Crossroads carried a pile of glowing wood. She stepped over piles of rubble from several buildings and dodged several other heroes running back toward the deposit. It was a long walk, but some of this energized material was unstable and moving slowly prevented disasters.
Finally, she stepped into a building that housed an old basketball court.
“Wait.” Agent Justin stopped her and held up his scanner.
Crossroads huffed, “Seriously, you just scanned me half an hour ago.”
Justin looked at his readings and then at her, “Oh, Crossroads, sorry. You aren’t in your normal uniform today. Civilian clothing throws me.”
She laughed, “I’m not punching bad guys right now, just hauling junk. Needed something better than that spandex outfit.”
“Sorry. Nova is still concerned about outsiders getting their hands on this stuff before we neutralize it. Can’t have someone get hurt.”
Crossroads paused as she heard the voice of a different version of herself in another universe. She gave a gentle nod and then said to Justin, “We also have to be careful about people experimenting on this stuff. With this alien energy and all of its unique properties, they could build weapons or blow themselves up.”
“True. Good thinking. Anyway, get going, decontamination is over there.”
“Thanks, I know the way.”
The gym had been damaged during the battle, but it was in better shape than most buildings. In the back were several stations with other heroes working. People stood in line with the debris, waiting for their turn.
“Hey, Crossroads!” A man waved her over to his station.
She approached The Wizard, who sported a thick white beard, a tank top, a cyborg eye, and a kilt. He tossed a broken window on a pile near him and patted the table. “Set that up here, I’ll take care of it.”
She dumped the wood on the table and stood back. “You must be having fun today.”
The Wizard smiled and then held his hands over the wood, “I always love working with magic, even this strange stuff. Now, stand back a couple feet, this selection is a little more tainted.”
She took a step back and watched as he enacted a spell. The wood, which had been glowing an eerie blue hue, changed to a yellow glow.
“That ain’t right.” The Wizard said.
Just then EB hopped over, “Having trouble?”
“I can’t decontaminate this stuff.”
EB hopped up to the table top and looked at the wood, “Ah, this was really infused. You already stripped a lot, just keep working it.”
“Alright.” The Wizard cast his spells again and after three more attempts, and various color changes, the wood returned to normal, if a bit singed.
EB smiled, “All good now.”
“Now, you.” The Wizard said and held his hands up toward Crossroads.
She stood there, expecting this part. He cast a spell at her and then spent a moment staring. She hoped he was doing his job, otherwise she would smack him in that bionic eye with what he was staring at. “You done?”
“Yeah. Looks like you didn’t get any residual boost from this.”
EB dashed away and then returned with a computer tablet in his paws. “No problem. Here, thanks for helping, just transferred 3500 bucks to your account.”
“Thanks.”
EB shrugged, “Noth’n to it. I got loads of cash and hardly spend it. This way I get to reward all you nice people.”
Crossroads said, “This place is nearly empty. I think we’ve cleared most of the infused stuff out of the area.”
EB waved at Starmaster. “Hey, take this to Nova, tell him I’m going to go out and see how much is left.”
Starmaster took the tablet, “Sure thing.”
Just then a man yelled, “WHAT THE!”
The Wizard looked up and rolled his eyes, “Great, another hero got turned purple. At least I don’t have to keep em from licking the walls this time.” He left to help cure the hero who changed color from the material he had brought in.
EB left with Crossroads and Sword of Geraxia to inspect the city while Starmaster zoomed up toward the temp HQ on the hill. As he flew he saw the amount of work that had been done over the city. The sheer amount of heroes helping clean, so to find the infused debris, had helped improve this place quickly. Some of the heroes had stopped searching for infused materials and were working with the local crews to fix power lines, water systems, and roads. He couldn’t help but smile the whole way, seeing the generosity.
Starmaster landed beside the command table where Nova spoke with Gar. “Sir, EB’s report.”
Nova turned and took the tablet. “Good, very good. Nice work. Looks like we’re ahead of this. I see EB reports a lot of heroes were given boosts to their powers.”
“It’s only temporary, but nice to have.” Starmaster added, “Some of the infused material backfired and people had strange side effects. One guy turned five shades of orange, and another woman started singing in Farsi. I heard that Fleagle was rubbing his butt across the ground...but I don’t know if that was a backfire or an itch, hard to tell with that one.”
Nova said, “Any of these bad effects last?”
“No, they were easily taken care of. And EB gave everyone money if they didn’t get some kind of boost from the magic. I got several awesome boosts and about ten thousand dollars. Score!”
Gar asked, “Where does EB get so much money?”
Nova said, “He’s incredibly rich. He owns several of the largest candy companies in the world. Don’t let him hear this, but I do admire him for his generosity. He...” suddenly that white blur slammed into Nova, hugging his side.
EB grinned, “Buddy, I heard you saying nice things about me.”
Nova shoved the bunny off of him, “Are we done here?”
EB hopped up to the table and proudly declared, “All clear. We checked this place over, no more infused debris. Chase searched, as did several other heroes, every place you can think of. Not a scrap. The last pieces are being taken care of at the main center. Krystal and that Wizard guy did a wonderful job. Really picked up the magic I taught them. Of course, I gave em some really great chocolate eggs to boost energy. Maybe I should do that next, put out a line of energy boosting eggs. Might even include magic in them, not much, really, just a little, but enough to really help. People could use it. Would be healthier than...” Nova covered his mouth to stop the flow of words.
“Alright people, let’s pack up and get out of here.”
***
Santa sat at his desk, checking over The List. He chuckled and scribbled a few notes, and then continued reading.
“I hate election years, so many naughty people. Oh, well. Just gives me more reason to spread cheer. Oh, look, the Prime Minister of Franistan gave his fortune to build new orphanages. That deserves an extra special visit.” He scribbled a few notes down.
The door of his office flew open and an elf rushed up to him. “SIR, SIR!”
“Calm down. What is the matter?”
“Sir, it’s Krampus!”
This grabbed all of Santa’s attention. “What’s the matter?”
“Something is wrong. Come!” The elf gestured toward the door.
Santa left his office in a hurry, following the little elf quickly down the winding halls of his massive operation. They left the living quarters, walked through the workshops, and entered a series of tunnels that led deep within the ice beneath his palace.
They turned down a dark tunnel that was only lit by the distant blue light filtering down from the sky above. Santa conjured an orb of light to see by. At the end of this tunnel was a wall of ice. The horrid monstrosity of Krampus was trapped deep inside.
“He’s still here.” Santa whispered as he got closer. Before the elf could say anything, Santa gasped, “That’s not him!”
“Yes, sir, that is what we all sensed when we came to do our daily inspection. This isn’t him, just some kind of forgery, a dummy.”
Santa cast that orb of light at the wall. Deep, thunderous cracking noises echoed down the corridor as the ice broke. All around the Krampus fake, the ice crumbled, leaving an open cavity. The thing inside slumped to the ground and then faded. Nothing remained, save a small metal device. Santa reached in and picked it up.
“What is that sir?”
Santa’s rosy cheeks paled, “This is Legion technology.”
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