“I never expected them to take off so quickly,” Chase said.
Justin checked some readings and made a few notes on his computer tablet. “Training is important. All the heroes know this. Besides, they like using their powers and this way they get to go full strength without worrying they are destroying cities or putting civilians’ lives at risk.”
“It makes sense.”
Gar walked up and looked into the room for a second. “Wow, look at them go. That’s one big white furry thing.”
“It’s called a Yeti.” Chase said.
“Whatever it is, they’re going to kill it.”
Justin said, “that’s the idea.”
“Justin, Director Nova wants to see you.” Gar said.
“Oh, right, the update. Chase, stay here and prep the program for the next team that has booked the simulator.” Justin left with his computer tablet in his hand.
Walking across the station, Justin made his way up to the Operations center. Director Nova quietly watched the large monitor in front of him as reports came in of daily activity across Earth and the surrounding space.
Without even turning around, Nova said, “Report.”
Justin read from his tablet. “The R.A.I.D system is working perfectly. The heroes are doing well against the programmed adversaries we have, and I have a few more programs almost ready to launch.”
“Good. What about the scanner system?” Nova asked.
Justin checked the tablet and showed Nova a blueprint for a small device. “Ready for deployment as soon as we face another villain worthy of simulation. I can’t wait to try these babies out. Send them out during the battle and by the time it is over, we’ll already be able to simulate it for future training.”
“Don’t be so eager for a fight, Agent.” Nova calmly answered.
Justin nodded. “Sorry, my academic side was getting ahead of logic. I hope we don’t have to use these, but if and when another villain shows up, we’ll be ready.”
Nova let out a sigh. “I suspect we’ll face that sooner than either of us wishes.”
“What do you mean? Is there a supervillain showing up on the reports?” Justin looked at the monitor.
“Not that we can pinpoint. In fact, it may be nothing.”
“What may be nothing?” Justin asked.
Nova shook his head. “We’re getting reports of sightings that turn out to be nothing. Then our energy sensors pick up something massive and when anyone looks, there’s nothing there.”
Justin looked at the data readings from the energy monitor station. “Could be a glitch in the system or some low-level hacker messing with us. We had that one kid from St. Petersburg who thought it was funny sending false alarms to our sensors at the North Pole.”
“I have two of our robots doing full inspections of the systems. I hope they find something wrong that we can just reprogram. However, I can feel something in me, something that isn’t right. I don’t like it.”
Justin smiled. “If there is something coming, then the R.A.I.D. system will help prepare the heroes.”
“What we need is some team building to help strengthen the unity of our heroes.” Nova said.
“What?”
“The heroes do a good job, but they need to work together every time there is a supervillain. Sometimes, they don’t do so well in the cooperative department. Worse, during the recent events where the world blamed us for what Delta was doing, we had to separate our heroes into their leagues and make them stay away from each other. That only strengthened their divisions.”
Justin thought back to that time and worried that Nova was right. The heroes were getting a little cliquish. He had an idea and piped up, “What about League Wars? That brings them all together.”
“That will not work. That only exposes their divisions and encourages them to fight one another. League Wars...” Nova went quiet for a moment as he brightened up. Finally he said, “League Wars! Brilliant idea! Perfect opportunity to teach them some team building!”
Justin looked at his tablet, then the screen, and finally back at Nova. “What just happened, sir? You just made the case that League Wars only breeds division... which makes sense.”
“And I am right about that. But, I have a better idea. We are going to have a completely different style of League Wars. One that will force the heroes to see each other as fellow warriors.”
“I’m not following, sir?”
Nova turned to Justin with an actual smile on his face. “Chaos, that’s what we need, some chaos.”
“Chaos, sir?”
“Chaos Wars. All the heroes who are willing to join will be registered as individuals. Then, we will use our system to put them together in random teams. Those teams will fight a League Wars, but it will be a Chaos Wars. New friendships will be made, new allies will be formed, and when they return to their leagues, they will bring that renewed sense of unity back with them.”
Justin thought about this and then smiled. “I like it. It’s bold.”
“Get on it, have the BADGE computer network release a sign up with information about the event. I don’t want anyone registering without knowing what they’ll be getting themselves into.”
“Understood. I will have that sent out ASAP.”
Justin ran over to a computer and began working on this project. Nova looked back at the monitor with a smile still on his face.
“Alert! Energy Spike registered in sector seventeen.” A robot announced.
Nova and Justin rushed over to the console to check the readings in front of the robot. The moment they arrived, the red flashing warning sign flickered and then a new window opened that merely said, “false alarm, no unusual activity detected.”
Nova looked up at Justin. Both had gained a deep worry across their brows. Nova said, “Get that announcement out. We need to be ready for whatever is coming.”
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