Chapter 8: The Enemy of My Enemy...

The Enemy of My Enemy... is the eighth chapter of The Mazkertis Paradox. In this chapter:


 * The Chousin gather in the Hyperdimension to assess the Mazkertis situation.
 * Klak is reunited with Caiaphus on Neo Z'traa and reluctantly agrees to ally with him against Mazkertis.
 * Kakamu and Nadle inform Zev and the Conquistadores that Mazkertis is loose. Zev takes Namah, Nu-13, and Prudence with him to help the Claws, with the rest of the Conquistadores waiting behind as backup.
 * Now that TPK is dead, Huriel and Orion Pax decide that Angonce must be reinstated as the leader of the Great Beings. They take Black Phantom to Angonce as a gift, but this has unintended, and deadly results.
 * The Heckler and The Heller merge into The Heckumvirate to combat Stardust the Super Wizard on Meme World.
 * En route to Vizima, Jesse Ventura and Ross Mandell argue about who is the bigger guy on the team.
 * On the moon of Alaine, K'theenya comes face-to-face with Mazkertis, who recruits Blue to his cause. She decides to seek out Klak to warn him about the wizard with a vengeance.
 * One week after these events, Mazkertis forms the Kindred of Dawn on Kalta Thaea, an alliance of villains he has convinced to aid him with the promise of increased power in the new timeline he wishes to create.

Summary
Somewhere in the BZPB Multiverse, the Chousin convene to discuss the threat posed by Mazkertis. Although the Users have prevented her from examining the full history of the Dark Mirror Universe, Tsunami reveals that she has learned of Mazkertis's origins, recounting his battle against D-Klak and Zev Raregroove and his subsequent imprisonment in a nether cell between dimensions. Realizing that Mazkertis's chronal powers are disrupting the timeline, and that his current goal is to become powerful enough to alter history to erase all versions of Klak from existence, the Chousin decide that if they must intervene, they will "do so furiously".

On Day 2, Klak teleports from Anzu's ship to the surface of Neo Z'traa, where he runs into Caiaphus, Ricochet, and Max-Eli. After a tense standoff, Caiaphus offers Klak his help in stopping Mazkertis, stating his belief that only Caiaphus, as Klak's opposite, should be allowed to destroy Klak. Klak accepts, wanting to keep his friends close and his enemies, like Blackout, closer. As Caiaphus and Ricochet go to leave with Klak, Caiaphus instructs Max-Eli to remain on Neo Z'traa and keep the Vrai forces at bay until they return. Klak then receives word from a servant of Anzu that Etende is alive and will meet with them soon.

Meanwhile, a disguised Takemikazuchi ship transports Kakamu and Nadle to Hei Fon 4 so that they can recruit Zev and his allies to their cause. A rift has formed between Kakamu and Nadle due to the revelation that Nadle had secretly been communicating with David Robert Jones, a man whose schemes had forced Kakamu and Trantoshen to go into hiding after the Uterio War, but they manage to settle their disagreements. The two then meet Zev and many members of the Conquistadores, including Namah, Prudence, Mistgun, Viriathus, and Nu-13, as well as Alda di Armechio, who Zev took under his wing after Figlio tried to manipulate her into spying on Zev for HYDRA. When Nadle informs Zev of Mazkertis's escape, Zev, Namah, Prudence, and Nu-13 offer to leave with them while the rest of the Conquistadores remain on standby.

On Day 4, Ganos Lal has become the leader of the Order of the Great Beings following the death of TPK in the Battle of Shinar-Karana. When Ganos announces that one of her first actions as ruler will be to invite back all the Great Beings who TPK ever exiled, Huriel and Orion Pax conspire to free Angonce from his prison and reinstate him as leader, believing that Ganos's motion will destabilize the empire. While dragging the damaged Black Phantom behind them, Huriel and Orion Pax sneak into Angonce's prison and inform him of their plan, offering the damaged assassin droid as a gift to commemorate their new partnership. Concluding that Angonce must be stopped, Black Phantom commits suicide by activating a bomb inside his chest, killing the conspirators at the cost of his own life.

Meanwhile, on Meme World, the Heckler and the Heller merge into the Heckumvirate to combine their powers against Stardust. Their battle is temporarily interrupted by Gub C. G. Giy, who is promptly banished by Stardust with a use of a raygun-like weapon. The Heckumvirate attempts to get Stardust to give a heck about Mazkertis by summoning a vision of the wizard terrorizing a planet, but Stardust dismisses the vision as a trick and continues attacking the Heckumvirate.

Aboard the Dong Squad and Wang Gang's combined spacecraft, Jesse Ventura and Ross Mandell have an argument about who has the more valuable role on their team. Bill Wilson's comment that BONES's flight plan lists both of them only aggravates Ventura, but when Randolph Moloch asks Ventura whether he is more important than BONES or Lord Zrintch, Ventura realizes that it was a mistake to be arrogant and apologizes to Mandell.

On the moon of Alaine, K'theenya is relaxing at a bar while talking to an eccentric, rambling cyborg named 18-LA. The peaceful atmosphere is soon interrupted by the arrival of Mazkertis, who immediately drains the life force of several civilians and is attacked by the local police. Before K'theenya can intervene, Blue appears and confronts the wizard, complimenting him on his destructive entrance. In response to Blue's inquiries, Mazkertis explains that he is on a mission to erase Klak from the timeline, and invites Blue to join him so that she can share in the rewards. When Blue accepts out of curiosity, she and Mazkertis are teleported away. Remembering Klak from a previous encounter, K'theenya decides to track him down and warn him of the threat.

Later that day, Mazkertis, Blue, Raziel, and Gabriel Ascheron travel to Kalta Thaea to meet with several other characters who are interested in joining Mazkertis's crusade. The first two are Eclipse and Genetoes, who had first met Mazkertis when the wizard summoned Genetoes several days prior after learning of the existence of the Kra'lythe from Quolas's subconsciousness. Next to arrive are the Green Goblin, Osseron Tyrok, the Affluent Man, and Mink, all of whom have been intrigued by the stories of such a powerful wizard striking fear into the cosmos. Moonman arrives to hand Ascheron some intel, but politely declines his request to join the gathering and leaves soon afterwards. After Mazkertis addresses the gathering and explains his plan, the Affluent Man offers an alternative plan, but leaves in a rage when Mazkertis shows no interest. Osseron Tyrok, however, leaves out of disgust, knowing both Klak and D-Klak to be honorable men. The remaining characters are welcomed by Mazkertis as his new "Kindred of Dawn" - and are immediately teleported away to begin their work.

Characters

 * 18-LA
 * Alda di Armechio
 * Angonce
 * Anzu
 * Bill Wilson
 * Black Phantom
 * Blue
 * Caiaphus
 * The Chousin
 * Tokimi
 * Tsunami
 * Washu
 * Donald J. Trump ("The Affluent Man")
 * Eclipse
 * Gabriel Ascheron
 * Genetoes
 * Green Goblin
 * Gub C. G. Giy
 * The Heckumvirate
 * The Heckler
 * The Heller
 * Huriel
 * Jesse Ventura
 * K'theenya
 * Kakamu
 * Klak
 * Max-Eli
 * Mazkertis
 * Mink
 * Mistgun
 * Moonman
 * Nadle
 * Namah
 * Nu-13
 * Orion Pax
 * Osseron Tyrok
 * Prudence Franklin
 * Randolph Moloch
 * Raziel
 * Ricochet
 * Ross Mandell
 * Stardust the Super Wizard
 * Viriathus
 * Zev Raregroove