The stars and moon illuminated the night sky as a figure leapt across the rooftops, flawlessly soaring towards the smaller buildings when the situation called for it.

‘Now this is how you should live!’ The figure thought as it got closer and closer to it's destination.

"Agent X, come in Agent X." A voice echoed from her com link. "Have you arrived at the destination yet?"

"Agent X here and I'm getting close." She responded to the com.

"Hurry up! The museum holds one of the most valuable gems imaginable!" He stated gleefully. "And if my research is correct, it also holds enough energy to sustain my new fusion cores!"

X sighed, these missions were getting more and more boring as time went on, it was always either a bank, or a jewelry store, places that were way too easy to rob in her opinion...

...if only she had a challenge...

However as she got closer she noticed three other figures who clearly didn't belong anywhere near a museum. One was dressed just like that vampire in Tottingham but just a bit shorter. Another wore a green vest with a console on it's chest, a helmet with green lenses that obscured her face, and a weird backpack on it's.... well back and the last one had a weird outfit like it was a fantasy party and her hair was designed like they were horns that turned into pigtails.

As she watched them, the one dressed like a vampire spread her cape which immediately expanded in size and engulfed the two before swirling around like a tornado and vanishing completely.

“Uh… Boss? We got trouble, some weirdos just snuck into the museum.”

“What?! Could they be after the gem too?! Agent X, you must get in there immediately!!”

"Sure, sure. Keep your panties in line.” X said as she pressed a button on her belt and teleported inside. 'This is gonna be fun.'

Inside the vampire-dressed mare sighed as she watched her comrade hacking the security systems. “Are you done yet? This is taking forever!” She wined as she paced back and forth.

“Will you please shut up!?” She snapped as she continued her work. “Unless you want me to slip up and alert the cops that we are here, kindly keep it down!”

As she appeared X just smirked but also realized something else. She saw that there were three beforehand...where was contestant number three?

"Hey there short and cute." A voice from behind her said before X's perch crumbled beneath her and she fell to the ground.

X yelped as the unexpected sneak attack caught her off guard, alerting the other two of her presence.

"Who the hell-"

"Looks like we got ourselves a little spy!" Their leader smirked as she leaped down behind her. "Kyd Dusk, go get the gem, Gizmo, let's teach this kid why it's impolite to spy on others.." She smirked and she snapped her fingers, sending out an orange shockwave that knocked X off her feet while Dusk ran off.

"Son of a..... okay girls. No need to be all jackass about things." X said as she got back to her feet and dodged a metal limb that nearly impaled her.

"Hold still you loser!" Gizmo growled as she tried stabbing her again. "Jinx!"

“On it!” She said before slamming her fist into the ground and sending another shockwave her way. X dodged to the right quickly threw her left hand down and created an x-shaped pulse that created a similar-shape in the ground big enough for her to fall through.

As she landed in the basement she quickly ran down the hall, behind her she could already hear the two crash down through the ceiling.

"Hm.... time for a little game of cat and mouse." X said as she ducked to the shadows. These two weren't gonna stop chasing her. So why not take them out? Besides that last one didn't seem very tough in all honesty.

Jinx threw another energy pulse at her target while two of Gizmo's mechanical legs transformed into guns and started firing rapidly.

X summoned several x-shaped shuriken and threw them a fast as she could, dispersing every energy bullet in the process. Sadly Jinx's energy pulse managed to nail her in the stomach, sending her flying across the hallway.

"Alright..... now we're having fun." X said as she hit the button on her belt and teleported behind the two.

"Where'd she-"

Not giving them time to react, she quickly slapped a red x on Gizmo's backpack, the x immediately shocked her with red electricity, shorting out her gadgets and knocking her out.

Jinx barely had time to react when she felt her hands wrapped thanks to red goop before X kicked her in the face.

"You little bitch!" Jinx snarled as she tried to free herself from the goo. She attempted to blast it apart, only for it to surpass her powers.

"Sorry, but that's a special adhesive." X smirked beneath her mask. "You're not getting it off anytime soon."

"And who do you think you are?!" Jinx snapped at her as she tried to attack again but only fell down face first.

"Me! I'm just a thief looking out for number one." She stated as she casually walked past her. "But you can just call me... Red X." With that she pushed the switch on her belt and teleported to the main floor...

In another part of the museum, Dusk Kyd smirked as she approached the bright white gemstone that sat within a glass case.

"Come to mama!" She giggled as she draped her cape over the side of the case and reached through it, her hand went straight through the glass and she snatched the gem. "It all starts with this..." She said as she held up the gem. "A jewel containing the ultimate power..."

"Oh save the melodramatic speech." X said as she shot an x-shuriken at her and managed to hit her hand and caused her to drop the jewel.

“GAH!” Dusk screamed as she caught the gem before it hit the ground. “Jeeze, are you nuts?! Wait, where are the others?”

"Oh your boss is wrapped up at the moment and your IT department just had a 'shocking' discovery." Red X smirked as she rushed forward and grabbed the jewel. "Thanks for the gem toots!"

“Oh no you don't!” She screamed as she jumped over her just as she grabbed it before engulfing the both of them with her cape teleporting them both back to where Red X had left Jinx and Gizmo.

"Aw come on. You sure you can't try and beat me on your own?" Red X said as she prepared to fight.

Dusk glared at her before vanishing into the shadows, before Red X could move she lashed out from behind and struck her in the back, forcing her to drop the gem. Dusk then slipped back into the shadows, taking the gem with her.

"Aw shit." X said as she got back to her feet and faced the trio of villains. She pulled out another X shuriken.

"Over here!" She taunted as she popped up behind her, Red X threw several x-shuriken at her... only immediately the dive back into the shadows, allowing one of them to slice through the goo that was holding Jinx's hands together.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jinx immediately let loose another pulse of energy from her hands this time powerful enough to obliterate the remaining hoo before hurling another blast at Red X.

"Shit...... so you call yourselves.... what? The poor mare's Legion of Evil?" Red X snarked at the trio as she got back to her feet.

“If you must know, we're-OW!” Dusk began, only for Jinx to zap her.

“No blabbing about our team name!” She snatched the gem out of her hands. “Now then, Red X. It's been nice but we must be going” She began, aiming another blast at the ceiling, collapsing it and cutting her off from them.

“Son of a-”

And then the alarm systems went off.

"Wow... and here I thought Red X was supposed to be a good thief." Gizmo smirked as they quickly jumped across the rooftop not too far from the museum. "Too bad she was such a-"

"Peek-a-Boo." X said as she slapped another x on Gizmo’s helmet and shocked her.

"Oh for the love of-" Jinx scowled before throwing several shockwaves at the thief while Dusk slipped into the shadows once more. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?!"

"Nah. I never learned the meaning of the word." She said as she flipped over Jinx and kicked the back of her head. Immediately a black tornado rose from Jinx's shadow and sucked Red X in, Dusk lunged out of it and slugged her across the face, sending her flying. However Red X quickly hit the switch on her belt and teleported behind Dusk, landing a solid kick to her back, sending her flying into a wall and knocking her out.

"Ugh, useless little..." Jinx scowled before snapping her fingers once more as Red X landed, causing her sink into the floor.

"Oops, did I do that?" She asked tauntingly as Gizmo approached her from behind, having finally rewired her backpack to function properly.

"You know... this has been fun girls but we gotta wrap this up." Red X said as she slapper a rubber x onto Gizmo’s face and threw another at Jinx, upon snapping her fingers both x’s became magnetized and pulled them towards each other, bashing both of their heads together.

The gem fell out of Jinx's hand as the two fell unconscious. Looking around she saw that the police were already arriving and surrounding the museum. "Well, I'm outta here!" She smirked as she teleported away just as Dusk woke up

"Ugh... what hit me...?" She groaned before looking around realizing what happened, hearing the police sirens outside she quickly engulfed her comrades with her cape and vanished...

[Seven Months Later…]

"So wait your sister actually came here?" Rainbow asked Applejack who was still reeling from the events of Central City. "I mean... I would have liked to see her before she disappeared."

"Ah'd rather patch things up with her before introducing her to any of y'all..." She said as she continued her push-ups, with a large weight strapped to her back. "No offense, but Ah'm not sure how she'd take it..."

"Maybe a normal pony's would. Ya gotta remember, Ah'm a New God." She said as she stood up, casually lifting the weight off herself. "Any news on when Twi's getting back? Ah could use a good spar..."

"Yeah...she left for deep space about three hours ago." RD said as they exited the gym. "She mentioned something about a "collector"..."

"There's a whole race of 'em.... nasty customers. Take the rarest things in the galaxy and preserves them until they die." Applejack told her. "But they can be bargained with.... at least the ones I've met with can."

“I hope she's OK…”

Supermare glared at the orb-shaped figure on the opposite side of the tube she was confined in. “When I get out of here, I'm going to kill you, slowly and painfully.”

“Get in line!” Another creature called out.

“Such hostility…”

“It's Twilight, she can handle herself.” Applejack set as they entered the computer room, she then made her way over to the capsule containing Rarity. “So, how much longer till we wake sleeping beauty up?”

"Er.... about two more weeks. Give or take a week." Rainbow said as she looked at her statistics. "I hate to bring it up again..... but I'm REALLY wanting to meet this Flash character someday."

“Why in tarnation would ya want to meet death?” She asked in a baffled tone.

"....really? Me being a knowledge-seeking android didn't tip you off?" RD asked her with a sly look.

Suddenly, the power went out and the two were engulfed in darkness.

RD already had a hunch who was responsible. “PINKIE! I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM THE GENERATORS!!”

“It wasn't me this time, I swear!” Pinkie shouted back.

Before she could retort, the backup generators kicked in and RD made a beeline for the central computer and began typing in some code… only for a large red X to appear on the screen.

“That doesn't look good…” Pinkie said as she entered the room.

"........SOME MOTHER FUCKER IS GOING TO DIE! A NEANDERTHAL JUST FUCKING HACKED MY SYSTEMS!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Her nodes all lighting up.

Red X watched as the gem pulsated with energy inside a tube that was hooked up to a generator with several three fusion cores connected to the top and several wires at the bottom connecting it to a massive computer.

In front of it sat her boss/benefactor; Professor Chang. “Ah yes! It's almost ready!”

"Mind reminding me of what this is again?" Red X asked the professor. "I mean you keep talking about how it's your GREATEST creation but here I thought you said that those weird one eye robots were your greatest creations."

"In a sense they are, but this? Ohhhh this will surpass all of that!" He exclaimed as she just several more buttons before pulling the lever, the floor next to the gem opened to reveal what looked like a giant metallic ring.

"Thanks to some of the technology provided by my new "employers" combined with the power of that gemstone and my fusion cores, I have created a machine that can access the realm of cyberspace!" He explained with a malicious smile. "With it I will be able to send a virus to any company or organization l wish to infiltrate, then send my soldiers to steal their data while keeping myself hidden and untraceable!"

"...... so you just made a boomtube." Red X stated plainly. She knew the guy was nuts before but.... this REALLY took the envelope. "You made a boomtube that MAY or may not end up in Cyberspace.... or kill your soldiers."

"Ha! What do you take me for, a fool!? I've been experimenting with this project for a while now and I've perfected the art of sending and bringing physical objects to and from the digital realm!" He snapped before turning back to his device. "And with the amount that my "employers" are paying us, I can't afford to make any mistakes!"

"Not. happening." He replied firmly. "The portal needs someone on the other side to monitor it and make sure everything's running smoothly... someone who actually knows how to operate it mind you."

"Of course it does." Red X said. "So send a soldier through. One of your henchmen or something."

"Sorry, can't do that either." He scoffed. "You see, I need someone skilled and agile enough to get in and get in and out of there with the data..."

"THEN SEND ONE OF YOUR DAMN ROBOTS!" Red X shouted. "I stole and lied for you dammit but I'm not willing to die for you!"

"I suggest you watch your tone..." Chang replied in a dark tone. "You seem to be forgetting who helped replicate the Xenothium formula, and might I add, continuously upgrade your suit! Besides, last I checked you loved a challenge... not to mention I believe even you would be willing to take this mission if you knew how much they were paying us..."

"No money on Earth is worth getting stuck in some idiotic position in a damn computer." Red X retorted as she glared at him. "I'm glad you helped with the formula and my suit..... and while I love a challenge.... you are INSANE if you think I'm going to do this."

"Oh really? Well I guess I'll have to cancel the project... it's too bad, that Lazerus Pit sample could've been put to good use..."

"......what did you just say?" She demanded.

"Oh nothing-" Chang said before she grabbed him.

"NO YOU REPEAT WHAT YOU JUST SAID. A LAZARUS PIT SAMPLE?!"

"Well... my employer happened to get her hands on a small sample from the Pit, and promised to include it as payment if I got her some data on a certain... object she lost..." He explained, doing nothing to hides his smirk. "And if you comply, I'd be more than will to spare a good amount of it to help throw a little "family reunion", so to speak..."

"..... okay. I'll do it." Red X said and there was no hesitation in her voice. "Where do I go and when do you send me?"

"Well..." Before he could finish, several alarms went off. Looking back at the screen he saw the icon for his virus pop up along with a map detailing the layout of the digital realm. "You go now, before the backup security arrives!" He stated before typing in some code, causing the the icon to start pulsating.

"Alright." Red X said as she jumped through the portal. Chang laughed as she left through it.

"The foolish child."

Back at the watchtower, RD continuously tried to safeguard The systems, putting up firewall after firewall. Sadly the virus seemed to be adapting to whatever she threw at it, as it easily ate away and her defenses.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!!" She screamed in fury.

"Dash what the hay is going on?!" Applejack yelled at her as the alarms rang in her ears. "Seriously what's takin' so long!?"

"This virus keeps adapting to whatever I throw at it!" She explained in frustration. "I just barely managed to shield all of our private files from it but... it seems to be looking for something and I don't know-"

A scream of agony echoed through the room, getting everyone's attention. Turning around they saw that the capsule containing Rarity had several red sparks erupting from the circuits linked to it.

"NO!" Applejack shouted as she unplugged the container to try and stop the sparks.

"That's not gonna work, the virus has already established contact!" She shouted before typing in several commands. Immediately a small hatch on the right side of the console opened up as wires came out and attached themselves to the nodes on RD's head. "There's only one way to stop it now, and that's to go in manually!"

"What the hayseeds are ya doin'?!" AJ shouted as the sparks and alarms kept blaring.

"Downloading myself into cyberspace! Taking my fight to the moron who thought they could beat me!"

And with those words, the nodes on her head glowed along with the wires attached to them, sending the android into the digital realm…

Inside the digital realm, Red X stared at the massive orange tower before her, it seemed to consist of three large support beams holding up a massive oval, from the bottom of the oval a light was being shined on what appeared to be blue omega symbol simply floating in place with several glowing rings surrounding it.

"Huh. This seems pretty important." She said as she got close... only for a random mare to appear in front of her.

"HEY THERE!" She shouted, doing nothing to hide her rage. Red X immediately leaped back in surprise.

“What the-oh great, this must on of those security drones or something…” She mused before summoning X-shaped blades on the back of her hands. “Listen, I got a job to do. So why don't you back off before I delete you?”

"Delete me? Oh, that's cute." Brainiac chuckled as she created an orb the size of her head and launched it at her foe.

[HELLO AGAIN, MY INFERIOR HALF] A familiar voice said to Braniac.who mentally sighed.

‘I don't have time for this, kindly piss off.’ She snarked as her opponent vanished into thin air, she quickly turned to catch her first before attempting to punch her back, only for Red X to catch her fist as well. Immediately a pulse of red electricity erupted from her hand, badly shocking Brainiac before she kicked her away.

[THIS IS WHAT YOUR GIFTS HAVE LED YOU TO?] The voice told Brainiac as she got back to her feet and blasted Red X again. [BEING USED AS TARGET PRACTICE?]

‘I said shut up!’ She growled, not in the mood for it's banter as she furiously tried to hit her target, firing another orb while Red X countered with several x-shurikens. Growling in irritation she blasted them out of the air one by one, however the final one had a flash bomb attached to it, the moment it detonated Brainiac’s vision was of obscured by a bright blue light, temporarily blinding her. “GAAAAH, MY EYES!!”

"Oops. Did that hurt?" Red X smirked under her mask before slamming her hand into the ground, creating a red pulse and shocking her opponent again. “Not as much as this is gonna hurt you!” She shouted before firing four x-pulses from her hands.

"OKAY EVERYONE STOP!" Brainiac shouted as she the nodes on her head glowed purple for a moment, everything seemed to freeze in place, including the thief. "YOU! YOU'RE GOING TO WAIT WHILE I DEAL WITH AN ASSHOLE!"

When the thief didn't answer, it was then that she realized just what she had done, she tried to move only for a familiar face to appear in front of her.

[HELLO MY INFERIOR HALF.] The other half of her body said to her. [YOU APPEAR.... HEALTHY.]

"...did you do this?" She asked hesitantly. "Did you... stop time?"

[NEGATIVE, I HAVE MERELY DRAWN YOU INTO A SUB-SECTION OF YOUR DATABASE, HERE THE PROCESSING SPEED IS TEN TIMES FASTER, HOWEVER YOUR MOVEMENT IS COMPLETELY HALTED.]

"Oh that's wonderful um.... that thief is going to try and steal a valuable piece of information and use it against us." Brainiac said as she tried pointing at Red X. "Mind stopping that?"

[NEGATIVE.] It replied without hesitation. [THAT IS NOT IN MY PROGRAMMING, MY FUNCTION IS TO DESTROY SUPERMARE. AS ORDERED BY MY CREATORS.]

"Yeah well.... getting her out of here is going to help get rid of Supermare." She tried.

Her other half simply stared at her for a few seconds before it's eyes flickered. [WHILE THIS FACT IS TRUE, THE CHANCES OF YOU SUCCEEDING ARE 20%.]

"In the area where I’m the ruler? I find that BULL shit." She snapped, irritated that she couldn't at least punch this thing.

[WHILE YOU HOLD THE ABILITY TO ENTER CYBERSPACE AND MANIPULATE CERTAIN OBJECTS TO YOUR WILL, YOU LACK FULL CONTROL OVER THIS REALM.] It explained. [UNLESS YOU ACCESS YOUR FULL POTENTIAL, YOUR OPPONENT WILL BE VICTORIOUS AS SHE HOLDS MORE LETHAL MEANS TO HARM AND INFECT OUR SYSTEMS.]

"I can BEAT her WITHOUT you." Brainiac growled. "Now let me out and get back to kicking her out."

[SHOULD YOU BE TERMINATED, I SHALL CEASE TO BE.] It stated as it faded away. [EMBRACING YOUR TRUE FUNCTION IS THE ONLY LOGICAL WAY TO ACHIEVE VICTORY.]

Upon fading away completely, time returned to normal as Red X dashed towards her, only to teleport behind her and reappear near the base of the tower, slapping another X on one of the beams, which started glowing ominously. "This is Red X to base, the connection has been set."

"Oh no you're not!" Brainiac shouted as she snapped her fingers and the X disappeared. ".... shit that was supposed to be all of them. Oh well, guess I can settle for beating up a punk."

“You can try...” Red X scoffed, she quickly teleported away and reappeared above her, slapping an X onto her head before leaping away and firing an X-adhesive at her, trapping her in place. “...but you'll fail.”

".... you really have a limited imagination don't you?" Brainiac said as the X-adhesive vanished from her body. "I mean... seriously. You're treating this like.... oh no. No I'm not telling you how to beat me."

"Oh how cute, you think you can take me on?" She smirked as she pulled out twin x-blades and charged fourth. "Well then, bring it on!"

Back in the real world, Applejack watched as Rarity groaned as she struggled against her restraints, the red electricity crackling around her capsule.

"Com'on RD... please hurry..." Applejack whispered as she clenched her fists.

"Wonder Mare!" Pinkie called out, drawing her attention to the screen, which now had a bright 'WARNING' sign flashing as a familiar logo appeared not too far from RD's location.

"Oh no..."

"So... I take it that's not good?"

"Come on now kid.... do you REALLY want to keep this going? I've got you beat in all directions. I could LITERALLY snap my fingers and turn you into digital dust." Rainbow said but she wasn't smiling at the moment.

"Yeah? And why don't you do it?" Red X demanded as she charged Brainiac only for her to dodge it.

"Because I think you can change." She replied to X as she snaps her fingers and chains wrap around her arms.

".... really? This bull?" Red X asked as she tried to free herself.

"I mean it. You could've taken the code right here and now if you wanted to. Yet you keep fighting me instead... now what kind of thief wants to do that?"

“It's simple, I like a challenge.” She stated as she snapped her fingers, vanishing and reappearing on the opposite end of the room. “And let's get one thing straight; I'm not some lost soul who needs guidance to the light,” She explained, giving her a stern glare. “I'm a thief, I'm not some big bad villain who wants to conquer the world or anything like that, I'm just looking out for number one.”

"Yeah and doing that's gonna get you killed." Brainiac said. "I mean there's looking out for number one.... and then there's being suicidal."

“Oh please, spare me the melodrama!” Red X scoffed as she drew two more blades. “I'm not about to get lectured by a bunch of ones and zeros!"

"Wait, wait, wait...... you think I'm FAKE?" Brainiac asked. She snapped her finger and a small video pops up. "That's the real world.... notice who's sleeping?"

“Nice try, but special effects can do anything these days, I ain't buying it!” She shouted before throwing several x-shurikens. “I've got a job to do and I'm not leaving till I get that thing’s data!”

"You think YOU can decipher this thing?" Brainiac asked as she casually deflected the shurikens. "That data's full of code I can't even CRACK yet..... and I'm literally the second smartest being in the world... the first one being of course Captain Wheelchair."

"Oh that is just ADORABLE." A familiar voice called out, the floor beneath the two immediately turn red as several dark red cracks started to appear on the tower, spreading across it like an infection. “But there's a reason they hired me to get Giganta’s data!” The voice continued as a massive figure rose out of the floor...

What stood before them was a long dark red robot serpent, and riding atop it was the holographic form of Dr. Chang himself.

"Associate of yours?" Brainiac asked. "I mean he looks ugly enough."

Red X rolled her eyes before turning to her boss. "What are you doing here Chang?! This was my mission and I was handling it just fine!"

"Getting your ass kicked counts as 'handling' it?" Brainiac chuckled.

"YOU SHUT UP!" Red X snapped before glaring back at her boss.

"You were taking too long my dear. I grew VERY impatient." Chang said as his serpent roared at them. "Besides. I think you've done enough damage to the firewall."

The crimson serpent immediately slithered towards the tower as more red cracks spread across it. Brainiac quickly tried to intercept him by blasting him in the face, only for it easily push its way through her attacks, before she could react it immediately brought up the tip of it's tail and zapped her from behind, sending her flying downwards and nearly crashing into Red X.

“And now to tie up all the loose ends!” Chang smirked as the crimson serpent immediately spat out a glob of red adhesive, engulfing both Brainiac and Red X.

“-the hell?!” Red X growled as she struggled against the goo. “Chang! What the hell is going on!?” She groaned before trying to teleport out of the goo... with no success.

"You served your purpose. I now have what I need.... oh and what if I set the robot to self destruct?" Chang wondered to himself as his serpent started coiling tightly around the omega symbol... however Brainiac heard this and tried breaking free.

"STAY AWAY! FROM! MY! FRIENDS!"

“Oh no you don't!" He said as the serpent's eyes glowed and fired an electric blast at the two, badly shocking them.

“What… the hell… is this?!” Brainiac gasped as she suddenly felt all of her energy being drained.

"Well you see, the virus I conjured up slowly adapts to any obstacle put in front of it, it's instability combined with its infectious properties of Xenothium makes it the ideal weapon to hack into your system! And now with it slowly infecting your systems, soon you'll be completely helpless before me!”

"You.... you backstabbing bastard!" Red X yelled at him. "You had enough Xenothium to make all this?! And yet you kept telling me the materials to fuel my suit were scarce?!"

That one statement got Brainiac's attention. Xenothium!? You two are using XENOTHIUM AS A POWER SOURCE!? Are you guys crazy!?" She snapped in rage as she struggled to get up, despite the pain she was in. ‘That stuff is dangerous and unstable! And it's gonna kill one of my friends!’ She thought as tried to pull herself out of the goo, however her strength started to fade as the serpent sank its fangs into the symbol...

Suddenly, everything before her froze in place as her other self appeared before her once again.

[I WARNED YOU.]

"Wait.... I thought you were talking about the thief!" She yelled at it. "You never even INDICATED that this guy was a problem!"

[I STATED THE MATERIALS SHE WAS USING WERE GREATLY HAZARDOUS TO OUR SYSTEMS, THE STALLION IS SIMPLY USING THE SAME MATERIALS.] It stated before turning to the serpent. [SINCE THE FIGHT STARTED THE XENOTHIUM WAS SEEPING INTO YOUR DIGITAL BODY, SLOWLY INFECTING IT FROM WITHIN. THE MORE YOU FOUGHT, THE GREATER THE INFESTATION BECAME.]

"Well.... I still had it somewhat under control!" She said to it.

[NO. YOU DID NOT.] It said back to her. [YOU SAY THAT TO TRY AND JUSTIFY YOUR BAD DECISION.]

"OK fine! Not my best call! Now how do we beat it?!" She shouted in irritation.

[SIMPLE, LET ME IN CONTROL.] It told her plainly. [YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF BEATING THEM AS YOU ARE.]

"And let you lock me away in my subconscious while you kill Supermare? No thanks!" She scoffed.

[YOU ARE WEAK BECAUSE OF THE INFECTION, LET ME OUT AND YOU WILL HAVE THE POWER TO BEND THIS PLANE TO YOUR WILL ELIMINATE THEM.]

Brainiac sighed, as much as she hated to admit it, she didn't have that many options. ".... fine..... but no killing Supermare. got it?"

[NEGATIVE. MY PRIMARY FUNCTION IS TO ULTIMATELY KILL THE SUPERMARE. DOING ANYTHING BUT THIS WOULD GO AGAINST MY PROGRAMMING.]

To her other half's surprise however, Brainiac simply chuckled.[YOU FIND MY OBJECTIVE AMUSING?]

“Of course I do,” She replied with a coy smile. “...because you think too small. Listen, what if you and I made a deal that was mutually beneficial to our current objective?”

[IT IS EXTREMELY UNLIKELY THAT YOUR INFERIOR MIND COULD BENEFICIAL TO OUR CURRENT OBJECTIVE.] It retorted.

“Gonna ignore that inferior quip… but that thing is, having complete control over this realm would technically make us, for lack of a better term, Gods.” She explained calmly. “So if you give access to that power while leaving me still in control, I can give you the one thing you've always lacked. A certain something that I happen to have in abundance that would prove highly beneficial in this situation….”

[AND THAT IS?]

“Imagination.” Brainiac replied, her smile never faltering. “I've got a proposition for ya, partner.”

“Now then, I think it's time to kill two birds with one stone!” Chang gloated as his serpent prepared to fire at the helpless duo.

"Uh, digital girl? Now would be a GOOD time to actually MOVE!" Red X screamed.

Almost immediately, Brainiac let out a spiracle pulse of purple energy, shielding them both and breaking them free of the adhesive.

"What the hell!?" Chang exclaimed in surprise as the symbol was immediately enveloped in a Blue Shield, preventing him from scanning it.

"Out there... I'm just an android.... but when I'm in here? I'm many things..... but right now? I'M A GOD!" She smirked as her hands crackled with energy…

“Well then, looks like I can add a killing a god to my resume!” Chang retorted as his serpent charged at her.

"Oh you poor deluded fool." Brainiac said as she launched electricity at Chang. "This is just embarrassing. You thought you were SO big and bad.... news flash. You weren't the one who nearly brought Supermare to her knees. You're not the one with the power now.... that's me." She said as she zapped him again and blasted his serpent.

"You insolent little worm!" Chang growled as his serpent bared it's fangs. "You will not deny me my prize! Kobra is paying me quite handsomely for this and I'm not letting some simple firewall program get in my way-GAH!" He screamed in pain as several x-pulses rained down on him from about, looking up he saw Red X herself standing at the top of the tower.

"You think karma's a bitch? Well I'm her AVATAR!!" She shouted before throwing several more x-shurikens.

"Brainiac rolled her eyes. "Thanks for just NOW helping me out ya nutjob."

"Hey, I don't play hero, but I'm not letting this bastard get away with double-crossing me!" She shouted before teleporting away just as the serpent fired another pulse at her, reappearing next to Brainiac. “That and he's working for Kobra, and I DON’T associate with terrorists.”

"Question." Brainiac asked as she blasted a pulse at the serpent which was hit hard with it. "What EXACTLY did this drop out promise you?"

"Money, more Xenothium to power the suit... and a sample of the Lazerus Pit... for my parents..." She stated as the serpent crashed into the base of the tower.

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" Chang shouted in rage as the serpent got up, it's glowing red eyes glaring daggers at the two.

Suddenly the red cracks that were appearing throughout the area suddenly started to vanish, The floor beneath the two became blood red as several walls erupted from the ground in a circular motion around them. Then several pipes erupted from the walls and started spraying liquid Xenothium into the pit. Thinking quickly, Brainiac summoned several purple floating cubes above the rising chemicals and flew up to one while Red X appeared on another.

Dr. Chang's serpent immediately dived into the lake of Xenothium and resurfaced in the center, it's body pulsating with energy. "IT'S TIME TO END THIS!!"

"Shit.... too much Xenothium here. I can't summon the Drone yet.." Brainiac said as she focused. "We need to get him down a few notches." She said as she sprouted wings on her back and started flying. "Well? You wanna join in?"

Red X scoffed. "Fine, it's not like I have any other choice..."

"Now then, you insolent little fools…" Chang smirk does he snaps his fingers, summoning seven more cobras heads out of the chemicals. "GET A LOAD OF THIS!"

"Oh I'm shutting that down fast." Brainiac said as she summoned three orbs that lined up like her nodes before firing them and trapping three heads. "X?! Now would be the time to use those blades!"

"Working on it!" She shouted as she leaped from one cube to another as a cobra head lunged at her, she dodged at the last minute allowing it to crash into the cube and quickly shot a massive X made of adhesive at it, pinning it down. She then dived downward and drew her x-blades, slicing through its neck in one swift motion. "This thing better not grow two more heads in its place..."

Suddenly another rushed at her from the right and attempted to swallow her, only for her to teleport to another block. "Really could use a high-ground advantage!" She called out as another head circled around her.

"Sure thing!" Brainiac said as she made the cube fly straight to the next head. "We're sure getting a head of ourselves."

".... never attempt a joke again. Ever. Please." Red X said as she sliced the head off. "Seriously."

"You have no sense of humor." Brainiac smirked as she blocked a blast from one of the other heads.

"No, your humor just sucks." She retorted before leaping off the cube and slicing off one of the cobra's heads.

"No, no, no, no!!" Chang shouted as the main head began firing rapidly at Brainiac as one of the trapped heads broke free and attempted to coil around her. "I will not let an inferior program defeat me!"

"....does EVERYONE just assume I'm a program? I mean, I have feelings." Brainiac asked in irritation as she grabbed the head by the mouth and rip it apart. "Seriously I'm real."

"Uh huh. SURE you are." Red X retorted as she ran across the cubes while dodging the serpent’s eye-beams. "You sure ACT like a program."

“I'm ACTING like this because your little stunt is gonna kill my friend!” She snapped back as she noticed something, as Dr. Chang continued to fire the amount of Xenothium in the area decreased.

"Aww, how cute. The useless sprite is getting mad.” Chang taunted. “Do me a favor and hop into the recycle bin, I have a bigger prize to claim-WOAH!"

"....you mind repeating that?" Brainiac demanded as she blasted the main head. "No seriously. REPEAT. THAT. LINE. AGAIN!"

"You heard me you little byte! You're useless against my superior technology!" Chang shouted at her. "You're nothing more than a program who can't even defend the database they're supposed to be guarding!"

“I’M. AN. ANDROID!!” Brainiac snapped, the nodes on her head glowed an ominous purple, causing the remaining orbs containing the serpents to explode, obliterating them instantly. "I hold the knowledge and strength of over 10,000 minds, I can play soccer with a mountain-sized meteor, can hack any system in seconds, I could obliterate the moon in less than a week, and my brain is the size of a PLANET! And you honestly think you're superior to ME?!" She shouted as her as she started charging up as much energy she could contain without giving in to her other half. The cubes started rising up from the Xenothium and began circling her, minus the one Red X was currently on.

She then glared at Dr. Chang with malice as her eyes and nodes glowed intensely. "Still think you can win against me? Actually, here's a better question; do you wanna have a bad time? 'Cause if you don't crawl back to wherever pit you came from, you're REALLY not going to like what happens next...."

"No, no, no!" Chang screamed as his serpent's mouths are all started glowing. "YOU CAN'T WIN! YOU WILL NOT WIN! THE OMEGA CODE WILL BE MINE!" He shouted as red beams fired from the serpents mouths toward Braniac.... who only glared.

"You had your chance to leave." She said as three orbs appeared again.... but this time they fired off three beams that fused together and clashed with the red ones.

“Woah…” Was already Red X could say as she watched the battle before her, but it was them that she noticed that the lake of Xenothium they were hovering over seemed to be getting smaller…

And that's when it hit her: ‘She's forcing him to use up his own power supply!’

As the two beams clashed against each other, Brainiac continuously poured more power into hers, forcing Dr. Chang to do the same just to hold her off.

“Hey Chang!” Brainiac called out. “What happens when the Unstoppable Force meets the Immovable Object?”

Dr. Chang could only blink in confusion as he attempted to overpower her, however at that moment he noticed that for some reason his beam seemed to be getting smaller despite him putting more power into it.

And by the time he realized exactly what was going on, it was too late. The lake of Xenothium had been completely drained and his beam completely dissipated.

Brainiac smirked. “They surrender.” And with that she fired her beam at full force, completely obliterating both Chang and his serpent.

".... whoa." Red X said as she turned to look at Braniac. "That um.... what exactly... ARE you?" She asked her.

Brainiacs smirked as she landed and looked her right in the eyes. “Like I said, in the real world, I'm an Android. But in this realm, I'm a God.” Her eyes flickered back to normal for a brief moment, before she turned around and aimed her hands at the tower. The structure slowly begin to rebuild itself as the cracks begin to reseed, the remains of the virus itself being repelled by Brainiac's own system. "Now I suggest that you leave, considering you don't have a reason to be here anymore…”

"Yeah.... I might try and take that Lazarus Pit sample." Red X said as she turned away, but before she could leave Brainiac moved in front of her.

"Before you consider that.... I want to ask you..... whoever you lost, do you really WANT to bring them back? And if you do.... would THEY want to?"

Red X glared. "Why do you care?"

"Because I've seen what becomes of those who take a dip in that pit, if it's an impure sample, let's just say it's not pretty." She replied.

"......"

Red X went silent for a moment before simply hitting the button on her belt and teleporting away.

Brainiac sighed as she vanished and woke up back in the real world.

"Oh that was.... that was a journey. AJ? AJ is Rarity okay?"

“She's stopped screaming and her breathin’s back to normal…” AJ replied, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. “Everything ok on yer end?”

"Yeah...... yeah I'm fine." Brainiac said as hot up and stretched. "Hey, you ever hear of someone called Red X?"

AJ arched a brow and chuckled. “Now there’s a name Ah haven't heard in years…”

In an unknown location, three spotlights shined down upon Jinx, Kyd Dusk, and Gizmo, all of whom were kneeling before a woman in the shadows.

"Adagio, Sonata, and Aria… would any of you care to explain to me how three of her most promising students failed to steal one single gemstone? You all know that such failures are not tolerated within the H.I.V.E….”

The trio wincing at her disappointed tone.

“I believe some strict discipline is in order…” She stated as her eyes started glowing menacingly...

Author's Note

And that's the newest chapter everybody! I hope you all enjoyed it! And if any of you have any questions don't hesitate to leave them in the comment section!