Chapter 5: The Next Step

The business building was quiet and peaceful, there were no cosmic storms or possible destruction by rogue asteroids. Que was currently getting a spa treatment in their office on the 100th floor.

They were currently leaning back in their leather chair as cucumbers lay on their eyes. Que had their hair wrapped up in a towel while Christ was at their feet. He gently brought out nail polish and began to paint the tips of Ques tentacles, careful to be absolutely perfect.

"You know Christ, once I become God maybe I'll cure your ugliness and pathetic nature. I honestly am surprised with how merciful I can be" Que said with a pompous attitude.

Christ was quiet upset with such hurtful words that he purposely scribbled nail polish over Ques tentacles. He snickered to himself before that sane tentacle wrapped around his neck with incredible force.

"Christ. Please don't play with me" Que said, lifting one of the cucumbers on their eyes with a gaze that was as sharp as a dagger.

Que proceeded to slam Christ through all hundred floors before then lifting him back up to stare at him.

"Now what did we learn?" Que said playfully as Christ was broken and bruised, bones that snapped and pierced its own flesh. Que planned on doing it again when Christ didn't get a response but merely the sounds of gargling blood.

When suddenly the elevator dinged but there wasn't simply no one there. Que was utterly confused when from the windows behind her Faker crashed into the room. Glass spilling onto the floor as the ground cracked and wheezed beneath his weight.

The room was hardly big enough to contain him, forcing faker to crouch as he held a brutalized Samson in his fist like a piece of meat.

Que looked up at him, "so uh- did you get it?" They said with intrigue.

Faker held out his free hand towards Que as a mass of tendrils erupted from his skin and forcefully grafted out a fleshy orb made up of DNA strands.

"Oh how wonderful" Que said, their eyes sparkling as they clapped their hands.

Faker kept his horrifying silence…as he simply breathed.

"Now what about Thor? Did any of them cause you trouble?" Que questioned before being grabbed by the neck and slammed into a wall.

Faker began to uncontrollably laugh, his wheezing and belching throwing around objects.

Que merely looked at him with a displeased expression, "so is that a yes?" They said boldly.

Faker suddenly stared at them, his eyes a sapphire blue.

"THEY DIDN'T EVEN LEAVE A BRUISE LET ALONE AN ACHE! ONLY REASON THEY'RE ALIVE IS BECAUSE I'M UNINTERESTED WITH SPECKLES OF TRASH ON THE ROAD. YOU PITIFUL MALESGROW BORN WHORE." He roared before being followed up by the soft cries of a horrified Samson.

"Oh shut up you big baby" Faker scoffed looking at the hand he held Samson in.

Que wasn't at all worried or even scared they simply were disappointed, "but I ordered you-" they attempted to speak only to be cut off.

"Ordered. Me. To. Do. What." He said coldly as he planted his face right up against Que's, who turned away in disgust.

Silence followed only for Samson's cries to get louder and more persistent, Faker lost his patience and hurled Samson across the room.

SPLATTTT!!!!

The noise rang through the office as soon as the white and creamy being hit the hard surface.

Que let out an audible "ew" before freeing themselves from Faker's grasp.

"It'll take some time but I'll assemble the gang," Que said, walking to their desk and planting themselves in their chair.

"Make it snappy bitch, I'm already losing my patience associating with you low borns" Faker mumbled before sitting in a chair that was too small for him.

Que rolled their eyes before pressing a button on their intercom, "Hello front desk? Yes, sweety would you be so kind as to contact all of our associates" Que yammered.

"Ask if they have butter fingers!?" Faker yelled.

"And do we have butter fingers? Mhm alright bring a few-" Que was suddenly cut off.

"A BOWL!?" Faker hollered excited as ever at the prospects of butter fingers.

"Bring-....a bowl would you kindly" Que said an exaggerated sigh.

A little while later. . .

All the fusions walked through the main entrance chatting it up with each other.

"Gggal zzrdagfj zap!" Odin spoke in static and cracks of lightning.

"What? No way am I ever gambling on a game of cards with you again, we all know you cheat pikachu" Laughingstock responded to Odin

"Hah, as if you ill sworn lott. If I had just the right hand I would've won" Regal said, barging into the conversation.

"Incorrect. Subject classified as 'Regal'. Brain function capacity below average levels. Conclusion? inferior. " Cyberware said in a robotic voice.

"OH QUIET YOU BUCKET OF BOLTS. YOU DARE INSULT A KING OF MY NATURE?!" Regal yelled, filling the entire room with his voice.

"What are you dense?!" Salazar whispered in Regal's ear, having pulled him in close.

The building's staff were all looking at the group of fusions with distasteful looks.

"Oh whatever. Never touch me again, my clothes are worth more than your life, Hmph!" Regal said, turning his face away.

Havoc was lagging behind his attention more concerned with views of the cosmic seas outside.

The secretary pointed towards the elevator letting the fusions know they could go up immediately.

As the group passed towards the right in the direction of the elevator, Regal would look at the secretary before shooting a wink and then making two finger guns with his hands that pointed at his crotch. He was immediately picked up by Havoc with one hand and hurled into the Elevators doors.

"Ouch. He's definitely gonna feel that in the morning" Laughing stock laughed.

"Zzzzap grdggsar khggggrzza?" Odin spoke.

"No, we're not betting on that. Do you got a gamblin' problem or somethin? What do you even use the money for?" Laughing Stock questioned.

"Oogggrrr zap zgra ssssig" Odin explained.

"That is disgusting. Please get help." Laughing stock cringed

The elevator doors opened, and everyone stepped inside, Salazar in particular was carrying Regal over his shoulder.

"Hey Cyberware, what's the temperature in here?" Laughing stock said moving his shirt collar around as he was heavily sweating.

"Analysis. Temperature is 95°F" Cyberware beeped.

Suddenly they reached the 100th floor, the doors shot open as everyone fell out. A trail of steam coming out behind them, and leaking into the office due to Odin.

"Oh look the failures are here, now what part of my story did I stop at?" Faker said before downing another bowl of butter fingers.

"Glad you could finally make it" Que said in annoyance, obviously not having enjoyed their alone time with Faker.

"Oh yeah! I took the dog and shoved it down there-" Faker was rudely interrupted.

"I- I'm good...thank you. Now if everyone can take a seat we can get down to business" Que stammered.

Havoc walked over to a badly wounded Christ who was currently attempting not to cry due to the pain. He gently comforted Christ with a few soft pats before Regal called out to him.

"Leave that alone, it's completely unruly" Regal whined

Once Havoc took his seat the meeting could truly begin.

"I'm glad you all have gathered here today, as you can see our partner has-" Que was cut off by Faker.

"TEMPORARY. After I get my revenge on Staff, I can personally guarantee I'll kill all of you." Faker said before dropping a butter finger into Samsons goop.

"Yeah right, you must have no clue who you're dealing with" Regal snapped back.

Every other fusion in the room would audibly facepalm.

"You know what? I like you. I'm gonna kill you first" Faker said all cutesy.

"We'll see about that-" Regal stuttered.

Que leaned on their hand completely annoyed with this whole conversation.

"Anyways our 'Temporary Ally' here successfully obtained the other crucial item we needed" Que said before holding up a levitating orb composed of DNA the size of a basketball.

"Searching for an objective?" Cyberware said robotically

"So...were done? That's it? I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO FIGHT ANYONE!!!!" Laughing stock whined.

"Gggrgsad ZAP! Gfrgdgdhgnmmmm" Odin questioned.

"Yeah what Odin said, are we done? Was it simply that easy?" Salazar said in disbelief.

Que slammed their fist onto the desk, causing Samson to start crying again.

"Well not entirely, our next objective will be taking us to the citadel, from there we'll need to head to the foot of the Eden tree and that is where we'll be birthed anew" Que explained.

Salazar raised his hand.

"What is it?" Que said softly

"With all due respect but we're all heavily wanted there we barely managed to escape the last time let alone go back where we will surely be spotted and put in the sights of the blue sentinels" Salazar questioned

"You need not worry about such things, I have an associate who will supply us with a safe house for the time being along with the necessary equipment to allow travel to the Eden tree" Que said whilst folding her hands together.

There was suddenly a loud rumble that made the entire building shake, Que quickly tapped on their intercom.

"What's going on? Visitors?" Que questioned pulling up the first floor camera feed on their computer.

"It appears the rats have come crawling back for more" Faker chuckled as he forced Samson into his mouth.

Everyone watched in horror as Samson screamed and Squealed for help. Fakers jaws become smeared in a blood red determination before the same substance dripped onto his claws. The bones and muscles of his body being torn apart and reformed before unleashing an erupting roar that even made the heavens quake.

Earthquake would immediately look towards the elevator cutting the cable wires with his teeth causing the elevator to come crashing down the shaft. Earthquake jumped down the shaft quick to get his hands around Staff's neck.

Whilst on the first floor our heroes looked around,"Feel like I've seen this place before" Kob said as he walked forward.

"Really where?" Staff said curiously

"Ever seen the Lego movie?" Kob said, stopping in his tracks.

"Why am I not surprised…" Exalted said bitterly.

"I'm not even supposed to be here…" King Multiverse whined

"Quiet. We need to focus on the task at hand!" Thor said in a stern tone

Previously on Staffverses planet

Our three heroes stared down the dark hole that was made when Earthquake had punched Exalted through the entirety of the planet.

"I think I see your planet's core," Thor said softly.

"Well- uh...let's just test to see how deep it actually is" Staff said before throwing a stone down the hole.

The three waited several seconds without a single hint of the stone hitting anything.

"Welp, the last one in is a rotten egg!" Kob screamed before doing a backflip into the hole.

Thor and Staff would look at each other for a couple seconds before Thor shrugged and followed in after Kob.

Staff would continue to look down the hole before sighing and jumping in. Staff could feel the intense warmth of the planet afraid he might end up burning to cinders like an asteroid as he continued to fall. Among the crust of the planet he'd catch a glimpse of several caverns and a massive underground city.

He'd shake his head thinking it was simply a trick on his mind as he soon slammed into the mantle before sifting and being spewed out. After that he'd reach the core which the gravity would propel him around and shoot him out the other end like a slingshot. This part of the trip would be over in mere seconds due to the force and speed he was maintaining as he was shot out of the tunnel nearly breaching the atmosphere before slamming straight back down onto the planet.

He'd slowly get up, his body entirely sore from the fall, he'd look around before seeing Kob and Thor laying around him. He'd then spot Exalted's body in the distance to which someone was leaning over him.

"Hey Look" Staff said, alerting his teammates and pointing towards Exalted

Thor and Kob would stand up, looking in the direction Staff pointed towards.

"Yup that is definitely him...who's the other guy though?" Kob questioned.

"Let's go find out." Thor said, picking up both Staff and Kob before flying over with his hammer Surtur.

The person leaning over Exalted was poking his body with a stick, "Hey. Are you alive? Mind if I steal your jacket? I'll take your silence as a go ahead" King Multiverse said before attempting to grave rob exalted's body.

"What are you doing out here?" Staff said with a smoldering glare.

"Well- uh- you see your brother said you were fighting Faker so I decided to appropriately remove myself from the situation and hide out on the other side of the planet…" King Multiverse explained before eyeing Kob and their crown.

He'd walk on over and get right into Kob's personal space attempting to intimidate him, "and who are you supposed to be? My replacement?" King Multiverse questioned before suddenly Exalted awoke coughing up massive amounts of throw up mixed with blood.

"HEY, HEY, HEY!!!!!! WATCH THE SLIPPERS!?!?!?!?" King Multiverse squealed.

Thor would crouch down next to Exalted and pat his back, "You took quite the punch back there…" Thor said worried for his companions' health.

"No kidding... the fact you're even still alive is something to behold" Staff said, folding his arms as he thought back to his previous encounters with Faker.

"Since when could he fuse? What are his limits? How long can he stay in the fusion for?" Staff thought to themselves before being interrupted by Kob.

"Sad to say but this is not looking too good" Kob said as he examined Exalteds chest.

"It'll heal-" Exalted winced before proceeding to barf again.

"Yeah right, are you an idiot or something? You most definitely should die and come back" King Multiverse said butting into the conversation.

Exalted would immediately grab King Multiverse by the neck, "I'M NOT LIKE THE REST OF YOU, I AM NOT WEAK" he screeched before throwing King Multiverse across the ground.

Everyone would simply back away from Exalted who's entire chest was stained in blood, even smearing the white of his jacket.

"Listen, you need to calm down we are only worried about you" Staff exclaimed

"I don't need your pity, now where is that red neck inbred giraffe fuck...I'm going to tear him apart" Exalted said before coughing up blood.

"He left the planet after he punched you" Kob explained.

"We only have thirty eight hours to save my world" Staff said with urgency.

Thor suddenly raised his hammer, "Then we better get moving even if you suffered injuries"

"Like I said it'll heal-" Exalted stuttered due the pain being immeasurable.

Thor formed a portal whilst Staff and Kob helped Exalted hobble into the gateway.

"King, you're comin too. We could use the extra pair of hands, and I doubt you're doing anything of actual importance" Staff said, looking back at his creation.

King Multiverse suddenly attempted to run away before being dragged into the portal by blue mastery.

In The Present

They approached the secretary, being quite unimpressed and simply pointing towards the elevator.

"Ah thank you" Kob said politely before him and the rest of the crew walked on over to the elevator where they began to hear a low rumbling that began to get louder and louder.

Exalted suddenly used blue mastery on everyone, moving them out of the way as the elevator crashed onto the ground of the first floor.

"Holy shit-" King Multiverse hollered as a bead of sweat dripped down his skull.

"Well...that's inconvenient" Thor said, scratching his head with his hammer.

"Wait- there is another way up...right? Like maybe a stairwell?" Staff asked with hesitation.

There was only silence for a couple of seconds before everyone would audibly groan.

"I am not climbing up an elevator shaft…" Exalted said kicking at the ground.

"I could always throw you-" Thor proposed.

"What kind of office building doesn't have stairs?" Kob mumbled.

Suddenly something big collided with the already badly damaged Elevator completely crushing it under their weight. Through the smoke a red glow emminated as a blood red hand shot out and gripped Staff by the neck, burning him immensely.

"Glad you could finally make it, you dimwit fucks" Earthquake laughed.

Thors hammer quickly became engulfed in darkened clouds, whilst Kob readied his sword, and Exalted his shadow casters. . . and King Multiverse?

"I'm just gonna...yeah" he said, sliding behind the secretary's desk.

"Hand him over, wouldn't wanna have to do you worse than what you did to me!" Exalted yelled.

Earthquake simply looked at him, "Okay" he grinned before chucking Staff right into Exalted and then attempting to maul Thor.

Thor swung his hammer and brought it down hard against the side of Earthquakes head. An electric aftershock sent him flying across the room.

Earthquake simply stood up a noticeable dent on his head, he'd roar in anger before ripping apart a pillar and sending it flying straight into Thor.

Thor was quickly able to react, smashing the pillar with his hammer turning it into rubble, before he was blindsided by a direct punch from Earthquake sending him flying out a window into the vacuum of space.

Earthquake quickly looked at Kob, "...this is gonna hurt" Kob said under his breath before he was upper cutted straight through all one hundred floors.

Kob opened his eyes, having somehow landed on a long brown table with all the fusions looking at him awkwardly.

"Hey how are ya?" Kob said with a gentle wave of his hand to which all the fusions simply looked at each other.

Back down stairs Staff and a still heavily wounded Exalted were running for their life through the first floor offices with Earthquake right on their heels.

"Dammit, this is going horribly!" Staff yelled in frustration as he slid under a desk before quickly turning right down another maze of cubicles.

"You're telling me? Worst case scenario we just witnessed our two teammates get fucking murdered!?" Exalted barked as he kept pace with Staff before suddenly turning backward and firing a whirlwind of bones that penetrated Earthquakes body before immediately disintegrating due to the pure amount of corrupted dt he was naturally producing.

Staff quickly yanked Exalted around a corner and into a janitor's closet, "shit..this is only gonna buy us a couple of minutes at best we need to think of something and we need to think of it fast!" Staff whispered.

Exalted slapped Staff across the face, "Were 404's remember? Let use our fucking brains!" Exalted said in a low scream.

"Alright then maybe KM could help us?" Staff suggested

"Pretty sure he's still hiding away behind the main entrance secretary…" Exalted sneered

"Well what's your plan then smart guy?" Staff said as they were stressed by the current situation.

"Wait a minute...is that your hand?" Exalted said caught off guard.

"No, I thought that was your hand" Staff said several beads of sweat trickling down his skull.

"But...if that isn't your hand...and it isn't mine then who-" Exalted was immediately cut off.

"You both must be the stupidest 404's I've ever had the displeasure of coming across" Earthquake snarled as he grabbed both of them by the skulls.

He'd smash them both through countless walls, slamming them into objects, and dragging them completely through the cubicles before hurling them both back towards the main entrance.

Exalted landed into a pillar face first whilst Staff was partially buried under rubble from colliding with a wall.

"You know, you survived your encounter with Sol, crafted your entire life on a bitter lie just to suffer and die at my hand?" Earthquake said as he approached Exalted who could hardly manage to even retaliate at this point.

"You are honestly disappointing William, but don't worry after I'm done with you I'll go and visit your Eden Orb next...I already have an idea on what I'm going to do to your Chara" Earthquake grinned as he grabbed Exalted by the face

"In your last feeble moments of life I want you to struggle, otherwise this wouldn't be much fun" Earthquake said as he began to vibrate Exalted's molecules so fast that it was tearing him apart violently.

Exalted screamed in pain as suddenly Earthquake's eyes wandered towards the rubble where Staff was trapped. Staff's hand was poking out of the rubble, pointing towards the main desk. Earthquake turned his head to stare at it, his eyes widening once he saw what was about to happen.

"RULERS MIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!" King Multiverse screamed like a school girl unsure if this would even affect a beast of Earthquakes stature.

The giant main frame cannon unleashed a powerful sapphire beam from its black jaws that sent Earthquake flying out of the building as the attack struck him.

Exalted dropped to the floor struggling to keep balance as he slowly hobbled his way towards Staff attempting to get him out of the rubble he was trapped under.

King Multiverse was staring at his hand and back at the location he sent Earthquake in, "I am- truly amazing" he sneered whilst his legs wobbled and shook due to the overwhelming fear he experienced.

Thor suddenly came flying through a window landing right next to Exalted.

"Where the hell have you been…." Exalted said struggling to even maintain consciousness.

"My apologies friend, it appears I was knocked unconscious by a single swing from the beast" Thor said as they helped Exalted dig through the rubble.

The two of them finally managed to find Staff after sifting through the rubble for a couple minutes freeing the upper portion of his body.

"After this is over...I'm going on vacation" Staff said as he sat up and coughed up dust and particles of concrete.

"You and me both" Exalted said, nearly  slumping over.

"Me third" Thor added

King Multiverse approached the three of them, "Wait a minute, where's the other guy?" He questioned before suddenly there were several loud crashes as Kob came crashing down onto the first floor.

Kob would skid for a couple seconds before he used the momentum to maneuver to a  handstand and jumped to his feet. He'd then raise his hand towards the ceiling returning fire towards his enemies with several gaster blaster beams.

Several knives came flying through the attack nailing Kob in the arm, he gritted his teeth as he forcefully ripped them out. Suddenly all the fusions landed on the first floor, "This won't end well for you" Salazar scoffed as all the fusions prepared to unleash an attack.

Kob looked at his teammates, "uh- so how are you guys doing?" He nervously chuckled.

The fusions unleashed all of their when time came to a sudden halt, Exalted looked around "so you were the one who did that back when Cyberware first attacked."

"Wait- you're immune?" Kob said surprised

"You must obviously not encounter people like me often huh?" Exalted said as he struggled to pick Staff up and drag him behind the fusions.

Kob would do the same with Thor and King Multiverse before allowing time to move again.

"Wait how did we-" Staff was cut off by Exalted who slapped across the back of the head.

"Don't think about it too much" Exalted said as he stomped his right foot against the ground creating a giant trail of serrated chunks of hollow spheres straight towards the fusions.

"By the way it'd be best if you didn't touch that…" Exalted said careful to warn his comrades.

Laughing stock suddenly tackled Staff into a cubicle in the next room. He lifted his deformed arm that held billions of knives embedded into it, "Last time I killed a 404 it was in my home Eden Orb, I'm glad to say I've missed this crazy little game of ours" he laughed as Staff got a hold of him and tossed him through the cubical.

"Yeah well, can't say I'm very pleased fucker" Staff said grinding his teeth as he began to rapidly fire godrays at Laughing stock who dodged out of the way.

Odin was moving at rapid speeds smashing straight into Thor's chest. Thor would suck his teeth before he sucker punched Odin right in the melted face that lay at the center of his body. This caused Odin's body to disappear for several seconds before reappearing.

"Zap fgrrrrfddyrf Zap!" Odin groaned.

"Yes, I've missed you too brother" Thor said before using his Hammer to smash Odin upwards.

Salazar and Havoc looked at each other before nodding and unleashing a flurry of multiple blasts aimed at Exalted. Exalted would attempt to dodge but his injuries caught him to lag behind in the speed department. Exalted would teleport onto the roof to catch his breath with Salazar and Havoc following right behind him.

Regal and Cyberware were the only left as well as Kob and King Multiverse.

"Well now, time to execute a few pretenders" Regal chuckled as he aimed a mainframe ray at the two of them.

"Specimen. Analysing. Kob and King Multiverse. Conclusion? Inferior." Cyberware screeched with a robotic beep before rushing towards them.

As this was all happening Earthquake had finally returned flying straight towards the office building on the verge of a rageful frenzy. Que simply sat in their office conversing with their contact in the citadel over the phone.

"Everything's coming together…" Que grinned whilst

To be continued...

Written by Tyl the Regor