“Stop him!” The leader of this league called out while she shielded one of their own, who seemed to be the target of this creature.
TheDude flipped and jumped through the air using his enhanced athletics skill and slammed down onto the top of the creature with a double-fist crash.
The creature hit the ground and then turned to blue smoke, it reformed in the air and swiped a claw across the chest of the handsome athlete. His uniform tore, and blood trickled down his perfect pecs.
Bold-er ran in and threw a massive stone she had been carrying. The stone hit the creature, but it merely fazed through it as though it weren’t there. It continued toward their colleague hiding behind the leader. “What the hell can stop these things?”
“We have to find something.” PrismGuard said while she crafted a rainbow shield over herself and Darkmouth, who was obviously the focus of their enemy.
At the moment that three of their own were about to strike at the enemy one more time, it simply stopped moving and looked up. It seemed to listen to something, or look at something they couldn’t see. Then, with no warning, it flew straight up and vanished into the sky.
“Oooo-kay?” PrismGuard lowered her shield. “Anyone got an explanation?”
“Nope,” Blazerface said.
“I want a full report from the commander of the Pacific office.” Nova spoke into his comm as he sat at a computer in Operations.
Another comm opened, and a Japanese man in a BADGE uniform said, “Director, we have a reported encounter two hours ago. The enemy drained two heroes and then vanished.”
“Get them to a BADGE hospital immediately. Dr. Henderson has a treatment plan that should work, but they need attention right away.”
“Understood.” The comm clicked off.
Nova had been working through rotating calls from the Leagues, Rangers, and national offices for a full day. They were still trying to get a scanner working so they could locate all supernatural heroes and protect them. For now, it was a ground effort, and he had the responsibility of directing.
“Director!” Gar called out from the front of the room.
“What now?” Nova looked up.
“I don’t understand. We are getting reports you need to see.”
Nova stood up, looking at the screen as dots slowly vanished one by one. “Is the scanner online? Are we shifting over to a location mode?”
“No, sir. Listen.” Gar nodded to 10915.
A voice recording from the field played, “This is MindHawk in Kentucky, we were facing a strange creature and it just stopped fighting and ran.” Another voice came through with a thick Russian accent, “This is PolarKin, the enemy abandoned the fight without warning and vanished into the sky.” One after another, these reports came pouring in.
“What’s going on?” Nova left his desk and joined Gar.
Gar smiled, “This is good. Right?”
“I don’t know. When an enemy stops fighting, and there is no reason they should, it can only mean something is about to happen that we will not like.”
A fresh voice joined them, “Dr. Henderson to Nova, I have good news.”
Nova muttered, “Perfect timing.” He clicked his comm, “Nova here.”
“The scanner is online. However, you need to come to the lab, we have rigged it through the bio scanner system down here.”
Nova said, “I’ll be there in a moment.” Shutting off his comm, he left Gar in charge of Operations and headed for the bio lab.
As soon as the door opened to the bio lab, a white blur hit Nova in the chest, bounced off, and zoomed back into the room. Nova now had a chocolate egg stuck in his mouth.
EB bounced around the room, “Woot, woot, woot. We did it. Really, it was Strange Quark who made this work. But it works! We’ve already begun scanning. I wonder if they’ll feel the scanning? Wouldn’t that be weird? You’re out fighting crime and suddenly you feel a strange buzz. It might feel nice. Or, it could feel like...”
Nova pulled the egg out as he stomped into the room. “This is not a time for celebrating when people are at risk.”
EB frowned, “Sourpuss. This was hard work.”
Nova addressed Dr. Henderson, who stood before a holographic representation of the globe. They dragged a new computer station into the room and hooked it into the bio scanners with two dozen cords and cables.
“We’re using a medical scanner normally used for specialized scanning on subjects at close range. But with some quantum work from Quark, it can now scan at a much further distance. Relaying it off all BADGE satellites and ground stations, we can now scan the entire planet.”
Chase walked over and said, “We can now protect our people.”
Nova said, “That’s wonderful, and you did good work. However, something has changed.”
Strange Quark, drinking another chocolate liquor drink, said, “Why is it that nothing sticks around long enough for us to get ahead for once?”
Nova answered, “Life never seems to work that way.”
“What has happened?” Dr. Henderson grew pale with worry.
Nova said, “The attacks have stopped. Our enemies seem to abandon their fight. There is no explanation or rational reason, they just stopped.”
Chase asked, “What can this mean?”
EB said, “That they know we are on the case and we always win.”
“I wish that were true.” Nova said, “I can only assume that our enemy is about to make their next move. What that will be, I do not know. But we have to be ready.”
“Then the scanner is no longer needed?” Chase asked.
Nova said, “It is needed. I don’t know their next move, but I’m certainly not going to leave our people in harm’s way. Scan the planet and identify those with primary supernatural natures. We are going to alert them to the risks. Can the scanner determine if the person is a known hero?”
Dr. Henderson shook her head. “No. It will only show if the person has a high margin in that area. However, using the BADGE computer system of assignments and known locations of heroes, we could figure out who is a hero and who is a civilian who hasn’t discovered their powers yet.”
Chase said, “Would that be an invasion of privacy to be going after those who haven’t discovered their powers yet?”
“They are at more risk than those who are heroes. All we are doing is making sure they are safe. Do the scan. Connect with the BADGE system.”
Dr. Henderson and Chase worked the computers to make all the proper preparations. Then, with a single button, the scanner saturated the world with the detection scan. Small dots appeared all over the place, some brighter than others. It was only a few seconds before the computer made a loud noise and a warning sign appeared.
“What is that?” Nova asked.
Dr. Henderson turned off the warning and said, “Strange, that is the bio-meter giving a warning. This sensor is for medical cases here. So, if someone has a critical level of morphonic energy and could be at risk, it warns us. It shouldn’t be sensitive enough to show that from here unless the person was abnormally strong.”
“How about ten to the sixth power?” Quark said as he looked at a large, glowing spot.
Dr. Henderson walked over. “That’s not possible. That’s the maximum scan. Over a million morphonic level power. This can’t be right.”
Chase said, “It’s moving.”
They watched as this glowing spot flew across the European continent on a direct path for Ireland.
Nova said, “It is possible if this being is part of the morphons themselves. Feeding on the energy of hundreds of others.”
EB asked, “Do you know what that is?”
“I hope... no, I pray I am wrong, but this could be the Dark Oracle of Supernatural.”
“Dark Oracle?” Quark asked.
Nova said, “We have run out of time. We have to destroy this creature before it is too late.”
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