“Good, very good.” He turned his attention to the map now. He punched in a few commands and checked over the readings.
Just then, Chase approached him, her steely gaze split between the monster and the map. “What do you want of me?”
He smiled. “Much. For now, I have a few locations I will be sending you to. I have discovered a way to read the energy of the shards better and can detect them more precisely.”
She came close, brushing a seductive hand down his hairy arm. “What do you need these for?”
“Ah, I can’t tell you that, now can I?”
“Why not? Do you question my loyalty?”
Krampus said, “Yes. I do not trust anyone. And I’m still not entirely certain the process worked on you.”
Chase gave off a little laugh and said, “Not an ounce of me isn’t loyal to you. What you ask of me, I will give.”
“Good. Still, I won’t divulge my plan. Even if I trusted you, I cannot risk anyone getting the information out of you. Not even the idiot, Skelanimal, knew everything about this. Though, he did come up with part of it.” He pointed at the map. “Go to San Francisco, they have a shard there. I want it. Get it back to me, and I might trust you a little more.”
“It will be yours.” She left him without making a sound.
***
Gar and Quark entered the operations center and paused when they both heard someone crying, loudly. The robots remained at their computers, furiously working on their orders, and the screen still flashed with various readings of sensors and data logs.
“Where’s Nova?” Quark asked.
Gar shrugged, then he tapped a robot on the shoulder. “Mr. Robot, where is Director Nova?”
The robot looked at him with that faceless head, “Director Nova exited Operations Center at 1322 hours. Entered office.” With that, it turned back and continued working.
Quark said, “These new processing drones they use for the station's computations work are creepy, and I know a thing or two about creepy stuff.”
Gar was about to respond to that when they both heard another loud wailing cry coming from the door of Nova’s office. “Do you think he is crying?” Gar asked.
“I don’t think Nova can cry...or laugh for that matter.” Quark led the way across the room and to the door of the office.
Gar pressed the buzzer, and the door opened immediately. They both beheld the Director sitting at his desk, his head in his hands, and EB standing on the desk bellowing a long wail.
“Director?” Gar ventured.
Nova looked up, a twitch to his one good eye. “Get in here.”
Gar and Quark came in and before they could say anything, EB bellowed. “WHYYYYY! IT’S JUST NOT FAIR!”
“What is not fair?” Gar asked.
Nova opened his mouth to answer when EB yelled, “HE WON’T LET ME GO LOOK FOR CHASE! I’M THE BEST PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE AT FINDING HIDDEN THINGS!”
Nova said, “You’re good at hiding things, not finding them.”
“I CAN DO BOTH!” EB said and then blubbered more.
Quark asked, “Can’t you just go on your own? I mean, you are an ancient, magical alien. And richer than Bill Gates.”
Nova begrudgingly said, “Lord Dragon ordered EB to obey my commands. He is, technically, under my authority.”
Gar asked, “Why not let him look?”
EB yelled, “BECAUSE HE’S A BIG MEANIE!”
“I am not a meanie...oh, god, look at what you made me say.” Nova stood up and came around his desk. “I have sent thousands of heroes on the search for her. I need people here, good people. Even though EB can be a pain in the rear, he is powerful and...at times...useful.” At that, EB hugged Nova’s arm.
“I didn’t know you cared so much.”
“I don’t.” Nova shoved him off. “However, I need you to help with research on these strange shards. They are exhibiting an energy signature that is registering as potentially arcane. I have Krystal Fae helping with research, but you know more about other magics than she, and I don’t have access to any less annoying mythics.”
“Aw, thanks...hey!”
Quark asked, “What about us?”
“First, I need to know how you are, Quark. What did the doctor say about your power failures?”
Quark frowned, “Not failures, just...fluctuations.”
“Don’t have time for semantics.”
Quark bounced his eyebrows like Groucho Marx, “I didn’t know you were anti-semantic?”
“QUARK!”
After a short laugh at his own joke, Quark answered the original question. “Dr. Henderson went through all the tests you guys can do and found nothing. This is no surprise, I baffle myself. Your equipment doesn’t know what to make of me either. The only thing that he suspects is that the morphonic parts of my powers might be having issues.”
Gar asked, “Morphonic? I didn’t know your powers were morphon based.”
“They aren’t, technically, but morphons enhance my powers in this plane of existence.”
Nova asked, “What about the battle with Krampus? Could he have done something to you?”
“Don’t know. EB looked me over and didn’t see any connection.”
EB hopped up to Nova’s shoulder and said, “Yup, I looked him over. He is one strange, blue, thing. But, I couldn’t tell if Krampus did anything to him.”
Nova said, “As long as you feel up to doing your job, we still need you.”
“Glad to hear it.” Quark helped himself to a large glass of scotch from the Director's personal supply. “Though, I can’t transport myself. That is still screwing up every time I try. Getting back to Earth will be hard.”
“Nope, it will be normal,” Nova said.
Quark shuddered, “I hate that word.”
“Still, we have plenty of shuttles. Here are your orders.” He handed them a computer tablet. “There is a list of known locations of shards. BADGE has contacted each local government and laboratory to explain the situation. Some are ready to hand over, some might still have a few questions. You know the answers; we have a potential global crisis, and we will return them once the crisis has passed.”
Gar asked, “What if they resist turning them over?”
“Be courteous, but firm. If they refuse to cooperate, let me know and we will use international diplomatic resources. I do not want another North Onnotangu situation.”
“Understood,” Quark said and then downed the entire glass in one gulp and went to pour some more.
Nova snatched the expensive scotch and handed Quark a bottle of cheap vodka. “Good, get going. It will take some time to get back to Earth via a shuttle.”
Quark looked at the stout, cheap booze with a little sneer, “Sure. Come on, Gar. It’s gonna be a long trip.”
***
Nova watched the shuttle depart the station from a large window in the mess hall. At this hour, the station tilted toward Earth, giving them a dizzying view of the planet. Around him, in the mess, a dozen people ate and chatted about their work. Each was a hero-in-training, a person who recently learned of their morphon abilities and was learning how to use them.
After a moment of enjoying the view, Nova walked onward. He turned a corner and sped down a long distance on an elevator. He exited into a narrow hallway with special cameras mounted all over the place. He was stopped by a security droid who scanned him twice and then deactivated a forcefield. Once allowed through, Nova proceeded down the corridor filled with holding cells. Each was empty at the moment, their lights off. At the end of a long walk, he found one active cell.
Laying on his back on a bench in the spartan cell, Skelanimal let out a hard huff and said, “What now?”
“You have information, I am here to get it.”
“Like hell. I don’t care if you caught me, doesn’t mean I’m spill’n the beans.”
Nova said, “The only reason you are not currently sitting in the darkest hole at Purgatory Penitentiary is because you have information we need. Once I am convinced you either know nothing, or you will refuse to cooperate, I will send you on your way. And this time, you won’t break out.”
Skelanimal grinned, “Sure I will. Done it before, will do it again. Heck, I might get tired of this lovely room and break outta here.”
Nova tapped the invisible forcefield, creating a shrill buzz for a moment. “Honestly, I’d love to see you try. Even Purgatory isn’t as secure as this.”
“Big deal.” Skelanimal turned over, his back now to the director. He reached back, flipped up the loincloth cover, and pointed at his butt. “Kiss it or leave, I’m not interested in talking.”
Nova grinned as he put in his security card and pressed a button. There was a fluctuation in the lights and Skelanimal screamed, jumped off the bed, hit a wall, and then the floor.
“WHAT THE HELL!”
Nova casually said, “Just a few extra surprises I had installed. See, when it comes to global security, a lot of the basic conventions for prisoners are removed. Now talk!”
Skelanimal glared at the director, “bite my….AAAAAAAAA” The director had hit the button again, and the floor sent a massive jolt into the obstinate creature.
Nova stopped the torture, pulled out the card, and turned. “That was just a taste of what I am willing to do to protect eight billion people. Something to think about. I will be back.” with that he left the villain to ponder his situation.
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