(In memory of Akira Toriyama 1955 - 2024)
In a small cottage in a forest, in Russia, it was gently snowing, inside the cottage, there were potted plants on the window sill,
Then, a little girl with familiar orange hair climbs up on a chair, reaching the window sill, she waters the plants with a small cup, she had a small smile, not a care in the world.
Until suddenly, a loud blasting sound was heard, making the girl jump in surprise, as she turned to where the sound came from.
The little girl exits the cottage through the backdoor, as she was now wearing a heavy coat, she trudges through the snow, and seep in the forest there was a large facility, the girl could see from the window, bright flashing lights coming from them, she then heard yelling coming from inside.
The girl was now getting worried, as she moves to the entrance quickly,
Now inside the facility, the girl quickly ran down a corridor that led to a large room where the bright lights and blasting sounds were coming from, she peeks her head around the corner where she sees a large portal, with so much energy was coming off it, as the portal was tearing a hold into somewhere that was anywhere on Earth, all the instruments were shorting out as it was too much.
"NO! You can't shut it off!" A man shouted out, frantically, getting the girl's attention.
She sees an S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier, aiming his rifle at other S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers circling around him; standing behind the frantic soldier was an old man operating the console.
"Tony, please, this has to stop!" One of the soldiers pleaded, who was a woman, as she looks at the frantic soldier named Tony, with such concern.
The little girl sees all of this; she now was very scared, what was happening?
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Tony roared out in a panic,
Then suddenly, from the portal, something was emerging from the tear through was a large clawed hand, that was so large, it could grab a truck, and the skin of it was bleach white, everyone sees this, Tony drops his rifle and smiles so widely,
"Grandfather!" The little girl cried out in fear, to the old man,
All of the machinery was going haywire, as the portal was overloading, the old man sees this, panicking, until he turns and noticed his granddaughter.
"No, Alice, get back!" He yelled out, as it wasn't safe,
Until, the portal overloads and then explodes massively,
(Flash-forward: 9 years)
Then, a 16 year old Alice wakes up abruptly, panting heavily as she looks around and sees that she was in some lab, as she was strapped to surgical table, while she was wearing the Red X suit,
Alice was confused and scared, where was she, what was going on?
"Shh, shh, hush little one..." The sound of Mistral's voice was heard, as the cyborg walks in, as she looks at Alice with a calm and sincere look.
Alice looks at Mistral, still confused and scared, "Who are you, what's going on, please let me out!" Alice begged Mistral, to free her from her restraints.
But Mistral just gave a straight face, "Don't be scared, once you've have your treatment, you'll be all better..." Mistral told Alice in a cold tone,
As one of Mistral's bots climbs on the table, holding a helmet, it puts it on Alice's head,
Mistral stared at Alice, as she then lifted up her left wrist, and presses a button, then the helmet turns on, and sudden burst of electricity shocks Alice in her brain, Alice started to scream her lungs out in pain, as Mistral watches Alice's electroshock, with a cold emotionless stare,
Alice's piercing scream echoes through the lab, while the progress was happening, outside Mistral's lab, listening through the door, was Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Toad and Killer Croc.
All four of them could hear Alice's screams, Croc chuckled a little. "Red's got some pretty good set of lungs (!)" He joked about Alice's screaming,
Harley looked bewilder, "I still can't believe Red X was a girl this whole time." She mentioned as she didn't see Red X's true gender coming.
Toad then grinned at Ivy, "Bet you're disappointed that your crush was a chick this whole time!" He mocked Ivy, teasing her crush wasn't a guy.
But Ivy turned to Toad with a straight smirk, "Who says I am?" She told them, as Ivy wasn't at all bothered that Red X is a girl, Ivy goes both ways if you know what I mean.
"I don't get why she's so important, Taskmaster gave her that suit and his own MVP; she doesn't look so tough." Croc mentioned, no impressed on Red X's true identity,
"And what I don't get is why Mistral is doing those 'Treatments'?" Ivy asked, curious on Mistral's treatments.
"That is a need-to-know," The sound of Dish's voice from behind the four of them, which made them turn and see the robot, standing there with dour look in her eyes. "And as far as Taskmaster and Mistral are concerned, you don't need to know..." The robot told them with venom in her tone, as she walks through the four and the door to Mistral's lab opens and she walks through it.
Leaving the four of them in the hallway, all of them with annoyed and angered expressions, Toad and Croc left in a huff,
While Harley and Ivy turned to look at each other,
"So whaddya think ol' Skull Face and Human-sized Barbie are actually doing closed curtains?" Harley asked Ivy, as they've only been given a sliver of info of what Taskmaster's end goal is, with his portal nearly finished, she and most of the Syndicate is starting to wonder if Taskmaster will hold his end of the deal he promised them for joining his army.
Ivy looked at Harley with curious face, as that was a good question,
Back on Earth, in Norrisville, in the hospital, Randy was sitting in a chair beside a hospital bed, with a fully conscious Howard Weinerman, as he was eating hospital food, while Randy was staring at him with happiness and wonderment.
Howard then stopped eating at gave Randy an annoyed glare, "Are you gonna stare at me all day, Cunningham, 'cuz this is my first solid lunch after one year and you're seriously wretchin' it for me!" He told Randy, with irritation as he just wanted to eat his lunch in peace,
Randy snaps out of it and looks at Howard gentle, he was feeling so many emotions, many remorse,
"Howard..." Randy uttered, as he couldn't think of what to say to him,
Howard gave him a even more annoyed glare, "You're actually speechless, that's gotta be a first," He mentioned,
Randy looked at Howard, "Howard, after a year, what the juice could I say?" He tells him, with a guilty look,
Howard looked confused before quickly figuring out what's with Randy, "Aww, Cunningham, are you actually still thinkin' about that day?" He asked Randy, mentioned the day Ninja fought the Fiendish Four and Howard falling into the coma.
"Howard, it was my fault the Fiendish Four followed me to Norrisville High... It was all my fault you lost a year of your life..." Randy explained to Howard, racked with so much guilt.
Howard stared at Randy, with a straight face, has he really blamed himself for what happened, "Hey, upside, I don't have to go to school for a week, so I've got plenty of time to binge a year's amount of TV, movies and catch up on the latest internet controversies." Howard mentioned with a small smirk on his face, making light of it all.
Randy stared amazed at how Howard could make light on all of this,
"Cunningham, if I blamed you, it would be over something like you being controlling, beating my high score on Grave Puncher Dragon Punch Quadfist Bro-dition, from the looks of it, you've had a pretty intense year without me, so don't worry about, Cunningham." Howard told Randy, making it clear that he doesn't hold any bad blood against Randy.
Randy was now in disbelief on Howard holding no ill will against him, he was very glad to hear that, as he had a small smile form on his mouth.
Howard leans back on his bed, getting relaxed, taking a sip of his drink before looking at Randy with a curious look, "So... What's been going with while I've been out?" He asked Randy, curious on what Randy's been doing this past year.
Randy now had a tired and dread on his face, as that really wasn't his favorite subject, "(Sigh) Better get comfy, it's a real doozy..." Randy tells Howard, begrudgingly,
At the Triskelion Island, inside the building, in the training room, in the observation deck, Centorea, Ava and A-Bomb were watching the team doing some training drills.
On the training floor, Kaede was sprinting across the room with great speed, armed with two kunais in both hands, as five drones were chasing her, firing energy shots, Kaede runs towards the wall, leaps up and plants her feet against the wall, then uses the momentum and pushes herself off it, launching her towards the incoming drones, Kaede plants her right foot on top of the lead drone in mid-air and jumps off it, where she slashes both kunais on two drones that flew between both sides of her, slicing them in half, then Kaede throws both blades at the two other drones, piecing them both, destroying them, Kaede falls to the ground, landing on her feet.
But sneaking up behind her, was the last drones, before it could shoot Kaede, a blaster shot flies in and blasts the drone, destroying it, as the shot was from Blue Beetle, as he was flying around the room, flying through rings while a pack of drones were chasing him, Beetle maneuvering through the rings as the drones were closing in on him, but Beetle stretched his arms out forward and they change into a pair of long hooks, he flies towards a ring and lifts his hands up and the hooks latches on the top of the ring and Beetle Swings upward, going around the ring, when he fully goes around, he delivers a swinging double kick, hitting the drones into each other and sending them flying and smashing into the wall.
On the ground, Aquagirl was sparring against a training bot, she got into a fighting stance, with a still and steady face, the training bot throws a right punch, Aquagirl shifted to right, dodging, and then, with her right palm, she thrusts it and shattering the training bot's arm, before it could react, Aquagirl leaps and flips, where, in mid-air and grabs the bot's head with both hands and tears it off its shoulders, Aquagirl lands behind the headless robot, she tosses the head aside, then suddenly, three more training bots jump out to attack her, but Aquagirl quickly grabs the headless training bot by the left arm and tosses the whole frame at one of the training bots, smashing it to piece.
Then one of the remaining bots tosses both arms downward at Aquagirl, but she jumps backward as the arms smashing into the ground, Aquagirl leas up and delivers a upward left kick, knocking the training bot's head off, she shifted and charges at the last robot, placing both hands on the torso, Aquagirl generates electricity through her arms, overloading the training bot, causing its whole system to short-out.
Kaikaina and Metabee were surrounded by drones, both of them had their backs facing each other's, as Kaikaina aimed her twin blasters a one half of the surrounding drones, while Metabee aimmed his right gauntlet at the other half, the two open fires on the drones, blasting each of them out of the air, until all of them were destroyed.
Six more drones flies in, Metabee and Kaikaina sees them coming, Kaikaina gets down on her right knee, and holds her hands together, Metabee ran towards her, Metabee jumps up and put his right foot on Kaikaina's hands and she booths Metabee, launching him upward towards the drones, Metabee grabs hold of one of the drones, hanging off it, as it spins in the air uncontrollably, until it stops itself, Metabee climbs on top of the drone and punches his left fist into the drone, he was on, smashing through it and pulls out some wiring, causing the drone to lose control and starts firing out of control, with those shots hitting all the other drones.
While Kaikaina was watching Metabee, suddenly four more drones come in from behind her, but before they could attack, an web-line flies in and hits one of the drone, the web pulls the drone back with great force, the web-line swings the drone into the wall, smashing it to piece.
Kaikaina turned to look behind her, she sees that the web-line came from Agent Venom, who deploys his shoulder mounted missiles and fires three missiles at the drones.
One missile blows up one drone, "He loves me!" Kaikaina yelled in happiness, as she smiled,
Then the second missile blows up the second drone, Kaikaina was now looked sad, "He loves me not..." She said, glumly,
Then the last missile blows up the drone, "He loves me!" Kaikaina yelled out, happy again, as she stares at Agent Venom lovingly.
Back in the observation deck, Centorea turned to look at Ava and A-Bomb, with a smile, "Impressive, it's only been a few months and the new recruits have improved greatly." She mentions to them, under A-Bomb and Ava's watch, Aquagirl, Kaede, Blue Beetle and Agent Venom have made improvements on themselves and as a team.
A-Bomb crosses his arms and smiled, "Honestly, I never pictured myself as a coach," He mentioned,
Centorea turned to watch the team train, she noticed that Julie wasn't there, "Where's Julie?" She asked,
"Her, Cyandog and Cerebrix are making lunch for everyone, she already got her training in this morning." Ava tells Centorea,
"What is this?" This sound of Washington's angry tone of voice enters the room, Ava, Centorea and A-Bomb all turned and sees Wash entering the room.
Ava now looked tired, "Wash, what's got your wick today?" She asked,
"There was an unregistered flight last night!" Wash said, angrily
A-Bomb then shot Wash a look, "Calm down, Wash, Randy needed to get back to Norrisville, it was just a quick drop-off." He told Washington,
"That's not the point, you should've run this by me, we need all hands on deck, Taskmaster is reaching his endgame, and you forgetting what's at stake!" Wash told them, frustrated,
Ava narrowed her eyes at him, "We do know what's at stake, that's why we've been training nonstop, if you didn't constantly nit-pick every little flaw, you'd see how serious we are on stopping Taskmaster." She told Wash,
Wash stared at Ava, A-Bomb, who glared back at him with intense auras from all three of them,
"Enough!" Centorea shouted out, getting everyone's attention, as the centaur, as she looked serious and irritated, scowling at the three of them, "David, if there is nothing left, go tend to another duty." Centorea told Washington, before turning to A-Bomb and Ava, "And the others need you two to focus on monitoring training." She told them,
Wash, Ava and A-Bomb looked at Centorea before Wash turned and left the observation deck in a huff.
As Ava, Centorea and A-Bomb watch him leave, the two teen heroes turned to look at Centorea, who frowned at them,
"This constant butting heads against Washing is beginning to irritate all of us." Centorea told them both,
Ava crossed her arms and had a dour frown, looking at the floor,
But A-Bomb had a straight face, he turned and walked to the door, Ava noticed him walking off.
"And where are you going?" Ava asked,
"I'm gonna check in on Julie, I'll be right back," A-Bomb told her, as he exits the observation deck.
Ava and Centorea turned to face each other, before they turned to continue observing the team's training,
As the two were watching the training,
"David isn't made of stone, he pushes for perfection is because he cares, he just wasn't trained to be a handler; he's a soldier through and through." Centorea explained to Ava, try to make her a bit more lenient on Wash and his methods.
Ava looked at Centorea, she knew she was right, Taskmaster is gearing up for his endgame, which means they must be 100% ready for what's to come.
Meanwhile in the SHED, in the kitchen, Julie, Cyandog and Cerebrix were making sandwiches for the rest of the team.
"... Now the recipe says to add a pinch of salt." Cerebrix tells Cyandog, as he was connected to the internet to look up a sandwich recipe.
But Cyandog had a question mark appear over his head, as he was confused, as he looked at Cerebrix, "Wait, how much is a 'Pinch'?" He asked, as it wasn't very clear on how much salt to add.
Cerebrix actually didn't have an answer, as that was a good question; 'A pinch' isn't a form of an exact measurement.
Julie was finishing up her batch of sandwiches, she smiled, but then a familiar three fingered hand reaches out and snags a sandwich from the tray.
"Hey!" Julie said, as she sees A-Bomb take a bite out of the sandwich,
He savors it before gulping it down," Excellent balance with celery and tomatoes not too much butter, my complements to the chef." A-Bomb said, smiling at Julie, who shot him a smirk,
"So glad that my expertise of fine sandwich sublimates has met your refine taste (!)" Julie joked, as she leans her left arm on the counter.
A-Bomb finishes his sandwich, "Are we gonna expect any more of your culinary masterpieces later?" He asked Julie, hoping for more food from her, Julie shook her head, she wasn't gonna make more food.
"So, gonna head back to training?" A-Bomb asked instead,
"No, after everyone's gotten something to eat, I gotta start packing." Julie tells A-Bomb,
A-Bomb looked confused, "Packing? Where you going?" He asked, as this was the first he was hearing this.
Julie removed her hand and leans her lower body against the counter, "I'm just headin' down to Sydney to see my parents and show them which college I'm thinking about applying to." She explained to him, planning to let her parents see what college she wants to go to.
The team were now Juniors so now was the perfect time to start thinking about college.
A-Bomb crosses his arms, as he could understand that, "Looking around colleges around Jump City?" He asked, wondering,
Julie nodded as she smiled, "Yeah, looking for which one offers the best journalism courses." She mentions to him,
A-Bomb nodded, "I heard that some of the best journalist started out learning at Jump City University," He mentions to her,
Julie dreams to be a reporter, and she's planning to be one before she's 30, Julie doesn't see herself only doing the superhero gig forever, she does want to do more with her life,
A-Bomb found that admirable, her having goals and ambitions, even during their fight against Taskmaster and the Syndicate, Julie always had a certain outlook that allowed her to see such serenity, that was one of her best strengths.
A-Bomb gives Julie a smile, "It's a good thing to have ambitions, especially with what we've been going up against; you really are something special, Julie Hayward." He tells her,
This makes Julie blush with flattery, as she smiled back at A-Bomb,
Both Julie and A-Bomb stared at each other, gazing into each other's eyes, longingly with heartfelt smiles.
Until they heard the sound of cutlery chattering, A-Bomb and Julie both turned to where the sound came from where they see Cyandog and Cerebrix in a tug-of war against Chomp over a slice of bread, as Chomp was on the counter.
Chomp appeared to be winning, as Cerebrix and Cyandog quickly turned to Julie, looking frantically.
"Ms. Julie! Ms. Julie!" Cerebrix cried out in a panic,
Julie rolled her eyes and whistles loudly and Chomp then let's go of the bread from his mouth, causing both Cyandog and Cerebrix to fall to the ground.
Chomp moves across the counter towards Julie, where she smiled at her pet and rubs the baby triceratops' head.
Then suddenly both A-Bomb and Julie's watches began beeping, Julie and A-Bomb looked at their watches, it was trouble.
A few hours later, now in deep space, a large cargo ship was floating helplessly; the Quinjet flew towards the cargo ship.
Inside the Quinjet, the team were getting prepped for a fight,
White Tiger stands in the centre of the cargo hold and looked at her teammates, "We received a distress call from this transport ship, which is carrying some experimental tech, their operating systems suddenly went dead by an unknown cyber-attack, so someone is planning to steak whatever's in that ship." Tiger did a run down on their mission,
Kiakina looked a bit concerned, "Are we gonna be alright without Randy?" She asked as S.P.D. is down a member,
"We'll be fine without Randy, Kai, with any luck it'll just be some small time crooks." A-Bomb tells her, as Kaikaina puts her helmet on.
"But be ready for anything regardless," Tiger told them,
A few minutes, now inside the cargo ship, in the cargo hold, team S.P.D. were looking around to see anyone else were in here, White Tiger noticed a large metal containment unit, she walks over to the unit and starts pressing buttons on its control panel, then suddenly an exhaust of vented air is expelled, as the containment unit opens up, revealing a high density glass case that contained a piece of advanced alien technology.
Tiger, and then the rest of the team surrounded the tech, A-Bomb had a serious look on his face, as he looked at the alien device, "This has gotta be what whoever attacked this ship is after." He said,
Metabee climbs up on A-Bomb's back and looks at the device over A-Bomb's right shoulder, as the Medabot looked serious.
"It's an interdimensional portal-opening thingy-ma-bob!" Metabee said, not knowing what this device was and just made up a word for it.
Julie looked unsure as she turned to Metabee, "Well, I think there's a more accurate name for it, Metabee." She tells Metabee,
White Tiger had a calculating look in her eyes as she stared at the device, "Alright, let's form a perimeter around the device before whoever hacked this ship shows up." She recites the plan,
Kaikaina turned to the right, where she sees something that catches her attention, "Uh... Guys..." Kaikaina said, sounding a bit scared and concerned,
Metabee turns his head and sees what Kaikaina was looking at, his eyes widen in shock, "Ah," He uttered,
A-Bomb then turns and sees, "Oh boy," He said, surprised,
Julie turns and sees, worry was on her face, as she puts her right hand on top of White Tiger's head and turns it to where everyone was looking at,
"Crud..." Tiger simply said, with a more annoyed and unsurprised look in her eyes.
What the team saw was Mistral, Dish, Whiplash and Cinderblock standing before the young heroes,
Dish shoots them a smug glare, "You didn't think it would be this simple (?)" She said to them, in a mocking tone of voice,
"Well, given there hasn't been any action, it's pretty expected at this point." Kaikaina answered, as she shrugged her shoulders,
A-Bomb stands up straight and give a serious face, "So, whatever this thing is must be important if Taskmaster would sent his high ranked lackeys." He stated, referring to the device,
But Mistral smiled at the team, "What is important now is that none of you irritating thorns will leave this ship alive!" She told them, as her eyes began glowing red, and rose up her spear, pointing it at team S.P.D.
Then Cinderblock charges at the team, and picks up both Julie and Metabee in his large stone hands, as he kept running while Metabee was shooting his gauntlet at Cinderblock's face, as Julie tries to pry his fingers open, but Cinderblock crashes into some cargo, smashing Julie and Metabee against it.
Kaikaina, White Tiger and A-bomb were about to run to help them, but then Whiplash's energy whips are swung in and wraps around A-Bomb's neck, catching him off-guard, electrocuting him with high voltage, Whiplash grabs hold of his whips and pulls A-Bomb back with great force, pulling him off the floor and towards him, but as A-Bomb was mid-air, Dish comes down right leg out and kicks A-Bomb in the torso, smashing him into the floor.
Dish leaps off A-Bomb's chest and flies towards Tiger and Kaikaina, landing in-between them, the two of them quickly reacts and Kaikaina swings her right leg upward, as Tiger lunges her left claw, both attack at Dish, but she reacts just as fast and she blocks Kaikaina's kick with her right forearm, and kicks her left leg high up and blocks Tiger's claw, Dish held them both back, until pushes them off with great force, sending White Tiger across the floor and Kaikaina high into the air, but Kaikaina performs a back flip, while doing that, she combines her twin blasters into its rifle mode, takes aim and Dish and open fires.
Dish quickly moves backwards, as the rifle shots were bouncing off her body, Kaikaina lands on her feet and sprints towards Dish, while firing at her, but Dish raised her left arm and fires a grappling hook, it flies at Kaikaina and latches on her rifle, Dish reels in the line, pulling Kaikaina's rifle out of her hands, and Dish then swings the rifle behind her, where White Tiger leaps up to pounces Dish, but Dish swings Kaikaina's rifle and hits Tiger across the face, knocking her to the ground, Kaikaina was still charging at Dish, she leaps up and sticks her left leg out to deliver a kick, but, even with her back turn, suddenly, without warning, Dish's upper body ejects upward from her lower body, as Kaikaina flies in-between Dish's torso and legs, missing her completely.
"AW, NO FAIR!" Kaikaina yelled out in shock and frustration, as she kept flying, until she crashes into White Tiger, who was getting back up, the two tumbled on the floor.
A-bomb was still on the ground, groaning as he opens his eyes, but he sees falling towards him, was Mistral, with her aiming her spear at him, A-Bomb panics and quickly rolls to the right, and Mistral's spear impales into the ground, A-Bomb rolls and quickly gets back on his feet, Whiplash began striking his energy whips at him, A-Bomb held his arms up to shield his face, as the whips were striking, but Whiplash swings his left whip at A-Bomb, but he reacts and catches the whip in his right hands, and A-Bomb pulls on the whip, pulling Whiplash off his feet and towards A-Bomb, but he recovers in mid-air and when he reaches A-Bomb, Whiplash plants both his feet on A-Bomb chest and leaps upward off it and flips over A-Bomb, where he swings his right whip and strikes A-Bomb in the back of his head, shocking him, causing him to let go of Whiplash's whip, as Whiplash lands on his feet behind A-Bomb.
He looks over his right shoulder to look at Whiplash, before he turns to look ahead, where he sees Mistral whips her spear at him, A-Bomb quickly reacts and jumps back, dodging the slash, Mistral spins her body and lunges her spear, A-Bomb sidesteps to the left, Mistral then swings her spear to the left at A-Bomb, but he ducks and slides across the floor, dodging the spear, A-bomb then leaps towards Mistral throwing a right punch at her, but Mistral's multiple arms on her left side catches and stops A-Bomb fist and held him back, A-Bomb was caught off-guard by this, until Mistral immediately shifted her body and delivers a powerful right kick across A-Bomb's face, knocking him away, he tumbles on the floor but manages to roll onto is feet, standing back up, facing Mistral, with his fists raised up.
A-Bomb glares at her, "This had to be more than just a simple smash 'N' grab if Taskmaster would send top lackeys, what's your real game here, Mistral?" A-Bomb asked her; suspicious on what their real reason Taskmaster's lieutenants would be sent instead of the Syndicate.
Mistral shot A-Bomb a small smirk, "True, a mission like this is beneath me, but this particular item Taskmaster needs is essential for the... What is the American saying..? 'Homestretch'!" She stated to A-Bomb,
He knew that didn't sound good,
Then smashing the crushed cargo away, was Cinderblock, as he was holding Metabee in his left hand, as the Medabot was firing his right gauntlet at Cinderblock's face, but the shots were bouncing off it, Metabee then fires his horn missiles and the missiles flies and hits Cinderblock's face, exploding on contact, but Cinderblock was still unharmed, he was now angry and tosses Metabee across the cargo hold, until he crashes into a wall
Emerging out of the wreckage was Julie run up to Cinderblock, while his back was turned, she ran over to Cinderblock's left leg, she wraps both arms on it, and Julie pulls Cinderblock's leg back, causing him to topple over, Julie sprints around to Cinderblock's head, as she pulls her right fist back, once she reaches his face and Julie leaps and delivers a strong right hook to Cinderblock's face, when she lands on her feet, Cinderblock swings his left arm at Julie, but she ducks and dodges, stepping a few feet back quickly, as Cinderblock gets back on his feet, as he then threw a right punch down at Julie, who quickly leap backwards and Cinderblock's fist smashes into the floor, Julie then jumps onto Cinderblock's arm and ran up it, towards his head, but as Julie was about to throw a punch, Cinderblock quickly reaches his left hand and grabs Julie, he pulls her off him, Cinderblock then lifts Julie high up and smashes her into the floor.
Cinderblock release his hold on Julie, as she had a look of pain, before opening her eyes and sees Cinderblock having both arms high up, ready to do a double smash, but as Cinderblock swings his arms down, Julie quickly actives her jetpack and flies out of the crater, and Cinderblock's fist smashes into the floor.
Julie flies back on her feet, as she turned and sees White Tiger and Kaikaina struggling to fight Dish, then Julie then sees A-Bomb barely holding his own against Mistral and Whiplash before turning back to Cinderblock, who roars at Julie, she glares at him, Julie wishes she could transform to Gorem but the carge hold wasn't large enough.
Cinderblock then charges at Julie, she takes a deeps breath as she clenches her right fist tightly, Julie charges at Cinderblock, the two gets closer as both readied themselves to deliver a punch, as they both drew their fists back, unknown to Julie, her right arm started charging, the skin of her arm and fist turned from flesh into some form of metal, but Julie didn't notice, as she and Cinderblock threw their punches at each other, and when Cinderblock's right stone fist and Julie's metal fist collides, Julie's fist smashes through it, shattering Cinderblock's hand to pieces.
Cinderblock steps back, groaning in great pain, as his forearm crumbles to pieces while Julie looked surprised and confused as she now noticed her now metal arm, Julie was in disbelief as she stared at her arm, flexing her fingers.
"Whoa..." Julie merely said in amazement,
But she looked up at Cinderblock, who was still in pain at his destroyed arm, Julie then snaps out of her amazement and ran to Cinderblock and leaps high up over his head, Julie grabs hold of both sides of Cinderblock's head, Julie pulls Cinderblock downward, when Julie's feet touches the floor, and with Cinderblock being bent backwards, Julie grips hard on Cinderblock and lifts his feet off the floor and tosses Cinderblock into the air, he falls towards Dish, Kaikaina and Tiger, who sees him falling towards them, the three of them leaps out of the way, and Cinderblock crashes into the device.
Dish looked surprised as she sees Cinderblock's destroyed arm, Dish then turned to look at Julie and her metal arm, who glares at Dish as she lifted up her iron fist, hinting that Dish is next.
Mistral leaps up and delivers a swift left kick to A-Bomb's head, knocking him aside, as she stands up, Mistral's eyes started blinking red on and off, like she was getting a message, her mouth then forms into a wicked smile, Whiplash notices her smile and knew what it meant, he lets out a loud whistle, getting Dish and Cinderblock's attention, Dish then leaps up and delivers a double kick to Tiger and Kaikaina, knocking them to the ground, as she lands and sprints to Mistral, while Cinderblock gets up picking up what's left of his shattered arm in his left hand and ran to Mistral.
Julie ran to help White Tiger and Kaikaina, as the two of them gets back up, A-Bomb sits up, with a look of pain, before looking ahead and sees Taskmaster's Lieutenants standing before them.
Mistral smirks at A-Bomb, as she hold up some small orb in one of her multiple hands, "You've served as a mildly amusing pastime, but our mission is complete and very soon, so will be out plan, au revoir, petits rongeurs."" Mistral told A-Bomb, as she then tosses the orb blasts a huge, blinding light, shining the entire cargo hold, blinding A-Bomb, Julie, Kaikaina and White Tiger.
When the light dies down, team S.P.D. opens each of their eyes, they sees Taskmaster's Lieutenants were gone,
A-Bomb had a grim expression, as he gets back up, annoyed that Taskmaster's Lieutenants got away, Julie, Tiger and Kaikaina walks up to him, as did Metabee, who came to, as he looked slightly dazed, with his eyes were spirals.
"Anyone get the license plate of that bulldozer..?" Metabee said, sounding dazed,
Kaikaina dematerializes and she turned to look at Julie looked confused, "What did she mean they're mission was complete?" Kaikaina asked Julie, questioning why Mistral said that, as they didn't let Taskmaster's Lieutenants get that device.
"What that means is that device wasn't what they were after, they were just keeping us distracted while someone of theirs stole what they were really after." White Tiger explained, with a seriously frustrated look in her eyes, angry with herself for not figuring it out sooner.
The team didn't know what they got, but considering Mistral mentioned they've reached they 'Homestretch', which means Taskmaster is preparing for the final phase of his plan.
Metabee snaps back to normal and noticed Julie's metal arm, his eyes widen in amazement, "Whoa, heavy metal!" He said, as he taps his metal fist on Julie's metal arm, it was solid metal.
Kaikaina, A-Bomb and Tiger all now noticed Julie's arm, Julie then lifted up her right arm, where she bends her metal fingers, curious on what this is.
Back on Earth in Norrisville, at the hospital's roof, Randy and Howard were looking at the city over the edge, as Howard was sitting in a wheelchair,
"So, you let some 3 million year old, supernatural super villain bribe you to help him almost destroy the Universe?" I mean of all the shoob moves you've done, that's gotta be the grand motherload of them all, Cunningham!" Howard told Randy, amazed that he went bad guy and almost help the Mandarin wipe out the whole Universe, how could Randy be that stupid.
Randy leans down and rests his chin on the edge, with a depressed look, "You're not telling me anything I haven't already told myself, Howard." He tells Howard with a slightly annoyed tone of voice, he already knows he was an idiot for being swaddled to join Mandarin's side, betray the team and almost help cause the annihilation of everything.
Howard raised his left eyebrow at Randy, "And you've been obsessed on getting to better to beat this guy wearing a skull mask, which lead you down a self-destructive road where you've met nothing but pain and sorrow?" Howard continued, still looking in disbelief,
Randy sighed in frustration,
"And despite all of that, this team of yours had forgiven ya and has been trying to help and you've just been shutting them down at every turn, you've done shoob moves but that's just plain stupid." Howard finished, now looking at him with an annoyed look,
Randy, now angry, stands up and shoots Howard just gave him a straight face, Randy and Howard glares at each other, but Randy calms down, he knew getting angry wasn't going to solve anything, Howard was right, Randy puts up so many walls, shutting out team S.P.D., when each of them tried to reach out to him, he is a complete stupid idiot.
Randy turned away, sighing as he calms down, "Not a day goes by where I don't regret what I did, and I've had to work hard to gain my team's trust and my honor as a ninja." Randy explained to him, with a deep complex look,
Howard stared at Randy, with a perplexed look, "But when you friends trust in you was gained back, you still felt like you didn't deserve to be welcomed back or even forgiven." Howard guessed,
Randy stared out at the city before closing his eyes, "I was given the Ninja Mask and the responsibilities that came with it, to protect the innocent and stands against evil in any size or form, but after one tantrum, I let myself become something evil, ugly, someone who didn't care who I'd hurt or who was going to be hurt, it was a side of me I never knew existed." Randy tells him, as he opens his eyes and turned back to Howard,
"I pushed myself so I would never be that weak willed again." Randy finished,
But Howard gave an unimpressed look, "But instead of bettering yourself, all you really did was torment yourself." He stated, Randy looks at Howard, no knowing what to say, but his silences only confirms Howard's statement.
But yet hearing that, Randy felt sense of appease, he realized that in his pursuit of redeeming himself and becoming stronger, he became his own worst enemy, letting regrets and anger fester into something just as worse all because of an ill-thought to deal with this problem by himself, ignoring help from his friends, ignore the teachings of his Master, and losing himself.
Having Howard say that actually helped Randy get perspective on everything, the methods he used, closing and distancing himself from his friends, choosing not to forgive himself when everyone already has, now finally realizing this, Randy felt such serenity, his face cracked a smile.
"Howard, I am a shoob," He tells Howard that he was right,
Howard smirked as he crosses his arms, "Ah, Cunningham, you don't need me to remind you that you're a shoob, anyone who knows you personally would've call you that." He tells Randy,
Randy turns and leans on the edge of the roof, Howard then leans forward on his chair, "So... Tell me more about this girl named Alice..." He said to Randy, which makes his smile slowly fade away after hearing Alice's name.
Meanwhile, in deep space, at the gateway,
In Taskmaster's main star cruiser, in his office, Taskmaster was observing the portal through the large window behind his desk,
Then, the sound of the automatic door opens, entering his office was Nico Robin and Mistral, as Robin was holding a cubed container in her hands, Taskmaster turns around to face them, as Robin and Mistral reaches his desk, where Robin laces the container on it, Taskmaster walks over to his desk and reaches his left hand out and presses a button that was on top of the container, it then opens up, revealing a small arc reactor inside.
"Excellent, with how my informant described this experimental arc reactor, it should be stable for uses and twice more powerful than Stark's variants." Taskmaster said, as he picks up the experimental arc reactor in his left hand.
Robin gave a straight expression as she looked at the arc reactor, "It must be as powerful as your informant said if it was kept in a private, more heavily secured hold then the other cargo." She mentioned,
While Taskmaster's Lieutenants were keeping S.P.D. preoccupied, Robin broke into the private hold and took the arc reactor,
"And those children prove to have some competence, mainly the sliver haired girl named Julie, she actually shattered Cinderblock's arm." Mistral mentioned with a serious face,
Taskmaster took that information into consideration, before handing the arc reactor back to Robin, "Take the arc reactor to Spicer so he can integrate it into the battlesuit." He gave an order to Robin,
But Robin looked at the arc reactor in her hand, with a complex look; she wanted to tell Taskmaster something.
He and Mistral noticed Robin's look,
"If there nothing left to report, dismissed, Ms. All Sunday." Taskmaster told Robin, in a more serious tone, Robin looked at him with a confident expression until she turned and walked to the door,
As soon as Robin left the room, leaving Mistral and Taskmaster there, she turns to look at him, with a serious look.
"Why are we allowing her to around like nothing happened like she still believes we're completely oblivious of her traitorous act?" Mistral said to him, in an angered tone of voice.
As both Taskmaster and Mistral knows that Robin was the one who secretly hacked into Mistral's files and revealed to Red X that she was a second personality and because of that, Robin had likely undid two years of molding Alice into the perfect weapon, and with Black Velocity now in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, two of their most valued soldiers were now indisposed.
"Robin's transgression can't be overlooked," Mistral tells Taskmaster, getting closer to Taskmaster's face, with a serious look on her face, until she starts running her right index finger in a circle on Taskmaster's chestplate, with a flirty smile on her face.
"... I want to punish her, baby, sooo very badly..." Mistral said to Taskmaster voicing her desire to torture and make Robin suffer.
But Taskmaster grabs Mistral's arm and removes it catching her off-guard, "We have more pressing matters to deal with, now that we're finally at the last phase, but I can assure you, I don't tolerate secrets between my subordinates, Robin will be made an example..." He explained to Mistral, as he has intentions on making Robin pay for revealing the truth to Red X.
Mistral then smiled wickedly at that,
Back on Earth, at the Triskelion Island, in the building, in Blukic and Driba's lab, Julie had her right metal arm on a table, with Blukic and Driba on it, as Blukic was scanning Julie's arm with a device, as Driba was observing the results.
"Very fascinating, your arm somehow alternated its physiology from simple flesh to an unknown organic metal alloy, nearly indestructible but still allows full motion of both arm and hand." Driba explained to Julie,
She lifted her arm and flexes her fingers.
Kaikaina pops up behind Julie, with a curious look on her face, "Not that I don't find your arm cooler than any kind of tattoo there is, how did you turn it to steel?" She asked Julie, which made her turn to look over her shoulder to look at Kaikaina.
Julie had an unsure look, "I don't know, when I was fighting Cinderblock, my hits wasn't going to be strong enough to take him down, with his stone hide, I just knew I needed to hit a lot harder, then next thing I knew, my arm was now metal." Julie explained to Kaikaina, as she doesn't know how this happened,
Driba puts her right hand under his chin, with a look of deep thought. "Hmm, well, giving the knowledge that your powers same from another dimension that we have no information about." Driba mentioned to Julie,
Julie stared at the two Galvins before looking at her arm again, she's had her powers since she was a kid and she has yet to truly understand them, before they only granted her super strength then she could transform into a 50ft. stone golem, and now she can turn her skin from flesh to steel, her powers were evolving, just how powerful was she becoming?
Metabee walks in, looking at Julie's metal arm, "So, is your arm gonna stay like that?" He asked her,
Julie looks at Metabee before turning to her arm, it changed because she thought about hitting harder; maybe her new power was activated mentally?
Julie then closes her eyes, took a deep breath, clearing her mind and concentrates, focusing on her arm, and after a few seconds, Julie's right arm then turns back from metal flesh.
Metabee, Kaikaina, Blukic and Driba all sees this, all of them were amazed, as Julie opens her eyes and sees her arm was back to normal, she smiled.
Meanwhile, within the Triskelion's underground levels, inside a heavily fortified room, White Tiger and A-Bomb were facing something; with serious looks on they're faces.
"Listen to what I have to say... How far along is the construction of Taskmaster's portal, and where is he planning to turn it on?" Tiger asked with a stone cold tone of voice.
As to what her and A-Bomb were talking to, was a large running wheel that was rolling in one place at high speed, in the wheel, running, was none other than Black Velocity, out of his gear and wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. prison jumpsuit.
After his arrest, knowing a normal prison cell wouldn't hold him; Fury had Blukic, Driba and the Triskelion's top engineering team to build a perpetuating machine that will keep Black Velocity in one place.
As he was running at super speed, Black Velocity turns to look at A-Bomb and White Tiger with a bored expression, "What makes you think I have any idea where Tasky plans on opening that portal?" Black Velocity said to them,
A-Bomb crossed his arms, with an unfazed look, "You were one of Taskmaster's most valued assets; he had to have trusted you with some valued information." He said,
Black Velocity chuckled a little, "Flatterer but you're wasting your time, Taskmaster only trusted me in getting components, he didn't talk about how the machine worked or where he was planning to turn it on, not that I was curious in the first place, I didn't care enough to ask." Black Velocity explained, looking at them with a smug smile.
A-Bomb and White Tiger both looked surprised and disgusted that Black Velocity didn't care to learn more about the portal ot what Taskmaster is planning to release through it.
A-Bomb narrowed his eyes at him, "So, you didn't care that people were getting hurt or killed over this portal being built?" He asked,
Black Velocity's smile then changes to a straight face, "I only look out for number 1: Me," He stated,
Tiger looked unimpressed, "So, that means you're selfish and stupid..." She retorted,
"You don't look to be the 'Loyal' kind, what did Taskmaster offer you to make you follow his order without question and turn a blind eye to all the shadiness." A-Bomb asked, knowing that Black Velocity was offered something.
Black Velocity then turned his head forward, "When you're an dashingly good-looking individual with superpowers, you attract attention from people like S.H.I.E.L.D. who first sees your powers and thinks you're a danger but also what could also be useful to them, they could offer you to work for them, what they really want is to keep a short lease on you to make sure your powers on their terms, becoming a tool to blindly follow their orders. Of course there is the option to say no, but that would mean you become an unregistered meta-human, and that means a possible danger to yourself and others, so the best course of action is tossing you into a prison cell, I just want what everyone wants: I just want to be free to be me." Black Velocity explained, as he turns his head to look at Tiger and A-Bomb,
A-Bomb scowls at him, 'Freedom?' He chooses to be Taskmaster's personal delivery boy, help building a gateway to another dimension and unleash a powerful and dangerous creature into their world, all to be free to use his powers however he wants.
"You disgust me, if Taskmaster wins then countless lives will be lost, and here you are with great power, and you just want to waste them on helping him to get a life where you don't look out for anyone but yourself." A-Bomb ranted at Black Velocity,
But Black Velocity scoffed at what A-Bomb said, "Think whatever you want of me, what I'm doing is better than what you and your little friends, being S.H.I.E.L.D.'s expendable weapons, y'think your heroes, you are nothing but pit bulls on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s leash, when they say 'jump', you jump, and whaddya think they'll do when you served your purpose, let you walk off into the sunset, triumphantly (?) No, you either outlive your usefulness or you fall under they're commend." Black Velocity told A-Bomb with a cold expression,
A-Bomb was now getting angry, clenching his fists; White Tiger noticed this and steps forward, with serious look in her eyes,
"We're getting off-topic, I believe that you don't know anything and that you just an self-serving, carefree, immature idiot, who's clearly just, who's clearly just awaiting out time on, but unless you're lying and do have some valued information on the gateway's location, you would take the chance to save yourself from being the idiot stuck running in a giant hamster wheel forever." She stated to Black Velocity, hinting leniency to him,
But Black Velocity laughed at that, before his laughter dies down, he turned to look at Tiger, with a smirk on his face, "You think this giant wheel can hold me, aside from my speed, I'm quite the genius, I'll figure a way outta here real soon..." He tells her, with an overly confident tone of voice,
"Yeah, we'll be holding our breath to that (!)" Tiger retorted, as she and A-Bomb turned and walked to the door, with Black Velocity watching the two heroes leaving the room, with a sly smile on his face.
After A-Bomb and Tiger exited the room, once the door was closed, A-Bomb clenches his right fist and spins his body and punches the wall, creating a small crater in it.
"Easy..." White Tiger told A-Bomb, calmly, as she takes off her mask.
A-Bomb was hanging his head down, breathing heavily with so much frustration and anger, "Out of all of the lackeys in Taskmaster's army, we captured one who didn't care enough to ask question..." He said, as Black Velocity was their best chance to learn where the portal was.
"Rick, I get it, but you can't let him get inside your head, look, S.H.I.E.L.D. is currently scanning the Earth with its orbital satellites for any high energy flux, the second there's a tiny change, we'll hit Taskmaster with everything we've got."" Ava tells A-Bomb, assuring that their search isn't stopping at Black Velocity.
"I prefer the direct approach..." The sound of Washington's voice gets their attention, as they turn and sees the soldier walking towards them.
A-Bomb glares coldly at Wash, "Not today, Wash, I'm not in the mood." He told him, as he removes his fist from the crater in the wall.
"Really, you're having a bad day (?) Because I'm having one of those days where Director Fury and the World Security Council are coming down at me like a nuclear bomb, demanding results for this investigation after months of searching and where I find the team leading it, hit another brick wall, that's the kind of day I'm having, Jones!" Washington told A-Bomb with a frustrated tone, as he could tell they got nothing from Black Velocity,
Ava narrowed her eyes at Wash, "We offered leniency but unfortunately he doesn't know anything about where the gateway is, or when Taskmaster plans to turning it on." She tells Wash,
Wash then crosses his arms, "And you believe him?" He said, in a serious tone, thinking Ava and A-Bomb are taking Black Velocity's word for it.
"We won't know until he learns who he is and where Taskmaster found him," A-Bomb retorted in a huff, as the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database is currently running a search on Black Velocity's identity.
Wash processed that, now getting more infuriated, "That is a waste of time, and time is something we don't have!" He told them, as Taskmaster can complete the gateway and opens it at any time.
Ava got annoyed, as she glares at Wash, "Well, that do you think we should do if Velocity does know something, what approach should be taken?" She asked, bitterly,
Washington then lifted up both hands and begins cracking his knuckles, "Like I said 'The direct approach'..." He tells them, with a grim and serious tone of voice.
Both Ava and A-Bomb knew what Washington meant by that, beating the truth out of him.
A-Bomb then got defensive, "That is not happening, Washington!" He told Wash, they were not resorting to torture,
"Oh, spare me the Samaritan act, Black Velocity is an enemy, you may buy the words he vomits out, but I've had my share of prisoners who've tried the tough guy act, one interrogation from me and they all spill their guts." Wash told them,
"Look at him, Wash, Velocity can't be no older than 17!" Ava tells him, as he'd be torturing a kid,
"We're at war; we do what we must to for the greater good!" Wash retorted, as he began to walk towards the door.
Only for A-Bomb to step in-front of Wash, stopping him, while having a serious face, "Not if it means losing ourselves, and stooping down to Taskmaster's level!" A-Bomb yelled, trying to appeal to Washington's sense of morality.
"Get outta my way," Wash told A-Bomb, darkly as he walks around passed him.
A-bomb then reaches his right hand and grabs Wash by his right shoulder and pulls him back, as he shot the soldier a dead serious glare.
"We're supposed to be the good guys..." He stated,
"In war, we make the hard choice, that's what it means to be the good guys." Washington retorted,
"I'm not a soldier!" A-Bomb made clear,
Wash then gets up to A-Bomb's face, "You are not a man..." Wash stated coldly,
That hit A-Bomb where it counts as his face had a look of slight shock,
"Do you know the real reason Fury assigned me to be this team's handler? It was because he knew there needed to be someone who would have the stones to do what needs to be done, when the merry little band of 'Superheroes' are too high and mighty to actually do some good that's necessary to the grand scheme of things!" Wash ranted at A-Bomb, with anger and frustration rising in his voice.
Ava stood and watches with an extremely grim and dark expression on her face.
"I've never needed to put my fate in a group of undisciplined, hot-headed kids who lives in a world of delusion that life is some kind of stupid comic book and their the heroes that's the shining hope for the innocent and who beat the bad guys, I have always counted on my experiences and skill to stop a threat, no matter the cost, but the day I put all of that aside to count on kids with too much power, is the day I hang up my rifle." Wash finished his rant,
A-Bomb felt such rage towards Wash, as he clenches both his fists, ready to fight him, as Washington stood his ground, just daring A-Bomb to hit him.
"Wash... You need to go... Right now..." Ava told Washington with a look of rising fire on her face and tone, as she held up her right hand up and extends her claws, threatening to join A-Bomb in beating the tar out of Washington if he doesn't get outta their sight.
Washington turned his head to look over his left shoulder to look at Ava, before looking back at A-Bomb, who glares darkly, Wash then walks off, passing A-Bomb, leaving the two there, as both heroes watches their handler leave.
The hallway was dead silent, neither Ava nor A-Bomb could muster a word for what happened, feeling so insulted, they knew Wash didn't trust them, but learning that S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have fate in thm, not as heroes, ot even in their eyes, soldiers.
A-Bomb then began to walk off, passing Ava, who kept a straight face, not saying a word, as she knew A-Bomb needed to be alone.
As A-Bomb walked, he passed a second hall, inside was Julie, who was walking and sees A-Bomb pass, where she noticed his look of anger, Julie reaches the end of the hallway and watches A-Bomb storm off, she looks confused and concern on what happened to him.
An hour later, it was now dawn, and on the tallest building in Jump City, sitting on the roof's ledge, observing the city, was dour A-Bomb, he couldn't get what Wash said, he sighs heavily, until he hears the sound of footstep, coming up behind him.
A-Bomb kept looking out at the city, and sitting down next to him was Julie, as she had a straight face.
The two stared off at them sunset, before Julie broke the ice, "Ava told me what happened with Black Velocity and Wash," She said to A-Bomb, knowing why he left in a huff,
But A-Bomb didn't reply back, Julie knew it wasn't a subject he wanted to touch on; she decided to change the subject.
"Mmm, beautiful sunset..." Julie mentioned with a smile on her face, looking at the sunset.
A-Bomb then hangs his head down, sighing as he rubs his temple with his right fingers, " Jules, I'm sorry... We still need hope and me wallowing like this isn't helping anyone." A-Bomb apologized,
Julie gives him a sympathetic smile as she turns and looks out at the city, "I understand that you've got so much on your plate, but you can't give up when one jerk thinks you're not good enough, you need to have more fate in yourself, Rick, the team believes in you..." Julie assures him, before turning to look at A-Bomb, with a bright and caring smile, "...I believe in you," She tells him,
A-Bomb turned and looked at Julie, with a straight face, before turning into a smile.
"So… Already planning for college..." A-Bomb mentioned, curious,
Julie turns away and begins brushing her side ponytail, "This life we lead is amazing but there is a part of me that wants to experience what else life can offer, to graduate go to college, get a job and... Find that one special person..." Julie explained, as she puts heavily implantation on 'Special person', as Julie turned back to A-Bomb, who was gazing longing at Julie.
Until he snaps out of it when she stopped talking, and starts to blush, "Oh! Offer..!" A-Bomb got nervous, as he could tell what Julie was hinting at,
"... Right... I mean yes, getting out... Experience that kinda experience, I mean, I've thought about that too." A-Bomb fumbled around with his words while during it, Julie scooted a bit closer to A-Bomb,
Both Julie and A-Bomb looked at each other, two laughed a bit, before the two quickly moves aside, A-Bomb takes out some breath spray from his jacket and sprays his open mouth,
Julie lifted up both her arms to smell her armpits to check if she offences; nope, she was good.
A-Bomb held his phone in front of his face, as it was on camera mode, checking if there was any food struck in his teeth.
Julie had a handful of breath mints, puts all of them in her mouth, chewing and grinding them up, until Julie blew a snowy, winter breeze from her mouth.
As soon as the preparations were done, A-Bomb and Julie quickly move back to each other closely, as they smiled at each other.
"Hi," A-Bomb said to Julie,
"Hello," Julie replied, with a deep smile,
A-Bomb gives a slight hesitant face, "Julie..?" He said,
Julie leans a little closer, "Yes, Rick?"
"You know you're one of my best friends, right?" A-Bomb mentions,
"Same to you," Julie agreed,
As they were talking, Julie was slowing moving her left hand towards A-Bomb's right hand,
"And I wouldn't want anything to harm that," A-Bomb continued, as Julie's pinkie finger then interlocks with A-Bomb's third finger,
"Rick, either on Earth or in space, what we want would never harm it..." Julie assures him,
"I know..." He said, as A-Bomb and Julie leans closer to each other, staring longingly into each other's eyes,
"Then... We have nothing to fear..." Julie tells him, as their faces were getting closer,
Both Julie and A-Bomb closed their eyes, lips about to connect, everything around them got slow,
But unfortunately, before they could kiss, A-Bomb's eyes shot open in realization as he remember what Julie just said,
"'Space'!" A-Bomb said in surprise, he pulls his face and hand away from Julie, who was caught off-guard by it, getting disappointed.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. can't find any traits of the portal on Earth, because it's not on Earth, Taskmaster's building in somewhere in space," A-Bomb exclaimed, figuring out where the portal is, as he stands up and had a determined expression,
"If I was Taskmaster, I would've built a gateway somewhere remote, and there's nowhere more remote then deep space." He added, while Julie stands up, facing A-Bomb with concern.
"But even if the portal is in space, it'll be almost impossible to figure out where in space." She mentions to A-Bomb,
A-Bomb narrowed his eyes, "Well, if that's the case, then why are we just standing around her?" He asked, seriously as they should be at S.H.I.E.L.D., telling them,
Julie now looked a bit hurt, "... I thought we were having moment to relax..." She said, looking down,
A-Bomb now got annoyed and frustrated, as he turns away from her, "We can't afford to relax, to just look like a bunch of stupid kids! We're heroes, Julie, we have to be ready, we don't make mistakes and we don't have time for-" A-Bomb ranted before turning to Julie, and cuts himself off,
"For 'what'?" Julie asked, now looking at A-Bomb with a now offended and serious expression, wanting to know A-Bomb was about to say.
A-Bomb stared at Julie before turning his head away from her, "... For this..." He finished, disregarding the moment and kiss they almost had.
Julie was saddened by that, but part of her know A-Bomb didn't believe that, she uses her jetpack to hover up to A-Bomb's eye level, which made him turn to her.
Julie had a look of pleading, "Is heroes all we are, what you think we can only be and should only be?" She asked, looking into A-Bomb's eyes, "Isn't it possible to be something... More..?" Julie then places her right hand on A-Bomb's left side of his face, hoping that A-Bomb can see that their not just heroes, their people with wants and desires, to live life, experience things that many go through, for Julie, to experience something between her and A-Bomb that would cement something that's been there for a long time.
But unfortunately, A-Bomb only gave her a cold look, as he takes Julie's hand and removes it from his cheek. "A hero is who I am, Julie, and if you don't like it-"
"Rick... I like it more than you could possible know..." Julie cuts him, giving him a cold scowl, hurt that A-Bomb thought that little of her.
Julie then decides to fly off leaving A-Bomb alone on the roof, as he watched her fly away, A-Bomb now felt a surge of remorse, he's always liked Julie, and now he learned she shares the same feeling for him, and yet he stomped her feelings.
While she was flying, Julie was crying silently, as tears were streaming down her face, she wiped those tears with her left arm.
Back at Norrisville, it was now night, now at Randy's family home, Randy snuck Howard out of the hospital on a wheelchair,
Randy wheeled Howard into his old bedroom, and Randy took a good long look, it felt weird, he hasn't been in his room for a year and it's been kept exactly the way he left it.
"Wow, my old room, where a lot of sleepovers happened since pre-K," Randy said, smiling as he walked over to a wall and places his right hand on it.
"Ahh, if these walls could talk, y'know what they'd say?" Randy asked, reminiscing on his and Howard's sleepovers they've had in the past.
"Uh, 'Why so many fart contests?'" Howard took a guess, as he wheeled himself in, as he remembers a good lot of those happened.
Randy chuckled at that, as he leans his right shoulder against the wall, his smile slowly began to disappear when he remembers that he was given the Ninja Mask in this room.
Howard noticed Randy starting to get depressed, "Y'know, I'm still waiting on your info about this Alice girl." He asked, as Randy didn't answer Howard back at the hospital, and he can't just ignore it if Randy wants to feel better, he need to talk about it.
Randy looked at Howard, before he sighs as he turned and leans his back against the wall, looking at the floor.
"Y'know the kinda guy I was, jumping for any girl who gave me a passing glance, but Alice... She was different, she saw something passed the whole 'Hot shot' thing, Alice had is... Life to hear, she saw the meaningfulness to the world around her, being satisfied with the simple things, and when she met The Ninja, she thought that I was a real hero, and after meeting Alice, I stopped acting like that self-proclaimed ladies' man I was before, she helped me mature." Randy explained, with a small smile, reminiscing his time with Alice.
Howard listens with full attention, the way Randy was talking about her, she was truly someone special, someone who made Randy want to better himself, it was clear that Randy likes Alice more than a friend.
But then Randy's smile disappeared, "But when I found out that Alice was Red X, I felt pain and betrayal like none I've ever experience before, thought everything, every moment we had was just an act, like if the Alice I knew was just an performance, but then when I learned that Red X was a second personality, it was there I saw such fire, pure rage and hatred in her eyes... Taskmaster did something to her... Something really bad..." Randy finished, as he clenches his right in anger, thinking about what Taskmaster could have done to Alice to turn her into Red X.
Howard stared at Randy, with a straight face, "So, are you just gonna stand there yakin' or are you gonna do something about it?" He asked Randy, which confuses him on what Howard meant by that.
Randy turned to look at him, "Wha..?" He uttered,
Howard gave Randy a serious look, "If Alice means a lot to you, then you should be doing something to try and rescue her with your team, instead of just standing around, brooding about it." He told Randy to do something if he cares about Alice that much to him.
Randy looked at Howard, with conflicted on his face, on one hand, Howard was right, Alice does means so much to Randy and he does want to save her, but on the other hand, how can he when he doesn't have the Ninja Mask, he'd just be a liability if S.P.D. went up against Taskmaster and his army.
"Howard... I can't, I don't have the Ninja Mask anymore..." Randy reminded Howard, with an exasperated look,
But Howard shot Randy an annoyed glare, "Oh, don't be such a shoob, Cunningham, as corny and cliché as it is, the Mask didn't make you a hero, you've proven to be as selfless and brave more times than I can count, and that wasn't the mask, it was 100% all you, so Ninja or not, you're still you!" Howard ranted at Randy, to knock some sense back into Randy.
Randy stared at him; widen eyes as he took what Howard was saying into consideration.
Howard then gave a smirk, "You've never had the common sense to give up before, Cunningham, so why would you start now (?)" He told Randy,
He looks at Howard, and then suddenly Randy felt a surge of confidence, as Howard's words were just the encouragement Randy needed to hear.
"You're right, Howard... I can't give up... Because this isn't about me, I've got a job to do because it's not just Alice who's counting on me, I gotta do what I know is right, and mask or no mask, that's not going to stop me." Randy said, now having a look of determination,
Howard smiled, as that's what he likes to hear,
But then, suddenly, there was a knocking coming from Randy's closed window, getting both their attention, Randy turned to Howard, who both looked confused, until Randy walks over to the window, he opens the curtains, and to Randy's shock, outside his window, was Ninjor, sitting on his cloud, floating in the air, who was looking at Randy.
Randy was speechless, what was he doing here, as he quickly opens the window,
"If you're going to stop the villain, save the girl and the day, than you need some last minute training," Ninjor told Randy, as he held up the Ninja Nomicon,
Randy stared at Ninjor, disbelief and wondering what Ninjor is planning,
In deep space, inside Taskmaster main battle ship, in Mistral's lab, Taskmaster walks to Alice, who was now restrained into a surgical table.
Alice still had that helmet on that was wired, Alice moved her head from side to side frantically while mumbling, like she was sleeping and having a bad dream, Taskmaster watched Alice, until he noticed the hooded figure emerges from the shadows, he walks over to the table.
The hooded figure looks at Taskmaster, "Anything to report on your progress..?" He asked,
Taskmaster turned to the hooded figure, "You can tell your master to prepare to cross over," He told him,
The hooded figure laughed with delight, "Finally, what started all those years ago will be complete," The hooded figure exclaimed, as he then removes his hooded cloak, revealing his appearance.
He had an appearance of a goblin-like old man, with green skin, pink hair (balding on his head, with a long mustache and goatee), elf-like ears, and two small horns, for clothing, he was wearing a black shirt under a purple suit, a matching cape with a yellow brooch, a leather belt, a wooden cane, and black shoes.
This goblin man was named Hal-G,
".. And Naga with be free to claim and conquer this Universe as his own." Hal-G said, with a wicked grin,
"And I will be given what Naga offered, and I hope he will honor his end of our agreement." Taskmaster reminded Hal-G, in a serious tone,
Hal-G waves his left hand around, "Yes, yes, the master will give you sovereign on the Earth, while he is free to rule all of the Universe." Hal-G recounted,
Taskmaster stared at him before he heard Alice, as she was whimpering, getting Hal-G's attention as well, looking at her turning head side to side.
"Oh, Alice... Still having nightmares..." Hal-G said, with a calm smile,
"Likely she's dreaming of the night it all started, her brain waves tend to fluctuate intensively during the treatments." Taskmaster mentioned,
Hal-G then walks around the table and places both hands on both sides of Alice's head, then suddenly, a strange light was emanating from Hal-G's hands and in a few seconds, Alice's tossing turning and whimpering suddenly dies down, Hal-G used some power to calm Alice's mind.
Then suddenly, Taskmaster's wrist gauntlet started beeping, he presses the gauntlet and a holoscreen appears, Taskmaster reads the message, before turning off the holoscreen, as he looks up, he sees Hal-G was now gone, while Alice was now calmed down and let reprogramming continued.
Taskmaster turned and exits the lab,
Back on Earth, it was the next day on the Triskelion Island, Ava, Kaikaina, Metabee and A-bomb were walking out of the Triskelion to the SHED after sometime in the training room.
As they were walking, A-Bomb had a glum face, feeling bad for what happened between him and Julie yesterday,
Metabee noticed A-Bomb's emotion, "Hey, Rick, you took down 164 battle drones, that's usually puts you in a good mood, what's up?" That Medabot asked A-Bomb,
A-Bomb looked down at Metabee, he sighs as he stops walking, making Metabee, Kaikaina and Ava stop as well, all looking confused.
A-Bomb looked at his friends, "Guys, do you want more outta life?" He asked them the same thing Julie said to him yesterday.
Ava, Metabee and Kaikaina all looked at A-Bomb with confusion that was an outta-the-box question.
"Uhh... Whaddya mean by that?" Kaikaina asked A-Bomb,
Ava raised her right eyebrow, while crossing her arms, "I'm guessing this would have something to do with Julie's early college search." She said to A-Bomb,
A-Bomb stared at Ava; of course she was right "... I said something to Julie yesterday, something that I didn't mean..." A-Bomb explained, looking ashamed that he was a jerk to Julie,
Both Kaikaina and Metabee turned to each other, both giving each other a cringed face, that didn't sound good.
"Rick, you know you can talk to us but this seems like something to talk to Julie about Ava explained to A-Bomb,
A-Bomb sighed as Ava was right: he needed to talk to Julie when she gets back from Sydney, since Julie left early in the morning to see her parents about college.
So he needed to wait till she gets back to apologies and talk with her,
The four young heroes then kept walking to the SHED but then, out of nowhere, before they could reach it, the SHED exploded in a huge blast, the shockwave knocks Ava, A-Bomb, Metabee and Kaikaina a bit, as the dust cleared and the four of them recovers, they see the SHED destroyed and in flames.
Metabee, A-Bomb, Kaikaina and Ava all looked speechless and utterly shocked at what just happened, while an alarm was blaring out, as the island was under attack, as the four gather their bearings, they noticed a large shadow were covering them, they all look up, where they see, in the sky, was one of Taskmaster battleship, clearly it was the one that just destroyed the SHED.
A-Bomb, Ava, Kaikaina and Metabee were confused; Taskmaster was launching an attack on them and S.H.I.E.L.D., why now?
Meanwhile, in Sydney, Australia, Julie was walking down the street, with Chomp was following beside her; Julie had college pamphlets in her hands, as they were heading to Julie's family home.
When they reach the front of the house, Chomp moves ahead and climbs the stops, when he reaches the front door, the baby triceratops was barking at it, loudly and repeatedly.
Julie laughed, "Okay, I know you're excited to see Mom and Dad," She said to Chomp, going to up the steps,
Julie opens the door and Chomp races through the gap, Julie enters the house, she faced the door as she closes it.
When the door closes, Julie turned to look ahead, with a smile, but then, Julie gasped in shock and horror as she saw that the house was destroyed, wreckage everywhere, the ceiling was gone, exposing the outside.
Julie drops pamphlets, shocked and speechless, on her face, then, the sound of powerful steps were heard, getting Julie attention, turning to a broken pile of weak, emerging passed the pile, was a huge, bulky heavily armored battle suit, as big as A-Bomb, and wearing it was Taskmaster, who wore a bigger skull helmet over his normal one.
And being held up by taskmaster's right hand but his shirt was Julie's Dad, who looked really scared.
"Julie, your father and I were just talking about you..." Taskmaster told her, as he stared down at her.
Julie frozen in place, her dad was in a terrible position, at Taskmaster's mercy, and that battle suit looked extremely dangerous, Julie knew this situation was only going to get worse.
(To be continued)
(A/N: Proud at how this set up went, already working on part 2 and 3, so keep an eye out for them)
(Please give feedback, comment and review, thank you)
Randy Cunningham/The Ninja - Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
A-Bomb - Hulk And The Agents Of SMASH
Ava Ayala/White Tiger - Ultimate Spider-Man
Julie Hayward - Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Kaikaina Grif - Red Vs. Blue
Metabee - Medabots
Taskmaster - Ultimate Spider-Man
Alice Gehabich - Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Hal-G - Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Mistral - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Nico Robin - One Piece
Whiplash - Iron Man: Armored Adventures
Dish - Duck Dodgers
Cinderblock - Teen Titans
Agent Washington - Red Vs. Blue
Centorea - Monster Musume
Howard Weinerman - Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja