"Dexlabs has been attacked. There were explosions."
Cael stared after him, stunned as he ran off.
Dexter.
She searched frantically for the red-head.
She turned around, back to the podium, to speak into the microphone and ask where he was, but to her surprise, he was leaning into the microphone, addressing what was left of the crowd. "People, people. Calm down. Please remain in Hero Square until instructed otherwise." She heard, blaring from the speakers. Dexter turned around and was facing her. He looked up to meet her gaze and took a deep breath. "Come on," he said, to her. "We should go find out what happened."
The pair walked calmly to a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. as numerous Plumbers corralled the crowd.
The flight to the KND tree house was tense. In the car, she recognized two of the PowerPuff Girls, Eddy, and Computress, besides Dexter and Numbuh Five, of course.
Dexlabs had been attacked.
Dexlabs had been attacked.
Dexlabs had been attacked.
Somehow, she couldn't process this entirely. The most prominent safe haven in what was left of the world was being destroyed at that very moment. Cael rubbed her eyes, and this caught Dexter's attention, but she simply shook her head.
The S.C.A.M.P.E.R. landed and everyone rushed out. Cael looked up at the skyscraper of a building. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. There was a booming rumble and a fiery burst as something on one of the upper levels exploded, shattering the glass of the windows.
Similar explosion adjourned the rest of the fantastical building.
"How did this happen?" one of the KND operatives, who had just gotten out of another vehicle, asked, running up to the small group.
"That Fusion could have killed us if it wanted to." Dexter said, quietly.
Cael looked at him. What fusion?
The fusion that nearly squashed the two of you like pancakes, an annoyed voice in the back of her head reminded her.
The fusion that had infiltrated Dexlabs earlier that day?
"If he wasn't after us, then what?" she asked, pulling her hair back. She held onto the loose ponytail with one hand while searching for her hair scrunchie with the other. When she couldn't find it, she dropped her hands.
Something flew out of the window, but at the moment, it was too high up too see clearly what it was. It fell and when it connected with the ground, it sent chunks of asphalt flying, and everyone scrambling for their balance. When the ground stopped shaking and the smoke cleared, they could see a crater in the ground. Standing on the far side of it was a girl. Her skin was a toxic green, which contrasted greatly with her red Holosuit. Her black hair was pulled into a side-pony that only partially hid her bright red eyes.
The group didn't get much of a chance to marvel at this before Fusion Cael took off, jumping onto a nearby building and clawing her way across it. Before long, she was gone.
"Was that CAEL?" one of the soldiers behind her asked, stunned.
Immediately, she was seized by her upper arm, forearm, shoulder and hand by four different people and brought back to the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.
Fuse knew that she'd been facing off against his creations, but how was she to appreciate the true power of the fusions? She didn't know what the true difference was between the humans and their counterparts. And she never would, unless she was fighting against something comparable to her own strength and weakness... but of course, the Fusion Cael HAD no weaknesses, he thought as he oversaw the creation of new fusion spawn he was to send down to Earth. The hilarity of this was that he knew that no so-called 'hero' had ever tried to go up against their fusion counterpart. They've all sent the soldiers to do that for them.
The fusions are equally matched against the humans they're modeled after, so it would be an even match. If only the fusions weren't three times as durable as any human, even that Osmosian the humans call Kevin Levin.
Cael was dizzy. These people were swarming all around her, and she just sat there, completely unsure of what to do. If she'd felt like she was finally getting the hang of this, she was now realizing how in over her head she was.
The girl kept pushing the hair out of her face before giving in and asking one of the girls if she had a scrunchie.
Dexter looked at her. "Where's yours?"
Cael shrugged halfheartedly. "I have no idea. I must have dropped it when we were escaping Dexlabs."
The slight chatter in the bus went quiet.
Numbuh Five stood up. "Are you kidding me?" she roared. "You left your scrunchie with a fusion?"
Dexter stood in response. "She didn't know, Numbuh Five."
"Well, who didn't bother to tell her how fusions are made?"
For this, Dexter didn't have much of a response.
"And what were you thinking? Now we've got some crazy-assed Cael Claw running around doing God only knows what to our towns-"
"She's not going to cause too much damage," Dexter offered. "She'll start looking for a lair within two hours."
"Two hours is enough to take down nearly every safe place we have left! After seeing what that thing did to Dexlabs, you think you'd understand that," she hissed.
This struck a nerve with the boy. Cael could see his expression set, his breaths were deep.
"I'm sorry Dex, but you need to understand exactly what it is you did."
"I understand fully. I'm not saying we should let her run free until she decides she's done enough!" he shouted.
Blossom stood and moved across the cabin to the boy genius, trying to calm him. "Don't get too bent out of shape, Dexter." She addressed both, "We obviously understand that something went wrong. Any of us could have explained the Terrafusing process to Cael, Numbuh Five. It's on all of us." She said.
"In the meantime, I can put a trace on any mobile, high-concentrated Fusion matter." Computress said, analyzing the data on her clipboard.
"At least we'll be able to keep an eye on Fusion Cael," Blossom added.
"Yeah," Bubbles joined her sister. "Me and Blossom will find Cael and keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't destroy anything important."
Cael hung her head. All this trouble from one little scrunchie.
"How are fusion heroes created, anyway?" she asked, looking up at Numbuh five, who was coming out of her fury.
"A Terrefuser is sent to earth to collect things. Namely, parts of the planet to produce a wider variety of spawn. But occasionally, Lord Fuse will send out a Terrefuser to collect things from people. He needs a personal item before he can create a fusion. That's most likely why the Terrefuser attacked Dexlabs. Normally, fusions won't touch that place. But Lord Fuse ordered that specifically, because you were there with Dexter. He wanted something of yours to make a Fusion. And he got it."
"I'm sorry… I didn't know that was even…"
"It's not your fault, Cael." She said bitterly.
"Alright," Ben said, standing at Numbuh Five's side. "Enough with the guilt trip. I think he gets it."
"But there are still ways to defeat fusions, we can just-" Cael started.
"Lord Fuse knows by now that you are here, and that you would be the ultimate downfall of him. Your fusion is probably one of the strongest, possibly as strong as Fusion Dexter. You'd have to be suicidal to take on one of them." Said one of the KND operatives.
"But WE have the Grim Reaper on our side," she said stubbornly.
There was a quiet whisper.
"Cael, you and me are going to go back to the Out World Plaza together, okay?" Ben stood. "We want to separate you and Dexter, this way you'll be less of a target."
"Absolutely not!" Dexter roared.
"Dexter," Blossom grabbed his arm. "I know things aren't going as planned, but you're not thinking straight…"
"Don't tell me that I'm not thinking straight, girl!" he snapped.
"If Fuse could get rid of you AND Cael in one attack, don't you think he would? You two need to be separated. Don't be ridiculous." Ben said.
"And what happens when you're attacked at the Off world Plaza?" he asked, skeptically.
"I'll go hero. Fuse won't send Fusion Ben; he knows that's just stupid. I'll be able to take it out, or at least hold it off until we can evacuate."
She could tell by his expression that Dexter had resigned to this. She smiled wearily and hugged the short red head. "You be careful. I'll see you later." She said, heading off with Tennyson.
"Don't forget, we can still communicate through the NanoComs! If anything happens, I want to know!" he shouted after the pair.
"Of course, Dex!" Ben said, reassuringly, getting Cael into the secondary S.C.A.M.P.E.R. "Wouldn't have it any other way." He said, waving goodbye to the crowd as he boarded the taking off vehicle himself.
(Hey guys. This will probably be the last chapter for a while. My computer's been kinda wonky lately and won't let me get on Fufa, which is how I was keeping up with the story. If there was any confusion at all, what you've been reading really WAS a pumped up dramatization of my Fufa account. So, from here on out, I'mma haffta actually put effort into this thing and come up with an ending. Since I haven't been active in this fandom for nearly a year, it may prove more difficult than it should, so I want to thank everyone who's followed Cael and her Time Traveling Adventures, I want to thank everyone who's reviewed, especially Son Venvor, who has helped me with Character development and has provided a secondary character, and I want to bid you farewell until we meet again. And I promise that, when we do, Fuse won't know what hit him. :D Hope you enjoyed!)