There was a high pitched sound and Dexter jumped. His inattentiveness made so that he didn't even know what direction it had come from. The boy turned towards Fusion Buttercup's lair and readied himself.
"Hey,"
Dexter swung his arm around, alarmed, and Cael ducked, causing his fist to slam into solid rock. He ignored the blooming pain in his hand, more astonished at who was standing in front of him. "Cael, what are you doing here?"
"Number Five told me about you being stuck down here and I-"
"Are you KIDDING me?!" he exclaimed, frazzled. "SHE told you to come here? For crine out loud, I told her to keep you AWAY from here!" The boy started pacing back and forth, wringing his hands.
"Hey… Hey, Dexter – calm down, please! It's okay…" Cael tried to stop him and get him to look her in the eye, but he wouldn't look up from the black ash floor.
"No, it's not! We're stuck here now, without any way out, I told her to keep you out of here," Dexter took out his NanoCom and stated playing with the dials, trying to contact another agent.
"Look, Number Five told me that there was another warp gate out of here, all we have to do is find it," Cael suggested.
"I already know where the second warp gate is, Cael – the problem is that it's on the other side of Fusion Buttercup's lair, and to get to the other warp gate, we'd have to encounter the fusion monster."
That WAS a bit of a setback, she thought, sighing. "Well… We'll just have to fight, won't we?" Cael walked past Dexter, grabbing his arm and pulling him after her.
"No," Dexter said, pulling away, "The point of your being here is so that we can get you home, not so you can DIE,"
"Please, I think I've died at least three times here."
Dexter looked at her. "You… You're joking, right?"
"No. One of your friend, Grim, set up these nifty recall spots all over what's left of the world."
The boy's expression relaxed a bit, relieved of that problem. "Oh, yes. Resurrect 'Ems. I nearly forgot about those. Well, at least you're learning the ropes. You'll be back in your own time in no time."
"Hope so." She said. There was a moment's pause. "Well… are we gonna do this thing?"
"What?" he caught wind of what she was talking about – defeating Fusion Buttercup – and immediately opposed. "Damn. I just told you I was concerned with your safety, and you're still willing to drag yourself to Hell like that?"
"Language, Mister," she said.
Dexter took a breath. "I'm sorry. Things are just going the exactly the opposite way I was hoping for today."
"Do tell. I mean, besides being stuck in a toxic monster's hideout." She grabbed his sleeve and led him onwards as he talked.
"If the fact that we're in this stoopeed war isn't bad enough, now we're fighting it with our enemies!"
"Well, this is their world too; they must want to protect it as much as you guys do."
"Yes, but have you ever even met Mandark?" he shuddered. "The boy does not shut up about how superior to everyone he is."
"Ha, sounds like my old classmate, Andrew."
Dexter shook his head. "No, you have no idea the extent of his arrogance."
"Prob'ly not, considering where I am at the moment. But, then again, I don't have much of an idea about anything going on right n-"
Dexter clapped her hand over her mouth, silencing her. "The Fusion." He mouthed.
Cael took her small weapon out of her holster, her hands shaking.
"Scared?" Dexter asked.
"No. I'm just about to go up against a psychopathic monster who could possibly kill me. Nope." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. She tended to do that in a stressful situation.
"You'll be okay." He peeked around the corner. Fusion Buttercup was turned the other way, so he motioned for Cael to follow him. Dexter took out of his labcoat pocket as small device the size and shape of an Epipen. Silently, it expanded to a weapon at least twenty times its original size, closely resembling a wrench.
Both kids crept up behind the fusion monster, Dexter taking the first strike at it with his Melee, and Cael following up with a few dozen shots from the weapon that Number Five had given her. Without much effort, the monster fell down dead, dematerializing into the same goo that the fusion spawn had…
Suddenly, the mass began to glow, and Cael jumped back, brandishing her weapon. "Don't worry," Dexter said, seeming completely indifferent to the Fusion. "It's just a nano."
Cael heard the click click click of her fusion matter count drop, as the little green mass hovering over Fusion Buttercup's body took form.
"This is why I told you Fusion Matter would come in handy. It's quite helpful in creating nanos." At last, the nano was completely tangible, and appeared to be a small girl in green. "Cael – this is Nano Buttercup, your very first Nano. Congratulations." As fast as the nano had come, she started to dematerialize in front of Cael; at the same instance, her NanoCom let out an almost melodic tune.
"Taking a wild shot here, but she's stored in my NanoCom, right?"
"You're picking up quickly." He said, the slightest tone of pride in his voice.
"Cool. And I'm not dead. See how easy that was?"
"Yes, Cael, but that was Buttercup. Her Fusion Counterpart was fairly weak compared to the others because Buttercup is still young," they continued down the stretch of cave. "It's the others you want to be cautious around. They'll take no time in decapitating you."
"Wait – if you're killed by a fusion, do you still get redirected to a resurrect Em?
"Yes."
"Oh." She said her voice small.
Both kids walked on in silence for a few moments. "Uhm…" he muttered under his breath.
"Something on your mind?"
"I'm just realizing that I didn't really get the chance to apologize back at Tech Square."
"Appologize? For what?"
"Cael, you missed three years of your life and are in the middle of an interplanetary war," he said blankly. He knew she was just trying to be nice, but it wasn't working. "Don't be stoopeed."
"Alright, I was a little vexed when I found out. But it's okay, really. No harm done."
"Let's get you back to the past, then you can say that."
Soon, the pair had come up to another warp gate, the same as the first; green sets of tentacles protruding from the surface. "Go on ahead." He said to Cael. "I want to put my wrench away first." Upon which he stated to unscrew each individual section of the weapon.
"Kay." She said, as the green tentacles enveloped her, the underground cavern dissipating and being promptly replaced by the Pokey Oaks infected Zone. The whole thing was quiet, quite a few other kids simply standing around, looking at the warp pad.
Not long afterwards, Dexter came up behind her. "Congratulations, Miss Claw. Come on, let's go – I need to talk to Number Five."
The kids in the immediate area looked at each other, unbelieving. Cael sighed. She would have given anything for him not to have done that.
She had an uneasy feeling that Dexter was going to scorn Number Five for sending her into the infected zone at all, let alone letting her into the Fusion's lair.
"Uhm… Dexter?" She had to nearly run in order to keep up with him, he was walking with such intent. "Please, don't say anything to her about sending me into the Fusion's cave."
"What she did was reckless!" He steamed; she caught him by the arm.
"Listen. You're gonna stop." She said, not really sure it had come out of her mouth. "You're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm fighting in this war now, I'm going to have to fight as hard as any one else." This felt strange, telling him what was going to happen.
"You don't understand what's going on. I realize that you're learning everything as you go along, but as far as matters between me and other agents go, I would appreciate it if you would stay out of it. You're not here to fight. You're here to rebuild the time machine. Leave it at that."
She frowned deeply. "No." she said firmly. He tore his arm away from Cael's grip and turned to face her.
"Do you see any other agents as young as yourself? No, because they were all your age when this began! Each and every one of these warriors have been fighting since the war began; they're more experienced than you are!"
Cael looked at him, somber. "You don't think I can handle myself here?" she asked icily.
"I KNOW you can't. The time travel has shaken you too far. You're not reasonable, and your judgment has been far off, from what I've seen. You don't have any fighting experience, and you hardly know the situation…"
Cael looked away. All this was true, she admitted to herself. But that didn't mean she couldn't at least try. She wasn't in any real danger, and so long as she learned…
"You're wrong, Dexter." She said, taking off in the direction of the warp pad out of the infected zone. She leapt over a puddle of toxic fusion matter, heading up the hill, back to the beginning of the obstacle course.
Several of the kids were still standing around, having just watched the report between the two. Some dispersed, others stayed to see what Dexter would do.
He simply turned and headed to the warp gate opposite the entrance.