Chapter Six: Wrack and Ruin
Without the lab coat covering her she felt even colder than before. She wished she had it, but she knew Dexter needed the coat more than she did today. She had left it on him, buttoned up to his chin, when the inevitable Fusion Mechs had hauled him away. He had been too dazed and pained to notice it or to offer any protest. She could feel his glasses in her pocket, pressing against her side as she wrapped her arms tightly around her knees. Lowering her head, DeeDee tried hard not to think of what was happening to her brother right now. The Ur-Dexter had said she'd never see him again. What if he was right?
She could not begin to imagine her life without Dexter in it.
What would she do?
Pressing her forehead against her knees, she began to sob for the first time since they had been snatched from the laboratory. Dexter was right. Fuse's monster had won.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
She might have slept. She couldn't tell. If not sleep, then she fell into a sort of hazy, numb trance that brought no rest or comfort. Finally DeeDee found herself staring into empty space, clutching her brother's eye glasses in her cold hands. She had never felt this way before and she did not recognize her state as despair. She had no prior experience with the emotion, nor did she recognize the fact that she was suffering from exposure to endless hours in the cold.
A sound rose in her throat, a high-pitched whimper that she was helpless to stop. The ache in her chest was a physical pain as she dwelt on the possibility that her brother was gone forever. There was no thought to her own fate. She had not reached that point in her grief. There was just a hideous weight pressing down upon her that was heavy enough to break her heart as she realized all she had left of her brilliant and annoying little brother was the black-framed glasses clutched in her fingers.
Lost in her dismay, she did not stir as a faint rumble reached her through the floor, more a feeling than a sound, similar to what she had felt as she danced in Dexter's lab. The Fusion Mechs were coming for her. Too numb to care, she just stared into the distance, seeing nothing.
But the ugly green monsters never came. Voices rose up outside in the hall, muffled, high-pitched, and excited, and suddenly someone was pounding on the door.
"Dexter! Dexter! It's us! Dee! You in there? Answer!"
DeeDee blinked, recognizing that voice. She raised her tear-streaked face from her knees.
"Dexter! We're coming in!"
"Number Five?" she squeaked. "Number Five!"
There was a commanding shout of "Quiet!" and then, "Dee? That you?"
"Yes! Get me out of here!"
"Back away from the door!"
She scrambled out of the way, her stiff limbs clumsy as she ducked off to the side. There was a crack and a shower of sparks and with a rumble of protest the door slid partially open. Half a dozen small hands laid hold of it and heaved, widening the open enough for the leggy KND to slide into the cell. Number Five was dressed for combat and carried a gun as long as her arm in one hand a small computerized tracking device in the other.
"Dee! Where's - oh, crud!"
She stared at the glasses clutched in DeeDee's hand with horror, her head snapping up from the tracker's screen.
"Where is he?"
DeeDee shook her head tearfully. She would have given anything to be able to answer. "I don't know. They took him to a lab. Hurry! The Fusion Dexter is here and he's going to kill him!"
The Kid Next Door was already talking into her communicator. "They've been split up! I've got Dee, she's got the glasses. She says Dex is in a lab. Check for high power readings and look out for his evil twin! Ben, you copy?"
From the communicator on her wrist came the steady, determined voice of Ben Tennyson.
"I'm on it!"
"Come on, girl, we gotta get you outta here," ordered Number Five. She looked to the other KND operatives waiting in the hall. "Move out!"
A hundred yards down the corridor Number Five abruptly stopped and the cluster of young commandos followed suit. There was a door identical to the cell that had held DeeDee. She looked to the stunned girl.
"Dee, anyone else held prisoner here you know of?"
DeeDee mutely shook her head.
Number Five made a snap decision. She motioned to her commando team.
"Git it open!"
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
He was adjusting the dial on the Omnitrix as he ran, full speed, down the halls of the complex. Ben knew exactly what he needed right now: speed, and lots of it.
"Jetray!"
He slapped the control atop the wide cuff on his wrist and instantly the transformation into the Aerophibian began. Energy swept over and through him, blending with his own body at a molecular level and changing his form, his senses, his very being . . .
And then he was flying at blinding speed through the ruined factory, searching so quickly that he looked like an orange blur. A great cloud of dust was stirred up as Jetray, a winged, tailed being like a humanoid manta ray, picked up speed. In seconds he had searched half of the sprawling complex, his speed increasing as his anxiety for his friend grew. His thoughts clicked even swifter than he flew.
Lab. Evil twin. Dexter, the biggest prize of them all after planet Earth.
He had to go deeper.
If only they had known. If only they had moved faster. If only DeeDee had not been in the lab . . . but then, if she hadn't been, this wouldn't have happened. Their capture had been a simple matter of time. The Fusion, the Ur-Dexter had wanted them both after all.
And the Fusion's spy had delivered.
Deeper. Deeper. These levels were darker, but darkness was nothing to this form.
Dexter had known all along what would happen to him at enemy hands. By making DeeDee custodian of his glasses, he had ensured her hope of survival at the risk of his own.
It turned out that they weren't just glasses.
Dexter had managed once again to prove exactly how smart he really was.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Within ten minutes of every alarm in their headquarters going off, they determined that the attack was completely localized on Dexter's laboratory. Ben, who had been closer to the command center than the lab, hurried up to the war room to find Mandy in her element.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
She spared him a glance and a brief explanation. "Something happened in Dexter's lab. He's sealed it off."
"Meltdown?" wondered Ben, knowing full well his friend had an unhealthy regard for uranium compounds.
"No." She jabbed a button on the intercom, talking all the while as lights flashed and alarms blared. "Slinkman, kill those alarms. Mrs. Warthog, rescue and fire teams to the bottom level. Evacuate all non-essential personnel from the lab to the ground floor, keep everyone on high alert." She looked at Ben. "It's the invasion protocol. Something got in."
"How?" he demanded. He knew that the lab was built into solid bedrock.
"No idea yet."
"Who else is down there?"
"We think DeeDee. She's signed in and we can't account for her."
Twenty minutes later he stood with Mandy outside the sealed laboratory as she entered her command codes into the key pad. It was a long process, given the multiple layers of security Dexter had built into the system, and the sound of the keys was all that could be heard. Ranged throughout the hall were some ground troops, a KND firefighting squad, medics, and all three Powerpuff Girls. Ben, as Swampfire, was poised to snatch Mandy out of harm's way if the need arose, and the trio of hovering girls was ready to leap to the attack if anything was waiting in ambush beyond the blast doors. The anxiety levels were palpable, though the only signs of this were the occasional shuffling of feet and flexing of grips on guns and equipment.
She entered the last number and with an ear-piercing squeal the steel doors slid apart at different angles. Layer after layer of metal opened before them until the last three doors got stuck, leaving a diamond-shaped opening about a yard wide. They waited. All was silent and dark through the hole and there came a smell of Fusion Matter and smoke.
Buttercup moved forward, glowing with pent-up energy and spoiling for action. "I got this one."
She flew directly into the lab, a streak of green fire, and instantly her sisters followed, loath to be parted. It seemed much longer than it actually was, but within a minute or two Bubbles returned.
"It looks empty as far as we can tell," she reported.
"Any sign of Dexter or DeeDee?" asked Number One.
"No, but the whole lab is really, really wrecked. The whole space in the middle is completely buried."
Number One motioned Mandy to stay put. "Right. We'll help make sure it's safe. Kids Next Door, with me."
"Hurry it up," ordered Mandy as Number One drew his gun. Quickly and lightly (with the exception of Number Two, who opted to go last and pitched through head first) the elite team jumped through the small opening. Presently Number Three came back, her face split by a wide grin.
"Hey there! It's okay. Bubbles was right! This place is a mess!"
Ben followed Mandy through, and once there he shed the alien form and returned to his normal self. He let out a low whistle. By the faint light spilling in from the hall, he could tell the lab had been trashed. Dexter would be beside himself if he knew.
The leader of Earth's Forces frowned, quietly furious at what this setback would do to her strategy for winning this war. She looked to Number One.
"Get crews down here immediately. I need to know what got in here and how and I need to reach Dexter's main work station to lift the invasion protocol."
"What if it's destroyed?" wondered the KND chief.
"This is Dexter, Nigel."
"Right. We're on it. All right, everyone, you heard the boss! Let's get moving!"
"Mandy!" Ben called as she turned to climb back out the blast doors. He caught her arm, leaning close. "We need to talk."
She gave him a long, hard look, and then nodded. "My office. Now."
It was a solid day - a day of endless worry, little sleep, and frayed nerves - before enough refuse was removed from the lab to allow them to find what Mandy needed to lift the invasion protocol lockdown and free Computress. The crews worked non-stop, to clear away metal and equipment and chemicals and items no one could identify. They found scores of weapon prototypes that had to be categorized and secured, explosive ordinance of all sizes and shapes, and things they knew were weapons but dared not touch for fear of activation. Search teams looked for Dexter and DeeDee without success, though they scored through the place with sensors and infra-red detectors.
Finally she got the call from Number Two that they had reached the center of the lab and Dexter's primary work station. Mandy was there within minutes, striding through the blast doors the Powerpuff Girls had wrenched open by brute strength. Ben followed a few steps her behind as she tried to see by the harsh beams of portable lighting. Dexter's work station – a surprisingly small space given the amount of work produced – was as heavily damaged as the rest of the lab. Undeterred, Mandy demanded and received a screwdriver, which she used to pry open a dented panel. She ignored Number One's little gasp of surprise as she removed an electronic key from a chain around her neck and inserted it into a port exposed beneath the panel. She laid her hand on a small reader and leaned close to be scanned.
"Computress," Mandy said, her hard voice echoing in the recesses of the huge room, "identify Mandy by voice, palm print, and retina scan. Lift Invasion Protocol Alpha on my command authority code Furor Omega Restore six, six, six engage."
"Auxiliary back-up system engaged," responded the computer instantly. "Laboratory command transfer complete."
Wane red emergency lights came on, scattered throughout the lab as the computer did its best to obey. Ben cast Mandy a look.
"Furor?" he asked.
She grunted. "He thought it was punny."
Accurate was closer to the mark, but Ben wisely said nothing as they took in the destruction. Just two days ago this place had been shining and perfect and perfectly ordered. Now it was a disaster area. Mandy let out a long, hissing sigh as she took it all in.
"Hey!"
They all turned as Buttercup came streaking up towards them from the darkness. She pointed to the middle of the lab.
"Those Fusion rats tunneled through solid rock! It goes all the way to the quarry on the west side of town outside our Secure Zone!"
As she spoke her sisters joined her. All three Powerpuff Girls looked completely indignant that their present home should have been invaded this way.
Mandy's jaw dropped, but she recovered almost instantly. She looked to Number One, but the KND was already speaking into his communicator, ordering teams out to secure the quarry and the tunnel entrance.
"Any signs of Fusion Mechs?" she demanded.
"No, it just stinks," Buttercup replied. She looked up as more lights came on as Computress slowly recovered.
"Computress!" called Mandy. There was an edge to her voice none of them had heard before. "Raise Grim for me right now!"
"Working," responded the massive computer, obedient to Mandy until her creator returned. The voice was slightly off, but stabilized gradually. "The Grim Reaper is in New Mexico leading Blue Squadron Delta against twenty Fusion Matter creatures."
As they watched a screen sprang to life in mid air before Mandy. The satellite image zeroed in at a stomach-dropping pace to pinpoint on an ongoing battle in the Infected Zone known simply as the Mesa. They could see Grim wading through the tall rock formations and the attacking Fusion monsters, wielding his scythe with deadly grace. He plowed up the ground with the blade and up burst purple flames and a host of demons. The winged lizards he summoned swarmed gleefully over the green monsters, dragging one of them down into the pit with them.
"Grim," Mandy said, seemingly unimpressed with the unholy slaughter going on before her.
"I'm a little busy, Mandy," snapped the Grim Reaper, who was actually nothing more than a skeleton and a robe. His Jamaican dialect seemed even more hopelessly out of place than Dexter's Russian accent.
"Whatever. I need to know if Dexter is on this week's reaping list."
"Would you like me to pencil him in?" grunted Grim, slicing clean through the leg of the nearest dinosaur-like creature. Before it could heal again the demons hauled the severed limb away. Bubbles looked faint as the Grim Reaper laughed in pleasure at the destruction.
"No. As soon as you're done there pull back. If Dexter's name comes up on your to-do list, I want to know."
"Before or after?" demanded Grim, wading into the thickest part of the fight. He blocked a monster from crushing one of the squad and gestured the girl to get out of his way. "You've got a few years left in you, girl."
"Before!" snapped Mandy. "The moment you know, I want to know! Got it?"
"Spoil sport," muttered Grim. "Yeah, yeah, I'll let you know if he's supposed to die."
"Good. Have fun. Mandy out."
They had a last vision of Grim about to get stomped flat before the screen went black. Completely unconcerned about her so-called friend, Mandy opened her mouth to speak when -
"Mandy."
Everyone jumped and stopped dead in their tracks as Dexter's voice, calm and commanding, emerged from the darkness. There was a faint 'ping!' sound and a moment later a flickering, 3-D image of the boy genius appeared in the middle of the floor, projected from the work station. A little larger than life, Dexter stood with his hands clasped behind his back as he addressed the leader of Earth's Combined Forces.
"This message is being delivered because your command codes have just lifted Invasion Protocol Alpha from my laboratory. If I am not with you now then I am either trapped within the laboratory, taken prisoner, or I am dead."
Bubbles let out a little squeak, then clapped a hand over her mouth as Mandy glared at the interruption.
"All the stored and vital information from Computress' data banks has been dumped to a location removed from the laboratory, though her basic programming will follow your commands." The image of Dexter made a face, looking thoroughly disgusted. "On the top shelf of DeeDee's bedroom closet you will find what appears to be a dictionary. That is the remote storage unit for all of Computress' data and my research. DeeDee if you are listening to this I apologize, but I knew this information would be safest with you because you would never touch a dictionary. If there is no chance of my return, I recommend you ask Professor Utonium to reprogram and restore Computress."
"Blossom, go get that dictionary," ordered Mandy, and the Power Puff Girl flew out of the lab so quickly she was a streak of orange light.
The ghostly image of their resident boy genius looked up, addressing his computer directly. "Computress, activate command program Remote Search Priority Code Forlorn Hope Zero, Zero, Zero."
In the recorded message Dexter picked something up from his work station and held it up for them to see. It was a small electronic device, and there was a light flashing on the screen.
"You will find this in my desk in my living quarters, Mandy. Use your command override to open the door. This is the receiver for a tracking beacon, and it's just been activated. The transmitter is built into my glasses and as far as I have been able to prove it cannot be detected by Fusion. Wherever I am, provided I am still wearing my glasses, you can pinpoint my precise location. If I am missing, please hurry. If I am dead, do not allow Mandark into my laboratory. Victory and good luck to you all."
The hologram bowed his head in farewell and vanished.
For the span of a few seconds silence reigned in the laboratory as everyone stared in stunned amazement. Then Mandy shut her jaw with an audible snap and pointed at the remaining Powerpuff Girls.
"Bubbles, Buttercup, get back and hold that tunnel until the Kids Next Door get there and secure it. Number One, search teams and clean up crews down here pronto. Tennyson, Four, Five, with me."
They followed her out the blast doors and through the halls to a remote corridor. There was only one door and Mandy once again entered a long series of numbers into the electronic lock. The living quarters beyond were comfortable and clean – too clean for a boy Dexter's age. It was obvious that he rarely slept or even came here.
"Our digs aren't this nice," grumbled Number Four, coveting the entertainment system and wealth of computer games.
"You don't own our headquarters," Mandy snapped, ignoring his flabbergasted response. She was already yanking open the drawers of the desk. It was disturbingly empty, just paperwork and mechanical odds and ends.
"Shh!" Number Five suddenly ordered. "Listen."
They obeyed, standing still. There was a faint beep, and the leggy black girl pointed to the bottom drawer. Mandy opened it and immediately snatched up the only thing in the drawer – the small electronic device that Dexter had promised them. She handed it over to Number Five and in a matter of seconds the KND operative had figured it out.
"Well?" asked Ben.
"Looks like . . ." She raised her head in surprise. "Just north of Pittsburgh."
"That's a Dead Zone!" Number Four exclaimed, tired of being left out of things.
Ben's mind was awhirl. They were half the continent away. It was territory that had fallen to Fusion and then been abandoned, a no man's land of little worth to either side until this moment.
"Tennyson, get a team together," Mandy ordered him, her voice cold and flat. "Take anyone you want. Get him back."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
That was all. Ben could have asked for the whole of Earth's Combined Forces and she would have sent them, so long as he was successful. As it was, he took a crack team of Kids Next Door lead by Numbers Four and Five, Buttercup, and their resident samurai, Jack, along with a support team for backup. He met Juniper Lee on the way to the docking bay and recruited her on the spot. If his experience in the field had taught Ben Tennyson anything, it was that getting out would be a bigger problem than getting in, especially getting out with Dexter since Fusion had been trying to capture him for months. He had left Buttercup, Number Four, Juniper and Jack to deal with the gooey Fusion Monsters thrown at them on the surface, while Number Five and her hand-picked commando team entered the ruined plant, following the tracking beacon.
Number Five had gone for the prisoners. Ben was after bigger prey.
And now here he was, alone, delving deeper and deeper underground. Fear was growing in what passed for an Aerophibian's heart. The longer it took to find him, the less chance Dexter had to survive.
And the better chance the Fusion Dexter had to find out the truth.