The Order of Nightmare: Universal Heroes (Part 1)

The Order of Nightmare
Universal Heroes
Part 1

Prologue
Explosions were heard all around. Temporalia raced through a dense rainforest as black machines with red lights pursued her. She was running out of breath, and soon they would reach her.
“Temporalia!” a voice spoke into her intercom. “Can you hear me?”
“Copy that.” She answered. “Status update.”
“The Klader clones are closing in on your area. Do your best to get out of there.”
“I’m trying my best.” Temporalia cried. “The Hunters are on my ass. I can’t shake them.”
One of the machines shot out a laser. It exploded near her, sending her flying into a tree. She lay there dazed.
“Temporalia!” The voice called. “Are you alright?”
She growled. “I’m gonna stop them.”
“How are you gonna do that?”
“By traveling directly to the source.”
“No!” the voice shouted to her. “Don’t do it. We’re coming to your location now. Please don’t make any haste decisions.”
“I’m sorry.” Temporalia smiled. She unhooked her communicator and smashed it into the ground. The machines circled around her and began charging up their lasers.
“We’ll give them another shot.” Temporalia activated a charm on her necklace. She began to glow and suddenly disappeared into thin air, moments before the machines fired their lasers at her.

It was early morning in Nightmare World. Lustrous and Luminous stood in a massive arena room. This was the training facility, where their members could train against each other. The arena was capable of utilizing hazards and other obstacles to make the fight more challenging. Lustrous and Luminous were testing the weather functionality of the arena.
“Rain. Snow. Lightning. Hail. Sandstorm…all working up to date.” Replied Lustrous.
“Wonderful.” Replied Luminous.
Another figure entered the arena. She wore bright purple armor, which outlined her figure. It carried a purple sword and a shield with spikes on it. The shield had a huge serpent on it. She wore purple boots and had long black hair, covering one of her eyes.
“Wow!” She spoke. “I’m ready for battle.”
“Persuadere…” Luminous spoke. “How goes things?”
“Absolutely smashing.” She smirked. “I love it.”
“Ready for your fight?” asked Lustrous.
At that moment, a flash of light shined across the arena. Persuadere shielded her eyes, while Lustrous and Luminous looked at the source. A female figure appeared in the middle of the arena. She was entirely black and white, as if she just appeared from an old movie. She also appeared slightly faded, as if she were a projection with a bad light. She was very beautiful and wore white pants. She wore a black blouse and jacket, with white hair and a black pearl necklace. She also wore a large, white fedora with a black feather in it.
“Well, I’ll be.” She smiled to herself. “The Order of Nightmare HQ will look the same 50 years from now.”
Persuadere drew her sword, but Lustrous and Luminous stopped her. “Just a moment.”
“She could be an enemy.” Persuadere grinned. “I can take her easily.”
“She could also be an ally.” Luminous remarked. “Let’s give the girl a chance to introduce herself.”
The figure bowed to Lustrous and Luminous. “My name is Temporalia. I am a time and space traveling emissary. I was hoping to find you guys here. It’s a very good thing you aren’t off recruiting.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Temporalia.” Lustrous spoke. “Are you seeking asylum at the HQ?”
“Not exactly…” Temporalia muttered. “I’m the deputy of The Order of Nightmare.”
Lustrous and Luminous gazed at her in interest. “Deputy, you say?”
She nodded. “I am the deputy of The Order of Nightmare 50 years from now…or, what’s left of it at least.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ah, so you don’t know what’s been going on?” Temporalia smirked. She sat down and dusted off her white pants. “Have you noticed anything strange going on?”
“What do you mean by strange?” asked Lustrous.
“I’m talking about Bermuda Triangle Heists stealing important battle plans from the Elite Scorp Militia. I’m talking about Eric and his robots openly attacking United States government officials. I’m talking about Captain X and her crewmembers taking over other planets. The heroes are breaking away from the order you two worked so hard to achieve.”
“How can that be?” asked Persuadere. “They were so unified last time we asked them to help us with Archive.”
“Times have changed.” Temporalia spoke. “The heroes aren’t your servants. They have lives. They have people to save themselves. But, more importantly, they have needs in their worlds that must be attended to.”
Lustrous and Luminous nodded. “How is the future 50 years from now?”
“Umm…awful.” Temporalia lowered her head. “Many heroes have died in the future. The people lose their faith in the all-powerful. Mindy gets a hold of the Transformation Stones and uses them to her advantage. Meanwhile, Klader gathers abilities from each of the heroes and turns herself into an ultimate hunter. She begins sending her clones all over the universe hunting down heroes. And if that’s not enough, the Vampire Sisters have stolen key designs to future robots Eric was planning on making. They’re called ‘Hunters’, and they hunt down allies and affiliates of T.O.O.N. Every. Last. One of them.”
“And you were the only survivor?” asked Persuadere.
“More or less…” Temporalia spoke. “Lustrous, Luminous, and I were the only ones still alive. I watched the rest get horribly murdered.”
“How can we stop this?” asked Lustrous.
“Funny you should ask…” She unbuttoned her coat, revealing a fearsome dragon on her blouse, along with some cleavage. “The heroes are currently doing their own thing. The Elite Scorp Militia is invading other worlds as we speak. The Bermuda Triangle Heists are nowhere to be found, and the Stormfront is busy conquering any world in its path. We’ll need to focus on reunifying the heroes.”
“Alright.” Luminous replied. “So, we’ll ask again…how can we stop this?”
Temporalia removed her hat and dusted it off. “First, we should go visit Mr. No-name. He’s perhaps the only hero who everyone trusts. No one hates No-name, and he’s a respectable hero. If we are to get anywhere, it’ll be with his help.”
Lustrous nodded. “Very well then. Let’s make our way to Snakeworld at once.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Temporalia suddenly extended her hand out to Persuadere. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Persuadere.” She smiled and shook her hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“That’s an interesting name. I take it you are the current deputy.”
Persuadere nodded. “Yep.”
“Alright.” Luminous spoke. “Let us set off for Snakeworld.”
“I can take us there.” Temporalia offered. “I could teleport all the members of The Order of Nightmare to Snakeworld.”
“That’d be splendid.” Lustrous and Luminous led the team to the Nightmare Armada, where the other members of the HQ were booting up the ships.
“Are we ready?” asked Temporalia.
Lustrous and Luminous nodded. “Let’s get moving.”
“Affirmative.” Temporalia began to light up and glow, and soon, the entire Nightmare Fleet vanished from the HQ.

???
There were several flashes of light, and The Order of Nightmare Armada landed in a desert-like area. There were wooden buildings all around.
“The wild west?” asked Flamethrower.
“This isn’t Snakeworld.” Replied Vyka, who was a new core member of T.O.O.N.
Lustrous and Luminous turned to Temporalia. “What’s the deal here? We’re not in Snakeworld.”
“My apologies.” Temporalia replied.
“Where are we?” asked Persuadere.
“We’re in Phoenix, Arizona, on Earth…in the 19th century…in another dimension.” Sighed Temporalia.
“Well, that’s way off…”
Lustrous and Luminous looked around. “How soon can we get up and running?”
“It’ll be at least twenty-five minutes.” Replied Temporalia. “I’m terribly sorry. I’ve never transported a group this big before. I underestimated the amount of focus it would need.”
“Fear not.” Lustrous spoke. “Mistakes occur sometimes. It happens.”
“Freeze!” a voice shouted. “Don’t move!”
The T.O.O.N. members turned to the source. A cowboy and cowgirl were at the base of the ship. One of them carried a steam-powered lasso, and the other carried a steam-powered sniper rifle. The man with the lasso was a tall man with black cowboy boots, a large brown hat, and the usual getup consisting of a vest, jeans, and a t-shirt. The cowgirl with the sniper wore stereotypical cowgirl attire: daisy dukes, plaid shirt, brown boots, and a cowgirl hat to cover her wavy brown hair.
Persuadere drew her sword and shield. She rushed in front of Lustrous and Luminous to provide cover for them. “Stand down. You are impossibly outnumbered.”
“Silence!” the cowgirl continued to aim her sniper.
Temporalia leaped down from the ship and inspected the two. “Hmm, let’s see…cowboy hats, steam-powered weapons…you must be Steam Soldiers. I’ve heard a lot about you guys. Fighting the Oil Army, promoting steam as energy, yep. You’re a strange group of heroes if I’ve ever met one.”
The girl exchanged nervous looks with her partner, “Who are you guys?”
“My name is Temporalia.” She explained. “I’m the, well, future deputy of The Order of Nightmare. The one with the sword and shield is Persuadere, the current deputy. And then the two behind them are Lustrous and Luminous, the leaders.”
The cowgirl bowed. “My name is Tombstone. This is Showdown. And you’re right, we are members of the Steam Army.”
Temporalia shook both of their hands. “Pleasure to meet you both.” She turned to Showdown. “You don’t talk much, do you?”
“He’s mute.” Tombstone answered.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Temporalia replied.
“Why don’t you go wait inside?” Lustrous and Luminous warped down and shooed Temporalia away. “Now, we’re sorry for bothering you. We flew down here by mistake. We’ll be leaving in about ten minutes.”
“Leaving?” asked Tombstone. “Well, where are you guys going?”
“We have business in the present we need to address.” Replied Lustrous.
Showdown began writing on a handkerchief and showed it to the two eons, May we come?
“Come? With us?” asked Luminous.
The war is over, and Tombstone and I have nothing to do. Showdown wrote. It would be interesting to see what the future looks like.
“I don’t really see why not.” Luminous shrugged.
“Really?” asked Temporalia. “You two are not afraid of any repercussions that may occur if we take them?”
“Time consequences only work backward to forward.” Replied Lustrous. “In your case, you went backwards to fix something in the future. If you go forward and do stuff, it won’t matter, since you’ll be going back to your time anyway.”
“Not only that,” added Luminous, “But they’re from an alternate dimension. That won’t harm the Reality Dimension in any way.”
Tombstone beamed. “So, do we have the okay?”
Luminous nodded. “Welcome to The Order of Nightmare, Showdown and Tombstone.”
The four of them entered the ship. Temporalia smiled. “Now then, if we’re all ready to roll, I shall be sending us to the proper location and time period this time.”
“Take it away.”
The ships once again began to flash before disappearing in thin air.

Snakeworld
The Order of Nightmare armada landed in Snakeworld. Nothing bad appeared to be happening yet. Everything appeared to be in order. The civilians waved as Lustrous and Luminous exited the ships, along with the other core members.
“Persuadere. Temporalia. Showdown. Tombstone.” Shouted Lustrous and Luminous. “You guys come with us. The rest of you stay and guard the ships.”
“Roger.” Replied Flamethrower.
The six members made their way over to No-name’s House. Many of his team members were out an about doing miscellaneous activities, such as playing ball or relaxing on the lawn.
“Lustrous and Luminous?” Xepian approached them. “Back again, I see. How can we help you?”
“We need to talk to No-name.” replied Lustrous.
“Is he here?” asked Luminous.
“Of course.” Replied Xepian. “Let me go get him for you guys.”
She left to go inside the house. Temporalia glanced at all the members. “So, this is The Legend of the Universe. Wow, I never would’ve expected him to live a life this luxurious. I mean, I know he’s a legend and all, but wow!”
“Mr. No-name is very prestigious.” Persuadere explained.
A few moments, Xepian returned with No-name. His beamsword hung from a belt attached to his upper body.
“Honestly,” sighed No-name, “If I had a gold coin for every time you guys needed my help.”
“Hello again, No-name.” Lustrous and Luminous dipped their heads, “Such a pleasure to see you again.”
“Please, come inside.” No-name led them inside his house, where more teammates were bustling about. They were led to a huge meeting room. They all sat around a large, circular table, facing each other.
“What can I do for you this time?” asked No-name. “Let’s see…it alternates every time between saving the world and a marching band. And we just did a marching band, so…who’s threatening the universe this time?”
“Actually.” Temporalia spoke, “It’s you guys.”
No-name glanced at her, “And you are?”
“This is Temporalia and Persuadere.” Lustrous and Luminous explained. “They’re deputies.”
“I’m the current deputy, replacing Volatile and Vixen.” Persuadere nodded.
Temporalia tipped her hat. “And I’m the future deputy of The Order of Nightmare.”
“Future?”
“I’ve come from 50 years in the future, to try and undo actions that will cause a massive apocalypse in the future.”
“Really?” No-name gazed at her curiously. “Why this time period? Why not sooner? Or later, for that matter? What’s happening right now that I should be concerned with?”
“Well, for starters, The Elite Scorp Milita is currently invading X-Range, Exition, Metro Star, and Voltron. The Stormfront is traveling around the world again, and they are also conquering other worlds. I know Captain X and them have attacked Stardom and Spiritland.”
“So…are we supposed to stop them?” asked No-name.
“Not just stop them. Unify them.”
“Aren’t they already?”
Temporalia shook her head. “They’re fighting, and they’re at a disagreement due to opposing views and the lack of a single unifying threat.”
“How can we unify them?” asked No-name.
“Well, before I state my plan, let me also inform you that Mindy is currently in the process of obtaining Transformation Stones, which will allow her to become more powerful long story short.”
No-name nodded. “So, she’s using these conflicts to mask her activities essentially?”
“Precisely.”
No-name grumbled and thought for a moment, “Well, tell me your plan.”
Temporalia smirked. Her necklace began to sparkle. The others gazed at it curiously.
“Hey!” she remarked jokingly, for her necklace hung right above her cleavage. “Don’t be staring at my breasts.”
The others glanced at her. She sighed and nodded. The necklace projected six holograms of heroes. “I’ve highlighted six main heroes out there who are causing disruption. Four of these heroes you are familiar with. The other two are new ones.”
“Oh, cool!” Persuadere smiled. “New heroes!”
“Voltage, Captain X, Eric, the Bermuda Triangle Heists…technically aren’t they three separate heroes?”
“Well, I group them as one.” Temporalia replied. “Then there are the two new ones: Incande and Boom.”
“I’ve met Incande before.” No-name spoke.
“So have we.” Lustrous and Luminous replied.
“Oh…” Temporalia replied. “Well, Boom’s new, and to be honest, he might be the strongest hero of the six. He has immortality, super strength, flight capabilities, and near-invincibility.”
“Sounds like a potential villain.” No-name nodded. “Alright. So, I suggest we split up.”
“Split up?” asked Persuadere. “Won’t that make us weaker?”
“Yes.” No-name nodded. “And that’s exactly the kind of thing we need. A monstrous force attacking another monstrous force would end badly. If we were to go all out against the Elite Scorp Militia, or even Eric’s robots, we would be at a stalemate, and only ruin relations. We’ll need to go as smaller forces, which would prove to the other heroes that we mean peace and unity, not conflict and disagreement.”
“Agreed.” Lustrous spoke. “We’ll split up into groups of two.”
“No.” No-name shook his head. “Groups of three. It’ll be quicker to accomplish, and it makes our forces appear smaller.”
“Alright.” Lustrous and Luminous spoke. “Who goes with who?”
“You two are obviously one group.” Replied No-name. “ You can help out Voltage and Captain X. Then I suppose the deputies will be another group. You can take Eric and the Bermuda Triangle Heists. Finally, I’ll take these two heroes and go for Incande and Boom.” No-name glanced at Showdown and Tombstone. “Assuming you two are heroes.”
“I’m Tombstone, and this is Showdown.” They bowed. “We’re from Phoenix, AZ.”
“They’re from the past.” Temporalia sighed. “Long story short, they’re here to help out.”
I’m mute. Showdown wrote. I cannot speak, but I am more than willing to help you on your quest.
“Great!” No-name replied. “The core members can go with Lustrous and Luminous. Now, let’s set off. We’ve got a universe to save.”
The teams set off in different directions. No-name gathered a few members of his team, along with Showdown and Tombstone. Xepian, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Venus Fly Trap, Pitcher Plant, Waterwheel Plant, Meta-Bat, Spark, Splash, Whirlwind, Firetail, Thunderclaw, Sandstorm, and Eye Root tagged along.
“So uhh,” Tombstone muttered. “You said you know this ‘In Candy’ person, right?”
No-name nodded. “I met her once and she helped us out.”
“Was she…friendly?” asked Tombstone.
“Very talkative, I suppose.” No-name explained. “I remember her being a naïve witch who just loves to do what she wants.”
I wonder why she’s considered “disruptive”. Showdown wrote.
“Yeah…that’s a concern.” No-name sighed.