Second Thoughts

Second Thoughts is the seventh episode of Hero: 108: Reborn.

Synopsis
Second Squad wakes up one morning to find that their deepest dreams and desires have come true, including their ambition to become the new First Squad. However, they begin to suspect that something is very wrong.

Plot
In her room at Big Green, Alpha Girl wakes up groggily. Still sleepy, she mumbles something about an unusual dream and climbs out of bed. Upon entering the briefing room, she finds Kowloon and Hurricane Lee playing cards. Kowloon comments on her disheveled appearance, for which she rebukes him, though she begins to mention the dream she had. She manages to mention that in it, she and her team had been Second Squad, not First Squad. However, before she can finish, Kowloon again cuts her off. She quickly reasserts herself as team leader, but by then the moment has passed and she neglects to finish speaking about her dream.

Instead, the team begins their training for the day, and progress through a sizable number of activities, each of which they execute with incredible skill. Archer Lee makes nearly impossible shots with his arrows, Hurricane Lee's axe chopping proves unparalleled, Kowloon makes record time in an obstacle course, and Golden Eye Husky performs extreme feats of strength, while Alpha Girl bests several other heroes of Big Green in a sparring match singlehandedly. After their training for the day is completed, they return to their briefing room, congratulating themselves all around, to await news about Commander ApeTrully's mission to Thylacine Castle. Archer Lee, the last to leave the room, stands still for a moment due to a strange feeling. From a bird's eye view, it is seen that the part of the room behind him is strangely warped. Another view, looking over Archer Lee's shoulder, reveals a view of a shadowy, red-eyed figure behind him. However, when he turns around, nothing is out of the ordinary.

Back in the briefing room, a klaxon is heard: a summon to rescue Commander ApeTrully. The squad rapidly deploys. After they exit the base, they pass Lin Chung, Jumpy Ghostface, Mighty Ray, Mystique Sonia, Yaksha and Mr. No Hands in the middle of a training exercise similar to those seen previously, commenting on how they never get to go on cool adventures like First Squad. However, after they are passed, they look up shiftily.

First Squad continue on their turtles to Thylacine Castle, which is located in a barren and rocky area. From behind a boulder, they discuss their plan of attack, an assault on the castle. With minimal planning, they begin an attack, dodging bolos thrown by the thylacine army. With the same exceptional skill with which the aced the training exercises, they make short work of the initial defenses, but find that there are more thylacine warriors within the castle walls. As First Squad continues in their battle, the thylacine soldiers release their secret weapon: a fuse at the bottom of one of the castle towers is lit, revealing that the tower is actually a primitive aircraft. This aircraft is launched into the air, from which it begins raining a shower of cannonball fire.

In the ensuing chaos, Kowloon is struck upon the head. As he looks around, he begins noticing strange things around him. Out the corner of his eye he sees out of place details, such as the towers of Thylacine Castle twisting, solid objects writhing like smoke, and out of place body parts on his teammates. After a moment, he manages to clear his mind, and all of these things disappear.

After Kowloon clears his head, the members of First Squad team up to take down the airship. Golden Eye Husky launches Hurricane Lee into the air. Hurricane Lee curls and spins until his ascent slows and he is about to fall, whereupon it is revealed that he is carrying both Archer Lee and Alpha Girl. He tosses both of them even higher into the air, as he comes back to earth. As the gain altitude, Kowloon also rises into the air, using jumping between falling cannonballs to climb higher. Archer Lee strafes the airship with arrows, and all scramble onboard when they reach it.

Atop the airship they do battle with Thylacine King, who has Commander ApeTrully tied up with him. The battle turns in First Squad's favor, but during the course of it, the airship is damaged and begins to lose altitude. It starts falling toward Thylacine Castle, but the defeated Thylacine King promises to make peace if the heroes of First Squad will save his castle from collision. Thinking quickly, they attempt to alter its course with the sails, but have difficulty steering. In response, they take the cannons and line them up in a single direction before firing them, successfully diverting the airship's path.

Upon landing, Thylacine King agrees to make peace. ApeTrully calls for a celebration, at which First Squad will be the guests of honor. In goodwill, Thylacine King gives First Squad a precious trinket from Thylacine Castle.

Back at Big Green, a party is thrown, celebrating the many exploits of First Squad. For much of the night, the celebration is uninterrupted, though Second Squad is unenthusiastic. However, as the party winds to a close, Alpha Girl is approached by Lin Chung, who cryptically asks her where "it" is. He is uncharacteristically forward and demanding in his questioning, which makes Alpha Girl suspicious, even when she realizes that by it he means the trinket that First Squad brought back from Thylacine Castle. To her distress, she realizes that try as she might, she cannot remember what was done with it. Nonetheless, she brushes off Lin Chung's questioning.

Late that night, Kowloon lies atop his bed, thinking about what he saw earlier that day. As he considers it, he realizes what Alpha Girl had said about her dream that morning. He subsequently goes to he room, which he enters, and finds Alpha Girl there, unoccupied. She greets him warmly and even comes closer to him, acts that make Kowloon suspicious of her, especially when she asks him where "it" is. His suspicions are confirmed when it is revealed that the real Alpha Girl is tied up on the side of her bed which Kowloon cannot see. Despite not seeing this, he calls the imposter's ruse and attacks, initiating a battle between the false Alpha Girl and himself which moves out into the hallway. Realizing that this Alpha Girl is stronger than the one which he remembers, Kowloon strikes a brutal blow and retreats before she can retaliate. As she gets up, her body turns gray, revealing her true nature.

Kowloon runs and seeks out Hurricane Lee, who is crafting an enormous wobbling cake in one of the Big Green kitchens. Hurricane Lee admits that he has not seen any unusual behavior, but both are interrupted by dozens of residents of Big Green, all of them gray in color and moaning in unison about "it", and all trying to enter the kitchen from every entrance. Kowloon and Hurricane Lee hold them off for a moment, but ultimately prove incapable of doing so indefinitely. Both force a retreat and move deeper into Big Green.

The plan to rescue Alpha Girl, though they do not know where she is. As they move through the halls, they come across Golden Eye Husky, fighting his say through a horde of the mindless beings. They join with him, and move toward Alpha Girl's room, where they find her. However, she is unconscious and they cannot get her to awaken.

Within Alpha Girl's dream, Alpha Girl is seen again waking up. She begins again by commenting on the dream she has had, but this time stops. Thinking clearly, she realizes that it was not a dream. She is Alpha Girl, leader of Second Squad. She grabs her club, at which time her room is attacked by the grey beings. She fights through them, but suddenly finds herself in a different place, a bleak moor. As she finds herself overrun, she is saved by a small man who glows blue. Though she does not recognize, him, he resembles Tien Kwan. He then turns to her, and she is engulfed in light, and awakens to find Kowloon, Hurricane Lee, and Golden Eye Husky.

They fill her in on what has happened, and how they are trying to find Archer Lee. Alpha Girl tells them what she believes: that they are dreaming, and tells them how they are really Second Squad. At this time, the encounter the real world's First Squad, who appear to be the leaders of the gray beings. The reveal that they have Archer Lee as a hostage. Archer Lee begs that Second Squad not let them kill him, and entreats that his teammates simply give them what they want. Kowloon is the first to realize that this is not the real Archer Lee, but another copy. They battle the false First Squad, and incapacitate them, though they prove very formidable foes.

Second Squad then discuss their next plan of attack. They conclude that they are in ad ream, where their secret desires were fulfilled to distract them. But they do not know why this was done. As they speak, they are ambushed again, and are only saved by the timely intervention of Archer Lee, who has found them.

As they flee, Archer Lee tells his comrades about a dream he has had, about a golden door which he could not quite reach. They listen as they run, but come to a stop at a bottomless chasm, which has appeared in their path. As their enemies corner them, the same blue man that met Alpha Girl appears, holding the gray beings at bay and telling Second Squad to flee. They follow his advice, and jump into the chasm.

They find themselves upon the same bleak moor that Alpha Girl saw. As they look around, their surroundings twist and shift. At the far end of the area, they see a golden door, much like the one Archer Lee mentioned. They move toward it, but again find their way blocked. Through a combined effort, they manage to reach the door, and finally touch it before being engulfed in golden light.

Second Squad then wakes up, this time realizing that they are finally in the real world. They are in a heap on the grounds of Thylacine Castle, which they remember now has been abandoned for years. When they finally return to big Green, it is discovered that they mysteriously vanished the previous night, though they have no memory of this. They speculate that whoever it was that invaded their minds was searching for information about something that looked like the trinket in the dream. All gathered agree that they are facing at threat unlike any which they have seen before.

Appearances

 * Alpha Girl
 * Kowloon
 * Hurricane Lee
 * Archer Lee
 * Golden Eye Husky
 * Mr. No Hands
 * Lin Chung
 * Mystique Sonia
 * Mighty Ray
 * Jumpy Ghostface
 * Assorted turtles
 * Assorted thylacine
 * Thylacine King
 * Commander Apetrully
 * Tien Kwan