"What if, now hear me out, what if this is a recipe?" EB laid over on his belly as he watched the tablet hovering in mid-air over the table.
Torrik frowned, "Recipe? What for? Lady Echidna's favorite mead from ancient times."
"Could be. She's a pretty picky lady. High fashion, fine wines, music. I kinda like her tastes... if she weren't a nasty, horrible, Nova-stealing, witch."
The doctor walked into the room from a different lab. She had a computer tablet in her hands which seemed to have all her attention as she nearly ran into Torrik. "Oh, excuse me."
"No problem. Did you find anything?"
She looked up at the tablet, "Only that the energy readings seem to be residual."
"What does that mean?" EB asked.
"Just that the energy is left behind from something. Like a grass stain from sliding across the ground. The cloth isn't made of grass or growing any, just has it smeared on the surface. This only proves the theory that this once held those powerful objects. However, inherently, it has no power of its own that our sensors can detect."
"Oh, poo. So, that's a dead end," EB said.
Torrik thought hard for a moment as he peered at the object. "This doesn't belong to her."
"What?" Dr. Henderson asked.
Torrik pointed at the tablet and said, "Lady Echidna never does anything frivolous. Everything has purpose and meaning. This tablet wouldn't hide the objects, it didn't have any power from or over them. Why use it? What good is it to her?"
Dr. Henderson said, "It wouldn't be good for her."
EB said, "Come to think of it. She never came sniffing around for it. Her people are always in our faces when we are looking for this stuff. We had a big whole operation camped out on that beach and lotsa stuff in the water looking around. It wasn't a secret BADGE was on the trail of this. And, her minions weren't there."
Torrik smiled. "Good analysis."
EB grinned. "I have my moments."
Torrik said, "This could only mean that she is either unafraid of this, or this worries her. She doesn't want it around. In either case, we need to know more about it."
Dr. Henderson said, "Unless you can decipher those strange words on there, we're out of luck. Our computers were unsuccessful."
EB hopped up. "I have an idea. Oh, oh, this is really gonna work." He blasted out of the room at top speed without telling them anything.
"What got under his tail?" Torrik asked.
Dr. Henderson shrugged. "Just EB being EB. But, he does come up with a good idea now and then. While we wait on him, I'll run another decryption program and see if the computer can figure this out."
Justin paced around the operations center. He worked to control his temper as he was about to speak to people that always got under his skin. He paused for a moment and considered how much time he spent here dealing with what this job entails. It never really occurred to him how much time Nova spent here until it was his job. Then he realized that at almost any time, this is exactly where he found Nova working.
"Incoming Transmission; F A A N G league headquarters."
"On screen at once."
The main monitor filled with the interior of the FAANG HQ. Three people stood before him, with a man at the lead. All wore outfits like vikings and bore great beards, long braided hair, and tattoos on their faces.
"BADGE, I'm Jarl Red-Beard of FAANG. Why have you summoned us? We are preparing for a glorious battle!" The leader bellowed with a phony Viking accent.
Justin groaned.
The man behind Red-Beard yelled, "We shall drink and sing of our glory while BADGE is filled with shame at having not joined us in this great honor!"
"Cut the nonsense. I want you to know that we're fully aware that you hacked our system and have learned about the tracing signal to Lady Echidna."
"Then you know we drink and prepare for glorious combat that will echo throughout the aeons!"
Justin huffed, "This is embarrassing. You aren't vikings and that isn't Valhalla. I am ordering you to stand down and not continue this foolish mission."
The red headed man at the head burst into a deep laugh. "What makes thee think I am beholden to your word? You do not command FAANG! Thou must be insane!"
"Vikings aren't Shakespearean actors, that's just pathetic." Justin muttered.
The leader lost the phony accent, "Fine, act superior to us just because you are well-funded and live on that opulent spacestation. While BADGE sits around and crunches numbers and over-thinks everything, we'll prove FAANG are the real heroes. After we find and defeat this Lady Echidna, BADGE will be nothing but a memory while the rest of the world turns to FAANG for protection."
Justin let himself cool off, not responding in kind to this idiot. "I have not contacted you to merely request that you stand down. I actually wish to make you an offer."
This intrigued all three of them. The leader inclined his ear slightly. "Speak, I'm listening."
There was a part of Justin that really, really hated doing this, but he hoped they took the offer regardless. "BADGE has analyzed your strengths and also noted that you have acted on the behalf of justice and morality. Our evidence of your exploits has shown you are genuine heroes."
"HAZZAH!" All three bellowed.
Justin groaned under his breath and continued. "We also know that your team is made up of people with considerable strength. You could be a valuable asset to BADGE as a new, recognized league. You would be granted all the permissions and benefits of being part of BADGE while retaining your unique identity, location, and have enough freedom to conduct your own missions within reason."
"But..." The leader held out a hand.
Justin knew this was coming. "However, on global, serious matters, FAANG would be required to cooperate with BADGE rules and take orders regarding procedure in the situation."
"I told you! Did I not tell you?" The leader looked at the other two who were nodding. He then sneered at Justin, "BADGE is scared we will steal their thunder. They bask in the glory of saving this world from the big threats. Now, we come along and prove the world doesn't need BADGE and they are scared. You want us to sign away our freedom and become just more servants of BADGE. Then you will send us to defeat Lady Echidna and claim the glory for yourselves."
"Don't be idiots. This is not about glory or honor. This is about organized work, not chaotic heroes."
"We will defeat this lady and then we will be the true heroes of Earth. This is our time to shine."
Justin pleaded with them. "Don't do this! I have seen how powerful she is. You will need help, you will..."
"Enough of this. I tire of this conversation. We have a glorious mission. Keep an eye on the news, Justin, this battle will be historic." The leader shut off the signal.
"GAH! MORONS!"
Robot 10915 said, "Do you wish to reconnect the comm line?"
"No. They wouldn't listen to me. Get me Gar."
There was a long pause and then 10915 said, "I have audio communications with Agent Gargoyle."
"Put him through." After a beep, Justin said, "Gar, this is Justin. Report."
Gar said, "I'm following Midgard. He is big and stomping mad. He keeps yelling about finding this FAANG place. I don't know if he knows where they are. I guess that's a good thing, he would probably stomp them flat, or worse."
"No. I want him to find them. I'm sending you the location of them and what we know of the whereabouts of Lady Echidna. They'll be somewhere in-between."
"But, he'll eat them. He said so."
Justin said, "He may want to destroy them, but I'm betting a good fight with him might make them reconsider their idea to find Lady Echidna. I just hope he can intercept them before they get to her."
"Okay. I hope you're right."
"Me too. Justin out."
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