Roars of applause met the heroes as they waited for their medals. The giant serpent hero known as Midgarsormr took center stage with his fellow leaguemates. More than one other hero remained leery of this team, and not just for their prowess in this contest.
The announcer boomed over the stadium, “Now that we have the situation back under control and the heroes have returned to their places. We can continue. We would like to award the medals for the winners of each division. Unfortunately, Director Nova has been called away for unknown reasons...most likely dealing with whatever just happened here.” There was a round of boos and awws from the viewing audience.
“What about the medals!” DaMon, standing next to Midgarsormr, yelled.
The announcer said, “yes, we have...”
At that moment, an orange cloud of energy exploded out from the station.
Hot Wings huffed, “Not again!”
Just then the main comm system of the Arena changed and all the comm devices the heroes carried activated. Nova ordered, “Heroes! We have a code red situation! Get here now! We must stop Spirit of Halloween!”
Midgardsormr growled and yelled, “what now! Puny mortals are getting annoying!”
Even with his bitter complaints, he followed the heroes away from the arena, heading for the station.
“Ladies and gentlemen...um...the awards will happen...momentarily. For now, let us review some of the more exciting highlights of League Wars.”
Nova shoved a defunct robot off of its console and activated the controls. “There, basic interface.”
Chaz looked over the dizzying array of controls and commands. “Um, is this….windows?”
“It was designed for BADGE. Doesn’t take too much. Watch those panels. I need eyes open around this station.”
“Huh?” Chaz watched the screens.
Nova pointed at the main monitor, “Get me the cameras going. I need to know what is happening.”
“Oh, right.” Chaz carefully touched a screen and activated an image. “Oh! Here it is. What am I looking at?” He could see the inside of the food court. Other various colored lights met orange flashes of light. “Oh, so this controls….that...and...I think I can...” he changed the view and now the main monitor displayed the battle between the few heroes inside the Arboretum and the giant pumpkin headed menace. “HA! Figured it out!”
Nova, patiently watching the battle, said, “Good. Now, get me images outside.”
“Outside….outside...lemme see.” He changed the camera five times, changing from one view to another then another. Just about when Nova was going to yell at him, the screen displayed the view of the stadium. “There...WOW! Look at that!”
Both watched as hundreds of people...and other various creatures…. flew, portaled, and rode devices off the orbital arena heading for the station.
Nova smiled, “looks like we’ve got company.” He activated the access ports above the arboretum. This way heroes didn’t punch through glass to get in.
Chaz eagerly said, “Hope they kick that pumpkins ass...or whatever it has. That thing was vicious.”
Nova said, “Spirit is a problem, but it really isn’t a villain. It always likes playing tricks around this time of the year. I have no idea what it is, no one does. And he is extremely powerful. But, I have never seen him do anything like this before.”
“Then, do you want the heroes killing it.”
Nova laughed, “I doubt there is enough power among all the heroes to kill that thing. No, they’ll just end his trickery. He is overzealous this year, needs to be controlled. Speaking of that. I need to check in with some contacts on Earth about the potential danger of that nightmare cloud reaching the planet. Keep both eyes on those monitors. If you see anything I need to know about, get my attention.”
“Yes, sir!” Chaz was more than enjoying this, wondering if Krystal had this much fun working for BADGE.
“TAKE THAT! YOU OVERGROWN GOURD!” EB chucked an explosive egg and hit Spirit on the side.
Spirit laughed, “This isn’t your time of year, bunny!”
“Shove it!” EB threw another egg, which Spirit dodged.
Chromatic Death jumped over the bunny and strummed a hard chord that sent a wave of sonic force at Spirit. The enemy bellowed right back, the two forces canceling the other.
Krystal cast a barrier just as an orange energy blast nearly hit Chromatic. “We...we can’t keep this up. Nothing hurts that thing.”
Gar swooped by, distracting the pumpkin. He swung a fist at Spirit, but it went right through as if he were grabbing at shadows.
“How wonderful! You remind me of some great costumes!” Spirit followed Gar for a moment.
EB said to Krystal and Chromatic, “It is just toying with us. We need help.”
“Looks like we’re about to get it.” Chromatic pointed up.
All three watched as heroes poured through the invisible barriers in the dome. Others appeared out of portals. A few came running in through doors, having docked with the station. Energy blasts rained over Spirit while a few went for the direct assault. Some of this actually caused Spirit to react. He flew away, fazing through heroes. He vanished into a few of the men and women...and other...only to fly right out of them.
“What is this! I cannot control you?” He grew smaller and flew around the confused heroes.
“Give up!” Midgarsormr yelled.
Spirit laughed, which grew louder and even rattled trees and windows as he bloomed in size. “I haven’t had all my fun yet. I may not be able to control you, but I certainly can still play tricks. LET’S HAVE SOME FUN!” A thick orange cloud billowed forth.
Creatures from nightmares formed from this new cloud. Demons, murders, monsters, goblins, and zombies. A clown with a red balloon, an ax wielding maniac, two little girls with greasy black hair. It was a sea of every horror creation in the history of Earth. Heroes struggled against these demons as they also fought against Spirit.
Chaz watched the screens, not sure what to do about all the crazy things he was seeing. Director Nova had spoken with several people, each person requiring a different language. This gave Chaz some ideas for the interview. How many languages does Nova speak? How did he learn them all? That should be worth some interesting words. Better than anything Krystal has dug up on Nova over the years.
“Hey!” Nova snapped his fingers in front of Chaz
Chaz gasped and looked down at the screens. “Oh, sorry. I was in reporter mode. Coming up with questions for our interview.”
“Not important at the moment. Right now we need to keep eyes on this situation. Sensors are coming online again, and they are pegging every meter. What do our monitors say?”
Chaz looked over the screens. “Uh, I see a lot of battling and craziness. What the hell? Is that The Headless Horseman! AND CHUCKY!”
Nova reached over and pressed a button, so the main monitors showed what Chaz was freaking about. Sure enough, all sorts of crazy monsters from fiction were rampaging throughout the station, with heroes of all stripes fighting them. The main screen displayed Spirit as it fought directly with dozens of heroes as well.
“This is a mess. We have to contain it here. If this gets to earth, it will cause mass hysteria.”
Chaz stabbed a screen with his finger, forcing it to grow bigger on the main monitors. “Mr. Nova, look at this!”
They both watched as Dr. Hostetter ran through the station, followed close by what appeared to be a chupacabra.
Nova grabbed his gun. “Crap. We haven’t trained him yet on responding to meta-human activity. I have to get him into a safe room. You stay here!”
“What? Is there a safe place for me to go to? I don’t have any powers either!”
Nova jumped into the elevator, “Ops is a safe place. Stay here.” the damaged doors closed and he was gone.
Chaz sunk back into his seat, wishing he had never set foot on that shuttle. He hardly noticed the strange alarm beeping on the console next to his. The robot monitoring the holding cells was slumped over it’s station, covering the fact that the holding cells were currently compromised.
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