Experiment 2.0, a hero for Paragon City, renowned and known by a large majority of citizens, had many enemies. Blind Messenger, a skeletal necromancer, was a relatively safe one, he wouldn't REALLY hurt people unless they actively hurt or betrayed him. He would rarely go out of his way to cause damage to anyone, and to Experiment, was mainly just a nuisance.

Experiment 3.0, Experiment 2.0's dark energy given physical form, was slightly worse. He hurt people purposefully, and had killed quite a few, but 2.0 could usually defeat him. He wasn't very smart, and his natural strength paled in comparison to 2.0's technological advancements.

However, Experiment 2.0's very first, and worst Arch-Nemesis, was named Dr. Shimmer. He was the reason Experiment 2.0 existed.

John Ballard, having recently moved to Paragon City for a job at the newspaper, had been kidnapped by a division of Crey Industries. The head of the laboratory he was taken to was named Dr. Keizer Shimmer, a genius in his own right. He had discovered that John controlled powers of darkness- He could shield himself in dark matter, and attack with increased physical strength.

Shimmer utilized an experimental gene he had been working on- Later, it was discovered he had been attempting to make it possible to make Paragon Protectors of living humans- and injected it into John's system.

The man formed spines all over his body, but the dark energy in him multiplied. He gained enormous strength, ripping himself free and knocking a rack of chemicals all over Shimmer. The chemicals formed around him, coating him in what seemed to be metal skin. He flew back against a wall due to the dark power emanating from the man on the table, and felt nothing. Ballard escaped, and later, a majority of his dark power split off to form Experiment 3.0.

Shimmer was 'disfigured,' but looked more as though he was simply made of metal. He despised the hero for making him a joke, a freak, and swore his revenge.

Dr. Shimmer turned into Experiment 2.0's worst enemy, chasing him down, constantly causing him pain and, once, destroying a whole city block with his robotic army, which he had created due to the large amount of anger and time he had on his hands.

However, he could never beat the hero. 2.0 constantly outsmarted him, destroying every new machine he could create, and then placing a prison beacon of his own design on the villain. Nothing he did worked.

It started to bore him. A super-villain with a large grudge and too much time on his hands is never a good thing.

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Experiment 2.0, suited up in his bright red, panel armour suit as per usual, was sitting on the edge of a skyscraper in his neighborhood of Steel Canyon. Not much crime had happened lately- Every once in a long while, a Rikti Ship would try and cause some damage, but a huge group of heroes would swarm it and run off the Rikti yet again, so that was rather easy.

The fires had begun dying down- He guessed the Hellions were getting bored- And the Outcasts hadn't been causing any large crimes of late. Everything was very calm, and so was his mood. He lay back, smiling and closing his eyes to the sun at its highest point of the day.

"This job is getting easier," he said, smirking, "I haven't heard a peep out of Shimmer for months. Usually that would worry me, I guess, but it just seems like everything's cooling down... Finally."

A piercing alarm made him shoot up, and groan.

That was the only thing he hated- Bank robberies were going on more and more often now. He didn't understand why. It seemed to be the Steel Canyon bank mainly too- He would have thought those 'Destined Ones' would slow down a bit by now. If they hadn't gotten anything because of him ten times in a row, why would they now?

He sped toward the bank, landing and pushing open the doors quickly. Small robots, battle bots, were blasting the walls and officers around the room. He sped over, cutting one in half with his organic, poison-laden spikes, and then leaping over two more before throwing a single spike, impaling them both. He rushed through the corridors, taking down easy, destructible battle bots with every swing, before he came to the hallways to the vault.

Inside the caged rooms were melee-bots, Shimmer's design. Commonly mistaken for Protector-bots of common knowledge, these larger versions of battle bots were equipped with blades on each arm, and the ability to perform very advanced physical maneuvers. They took a little more time, one barely putting a scratch in the hero's armour, before they were down.

"So, Shimmer's back in the lime-light. He NEVER robs banks, though- He just builds stuff with scrap from these guys, usually..." he muttered, dashing to the vault door.

Coming out of the door was a red and black robot, mostly human-shaped, about a foot taller than Experiment, carrying four bags of money. It was Shimmer's favourite Mk. II Battle Suit, the name of which was confusing, as Shimmer never really wore it.

"Experiment 2.0," Shimmer's voice came from the machine, obviously from some built-in radio, "So nice of you to join me. I'm afraid I can't stay, you know, have to escape and all."

"Yeah, I'm gonna have to say that that answer is incorrect. Please try again while I implant my fist into your bot's face-plate."

Experiment's arms glowed blue as he threw himself forward, his fist colliding with the bot's helmet and sending it flying back into the wall. He then walked forward slowly, grinning. "Seriously? You hide for months, come back, and are just as weak as ever? Didn't you improve ANYTHING?"

The Mk. II unit dashed forward, kicking Experiment in the stomach before he could react. He flew back, but was not worried in the slightest- He knew this plan.

He flipped back, sliding on the ground between the huge legs of the Assault Bot Shimmer always used to try and defeat him. He then launched up, spike ripping through the back shell, revealing the power core, the weakness of the bot. Before he could hit it however, the machine swiveled violently, metal arms slamming him backward into a few safety deposit boxes. He groaned, before looking up, and leaping to the side as a missile rushed toward him. It hit the boxes, sending jewelery, paper, and other assorted, expensive items all over the floor.

Experiment then dashed to the left, as the robot fired a rail cannon at him. The blue beam ripped through the wall, as he rolled around it, and stabbed a spine into the power core. The thing exploded instantly, sending him back a few feet as he adjusted himself and landed flawlessly.

He walked back to Shimmer's Mk. II... Only to hear the doctor's faint laughing.

"I know, I find it funny too," Experiment said, "How I always beat you the same way."

Dr. Shimmer's laughter went from quiet, to insane, loud, and triumphant.

Then, from behind the hero, a voice, tinged with the ever-memorable, grainy voice of a robot, said "Subject Experiment 2.0- Decimation imminent."

That was the only thing that saved 2.0's life, as he rolled forward, a curved, shining blade barely missing him. He gasped, backing up quickly to the Mk. II unit. "What the hell is THAT?!"

The unit flew behind the new robot- It was huge. Blue and white primarily, the robot was at least two times Experiment's size. It wielded two curved blades, blades that Experiment recognized as commonly used assassin's blades, but of course, they were tainted with technology- They glowed a pale blue, their handles holding switches and buttons all over the blade, and leaving a slight trail behind them with every movement.

The robot itself was more advanced than anything Experiment had ever seen, in battle-terms. He didn't know quite how to describe it, except that it looked 'sharp'- The arms were curved in on the outside, with an odd indentation- Perhaps where the swords came from- and the sides of the arms themselves seemed to have multiple functions, some the hero recognized.

It utilized the same energy power he did in his armour- Evidently, it could increase its own strength. If this was true, that blade, and even the fists of that thing, could kill him easily. The legs had the same thing, however- Something new to the hero. The legs looked similar to the arms in the respect that they were indented in strange ways- On each leg was a weapon. On the right, some sort of axe, also with a blue tint, and in the other, what looked to be a Nemesis Staff.

The head was the most advanced looking part- It was curved, possibly to increase aerodynamic capabilities, and protected the whole head. The face was a blue screen, a scanner most likely, and possibly even made to protect the inside as well.

"This, my pathetic little friend, is Experiment 4.0." Shimmer laughed hysterically from what was most likely his control room, "I'm sure you'll love it."

"But... What IS it?!"

"It is a battle robot I created, just for you. I have fought you enough to get an idea of your devices- I simply used them, and made them stronger, as well as adding in a few of my own programs. For example, its blades can... Well, why don't you just find out on your own?"

Laughing again, Shimmer flew straight up, smashing the roof open. "Experiment 4.0- Target and destroy the subject," he called, flying off at an amazing speed.

The robot reacted instantly- It dashed forward at blinding speed, giving 2.0 barely any time to dodge out of the way of the spinning blades- He realized the hands were spinning, turning the blades practically into propellers. However, as soon as he landed, a shocking pain hit him, and he flew into the vault, still smoke-filled from the battle before, and collided with the wall.

He groaned, only to be picked up by the robot and thrown into an opposite wall, denting the wall with the sheer force of the throw. Experiment 4.0 came to pick him up, and the hero flipped back, legs tightening, and thrust them into the robot's chest.

He pushed himself into the wall, and was simply thrown again.

After recovering from that, and dodging past the hands of the bot, he ran, gasping, into the hallway. "That thing is HEAVY! How am I supposed to fight that?" he muttered. He let out spines from his wrists, then dashed at the thing. The blades of the robot slashed forward, and he pulled up his spikes to block. He was lucky his head was a few inches from the sword, because the spines were cut without any resistance.

He rolled back, avoiding the second blade, and began running again, ejecting the useless spike-base. "Those blades cut through my spikes like they were paper! What IS this thing?!"

Activating the temporary strength function of his arms, he ran at the thing punching it in the chest, the only place he could hit without getting hit by a blade. It flew back a few feet, started its built-in jet thrusters, and landed. A small dent was in the armour plating. "Heh, it's durable, but it's still killable."

However, it adjusted its position slightly... And the armour plating glowed green for a moment, before rebuilding itself perfectly.

"...Wait, regenerating armour plating?!"

Static came through the robot's head- "That's right, Experiment. My newest creation far surpasses your skills, hm? The armour can regenerate against nearly anything you could pull on it. I'm sure that's upsetting for you." Shimmer began laughing again, before sighing. "I'm so brilliant."

"You're insane, Shimmer... What else can this thing do?"

"Oh, well that would ruin the surprise!" Chuckling, Shimmer continued, "Well, I must be going. It seems this system is a success, so I am going to figure out how to mass produce them. Ta-ta, Experiment 2.0."

The voice shut off, moments before the machine leaped into action again. The blades flew into the indentations on its arms, and the arms themselves glowed red. Experiment went to punch again, but the A.I. outmaneuvered him- It gripped his arms, swung, and released. He flew into the concrete wall, creating a hole. He could already feel the blood in his mouth, and spit out a huge glob of it into the debris around him. "Ugh... I can't take much more of this," he gasped, "I need to get outta here..."

Turning, he initiated his jet boots and smashed through the roof. Blasting away as fast as he could, he continued gasping for air.

"Damn... That thing hit hard... I need to rest, figure out--"

A flash of energy engulfed him, sending him reeling downward in pain.

It could fly. He forgot. He also forgot the Nemesis Staff.

He started falling, his fists clenched tight into his hand to help with the pain, only for his body to meet the super-powered fist of the assassin robot.

He flew further down, slamming into a large trash can, denting it as he flipped onto the cement.

"Subject: Experiment 2.0. Status: ...Alive. System requires complete destruction of subject. Commencing." the robotic voice said, landing about 20 feet from the hero, who was just now regaining barely any consciousness. He got to his knees, looking up at the robot walking toward him.

"...Yeah, I'm screwed."

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The assassin robot called up its blades again, slamming them down just as Experiment threw himself out of the way. Lunging to his feet, he growled. "Alright, that's it," he muttered, hitting buttons on his PDA. His armour began shifting, then, in a flash of light and sound, Experiment 2.0 was replaced with a heavily armoured battle-suit. Electricity coursed over it, due to the fact that it was still in the prototype stages, but it was clear it was still amazingly strong.

The robot swung its blades, clashing across the armour. It was too strong. The right blade flew from the machine's hands, causing it to dash over and grab it again.

"Alright buddy- You should read the warning labels. No operating heavy machinery when under influence of complete pwnage!!!" Hands glowed, 2.0 flew forward, fist connecting with the bot's head, sending it spiraling back into a dumpster. It stood, electronic interference obvious as it spoke- "Heavy Armour Suit, detected. Initiating safety protocol."

The assassin blades glowed a bright blue, electricity crashing across their surface. Experiment raised an eyebrow in his suit. "Okay, this is new. What the hell is going on?"

The robot dashed forward, aiming for the hero. 2.0 raised his arms to defend himself... And the blade made contact. He flew back, his whole suit disabled. The blades had held some sort of E.M.P. wave. The suit was deactivated, leaving him without any armour whatsoever.

John Ballard connected with the wall, severe pain running through him. He coughed up blood as he hit the ground, groaning- This was bad.

He looked up, and saw the blades of the machine spinning now... And suddenly had an idea.

He had to get those blades away from it.

Lining his arms with spikes, leaving a spot open, he ran forward, pushed the blades into each open spot on his arm, and fired his spines.

The blades flew. The spikes had bent inward inside him, causing a sort of clasp. Each sword stuck to either side of the wall. The robot was defenseless.

Well, except for the fists, the axe, and the staff, but who's counting?

Hitting his PDA to reactivate his normal armour, Experiment 2.0 flew into the air, firing a spike at the assassin. The armour blocked most of it, but the poison seeped into some gaps- Possibly from the hard hit it had sustained from the power suit.

It followed him up, unsheathing the blue axe from its leg and swinging it wildly. However, it was less expert with the axe than it was with the blades- It had no real tactic with it. Experiment blocked it quite easily, as it hadn't been sharpened to perfection as the swords had, before spinning in the air, knocking the weapon from the machine before stabbing forward. The chest plate loosened, but he was smacked away before he could do any real damage. The machine's armour then healed, as it removed the Nemesis Staff from its sheath.

It sped forward, before firing a ball of energy at the hero. Experiment flew over it, throwing a spike at the weapon. The gears around it simply rejected the organic spike. He cursed, flying into close combat. The machine tried to punch, and missed- The Nemesis Staff made its balance uneven. Experiment began slashing wildly... Before his right arm got lodged in something. He looked- The Nemesis Staff had trapped his spike in the center with its gears.

He yelped, avoiding the right hook from the robot as well as he could... And pulled the gears back slightly. This sent an electric shock through the staff into the robot- This made his need clear.

If he reversed the working gears, he could cause the weapon to self-destruct, or at least shock the thing badly.

He began spinning his arm, causing even more damage to the robot, as electricity and plain energy began shooting from the staff. Eventually, the top stopped glowing with electricity, and instead, the whole staff began coursing with it. Experiment pushed off the chest of the 'bot, right before the staff's explosion sent it reeling back. It collided with a wall, and flew inside.

Experiment took this opportunity to run- He wasn't going to beat this thing, especially not in his state.

A few minutes later, Experiment 4.0 came back online. It sped into the sky, scanner observing the surrounding area. "Subject: Experiment 2.0. Status: ...Escaped. Initiating return, recharge, and commence hunt program."

With that, the 3 remaining weapons, the two blades and the axe, self-destructed, as he flew into the sky, back toward Shimmer's ship.

Experiment 2.0, however, was sleeping, medical drones healing his wounds and PDA fixing the battle armour he had caused to malfunction.

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As Experiment finally regained consciousness, his head pounding and his body aching in general, but his external wounds pretty much fixed. He sat up in his medical bay, groaning slightly. "Jeez... I've never been hurt that bad... Well, okay, that's a lie, but be damned if I can remember any after that much head trauma..."

"You okay, John?" Jenny said, poking her head in. Her hair, a brighter blonde than Experiment's, fell down to her middle back, and her bright blue eyes, practically matching his darker blue, had an extremely worried look about them.

"Yeah Jen, I'm fine... I just need some pain killers and some Dead Rising, and I'll be fine," John Ballard joked, swinging off the medical bed, the floating robots slipping into their recharge units. "No killer robot can keep ME down."

Rolling her eyes, Jenny chuckled. "Of course not. Hey, you got a message from Bill. Says they're ready to print the next edition of the Paragon City Times as soon as you okay it."

John groaned again, this time out of annoyance. "All it'll be about is another giant octopus attack in Indy Port, or the arson in Steel, or a new hundred heroes from Atlas Park, or a new batch of reinforcements for the Hollows. Just approve it for me, please?"

"Sure thing. Oh, and Kevin called in, said he thinks Blind is up to something. Want him to follow up?"

John thought about it for, maybe, five seconds, before shaking his head. "Nah, Blind Messenger is the least of my worries. Ask him to investigate the site of the battle, tell him to try and find any piece of the bot I might have chipped off in that building it was slammed into."

"Sure. Seeya, John."

Experiment nodded as his sister left, standing up and stretching in a tired manner. "I might as well check out Blindy. See if he's doing anything even slightly threatening."

Exiting the medical room and entering the armory of his highly technology-driven base, he removed his PDA from the wall, one of the only things in the whole room but for a suit of green and blue armour and a black and gold leather suit with blood-red roses lining the sides.

Attaching it to his wrist, his shining red armour covered him from head to foot, and he grinned. "MUCH better."

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He couldn't believe it.

Well, I mean, he could, it was Blind Messenger after all, but still.

Galaxy Girl Children's Hospital in Galaxy City. The play-room. Screaming children. A very demented skeleton, making very intricate towers out of kid's building blocks and his own bones. His black necromancer's cloak was laid out on a bench.

"God... You're scaring the LIFE out of these kids..."

Messenger looked up at Experiment, his skull grinning. "O RLY?"

"...Oh damn."

A searing pain and instant blindness, combined with the feeling of the wall to the left of him suddenly meeting his head caused Experiment to become VERY disoriented.

He collapsed to the ground, and looked up. The cloak on the bench had shifted into the true Blind Messenger, and the skeletal form playing with blocks shape-shifted into his Dark Servant, named... Well, D4rk S3rv4n7.

"Dud3! R0FL! J00 just g0t 0wnz3d. H0w d0 j00 f33l?"

"Like crap, Dark. You?"

"R0fl, 1'm f1n3. Bu7 seri0usly, j00'r3 scr3w3d."

2.0 stood, brushing off his armour. "Alrighty, what was with the sneak attack, Blind? You KNOW I'm just gonna beat you up now."

"That may be true," Blind Messenger replied, speaking for the first time, "But I decided to get a hit in before I let you in on a little somethin'."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

Messenger smirked. "It has to do with Dr. Shinesalot."

Experiment raised an eyebrow, and sat on the nearest bench, pulling out a squeaking Statesman toy from under him. "I'm listening."

"Alrighty then," Blind said joyfully, sitting down in a bright yellow and lime green chair opposite the hero, his Dark Servant shifting back into his skeletal shape and happily arranging the blocks again, "Listen closely."

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"He was created with your powers, abilities, strengths and weaknesses in mind. Everything Shimmer knows about you is programmed into that thing. It's like you two have gone through a thousand battles in its mind."

"So, it's pretty much a deadlier version of Shimmy with his experience of me."

"Precisely. The thing knows every style of fighting you've ever done, all your powers, all the areas you're not an expert in, and every place on you that Doc has figured out you're weak at. It's also been tailor made to be practically invulnerable to your spikes, and untraceable by any of your tracking technology.

"I said it was unfair, really, but Shimmer didn't talk to me. I couldn't distract him in the slightest. That's bad, John."

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that. According to your past info, he's only silent when he's really dedicated."

"Mhm. He's really got it out for you right now. I guess he's still sour about that big Mek V you took down. Dude, that took him, like, nine months to build."

"Well, he was the one trying to make the Striga Isle volcano his personal warhead storage base."

"Nevertheless, he's pissed. That robot, as far as I can tell, is only weak to its own weaponry, but Shimmer knows you know that because of the whole Nemesis Staff thing, and made the bot resistant to THOSE too."

"So what the hell do I do?"

"My advice would be to get the hell out of Paragon, 'cause in a few weeks, you're gonna have HUNDREDS of those things attacking you."

"WHAT?!"

"Shimmer's already got his construction factory halfway complete. I didn't even know about it 'till today, which is the reason I came to tell you. He's planning on making an ARMY of those things, equally as strong, fast, and intelligent. If you don't stop it, he'll take over Paragon by next month, no matter HOW many times Statesman comes back."

"Where is it?"

"Right now, it's flying over Skyway City."

"Invisible?"

"Yep. The Trolls seemed to notice though- They're all raving a little louder."

"They would. Hasn't the Circle of Thorns gotten any whiff?"

"Come on, E, they're the CoT. They WANT Armageddon. Do you REALLY think that, even if they knew, they'd WANT to stop it?"

"...No, probably not."

"Listen, according to Experiment 3.0, the factory's gonna move over Steel in three days. You have that long to plan."

"Yeah... Any time earlier, and Shimmy would be suspicious, I know the drill."

"Look, in three days, the first set of bots will be active, I think. They'll be weaker than 4.0, but they'll still be tough, and I can't exactly just let you stroll in, so here's what I'll do- When each thing comes for you, I'll send in a few of my undead dudes. Take out the bot as fast as possible, and I'll make my zombies attack you slowly, so that you have time to cut them down too. Destroy the place before 4.0 or Shimmer or 3.0 kill you, and you'll be fine, and I'll be happy, and we can all sing Jingle Bells at Christmas, k?"

"Sure thing Blind. Oh, one more thing though."

"Yeah, I was kinda hoping you'd forget."

"Oh, trust me, I wouldn't EVER forget this kind of thing."

"...Ugh... You never do... Alright, just... Don't punch so hard you send my skull out the window like last time. Was HELL to find in the sunlight."