E.G.G 2099 Episode 1: Gifted

AND THERE CAME A DAY, A DARK DAY. A DAY WHERE THE LIVES OF THREE FRIENDS WERE SINGLEHANDEDLY DESTROYED. AFTER THAT DAY, THE DAWN NEVER CAME FOR ACACIA BLANCO. SAD AND ALONE, SHE CHOSE TO HEED THE WORDS OF NICK FURY AND MAKE HER OWN. ON THAT DAY, E.G.G 2099 WAS BORN.

-Gifted-

2099. A year where civilization lives amongst the clouds. A year where free will is opposed by the Public Eye Patrol. A year where Alchemax has singlehandedly taken over the world. A year where the Spider-Man of this time would figure out how to prevent the incident known as the Dark Day. Our tale begins in Nueva York, in the top of the Chrysler Building, now abandoned. A man known as Charlie Westbrook led Miguel O’Hara, aka, Spider-Man 2099, into his secret base.

Miguel O’Hara looked around the base of the Extremely Gifted Guardians in complete awe.

“This is incredible!” He exclaimed. “How long have you guys been here?”

“As long as I can remember.” Charlie answered. “I was born here.”

“Been that long, huh?” Miguel asked.

“No,” Charlie replied. “I mean this is where my mom gave birth to me. In here, this base.”

“Oh, wow.” He said. “I guess you were born here. Your mother… she was Acacia Blanco, right?”

“Yeah,” Charlie replied sadly. “It’s been a few years now since she died, but I still miss her.”

“You know, I met her once or twice.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, back in time. Fought by her side.”

“And… my dad?”

“Oh yeah, him too.”

“What was he like? Mom never really talked about him.”

“Oh, Joshua Westbrook, he was a wildcard. He always did things his way, sometimes it was for the better, but no matter what, he always put his friends before himself.”

“Wish I could’ve known him.” Charlie said. He sighed. “Well, nothing I can do about that now.”

“Maybe there is.” Miguel said. “If I can prevent the Dark Day, you might actually get a chance to know your father!”

“That’d be amazing!” Charlie replied. “I’m willing to help in any way I can.”

“Good, because I could use all the help I can get.” They walked into a room where they were approached by a holographic woman with metal armor, only her face and joints shining through.

“Good evening Charlie.” She said. She looked to Miguel. “You did not inform me we would be having guests. I would have polished my armor.” Miguel looked closer. Something about her face was familiar to him.

“It that… Is that Eileen?” He asked. Charlie looked at him, surprised.

“How’d you know her name designation?” He asked.

“Name designation?”

“Yeah, E.I.L.E.E.N, Electronic Intelligent Living Engineered Exertive Network. Mom made her. She got the specs off of some other AI they had a while ago, what was her name… Jo, Joca… something. Either way, E.I.L.E.E.N keeps up the base and occasionally kicks some butt.”

“I am pleased to meet you.” E.I.L.E.E.N said to Miguel, shaking his hand. “I will aid you in any way you require.”

“Thanks.” Miguel replied as she left the room. He followed Charlie up to a large monitor.

“This is the main terminal, it controls everything in E.G.G Base. It also has the widest spanning digital connection to date. Whatever you’re looking for, you’ll find it in here.”

“Awesome!” Miguel said, jumping into the chair and browsing the computer. “This is way better than anything Alchemax has!”

“Whoa,” Charlie said, grabbing his shoulder. “Alchemax?”

“Well, yeah, it’s my day job.”

“You work at Alchemax! I thought Spider-Man was against them!”

“He is, er, I am. What better way to gather intel than from the inside?” Charlie thought for a bit.

“I guess you’re right. Good strategy.” Suddenly a panel on the wall opened and a teenage girl flew in on a jet pack, crash landing into a bunch of equipment.

“Acacia Wuthrich!” Charlie shouted, as she stood up and dusted herself off. “Where have you been?”

“Out.” She said, brushing past him.

“Hey, don’t blow me off!” Charlie yelled. “You come back here right now!”

“I don’t have to do a shocking thing you say,” Acacia replied. “You’re not my dad.”

“Hey, watch your mouth young lady. I may not be your father, but he put me in charge of you until…”

“Until what?” She interrupted. “Because he’s not coming back. Neither is my mom. They abandoned me!”

“They did not abandon you!” Charlie argued. “They will come back, I promise. But until then, you need to do as I say! Understood?”

“Go shock yourself.” She snapped, storming off. Charlie sighed deeply and buried his face in his hands.

“Wow,” Miguel said. “Teenagers these days.”

“I don’t see how they did it.” Josh said. “How did Seth and Celeste ever manage that girl? I mean, her sister, I understand, she’s much more well behaved. But Acacia is just… Ugh!”

“Well they did have Jerome.” Miguel said. “Maybe he helped?”

“Yeah, he was like a second father to those girls.” Charlie replied. “Man, some days I really wish they were back.”

“Right. Um… quick question, how old are Acacia and her sister?”

“Acacia’s 16 and Fumiko is 18. Why?”

“I was just wondering how they were still teenagers.”

“Oh, well, it’s a bit complicated. See, I’m a clone, so mom was able to slow down my aging process. But the girls were born naturally by Seth and Celeste. But I guess they chose the wrong time to have kids, because they were still in the hero game. One day E.G.G Base was attacked and the babies were almost killed. So Seth and Celeste both agreed to send them into the future, in a time after they had retired, so that they could be raised by the future version of their parents and be in less danger. Not unlike what Cable did with Hope Summers.”

“Oh, okay. So what did happen to the Heroes of Tomorrow? The textbooks are pretty vague.”

“Well one day there was an extra dimensional threat that was going to destroy the universe or something. Jerome, Seth, and Celeste all decided it was big enough for them to come out of retirement and at least check it out. They left me with Fumiko and Acacia, and then took off. I know that they flew into some wormhole, but after that… Well they were never seen again.”

“Do you think they’re…”

“No, no evidence suggests that. Until further notice, I think they’re just… lost between dimensions, trying to find their way back home.”

“Well I hope they do.” Miguel said, as he continued to type.

“Yeah.” They sat for a bit. “Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

“Hm? What for?”

“Well, you know, I’m kind of the only guy here, gets kind of lonely. I’ve often thought of reprogramming E.I.L.E.E.N, but then I’d have to rename her. And that would be a pain.”

“I hear you pal.” Miguel replied. “When I was naming my AI, Lyla, I was thinking about…” Suddenly the computer beeped. “Bingo!” He said. He printed a sheet of paper.

“What’s that?” Charlie asked.

“The answer to our problems!” Miguel exclaimed. “All I need is transportation to the Worthington branch of Alchemax labs and we can actually do it! We can prevent the Dark Day from ever happening!”

“Charlie?” They turned to see Acacia’s sister, Fumiko, standing in the doorway. “Is that Spider-Man?” She asked.

“Um… yeah.” Charlie replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was gonna tell you…”

“You must be Fumiko.” Miguel said. “You can call me Miguel. And I’m about make all of your lives a shock of a lot better!”

“Did you say you were gonna stop the Dark Day?” She asked.

“Yep!”

“Why?”

“Wha- Why? What do you mean why? Who wouldn’t try to stop it?”

“Well, yeah, I know, but, why do you care? Why are you heading back in time to fix something that doesn’t directly affect you?”

“I happen to be close friends with the founders of E.G.G.” Miguel answered. “And it does affect me. During their rise to power, a lot of the weapons Alchemax used were produced by E.G.G, after they went public. If that doesn’t happen, it could cripple Alchemax, big time. They might not even gain control!”

“That’s a bit of a stretch.” Fumiko said.

“Even if that doesn’t happen, think of the lives I’ll save. I have to do this.”

“And you’ll have us backing you up.” Charlie said. “E.I.L.E.E.N, prep the Lightstream!”

“As you wish.” E.I.L.E.E.N said, leaving the room.

“The Lightstream, huh?” Miguel asked.

“Oh, you’re gonna love our jet.” Charlie said. “Fumiko, get your sister and suit up.”

“Are we going on a mission?” She asked.

“Yes, yes we are.”

“Oh finally!” She exclaimed. “It’s been way too long!” She excitedly rushed out of the room. Miguel looked to Charlie.

“Thank you.” He said. “Your father would be proud.”

“No, thank you Miguel.” Charlie replied. “Thanks to you, I’ll get to have a father.” Miguel paused.

“You know, if I do this, if I change history, anything can happen. You won’t be a clone, but you might not be yourself, you know, who you are now. Your name might not be Charlie, you might be a girl, Acacia Blanco will definitely not be your mother, you might not even be born!” He held his head. “Oh geez! I didn’t even begin to think about the repercussions! What if Celeste and Seth don’t fall in love? What if Josh dies some other way? What if…”

“We can ask what if all day Miguel.” Charlie said. “But I’ve got one for you. What if it works out just fine?” Miguel smiled.

“Well, that would be ideal.” He said. Charlie patted his back.

“Good. Now let’s go make history.”

James flew across the sky on his jet pack. He landed on a roof where Venture knelt, tampering with a device. He took off his helmet and approached Venture from behind.

“Come on, dang it…” Venture grumbled, tapping a small monitor. “Dag blasted…”

“Having troubles with your little toys?” James laughed. Venture glared at him.

“Bug’s signal jumped offline ‘bout two hours ago.”

“What!” James rushed up to see Venture staring at a fuzzy screen. “I knew you’d screw this up! How did he find the device?”

“He didn’t,” Venture replied. “Probably just entered a dead zone that blocks transmissions of any sort.”

“I knew we should have went after him when we had the…”

“And there we go. He’s comin’ outta hidin’.” James looked over to see a red blip reappear on the screen. Venture shoved it in James’s chest, who grabbed it and growled under his breath. “Good things come to those who wait boy. Now come on.” He popped a blade out of his staff. “We got us a bug to catch.”

To Be Continued…

I hope you enjoyed the first episode of E.G.G 2099! This is only a 5-Part miniseries, so it'll be over in a few weeks, but leave any questions and comments down below so that I can answer them in the Q&A, which will actually be the June 25th, with Episode 2 coming out June 26, simply because I'll be out of town. Sorry guys, but I'd rather leave you with something rather than hold off another week to deliver this awesomeness! So stay on board, and if you liked E.G.G, then you're gonna love this!