Secret Mission 4: Robot Rampage

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"As soon as Stringer sends a warning message from the peaceful vacation planet Tranquis VII, he vanishes.
Stormer quickly dispatches Bulk and Furno to find out what has happened to their teammate and seek out whatever threat has made the entire planet go radio silent.
Once again, the brains have taken over almost all intelligent life on the planet. But things are different this time around. Bulk and Furno are about to discover that what looks like another invasion attempt is just covering up a much deeper and more sinister plot that will rock Hero Factory to its core."
― Back Cover

Parent Page: Media

Secret Mission 4: Robot Rampage
Media
Type Secret Mission Book Year(s) released 2013

Secret Mission #4: Robot Rampage is an installment in the Secret Mission series. It was released by Scholastic on March 1, 2013.

Synopsis

Jimi Stringer is chased through Tranquis VII while all modes of transports in the planet, including his Drop Ship, became unusable for him to use to escape. He goes inside a working communications tower and barely manages to send a message to William Furno in Hero Factory before he is cut off because of something attacking him. Furno alerts the Hero Factory about Stringer being in trouble.

Preston Stormer, Dunkan Bulk, and Furno talk about Stringer's mission to investigate Tranquis VII's downed communications. Furno is getting impatient because he wants to save Stringer. Bulk says that Daniel Rocka looked over Stringer's message. Stormer sends Bulk and Furno to use a Drop Ship to get to Tranquis VII, find Stringer, and save him. Furno and Bulk find a new prototype Drop Ship in the hangar. Furno wants to drive the ship, but Bulk drives it instead because he does not trust him in doing this due to Furno doing a triple-spin-roll, which tied Bulk's circuits in knots, and crashing a Drop Ship on their planet at one time. Bulk introduces the ship's new features, including its chameleon ability and an electromagnetic pulse emitter. The Heroes use the ship to take off and start flying to Stringer's location.

The two Heroes are flying the ship for most of the day. On their way, they talk about how should the Hero Factory better approach a problem, so the problem would be less hectic than the one in Mission: Collision Course, which happened last week. They are then attacked by pirates who are driving three ships. When the Heroes encounter a massive fully armed battle cruiser piloted by pirates, Stormer tells the two Heroes to focus on saving Stringer, and that he will send Rocka and Nathan Evo to take care of the pirate ships. The cruiser tries to attack the Heroes, but the Heroes get away. Bulk hides behind a moon to escape from the other three pirate ships. He theorizes that since a lot of robots lost their faith in Hero Factory after the Breakout, despite all of the escapees from the Breakout being recaptured, any enemy, like the ones who pilot the four pirate ships, is becoming harder for the Hero Factory to defeat.

When they land outside Tranquis VII's only city called Tranquis, Bulk confirms with Evo that he and Furno landed. The two Heroes proceed into the city while observing strange destruction on it. Digging underground to trail a lone robot, the two get attacked by a group of top-of-the-line security robots called S-12 units. The two Heroes defeat them with Likozite and a flash-bang.

The two scale a building, trying to rest for a night, but are surrounded by robots controlled by Brains, so they flee to a second building.

Meanwhile, Dumacc, a member of an evil group called the Galactic Conspiracy, reviews the security footage of Bulk and Furno attacking the security robots and tells his fellow member, top assistant, and right-hand robot, Karter, to make sure the Heroes will leave and not uncover their secret project called Project Sunstorm.

Bulk and Furno discover that the robots are possessed by Brains, so they decide to find the communications tower to contact Hero Factory for help. The two Heroes find the tower, but they discover that someone damaged the tower's communicating equipment to make it unable to contact anyone. A Brain-controlled Stringer arrives and tells the two Heroes that he and other Brains have captured their Drop Ship while he is responsible for sabotaging the tower. Stringer and twelve other Brain-controlled robots ambush the two Heroes.

Meanwhile, Stormer and Evo become concerned about Furno and Bulk not contacting them since their arrival at Tranquis VII because of radio silence. However, Stormer tells Evo that despite the radio silence, they should not be worried yet.

During Bulk and Furno's fight against the Brains, Bulk notices that Stringer is not half-controlled like the other robots, but Bulk and Furno are about to lose the fight when Karter and more of the security robots save the two Heroes from the Brains, making the Brains retreat. Karter takes the two Heroes into his laboratory in a secret underground laboratory complex, in the city's storm sewer, and explains that a major environmental disaster about a decade ago on the planet had made the robots partially immune to the Brains and that he and his group are investigating the disaster and working on total immunity. The Heroes object to being told to stop doing their activities in Tranquis and to avoid drawing attention to the lab. However, Dumacc appears and has twelve security robots make the Heroes stop refusing. After an argument with Karter, Dumacc forcibly asks the Heroes to be placed in a holding cell or thrown to a large iron-glass cage containing three Brain-possessed robots. The Heroes reluctantly choose the former, and their weapons and shields are taken away by Dumacc's group. Bulk tells Furno about his suspicion on Karter's group, and the two Heroes start to plan to escape their cell.

On the next day, Stringer hatches a plan to get Stormer to bring more Heroes and investigate who the robots that saved Bulk and Furno are.

The Brains successfully take the minds of a group of S-12 units. The leader of the group of the S-12 units manages to warn Karter's group right before one of a Brain takes over his body.

Stormer and Evo receive a call from Stringer through the Drop Ship, who says that more Heroes are needed to crush a rebellion in the planet, but it does not seem in character for Stringer. Stormer looks over Rocka's satellite pictures of Tranquis, which were made by Rocka thirty-six hours ago. Stormer struggles making a plan on how to save Stringer, Bulk, and Furno. He is approached by Nathaniel Zib, who suggests he take more control of the situation. Stormer forms an idea involving the Drop Ship.

After Karter's group is notified by the S-12 robot about his situation, Karter starts transferring all of the project's data to another location. When Dumacc notices Karter doing this, they argue over what to do with the data when the the Brains are certainly now coming after the project. Dumacc tells Karter to erase all of the project's data to protect the project from the Brains, but Karter refuses. He wins the argument by suggesting that all of the data be transferred to another location since the group Karter answers to wants the data intact, and he and Dumacc sacrifice themselves to do the task. Dumacc is shocked to see Karter and the Galactic Conspiracy's true evil nature, so he reforms, leaves his laboratory, and goes to get Bulk and Furno's help to stop Karter and the Brains.

Furno and Bulk stages a jailbreak by attacking two of Karter's guards. When a third guard tries to attack the two Heroes, Dumacc knocks the guard unconscious and tells the other two to leave. He starts helping the Heroes. Dumacc lets them get their weapons and shields back and then desperately instructs them to defend the laboratory. He tells the Heroes about the Galactic Conspiracy, Project Sunstorm, which is a powerful solar storm weapons system that would destroy life and robots on a planet and was responsible for causing the environmental disaster, and their connection to the Valiant. The Heroes tie Dumacc up with cable as punishment for his crimes and because they got tired just watching him. Furno and Bulk find Karter, and then Bulk stops him from transferring Project Sunstorm's data by destroying the data transfer terminal. After the two Heroes capture Karter, Bulk has him draw Brain-controlled robots' attention to him while Furno goes after Stringer. Stormer takes control of Bulk's Drop Ship from afar, scaring off several Brain-possessed robots who were guarding it with an illusion.

Karter lures the Brains to Bulk, and then Bulk ambushes them. Furno and Stringer fight each other. Stringer offers Furno a place in his empire, but Furno refuses and uses Stringer's Hero Cuffs to cuff him, causing Stringer to attempt suicide. However, Stormer saves him with the Drop Ship's tractor beam. Furno punches the Brain off Stringer, freeing Stringer from the Brain, and then defeats the Brain.

Furno and Stringer develop a plan to rig the city's communications tower to create a large electromagnetic pulse that can shut down every robot in the city, preventing the Brains from controlling the robots. The Drop Ship goes to Bulk and Karter, who get inside the ship. The Brains get inside the complex and possess everyone there. Meanwhile, Furno and Stringer set up the electromagnetic pulse on the communications tower and a timer for the electromagnetic pulse. Bulk crashes the ship into the complex's main laboratory's ceiling, damaging the ship. He and Karter see the Brains controlling Dumacc and a dozen security robots. Dumacc plans to use Project Sunstorm to try to destroy Furno and Stringer, even if it means destroying the whole city and would kill hundreds of the Brains who will unintentionally get in the way. While Bulk and Karter are fighting the security robots, Dumacc is activating Project Sunstorm to get it ready to destroy everything on the planet. Furno and Stringer set the timer to 15 minutes, and then arrive to help Bulk and Karter fight and defeat the security robots. Bulk stops Dumacc from using Project Sunstorm, and Stringer shuts the weapon down. The three Heroes and Karter go to a safe room to avoid getting shut down by the electromagnetic pulse. The electromagnetic pulse is activated and shuts down all of the other robots in the city, preventing the Brains from controlling them.

A few hours later, Furno, Bulk, and Stringer get help from Stormer, Rocka, Evo, Natalie Breez, Julius Nex, and a dozen other Heroes to put the Brains in stasis and clean up the mess in the city caused by the Brains while Zib examines Project Sunstorm. Stormer tells Breez that it would take years to repair the city. Bulk notices that Karter is missing. Karter knocks Zib unconscious and destroys the weapon by tearing its wiring out. Bulk finds Karter and notices his actions. Karter tries to reason with Bulk by saying that he does not want the weapon to be in the wrong hands, but Bulk does not listen because Karter is a villain. Karter tries to stab Bulk with a dagger, but Bulk crushes the dagger and arrests Karter.

A week later, back at Hero Factory, Furno, Bulk, Stringer, Stormer, and Zib are at the briefing room, talking about cleaning up the city. Zib reports that Project Sunstorm is dismantled, and Rocka and Evo are preparing a report on its workings. The five friends also state that Project Sunstorm was a project run by the Galactic Conspiracy and that somebody is making and leading the Brains while both evil groups do not have a connection. After Furno, Bulk, and Zib leave the room, Stormer and Stringer talk more about the villains. Declaring the Brains to be the larger threat to take care of first, Stormer shows Stringer the chemical formula for a new Hero Factory technology fuel source, which Zib gave to Stormer yesterday. Meanwhile, Bulk meets Furno on his way to Hero Factory's gym. Furno tells Bulk that they have to get ready to fight the Brains the next time they strike. Bulk reassures him that Heroes would find a way to stop the Brains once and for all. In a Hero Factory prison cell, Karter uses a sophisticated communication device to contact the conspiracy's leaders, who are disappointed in his failure with using Project Sunstorm. Karter tells his employers what happened in his mission, the Hero Factory knowing about the Conspiracy now, and he has infiltrated Hero Factory in a plan to destroy the Hero Factory organization. The Conspiracy leaders trust him and tell him to do his plan before they hang up.

Characters

Heroes

• Preston Stormer
• Jimi Stringer
• Dunkan Bulk
• William Furno
• Natalie Breez
• Nathan Evo
• Julius Nex
• Daniel Rocka
• A dozen other Heroes

Villains

• The Galactic Conspiracy
  • Karter
  • Dumacc (unwittingly, reformed)
  • S-12 units
  • Robot technicians
  • Robot scientists
• The Brains

Other

• Nathaniel Zib

Trivia

• The preceding chapter book, Secret Mission 3: Collision Course, shows a preview to Robot Rampage, showing its premise.
• This chapter book shows a preview to the next one called Secret Mission 5: Mirror World, showing its premise and prologue.
• Though the chapter book came out on March 1, 2013 while Episode 10: Brain Attack came out in March 7, it is evidenced that the events of Collision Course and Robot Rampage happened after the events of the episode.
• The swarm of Brains that attacked Tranquis VII is implied to be the very swarm that got separated from the much smaller swarm that attacked the Valiant in Collision Course. The solar swarm that did the separation is implied to have come from Tranquis VII's solar system's sun, which can create solar flares, which are harnessed by Project Sunstorm.
• There is an error in pages 109 and 110 of Robot Rampage where when Furno was freeing Stringer from his Brain, he remembered a Brain's weak spot being where the Brain's tail is connected to the center of its body, so Furno can remove a Brain from its host by hitting that weak spot. Furno also remembered having done this. However, in the March-April 2013 issue of the Lego Magazine and Episode 10, the Brains' weak spot is the second red spike on the Brain's back.
• Strangely, Mark Surge is the only main Alpha 1 Team member to not be mentioned among the Heroes who were collecting the Brains and cleaning up the mess that the Brains made. It is most likely an error.
• When the Heroes were capturing the Brains and cleaning the mess in Tranquis, when Stormer said that Tranquis is its people's home, like how the Hero Factory building is the Heroes' home, Breez was thinking about it because she always looked at it as headquarters rather than a home, so she realized that it is her home the whole time. It is most likely an error because the Heroes evidently always look at the Hero Factory as their home, and Breez lives there since she was created there.
• In the epilogue, Stormer mentions some of the Brains being put in stasis while the others, who are still linked to their hosts, are being put in stasis along with their hosts to prevent them from causing another rampage. This is likley an error because the Hero Factory knows how to remove the Brains from their hosts and should have freed the hosts from the Brains rather than containing the hosts. It is implied in Mirror World that all of the hosts are freed from the Brains by the Heroes since the Heroes know how to free the hosts.
• Like Collision Course, this story does not act like Furno is in his XL form or the Heroes in their Brain Attack forms, as the story does not act like they have their Hero Core Locking Clamps and visors, though Furno and Bulk carry their Brain Attack weapons. In Robot Rampage, after Stormer got a message from the Brain-possessed Stringer, he tells Evo to use his "blaster" when he sees Stringer, and this may refer to Evo's Plasma Gun.
• Like Secret Mission 1: The Doom Box and Collision Course, Stormer acts more harsh in Robot Rampage than in the television episodes, but to a lesser extent.
• It is said that Kelly McKiernan, known as "Binkmeister" in BZPower and who worked on BIONICLE and Hero Factory's websites, said that this chapter book and the four other Secret Mission books are not canon, but Dangerous Dimensions and Face Off: Makuro's Secret Guidebook reference to them, which makes this fact disputable, so it can be assumed that the books are semi-canon.^{[Hero Factory 2014 Dissussion]}

See also

• Episode 10: Brain Attack
• Saga Guides/Brain Attack