Chapter 2
Stormer, Furno, Surge, and Nex raced towards the research facility, weapons at ready. The main structure was on the edge of the Hero Factory headquarters, and as they approached Furno could see that it had withstood some damage, as it was apparent that a section of the roof had collapsed in. But there was still power being used, and indications that other bots were active within.
They were the first team to arrive, and they found the front entrance accessible. Stormer led the way in, on high alert for any potential foes, but their route was clear for the time. They started traversing the hallways, which led between various laboratories and testing facilities. The room they were interested in was the largest lab, located in the center of the complex.
As they got closer, Stormer motioned for them to stop. "Nex, scope out the area ahead; let us know what we're dealing with."
Nex nodded and activated a setting on her goggles, giving her infrared vision. This allowed her to sense heat signatures and essentially look through the walls. "The lab we want is up ahead, and I can see two or three bots on guard duty. Someone is in the center… someone large. They appear to be working on something. There's some sort of device that's also giving off heat, but I can't tell what it is from here."
"Good," Stormer said. "We're outnumbered, but we still have the element of surprise. We will wait for the others to arrive and assume positions. Then we will rush in at once, incapacitate their guards and take down whatever it is they're working on."
"Sir, do you think it's him?" Surge asked. "Do you think Von Nebula is here?"
"I assume so," Stormer said. "He likes to do the main work himself, but we know he's hired henchmen before. We may be in for quite a fight today."
"Looking forward to it," Furno said. He was the kind of Hero who relished a fight, and he had not expected this mission to provide any combat. Now they had a chance to take down Von Nebula, perhaps for good this time.
However, he paused; something didn't feel right. "Nex, how many bots did our systems detect in the control room earlier?"
"Five or six, maybe," Nex replied, but then she caught on too. "But I'm only detecting four bots inside right now."
"So where are the others hiding?" Stormer wondered.
There was a sudden rush of air behind them, and Furno glanced back just in time to see two incoming rockets. He grabbed Surge and shoved him aside, narrowly avoiding getting hit. Stormer pulled Nex out of the way too, but the rockets hit the adjacent wall and exploded, causing the entire building to quake. In the smoke, a new figure approached, giving off a gravelly laugh. "So much for your element of surprise," he sneered.
Furno narrowed his eyes as he recognized the bot. He was slightly taller than the Heroes, with a hunched back and large spikes coming out of his shoulders and back. He looked lanky, but Furno knew he was an experienced fighter, who had clashed with Hero Factory many times. "Xplode!"
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little fire tyke, Furno," Xplode mocked. "And here I thought I wouldn't get to have any fun."
"We've been exposed, so we need to attack now!" Furno shouted to Stormer. "You guys go ahead; I'll handle Xplode."
"Understood," Stormer said, charging down the hallway. "Nex, Surge, with me!"
"So you think you can handle me?" Xplode asked. "You haven't managed the last two times we fought."
"Third time's the charm," Furno said. He held out his arm, and his armor began to shift, allowing a blade to extend out from storage within his limb. Furno detached the sword and gripped it with both hands, even as he summoned his elemental powers. Soon, flames engulfed the blade, which illuminated the dark hallway.
"Then let's begin," Xplode said, drawing his owned spiked sword. He charged forward, swinging it at Furno. Furno swung his own up and the two blades collided in the air, with the clang echoing down the hallway. The two continues to spar, but as good as Furno was at swordplay, Xplode could still match him.
"I honestly wasn't expecting to find the likes of you here," Furno said, parrying an incoming blow. "I thought you were a criminal for hire, essentially your own boss. Now here you are, working as a lackey for Von Nebula. Again."
"Nebula is merely just my current client," Xplode shot back, swinging at the Hero and forcing him to duck. "I'll just say that my talents don't come cheaply this time. That said, you Heroes continue to make it difficult for a bot to find dishonest work in this galaxy."
"So how did you sneak up behind us?" Furno asked, dodging another blow. "Surely Nex should've spotted your ugly mug."
"As a hot bot, I've long since learned how to shield myself from infrared vision," Xplode said. "Just a few simple enhancements and there's nothing to detect. Instead, I merely watched you foolishly enter from the front, and followed in the shadows. You were so eager to bring the attack on that you never bothered checking behind you. And that's why you're going to lose today."
"We've defeated you before, and we'll do it again," Furno said, lashing out with his blade.
"Was that before or after I escaped your prison?" Xplode taunted. "It's happened more times than I can count. Hero meets villain, Hero captures villain, villain escapes prison."
Furno stabbed his blade, hoping to disarm Xplode, but he wasn't fast enough. Xplode caught Furno's sword between the spikes of his own weapon, and with a flick he yanked Furno's blade out of his grasp and knocked it across the room.
"And finally, villain decapitates Hero," Xplode said, swinging his weapon at the unarmed Hero. "Story over!"
"Not yet it isn't," Furno said, kicking back just in time. As Xplode's blade hit the floor, Furno summoned his blaster and hit Xplode with a burst of fire. However, Xplode had heat resistant armor, and he was able to shield himself from the majority of the blast. But this gave Furno a chance to sprint for his fallen sword.
"You're not getting away that easily," Xplode said, and he activated his shoulder spikes, which could shoot out rockets on his command. He fired two of them at Furno, who didn't notice them until it was too late. Furno summoned a shield to block the worst of the explosion, but the force still slammed him backwards into the wall.
"Now time to see exactly what those Hero Cores look like on the inside," Xplode said, pointing to Furno's yellow core. But before he could reach him, something metal struck him on the back of his head, nearly knocking him down. He regained his feet and glanced back to see a lime colored Hero standing in the hallway. "Looks like I've got another victim."
"Furno, get your hot head ready," Breez said, as she snatched her returning boomerang out of the air. Then, before Xplode could charge her, she activated her elemental powers of air and summoned a blast of wind to blow down the hallway. This caught Xplode off guard, and blew him backwards off his feet. Meanwhile, Furno was up again, with sword in hand, and he swung at the villain flying towards him. The blow threw Xplode into the adjacent wall with a sickening crunch, and he did not get back up.
"One down," Furno said. "Thanks for the assist, Breez."
Breez, however, glared at him sternly. "Of course you would attack one of these villains solo. Weren't Stormer's instructions to wait for the rest of us?"
Furno rolled his eyes. He and Breeze had trained together, but their fighting styles and personalities often conflicted, making it difficult for them to get along. But they had eventually learned to put aside their differences and work together in the field. "The situation changed abruptly. Stormer and the others should be engaging Von Nebula now."
"Rocka and Evo should be there as well," Breez said. "Let us join them!"
The two rushed into the main laboratory, and were startled to see a major fight already taking place. There were at least a dozen villains attacking the Heroes now; many had been hiding and leapt our when the Heroes attacked. Stormer was already in a battle with Core Hunter, while Nex and Surge were trying to shoot down the massive Rotor. Rocka and Evo had also arrived, with the former battling the stone-armored Bruizer and the latter attempting to take down Jetbug. Already some of the villains were on the ground, defeated, but there were still too many for the Heroes to all face. Meanwhile, Furno could make out the shape of Von Nebula in the center of the room, continuing his work like the fights around him weren't even happening.
Furno and Breez split up to go help their teammates. Breez threw her boomerang, striking the orange Jetbug in the back as he was throwing fire at Evo. This knocked him out of the air, giving Evo time to slam him with his pike weapon. But they didn't have much respite, as Black Phantom attacked the two of them.
Furno, meanwhile, raced to assist Nex and Surge again Rotor. "How have you not taken him down yet?" Furno asked, firing his blaster at the hovering orange monstrosity.
"Maybe it's because he has really tough armor," Surge said, as he threw an electric bolt from his sword and then watched it merely bounce off Rotor's armor.
"Then you need to up and amps," Furno said. "Nex, give us an opening."
Nex nodded, and fired energy bolts from her bow, directed at Rotor's head. The bolts failed to penetrate his armor, but now Rotor turned his weapons on her.
"I can't use more power without touching him," Surge complained. "And he's hovering out of reach."
"Then we close that distance," Furno said, cupping his hands. "Ready?"
"Ah, got it!" Surge said. Furno gave him a boost that launched him up in the air towards Rotor. With the orange villain distracted by Nex, Surge was able to land his fist on Rotor's back and unleash a mighty blast of electricity. This overpowered Rotor's circuits, and caused his namesake rotor blades to freeze up, and he dropped to the ground in a heap, sparks still flying off his armor. Surge made a less than elegant landing next to the fallen villain, and Furno rushed over to help him up.
"Nice work!" Furno said.
"Couldn't have done it without you, partner," Surge said. Although he was quite a powerful Hero, Surge did have some self-esteem issues, which meant on his own he was rarely able to reach his full potential. But Furno knew how to work with him and bring out his best. The two of them had also trained together, and Furno got along with Surge much better than he did with Breez.
However, their victory was short lived, as a roar filled the sky above them, and a large shape swooped in. Surge groaned. "Not Dragon Bolt! My electrical powers won't even be a slight irritation to him!"
But someone else was already taking on the new arrival. Bulk and Stringer dropped down from the hole in the roof, and the two of them struck Dragon Bolt in the head and slammed him to the ground. The massive dragon recovered and started shooting sparks at the two Heroes, but they expertly avoided his attacks and charged forward on their own. These two veteran warriors had been in the first batch of Heroes, alongside Stormer, and their skills were renowned across the galaxy and even throughout Hero Factory. With them on the job, Dragon Bolt would be out for the count in no time.
"These are some of our most powerful foes," Nex stated, joining Furno and Surge. "How is it that they're all here now, waiting to attack?"
"Von Nebula must've brought them all together," Furno said. "He's going all out, and that's why he needs to be stopped. These other villains are just a distraction; we need to go for Von Nebula himself!"
"Look out!" Surge said, this time pushing Furno clear of an attack. He turned just in time to see the squat green villain known as Toxic Reapa shoot acid at them, but Surge knocked him out of the way.
"We'll take care of shorty here," Surge said to Furno. "You go for the main baddie."
Furno nodded, even as Nex and Surge focused their energies on Toxic Reapa. Furno made a beeline to where Von Nebula was standing, and he wasn't the only one. Stormer had finally managed to knock out the spiked Core Hunter, and was also charging towards Von Nebula. With the two of them, Furno realized that they might actually take him down.
But Von Nebula had help incoming too. Furno sighted a rocket out of the corner of his eye, and just managed to dodge it. Moments later, Xplode jumped towards him again. "Our fight isn't done yet, little Furno!"
Von Nebula got to his feet as Stormer approached. "About time, Preston," he said. "I was wondering when you Heroes would notice that I was up to something. I'm so glad it's you who showed up, old friend."
"We're not friends anymore, Von Nebula," Stormer said, immediately firing a blast of ice at him. But Von Nebula swatted the ice aside with his staff, nullifying the attack.
"You're behind the black hole," he sneered. "You're behind the destruction of Makuhero City!"
"How astute of you to notice," Von Nebula said. "It seems only fitting to test this out on the wretched city where Hero Factory rose to prominence. And my research is nearly complete; I commend you for giving us the time to use your facilities while you evacuated the civilian bots. Without your predictable righteousness, I would've never gotten this far."
"Well, it ends now!" Stormer said, activating his ice sword. He thrust it towards Von Nebula's chest, but he quickly parried with his staff.
"I no longer am limited by a Hero Core," Von Nebula said. "Your attacks are worthless against my armor. You cannot win here, Preston."
The two experienced warriors continued to spar. Stormer clearly had speed and skill on his side, but Von Nebula was able to parry his attacks with ease, almost as if he could see them coming. Stormer realized that Von Nebula's psychic powers must have increased, and he was using Stormer's mind to give him warnings of his attack. But this knowledge could only take Von Nebula so far, and Stormer pressed on his attacks, regardless if his opponent could foresee them or not. What mattered was if he could block them, and Von Nebula wouldn't be able to stay on defense forever.
Furno and Xplode's latest fight continued on with both combatants evenly matched. Despite his recovery, Xplode had taken damage earlier, and his raw energy was lower than usual, and Furno pushed that to his advantage. Yet he still wasn't able to land any solid blows and taken him down for good.
"I grow tired of this," Xplode grumbled. He feigned an attack and stepped back, even as Furno lifted his sword to parry empty air. With Furno caught off guard, Xplode activated more of his spike rockets, which shot towards Furno. But Furno had predicted Xplode to use his rockets eventually, and was prepared to leap to the side. The rockets missed him, and he finally delivered a solid punch to Xplode's head.
But the rockets continued on behind Furno; instead they hit the contraption that Von Nebula had been working on. The explosion didn't destroy the device, but it did severely damage it.
Von Nebula turned in anger at this. "No, you fool!" he roared. "You're ruining it!" But he made a mistake in turning his back on Stormer, who managed to land a solid blow to his chest. Von Nebula was knocked back, and then Stormer hit him with a blast of ice, freezing him to the ground.
"Whatever this thing is, I'm going to make sure you never use it again," Stormer said. "Furno, I could use your fire power."
"On it, Stormer," Furno said, activated his blaster.
Furno and Stormer both fired their elemental weapons at the device, catching it in a combined blast of ice and fire. The combined temperature extremes caused the metal to shatter and the circuitry to dissolve. When the two Heroes were finished, there were only a few scattered remains of Von Nebula's work.
"No, this cannot be happening!" Von Nebula roared. "Not after all this work!"
"You can tell us what you did later," Stormer said. "But this time, your black hole experiments are at an end."
"Foolish Preston," Von Nebula sneered. "I will recreate this device, and I will master its powers once and for all. This is a mere setback."
"No, this is the end," Stormer said. "The only place you're going to is the Hero Factory prison, and we'll have a special cell made up just for you."
"You think you've won," Von Nebula said. "But your victory is premature, because I haven't even activated my back up plan!"
"What back up plan…" Stormer started, but Von Nebula acted. With a flex of his muscles, he shattered the ice holding him, and the chunks flew and hit Stormer in the head, knocking him down.
"Stormer!" Furno shouted, racing towards his mentor. But something grabbed his arm, and he turned to see that Xplode had him in his grasp.
"Not so fast, Hero," Xplode said, and he delivered a powerful punch to Furno's chest, directly striking his Hero Core. Furno fell back, more winded than usual from the blow, which had hit him in a vulnerable spot.
Von Nebula pulled out a small device, and attached it to his Orb Staff. He lifted it high above his head, and roared, "Let this be the end of Hero Factory!" With that, he activated its powers, which caused a bright flash that illuminated the room.
The fighting quickly ceased, as the villains began to flee, finally giving the Heroes some breathing room. "Von Nebula is a fool," Bulk said, as he watched Dragon Bolt fly away. "He just scared off his own henchmen."
"Perhaps," Nex said, glancing around. "Or perhaps they know something we don't."
Something in the air formed over Von Nebula, and moments later it resembled a black hole, one of his favorite attacks. But this wasn't one of his standard black holes; for it has a powerful suction to it, and soon everything in the room was being drawn towards the opening, Hero and villain alike. However, since most of the villains had already retreated, few were getting caught up in the pull of Von Nebula's attack.
Furno and the others grabbed onto various objects to resist the suction, but it was as powerful as the pull from the vacuum of space. Furno watched in horror as Stormer was lifted off the ground, having been too dazed to get a proper handhold in time. Moments later, the leader of the Hero Factory alpha team was sucked into the void.
And he wasn't the only one. Stringer, Nex, and Surge also lost their footing, and were pulled into the void. Out of the corner of his eye, Furno saw Xplode also get pulled in. "Nebula, what have you done!" he roared, before he was gone too. Von Nebula, meanwhile, was the only one unaffected by the black hole, and merely laughed as he watched the Heroes get sucked in.
Furno knew that Von Nebula couldn't keep the black hole opened indefinitely, so he merely had to hold on long enough before Von Nebula's powers were drained. And then he could avenge his fallen comrades.
Only something else was happening. Furno felt his body begin to shift, in ways that were not from the suction. He felt his joints and armor jam together painfully, as if they were getting crushed. But it was a feeling Furno had felt before; it felt like he was getting rebuilt. He had undergone the process multiple times for Hero Factory, but this time the process was being forced upon him.
The other Heroes were undergoing a similar transformation, and unfortunately it was compromising their ability to resist the suction. First Evo, then Bulk, and then Breez lost their grip and were drawn into the black hole. A few other villains were also drawn in, and finally Rocka's hold on the wall gave way as she lost control of her hands. Soon, only Furno was left.
"Give in, Hero," Von Nebula sneered. "I know you can't last much longer."
"You won't get away with this!" Furno roared. "We will stop you! I will stop you!"
"I'd like to see you try," Von Nebula said. "But fret not, Hero, for I still have my uses for your kind."
Furno's grip gave way, as he watched his hands merge into his arms, which were already being forced into his torso. But as he fell towards the black hole, he saw Von Nebula leap in after him, laughing like a mad man. But as he fell through the black hole, he wasn't crushed further, and he watched the opening shrink as he fell away from it. "It wasn't a black hole!" he thought to himself. "He opened up a portal! But a portal to where?"
But the portal's destination was not to be revealed to Furno, because his body was still changing and condensing. Moments later, his helmet was affected, and his vision went black.