Materializing from Subspace in Dimension Q, the heroes found themselves in between clashing armies of centaurian cyborgs and some oddly familiar robots. Magi, recognizing the centaurs as Warmaster Qth-raq's shock troops, immediately chose the opposite side. Disco fired up a light show and made most of the soldiers run away, but the robots were unaffected. It turned out, however, that they didn't have to fight the robots, because they were modified "Roboto" drones under the control of their old friend Kilroy from the 80sVerse.
Kilroy explained that Qthraqi troops had invaded his world and the new government was striking back to prevent further incursions. Further questioning revealed that there was, in fact, something off about the invading Q Troops compared to the ones here. It seemed that the 80sVerse was also part of the Azrak cult's plan (as previously revealed by Gamma) to start an inter-dimensional war. Magi, eager to get revenge on the man who murdered his family, argued strenuously in favor of preventing the war by taking down Warmaster Qth-raq.
They decided instead to split up. Professor Hemm was able to cook up magical disguises so that Magi, Landshark, and Kilroy could infiltrate the city. Disco and the Prof, meanwhile, would approach openly and attempt to explain the situation to Qth-raq, hoping to shut down the war before it could really get started.
While the diplomatic team worked its way through functionaries, the infiltrators explored the streets. Passing through one of several bombed-out neighborhoods, they were attacked by a woman in a tech-accented super-hero costume and two silver-armored men shouting, "Die, Qthraqi scum!" After exchanging a few blows, they quickly realized they were all on the same side. The woman introduced herself as Blue Shift, an agent of Ultra. She had teleportation/dimension shifting powers of her own and was here from Beta City, responding to Qthraqi incursions at home, and said she had troops in place and would soon be ready to take down the Warmaster's entire command structure.
The diplomats, meanwhile, eventually got their audience with the Warmaster, a heavily scarred man who apparently liked to wear armor to diplomatic functions. Qth-raq said he was only fighting defensively (like everyone else) and was eager to get the coordinates for the Capitol so he could negotiate directly with Earth Prime's leaders. Really, really eager.
What followed was a lot of phone-calling and debate. Professor Hemm even returned to Beta City for a bit. While he was there, he found out that, while there had been a super-hero named Blue Shift who matched this one's description, there was no record of an organization called Ultra and no sign that there had been any official sanction for Blue Shift's mission. Also, samurai robots had taken over Houston and the surrounding area.
Magi, refusing to trust the Warmaster, was unmovable from his position that Blue Shift's plan was still the best. Disco tried to calm him down with a light show, but failed to overcome Magi's mental defenses. Magi, outraged at this betrayal, flamed on and jumped away, pursued by Disco. Making his way to the Warmaster's tower, Magi pumped his flame aura up as hot as he could and hurled the resulting fireball directly into Qth-raq's headquarters.
To be continued.
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