//------------------------------// // Step one // Story: The best party ever // by ed2481 //------------------------------// Step one Mr. Incredible looked out over the streets for signs of threats, but found that there weren’t any. He was currently out with a small team of supers charged with doing a sweep of the empty city. It reminded Bob slightly of the city where he lived but only on passing glance, if you looked closer you’d see dark alleys filled with burning trashcans, and then if you looked again it would be a shining metropolis. Bob wasn’t sure why he’d brought Helen and the kids to the games except that it had seemed like a good idea at the time, now that he was a soldier fighting a war he was starting to regret the decision. Above him he could feel the watchful eyes of his cowled partner who was watching out for trouble, the man was odd. He obviously didn’t have any real powers but he had enough gadgets and training to be a hero, from what Bob could tell the man had been in the game since he was very young. Suddenly his ear piece crackled. “Mr. Incredible there is a spiky haired man using rocket boots with a giant S flying towards us, someone you know?” The voice of his partner asked. “Yeah, his name’s Syndrome he’s decided that he’s my nemesis. He’s got no powers but he’s got plenty of toys.” Bob replied. “Let me guess, he’s resentful of supers and you did something that made him want to destroy you.” Batman said. “Yeah how’d you know?” Bob asked. “Clark’s got the same problem.” Batman said with a shrug. “Does he like to monologue?” Batman asked him. “Like it’s going out of style.” Bob told him with a slight smile. “Perfect, keep him talking…”Suddenly Syndrome descended from the clouds his boots glowing slightly with zero point energy. When he reached the ground he gave Bob a sweeping bow. “Mr. Incredible I can’t believe what an honor it is to see you again!” Syndrome told him with a large evil smile. “Hey there Buddy long time no see, how’d that jet engine treat you?” Bob asked him returning the smile, Syndrome’s eyes narrowed. “You think you can disrespect me that way you ant? I’m Syndrome the master of technology the genius who created zero point energy!” Syndrome yelled at Bob who just shrugged and charged at him knowing what the result would be. Sure enough Bob was immediately trapped in place with Syndrome floating in front of him with a smile. “You thought you could catch me monologing didn’t I teach you better last time? Well maybe I should reinforce the lesson!” Syndrome yelled and he sent Mr. Incredible smashing into a nearby building. “You think that that hurt Buddy? Ha I’ve taken worse hits from my daughter!” Bob yelled as he hauled himself to his feet. Syndrome trapped him again. “I don’t know why you’re bothering Mr. Incredible, I mean I’m obviously your superior in every way, and now I’m going to ki…” He was interrupted by a black cowled form that smashed him into the ground before it began to beat the ever living shit out of him. Batman smiled grimly as his fists rose and fell in a steady cadence against Syndrome’s face, this was the kind of little shit he couldn’t stand. Despite his annoyance Batman held himself in check and stopped the second that he thought that Syndrome had stopped being a threat. “You could have saved me a swing you know.” Mr. Incredible said walking up behind Batman who shrugged. Suddenly dark laughter filtered through the streets Bob and Bruce turned to see a dark shadow descending towards them. “Well well if it isn’t the Bat.” The large man walked down the street slowly his steps cracking the asphalt beneath his feet. Batman looked at him for a second before murmuring one word quietly. “Darkseid” *** Pinkie was in her war office when the call came in. “Pinkie this is Batman, Mr. Incredible and I are facing Darkseid himself, help would be appreciated.” Then the line went dead. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!” Pinkie said to herself as she flipped through the schedule desperately seeing if there was anybody capable of helping them. Suddenly the phone rang again. “What is it?” Pinkie demanded while she continued flipping through reports. “Miss Pinkie, there are two young women here to see you; they say that it’s urgent.” The voice of her secretary who shall remain nameless said. “What could possibly be urgent enough to draw me away from saving an entire dimension and all the people on it?” Pinkie asked as she finally found some back up for Batman, she just hopped that he liked his help big and green. “Ma’am they say that they’re from the PPC if that means anything to you.” The secretary told her in a bored voice “Oh and one is reaching for an axe…” Pinkie’s blood froze, the PPC shouldn’t be here, and she’d checked she hadn’t broken any of the rules. “Send them up please.” Pinkie said managing to find her voice. A few second later two young women walked into Pinkie’s office, one was tall with red hair while the other was shorter with brown hair and glasses. “Hello and to what honor do I owe the arrival of two of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum? If you’ve come to kill me I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you that all interdimensional travel devices have been disabled.” Pinkie told them trying to be presentable. “To be honest we just wanted to let you know that we’re here, what you have here wouldn’t be our department and besides we like it here.” The brown haired women said. “Thank you, I’m sorry for the reaction, but you have a reputation…” Pinkie said thinking back to what she’d heard about the two in front of her. “I haven’t seen any sues around here, and everyone seems to be mostly in character so everything checks out. We were actually here watching the games; anyways we just wanted to make sure you knew we were here to prevent you panicking if you randomly saw us.” The redhead said with a shrug. “Well thank you for the warning, but I need to get back to coordinating my forces, have a pleasant stay.” Pinkie told them pressing a button to send the two assassins tumbling out of the room. “Gee Jay you’d almost get the feeling that she was scarred of us.” The brown haired women said. Pinkie wiped sweat from her mane in relief with the back of a hoof and went back to dealing with the problem at hoof. *** “Hulk smash ugly bald man!” The giant green man yelled as he rushed towards Darkseid. “You will make a fine new slave.” Darkseid said with a chuckle as he ran forward to meet the green monster. Nearby Batman was administering some much needed first aid to Mr. Incredible who looked like he’d been curbstomped through a building which technically he had. Hulk’s giant green fist met Darkseid’s palm with the sound of a thunderclap, Darkseid countered with a punch to the stomach that sent Hulk flying into the air. Which as it turned out wasn’t the best idea in the multiverse, Hulk dropped downward his fists clasped together like a hammer and slammed into Darkseid’s head sending him a foot or two into the street. Darkseid merely smashed his fist into Hulk’s leg and sent him flying into a nearby building which collapsed on top of him as Darkseid easily stepped out of the depression. “You are an amusing distraction.” Darkseid told the Hulk who was making his way out of the collapsed building. Hulk charge him again, this time his fist connected with Darkseid’s jaw. Darkseid went flying through two of the skyscrapers and began walked calmly back through them as they fell around him. “Now if only these buildings had been full of people…” Darkseid mussed to himself as he strode purposely back towards the jolly green giant. “Mr. Incredible we need to leave right now, this is going to hurt... a lot” Batman told Mr. Incredible as he wrapped his arm under Mr. Incredible’s arm and shot his grappling hook into the side of a building. Mr. Incredible groaned as they shot upward, Batman got them both onto the roof with little trouble. “Pinkie this is Bruce, thanks for distracting him, we need a ride before Bob here dies of internal bleeding and punctured lungs.” Batman said into his communicator. “Coming right up, what would you prefer Batman, a pelican or…” Pinkie began. “Pinkie I don’t really care unless it can get us back to a hospital fast enough for him not to die.” Batman cut her off coldly. “Pelican it is then, sorry Bruce.” Pinkie said as she ordered the pelican. “It can be there in two minutes.” “Thanks Pinkie.” Batman told her before returning his gaze to the conflict below. Hulk and Darkseid had managed to knock down several more buildings but the Hulk apparently had enough of his mind left to know to keep away from Batman’s building. Suddenly Hulk reached out and grabbed Darkseid by the ankle, he then smashed the alien into the ground in a very symmetrical circle pattern, then with one last effort Hulk sent him crashing into the ground. Darkseid looked at Hulk for a few seconds before he smiled and began to get back to his feet, Hulk’s fist interrupted him when it collided with his face but Darkseid suddenly shot an evil looking red beam out of his eyes which sent the Hulk flying backwards. Any time now Batman thought to himself, luckily the pelican appeared from over the horizon right as he thought it. “Come in Batman this is indie gulf niner niner do you read me over?” A feminine voice asked. “Loud and clear, now please get us off of here before Mr. Incredible dies.” Batman replied, suddenly in the background of the radio he heard. “Mom hurry up we can’t let dad die…” Perfect his kids are here Batman thought to himself in exasperation as the hauled Mr. Incredible into the pelican with slight grunt. He was met by an anxious black haired girl and an energetic blonde boy. “So mister is my dad going to be ok, well is he, is he?” The boy asked as he ran around the pelican, Batman resigned himself it was going to be one of those days… “As much as I enjoyed this little distraction I’m afraid it must come to an end, I’m very busy and crushing you is only keeping me away from Kal-el.” Darkseid told the panting Hulk who against most odds was still trying to kill the overlord. Darkseid delivered one final punch which sent the Hulk flying before he punched a series of numbers into a remote and vanished. Hulk landed on top of another skyscraper and smashed all the way down into the main lobby, he then staggered out of the hotel and changed back into Banner. Tony Stark found him a few minutes latter and carried him back to Base 42. *** Twilight woke up and felt around for Luna but discovered that the bed was empty with a small huff of annoyance Twilight got to her hooves and walked out into the hallway to get a look around. A group of soldiers walked by resplendent in armor; on closer inspection it was armor that looked like Master Chief’s but it wasn’t green. “York I need a status report.” A female soldier in light blue armor said. “We’re leaving in ten minutes to destroy five platoons of covenant.” Another soldier who Twilight presumed to be York said easily. “Good let’s go show those Spartans what the Freelancers can do.” The first Freelancer replied. Twilight stepped back to let them pass and received a friendly wave from one of them in green and yellow armor. Once they were by Twilight noticed that she hadn’t actually eaten anything last night and was really, really hungry. Apparently she wasn’t the only one, when she walked into the room that the party had been in she found herself looking at a huge number of beings all stuffing their faces. After Twilight picked several muffins from one of the buffet tables she scanned for a good place to sit, the only seat available was next to a man with a top hat. Twilight approached the table and sat down next to the man who was so engrossed with a small box that he didn’t immediately notice her presence. When he did notice he blinked twice in surprise before offering Twilight his hand to shake. “Oh hello there Miss I apologize for not noticing you I was caught up in this amazing little puzzle.” The man said apologetically after he shook Twilight’s hoof, Twilight peered at the odd box that the man held in his other hand with interest. “What is it sir?” Twilight asked the box was golden and inlaid with small blue lines that pulsed and rippled if you looked at them. “As to that I have no earthly idea, but it is sure to hold some great mystery I’m sure, if only I could figure out how to open it…” The man said looking back at the puzzle box. “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking who are you?” Twilight asked breaking the man out of his concentration. “Where are my manners? My name is Professor Layton; I’m an archeologist who occasionally solves mysteries.” The Professor said. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia and friend of Pinkie Pie.” Twilight replied getting an intrigued look from the Professor, “Are you now…?” he began, then his watch began to beep. “Oh dear me look at the time. I apologize Twilight but I must be off.” The Professor said getting up from the table and hurrying away leaving Twilight confused, she shrugged and began to eat her muffin again. Luna came into the room and noticed Twilight sitting alone at the table. With a casual smile Luna grabbed a muffin of her own from a nearby buffet table before joining her lover at the table. “Good morning Twilight.” Luna said before she bit into her muffin. “Good morning Luna, so what are we doing today?” Twilight asked curiously. “Watching something hilarious…” Luna said with a nod towards another table. Sitting together were Master Chief and Samus talking and laughing, glaring at them from another table were two men. One wore green armor with what was obviously some kind of jetpack, while the other wore grayish battle armor and carried a large backpack. Twilight raised her eyebrow and turned to Luna “Want to tell me what I’m watching?” Luna shook her head and placed a hoof over Twilight’s mouth. Twilight rolled her eyes but consented. Suddenly the two men got up from their table and began to step menacingly towards Master Chief and Samus. They were noticed immediacy and both super soldiers turned to look at the two newcomers. “Hey there Doom Guy what’re you doing here?” Chief asked with a slight smile as he loosely fingered the pistol at his waist. “Shut up, you know why I’m here, my partner here and I are here to kill you and your girlfriend.” Doom Guy said with a glare. “I hate to disappoint you, but that really isn’t going to happen.” Samus said raising her arm cannon. The man with the jetpack let out a laugh. “I remember last time that thing is worthless.” The man said contemptuously pulling out a blaster. “Now why don’t you get on your knees?” “Jango Fett, don’t you have a sarlack pit to fall into?” Chief asked causing the man with the backpack to take a step closer. “Luna shouldn’t we do something?” Twilight asked in concern, she didn’t know Samus but she was friends with Chief. “Don’t worry Twilight they’re fine.” Luna told her quickly. As Luna spoke Chief rose to his feet and reached out to grab the man with the jetpack’s arm, he then threw Fett down onto the glass table which shattered under the impact. The Doom Guy was too distracted by this to notice Samus’s cannon pointed directly at his stomach, the Doom Guy looked down at the cannon and his face blanched. Samus let a feral smile break out across her face before she unleashed the full energy of her cannon into the Doom Guy’s stomach which sent him spiraling away into the far wall. He landed with a splat which revealed that the blast had completely disemboweled him, or at least that’s what Twilight assumed it was called when someone’s stomach and intestines stopped existing. “Check, Please.” Chief said and gave Luna a salute and Twilight a nod as he and Samus walked out of the room. Several others were looking at the mess, but they turned away with a shrug. The man with the backpack groaned and got back to his feet he made to follow Chief and Samus out the door; however he was stopped by the arrival of Pinkie Pie. “Mister Fett I’m sorry to say this, and I know I’m going to catch a lot of flak for this, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Pinkie told him calmly, her voice really did sound regretful to Twilight. “Try me Pinkie.” Fett said confidentially. “Mister Kratos Mister Fett here is causing a problem, would you mind removing him?” Pinkie asked the hulking form of Kratos who had appeared from out of nowhere. “Never mind I’ll just be going then…” Fett said walking quickly around Pinkie and Kratos who glowered at him intimidating. Then the massive shirtless man inclined his head slightly to Pinkie and began to walk towards Twilight’s table, remembering what she’d been told about their last meeting Twilight gulped. To her surprise Kratos stopped in front of her and looked down at Twilight emotions warring for dominance, eventually one won over, it was a look that Twilight had never seen on the ex god of war’s face. It was an apologetic look. “Twilight Sparkle, I would like to apologize for saying that I wanted to tear off your horn and use it to impale your head on a wall. Looking back at it it was a very stupid thing to do and ever since I exacted my revenge on all of my family I’ve been trying to cut down on stupid things. So will you forgive me?” Kratos asked, Twilight had to struggle to keep from fainting in shock. “Of course I will Kratos!” Twilight said rapidly. The man nodded and walked away slowly, Luna let out a nervous breath which she realize she’d been holding in since the man had drawn near. “Well that was something…” Luna told Twilight as she ran a hoof through her starry mane. Pinkie came up to them hopping happily. “I’m glad that Kratos was able to forgive you Twilight, frankly we can’t afford to have him angry with anyone here.” Pinkie told Twilight with a sad grin, Twilight nodded. “Is he really that strong?” Twilight asked Pinkie, she’d been hearing about Kratos since she started to go to the parties but besides him destroying that army of myth creatures with Percy he’d never actually seen him do much. “Twilight let me put it this way; he could kill around half of our strongest warriors and gods within an hour.” Pinkie told Twilight, suddenly a little buzz started to come out of Pinkie’s ear and she had to turn away. “What? I’m sending Ratchet and Clank to help!” Pinkie told the people on the other end. *** Buck was crouched behind a piece of cover as Covenant forces shot plasma blast after plasma blast into the block of concrete. The mission had gone to shit faster then he’d thought possible. First his ODST squad had been cut off from the rest of their group who were being led by Sergeant Forge by a swarm of Covenant, and then the Rookie had left to get them reinforcements, that had been an hour ago. Mickey had been up talking to Sergeant Forge when the separation happened and it proved impossible for him to get back to the squad, and Dare had slipped off to retrieve some kind of intelligence, which left Buck, Romeo, and Dutch. “Hey does this remind anyone else of those stories where the squad of badasses is slowly whittled down by much weaker enemies?” Romeo shouted as he blew a brutes head off. “Shut up Romeo we don’t have time for that!” Buck called to the sniper. “But boss these could be our last few moments together, and I just want to tell you guys that I’ve always loved you.” Romeo called, Buck rolled his eyes Romeo was a smartass at heart. “As nice as that is to hear Romeo, why don’t we let God decide when our last minutes are?” Dutch called while he sent a rocket zipping into a hunter who shrugged it off like water. “I’m back.” The voice of the Rookie called as he appeared behind Buck. “Good, did you get us any reinforcements kid?” Buck asked. “Yeah, watch.” The Rookie said, suddenly a wave of Covenant troops began to disco when a giant disco ball appeared above them. “What the hell?” Romeo yelled, a small being with large ears wearing silver and black armor, on his back was a jetpack with a robot’s head. The being then took out an absurdly large rocket launcher and fired off two shots, all the Covenant dancing suddenly found themselves without legs to dance with. “Sorry late I had to make a stop at the vendor, I’m Ratchet.” Ratchet said offering his armored hand for Buck to shake. “And this is Clank.” Ratchet said pointing at the robot jetpack on his back. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The robot told them with a mechanical smile. “So fuzzy do you have any other toys?” Romeo asked, Ratchet smiled and pulled out a gun with a large circular hole on one end. “This is the Bouncer, observe.” Ratchet said, and then he jumped over the concrete and pulled the trigger three times. Three large bouncing balls were spit out of the round end and began to bounce around in the enemy ranks, the Covenant soldiers stopped firing to look at them. Then the balls exploded outward unleashing dozens of slightly small balls which then repeated the process several times over. “Buck can I have one?” Dutch asked. *** Pinkie smiled as she received news that thanks to Ratchet’s intervention the ODST squad would be fine. Then Pinkie turned back to the board and watched the holograms as they moved around. Things were going better than expected for the heroes; however Pinkie knew that this was just the first step to taking back the dimension. The enemy leaders had as of so far abstained from actually intervening in any engagements, the only one who had had been Darkseid and he had been playing with the Hulk. Pinkie really was worried about their chances overall but she had to stay positive, after all is she didn’t then who would?