An Empty House

[Deleted]

Belle took a seat for herself and placed the book into her lap, letting it rest there. If she was asked to read, she'd have it right there. And besides, she needed to sit anyway. The brunette shook her head to the small blue pony.

"We'll go after them, I'm sure, but we should take the time to plan first, right?" Her brown orbs rested on the other adults around her, certian she'd get a positive response.

~*~

Ever watching, small shape of the camera Decepticon remained close. Starscream had not yet left Broadcast to his own body; he wanted to know what they were planning to do - so he could step in and "suggest" better stratagies. He followed like a shadow as most everyone seemed to gather. As he listened to to them speak as what was to be done, the boom mic tail of the little robot lashed. Starscream wasn't satisfied.

"Tossing our soilders back-and-forth will help nothing!" Hissed the shrill voice eminating from Broadcasts' speaker box, "I say we take this one step beyond just another capture; we make a lasting mark in their ranks. We must weaken them and weaken them perminently! If we kidnap soilders, then they'll only be stolen back, unless they can no longer be of use to their army - do you see what I mean?"

[Nostalgia Critic]

(OCC: Bruce. I understand the vibe of bruce going off by himself but I really want bruce to listen to Tony and stay. I enjoy this conflict but I just want bruce to wait a bit, and battle with the others)

Tony didn't resist kissing bruce, he was always a good kisser but the kiss left as quickly as it came and he sighed calmly. He was patient with Bruce and knew he was not really trying to make a conflict but his mind was just as thick as Tony's was. Tony replied "Bruce. I know. Listen to me. Just do me this one favor and don't go out there. If you do that, I'll let you go by yourself in the battle with all the heroes and I won't stop you from whatever you do"

It was a stupid promise and not to mention a dangerous one but he was desperate for Bruce to stay. Hopefully, just hopefully, bruce would accept his offer and bribe. Tony looked with some hope and desperation
XXXXX

Cinema Snob turned to Broadcast and nodded "Yes. Capturing is pretty pointless. We do need to find a way to weaken their army perminantly...." Critic then started to picture what starscream throught and replied to the broadcast robot "Keep talking. What's your idea? I mean we're open for them as of this point of time" He then turned to Marzgurl and replied "Sure. We're going to need every fighter for the captives" Snob then listened to what the others said and nodded "Yeah. Can't argue with those ideas at all"
XXXXX

Critic nodded to Chick, really glad that he had the permission to go and talk to the boy thanks to her and snob's introduction to dealing with battle plans. Critic went over to Ma-Ti and put a arm around the boy comfortingly. Critic was very close to ma-ti ever since he came back and the last thing he wanted to see was the boy unhappy. Plus, IHeart was also close to him and seeing her gone was just as bad for him. Critic replied assuringly to Ma-Ti "This isn't your fault. You can't blame yourself and you can't go out there where I can't protect you. I won't lose two of my close friends in the same week"
XXXXXX

Spoony turned to broadcast and replied "Yeah, what snob said, what do you mean by weaken perminantly?" Spoony despite himself was more suspicious than snob was. He knew these types of things in his game reviews and knew that sometimes what you asked for was more complex than thought out. Spoony turned to Linkara and whispered "You know vyce's stradegies right? What would he do with the captives?"
XXXXX

Lilo turned with tears pouring in her eyes to Rainbow. Lilo tried to understand that Rainbow was scared too but in her own way but the way she just ignored the fact they all were desperate was fresh on her mind. She hugged Elisa as well as Edith who was also trying to cheer her up. She was grateful for them trying to help but her sister was gone. Nani took care of her and was the only family she had in this blasted new world and now she was alone... Or at least she felt like it now. She tried to speak to Rainbow to say she forgave her but it made her just go back into Elisa's shirt and sob. Then mrs. potts came with ice cream and as if it changed, Lilo calmed down enough to wipe her tears and sit on the table calmly but her eyes were bloodshot at that point
XXXXX

Kiara nearly cried herself, if she lost her dad or better yet her mom or grandmother, she'd be crying like Lilo was too. Kiara turned to Kovu, who was now sitting next to her and she smiled again sadly. Kiara whispered to Kovu "I feel horrible. That poor girl lilo. I wish I could help" Kiara then turned to rainbow who was trying to say she was sorry and frowned pitfully. Kiara turned to Mrs. Potts and grinned greetingly to her, glad that some other people were here to cheer her up
XXXX

Darla hugged Rolly and Cadpig tightly. Knowing these two were all she had and just kept hugging them protectively and lovingly. She hoped that things would turn out fine in the end. Darla then saw mrs. potts and also kindly smiled to her
XXXX

"Belle and Elisa are most correct Rainbow. We do not want to lose you along with the rest" Morpheus replied, looking to the said two women with a nod then smiled to Mrs. Potts glad the ice cream was finally here to cheer the kids up. Morpheus then heard what rainbow said and replied to the pony "You are afraid but that is understandable. There is no shame to be afraid. I am afraid myself. I worry for them too rainbow but the way you handle it matters"

[Deleted]

"Alright...alright i won't go babe" Bruce said his hands wrap lightly around Tony's waist now just holding him close. "you don't have to worry about loseing me i promise" he kisses the others cheek.

[Nostalgia Chick]

Elisa smiled as Lilo cheered up a bit at the ice cream. She turned to Mrs. Potts who left and returned with some steaks having heated them up in the microwave for the lion cubs and anyone else who wanted something to eat. Elisa was a bit shocked recognizing Kovu although Mrs. Potts, Belle, and Morpheus had no idea who he was. He was just an innocent child now someone who hadn't been taught to be a killer by Zira yet. Scar was on the other side she remembered and she remembered seeing Zira at one of the fights too. They wouldn't be happy to see Kovu on this side. They might have to help protect him from them.

XXXX

Mrs. Potts smiled glad the children were calming down. She set the steaks and ice cream out along with some tea and soda for anyone who wanted it. She took a cup of tea and some ice cream as she ate silently. Seeing the children made her miss Chip even more. But at least he was safe back at home instead of being in this war. She smiled as Belle got ready to read a story.

XXXX

Dr. Tease watched interested seeing Tony and Bruce kiss. Looks like he'd moved on with someone else besides Pepper after all. Good for him. She was glad he found someone else. At least Bruce had someone who could help keep him calm. They didn't need the Hulk all the time. She heard Broadcast curious.

"Well permanently weakening you mean.... killing them? Well that unfortunately hasn't stopped them. Terl, Mechakara, Scar, Dr. Smith, gee most of them already died in their films or one of us killed them. And they still keep managing to come back. Kind of annoying." said Dr. Tease.

----------

Tender Heart frowned at that. He hated the idea of killing anyone even though it was a war and probably couldn't be helped. He just hoped he didn't have to do that.

XXXX

Roses sighed nodding her head.

"I killed one of them by accident. Holli. But Dr. Tease is right. They're going to keep coming back. Mechakara, Dark Heart, and Seven are robots. They'll just rebuild themselves. And they others well as long as they've got Facilier they can just keep reviving the dead." said Roses.

XXXX

Linksano listened to the information.

"We need to take out Facilier then. With him gone they can't revive anyone. Then we can start taking the rest of them out." said Linksano.

XXXX

"But Facilier's died himself and come back. As long as he's got those Friends of his this war could keep going for awhile." said Stone pointing out Facilier's powerful allies.

XXXX

Nella sighed.

"What's your idea Broadcast? Maybe it'll work." said Nella.

Just killing them wouldn't work as many of them would be revived or rebuild themselves eventually she was sure.

XXXX

Chick listened to the others as she watched Critic go off to talk with Ma-Ti. She hoped he could get through to Ma-Ti.

"Hey. Broadcast. What's your idea?" asked Chick.

XXXX

Rogue and Marzgurl remained silent deciding to listen to Broadcast's idea before saying anything. Rogue personally didn't like killing her enemies unless she had to. She'd been trained by Professor Xavier after all. But if it was a threat like Apoclaypse with no chance of keeping him locked up she was okay with that.

XXXXX

Ma-Ti sighed looking at Critic.

"They took Goggles because of me. Now I wasn't here to protect her. If course it's my fault. I should have talked her into coming. I shouldn't have left her here. None of them should have stayed behind." said Ma-Ti.

[Linkara]

Linkara briefly snapped out of his BSOD to turn around and face Ma-Ti. "Don't you dare blame yourself. This is Lord Vyce, he-" and he lowered his voice down so no one could hear him "-cpnqeurs universes to get what he wanted, he would have captured you as well. And that would mean both you and IHeart would be at the mercy of the other villains. You couldn't have done anything."

...

Harvey sighed "I'll volunteer to go do whatever happens."

"Yeah me too." added Paw and Jesu Otaku nodded.

[Deleted]

Unlike most of the others, Starscream didn't have a problem with killing his enemies. Hell, he'd create a throne for himself using thier bodies. But the evil robot was informed that having a body-throne probably wouldn't be feesable. Pity. Now he would look silly wearing the cape and crown he prepared for such an occasion. But he did have a vauge counter plan in mind.

"If killing them is out of the question," The Decepticon's voice sounded just a bit too dissapointed, "Then I think we can get them close."

Broadcast turned and table and jumped up on it.

"Have you consitered putting your enemies into stasis? Hypercold tempatures should work prefectly well on most organics and robots. My null-ray can put my rivals out of commission for a while, but no more than an hour at best. Acomplish this and you could keep them with you and perhaps discover a way to duplicate or steal their abilities - it will probably be easier to do this with the robots. Putting them into a coma will cut them off from thier army and prevent any 'return from the dead', because they're not really dead."

The camera bot paused for a moment or two as he master thought. Broadcast couldn't smile, but the malicious grin was heard in the timbre of Starscream's voice.

"I would be honored to develop some method of absorbing the energy of our prey, if you'd like. Hmhm."

Of course, he ment absorbing that energy to strengthen himself, but no one had to know.

[Deleted]

Rainbow would normally just scoff or roll her eyes at Morpheus's advice but the blue Pegasus did something she still had to get used too....... Apologizing . " I know, back where I'm from I am not one to really handle fear as well as others. I am sorry, you are all right" RD said.

"We understand that, and Dash I know you're scared but we are all going to think of a plan together."Rolly said just as the steak came in and his mouth begins to water.

Edith immediately cheered up as the ice cream came in.

And Kovu sat right next to Kiara and smiled as the steak came.

[Deleted]

“I’m all right,” Maleficent insisted when Jasmine came to her side. Even weakened as she was, her pride wouldn’t allow her to accept the princess’s assistance without an argument.

Her ally’s words seemed to ring true. Either the attackers hadn’t known she was in the house or they had thought that since she was so badly injured in her fight with Dr. Insano, Black Lantern Spoony, and the Fabrication Machine, she wasn’t worth capturing. For some reason, Maleficent found herself hoping that it had been the former.

Golden eyes gleamed at the mention of a recording and flickered to a certain green orb-topped staff propped against the bedside table. Maleficent hadn’t attempted to use magic since the attack, unsure whether or not it would inhibit her recovery, but she simply had to know what had happened to Grimhilde and there was no way she was going to let one of the heroes carry her downstairs as if she were a common damsel in distress.

Very slowly, she sat up and reached for her staff, red lips pressed together in a painful grimace.

[Ma-Ti]

Ma-Ti paused turning to Linkara and sighed.

"We shouldn't have left them alone. We were still updating the security. They should have come with us. They could have watched us if they didn't want to train. It is my fault. I let her stay. I should have talked her into coming. Now they've got her. They've got them all." said Ma-Ti.

He paused as he registered Linkara's words about Vyce.

"I've fought a lot of villains before definitely more powerful than me. I've been captured, and nearly killed several times as a Planeteer. No way would I have let Vyce take her. But if they had at least we'd be together." said Ma-Ti sadly.

He paused as they mentioned freezing their enemies. The idea might actually work. But he had to persuade them not to do it for now. If they hurt one of Facilier's allies or Facilier himself he knew what could happen to him or Iheart and the others.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean we haven't been that lucky in stopping them before. Most of the time they just escaped after we beat them.

XXXX

Dr. Tease paused listening to Broadcast curiously. She glanced at Donatello, Linksano, and Tony curious about their reactions.

"Freezing someone? We haven't tried that before. But we'd have no place to store them all if we captured them? We can't really keep them in here. If they got lose we'd have more problems." said Dr. Tease

XXXX

Dr. Linksano nodded intrigued by the idea. He heard Dr. Tease and nodded.

"She's right. We need to contain them and then store them in a warehouse or storage unit. Someplace Ask That Guy and the others won't be looking for." said Linksano.

He paused shaking his head.

"Although it would take time to build something like that. Ma-Ti's right. We'd have to knock them out or something for it to work." said Linksano.

XXXX

Rogue was shocked at the news.

"Freezing them? But the doc's right. Even my enemies we've rarely knocked them out. They usually escaped. We've got to get a lot of fire power to knock someone out to store in there." said Rogue.

XXXX

Tender Heart nodded liking the plan. Freezing them sounded a lot better than killing them. And if they just kept coming back anyway this would be a more permanent solution. Although the others had a point. So far they'd only hurt their enemies not really knocked them out.

XXXX

Stone turned to Ma-Ti.

"We need to try. If this works we could end this war and focus on getting everyone back home." said Stone.

XXXX

Nella sighed thinking of home.

"I haven't been home in weeks. I miss New York. We've got to find a way to stop them. And save those ones they've tricked like Pinocchio." said Nella.

XXXX

Roses nodded.

"But we need to do this carefully. Once we do it once they're going to start planning a way to stop it. And they'd probably come after us to get their captured members back. Even if we stored them somewhere else they'd still attack us to get them back." said Roses.

XXXX

Marzgurl nodded as well.

"Roses is right. We need to have some strong defenses and weapons to stop them for they will retaliate. But first, we should rescue the captives before we try this." said Marzgurl.

XXXX

Mrs. Potts and Elisa both smiled as the children started getting along better as they began eating. Elisa glanced at Morpheus and Belle and smiled. Maybe things could be alright for them. Even just for a little while.

XXXX

Jasmine smiled glad she was okay. Well okay as she could be while sick. When Maleficent began getting up again at the mention of a videotape she sighed knowing she couldn't stop her.

"Maybe you should turn into your will of the wisp form to go up there? Or would that be too much of a strain to use magic right now?" asked Jasmine.

XXXX

Diablo was also worried about her. He didn't want her to overdo it. Seeing her sick and hurt like this unnerved him. She'd always come out on top. He had been turned to stone before her death and although he'd heard about he hadn't actually seen it. So this was the first time he was seeing her so vulnerable.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You can look at the footage later." thought Diablo.

[harv]

Harvey sighed and wiped his eyes "I've actually been thinking, we should really try and capture some of the other side, they keep coming back and kidnapping us, why not do it to them and see how they like it?" Harvey usually wasn't this dark, but after seeing what had happened to Lottie, he was desperate for vengance.

...

Linkara looked Ma-Ti dead in the eyes "Let me tell you something. What would have getting captured accomplish in the long run? True , you'd be with IHeart, but it not only means that Malachite would have his hands on you, it also means that you'd be one of the most interrogated. And how would she feel if you were in there getting tortured? Chester, Ace and the Queen are tough, they can help her out."

[Nostalgia Critic]

Spoony turned to Linkara and sensed a bitterness in his friend's eyes. This was the thing that broke him. After so many times of faliure, Linkara blamed himself and now this was the straw that broke the camel's back. However it was shown because of how stern his tone was. Spoony put a hand on his friend's shoulder to imply linkara needed to tone his voice down a bit before he said anything worse and turned to Ma-Ti "Linkara's right Ma-Ti. Don't blame yourself. In fact you're right too, we should've kept them with us but now isn't the time to harshly hurt yourself. It won't do any good"
XXXX

Donny turned to Dr. Tease and then replied "I once invented a freeze gun and I can try that again so we can do Starscream's idea of draining their energy. We can't keep them here because we don't have room but we can leave them for our enemies to deal with. I mean once we drain them they'd need a lot of rest and be out of commission. So let Ask Thatguy heal his soilders and see what happens. I think this is a good idea, but we need to take it slowly" Donatello also wasn't one to suggest severely injuring people but in battle he did have ways of being cruel-minded without needing to be and without worrying his master of him showing darkness. Donny wasn't even being that cruel, just a bit agreeable to the suspicious plan.

Splinter on the other hand was uncertain about the robot's true intentions. Splinter went over to broadcast and replied "If you could drain our enemies' energy, how would this benefit us besides hurting our enemies? We would need more reasons than just simple attack on the other side" Sure it was a bit foolish to dare question something that would damage the enemy but this was a test to see what starscream was really thinking about.
XXXX

Critic patted the boy's back and replied "Ma-Ti. I won't lose you too ok? Don't dare even suggest that you should've stayed and get hurt" He sighed and replied "If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I should've ordered them to come with us but the idea was to guard the house. I should've seen it coming after so many captures. I'm sorry" He wasn't always this apololegetic but ever since chick's capture it humbled him a lot and he's grown more and more humble as it progressed.
XXXXX

"The rat and the girls have a point" Tony replied walking over to roses, splinter and marzgurl. He replied "We do need to be careful, don't get us wrong you got a good idea, but we need to get weapons and things to make sure your idea actually succeeds. You have any way of making it weaponized or easier?" Tony dared to question the robot too like splinter
XXXX

"I think we should try it regardless" Sherlock said and turned to Stone in agreement. He replied "Those ruffians have taken our allies and we cannot just let them get away with it"
XXXX

"We won't" Snob replied patiently. Snob then turned to Harvey who commented about capturing people just to spite the enemy. Snob, seeing he was close enough to the singer to talk to him, went over and gently patted his shoulder. Snob replied "Don't stir the pot Harvey. If we do that it'll make them want to hurt us even more. Besides, if we did, where'd we keep them?"
XXXXX

Morpheus grinned back to Elisa and nodded to Belle. He replied to belle first "Quite. We need plans more than action. It's rash to go on and attack first" He then saw the children eating a bit more and things looked much calmer. Kiara sat next to Kovu happily, Darla ate quietly with Rolly and Lilo sat next to Rainbow and Edith, Lilo sat next to the pony to silently say that she had forgiven her.

[Deleted]

Belle gave a quick nod to the other few adults around. She was rather grateful at the appearance of the food; that would calm most of them down. The last thing that was needed at the time was a bunch of panicing children. Once they had their wits about them, they probably wouldn't want to go and get revenge on the bad guys; that would likely only end badly. Belle couldn't help but to think that this cricle of revenge on the opposite team would get them no where. Then again, hearing what was possabily in the making from the riasing and falling voices nearby didn't make her happy either.

With a dismisive sigh, she looked down at the hardcover book she had lying in her lap:

"The Tragety of Hamlet"

Belle pursed her lips. That wasn't going to be helpful.

~*~

The tiny Decepticon puppet looked pretty proud of himself. It was almost like he was the leader. Oh the attention - how he reveled in it. Haha! He can captivate an army! Stuck it, Megatron!

Broadcast's head tilted down when he realized he wasn't being unanimously supported. The plan wasn't complete yet in his mind, but he musn't show his uncertianty in the face of his peers; to Starscream's experience, any sign of weakness would have him ripped to shreads. At that, he realized that his ill-intentions were starting to seap through.

"Not all at once!" He snapped, still in the midst of his fantasy as Lord Starscream, "My plan is only hypothetical. I'm sure some of you certianly have the resources to strike down our enemies. I know that I will be working on modifying my own weapon for just this purpose."

The one red eye of the little robot turned toward his strongest opposition, namely the rodent and the human.

"Are you accusing me of something?" Starscream rebuted, "I only think that we could win if we take our enemies energy and use it against them. If we could find a way to drian them, so to speak, they would no longer threaten the planet. I would like to get this trifle over with a soon as possable - this cycle of taking our men back and getting them stolen bores me.
"Incedentally, I'm thinking of setting up a headquarters of my own somewhere. I will take any prisoners off your hands."

[harv]

Harvey looked slightly annoyed at Snob, then sighed "Well, it makes sense from a war perspective as well. We can't keep letting them walk in and keep capturing us again and again."

....

Linkara shrugged. He then turned back and listened to the other conversations with a slight boredom. Paw and Jesu Otaku, despite not nessacairly liking the plan, at least thought it was worth a try..

[Deleted]

Kovu smiles as Kiara sat down beside him. She was one of the few reasons he had risked his parents being mad. Kiara was there

.................

Rainbow smiles and does something so unlike her. She rubs her cheek against Lilo's cheek thanking her. "Thanks Ki..............Lilo" Rainbow said happily

......................

Cadpig sat by herself as Rolly and Darla began to eat.

................

Edith smiles at her best friend happily.

[Nostalgia Chick]

Ma-Ti sighed knowing they were right.

"I guess I can't blame myself. We were all equally to blame. We left them here with inferior security, few weapons, and no backup. More of us should have stayed. Or we should have taken them with them." said Ma-Ti.

He paused glancing at Linkara remembering he'd been blaming himself earlier but Ma-Ti had been focused on his own guilt to really pay attention before.

"You shouldn't blame yourself either Linkara. Vyce may be your enemy but you stopped him. You put him in another universe without technology where he couldn't harm anyone. And you stole his ship. You've got your own starship and an entire army to back you up this time. No way Vyce can stop us all." said Ma-Ti.

Linkara had tried to help him and now he wanted to return the favor. If he was feeling bad Linkara must feel worse with Vyce being one of his enemies. He knew how he'd feel if that had been Malachite, or one of the eco villains. So far he hadn't seen any from his world yet.

Ma-Ti turned to Critic and smiled.

"But I should have been there. She got hurt, and now she's captured. It's not fair. Why do they keep hurting her?" said Ma-Ti, trying to hold back his tears.

He paused hearing Critic and shook his head.

"I could never blame you. Like I said we're all to blame. We all left them here. Even Mrs. Potts and Morpheus came with us and they weren't even training. We should have brought the others too." said Ma-Ti.

XXXX

"Hmm. So drain their energy and send them back? Well that's only a temporary solution. Plus they have sorcerers and scientists on their side. Anyone we drained would be back to normal pretty quickly. The few we've injured before tend to show up in battles like a few days later anyway. We never seem to hurt any of them for very long." said Dr. Tease.

XXXX

Linksano nodded. He heard Splinter and agreerd with him.

"It sounds like a good idea in theory. But Splinter's right. What would we do with the extra energy? We've got enough power here already to power our machines and inventions." said Linksano.

XXXX

Marzgurl nodded glad some people were agreeing with them.

"We can start making these but I still think we should try rescuing the others first. Maybe we can use these to freeze them in case there's too many for us to handle. Our main goals should be making this house more safe, and rescuing the others. Draining their energy can wait." said Marzgurl.

XXXX

"She's right. What's the point in hurting them if they still have our friends they could hurt? They stole Chick's voice, beat up Morpheus, and tried to make us believe they were all dead. If we start this they could hurt them or worse start killing them. They have eight hostages now instead of three. If we don't hurry we may not be able to save them all." said Roses.

She knew she was being morbid and she didn't want to make anyone feel more upset. But their friends were in the clutches of villains. And last time they kept them alive only for them to get rescued. Would they really keep them all alive this time? Without magic or weapons they're all defenseless. Even Ace and Queen Grimhilde were. They should be focusing on a plan to rescue them not worrying about how to injure their enemies.

XXXX

Stone nodded pausing as he heard Marzgurl and Roses.

"Maybe we should make it just in case. But Marzgurl and Roses are right. It's too dangerous to do this now. They've got our friends. We know they've hurt Morpheus before. They've hurt all of us before in battle. What's to stop them from hurting one of them right now?" said Stone.

XXXXX

Elisa smiled glad everything was working out. Mrs. Potts went back into the kitchen to fetch more snacks and drinks getting chips and things so the kids would have things to entertain themselves. She returned setting them on the table for everyone to enjoy. She glanced at the book seeing the title of the book and paused turning to her.

"Why don't you tell them a fairy tale? Something to keep their mind off things. Maybe yours." whispered Elisa.