End Factory

by Dracus360

In an alternate series of events in the HERO FACTORY storyline, Von Nebula and his crew of Villains succeed in destroying the Hero Factory and bringing Makuhero City to ruin. But a great secret lies hidden in the remains of the Assembly Tower, one that only Von Nebula seems to know about.

1. The Being

End Factory

A HERO FACTORY Fan-Fiction by William Conley

To my friend of many aliases

Inikalord/Gonstead/Gonstika

Without you, this fanfic wouldn't exist.

Thank you

-Dracus/GenuinelySynthetic

-1- THE BEING

He awoke to a distant voice.

"Remember…" the soft echoing voice asked. "Do you remember?" He opened his eyes, searching his surroundings for who was speaking to him.

A long, copper coastline extended as far as the eye could see, punctuated by the soft lapping waves coming off of a clear blue ocean. He turned his gaze to the ocean, saw it extend to the horizon and beyond, twinkling under the light of a warm sun. He did not know where he was, and he saw no one anywhere around him from which the voice could have come.

Curious, he then raised his hands, saw their mechanical design and the black metal armor around them. The faint whizzing of motors within his hands sounded as he raised his palms up to his eyes and moved his fingers around. He rubbed his right hand with his left.

Fascinated by the design of his hands, the being then bent down to examine what he was walking on. He saw two pairs of metal legs, wrapped up by the same armor that cased his hands and arms. A foot was attached to the bottom of each of these legs, and the being raised his right foot, seeing a print in the warm sand where the foot was once standing. Setting the foot back down, the being turned himself around to examine the sand behind him. Indeed, more of these prints in the sand were present, an indication of where he had walked on the long coast.

The being took his hands and tried to feel his chest. His hands came in contact with a small armored body, fitted with simple armor casing. He ran his hands along the curves of his armor, trying to get an understanding of what he looked like. The being knew surely then that he had to have a head. Taking his hands once again, he felt for some kind of head. When his fingers met with the metal head he had been searching for, he felt all ends of it. He felt the back, the front, the sides and the top.

Looking out again at the ocean next to him, the being saw the sunlight reflecting off of the silvery blue waves both hitting the beach and out beyond the beach. He walked then in the direction of the waters skimming the beach's edge. As he approached the water, he saw the cloudless, blue sky above him mirrored in the water below. The being knew if he walked to the water and looked down into it, he would see his face. He started moving towards the coming waves, feeling his feet sink deeper into damper sand. Soon, the coming waves splashed over his feet, his armor protecting his inner machinery.

The being leaned out and looked down to where the sun was hitting the shallow waters. Not getting a clear enough reflection, he knelt down, the water now softly covering his lower legs. As he knelt, an image appeared in the water. His face was staring back at him. Its armor was black in color, eyes a deep blue.

It was shortly after the being achieved a glimpse of his face that a low groaning sound came from behind him. Startled, the being stood up.

Behind the being and bordering the beach were large rock cliffs, their jagged shapes rising high off of the sands. From somewhere behind the cliffs came the moaning again, the sound of some large metal thing undergoing severe stress. He looked in all directions, trying to find what could be causing such a sound.

The voice returned.

"The end…" the voice whispered. The being turned all around, searching not only for the source of the sound by the source of this voice. He found nothing in all directions.

"You…" the voice continued. "Only you…" After the words had been spoken, the groaning sound continued from the same direction. The being returned his eyes to the cliffs.

That was when cliffs began changing. The being's eyes began to ache slightly, as the image of the cliffs and the long golden coastline faded from his vision. Soon, the being felt cold dirt underneath him, and he began to realize he was not standing up on a warm coast. He was lying down, his entire body aching, amid great piles of rubble and ash. The image of the coast twisted and blurred, transforming into dull gray shapes. The groaning noise he had heard earlier was indeed something metal. When the shapes finished shifting, a clear sight of what he was lying in was presented.

The being was inside what looked like the remnants of a gigantic structure, the moaning sound a sign that the structure was barely holding together and in jeopardy of collapse. Massive cracks in the ceiling of the structure indicated heavy damage. There was no sun beaming down out of the openings in the ruin's ceiling, rather a cold, overcast sky. The air surrounding the being sent chills across his body.

The beach, the water, the cliffs, and the warm sun were all part of a dream, and this being had just woken up.