“Please... stop... I can’t... go on.” One of the mercs working for Lady Echidna fell down in the snow.
Nova ran back to the man, “My Lady, we’re not equipped for these conditions. This snow gear isn’t strong enough for a regular human body.”
Standing a good distance from her crew, Lady Echidna let out a long sigh and then turned back and pointed at a different soldier. “Fine. Head back to the shuttle and make sure he doesn’t lose any limbs. He’s no good to me in pieces. Nova and I will go on. I’m sure we’re safe without your help.” Her tone betrayed a complete lack of care for their safety.
Nova helped the man up and then gave him over to a pair of the others to head back toward their landed shuttle. After seeing they left, he made his way to the side of his mistress.
“You must remember, these humans aren’t as sturdy as our kind.”
She shook her head, “Once, we commanded legions of beings who could march across the deepest depths and tallest peaks without losing any strength. Now, we are stuck with sub-standard apes pretending to be a coherent society.”
As they walked, Nova asked, “If you loath them so, then why have a legion of them around you to do your bidding?”
She paused and looked back at him with a judgmental eye. “Are you questioning my wisdom?”
“Yes, but only because you seem to be standing in a contradiction.” His tone was congenial.
With a smile and a gentle pat on the side of his face, she answered him, “I don’t doubt your loyalty. You proved that to me when you retrieved the Eye of Fenrir. However, you must understand my logic. I don’t have a legion of humans around me out of any weakness on my part. They are there to do things that must be done without others realizing it is actually us. Besides, having them with me enforces the fact that humans are only worthy as our servants. When others look upon me and see my army of well-dress, handsome warriors, they will see the correct choice of servitude over death.” She spent a moment in thought and said, “I will admit, if I wish to maintain such an image, I should at least keep them alive and take into consideration their weakness. You have, as you are so good at, proven your wisdom in my service.”
He bowed his head to her. “Always yours, my lady.”
“Good. Now, let us find this portal. I’m eager to cause some havoc in our dear old realm.”
Chase opened her eyes to the glowering sight of Justin standing over her hospital bed. EB twirled around on the doctor’s stool next to her bed while Dr. Henderson checked on vitals.
“Oh, my head feels funny,” Chase moaned.
Dr. Henderson nodded, “It should. Your morphonic powers were rebounding and caused quite the stir in you. But you’ll be fine.”
EB stopped twirling around and said, “Oh, good. You’re awake. They still won’t let me see if a kiss will wake up the sleeping princess.”
“Good. The last thing I need is a slobbery kiss from a furry idiot.”
“Hey! I only wanted to help.”
“Sure you did.” Chase sat up.
Justin coldly stated, “I hope this was worth it? Did you find anything?”
Chase returned his unfriendly attitude with one of her own. “Yes, it was worth it. And, what I found, none of your sensors would ever detect. That isn’t a clue.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it is living. This is why I had so much trouble checking into it before and why it messed with my head. I can’t use my power on living things.”
EB asked, “If you can’t, then how do you know anything about it?”
“It was living, then turned dormant. This object was part of a terrible creature once, but I don’t know what kind. I do know at one point Nova defeated it and then ripped this thing out of it. He then hid it. However, recently he retrieved it and the last thing I could see was him putting it into Midgard during their fight.”
Justin asked, “Where did he get it? Where was it hidden?”
“The information was quick and in tiny pieces. So, I don’t know. And, when I pushed into the past of the object just beyond his defeat, I encountered a terrible beast of incredible power. It stared back into me and that’s when EB broke the connection.”
“Do you know what this beast was?” Justin asked.
“No. All I got were demonic faces looking at me and the sense of water. What I believe is that this is an object like that Eye of Fenrir. This is the magical core of some terrible monster that Lady Echidna wants. Nova used his fight with Midgard as a method of passing it to us to keep it safe.”
“I don’t know,” Justin stated. “Nova helping us while he is also helping her still doesn’t make much sense. He has harmed our agents and heroes, he has handed her the Eye of Fenrir, he nearly killed Midgard in a battle and allowed a shadow form of Fenrir to run wild. These aren’t actions of someone helping us.”
EB hopped up on the bed and pointed at Justin. The bunny was as furious as he could be. “My buddy may be enchanted by this witch, but there is still our Nova in there. I know it. He’s trying to help us. He would not turn against this world. I have known him longer than anyone in this room. Hell, I’ve known him longer than most living beings in this universe. He is not our enemy, and if I hear one more word like that from you, then…”
“THEN WHAT!” Justin yelled, “One more word from you and I will have you removed from BADGE permanently, and don’t think I can’t!”
“You wanna try me, big shot!” EB beat his little chest and glared at Justin.
Dr. Henderson came up. “Cool down, everyone. This is not the time for yelling. Justin, apologize.”
“Doctor!”
“Justin. These people are your best hope of saving not only BADGE and the world but also our dear friend and leader, Nova. Do not treat them like this. Apologize.” She sounded like a mother right now, which only helped.
Justin turned and huffed, “Fine. I’m sorry. Now, we have work to do.”
“Justin,” Chase stopped him, “If this is another artifact like the last, then we have to know someone will come looking for it.”
“And we will be ready for them.” He left the room.
______
A BADGE agent walked along with four robots moving crates of supplies. He stood inside a massive domed city with green grasses, flowering trees and shrubs, and children playing in a park nearby. Streets lined in pleasant homes and shops bustled with activity. People went about their lives with a smile on their faces. A few were either solid red or bright green, or had an extra arm or leg, but for the most part, they appeared as normal people.
A woman in a suit walked up. She had bluish silver hair and bright white eyes with no pupils. “Good morning, Agent Willis. I see we got our shipment right on time.”
He handed her a tablet to be signed, “Would BADGE let your down?”
Scribbling her name on the tablet, she said, “I have been worried about the state of things. The World Corps incident left us a little worried and then Nova going missing added to the concern. We depend on the support of BADGE.”
He took the tablet back. “Don’t worry. EB promised to put aside a large portion of his fortunes to help fund this place in the incident of BADGE failing.”
“How sweet of him... oh, that was a terrible pun. Excuse me.”
Agent Willis laughed at her. “Fortunately, BADGE is operating fine. Nova’s disappearance did little to stop that. So, for the foreseeable future, shipments will be right on time.”
“Good.” She bid him farewell.
His robots finished unpacking the crates and then walked with him back to the entranced. He walked into a bay that had a door which led into the icy cold of the world around this pristine little community.
Just before he got into the shuttle, a man walked up who was half goat, with horns on his head and the waist to hoof of a goat. His abdomen up to his face was that of a well-built man.
“Can I help you?” Agent Willis asked.
“Does this shuttle go to the BADGE place?” This stranger asked.
“Yes.”
“I would like a ride, kind human.”
Willis shook his head. “If you want to reapply for power inspection and potential League placement, you’ll have to contact BADGE administrative offices. Talk to Mayor Sherri, she...”
The man waved his hand, and a purple mist came out. “Please, just take me there.”
Agent Willis smiled again, “Of course. Right this way.”
0 Comments