Captain Hot Devil and Aurora Legion made their way onto the grav-jet they had ‘borrowed’. Once again, the ILS staff onsite had simply looked the other way when they ‘accidentally’ let a grav-jet active but unsupervised.

Unfortunately though, that meant the team had to fly it themselves.

Aurora Legion had, in fact, started training to do so.

Key word: started.

“Go left!”

“I’m trying, bro!”

“I thought you knew how to fly this thing?!”

“I said I was learning!”

“Tower!”

Voidspeaker pulled the controls to the right as hard as he could, the jet narrowly avoiding a skyscraper. The rest of Aurora Legion was sitting behind him, screaming. Captain Hot Devil simply sat in the back with his eyes closed.

He should’ve taken that course while he was still active.

And then he heard the screams.

The jet was now headed straight for another skyscraper.

And it didn’t have the time to turn out of the way.

Time slowed down.

Wonder Knight prepared to leap through the windshield and grab the jet.

Chronolock knelt on the floor, ready to stop the entire craft if she had to.

Pink Star and Icy Rose moved to the back of the jet, ready to evacuate.

Voidspeaker pulled the controls as hard to the left as he could.

Captain Hot Devil began to rise from his seat...

Suddenly there was a thud on the roof. Some of the controls began to move without Voidspeaker touching them. The jet’s thrusters spun around and fired full thrust in reverse. The jet slowed and eventually stopped, its nose mere inches from the skyscraper as it began to back up.

Captain Hot Devil grabbed onto his seatbelt as the exit ramp opened, the wind howling into the passenger compartment. He narrowed his eyes as some sort of warbot landed on the ramp. A warbot he recalled seeing in ILS briefings…

Wonder Knight stepped towards him and shook his head.

“She’s with us. For now at least.”

Captain Hot Devil raised an eyebrow but nodded at the boy. That might explain why the kids were so twitchy back then. But he could put two and two together here and well, he didn’t disagree with their choices.

Besides, if the bot knew how to fly the dang plane, he didn’t care who or what it was.

Elise walked towards the cockpit as the exit ramp closed behind her.

“...Query: Who is currently piloting this grav-jet? This unit has constructive criticism prepared.”

Aurora Legion all looked away and stepped to the side, revealing a Voidspeaker in the pilot’s seat. The boy was still staring forward at the skyscraper, drenched in sweat with his hands gripping the controls so hard they turned white.

Elise played a recording of a sigh.

“Resigned Statement: This unit should have predicted this outcome. This unit shall proceed to conduct all the work of this operation despite requesting assistance from supposedly experienced heroes. Request: Chronolock should retrieve her romantic partner so a competent pilot can take control.”

Chronolock’s heart was still pounding too hard to even respond. She gulped and stepped towards the pilot’s seat, placing a hand on Voidspeaker’s shoulder. He slowly glanced up at her.

“Hey, you all right?”

“Y-Yeah…j-just…we were…I almost…”

She gently patted his shoulder.

“Hey, it’s fine. Everyone’s ok. I know you did your best.”

Voidspeaker looked at her for a moment before gulping and nodding.

“Yeah…thanks…”

“You’ll be fine with practice, it’s our fault for making you do this when you just started.”

“Right.”

“Statement: Which is why Voidspeaker should move out of the way for a competent pilot.”

Chronolock glared at Elise. Voidspeaker looked up, his eyes widening.

“You…when did you…”

“Sarcastic Query: Who does Voidspeaker believe stopped the plane?”

“So it was you…thank you.”

Elise’s eyes flashed as Voidspeaker spoke.

“...Confused Statement: This unit did not expect sincere gratitude. Calculating response…”

Chronolock sighed and pulled Voidspeaker out of the chair.

“Come on, let’s let her work.”

“Ah, yeah.”

Elise watched as they walked back to the passenger area and then sat in the pilot’s seat, taking control of the craft.

“...Response calculation aborted. Statement: Proceeding with rescue operation.”

The jet flew up and into the sky, high above any obstructions, and then boosted towards their destination.

Roxane sat in the chair in the targeting room. She wore a metal dome on her head with cables running up into the roof. Yellow lightning danced around the dome.

She was the reason Director Green was willing to use this device at all. Because only PSI Omega had the power to specifically direct the ebb and flow of the Mental Unifier. To limit its targets to specific individuals instead of everyone in range. And to give limited orders instead of turning them into mindless slaves.

And she was trying to give limited orders to a specific individual right now.

She frowned.

That one member of Nemesis was still resisting her.

And now she was headed this way.

Roxanne puffed her cheeks.

She just wanted to help the Director, bring in that guy of hers. She would have just nabbed the guy himself but Director Green had told her not to, and Roxanne had confirmed that was her true feelings. So she had limited herself to ordering nearby targets to try and apprehend him.

Which is when she ran into this problem.

The device worked on every other monster and villain they had encountered. So what was different about this one? And why did it have to be one of the ones that works for that Bob guy?! If not for her Bob would be here already!

Roxanne froze and then scrunched up her face, bringing a hand to her chin.

Wait.

If that girl worked for the Bob guy…

And the girl was heading this way…

Then…

Roxanne began to grin.

This could work.

She gave a new order to the rest of Nemesis.

As well as to every monster in the surrounding area.

“Don’t worry, Director. I’ll make your dreams come true.”

The grav-jet made its way into a remote mountain range, landing in a clearing. The exit ramp dropped and the team disembarked, glancing about.

“You sure this is the place, Elise? Doesn’t look like anything’s here.”

“Sarcastic Response: Oh. This unit is mistaken. The superweapon should definitely be out in the open for Voidspeaker to spot immediately. Allow this unit to look up ‘secret superweapon’ on the GPS to determine correct location.”

“All right! All right! I get it! Sheesh.”

Captain Hot Devil sighed as he walked over to the bot…or girl from how the kids referred to her.

“Do you have any method of scanning? Looking for facilities built into the mountain?”

“Response: This unit is already scanning for energy sources. However, this unit would appreciate it if heroes would lend assistance. As requested. At any point in this operation…”

Suddenly Elise dropped to one knee. Yellow lights could be seen from the inside of her helmet. Wonder Knight ran over to her.

“Elise! What happened?!”

“R-Response: I-Intrusion attempts have i-intensified. T-This unit must devote f-further resources to r-resisting intrusion.”

Aurora Legion glanced at one another.

“Well…there goes that plan.”

Captain Hot Devil shook his head.

“No. If the attack is growing stronger, that means we’re in the right place.”

Aurora Legion’s eyes widened for a second, before they nodded and got to work. Chronolock turned into a yellow blur speeding around the mountain. Pink Star’s hands grew bright and she slammed them on the ground, a wave of pink squirrels appearing and spreading out in every direction.

Voidspeaker had already begun to chant and lifted his hands.

“Void Prison!”

A thin black dome surrounded Elise, cutting her off from the outside world. The yellow light died down around her head and she stood back up.

“Expressing Gratitude: This unit thanks Voidspeaker for his assistance.”

Voidspeaker nodded at her. A yellow flash surged as Chronolock appeared before them once more, panting lightly.

“...I found it. There’s an entrance built into the mountain on the other side.”

Captain Hot Devil narrowed his eyes in the direction Chronolock pointed.

“Let’s go.”