Futuristic Paradox

Futuristic Paradox is a storyline saga that was created by RoachTheIntelCollector on August 21st, 2019. It is the twenty-second storyline saga of the Roach Chronicles. It is preceded by the collaborative Boss Rush project and is succeeded by The Final Chapter saga. The story sees the rise of advanced technology throughout the newly introduced Earth-52319, as well as the consequences for replicating such technology.

Story[]

Project X[]

In the distant future within Earth-52319, a company known as the Mirage Corporation discovered a mysterious vault on Paradise Island, a country located on a remote island off the coast of the United States of America. Within the vault contained advanced alien technologies, as well as a surplus of raw Fractured-Space Energy. The Mirage Corporation soon began reverse-engineering the energy and technology, creating advanced technologies that would eventually be distributed to the rest of the world. Because of this technology, the universe would become the most technologically advanced universe among the multiverse. The Mirage Corporation soon established their primary base next to the Central Vault, where they guarded the vault from trespassers seeking to steal the contents of the vault. Unfortunately for the corporation, black market dealers found ways to bypass the perimeter, where they were able to steal pieces of the raw alien technology from the vault, which would be sold to arms dealers around the world. To combat this new wave of crime surging on the island, the Mirage Corporation founded Techno, a group of vigilantes lead by Tomiko Hayashi in order to help recover the stolen technology and ensure that they never fell into the wrong hands again. A member of Techno, Nakata Hayashi, would join the Mirage Corporation and begin working at the main headquarters of the corporation following a disastrous mission that resulted in the loss of her right arm and subsequent augmentation.

In mid 2143, the Mirage Corporation began the development of Project X, an experiment that would test if organic beings could potentially harness F-Space energy within them. To avoid human experimentation, the Mirage Corporation created a synthetic body that would serve as the test subject for the Project X experiments and F-Space energy exposures. Unfortunately for the Mirage Corporation, details regarding the project was leaked by hackers in order to uncover the Mirage Corporation's plans with the energy. On August 24th, 2143, the Mirage Corporation headquarters was raided by a joint group of hackers and black market dealers, who sought to steal the Project X synthetic body for their own uses. During the raid, the power to the facility was knocked out, causing a power surge that affected the underground testing labs, where Subject X was being developed. With no power to synthesize the F-Space energy being pumped into Subject X, the canisters containing the energy next to its table destabilized and exploded, sending out a shockwave of F-Space energy throughout most of the base. Following the explosion, Subject X began to move, having been brought to life. Examining his hands, Subject X began to question his existence before the F-Space energy within him began to show him brief visions of the future.

As Subject X wandered the halls of the facility, he discovered that everyone who was exposed to the shockwave was transformed into a zombie as a result of being exposed to raw F-Space energy without proper protection. When he found that a zombie was in his way, Subject X attempted to order the zombie into standing down. However, the zombie ignored him and began charging towards Subject X. In a moment of panic and desperation, Subject X unintentionally fired a beam of energy from his hand, zapping the zombie and causing its eyes to turn purple. Intrigued by this discovery, Subject X once again relayed orders to the zombie, to which it this time complied and followed his exact orders. Realizing that he could use the synthesized F-Space energy within him to control the undead that have been exposed to raw F-Space energy, Subject X soon unleashed another F-Space energy shockwave of his own to take control of the undead within the facility, ordering them to build up their numbers by infecting the survivors. Simultaneously as Subject X unleashed his shockwave, four soldiers who had managed to avoid being infected awoke after being knocked unconscious from the first blast. As an alarm blared, Nakata's voice echoed through the facility's intercoms, informing survivors of a designated temporary refuge at the facility's upper levels, where gathering survivors would wait until an extraction team arrived.

As the undead converged onto the four's location, the four soldiers began battling through the various labs and hallways of the facility in order to reach the rendezvous. As the undead continued to ravage the facility, Subject X's visions began to become more frequent until he collapsed onto the ground in sheer pain. Subject X was then transported to an apparition of the interior of the Central Vault, where a mysterious voice explained to him that he was destined to arrive here. Subject X questioned the reasoning for the visions he was experiencing, to which the voice explained that the visions, when pieced together, would show of the universe's destruction due to the unnatural amount of F-Space energy within the universe. Fearful of this, Subject X asked the voice on what he should do in order to prevent this disastrous outcome. The voice merely chuckled, saying that the universal stability must be mended by removing the problem before Subject X awoke back in the facility. Realizing that the Mirage Corporation and their mass-produced technologies involving F-Space energy was dooming the universe, Subject X manifested Stormbringer for the first time, announcing that he would devote his newfound existence to purge the universe of the Mirage Corporation and their work in an effort to maintain balance; Subject X soon announced his new name: Blackout.

Meanwhile, the four soldiers were able to reach the upper floors, where they met up with Nakata and a few other survivors. As the survivors prepared to exit the building, Blackout smashed down the doors to the room, ordering his undead forces to continue their attack. While the survivors tried to contain the situation, they were ultimately overrun and consumed by the undead. However, Nakata was able to avoid being slaughtered and attempted to flee, only to be stopped by Blackout. Nakata questioned who he was, to which Blackout revealed that he was Subject X, having been given a purpose by the F-Space energy within him to mend the universal stability that was fractured by the Mirage Corporation. Sensing that Nakata could be useful, Blackout ordered his undead forces to apprehend her while he prepared the "surgery". As Nakata screamed for mercy, Blackout hacked into her augmentations using tools left behind by the hackers, where he was able to use her augmentations against her to control her mind. With Nakata among his ranks, Blackout ordered his forces to mobilize for New Elpis, the capital city of Paradise Island, as he began his campaign to purge the world of the Mirage Corporation and their technologies.

City of Hope[]

While the undead forces shambled towards New Elpis, Blackout began work on his master plan: to effectively drain the world of the F-Space energy and ensured it returned whence it came. To accomplish this goal, Blackout learned from Nakata that the Central Vault was essentially the world's power grid, revealing that there were dozens of energy conductor pipes within the vault that span underground, leading to various cities across the world and giving them an F-Space energy power source. To use this to his advantage, Blackout planned to find a way to invert the pipe's flows, thus causing them to drain the cities of their power and returning the energy back to the vault, to which he would begin disposing of the energy with his powers. In order to gain sufficient power to override the piping systems, Blackout sought to assume control over Paradise Island's underground power station, which was designed to be used as a backup system should the vault be offline.

As the sun rose over the skyline of New Elpis, Roxanne Summers wakes up to her alarm. Getting out of bed, she takes a quick shower and gets dressed before she begins to have breakfast. As she finishes, there is a knock at her apartment door. Opening the door, she is greeted by Victor Payton, who informs her that Tomiko is gathering the core members of Techno for an urgent mission at their headquarters. Knowing that Tomiko rarely assigns urgent missions, especially for the core four members, Roxanne quickly cleans up before leaving with Victor. Along the way, they run into Jennifer Reese, one of the core members of Techno, who was also on her way to their headquarters. Together, the three leave the apartment complex and travel to a discreet wall in a nearby alleyway. After making sure the coast was clear, Victor knocks on the wall, revealing a number pad, to which he inserts the password to open the door. After the three enter and the door closes behind them, they traverse the secret tunnel until they reach Techno Headquarters, where Tomiko was observing a monitor displaying a map of the island in the conference room. After greeting him, the four sit together at the round table, where Roxanne asks what was wrong.

Tomiko grabs a remote from the table and presses a button, where he begins his briefing on the monitor; late last night, there was an explosion at the Mirage Corporation Headquarters near the Vault of Paradise Island, leading to the whole facility going dark. Tomiko explains that there has been no communication with any personnel at the facility ever since, including from his sister Nakata. Victor adds to this, saying that Nakata's tracker in her augmentations, while it was still functioning, had been infected by an unknown virus, leading to her whereabouts to be currently unknown. Tomiko resumes, saying that early this morning there were reports of a large group of people slowly walking towards the city limits from the location of the Mirage Corporation Headquarters, though any attempts to verify the claims have proven difficult, as anyone sent out to investigate them never reported back. Just then, an alarm triggers, and the team pulls up the alert on the overhead screen, where video footage of zombies entering the city began pouring in, slowly paving their way through the city. Vendetta attempts to contact the other members of Techno, though this fails as his communications suddenly become blocked by an unknown static noise.

On the surface, the undead have began attacking the civilians, causing their numbers to rise and the city begins to fall into chaos. Turning on their exterior cameras, the four see armed forces attempting to shoot the undead, but they are swiftly ambushed and overrun. Jennifer asks what they should do, and after a moment of hesitation, Tomiko tells the group to arm up, saying that they must fight for their lives if they wish to uncover what was going on. Unlocking the arms cache, the four load up and exit their headquarters, where they encounter a zombie eating a man in their alley. As the zombie lets out a shriek and begins charging the four, Victor shoots it with a shot of his Rampage, killing it. The four step out of the alley, where they see that the emergency broadcast system has been activated on numerous screens on the sides of buildings, advising civilians to arm themselves and seek shelter from the undead. As a horde of the undead began to converge onto their location, Tomiko tells his allies to prepare themselves for a fight unlike anything they've seen before as they begin to fight their way through the undead forces.

As the undead continued their assault, Blackout used the distraction to assault the power station, to which he was successful in doing so. With the station under his control, he began to hack into the station while his forces began retrofitting the main control room into a redirectory chamber, where he would place Nakata into a large glass tube that connects her augmentations to the facility. With Nakata connected to the facility, Blackout would have her forcefully redirect the power to the vault, where he would be able to have enough power to invert the piping systems and redirect the flow of the F-Space energy. While Blackout hacked into the station, he began broadcasting a video across televisions and signs across the city, telling the survivors to surrender and join his quest the save the universe by allowing themselves to be engulfed by the undead. He would also use this to observe Techno as they fought against his undead army, directly explaining to them that they were fighting for all the wrong reasons and that his intentions would benefit the entire universe. However, the members of Techno accuse Blackout of being deranged, claiming that he believed his slaughter of thousands was justified for his actions.

As Techno fought their way through the city, they encountered numerous civilians who were able to survive, who began assisting the group in their fight. As their numbers built, one of the survivors explained to the group that a large number of civilians were gathering at the Hypercenter Mall in the south district, where they were preparing an emergency shelter for the survivors, as well as where outside support would come in and assist them in fleeing the city. Knowing it was their best chance at surviving now, the group fight their way to the south district, where they find that the Hypercenter Mall was preparing to undergo a lockdown with the use of emergency blast doors. Techno orders the survivors to make a run for the closing mall as they gave covering fire. As the undead charged behind them, the survivors fought their way to the entrance of the mall, where they were able to enter just before the blast doors closed. As everyone let out a sigh of relief, Tomiko tells everyone that they must be on guard, as they still had to await outside support before they were truly out of this mess.

Hypercenter[]

Three hours have passed since the survivors' arrival at the Hypercenter Mall, which had been converted into a makeshift stronghold. While the undead have continuously attempted to infiltrate the perimeter setup around the mall, their attempts have been thwarted by lookouts and sentry turrets guarding the area. Vendetta and Stratus are walking around the second floor of the mall together on patrol while Rox and Vega assist the survivors in their needs. Stratus asks Vendetta when their extraction would arrive, although Vendetta cannot give a definitive answer, reminding him that they are on an island hundreds of miles off the east coast of the United States and that it would take awhile for any help to reach them. Simultaneously at the power station, Blackout and his undead workers are making the final additions to the redirectory chamber to reroute enough power to the vault. From within the chamber, Nakata asks if the process of rerouting the power would kill her, although Blackout assures her that while she might feel some pain, she wouldn't die unless something major interfered with the process. At that moment, one of the undead workers catches Blackout's attention, who reveals to him a map of the island and all of the locations currently using the power station for emergency power, one of which was the Hypercenter Mall. Knowing that the mall was where the survivors were holding up and making their last stand, Blackout tells Nakata that it was time to begin the rerouting process, ordering her to first reroute all of the power at the mall.

At the mall, the power is abruptly shut off, causing the sentry turrets guarding the exterior perimeter to shut down, as well as all outside communications to be knocked out and most of the lockdown protocols in the mall to disengage. Blackout then orders for a large push against the mall, ordering his undead army to ensure the survivors were wiped out before help arrived. As Vendetta and Stratus regrouped with Rox and Vega at the main entrance, they see that a massive swarm of zombies were quickly approaching the mall from all sides. While the lookouts tried their best to quell the attacking undead, they are quickly overrun, thus allowing the undead to gain access to the mall in large quantities. Vendetta orders all of the remaining survivors to find shelter as Techno arms up to fight the attacking undead. As they fight through the undead, they are able to gain access to the basement, which had been sealed off for a safety protocol. There, Techno are able to locate the backup generators, which would restore most of the mall's power apart from the sentries. Upon turning the power back on, the lockdown protocols fail to reengage. Rox asks what the problem was, to which Stratus theorizes that the undead have forced the lockdown barriers ajar, saying that they would have to manually restore the lockdown protocols at each sector of the mall.

Back at the power station, Blackout observes Nakata as she uses her augmentations to slowly reroute the island's power to the vault, storing it in massive batteries that have been constructed to hold the power once Blackout was finished at the power station. Upon noticing that the backup generators were activated at the mall, Blackout orders Nakata to redirect the generators' power, although Nakata explains that since they were not connected to the main power grid, she couldn't reroute their power. Annoyed by this setback, Blackout soon uses his powers to hijack the screens at the mall, where he gets into contact with Techno. He compliments the group's efforts in doing what they believed was right, although he explains that what they seek would make things worse than they already were. When asked how by Vega, Blackout explains that the F-Space energy they cherish will ultimately be the cause of their annihilation should they keep overusing and replicating the energy for their own selfish needs as opposed to stopping for the greater good of the universe, revealing that the existence of too much F-Space energy in a single universe would cause the aforementioned universe to fracture and fall apart until it eventually collapsed in on itself and vanished from existence, which would have major repercussions for the entire multiverse. While Blackout was distracted talking to Techno, Nakata began to break free from Blackout's control. Briefly redirecting a small amount of power that was taken from the mall, she creates a voice message explaining her situation and her current location, as well as Blackout's intentions at the power station. Before she could reveal more, Blackout's influence began to take hold of her again, so she quickly sends the message and returns to rerouting the power before she loses control of her mind and body once again.

Once Blackout returns to overseeing Nakata's process, Techno are able to reach the mall's security station, where they are able to manually activate the lockdown protocols. To ensure they were completed in activation, Techno protected the barriers from the undead at each area they were working on until the process was complete. Upon completing their fifth lockdown, they receive Nakata's message via a television. Relieved that she was okay, Vendetta explains to his allies that once they finished the remaining lockdowns and the survivors were brought to safety, they would go to the power station and save Nakata. After more fighting and lockdowns, Techno are able to finish all of the lockdowns, closing off most of the paths for the undead to enter the mall from. Soon after, Techno receives a radio transmission from the Atlas Security Service, saying they were eight miles from the coastline of Paradise Island, requesting to know where they were. Vega explains that they were at the Hypercenter Mall in the southern district of New Elpis, requesting for them to have their forces land on the roof near the terrace entrance. After ending the transmission, Vendetta calls for every remaining survivor to emerge from hiding and gather at the second floor. Once everyone emerged from their hiding spots and gathered by Techno, Stratus explains that extraction was a few minutes out and that they would meet on the roof. After giving this information, an advisory message was sent through the mall's intercoms, warning that the backup generators were nearly depleted of their power. Knowing time was short before the undead could breach again in larger forces, the survivors make haste for the terrace.

After climbing onto the roof from the terrace, the survivors create a makeshift defensive perimeter to defend until extraction arrived. Rox soon pulls out a flare, throwing it near their location to indicate the landing zone for the air force. At that moment, the backup generators turned off, causing the lockdown protocols to disengage again and allowing the undead to swarm the mall. As the survivors held off as much as they could, they began to get overrun. However, an AC-130 soon opens fire on the swarming zombies below the mall, followed by a rocket barrage from the Atlas Security Service's attack helicopters. This caused the undead to be distracted long enough for the survivors to gain the upperhand and maintain control of the roof. As the air force landed several helicopters on the roof, the survivors quickly board them, where they thank Atlas for saving their lives. As Techno boarded their helicopter, Vendetta tells the pilot that there is something urgent they need to do, asking to be dropped off at the power station on the western coastline of the island, saying they could potentially avert the undead threat there. The pilot tells the group that there would more than likely be no one else to help them get off the island after that, although they assure him they will find other means off. Once the helicopters took off, the mall soon fell to the undead. As Techno's helicopter passed by the ruined and zombie infested New Elpis, Vendetta tells his allies that they will stop Blackout no matter the cost and avenge the lives he has ended.

The Surge[]

A few hours later, Techno arrives at a small factory near the western coastline of Paradise Island. Though the pilot is confused on how that was supposed to be a power station, Vendetta assures him that it was the correct destination. Landing in a clearing, the pilot wishes the team good luck before joining the other helicopters as they flew back to the United States. Within the facility, Blackout continues to oversee Nakata's progress when a proxy alarm triggers. Turning to look at the security feed, Blackout is shocked to see Techno as they approach the entrance to the facility. Questioning how they discovered his location, Blackout realizes that Nakata was responsible for this upon playing back security footage from within the facility. Instead of punishing her, Blackout merely states that she will be put to the ultimate test for loyalty, saying that when the time came, she would be forced to destroy her brother and allies before using his powers to send a piece of his essence directly into her body, reinforcing his control over her mind and body and turning her into his secondary vessel. As Techno hopped the fence to get onto the factory grounds, Blackout activates the facility's intercom system, admiring the group's persistence in trying to bring justice. Stratus tells Blackout that it was what heroes do best. Scoffing at this, Blackout states that if that was true, then he should continue persisting in destroying Techno for their defiance, exclaiming that he is the true hero of this story before unleashing more of his undead army to attack Techno.

As the undead's numbers continued to grow, Techno are forced to run into the factory, where they discover a cargo elevator. Knowing that it was the true entrance to the facility, Vendetta orders his companions to made a run for the elevator. Realizing what they were doing, Blackout uses Nakata's body to try and lock the elevator with her connections to the facility, although they are successful in entering it. To ensure they reached their destination, Stratus places a device on the control pad that would allow him to override Blackout's attempts to stop the elevator. As the elevator descended down to the facility, Rox asks how this was going to go down. Vendetta explains that they must get to the control room at the lowest part of the facility in order to sever Blackout's rerouting process, although they would have to get to the other end of the facility, where the path to the control room laid. As the elevator stopped, the team exited at the reception area, where they are greeted by a few zombies, although they are quick to take them out. Vega explains that they would have to work their way through the whole facility if they wish to get to the control room. Nodding, the team soon began their push through the facility, fighting again waves after waves of the undead. During their push, Stratus discovers an experimental teleportation system that was being developed by the Mirage Corporation prior to Blackout's takeover of the facility. Knowing it could benefit them, Stratus takes one of the mobile pads with him for future use.

After a long and exhausting push through room after room, the team is able reach the doorway to the control room. Vendetta tells his allies that once they entered, there was no turning back, offering them a chance to prepare themselves for what laid ahead. Once everyone was ready, the team entered the control room, although they do not see Blackout. Curious, Rox soon sees the redirectory chamber at the lower floor of the room through the observation window, where she spots Nakata within it. The team soon rushes down there, although they are soon locked in the large room. Blackout soon appears above them in the control room, telling the four that they have been a thorn in his plan to save the universe. Vendetta asks what he has done to his sister, although Blackout simply laughs, telling the four to ask her themselves. At the push of a button, Blackout activates the room's security protocol in the form of A.I. drones throughout the room. Nakata soon opens her eyes, revealing them to be completely purple as Blackout talked through her, saying that they will soon join him in his ranks as a rotting corpse before ordering his army onto them. As Techno fought around the room, Vega questions what they should do, although Vendetta says that they must keep fighting. While Blackout keeps laughing in Nakata's body, Nakata's strong will begins to break free and briefly resumes control of her body. Nakata reveals to Techno that they must destroy the redirectory chamber by throwing a grenade in the vent above it.

After Nakata opens the vent, Blackout resumes control of his vessel, telling Nakata to stop struggling, although Nakata continues to fight back. As Vendetta readies a grenade while the others cover him, he asks Nakata what would become of her, although Nakata tells her brother that she would more than likely die. Horrified, Vendetta questions if there was another way, although Nakata says that if they don't act soon, Blackout will complete his plan. After a moment of hesitation, Vendetta tells Nakata he is sorry for not being there before throwing the grenade into the vent, causing an explosion that breaks the redirectory chamber, sending out a shockwave that destroys the drones and undead while knocking Techno away. As the blinding light subdued, the redirectory chamber collapses, crushing Nakata under the rubble. Running up to the pile, Vendetta is able to pull her from the pile, although she was mortally wounded. As she began to die in her brother's arms, Nakata assures Vendetta that they have won, taking off his mask to show him tearfully crying. Vendetta tells Nakata that he should've been there for her when she went on that fateful mission that resulted in her augmentations, although Nakata says that it was her choice to do it alone. As Nakata died, she tells her brother that she loves him before dying of blood loss. As Vendetta lets out a scream of agony, the PA system of the facility reveals that the rerouting process was complete and that enough power has been successfully brought to the Central Vault.

From the control room, Blackout laughs in victory, saying that while Nakata was indeed a traitor, she was still able to accomplish her mission in the end. Vendetta, fueled by rage and anger, pulls out a sidearm and attempts to shoot Blackout through the window, though the bullet merely bounces off of the bulletproof window and onto the ground below it. Blackout simply scoffs his attempt to take his life, saying that they should be thanking him for saving their universe before using his powers to teleport away to the vault, leaving Techno trapped in the redirectory room as Vendetta continued to cradle his sister's corpse while the others tearfully gathered around him.

End of the World[]

Inside the Central Vault's pocket dimension, Blackout appears, where he sees his large batteries being placed nearby the three main energy pipes that are transferring the F-Space energy to various parts of the world. As he gazes towards the F-Space orb supplementing this energy at the center of the dimension, Blackout exclaims that it was time to finally rid the universe of the F-Space energy that gnaws away at it with every passing second. Blackout soon uses his powers to warp the dimension into his own image as a snowy forest, with the orb at the center being surrounded by the vines and roots of a massive tree. Once his dominion had formed, Blackout ordered his forces to activate the batteries. As they activated, the energy within the pipes stopped and began reverting back into the orb, as well as inverting the pipe flows to cause the F-Space energy being deposited around the world to instead return back to the vault. As the orb began to receive the power that had been siphoned from it, Blackout comments to his forces that once the orb reached its maximum capacity, he would destroy the orb, resulting in his balance of energy throughout the universe. He also reminds them that Techno would undoubtedly attempt to stop them, advising to stop them no matter what to ensure they didn't tamper with the process.

Hours later, as the process of inverting the F-Space energy back to the vault continues, Techno are still trapped inside the redirectory room of the power station. While the others sit around and mope at their failure in saving Nakata and stopping Blackout then and there, Stratus continues to work on getting the mobile warp pad he acquired earlier online. When asked by Rox on his progress, Stratus explains he was nearly done. Vendetta questions how the device would work without another warp pad at the destination they wanted to go, although Stratus reveals an exploit they can use; every time Blackout warps between locations, he lets out an energy signature of F-Space energy at both the starting point and destination. Stratus explains that through this energy signature, Techno can siphon it from one of the points with the warp pad to teleport to the other point, which was where Blackout was currently at. After making final adjustments, Stratus reveals he has finished the pad, telling the others that while they lost the battle, the war has yet to be won. Agreeing, Rox helps motivate Vega and Vendetta from their depression, saying that there was still a chance to stop Blackout and put an end to his scheme once and for all. With everyone reinvigorated, Stratus tells the group that they first have to get to the control room above, as that was where Blackout warped from. After paying their respects one last time to Nakata's corpse, the team proceeded to the exit door, which had been sealed shut during the lockdown. Using his suit to craft a buzzsaw, Vendetta cuts open a hole in the doorway so they could escape. Reaching the control room, they place the warp pad where Blackout stood. After a moment, the warp pad turns on, creating a small rift to the destination Blackout arrived at. Nodding to each other, the four enter the rift as they teleport away from the power station.

As they regain their senses, Techno find themselves in a small snowy clearing surrounded by trees. Pondering where they were, they soon find the undead emerging from the ground. Fighting the undead, the four proceed up the trail ahead of them before arriving at an overlook atop a hill. Taking in the sight, they soon realize that they are in fact within the Central Vault's pocket dimension, although it had been transformed into a snowy forest by Blackout. Using the overlook, Vendetta spots the three energy pipes that conduct the F-Space energy around the world inverting their energy into the central orb, as well as the batteries that are causing this to occur situated at the end of three distinctive areas that resemble fragments of areas they had previously visited, such as the city of New Elpis, the Hypercenter Mall, and the power station. As the orb continues growing in size, Vega makes the assumption that Blackout was near the orb overlooking its progress. Agreeing, Stratus asks Vendetta what they should do. After a moment of thinking, Vendetta explains that they must destroy the batteries at each area, although this would result in the destruction of the pipe the battery was influencing. Knowing it was the only way to stop Blackout's plan, the others agree before the four all slide down the slope in front of them, landing in a small pool of blood surrounded by a large wooden stake wall. Suddenly, Blackout appears before them, telling the four that what they seek to accomplish would make things worse than it already appears for them, warning that should the orb remain in existence for too long with all the F-Space energy brought back into it, it would result in a universal catastrophe. Rox explains that they would find a way to return the F-Space energy back to the parts of the world it was taken from once they defeat him, to which Blackout scoffs at, remarking that their attempt would spell their doom before warping away as the undead soon rises from the pool of blood around the group.

After clearing the wave, an opening in the wall forms, allowing the group to proceed forward, where they arrive at a central area near the base of the tree enveloping the orb. There, the group spots three different colored portals, each leading to one of the areas with one of Blackout's batteries. Traveling through each portal, the group fight their way through hordes of the undead as they pass through fragments of areas they had visited over the course of their journey. After traversing each area and reaching the end, the group finds one of the three batteries protected by a small gauntlet of vines and branches. Navigating the gauntlet, the four are able to prevail and destroy a battery, resulting in the overhead pipe's destruction and for a portion of the tree around the orb to collapse. After doing this with all the batteries and pipes and ensuring their destruction, the entire tree collapses, creating an explosion that forms a massive crater below the orb and causing the sky to darken. As the orb descends down from its spot, a large portal opens in the center area leading to the crater. The voice of Blackout soon echoes through the dimension, remarking that while the pipes were destroyed, there was still a sufficient amount of energy within the orb that would allow him to balance the universe with its destruction, challenging the four to try and stop him. Agreeing to fight him, the four enter the portal, warping over to the crater, where Blackout stood before them with the orb above him.

Blackout remarks that they have proven to be constant thorns in his side as he attempts to achieve his goal, saying that once he was finally rid of them and completed his goal, he would renounce them as recusants to the universe he so benevolently saved before summoning Stormbringer and letting out a burst of energy. As the four readied themselves, Vendetta tells Blackout that he will pay for all the pain and sorrow he has caused, including his sister's death, before leading the four into battle against Blackout. As the five fought, Blackout proved to be a challenging opponent, often overpowering his attackers and sending them flying with his strength. However, despite his immense power, Blackout was severely outnumbered, and after a grueling fight, Blackout is weakened to the point where he cannot stand. Vendetta tells Blackout that it was over, although Blackout snickers that it was just beginning. Looking up at the orb above him, Blackout musters the strength to stand up before sending a beam of energy from his hand into the orb. Blackout soon uses this beam to siphon enough energy from the orb to allow him to levitate the debris around the crater to merge into a medium-sized battle mech dubbed the Basilisk Mech. As Blackout enters the mech and rallies the last of his forces, he exclaims that it has to be this way if he wishes to save the universe before engaging the heroes in the true final battle. However, because the mech was made mostly of debris, Techno are able to exploit several weak points around the mech to cripple it after another grueling battle. As the mech began to self-destruct, Blackout lets out a horrified scream as the mech explodes, destroying it and the rest of the undead forces while sending Techno flying backwards.

As the dust settles, Blackout crawls out of what remained of the mech's wreckage, completely battered and on the verge of death. Attempting to reach out towards the orb one last time, his hand is stomped on by Vendetta. As Techno gathers around him, Blackout curses the four for their foolery, saying that they would forever be remembered as the heroes who allowed the destruction of their universe and subsequent fracturing of the multiverse. Vega questions what he meant as the orb above them suddenly began to violently surge out of control. Continuing what he said earlier at the blood pool in more detail, he reveals that with the excessive amount of F-Space energy being produced in the universe, it would cause the universe to ultimately collapse from existence, creating universal-scale repercussions across the entire multiverse. As the surging continued, Blackout explains that now that all that energy was in the same place before it could be safely destroyed, it was now guaranteed that the universe was to fall and that their fates were sealed. As the orb began to crack, a disdained Vendetta solemnly apologizes to his allies for his actions, having been blinded by his vendetta against Blackout and to avenge Nakata's death. Blackout, now knowing that he has finally gotten to them, merely shakes his head at their belayed realizations as the orb explodes, destroying them and the entire universe around them. All of Earth-52319 soon collapsed from existence, creating paradoxes that would ultimately affect the rest of the multiverse.

Characters[]

Maps[]

Weapons[]

The saga reintroduces weapons from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, but with additional weapons that were added to the game as of the Days of Summer event.

Assault Rifles[]

ICR-7
Rampart 17
KN-57
Vapr-XKG
Maddox RFB
Swat RFT
Grav
Peacekeeper
Hitchcock M9

Submachine Guns[]

MX9
GKS
Spitfire
Cordite
Saug 9mm
Daemon 3XB
Switchblade X9
Escargot
M1927

Light Machine Guns[]

Titan
Hades
VKM 750
Tigershark
Zweihänder

Shotguns[]

MOG 12
SG12
Rampage

Tactical Rifles[]

10/22
Auger DMR
ABR 223
Swordfish
S6 Stingray
Essex Model 07

Sniper Rifles[]

Paladin HB50
Outlaw
SDM
Koshka
Vendetta
Locus

Pistols[]

Strife
RK 7 Garrison
Mozu
KAP 45
Welling

Wonder Weapons[]

Up-n-Atomizer
Unholy Hellbringer
Widowmaker
Cymbal Monkey

Other[]

Ballistic Knife
Galvaknuckles

Videos[]

Fortnite - Afterburner (Official Audio) 'Afterburner' Lobby Music

Trivia[]

This is the first saga to feature the deaths of both the villain and heroes, as well as neither of them achieving their overarching goal to accomplish what they believed was right.