Fan-Fiction: The Glutton!

by Furious Squirrel #12351



The holidays are hard for those who don’t have a family. Furious Squirrel has a good life, but it is difficult at this time of the year. His family all passed away a century ago. Because he was thrown forward in time and now lives in this period, he cannot visit any immediate family for the holidays. The other heroes of his league, they have family to visit. So, Furious always takes the volunteer position to watch things while everyone else is away.

The wheelhouse of his new battle dirigible was quiet. Well, it wasn’t so quiet. The engine is noisy and there is always the sound of cranking gears and hissing steam. But there were no other voices chatting.

Out the window, he could see the world around him. His assignment was near Purgatory Penn, in Australia. With many heroes taking vacation time, this would be the perfect time for someone to break out. BADGE had a unit of their best soldiers and a few training bots watching over the prison directly. Furious was the hero in the sky.

“Furious Squirrel, come in.” The Warden’s voice piped through the horn.

Furious pulled down the tube with the horn on it. “Furious here.”

“We have a minor situation. Someone sent in radioactive food and our sensors didn’t pick it up in time.”

“Radioactive food? Why would they do that?”

The Warden said, “Not sure. There are villains in here that some on the outside would really like dead. Unfortunately, a few people got into the food before our special thanksgiving dinner, and they are now very sick. Alert BADGE HQ about this. I want to know who sent this...buzz...sss.”

“Warden? Come in... Warden?” Furious pulled a lever and punched a button on his controls. “Purgatory, come in!” No sound. “This can’t be good.”

He flicked two levers and pulled out his BADGE comm unit, “BADGE station, this Furious. We have a situation at Purg Penn. Not sure what it is, but their comm just went dead and they were reporting radioactive food on site.”

Arx came through, “Did you say radioactive food?”

“That’s what the warden told me.”

“I’ll alert Nova. But, he’s with Santa and Chase.”

“Great. Well, I’ll go down and check this out. You send out the alert. This may be nothing.”

“I hope so. Arx out.”

Furious piloted his dirigible down and landed near the entrance to the prison. He held up his BADGE key card to get through the intense security system. The first gate opened, then a wall slid down. Then he walked through a tunnel that scanned him with fifty-seven different sensors to determine that he wasn’t an impostor. Finally, he was at the last door. He had to present his BADGE id card again. A security robot checked it out through a video screen.

“Furious Squirrel confirmed. Enter.”

The last metal doors opened. There was a rocking explosion and screaming. The doors stopped moving when the power flickered.

“Aw crap.” Furious pulled out his ray gun and blasted one side of the doors, which forced it open. He ran through while the entire structure rocked. The power flickered on and off, and people were screaming. People’s pounding feet echoed through the structure. He got to the walkway that led around the interior of the prison. The window looked down to the central dining hall. A table flew up and slammed into the reinforced glass, cracking it. A wet roar followed.

“What the hell?” Furious ran hard, pulling out his other ray gun.

He slid to a stop at the top of a set of metal stairs that led down into the dining hall. Prisoners and BADGE agents ran up the stairs in a mad frenzy. The villains had collars and cuffs on that negated any powers they might have, but they weren’t the threat right now. Another long table flew toward them. Furious shot with both rayguns and destroy the table before it crashed into the people.

“HEY, YOU!” He grabbed a BADGE agent by the arm. “What’s going on?”

“The Glutton! He’s alive!” She pointed back.

Furious looked out to see a giant blob of a man who looked half made of food, and half dead. He shoved something into his mouth and swallowed it whole. The monster reached down and grabbed at a lizardman who was running. He got the tail; the man screeched and his tail fell off. The Glutton ate the tail while the rest of the lizardman ran for his life.

Furious shot with both his rayguns and hit the giant man, which only staggered him back. The Glutton crashed into the side of the dining hall and fell on his sizable rear. This gave time for people to get away. Furious, the only hero available, had to do the right thing. He ran into the room.

Five BADGE agents held large energy weapons, directing the others away.

“Hey! Furious! Good. We need help. He’s going to eat everything.”

“Then fire!” Furious took aim and fired.

They did not.

The Glutton stumbled again, but showed little reaction.

“Why aren’t you firing?” Furious stepped back as The Glutton got back to his feet, grabbed a chair, and ate it.

The BADGE agents said, “Last time we tried, it did little good, and I think he ate the beam of Susan’s weapon.”

“Ate the beam?”

“Well, it hit inside his mouth and he seemed to enjoy it.”

Furious slowly lowered his guns, “Oh, this isn’t good.”

The Warden, battered and bruised, arrived. She said, “Get the prisoners to the underground bunker! We have to hold this thing at bay until more hero support arrives!”

The BADGE agents split up and ran to help move the prisoners to safety.

Furious kept shooting the body of this beast, stumbling it, but hardly doing any actual damage. “Where did this come from?”

“That was The Glutton, a villain that we arrested years ago. He could eat just about anything. His thugs here in the prison got into the food and brought him a meal.”

“It was radioactive.” Furious realized where she was going with this.

“Yes. He died... at least we thought he died. But, he broke out of the morgue, ate two metric tons of radioactive food and turned into that thing. I don’t think he’s alive. I think that is some kind of mutant zombie.”

Furious watched as The Glutton ate a door like it was a graham cracker. “How do we stop that?”

“I don’t know.”

Furious looked around, his back almost to the wall as The Glutton continued to consume and throw things randomly. “It looks like that thing isn’t trying to be evil, just consuming. What if we feed it something it can’t handle?”

They watched it eat half a table and a chair. The Warden said, “I doubt we have something that can hurt it.”

Furious suddenly asked, “What did you say about the Thanksgiving Dinner here?”

“That we have one? What about it?”

“Was it that food that was poisoned?”

The Warden threw a chair at the beast. “No. It was the regular food. The Thanksgiving food is fine. What about it?”

Furious pointed his rayguns at the ceiling high above. “We need to stall it.” He fired and brought down some steel beams and glass to cover the Glutton.

“That won’t stop him. Listen, I can hear him crunching on the glass.” It sounded like someone eating really large potato chips.

Furious said, “I have a plan. Where’s your Thanksgiving food?”

“Back here. He’s heading this way because the kitchen storage is back here.” She led him back into the kitchens.

“Tell me you have turkeys.”

She nodded. “Sure, several hundred, in fact. We have a lot of mouths to feed.”

“Good. Let’s feed just one mouth.”

“Why?”

Furious smiled. “Tryptophan coma.”

“You can’t be serious.” She stopped in her tracks. Furious said, “It’s all I got.”

She said, “It might work, actually. But only with a little help.”

They both heard debris moving and loud moaning. Furious opened the freezer and started pulling out turkeys. “We have to move before he brings this place down to get to this food.”

“Here.” she grabbed a cord attached to the wall and yanked on it. It opened a hidden panel that had dart guns and dozens of darts inside. “This is a last resort for prison breaks. “These darts are filled with Styericol,” she said, “one of the most powerful sedatives in the world.”

“Why didn’t you shoot him with these already?”

She pulled out the darts and started jamming them into the turkeys. “What makes you think we didn’t? His skin is half made of food and half dead. I’m not even sure this will work inside him, but it is our best bet.”

Furious filled the turkeys with the dart fluid as the sound of chomping and guttural roaring grew closer.

“That’s all of them.” Furious said.

The warden grabbed a cart and piled the turkeys onto it. “Come on, we have to get these birds air born before he brings this place down on our heads.”

Furious got another cart and piled turkeys on it. Together they raced out and started pitching the birds at The Glutton. Its dead eyes seemed to brighten up at the sight of the food, and he ate with gusto as they pelted him with frozen poultry.

They were five hundred birds in when The Glutton fell on his butt as he ate. Then, he slowly sank backward and crashed on the ground, sprawled out like a bloated whale on the beach, half masticated turkeys dribbling out of his mouth.

Furious, a frozen turkey in his hands, paused. “Did we do it?”

She cautiously walked over and poked the beast with a stick. “He’s out cold.”

Three hours later, BADGE arrived with several of the volunteer heroes, as well as Dr. Henderson and her special crew. The prisoners cleared out the mess, and someone moved the behemoth.

“Well, it looks like a case of Post-Morten Morphonic Radioactive Symbiosis,” Dr. Henderson said.

Furious replied, “I speak English.”

“Sorry, that means that the radiation had a strange effect on the morphon powers within the corpse of a dead person. It activated their cells, but only at a superficial level. The Glutton is dead, was dead the entire time. But, the radiation reactivated his system and caused his latent morphon powers to go into hyper mode. I’ve seen nothing quite like this. I’m eager to study it.”

The Warden said, “Glad we can help you advance science. Wish it didn’t cost half this building.”

“Thankfully, there were no other deaths, only injuries that we are tending to right now. BADGE will send out a repair crew ASAP.”

“Good. Thank you,” The Warden nodded to the doctor. Then turned to Furious, “Thank you as well. Without your help, this might have been much worse.”

“Just doing my job.”

“We still have some turkeys and plenty of sides. Why don’t you join us for Thanksgiving dinner? I’m sure you can spare a little time during your patrol.”

Furious frowned, “Dinner with prisoners?”

“Today, they are your biggest fan. You saved us all.”

Furious thought about that and then said, “Sure, why not?”

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Fan-Fiction: The Furious One

Furious Squirrel #12351



Furious Squirrel raced over the clouds of strange black fog that rolled across the earth. From here, he could hear the odd noises below. People were hollering and playing like it was a giant party, yet there were monsters moving around in the darkness.

“Furi...” a voice rattled through the comm with a lot of fuzziness around it.

Furious pulled a lever back and then used a switch the push more power into the comm system. He yanked down a pipe with a horn on the end and spoke into it. “This is Furious, who is this?”

Clearer now, the voice of Harry Freak came through. “Furious, we need help! We have this monster pinned down, but it won’t die. We need your cannon!”

“On it!” Letting the pipe go, it zipped back up to the ceiling of the pilothouse. He put his goggles on and grabbed the wheel. “Don’t fail me now, old girl!” He pulled back on the entire steering system and then pushed it forward. The Dirigible’s engines turned up, speeding him along quickly.

A red light flashed on the dash, and he slapped it to shut it off. It was warning him that the power levels of the old engine were at critical. He turned hard and zoomed toward a battle happening in the sea near a large city. The monster, Charybdis, was being held at bay by heroes attacking it. But they weren’t making any headway.

“I hope you can handle this, old girl!” He grabbed another lever and pulled it down, clicking it into place and then disconnected a cable from one place and plugged it into another port. He slowed the ship down and pulled out a switch and smashed it down.

Under his dirigible, the large electro-canon descended from its holding bay. The crystal structure on the inside was already white hot, with power surging through it. He sped toward the monster, the sides of his dirigible rattling, the engines turning his pilot house into a sauna.

“TAKE THAT!” He slammed the button again and a bright white beam of light came from his cannon and nailed the Charybdis right in the face. As its body split in two, it screeched and lashed around. With a great crash, the mighty carcass landed in the middle of the bay, never reaching the city. Heroes on the ground created barriers quickly to stop the ensuing tidal wave from causing any damage.

Harry Freak’s voice came over his comm. “You did it! It’s dead!”

Furious replied, “We did it. But this isn’t over. Lady Echidna is still out there. Justin needs us in Antarctica before it’s too late.” With that, he led the way across the ocean as heroes gathered from across the planet.

The battle with Lady Echidna was ethereal. Furious flew his dirigible over hoards of heroes against one villain. She was no giant monster or possessing thousands of demon slaves. She was alone, and yet she was nearly unbeatable. Blast after blast, Furious used all the weapons at his command to bring her down, and in the end, it was his dirigible that crashed into the snowy fields of the bottom of the world.

When the day was darkest and life seemed to be over, a beacon of hope arrived as an angel. Nova fought her in a battle that rivaled anything in all the myths. Then the monster to beat all monsters stomped through, crushing the icy continent as he set his eyes on the woman of nightmares. Midgardsomr joined the fight. Furious was certain that the snake hero had been destroyed, but there he stood, possessing a god-like power.

The Battle was over, and the day was done. Midgard had finally defeated the enemy that seemed unbeatable. Even better, Nova had returned. What was he? No one was certain any longer.

Furious stood near his crashed ship, sad eyes looking at the wreck that has been his tie to his past and his tool of heroism. Arctic winds made this even more painful. A hand reached out and held his shoulder.

“You did well.” The deep voice of Santa said.

Furious nodded. “I pushed her beyond her limits and made this real. But she’s gone. I don’t know what to do. I have crashed her before, but never like this. There is no coming back from this.”

Santa examined the wreckage and then asked the strangest question. “You’re not from this time, aren’t you?”

“No. I traveled from the 19th century to here. Why?”

“Seems like I owe you a century’s worth of Christmas gifts.”

This was not what Furious expected. “I guess... you don’t need...”

“I think I can make it up with this.” He waved his hand and magical reindeer appeared all around the wreck. Golden cords attached to them and the remains of his ship. In moments, the magical reindeer lifted it off the ground and flew it away.

Furious asked, “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” Santa touched the side of his nose and vanished.

A month later, Santa's Sleigh made a special visit and brought Furious up north. He zoomed over arctic north and then dove into what appears to be a giant ice berg only to find that the ice was an illusion hiding a large docking bay. The sleigh lands and he steps out. Santa joined him. Both looked out into the vast open bay that was currently without a ship.

“What did you need?” Furious asked.

“Merry Christmas!”

Furious looks at his watch, “It’s March.”

“Are you going to quibble about that when you are getting a centuries’ worth of Christmas gifts from Santa?”

Furious smiles, “This is about my ship?”

“Yup.” Santa clapped his gloved hands three times, and the elves pulled ropes attached to large doors at the far end of the bay.

Furious’s mouth hung open and a giddy smile affixed to his face as he watched a gorgeous boat float in on the water with a large armored balloon on top. The boat had beautiful bright wood with gold and silver accents. It had a small propeller in the front, and an enormous gold spike on the tip of the balloon.

Santa said, “Say hello to your new ship, the Furious One. It comes with magically infused engines that will give it twice the speed your old dirigible had. There are six turrets, three on each side, that are built in and will extend on command. The weapons are all powered by the same magical core the ship has built into it. However, the most powerful weapon on this baby is the lightning cannon on the front.” He pointed to the spike at the front of the balloon.

Furious watched as the incredible boat floated toward him. “Is it like the electro cannon on my old ship?”

“Better. The same unique crystal that your old weapon had powers this baby. It will give it as you move and charge the power in it. One shot from this will do more than twice the damage as your old weapon, and will not overheat.” Santa leaned in and said, “Wanna take her up for a spin?”

“YES!... ahem... I mean, yes I would.” Furious was a giddy as a kid on Christmas morning.

Santa walked him up a plank that met the ship’s top deck. “Unlike your first ship, this one has an open deck and living space. In fact, this ship has three decks, with guest rooms, a mess, and storage. Your hero league can use this as a mobile base, if you want.”

“I think they would appreciate that.”

Santa walked him into the new pilot house, this room as elegant as the outside of the ship. All the dials and controls were exquisite Victorian style, glistening like a new car. Luckily, Santa made the design similar to his old ship, so he knew the controls well.

“Taking us out.” Furious said as he stood behind the wheel and pulled down levers.

The Furious One sailed out of the hidden docking bay and out into open waters. Once clear, the engines buzzed louder, and the ship sped forward. The propellers on the back and front whipped into high gear and the ship lifted out of the icy waters. They gained altitude for a long climb sailing high into the sky. Breaking through the cloud layer, the ship leveled off and soared along as though it were sailing over a placid ocean. The mountains of clouds around it basked in the glorious sunlight, which glittered against the shining gilded hull of this ship.

Santa asked, “So, what do you think?”

Furious was bursting with emotions. “Thank you. I feel at home again.”

“If you need a tuneup, don’t hesitate to call.” Santa said and touched the side of his nose, vanishing away.

Furious finally cried out in joyful noises as he played with his new toy. The Furious One was ready for the world, but was the world ready for the Furious One?

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Fans of BADGE: A Birthday Celebration Story

Furious Squirrel #12351

The parade was in full swing as people cheered loudly and heroes joined marching bands and acrobat troupes filing down the streets. Some citizens had taken to dressing in costume as their favorite heroes from BADGE. One girl was sporting a remarkable costume that looked like Krystal Fae, and there was a guy who had put on big wings and spray painted his body gray to look like Gar. A number of people had formed a group calling themselves FBADGE, or Fake BADGE, where they dressed just like BADGE agents and went around doing civic things like cheering up kids at the hospitals and photo shoots at comic cons. The tide had clearly turned back in favor of BADGE since the days when people were scared of them.

Furious Squirrel walked along, waving at the crowds as he marched with members of his league. He reached into a bag and handed out large candy bars to the kids. The bag was magically enchanted by EB to reach into a huge stock of these candy bars he made so they wouldn't run out.

"Here you go. And, here's one for you, and for you..." He kept handing these out to all the kids.

A group of teens stood, each dressed as a member of the Avengers League, though most of their costumes were very home spun. One kid was so bold as to dress in a massive outfit that looked like Midgard, who wasn't always recognized as a hero among the common citizen.

Furious reached over with a handful of those candy bars for this Avengers cosplay team. "Here you guys go. Great costumes."



The guy in the Midgard Cosplay sneered at Furious and said, "Who are you supposed to be? Somek inda top hat man?"

"I'm Furious Squirrel!" Furious proudly announced.

The Midgard cosplayer was either really into character, or was just a jerk normally, but his scoff was loud as he said, "Never heard of you."

Furious, a little defeated by this attitude, walked along, handing out more candy bars. As he did, his jovial nature subsided and he was not as interested in this now.

"Something wrong?" Justin walked along with him.

"Nothing."

"Come on, its our Birthday celebration. BADGE is being celebrated, which is something we couldn't say a year ago."

"I know. But, I guess I thought people would know what I did. Look at all these fans of the other heroes. Even Chase has fans, and she hardly shows herself to the common public. I have been working to save lives, and no one even recognizes me."

Justin smiled and waved as a man with a camera took their picture. Then he said, "Furious, it isn't about accolades. They are nice, but the point of being a hero is doing the right thing. You do that all the time."

The parade went on for a while longer and ended at Neo Utopia's city hall. Justin was met by the mayor with all the heroes standing on the steps around him. The public, with many news reporters from all over the world, listened as he gave a rousing speech about BADGE and their work to save the world.

Furious didn't join his fellow heroes on the steps, sure no one would notice him not being there. His spirit was dampened today and it was hard to muster it back up.

A woman rushed up to him, "Oh, are you the hero?" She asked.

"Sure." His answer was not enthusiastic.

She held out a small letter in a pink envelope. "It would mean the world if you came to my little girls party. She is holding a small birthday party with her class for BADGE. She is such a huge fan. It's just down the block and she is starting it in an hour."

Furious smiled and took the envelope. "I don't know."

"Please. She gets picked on for her fandom of heroes, but she still loves you so much."

Furious knew it wasn't standard procedure to attend parties without approval. But, he didn't feel this was dangerous. "Okay."

Leaving the speeches and key-to-the-city ceremony behind, Furious strolled toward the address on the envelope. He hadn't opened it yet. Once he arrived, which took almost a full hour to walk, he found a small park with a lot of elementary aged kids running around, some wearing T-shirts with their favorite hero on them. With a bolstering of his courage, he let himself in and walked through the screaming kids.

A woman walked up, "Oh, hello. I'm Mrs. Yarina, can I help you?"

He looked at the envelope. "Tabitha asked me to come. I'm with BADGE."

"Oh, your the hero! This is great, come...come!" She pulled him along.

He walked through and the kids all slowed down as they saw him. Finally, a girl, probably in the third grade, screamed, "IT'S HIM!" She came running toward him, wearing a top hat with goggles on her face, and clunky boots. She looked like she was dressing like him.



"Hello, I'm..."

"FURIOUS SQUIRREL! YOU CAME! I'M SO EXCITED!"

"You know of me?" He asked.

"Uh, huh...didnja read my letter?"

He opened the envelope and pulled out a the folded paper. It was a scribbled letter directly to him from her. It read, "Deer Mr. Furious Squirrel. You are my favorite hero. You saved daddy from that mean krampus thing. I want to be just like you. please come to my party. Its for you. Tabitha Stevens."

He lowered the letter and saw that twinkle in her eye. "Thank you. This is the best party I've ever been to."

She was about to burst with glee. "You're sooo awesome!"

He laughed and said, "You wanna see something even more cool?"

"YEAH!"



Clicking his special controls on his wrist, he looked up. A churning sound roared and the sun was blocked as his dirigible came flying over and stopped directly over the party.

Knowing the screaming glee that would ensue from all the kids, he said, "Who wants to take a ride?"

While Justin and the other heroes of BADGE were entertaining the media and world leaders, Furious Squirrel gave a bunch of elementary kids the time of their lives. It was the perfect celebration for this hero of BADGE.

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Space Squirrel: Fan fiction from Furious Squirrel

#12351

"Dear god I hope this works." Furious Squirrel yanked back on a lever next to the piloting wheel of his battle dirigible and then hit the gas.

A blue barrier formed around the airship like an oval bubble and a powerful blast of white energy burst from the aft section. The airship shot into the sky, straight up. He was heading for space.

One day before:

Sirens screamed and citizens scattered in fear. BADGE operatives set down in shuttles and hurried people into them. Most of the BADGE workers were large robotic defense drones used for training and crowd control. Today they had a pleasing tone and a gentle motion as they guided the terrified citizens into the shuttles.

Furious Squirrel ran along and helped with the evac. "Yes, that shuttle. No, don't worry about your dog, you can take him... sorry, her. Just hurry."

The ATLAS program had issued a dire warning as once again meteors were speeding toward the planet.

Unlike many other heroes, Furious didn't have the capability to go into space to fight this. So, he did his best to help by getting the citizens to safety.

"Furious, come in." Arx voice came through his comm.

Furious stepped aside from the lines of people and answered, "Furious here."

"We are detecting a single surge of meteors entering the area. The heroes are about to be overwhelmed. I need you to get in touch with any rogue heroes you can to ask for their help."

Furious walked around as he thought, "I only know a few rogues who don't work directly with BADGE, but none of them have the ability to get into space. And, most of them wouldn't be able to do much if they did."

"This is bad." Arx looked off to the side and then turned back, "Where are you currently?"

"I'm in Tokyo, why?"

"We have a report that Dr. Isawa at the Japanese Institute of Laser Technology has developed a laser that might be of use in this battle. Could you go and see if it is available."

Furious looked around at the fleeing people. "A single laser? How could that help?"

"It is supposed to be extraordinarily powerful. Our reports show that Dr. Isawa designed this for the potential of a Mass Extinction Level catastrophe from space. These meteors qualify."

"Okay. I'll check it out. send the coordinates to my comm."

Furious got the info and rushed off to his landed dirigible. He had a crowd of citizens filling the cargo bay so he got it airborne and escorted them to the nearby safety bunker. Once they had disembarked, he sped away to the JILT.

Getting to the door, he quickly showed them his BADGE badge and they let him in. A Japanese woman met him with a bow and then asked. "Is it true that BADGE wants to test my laser today on this event?"

"Yes. Is it ready?"

She nodded, "The laser is ready, but there is a problem." She walked him back into the largest laboratory he had ever seen. Inside was a massive weapon. "The laser is too big for any shuttle or ship to get into space." Furious took a long look at it and then asked, "How long is it?"

"twenty eight meters."

"Okay. I have an idea. But Im not sure how well it will work."

"What?" She asked.

"I have a ship that is large enough to strap this on. And, just recently I had it upgraded with an airshield for high atmospheric flight. It should also keep the ship safe in space for a short while. But, Ive never tested it."

Dr. Isawa pointed at a computer monitor. "We are hours away from an Extinction Level event. I think it is a good time to try."

Furious gave this a moment longer in thought and then said, "Do it."

Dr. Isawa quickly got her crew working and they moved the laser, using big equipment, outside and Furious piloted his ship to a place where they could attach it. Two dozen men and women worked at top speed to get it welded down and wired into his system. She checked his air shield and propulsion and gave him a thumbs up.

With the huge weapon attacked to the belly of his ship, Furious mustered up courage and set off for the first space flight he had ever tried.

Speeding toward the sky, he set his course for the heart of the incoming Meteor storm. He thought about his friends and family and then realized, Family was the key to getting the impossible done, taking a vehicle into space that was never meant to go there.

"Dear god I hope this works." Furious Squirrel yanked back on a lever next to the piloting wheel of his battle dirigible and then hit the gas.

A blue barrier formed around the airship like an oval bubble and a powerful blast of white energy burst from the aft section. The airship shot into the sky, straight up.

The energy barrier strained under the pressures of the upper atmosphere, it turned from blue to hot orange and yellow. Then, as if he were breaking through a window, he entered space itself. For a moment it was peaceful, serene, and strange. He used his magnetic locks on his boot to keep himself on the ground as gravity was not working any longer.

Little flickers of light in the distance caught his attention and he pressed forward. His ship shot through space at the best speeds he could muster. It was strange not flying on air. And, without the energy field, his balloon would explode and he would die.

"Furious, is that you?" Arx's voice came over his ships comm.

Furious grabbed a pipe from the ceiling and yanked it down, he spoke into it. "I'm coming in hot. I have the laser strapped to my belly and a full power tank. We have one blast, but it will be massive if Dr. Isawa is correct."

"When?"

"Two Minutes. Might want to tell the others to give me room. Don't want to take out any heroes today."

"Gotcah." Arx changed and his comm came through to everyone at once. "All heroes, make a path for Furious Squirrel and his dirigible. I repeat, make a clear path."

He got closer and closer, one hand on the wheel the other on the control button. he had one shot and it had better work.

"Use the force, Furious." He said to himself as he saw the point in space where these strange meteors were coming from. With a firm press of the button and a lot of prayer, the laser cannon shot a straight, huge beam into the heart of the storm. As it passed through the storm, little blips of light happened where meteors were burnt up by the laser. Then, larger explosions happened when it passed right through the bigger, far deadly stones. Finally, a single, massive explosion came when it met the biggest mother meteor at the heart of this storm. The shockwave of its explosion decimated other meteors.

The power cell spent, Furious quickly turned the wheel to get away before a billion shards of meteors hit him.

"We gotcha!" Several Heroes came over his comm.

Looking out from the pilot house, ten heroes flew up near him and helped guide him back toward the planet.

The computer at the ATLAS station on the spacestation, alerted everyone, "Meteor crisis averted. Earth safe. Damage control teams activate."

Cheers came from all the heroes, no more so than from Furious himself. The crisis had been averted.

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Fan-Fiction: The Dirigible and Spy Balloon

Furious Squirrel #12351



After two weeks in a hospital and some physical therapy, I returned to my beloved dirigible and started the long process of fixing it. Some may think that this balloon is silly, old school, or useless, but its my home, my weapon, and been a part of my identity since I first fell into this time from the past.

"Did they defeat Krampus?" were my first words after waking up in the ICU.

Dr. Henderson told me that they didn't really defeat him, since it wasn't real. But, that the real enemy got away.

What do I do now? I am pissed. I got my butt kicked by a shadow of a monster only to find out that the person behind it got away. And, worst of all, Director Nova is with her.

After rage fueled devotion, I got my dirigible in working order and looking better than ever. Now is the time to start working. I know BADGE will be on this, but that doesn't mean I can't try to help. BADGE has insisted that I put some new tech into my dirigible, a computer and sensors. I don't know much about them, but if it makes them happy, I'm fine with it. First day back in the air, I get a call, "Furious Squirrel, you there?" It was Chase.

"Sure, what do you need?"



She told me about a strange sighting of a flying object near Alaska. It looks like another balloon, maybe someone else who is using a dirigible. Both the United States and Canada aren't happy, it won't respond to calls. So, BADGE is sending me into investigate.

Sure enough, flying over Anchorage is a giant balloon. At first glance it looks like an old weather balloon. But, it has a bevy of info gathering devices attached to a platform underneath it. Using some of the modern tech BADGE has built into my ship, I send out greetings and get not response. Then I send a signal designed to contact whoever is controlling it. Nothing happens. Then, this computer on my ship starts buzzing and making all sorts of weird noises. Damned if I know much about computers, but I try to figure it out.

"Hey BADGE, you know what my computer is trying to tell me?" I ask through my wrist comm.

Moments later, Justin pipes in as worried as I've ever heard him. "That is showing a high radiation level and detonation devices."

"Translate?"

"It is rigged with nuclear weapons. By the looks of the readings, it is some sort of fail safe device. It blows that thing to hell if it is compromised and takes whoever or whatever is nearby."

"Aw, crud. I just put my baby back together."

"Don't worry. I don't think it's triggered yet. But...wait, you're getting some clear readings. You must be close."

I look out the window and watch the fat white balloon drift by. "Uh, yeah, like next to it." "That's too close. Then again, you're getting some clear readings. Hold your position for a moment while I run this data by our systems." I wait while Justin does what he does. This is annoying. Now I am sitting next to a flying nuclear bomb and hoping it doesn't blow me straight to hell.

"Good, good. We got the data. Looks like that thing originated somewhere in China. Not sure if its from their government or from some other organization, but it's snagging every open internet signal it can, as well as any open Bluetooth channels. It isn't just gathering data, it's downloading viruses and hacking programs everywhere. This is sophisticated programming. With this, it could crash computers, cell networks, everything it touches."

"Justin, all I heard was that it's doing bad things. What should I do?"

Justin says. "Stay there for a moment longer. We are going to send a hacking signal back into it and, if it works, crash the onboard computer. We now have the virus data it was using, so we can create a counter program. It should..."

The computer started beeping loudly again and the balloon made a sudden motion for the ground.

"What just happened?" I ask.

"Damn! It's responding to our hacking. It's going to slam into the ground and blow. It'll take out Anchorage and all the surrounding area. Do something."

I pull levers and spin the wheel, moving my dirigible on a path toward the falling balloon. "What do I do? If I shoot it down, it will just blow up and take me with it."

"Grapple it, drag it to a safe place!"

I load the grappling hook gun and pray that I don't hit the wrong part of that stupid balloon. Firing, I wrap around the ropes holding the balloon and start dragging it out toward the sea.

"I got it! Now what? Let it blow in the ocean?"

"No, it could spread radiation over the water."

"I can't just pull it all over the place. Its gonna blow!"

Justin was silent for a moment.

"Hey, Justin! What do I do?"

"Okay, change your heading eighteen degrees and head for the hole."

"Hole?" I spin the wheel and alter my course.

"You'll see it."

The computer next to me is saying this thing is on the verge of exploding and I am pushing every ounce of power into my engines. I have never flown over the ocean this fast before. Then I see a blue funnel in the air with a black center. Strange Quark is waiting on me like a butler at the door. I race directly for the opening, hit the starboard breaking and make a hard turn, cutting the grappling line at the moment of turning. The balloon is freed and speeds right into the hole. I see the flash of an explosion just as the funnel shuts and is completely gone.

Slowing my baby down, I contact Justin. "It's done."

"Good work. You saved a lot of lives, not to mention protecting the computers that thing could have wrecked."

I lean on my wheel and admit something I never wanted to. "I need to learn more about computers. Justin, is there still opening in that class you told me about?"

"Sure thing. Starts next week."

"I'll be there."

Continue the Story

Father Time's Excellent Adventure Fan-Fiction by Furious Squirrel

Furious Squirrel
ID# 12351

"Not you again!" Furious Squirrel yelled while he raced across Neo Utopia toward the disturbance.
Father Time was at his old tricks. Not sure how Father Time got his clock back, Furious knew he had a special talent that few could harness. Furious was not from this time, he was from the past. This gave him some resistance to time powers.
Flying his amazing Steampunk Airship, Furious pulled a lever down and pushed a button in. Steam spurted out of a pipe as torpedoes loaded into cone shaped blasters.
"Take this, you old fart!" Furious yelled as he hit the fire button.
The torpedoes blasted out and zoomed toward the battle ensuing in the middle of the city. They exploded near Father Time, but the crafty old codger zipped out of the way by time shifting. With an evil gleam in his eye, Father Time shot back. Furious braced himself, but the time power bounced off his dirigible.
"HA! Your not the only one who has time-resistance!"
Taking hold of the wheel, Furious turned and came into the city at a wide angle. He made a large curve in the sky, amazed at the way time was shifting. Sections of the city were modern, some where from the recent past, and then some areas looked like they were in the 1920's. He sped by the clock tower where they were celebrating the new year, 1923. Flappers danced on the roof while a large ball dropped with confetti raining down everywhere.
"This is cool, but a mess." Furious said to himself.
Blinding blasts of white energy hit his ship and he had to keep it steady. Father Time was firing wildly, hitting heroes all over the place. Babies littered the ground where grown adults had been moments ago. At the epicenter of this infantile attack was the old man gleefully taking down the hoards of heroes against him.
"FURIOUS, IS THAT YOU!" A voice rattled out of the pipe next to his head.
Furious grabbed the pipe and turned it toward him. "Peyton?"
"Yeah, it's me. Father Time is going full throttle this year. I guess he ain't too happy with letting another year move forward. We got lots of downed heroes."
Furious turned his ship and came to a stop over the city. "I see that. His power isn't doing too much to me. But, if he keeps hitting me, it will probably get through."
"You have some resistance, that's good." Peyton said, breathless from running in the streets. "I got an idea. I have all the time based heroes ready to go. When I give the signal, fire all you got at Father Time."
"No good. He dodges everything I shoot!" Furious said.
Peyton yelled something to someone else near him and then got back to his walkie, "I know that. That's the point. When he shifts around in time, he ain't shooting anyone. And, his time altering power slows down. We keep him moving for just a few minutes and we can cause him to jump into normal time long enough to grab the clock he's got."
"I don't get it."
Peyton said, "Just fire everything ya got. We'll take care of the rest."
"Give the signal."
Furious watched the battle as he pulled more levers and charged his weapons. He had every weapon port armed and his elctro-chargers fully charged. He hoped they could reverse the damage, because this is gonna blow one hell of a hole in Neo Utopia.
"GO!" Peyton yelled.
Furious let loose all his firepower, blasting holes all over the central square of Neo Utopia. Other heroes fired at him with their own powers. Father Time dodged just as expect, zipping from place to place to place. Suddenly, he zipped right next to Chase and she grabbed his clock, ripping it off of his staff with a single motion.
Furious watched as a bubble of temporal energy exploded out and spread throughout the city. As it passed over the heroes first, babies zapped back into fully grown adults. Then cars changed from 1920s to modern style. Next came the buildings and streets. The Flapper Age vanished and was replaced by a twenty first century celebration.
Furious was shocked, millions of people were out celebrating the New Year as if nothing happened. Once time was fixed, it was like the battle never occurred. To Furious's relief, the massive damage he had done to the cities central square was reversed as well.
Director Nova came through his pipe. "Furious, good work. Stay over the city for a while and keep an eye on things, the agents will take Father Time in and clean up the mess on the ground."
"Glad to be of service."
Furious piloted his dirigible around the city, to the amusement of more than one civilian. He laughed to himself, "Another New Year, another Battle. Oh, well. Guess it turned out fine...again."
He had a brilliant idea and loaded special canisters into his weapon ports and moved directly over the antique clock tower that was flashing colored lights to ring in the new year. With a hefty pull of a lever, his dirigible sent out explosions of colors and lights, putting on one heck of a firework display. He yelled into his comm pipe.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Continue the Story