Torrik sat on a stool in front of the tablet that floated again in the beam of light. The computers were in low-mode, simply processing data while the scientists were gone for the day.
With his head in his hands and his face down, he remained as still and silent as the shadows themselves.
"Are you asleep?" EB hopped into the room and jumped up to stand on the table next to Torrik.
Torrik shook his head, "No. Just lost in thought."
EB huffed and looked up at the stone tablet. "It isn't going to help just sitting here. But, I suppose you know that. Hey, I got an idea! Have a breakthrough."
"What?"
EB smiled,"You're looking for the big breakthrough, ya know, gett'n all the info right away with some flash of inspiration. Doesn't always work like that. But, when I'm trying to create the next big candy to take the market by storm, sometimes I get stuck just like this. So, I change my focus to a smaller part, something I can figure out, and then let that satisfy my need for advancing just long enough to rest for a bit. Feels good, cause I'm moving the right direction."
"That's actually wise. Okay, so how can I solve a small part of this?"
EB looked up at the tablet and smiled, "Hey, what if you review the video of Chase's vision about it. Maybe you can focus on a detail that'll help."
"Go ahead. I don't know how to work these magic machines. The images are stored inside them." Torrik looked around at the computers.
EB punched in a command and found the video. He impressed Torrik with his knowledge of computers, but the truth was he knew very little. However, playing a video was relatively simple. The images ran on the screen.
"I've watched this a dozen times. How can I find something new?" Torrik said.
"Dunno. Just try."
Torrik sat back. The video played all the way through. Just before it stopped, Torrik sat up, "There, stop it!"
EB hit the pause button. "What? Did you see something?"
"It has been right in front of me this whole time. I've watched him do that every time and never really added it together."
EB frowned as he looked up at Nova etching the words into the tablet. Which, from this point of view, was just Nova's face looking down since they saw this from the tablets prospective.
"You have your breakthrough?"
"Yes. However, this is the big one. Tell Justin, I'll have something for him soon." He reached over and pulled the tablet out of the beam.
Justin walked through the beautiful lands of the ancient Vikings. The green grasses and deep blue waters of the nearby seas were shrouded in a heavy mist from the morning dew. He stopped before a great metal door with runes carved into the surface.
"hurd myrkr!" Justin spoke the ancient Nordic words.
The great door slid down into a slot in the ground. Only one other person in BADGE knew the secret words to enter this place, and he was currently working for Lady Echidna.
Justin walked into the ancient ruins of a temple long forgotten by man. This place was the home of a legendary beast that was once feared by many and inspired great stories and songs among a people that have since passed into myth themselves.
Stone walls were cut deep with reliefs of serpents and monsters, gods and demons, all from the Asgardian myths of the old religion. However, this was no place of worship. It was a tomb with many men buried among the carvings. Those deemed worthy of divine burial by the only member of the Asgardian religion to ever truly live among mankind.
Delving deep into the great hall, Justin found a sorry figure seated before a roaring fire. In a chair formed of iron and bronze, Midgardsormr seemed lost in the flickering flames.
"I know why you're here, Justin."
Pausing in his approach, Justin said, "You do?"
"I froze. I couldn't stop her. She dismembered FAANG and all I did was watch. I, MIDGARDSORMR, taken by fear."
Justin approached him, "I've never hidden my feelings about you. You are dangerous, hard to control, impossible to contain, and enjoy breaking rules. When this world is in it's greatest perils, it is hard to trust that you'll take the time to use your amazing strength to defend us. At least, I always feared you would decide not to step in. Nova always knew you would do the right thing. And, he was right. Even though your methods are destructive, you have proven to be one of this worlds greatest defenders."
Midgard grabbed a healthy tankard of strong spirits and downed a sizable gulp. "Nova thought I was doing this to defend this pathetic world? Ha! I just enjoy a good challenge!"
"You can't fool me any longer, Midgard. I know why Nova always trusted you."
"And why is that?" Midgard's tone was a challenge.
Justin walked around to look this man in the face, "Because, you have honor. You hide behind a loud voice, rude attitude, and flaunting every rule. But, you have a choice to be a hero or villain and always choose hero in the end."
"Why are you here?" Midgard sank back into the chair and stared at the fire again.
"This world needs you. You saw what Lady Echidna is capable of, and you know what Nova is capable of. We are painfully under-prepared for this. I need to know that you're ready to stand with BADGE. No, not just BADGE, with the Earth. I can't wager on that honor to come through in the end, I need you on the team now."
Midgard pointed at him, "You just want me to make sure your plans work because you aren't Nova and he'd already have a plan to stop this."
"Yes!" Justin blurted out.
"What?" This admission surprised Midgard.
"I'm not Nova! I have to do this my own way. The safety of our world, and now another world, is firmly on my shoulders and I have to make this work. Please, don't ridicule me for not being Nova, I know my limitations. But, I have a plan and I need you to be a part of it. If I must beg, I am begging."
Midgard smiled, "I respect your honesty, few men have the balls to admit they need help."
"So, you'll help?"
Midgard looked away, "I can't."
"But..."
"I CAN'T! There is something in me that felt fear when I saw her fighting that team. Fear! I have never known that in my life, which is considerable. I..." He seemed as if he were wanting to say more, but he simply shook his head, "Go away, Justin, make plans that don't involve me."
"Has it come to this? The end of the world is heralded by Midgardsormr showing cowardice."
Midgard looked at Justin with great rage, but backed down. "Go."
Torrik sat in the grasses of the arboretum and cast a bright green spell on the tablet. EB stood nearby, watching with great curiosity.
Torrik spoke as he processed his spell, "Watching Nova etch this, I realized he wasn't speaking the words he was writing, he was speaking a spell. It is ancient magic that creates a language unique to the object being written on. Nothing else in either world would have this language. With it, he could conceal some message meant only for those who can disenchant his spell, which I am doing right now." The tablet flashed bright and then the light turned blue. Torrik began reading it.
EB asked, "Well?"
Torrik's whole demeanor changed. "By all that is Magical! This...I... we're in trouble! Get me Justin, hurry!"
Justin was almost to his shuttle when his comm beeped. "This is Justin?"
Torrik came through loud, "It's Midgard!"
"What?"
"The fourth beast, the creature Lady Echidna would use to end the world, it's Midgard. Nova inscribed a warning to never let Midgard return to his full strength, which can only be done through dark magic. Midgard doesn't even know. Find him, stop her from touching him!"
Justin turned and ran back, "I'm right with him, warn the station, I'm bringing him in, no matter what."
Midgard sat before his fire, pondering his place in the heroes and villains of Earth. Once he was feared, yet now the world looks upon him like a cherished hero.
A hand touched his shoulder.
"JUSTIN! I TOLD YOU I AM NOT GOING WITH YOU!"
Lady Echidna came around, smiling at him. "Oh, my darling, you have no choice."
"You! I will devour you!" He stood to take his full form, then he gagged and writhed as dark mist poured out of his eyes, mouth, and ears. "GAH! WHAT ARE... YOU DOING TO...ME?"
She pulled him closer, "Devour this world, my precious pet. Leave none alive."
Justin, bruised and bleeding, looked up from where his shuttle had been attacked. He saw a mountaintop explode as a monster rose from it. Justin reached over and dragged his broken comm to him and pressed the main button. The light flickered, it might not even be working, but he had to try.
"To all heroes, Black Alert, I repeat, Black Alert. Please, respond to my location, or the world will end today!"
The World Serpent, once believed to herald the end of all time, grew in size covered in a black, sick magic that crackled and smoked across his monolithic body.
"God help us," Justin whispered.
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