FusionFall: Invasion

Chapter Five: Heroes' Aides

We approached the unofficial border into Genius Grove, where Dexter and Mandark live. Dexter, founder of DexLabs, was a real genius, renowned by all the world and even some intergalactic planets knew of him. Mandark was constantly trying to best him in his own Mandark Industries, but all he really does is produce copies of Dexter's stuff, so it's an empty attempt.

Our large group was walking down the streets cautiously, watching for any sudden movements down an alleyway or street bend. Soon, Mandark's house came into view, the tall spiked towers and factory chambers menacing against the sky. As we got closer, though, we saw spawn tree thingies all over it, fusion goo everywhere, and strange blue orbs surrounding it, emanating transparent white screens. We reached these borders and touched them, our hands causing ripples across the surface.

"Force fields?" Sherylann asked, piping up after a long time of silence.

Ashton pointed into the barricaded area. "Look!" He said. "There's literally a pond of Fusion stuff in there." We looked, and indeed there was. More like a small lake, pooling underneath the building. One of the supports had been eaten away and collapsed, making the structure sag a little to the right. We could see more monsters, a ton of them, in the quarantined area. Dragon-like ones. One spotted us and flew towards us. We all gave a shout and fell backwards as it collided with the nearly invisible barrier. It collapsed on the ground, dazed.

"Look at it..." Said Blake. "It's made of..."

"DexLabs tech!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Tech Wing!" Jackson called out. Some groaned. I smiled at his enthusiasm. At least most of us was finding joy in something.

"C'mon guys. Let's go." I called, waving an arm. We gathered our things again and continued around the massive barrier. Ahead we could see a crowd of people gathered around a house and someone shouting - a girl's voice, I realized - for everyone to calm down. Our group jogged over to see all what all the commotion was about.

"Settle down, settle down. Numbuh Five's gonna tell y'all what's goin' on. Just hold on now..." Numbuh Five of the KND was standing atop Dexter's house and calling out to the crowd, trying to instill order. In the crowd were adults, crying children, but mostly young and old teenagers. Like us. "Please remain calm everybody. Please. You will hear about the news soon enough, all of you..." Sounded another, older man's voice. Shoving through the crowd was a tall man, probably in his forties with black-grey hair slicked forward. Dressed in classic scientist garb, he wrote things on a clipboard and checked his large bulky watch.

"Professor Utonium!" I whispered loudly to the others.

The crowd began to finally settle and Five cleared her throat. "Alright. As y'all may know, we've got an invasion on our hands. That planet up there," She pointed into the sky. "Is called Planet Fusion. On that big ball of gross is a bog nasty named Fuse. He wants to attack and absorb our world into his own and make it bigger, more powerful so he can rule the universe." There were gasps, mutterings, and some of the younger children began to cry for parents. I noticed many stood alone.

A tall blonde girl in a pink dress and white tights bounced over and began to quietly play with the small children. They slowly quieted and Numbuh Five continued.

"We know a little bit. First, is the Fusion Matter. All that icky green goo? Fusion Matter. Extremely lethal! Touch it, and you'll start melting like candy in a red-hot pan. Second, those tree-looking things? Called Terrafusers. Those lil' Fusion runts-"

"Fusion Spawns!" Jackson and Chris called out. I facepalmed.

Five leered out to see who shouted out. "Crist and Britton? I'd never have guessed you'd be alive right now. Numbuh Five's impressed." She smiled briefly at them, then kept talking.

"Fusion Spawns will form inside and then pop out. They can evolve using everyday objects. Vacuum cleaners. Pipes. The roads! Anything. But don't let them get to your personal, most valuable items. We've been gettin' reports from all over about evil twins of people just like you forming out of nowhere and attacking! Luckily, they haven't been very strong and we've been able to act quickly."

Five took a breath. "Now. Everyone here. Listen up. This is important. Anyone younger than thirteen and older than nineteen, you need to gather any valuables and only what you need. Pack it up. Get outta dodge. We have escape vehicles at the following locations..."

She tapped her foot on a device on the roof shingles in front of her and a large holographic map appeared for everyone to see. She tapped various locations and listed them. "Orchid Bay area. Sector V, that's closest to here, if anyone needed to know. Monkey Mountain Foothills Area. If anyone has any further questions, form a line right there and come up one at a time. But I highly suggest y'all just get outta here." People began to slowly move around.

"Any teenagers ages twelve to nineteen, move to behind the house! You will be debriefed there!" Professor Utonium called out. He turned and headed that direction, marking things on his clipboard again.

I looked about our band of misfits. "Well? Stay or go guys?" Everyone seemed interested to see what the heroes wanted to say to us, so we decided to follow the Professor.

The backyard had a floor of steel, twisting, humming pistons moving up and down on either side. Thick cables ran from the ground up to tall poles that ended in disks at the top. Immense amounts of power was sent through these all the way across the continent and back. I estimated about thirty teenagers already there. We took to the back. Professor Utonium ascended a short stepladder, a Dexbot beside it. Utonium cleared his throat.

"Due to the Fusion invasion, Dexter had to move his home and lab to Downtown. Here is a teleportation device we will be using to transport all of you fine people there. Once there, Dexter himself will tell you the full extent of this threat, why we have decided to choose you, and distribute weapons as well as imprint your identities into the DexLabs log."

There was excited chattering through the crowd now. Our group huddled together. "Well gang. Looks like we're getting an easy ride straight to DexLabs!" I said.

"Thanks goodness!" Sherylann said. "I did not want to walk all that way." Many heads bobbed in agreement.

A loud whirring sounded behind us and we turned to see a section of the metal ground slide open. A large panel bearing a warp portal rose up. The portal looked like a wide, short metal cylinder with a glowing blue center. Four stabilization  panels were attached to the sides and a ramp led up to it. The Dexbot who stood beside Utonium revved up onto the platform.

I AM DEXBOT Q-19. I WILL BE TELEPORTING YOU TODAY. It declared to us. People stepped up four at a time and vanished in a flash of white-blue light. My troop was last. Blake, Jackson, David and I were the last to leave. I took a deep breath as I heard the low buzz as it activated. I said a quick goodbye to my home, my destroyed home. I promised I would avenge all the lives taken here. I said goodbye to the home I had known all my life, and felt I would not return for a long time...