“Are you sure he’s different now?” Gar asked.
“I’ve looked over the readings a hundred times since the battle ended. His power levels are almost negligible. Even with all the powers he had, nothing can reduce this signature artificially. He’s nothing but a has-been.”
“HEY! Watch the language. I’m just… on hiatus.” Arx responded.
Chase laughed, “sure. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be the star of the prison’s playhouse. Trust me, you’ll have a captive audience.”
Arx slouched back in his seat, “great, stuck with a D-grade comedienne.”
Chase was about to tell him where to stuff his opinion when the pilot alerted them. “Agent Chase!”
She looked out the window and gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth. The top level of the station, where Operations was situated, had been removed and floated aimlessly in space while the rest of the station remained in its normal orbit.
“What the hell is going on?” Chase asked.
“I don’t know, but I am not reading any power signature in the station at all.”
Gar started to say, “Can we dock, I…” he and Chase were surrounded by a blinding flash of light and they found themselves standing in the Operations center.
Chase stumbled and fell against Gar. “Whoa, that made my head spin.”
Quark rushed up to them. “Sorry about that. I needed you guys.”
“What happened here?” Chase looked around. The robots were all damaged, and only two emergency lights were flickering.
Gar gasped and rushed away, “Director!” He found Nova lying on the floor, a giant sword in his hands, two dozen security guards around him.
Chase ran to his side. “is he…”
Quark said, “thank goodness, no. He isn’t dead, just out. But, this station won’t activate while separated. It requires his code, or three class one agent codes.”
Chase said, “that would be us.”
Chase, Quark and Gar put in their security codes and the top level of the station activated and reconnected with the base. The computer slowly reactivated, going into emergency operation mode.
“That should set up the reboot.” Chase said.
“We need to get him to the infirmary, and hope someone is still alive down there.” Quark said.
“Do what you do best.” Chase answered.
Quark put his hands on Nova, and the others waited. All four flashed away and were quickly inside the infirmary. Chase fell over and held her head for a moment. Gar lifted Nova up onto the nearest bio-bed.
“No damage here.” Quark commented.
“GET OUT, I HAVE WEAPONS!” a woman called out.
Gar said, “Dr. Henderson, it’s us!”
Dr. Henderson slowly came around a corner, two laser scalpels in her hands. She had a wild look of fear in her eyes, but slowly relaxed at the sight of them. “Oh, thank god. I thought we were going to die out here.”
Chase asked, “how do you still have power?”
“The infirmary has independent power systems. Oh, dear lord, Nova!” She ran over to him and punched buttons on the sensors.
Quark said, “I found him like this. I would try to heal him, but I might accidentally turn him into a duck.”
Dr. Henderson read the scanner report. “He has a massive concussion, five broken ribs, a broken arm, internal bleeding...how did he survive that fight in this condition?”
“Do you know what happened up here?” Chase asked.
Dr. Henderson placed several bone mending devices on Nova’s chest and then injected something into his neck. “Not exactly. The entire station went on lockdown. I tried contacting Operations, but I couldn’t get through...entirely. The visual link worked, but audio was dead. I could witness what happened there, but I couldn’t do anything. Fortunately, the infirmary also has a special locking system to protect the patients from enemies. I was safe in here.”
Gar activated a monitor on Dr. Henderson’s desk and accessed the data. A video played back what she watched in operations. “Who are they?”
Chase and Quark joined him and watched the security team ganging up on Nova, who had his back to them. Quark said, “those are the special security team Nova requested from the World Corps to help defend the station.”
Before they could discuss this, they watched Nova materialize a special sword out of seemingly nowhere and catch the enemy off guard. He swung and dodged with incredible precision. They fired lasers at him from all angles, but he deflected them with his sword and hit the soldiers with their own fire. More than once they hit him, but he kept fighting. Soldier after soldier he fought, striking and moving with a speed that none of them have truly seen him utilize. Again and again he was hit, but he never wavered in his defense. Computer stations exploded, the lights in the room flickered, a warning light beamed as the emergency separation system activated. The last soldier went down, and Nova fell to his knees. The moment he collapsed, the operations center ejected and the line cut.
Chase said, “damn...I didn’t know he could fight like that.”
Quark looked back at the unconscious Director. “I've seen him fight like that once before, when we faced Jinn.”
Gar asked, “wait, what about the Avatar of Magic?”
Dr. Henderson said, “I don’t know. Last I heard the Avatar was being protected in the Arboretum, EB was with it.”
Quark snarled, “and about five dozen of those mercs.”
“Crap.” Chase muttered and raced out of the infirmary.
***
Chase, Gar, and Quark rushed through the station. The power was slowly coming back on, but it was still dark in most places. They rushed through the Mess Hall and into the Arboretum.
“Oh, my god!” Chase came to a stop at the sight. Dozens of soldiers littered the ground, some wearing the BADGE insignia, and some had the World Corps patch. Colorful, broken eggshells littered the ground.
Gar whispered, “what happened?”
Chase knelt down and looked at a fallen soldier. “Isn’t it obvious, this is where they fought to capture the Avatar.” She looked up at Quark. “Do you sense the avatar?”
Quark closed his eyes and spent a moment in silence. He opened them and slowly shook his head. “I don’t sense the Avatar… or EB.”
“What?” Gar asked.
A man coughed and caught their attention. Looking over, one BADGE soldier leaned up against the trunk of a tree, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth.
Chase rushed to him. “Oh, god. Hold still. Gar, get help.”
Gar raced off while Chase helped the man.
He looked at her with tired eyes. “I’m sorry, ma’am, we tried our best.”
“What happened?”
“They...they turned on us. I don’t know where they got their weapons, but they fought against the Avatar with tech I ain’t ever seen before. The Easter Bunny was amazing. He was the last to go down. They trapped them both in some kind of energy restraint. I watched them leave. I couldn’t do anything to stop them. I can’t feel my legs.”
Just then Gar returned with two training droids, which were carrying a stretcher. He helped place the man on it.
Chase said, “you did what you could. You didn’t fail, they tricked us.” She nodded to the droids, and they carried him away.
Quark asked, “what now?”
“I don’t know. But, we aren’t done yet. They have won this battle, but the war...this war is far from over.”
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