The Defenders sanctum
"We came as soon as we got your message." Black widow spoke as she and Bruce banner, also known as Green Arrow, rushed to the Cave to meet Batman,Scarlet witch,Tony stark,eda and Martian Manhunter who brought them on the situation. They entered the League facility in civilian attire; black widow was wearing a white T-shirt as well as pants with a jacket with matching black colors. In contrast.
"What's the problem?" The archer asked as Batman settled his gaze on the two.
"There's something you both need to see." The Dark Knight monotonously replied as he summoned a holocomputer with a wave of his friend. The computer screen showed surveillance footage of Black widow and ultra ninja training. In the video, ultra ninja attempted to hit the heroine with a blow to the arm but was avoided by the blonde. Widow countered with a swift kick to the clone, however it was blocked as well. Ultra ninja attempted a high kick but was also blocked, earning a growl of annoyance from the dark-haired teen. Using his frustration against him, widow swept Kawaki under his feet with her own.
"Almost had me that time, Kawaki…" The heroine remarked as she helped the hero up to his feet. "You deserve a reward." She added before pulling ultra ninja by his shirt to be kissed on the lips.
Both Bruce banner and natasha gasp at what they saw, Oliver gasping because he is seeing his girlfriend currently making out with a teenager. Also, in the video it appears she was enjoying the kiss, moaning lightly. "natasha!" Bruce yelled in disbelief.
"Freeze playback." The blonde ordered, pausing the video. She then turned to her boyfriend and stated positively "That never happened."
"You need to keep watching]." Batman said before looking back to the holoscreen. "Play." He then ordered as the video resumed. Back at the screen, Black widow began giggling before her red hair turned pink and her skin purple revealing to be ash. "Freeze playback." The Dark Knight ordered before settling his gaze on Bruce and natasha.
Predictably, Tony began laughing uncontrollably. He couldn't help himself, it was too damn funny. natasha however didn't seem to share his relief and began to shoot daggers at the iron armor superhero. "Don't you laugh!" natasha yelled before gesturing her hand to the footage. "Seeing she, and he, and—eh… Tony, this is not funny!" The red head assassin responded to the point of almost yelling.
"No, no of course not." Tony replied, ending his laughter with fake throat-clearing but still had an amused grin on his face, indicating he was still enjoying the situation which earned a warning glare from the heroine. Before the situation could arise, Martian Manhunter calmly intervened.
"Please understand, on Mars this is a similar but common game. My people all shapeshift but also read minds, so no one is ever mislead. And I am certain kawaki knew he was with ash from the very first." The Martian hero attempted to explain the situation to the blonde, who didn't seem to share the sentiment.
"this isn't Mars, J'onn."and ash can't use her shapeshifting abilities for things like this natasha responded which the Martian looked back impassively.
"No, but my niece had a similar problem not understand things are different on Earth." J'onn replied to the young hero's defense.
"Then I'll make ash understand." natasha replied in a low voice that was almost as dark as Batman's.
As the Leaguers were talking about ash was watching live and Maddie! Amity and rover was by her side, and the two were enjoying the show.
"You know, I wanted to at my house!" Amity exclaimed in excitement. Ash smiled to amity"
" ash was thinking back to her life on home dimension. When she was on her home, this show has helped her through her troubled life and she admired the character iris that she overcomes problems. This show is the reason why ash wanted to be human and to fit with the others. As she watches the program, the character on the screen face palms herself.
"Ugh, whoops!" The character exclaims as the audience laughs in the background. Ash and amity both smiled and laughed.
Her thoughts were interrupted when several knocks were heard from her bedroom door.
"ash, amity." Black widow voice demanded from outside her bedroom gave ash a twinge of nervousness.
"Just a sec." Ash responded as she turned off her television program and sat straight on her bed.
amity started to straighten up her hair from her ponytail style before she got up as well.
"Uh okay, come in." Ash replied happily.
widow sighed. She didn't really want to reprimand the young hero for her actions but the Martian must learn boundaries. Taking a deep breath, the blonde entered the room, ready to talk.
Later on, in M'gann's room,
Black widow had talked to ash about how she saw her playing that "game" from the surveillance footage. Needless to say, natasha was angry, at first reprimanding ash about how wrong it was to do such an action. The blonde then lessened her harsh tone considering that ash was still new to Earth and but was naïve to the lack of privacy. As a result, widow looked down to the ashamed girl, who seemed like she was about to cry. "So you can see that among humans that game could be very hurtful." natasha spoke softly to the pink skin girl, who turned her head in shame.
amity squirmed nervously and looked to ash. "Okay, so maybe copying off of me while I used the my shapeshifting abilities wasn't such a good idea." The female witch whispered.
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Ash apologized to Black widow and was about to say more when widow placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, as well as amity placing her hand as well.
"I'm not upset… anymore." natasha responded now that her anger has been washed away. "But please ash, from now on just be yourself."
Panic erupted from ash as she swatted the heroine's arm away. "This is myself!" Ash yelled frantically with natasha's green eyes widened at her outburst. Composing herself, ash hugged her arms and spoke quietly "This is who I am." Before the conversation would continue, Batman's voice entered over the intercom."eda,hunter,lucy,nimona,ultra ninja,gus,nightwing,ash and amity, report for mission briefing." The Dark Knight ordered ending the conversation.
Within five minutes, the young heroes were dressed in uniform and met Batman in the mission room. Amity was the only exception, since she needed no suit for any mission, just herself and her trusty Dueling Gauntlet.
With a wave of his hand, Batman summoned several holocomputers, which were showcasing a dark-skinned man, as well as a country next to it. "Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII is the king- of Lucis.King Regis has been praised as a fair, wise leader, a humanitarian." Batman explained as another holoscreen showcased Regis and Bruce Wayne shaking hands.
gus grinned. "Sure, any friend of Bruce Wayne's." The illusionist witch boy murmured quietly to nightwing, who rolled his eyes at his friend's behavior.
Batman's frown deepened as he continued. "But five days ago, Regis allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation of latveria, dr.doom." As he spoke, a holoscreen showcased the dictator's cold-hearted face.
ultra ninja growled. "Not a fan." He said, remembering what he went through on the last mission in latveria.
"Few are." Batman replied as he continued. "But Harjavti suddenly backs dr.doom's faceless claims that Lucis and latveria were once friends in ancient times and has announced the countries will unify in two days in a ceremony in Lucis but Regis's son noctis is supposed to be their but he's missing." As Batman finished speaking, footage is now shown Regis publicly speaking to the lucis people.
"After the ceremony, I will step down as president so that our rightful monarch dr.doom may rule instead of my son." The king spoke earning responses of disbelief from his own people. Another video is showcased from dr.doom's point of view.
"I laud king for unifying our peoples, and I will gladly come to lucis to be crowned sole leader of our nation." The dictator spoke which the realm defenders looked on in disbelief.
"Oh, are you kidding me?!" Amity exclaimed, spreading out her arms. "I mean, according to a documentary I watched on latveria and lucis in class one time, and seeing dr.doom and king Regis forming a pact can never be a good sign." Amity added on.
"Yeah." Hunter replied back before looking to Batman. "So,is lucis okay with this?" Hunter asked.
"Hardly." Batman responded as another holoscreen showcased the lucis people protesting in the streets. "They're will aware of the brutality of dr.doom's regime, but Regis has censored the press, silenced all legitimate protest, and invited the latveria military into his country to enforce martial law." Several other photos are shown with the "invited" soldiers firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the peaceful lucis protestors.
"dr.doom has to be controlling Regis. But he doesn't have the powers to mind control people?" Nightwing asked his mentor.
Batman stepped forward. "But someone is doing it for him,but not long distance. And we have confirmation doom hasn't left latveria. Something else is at work here."as he eyes narrowed at the mystery. "Find out what is up." Batman then shifted his gaze to eda. "Eda , you're team leader."
" rj is busy with luz,Maria,Lincoln,sasha,Penny and Apollo ." Batman curtly replied. "You're the next logical choice."
Robin smiled before Batman spoke up again. "You know your assignments." Batman spoke, snapping everyone to attention. The realm defenders nodded. "Very well, deploy." And with that order, the realm defenders left to the hanger and rover(the space ship that ship from Ben 10 turns into)
kingdom of lucis.
The flight to latveria was quiet and abnormal.Regardless, the realm defenders was one positive result for having a smaller team, it is more suitable for covert operations. As the cloaked ship flies over the African plains, nightwing debriefs the mission. "We're right above the lucis/latveria border."
hunter scoffs. "A border the latveria are in the process of ignoring." The speedster noted as the realm defenders see's the wooden fences crushed by latveria tanks. With the invaders incoming, a herd of wildebeests yelp and run the opposite direction.
ultra ninja looks down at the defenseless border. "No opposition. Guess Regis really is in bed with latveria." The clone remarked as nightwing looks at his hologlove.
"I wouldn't expect opposition here." Nightwing replied as he looked down at his map. "It's a vegetable farm."
"The Amicitia vegetable farm?" Ash asked, trying to hide her excitement.
nightwing cocked his head to ash. "You heard of it?" He asked, surprised. Before ash could respond, eda interrupted.
"Guys, the tanks have caused a stampede." The owl lady informed through her green lantern ring. As she looked to see where the animals are going, eda gave a quiet gasp as he looks to see a Caucasian woman and a child, tending towards an injured Oryx. "With civilians in harm's way."
ultra ninja narrowed his eyes at the two. "I see them, a woman and a small boy." The clone confirmed.
"We have to help them!" Ash proclaimed as amity nodded before looking over to nightwing.
"We await your order, owl lady." Amity stated.
The owl lady sighed. "We're way off mission here." He responded before gazing out the window. Nightwing then looked back to his teammates. "Deploy, but Stealth Mode. If the latveria know we hit them, this becomes an international incident." He ordered which, his friends nodded back with acknowledgement.
Back on the ground.
the tanks and the soldiers continue to roll through the countryside, disregarding the wildlife. What the soldiers didn't expect was a laser blast from the cloaked rover, attacking one of the tanks as it crashed into another. With the latveria distracted, nightwing threw a birdarang that unleashed a smoke cloud, resulting the soldiers to cough.
amity chuckled as she then leapt down, performing a Water Civilization Summoning Kata. "Cyber Viruses!" she yelled out. Cyber Viruses then appeared from a Water Civilization Portal before she then performed a Darkness Summoning Kata. "Razorkinder Puppet!"
Razorkinder then appeared while the Cyber Viruses started to do their work in wiping the minds of some soldiers while Razorkinder started to slash at the weapons.
With them in shock, Hunter zoomed by, knocking the soldiers down at fast speeds into unconsciousness. The other soldiers retreated, some yelling as rover continued to fire beams at them. With the soldiers gone, the realm could now focus at the task at hand, which was to stop the stampede made from the wildebeests.
The woman gasps and shields the boy from the impact, only for ultra ninja to land directly in front of them. With a grunt, the clone holds one of the wildebeests in place before slamming it into the ground, creating a small crater. The crater was large enough for the stampede to split in two, allowing safety for the woman and the boy. With the stampede in progress, the Oryx that was tended to by the women and the boy awakens and runs into the stampede.
The boy gasps. "Oryx!" He cried but gaped in awe as he sees the gazelle being telekinetically lifted into the air by gus. "Whoa." The boy exclaimed, his eyes wide as gus gently lowers the animal back onto the ground.
"Are you both all right?" Nightwing asks, reappearing out of nowhere as the two civilians turn to see him crouched down with the speedster besides him. The Boy Wonder then stands to his full height as the two look at the young heroes with open mouths.
The blond-haired boy smiles and turns to the woman. "Iris, iris, we were just saved by nightwing and his team!" He exclaimed excitedly.
amity then ran in on a Rumbling Terrasaur before getting off. "Okay, so the Quracis started retreating, but I made sure to use Cyber Viruses on them." She reported. "The only thing they'll remember is coming here before everything goes to a blank."
hunter nodded. "Ash,lucy and nimona helped too." He said and gestured his hand to his teammates. nimona walked towards her friends as lucy slowly descended still in her cloak form. The two telepaths then gently lowered the animal towards the child.
"Oryx!" The boy cried happily and ran over to hug the animal. Robin smiled at the moment and turned to the mother.
"We diverted the latverians around the sanctuary. You should be safe now." Nightwing reassured the two as the boy petted Oryx.
Just then,amity,ultra ninja,gus and hunter all turn to ash. "Uh yeah, coast is clear ash. You can de-camo now." Hunter said as the alien girl hesitantly lowered her hood and became visible.
Now or never. Ash looked at the two civilians. "Uh, h-hi." The alien girl greeted with a polite smile.
The boy's eyes widened. This is so cool, I'm meeting actual superheroes besides prince noctis! He thought joyfully and looked at them with admiration. This other girl who can summon Monsters is cool too, though. He added on.
The woman however had other thoughts. "I think you made things worse, latveria border crossings are a way of life here. Usually they wreck a few fences and move on. Engaging them might have made us a target." She scowled with her arms crossed.
"iris!" The boy whined at his older friend rudeness. "Uncool." He added as Oryx gave a snort and the woman sighed.
"I'm sorry, I should thank you." The woman apologized before walking towards the boy. "This is my son Garfield and I'm—"
"iris Amicitia! I can't believe I'm actually meeting you in person." Ash interrupted as her inner joy exploded with excitement at meeting her childhood friend. She saved herself with a cheeky smile.
Kawaki frowned. "You've only been on Earth for six months."The clone corrected which ash turned away to hide the blush on her face from embarrassment. They heard grunts and snorts and turned to see the wildebeest that ultra ninja slammed into the ground began slightly limping towards them.
iris's frown re-surfaced. "The Oryx is sick and I think you injured this wildebeest." The Dark Brown-head reported and gave a glance to the clone.
"Um, sorry?" Kawaki asked. Amity then punched the clone in the shoulder playfully as she let out a chuckle.
iris then stepped to the teens as the injured animal eats grass off the plains. "I suppose it was unavoidable but both need to go to our clinic." She recommended for the injured animals.
ash smiled brightly. "The others could do that; you and I can fix your fence and heal the animal." Ash offered which nightwing frowned.
"And amity." Amity then added on as she banished the Creatures she summoned, much to the surprise of Talcott and iris.
"That's not our—" nightwing began protesting but was interrupted by eda.
"nightwing?" She asked in a voice that almost sounded like begging.
Similarly, Talcott tugged at iris's jacket. "Please sis?" The boy asked, almost begging like the Martian. Both ash and Talcott gave their most pleading faces to Robin and iris respectfully.
amity then stepped back and held up her arms. "I am not taking sides here." She stated, getting a smirk from nightwing.
Sighing, both iris and nightwing said, "Fine." They agreed simultaneously.
"Yes!" Both ash and Talcott exclaimed happily which amity started to give a small smile. Nightwing frowned, this wasn't part of the mission. But a good night's rest will do well tomorrow. And with that thought in mind, the others followed Talcott back to the house while ash and iris began repairing the fence.
Morning shined over the African plains as Garfield led the teenaged heroes to the animal sanctuary. The area was small with a house,vegetable farm, and a silo for food supplies such as grain. After placing the Oryx and the wildebeest in the farm to be tended to later, Talcott happily led the heroes to his home. As they walked under a tree, ultra hears screeching and looks up to see a monkey landing directly on him. The nimble creature quickly leaped off of ultra ninja's shoulder and on to gus's, where he was eating a chocolate bar. The monkey took the food, much to the speedster's protest.
"Hey, give that back!" Gus protested as the monkey took the treat and landed on Talcott's midsection, which climbed to his shoulder.
The blonde boy laughed. "It's okay, meet Monkey." He introduced as Monkey began eating gus's chocolate bar.
ultra ninja frowned at the trees. "Good name, but I hate monkeys." As if on cue, Monkey threw the candy bar at the clone, which kawaki growled at annoyance. Monkey screeched in response as nimona chuckled at the scene.
"Looks like Monkey hates Superboys." The shapeshifter teased.
gushing also smiles and adds to the clone. "Dude, be glad he only threw a chocolate bar." He states as ultra boy gave a glare of annoyance. Talcott then enters the home with the teenaged heroes behind him. The house was small but comfortable, with a living room in the front. In the middle of the room, there is a coffee table as well as four sofas. There are also bookcases near the windows, all full with knowledge on the African plains. Adjacent to the coffee table, there is a television with various video cassettes on the bottom cabinet.
"So, pretty weird about ash and iris, huh?" Talcott stated as nightwing and Gus sat on the sofa chairs while Superboy stood.
"What do you mean?" The clone asked, confused with his arms crossed.
"they sound like they know each other." Talcott reasoned.
"they do?" Hunter then asked, intrigued.
"Well duh, especially back when she was a kid and when she wasn't training with her brother Gladiolus '." Talcott informed in a matter-of-fact tone which the teenaged boys were even more confused and intrigued. The boy added as he looked over his shoulder to glance at the pile of cassettes under the TV. "I know iris has a photo somewhere, well better start digging." Talcott stated with a slight groan as Monkey leaped off his shoulder. The blonde-haired boy then looked up and saw on a shelf.
Back on the field.
Maria used her powers to keep the logs that held the fence in place. Amity had summoned Squeaky and lucy summoned her shadows to help as well, digging up small holes for each log to go into. After each of the logs were lodged in the Earth, the alien used her telekinesis to wrap barbed wire around the fence, perfectly creating the tightly wrapped fence. Marie looked at the restored fence somewhat impressed. "Well, you're certainly a time saver." Iris complimented as she began walking towards the truck to return home to Talcott.
Seeing this as her chance to talk to her childhood friend in her human like form, ash asked "How is your brother doing protecting the prince that you had crush on?" She asked curiously, wanting to hear a great answer.
"I don't know." Iris replied as she used cutters to snap off a loose barb at the end on one of the poles. After wiping off some sweat off her forehead, iris continued, "I was young, when I told my friend my caruncle friend shine." Iris replied simply, with a look that said she didn't want to press on the issue, but the alien babbled on anyway.
"what how do you know that iris
Back at the house.
Talcott smiled that he finally found the photo." The boy announced before blowing on it, cleaning the cassette of dust.
As Talcott held a photo of a young iris and caruncle," Before anyone could ask any questions, rover turns his head to the door nimona noticed."Wait, aircraft headed this way." The shapeshifter replied, immediately snapping nightwing,ultra ninja,hunter and Gus into attention.
"Talcott, stay put." Nightwing ordered as the boys exited the house, looking for any source of aircraft. As the boys searched, iris and ash arrive back, looking at the frantic looks on their faces.
"What is it?" Iris asked but her question has been answered as three Predator drones, roar overhead. Immediately, the drones fired their Gatling guns below, bullets hailing like rain.lucy,ash,amity, Squeaky and iris ran from the bullets, but knew they weren't quick enough, as Squeaky was soon banished while defending the three girls from the attack. Lucy quickly shielded both of them from harm soon afterwards, the bullets ricocheting off her shadow shield. The drones stopped firing and began circling for another attack. With this temporary ceasefire, iris looked at the clone and asked frantically "Where's my brother?"
"with eda." Nightwing answered calmly which didn't seem to cure Marie's distress.
"of thank god." Iris replied, creases forming in anxiety. Just as things weren't bad enough, the barn doors opened, releasing both the wildebeest and the Oryx.
"Hey, sis!" Iris, along with the team, turned to see Talcott coming out of the clinic with eda next to him. "I got the animals out with the aid of the hero!"
"Talcott, run!" Iris screamed.
The drones returned with a rocket striking the clinic and time seemed to freeze. ultra ninja and ash were about to move to get Talcott or fight the drones.
Just as they feared the worst, a green sphere, generated by eda, came out of the smoke containing the hero and an uninjured Talcott. The witch Green Lantern moved over to the heroes and dropped the shield which let iris hug her brotherly figure close.
"I thought I lost you!" Iris exclaimed in relief before she looked to Ion with gratitude. "Thank you."
The roaring engines of the drones returned as they came around for another attack run.
Amity then woke up and looked up to the sky, now in rage, as she performed a Nature Civilization Summoning Kata. "Earth Stomp Giant!" she roared out, summoning Earth Stomp Giant from the Nature Realm.and Gus summoned tech genus blade blaster
Making no time to waste, ultra ninja,ash, and Allie began attacking the drones were ready to fire once more but didn't get the chance as one of them was completely destroyed with one punch from an enraged, leaping ultra ninja. Amity looked up in anger, and with her command, Earth Stomp Giant started to slice his hand down on the other drones to cut it completely in half as he punched a couple more of the drones with his hands, creating two small explosions and tech genus blade blaster sliced other two of the drones to pieces, leaving one for ash.
her's eyes glowed pink as she fired a blasted at the drone causing it to fall into the ground, resulting in an explosion away from the house. The danger had passed for now.
later.
The 10 heroes sagged in their seats. Once everything calmed down, iris insisted on being with her brotherly figure alone. That was a feeling the heroes could understand since she could have lost him back there.
"Alright, we need a game plan." Eda took a deep breath. "I know what just happened was rather hectic, but Regis steps down tomorrow." He remembered the tape, so he stood up before ejecting it as now was not the time to confront that. "Ion, mind turning on the news?"
"Got it." Ion stated as he scooped up the remote.
He got it onto a news station which displayed Regis. He was announcing, yet again, his country joining with latveria. The words were droning, rehearsed, yet Regis seemed to believe them. Ultra ninja, having the best eyes in the room, noticed something odd and annoying.
"I recognize that guy." The clone pointed to someone behind Regis. "Everyone, look closely at that guy behind the leader." The rest of the realm defenders did and scowled at the image of servantis hiding in the shadows. "I hate that guy."
"I still remember the headache I got when he brain blasted us."kawaki said.
"This explains how Regis is being controlled when dr doom isn't anywhere near him." Ash stated. "She must still have him in her employ."
"We must get Regis away from him." Gus declared firmly.
The discussion halted when iris entered the room. Eda looked at her expectantly.
"I take it he's bad." Nimona added, noticing the dread on her teammates faces.
hunter gave a nod. "Oh yeah, he's bad. I still remember the headaches from when he brain blasted us." The grimewalker stated as he placed his hand on his forehead, getting a headache from remembering that experience.
"Brain blasted you?" Nimona asked, seeming to be confused.
"It's a long story." Ultra ninja replied and based on his look, it was a story he didn't want to share.
eda narrowed he eyes. "It doesn't matter; we have to get Regis away from him." She spoke convectively, already becoming her inner leader.
"Good, because we have our mission." Nightwing replied, the realm ready to deploy.
latveria.
Night falls in the dooms castle house, equivalent to the castle , as the latverian guards patrols the home for any intruders. Inside, Regis looks nothing in particular as he gazes out the window from his office. Using her shadows and her oracle, lucy observed that the room looks unguarded. "Regis's alone." Lucy informed her teammates as they quietly entered the room through the air vents above him. As the realm defenders enters the room, Regis looks back at the teenagers, looking exhausted.
"Where's my son?" Regis asked before groaning quietly. "Where's servantis?"
"Forget him, let's get out of here." Nightwing said. Unfortunately, his request will be useless as latverian soldiers barged into the room, wearing equipment to handle metahumans. Ultra ninja,lucy and hunter stand back-to-back as well as amity and nightwing, Gauntlet activated for battle. Ash was in invisibility mode as a latverian commander enters the room.
"Well, well, American heroes, here to assassinate the king." The commander spoke but didn't notice the cloaked ash slip by him. "Such a shame we arrived too late to stop them."
ultra ninja gritted his teeth at the weapons the guards carried. "Those are Apocolyptan weapons." The clone informed nightwing and the others through the mind link.
"Which they'll use to kill Regis, we get blamed, and dr doom gets to rule lusic." Nightwing explained their situation if they didn't act sooner.
"Oh, great." Amity muttered sarcastically as she started to think of who to summon for the situation while standing in defense. "What are your orders?" The female witch asked to the owl lady.
"Form up around the president." Eda ordered as nightwing palmed a birdarang under his belt, as Allie's grip on her Gauntlet tightened.
The invisible ash looks down the hall and spots the opposing telepath, who began running. "I found servantis." Ashsaid as she followed in pursuit.
"Wait, ash!" Amity called but to no avail as the alien hero already left the room, leaving the others themselves.
"I'll go get her." Ultra ninja said, ready to plow through the soldiers with little effort.
"No!" Nightwing maintained, reminding Superboy of their objective. "The mission is king Regis ." The clone was about to retort but ultimately sighed in defeat. Nightwing was right; they had a mission to do. Hunter,nimona,Gus,eda and amity all tensed, ready for nightwing order to engage. One…Two…Three… "Go!" Nightwing ordered as all them engaged their opponents.
"Skull Cutter!" Amity then called out as she performed a Darkness Summoning Kata.
Back in the hallway.
Ash chased servantis through the halls. Just as when she thought she had him cornered, the telepath took a right turn, disappearing from his vision. Ash took the right, in which she was lead into appears to be an indoor movie theater, evident by the rows fabric seats and the large television screen in the front.
As she lowered her descent, ash looked around the room, searching for the opposing telepath. What she didn't expect was a mental blast that knocked down from her feet as she decloaked, groaning from the attack. She looks up to see servantis walking towards her, a crude grin hiding under his cloak.
"Tsk, tsk, i know everything from our previous encounter girl?" He said smugly telepathically as ash picked herself up from the floor.
You didn't think that maybe if you could sense me, I could sense you too?" servantis asked once more as the alien glared at him, his grin becoming more visible as he walks closer.
"Or that this time I'd be ready to use your greatest fear against you?" He asked finally as ash struggled to get up, but fell to her knees from the still aftermath of the mental attack. "servantis says… show me who or rather what you really are." He commanded as he lifted the hood from his face.
Suddenly, ash began screaming in pain as a rush of mental attacks hammered against her skull. She suddenly gasped; she was losing control of her form. "No, no, no! This is who I am!" She protested but felt her hand becoming elongated as her face starts to become deformed.
Her skin turned from her usual pink to a blood red as her human features,she had four of her horrific yellow eyes open up,she grew demonic horns,her body becoming taller as her nose, ears were gone. Her five fingers were replaced with elongated two ones as her clothing was absorbed into her skin, revealing herself to be a demon. Ash roars while inside she began crying in despair.
Back to the other.
all nine watch as they defeated the latverian soldiers, confirmed they won by them groaning in pain and their weapons destroyed from ultra ninja's strength or cut clean in half from amity's use of commanding Skull Cutter. All nine heroes look up to see Regis and his son prince noctis looking back at them.
"Thank you for saving my father, we will take care of him now sorry me and friends don't come here sooner but we had monster to fight,they were preventing from getting her" Notice spoke with thankfully.
What mean us gus asked. Then a warp came behind the price as Prompto Argentum,Ignis Scientia and Gladiolus Amicitia.
Thanks for freeing the prince noctis's father Ignis Scientia thanks.
which the heroes gave nods of acknowledgement and began running down the corridor ash took.
"ash, hold on we're coming." Ultra ninja said but his promise failed as all nine of them screamed in pain from a mental attack, probably from the brain. Immediately, all nine collapse to the ground as servantis looked back at ash impressively.
"servantis says smartly done, brainblasting your own Team" He complemented as he clapped slowly and the demonic alien stood up.
"I had no idea you'd go to such length to hide your true self from your good friends." Ash looked back guilty before glaring back at servantis, who began smirking smugly. "Well, actually I did. But you needn't have bothered, it's being recorded for posterity." He added and gestured his left hand to monitor screens, proving his point.
"No!" Ash cried as she furiously sent a mental attack to servantis. However, the brain created a mental barrier, protecting him from the blast.
"Ah, ah, ah, I didn't say the brain says." He spoke in a very condescending tone. As he returned the favor, creating his own mental attack pushing ash back to the ground.
During the commotion, amity and Gus both grounded groaned as they got to their feet. Hunter was right, that brainblast did hurt. Amity felt like there were bombs exploding on her skull. Amity and Gus looked down to her friends and felt fortunate she was partially telepathic with the Mana from her Gauntlet to be still conscious and Isobu protected gus. They promised to who ever did this will pay.
As amity and Gus stepped into the room, they saw what appears to be Psimon, based on his clothing he saw from the ceremony earlier on TV. They also saw what appeared to be some sort of demonic alien that weakly got up on its feet. Activating her Gauntlet and summons and abomination sword,while gus summoned his Keyblade they vaulted over the chairs, standing between servantis and the creature. Oddly, the alien seemed to tremble at amity and Gus while summons iron man's repulsers,the brain seemed to grin.
"My, my, what a surprise. I didn't know you were a telepath as well, amity and Augustus." The villain spoke as amity tightened her grip on her Gauntlet and her abomination sword. "Yes, we know who you are, as well gus."
gus and amity glared through their eyes as amity raised his Gauntlet from the brain to the demonic alien, threatening to summon a Creature to attack them both. "Where is ash? What have you done to her?!"amity demanded which brain began to chuckle.
"Me? I have done nothing she wanted to show you." The villain retorted as he gestured his hand to the red creature as amity and Gus turned to see it lower its head in shame. Amity and gus's eyes widened in shock as servantis's grin was never wavering. "Feast your eyes upon your teammate's true form."
amity deactivated her Kaijudo Gauntlet and walked towards the demonic alien. "Ash, is that you?" she whispered, which the former pink alien began weeping mentally.
"amity…"gus... please…" ash started to beg between sobs, not wanting her friend to see her like this. In light of this, brain began chuckling once more.
"How touching, let us explore more into her psyche." servantis stated as he sent another brainblast. Suddenly, ash,gus and amity yelped in shock as they were no longer inside the building but rather in a hellish. Ash was in her anodite as they both fell harshly to the ground. Lending a hand, amity and Gus helped ash to her feet.
"Are you all right?" amity asked which ash gave a nod. As they began walking, amity asked, "ash, where are we? What's going on?"
"You're inside her head." servantis said as both heroes glared at the man in front of them. The villain looked from ash to amity and Gus. "Normally I would love to see what kind of secrets you're keeping, but that's for another time."
He then turned to ash. "Come now, we all know that's not who you really are. Must you even lie to yourself within your own mind?"
"It isn't a lie, this is who I am!" Ash screamed back as she sent a pink, mental beam at brain. The villain quickly summoned a black shield, which shielded him from the attack. As the attack progresses, amity and Gus suddenly started to realize that the ground is disappearing.
"Wow, and they say I'm pathological." servantis said remarked before firing back a red beam, blasting both amity,gus and ash back against floating objects such as houses and part of the Cave, all from memory.
Seeing servantis approaching, amity sparks up a Shield from her Gauntlet and gus summons captain America's shield to the villain in an attempt to drive him back. The opposing telepath brushed the attack off, not bothering him for a minute. "You must do better than that if you wish to defeat me." He spoke which amity and Gus both gritted their teeth and ash groaned in pain.
"Off our game, are we?" servantis taunted, finally 'speaking'. "Let's dig deeper, find out what we're really afraid of." Suddenly, brain unleashed a dark mental wave, covering both amity,gus and ash in darkness.
amity and Gus blinks as they looks around, seeing only darkness. servantis turns to see ash, now in her demon form, suddenly the dark slightly turns into a slight red. Amity,gus and ash turn to see hunter,luz,Kim,Lincoln,Maria,king,Emily,marinette,adrien,Anne,sasha,Marcy,Apollo,willow,tint,sprig,polly,hop pop,and Chris all gasping in fear. "Keep back!" 'Emily' exclaimed as ash started to look on with even greater sadness.
amity and Gus knew this wasn't real, it was all an illusion. "Ash, this isn't real, it's all a trick, don't believe in any of this. This is a lie. You know that marinette would never say something like that about you!"
"It's not a lie, friends and teammates shrink from you in fear." servantis's voice boomed as the scene changes.
Suddenly, giant figures of Black widow,Thor,Batman,Alex,captain America,belos,Camila,rj,eda and visison look down disapprovingly at ash. "You should have told us the truth." 'Black widow ' reprimanded as 'Batman's' eyes grew red.
"I don't see how we can trust you now." 'Batman' stated as the 'Leaguers' walked away.
"Then you're off the pep squad." servantis adds which increases ash's despair.
"ash, please fight back! This all a trick, it's not real." Gus attempted to snap her out of her torment.
"Oh, it's very real, just watch." servantis retorted as belos appeared.
"I'm sorry ash, but there is no place for you on Earth or in this dimension now." 'Belos' spoke as he disappears as the reddish-black surrounding turned back to the hellish dimension.
"Oh, and banished to to your father trigon too, and even that's not the worst isn't it?" He asked smugly as the desert disappeared and was replaced with Kawaki, not facing her.
amity and Gus knew how much kawaki means to her, how devastating the brain's tricks are. "No, please stop." Ash whimpered as amity and Gus formed a saddened frown. This was too much.
"brain, you made your point, stop this!" Amity demanded and looked around to find servantis so that she could punch him or try to beat him up for what he was doing.
"Ah, ah, ah, amity, let her learn about lying to the one she cares most." servantis goaded as 'Kawaki' turns to face ash.
"Love you? I can't even look at you." 'Kawaki' remarked venomously as he began to walk away. This crossed the line as ash falls to her knees, sobbing. Amity and Gus knelt down and placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. After 'Kawaki' disappears, servantis reappears and made a 'tsk' noise.
"Oh, what you wouldn't do to prevent that now, right?" Brain asked as both amity,Gus and ash look at him in rage.
"That's right." Ash replied as she,gus and amity began shaking the darkness, light beginning to shine.
servantis began to be nervous. "Now, now children, I know you both don't want to do anything you'll regret." He attempted to reason.
"You don't know us at all!" Ash screamed back before four red beam emerged from her eyes, hitting servantis directly at the center, slowly disappearing him. servantis attempted to escape, but amity and Gus held him in place allowing a to increase her power, evident by the smug smirk on her face.
amity then let out a growl and spread her arms out, summoning a Black Cloak. Allison then lit up her Gauntlet and started to perform a Darkness Kata. "Blackfeather of Shadow Abyss!" she yelled out, summoning Blackfeather from the Darkness Realm.and Gus summons his tailed beast Isobu and rolled at him and hit him like sonic the hedgehog.
then servantis quickly got back up then he gasped and then created a Mental Barrier to block Blackfeather from his attack, but his shield was then broken before Blackfeather shot a blast towards servantis.
amity growled even more summons her abomination gauntlet. servantis started to stagger back before amity then punched his head, and isubo fired a tailed beast bomb causing the glass to shatter, and the evil Psychic to fall to the ground.
gus then began to cackle madly before picking up brain, now in fear. "I think you've two made your point!" Brain called out. "You can stop now!"
amity and Gus cackled as their eyes started to glow. Amity started to throw servantis to a wall. "Go on! Hurt us some more! You can do better than THIS, can't you?!" Amity yelled out madly, slamming servantis's head against the wall repeatedly before throwing him to the ground and then stomping on him.
servantis panted and started to get up, but was then blasted away by ash. Her eyes started to glow as well before she smirked and stepped up. Gus walked up as well, looking to a camera and then summoning a Cyber Virus to wipe out all of the data it kept, as well as the memory of whoever was watching.
ash,amity and Gus then both held out their hands, sending powerful blasts towards servantis, causing him to yell in pain before he fell to the ground, limp.
Kawaki groans as awakens, blinking his eyes to see ash, in her pink skin form, giving him a soft smile. "Kawaki, you okay?" She asked as Kawaki sat up, looks to his right to see amity and Gus, help eda,hunter,nightwing and nimona to their feet.
hunter groans. "And there's the headache." He complained as he and eda rubbed their heads from the migraines.
"And servantis?" Nightwing asked weakly from the attack.
"He brain blasted you, but me ,Gus and amity were able to stop him." She lied as both gus and amity gazed over to the telepath, who was in an unresponsive state.
The next morning
dr.doom is seen outside president regis's castle, where the lucis military guard the entrance. Reporters are also present on the scene. "What do you mean the president won't see me?!" The dictator demanded to the guards. "He invited me."
"Not of my free will, no!" Regis called from a window. "But know that I am free of your servants thrall, the lucis people will never suffer to your tyrannical rule." This is now broadcasted across the world as Talcott and iris watches the event from TV at their home.
"Mark me Regis and noctis, you will suffer for this. Lucis will be mine!" Dr.doom declared before he forced away from the lucis soldiers as the Quracan people all cheer. Back inside regis's castle,the king,his son, Superboy, amity,gus,nimona,nightwing and hunter all wait for ash. As the door opens, dr.doom enters but morphs into ash, revealing it was her the entire time.
"Sorry you had to lie to everyone like that, but I couldn't think of any other way to convince the public dr.doom was behind this." Eda apologized.
nightwing placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Dude, saving a country, pretty big win for your first time as leader." The former boy wonder complimented.
"Yeah, thanks." Eda said as the realm defender said their thanks to the king of lucis and went on their way.
Back on the Logan Sanctuary.
the realm defender and iris watches a live-broadcast which shows Bruce Wayne meeting king Regis. "And I assure you, the Wayne Foundation is here to do whatever it can to help you and your people rebuild lucis." After watching enough, iris turns off the television.
eda had an amused look in her eyes as she gazes down to nightwing. "Gee, Bruce Wayne sure got here fast. Almost like he knew—" He was about to say more but was interrupted when nightwing elbowed the owl lady in the gut.
"Don't you have a souvenir to collect or something?" Nightwing asked casually while behind his mask he was glaring daggers at his friend.
"hey,carbuncle!" Nimona exclaimed as she facepalmed herself in which afterwards she picked up the photo and placed it in front of ash's face. "Something you'd like to tell us?"
ash looked from iris to her friends before settling her gaze on gus and amity. The two witches gave an encouraging smile, telling her it's all right to tell the truth. The Anodite girl sighs.
"Growing up on Anodyne was not a happy time for me. But I started to use my powers to see what earth was like then I saw iris as a kid ,when I saw you crying and I want to see earth so maybe I thought I could use my shapeshifting abilities,so both problems could be solved in twenty-two minutes. All I know for sure is i could helped both of us smile through a lonely and sad childhood. So when I came to Earth and then I turned into a carbuncle and played with as your friend then then year later i adopt a human form, cause I missed you." Ash explained as iris felt heartfelt by her explanation. "Well, ash." She added.
nightwing looked from hunter and then back at ash . "Which begs the question, what do you really look like." The former Boy Wonder asks curiously as everyone set their gazes to the Anodite. Ash stands, looking at everyone until her eyes met amity and Gus. The two witches gave her a smile to encourage her, so that she wouldn't keep this a secret anymore. Sighing, Ash turned into her Anodite.
both amity and gus's smile lessened that she lied but chose not to dwell on it. She wasn't ready and was curious to what the others thought of her in his form.as the clone stood up and took ash's hands.
"You know, you don't have to put on a mask for me." Kawaki spoke softly to the Anodite.
"I do it for me." Ash responded as she conjures back her pink non glowing skin, reforming her eye and her normal hair. "This who I am inside." She explained before turning to iris. "Please don't be mad."
iris looks back at her softly. "Mad? I'm happy. Ash, you saved my son. He says he's your brother now and I agree cause I get to know what happened to my friend when I was a kid also You're family."
ash's face lit up with happiness as she walks forward and hugs iris. "Thank you. You can't know what that means to me."
After hugging her, ash wanted to check on t, to see how's he doing. As she opens the door, she sees Talcott sleeping peacefully in his bed. "Talcott?" She whispered but gasped when she realized there was someone else in there. The door widens, revealing to be a strange woman with a purple suit, as well as some sort of horn on her head.
The Creature shushes ash before waving away a few strands of hair from his face. "It would be a shame to wake him. I might have to order my little thrall here to damage himself." Ash's eyes glow pink, but the Creature once more shushes her once more.
"Ah, ah, ah, he already has orders to do just that if anything happens to me." Ash's eyes stopped glowing in shock. "Now, your performance, a bit over the top, I think. But then again, you haven't practiced dr.doom well miss half demon."
ash's eyes widened as Megaria then walks forward. "That's right. Poor servantis's not the only one who knows your true form." The Darkness Creature then leaned forward and whispered menacingly into her ear. "And if you do not cooperate, I'll make sure everyone knows what you really are."
"ash?" Amity's voice called from down the hallway as the ani looked back in fear.
Megaria gave a smug smile. "I'll know you'll pick the right choice." The Creature then whispered before closing the door just as amity approaches ash.
amity then noticed a panicked look on Anodite.'s face. "What's wrong?"
ash. sighed. "Can we… go outside, to talk?" She requested. amity gave a sigh but nodded as she followed the Anodite. outside.
A soft breeze went by as ash rubbed her arm in anticipation. "Ash… why did you lie to the others?" she asked, which the Anodite/demon sighed in agreement. "Why?"
ash played with her hair before answering. "I-I don't want to be rejected. Please, you know what would happen if they found out." She responded quietly.
"ash…" amity began as she walked towards the Anodite/demon, her pink eyes gazing down at her golden ones. "…you know, I didn't reject you. I don't care what you really look like. You're my friend, and that's all it matters." Amity spoke softly to the Anodite/demon girl with a smile, but the smile seemed forced as amity could see ash's anxiety. "What is it?"
ash bit her lip, debating whether or not tell her, but continued anyway. "Megaria… the Darkness Creature the Duel Masters told us about… she knows what I really am." She whispered quietly as amity's forehead creased in anxiety.
"How?" Amity asked. "How did she find out?!"
"She-she was in the shadows, and she will threaten me to release it if I get in her way." The girl said, trying hard for her voice not to crack.
"We should tell the others, and they can—" amity began but was cut off from the Anodite/demon.
"No, please!" Ash begged, grasping to the sleeves of her shirt. "Do-don't tell them. At least not yet; can you keep this as our secret? Please amity, I don't want to go back to my father." She pleaded tearfully.
amity frowned at the girl in front of her. After thinking for a long minute, amity gazed back to the girl. "Don't worry, you're secrets safe with me and tell Gus cause he knows your secret too.