And so it was that roughly six minutes later, our heroes made their way to the warehouse that served as the villains temporary HQ. Ron lifted his head up and peeked inside.

"It's them all right" he said "and Triana's over on a crate in the corner."

"So what's the plan?" Axel asked, "a direct attack is right out."

"How about we use the fake explosion trick?" Ace suggested "it worked on us."

"Good idea" Kim replied, "go to it."

"One fake explosion, coming up" Ace replied, firing his eye beams at some nearby debris.

From inside the warehouse, Magnacat snapped to attention. "What was that noise?" he asked.

"Sounded like some kind of explosion" Plasmius added.

"Ahh! The military's found us and they're bombing the place!" Jack screamed.

"Calm down Spicer" Magnacat ordered "let's go see what that was."

Axel & the others waited until the villains exited the building, then made their move. Kim quickly rushed over to Triana, "don't worry, you're safe now" she said, "we're here to rescue you."

"But who's going to rescue you?" Shego asked.

The heroes turned and found the villains standing in the doorway of the building.

"Did you truly believe that we could be fooled so easily?" Magnacat asked.

" Jack Spicer maybe" Kim replied.

"Enough! Destroy them!"

"It'll be my pleasure" Shego said, her gloves at the ready.

Suddenly, however, a vehicle crashed through the side of the warehouse and the door soon opened to reveal Dr. Orpheus.

"Forgive me my tardiness, but locating this place took longer than expected."

"How'd you figure out we were here?" Ron asked.

"My boy, I'm a necromancer, I can sense the presence of others from several miles away."

"Actually, he just forgot what warehouse to go to, so we drove around until we found it" Brock Samson replied.

"Yes that too" Orpheus added, before turning to the villains "and now vile fiends, release my pumpkin, or prepare to suffer a thrashing from which you will not soon recover!"

Magnacat merely laughed "you fools think you can defeat us?" he asked "we shall take great pleasure in destroying all of you."

"We will?" Jack asked "call me crazy, but I'm pretty sure they outnumber us, and are way more powerful."

"I did not get to where I am today by being afraid" Magnacat replied, "crush them!"

Reluctantly, the other villains ran into the fray. Drakken immediately singled out Kim; "Shego, get her!" he commanded.

Shego and Kim began to fight throughout the warehouse, smashing whatever was handy. Meanwhile, Plasmius split himself into four copies and used one of them to overshadow Brock.

"Looks like there's another on our side" he chuckled, "be a dear and exterminate them for me."

Brock nodded and headed for Axel, who attempted to dodge the Bowie knife slashes of the possessed bodyguard.

"Please don't make me hurt you Mr. Samson" he said.

"You have little choice my boy" Brock said in Plasmius' voice, "either you attack your colleague or I kill you."

"How about option three?" Axel suggested, delivering a powerful kick to Brock's chest. With Brock winded, Axel delivered a succession of kicks and chops to the massive bodyguard. Then he delivered a final kick, knocking him against the wall and causing the Plasmius clone to leave him.

"Ugh, what happened?" Brock asked, rubbing his head.

"Sorry about having to beat you up" Axel explained, as he helped him to his feet "see, you were possessed by a ghost and…"

"Don't wanna hear about it" Brock said, "just point me to the bad guys."

----

Elsewhere in the warehouse, Kim was still battling Shego. She used a crate to block her rival's attacks, then missed a kick to the gut.

"Give it up Kimmie, this fight is just going to end like it always does" Shego said.

"With me winning? You've got that right." Kim backflipped onto a crate, which Shego quickly smashed through, but by then Kim was safe on another crate.

"You can't escape!" Shego said, "you can't hide behind these boxes forever."

"Didn't plan on it" Kim replied; as Shego jammed her hand into the crate Kim was standing on, Kim jumped up and kicked her rival in the face.

Shego was knocked for a loop, and that allowed Kim to execute a somersault into a kick that knocked her out cold.

Kim posed triumphantly for a moment before she heard Drakken's screams for help.

"Ahh, Shego, do something!" Kim turned and noticed Drakken being menaced by Brock and quickly ran over.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kim asked him angrily.

"I was about to take out this mad scientist" Brock replied, "you got a problem with that?"

"Actually, I do" Kim said "Drakken may be a creep but I'm not going to let you kill him."

"If I don't take him out then he'll just come back and do this again."

"No I won't" Drakken said "I didn't even want to do this to begin with!"

"No killing Drakken, or any of the villains" Kim said "we'll let the justice system handle them."

"Fine" Brock said "but don't come crying to me when this guy takes out somebody close to you."

Over in another corner of the warehouse, with his allies all but defeated, Magnacat was receiving a triple header of power, compliments of Orpheus, Axel & Ace.

"This is way too easy" Ace commented "I'm almost expecting them ta pull out some kind of giant robot or something."

Suddenly, something materialized in the warehouse; it was Vilgax himself.

"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Axel asked.

"I recognize you" Orpheus said "you are the being I saw in my dreams, the one who seeks to rebuild the Reality Gauntlet."

"How very astute of you" Vilgax replied "indeed, all I need is an influx of magic energy. And since my associates have proven too inept to obtain it for me, I decided to get it myself."

"Guess again Vilgax" Axel said "you're outnumbered and overpowered."

"Am I?" Vilgax asked "I don't think you know who you're dealing with boy."

"Jo-lan chobatsu!" the powerful blast of energy connected with Vilgax, but he didn't appear to have a scratch on him.

"An impressive display" Vilgax responded "but not enough, I'm afraid."

Brock charged him with his knife, but the evil alien sidestepped it and knocked him aside.

"Pathetic" he replied, "and here I expected a true challenge."

"Challenge this, squid face!" Ace said, "Guardian Strike Sword, attack!"

A blast of electric like energy emerged from the sword, but seemed to have little effect on Vilgax himself. Ace instead decided to try a melee attack and ran forward with his sword at the ready. He made several slashes, but Vilgax avoided them and backhanded him into Axel.

"Now then, to get what I came for. That is, unless one of the rest of you would care to stop me?"

"Your power may be great, alien" Orpheus said, "but you will be no match for the powers of magic!"

Concentrating, Orpheus fired a powerful blast of green energy at Vilgax. The alien tyrant made no move to avoid it; rather he held up his hand, which was covered in a metal glove.

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes" Vilgax exclaimed, as the magic hit the glove.

"Yes, that seems to have worked nicely. Thank you so much for your help doctor. Perhaps I shall spare you when this planet is finally mine."

With that, he teleported out, taking all of the members of E.V.I.L with him.

"What have I done?" Orpheus asked "in my quest to prevent the Gauntlet's return, I inadvertently triggered it!"

"Hey, we all make mistakes" Ron said, not noticing the look Kim was giving him.

-----

Later that day, the heroes returned to the Venture Compound to say their goodbyes.

"Don't worry about it doctor, even if Vilgax's gauntlet does work, we'll stop him" Axel replied.

"I am confident in that" Orpheus replied, "I just wish I had not lost the other one. It could have been useful for stopping Vilgax."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think Phibes will be using it to cause any problems" Kim said.

"So long you guys" Hank said, "if you're ever in the neighborhood, look us up."

"Count on it" Ron said "you guys have way cooler adventures than me and Kim."

With that, the Freedom took off into the skies. As they headed back, Ron noticed that Kim looked a little sad.

"What's wrong KP?" he asked "is it that whole 'end of the world' thing?"

"Mostly" Kim said "but I couldn't help thinking about what that bodyguard said. What if he's right? What if I one day have to kill one of my enemies?"

"I wouldn't listen to that guy Kim, he had a whole creepy Barkin vibe going on" Ron replied.

"Maybe" Kim said, "so why can't I shake his words?"

----

Meanwhile, back at the secret warehouse HQ of L.A.M.E, the villains were presenting Phibes with the Gauntlet.

"At last" the evil doctor said "vith this gauntlet at my disposal, I vill finally be able to conquer the vorld and obtain immortality!"

Then he attempted to use it, "okay, vat's going on here? Shouldn't this thing be emitting waves of power or something?"

Dr. Trebla walked over and inspected it, "I don't know much about magic sir" he said "but I'm pretty sure these gems are just regular precious stones."

"Vat?"

"Yeah, that may explain why the gauntlet's not working" Trebla explained.

"You mean that fool tricked me?" Phibes asked angrily "ooh, I'll get him for that. But now I feel like blasting somebody, vere are agents #1 and #2?"

-----

"At the Copa, Copacabana…"

"Wooo! Sing it #1!" #2 shouted proudly as he watched his partner do a karaoke duet with henchman #24. The two fatter henchmen were drunk off their asses but enjoyed the music nonetheless.

"Man, I hope the Monarch doesn't find out about this" #21 said, "or he's totally going to kill us."

"Yeah, I'm in for some torture for sure when I get back" #2 added, "but you've just got to…hold on I love this part!" he replied as the drunk minions sang on.

Next Time:

Our heroes know that Vilgax is armed with the Reality Gauntlet and pull out every stop they have to defeat him. But when Kim quits, they must find a way to battle Vilgax with a member short. Thankfully, an old ally shows up to help, but will they make the difference? Who will win in the ultimate battle between good and evil? Find out in "GOOD vs. EVIL #9: The Final Conflict."