Gar slammed into the ground, rolling over and over for a short distance, and then finally coming to a stop. He unfurled his wings and his arms, letting Chase go from where he had rescued her. Strange Quark flashed next to them, then vanished and appeared somewhere else, and then was back beside them as a duck.
“DANGIT!” He stamped his webbed foot.
Chase gathered herself from the tumbling and sat up on her knees. “What just happened?”
Duck Quark said, “that idiot tried playing hero and got himself killed.”
Gar stood up and looked back. “Those robot things are still coming our direction. We have to get moving.”
Chase pulled out her BADGE comm and flicked it open. “We need help. I’m going to call on the Canadian Leagues and see how fast they can get here. We have to stop those robots before…” the sound of an explosion stopped her. That was followed by a yelling and then more explosions.
All three jumped to their feet and raced toward the hill overlooking the robot army. All three, duck included, had their mouth hung agape as they watched Arx plowing through robots with his fists. He ripped arms off and used them to smash robots, then grabbed up a gun in each hand and lasered robots two at a time. The whole fight the robots blasted him with their weapons, and the laser blasts reflected off of him doing no harm.
“That’s not possible,” Chase whispered.
Quark said, “how can he do that?”
Gar stated, “like that.” He pointed as Arx ripped the head off the last robot and smashed it between his hands.
Arx threw down the debris of his last victim and then waved at the bewildered heroes on the hill. He yelled, “I’m going in!” and raced toward the shack.
“WAIT! STOP!” Chase ran toward him.
Quark flew on his little duck wings. “That idiot.”
Gar had his comm out, “BADGE, we have located the robot doctor. Arx is going in. Send help!”
They ran as hard as they could, Gar pressed his wings against himself and grabbed Quark out of the air, holding the duck like a football.
“This is so humiliating,” Quark said.
Chase held up her comm as they pushed forward. Nova’s voice came through, “stop that actor from getting himself killed. I’m sending in help!”
Chase answered, “too late. He just went in.”
“Gah! DAMN! Get in there and help him! Heroes and a BADGE unit will be there soon.”
Arx crashed into the ground, having been blown clear over Gar out of the shack. He rolled for a second and then laid on his back.
Gar slowly opened his wings once the destruction was over. Chase ran to Arx and knelt next to him.
“You okay?”
He smiled, coughed for a second, and then said, “I’m fine. Guess I’m more durable than I realized.”
She bit her lip and put her hand on his upper right pectoral. “You’re lucky, stupid, and brave. A combination that is dangerous.”
He coughed and meekly held her hand, “tell me something...cough...am I...still sexy?” then he grinned with that multi-million-dollar smile.
She giggled at him and said, “yes, and dirty, scorched in places, and your costume is almost seared off.”
He sat up and pulled away the burnt remains of the meager costume he used over his upper body. “It was just a prop, anyway.”
***
Gar and Chase walked among the many BADGE agents and heroes now scattered around the field. People gathered every scrap of remains from the robots. The lasers were each taken to a special unit to be handled with extreme care. A few heroes, led by Dracomeander, worked inside the still burning remains of the laboratory. Only those who could handle the heat could go in.
Gar met Tri-Blade near the building. “What are you doing here?”
Tri-Blade answered, “I came to help. Nova put me on sentry duty.”
Chase frowned, “sentry?”
“Well, not really. They have ordered me to keep all other investigative teams out of this until BADGE is through. Everyone wants to get in here and check out the damage. Due to the nature of this event, BADGE has primary authority to deal with this.”
Chase said, “speaking of Nova, where is he?”
“Back there, at the main tent.”
“Thanks.”
They found Nova at a table inside a command tent, looking over a collection of debris brought up from the underground lab.
“Director?” Gar approached.
“Gar, Chase. Where’s Quark?”
Chase shrugged, “he said he was having trouble with his strangeness and had to spend some time outside normal space.”
Gar said, “yeah, he kept turning into a duck.”
“He is a strange creature. Right now, I’m concerned with the strangeness of this.” He gestured to the debris on the table.
Chase said, “so what is the prognosis? What was he doing in there?”
Nova shook his head, “no clue. They designed all this equipment for work with weapons. I would guess this was for the anti-morphon lasers. It makes sense. He was part of the team in Onnotangu that helped develop the original weapon. But, there are things about it that make little sense.”
“Like what?” Gar asked.
“If someone were paying him to continue work on this weapon, why did he have so many of them
manufactured? If these were all the missing weapons from Onnotangu, why would they be in his lab. If I were a secret organization interested in this weapon, I wouldn’t put all the working versions in a lab somewhere. We simply need more data.” He looked up, “what did you need to see me about?”
Chase said, “well, we might have an issue. The media is here.”
Nova gave this a dismissive wave, “the media is always sticking its nose in these events. Just keep them away for…”
“You don’t understand. They’re currently interviewing Arx.”
Nova put his face in his hand, “and just what is he telling them?”
“A lot.”
Nova stormed out of the tent, followed close by Gar and Chase. BADGE agents and heroes alike bolted when they saw the look in his eye.
They came upon the gaggle of reporters and cameras hanging on every word of the half-dressed hero. Arx stood there, his pants burnt up to the knees. From his waist up he was bare, glistening in silver glory as the sun shone overhead. He had left the smudges and dirt on his body for show.
“Yes, that is exactly how it happened. After defeating a horde of robots armed with deadly lasers, I decided there was no time to wait for help, I had to do what a hero does, save the day. I got inside that house of horrors and found the mad scientist hard at work devising the destruction of all we hold dear. It was a quick fight, but he was more clever than I expected and set off a self-destruct system that eliminated his work and his lab. The explosion cost him his life, and he was obviously hoping it would take me out as well. But, as you can see, I’m fine.” He smiled, his teeth glistening in the bright lights aimed at him.
A reporter asked, “so, what impact will this have on the completion of your newest production?”
Just as Nova got to the front of this spectacle, Arx grabbed him and held him beside him. Arx smiled brightly as he said, “I’m canceling the production and quitting Hollywood. This world needs heroes far more than it needs actors. I’m officially joining BADGE!”
Nova bellowed, “WHAT!”
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