A Western Dawn

[Luci]

Luci enters the Tier-5 library in the disguise of Vanessa Harmon, a severe looking Imperial bureaucrat with level four clearance.

She walks importantly past the reception desk, her high heels click-clacking on the marble floor, her strut so professional she does not even disturb the crease on her pinstriped miniskirt. She carefully cradles a manilla envelope containing a stack of blank papers and heads for the restricted section.

The first checkpoint is no problem, just a simple ID card swipe. As a master artist, Luci has quickly become the most accomplished forger in Coruscant history. She swipes the card, and the clear glass doors slide open with a pleasant ping.

Luci walks purposefully through the first level of Imperial security, past training manuals for Stormtroopers and instructions on how to make explosives, past the histories of the less reputable Imperial heroes and banned spell books.

Luci makes a beeline for the second security checkpoint, an Imperial Criminal Research section requiring level three clearance and a retinal scan. She calmly leans forward for the machine to scan Vanessa Harmon’s eye. The glass doors slide open with a pleasant ping.

Luci tries not to look nervous as she passes Imperial gang investigators and top lawyers for the Empire. She keeps her head and posture straight, walking past them as they read through old murder case files and secret interrogation policies. She comes to the final checkpoint, a bored looking armed Wookie guard in front a door labelled Criminal Research - Clearance 4.

“Card,” he says exasperatedly, in an accent like a California surfer. Luci swipes the card, and starts to sweat. It pings pleasantly.

“Scanner,” he continues lacklusterly, looking at his phone, probably to check on his status as employee of the month. Luci is shaking as the retinal scanner checks her eye and pings pleasantly.

“Password,” the Wookie says, his finger on the button to open the door.

Vanessa Harmon’s eyes flicker psychedelically for a moment, but the guard does not notice as Luci delves into his mind and extracts the password.

“Han shot first,” Vanessa says sharply, as the doors open with a pleasant ping.

Luci hurries past files on active gang members and current Imperial police operations, making for a small twisting hallway, her face anxious, and bursts through the door at the end of the hallway.

Luci quickly shuts and locks it behind her, hikes up her skirt, sits on her favorite toilet in coruscant, and pees.

***

Luci sits on the toilet for a while, huffing paint from her magic spray and exhaling rainbow fumes, her eyes kaleidescoping madly. She enjoys the privacy of the bathroom, one that she had found while looking for police files on enemy gang members.

Luci lets the Astral Realm drip into her vision, but not all the way, just enough for her to see through the cracks in Coruscant to the graffiti realm between the two verses. She takes her magic spraycan and paints a glowing neon owl on the wall. The owl’s eyes open. After a moment, it speaks.

“Hello Luci,” the Owl says, it’s wide eyes spinning slowly and it’s feathers changing colors. “What’s on your mind.”

“Mr. Owl,” Luci slurs. “How many licks does it take to-”

“You’re high, Luci,” Mr Owl interrupts, preening it’s feathers while Luci snickers.

“Mr Owl, where is Kazura?” Luci asks, a little more solemnly.

“Gone, the Blades are having their own issues,” the Owl replies.

“And what about our newest recruit?” she asks tensely. The owl sighs.

“He’s coming, he met some orcs, but he’ll make it,” Mr Owl reassures her as Luci nods. “You know,” the animal continues, trying to cheer her up. “The Broken Mirrors are pulling a job with the Jacks.”

This does cheer up Luci a bit; the Mirrors gang is starting to worry her.

“So,” she says nonchalantly. “How is-”

“Harlan’s Astral defenses are too strong, we can’t get any graffiti in his territory. Word on the street is business is booming,” the owl says flatly. Luci is quiet for a moment, then nods. The Owl shuffles nervously. “So, did you wanna send a message or-”

“No, thank you,” Luci says as she leans against the bathroom stall, phasing into it ever so slightly. “You can stay if you want.”

The two dimensional owl nods and flutters down from the wall, perching on Luci’s shoulder and nuzzling her neck as she inhales fumes from her magic spraycan.

[Luci]

Luci is very high. She melts into the bathroom stall, becoming a two dimensional graffiti art version of herself, her colors still swirling softly, her graffiti owl perched on her shoulder. After a time, a painting of a neon-pink squirrel comes racing through the air vent. Like Luci and Mr. Owl, the squirrel travels on the walls of the bathroom, in the two dimensional graffiti plane.

Luci extends an arm and the little pink squirrel climbs up, huffing and puffing, until it gets to Luci’s unoccupied shoulder.

“They’re on the way,” he squeaks. Luci nods, and pets the line drawing of the squirrel. She takes a deep breath, and steps off the wall and back into reality.

She changes shape, and walks off the wall as a blonde bombshell, in a tube top and miniskirt.

She walks back out of the restricted section calmly, even smiling at the Wookie guard, who never noticed anything less than the fact he had never let that woman enter.

[Luci]

Luci, in the disguise of Hooker, sits at a bus stop outside the Tier-5 library, smoking a cigarette and exhaling rainbow smoke, waiting for a killer.

Her eyes are drawn, as always, to the graffiti on the walls. She moves almost reflexively to write her name on the bench, and she sees it is already there, in a tidy scrawl, along with a note.

Hey Luci, I need you to pick me up something while you’re downtown today. Its a bright red backpack in room B31. Can you get it to me by 3:00?

Luci pauses, then gets out a pen and scribbles back.

5:00

The numbers disappear into the graffiti plane, and after a moment another message appears.

4:00, final offer.

Luci smiles, and writes back.

Deal

She watches the graffiti disappear, and stretches. Four hundred OM wasn’t bad for a pick up from someplace she was already going.

[Jacket]

The chopper roared while driving down in Tier Five on highway 98 bridge. They went back and forth between lanes to pass cars that were going the speed limit. Chi'Owo's tentacles that protruded from her skull waved in the wind from how fast they were going. Traffic in Tier Five felt busy at any time of the day rather it be early in the morning or late at night. The city of Tier Five sparkled with lights that were on buildings, street lamps, and vehicles. Highway direction signs hang above the busy roads, telling where exits were at or which lane to get into for heading to this part of town. The skyline of this tier looked alike New York City but wasn't colorful enough just how Miami was.

They get into an exit ramp and drove off the highway bridge into the city. A red light flashed on at the traffic light below and made the cars that exited the highway came to a complete stop. Chi'Owo found a way to get around them by driving in between the cars and railing. Before they made a right turn, Chi'Owo stopped to make sure not to run into any other vehicles while turning. After a series of cars passed, they made the turn and proceeded down the street. While holding onto the bike, Jacket took off his mask and threw it away which dissolved into omnilium.

The ride was silent between the two of them since Chi'Owo was afraid to push any more buttons of the prime's emotions. This part of town had graffiti written on buildings at any corner. Apparently, locals liked to call this "The Graffiti District" since everywhere was almost covered in graffiti. It was impossible for the Empire to clean all this vandal art up since they had no time and didn't want to waste any more money on the lower tiers to keep clean since the large oppressive faction focused on making the upper tiers attractive for newcomers.

Jacket summoned with his Omnilium to makes his clothing clean again to not look suspicious. They were ten minutes out from their destination. How this whole night started to wrap up was something Jacket didn't think it would happen this way. He would get a chance to see his girlfriend again. Her death haunted him for a while and wished he could've done better to prevent her death from happening. There was a thought he still had on his mind and that was to keep an eye out on any suspicious activity. She could be a fake or the real thing. If she was real then how did she get summoned to the Omniverse?

He knew it wasn't him since he had doubt to bring his girlfriend back to life. Of course, he didn't really want to meet her in this way after going on a killing spree. As any other guy would think before a date, he hoped that his body didn't smell bad or his clothing to look out of place. His thoughts were interrupted by the siren of a 34th precinct patrol car going off while passing by them in the opposite lane. After a couple of minutes navigating through the district, they arrived at the Tier-Five library. They parked on the other side of the street, under a lamp that shined down on them like a spotlight.

Both had their heads turned, focusing across the street where another light beamed on top of a bus stop. There she was, alive and well. Jacket's long-lost lover sat the bench with a smoking cigarette in her hand. The curves of her face and body were spot on. Her blonde hair glimmered like gold that could catch anyone's attention just how beautiful her hair was. Every detail of his girlfriend looked realistic which made Jacket think twice if she was truly alive. His heart beat with warmth and love, a feeling he hasn't experienced a lot. Memories flood back into his mind with just how much time and care they spent together. Every night when Jacket got home from doing tasks for the voice recorded messages, she always gave him comfort and a sense of everything will be alright.

At this moment, he wanted to ball up with tears but a sense came to him that he had to be sure first if it was really her. Jacket got off the chopper with no word and stood there on the side of the road baffled at her existence. Chi'Owo couldn't help but smirk at the sight how the killer turned from cold to melt. The street was empty with no traffic present, only three people stood in the dead part of town which was them. Jacket started walking across the street calmly and no rushing manner. His girlfriend had her eyes gazed upon him as he made his way toward her.

With each step, he felt lighter as he gotten close to where she sat. Her luscious red-lipstick lips started to form a smile but not just a friendly smile. It was a smile that told him that she loved him. They shared a bond that could be impossible to break. Jacket stopped in front of her and looked down at her while she was sitting. His girlfriend looked up at him and still held that smile. He grabbed her hand and raised it to his. They held their hands together closely and this gave comfort to Jacket. She WAS real this time.

A tear came out of his eye and started to stream down his cheek. It formed into a droplet hanging off his chin then soon broke away and landed on the pavement below. He became speechless from this experience he didn't think he would ever feel again.

"It feels like it's been a while, hasn't it babe," his girlfriend said with a soothing voice.

[Luci]

“Too long,” murmurs the psychopath. “I feel like...like I saw you in a dream…”

Luci gazes at the feared orc killer through his Girlfriend's eyes, watching a tear roll down his cheek and hang from his perfect chin.

“I just...” he mutters, his eyes wavering. “I can’t take any more tricks. Are you really her?”

Luci smiles warmly, her white teeth glinting in the sun, but inside she is screaming. She is invading his mind, drawing on every detail of every memory that he has ever had of his Girlfriend, a blonde bombshell named Hooker. As Luci has already learned though, this particular mind is filled with violence and trauma that lashes out at her when she tries to pry. Still, she digs deeper and deeper into his most private thoughts and memories.

Luci lies, and a little part of her is gone forever.

“Yeah babe,” she says with a wolf’s smile. “It’s me.”

When he kisses her, Luci kisses back exactly as Hooker does, with love and lust and loss, and when they break away, a little piece of Hooker stays with Luci forever.

“Promise me you’ll never die again,” he whispers in her ear.

“I promise,” Luci lies as she tilts her head back for him to nuzzle her neck.

“And no more lies, no more tricks, ok?” he says as he clutches her tightly.

“I promise,” Luci lies as she melts into his arms.

He pushes her away just slightly to catch her gaze. “Run away with me. Run away from all of this. I can’t lose you again.”

Luci smiles sadly, and does not break his gaze.

“I can’t, babe,” Luci says, and for the first time saying something honest to the man. “They need me here. And they need you too. We can handle the Russians-”

“The Russians...” interrupts Jacket, his eyes unfocusing. Luci jabs a telepathic needle into Jacket’s memories. “Sometimes...I look at them...their faces are all twisted up…”

“You are seeing them as they truly are,” Luci insists. “Monsters. Orcs.”

“Orcs,” Jacket repeats slowly.

“They are so strong here, baby,” Luci continues. “They’re killing people, women and children.”

“I’ve seen,” Jacket says dully. Luci flinches as a cavalcade of violent images swarms through Jacket’s head.

“I can’t leave them,” Luci insists. They stare at each other for a moment, Luci’s soft eyes matching his stony gaze. Eventually, the man sighs.

“Then I guess I can’t leave either,” he says finally. Luci smiles wide.

“Then it’s official,” she says, drawing a razor sharp arrowhead across his palm.

“Ahh!” he cries, watching the bright red blood pool into his hand.

Luci dips two fingers into the blood, and wipes them under each of his eyes, giving him two stripes of warpaint on his cheeks.

“Hey,” she says suddenly. “What’s my name?”

The orc killer stares at her, bewildered. “What? Uh, I dunno I guess I always called you my Girlfreind.”

Luci shakes her head. “Well that’s not my name. Around here, my name is Luci.”

“Oh,” he says, taken aback. “Ok.”

“It’s important,” she insists. “I changed since I came to the Omniverse, we all change. What’s your name, anyhow?”

Her boyfriend simply blinks. Luci grins with Hookers shiny white teeth.

“They’re callin you Jacket,” she says slyly. “Do you like it?”

Jacket shrugs.

“Well then, I proclaim you Sir Jacket, First Knight of the Westside,” says Luci, adding a bloody cross to Jacket’s forehead. “Till death do us part.”

***

Jacket is leaning back in Luci’s escalade passenger seat, his arm out the window, his eyes on Luci.

“What’s the Westside?” he asks eventually.

“It’s our gang,” Luci replies as she guides the vehicle through the dense Tier-5 traffic. “We’re the only ones who will stand up to the monsters.”

“The orcs?” says Jacket. Luci says nothing. “The Russians?”

Luci stops the Escalade in the middle of the street. She turns to Jacket, holding his face in her hands, ignoring the honking cars around her.

“Baby,” she says with an exasperated grin. “Orcs, monsters, Russians, I don’t give a fuck. They wanna fight like gangsters, so we gonna fight like gangsters. You’re overthinking this.”

She starts the car as Jacket lights a cigarette, and hands it to Luci. She accepts it delicately so as not to break Hookers long fingernails, and exhales a cloud of rainbow smoke.

“That’s new,” Jacket says, his eyes on the rainbow cloud. Luci is silent for a moment.

“I spend a lot of time in Dreamland,” she says after a while.

They are both silent for a moment.

“Is something wrong?” Jacket asks finally.

Luci rubs her forehead. “Baby, I’ve changed. Everythings changed, but that don’t mean nothin’s changed. You get me?”

Jacket nods, and catches sight of a seedy motel on the corner.

“Hey,” he says. “Don’t suppose we have time too-”

“Nope,” Luci snaps.

***

Luci and Jacket are walking under a bridge in a riverbed in pitch darkness. Jacket holds Luci’s hand tightly as they navigate through a blind concrete maze, before Luci stops suddenly, causing Jacket to run into her.

Jacket hears the shaking of an aerosal can, and then a bright green light appears in the darkness. His watches Luci spraypaint a glowing green door on a solid grey concrete wall. She paints a doorknob and opens the door, and dull light comes through the tunnel. She walks through, pulling Jacket after her.

“You’ve changed,” Jacket says finally. Luci nods as she walks up a steep slope out of the riverbed.

“Where are we going?” he asks for the first time. Luci stops at the top of the riverbed, outside Chirpa’s garage.

“We’re gonna go meet a bad man,” she says carefully. “A very strong, very bad man. We need him. We gotta get in somewhere, and he’s the only one who can do that. No matter what he says or does, keep your cool, ok babe?”

Jacket nods. “Yeah, ok,” he lies.

[Beta Ray Bill]

One step after the other the Lord of Latveria's titanium plated boot's pacing against the streets of the superstructured world of Coruscant's tier one. Behind his mask Dr. Doom held a permanent sneer across his scarred face, the recent death of Koal deeply upset him and the Empire that controlled was no longer just a repulsive site of misuse in power, no the Empire now fuels him with immense inconceivable rage. The only thing he wanted now was to fulfill his new blood-lust, to bring vengeance to the death of his fellow friend.  

These cretins, they have truly promoted their own eradication. This "Empire" will find that they have angered the smartest man this world has ever known, they have found a new found place upon my ever changing plans and that place is the territory of enemy. I have not felt this much anger for one sole thing since that accursed Fantastic Four! Soon in the many years I feel is to come this Empire will crumble, perhaps from the inside or even from another faction but the one thing they will surely know is that they have spelled there new for  the wrath of Doom. 

Stopping on the sidewalk of the busy street of tier one, he raised his armored hands near his masked face, studying them, calculating on his next move. A large group of people stepped past him as he stood in place basking in pure anger. Clenching his fists Dr. Doom shouted at the top of his lungs, the passing hover vehicles drowning him out. The death of Koal will not go in vain, the Latveria and the Cabal shall be built and all shall bow before Doom to witness his awesome power. It is time to meet back with Chipra, by now he would had gathered his forces, it is time to raise an army. Doom shall return to the old furry creature not in defeat but in glorious triumphant return.

Lowering his hands and continuing his path down the sidewalk. taking a glance at the road beside him, Doom could see the only thing that made its way down the futuristic highway were vehicles that in on themselves fit the realm. The conveyances were what some lesser minded people would call, from the world of fiction. A floating car listed in as fiction was almost laughable to Doom, anything was possible in the realm of science.

Passing through more branching streets littered with skyscrapers beside them, the good doctor had finally found an elevator that could take him back to the slum of tier five. Without even a second though Dr. Doom stepped into the lift, pressing the correct button to send him down. 

-

As predictable as it was the rest of the trip back to Chipra's garage was uneventful. There was nothing in this dump that could ever amount as an interest for the sovereign of Latveria. Stepping into the busy garage Doom was greeted by Chipra and two others, they of course were new, perhaps even the forces he had gathered. The larger figure was obviously a man, but the interesting part was that he wore a rooster mask. he was most likely a masked criminal but the other beside him, a woman was even more intriguing. Her eyes were like Kaleidoscopes and her entire body looked as if she glowed with a sort of energy that filled her with vibrant colors.  

"Are these the one's that you planned to gather from our previous conversation Chipra?" Doom said crossing his arms, looking down at the furry alien with stern eyes. 

The alien gave a nod waving his left arm to his companions.

"Yes these two are the ones that will accompany you with the raid," Chipra said his voice was no longer filled with hesitation.    

"Good," Doom retorted placing his right hand into his left palm raising them close to his mask's metal chin.

[Luci]

***

Luci and Jacket sit across from Dr Doom separated by a long steel workbench. All three primes are masked up.

Dr Doom stares coldly through the slitted eyes in his iron mask. The Prime brimmed with the cold confidence of a despot.

Jacket, in his rooster head war mask, is visibly defiant. His arms are crossed over his glorious jacket, and he is leaning back in his seat, staring at the ceiling.

Luci though, a black paisley bandanna covering everything below her nose, is leaning forward to meet Dr Dooms gaze. Her eyes fluctuate wildly as she tries to penetrate Dr Dooms mind, but his innermost thoughts are like his mask, iron and impenetrable.

“Dr Doom, an honor to finally meet you. I’ve heard great things,” Luci says neutrally through her bandanna. This is somewhat true; through her web of spies and criminals she has gleaned much and more information about the mysterious iron-masked prime.

Dr Doom inclines his head ever so slightly, but his posture shows impatience. Jacket puts his feet on the table.

“I understand you’re building an army,” Luci continues.

“What I am building,” spits Doom. “Is none of your concern.”

Luci shakes her head. “It IS my concern, in so far as my leal lord will be creating your army.”

Dr Doom pauses. “Your-leal lord?”

Chripa smiles as Luci nods. “President Chirpa of the Westside Ewoks,” she says. Dr Doom looks to interrupt, but Luci keeps speaking. “And I am Luci, President of the Westside Knife Ear Warriors and First Speaker of the Westside Council. My companion is Jacket, First Knight of the Westside. You are are deep within the heart of westside Tier-5 Coruscant. In short, Dr Doom, this is my Kingdom. My Latveria.”

Dr Doom does not move, but sits silently, watching Luci closely.

“So,” she continues. “When one of your droids blows away a squadron of Stormtroopers, it’s my concern. When my enemies get their hands on your weapons and use them to kill my people, it’s my concern. When you threaten my allies, it’s my concern. When you build an army in my kingdom, it’s my concern. I know you are building an army, that wasn’t a question. A question sounds like this; what are you going to do with your army?”

There is a long moment of silence and stillness, punctuated only Jacket tabbing his foot on the table as he gazes at the ceiling. Finally, Doom speaks.

“I could kill you all right here and now, and it would be like an invisible hiccup on my rise to ultimate power,” the supervillain says calmly.

Jacket removes his feet from the table and looks like he’s about to rise, but Luci puts a hand on his shoulder, and he sits. His attention, at least, is now on Doom.

“You could kill us all here and now,” agrees Luci. “But you will never get your army.”

Dr Doom might have smiled behind his iron mask.

“Well then, oh noble president,” he mocks. “I plan to use my army to create the greatest utopia this universe has ever known. Perhaps you will be MY leal lord, of Westside Latveria, and pay your fealty to me. For now, it is not required. All that it is required is my army.”

Luci nods. “Well if you want a robot army, you’ll needs some of these,” the gangster says.

Luci withdraws a glowing blue orb from her backpack, about the size of a baseball, buzzing with energy and spitting tiny blue sparks.

“This,” says Luci, as she plays with the orb, running it over the back of her knuckles expertly. “Is a Crackler. We don’t fully understand them, but we know they are dangerous. They are batteries which can be used to create weapons of staggering power. We know they originate from outside Coruscant. We know the Empire has been selling them to our enemies. And we know that our enemies are using them to kill us.”

Doom nods, his eyes following the Crackler as Luci spins it on her finger. “Then it would seem,” the villain says. “That this raid would be mutually beneficial.”

“That’s right,” Luci says, letting the Crackler spin on the table. She pulls out two cigarettes and leans forward, lighting them from the Crackler’s sparks. She hands one to Jacket. “And we’ll split the take, fifty-fifty.”

Doom croaks out a laugh. “Eighty-twenty, and you can keep one of my Doombots for your wars.”

“Fifty-fifty,” Luci insists. “And we keep three Doombots, if we’re making them. Or you could just go find the OTHER most infamous criminals in Coruscant.”

Dr Doom glowers. “Sixty-forty and three Doombots.”

Beneath her bandanna, Luci smiles.

***

The mission is fairly straightforward.

There is an Imperial military base on the far side of Tier-6. Within that base, protected by a complex laser defense system, is an Imperial Armory. Within that Imperial Armory is a vault containing, among other things, nearly one hundred brand spankin new Cracklers.

The trio would enter Tier-6 in disguise and sneak past the Orc Mafia and the Empire onto the Imperial Military Base. Then, Jacket and Dr Doom would fight their way into the Imperial Armory until they reach the Control Room. Once there, Dr Doom would disable the Generator, and take down the laser defense system. At that point Luci will phase into the Armory, grab the grab the Cracklers, escape with Jacket and Dr Doom, and walk back into Tier-5 with new disguises and conquer the universe.

Nothing could possibly go wrong.

***

The three Primes are riding in a battered oldsmobile down a clear suburban street in Tier-5.

Luci is in disguise as a young redhead girl with black lacy clothes and several face piercings. Her forged Imperial Identification card lists her as Belladonna Slaughterkiss, Vampire.

She turns to jacket, in disguise as an even more heavily pierced young man with long black hair and weedy eyes. His Identification card lists him as Barron Shadowblood, Vampire. He gazes back at her with the ratty little eyes of the disguise.

“I don’t trust this guy,” Jacket says, not quietly. Dr Doom, in disguise as Ivan the Insidious, Vampire, is sitting in the backseat, his hand on his chin and his eyes out the window, completely unconcerned.

Luci shrugs. “I don’t think he trust us either, baby,” Luci replies, smiling at him.

The Oldsmobile pulls up to the Tier-6 entry point with a clanking sounds. A stormtroopersshines a light into the car and into Luci’s eyes.

“Cards?” he says through his helmet, and the trio each produce their newly forged ID cards. After a few tense swipes, the cards are cleared. The Stormtrooper nods to his coworker, and the gate to Tier-6 is raised. “What are you kids doin’ down there tonight?” he asks conversationally.

Luci grins, showing pointed white fangs. “Getting something to eat.”

The Stormtrooper chuckles.

Above them all, spraypainted on the side of a building, a graffiti outline of a grinning imp watches carefully.
***

[Jacket]

Their disguises had them well hidden from any signs affiliating with the Westside gangs that made many enemies recently. Orc mafia members that were driving a black GMC SUV passed their vehicle on the opposite side of the road, heading out of from an alleyway. It felt like as they drove by them, their eyes were focused on the trashy Oldsmobile for the whole time. Some of their looks didn't appear welcoming but that was how most Orc mobsters present themselves to people outside their family. After they passed by, the trio didn't feel the presence of the orcs anymore.

Tier six was still an unpleasant site for Jacket to see from just how run down and poor it was. It felt like gangs hung out on almost corner of the streets. Some of them would give the trio of primes suspicious looks or unwelcoming expressions just like the orcs. Homeless folks huddled around burning oil drums to keep warm during the night process of this tier. All the buildings or homes of the city had an abandoned appearance like they've been there since the days when Coruscant was just introduced to the Omniverse.

There weren't too many running vehicles going down the street but whenever they passed one, it looked beaten up and not very well taken of. Only automobiles were present on this tier and no other transportation that involved the technology to fly the Coruscant top tiers sky highways. The SUV they passed was the only car that appeared luxurious compared to this verse. Most of the automobiles that were driving through the tier were apart of gangs. They were covered in spray paint that matched their uniform colors and had some words that represent their criminal pack. Rap music would boom from their custom made stereos that were bass boosted.

Luci was driving the Oldsmobile and had the radio turned on to some rap station that she liked to listen to.

Jacket was getting uncomfortable wearing this disguise but none the less, he had a mission to complete. Whenever he shifted, the piercings on his face would move which irritated him.

"I hope you guys don't mind the genre of music I listen too," Luci said keeping her eyes on the road.

Jacket responded that he didn't mind it but he wasn't into this type of music since it wasn't his kind of taste. He knew it would be rude to switch off her favorite radio station and turn it to his favorite channel. Of course, the villainous Victor Von Doom thought this music was childish and prefer to listen to a choir that would sing praise about his greatness and the home he once ruled, Latveria. Suddenly, a homeless middle-aged man with long gray hair and a beard ran in front of the Oldsmobile which made Luci slam on the brakes and came to a screeching halt.

The man slammed his hands on the hood of the car to get their attention.

"PLEASE, TAKE ME WITH YOU BEFORE THEY KILL ME!!!!!!!" yelled the man at the disguised trio.

His teeth looked rotten and it was visible that the stranger hasn't taken a shower in a long time. They all looked at the man strangely in a what the fuck way. After a few seconds of sitting there silently, young adult humans wearing gray hoodies over their heads, black jeans, and white plastic face masks covering their identity ran up to the man as if they were looking for him. A masked woman raised a crowbar high in her hand and bashed the unfortunate homeless man on top of his head, knocking him unconscious. They drag him away into a dark alley to do awful things to him.

Once the road was clear, they proceeded to their destination. All of them shrugged off the situation that just happened moments ago. Jacket looked out the window of the car while the rap music continues to play. There was one theme about this tier and it was survival. He could tell that no one wanted to be here right now but they have no choice. The empire must've kicked them out of their old homes when they couldn't afford the payments and were forced to live down here.

Anarchists like to get away from the upper civilized tiers and live out their lives down here, not being told what to do and what not to do by the government. They pass a big gray concrete wall on the side of the building with huge red spray-painted letters.

FUCK THE EMPIRE, WE LIVE FOR FREEDOM

Those were the words that the people of this tier live by every single day of their lives.

After traveling some quite time through the poverty streets of tier six, they were closing in on the Imperial base. Something caught Luci's attention on the side of the road. It caught Jacket too since he noticed that she was looking away from the road. She couldn't help but noticed the homeless elf family walking down the sidewalk. The parents had a young daughter who looked to be at least seven years old, walking between her mom and dad while they held both of her hands.

They had sorrow and despair on their faces of the lives they are living in. It reminded Luci of the Knife Ear Warriors she was first introduced to when she started her new life of the Omniverse in Coruscant. Many friends were made that day but she lost some of them by how far she got creating the Westside alliance. A psychedelic tear was made from her sadness and began streaming down her face. In that tear, it held many visual memories she had with them from all the action they had to the heartwarming moments they experienced.

Jacket noticed Luci tearing up and her feelings concerned him about what was the matter with her.

"What's wrong?" Jacket said softly looking at her in the eyes with comfort.

[Beta Ray Bill]

A low metallic groan of unbearable irritation resonated under Dr. Doom's masked breath. Luci and her less than impressive boyfriend were almost unendurable with their petty exchange over trusting in the Lord of Latveria. Doom almost puked in his metal mask at the sound of the two thugs even debating on the fact of the verses internal misfortune. 

Theses thievish dolts! Thier insufferable ramblings of building a better world are almost laughable. No such degenerates at their level could ever be successful at even starting a revolution, how so Robin Hood like. Bah, to even think they could tackle such a task, fools the lot of them. There is only but one being in this vast multiverse that could only rule such a disillusioned empire, DOCTOR DOOM.       

The sovereign's dominating brown eyes peering through the car window. His perspective transfixing on the numerous graffiti littered buildings that flooded the integrity of tier six and The festering swarm of filth that bastardized the Mega Metropolis' streets and the exiled degenerate populous. The depressing scenery gave Doom an all too familiar feeling. It was the same feeling that he had felt many years ago in a time when Dr. Doom was only known as Victor Von Doom. That feeling was impoverishment, Doom's own country was under the rule of a vile dictator and in that dark time, Latveria underwent the same despair that Coruscant's tier six undergoes at the very moment.

Past the metallic mask through the burnt flesh and into the confines of Dr. Doom's iron willed mind. His thoughts soon turning from plans and thoughts to the recollections of a man who once wielded pure power. A man who at one time stood as a god among men, with facing the ultimate punishment the smartest man the world had ever seen stole the very power of the most powerful god of all in Asgard. Empowered with the vigor of Odin Doom's very whim became a reality and soon his world began to alter into his sheer hell bent will. Spellbound by his deepest memories the good Doctor seemed to fade into the fathomless recesses of his crooked mind. 


-

Settling his right foot over the stone balcony outside of his enormous castles' throne room Doom's eye began to inspect the skies. Far off in the distance, four missiles in steadfast speed were racing for the monarch. Reaching out, raising his armored right hand an invisible force of power latched onto the rockets. With a swift and quick motion, Doom's fingers curled into a fist causing the missiles to convulse before exploding. The sheer size of the explosion swallowed the sun giving it the look as if the sun itself had grown larger. 

Content with his action Doctor Doom shoot back turning back to his throne room. The throne room was no longer a lavish chamber only fit for the king of Latveria but a crumbling mess of destruction. Pilliers and brick-stone walls littered the entire area, it was all a direct result from the last of Earths heroes feebly trying to stop the tormented man's onslaught of change. lying broken on the stone floor, The great Magneto, Charles Xavier, X-men, the Incredible Hulk, nor the Fist of Khonshu, and not even the Inhumans could stand against Doom's almighty power. Doom slowly made his way past all of those that he had defeated, with a sick sense of humor he silently enjoyed their crushing defeat.

On the other side of the destruction, a large metal body struggled, clinking and scraping across the floor in an effort to escape the madman. Taking his time Doom made his way towards the fallen X-man Colossus hovering over his dismembered body. On the other side of the room, through the rubble, a beaten Cyclops shakily activates his optic blasts visor, with one final effort the X-man blasts his eye's red optical beam. Turning away from Colossus with unnatural speed and focusing attention to Cyclops. Shooting out his left hand Doom forces the Optical beam to come to a dead stop in his armored palm, completely unphased by the attack Doom forcefully jerking his hand forward knocks Cyclops back into more of the debris. 

Peering down to his feet the metal skinned Russian gripped tightly on Doom's feet with the only hand had left. Raising his right hand  Like an invisible force Doom telekinetically brought Colossus up into the air, with no effort Doom threw him into a crumbling pillar on his left and with even more force brought him crashing into another. Bringing his hand back towards himself Doom telekinetically brought the mutant back to him leveled to his masked face. Raising his head Colossus spat on Doom as in for one final resistance, in a fit of rage Doctor Doom placed both of his gauntleted hands on the X-man's face. In his rage, Doom forced his will and conscience onto Colossus, green luminescent energy resonated off of crooked beings arms and hands, white energy then surrounded the heroes body until a blinding flash of raw energy popped outwards in between the both of them. 

Bringing his metal fists above his head and roaring the new corrupt and loyal Colossus stood before Doom. Doom looked down to his hands which were still glowing with a green fiery energy spinning around and sidestepping back to the fallen defenders of Earth Doom reached out with his new power, while electrical energy extending on to them Doom began his quest to corrupt the entire world. 

- 

Doom's vision of the past faded back into the recesses of his mind his fists clenched at the thought of how he had lost such an immense power. Placing his right hand under his masks metal chin Dr. Doom turned to see Luci, her eyes filled with tears.      

      

                   

[Luci]

Luci catches Doctor Doom’s eye in the rearview mirror. She quickly blinks away her tears and glares into the mirror, holding his gaze through his mask. She slows the car, and cuts the headlights. Jacket perks up, but behind his mask, Doctor Doom does not flinch. Luci eases the car between two crumbling apartment building into a pitch black alley.

“Shhhh,” she says calmly as she cuts the engine on the Oldsmobile and lets it drift down the alley in neutral. Eventually it comes to a stop, and Luci pulls the emergency brake. The trio sit in perfect, silent darkness for several tense moments.

“Do you feel it?” Luci asks in a hushed whisper. She cannot see her companions, an inch from her face.

“Yeah,” whispers Jacket solemnly.

“No,” declares Doctor Doom flatly, his voice unquieted and impatient.

Luci nods, but they do not see her. They hear the shaking of her aerosol can. Doom is wary, but after a moment she sprays herself in the face with a luminescent white coat of paint. Jacket and Doom watches the glowing fumes die down, briefly  illuminating Luci’s new disguise as a fully uniformed stormtrooper, before they are again plunged into darkness.

“Your turn,” Luci whispers, and Jacket leans in without hesitation. Luci sprays him with the white paint, coating him fully until a second stormtrooper sat in the passenger seat.

“Now you, good doctor,” Luci says patiently.

“Bah!” Doctor Doom replies harshly. “I am sick of your games, your disguises, your sneak thievery! Your low cunning will only take you so far, might is what is needed from here! I will not skulk in the shadows-”

“Fine,” Luci cuts in, her voice muffled by the stormtroopers helmet. “If you want to kick down the front door, be my guest, but I’m not going with you. We do this my way, or find someone else to get their hands dirty.”

A silence stretches thin.

“Then do it,” the super villain says curtly.

***

Three stormtroopers surround an oldsmobile in a back alley in Tier-6 lit only by a dim yellow light.

One of them is crouched down next to the oldsmobile with a magic spraycan, erasing the body of the vehicle. It slowly disappears until a sparkling new hovercraft is revealed. The stormtrooper then slowly paints over the hovercar, creating a new body, tires, and interior, until a bright white military Hummer is squeezed into the tight alley.

“Ready!” says Luci brightly beneath her helmet. “But...do you feel that?”

***

Meanwhile, on Tier-5.

[spoiler]
Mikey the Lightfoot walks slowly around a cramped compartment on the T5 Reading Westbound train, his yellow eyes slowly scanning the walls for graffiti.

Like most Lightfootz, Mikey is a half orc, mostly human looking but green skinned and with small tusks jutting from his mouth. The Lightfootz gang is comprised of apprentice magic users employed by Orc Mafia as couriers, spies, and graffiti vandals. They use graffiti to show the strength of the Orc Mafia, as well as to communicate with each other and spy on their enemies. They have been engaged in a shadow war with Luci and the Hufflepunks, each side using their magical graffiti to spy on each other. They have also been charged with protecting the Orc Mafia’s presence on the trains of Eastside Tier-5.

Tonight Mikey is trying to focus on his mission, trying to keep his graffiti wards up and running to hide his compartment from the prying magical eyes of the Westside, but he cannot help but be distracted by the company of the train compartment, and it’s collective smell.

The T5 Eastsyd Gangsta Ork Warryorz are in the house.

Nearly twenty of the hulking leather-clad ork bikerz stand shoulder to shoulder, swords clinking against guns as they growl at each other. Mikey knows some of them by reputation. Tiny Argah, known for slaying the Sprinkles the Ewok in single combat, stands tall and silent in the back holding his double-headed battleaxe over his head to make room. On the opposite side is Warslut, the female orc famed for holding the 7th Street Bridge alone against a pack of knife ears. She lost a hand in the battle, but it has since been replaced with a machine gun. Though the gang is cramped, they create a wide circle around their Prezident.

Jarl Elfbane, Prezident of the T5 Eastsyd Gangsta Ork Warryorz, is a black-furred ork instantly recognized by the necklace of gold-coated elf and human ears around his neck. Jarl is one of the most respected bikerz in the Orc Mafia, and a veteran of countless coruscant battles, but most famously the battle of Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

The rumble marked a turning point in the last war between the Orc Mafia and the Westside, when the Westside met an entire train full of Orcs at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. The Orcs were unable to break through the lines, and were forced to retreat onto the Eastbound train. The battle would go down in history as one of the bloodiest losses the Orc Mafia has ever suffered.

And now tonight, they are going into Platform Nine and Three Quarters again.

It is understandable then, that Jarl is a bit jumpy when Mikey’s dog starts barking.

“Shut up!” Mikey snaps to his dog quickly, and the barking stiffles to a low growl. Mikey sweats as he feels Jarl’s eyes on him, but he walks over to his dog Twitch.

Twitch is not an ordinary dog, but a graffiti dog. Twitch is Mikey’s familiar, a two dimensional red outline of a jack russel terrier that lives in the Graffiti Plane, transporting messages for Mikey and keeping an eye out for spies. Twitch has his hackles up, barking and snapping at a silver graffiti outline of a opossum. Mikey recognizes it as a Patronus, the preferred agent of graffiti spying for the Westside Hufflepunks. The opossum hisses as Twitch gets a hold of its ankle.

“Kill it,” comes the deep growl of Jarl Elfbane, sounding like nothing less than the lead singer of a death metal band. Mikey hurries to obey.

With a shaking hand the half-orc pulls out a fat red marker, and crosses over the opossum with three quick slashes, performing the somatic component of the spell, and the patronus is gone. Twitch stops barking.

Prezident Jarl leans back in his seat again, and Mikey lets out a tense breath.

[/spoiler]

***

One of the stormtroopers, Jacket, nods. “Yeah, I feel it.” he says again, inclining his head sharply. If Luci did not know Jacket so well, she might have missed his cue. Behind her helmet, her gaze flicker to the wall, where she sees a pair of dimly glowing red eyes.

In a flash Luci is across the alley. She plunges her arm deep into the wall, phasing through it, and tiny squeals echo around. When she pulls it back out, a two dimensional graffiti outline of an imp is wriggling in her hand. Before they can react, it dissolves into paint fumes.

“The fuck was that?” Jacket asks reasonably.

“A spy,” Luci replies curtly. Her hand is shaking when she pulls out a fat, brightly glowing marker, and draws a brilliant owl owl in different neon colors on the alley wall. The owls ruffles its feathers, and opens it’s eyes.

“Hello Luci,” it says politely, it’s eyes slowly scanning her company.

“Hey Mr. Owl,” Luci says hurriedly. “We’re gonna be coming in hot, you know where to go.”

The owls closes it’s eyes and nods dutifully. It spreads its two dimensional wings, and soars down the alley on the wall, until it hits a corner and disappears.

Doctor Doom and Jacket shrug at each other; that wasn’t even the weirdest thing they had seen today.

***

Three stormtroopers arrive at T6 Active Community Military base at 23:00 on a school night in a standard issue white military Hummer.

The base is universally loathed, with good reason. It’s recruits are the poorest, most desperate citizens in Coruscant, and their only assignments are oppressing their fellow poor and desperate. Ostensibly, the base is designed for quick deployment of imperial troops in case something is getting out of hand in the lower tiers. Realistically, they exist to quell insurrection with deadly force.

The most heavily guarded facility on the base is the Armory,  an ugly steel dome with a high tech laser defense system built into it. The weapons are all locked in laser guarded steel vaults, ran off a private generator in the Control Room, in the heart of the Armory.

Surrounding the entire base is a twenty-foot-high razor wire electric fence, buzzing faintly and sending out little sparks. A pair of stormtroopers stand on either side of the entrance, each apparently vying for employee of the month, as they each walk up to the driver's side of the Hummer.

“I.D.” says one of the troopers boredly to Luci, the one who arrived first. Luci hands over an ID card. The guard glances at the I.D., which shows a Stormtroopers helmet, then looks back to Luci. He nods, and hands the card back.

“Go ahead,” he says, as he moves to open the gate.

Lucis lets out a sigh of relief.

“What was that?” the guard asks.

“Uh, what?” says Luci intelligently.

“It sounded like you just sighed in relief,” he says. On the other side of the car, his friends hand slips casually onto the hilt of his blaster. Jacket tenses.

“Oh, no, I didn’t,” Luci explains.

“Oh,” says the guard. “Yeah ok, sorry. You can go ahead.”

Luci and Jacket sigh in releif.

“But uh,” the guard says as he turns back to the car. “Do you remember today’s color?”

The car is silent for perhaps a moment too long, but then Luci speaks from behind her helmet.

“Today’s color,” she says confidently, her eyes glowing brightly behind her helmet. “Is turtle.”

With an annoying buzz, the gates swing open.

***

[Beta Ray Bill]

With the Hummer parked outside the trio of gangsters and monarch made their way into the base, casually and silently as they could possibly be. Crossing through a long and dull, narrow hallway that gave the look of a boring office building, the three of them were instantly stopped by an in door security check point. At least three stormtroopers stood beside the monitoring stations giving off bored and almost annoyed stances. They had probably been working at their job for hours and a military base such as this most likely never saw action. 

"By security monitoring orders please standby for the scanners, once they start to glow on, walk past by them, yadda yadda, you know the routine." One of the troopers said his voice annoyed and monotone. 

Shuffling through a series of green laser like security monitoring scanners, Luci slightly turned her helmet towards Doom and Jacket. 

"I think we're in boys but uh after this we got to get to work." She whispered no doubt winking behind her helmet as well.

Instantly as all three of them made their way through the last of the scanners stormtroopers poured out each corner surrounding all three of them as if they had overheard her. Every troopers E-11 blaster rifles pointed at all three of them, with the exception of Doom, Luci and Jacket starred back with surprised looks etched under their helmeted faces. 

"Well, what gave us away?" Luci said slowly raising her hands in level with her head. 

"The moment all three of you rode in." One of the stormtroopers said tensing his aim. 

"I'm sorry for the confusion, I'm going to let you talk to my Dr." Luci shot back, her right hand beckoned Doom to step in front of her.

Dr. Doom slowly sidestepped both Luci and Jacket, runes, symbols, and green radiate energy morphed over his entire body. The fake stormtrooper armor he wore began peeling off, showing who and what he was: a tall armored Lord of Latveria, a man of great power. The great doctor's forest cape flared upwards from the immense energy that seeped out and inwards into his very being.     

"Step back or we'll shoot!" One of the troopers barked, most of the white armored soldiers started backing up from Doom's approach.  

"Fools, those who are below me should know their place of power, you nor anyone commands Doctor Doom." 

Cackling the good doctor raised both of his hands, hot green pure electricity began to form all around his arms and hands. Quickly Dr. Doom shifted his electrical spiraling arms directing the pure electrical energy towards the group of stormtroopers, the green electricity instantaneously forking and splitting into them. Within mere seconds, the electricity had coursed all through their armored bodies showing their skeletal frames as they began screaming in pain from being fried alive.

"Fuck!" Luci shouted her disguise disappearing revealing the pig mask she was wearing to hide her identity. 

"Damn," Jacket added whipping out his small submachine gun, his disguise disappearing as well. 

"I concur," Doom said turning back to the both of them folding his arms. 

"We need to hurry, you two give me cover, I need to do something real quick," Luci said darting for and reaching in one of the dead stormtroopers' combat pouches. "This should come in handy," she said waving a data pad in her right hand. 

"What's that?" Jacket replied taking covering position behind Luci. 

"It's a data pad, just give me a few seconds- and bingo." 

"I would advise you two to hurry up yourselves, within seconds this place will be riddled with more soldiers at any moment." Dr. Doom said pacing over the piled dead troopers covering Luci from the front. 

"Alright boys, it seems what we're after is in a vault, the problem is there's a forcefield protecting it." She said rapidly typing through the data pad. "You two need to destroy fields generator, so I can phase through the walls and pick up the goods." 

"Where's the generator?" Jacket asked turning back around to face Luci. 

"Just head down this hall way, turn right and go straight. This data pads schematics tell me it should be right at the end of that hallway." She said pointing in the direction they need to go in. 

Darting past Doom Jacket playfully punched the supervillain to follow him. The two of them quickly rushed down the hallway quickly turning right. Pointing both of his armored hands forward Doom conjured mystical energy blasting two bolts of mystical energy into two unsuspecting troopers. Both blasts smashed into the troopers armored guts knocking both in opposite directions hitting the wall. Making it to the end of the hallway Jacket turned facing Doom.    

"You want to do the honors of blowing that door to Hell?" Jacket almost chuckled from the excitement, his left hand pointing at the steel blast shield door in front of both of them. 

Doom's eyes intensified from hitman's words his gauntleted fingers clenched.

This man, this fool, what does he think I am some door man begging to open doors for him...Very well I will do it they the younger people call it: style.  

"Yes, to Hell with this door." Doom kept his eyes intense look turning to blast door. 

Taking a moment charge himself with mystical energy charged up with the immense energy Doom aimed his right hand blasting the door off its hinges. The steel door instantly shot out blowing smoke crashing into the generator control room, its large metal frame crushed two sorry troopers. From the smoke of the door, frame Jacket jumped in firing his Mac-10 sliding it across the room mowing down every stormtrooper that was in his way. 

"Alright, doctor do your uh... handy work." Jacket said reloading his submachine gun.

Doctor Doom paced into the room his hands already glowing, prepared to throw an energy blast. Aiming both of his hands the blast of energy shot out of his hands smashing through the glass protecting the generator. The generator started to whine before overheating, its nods exploding before itself combusting and blasting apart shaking the entire facility. As soon as the generator blew the bases alarm sounds. 

"It seems we are done here, let us meet regroup with Luci." Doom said folding his arms his brown eyes giving the look of content.

[Luci]

A security camera in the T6 Imperial Armory is focused on a stormtrooper staring at a wall. The mic picks up the muffled bangs of gunfire and screaming several hallways down, as well as the strange robotic breathing of the stormtrooper. The recording would show the the stormtrooper turn and stare at the camera, moments before a large explosions rocks the facility and the feed cuts out.

***

The lights flicker, then die. The laser system flickers, then dies. An alarm sounds, and the hallway is bathed in rotating red lights.

The stormtrooper’s armor dissolves, and a pretty young woman with kaleidoscope eyes and rainbow hair is standing where the trooper was.

Luci’s breathes in through her nose. For a moment, the world screams around her ears, then she pushes herself forward and rockets through the steel wall of the armory into one of it’s many vaults.

***

Luci is a multicolored tornado.

In the first vault, she finds what must have been a stash of confiscated weapons. Strange homemade sci-fi guns and cartoony mallets are locked up in steel lockers.

In the next room, Luci sees a flash of phaser fire from a black armored stormtrooper, and phases quickly into the next vault, vowing to come back if she has too.

The third vault is filled with small hourglasses placed carefully on shelves.

Luci starts to panic as she enters the fourth vault, which contain several haphazardous piles of plasma rifles and blasters. She is about to phase into the next room when she sees a glint of bright blue.

She hurries over to the light, and finds a dozen rifles loaded with Cracklers.

The small blue orbs spit bright blue energy even in their casings. Luci quickly and expertly unloads the orbs from the guns and stuffs them into a green duffelbag. She scatters the piles of guns around a little, but finds no more Cracklers, and moves on.

***

Dr Doom and Jacket are strolling casually down a hallway, illuminated only by flashing red lights, when they see a bright rainbow blur streak past momentarily before passing into another room.

“She is fast,” admits Doom. Jacket turns his rooster head mask towards the supervillian.

“Helluva diagnosis, Doc,” Jacket says sardonically, his hand resting on his sub-machine-gun. “It take you eight years of school to make a diagnosis like that?”

“No,” Doom replies idly. “Nor does it take eight years of education to diagnose a paranoid schizophrenic. If you were ever interested in a session, I could prescribe electroshock therapy-”

Jacket turns and aims his gun at Doom’s chest. “You think?” asks Jacket rhetorically as the Primes stop walking. “Cause I’m thinking more like open heart surgery.”

Dr Doom chuckles softly. His eyes glow with power.

A silhouette passes over them both, interrupting the rotating red lights.

A lone figure in a dark cloak stands at the end of the hallway, a long red lightsaber in his hand.

***

Luci is fumbling with a safe containing a flickering blue light. The safe must contain it’s own battery; Luci tries to phases her hands through, but an electric tingle through her nervous system warns her not to try again. She looks around in frustration for a tool, and realizes she is in a droid assembly shop.

Luci brings the vault over to a work-bench and begins to saw through it with a lightsaber tablesaw. The vault splits, and Luci hurries to collect the Cracklers that come spilling out and shove them into her duffel bag.

Luci phases through the wall, and into a hallway lit only with rotating red lights.

***

As Luci passes through the hallway at lightning speed, she sees her companions moving in slow motion to her left. Jacket has drawn his gun as if to fire at Luci, and Dr Doom has lightning bolts at his side.

Luci turns to her left as she runs, and sees a shadowy, hooded figure wielding a lightsaber.

Luci phases into the next vault.

***

Luci finds herself in another evidence locker. She passes up the tempting bricks of valuable narcotics, searching desperately for the blue light that would hint at the Cracklers, but cannot find them.

She phases back into the hallway in frustration.

***

Luci looks to her right, and sees Jacket on the floor, his fireaxe in hand. The cloaked figure is feet from Doom, each of them with a single hand outstretched, lightning crackling between them as they dual.

Luci phases into the next vault.

***

Luci gasps as she gets a sudden sensation of falling, her feet having nothing to grab onto. She realizes she is simply an inch off the ground, floating in an anti-gravity field. In front of her is a slowly pulsing black orb. Luci hears the orb begin to whisper in her mind, asking her for freedom, but she grits her teeth and pushes the intrusion out.

Luci reaches backwards with her arm and manages to phase through the wall and back into the hallway.

***

This time Dr Doom is down, and Jacket and the cloaked stranger are face to face, axe to lightsaber. Jacket spins, and slices through the stranger’s arm.

Luci hears a scream as she runs through the wall.

***

A mailroom, filled with packages wrapped in brown paper. Luci begins to run for the next vault, but stops. She looks around slowly, then starts tearing open the packages in a flurry of brown paper. It does not take her long to find them.

Luci’s grinning face is lit up with shifting blue light as she scoops nearly a hundred brand new Cracklers into her duffel bags, filling up both bags with the flashing orbs. The Cracklers buzz angrily as Luci shifts her weight
Atop the boxes is a label, and on that label is an address. Luci pockets it.

Luci takes a deep breath, and tries to phase.

Her body flickers.

Luci takes a deep breath, and phases through the wall into the hallway.

***

The alarm screams. Through the cloud of dust and smoke, the red lights are still flashing. Jacket is lying at Luci’s feet, his chest smoking. His axe is clenched in his fist and covered in blood, matching the walls of the wallway. Luci sees the stranger stumble sickeningly over his own arm, the floor wet with his blood.

Dr Doom is still getting to his feet as the stranger advances.

“You DARE,” the supervillian says, his eyes alight with flames. Luci feels the invisible strings of the Omniverse shudder and bend to Dr Doom’s will as he collects power for an attack, flames licking at his palms. The stranger see it too, and lumbers forward with his lightsaber in his left and only arm, intent on disrupting Doom’s attack. Luci drops her bags at her feet. She bends down and grabs Jacket’s gun, and begins to fire wildly at the Imperial.

Luci roars as the Mac 10 spits a line of bullets. The cloaked stranger whirls around with his lightsaber in his remaining hand, spinning the saber in a complex arc and deflecting the bullets around the hallway. Luci cries out and drops the gun as one of them is sent flying back at her, burying itself in her shoulder.

The saber-wielding figure charges through the smoke, his hood still shadowing his face, the light casting strange shadows throughout the hallway. Luci’s eyes widen as she sees the lightsaber coming for her, and she Blinks.

***

The world grinds to a halt. The smoke hangs still in the air. The red lights do not rotate. Jakcet does not twitch, Doom does scream. There is silence. But the stranger still moves. He walks steadily towards Luci.

Luci runs.

***

The alarms sound. The smoke billows. The lights flash.

He catches her at the end of the hallway, grabbing her telekinetically and pulling her back towards himself. Luci curls into ball and rolls beneath his lightsaber, then phases through his legs. She hops back up and starts running again, this time back towards where Jacket is lying on the ground.

The stranger charges forward as he telekenitically rips a door off its hinges and throws it at Luci. The psychedelic Prime barely dodges, running on the wall of the hallway seemingly immune to gravity. She lands in a crouch on the other side of Jacket’s body. The Imperial leaps forward screaming a war cry, his lightsaber in front, his amputated arm leaving a trail of blood in the air behind him.

Luci grins, and phases through him.

The hooded figure looks up to see the full might of Dr Doom standing before him. A halo of flame surrounds the supervillian as he gazes at the Imperial in disgust. With a shrug of his shoulder, the flames leap from Dr Doom and turn the Imperial to cinders.

***

Luci and Doom each hold one of Jacket’s arms as they frog-march him forwards. His rooster mask has been removed and the handsome Prime’s eyes are still fuzzy and confused. Under the other arm, Doom and Luci each carry one of the duffle bags filled with Cracklers.

Doom holds him while Luci pulls out her magic spraycan and paints brightly glowing red door on a wall, then opens it. Doom helps Jacket through, then Luci closes the door behind them.

It takes four more hallways and two more magic doors, all while avoiding squads of stormtroopers, before Luci let’s out a sigh of relief.

“Fucking finally,” she says.

The trio are in a cramped walkway surrounded by hot metal pipes. Jacket has recovered a bit and manages to stumble through, behind Luci and ahead of Doom. Luci checks her data pad for a moment before crouching down on the floor.

She sprays a glowing white door on the ground with her magic spraycan, then opens it.

A Polywhirl is pointing a Glock at her. After a moment, he shoulders his weapon.

“Having fun?” he asks stonily. The Water Pokemon is sitting in a small airboat in a large sewage pipe knee high with water.

Luci snorts. “That’s why I signed up for this job, right?”

The Polywhirl laughs, his strange mouth swirling.

“Pass the dead weight,” he says, inclining his head towards Jacket. Jacket appears to protest for a moment, then keels over in Luci’s arms. Polywhirl helps lift him into the inflatable boat, taking care not to catch his head on the fan.

Dr Doom climbs in after, clutching both duffel bags full of Cracklers to his chest.

“All right,” says Luci, slapping the fan on the back of the boat. “Get out of my fucking base.”

“You are not coming?” Dr Doom asks suspiciously.

“I gotta handle something,” Luci says neutrally. “I’ll meet you at the hideout in an hour.”

“And if you do not?” Doom continues, his eyes narrowing behind his mask.

Luci shrugs. “Then you already have the goods, and I’m already dead.”

Luci shuts the graffiti door behind her, and erases all trace of its existence.

***

Luci presses her back against a wall as a line of stormtroopers passes through the smoky hallway, charging towards the control room. Luci waits for them to pass, them slips into the adjacent room. She checks her data pad, a tiny holographic map marking her location.

She pokes her head back out into the hallway, and sees silhouettes approaching from around the corner. She coats herself with white paint from her magic spraycan and stumbles from the room, her stormtrooper disguise barely solidifying as they march past.

Luci falls quickly in line with them, letting them get in front of her, then ducking into a bathroom. She drops her disguise and pushes open a stall door without even checking if anyone is in it first, as she is a gangster.

Luci climbs on the back of the toilet, takes a deep breath, and walks through the wall in the back  and into a humble looking office. She looks around for a moment, her eyes landing on a large painting of Leia in a gold bikini hung on the wall. She grins, the phases her arms through the painting and pulls out a bright red backpack.

Luci strolls out of the office as a stormtrooper, the door swinging behind her. Etched are the door in black lettering is B31.

***

[Beta Ray Bill]

Wanted and fleeing from the law, two things that Doom has known for quite some time now. Have it be the accursed Fantastic Four or the dreadful Avengers the great and powerful Doom always has an ever-changing plan, the plan of doom. No mere footsoldiers such as the stormtroopers are, nor any other force that spans through Omniverse will ever amount to the being only known as Victor Von Doom. Of course, as of right now there is a need for a more tactical approach and by tactical means retreating. The only good thing about this is that they have the supplies they came for. 

Doom's metallic boots slashed through murky puddles, his forest colored cloak flowing in behind him. He had to beat tracks, he and the other two need to escape the sixth tier. Doom could feel it in his very bones that the Empire was now on their tail and they now part of their most wanted list. Racing down a dingy brick alleyway Doom turned to face the other two following close behind, the only light illuminating the long narrow pathway being a single spotlight. The entire light shining onto Doom creating shadows that played upon the wall behind him.  

"Move quickly! We have no time to waste," he said making a hard right, his mantle flailing upwards causing his shadow to become disfigured. Jacket and the blue little creature close behind him. "The Stormtroops by now have us pinned as most wanted, for now on I am in charge until Luci has returned." 

"No!" Jacket shouted in protest "We're going back they'll kill her!" 

With an unnaturally quick motion, Doom swooped grabbing the man and lifting off his feet only centimeters from the ground. Doctor Doom's eyes behind his mask narrowed and his gauntleted fingers clinched tight. 

"Silence you vexatious oaf!" The good doctor took a second to recuperate from all the running. "She is dead do you hear me dead those mere stormtroopers would have executed her on the spot!"   

Jacket snaped his hands onto a portion of Doom's torn cloak his face turning slowly into a sneer. 

"You black-souled, heartless, evil, bastard! She needs me, we need to go back!" Jacket gasped, out of breath he quickly gulped in a large amount air before continuing. "Have you ever loved someone!?!"

Doom's eyes lightened up before flipping back to his stern look his grip on Jacket released and the man dropped catching himself before he could fall over. Jacket took a few steps ahead of Doom looking in every direction as if he could find some way to get back to Luci. 

"Yes... And I live with the sin of losing her every day." The armored supervillain spun around to face the young man, raising right gauntlet in level with his head. "I am a necessary evil."

"Um... Guys, I don't mean to interrupt but you should look at the road ahead of us." The small creature crocked. 

Victor shot his head around his eyes fixed on what used to be an empty road, he promptly shielded his eyes from incoming hover car speeding towards them. Close enough to them the craft came to a halt screeching and tuning until the driver's side was in front of them. The windows rolled down to revile a familiar small, furry being: Chipra. 

"Get in! we don't have time the Orc Mafia is right on our tail." 

Dr. Doom, Jacket, and the blue Pokemon ran for the car doors, bullets flying and bouncing off the vehicle. 

*

The Imperial cruiser swiftly maneuvered through the streets of Coruscant's tier six, the Imperial's had themselves a class A manhunt, something wished for all the time. Commander Veer's calmly sat in his boarding seat others in the dropoff area eagerly chirped to one another excited that they might see action. Thought's poured through his head on they should go on about these Westside terrorists. Should he let their overwhelming forces wipe them out or should he let the rancorous Orc Mafia deal with them? hard decisions for sure. 

Veers' head spun to attention as a trooper stepped out from the piloting area and made her way to him.

"Commander we have a lock on the terrorist's positions, it seems they are locked in a chase with the Orc Mafia, it also seems that one of the terrorists looks the same as the droid that attacked tier one a few days ago."  

Veers picked himself from his seat putting both of his hands behind his back and gave a un-easily wide smirk.

"Really?" 

"Yes Sir, shall we deal with them?" 

"No." 

"I beg your pardon?"

"No. I wish to watch and see how this will play out." 

"As you command."                     

*

Bullets shattered into the four some's vehicle as they tried to shift and manage away from the assaulting Orcs. Chipra cursed as he shifted gears and flooring the gas system before spinning the wheel and causing the entire vehicle to make a hard right. Doom jerked back and forth in the back of the car and Pokemon and Jacket started to fire back at their aggressors. Even with their own spray of bullets the Orc's didn't budge on their own pursuit, they themselves a bloodthirsty lot would not give up so easily while the hunt was game. Chipra making a hard left crashing into obstructions in the road in front of him. Doom jerked to the side once more from the force of the turn, his eyes narrowed, he had enough of the vagabonds. 


Shoving all of his weight onto the car door beside him the supervillain crashed his armored elbow into the hover-crafts window breaking glass everywhere. 

"What the Hell are you doing!" Jacket shouted unloading a magazine into an Orcish hover car pushing up close to theirs. 

"What does it look like I'm partaking in what many call the theatrics, keep the vehicle steadfast I wish to stand upon the roof," Victor Von Doom retorted and continued pulling himself onto the car's roof. Thank whoever to thank that his armors wait was not bending the ceiling, Dr. Doom did his best to keep himself balanced, wishing that his armor's systems were fitted with a magnet or a gravitation device. Doom quickly turned to one of the assaulting hover-craft and pot shotted at it with one of his magic blasts. The blast was a direct hit, the vehicle was forced into an uncontrollable spin before engulfing in flames, but that was just one of the Orcish fiends. Bullets sprayed out from another Hovercar they hot lead projectiles pelted into the fours some's craft and several even managed to make a mark on Doom Himself. 

"What a farce!" 

Gritting his teeth behind his mask the good doctor aimed for the hunk of Orc junk. Summoning as much energy as he could he brought his right hand out in front of him and brought the behind him, in a matter of seconds a bolt of green lightning stretched out to face him before arching into the vehicle, instantly sending into flames. Content with his work Doom grinned under his mask. 

"Hold on! We're going for another hard right!" Chipra screamed as he swerved their craft to the right trying to dodge a car that had been seemed to have been thrown in the air. The car started to tilt form the momentum, without any option Doom jumped off the Hovercraft's roof and forced into a sudden tumbling motion crashing onto the ground and thrusting into a rolling movement on the ground before by his own sheer will coming to a sheer halt. Taking few steps and covering his until the dust and smoke cleared, Doctor Doom couldn't believe his eyes, for what stood upon was only the impossible. 

"Hello Koal." His turning from a wide expression to a narrowing one. "You arrived just in time."

[Koal]

Shaking his arms from the exertion of throwing a car, Koal grinned as he rolled his shoulders, loosening the muscles. His teeth flashed in the last got of the burning car, and to anyone he would have looked insane. He paused as he considered that, an eyebrow quirked above the other as his already wide smile seems to grow even more. Then he shrugged and started waking towards Doom. They were probably right. The Caped man looked at him, his eyes wide behind the mask, and if Koal was a betting man ( which he was. Seriously it was a problem.) he would have said that he saw tears gather in the man’s eyes. Then the expression was gone, replaced with a loom that said he almost expected this. Doom walked forward and clapped Koal on the shoulder with a heavy, gauntleted hand, the weight settling in an almost comforting way.

“Koal! I thought you dead for sure! I am pleased to learn otherwise, although I am a bit curious as to how you knew to find us here.” Koal opened his mouth to answer, but before the words could escape his lips, an explosion rocked the street, narrowly avoiding the trio as they backpedaled and searched frantically for the source of the explosion.

“Who the hell did you piss off, Doom?” Koal shouted as he brought his claws to bear, splayed and ready for action. His violet eyes scanned the dark street, and he caught a few figures scurrying through the dark alleyways. He barely caught the glint of light before a bullet clipped his bicep. Gasping in pain, he twisted and dove behind the relative safety of the car wreck, the heat of the flames being preferable to being shot and killed. He glanced sideways and saw Doom helping Jacket off the ground, and he caught the Young Demons gaze. Koal jerked his head in the general direction of the gunman and mouth the word “sniper”. Doom, catching the meaning, crouched with Jacket as they made their way to his position.

“They mean to kill us. Or worse.” Doom said quietly, and Koal almost face-palmed from the obviousness of the statement.

“No, really? I thought they wanted to go catch a movie later and then go out for dinner afterwards.” He gestured with a sarcastic expression at his own arm, which has a bloody furrow in it where the bullet had barely grazed him. “That’s why they shot me, dumbass.” Doom shot Koal a look of frustrated realignment before he peered over the car then crouched again.

“They are affiliated with the Orcish Mafia, one of the larger criminal institutions down here. Me and Jacket here-“

“Nice to meet you.”

“May have made them a bit angry. A new comrade of mine has been caught by them. Maybe killed.” Koal looked at the man with the chicken mask, who he now knew as Jacket, who’s eyes betrayed his mounting fury. He could feel it rolling in waves. It was nice, but would be counter- productive unless Koal could find a way to direct it to the enemy. Putting a hand on Jackets shoulder, the Demon began to talk in hushed tones.

“Hey man, I know you’re angry. You obviously care about the person you two left behind. But right now, these guys are standing in between her and us. And I for one, want a little bit of revenge for getting shot. You game?” That seemed to grab his attention before he nodded, a sharp motion. He pulled out a shotgun and loaded in a shell, then cocked the gun. The sound was startlingly loud and Koal grinned a wide smile, fangs and all.

“Atta’ boy. Let’s kick some ass.” Koal jumped over the car, and the street exploded as a hail of bullets flew their way. Trying his best not to gag, he saw Doom withdrawal his missing sword from deep within the confines of his viridian cloak. Cocking back an arm, he threw it at Koal, the sword making a full rotation before the hilt landed in the Demon’s palm. He felt his claws wrap with a vice-grip onto the wire-wrapped hilt. Something snapped in Koal as he felt his body fall into a familiar pattern. Slice. Parry. Roll. Duck. Take Cover. Reengage. Bite. Tear. Claw. Kill. Kill. Kill. KILL. It was all that ran through his head. The need to draw blood and end life. He snarled as he took a bullet to his lower abdomen, the large-caliber projectile tearing through his body. He staggered back and saw Doom, punching and kicking like a champ. The Demon witnessed as he charged electricity through his palms and unleashed a torrent of lightening bolts, hitting his quarries with deadly accuracy. Jacket popped out from behind cover, bringing his deadly ordinance to bear. The muzzle of his shotgun flashed with violent and brutal intent as he blew holes in the converging Orcs. It was a veritable bloodbath, and was over too quickly in his opinion. Drenched in sweat and blood and sin, Koal sheathed his weapon and turned to Doom with a crazed look of satisfaction in his eyes.

“That was fun.”

Doom said nothin instead going to one of the lesser damaged vehicles. He opened the door and looked at the controls, a hand stroking his chin.

“Jacket, Koal, we cannot stay here for much longer. Imperial forces are sure to investigate now. A firefight of that magnitude, even down in Tier Six, is undeniably a threat. And we need to be gone before their investigators arrive.” And with that, Doom brought the car to life with a minuscule amount of Omnilium flowed into the engine. Turning to look at Jacket, Koal shrugged and hopped into the backseat, Doom sliding into the passenger seat. Jacket took the drivers spot. Giving the man a shit-eating grin through the rear-view mirror, Koal cleared his throat and uttered a phrase.

“Are we there yet?”

His laughter echoed through the street.

[Luci]

***

The Astral Realm is calling.

It is scremaing inside Luci’s head, begging her to let go. Every fiber of Luci’s attention is focused on not drifting away and becoming lost forever in the land of dream.

Luci flickers, her form flashing between transparent and opaque, and stumbles. She leans against a shadowy wall in Tier-6, listening to barking dogs and sirens. A spotlight passes over her wall, but Luci is gone. In her place is a two-dimensional graffiti-art caricature of herself.

The wail of sirens and muffled gunfire is muted. Luci blinks, the graffiti-spirit castis her rainbow eyes around briefly before slipping around the corner and into a dark alleyway. The weird moving painting of Luci stumbles quickly from wall to wall, her two-dimensional frame avoiding all but the keenest detection. After hopping a few buildings and finding herself on the wall of a tunnel that extends out nearly a mile in front of her, Luci begins to relax. She is in her element.

The Graffiti Realm exists between the Astral Realm and Coruscant, a kind of tiny bubble connecting the two massive verses. Since Luci has entered Coruscant, that bubble appears to be growing exponentially larger and more powerful, with Luci growing more powerful as well. It takes Luci energy and focus to maintain her physical form in Coruscant, but by slipping into the Graffiti Realm she can release that tension. The feeling of relief is overwhelming, but Luci does not lose her wits; she is not the only Tagger in Coruscant.

Luci creeps around a corner on 5th and Gar Saxon Avenue, the painting passing over the crumbling red brick of wall of an apartment building. She sees a graffiti caricature of a sleeping bulldog painted on a mailbox a few feet from her.

A previously black streetlight flickers on; Luci has tripped a Ward.

The graffiti dog gets up and starts barking wildly. The lights in the apartment above Luci come on, and she runs, barely registering the shotgun blast she hears a few seconds later.

Luci runs from wall to wall, from liquor store to warehouse, from squat to drug house, leaving only a faint psychedelic tinge in her wake. She tightens the straps on her stolen backpack, feeling just a little cocky as she strolls through the heart of the Orc Mafia’s territory with the Empire running in circles.

Luci steps of a wall into a side-street in Tier-6, and stretches. She decides to cut through a junkyard, planning to take the sewers into the Rebel hideout.

Luci phases casually through an electrified chain-link fence, and drops in a smoking, unconscious heap on the other side.

A light in the junkyard flicks on.

***

[Luci]

Luci looks down on her own unconscious body, floating twenty feet above it.

She watches the flashlights in the junkyard flick on, watches as a pair of orcs in overalls shamble over to her. She watches as one of them lifts her up by her arm easily, watches her own limp body sway. Her stolen green backpack is still secured tightly. She watches the other orc point her flashlight at Luci’s face; in the growing light, Luci can identify the orc as female. Luci thinks they are a couple.

She watches them argue between each other, but their voices are garbled. They recognize her. They know how much money she is worth, they know the Orc Mafia is looking for her. They are poor, they are starving, the wife will be saying. The Orc Mafia is dangerous and would kill them for harbouring her, the husband will be saying. So then why are they still talking?

As Luci drifts closer to consciousness, her Astral Form drifts closer to her body.

The orcs cover her in a blanket and toss several tires on her sprawled frame. A pair of headlights washes over them, the chainlink fence casting a long geometric shadow over the scene.

An orc with a rifle gets out of the car. He is pointing the gun at the orcs in the junkyard through the chain link fence, who have their hand raised above their heads. The orc with the gun is screaming and growling at them, and the orcs are screaming back. The orc with the gun fires off a shot, and the orcs behind the fence fall to their knees, their hands still in the air. After a few more tense moments, and a few more gunshots, the orc with the rifle hops back in his car and speeds off.

After a moment, the orc couple gets to their feet. The female orc lets out a low wail. The orcs then drag the debris off of Luci’s unconscious body, wrap her tightly in the blanket, and carry her over to a beaten Volvo and throw her in the trunk.

Luci watches the male orc get in the the driver’s seat. His wife leans down through the window as he start the car, and she sees her gnaw at one of his tusk affectionately.

***

Luci’s astral form drifts behind the orc, her body wrapped in a blanket in the trunk. As she gets closer to consciousness, her astral form creeps closer to her body. She is about ten feet away now, trailing the car.

She watches the orc as he drives through the streets without headlights, able to see in the dark and not wanting to give away his position.

She watches him creep through Tier-6 as silently as he can, heading westbound. Heading, Luci realizes with a stab through her heart, for Tier-5.

She watches him turn a corner and end up face to face with a black suv. She watches him realize his mistake, try to veer out of the way, and watches him clip the side of the suv and go spiraling off into a building. Luci watches the orc lie slumped and bleeding against his horn.

She watches six armed orcs jump out of the black suv, watches one of them walk up behind the driver and put a bullet in his head.

She watches them rip open the doors to the volvo, watches them tear open the trunk by hand.

She watches them drag her limp form out of the trunk by her ankle, watches them hold her up by the foot in the light. She watches the orcs howl in triumph, and watches them dies.

She watches the head of the orc that is holding her explode in a crackle of lightning.

She watches the orcs return fire, watches Poliwhirl go down in a hail of gunfire.

She watches Jacket unleash his submachine gun as he strafes the orcs, forcing them to duck for cover.

She watches a shadowy demon rip chunks out of the massive orcs, breathing heavily as he realizes there is nothing left moving to kill.

Luci’s astral form is so close to her body now.

She watches Jacket rush over desperately, check her pulse, and pull off his mask in relief. She watches him carry to the hovercar tenderly.

She watches the demon and Chirpa load Polywhirl’s bleeding form into the orcs battered suv, and watches them speed away.

She is in the car now, slumped over in the passenger seat while Jacket drives. She is so close to her body she can feel her own breath.

She watches bullets fly through the windshield of the car, watches Jacket swerve and curse.

She watches as the men, or the monsters, exit the car for battle once more.

She watches Jacket use his fireaxe to hack the head off of a mountain troll with an anti-aicraft machine gun.

She watches Dr Doom electrocute an armored schoolbus filled with orcs.

She watches the demon, silent as a shadow, defeat the mighty orc warrior Golgroll Gutspiller in single combat.

She watches them return to the car, ragged, and start heading again for the entrance to Tier-5.

***

Twenty minutes later, Luci is starting to stir.

Jacket has parked the car in the middle of the street, staring at the entrance to Tier-5.

It’s blocked off completely by Empire forces. Armored personnel carriers are packed in front of the entrance, and behind them the concrete barricades have been raised. Swooping around above them is an imperial gunship, it’s spotlights canvassing everything.

Luci’s astral form kisses her sleeping body, and her strange psychedelic eyes flutter open.

Jacket gasps and hugs her.

“You’re alive,” he says simply.

Luci squeezes back. “Let’s not jinx anything, we’re not home yet.”

Jacket nods. Luci turn to the back seat and grins at Dr Doom and her new ally.

The new ally grins back genially.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” replies Luci solemnly. She turns to Dr Doom, who is gazing dismissively at her from behind his mask.

“What an amusing stunt that was,” he finally says. Luci only grins.

“Babe,” says Jacket horsely, his eyes on the road. Luci swivels around in her seat, and eyes the barricade to Tier-5.

Behind the rows of soldiers is a long tunnel that spirals up into Tier-5. Past that barrier, they were home free.

“Go,” Luci whispers. Without hesitation, Jacket presses on the accelerator.

Luci’s eyes begin to glow, bathing the interior of the car in flickering psychedelic light. The light starts to cover every inch of the car, and then the passengers.

The hovercar accelerates, hitting sixty miles per hour. The guards start to take notice, and hoist their guns.

The hovercar becomes a transparent projectile of rainbow light.

The gunship opens fire. The guards open fire.

The hover car rockets through the barrier, phasing through the guards and the cars and the concrete.

Jackets pulls the emergency brake and drifts the hovercar up the spiraling highway to Tier-5.

Luci slumps over, and the car stops glowing.

“It’s been a long day,” Luci confesses as she loses consciousness again, this time falling deep into the Astral Realm.

***

[Luci]

***

Luci is dying.

Her Astral Form floats above the chaos.

The hovercar is pulled over on a street in Tier-5.

Jacket is screaming and trying desperately to cover the wound, but there is no point.

She has been hit through the chest with a phaser blast from a storm trooper.

Koal puts a hand on Jacket’s shoulder to steady him, and Jacket whirls around and connects with a right hook that nearly takes the demon’s jaw off.

Koal gets up with his claws extending, and Dr Doom stands between him and Jacket.

Luci cannot hear their voices through the cloud of the Astral Realm, which mutes and distorts their voices, but she can guess what they are saying.

Dr Doom will be saying that the thieves have accomplished what they were paid to do.

The demon, gesturing wildly towards Luci, will be saying they need to save her. That she is dying for them.

After an angry response that falls on deaf ears, the supervillan stalks away, his cape swishing. Koal watches him walk away for a long time before he turns back to Jacket.

Koal stands above Jacket’s sobbing form for a moment before crouching down next to him. Luci never does hear what the demon says to the maniac that makes him wipe his tears and rev the engine on the hovercar. The demon hops in the backseat. Jacket lights a cigarette, and the hovercar departs.

Luci feels her heart stop beating, but she doesn't care.

Something is wrong on the Westside.

***