Alex stared up at the shadow covering the sky. "What is that?" She asked herself.

The Varnoss flagship battlecruiser can hold over 18 trillion average-sized Norwegian forest cats! Meowsa!

The pyramid spacecraft hovered over the city, thousands upon thousands of ships spilling out like angry bees.

"Man the defenses!" A voice yelled. Alex rushed off to find the others. She had June and Nathan's scent and followed it up the pillars. She found June and Nathan at the top next to one of the anti-air turrets.

"Where are we needed?" Alex asked as she met up with them.

"The plan is to use our powers like the last time," June said. "I slow them down and Nathan detonates them early. Your shield would protect us from the backlash."

Alex stared up at the mass of enemy fighters. "I don't think we'd be able to stop all of that. It looks like their entire army is here."

"We only need to hold out until we run. The city will be moving shortly," June said.

"Besides, it’s the only plan we have right now," Nathan added.

"Is Caleb coming?" Alex asked.

"We don't have time to wait for him," June answered. "The first attack should be coming any second. Plus, he wouldn't be any use up there."

Alex wanted to point out that Caleb was the one who thought of the plan in the first place, but June had already scaled a ladder leading outside. Instead, she followed the two up and out. The wind whipped through her hair as she stood, her catlike reflexes keeping her on her feet. The roaring of engines buzzed around her.

The enemy was arranging into a formation. Fighters flanked the bombers from all sides as they made a slow approach. "Ready to fire!" One of the militia yelled from the anti-air turrets. Similar calls rang out along the dome, each turret engaging. But it was a piddly amount compared to the number of Varnoss ships moving forward. Alex wished they had been able to get more of the turrets up before this happened. Though no one expected the empire to bring out their entire force to attack.

The Varnoss crawled forward, raising the hackles on all of the cats. Tension filled the air like clouds of smoke. And then the first turret fired. An arc of light shot out at the formation of ships and the Varnoss exploded in movement. Squads of bombers shot forward, fighters on the flanks for protection. In turn, the turrets fired. Arcs of light, the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire, and even a bass cannon all shot at the enemy.

Most of the bullets hit, it was hard not to with the number of Varnoss flying around. But it was like trying to empty a lake of water by smacking the surface. A few ships fell but not enough to dent the tide spilling over Three Cities.

The first squadron of bombers released their load. Alex watched June grunt a bit as she stopped everything above. Nathan quickly detonated them all with his power and Sir Purrsalot protected them with a barrier. But another payload was already falling. June grunted again and Nathan responded even faster.

Alex tried to think of a way to help. Jim-Jam and Rocket weren't good for this type of defense. Chonkers was out too. That left Kit and Butterwhiskers. Kit might be able to jump from ship to ship and distract them. She explained the thought to her cheshire. "Can you do it?"

"Yes alpha." Kit replied with bland disinterest. Alex scratched him behind the ears. Kit purred in delight and then disappeared. She saw him reappear on top of an overhead bomber and then again inside the cockpit.

The bomber in question jerked violently to the left, crashing into an escorting fighter. The two ships fell to the ground, mangled. Alex saw another bomber do the same out of the corner of her eye. Good, that only left Butterwhiskers.

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"Butterwhiskers dear. Can you hit the attackers with some bad luck?" Alex asked.

The Cat Sidhe formed up on Alex's shoulder and purred. "I can make a lot of people have a little bad luck or one person have a lot."

Alex reached up to scratch under Butterwhiskers' chin. "What if you had some help? Say from Rocket."

"Mmm." The cat thought. "I could make it a bit more powerful. Probably."

It was better than nothing. Alex reached into her bag and touched Rocket, activating her Catalyst power. Wispy tendrils of power collected in her hand, the essence of Rocket. Bringing it over to Butterwhiskers, she whispered, "Cataclysm." And combined the powers.

Tendrils of black erupted from Butterwhiskers and into the sky, reaching for the Varnoss. The enemy tried to dodge out of the way but the tendrils chased them. It would reach one ship and pass through before moving to another. Soon a black tree had formed in the sky.

Any ship the tendrils touched started to have engine troubles. Smoke erupted from the engines and blinded the enemy for a few precious seconds. No bombers fell during that time so June and Nathan were able to catch their breath. But the Cat Sidhe's attack wasn't over yet.

The smoke clouds created by the malfunctioning Varnoss aircraft started to form together into clouds. The clouds hung above the fight, growing darker and darker. Soon Alex saw sparks of lightning arc from one cloud to another. She watched as the first strike of lightning shot down, striking into a group of fighters.

The bombers wheeled around again to attack, this time doubling their payload. June and Nathan caught them all, but just barely. "They're coming around again!" Alex yelled.

This time June and Nathan didn't have enough time to catch all the bombs. Most were stopped, but a few landed on the dome in fiery explosions. Sir Purrsalot covered everyone in his barrier as they were hit by the force from every side. The explosion knocked June off her feet as it shook the dome.

Desperately, she forced her power into the next salvo of bombs. "We can't stop them all!" Alex yelled. "We need to get down before the dome collapses!"

June grunted in response. She wasn't listening. Three Cities had become her home and damn it she wasn't about to let some army come marching in. She strained her power to the limits, catching wave after wave of bombs.

An umbrella of danger now hovered above the three, June's power the only thing keeping it from falling. "There's too many," Nathan said. "If I set off one bomb the rest will follow."

"Just do it," June grunted.

"No!" Alex cried. "Get us under the dome first. Sir Purrsalot can't take that many attacks. He's already tiring out!"

June looked up at the mass of explosions and cursed. "Fine, we'll move under the dome."

Nathan grabbed June by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulders. "Hey!" She cried.

"Focus on your power," Nathan answered.

The group walked to one of the unused turrets and jumped in, June straining as she moved further from the bombs. Once all of them were inside, Nathan looked upwards. "I hope the dome can take it." He used his blessing as June let go.

Sir Purrsalot put up another barrier as a second sun appeared over the dome. Explosion after explosion pounded the top but it looked like the dome would hold. June prepared herself for the next salvo. But it didn't come. As the last of the bombs detonated a beam of light shot through and collided into the transparent wall of the dome.

The light ate away at Three Cities protection and carved a hole straight into the city. "No!" June yelled. The light traveled straight into the center of the city, hitting the engines. The whole city shook and then fell.

Alex braced for impact as the city hit the dirt. Structures cracked, roads shattered, and the entire dome fell to pieces. Shards of glass and brick fell down on those still left in the city. Dust kicked upwards as it all landed.

It was hard to breathe. From the destruction or the dust, Alex didn't know. Coughing, she stood. "Oh Jim-Jam!"

The Palug was standing above Alex, pushing against a fallen wall. The left side of his body had been scraped raw and was bleeding heavily. "You okay, Alpha?" He meowed.

"Oh no sweetie. I'm fine. But you're not. We need to find you a vet!" Alex was hysteric. She didn't know what she'd do if she lost her cats.

Nathan groaned in pain behind her, but she didn't pay attention. Jim-Jam was the priority. She dove into her satchel and pulled out heaps of gauze. She had to patch him up.

Sir Purrsalot meowed weakly behind. Alex turned to see the komainu was on its side, exhausted. June and Nathan were next to it, coughing and standing. She quickly wrapped Jim-Jam's wounds and put him in the bag. The wall he held up fell down in front of Alex, kicking up more dust. She turned to Sir Purrsalot and placed him inside as well.

With her cats taken care of for the moment, Alex now saw all the destruction. "Oh god."

The city had landed back on top of the hill it was taking off from, which split the city to pieces from the center. The five pillars were splayed outwards. Remnants of the buildings built on them held on for dear life. The dome had been completely destroyed, only shards sticking up from the sides to show it existed. The falling debris from the dome and pillars had decimated the city. The forger district's unique buildings were crushed under layers of glass and stone. The same could be said for the rest of the city around them.

The Varnoss hovered overhead, waiting. Broken, Three Cities stared up at them. A screen in the air appeared.

"You know me as commander Delarossa." The man on the screen said. He was still dressed in the same military garb as before and had the same trimmed blue beard. "I am speaking to you to discuss the terms of your surrender."

Alex and the rest stared up. "You will lay down all your arms and your leaders will meet with me in the fields below. You may bring an escort if you want, it does not matter." Delarossa continued.