through downtown Detroit. Heroes carried people who were in a Ren Wear trance, which was most of the citizens being evacuated.
A blockade of heroes kept a close eye on the villain’s path of destruction. A few bold heroes flew at the bald, naked man in hopes they could stop him or slow him down. The villain’s unmitigated power sent them through buildings or deep into the ground.
“DON’T BE STUPID!” Chromatic Death yelled at TallStar, a brash hero running at the horrible man.
Furious pushed the last people into the rail car and yanked the doors closed. “They’re in!”
MegaBrain hovered over the car and used powerful telekinesis to lift and carry it away from the danger zone.
“Do we have more citizens?” Furious looked around.
Chromatic Death looked around. “I don’t see any. But, we can’t be sure. There are a lot of buildings here and who knows what idiots are hiding in the bathrooms?”
TallStar crashed into Captain Herakles and both tumbled across the ground. TallStar lay on his back, now only in his briefs. Herakles checked his neck. “He’s still alive.”
Furious looked up at their enemy, who was now wearing the shorts and shoes of TallStar. “Well, at least he’s not naked any longer.”
The enemy screamed and slugged the ground with both fists. A wave of pavement and sidewalk rolled toward them, throwing chunks of debris all over the place. The heroes dodged and punched debris. With both hands held out and a terrifying fury on the man’s face, he screamed, “KILL ME!”
Strange Quark appeared in a flash. “Holy ducks, look at this place.”
“Great, care to turn that jerk into something fowl?” Furious asked.
Quark smiled, “With pleasure.” He pointed at their enemy and snapped his fingers. The man turned into a large blue duck. “Easy peasy.”
All the heroes let out a collective sigh of relief, but it was short-lived. A strange snap cracked through the air and the duck turned back into the man, and this time he seemed even angrier.
“Oh, crud.” Quark had a look of shocked epiphany in his eyes.
Dark Oblivion rushed up to Quark and said, “I performed a life sign scan, and there is no one left in the area.”
“It can’t be,” Quark whispered.
Furious yelled, “Retreat! Everyone, out!”
Quark didn’t run as the others made their way to safety. He seemed fixed on the man marching toward them. He quickly blew between his hands. A bubble of blue energy encapsulated the entire city block around the enemy.
“That’ll hold him for now.” With that, he flashed and vanished away.
***
Nova watched a monitor displaying live footage of people rushing into the remains of the Ren Tech facility. Fires blazed in buildings, rubble scattered across the ground, and many former employees lay dead.
“Sir, we’re having trouble getting to Chorad’s office. This destruction is bad and the fires are still hot. Tide Warrior is dousing the flames as fast as she can, but this place seems to have been filled with substances that burn intensely and resist extinguishment.”
Nova said, “This was his plan all along. He had the place rigged to be a horrible fire hazard. The fire will destroy any records, technology, or people inside. We’ll garner nothing from this. At this time, I don’t care if we don’t have a scrap of information. I want to find our people.”
“We’ll inform you the moment we recover their bodies.”
“I WANT THEM FOUND ALIVE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME! ALIVE!” Nova’s voice broke as he screamed this.
The lead agent on the scene replied, “Of course, sir. We will do all we can. Jennifer out.”
EB hopped over to Nova. In the gentlest, kindest voice, he said, “Hey, buddy, keep it together. You, of all people, know what leadership needs to be like in a crisis.”
Nova looked at EB with rage in his eyes, but that softened to sorrow. “All these years, all this time, I have been alone. I spent centuries defending this world by myself. I aided people, knew people, but when it came to my work, it was just me. Then the morphons came, and I organized BADGE. I promised myself I would not get too attached. The people working with me would just be part of the plan to protect this world. I never.... I never realized that I would grow to enjoy not being alone. I have made friends. Justin has been the best first officer I could have. Justin ran this place while Lady Echidna brainwashed me, and he did a damn fine job. Arx is the essence of hope, a man who was a villain who has become the leader of one of the most caring arms of BADGE. I sent them to their death...” Nova lost the words.
EB said, “You didn’t send them to their death. They knew their job. This is not a safe job. You know that.”
Quark suddenly appeared and grabbed Nova by the shoulders. “It’s Legion!”
“What?”
Letting go of Nova, Quark said, “I faced that ugly dude down in Detroit. He broke my alteration. The only people who could do that were legions forces. I sensed it. I could see it in him. That man, thing, whatever. He is some kind of Legion warrior.”
EB said, “But, Legion was defeated.”
“Legion returned, somehow.... that is the lamest excuse of a phrase I have ever uttered. I don’t know how they returned, or if this is something new from them. The point is, this creature is a Legion warrior. He has the strength of one of their generals, one of their worst. That is why no one can fight him. You know how hard those generals were to fight?”
Nova pointed at a robot. “Get me Detroit. I want eyes on our enemy. Contact Furious Squirrel.”
The video monitors changed to local street cameras that had eyes on the enemy currently pounding the side of Quark’s protective bubble.
“You did that?” Nova asked.
“Just a little containment. If I’m right, and I’m pretty it won’t hold against his strength.”
Furious Squirrel’s voice came through, “Reporting. Nova. We got people out. Heroes fought that guy; no one died, but he countered every attempt. That guy is horribly strong.”
“Good work. Get the civilians to safety and make sure our heroes don’t do anything stupid. Nova out.”
Quark asked, “How do we fight this? It took a lot of preparation to fight each of those Generals.”
Nova said, “It took tech, time, and special planning with each Legion General. Tech, time, and special planning with each Legion General were required. They don’t have experience and we don’t have time to study and prepare for this. We need something to give us a chance, a boost, something.”
“EGGS!” EB blurted out.
Nova frowned and looked down at the bunny. “What did you say?”
“Eggs. I still remember the special spell that we used to infuse power into our best warriors, so they stood a chance against Legion.”
Nova said, “But, Vexillia lost.”
“We almost beat them. And more than one of their generals fell to our people. Listen, the trick is I can make chocolate eggs with that spell infused into them. Heroes eat them, and then BOOM, the heroes are ready for a fight... at least while the power lasts.”
“Are you sure this will work?” Nova asked.
“It can’t hurt to try. Besides, this spell will amp up their strength for a while, anyway. I mean, I could add in some extra espresso shots, strong sugar, make them real enemy bombs. I could market these things after this is over. Energy chocolate eggs. That is a brilliant idea. College students love never sleeping and drinking coffee and energy dri...I’ll get to work.” EB saw the glare from Nova and dashed away.
Quark asked, “Do you think this will work?”
Nova watched the bubble of energy keeping the enemy at bay crack. “We have to try.” He pointed at 92628, “All-Com emergency channel alpha.”
“Activated.”
Nova spoke, his voice echoing out of every speaker, “This is Director Nova. EB will craft a special candy egg infused with a unique power. This should grant you the ability to fight our enemy in Detroit. We have to stop him. This is a top priority. Lives are at stake. This is a Class L situation. Yes, that means Legion has returned. The world is in danger. Do your duty.”
Quark said, “I wonder if EB can put that stuff in vodka.”
Nova just shot Quark a side glare.
Quark said, “I like chocolate too. I’ll just go see if I can help.” He flashed away.
Nova turned back to the monitor, watching the one open window that was still monitoring the Ren Tech disaster. “Please, right now, I need good news.”
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