The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a pair of bright red ones glaring right back into his. Which was quite a frightening sight even for a hardened criminal such as himself so even if he wasn't easily spooked, he flinched by instinct. However, he found that he was unable to move. He looked down to see that he was tied to a chair and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free. He tried to use his magic but once again, to no avail.

"So you have awakened." A voice spoke in disappointment. "A pity. This will make what I am about to do a lot more difficult." The unicorn crook just kept struggling both physically and magically, but it was of no use. "Please do not resist." The voice continued. "It is pointless and it will only make what I am about to do hurt more."

"What the hay have you done to me?!" The unicorn demanded. "Why isn't my magic working?!"

"I have entered your mind and telepathically blocked the channel you unicorns use to access your magic." The voice replied stoically, though he couldn't help but feel a slight gloating in his tone. "You will not be able to access it again until I allow you to. Which I will assure you, will not be in the foreseeable future."

"What do you want from me, you bastard?!" The crook asked angrily, but he couldn't hide that there was panic rising in his voice now.

"Fret not, you dishonorable fiend." The voice taunted. "What I want requires no effort from you." The red eyed figure finally stepped into the light to reveal Jean Jeans, the Lunar Hunter in his alien form. The unicorn's eyes widened at the sight.

"Hey! You're that alien who saved those ponies from the bank fire." He said in realisation. "The one who works for Princess Luna."

"My occupation or point of origin is of no importance right now." Jean replied curtly. "What is, is what you have seen transpire in this room." He then placed his hooves on the thug's shoulders and looked sharply into his eyes. The thug was beginning to lose all of his composure.

"Uh... Hey, man! If you want to know, all you have to do is ask." He chuckled nervously. Jean's face remained stoic.

"No offense, but I am fairly certain you would not tell the truth." He told him before placing his hooves on the side of his head. "Now stay calm. This will be over before you know it."

With that, Jean broke through the thug's mental walls with little difficulty. These feeble minded criminals offered very little resistance. He found himself in the same room where the Phantom set up his laboratory. It was still intact and he saw the other two criminals still alive and writhe around on the ground from the mental torment Jean sentenced them to. The doors suddenly slammed open and the unicorn, whose mind he was in, ran over to his companions.

"What the hay are you doing?!" He demanded frantically. "We're in deep manure now! The guy we picked on is a super! I distracted him for a while but we have to get out of here! Now!" His words fell on deaf ears. The other two just kept screaming and writhing on the ground.

"Seriously, whatever you two are on, get off of it and get moving!" He was about to get down and smack them back to their senses when he heard heavy hoofsteps heading his way. He turned in fright, expecting Jean to have caught up with him, but instead, he saw an equine shaped black mass with glowing red eyes standing at the door.

"Oh, what else can show up here tonight?!" The thug cried out, backing away in the corner and lighting up his horn. "Stay away! I'm warning you!" The figure paid him no mind and kept slowly floating towards him. The thug didn't warn it again and just released a blast from his horn at it. But to his surprise, the bolt of magical energy merely passed through the figure. A sinister grin grew across the black mass where it's muzzle was supposed to be.

"My turn." It growled in a distorted voice. Jean shuddered in the background as this was the first time he heard the voice of the Phantom, though somehow he knew this wasn't it's natural voice.

The Phantom's red eyes glowed up and he released two heat beams from them, blasting the unicorn into the wall. Jean cursed under his breath. This whole vision was based on the memory of this slime ball. If he passed out following this strike, he would not see anything more.

Fortunately, the brute had enough strength to remain conscious - even if only barely. He looked up and through his eyes, Jean could see the Phantom using his heat beams to destroy the room. The blackboards and the vials of chemicals all went up in flames and the two writhing criminals on the floor burned to a crisp. It was a horrible sight. Rotten as they may have been, Jean would never wish that fate upon anypony.

Before he passed out, the thug could still see the Phantom pick something up from the floor. With his super sight, Jean could make out the figure leaning down and picking something up. Upon a closer look, he could see that it was none other than his set of vials of antibiotics.

He expected the Phantom to crush them in an attempt to keep him from slowing down the spreading of the virus. Instead, he pulled out one vial and poured its content onto the floor. He then put the rest away before making his exit from the destroyed room.

This was the point where the unicorn finally passed out, but Jean already learned all he needed to know. It was more than obvious that the Phantom once again tried to lure him into a trap. He will be able to track the trial of leaked antibiotics with his super senses and the Phantom no doubt knew this. But now he knew he was being lured into a trap and he would be prepared.

With the information he sought now in his possession, he exited the unicorn thug's mind. The criminal looked rather shaken by the ordeal, no doubt having to experience the traumatic events that transpired here took its toll on him. But somehow Jean couldn't bring himself to pity him.

"Was..." He struggled to speak after the exhausting mental procedure. "Was there a point to making me see that again?!" He demanded. Jean merely scoffed.

"Was there a point to all the suffering you caused other ponies in your life?" He didn't get an answer to that. "But to answer your question, yes there was. Now I know exactly what I am looking for. As for you, I believe you have earned yourself a nap before the police gets here for you. Farewell."

Before the confused thug could ask what he meant by that, Jean used a psychic push to shove him into unconsciousness before leaving the room himself, wanting to put as much distance between himself and this accursed place as possible.

The psychic interrogation of the unicorn already took a lot out of Jean and he didn't know how much time he had left until the virus spread all the way through his body. He had to use his powers very sparingly from now on. It was a good thing his shapeshifting ability didn't require too much energy so he could put on his detective appearance and avoid detection from the locals.

As he left the steel mill, following the chemical trail of antibiotics left behind by the Phantom, he started thinking about how he should evade the trap set by it. Preferably in a way that would turn it against the one who set it up. Since he didn't know what kind of trap he should expect, he had to remain vigilant. It could be anything. Even a seemingly empty thrash can around a corner could contain a deadly ambush.

But as he's been strolling down the streets for almost ten minutes while following the chemical trail, he hadn't come across anything even remotely dangerous. The trail lead him inside an empty alleyway and to Jean's surprise, it ended at a brick wall. Jean was confused at first, but then he remembered his theory about the Phantom also being a lunar and thus possessing the same abilities as him.

Suddenly, it all became clear to him. There was no trap set up by the Phantom that the trail of antibiotics would lead him to. The trap was the trail itself. He could easily walk though the wall to follow it, but that would require him using his powers to make his body intangible, spreading the virus further. He would have to find another way inside this building without his powers and soon. He's already wasted enough time.

Jean turned around and was about to walk away from the wall when he heard something from the other side. It was somepony screaming for help. He looked through the wall and was horrified when he saw a pony inside, cowering next to the wall as several other equine shaped figures were closing in on them. When one of them wrapped their hooves around the neck of the pony on the floor, Jean knew he won’t be able to afford that detour. And he won’t be able to use his powers sparingly either.

He stepped through the wall and a peculiar sight met his eyes. Three pony shaped androids were cornering a white earth pony mare with a black mane wearing a lab coat with the one in the center holding her up against a wall by her neck. Another commotion no doubt caused by the Phantom to force his hoof into action and speed up the infection. He knew him very well. He would never abandon ponies in need even if it meant his own demise.

The androids didn’t notice him and that gave him the advantage he needed. He dashed over to the one on the right before grabbing it and throwing it into the one on the left, smashing them both into the wall and rendering them inoperational. The third one turned its head towards Jean, but it didn’t get a good look at the lunar hero as he crushed its metallic head between his hooves. The headless android collapsed onto the ground and the pony it held slid down onto the floor, rubbing her throat as she coughed.

“Are you alright?” Jean asked as he knelt down next to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. She was alarmed at his appearance at first, but that wore off when she recognised him from the news.

“Uh… Yeah. Yeah, I am.” She answered, allowing Jean to pull her up onto her hooves. “But there are others in there! Our experimental androids are going crazy!” Jean needed no further motivation.

“Get to safety! I will get everypony out.” He didn’t wait for an answer and floated down the hallway as quickly as he could. He didn’t need super hearing to notice the sounds of screaming and mechanical buzzing that confirmed the mare’s earlier statement. The androids of this facility have gone haywire and Jean could only hope they haven’t killed anypony yet.

As he headed deeper inside the facility, he came across another worker being assaulted by two androids. He wasted no time in flying to his rescue and punched one of the androids’ heads straight off. He turned to the other one and tried to do the same, but to his surprise, the machine managed to block his hoof strike by holding up its own.

Jean was so stunned by this that it gave the android an opening to raise its other hoof and punch Jean straight across the muzzle, sending him flying until he crashed into the wall, cracking it beyond recognition in the process. The feeling of pain was unusual. He hadn’t met a creature who was capable of physically harming him, but he had no time to dwell on that.

The pony on the ground looked up to see what was happening. Jean motioned for him to get out and in doing so, left himself vulnerable for another attack. He didn’t even have time to check if the pony made it to safety as the out of control machine began to pummel
him in the face.

Jean took hit after hit and became so disoriented that he had trouble blocking the incoming strikes. When he did manage to block one of them, he could barely hold it in place for long enough to use his heat vision to blast the android in the head. It must have been made of tough material as it barely even stumbled form the heat rays hitting it in the eyes.

But Jean could see that the metal was becoming overheated. It won’t be long until the beams finally broke through it. Eventually, the metal gave way and the beams reached into the inside of the android’s head, frying its processor until it completely melted. The machine finally stopped pushing against Jean’s hooves and collapsed onto the floor.

Jean got back on his hooves and turned around to keep searching for ponies to save, only to see another android staring at him. Jean didn’t want to make the same mistake of underestimating its strength so he just unleashed another blast of heat rays at it, only to recoil in surprise when the android did the same thing.

This cost him dearly as the android didn’t cease its attack and its heat beams hit Jean in the chest, blasting him into the wall. The heating effect of the rays took their toll on Jean, he felt his powers slowly fading away as if he was standing close to a fire. Good thing the android didn’t notice it and simply began to advance towards the lunar hero.

As Jean’s powers returned, he knew that his heat vision would be useless now so he tried a different approach. When he saw the android’s eyes heating up again, he phased through the floor and disappeared beneath it. The next thing the machine noticed was Jean’s hooves as they came out of the floor, grabbed its head and bashed it into the floor multiple times, shattering it to pieces.

Learning from the previous surprise attack on him, this time Jean peeked out of the floor to make sure the coast was clear before reemerging. ‘This has gone far enough.’ He thought. ‘It’s time to end this.’ He used his x-ray vision to search through the building and located all the ponies who needed help.

In the center of the building, he saw a large circular room full of machines that could have only been the main laboratory. Every single remaining staff member had barricaded themselves there and the entrances were surrounded by the androids who were trying to get in. His instincts told him to take out the androids at first and allow the ponies trapped in there to escape, but he didn’t want to risk another unpleasant surprise from them. He knew nothing about these things and he wanted to be prepared before taking on them again.

He phased back under the floor and made his way to the main laboratory beneath the building. Emerging from the floor once more, he was greeted by several outright frightened researchers who obviously mistook him for one of the mechanical menaces that trapped them here. But upon noticing his fleshy appearance and recognising him, they let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank hoofness!” A dark brown unicorn scientist with a black mane and a goatee exclaimed as he stepped forward. “One of the heroes! You couldn’t have possibly come at a better time! You have to get us out of here! The situation here is critical!”

“Your grasp of the obvious is inspiring, my friend.” Jean snarked, making the unicorn blush in embarrassment. “What is happening here? What are those things and why are they attacking you?” The unicorn looked uncertain if he should answer or not, but before he made up his mind, another researcher did it for him.

“We have been instructed by Princess Luna to make an android capable of copying and utilizing the powers of the superheroes against them should they ever become a liability for the safety of Equestria.” The researcher explained. This caught Jean by surprise. He had trouble believing that Luna would be capable of something like this, but as he searched the thoughts of the researcher, he found that everything she said was true. It appeared that his friend had secrets even from him, but he would have to deal with that later. “We have no idea how they went out of control. It happened without any warning signs!” Jean had a pretty good guess, but he decided to keep it to himself.

“What’s the safest way out of this facility?” He asked.

“We have an opening built into the roof of this room where the pegasi bring in supplies through, but it refuses to open up. The androids must have done something to it.” Jean looked up at the ceiling and indeed saw a mechanism that worked the way the researcher explained. He couldn’t tell if the reason for its malfunction was caused by the hostile machines or not, but at the moment, that wasn’t important.

He flew up and forced the ceiling door open with his super strength before motioning for the pegasi on the ground to fly up. They grabbed as many non-flying ponies as they could and carried them out while Jean flew down to grab the head scientist and carry him to safety, but he was rather hesitant to accept his help.

“Professor, we must not delay. The machines could break through anytime. We must leave at once.” He urged him.

“And while you’re at it, activate the self-destruct mechanism of the lab!” A researcher called back from mid-air. “Everypony has been evacuated! The machines have to be taken out!” But the professor firmly shook his head.

“I can’t just leave! The research we’ve been conducting here is my life’s work! I won’t abandon it!” He shouted defiantly.

“Not even at the cost of your own life?” Jean asked, only to receive an affirmative response.

“There is another way!” The professor assured him. “We have installed an override switch in case an incident like this ever occured. But so far, our efforts to use it have been futile. I believe the machines damaged the facility's power supplies. Now that my colleagues are no longer in danger, there would be little risk in you escorting me to the generator room to restore the power and shut down the androids.”

Under normal circumstances, Jean wouldn’t have agreed to this plan, but given that the powerful machines he was up against were extremely difficult to defeat and the fact that he was running a race against the clock due to his infection spreading and being out of antibiotics, he had to take every opportunity to wrap this crisis up as quickly as possible. As if on cue, his condition made itself known once more as he was overcome with another coughing fit that forced him to his knees. The professor’s eyes widened.

“Hey, are you alright?” He asked, kneeling down and putting a hoof on his back. Jean was coughing so heavily that he couldn’t even respond, but he did manage to utter one sentence.

“Anti…” He started, struggling with his coughs. “Anti… biotics… Do you have any?” The professor nodded. He ran to a drawer on the side of the room before returning with a vial to which Jean immediately consumed the contents of. His coughing did subside, though he didn’t feel much better.

“Are you feeling better?” The professor asked. Jean nodded.

“I am. Thank you, Professor…”

“Oh, Ivory!” The unicorn introduced himself, offering a hoof. “Professor Antique Ivory, at your service!”

“A pleasure, Professor Ivory.” Jean replied before shaking it. “Now, is there a way I can get you to the generator room undetected?” The professor thought for a while before his eyes widened in realization.

“There is!” He exclaimed, pointing at a grate on the wall with a rotating fan behind it. “These fans are powered directly from the generator room and the duct tunnels behind them lead straight down there! Think you could take me down there?” Before Jean could answer, he heard a huge bang on the door of the room. He turned to see the androids beginning to break through the barricades and enter the room.

This left little room for debate. Jean tore the grate down and removed the fan before picking up the professor and slowly beginning to float down the duct tunnel which was fortunately big enough for them to fit through. In a few seconds, they reached the generator room and Jean tore down another grate, allowing them to climb out. The lunar then put the grate back in its place before using his heat vision to weld it down.

“This should buy us a few minutes.” He said before turning back to the professor. “So where is the generator?”

“Right this way!” Ivory motioned for the alien to follow him. He did just that, but as they made their way down the dark room, Jean couldn’t help but feel the same ominous feeling that he always felt when the Phantom was nearby returning to him. This wouldn’t have been that surprising as Jean knew he wanted him to find him. Most likely when the infection completely overtook his body and he breathed his last so the Phantom could triumphantly grin in his face.

But as he looked around, he couldn’t see the dark mass that made up his body anywhere. Usually, he would have shown up by now to witness Jean’s next struggle. He had to be nearby and Jean had to be ready for him. He didn’t have much time left and he couldn’t let him get away again. He looked back up at the professor who led him towards a giant door in the wall before coming to a sudden halt.

“Is everything alright, Professor?” Jean asked in concern.

“It is now.” Ivory replied calmly before pressing a button next to the door. It opened up to reveal not a generator as Jean expected, but a much bigger and much more completed version of the same androids that have been running amok in the facility. It had a dark green covering on its metallic body with pointy ears in the shape of antennae and a light blue cap on the top of its head. Jean was about to question the professor but then he felt a sudden electric surge run through his body, sending him to the ground. Despite his agony, he could still make out Ivory’s next words.

“He said that you would come.” The professor gloated smugly. “With your seemingly unending list of powers and abilities, you will be the perfect test subject for my masterpiece. Once it has copied all your powers, it will be unstoppable. Not even Supermare will be able to challenge its perfection.” He walked over to a panel next to the door and pressed a few buttons on it, awakening his creation which instantly set its sight on Jean as its next target.

“Rise, hero!” Ivory yelled. “Rise and meet your end by the hooves of Amazo!”

The android known as Amazo started to slowly advance on the Lunar Hunter. Jean tried to keep a distance between himself and the machine. If it was true that it could cover all of his abilities, then he would have preferred to avoid fighting it. It would only end in a stalemate.

The professor’s words echoed in his ears. ‘He said that you would come.’ And suddenly, it all made sense. This was the Phantom’s real trap. This Amazo machine would force him to use all of powers in an attempt to overpower it before it adapted and make the infection completely overwhelm him in the process. He needed to get away!

He took off into the air and flew into the direction of the exit. However, upon seeing that, Amazo was immediately able to mimic that action and gave chase. Before Jean reached the door, Amazo tackled him and smashed him into the wall. Jean tried to overpower the machine and force it off of him, but it was of no use. Amazo was easily able to match his strength.

It reached for the lunar’s throat and began to choke him. Jean was powerless against its mechanical grasp, he had no choice but to use his heat vision to blast it off of himself. Of course, that meant Amazo now possessed that ability as well. To prove that point, the android instantly recovered and fired two heat beams at Jean from its eyes.

The lunar was prepared this time and was able to get out of the way before flying off deeper into the room to hide between the huge generators. He knew this advantage wouldn't last long so he blasted the lights out with his heat vision, leaving the room in total darkness. He was able to see perfectly well in the darkness. An advantage the machine couldn’t possibly know he had.

Unfortunately, Jean forgot that the machine’s creator was right there with them. Before he could hide in the darkness to plan his next move, the unicorn scientist cast a luminance spell that not only illuminated the entire room, but was cast directly at Jean.

“You didn’t think I’d just sit idly by and watch you outsmart my creation, did you?” He laughed. “There he is! Get him!” He yelled to Amazo, pointing at the hero. Jean narrowed his eyes. That professor was seriously starting to get under his skin. He turned back to Amazo and saw the android heating up its eyes and getting ready to unleash another pair of heat rays.

Jean was unsure if he could match them with his own so he chose a different tactic. He flew behind the professor and grabbed the stunned unicorn from behind, holding him in front of himself like an equine shield.

“Usually I avoid putting civilians in danger.” He said calmly as Ivory struggled in his grasp, his panic increasing rapidly. “But for you, I am willing to make an exception. Now, tell me, how do I shut this thing down?”

“You… you won’t get anything out of me!” Ivory replied, trying to sound confident, but Jean could sense the fear in his voice.

“Is your masterpiece capable of loyalty towards its creator?” Jean asked tauntingly. “For your sake, I hope so.” Ivory still refused to talk, hoping that the hero was bluffing. But when Amazo finally unleashed its heat rays, Jean did not pull him out of their way. The unicorn screamed in pain as the rays burned his body. He tried casting a barrier with his magic, but the rays were too strong, they burned through it with ease. The android showed no sign of stopping, nor did the lunar show any sign of mercy. And the pain was only getting worse.

“You’re crazy!” Ivory screamed in agony and fear. “You’re bucking crazy!” Jean didn’t even flinch.

“Shut. It. Down.” He snarled. “Until you can.” Ivory was finally convinced. He pulled out the override switch from the pocket of his lab coat and pressed it, causing Amazo and the other androids around the facility to shut down. The heat rays finally stopped burning his body, but the scorching pain was still there. He would no doubt need medical attention, but for Jean, that was not the priority right now.

“Thank you.” He said, turning Ivory to face him. “Now I will shut you down.” He said before headbutting the professor right between the eyes, knocking him out. “Rest assured, Princess Luna will hear about your experiments, Professor Ivory. But I doubt her appreciation will be to your liking.” He then dropped his body to the ground before turning around and looking across the room.

“I know you are here.” He spoke with disdain. “You set this whole affair up to lure me here. Well, here I am, so show yourself! Reveal yourself to me at last!” At first, nothing happened. Then suddenly, Jean began to hear hoofsteps heading his way. He narrowed his eyes in the direction where the sound came from and he saw a dark equine figure walking towards him.

The figure was unmistakably a lunar like him. The hairless body and the dark eyes gave that away. But there was one surprising difference about him. Instead of white, this lunar’s skin was dark green. He was wearing a scarf that covered his mouth and a long, waving cloak on his back. The two eyed each other for a few moments.

The dark figure glared at Jean stoically before his expression changed into a cruel grin. One that Jean recognised as the one he saw the night he was infected. He was about to speak, but he was cut off when coughing once again overtook his body, much to the figure’s amusement.

“I knew Ivory’s androids would tire you out.” He mused as he relished in the other lunar’s distress. “Your little friends’ antibiotics could slow down the infection, but every time you used your powers, it became faster.” He then knelt down next to Jean. “You have run a race against the clock, my friend and you have lost. But don’t worry, I will not let you die just yet. I have much to show you before you breathe your last. Get ready, J’inn J’inzz. We’re going home.”[

Author's Note

Welocme back I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

This story has been a struggle for me to write because while I have worked out the big details, I am struggling to come up with the small ones, so most of it is just coming to me as I go. Such was the case with the Amazo subplot. I wanted to give Jean a chalenge that would force him into using his powers in this chapter, I just wasn't sure what it should be. Hope what I came up with turned out adequate.

Next time, Jean's mysterious adversary takes him back to his forgotten homeworld where everything will be revealed to him. Perhaps a little more than he would like to discover. Join me next time in...

Issue #7: Facing the Past