“Hey, Gar, we have the floods under control around New Zealand. Put the focus on Tasmania.”
Gar gave a nod and turned slightly in his flight. Dozens of other heroes carrying large objects joined him. One by one, they threw the massive boulders at the shore of Tasmania to hold back the raging seas.
Landing on the beach, Chase and the local head of the military joined Gar. She asked, “What does it look like from above?”
“The water is getting calmer,” Gar said. “But it’s still pretty bad.”
The military leader asked, “Does BADGE know where these strange disasters are coming from?”
“Not yet. But we’re stopping them.” Chase said and then pressed a button on her wrist comm. “Arx, how much more do we have to take care of?”
Arx flew over them as he answered through her comm, “We have it under control. The local Leagues should keep an eye on things, but I think the rest of the heroes can take off now.”
“Good to hear.” She clicked her comm off and spoke to the military leader. “Arx will be in touch. If anything seems to be getting worse again, don’t hesitate to contact him.”
He shook her hand. “This ATLAS program is certainly a welcome blessing for the world. BADGE is doing a great job.”
“Glad to hear it.” She walked over and Gar picked her up. They flew away toward the landing zone ten miles inland.
A large military boat rocked hard in the heavy waters far away from land. On the deck stood a legion of mercs and Nova in his finest attire. Inexplicably, he stood firm while the boat continued to bob heavily. His eyes were fixed on the distance as he watched the heroes finish their work. From this point, the heroes appeared as gnats against a blue sky.
“Sir, BADGE is through. We can return.”
“Send the divers down. I want to see that tomb. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I want to know how our tampering with the tomb of the Hydra caused the ocean to turn so turbulent.”
“Understood.” The leader of the mercs gave swift, rigid motions with his hand and everyone raced to their duties.
Quickly, ten mercs, dressed in their diving suits, delved into the ocean’s surface. The leader of this crew had a special contraption with cameras and lights on it.
Chase sat in the meeting room for the ATLAS program on the station. Arx walked around, checking files and computer tablets. As usual, he wore his ancient Greek outfit as his desired hero outfit.
“I love what I do, but I hate the paperwork.” He put a file down and signed a form, then turned the page and groaned at all the more places he need to sign.
Chase checked over a tablet and then set it down. “I know. But, this keeps the bureaucrats happy, and that keeps BADGE in the good favor of the nations.”
He stuffed papers into an envelope and set it in a basket. “And that’s what we’re here for, to keep the politicians happy.”
“No, ATLAS is here to protect the world from natural disasters. But, it is the perfect program to keep BADGE in a good light. After the World Corps tried to destroy our reputation, and now Nova is acting strange, we need good PR all the time.”
Arx asked, “Do we know anything more about Nova? I mean, you guys fought him at that Fenrir incident. Where did he go?”
“We don’t know. Justin is on that, as are many others. We have a lot to figure out before we go hunt for him. Obviously, whatever this Lady Echidna has done to him has made him impossible to deal with. And I still can’t shake the last images of him I have in my mind. He is... well... not human. And it scares me to think that.”
“Why? EB isn’t human, Gar is living stone,” Arx said.
Chase laughed, “True. But Nova is more than just not-human, he is something extremely powerful. From what I can tell, he and Lady Echidna are of the same origin. She is terrifyingly powerful. What does that make Nova?”
“I don’t know.” Arx set the last paper down.
Chase let out a long breath and then looked at Arx, “Why do you wear that flimsy outfit? It looks comfortable, but you can’t really fight crime in that.”
“I’m not a crime fighter. I’m a natural disaster response coordinator. You know my powers are limited. I can’t make it as a real superhero. But, I can do this.”
She shook her head, “Powers don’t make a person a hero.”
“True.” Arx shoved the papers and tablets over on the table and activated the hologram generator, prepping it for the meeting. “Truth be told. I like how I look. I mean, I have worked my whole life to look good. I partly crafted this body through science, but I also work out a ton and like showing it off. Nothing wrong with that.”
“I guess. Though, if I’m gonna be honest. I rather a man have a little hair on him.”
EB seemed to appear out of nowhere, standing on the table, grinning seductively at Chase. “You don’t say?” He was rubbing his paws on his furry chest.
“How did you... oh, those ears of yours.” She let out a disgruntled huff.
EB came closer. “You don’t get much hairier than a fluffy, cute, bunny.” He was now bouncing his eyebrows at her.
“EB, you know that I... “
“Off the table!” Justin came into the room, angry as ever.
EB hopped over and landed on a chair. “Right-o boss man.”
Chase asked, “Justin, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Report!” His attitude was short and downright furious.
Arx turned on the simulation in the middle of the table, showing a scaled version of the recent ATLAS effort. “The ocean went craze around the Tasman Sea. From Scamander, Tasmania, to Jamestown, New Zealand, there were massive floods. Minor damage occurred right away, but ATLAS was able to mitigate that quickly. I ordered large boulders be placed in around the beaches to create breakers while heroes with water related powers worked to calm the seas.”
EB stuck his little hand up and hopped up and down. “I used magic to make the waters go way down. Though there were some gnarly waves and great curls. I mean, like serious surfing opportunities, if it wasn’t risking your life to try. Hey, what about a surfing contest? We could have a BADGE retreat and get all the heroes to bring surf boards, oh and get some hot beach babes to...”
“EB! Not now!” Justin demanded. “Do we have any indication of what started this?”
Justin’s stern attitude visibly startled Arx. He softly answered, “Uh, no. However, we have detected abnormal energy readings under the ocean.”
“Abnormal energy readings are not enough. I want answers. Chase, get on top of this, now. I have a meeting with the head of the UN.” Justin said no more and just left the room.
EB, his ears tilted back, cautiously looked over the table at the other two. “What’s up with him?”
Chase said, “I don’t know. But we all have jobs to do. Arx, keep a watch on that situation, be ready with ATLAS at a moment’s notice. I’ll see if we can figure out what caused these floods.” She left with EB as Arx
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