Hunter drove the jet with a couple of Parvo's own fighter jest flying alongside it. The Rovers were inside with a couple others that they wished were not there. Parvo and Groomer however didn't look too troubled.
"I never thought I'd live to see this day.", Parvo commented to Hunter, "You and me working against a common enemy."
"That makes two of us.", Hunter commented.
Scout was especially on edge by the way Groomer was looking his way.
"So Scout, you got yourself straightened out after my earlier… attempt."
Scout growled at her which told her to back off which she did for a bit.
"You turned me into a savage, uncontrollable attack dog which got me restricted to a gurney and restraints for most of my life.", he sneered, "Shepherd was the one master I ever knew and cared for cause he still saw the dog who loved him and now he's dead which you helped in."
Groomer looked a bit insulted.
"Marauder took your owner away.", she corrected.
Parvo looked behind him and gave a loud angry hiss which made the two settle.
"Enough!", he snapped, "Save your aggression for our real enemy."
Colleen looked a bit impressed.
"How unlike you Parvo.", she commented, "Taking our side for once."
Parvo looked her way, but with a slightly softer expression.
"Don't think I did this on my own accord.", he stated, "I just want Marauder out of the way and I have just as much to lose as everyone else."
Exile rolled his eyes.
"Sure you are."
Blitz however felt a bit unnerved.
"What's to stop you from betraying us when it most suites you?"
Groomer looked the Doberman's way with a smile as she filed her nails.
"What's to stop you from doing the same?", she countered.
Shag babbled something, but everyone knew what he ment.
"Your friend has a point.", Parvo pointed out, "If we turn on each other, we give Marauder the edge he needs to take us all down."
As much as Hunter wanted to object, he knew deep down that Parvo was right. Marauder was not one to take lightly and since Parvo and Groomer once worked on his side, they might have a way into Marauder's lair. They did reveal what Marauder was up to and where to find the machine he was working on, but still, he had his doubts that things would go well and as much as he wanted to turn Parvo's offer down when Parvo proposed it, how much time would pass before he had another chance? Marauder would have probably engaged his mad plot and would have taken over by the time it did.
"How much further?", he asked hoping to change the subject.
Parvo checked a radar and nodded as if understanding.
"We'll be there in an hour.", he informed, "Be prepared, Marauder will have defenses at the beck and call."
That was when an alarm went off and Parvo checked in with one of his jets that radioed in.
"Report!"
"Commander, we got company!", the pilot of the jet responded.
The Rovers jumped into action and armed the jet just in time to see some fighter jets of Marauder's now flying out of the clouds and closing fast.
"Hang on to something!", Hunter called out.
/
As the air fight went underway, Marauder stood beside the large rocket that his machine was being loaded into.
"Sir, we can not hold them off for long.", a jet radioed in.
"Continue.", Marauder said firmly, "We're almost ready to launch."
Garret, Whiplash, and Charae all filed into the rocket in their special space suits as Adam's container was loaded into the cargo part with Adam wearing a worried expression.
"Relax Adam, that container will contain your air and shield you from the vacuum of space… as long as you cooperate.", Marauder said slyly as he held an arm out and pointed to a button, "one push and you'll be dead faster than you can say "Oops". Remember that."
Adam was silent, but he watched the outside as the doors closed shutting him out from the outside world. Marauder and his Rogues took the controls and soon, the engines started up.
"Prepare for launch.", Whiplash informed.
Just then, an alarm went off and Charae took a look.
"Sir, they're here."
Marauder didn't look worried.
"Oh don't worry. Our defense grid will keep them occupied til we're ready."
As the countdown went underway, the sounds of explosions and crashing drew closer and Adam heard it even in the cargo bay and tired radioing the Rovers but found it hard to do so.
"Marauder must have made this container block my frequency.", he thought to himself, "Guys, please hurry."
After a bit, the Rovers burst into the room and looked up at the rocket with Parvo and Groomer at their side.
"Not so fast Marauder!", the Rovers called out in unification.
Marauder brought up a screen and a hologram of his head showed up in front of the group.
"Oh good, you all came. Not unexpected."
"Game over Marauder.", Colleen said firmly, "You have nowhere to go and you're out of options."
Marauder raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, really?"
That was when a large robot formed out of the metal crates around the room and stood between the team and the rocket just as the room began to rock.
"I'd love to stay and watch you die, but I have a world to cleanse with my name on it.", Marauder commented before the hologram dispersed.
At that moment, Whiplash pressed a button and the engines fired slowly lifting the spacecraft toward the ceiling that opened up into the open sky. Parvo and Groomer looked each other's way, nodded and Groomer fired something that landed on one of the engines as the Rovers finished taking out Marauder's distraction.
"We're too late.", Blitz said with dread.
Parvo looked his way firmly.
"Don't give up just cause things look bleak.", he answered before turning to Groomer, "How soon can our space drones get here to take us up?"
Groomer took out a remote and pressed a button on it. A short moment later as Marauder's spacecraft was speeding toward space, several large flying machines that looked like they had to be piloted appeared as if they were camouflaged. Parvo looked pleased.
"Groomer, you just earned a promotion.", he said to her proudly.
"Um, how are these things going to get us to Marauder?", Exile asked, "They have a head start."
Parvo held up what looked like a tracking device and now the Rovers knew what he had in mind.
"So we follow them into orbit and take them out there.", Groomer explained, "Now everyone, to your drone."
/
Marauder and his Rogues strode out into the open space with a full view of the Earth below. Adam was levitated out of the cargo bay and as much as the view blew him away, it was cut short by Marauder's Rogues pushing his container into place.
"Let us begin!", Marauder yelled.
Whiplash pressed a button on a remote device that he retrieved from his belt and from the darkness of space, a large satellite looking device with a large hole where Garret pushed Adam's container into place.
"And the savior will descend from Heaven and purge the world of sin and imperfection.", Marauder recited, "For too long the human race has governed and ruled, but a ruler can be deposed and out of the ruin of the old world, a new one will be born. A world in which the Cano-sapians will reign supreme and unchallenged."
Adam looked angry as locking mechanisms set his container in the satellite's side.
"So that's your plan?!", he yelled, "Man falls, our kind takes over and you stay in power?"
Marauder looked his way smiling.
"You read my mind.", he chuckled, "And with an alteration to your ability, you will provide the power I require to acquire it."
"I will not become a weapon of destruction.", Adam insisted, "And the Rovers will stop you."
Marauder's smile didn't flinch.
"And how pray tell are they? Is it A: follow me to the atmosphere? Too hazardous. B: reflective surfaces? Got that covered too."
Adam's expression melted to a look of worry as Marauder continued.
"Is it C: you? You can't stop the new era from beginning and the human race from falling from grace which leaves D: none of the above."
Marauder pressed a button and suddenly Adam's entire body was whacked by agony as energy beams pierced his body and tore from one side to the other.
"Firing sequence powering up.", Whiplash informed, "First target?"
Charae looked eager.
"Washington D.C?"
Whiplash nodded as Garret helped guide the satellite into position as Marauder brought up a screen which showed a couple other Rogues that stayed on Earth.
"Gentlemen, it has begun.", he informed, "Our age has begun!"
He then pressed a sequence into a keyboard.
"Activating ground control. Satellite preparing to fire."
/
As the Rovers headed up, something below caught Hunter's eye.
"What the?"
Whatever was going on down there, the Rovers suddenly got a message and it turned out to Dale.
"Guys, we have trouble down here!"
"Is it maybe something large and evil looking?", Blitz asked.
Parvo frowned.
"It's starting.", he informed, "The amplifiers are activating."
"Amplifiers?", the Rovers asked though Shag babbled.
Groomer nodded.
"Once the massive receivers down on Earth are online, once the satellite fires-"
"Marauder can wipe out any city in the world he wants.", Scout concluded.
Dale looked more alarmed than before.
"What are we going to do?!", he asked.
Hunter frowned and then brightened.
"Dale, can you radio all the fellow Rovers that can help us?"
Parvo looked onboard.
"Brilliant. Our allies on Earth can deal with those receivers and we have to disable that satellite. Groomer, get our associates on the phone and give the order."
Groomer nodded and tuned into Dale's frequency.
"I'm sending you some numbers to some friends of ours."
Dale frowned.
"You sure they are going to help?"
"We have no time to argue.", Groomer countered, "We need to alert the President and all the officials of the world before-"
She was cut off cause they all saw the satellite not far away light up at the tip.
"Evasive action!", Hunter and Parvo both yelled.
The group split to the sides just as a beam of pure energy came at them. Even though they avoided it, the whole group felt it and watched as the beam hurled towards Earth lighting up the clouds before vanishing for a moment. Then a loud boom started up and a large mushroom cloud followed with a bright light that made the team temporarily blinded. Once it died down, the Rovers looked in horror and shock as the land that was once there was now nothing but a large backed area on the face of the planet.
"Please tell me that area was evacuated.", Colleen prayed.
Dale paused a moment and then looked just as worried.
"It was.", he answered, "But now everyone on Earth is thinking it's the end of the world."
He patched a feed that showed people all over the world reacting in a panic and praying as if they thought they would be next. Even President Clinton looked alarmed as Marauder's satellite looked ready to fire again.
"It's aimed at London!", Dale called out.
/
If the world had faced such a threat, this took the cake. As Dale tried to manage everything down below, the beam that fired from Marauder's satellite came down towards London.
"I hope this works.", Dale muttered as he pulled a lever.
As if like magic, a large reflective mirror unfurled and moved quicky to the position. Dale crossed his fingers as the beam hit the mirror and it buckled under the pressure, but it held.
"Looks like it's holding.", he reported.
Outside and in the field, Parvo and Groomer's troops were aiming for the receivers and helping with evacuations.
"We've got most of London taken to safety.", and officer reported, "Russia and China are beginning their evacuations now."
"And the United States?", Dale asked.
"President Clinton has already given the call.", another officer reported, "Our ocean refuges are gathering all we can."
"You have refuges under the oceans?", Dale asked.
"We call them arks.", the second officer stated, "We were going to use them for global domination, but it seems we have a bigger problem on our hands right now."
Dale turned back to his mirror that seemed to be holding up, but it was beginning to buckle and crack.
"Rovers, hurry up.", he prayed.
Luckily the beam stopped and the mirror was still holding, but Dale didn't look too assured.
"We're safe, at least for now.", he said looking back to Hunter, "How close are you guys to getting there?"
There was a thud and Hunter smiled.
"We're there."
Dale nodded.
"Good, now listen to me, you guys have got to get to the main generator in the lower levels and disconnect Adam's containment from it."
"Adam's part of this thing?", Colleen asked.
Parvo's expression hardened like a general addressing his troops.
"Groomer, Colleen, Shag and I will go help Adam.", he stated, "The rest of you go after Marauder."
Dale nodded.
"We'll try and save as many as we can, but I'm not sure how long until that things fires again or if we'll survive another hit."
Hunter gave his fellow Rover an understanding look.
"Do what you can.", he said, "We'll do our best."
Dale hung up and then his monitors showed people rushing into large metal ships that came out of the ocean and with the front doors open wide. Dale got up and pressed a sequence in the panel.
"Evacuation pod preparing for launch."
Dale made his way to the evacuation bay looking both worried and desperate.
"God help us."