Part 5: Duckworld
Starmaster and the others roused slowly from their unintended snooze. As they looked around the room, there was no sign of the dark-winged duck.
“Where go?” Catalyst said as he stood up.
Krystal Fae lifted herself telekinetically from the ground and hovered in the air. “It is still in the building.”
They looked toward the door, but it was still closed and locked by the security protocols of the science lab.
Starmaster flipped aside a toppled table, revealing a hole punched through a ventilation grill. He knelt and stared down the silver-lined shaft. “It’s trying to get out of the building. When I was merged with its thoughts, I saw what its plan was. Once it and the other one merge, they will burrow into the earth and dig down to the planet’s core, where they will continue to eat and transform until they are all that is left.”
“What?” Krystal Fae muttered to the room. “Gem got a message to Madam Marvelous. She is with the other ducks now, trying to distract them.”
“We need to get her help. How is one hero going to hold them all back?” Starmaster asked.
“There’s only one now,” Krystal said. “But it is a big one.”
Catalyst pulled a tablet from his pocket and tapped several commands into it. “Satellite feed from her locata… Whoa.”
He turned around the screen so everyone could see the battle between an enormous duck and an equally large yellow Peep. The two giants batted at one another with their wings. The duck’s attacks dented the dense marshmallow fluff but didn’t seem to be doing any significant damage. The Peep fought defensively, thrusting its chest forward to bump the duck back, oftentimes knocking it onto the ground. After one such attack, the Peep threw its body onto the duck and held it to the ground like a sumo wrestler.
“I think she has it under control for now. Let’s do our part and stop the other one.” Krystal Fae said.
“Catalyst. Can you access all BADGE systems with that?” Dr. Henderson asked, holding her hand out to him for the tablet.
Nodding, Catalyst handed her the device, “Yes.”
“Good. I have an idea,” Dr. Henderson poked at the screen several times, working between several different operational systems. She pointed at a location on the building schematics. “Krystal. Can you and Starmaster get here?”
Krystal smiled a wicked smile. “Yes. Yes, we can.”
“Where?” Starmaster asked. "Why?"
“I’ll tell you later,” Krystal said. She telekinetically lifted and handed Starmaster the containment cooler. “Bring that.”
First she, then Starmaster teleported away.
( *U* )
Pinning the giant duck to the ground wasn’t easy as a creature made entirely of marshmallow. While she could move her body through immense concentration, she couldn’t actually feel anything. All her technique came from what she could see, so when the duck swept her legs out from beneath her, Madam Marvelous fell off the duck and rolled into the lake.
Fortunately, marshmallow floats. The duck quickly stood back up and rushed at its opponent, bill wide open and fully intent on taking a large bite out of her. In its rush to reach her, the duck stirred up powerful wake that carried Madam Marvelous further out into the lake, which in turn, slowed the ducks approach.
Struggling to come to her feet, Madam Marvelous eventually bobbed into an upright position. The duck swam closer, its webbed feet paddling beneath the water’s surface, but Madam Marvelous used her wings to propel herself backwards away from it.
The gargantuan duck sneered at her retreat and broke into thousands of smaller, normal sized ducks. They launched into flight and swarmed over her, each one using its bright yellow bill to bite into her. They ripped and tore off her sugary coating and continued to eat away at her marshmallow body like horseflies.
Madam Marvelous tried to cry out in pain, but Peeps have no mouths to scream with.
( *U* )
Krystal Fae and Starmaster appeared in the BADGE facilities maintenance department, next to the massive HVAC and atmospheric control system. Large fans circulated air throughout the building, generating a large, overwhelming hum of background noise.
“Keep the container open,” Krystal said. “Close it on my mark.”
Starmaster nodded and opened the container. Damage to the box’s exterior revealed a metallic luster beneath the softer, plastic coating.
“Dr. Henderson. We’re ready,” Krystal said over her communicator.
( *U* )
Back in the science lab, Dr. Henderson activating her program. “There. I’ve reversed the polarity of the neutron flow. That should do the trick.”
Catalyst held up his hands and crossed his fingers. Together, the two scientists hoped her plan would work.
( *U* )
The large fans slowed and ground to a stop. Within a second, they restarted, but with a new timber to their oscillations. Spinning in reverse, the massive ventilation system changed to a vacuum, drawing air deeper into the building rather than circulating it outside.
Within a few seconds, a rapid series of quacks erupted from one of the ventilation ducts. The dark-winged duck was drawn closer and closer, eventually into the nearly invisible fan blades. A burst of blood, feathers, and bone spewed into Krystal Fae’s waiting telekinetic grasp. She directed the duck’s remains into the lead-lined box, and Starmaster quickly closed the lid, forcing the latch permanently closed.
( *U* )
Seconds before she passed out from her wounds as she was devoured, Madam Marvelous watched as ducks fell from her body into the water, shifting into people, dogs, and bits of material into the water of Lake Goldeneye. Every duck in her vicinity disappeared, replaced by whatever mass was used to create it in the first place.
Madam Marvelous shifted back into her heroic persona and floated on her back for a moment, giving herself a moment to breathe. Her body ached but transforming sealed her wounds and made her whole once more, but the memory of being eaten remained with her. She’s been frightened before, but nothing like this. For the first time, she doubted her future as a superhero.
“Help. Help me,” a voice cried out. “I can’t swim.”
Closing her eyes for a split second before flipping over, Madam Marvelous took a deep breath and swam to aid the frightened man clutching a chunk of wood floating in the water.
( *U* )
Epilog
“What do you want me to do with this?” Strange Quark asked Krystal Fae.
“We’ve made sure all traces of these creatures are gone from all three sites. Director Nova would like you to take them to the outer rim of the solar system and bury them where they will remain frozen.” Krystal said. “The colder the better.”
“In other words, take this cooler and bury it in Uranus.” Strange Quark chuckled at the entendre, teleporting away before Krystal Fae could roll her green eyes.
Fin
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