Forged Together Chapter 2

	Marco emerged from the other portal into Hekapoo's forge world. He checked himself over for two reasons, one to make sure he came out of the portal OK as the last thing he needs is a malfunction and his ass ends up on Mars while the rest of his body comes here. And secondly, if you had abs of steel like thirty-year-old Marco, you'd check yourself out too. He picked up a large boulder on the ground near him and tossed it a few feet; he felt good having his old..yet still new body again.

"If only Jackie could see me like this..." Marco told himself.

He walked down the hill towards Hekapoo's forge. The place was as he remembered it, minus Heky's avatar clone things; which in a weird way he sort of missed. Upon reaching the door, he noticed it was already slightly opened; remembering she didn't exactly have a doorbell Marco carefully pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked inside. The place was completely empty; and from the looks of it, things were tossed around and parts of the wall had collapsed.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Marco mumbled. He hoped he was just being paranoid.

 Marco called out for Hekapoo but all he heard back was his own echo. He checked the extra rooms, but Marco kept finding no one.

"Well, guess I can't even hang out with my interdimensional friends today either," Marco told himself as he approached the last room.

Marco peeked inside, and finally found a familiar face, or at least it looked familiar.

"Nachos?!" Marco exclaimed as he opened the door.

Marco made his way to his motorized friend, the room was dark but almost right away he knew something was not right. Marco called out her name, but she didn't even flinch or respond; the reason was soon made clear. Someone or something had turned poor Nacho's into a stone statue.

"Nacho's...it can't be..why?" Marco stammered as he hugged her.

 "But...but if you are stone then... what happened to Hekapoo?" Marco thought to himself. He was now insanely worried.

Marco composed himself, he needed a plan; not a freakout.

"Cmon Marco, you've seen enough movies to know what to do. I need to find clues, piece together a story just like Batman. I can undo all this, I just gotta stay positive; as much as I wish for it to happen a clue isn't going to walk in through the front door." Marco told himself as he investigated the upstairs rooms.

Just then, a clue walked in through the front door.

"Alright, boss said we need some of these smithing tools. Get them and lets head back, this place gives me the creeps." A man who looked like a viking warlord told 2 other similarly dressed men.

Marco watched them from the rafters, as they moved about taking anything that wasn't nailed down.

"Still say she's stalling. That nullifier isn't gonna hold forever...we shouldn't have left the keep." One of them said complaining.

"She?" Marco repeated. "That must be Hpoo...it has to be"

"Shut up and do what you are told before I cut out your tongue" The guy who seemed to be in charge said.

Marco knew he had a few options. A wise man would probably try to use diplomacy to get answers or simply stealth his way into their base, years of playing Fallout New Vegas told Marco this was the correct choice of action.

"After we get our toys, I can't wait to throw the witch into the forge and watch her burn." The other guy told his boss.

Then again, playing Fallout 4 also told Marco that killing every motherfucker on sight and asking questions later also works just fine and dandy. Marco leaped down from the rafter's and landed on a guy carrying a tool box, which knocked him to the ground.

"Ow, what the?" Was all he could say before Marco punched him in the face, knocking him out.

The other two drew their swords and looked at Marco perplexingly. Marco picked up the unconscience guys sword as he could not find his katana.

"This place has been empty for only a week, and already homeless male models are already moving in?" The remaining grunt asked.

"You two, start talking right now!" Marco demanded.

They both laughed.

"You got guts man, getting the drop on one of us like that. Tell you what; leave right now and we won't kill you. We got bigger fish to fry." The leader spoke.

Marco pointed the sword at him. Even though it wasn't his own sword, it felt good in his hands almost like muscle memory. Hopefully he still has all those skills he picked up over the years.

"Not gonna happen, dude. Now tell me what you did to my friend!"

The grunt began to move towards Marco, but was stopped by the bigger guy.

"No, I'll handle this. I didn't sharpen my broadsword for nothing." He told him. "Alright kid, let's see if you got what it takes to take down an Alph-"

Marco moved with the speed of a gust of wind. One second the big guy was boasting, and the next his sword arm was on the ground with blood spurting from where Marco sliced him. Guess Marco still had it in him after all. Enraged the big guy picked up his sword from the clutches of his severed arm and lunged at Marco, who countered it. In a swift motion Marco slice upwards, cutting off his other arm.

"Oooh...yeahh... you may need some Tylenol later, if you even know what is." Marco taunted the armless guy.

"Don't just stand there, kill him." The leader told his remaining grunt as he collapsed.

Marco looked at him, and gave him a bring it on look. The grunt tossed his sword to the floor and put his hands up.

"Please don't kill me. I have a wife and son...somewhere, I think...least I'm fairly sure about the son part. I visit a lot of whore houses...oh man why do I ramble when I'm scared?"

Marco rolled his eyes. "Tell me what you did with Hekapoo!" he shouted.

"The witch? She's at our fortress, near the coastline. It's about a days walk south of here." The guy answered.

" Why don't you give him the wi-fi password while you are at it, you imbecile!" The leader mumbled as he laid on the ground, bleeding out.

"How do I undo the spell you cast on my dragon friend?"

The guy shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't here for the initial raid, maybe the boss does. This was all his idea."

Marco lowered his weapon; he believed him.

"Why take her?" Marco asked.

"Don't say another wor-" The leader tried to say before Marco impaled him with his sword, right through the skull.

"Man he would not shut up. Now...I asked you a question." Marco told the guy.

"All I know is magic seem's to come and go, and the boss thinks that someday it's gonna vanish completely. This world runs on it, and once it's gone there is gonna be chaos, boss thought with her scissors we could escape before that happens. Or at least have her make us more durable weapons so we can take over what's left, in the ensuing madness."

Marco pondered this. Star did mention something about a magical fritz. For now however, he knew where to go and what to do.

"Take your buddy, and go west," Marco said pointing to the guy he knocked out earlier. "And as far as your little gang of...bandits, or whatever are concerned...both of you are dead. So I better not see your faces ever again."

"Thank you sir." The grunt whimpered as he dragged his sleeping pal past his dead boss. "Always hated that guy," he mumbled.

The bandits had arrived on three horse looking animals. It had the body of a horse but the head of a crocodile. Marco had actually tamed one of these things the first time he came to this world; now that was a fun weekend. He got on one of them, pulled on the reigns and it started to gallop.

"Alright...south I go. Hold on Hpoo, help is on the way."