Megumi looked out of Jefferson’s eye for a moment. She was waiting for Bruce. “You’re early,” remarked Bruce’s voice as he approached her.
“I’m like the Flash,” joked Megumi.
“Not really. Despite his speed, Barry’s got terrible timing. What’s on your mind?”
“…Bruce, there’s no easy way to say this without bringing up recent trauma, but we need to know the Author’s plan concerning Plumber HQ. Did he say anything to the Lords?” Bruce took a breath before he adopted the Bat-Voice.
“They intend to flood Bellwood with a gaseous form of Dark Energon, thus poisoning everyone unless Life comes with them. This universe’s Phury was the control by injecting liquid Dark Energon into her bloodstream. The Phury you know was all too happy to perform the test.”
“And do you know the enemy’s numbers?”
“Right now, it’s Hiro, Khan, Nemesis, Evil Phury, Dr. Borg, and Metaltron.”
“Metaltron? I haven’t heard that name since the hunt for Dalek Caan.”
“Well, she’s involved.”
“What about Vilgax?”
“They’re not concerned with breaking him out.”
“He’s not gonna like that.” Megumi then snapped her fingers as she recalled something. “We need you to suit up. You can’t exactly fight without your utility belt. …And I haven’t exactly used a certain object for some time!”
“That thing can’t get you what you want, only what you need.”
“Well, we NEED the cowl.” Megumi then pulled a metal gauntlet out of a hidden pocket in her dress. She fastened it onto her hand and a symbol glowed. The symbol looked like an alien compass. “Hello, Locate Keystone.”
“Do you still remember how to use it?” asked Bruce.
“…It HAS been a while.” Megumi decided to check the instructions on the gauntlet. “Ikuze!” she whispered to herself. “Locate Keystone, Activate!” The symbol then glowed. “Initiate Rift Detection!” The symbol then went a pale green. Megumi then wandered around the room. As she did, whenever her hand passed over an area, the green glow became less pale. Soon it was a solid green as a white crack appeared on the wall. “Identify Source of Rift!” The symbol flashed a few times as it beamed the information directly into her head. Megumi grinned. “Bingo! Locate Help from D-C-C-0-M-1-C-5!” The crack became a rift and a bat-themed armored car landed in front of the two.
“Voila,” said Megumi as she gestured towards the current Batmobile.
“Perfect!” cheered Bruce. He approached it and the rear opened. It revealed two harnessed seats that came out and tilted down. A raven-haired girl in a red and green costume with a skirt and cape and a bald man with a thin moustache and wearing butler clothes raised the harnesses.
“Mr. Wayne!” called the girl.
“Master Bruce!” said the butler, Alfred. The Batmobile’s canopy then opened and a black-haired woman with a tiara, a red leotard with a blue skirt, and a golden rope then jumped out of the Batmobile’s cockpit.
“Robin, wha-” The woman, Wonder Woman, then saw Megumi. “…I see we’re among friends.” She then saw Bruce. “And family!” The two then hugged and kissed.
“…Is Batman-?” Megumi asked the girl, the current Robin.
“No, that’s Bruce Wayne,” replied Robin.
“Miss Persephone, it’s all right,” assured Alfred. “Megumi Hishikawa already knows about the family.”
“Oh. Well, in that case, DADDY! MOMMY! CUT THAT OUT! IT’S GROSS!”
“Don’t knock it until you try it, Persephone,” replied Bruce.
“More dimensional mishaps?” asked Wonder Woman.
“Yep. This time, someone wants to rewrite all of reality.”
“You’ll be happy to know, Master Bruce,” said Alfred, “that there’s a Batsuit in the Batmobile.”
“Thanks, Alfred.” Bruce then opened a compartment that revealed the cape and cowl he was famous for. He then put it on and assumed the usual stance of Batman.
“With all that, minna, we better bring you up to speed,” declared Megumi.
Everyone heard about the Author’s plan from Batman. Megumi, Ben, the Phury Ben’s dating, Optimus, Arsha, Max, Batman, Wonder Woman, Kaede, Sora, Rosadera, and Life sat around a table. Ben pulled up a layout of Plumber HQ with the enemy’s movement in real time. “All right, the enemy’s prepping some old Appoplexian ship that was long decommissioned after the Highbreed War,” he reported.
“It’s a Rumble-Disc,” explained Phury. “It’s designed to spread toxic gas over a wide area and Bellwood falls within that area.”
“In any event,” said Ben, “according to enemy movements, the Rumble-Disc is ready to launch. They’re just sitting there.”
“This is a good opportunity to strike,” declared Megumi. “Optimus can get us in via Locus-”
“He can’t,” said Batman. “When Optimus first used it, the Lords studied its energy signature. They’ve adapted to it and fed the information into Plumber HQ’s defense grid.”
“Then how do we get in?” asked Arsha. “They’re sure to have closed off the entrance Sky Runner’s team used.”
“There’s another entrance that they haven’t checked for,” replied Max. The display then zoomed in on an entrance. “It’s disguised as my plumber shop.”
“That’s the main entrance, Grandpa!” protested Ben.
“It’s also too obvious for them to believe we’d be that crazy,” remarked Wonder Woman.
“Making it perfect to confuse the enemy,” mused Megumi.
“Speaking of the enemy,” said Rosadera, “who knows how they function?”
“At least the Lords are easy to explain,” replied Kaede. “I’ve been catching up with Star Trek: Picard. Like Optimus, I know of how the base Borg functions.”
“I never got a chance to watch Picard,” revealed Optimus. “Could you explain any further Borg facts?”
“Not much about them is different than the series you grew up with. The Borg still have the adaptive shield matrix and attack en masse.”
“Adaptive shield matrix?” asked Phury.
“Yep. A couple of shots at Borg Drones with a laser weapon at one frequency will automatically send data about that frequency along the Collective and they will change their shields to block that frequency. Unless you can change the settings quickly enough, you’ll be overpowered.”
“What about frequency modulators?” asked Max.
“Those will definitely help against the Borg.”
“But they’re also a drain on power,” remarked Ben. “The Omnitrix is more efficient than that. When he died, Azmuth gave me every single command code on this thing.”
“Azmuth’s dead?” asked Megumi.
“He died a month ago. Tough old Galvan, we all thought he was too stubborn to die.”
“So he gave you EVERY command code?”
“Yep, even Master Control. Combined with the Randomizer Function, we should be able to plow through the Lords.”
“All that’s left,” mused Rosadera, “is to figure out the weaknesses of the enemy’s generals.
Back in Plumber HQ, Khan the Author was speaking to his teammates outside Vilgax’s cell. “How are Rumble-Disc preparations?” asked Khan.
“Did you write that we would get everything ready ahead of schedule?” asked Nemesis. “Because we’re ready right now.”
“I didn’t, but it’s good to hear that we’re ready.”
“Well,” said a blue-skinned woman in a skimpy Dalek-themed outfit, Metaltron the former Last of the Daleks, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t see the enemy giving Life up that easily.”
“You’re quite right, which is why Bellwood’s soon-to-be massive loss of life will be on their head.”
“After that,” rumbled Vilgax, “our alliance will have served its purpose.”
“Hm?” quizzed Dr. Borg.
“Our agreement. Once you have Life, you give me the Omnitrix.”
“…That was the deal?” asked Hiro.
“It was,” replied the evil Phury.
“…A pity,” remarked the Author. “We could use the cash.”
“You wished to use the Omnitrix for petty robberies?” asked Dr. Borg. A nasty thought formed in Vilgax’s head.
“No, but we gotta make some money here. …Maybe we should put it up for auction. The Techadon Weapon Masters would pay a fortune for it.”
“Perhaps, if he breaks out of Incarcecon in time,” chuckled Phury, “Vilgax would get first bid.” That set Vilgax off. He slammed his fists on his cell door.
“YOU BETTER HOPE I’M SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFERRED TO INCARCECON, APPOPLEXIAN!” he roared. “BECAUSE IF I BREAK OUT NOW, YOU AND YOUR ASSOCIATES’ TREACHEROUS HIDES ARE MINE, YOU HEAR ME?!” Khan opened the Tome and read a passage aloud.
“‘Once the Tome closed, the cell door’s security systems delivered a shock that wasn’t strong enough to kill him but was enough to send him flying to the back of the cell and knock him out.’” He then snapped it shut. Once the Tome closed, the cell door’s security systems delivered a shock that wasn’t strong enough to kill him but was enough to send him flying to the back of the cell and knock him out. “With all that,” said the Author, “let’s get to work.”
Over in Mt. Rushmore, Optimus looked at Ben’s Phury. She arched an eyebrow, feeling unnerved. “…What?!” she snapped.
“It’s just…I never thought I’d see the day,” replied Optimus.
“What day?”
“Well, I only stopped at Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, when he used the Ultimatrix. Whenever he turned into an Appoplexian, there wasn’t anything to indicate genitals. …You guys really wear clothes? Appoplexians wear pants?” That…wasn’t the correct thing to ask an Appoplexians. A ticked-off Phury grabbed Optimus’ holo-form by the collar and hoisted him up to her face.
“OF COURSE, WE WEAR PANTS!” she roared. “AND SKIRTS! AND UNDERPANTS! AND SHIRTS! AND BELTS! AND BRAS! AND SHOES! AND SOCKS! LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, OPTIMUS PRIME, LEADER OF THE AUTOBOTS! APPOPLEXIANS HAVE A HIGHLY ADVANCED SENSE OF SHAME! BOO-YAH!”
“Wait, so you’re telling me that, all this time, Rath was running around…” Optimus’ holo-form eyes went wide. Phury growled before sighing.
“Buck naked. And the Appoplexians wanted Ben’s head for a time until Rath got clothes. …Still, he knows how to keep the peace and got us Appoplexians in the Plumber Alliance. With that hurdle cleared, I just had to ask him out.”
“…Good for Ben, I guess?” Phury gave a low growl, guessing the implications of Optimus’ statement. Optimus wisely took off.