The final mission for the first-ever Enforcer team was about to start. Any moment now, they would launch themselves into outer space and start that battle that would ultimately lead to the end of everything and the beginning of a brand new era.
Naturally, many of the heroes were all nervous. The Enforcers were strong, but could they really handle this? That was the thought that was on all their minds as they walked toward the massive spaceship that was in the middle of the Heavenfall base. Only one member was truly confident and managed to keep her cool.
The one and only Ruby Admiral.
Ruby let out a whistle as she stepped onto the ship. The SSP wasn't like anything she had been expecting. It was far wider on the inside than it had appeared on the outside and sort of looked like what you'd see on a plane.
There were rows of seats on either side, with an aisle that ran down the middle. At the front was the cockpit, the doors of which were open, where two people could get seated. Near the back was a door that would lead to the storage room, where their 'cargo' was being stored. Along the wall were various metal hooks that had dozens of metallic circular bracelets hanging off of them.
Legend was the first on the ship, and he picked up one of the bracelets and snapped it onto his wrist. "Alright. Anyone who can't survive the vacuum of space, put one of these on." A glowing blue field of energy seemed to trickle around Legend's body, and he began to toss the devices out to everyone else.
"What do they do exactly?" Hands asked as he caught his.
"It's a low-level force field." Legend explained. "They aren't perfect and can't take any big attacks, but they'll ensure we don't freeze or explode while we're up in space. The battery in them isn't very big, so make sure you power it off once we land on the moon and then repower it on when we go to leave the moon. Omega has a few extra stored inside of him in case we lose any or the power starts to run low."
Ruby didn't bother with one since space wouldn't be able to harm her all that much. She casually took a seat while the other heroes made their last-second adjustments. Gorgeous took a seat next to Ruby and kept tapping his foot up and down, constantly shifting between his forms. He kept glancing out the window and bit his lip.
"You good?" Ruby finally asked.
Gorgeous let out a small snort. "I'm not even in the top five strongest on this team, yet I'm about to blast myself into outer space to fight God only knows what, all because some crazy bastard is up there making an endless army of monsters and doesn't want to stop any time soon. No. I'm not good. Honestly, Mermaid should have come, and I should have been the one to stay behind."
Ruby frowned slightly and tilted her head to the side. She studied the pretty man, looking him up and down. "You're the one who told Mermaid to stay behind, aren't you? Young Dog got left behind because he's not suited or cut out for this, and it was supposed to be you who remained with him, but you practically threw a fit and insisted that River stay back instead. You're having sudden regrets?"
Gorgeous seemed to hesitate for a moment, but eventually he shook his head. "No." He let out a heavy sigh, and his shoulders sagged downward. "I think it really is for the best that Mermaid stays behind. The kids like her a lot. My son included. I'm just worried, you know." He clasped his hands together and fiddled with his thumbs. "This is one of the most dangerous things I've ever done, and my son is still so young. He doesn't have a mother either. Just me. I know I'm a shitty dad, and I never asked to be a parent, but I'm stuck with the responsibility now, you know? I'm worried that I might not be able to come back this time."
Ruby gave a faint nod of her head. "What you really should be scared of is running into Mpreg again." She joked, attempting to lighten the mood. "He might get you again, and your son will have a brother or sister."
Gorgeous shuddered, and the femboy shook his head. "Nope. Mpreg appears, and we kill him."
Ruby giggled softly. "I did hear he joined up with the Emperor. It's possible we could actually run into him."
Gorgeous made another face, and he looked a little green. "God, how did a bastard like that even get made? What sick fucker thought it would be funny to make a Super whose entire power is making guns that make men get pregnant?"
"That's not all his guns do, is it?"
"It is! It's such a stupid power!" Gorgeous spat out and rubbed his temple. "Seriously, why the hell would the Emperor let a guy like that in his army? Never mind, it was totally so he could double the number of monsters he has. I bet that bastard has been zapping all the soldiers to make the men and women give birth to more freaks."
"Yeah, we really need to stop that guy." Ruby giggled before her look grew serious. She reached out and gently punched the hero in the shoulder. "If anything bad does happen, though, I'll do my best to keep you and the others safe." She managed a faint smile. "No one is dying today. We're all going to make it back."
Gorgeous gave a nod and a smile of his own. "I seriously hope you're correct."
"I am. Let's all celebrate and see tomorrow."
Legend and Omega stood up near the cockpit, watching everyone get ready. Hands was adjusting his suit and fiddling with his metal hand, which was glowing a brighter shade of blue than usual. Tamer had also taken a seat near the back, and she was fiddling with the metal cages that hung off her belt. One in particular was glowing an ominous black shade and would shake every now and then. Ferros looked mostly out of it and was slouched down in her seat, blankly staring ahead. Feast seemed to be the most chill and was all the way in the back, munching on a massive burger. Lastly, that left Golden Weaver, who kept pacing around back and forth.
"Golden Weaver, you know you don't have to come if you don't want to." Hands called out. "Mermaid is staying behind with Young Dog."
Golden Weaver shook his head. "No. I need to come. I have to do this. It's just a lot, you know. Like, I'm not a space hero! Hell, I'm barely a city-level hero! I have no idea how I even made it to the Enforcers!"
"I know it's pretty much too late to back down, but is charging in like this really a good idea?" Tamer questioned.
"Of course not." Legend snorted. "But what other choice do we have? If we do nothing, we lose the one chance we had at reaching the end of this messed-up story. Even if we are going to fail, isn't it better to at least give it a try? We might not be able to stop the Emperor, but if we take out the teleporter, this will be a win in my books. It's time to show the world that we don't just need Full Monarch. We can do this. We have to do this."
Ruby cracked her knuckles. "Oh yeah. Don't worry, guys. We got this. Let's get this show on the road."
Legend gave a nod. "Omega. Start the ship up."
Everyone else who had been standing all took a seat. Legend and Omega were the only two up at the front of the ship, and the vehicle hummed and roared to life. The metal rattled, and a few screws popped out, which made Ruby do a double take.
The entire spaceship was a safety hazard that most likely should not have been able to function, yet did so only because of BS superpowers. The glass looked like it was about to crack, and the entire ship became awkwardly hot as it began to jet forward. Outside the entire Heavenfall base, bystanders were forced to take cover as the thrusters started up. Fire didn't just come out of it; instead, it exploded outwards like a hundred bombs going off. The wheels skidded across the ground, hard enough to set the rubber on fire and ignite the stone, and inside of the cockpit, Omega pulled back on a large pirate ship-like wheel. The vehicle roared and began to lift up, its wings shaking and flapping up and down as it took to the skies. More metal peeled away from the SSP, but the majority of it was somehow held together, hopes and dreams forming a powerful duct tape around it. Somehow, they made it past the clouds, and the intense heat faded, replaced with a deep chill, and then the next thing Ruby knew, all sound cut out as they dipped past the atmosphere and entered outer freaking space.
Ruby let out a gasp, though it was silent since there was no air. The ship was working, but it wasn't actually space-proof. Luckily, everyone had on their energy barriers, so they were all fine, and while she was a bit cold, she had been hit with way worse and could manage. That wasn't why she gasped, though. Her gasp came because she could now see the planet.
She always pictured Earth as being beautiful. In all the pictures she had seen, it was mostly blue with a bit of green and white across it, but now that she was far, far above it, she was actually able to eye the planet up. It wasn't as good-looking as she had hoped for. In fact, it even seemed downright ugly.
The ball of dirt and water at one time had been vibrant and pretty, but after various battles with Lucifer, the Beast, and now the Emperor, the damage had taken its toll on the planet. Much of the sky was a darker shade of blue that bordered on black, and a majority of the ocean had changed into a rustic red look. A majority of the land had also been affected, rare spots of green scattered around the mass of brown and gray that spread across the orb like a cancer.
Earth was sick. The planet itself was dying and practically screaming out for help. The Emperor wanted a planet, but he didn't care what state it was in. As the Lord of the Land and Life, he would just restart the planet from the scraps of ashes that remained once his conquest was done. That was, if he wasn't stopped before everything had gone too far.
It was the job of heroes to save people, and right now, the Enforcers were all dead set on saving planet Earth and helping put an end to the sickness that had festered within her core.
Seeing the state of the poor planet managed to put the rest of the team into the headspace they would need. All of them, for the first time, saw the world for what it was. The world that Full Monarch had done so much for. Four years without the number one hero had caused this? It was madness. Some of them felt their resolve double; others felt the fear they had fade. More still, like Legend, felt anger bubble up. Were they really so useless without Full Monarch? No. Legend decided that they would do this. They would put an end to all of this today, one way or another.
It wasn't a Lord that was going to save planet Earth; it would be the newest number one hero, Legend.
Legend's attention snapped away from the window, and he looked out into the void of space. Directly ahead of them was the moon. Just like planet Earth, it had changed. Lush green forests grew across it, and a massive black castle forged out of cursed metal stood in the middle. The moon itself looked more like a second, much smaller Earth, with rivers and mini towns scattered across it. The sight of it pissed Legend off more than anything else.
The Emperor's army didn't understand the monster they truly followed. The monsters had all been created and bred to believe that they were fighting in this war to take over Earth so they would have a place to stay, but that wasn't actually true. The reality of the situation was much darker. The Emperor, with his godlike powers, both from his natural abilities and the powers he got from being a Lord of the Land and Life, could terraform any planet and turn any of the dozens of useless rocks that floated in the solar system into an Earth-Two, but the bastard refused to do that. He didn't want a new planet; he wanted Earth simply because the rest of humanity lived there, and he hated them so much that he would rather risk losing everything in the war with them than give up and live a peaceful life with his new family.
That was the cruel reality of the Emperor. He was the worst villain, not because of just how evil he was, but rather due to how petty and self-destructive the freak acted.
To him, this had all just been a game.
As the SSP spaceship began to rapidly approach the moon at insane speeds, it rattled more, bits of metal peeled off, and one of its wings fully snapped in two, but it somehow still functioned. That wasn't what concerned Legend, though. What he did focus on was the flash of blue that appeared in front of them. The Hero Branch had once attempted to nuke the moon, but a blue portal had appeared in the middle of space and sent the rocket away. Once more, the portal was appearing, but Legend had been ready for this. By using Omega, they hadn't been able to mass-produce Doctor Blue's formula, but they had been able to cheat the code and make a highly diluted version. It worked like the original but wouldn't last as long and could only be made so long as the first bottle existed, but with that first bottle, they were able to harvest it and produce over one hundred extra, worse versions of the formula.
As the portal opened and expanded, Legend slammed his fist onto a button that was on a monitor screen. There was a flash, and a dozen sprinklers that were along the roof of the ship went off. The blue liquid sprayed out, coating the inside of the ship and all the heroes within its substance. It didn't stop there either. Outside of the ship, metal flaps tore away and exploded, full of packets of the same liquid, which clung and froze along the surface of the ship.
This happened just in time as they rammed through the portal. The entire ship creaked and groaned, and for a moment, it was like they had crashed into something, but then the ship suddenly broke through the portal, shattering it in two as if it were made of glass. The shards passed through all the heroes as if they weren't even there.
Legend tensed his body up, expecting to be sent to that nightmare-like void like the last time he had gone through the portal, but it never happened. None of them were pulled in, and instead, they hit empty space and kept rocketing toward the moon.
Because the portal maker existed, the Emperor had actually grown lax in his defense. After all, not even Full Monarch had been able to get around the counter that was the portals. No weapon could reach the moon, and since nothing had ever gotten past them before, the Emperor's forces weren't ready.
At this point, the Emperor would have learned that the heroes could get past the portals, but due to how fast the heroes acted and set all of this up, he wouldn't have been able to set anything in motion. Because of that, the moon was left totally defenseless, and right now, rapidly charging toward it was one of the most destructive warships that had ever existed.
It was Omega's turn to hit a button, and the cyborg slapped as many of them as he could. More of the ship unfolded and broke away, but it was worth it, as the space vessel launched everything it had at the moon!
Rockets blasted out! They exploded mid-space, sending out frozen clouds of blue mist, through which rapid lasers and plasma blasts launched. The portals tried to appear, but the mist clouds kept growing, causing the portals themselves to fade and shatter, allowing the lasers through. More rockets followed after that, ramming down into the surface of the moon and its castle, all of them blowing up and sending gallons of the blue liquid scattering out, which, thanks to Omega, had been tweaked to become airborne. Since the Emperor had taken the effort to create an atmosphere on the moon, the anti-portal substance began to invade that atmosphere.
The lasers tore through the land, piercing past the walls of the castle and any bunker that might have remained standing, ripping everything apart, and they still kept coming. Dozens of bombs went off, and various other machines were launched out, as Omega threw everything he had at the wall in order to see what stuck.
One machine in particular was sent out last. It flew through space, carried by a rocket, and began to swirl through the atmosphere on the moon, gathering up the anti-portal fluid and condensing it into heavy clouds, which began to rain and pour.
More and more portals struggled to appear, but none of them worked. Doctor Blue's invention was doing even better than expected and was rapidly growing and evolving, going across the castle, the land, and the rivers, corrupting them all. The portals kept struggling to appear, but they would fade and shatter just as quickly as they swirled into existence. The plan had worked. The villains had been expecting the heroes to get by the portals, not the entire spaceship.
Legend gave a nod and snickered, though it remained unheard in the vacuum of space. He patted Omega and stood up. The cyborg gave a nod and flipped more switches, causing the weapons to launch on their own. The two of them got up and nodded toward the other heroes, who all got up. The Enforcers, along with Ruby, made their way toward the back, where the final piece of the plan rested. They made it just in time as the entire ship shuddered and stopped.
One of the monsters stood on top of a destroyed tower that had been attached to the black castle. Polaron held his hand out and pointed it at the ship that was rapidly making its way toward his home. It might have been immune to the portals, but it wasn't immune to his powers. With a surge of energy, he flared his power out and began to ball his hand into a fist. He'd crush the ship along with all the heroes inside!
At least that had been the villain's plan, but something clearly went wrong. The ship was folding and ripping, forming into a ball-like shape, but as it started to shrink down, something inside pressed against it. Something that was massive and rapidly growing in size! Fire hot enough to survive even in space blasted out of the ship, and Polaron saw a flash of red scales as claws and wings tore their way out. The entire ship erupted and crumbled, being torn apart like an egg, as a giant red dragon came blasting out of it with all the heroes on its back!
Wyvern was created to fly through space. Her body could bend and alter the laws of the universe, allowing her wings to carry her forward. All the heroes stood on her back, and the dragon began to fly toward the moon. More of the castle broke away and shattered as other dragons started to lift up in an effort to stop her, but as soon as they made it past the atmosphere on the moon, Legend struck out.
His beard was long and flowing, and he wore wild white robes. He raised a hand, and lightning swirled into existence as he took control of the tremendous storm. With a flick of his wrists, hundreds of lightning bolts erupted like a sea of endless arrows, piercing down on the dragons and ripping them apart. Some roared and launched out their fire or sent black spikes that rammed into Wyvern's side, causing the monster to let out a cry of pain and falter, but it was already too late.
The dragon spun through the air out of control, heading right toward the castle. Polaron let out a yell and jumped back just in time as the dragon rammed through the roof, caving it in and collapsing onto the structure.
Dust scattered outward, and all the heroes jumped and rolled off the beast. Ruby was the first on her feet, and she looked up with wide eyes. They were now all in the castle, and the first room she saw looked like what you'd see in a video game. It was massive and clearly some sort of throne room, with dozens of pillars scattered around and a twisting staircase that led all the way up to a spiked throne made of swords. Her eyes instantly locked onto the figure that remained seated on his throne.
He wore dark black and silver armor. A long flowing cape rested behind him, and his helmet covered his head save for a pair of slots where fiery blue eyes blazed out. Twisting horns jutted from the side, making him look almost demonic. Once again, Ruby had come face-to-face with the Emperor.
The other heroes behind her groaned and stood up, but they instantly went on guard when they saw the devil resting on his throne. He had an elbow propped on his armrest and was slouched, resting his head on his hand. His eyes were slits, though, and Ruby could practically feel the annoyance that was gushing out of them. It caused her smirk to grow.
"Looks like we reached him faster than I thought we would," Ruby called out. She placed one hand on her hip and pointed her other one at the Emperor. "Give me your armor! I want it!"
The final battle had just started.