Where Devils Fear to Tread

Disclaimer: I don't own either Worm, or Phineas and Ferb. I do own the three OP characters used in this story. If they resemble other characters or people, the resemblance is incidental and accidental.

This idea came to me when I was thinking of how different heroes and villains would fit into the Worm Universe.

"You said you found a job for us?" Malcolm Lewis's voice was flat as he spoke up from the back of the beat-up van he and his companions were currently travelling in.

"Yeah, it should be easy, there aren't that many Capes in the area." Sylvester Franklin spoke up from the driver's seat, as he maneuvered the van around a car that was puttering along far too slow for the Interstate.

"And where did you hear about this job? We've been on the road for a week now." Malcolm's voice conveyed the raised eyebrow he was aiming at the back of Sylvester's chair.

Sylvester chuckled weakly. "Well, you see, I still had Echo's phone number, and I wanted to check on if she made it out..."

The third member of their trio laughed, deep and loud. "My friend, you are far too smitten with that chica. You know she doesn't even want to be seen in the same room as you, especially after the stunt we pulled." Everything about Salvador Maria de Perez was big, from his height to his personality, and his laughter literally caused the windows to shake.

"Shut up! It's not like that at all. I'm just...worried about her. Never mind, that's not the point. She gave me the heads up about this job, it sounds like it's going to be a cakewalk, especially with our skills."

The three men in the van weren't your ordinary cross-country travelers. No, the three of them were, in fact, Capes, people with strange abilities caused by a singular event of terrible trauma. They had been acting a group for sometime, essentially minions for hire, before they ended up running out on a job when Legend, one of the greatest heroes on the planet, ended up stepping in to stop the robbery.

Malcolm, who went by the name Hypster, had incredibly advanced reflexes and body control, enabling him to move like a trained martial artist, along with a weak precognitive ability, making him a master of hand-to-hand combat. Salvador went by the name Strongarm, and his ability was to create two massive energy projections from his back in the shape of arms. Each arm was four times the size of his normal arms, and they were powerful enough for him to easily lift cars and crush them down. Finally, Sylvester went by the name Sigil, though he was thinking of changing it to Glyph, as people kept mispronouncing it as "squiggle". His ability manifested as a series of black lines moving across his skin, which formed a variety of geometric patterns. The patterns determined what powers he had, ranging from lightning blasts to flight to extreme durability. He couldn't quite control what powers he got, though he could cause the patterns to shift if he didn't like the set he had at the moment.

Malcolm yawned and slouched down further in the seat he was in. "Yeah, yeah, you told us already how easy it will be. However, you haven't told us what the details are, and I would like to have at least some idea of what we are doing before we get there, wherever there is."

"Right, right." Sylvester nodded, glancing back in the mirror. "So, the job is to grab something from this art gallery that's having a grand reopening. Something about a fire or a dinosaur attack, I don't remember, it was a bunch of rumors, but the point is that there are several exhibits showing off donated pieces from different people's collections. One, in particular, is a statue, covered in gemstones."

"Oh, is it a woman? That is desperate, even for you my friend." Salvador laughed again, and Sylvester glared at him in the rear-view mirror.

"Very funny, and no, it isn't a woman. There is a guy in New York that has been trying to buy it, but the owner won't sell. He's willing to pay quite a bit for it, we just need to get it out. Security will be tight, but given that it is an open exhibit, it shouldn't be too tight. I figure we should pull a double sleight of hand for this. Strongarm, you'll turn over a bank or something, to distract the police. Then, I'll assault the far side of the gallery, draw the security that way. Hypster, you will grab the statue and then flee out among the crowd. We all meet up later and book it out of town. Simple."

Malcolm and Salvador shared a look, as both of them knew that there was no way it would be that simple. Moments later, Malcolm's stomach growled, and he groaned slightly. "Yeah, that's great and all, but right now I'm starving, so I vote we grab something to eat once we reach the city."

Sylvester nodded. "No problem. We're close to Danville anyway, and I figured that we should case out which bank for..."

*WHAM* Malcolm's hand slapped into the back of the passenger side seat as he leaned forward, his entire body suddenly tense. "Danville?! As in, Danville, Illinois? That Danville?"

Sylvester nodded, looking at Malcolm in the rear-view mirror incredulously. "Yeah, in the Danville Art Hall. What, did you leave a girl there or something?"

Malcolm didn't answer, his face tense. Slowly, he spoke, "When you talked to Echo, the first thing you asked was if she was still mad, wasn't it?"

Sylvester frowned at the non sequiter, before nodding. "I actually asked about if she got away first, but yeah, that was my second question. Why...?"

"And when she answered," Malcolm cut him off, "she said something like, 'No, I'm not ma~ad.'"

Sylvester let out a little laugh. "Yeah, actually, that was pretty close. How did you...?"

"AND then," Malcolm cut him off once again, "she said something along the lines of 'To prove it, I found a sweet job for you in Danville', right?"

Sylvester turned slightly to glance back at Malcolm. "Yes, actually. Were you listening in on my conversations?"

Malcolm sat back in his chair, shaking his head. "Nope, but I have a few bits of info for you. First, Echo is still totally pissed at us, you in particular probably. And second, there is no freaking way we are going to try and operate in Danville."

Sylvester scowled stubbornly. "Oh yeah, why?"

Malcolm glanced at Salvador, who just looked confused. "Because of the Capes that are already there. Don't tell me you two haven't heard about it?"

Sylvester and Salvador both shook their heads, and Malcolm sighed. "Right, well, there are only two capes operating in Danville. No-one else does, unless they are working directly for those two. One's a hero, and one's a villain. Francis Monogram and Heinz Doofenshmirtz."

"Doofenshmirtz? What kind of name is Doofenshmirtz?"

"Eastern European or something. I don't know their lineages, but they are two Capes that nobody messes with. Neither of them have code names or anything, though the hero, Francis, does try to operate secretly, though he is pretty bad at keeping a low profile. Neither of them need secret identities, though, because they are both powerful enough to handle anyone stupid enough to fight them."

"Really?" Sylvester looked at Malcolm through the rear-view mirror, his tone slightly mocking. "If they are so badass, why haven't I ever heard of them?"

"Probably because you are too busy mooning over Echo or Phoebe. But honestly it is probably because neither of them really operates outside of Danville, and neither of them is all that disruptive, despite their sheer power."

"Yes, yes, you have mentioned how tough they are, but why should we fear them?" Salvador leaned forward, his face intent. "You were willing to take the job in Vancouver, despite that being Dragon's territory. What makes them different?"

"Dragon has limits. These two, don't. Or at least no limits that have been observed." Malcolm took a deep breath. "Ok, let's start with the hero. Francis Monogram is a Master. There are probably other things thrown in there, but the important bit is that he can control animals. Any animal, any species, he can control them. His range covers at least a city, possibly more. The important bit is that the animals he controls, they change. Each of them show signs of human level intelligence, being capable of acting somewhat independently, while still following his orders. Their biology is also enhanced. They become capable of shifting into a bipedal hybrid form; their strength, speed, and durability all increase dramatically; and each one of them develops fighting skills on par with Bruce Lee. In short, he turns animals into kung-fu warriors."

"So we avoid animals while we're there. Piece of cake."

Malcolm shook his head. "You don't get it. One of the few recorded examples of him using his powers had him take an ordinary rat. Within five minutes, that rat took down three armed men, physically throwing one of them threw a wood door. And, as I said, he can control animals across the city, and they can act independently of his control. If a pigeon flies over your head in that city, the very next moment it could land and flip you into a suplex."

"Well, ok, yeah, that sounds terrifying, but what about the other guy? If he's a villain, couldn't we distract them into fighting each other or something."

"I don't think you get what 'act independently' means, but in any case, no. Doofenshmirtz is honestly the one that I am more afraid of. While Monogram is labeled as one of the best Masters on the planet, Doofenshmirtz is The Tinker. He is the best, hands down, anywhere. The only reason Dragon is labeled as the greatest Tinker is because of PR campaigns by the PRT."

"Wow, ok now I know you have to be exaggerating. What could put him above Dragon as a Tinker?"

"He can build anything."

Sylvester scoffed. "Ok, that doesn't really mean anything. I mean, if I asked for a soap-powered lawn-mower, could he whip me up one?"

"Probably. The only confirmed limit on his power is that his inventions have to be named Inators."

Silence filled the van as the other men processed this. "Inators? What does that even mean?"

"I'll give you a couple of examples. A couple of his most visible ones recently were a Juicie-inator, and a Media-Erase-Inator. That second one might be why most people haven't heard of him. The Juice-inator fired a beam of energy that turned the molecules of anything it hit, including people, into orange juice. The Media-Erase-Inator is capable of targeting specific pieces of information, and literally removing them from the internet, and most other forms of digital recording, with a limited effect on books and written media. It's effects can reach world-wide. He's built death rays, a device that was magnetic to keys, and an Evil-inator that was able to turn your average citizen into a raging psychopath. Literally, if he can think of an effect, he can make a machine that can cause that effect."

Salvador nodded. "I can see why you are intimidated. Still, that does not explain why we must avoid the city entirely."

"Yeah." Sylvester spoke up as he steered the van around a large eighteen-wheeler. "I mean, yeah, they're powerful, but that doesn't mean we can't be in and out, finish the job and split town."

"Any other heroes and villains that try to operate there vanish. And they are never heard from again! Just this past summer, a hero and villain got into a fight. The Beak and Cuckoo-a-whammy, or something like that. The next day, they vanished, gone, neither of them were seen again. This same thing had happened for years. A hero or villain, even established ones, will come to Danville, get in a fight or something, and then, poof, drop off the radar."

Malcolm glanced at the two of them, who both seemed to still be doubting. "Right, I don't think I stated clearly enough some of the issues. For one, when I said that Monogram had a range of the city, that was his confirmed range. There have been reports of animals matching the description of those he controls operating as far off as Seattle, London, and South Africa. Now, his location at that time isn't confirmed, so he could have been in those locations, but there is a decent body of evidence to show that his range covers the entire globe. So, if we attract his attention, his animals can hound us to literally the edge of the earth. And, that isn't even the scariest bit. There have been several humans seen in Danville and else where with power sets matching those of the animals he controls, in many cases working alongside those animals. So, it is entirely possible that his power can ignore the Manton Effect. All of those people at the Art Gallery? They could suddenly all turn into kung-fu experts and attack me!"

Both Salvador and Sylvester were silent as Malcolm caught his breath, before he finished out with the biggest bomb he had to drop. "As for Doofenshmirtz, well, his single recorded encounter with an Endbringer really says it for me. The Smiurgh was heading in to attack Chicago, we believe, and it started screaming just outside of Danville as it was flying over. Either Doofenshmirtz pulled out a device he already built, or built one in the minute or so that the Smiurgh had been screaming. In either case, he called it the Silence-inator, and when he shot the Smiurgh with it, it not only got through the Smiurgh's defenses, it Shut. Off. Its. Scream. It literally seemed to stumble in the sky, totally silent, before taking off back into the stratosphere. When it showed up next, the Scream was back, but scientists have been studying the Silence-inator that they managed to get to try and recreate the power it showed."

A minute ticked by as the two men digested what Malcolm had told them. Finally, Sylvester spoke up as pulled into an off ramp. "So, I hear it's nice in Santa Fe this time of year."

And there is my idea! Major Monogram and Heinz are two of the baddest Capes around, though they don't get involved in much outside of Danville. Oh, and I took the liberty of actually placing Danville in an actual state, just because then it is easier to show that they are headed to the opposite end of the country when they scoot off to Santa Fe.