An emergency broadcast around the globe broke through televisions and online. The panic in the streets was evident in every corner of the planet. A woman on the news in Detroit, Michigan had a controlled attitude, but fear burned behind her eyes.
“Authorities are uncertain what the cause of this mass attack is. But across the planet, people are lying in the streets, seemingly on the verge of dying. The source of this... is unknown and... Brenda?” She looked over and then jumped out of her seat as the camera shook around to move. She rushed across the set and held their weatherperson who was on the ground clutching her face.
“The pain! I... can’t see. Help me!” The woman writhed around as she held herself while people tried to help.
Nova held EB in his arms while the heroes around him fell silently into slumped piles.
“My God, this is worse than the Ren Tech incident.” Chase said, “They aren’t in a dream world, they are just having their life pulled right out of them.”
“I’m so helpless. What do I do?” Nova whispered.
“I can try... “ Quark said something but simply stopped.
Nova looked up, “Try what?”
“They are glowing.” Is all he said.
“Look at EB!” Chase pointed at the bunny, who had a green hue around him.
Nova rose to his feet and looked around. “Is it over? Are they gone?”
People moved, some gasped in breaths and slowly moved their hands to their chests. EB even moved around and made small noises.
The dark oracle cried out, “NO! This is not possible!” He reached up and his hands glowed bright again, but no one was affected. His head snapped toward them and he screamed, “What have you done? I will end you!” He darted toward the bubble containing Nova, Chase, Gar, EB, and Quark.
Nova rested EB on the ground and had his hand on his sword when something met the dark oracle halfway to them. A person slammed into him, and he flew back and crashed into the mountain again.
A woman carried by angelic wings hovered over the ground with a green dress on and leaves swirling around her.
Chase said, “Oh my god. It’s Dr. Fagan.”
The dark oracle rose from the deeper crater he had formed. This time, he looked injured and angry. He flew toward her with his hands out. “You will become!” He screamed.
She didn’t move, didn’t flinch, merely waited for him. When he reached her, she grabbed both of his hands, flipped him over and slammed him hard into the ground. After he hit, she thrust her hand over him and the energy in him drained.
With a dual voice from her mouth, she spoke, “We are the Oracle of Supernatural. We protect his realm. The Malevolence is not welcome. I take from you that which you stole.”
He screamed in pain for a moment as she ripped the energy from his body. Heavily breathing, he threatened, “This is not the end, Avatar of Morphons. We will have dominion. We cannot be stopped. The Malevolence has grown, it is strong.” A hole opened in the sky above her, and a dark shadow poured down, pushing her to the ground and stopping her siphoning of the energy in him.
He stood, ragged from the attacks, but all the more terrifying in his eyes. “You will become.”
With all the effort she could muster, she pushed her hand over her head and blocked the pouring shadow, but still couldn’t move. “I... will not fall this day.”
“You will become, what power do you have that we cannot match?” He smiled with blackened, jagged teeth.
She looked at him and said, “We are not alone.”
The dark oracle didn’t see Nova’s divine sword. Like a baseball, Nova hit the dark oracle and sent him toward Gar. Gar grabbed the man by his wings and spun him around and threw him even further. Chase nailed him with all three of her throwing stars in his side just as Strange Quark cartoonishly slammed him back into the ground using a massively inflated fist.
“QUARK!” Nova yelled.
Quark knew the cue and cast another barrier, this time over Dr. Fagan, helping to block the shadow. She could fly free and join them. Using her power, she trapped the dark oracle in a series of thick vines.
“This world is our home now, and we have many allies. The Malevolence has none but its own creations.”
The dark oracle didn’t squirm or fight, he simply glared at them. “What has begun shall be done.” He evaporated into a dark mist and was gone.
“Damn. Chase, contact the station. I want a planetwide sensor sweep.”
Dr. Fagan said, “That will not be necessary.” She turned and gestured to the sky where the hole had been. “He has fled to where he can exist. I took from him that which kept him alive in this universe. His time here was limited, and the Malevolence retrieved him before he perished. He will not return to us soon.”
“Are you absolutely certain?” Nova asked.
She nodded. “I could feel him leave, or rather, his master took him. However, he is correct. This is far from over.”
EB staggered across the ground, blinking with bleary eyes. “What... who... wait, is that Dr. Fagan. Wow, you look amazing. Did you always have wings?” He was a little loopy.
She smiled at him and said, “I am Doctor Lily Fagan, but I am also the Oracle of Supernatural. We have become one being.”
Nova said, “I have so many questions.”
“I will answer them in time. Right now, I have work to do.” She said nothing more and simply flew up on her wings and held her arms out. Waves of green light spilled from her, spreading from horizon to horizon. She slowly flew west, leaving them as she continued to glow.
The surrounding people quickly regained their strength and stood. EB smiled as he ran around at blinding speeds for a moment, then stopped right in front of Nova.
“Wow, I feel all better. Better than better. This is amazing. What happened to me? I felt like someone had completely emptied my body, and I was going down. I mean, really down. Like down down down. I remember feeling arms under me, and... wait... wait, wait, wait....” He felt his side. “Someone cried over me. This isn’t just water, these are tears. Someone cried. Oh, Chase, I knew you loved me.” He ran toward her, and she looked up at Nova, who appeared as if he were about to flee for his life.
“It wasn’t me.” She refrained from saying who.
EB bounced around. “Welp, Gar can’t cry tears and I doubt Quark likes me so much that he would cry over me. If he did, that would be soooo sweet, and his tears probably would smell like vodka. But, I really doubt it, and the others were down, that just leaves.......” He looked over at Nova, a big grin on his tiny face.
Nova took a step back. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
“BUDDY!” He rushed over and climbed up Nova and was on his shoulder. “I knew it! You really do love me. We are bestest of best friends. I mean, I cried hard when you were kidnapped by that ugly Lady Echidna, and so it only makes sense that you would cry over me. Did you think I had died? Wow, you are such a good friend! We should get matching t-shirts, and friendship bracelets, and...”
Nova grabbed EB by the face to make him stop talking. “We have a serious situation to sort out. Now is not the time for your incessant rambling.”
EB nodded with a hand still clutching his face. He saluted with one paw and said something under Nova’s fingers that sounded like, “Aye-aye, buddy.”
Nova let go and EB dropped to the ground and bounced around, handing chocolate eggs to all the present heroes.
“Chase, work with Justin and set up a mobile lab here. I want every sensor reading we can make. Get every scrap of footage of this incident from any local cameras. We need data.”
“Understood.” She walked away with her comm already out.
“Gar, you and EB talk to the local media and tell them only that BADGE is on this, but that the situation has calmed considerably and the fight is over.”
“Why us?” Gar asked as he watched EB giving eggs out half a mile away now.
“You and EB are both known enough and people like you. Plus, it will keep EB out of my hair a little longer while I go and wait.”
“Wait?”
Nova walked toward the landing zone. “To talk with our new Oracle. We need proper answers.”
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