Gar landed in Melbourne, Australia, in the middle of the night. He stood outside the magnificent Royal Exhibition Building. He checked his communicator to make sure if this was the place he was supposed to be.
“This is a strange place. I like it.” He admired the classic design of the old building.
Just then a man approached him. “Sir, are you the representative from BADGE?”
“Yes. I...”
A bright blue flash of light appeared, and Quark stepped out. “Oops, sorry. A little late.”
The man had stumbled back and was still gathering himself. “Crikey! Where did you come from?”
Quark pointed up. “About two hundred and fifty miles that way, give or take ten miles.”
“I see. Anyway. The Prime Minister just got in touch with us. He said that we are to hand over the ruby to you.”
Quark nodded, “Right away.”
The man turned and walked them toward the building. “I tried to make it understood that we have a whole exhibition around this. It is an unusual ruby and we have a convention of gemologists in town who have bought tickets to see it. I don’t understand why we can’t wait until tomorrow evening to do this.”
Gar said, “It is for the good of the world that we get this now.”
“That simply makes little sense to me. It’s just a ruby.” They ascended the steps up to the 19th-century building.
Just then a ruggedly handsome hero ran up to them. “Oh, good. BADGE. Did you see him?”
Quark frowned, “Majestic, what are you doing here?”
Majestic turned around twice as he searched. “My scanner revealed a strange energy signature, and it was moving fast.”
Suddenly, a giant, hairy beast rushed by, knocked Majestic over, pushed Quark to the side, and hit the docent. The man spun around once and then hit the ground, blood splattering everywhere. He held his neck and gagged.
Majestic went for the fallen man, but then he too was hit. He slammed up against the building and then face planted on the concrete.
The third time this hairy beast came by, Quark vanished in time to avoid being struck and Gar clotheslined him. Krampus crashed into the ground in a long skid. He flipped over and ran away so fast, no one could see where he went.
Quark appeared next to Majestic, “Help him!”
Majestic rushed to the docent, who was bleeding to death on the sidewalk. “I ain’t no medic. I’m just sexy.”
“YOU GOT A PHONE!” Quark quickly waved his hands in the air and blue energy fell over the docent and he seemed to slow down. It brought time to a crawl, so he had a better chance of survival.
Majestic tore some of his costume and pressed it into the wound while he contacted the local help.
“Where is he?” Gar was ready with his fists clenched tight.
Quark stood next to him, his eyes glowing. “I don’t know. He is masking his energy from me. These mythics are hard to read.”
Suddenly that furry monster came right directly for them. Gar jumped back to protect the injured. Quark waited and at the right moment, he held out his hands and Krampus vanished and reappeared above the street. He crashed into the pavement, going the same speed he had been dashing at them.
“Have a nice trip?” Quark laughed at his poor joke.
Krampus got to his feet, only to vanish again and appear above the street. He fell once more and crashed into the same hole, though not moving as fast this time.
“I can do this all night, Krampy.”
Krampus got to his feet again and vanished. However, this time, he came down ten times the size he had been before. His new form towering over the museum.
“ENOUGH!” He reached down and swatted at Quark.
Quark laughed and began to fade out of this reality. Only red energy surrounded him and he remained solid. That massive claw hit him and he crashed into a parked car.
Gar ran forward and jumped up. He flew under a giant claw swipe and then swooped around and smacked Krampus in the face. Krampus went to slap him out of the air, but Gar dove and let the monster slap his own face.
“YAAAH!” Krampus screamed in fury and shrunk down.
Gar landed and then ran for the now normal-sized villain. Krampus, nursing a bruised cheek, sidestepped the attack at the last moment. He planted a hand on Gar’s back and made him crash, face first, into the same hole that Krampus had created.
A laser blast hit Krampus in the back, which hardly did any harm. He turned and snarled at Majestic, who held out his only weapon. “I got what I came for.” And with that he rushed away.
An ambulance screamed down the road and stopped in front of the hall. EMT’s rushed to the aid of the injured docent. Time resumed the moment they picked him up.
Gar found Quark still on the ground next to the car he had involuntarily demolished. “Quark!”
Quark sat up, holding his head. “Wow, did someone get the license of that 747?”
“Are you okay?”
“Sure, which is more than can be said for this Tesla.”
“What happened? How did he stop you from phasing?”
“He didn’t. I...I don’t know what happened. My head really hurts and not from the collision either.” He pulled himself up. “Did he get the ruby?”
Gar shook his head, “I don’t know. He said he got what he came for.”
“Let’s get inside and check on things.”
***
“Skelanimal, violence won’t help an inanimate object.”
Skelanimal threw something and stomped away from the corner. “I didn’t want to use it, anyway.”
Krampus ignored this, knowing that the holo-imager that was just destroyed was not vital. “I got what we needed from Australia.”
Skelanimal smiled and rushed over. “How many shards?”
“No shards. Just this.” He held up the communicator.
“What’s that?”
Krampus walked over to the main monitor and plugged the device into it. He then used advanced alien technology to hack the communicator's system. “First, we can get into BADGE’s comm channels. And, if we are lucky, we can get into their mainframe and...” The screen changed to view the inside of the New York BADGE office. A robot looked up at the monitor, right back at them. It then started to furiously type.
“DID THEY SEE US!” Skelanimal hid behind Krampus.
“No, this isn’t an open channel. But they know we are in their system. I...don’t have the skill to...crap.” He cut the link by pulling out the communicator. Holding the communicator tight in his fist, Krampus snarled with a rumbling growl coming out of him.
Skelanimal peered around him. “Remember, it’s just an inanimate object.”
Krampus threatened the smaller Skelanimal with a deadly look. After a moment, he calmed down, “So, getting into their systems won’t be so easy. I doubt we will be able to without alerting their people.”
“This is a waste of time.”
Krampus smiled, or at least his horrifying version of a smile. “No. We got what we needed.” He returned to the computer and accessed the data. Long worded transcripts scrawled across the screen.
“What’s all that? You know I don’t like reading.”
“It’s the recent communications. We know where they are going.”
Skelanimal spent a moment trying to put two and two together, “Annnd?”
Krampus let out an irritated, low huff. “We can get our hands on the thief.”
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