Heroes Rising Fiction: World Eater Part 7

 

"WHERE ARE THEY!" Lady Echidna shrieked in fury as she marched through the throne room of her temple. She looked different, more ancient and clad in a dark black outfit befitting an empress, not her normal luxurious attire. However, as she approached her throne, her clothes subtly changed back to her expensive outfit and her face returned to her beautiful visage.

Nova rushed in quickly and knelt, "My lady, who do you require?"

"My spies! Bring them to me, NOW!" She turned and sat on her throne.

Nova left and returned with the two men that had been assigned to infiltrate BADGE. He shoved them to the ground in front of her.

"Which one of you did this?"

Both trembled in fear and did not respond.

Lady Echidna stood with a shot, a crack of thunder rumbling through the room. "WHO BETRAYED US TO BADGE?"

"My Lady, neither of us would do such a thing," The soldier declared.

The scientist said, "Why would be betray you? We love you."

Nova asked, "In what way have they betrayed us?"

"BADGE sends a team to us, directly. They knew where to find us and how. One of these fools must have been coaxed into telling them how to find us. Or, they allowed themselves to be traced."

"There is no trace on them, I checked," Nova said.

Her gaze turned cold as she glared upon them. "Then, they betrayed us by mouth. And, for that, there is but one punishment."

Nova began to protest when an inky darkness seeped into their bodies and they both gagged for a moment and then fell over dead.

"Did you have to do that? They were a good asset."

"A piece of fruit might be delectable, but if it becomes rotten, it's taste is sour and unpleasing. You discard such worthless fruit." She stated and then returned to her seat.

Nova motioned for his fellow soldiers to come and clean up the mess. "Where have you moved the Temple?"

"We are safe, far away from prying eyes. That is all you need to know."

Nova said, "I guess we return to our task of locating the third eye."

"Not yet. BADGE challenged me this day. They are brave and foolish. I tire of fighting them at every turn. I think it is time to rid this world of them and all other pathetic creatures that would stop my return to glory."

Nova frowned, "What are you saying?"

"I think it is time to unleash my greatest beast."

Turning his sights on a pedestal where the Eye of the Hydra rested, Nova asked, "Are you sure you want to unleash the Hydra? It is an extremely powerful..."

"It is not nearly powerful enough. I don't want a distraction, I want utter ruin. I want all of BADGE and every other human on this planet to face the same fate as those who opposed me. The stench of their courage, the unsightly way they thrive on hope, and the disgusting manner in which they protect one another must be eradicated once and for all. Then, we will finally be able to locate the Eyes and return to our home."

"You mean to unleash the fourth and final beast," Nova said.

"Yes."

"Tell me, what is it? Where do I find this particular eye?"

She stood and walked up to him, "I still do not trust you with this information. Oh, don't look so glum, it ruins that handsome face." She brushed a gloved hand across his cheek. "This is my mission. I know exactly where to find my champion."

Nova took that hand from his face and kissed the back of it. "Please, include me in your work. I must be a part of your life."

"Oh, how I want to. But, I know what happened before, and I will not allow it to happen again. I will leave, with a small team of my soldiers. When I unleash this beast, you will know, the whole world will know. Be ready." With that she slipped her hand out of his loving grip and strutted away, gesturing toward the special ops of her people and they quickly followed.

Justin led his command team out of the shuttle into the station. Arx walked up next to him while he spoke on his communicator.

"Yes, I understand. Of course, get to it. I'll be there shortly." He clicked it off. "Director, there is a flooding incident off the coast of Alaska."

"Then you'd better get going." Justin waved him off.

Gar asked, "What do you need us to do?"

"There's not much to do except search for the Eye of Charybdis. Gar, I want you to work with Chase and Strange Quark in locating it."

Chase said, "We don't even know where to start."

Justin entered the lift, followed by the others, and they zipped off toward Operations. "I hope we have something from the details Chase perceived about that tablet."

Exiting the lift, they walked out into the Operations to find both Torrik and EB talking with several of the Robots.

Torrik pointed at a screen, "Does this mirror have details about the crown?"

"Affirmative. Details are available."

EB hopped along the computer stations and stopped in front of another robot, "Look up all the stuff about every person to have worn it."

"Historical data is available. Accessing data now."

Justin walked over, "What is going on?"

EB jumped up and landed on Justin, his feet against Justin's chest and his paws holding him by the collar. With an excited look on his face he declared, "We found it!!"

Justin stumbled back at the attack as he said, "Found what? Get off me."

EB jumped off and stood on a nearby computer terminal. "Okay, so I was working with these robots looking at all that stuff Chase got from the tablet. It was cloudy and vague, but so cool to see what she sees when she does her special time thingy. So amazing. Anyway, I saw some details about their clothes that looked kinda familiar."

Torrik continued, "We found enough details to pinpoint the time period and potential locations. This amazing computer wizard thing came up with a discovery. Apparently, in the same year as the stone was taken, a unique crown was made for the Kings of a land called Bohemia. When we got a good look at it, we think we have identified the Eye of the Charybdis."

EB hopped up and down in pure joy. "Get this, get this! The crown has this legend, a curse. Anyone who wears it that's not supposed to will die a gruesome death within a year. And, it has happened, recorded in history and stuff. Last guy was some Nazi jerk during World War 1...or 2... I forget. He put it on, crowned himself illegally, and then BOOM, he died at the hands of his own soldiers. So, That kinda makes it real that this has the stone. The magic of those stones is dark and bad, which would make for one helluva curse!"

Justin asked, "Can you put the details on the main monitor?"

The robots put all the various screens with data on the monitor. Right in the middle was this extravagant crown with the title, Crown of Saint Wenceslas, under it.

"SEE, that big red one right there." EB pointed at a stone that was slightly different than the rest.

Torrik said, "It seems that this particular stone was impossible to cut, so they set it just as it was found. Your metal golems said that without the gold setting around it, the stone would have a teardrop shape."

EB laughed, "Golems....they're robots, silly."

Justin said, "So, we just have to convince Prague to let us extract a stone from an ancient, beloved crown from the Bohemian Crown Jewels."

Chase smiled, "I could steal it... I'm a pretty good thief."

Justin gave her a slanted glare. He ignored her suggestion and gave his orders, "Chase, Gar, find Strange Quark and head for Prague right away. Dress in your finest and be as diplomatic as possible, we need to get that stone before Lady Echidna's goons and Nova show up."

EB hopped around, "What about me? I can be very diplomatic! You know that chocolate speaks volumes, especially in Europe."

"No, I need you and Torrik to keep working on that tablet."

EB asked, "Why? We know where to find the Eye of the Charybdis now."

"Right now, I want to know what is written on it and what that fourth symbol means. I just witnessed the kind of power we're facing and I have to ensure we take advantage of every possible avenue of information. You two stand the best chance of anyone on deciphering that, so get down there and focus."

"What are you going to do?" Chase asked.

Justin said, "I'm going to have to get through to Midgard. He's the only one of our allies who stands a chance against that kind of power."

"But, he ran away from her," Chase said.

"He has always played by his own rules, fought when it suited his entertainment. I'll have to convince him to follow orders and obey... which will take some work on my part. God, I wish Nova was here. He could always get through to Midgard."

"I could help," Chase said.

"No. I have to earn his trust, and standing up to him alone might be my only chance. We all have jobs to do, lets get this done before the world comes to an end."