised her hand, "Question."

Lunalei gestured at her, "Yeah?"

Alura leaned her head back slightly and crossed her arms under her chest, "Did you find out how they were planning to use these supply crates?"

Lunalei winced, at first assuming she meant their purpose, but settled upon realizing that she was referring to how they were planning to be activated.

"I…don't know, no. But assuming the material is flammable, I suspect we're looking at a pretty bad inferno."

Solaris then got some of his bluster back, "See? Good thing I'm involved!"

Lunalei sighed, "If we root out the problem, the consequences won't be an issue to begin with."

"...S-Sorry niece, I ain't used to following along with…plans and shit." He remarked humbly.

"It's alright, Uncle." She replied with a patient smile.

She then surveyed her group and asked, "Any other questions?"

Mew then gave a resounding thumbs-up and smiled, "Nah, we heard you loud and clear, Lunalei."

Lunalei blushed and leaned her head back to relax a little, "Oookay, good. Then take five, I'll let you know when the results are up."

Kairi gestured at her as she prepared to tap the tablet, "Wait. Keep the projection up. Something caught my attention."

"You got it." Lunalei set the tablet down on a nearby table and Kairi wandered closer, with Shina joining her.

Everyone else just sort of wandered about, doing their own thing to make their preparations to save the world.

Serra and Leo were mostly doing what they were doing already, but Auris wandered over to see how they were doing.

"So, any cold feet at your first time saving the world?" She asked.

Serra hopped up and bounced in place, landing with a couple jabs, "Nope! I'm ready to roar, anytime!"

"Heh heh, I'm sure you'll excel the most, Serra." Auris then laid her arms under her chest and faced Leo.

"As for you…took care of any last minute regrets…just in case? Such as…" She leaned her head with a knowing smirk, and Leo organized his thoughts to make sure he didn't mess this up.

He stepped up to his grandma and whispered close to her face, "I ended up telling her the truth."

Auris closed her eyes and her pensive demeanor worried him.

"I think…you made the correct choice," She then glanced at him with one eye open and smiled, "But that doesn't necessarily make it the right one."

"...I'm aware. But those are my burdens to bear." Leo said, his eyes shining like iron.

Auris leaned her head back and then ambushed him with a pat on the head, "I'm proud of you, Leo."

Serra strutted up and shouted, "Hey! Whatcha talkin' about?"

Leo walked off to ponder while Auris smiled at her lovely granddaughter, "Nothing major. Now then Serra…there's a distinct possibility a fight may happen with the enemy. Did your father help you get a handle on that one technique of yours?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, that! You betcha! I'm gonna blow my opponents away in one fiery burst!"

"Ha ha, I bet you will." Auris fanned her fingers before her smile, glad to see the next generation tackle danger with such vigor.

Finally having a break for the first time since she woke up this morning, Lunalei wandered over to Mark and Violet, who were quietly sitting in the grass and sharing a moment together.

She was hesitant to break it up, and started to turn the other way…

But she stepped on a stick and the crack caused them to look her way.

Violet seemed a lot more tired than she was, but managed to get a bit of her pep back upon seeing her.

"H-Hey, Lunalei." She whispered.

Mark shifted his gaze between the two and then with a gentle cough, tucked his hands into his pockets and stood up, "I'll let you two be."

Lunalei shook her hand out, "H-Hey, don't let me be a third wheel. You were clearly-"

Mark stepped up next to her and leaned his head back, saying sincerely and with so much relief, "Hey I…just want to thank you for everything."

Lunalei hung her head and murmured, "...I'm not deserving of that much praise. You did a lot of the heavy lifting when I fucked up…partner."

Mark laughed, and did a little humble bragging, "Yeah, I guess."

"Heh," Lunalei propped her head back up and looked at him from the side, "So…about you and Vida-"

"Leave that to me. I…at least want to give him a chance to make amends. Though, truth be told…" Mark pulled out his officer's badge and stared at it, "After this all blows over I might just quit my job."

Lunalei puckered her lips and sighed, "Yeah, probably the right call."

Mark then tucked it away and looked up, "Problem is, if I do…no one will be there on the inside to make sure my hermano gets his fair shake at parole."

"..."

Mark then glanced aside and acted timid, "S-Sorry, I'm holding you up when you got only so much time to spare. If you need me, I'll be talking to Sam."

Lunalei then parted ways with him and sat down next to Violet. The only thing she could think of was to ask, "So…how are you holding up?"

Violet let out a dry laugh and folded her legs against her face, "Crappily."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"I think you've done plenty, Lunalei," Violet responded not out of malice, but genuine thanks, "I just…"

She sat stiff and slowly got more stern in her expression, squeezing her arms against her knees and trembling all over.

"Haa…ha…!" Panic was setting in, but not as badly as her anger, "I-I…I just…fuck him! Fuck him to Hell!"

"And fuck dad too for wanting to…forgive him?!"

Lunalei sternly told her, "Giving him a second chance isn't the same as forgiveness."

Violet started trying to point out, "Yeah, b-but…"

Lunalei looked her dead in the eyes and said, "Hating him for what he did is fine, but there's nothing you can do to him anymore. He's chosen to surrender to the law. If he breaks his vow to follow the rules, then he can be punished."

Violet bit her teeth and wanted to keep letting her anger out, but even she knew that was just a waste of energy.

So she pressed her head down against her knees and sighed, "...Lunalei, do you…honestly think a bad person can do good things?"

"Hrrrmmm…" Lunalei felt uncomfortable, as all she could do was bide her curiosity for now, "When this all blows over, we can have a chat about that…like adults."

The two sat there quietly for a while, until Violet pleasantly brought up, "I-I still can't believe you're a superhero on the side."

"I honestly thought the existence of powers in the world would've shocked you more." Lunalei confessed.

"H-Heh, well…I guess it's not too crazy, when you know magic is real."

Lunalei paused for a few seconds and then blankly stared at Violet, "...I'm sorry, run that by me again?"

Meanwhile, Kairi was staring long and hard at the globe projection, trying to put two-and-two together, "I swear, I covered news stories in a few of these locations."

Shina giggled, "That's what we call a coinky-dink, sis!"

Kairi blushed and after shaking it off she stood up and gestured at the dots more closely, "No no, think back to what I covered…"

She pointed at Africa, "There was news about missing children here…"

Then she pointed at Europe, "Here…"

And then at New York, "And also here."

She then hastily spoke with determination, "There's absolutely no way these events weren't connected. Damn it…if my senses had just been a little sharper, I probably could've uncovered this conspiracy sooner!"

Shina pulled her in closer and said in a relaxed tone, "It's ok sis, these guys bamboozled all of us…Kinda like they knew what, or who they were dealing with."

Kairi recoiled with a bit of panic in her voice, "Yeah, yeah…isn't that a little weird? I sure as hell have been keeping things on the down-low for the last twenty years! And so have you!"

Both of them stopped and then looked back at both Alura and Mew just standing around minding their own business.

Alura gasped, "Well don't look at ME. No one should be able to tell!"

Mew then crossed his arms and gasped louder, "C'mon, really Kairi?"

Kairi slacked her jaw and grumbled, "Yeah, I guess that was pretty stupid to assume…"

She then returned to investigating the globe.

Mew shook his head and murmured, "Can't blame her though. Everyone's probably a little on edge right now."

He then glanced at Alura just humming away one of her songs, "All except for you and me…"

She winced and then turned to him with a slightly smug smile, "Well duh. I know we're going to make it out ok! …Is a quote from your playbook."

"Pfft, I don't need you to steal my mojo too, Alura. But I guess I'll take that as a rare compliment from you."

Alura then shook her head, "Oh no no, you're probably going to fumble the bag on this one somehow."

Mew then sighed as she basked in the success of her jab, "Yeah yeah, have your fun, you succubus."

"Ahem…" Mew was then fortunate enough to receive an excuse to leave her presence in the form of his brother.

"Oh hey Riku, what's up?" He said with his arms crossed.

Riku whispered, "There's something we need to discuss…potentially pertaining to the identity of our true enemy."

Mew dropped his hands slowly and then after scanning the area he wandered off to the side with his brother to converse.

"Lay it on me."

Riku closed his eyes and furrowed his brow, "Part of our success lay in the fact that this 'Dregs' organization…didn't seem to realize I existed."

Mew raised his brows, "That's…Hmmm."

Riku coughed as though embarrassed, "To quote one of them…'Our boss assured us that there was only ONE clone of Alex Whiter to keep our guard up against.'"

Mew quickly raised his brows further and muttered, "W-What the hell…? They know THAT much about us?"

But then he settled then and crossed his arms to think, "But also…didn't know about YOU?"

He then wagged one hand out and said, "Ok. Call me crazy, but when I first heard about a plot to introduce powers to humanity, for some reason my mind immediately jumped to Gravitus coming back to haunt us."

"But one…that really doesn't fit his old M.O. And two…he KNEW who you are."

Riku hummed deeply, and Mew followed suit.

"This doesn't make sense…" Riku remarked, "Anyone who knows of our existence should not have me as a blind spot."

"...There's gotta be someone I'm forgetting," Mew muttered to himself, feeling an ill chill on the back of his neck, "Ties back to Alex…bringing powers to humanity…controlling information from the shadows…"

"Uncle, Dad! Get over here, the scan's complete!" Lunalei shouted, and the two reluctantly started pulling themselves back over.

All the while Mew gave the side of his head a couple knocks and muttered, "C'mon! I feel like I need to remember soon!"

With everyone gathering around the globe, they watched some of the projections shift locations ever slightly, which Lunalei commented on, "This is as accurate of a reading as we're going to get. I'll give each of you a device with the locations on it, and then you gotta decide how to divide up the targets."

Alura propped her hand on her hip and smirked, "Let's wrap this up quickly before Joe Dark catches wind of it."

Mew gestured his hand up, "He won't hear a peep about this."

Riku then let out an awkward cough, "...About that. I actually talked with him about my suspicions regarding 'Dregs'."

Mew recoiled, "What? When?!"

"During our last get together. After you left."

Mew crossed his arms and felt a tiny bit insulted, "Sheesh, keeping secrets from me? I see where your daughter got it from."

Lunalei blushed and shifted her glasses up, scrambling to get this conversation in line, "F-Focus everyone! Who knows how much time we have left!"

"She's right, you know." Spoke a voice unfamiliar to everyone there.

They turned around and saw a young man with slicked back ash gray hair and semi-blue highlights, his eyes brown but looking like it was being infected with blue.

His attire was very plain in contrast to everything else. The only stand out being an old-fashioned watch on his right wrist.

The presence he carried with him was otherworldly, familiar in some ways to Mew, Riku, and Shina in particular.

But deeper down, Mew didn't like the look in the man's eyes. It reminded him of something awful from the past.

Auris immediately drew her sword from the ether and stared the man down, "Be careful. His aura pulses with a sinful vibe…"

Lunalei only had to take one look at the man to realize what no one else could, "...You're the leader of Dregs, aren't you?"

The young man gestured his finger upright and wagged it around, "Very good. No wonder Vida and the others had trouble securing the crate here."

The man then tucked his hands behind his back and started pacing around his general vicinity, "You've organized quite a group. Practically all the deceitful gods of this world, here in one place."

Lunalei stated bluntly, "Yeah, so you're either awfully bold, or awfully stupid to come here."

"Do you honestly think I wouldn't have arrived if I didn't have a plan for certain victory?"

Serra stepped forward and squeezed her fists, "Hey pop, can I punch this guy?"

Leo instead grabbed her shoulder and reined her in with a whisper, "Hold off. Something's not right…"

He was sensing another strange movement in the air. A pair of them to be precise. And he seemed to be the only one focusing on that.

Until it was perfectly clear they could attack the man without fear, the rest of the group kept their guard up.

The man continued to make his pace with a more arrogant stride, gesturing at Lunalei in particular, "So, what'll it be? Will you strike me down?"

Lunalei craned her head back and trusted her gut on this one, "Actually, I have a few questions for you. First off, was anything you said to the others true?"

The man replied, "You mean about seeking paradise? That wasn't a lie. But it wasn't…the complete truth either."

"Make no mistake, my plan shall do away with all the venomous weeds of this world that have taken root. But the world will change much more than that. Like the Phoenix, it shall be reborn in fire."

Lunalei hummed, "Funny you should mention that, cause I was going to ask how exactly you're planning to activate all the supply crates."

The man smirked and wagged his finger out with eyes closed, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves there. We still have plenty more to talk about."

Riku then hijacked the conversation with a perturbed growl and remark of, "Fine then. Next question…Just who the HELL are you?"

"Ah, the long-lost clone of Alex Whiter that slipped beneath my notice. Fine. If you're going to be so pushy, I'll answer…"

The man stopped and gestured his hand out diagonally, "I chose the name 'Nero', a mask to hide myself from certain eyes who would recognize me. But you may remember by a different name, clones of Alex Whiter…"

"I am…Prometheus."

Riku's pupils shrank, "I-Impossible…"

Shina's expression turned increasingly sour, "Prometheus…that's the guy who tortured Alex when he was a child."

Mew clicked his tongue and muttered, "How the…We saw the pod you were resurrecting from get destroyed!"

"You saw correctly," Prometheus said with a smug chuckle, "But what you didn't see was what happened beforehand. At my old base, the silent alarm went off the moment your meddlesome group entered."

"A few people still loyal to me acted in desperation and accelerated the rejuvenation process, turning me into the man you see before you now."

"Then, they snuck me out through the backdoor before you could find us. However, when they tried going back for the pod, they died in the explosion."

"As you can see, the process left me…changed in ways I cannot explain. But it has left me able to perceive the body in fascinating new ways."

"And this allowed me to create 'Deuscotic', the powder inside those crates. Using just a little of my blood mixed in a chemical compound of my own creation, I am able to invoke the evolution of powers within humanity."

Mew shrugged his hands up and sighed, "Different body, same stupid plan. Making superhumans didn't pan out last time."

Prometheus hung his head and sighed, "I'll admit, it was a drastic failure in a lot of ways. But I DID succeed in producing a godslayer. My only regret was not keeping him on a tighter leash."

Mew grit his teeth and scowled, "Bastard…"

Prometheus then held his head up high and declared, "Well, and there was the matter of my previous incarnation getting…distracted far too many times to count by the wiles of love."

He then slowly lowered his arm to point at Samantha, "You in particular. If he hadn't wasted that precious DNA on her dear, sweet daughter…I might have been able to produce another warrior on caliber with Alex Whiter."

Samantha shook but then grit her teeth, "W-What are you saying, you lunatic?"

Nobody wanted to speak up to ease her confusion.

So instead, Prometheus gleefully rubbed it in, "Look at me, Samantha. Don't I remind you of your daddy dearest in his younger years?"

Samantha started squeezing her fists, "Y-You're full of shit…my dad died in a fire. You ain't him!"

Mew then held his ground by bluntly insulting the man, "God, I'm already starting to miss the last incarnation. You sure it's a wise idea to piss off every single one of us?"

Prometheus tucked his hands back and calmed his ego down, "I told you I wouldn't be here if victory wasn't already within my grasp."

Meanwhile, Leo was still concentrating on that aura he sensed earlier, coming to the conclusion that it was Erin and Alex, moving eastbound.

"...Now why would they…?" He didn't have time to seek answers in his head. This didn't feel right whatsoever.

He tapped Serra on the shoulder and whispered, "Hey. Erin and Alex are on the move."

"Eh?!" Serra looked flummoxed, "They can fly now?"

Leo didn't want to waste time making guesses on what was going and stated, "I think…we'd be better off going after them."

Serra then pointed her fist at Prometheus, "But isn't the enemy right there, right now?"

Leo firmly remarked, "That doesn't seem to be our battle. I think our purpose is elsewhere."

Serra smiled and did a couple hops, "Well, a fight's a fight! Lead the way, Leo!"

The two cut and run with seemingly only Mew aware they were heading off. But he focused on the enemy before him and said, "Alright, mastermind, what's the masterstroke of your plan then?"

Prometheus laughed, "Have you heard the story about the one bullet heard around the world?"

Mew scoffed, "Yeah yeah, that was the best day of your past life, I'm sure."

"It was. I think. My memories are kind of muddled. But that's not the point…" He raised one finger, "There was a certain alarming shift to the status quo my past self caused during that event."

He then raised two other fingers, "Now combine that with the other information you know about Deuscotic, and you'll figure it out."

Lunalei was stumped and turned to her uncle for answers, "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Mew glanced at Riku, "When the last Prometheus fired that bullet, he took advantage of that to kill a bunch of rich people around the world, and stalled the advancement of technology in the world. But there was a third thing he-"

His eyes froze and then slowly widened in horror, echoing the word "flammable" while projecting the places where all the supply crates were positioned…noticing that they were clustered together rather closely.

He bit his teeth and began to sweat, "H-Hey, Lunalei…how big did you say 'Dregs' operation was?"

Lunalei itched the side of her head, "I…don't know the exact size, but it can't have been that big."

Prometheus's smirk began to widen.

"Damn it…" Mew leaned forward and tightened his fists, "I should've guessed there was something off when I saw all those crates…"

"It's nukes," He said coldly, "Prometheus secured all the world's nukes during the confusion forty years ago."

Kairi flipped, "Nukes?! He plans to fire nukes?!"

"Change that to 'Has fired'," Prometheus said confidently, "About ten minutes ago, to be precise."

Everyone's hearts sank to their guts and panic erupted from their faces.

Riku grit his teeth, "How can that be, we would've sensed-"

Auris quickly deduced, "No. If this bastard had access to Catherine's stolen technology at one point, he could've reconstructed the nukes out of metal your senses wouldn't be familiar with."

Prometheus gestured at her, "And the points go to the elderly. By now they've likely begun their descent."

He then swung his hands out and craned his head back to shout at the sky gloriously, "And their fires will spread the Deuscotic across the land, taking humanity to the next step of evolution! Where we will be freed of this endless cycle of obedience to higher powers, and take the world back for ourselves!"

"You're insane…" Mew muttered, but once the surprise had run it's course he stood tall and calmly addressed his companions, "Ok. All of you need to get moving. We may not be able to sense the nukes, but we're still fast enough to stop them. As for this son of a bitch…"

He pointed his finger out, "Leave him to me, Alura, and Lunalei."

Lunalei pointed at herself, "M-Me…?"

Riku narrowed his eyes and began to rise, "Please keep them safe."

He then flew off, with Lunis, Kairi, Shina and Auris following suit.

Solaris stuck behind to make sure Samantha was doing ok, but she still seemed a little rattled. Nevertheless, she told him, "F-Forget about me, go kick some ass, honey!"

Solaris then flew off.

Mew then propped a hand against his hip and looked to the side, "Alright Alura, lets-"

She had disappeared.

"...Oh come on…" He slapped his forehead and turned to face Prometheus with a glare.

His confidence levels had hardly changed. He gestured his hands out and smirked, "You can't stop the new world from coming."

Mew rolled his eyes and groaned, "Y'know, if you had twenty years to prepare for this moment, you should've prepared better material."

"Oh? Then how about…this?"

His normal attire began to be consumed and disintegrated by a biological material with a metallic sheen. It covered his frame perfectly save for the space above his neck.

Symmetrical glowing lines formed up and down his body, with a trenchcoat dangling over his shoulders and arms.

The veins around his eyes began to pulse with a similar blue light.

Mew held his fists down and remarked, "Eh, I guess that's somewhat cool."

He then smiled and nudged his head back, "Yo, Sam, get Mark and Violet somewhere safe."

"Yeah. You just leave enough of that son of a bitch intact for me to punch."

"You got it!" And once he was rest assured they were secure, he took the first steps towards his enemy.

Lunalei stayed back, cautious and a little dizzy at the thought of fighting this opponent, "W-Why me, Uncle Mew? I think…this guy is way above my weight class."

Mew said confidently, "You're taking part in the hero business, yeah?"

He turned his head towards her while pointing firmly at Prometheus, "Then I've gotta give you pointers on how to properly punch wannabe gods in the face."

Lunalei muttered, "B-But the nukes…? I should've…"

Mew snickered, "You're worrying too much. Yeah, it caught me by surprise but then I remembered…We've stopped the universe from ending before! Compared to that, this guy's a small time fraud."

Prometheus grumbled, "Such arrogance…but as I shall repeat time and time again…I did not come here without 100% certainty in victory."

He started levitating off the ground, taking in the light of the sun behind him to try and glorify his sinful presence, "For thousands of years I have stood in spite of the gods. Of those who betrayed me, and left me to rot in iron stabbed through flesh. In the name of my spite, I had pinned the Son of God to the cross. I had burned the holy maiden at the stake. I invoked the Crusades! I cast his worshippers into a cauldron of heat and agony!"

"In my name I invoked the first flame that spurred humanity forward. In my last life, I shall spur the flame that pushes them further beyond!"

"Stand before me, cretin of the lord, bathed in blood and lies. I am Prometheus! The Godslayer!"

Mew once again rolled his eyes and pointed at the man without fear, "You keep calling us gods. I've never liked that. Sure, with all this power, I guess I could be considered one. But all my life…"

He held his head up high and smiled at the world, "I've been satisfied being human."

Lunalei gulped in awe and realized…if he was ok with her being her, then she wasn't worthless.

She pulled up her tablet and linked with her creation, "S.A.N.C.T.U.M….launch. Our enemy…is the leader of 'Dregs', Nero Prometheus!"

"Roger that, master! I'm on my way."

In a matter of seconds, the robot flew to her location, his propulsion system disrupting her hair and clothes but not her stance, standing firmly in the face of her nemesis.

As her creation hunched over her, drawing his swords for battle, she declared in righteous fury, "You've already taken the futures of so many brilliant young minds! I won't let you take the world too!"

Mew leaned back and smiled, "Hey! Awesome one-liner! You're a natural at this!"

Lunalei blushed and then nudged her glasses up, "U-Uncle Mew, can you can the praise until we've won?"

"Aaah, alright. Sorry. I'm just really excited to team up with you…" He then positioned himself towards his enemy, "Now then…"

Prometheus held his arms out and his trenchcoat transformed into a set of seraphic wings made of raw nerves, "Come. Arrogant ones…You haven't even begun to comprehend the scope of my plans…"

Next Time: Where Sinners Rise