"Isabella, come on!"
The command came from a burly young person with teeth better described as tusks. He suddenly noticed a Norm-Bot (oh, how he hated them) lining up a shot. He spit out the gum be had been chewing, into the gun. It backfired and exploded, as Buford popped another piece of Tuff Gum into his mouth.
"Nice shot," the boy beside him complimented. The cropped red hair and ingenius laser gun in his hands revealed his obvious identity as Phineas. His twin, Ferb, said nothing, instead turning his waist to fire at a different Norm-Bot.
At this point, Isabella had caught up and used Buford as nothing more than a hurtle to leap ahead.
"This is so weird!" she yelled, "We made sure Doofenshmirtz was securely locked up, and the bots disabled! Gretchen even ran all of the scans!" Ferb shrugged.
"Where are we running to, anyway?" Phineas asked, taking another shot and knocking out another Norm-Bot.
"The Old Abandoned Warehouse," Isabella answered, "Candace has arranged a rendevous with Katie, Milly, and Jeremy."
"And the other Firestorms?" Phineas asked.
"Gretchen is running control with 'Jeet. We've got Holly and Ginger in the lighthouse as lookouts - thanks for the advanced telescopes, guys - and Adyson is with Agent P."
"You're still sure he's safe to be around?" Buford asked, still suspicious of the once-evil platyborg.
"No, no I'm not," Isabella admitted, "But Adyson's not alone. You remember the new recruit?"
"Melissa, right? Yeah, I know her. Passed your tests with flying colors, or so you said," Buford said, before turning around and producing a rocket launcher from nowhere. He locked, loaded, and blasted a gaping hole in the robots chasing them in a mere five seconds. "What about her?"
"If P tries anything at all, I've concealed tranquilizer darts on her. She's right there with Adyson," Isabella said.
"Didn't 'Jeet say his mechanical features give Perry extraordinary defense against mundane weapons and poisons?" Phineas asked, raising an eyebrow. Personally, he trusted his pet, but even he recognized why Isabella wouldn't take chances.
"Well, yes-" Isabella said, interrupting herself by grabbing a hand-blaster and a grenade from her shoulder-slung ammo belt. "And that's why we didn't make a mundane weapon or poison. These are specifically designed to slip past P's defenses."
"And if they fail?" Ferb asked, in a rare event of showing he was not mute.
"Let's just say, we can really, really hope they don't fail. That mace-hand is a heck of a hitter," Isabella said.
She then released the grenade at the Norm-Bots. Not one for waiting, she fired her blaster at it with pinpoint acuracy, detonating it immediately. The group had all but vanished at this point, and the few remaining bots fled to seek reinforcements.
"Good, a break," Phineas said, relieved. He took off his own ammo sleeve, mostly consisting of highly volatile energy packs for the blasters. "Lock and load, everybody. It's still a good two miles to the rendevous point, and we don't want to go into a fight unprepared."
By this point, yeah, you've probably figured it out. I'm Isabella... but not the one you know. See, I'm the rebel; the one who fought with and led the Firestorm Girls. While our "most esteemed supreme ruler", Doofenshmirtz, was attempting to take over the first dimension, Candace led us to take some of the pressure off of the second one. With Phineas' and Ferb's help and gadgeteering genius, we had all but reclaimed the Tri-State Area by the time Doof had the nerve to come back here again.
We locked him up nice and pretty. Well, that didn't last long. Just a week ago, he broke out - the cameras couldn't pick up anything, but we suspect outside aid - as well as his oh-so-dear daughter, Vanessa. Ugh, I can't stand her. And the way Ferb looks at her... you'd think he had a crush! I mean, how can he like her? She's evil! And all of us are good! Candace is good! I'm good! Doesn't he care about my- our feelings?
*cough* Anyway, he somehow rebooted the Norm-Bot systems (we'd sent them all to the Danville Scrapyard). And now the resistance is resisting again. It's wierd, but I'm kind of relieved. I mean, sitting around and doing nothing? Bo-ring!
Phineas' and Ferb's secret agent platypus has been helping us out, but I can't shake the feeling that Doof would have a trick up his sleeve to make him evil again... or maybe he's not good at all. I dunno. The Firestorm Girls and I have been ready for emergencies this whole time, and our new recruit, Melissa, is one wicked- you know what, I won't finish that sentence. Oh, yeah, and Buford decided to stop resisting us, so he's in, too.
And, of course, we have less elite recruits. There's this artist kid named Jango, or something. He's not too much on the offensive front, but he's pretty flexible, in more ways than one. And that's ignoring his creativity, outmatched only by the twins. Suzy Johnson, Jeremy's sickeningly sweet sister, is in training to join the Firestorms, but I'm not placing bets on her passing the rigorous entry tests. Irving is about as annoying a kid as you can find, but he's good with surveillance and espionage. I guess he works off his obnoxiousness around accomplices. Some girl named Lacey joined. She and Candace really hit it off, but I think there are better people to choose as friends out there. Lacey was a friend of Vanessa, after all. I think that about covers the newbies, but if I missed any, you'll probably meet them later on.
This story won't be written from my point of view. I'll only interject with bits of commentary here and there. Anyway, let's cut to the chase. No, wait, we already did that. And kicked their butts. Let's cut to AFTER the chase.
"Ah, you're here at last," Candace said, with her elbows crossed and an unpleased expression on her face.
"Sorry, sis. We were chased," Phineas admitted.
"So, what evidence did you leave of our current location?" Candace asked, not even bothering with the question of whether they left evidence at all.
"You can follow the blast trails for miles," Buford said, smirking. "Most of it was me, of course."
"Pft, liar," Isabella scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Most of the blast marks are from you, yeah, but Ferb and I were the ones who took out the most Norm-Bots. Right, Ferb?"
Ferb shook his head, pointing at Buford. He quickly pulled out a tally sheet, which noone had seen him using, with the grand totals of the number of robots destroyed by every member of the resistance. Even those who weren't with them. And, true enough, Buford had over 60 robots on his marks.
"Listen, there's no time," Candace said, rolling her eyes. She was as serious as ever. "Status report on current equipment, now."
"We used all ammo for Buford's rocket launcher, as well as half my explosives. The sedation needles are still intact. No sign of P's rebellion, but Melissa's on-hand with Adyson," Isabella reported.
"Hmm... we've got a bit of ammo for rocket launchers in the warehouse. Phineas, how long does it take to make more?" Candace demanded, as Buford ran in to reequip himself.
"Give us a few hours - 5, give or take - and we can make enough for about 50 blasts, easy," Phineas said.
"We'll work on it tomorrow, once we're secure at the house. Energy packs?" Candace continued.
"We have plenty. Enough for the whole resistance to fight for a month," Isabella answered, "If we can get our hands on more of the Norm-bots' booster packs, there's no telling how long we can keep this up."
"That's great," Candace said, though, as usual, her voice carried little emotion. "Django just called in. He and Coltrane have taken control of Manufactory #396. That's one less factory spewing out robots."
"Have we been able to contact the First Dimension?" Phineas asked.
"Nope. Way too much power involved. If we can capture a few more manufactories, maybe 20 or so, we might be able to run the Dimension Hopper. Until then, we're on our own," Candace said.
"Attention! Come in, Isabella!" a radio clipped to Isabella's side squawked, "Come in, Isabella! Over."
"Yes, what is it? Who is speaking? Over," Isabella responded, holding the radio to her face.
"This is Ginger. Norm-Bots spotted advancing from Manufactory #88. Currently headed for lighthouse. Please send reinforcements. Over," the voice replied.
"Approximate strength? Over."
"Estimated at 230 strong. Far too many for a mere two Firestorms. Over," Ginger answered.
"We'll be right there. Over," Isabella replied. She waited a few moments. "I said over." A few more moments of silence.
"Alright, move out," Candace ordered, "Milly, stay behind and keep a lookout. Call Coltrane and Django. Tell them to meet us at the lighthouse, and bring plenty of explosives." By this time, Buford had returned, already looking ready for a fight. "Make sure to tell them that they have to compete with Buford for biggest explosions."
"Yes, sir!" Milly exclaimed, saluting as the others departed.
The group found the lighthouse area in chaos. Norm-Bots were everywhere. Holly, on ground level, had tiny devices she was throwing at every Norm-Bot in sight. They were her own invention. They were actually tiny mechanical spiders, which would burrow into the robots and chew away at wiring and controls. The downside was that they generally blew up with the Norm-Bots.
Ginger, meanwhile, had stayed at top floor, where she used martial arts almost rivaled by Candace's own to beat off any who flew up. The ones that dared to fly up usually found themselves without a head.
Irving had intercepted the call to Isabella (his espionage skills were, in some cases, quite annoying), and was there as well. He had a set of electric nunchuks. Yes, you heard that right. Even if the nunchuks themselves didn't destroy the robots, the electric charges would. Of course, seeing as they ran at over 30,000 volts of power, it was a wonder Irving hadn't killed himself with them.
The group leaped into action. Candace produced a grappling gun, shooting it to the top floor. As she zoomed upwards with one hand, she used the other to punch out nearby hovering Norm-Bots. Isabella, Phineas, and Ferb took to distanced combat, shooting and vanishing behind cover quickly and quietly. Buford, not being one for tactics, ran into the fray, screaming, for whatever reason, "Leerrrroooyyyy JEEEENKIIINNNSSS!" Isabella almost thought his brain had snapped, but then realized that it's hard to snap something the size of a pea.
Katie's specialty was a bit different. She preferred melee combat, drawing two knives from sheathes at her side. She pressed buttons on the bottoms of the handles, causing them to coarse with the same electricity that ran through Irving's nunchuks. She sliced and ran her way through the robot blockade to join the side of Holly, who was beginning to be overwhelmed with the numbers.
"Holly, how many Spiders do you have left?" Katie asked, running a knife through a nearby bot. They continued taking out Norm-Bots, even as they conversed.
"At this point? Probably less than 30," Holly said, obviously unnerved. "Thanks for arriving so quickly. Milly stayed behind?"
"Candace's orders. Warehouse needed a guard," Katie explained. "I'm not worried about her. That place is surrounded with so many alarms and traps, no robot can possibly get through. Not even a half-organic one."
"Yeah, yeah, P's not to be trusted," Holly said, rolling her eyes. "Say, are those the twins over there?"
"Yeah. Chief, too," Katie said, "They don't like getting up-close and personal."
"I don't, either," Holly admitted. "Hey, Buford!" Buford ignored the girl, as he pummeled his way through the robots. "And... he's gone. He doesn't like to stop moving, does he?"
"Take the best adrenaline rush you've ever had, multiply it by 100, and you'll almost be at what he feels every single fight," Katie said, grinning.
Meanwhile, Candace and Ginger were still at the top floor. Ginger leaped into the air and kicked a Norm-Bot into the wall, and Candace shot it while it was stunned. They stayed silent and focused. Ginger was possibly the only one who was as consistently focused on completing tasks as Candace was, making them excellent partners. Irving had joined them, though, and his mouth more than made up for any lack of noise on the part of either girl.
"Hah! Take that! And that! And- ow!" Irving had barely brushed his skin with his own nunchuks, recieving a shock as a warning. Candace turned to shoot at a Norm-Bot who had almost exploited the second of distraction.
"Watch it, Irving. This is a fight, not a game," Candace ordered harshly.
"I'm fine, I promise!" Irving said back, twirling the nunchuks around to whack another robot.
"You won't be for long if you keep that up," Candace muttered, before going back to focus on the task at hand.
By the time Django and Coltrane arrived, the group was exhausted. Jeremy had cleaned out the inside of the lighthouse while the others fought those outside, but more and more kept coming. Holly had ran out of Spiders ages ago, relying on a hand-blaster to do what damage she could. Therefore, Django and Coltrane's own Spiders were appreciated when they delivered them to her.
Django had, possibly, the oddest weapon of anyone there. A paintbrush. His gun's energy packs had been depleted in the manufactory takeover. He resorted to painting over the Norm-Bots' faces, ruining their accuracy and making them a far more dangerous hazard to their allies than the resistance. His flexibility and small size allowed him to weave through enemy formations with ease, and Isabella broke off to join him.
Coltrane and Jeremy had paired up, both sporting fairly large-sized guns, but still nothing compared to what Buford gleefully ran around with.
"So, heard from your imaginary friend recently?" Jeremy teased.
"Stacy's not imaginary," Coltrane grumbled. "I find messages from her in my pack every morning. I don't know who she is, or why she's so interested in me, rather than Candace."
"Didn't you say she claimed to be a rebel outside of the resistance?" Jeremy asked.
"That's right. And she's real good at sneaking. I stayed up all night once, watching my bag. She never showed up, and my bag still had a letter in it," Coltrane said, scratching his head as a break formed in the formations of the enemy. "It's weird."
"Have you checked your bag for devices she may be teleporting them in with?" Jeremy asked.
"Thoroughly, though I didn't expect anything, anyway. The resistance is the only organization with the brains to make anything of the sort," Coltrane said.
"Huh. Well, I trust you to be telling the truth," Jeremy said, nodding.
"Hey, they're retreating!" Katie suddenly yelled, hurling a dagger at a fleeing Norm-Bot. It hit it's mark, as she leaped and stabbed through another. She retrieved the dagger from the robot's back, before switching them off and sheathing them.
Candace and Ginger were down in no time, carrying a groaning Irving.
"Did they get him?" Isabella asked.
"No, he got himself. Warned him the weapon choice was stupid," Candace said, rolling her eyes. "He'll be fine with a bit of treatment. Let's get the whole resistance regrouped at the house. We've got stuff to catch up on."
