___ _____, ____ __ __ , ____ ____ ____ // ` / || /|| \\ /||\\ /||\\ | // \ // ` /|| \\ \\__ /|| /||__// /||_\\_ /|| \\| || ____ ||-- /||__// \\ || || \\ || \\ || \\ \\ || \\ || \\ `___// `--. `--. --. `--. `--. `--. --. `--|| `---' `--. --. || _____, __ __, ____ ___ `=/ / || /||\\ /|| // ` // ` .|. COHERENT /|| /||_\\_ /|| ||-- \\__ --X------------------ || || \\ ||____, \\ \\ '|` COMICS UNINC `--. `--. `--. `-----, `---' `___// #7 - FUSION Copyright 1996 by Dave Van Domelen \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/\/////////////////////////////////// ///////////////////////////////////\/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ [cover has Stranger Tales #7 in a small corner banner, with the main logo being "Mecha Force" in the style of the Dvandom Force logo. DeFacto dominates the scene, holding out his hands like balance trays. In one is Mecha Force and in the other is the Patrol. Cover blurb screams, "Mecha Force versus...the Patrol?"] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Greetings. Once more, I, the Dvandom Stranger, bring you a tale of what may have happened had events in the realm of Writers and Authors unfolded on different paths. Many months ago as you reckon time, an LNH Writer and a Superguy Author set out to write an unprecedented crossover between the two realities. Their efforts proved the pain that such an endeavor can inflict, not just on the creators, but on their creations. It is unlikely another such crossover on that scale will be attempted by those of even marginal sanity for a long time hence. Yet, it did not have to happen the way it did, stretched out over dozens of issues and hundreds of days. The collaborators might have decided that instead of sending a few characters roaming about, they would take the bold step of merging the entirety of the two universes for one big event, then put everything back where they found it before someone decided to hunt them down and Nerf them. And this is how such an event may have reached its climax, in one of the stranger tales I've told.... * * * * The Xoverporter hummed warmly as it received new arrivals in the Brookfield Square HQ of Mecha Force. Twyst and Hyperlink had finally finished their business back at the rural Missouri main base and came into "town" for their shift at the mall HQ. While not in a major population center itself, Brookfield was very close to Milwaukee and convenient to Chicagoland, especially for Hyperlink, who could simply follow the magnetic field lines south to Chitown. "Something's up," Twyst said as soon as they arrived. Hyperlink started to scoff at the warning, but something in hir look told him Twyst's mystical senses were kicking in hard. He'd only seen that look on Twyst's face a few times since Adam and Sarah were merged into one body by Galaxy at the end of the Robot Revolution. And it always meant trouble. "Any details?" Link asked. Twyst shook hir head. "No. But it's big, and it's bad. Let's go tell the others." "Assuming they don't already know," Link added as the two sprinted for the HQ's main meeting room. "What's the hurry?" Sun Tiger purred as she caught up to the pair, swiftly padding along on her robotic jungle cat form's paws. Another victim of the Robot Revolution, Summer'd had her body destroyed by a nanovirus and her mind downloaded into a robot body in the hopes she'd ally herself with the Robots. It failed, and she was a major factor in the defeat of DeFacto's forces. She could transform into a convincing human form, aided by holograms and the like, but she was still a robot. "Twyst's had another Bad Feeling," Link replied, grabbing a quick boost along a north-south section of corridor to keep up with Twyst, who was using the winds as an aid. "Uh oh," Summer growled. "Last time that happened, the Lord Admiral orchestrated an invasion from space. I've sent out the call signal over my internal radio, everyone's dropping what they're doing and heading for the conference room." Diversion was already in the room when the trio arrived. He tried his best to not look at Summer, yet not look like he was trying not to look at her. He'd met her after the nanovirus incident, but didn't find out she wasn't human anymore until after he'd developed a major crush on her. It was an open secret how he felt, but he still tried to hide it. Summer was more than a little worried that Mason might someday try to get himself roboticized so he could be with her, but she wasn't sure she wanted to walk onto his emotional minefield right now. Mike Goldfarb, the team's leader and only nonpowered member (for now, everyone kept joking), entered soon after, with Dr. Odysseus Franklins in tow. While not strictly a member, Dr. Franklins had long been part of the "family" in Mecha Force. Not only was he an expert on designing the mecha the team used to augment their superhuman powers, he also had played an inadvertant role in Summer's condition. He felt he had to stay with them, however hazardous that might be, until he had done all he could for her. "Anything more specific yet?" Mike asked Twyst. "No...you know we're not like Occult Scholar, our mind's not full of information ready to pop out. We just have this bad feeling something's going to happen soon," Twyst said. Suddenly, there was a rainbow burst that filled the room, a fluttering of tiny pixels floating in the air like confetti. "Galaxy!" Twyst was the first to shout, but not the last. Galaxy's body danced with multicolored flecks that drifted on a background of deepest black. Slowly, he drifted down from his initial position in the air to settle down next to Mike. For a moment, he said nothing, merely stood there with a look of sadness on his face. Perhaps it was his reason for being here that made him unhappy...or perhaps it was the reminder that he had given up this existence to live on the higher planes, that he would never be able to even pretend to lead a normal life with Lucy Fox. Still.... "I...thought you'd been Transfigured, left our reality forever?" Mike stammered. "I had," Galaxy replied, his voice carrying with it the whispers of secrets that mankind could never hope to grasp. "But I have learned of something disturbing that could threaten it all, from the most mundane human pursuit to the struggles of the gods." He paused, as if trying to frame his next words in terms mere mortals could follow. "This is not a true reality." Gasps rippled along the table. "Seems real enough," Link countered. "Besides, if it weren't, wouldn't someone have noticed before this?" "Oh, it is real, but it is not meant to be. Once where there were two, now there is one. History back to the beginning of time has been blended together, like sand and soil...if you look closely enough, you can see where one ends and the other begins, but to most it appears to be but one substance. I only realized it now because the architect of this abomination has started to remember his true past, filtered out of the fusion he himself created." "But why tell us?" Mike asked. "Something at this level can't be anything we can help with...I mean, the power needed to merge two realities like this is...is more than I can even come close to *just* 'not understanding.' Heck, I'd have to be a lot more enlightened to not understand it." "Yeah," Summer added, "we've had some powerful foes before, but none of them were this bad. Even the Lord Admiral's alien technology couldn't do more than minor spacetime manipulation." Galaxy shook his head. "It is indeed one of your foes, perhaps the worst among them. In the past, he used only his brute force and his scientific mastery to bedevil you and the rest of the world. But now he is starting to recall his once and future glory and ascend to the stage of the gods. Before he does this, though, he will want to personally destroy you, for your actions both in this merged universe and in the old timelines. DeFacto will have his revenge before he wipes out this universe by fusing it with another." There was silence. DeFacto. Head of the Robot Revolution, which cost so many good people and machines their lives...some only discovering they truly had life in time to die. It had taken long, hard months to beat back the mechanical tyrant the first time he took control of the world, and while later attempts were foiled more quickly, they took their own tolls. "I have said all I can," Galaxy whispered, starting to fade to black. "I must try to block his actions from the higher planes, and will not be able to help you directly. I only hope this warning is enough to save you." With that, he winked out. * * * * Denis Moore liked to tell people he was a member of Mecha Force. This was, of course, not exactly true. Sure, he worked at their Brookfield Square base, and he'd even been pressed into service piloting a mecha in Earth-Moon Crisis when the Lord Admiral set up a base on the Moon. But to call him a team member would be pushing it a bit. Still, he did get to wear a nifty bodyarmor suit while on duty at the reception desk. Partly for PR and image, but mostly because it wasn't the world's safest job. And, when the Patrol came calling that afternoon, he was really glad he had worn the somewhat hot and uncomfortable suit, since it saved his life. * * * * Earnest discussion in the conference room ceased the moment the alarm klaxons started to sound. "Energy discharge in the lobby, guys!" chirped Ricki, the team's perpetually-sunny computer. "Gosh, I hope Denis survived that," she added with a tone of concern. As everyone piled out of the room (except for Dr. Franklins), Mike asked Ricki, "Any ID on the attackers? Are they robots?" "Nope, not robots. At least, they don't look like robots to my scanners. They look like the Patrol. Why do you suppose they came all the way from New England to attack us? Should I revise their entry and put them under 'villains'?" Ricki burbled. "Just sound an evacuation for now, okay?" Mike sighed as he lagged behind the rest of the team to pull a Vortex armor suit out of an emergency storage locker and snap it closed around him. There were times he wished Ricki wasn't quite so perky, and this was one of them. Mike caught up with the rest of his team, who were waiting at the door to the lobby. Blast shields had been dropped as soon as the attack started, sealing whoever it was in and hopefully protecting the rest of the mall. Odd, the real Patrol could have blasted through the doors in a second, but these people just seemed to be waiting. They hadn't even disabled the cameras which let Mike look in on them, although they had found and taken care of the gas ducts which otherwise would be pumping out sleeping gas. "On my mark," Mike whispered. "Link, take out Waveguide, she's the most dangerous of them. Summer, you're on Sensation...he can't affect your hardwired nervous system. The rest go for targets of opportunity, try to contain if possible, but take 'em down soft if you have to. They may be impostors, but they might be the real Patrol under coersion or mind control. Go!" The door slammed upwards and out of the way and Hyperlink sped out through it, heading north towards Waveguide...and missed her by several meters. "Sensation!" he gasped as he realized his perceptions were being altered. But it did him little good, as Waveguide quickly took the chance to warp the local magnetic fields and make Hyperlink slam into a wall at top speed. This is creepy, Mike thought. They seem to be the real thing, but normally they're quipping a mile a minute in a fight, especially Chorus. But even Chorus was silent, not so much as a Wile E. Coyote crack. Summer leapt for Sensation, but only made it halfway before Retrofit tagged her with a burst of EM waves that scrambled her sensors and stunned her. Mike jumped to the side as another such blast came his way. Twyst seemed to have the easiest time of the group, holding Fauna's tiger form at bay with a magical chainlink fence. But the rest of them were in serious trouble. Between Waveguide's control of electromagnetism and Retrofit's use of his adapting powers to gain similar abilities, most of Mecha Force could be taken out of the fight with a single hit. And Sensation and Chorus had started to seriously warp the battlefield with hallucinations and strange echoing sounds. Suddenly the sounds dropped below the level of audibility. "Got the anti-noise systems online, boss!" Ricki beamed. Hyperlink took advantage of the momentary lull to slam Chorus into Sensation, but a quick blast from Retrofit put Link back down for the count, and Sensation was only a little dazed. As Mike dodged a lightning bolt from Waveguide and returned fire with foam fire-suppression missiles that made her sputter and cough, he started to see something familiar in the way the Patrol members were acting. A sort of glazed expression...thousand-yard stare, even...and all acting like they had the same reflexes and patterns. Of course! "Ricki! I want you to dig up file...um, MN002, I think...and broadcast the pattern in it over the speakers in here!" he shouted into his comlink. "You got it, boss!" she replied, and a second later a hideous shriek pierced the ears of all present. Not enough to do more than annoy in normal circumstances, but it held a very special subliminal pattern in it. The Patrollers that could still do so clutched their heads in pain and doubled over screaming. When the noise cut off, they looked around in confusion. "What...where..." started the team's leader, Retrofit. "Mecha Force HQ? How'd we get here...we were just watching a rented movie, and then... were we teleported or something?" "You were under the control of the Master of the Net," Mike explained. "He must have arranged for his control program to be inserted into your movie." "No, wait," Waveguide said, staggering over and leaning on her husband's shoulder. "Remember how MAC's been acting a little funny lately?" Retrofit nodded, "Yeah...damn, he must have been taken over by the Master of the Net somehow. That'd also explain how the Left-Handed Brotherhood knew where to find us last week! But why would he send us here?" Then he looked around and finally noticed the scorch marks and random damage. "Ah, let me guess...we fought." "Ooooh...did we win yet?" Denis moaned from under his desk. "That answers that-at," came Chorus's disembodied voice from Mike's mouth. "This might be part of DeFacto's plan, he's worked with the Master before," Summer noted as she transformed to humanoid mode. "DeFacto's got a new plan? GREAT," Retrofit sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he usually did when he was frustrated. "Wha...?" He pulled a small audio cassette of the type used in answering machines out of his pocket. On the label was "PLAY ME." Mike plucked the tape out of Retrofit's hand and looked at it. Then he went over to the answering machine at the partially-burnt receptionist desk and pulled the phone cord out of it. "Ricki, analyze this as it plays for any mind-control frequencies and get ready to detox us if there's any." Turning to the Patrol, he said, "This is probably a message from DeFacto. He probably expected us to beat you, and was using you like delivery people." Sensation frowned, "And I doubt he'd be too sad if one or more of us got killed in the fight, either." Mike nodded and hit the playback button. "Greetings to whoever remains conscious," came the sneering, arrogant voice of DeFacto. Everyone tensed up. "You're all cordially invited to my ascendance to godhood. It's come as you are, of course, I don't expect any of you to try and rent tuxedos at this late date," he snickered. "Robots should not try to be funny," Link muttered. Summer stuck out her tongue at him. The tape continued, "You can find me in Canada, on Baffin Island. For the exact location, just make an equilateral triangle on the globe with the two other points on cities that will be in the news at 3:30 PM your time." The tape ended. "It's a little after that now," Waveguide noted. "Ricki, anything in the news on Canada?" Mike asked. There was silence for a moment. Ricki's voice, when it came on, was not happy-sounding, for the first time since she'd come online. "Mike, Calgary and Montreal have just been destroyed by tremendous explosions. Best guess is that meteors fired from the Lord Admiral's old base on the Moon struck the cities at 3:30 Central time exactly. The Renegade League in Rhode Island has already gone on the news saying they tried to stop the meteors and lost three members in the process...Shieldsman didn't say who died, though." No one said anything. If DeFacto was going to destroy two cities, kill millions of people just to send a message, then he was ready to go all the way. "Anyone not want to go?" Mike asked. His answer was silence. "Okay, we might die trying, but Galaxy says DeFacto's ready to take control of all reality...even though we're gonna play on his terms, we have to try or...or...we just have to try, damn it!" * * * * It had started impressively enough. They'd merged Mike's Leviathan mecha, Twyst's Whirlpool mecha, Hyperlink's Sunspot mecha and Sun Tiger into the Tetrad Fusion right away and flown alongside the Mecha Force jetcarrier which held the Patrol. Twyst's magic let them all gain the benefit of Hyperlink's powers and they streaked north at speeds that should have put them in orbit. At first, it looked like they almost had a chance. Retrofit and Waveguide did a lot of damage with electromagnetic attacks, and the SunSabre of Tetrad Fusion managed to chop off DeFacto's left arm while the rest of the Patrol used the jetcarrier's railguns to devastating effect on the robotic menace. Then it all fell apart. DeFacto suddenly repaired all the damage that had been done to him and swatted his attackers aside. Now he held them all in some sort of stasis field...they could hear him and think, but not move nor speak. <> A section of the frozen tundra shuddered and split apart as the hidden mechanisms beneath it groaned to life. A giant cross-shaped structure rose up out of the ground, five figures pinned to its surface by energy bands. Mike recognized them instantly. The Granger Gang, one of Mecha Force's less dangerous enemies. Only Taurus and Fornax seemed to still be awake enough to try to struggle against their bonds...or alive enough. He wanted to ask why DeFacto had taken them captive, but his mouth wouldn't move. <> DeFacto must have sensed the surge of hostility from his captives, since he sneered as he continued, <> As if to drive this point home, DeFacto caused the field to contract slightly. Mike could feel his mecha crumpling like tin foil around him. Sparks from shorted systems hung lazily in the air, slowed to a fraction of normal time. Mike hoped their ace in the hole hadn't been found out...and that he'd act before there was nothing left to save. DeFacto picked up the still form of Sun Tiger. <> Just then, Mike's unwhispered prayers were answered as a rainbow of scintillating light wreathed DeFacto's head and electrical sparks played about his body. DeFacto tried to shake off the effect, and focused on the small flying figure who was causing it. <> he asked...Diversion. "Distract you," was Galaxy's reply as he manifested on the material plane and grew in size to match DeFacto. DeFacto had kept him at bay on the higher planes until now, but with just a little too much attention paid to the Earthly battle, DeFacto had let his guard slip. The tundra shook as two nearly-omnipotent beings struggled to gain some advantage on this playing field. Mike felt the stasis field drop as DeFacto decided he had a more important battle to fight. Mike ejected from the ruined mecha as Link and Twyst did the same and Summer detached herself from it. Summer was in bad shape, her robot body had been badly damaged by the contracting stasis field. Nearby, the jetcarrier crashed into a hill while Waveguide and Fauna helped Chorus and Sensation safely to the ground. "Now what?" Link asked. "Looks like it's out of our league now." "We just have to hope Galaxy can beat DeFacto," Mike replied. Twyst shook hir head. "We can feel the balance shifting. DeFacto is tapping too great a power for Galaxy to defeat him, and a prolonged stalemate will destroy everything." "If only we had a way to even interact with that level of power," Mike said, jaw clenched. "Even a little thing might be able to tip the scales." "The Granger Gang!" Summer said. "They've got to be the key to this, they're how DeFacto merged the universes to begin with. Maybe we could do something to mess with that?" Twyst stared at the forcefield-protected cross, shifting hir perceptions into the mystical range. "Yes...we never noticed it before, but each of them has two distinct souls, merged together like different colors of clay, but separable. Like us, but different in a way we cannot describe. If we could split them apart, it might be like pulling at the thread of a seam...it could all come apart." Retrofit and the rest of the Patrol flew over and landed next to the shattered Tetrad Fusion. "So, welcome to the end of the world," he sighed. "Even I can tell our side's not gonna make it." "Maybe, maybe not," Mike replied. "Twyst has an idea, but we need to get the Granger Gang free to make it work. If we all work together, we might be able to break that forcefield." Retrofit nodded, closing his eyes and concentrating to retrofit his powers to the task of shattering energy barriers. "Let's try it." Beams and blasts of all descriptions poured into the field. Mike helped as best he could with his blazer pistol set to dangerous overload levels. The forcefield flared white, but held. "Damn," Link hissed. "Maybe we can rig something from the remains of Tetrad..." Mike started, when he was cut off by a horrible rending sound. Galaxy's arm had been torn from its socket. It was like the arm of a real galaxy had been ripped off...it just dissolved into random sparks that fluttered to the ground. "No time!" Sun Tiger shouted as she started racing for the field. "Don't worry, Mike...if this works, it'll never have happened. If it doesn't, I'll just be the first to go...get ready Twyst!" she shouted. Mike realized what she planned. "NOOO! Summer, there's got to...!" Then the world turned inside out for a moment as Summer unleashed the full power of her hyperspace power link, opening a gate between realspace and hyperspace for a fraction of a second and wiping out all matter in the vicinity. Just like that, she was dead. The forcefield flared white, then went black and shorted out. Mike just stared for a second, then shouted, "Damn it, do it, Twyst!" Twyst just nodded sadly and started to chant in a language known only to dreamers in their sleep and stones deep in the earth. DeFacto paused in his dismemberment of Galaxy and turned, a look of horror crossing his metallic face. Where there had been five, there were now eleven. Then the split spread to the sky itself, and two suns shone down on the cold landscape. And with a great tearing sensation, it was over. * * * * Kid Macro flew along in his Flashfire Robo, enjoying the sensation of flight and not having a care in the world. Until, that is, the vulture-winged giant gestalt Robo materialized in a flash of grey five centimeters in front of him.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes: And who's to say this didn't happen as part of the crossover? Anyway, here's a handy reference to most of the Amalgamations I made in this story. I'll leave some of them for readers to puzzle out, of course. Broken up by the Authors whose creations were used: Robotech_Master/Mason Kramer and myself: Team M.E.C.H.A. + Dvandom Force = Mecha Force Mike + Squidman = Mike Goldfarb Bahamode + Deepsea Robo = Leviathan mecha Summer + Kopikat = Sun Tiger Adam Douglas + Sarah Connor + Rotanna/Lynk = Twyst Cyclone + Crosspost Robo = Whirlpool mecha Link Douglas + Kid Macro (Doug Ellis) = Hyperlink (Link Ellis) Cyclone + Flashfire Robo = Sunspot mecha Bahamode Sigma + FireTsar = Tetrad Fusion Dr. Odd Science + Skysabre (Richard Franklins) = Dr. Odysseus Franklins Phobos + Sidewinder = Diversion Joe Moore + Denis Bludwulf = Denis Moore Mike Escutia: Hero Patrol + Net.Patrol = the Patrol Misfit + Pliable Lad = Retrofit Starwave + Tour Guide Girl = Waveguide Jon Perceptor + Neon Lad = Sensation Earth Girl + Panta = Fauna Soundbyte + Echo Lad = Chorus Villainous Team Left + Brotherhood of Evil Net.Villains = Left-Handed Brotherhood Master of the Net as himself Amigoid and myself: Spectrum + Constellation = Galaxy Foxy + Lucky = Lucy Fox Mighty Muddy Power Grangers + Constellation Gang = Granger Gang Bull + Orion = Taurus Hellhound + Draco = Fornax (furnace, a Southern constellation) Various: Admiral Morgan + Acton Lord = the Lord Admiral Industrial Revolution + Robot Invasion = Robot Revolution Generic Morgan Plot + Crisis on Earth-Goon = Earth-Moon Crisis Scholarman + Occultism Kid = Occult Scholar Of course, not all Fusion elements were simple merges of two fairly close ideas. For example, Brookfield Square is not in Chicago, it's in Brookfield, near Milwaukee. And other Fusions do stem from actual elements in both universe, but to reveal them might constitute spoilers. }->