A plane flew high above the Alps. Snowy winds blew through the sky. The plane turned, and then slowed down. The back ramp began to lower. Two figures leapt into the sky.

One plummeted straight into the snow. The other slowly floated down, as if held by a parachute. But there were no chutes in sight.

Wonder Knight bent his knees as he landed on the mountain side, Pink Star in his arms. He let out a grunt, then rose back to standing position. Pink Star gripped his neck hard.

“Are you all right?”

Pink Star nodded.

“I-I’m all right, it was just a little scary.”

Her cheeks flushed slightly.

“But…c-could we stay like this, just a moment?”

Wonder Knight nodded.

“Take your time.”

Voidspeaker touched down shortly after, the glow around his body fading. He turned his head to Chronolock on his back.

“You need a moment? Take your time.”

Chronolock jumped to the ground with a light kick to Voidspeaker’s shin.

“If you two are done flirting, can we get to work? It’s freezing out here.”

Wonder Knight and Pink Star flushed, but Wonder Knight let her down.

“Sorry, let’s get to it.”

“F-Flirting? W-We definitely weren’t f-flirting.”

The teens gathered together and trudged up the snowy peak. Eventually they reached an alcove in the mountain. As they peaked over the snow, they saw it. Huge metal doors, hidden by the cave, leading deeper into the mountain. Wonder Knight looked to Pink Star, who held her hands together in a whisper.

“I choose you, ant”

A little pink ant with wings appeared between her hands and disappeared into the snowy winds. Pink Star focused on the sparks appearing on her visor. She then turned to Voidspeaker and pointed in two directions. Voidspeaker nodded and pointed his fingers in those directions.

“Experience nothingness.”

With a whisper, two thin, nearly imperceptible black lines extended out towards two corners of the doors. Voidspeaker nodded and the Aurora Legion leapt over the snow bank and rushed to the door. Once there Wonder Knight stood in front of the door while the other three took up positions on the sides of the entryway. They nodded to Wonder Knight who held up three fingers. He pumped his hand once per second, putting down a finger each time.

On the final pump he grabbed the edges of the door and pulled.

The team winced at the screeching of metal. Wonder Knight grit his teeth and continued to pull until there was an opening large enough for a person. He slipped inside and looked around. The halls were painted white and brightly lit, like the inside of a hospital. They were empty, and quiet.

Until the alarms started blaring and the halls were covered in red.

“Let’s go!”

Wonder Knight stepped forward so the rest of Aurora Legion could step inside. They could hear an intercom speaking and boots pounding on the ground. Pink Star held up her hands as the pounding grew, her hands gauntlets glowing bright.

“I choose you, Ankylosaurus!”

A pink dinosaur filled the hallway and began lumbering forward. The team moved in single file behind it, Wonder Knight in front, followed by Pink Star, then Void, with Chronolock bringing up the rear. They met a squad of men running down the hall, carrying SMGs and assault carbines. The men stopped and lifted their guns, but the ankylosaurus bounded forward with a roar. Men smashed into walls with a crash, their fellows running. A few fired potshots here and there, but none got past the armored dinosaur.

“Dang girl, when did you learn to do that?”

“I saw a documentary and then practiced lots!”

“That’s pretty handy.”

“Yes well…”

Pink Star glanced at Wonder Knight’s back.

“I don’t want to hold him back anymore.”

The group continued their way through the facility. With nothing but small arms and batons, the security forces couldn’t deal with a 6-ton dinosaur. A few close calls and ambushes but with Wonder Knight and Chronolock to stop the bullets and Voidspeaker draining the cameras, nothing managed to get through. The group came into a large open area, something like a gymnasium.

And a bolt of lightning struck the dinosaur.

The team spread out into a combat formation as a bolt of lightning struck the center of the room. As the light faded a man appeared in the center.

Wearing a pirate costume?

Pirate hat with a skull and lighting bolts instead of cross bones. Metal hook for his left hand. Eye-patch and a rough, red beard. A metal peg instead of a right foot.

“Avast ye scurvy dogs! Who goes there?”

Wonder Knight’s eyes narrowed.

“Aurora Legion, here to put a stop to a villainous plot. Who are you?”

“I be the Electron Pirate! And ye landlubbers be far from shore now.”

“He’s…interesting.”

“Villains are so weird.”

“Bro, are you serious? We’re in the mountains!”

Wonder Knight put up his fists.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to surrender?”

The Electron Pirate grabbed his stomach as he let out a laugh.

“Don’t be daft ye scalleywags! Expect no quarter, for I won’t be giving ye none!”

With that the Electron Pirate turned blue and white and a lightning bolt surged into the center of the team. Chronolock leapt forward but the bolt shot up towards one of the walls. There appeared the Electron Pirate, standing on the wall like it was solid ground. He thrust his hook into the air, and lightning began to arc from it all over the room. Aurora Legion began to dodge this way and that.

“Gah!”

Voidspeaker let out a cry and fell to the ground, twitching as sparks arced across his robes.

“Void!”

Pink Star cried out. The Electron pirate grinned and a bolt of lightning shot towards the fallen hero.

And stopped midair.

Chronolock slid in front of him, arm outstretched. Wonder Knight rolled forward and pulled Voidspeaker out of the way. Then he and Chronolock both leapt to the side as the Electron Pirate appeared between them. He raised his hook again but a bull slammed into him, knocking him back across the gymnasium.

“Guh, that freaking hurts, bro!”

“We need a plan.”

“Yea, I’m thinking. Void, you good?”

“Let me at that stupid pirate.”

“How much can you cover at once?”

“Depends on how strong you want the drain.”

“Can you cover the walls and roof?”

“If you give me enough time, yea. It will barely be a trickle, though.”

“That should be enough. Chrono, let’s go.”

“On it.”

A bolt of lightning shot from the ground to the roof and the pink bull scattered into fading particles.

“That hurt you jerks! No more mister nice guy!”

“Hey what happened to your voice?!”

“You can speak normally?!”

“Huh? Oh, right, uh…I be sending ye bilge rats to Davy Jones’ Locker!”

“It’s too late. The effect is ruined”

“You have to commit if you’re going to do that.”

“Well sorry! I didn’t decide what the guys started calling me!”

“Can we please just get on with it?”

“Oh right.”

“Sorry.”

“My bad.”

The Electron Pirate turned blue again and a bolt shot directly into Pink Star. She screamed as she dropped to the floor, convulsing.

“Pink!”

Wonder Knight sprinted forward. The Electron Pirate grinned and pointed his hook at the charging hero.

Thunder surged forward.

And paused mid air.

Chronolock jumped off of Wonder Knight’s back, holding the bolt in place. Electron Pirate frowned as a fist approached his face. He quickly turned blue and shot towards the wall.

Right as the quietly chanting Voidspeaker placed his hands on the ground.

“Experience Nothingness!”

Every surface in the room turned black. Chronolock and Wonder Knight winced at the tingling feeling in their feet. The sparks arcing across Pink Star died down.

The Electron Pirate appeared standing on the wall again. His eyes widened.

“Uh oh.”

And he plummeted to the ground.

“What the heck happened, bro?”

“Didn’t you pay attention in Physics?”

“Master the arcane, disregard the mundane is my motto, bro.”

“Well that explains your grades.”

“Hey!”

“Well, he was called the Electron Pirate, right? So I figured he was sticking to walls by stealing electrons and generating a charge between himself and the wall. So what would happen if a counterbalancing energy drain was applied to all the surfaces? Simple, right?”

“Huh?”

“Wonder, you have to explain like he’s five.”

“Not cool, Chrono!”

“You drained his sticky powers.”

“...”

“Better, right?”

“Shut up.”

The three looked up at a monitor in the central room. Some kind of a control center, lots of desks and computers with one big monitor in the center. It was showing a map of Europe and a countdown clock. The clock had a few hours remaining. On the map, a location not too far from them had a glowing red dot over it. Pink was sitting in the corner, a hummingbird flying around each of the smaller monitors.

“I wonder what they were doing.”

“No idea, bro.”

“Why don’t you ask the stars?”

“Do you want this to be related to inexorable doom?”

And then they heard Pink scream.

“Pink! What’s wrong?!”

The trio ran over to the girl. She was trembling, one hand covering her mouth and the other pointed at one of the monitors. The three turned to the monitor and gasped.

“Void.”

“Yeah?”

“Check those stars. Everyone else, look for a landing pad or something.”

The monitor showed a workshop. In the workshop was a large metal cone.

With a trefoil painted in yellow on its side.

Wonder Knight slowly glanced up at the clock.

“We only have hours left to stop the Apocalypse.”