"Oh good, you still remember me," the cyborg teenager replied "I thought you would've forgotten me, seeing as how you left me behind!"
"But you were…"
"Dead?" she finished "yeah, actually, a busted Normbot propped up part of the wall, so it didn't fall on me completely. Of course, if you hadn't been so busy trying to get your brothers to safety and actually bothered to check, you would've known that!"
"Stace, I swear, if I had any idea that you were still there, I would've come and gotten you," Candace 2 explained.
"Oh well then, that makes up for everything," Stacy 2 replied "oh wait, no it doesn't!"
"I realize you're mad at what happened," Candace 2 explained "and I should've come back to look for you, but Phineas & Ferb were being swarmed and I…"
"Oh big surprise, you put your brothers before me, again," Stacy 2 said "you always do this! It was always 'sorry Stace, I can't go to the mall with you, I have to watch Phineas & Ferb' or 'I can't fight Normbots with you right now, Phineas & Ferb might get hurt.' And now, because of you, look at what I've become! Do you have any idea how hard it is to buy clothes when you're half metal!"
"I didn't make you a cyborg, Doofenshmirtz did," Candace 2 said "shouldn't you blame him for your condition?"
"Yeah, maybe," Stacy replied "on the other hand, he did help me see what a rotten friend you really were. Plus, being general of an army is way better than being some faceless Resistance member."
"Stace, you can't mean that…"
"I'm Stacyborg now, and I'm done listening!" Stacyborg said, transforming her arm into a laser and blasting the assorted rebels, sending them scattering.
"Pretty impressive huh?" Doof 2 commented "now then, as I was saying earlier, destroy them!"
"Except for Candace," Stacyborg chimed in, narrowing her eyes "she's all mine."
The Normbots closed in on the heroes, with the Firestorm girls wrapping their ropes around the arms of one of them.
"Okay girls, pull!" Isabella ordered.
The girls yanked with all their might, and managed to pull the bot to the stage by its' arms. Isabella then wrapped her rope around its' head and pulled until it came off.
"Good work girls," she said, "now help Candace."
The Firestorm girls saluted their leader and ran off to where Candace 2 was dodging attacks from her now cyborg BFF.
"Stacy, I don't want to fight you."
"Too bad I don't feel the same way!" Stacyborg said, as she was about to blast Candace 2. But a pair of ropes from the Firestorm girls appeared and wrapped around the arm, pulling it aside.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding!" she said. Using her free arm, she pulled the bow off her hair and used it to cut free the rope, then turned around and sent the girls packing with a volley of laser fire.
"Razor sharp bow, one of my new features," she explained to Candace 2. "Here, check it out," she added, tossing it at her former friend. Candace 2 dodged it, but it boomeranged back to its owner, with Stacyborg catching it and putting it back on.
"Let's see you dodge these!" she said, converting her arm into a missile launcher and firing a volley at her ex-BFF. Candace 2 barely managed to duck and maneuver out of the way, as the missiles crashed into parts of the stage or other Normbots.
"I told you, I won't fight you," Candace 2 re-iterated.
"And I told you, I'm done talking!" Stacyborg said, converting her hand into a mace and charging forward.
Elsewhere on the platform, Phineas & Ferb were looking over their destroyed invention, hoping they could rebuild it.
"I don't think the laser damaged it too badly," Phineas said "we might be able to fix it if we make a few adjustments."
Before they could get to work, however, a Normbot hovered over them. Seeing his owners in danger, Perry leapt over to stand in front of them and protect them. But, before the Normbot could attack, a floating baseball slammed repeatedly into it, smashing its head into bits.
"Yeah, that's right!" Candace said, coming into view with the baseball launcher "take that you stupid pile of metal. Who rocks? Candace rocks. Oh yeah…" a bevy of lasers landed mere inches from the teen's feet, causing her to run off screaming.
"She really should've known better than to brag," Phineas said "hey, can you guys provide cover for me while I work on fixing this thing?"
Perry nodded, while Ferb whipped off his shoes and socks and converted them into weapons.
"Ah shoechucks, good choice."
Doofenshmirtz 2, meanwhile, was watching all the action from a safe place on the stage.
"It's muffin time sir," said an apron-wearing Normbot approaching him.
"Already? Well, I guess I can have just one," he said, but as he reached for the tray, a spike jammed through the Normbot's chest, shorting him out and causing him to drop his tray, the muffins scattering everywhere.
"Nooooo! Muffin Norm, you were my favorite!" Doof 2 lamented. He then noticed Buford 2 removing one of his spiked boots from the back of the Normbot and fled to safety.
"Buford, quit playing around and help us!" Isabella 2 screamed at him, as she dodged laser fire.
"In a minute," Buford 2 replied, as he scooped up as many of the downed muffins as he could carry.
"Okay, you know what, things are getting a little too dangerous here for my tastes," Doofenshmirtz 2 commented, then shouted towards Stacyborg "well, I'm gonna let you two friends catch up; try to bring back what's left of these guys so I can make borgs out of them."
"Except for Candace," Stacyborg added, glaring at the redhead, "there's not going to be enough of her left."
Doof 2 then made his escape, but it didn't go unnoticed, as Isabella 2 spotted him.
"Doof's getting away! Cover me girls!" she shouted. The Firestorm girls complied as Isabella 2 ran after the evil dictator. However, a pair of Normbots crossed her path.
"I don't have time for this," she said, sliding between them. When they attempted to follow her, the Firestorm girls used their ropes to hold them back. However, another Normbot blocked Isabella 2's path moments later.
"Oh come on!" she exclaimed, and used her rope to wrap around its' torso, then spun him around like a top. Once she was sure he was disoriented, she ran off after Doof 2, only to see he had escaped in a convenient nearby escape ship.
"And I was so close!" she said, before rushing back to join the others.
Meanwhile, Candace was still refusing to land a blow on Stacyborg, for fear of hurting her friend.
"Come on Stacy, you can do it; fight Doof's control over you," Candace 2 told her.
"Why? I like the new me," Stacyborg replied "but if you're not going to do this, then I know just what to do to make you."
Spotting Phineas 2 & Ferb 2 battling Normbots, the girlborg activated a jetpack and zoomed over towards them. Although the two boys could hold their own against the robots, they were quickly grabbed by Stacyborg.
"Help!" Phineas 2 shouted.
"Let them go," Candace 2 warned.
"You want 'em? Come get 'em!" Stacyborg said, flying off towards downtown. Candace 2 quickly followed her, with the others noticing.
"Come on team, our leader needs us!" Isabella 2 said.
"Actually, chief, that may a little difficult at the moment," Gretchen 2 pointed out, as the various Normbots closed in on them. The girls prepared to stand their ground, but before anything could happen, the Normbots went blank and slumped over.
"There, good as new; I knew I could fix it," Phineas said proudly.
"Good work other Phineas," Isabella 2 said "come on everyone, we need to help our leader!"
"Hey, wait for me!" Buford 2 said through a mouth of muffin, as he saw the others leave. He shoved what muffins he could into his pants and chased after them.
Stacyborg eventually flew towards the top of a tall skyscraper. After catching up with her, Candace 2 removed one of the grapplers on her belt, shot it upwards, and followed. The others arrived soon after.
"We need to figure out how to get up there," Isabella 2 said.
"I got an idea," Buford 2 responded "get on my shoulders and we'll form a human ladder."
"Buford, the building has to be at least ten stories."
"Why do you always have to shoot down ideas?"
"I've got an idea," Phineas said "c'mon Ferb, we need to get back to the platform."
"What are those two up to?" Isabella 2 asked, as she watched them run off.
"Welcome to my world," Candace answered.
Candace 2 made it up to the roof and flipped unto it, only to see Stacyborg dangling her brothers over the edge in her robot arm.
"As I said earlier, let them go," Candace 2 warned, getting her quarterstaff out.
"Not exactly the best choice of words," Stacyborg commented, lowering the two ever so slightly.
"Help sis!" Phineas 2 said.
"Come on Candace, if you want to save them, you need to stop me," Stacyborg mocked her "but I know you won't because you said so yourself; you don't hurt your friends."
Candace 2 lowered her head in defeat "you're right Stacy, I won't hurt my friends." Then she raised her head again "but I was right too."
Oh? About what?"
"I was right when I said you died in that factory," Candace 2 began "because the Stacy Hirano I knew, then one who served with me in the Resistance, who I was proud to call my friend, would never do something like this. You may look and sound like her, but you're not; you're just a metallic mockery of who she was. So yes Stacy, I won't hurt my friends; but you are no longer my friend, and I WILL…HURT…YOU!"
With that, she charged forward, ramming her quarterstaff into her once-friend, causing her to drop Phineas & Ferb 2. Candace 2 quickly pulled out of one of her grapplers, but Stacyborg grabbed her from behind and held her down
"Sorry Candace, you sacrificed my life to save them once, but not again!" she said.
Candace 2 struggled against her grip, but couldn't get up. She heard the sounds of her brothers screaming as they fell, then…nothing. Had they hit the ground already?
Stacyborg also seemed confused and loosened her grip to peer over the side. "What the? Where did they go?" she asked incredulously.
"Looking for them?" came a familiar voice.
Stacyborg turned and saw Phineas, Ferb, Candace & Perry flying nearby on a re-wired Normbot carcass. Phineas 2 & Ferb 2 were also safely aboard.
"Why you rotten brats! I'll…" she began, converting her arm into the missile launcher, but Candace 2 whacked it with her staff, sending the missile off course into another building. She then gave her former friend a "bring it on" hand signal and both began to fight.
The others, meanwhile, positioned the Normbot on the roof so they could watch the battle.
"You know, there's a lesson in here somewhere," Phineas commented, watching the battle.
"What, that if I don't start treating Stacy better she'll turn into a crazy cyborg trying to kill me?" Candace asked.
"He didn't say it was a lesson that made sense," Ferb added.
"We have to do something," Phineas 2 said "she could get killed out there!"
"I know you wouldn't want that, but I think this is something she needs to do by herself," Phineas explained "it's a hero thing."
Back at the fight, Candace 2 avoided another blow, using her staff to block the punches of Stacyborg's robot arm. She then delivered a kick to her midsection, which did slow Stacyborg down, but also hurt, due to her half-metal torso.
"Remember, I'm half metal now," Stacyborg mentioned, before Candace 2 whapped her with the quarterstaff.
"That's it!" Stacyborg yelled, turning her arm into a sword and trying to slash her "stand still so I can destroy you!" she added, as Candace 2 dodged and flipped to avoid the blade.
"What is up with this dimension?" Candace asked, watching the fight "everything here is so dark and action-y. I almost expect a hunky German man to rush out here any minute. Actually, that might not be so bad."
"Really Candace?" Phineas asked disapprovingly.
"Don't judge me. Just 'cause I've picked my main course doesn't mean I can't look at a few appetizers," Candace replied.
"We are still talking about boys, right?" Phineas asked.
Meanwhile, the two now rivals continued to battle, with Candace 2 avoiding the blade as well as she could. However, she couldn't move fast enough and the sword sliced into her tank top, though thankfully only ripping it.
"The next one's going through you," Stacyborg said, with Candace 2 holding up her staff to block the blow. However, the sword sliced right through it, leaving her with two halves, which she quickly whirled like tonfas. Stacyborg slashed again, but Candace 2 ducked, then swept her leg, flipping over as the cyborg crashed to the ground.
Roaring with rage, the cyborg Asian got to her feet and converted her arm into the missile launcher, firing rapidly. Unfortunately, for her, Candace 2 used the halves of her staff to harmlessly deflect each of the missiles. Stacyborg then ran forward, hoping for a punch, but Candace 2 avoided it and repeatedly hit her in the chest & head with her staff pieces. Once she was dazed, she delivered a kick to her back, sending her crashing down again.
"You never could beat me in a fair fight," Candace 2 commented.
"True…but I don't play fair!" Stacyborg replied, sweeping Candace 2's leg out from under her. Before the girl could recover, Stacyborg kicked her towards the edge of the roof, then, using her enhanced abilities, jumped over and grabbed her by the throat, then started to push her over.
"Face it Candace, you can't beat me," she said "Doof's upgrades have made me stronger, tougher, & faster than you'll ever be!"
"You forgot heavier," Candace 2 added. Then, positioning her legs and, exhibiting the strength she used when she pushed down a massive lawn gnome, she shoved with all her might, sending Stacyborg over the edge, screaming all the way.
Suddenly, the Firestorm girls and Buford 2 arrived on the scene.
"Sorry we're late sir," Isabella 2 said "but we're ready for action."
"No need soldiers, the battle's over," Candace 2 explained.
"Man! I keep missing everything," Buford 2 whined "oh well, at least I got muffins," he added, eating another one, as the Firestorm girls watched on, confused.
Both sets of Phineas & Ferb as well as regular Candace joined her in looking down the side of the building were Stacyborg fell.
"Is she gone?" Phineas 2 asked.
"She was gone the night that wall fell on her," Candace 2 replied solemnly.
Suddenly, something shot up from the darkness; they all watched as Stacyborg, using her jetpack, hovered in front of them.
"You win this round Candace!" she said "but next time we meet, it'll be a different story!"
With that, she zoomed off back towards Doofenshmirtz 2's headquarters, leaving the others pondering what to do next.
In the final chapter, everyone says their goodbyes, and normal Candace makes an important decision.
