EB and Lily appeared in the lab, which drew an instant shock by the surrounding people. The other researchers stopped what they were doing and checked on them.
“Doctor Fagan? Where did you come from?” A Korean scientist asked.
She said, “Long story.”
EB zipped around the lab so fast that all people saw was a white blur. Several bottles broke, and a laptop computer almost crashed to the ground if that girl hadn’t caught it. EB stopped in front of Lily and held up his comm. “Found it. Musta set it down when we were looking over the sensor scans. Okay...” he clicked it.
An older man walked up, “Doctor, is something wrong?”
“Yes. I don’t know what is out there, but we were attacked. We need to contact BADGE.”
EB said, “I’m trying. The comm unit is dead. I mean, it is really dead.”
Lily said, “Then zap yourself up to the station.”
“I hate leaving you guys down here with that weirdo.”
“Weirdo?” the Korean asked.
Dr. Fagan shook her head at him and then said, “They need to be warned. Go.”
EB nodded quickly and then clapped his paws together. He flashed and reappeared a foot away. “Uh, that’s not right.” He clapped and appeared another foot away. “This has to work.” He did this a dozen times and merely moved twelve feet across the room. He wobbled after the last one and then fell flat on his back. “That made me dizzy.”
The older man looked over his computer screen. “I don’t know if this means anything, but there is a strange reading outside right now. The morphon levels here are spiking. I’m picking up some kind of cloud of them focusing on us.”
“Look at the crystals.” The Korean scientist pointed at their specimens. The crystals were pulsing with a bright green light .
“There is something else,” the older man said. “I can’t explain it, but I’m picking up a growing morphon signature heading this direction.”
EB zipped over and stood on the console to look at the screen. “Oh, chocolate sauce, that thing is heading this way. What does she want?”
“Doctor Fagan, we... Doctor?” The older man gasped.
EB looked over to see that she had green glowing eyes and was breathing quickly in panic; vines were growing out of the potted plants in the back. “Doctor!” EB held up his paw, and a wave of energy spread out, slowing the vines down.
She looked around, “Sorry. I don’t know how I did that. I’m just so scared right now.”
EB said, “Okay, guys. This is the time you get your butts outta here. Whatever that thing is, it is heading this direction. You need to move. Get to the police and tell them to get people away from that creature and from here. I will get Dr. Fagan to safety by any means necessary.”
“Are you serious?” The older man asked.
EB hopped up on a table and yelled, “Do I look like I’m playing games! This is a direct order from the BADGE official. GET OUT!”
This startled everyone, but they obeyed quickly.
Dr. Fagan asked EB, “Why did you do that? That thing is out there.”
EB said, “Because it’s after you. It was only interested in you in the cave, you’ve gained some odd powers, and right now it’s marching this way. The first order of business as a BADGE hero is to get civilians out of harm’s way. So, don’t worry, I plan on getting you out of here as well. I just need them running back into town.”
“You can’t zap us out of here, you can’t teleport five feet.”
EB frowned, “Thanks for the reminder. No, I have another idea.”
The laboratory scientists and assistants ran from the hidden entrance and raced across the street. The sky was dark and crackling with green energy, and people were screaming. A strange, milky mist oozed across the ground while the strange woman walked relentlessly toward the lab.
“What’s going on?” A police officer yelled at the scientist.
The older man stopped and said, “I don’t know. EB said you should get people away from... whatever that thing is.”
The officer pointed his gun at the creature, which wasn’t even looking at him. “Is it dangerous?”
“I think so. I don’t know. EB was scared of it.”
“Who is EB?” The officer’s tone was irritated.
The scientist said, “The BADGE representative here.”
The officer pulled a megaphone out of his car and yelled into it, “Whoever you are, stand down and surrender!”
The creature simply continued walking.
“We will contact the local hero league if you do not stand down!” The officer stated.
Still, it kept moving.
The officer shot his gun so that it hit the pavement near the creature. “This is your final warning.”
This got her attention. She looked at them with a snapping motion of her head and then thrust her hand up. Vines sprouted from the ground and entrapped the officer, lifting him and tangling his arms and legs in the natural binding. Another thicker vine sprang up and wrapped around his car, squeezing it until it broke in half.
While people tried to free the officer, the creature walked a few more steps and then looked down. Leaves and flowers sprouted up through the pavement as she walked further, each step taking her lower into the ground as though she were moving through water.
“Are you sure about this?” Lily said as she looked into the fake phone booth they used as an elevator.
EB held his paws up to cast a spell that spread energy over the booth. “Yes. This is going to work. See, I’m going to charm this to connect to a special crystal egg that I gave Nova. The crystal eggs are a unique little trinket I make and give to people I really especially trust. And Nova is my bestest buddy in the universe. And if he ever, I mean ever, needed my help, he just breaks the egg, and it alerts me to come to his side right away. He’s never used it because he is so awesome and strong and cool. But if the day comes that he needs help, EB to the rescue. I would be there so fast that it would be amazing, and any villain trying to hurt him would be really super sorry for doing whatever they would try to do. This one time, he was stuck in an illusion by the Spirit of Halloween and I...”
“You’re rambling again. Why don’t we just leave with the others?”
EB, still casting his magic over the booth, said, “We need to get far far far away from that witchy woman. If we just keep running, it will be a mess. Like a movie that just keeps going on and on with the chase scene that everyone sleeps through. I want to get right to the part where we are with BADGE figuring this out, not just running. Now, I am about done enchanting this box.”
“How does this help us?” Lily interrupted his random thoughts.
“Oh, yeah, the egg. Well, it is super powerful and connected to me. So, with this spell, I will turn this little elevator thing into a rocket, and it will launch itself and fly directly to Nova. And there is nowhere safer than being with Nova. He is like some super angelic warrior being from... well, I am not entirely sure. There was this thing with Lady Echidna and...”
A cracking and popping sound interrupted his stray thoughts. Roots and twigs sprouted up from the floor of the lab. Between the newly formed cracks spilled that thick mist.
“Oh, crap. She’s here,” EB said.
The mist rose and took the shape of a woman. Blowing away, she revealed herself in all her ominous glory. Her eyes locked on Dr. Fagan, and her hand lifted. “You will become.”
“Let her have it.” EB said.
Lily looked the woman straight in the eyes and said, “This is a Section 9 laboratory. You made a mistake by coming here. This is Doctor Lily Fagan, Code Red. Self Destruct. Authorization seven four seven Leprechaun.”
EB grabbed her and shoved her into the phone booth. “God, I hope this works.” He slapped the side of the box and it rocketed straight up at an accelerated speed. A ball of fire sped after them from below, and the phone box sparkled with magical light. They both braced themselves for the impact. The box blasted through the surface and shot straight into the sky.
Lily screamed in fear, holding the sides of the box. Her hands crackled with a green energy that spread across the box. Green lightning outside in the sky hit the box a dozen times. EB covered his eyes as everything turned bright green. There was a popping explosion, and they stopped moving so fast. In fact, it felt as though they were floating in the air.
“Where are we?” Lily asked.
EB opened his eyes and looked out the glass of the door. They weren’t over Carlingford any longer, they weren’t over Earth. From the distant horizon to horizon, they were in a space between two layers of dark clouds. Massive bolts of energy jumped from the top to the bottom later, and then from the bottom to the top. There was no land, no sky, no sun or moon. They had left reality.
“I... don’t know.”
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