-10- OL' NEBBY
XPlode and Rotor had spent the mid-afternoon scouring the ruins of the Assembly Tower, cut off from the ruins of Makuhero City by what remained of its once mighty walls, for Von Nebula. Their mysterious leader, who had disappeared after they had killed the Alpha Team Heroes, was the object of XPlode's fascination and envy. He desired to possess all the power he saw Von Nebula wield. Rotor was extra, dumb muscle to increase their chances of beating Von Nebula. But first, they had to find him.
"Have you tried calling out to him?" Rotor asked sincerely. XPlode sent him a baffled expression.
"Calling out to him?" XPlode asked in disbelief. "Sure! Let's defeat the whole point of ambushing him by asking him where he is, yeah?" XPlode then scoffed and mumbled "idiot" under his breath.
"I heard that!" Rotor spat.
"Good, because you are," XPlode countered.
Such banter had been going on ever since they had chosen to follow Von Nebula. Rotor had long since been XPlode's henchman, usually buckling down and taking orders for a cut of whatever loot they were hunting. But Von Nebula's influence on the two of them and their coalition of other Villains had thrown the dynamics of that old partnership out of order. Both had begun doubting the value of each other's company, doubts that only increased the longer they were together.
The artificial landscape created by the arrangement of fallen debris inside the Assembly Tower's ruins made a series of slopes and valleys. XPlode occasionally ordered Rotor to use his rotors to fly atop a high slope of ruin and gain a vantage point of their surroundings. They were never able to find anything by doing this, and eventually stuck to foot travel.
As they approached one particular slope of ruin, the two noticed something never before seen. At the base of this slope was what looked like a hole, blasted down by some great force.
"XPlode," Rotor said, pointing to the hole.
"I see it." XPlode took the lead and broke into a jog to reach it faster. Rotor did the same.
When the two arrived at the hole, they noticed it was roughly their size, large enough for both to fit into. As they stared into its shadowy interior, they noticed that it was not just a hole, but the entrance to a tunnel. XPlode took a few paces inside, craning his neck to attempt to see anything. There was nothing but darkness, but a draft coming from the shadows of that tunnel indicated it extended for some length.
"I don't know, XPlode," Rotor said apprehensively. "Looks kinda dangerous." XPlode grumbled.
"What's happened to you?" he asked. "We did things three times as dangerous back in the day. But now a simple tunnel is going to scare you off?"
"But what if Von Nebula's down there?" Rotor asked.
"Yeah, that's the hope, you brainless junk heap." XPlode then activated his shoulder spikes and produced small flames to illuminate the tunnel. He turned back to Rotor with a facetious smile.
"There, sweetheart, not so scary anymore?" Rotor frowned at XPlode's taunting, but conceded and followed him in.
The only source of light as they walked was XPlode's shoulder spike flames that danced through the tunnel as he strode like elaborate wobbling candles. XPlode was not able to see much farther beyond where he walked, but Rotor who followed in his light was able to see the walls of the tunnel. They were irregular and jagged, suggesting the tunnel was made with blind, brute force. Something violently smashed its way through this mound of ruin and dug a tunnel.
As the two walked, they felt themselves hit a decline. The tunnel was taking them deep into the earth below the ruins of the Assembly Tower. The air around them steadily grew colder as they descended.
"So, you think Von Nebula's down here?" Rotor asked timidly.
"I'm counting on it," XPlode said confidently.
"Do you think he knows we're coming?" Rotor asked.
"How could he? Don't be scared of him, Rotor. You're as big as he is, you've got me, and all we need to do is grab that stick of his and we'll be the kings of the universe."
Right as XPlode proclaimed this, he jolted to a stop. Caught just within the light of his shoulder flames was a rapid drop in their tunnel that XPlode had almost fallen off of.
"What is it?" Rotor asked. XPlode breathed a sigh of relief that he was still standing.
"There's a big hole here," he replied.
"How big?"
"It's big, Rotor." XPlode kneeled where he stood and peered into the shadows of that hole. The more his eyes adjusted to the darkness below, the more details he could see. Buried within the shadows at the bottom of this hole was a faint, almost undetectable tint.
"Stay close," XPlode said to Rotor before suddenly shutting off his shoulder flames.
"Hey!" Rotor shouted after he turned off his source of light. "Why'd you do that?"
"Shut up," XPlode said, staring into the hole without any light. Only when in complete darkness did they see what was at the bottom of the hole. A faint blue glow was coming from the bottom, and it reflected against the hole's bottom.
"It's not that deep, Rotor," XPlode said. "And there's some kind of light coming from it. XPlode activated his shoulder flames again, and then without hesitation leapt off into the hole. He plummeted into the darkness.
"XPlode!" Rotor shouted. He heard a thud at the bottom of the hole. When he peered down into it, he saw XPlode standing up with his flames still burning. XPlode looked up to him and smiled.
"Jump down, Rotor!" XPlode shouted back up to his henchman. Rotor showed reluctance, but eventually leapt down into the hole. He landed hard onto the ground, his heavy frame rocking where they stood. Once he stood up, XPlode patted him on the back.
"Attaboy, Rotor!" XPlode congratulated his companion sarcastically. "Way to be brave!" XPlode dropped the act and then pointed out in front of them, said, "Look what we found."
Before them stood not a tunnel, but a corridor made from the same material and in the same style as the rest of the Assembly Tower before it was destroyed. Aside from where they stood, what remained of the corridor seemed intact, save for what looked like a door that had been smashed through. At the end of the tunnel was the source of blue glow XPlode had noticed. It appeared to be a door with the "H" logo of the Hero Factory illuminated in blue light. The door's threshold was surrounded by this blue light as well.
"That thing is still running!" XPlode shouted in glee. "Rotor!" and he grabbed Rotor's shoulders with his hands, continued, "We may have hit the jackpot! Who knows what riches are down there?"
"Do you think that's where Von Nebula went?" Rotor asked. "Through that door?"
"Yes, I do," XPlode said. "I bet ol' Nebby knew a thing or two about this place he didn't want us to know. Too bad for him we're hot on his trail. Who do you think dug this tunnel? Ol' Nebby, that's who." XPlode laughed, then set off down the corridor. Rotor did not follow. As XPlode ducked himself through the first broken down door, he noticed his companion had not joined him, still standing where he had landed. XPlode turned to him.
"Well, come on, Rotor," XPlode ordered. "We don't want to keep ol' Nebby waiting." Rotor looked at the ground hesitantly for a few seconds before following XPlode into the corridor.
The two of them moved through the corridor, a sudden burst of sleek cleanliness to contrast the jagged ruin of the world above. As they approached the glowing door, XPlode shut off his flames, as the light from the door provided sufficient illumination.
Once they reached the door, standing in its blue light, they could hear a quiet hum coming from it. XPlode shook his head in amazement.
"This is incredible, Rotor!" he exclaimed. "This door is still functioning! It must be running on a completely separate, self-contained power system. I'll give the Hero Factory this, they knew how to build! Where do you think this door leads to? A safe? A bunker?" Rotor was not as thrilled, standing quietly behind XPlode.
"What's this?" XPlode asked, observing a small panel with a button near the door. He pressed it, and saw the "H" symbol on the door split in half, as the door, revealed to be a double-door, slid off to its sides and opened for himself and Rotor. On the other side of the threshold was the interior of what appeared to be an elevator, standing in perfect condition. The white color of its interior was reminiscent of the Hero Factory design aesthetic that was known across the universe before the organization's collapse. XPlode stood in awe, Rotor in concern.
"Want to take a guess where ol' Nebby went?" XPlode asked with a smile.
"In there?" Rotor guessed.
"Truly brilliant, Rotor," XPlode taunted. "I'll bet he's at the other end of wherever this elevator leads." XPlode then walked into it, having to slightly duck due to the elevator's small size. There was barely enough room for Rotor to join him.
"Well, come on in, old buddy!" XPlode offered. "Glory awaits!" Rotor again showed apprehension about following XPlode but was pressured enough to join him. The orange Villain squeezed into the elevator, having to turn his cumbersome rotors on his back in order to fit. XPlode stood near a panel on the elevator's walls. He pressed a button on it, and the two saw the elevator doors shut. After they shut, they felt their elevator begin to accelerate in a descent. They could hear the faint whirring of the elevator down its smooth shaft. XPlode was delighted, but saw worry on Rotor's face.
"What are you worried about, Rotor-boy?" XPlode asked jollily. "We're going to be gods after we're through with ol' Nebby!"
"S-so…" Rotor began, stuttering in nervousness. "How are we going to get him?"
"That's easy," XPlode began. "We sneak around then drop him the second we find him! Simple as that! I'll whack him with my club and you pummel him with your sheer size. If he gets up we take our guns and unload on him!" XPlode then lifted his Meteor Blaster weapon that Rotor also wielded and shook it indicating what he meant.
"You think that'll be enough?" Rotor asked.
"Trust me, it will," XPlode said. "We just have to catch him off guard. Don't think too hard about what we'll do. Nothing works better than just smashing someone with all you've got till they're dead."
The elevator continued its descent. XPlode was amazed by what was happening, and looked at Rotor.
"Can you believe this?" he asked him. "How far below the surface do you think we're going? Rotor-boy, there must be something really good at the bottom of this shaft! And after we kill Von Nebby, it'll be all ours!"
After XPlode said this, a sound entered their elevator. It was the sound of fuzzy static. The two of them searched the elevator for its source, but while they searched, the radio fuzz soon turned into a strange whistling followed by several low hums of different tones. XPlode then saw the source, two speakers on both sides of the elevator's roof. He pointed to them and Rotor noticed them too.
The noise situated itself as a faint static again. On top of this faint static, a new sound emerged; it was a voice.
"What audacity…" it spoke, deep and fearless. "And what treachery. I told you not to follow me. I give you a universe to sculpt, I free you from ever having to worry about Heroes again and help you destroy the Hero Factory itself, and yet you still want more. You are Villains, indeed." XPlode's joy quickly became fear, and Rotor began shivering in his place. XPlode began pressing the button on the wall of the elevator, hoping he could make it go back up the shaft. The elevator however refused to slow and continued downward.
"Don't try it, XPlode," the voice said. XPlode swung up to the speakers in horror. Rotor began panicking, preparing his weapons and looking all around the elevator for anything that could stop them from descending.
"This is why I didn't share with any of you where I got my power," the voice continued. "I knew you would try to take it the moment you saw an opportunity. And what would you use your power for? Breaking things? Collecting riches? Trivial pursuits suited for the likes of wretches like you two. That is exactly what you planned to do by coming down here. I have a dream, Villains. And like I said before, I will not have it undone by thugs." The voice boomed with those last words, and frightened both XPlode and Rotor. The two Villains remained silent.
"No words?" the voice asked. "Of course not. But please, come down. Have a little chat with 'ol' Nebby.'" With that, the static and the voice disappeared, the speakers out of which they came falling silent. Rotor and XPlode looked at each other in terror. After a few seconds, Rotor then frowned.
"I told you this was dangerous!" Rotor shouted. "We're going to die because of you!" and Rotor began pounding against the elevator looking for an escape.
"Calm down, you lunatic!" XPlode blasted back. "The plan hasn't changed! So he knows we're coming. Let's just get down there and beat the daylights out of him!"
"He's too powerful for us!" Rotor shouted. "We don't stand a chance!"
"You're a coward! The moment this elevator opens we run out and attack! Simple!" The two Villains felt the elevator decelerate, its descent slowing.
"It's about to open," Rotor said in fear.
"Okay, get ready!" XPlode commanded. "Load your Meteor Blaster, get those rotors of yours prepped, and let's charge out the moment this door opens." In a mixture of terror and adrenaline-charged hype, the two began preparing themselves for a confrontation with their old leader.
The elevator finally slowed to a stop. They felt it touch the ground. Both lifted their weapons and placed themselves in a stance to charge.
The doors of the elevator opened. Without hardly taking a glance at what was on the other side, both of the Villains scrambled to get out of the elevator. But when they both charged through the threshold, they got themselves stuck. Half of Rotor and half of XPlode stuck out of the threshold, their other halves still stuck in the elevator.
"Move, you idiot!" XPlode ordered.
"No, you move!" Rotor shouted.
"You got us stuck, you oaf!" and XPlode then lunged forward with what strength he could muster, Rotor then mimicking this when he felt XPlode pushing. Both struggled to dislodge themselves from the elevator threshold. After several simultaneous thrusts of their bodies, both Villains slipped out of their interlock and tumbled out onto the floor of the chamber outside the elevator. As the two Villains scurried back up onto their feet, they looked out into the chamber they now stood in. When they saw what it contained, they were petrified.
The chamber was covered in a black slime that had been splattered across its walls, floor, and roof. The splats of this black slime were connected by tendrils of the substance, taking on an elaborate web-like appearance. But against the back wall was the largest mass in the chamber, so great that it extended nearly halfway to the ceiling. The black tendrils extending across the chamber all originated from this one giant black mass. As XPlode and Rotor took in the sight they stood before, they saw all across this black substance were swirls of blue color, and everywhere the black substance glowed with that same blue. Blue and black were the colors of their old leader. The two Villains searched everywhere across the chamber for any sign of where he was, but could not find him anywhere.
"Welcome…" came the same voice they heard in the elevator, this time not muffled by radio static, louder, and echoing across the chamber. It was deeper and all-encompassing. XPlode and Rotor aimed their weapons all around them, preparing for an attack. But the two saw something occurring on the surface of the large black mass at the back of the chamber.
When they had entered, the mass was covered in swirls of blue color of varying thickness. But at that moment, the swirls began moving across the surface of the mass, revolving until they moved off to its sides to open up an area of pure black. Once a large enough space of black had been made on the substance's surface, the outlines of a face began appearing. The face was massive, covering the entirety of the black area revealed by the blue swirls. It too was black, but outlined with thin blue lines enough to be recognized. On the face were red eyes, burning into the dark chamber. The two Villains knew this face all too well. They had found their leader, their heads beginning to ache once again at the sight of his ebon face.
"Were you expecting my old self?" the voice asked, this time with a face. "Something you could, how did you say, 'beat the daylights out of?'" XPlode and Rotor stood silent, unable to muster words to what they were witnessing.
"You are standing before the power of gods, worms," Von Nebula continued. "What I am doing here will change the universe forever, leagues more important than any stupid endeavor your ilk might embark upon." XPlode finally managed to conjure words to respond.
"Oh…yeah?" he said shakily. "And wh-what makes you think you're any better than us?"
"I have a vision to go with my power," Von Nebula answered. "Power without vision is useless, and that's exactly what you'd have turned into had you gotten your hands on this power."
"We had vision too!" XPlode defended. Von Nebula laughed again.
"Sure, sure," Von Nebula said. "A grand vision of looting and causing destruction to no end."
"So, what's your vision then, Mr. I-Used-To-Be-A-Hero?" XPlode taunted.
Those words suddenly enraged Von Nebula, the entire chamber shaking with a thunderous rumble. Von Nebula's face on the black mass exploded in blue light, his red eyes bursting in brightness. XPlode and Rotor stumbled to the ground as the chamber shook.
"Hero?" Von Nebula asked quietly as the rumbling continued. Then, his voice became a roar.
"You dare call me a Hero?" he bellowed, and the rumbling reached a climax. "My choice to abandon that life was precisely how I got these powers, worm! It was how I was able to destroy the Hero Factory!"
"How we destroyed it!" XPlode correctly, shouting above the rumbling of the chamber, somehow rising above the terror he felt. "You came to us when you wanted to destroy the Hero Factory!"
"Oh, spare me!" Von Nebula shouted with fury. "I wanted you as cannon fodder! I did all the work and you know it!" As the chamber shook and quaked, XPlode and Rotor watched as tentacles of the black slime began emerging from the mass on which Von Nebula's face was plastered. As the snakelike tendrils arched upward, Von Nebula spoke again.
"I'm not some warlord or conqueror after petty wealth or glory like you insects! I'm going to change this world we've lived in all our lives. I shall be a god presiding over this universe! I will strike down any who defy my design. Under my rule there will never again be anything powerful enough to dominate the universe, never again another Hero Factory! I shall enforce a world where everyone can choose their own roles, not as Heroes or Villains, but as individuals! And you will not take my vision away from me!" Von Nebula's words poured from him with great volume and strength, and after he finished explaining his plan, the tendrils that he had produced from the greater black mass swelled up in motion and began worming their way towards XPlode and Rotor.
"Taste death!" Von Nebula roared as the array of blue and black tendrils began racing to the two Villains.
"XPlode, what're we gonna do?" Rotor asked in hurried panic. XPlode looked for a moment at his henchman, then back at the tendrils whirling toward them. In an act of pure impulsion, XPlode forcefully shoved Rotor into the way of the tendrils and raced off to the open elevator.
"XPlode! What're you doing?" Rotor shouting, knowing he had been betrayed.
"Every bot for himself, Rotor!" XPlode shouted back. XPlode scrambled into the elevator. As he turned, he saw Rotor's limbs being ensnared by the black tendrils. Rotor writhed and screamed, positively unable to escape.
"XPlode, why?" Rotor cried in despair. XPlode, watching in half guilt, slammed the button on the elevator door. As the doors shut, XPlode caught a brief glimpse of the tendrils ripping off Rotor's arms and legs, the doltish orange Villain screaming as they did. When the doors shut, XPlode felt the elevator begin ascending back to the surface. When it reached its normal speed, he began catching his breath.
XPlode leaned himself against the wall of the elevator, processing what he had just seen and done. He was dumbfounded by how grossly he had underestimated what Von Nebula had become. A sliver of remorse coursed through him at sending the henchman to his death in order to save himself. But all guilt was dwarfed by absolute terror at knowing the kind of power that was growing beneath the Assembly Tower, a power he had just narrowly escaped from.
The radio static from before came into the chamber through the speakers. XPlode looked at them, aiming his gun at them as if Von Nebula himself was going to emerge from them.
Von Nebula's voice spoke again through them, this time consumed with rage.
"Your treachery knows no bounds, doesn't it?" he asked XPlode through the speakers. "First you seek to betray your old leader, and then you condemn your longtime partner to his death just to save your skin. What a truly despicable creature you are, XPlode." XPlode wanted to reply, but could not. Fear had sealed his mouth shut.
"But do you really think you've escaped me?" Von Nebula asked. XPlode's heart began pounding in fear.
Von Nebula continued, "That elevator is almost out of power. If it doesn't fail you, then I will come after you. I will strike you down the moment I reach transcendence. Run as far as you like, XPlode. Enjoy what time you have left. You won't be able to run from me for much longer." With that, the static of the speakers shut off. XPlode began shaking his head, his body shaking erratically. He believed every word Von Nebula said. There was no running from the power he possessed.
After roughly another minute, XPlode felt the elevator decelerate, approaching the corridor through which he and Rotor had accessed it. As it slowed, XPlode's thoughts spiraled into chaos. The sense that he was now the target of his old leader, who claimed he was becoming a god, was manifesting itself as hopelessness. He was regretting ever forming a partnership with Von Nebula in the first place.
The elevator stopped at last, and the doors opened into the dark corridor. XPlode stood in the elevator for several seconds, shaken by what he had just experienced. He finally brought himself to exit and stand in the corridor. He activated the flames on his shoulders, and walked through the corridor in defeat. He approached the floor of the hole he and Rotor had jumped down, recalling those moments not so long ago when his partner was still alive and breathing next to him.
As he walked to the rubble ground at the bottom of the hole, he looked up. His flames illuminated the drop, revealing its deceptively small height. XPlode leapt up onto one of the walls and slammed his club into it to hang on. He repeated this until he had scaled the entire hole and lifted himself back up into the tunnel that led back up to the surface. As he stood up, he could see the faint light of the surface daytime reaching into the shadows of the tunnel.
XPlode began the walk upward to the surface. He put out the flames from his shoulder spikes as he saw the exit of the tunnel approach. The walk upward set his mind ablaze. He marched mindlessly up, gripping his weapons tighter and tighter. He replayed the journey down into the chamber and what happened once he encountered Von Nebula over and over. The fear he felt was present, but it was being ever suppressed by a denial XPlode was sliding into.
As the gritty red Villain reached the end of the tunnel and entered the warmer air of the surface inside the ruins of the Assembly Tower, as his eyes adjusted to the dimming brightness of the late afternoon, a decision had entered his head. He lifted his weapons, gazed out into the ruins around him. A twisted, false smile wrapped across his tusked head.
XPlode raised his weapons triumphantly into the air, firing off the flames on his shoulder spikes again. He began laughing maniacally at himself, and then exclaimed into the open air, "Hah-hah! Ol' Nebs has nothing on me! No sir, he doesn't!" XPlode trotted around dumbly firing off his Meteor Blaster indiscriminately and smashing pieces of ruin apart with his club.
He continued in mad joy, "Come at me, world! Show XPlode what you're made of! I'm the king of Villains! I'm the biggest, baddest Villain in the universe! And I'll kill you all! Yes sir, I will! I'll kill you all!"