E.G.G Episode 23.1: Friends

AND THERE CAME A DAY, A DAY UNLIKE ANY OTHER. WHEN THREE FRIENDS ROSE FROM THEIR DOOM TO FIGHT ON, VOWING NEVER AGAIN TO GIVE IN TO THE FORCES OF EVIL. ON THAT DAY, E.G.G WAS REBORN.

It was just another day at E.G.G Base, then Nick Fury called Josh with a message: The Syndicate have arrived. When Josh caught on to a squad of them attacking a local bank, he and Acacia went to diffuse the situation, figuring out not long into it that they were out-manned and outgunned. But, in a daring last second save, Lightstream swooped in and saved the day! The new hero has made her mark on the world (and Josh)! But little did we know, that under her eye mask, Lightstream turns out to be none other than: Eileen Wuthrich!

Click here for E.G.G Episode 23: Lightstream

Click here for Episode 23 Q&A

-Friends-

Josh was chilling in his room in E.G.G Base. He had popcorn. He had soda. He had a Cardinals v.s Eagles game on. He was set. Then…

“Help!” Harry’s voice shouted from the hall. Josh sighed. He put his popcorn down and met Harry, who was panicking.

“What’s the problem Osborn?” He asked, not really caring what it was.

“It’s Acacia, something’s wrong with her, I… I don’t know what to do!”

“Okay, calm down, where is she?”

“In her room!” Josh followed Harry to Acacia’s room. He found Acacia lying on the ground. Her eyes were rolled to the back of her head, and she was spastically twitching. Celeste was kneeling by her side.

“Auntie Acacia, snap out of it!” She shouted, shaking her. “Please!”

“What is this, some kind of seizure?” Harry asked.

“Not likely…” Josh replied. Suddenly Eileen rushed into the room. She gasped.

“Oh no, not again.” She said. “I’ve seen this before, only once though…”

“What’s wrong Eileen?” Josh asked.

“Acacia’s experiencing… Invention withdrawal!”

“What the shell is that?” Harry asked.

“Josh, remember a few months back, when E.G.G had that dry period, we went weeks without a new invention.”

“Yeah,” Josh said. Then he snapped. “Yeah, that’s right, Acacia didn’t have anything new to play with, or destroy…”

“Then this happened.” Eileen said pointing to Acacia, who was still twitching on the floor.

“Well how can we fix her?” Celeste asked.

“We need to invent something!” Eileen said.

“Eileen’s right.” Josh said. “We’ve been off our game since Doom, and it is in our vow…”

“If I might make a suggestion,” Jocasta called. “My new body has been put on hold for an excessively long amount of time…”

“That’s right!” Josh said. “Don’t worry Jocasta, we’ll finish your body today. I promise!”

“Thank you very much my friends!” Jocasta happily replied. “I will prepare the Humpty Dumpty Hall.”

“Good,” Josh said. “Eileen, Osborn, grab Acacia. Get her in that room stat!” Eileen grabbed under Acacia’s arms while Harry grabbed her legs and they all walked down to the Humpty Dumpty Hall, where Jocasta’s partially deconstructed body lay on the table.

“Alright,” Eileen said, pulling on a lab coat. “We gotta make something real quick, so we can snap Acacia out of her trance.”

“A new laser blaster!” Josh exclaimed. “Doom fried Jocasta’s old one, and Acacia is sure to get a kick out of it!”

“Okay.” Eileen said, gathering components.

“Alright, Jocasta, I need you to upload your consciousness to your body so we can see what’s working and what’s not.

“Affirmative.” Jocasta replied. In a few seconds her body began to shake, and her eyes lit up blue. “Upload complete.”

“Excellent!” Josh said. “Eileen, how’s the laser?”

“Mending now.” She replied, taking a blowtorch to the metal.

“Uh, guys, she’s getting worse!” Harry shouted, as Acacia began violently shaking back and forth.

“Dang it, faster Eileen!” Josh shouted.

“I’m going as fast as this thing permits!” She exclaimed. Josh took out a small, glowing, red vial. Eileen approached him with the blaster and Josh carefully slid it in. Eileen locked it into position and began typing on the computer. “And… clear! The laser should be fully operable!”

“Guys!” Harry shouted. Josh pushed him out of the way and put the laser in Acacia hands.

“Here Acacia, take it!” He said. She was still shaking, but slowing down. Eileen rushed over.

“Come on Acacia, here you go.” She said, moving her fingers to the trigger. Acacia twitched and squeezed the trigger, blasting a hole through the wall. “Good girl, that’s it, nice and slow…” Acacia stopped shaking. A smile spread across her face. She jumped up.

“This is so cool!” She shouted, examining it. Everyone sighed with relief. “This is one of the highest intensity lasers we’ve developed! I gotta test it out! Please, please, please!” Josh sighed.

“Fine,” he said. Acacia took off, followed by Harry. “But not in the Feeding Pen!” Josh shouted, in vain. Suddenly an alarm went off. Eileen jumped.

“What is that?” She asked. “Break in?”

“No,” Josh said, typing in a computer. “Syndicate attack.” Surveillance footage of Syndicate soldiers attacking an armored car popped up on the screen. “We’ve gotta stop them.”

“Unacceptable!” Jocasta shouted, sitting up. “The human definition of a promise is an express assurance on which expectation is to be based. You promised to me that you would complete my body today!”

“Okay, Jocasta, calm down,” Josh said. “Don’t go all Ultron on us. We will finish today, it’s just that the Syndicate are dangerous…”

“Take Acacia and go.” Eileen said. “I’ll do what I can for Jocasta.” Josh nodded, then ran to get Acacia.

“Thank you Eileen.” Jocasta said. “You are a true friend.”

“That… means a lot to me Jocasta.” Eileen said. “Now, I’m gonna need you to shut down from this point, I’m gonna reconfigure your internal nexus.”

“Shut down should not be necessary for that stage,” Jocasta noted.

“Uh, yeah, normally…” Eileen said. “But I don’t want to take the risk of causing any damage to your consciousness.” Eileen bit her lip as Jocasta pondered.

“Very well.” She said, as the blue glow faded from her eyes. Eileen sighed with relief.

“I’m sorry Jocasta,” she apologized, unzipping her E.G.G uniform to reveal her Lightstream costume. “But E.G.G needs Lightstream.”

Meanwhile, Josh was taking cover behind a car as Syndicate soldiers fired on him.

“Move in,” the commander of the group said. “And smoke them out.” The Syndicate soldiers began to advance, taking out a smoke grenade.

“Come on Acacia…” Josh said. Suddenly a laser beam pierced the smoke canister, detonating it on the Syndicate soldiers causing them to fire blindly in the gas. Acacia rushed forward, manically laughing as she fired the laser.

“I love it!” She shouted. “I want one!”

“I’m not sure you should have one!” Josh called.

“You kidding? I’m kicking some serious Syndicate-” Suddenly Acacia was grazed by a bullet. “Gah!” She said, dropping the laser and holding her shoulder as the commander came through the smoke.

“Ever get to say goodbye to your friends?” He asked, powering up his blaster.

“Did you?” He quickly looked up to see Lightstream blast him with a beam of energy. He screamed and flew into a wall.

“Lightstream!” Josh shouted.

“Hey guys,” she said, flying down. “Having fun without me I see.”

“Well you’re not exactly on speed dial.” Acacia said. Josh looked to see the smoke clear and the Syndicate soldiers regaining their composure.

“We still got punks to take down.” Josh said. Lightstream’s fists lit up.

“Lead the charge.” She said.

Eileen rushed into E.G.G Base through the back tunnel entrance. She quickly took her mask off, then got against the wall as two agents walked by. She peeked around the corner, and when she was sure it was safe, bee-lined for the Humpty Dumpty Hall.

“What do I say?” She asked herself, as she hopped on one foot, pulling her pants on. “I… fell asleep! Yeah, that’s it! No, that’s weak…” She pulled her shirt on and reached for the zipper, only to see she had it on backwards. “Gah! This can’t be how Spider-Man does it…” She said, reversing it. “I… had to go to the bathroom! But for three hours? Hm, Acacia’s tacos were a bit unsettling… No!” She rushed through the doors to see Jocasta’s body lying on the table, fully assembled. “What… the… shell…” Suddenly Josh and Acacia walked in. They both stopped.

“Attagirl Eileen!” Josh shouted, patting her back. “Getting’ to work! That’s what I like to see!”

“Uh… yeah…” Eileen said uneasily. Josh held out his hand.

“Acacia, give me the laser.” Josh said.

“Wha- no!” she shouted, hugging it.

“Blanco!” Acacia sighed.

“Fine.” She said, tossing it to him. Josh opened a compartment on Jocasta’s arm and installed the laser.

“Eileen, light her up!” Josh exclaimed.

“Right…” Eileen put her fingers on Jocasta’s forehead, and soon her eyes lit up blue. Josh frowned.

“Using your powers, show off.” He said. Jocasta sat up and examined her new body.

“Thank you my friends!” She exclaimed.

“Don’t thank us,” Acacia replied. “Eileen did all the work.”

“Yep, haha, you know me…” Eileen said uneasily. Jocasta stood up.

“I wish to give you a hug.” She said.

“Oh, well by all means,” Eileen replied. Jocasta wrapped her metal arms around Eileen and squeezed. “AH! Too tight! Too tight!” Jocasta dropped her.

“Apologies,” she said. “It seems as though I am stronger than ever!”

“Yeah you are,” Josh said. “Nice work Wuthrich. Oh, and you missed Lightstream again! She is so amazing! We tag teamed on this one guy, I tripped him and she blasted the crap out of him while he was still falling!”

“Sounds cool,” She said. Acacia nudged Josh.

“You’re crushing hard on this chick!”

“Um, because she’s the best female super hero ever!” Josh replied, following Acacia out of the room.

“I will assume my duties!” Jocasta said, happily rushing for the Inner Shell.

“Right…” Eileen said, standing, confused. Suddenly the supply closet opened. Eileen turned to see Harry and Celeste emerge.

“You’re welcome.” Celeste said. Eileen smiled.

“You two?”

“Uh, her,” Harry said, pointing to Celeste. “I just lifted the heavy stuff.” Eileen walked over and hugged them both.

“I owe you guys, big time!” She said.

“I accept cookies and ice cream!” Celeste happily replied. Eileen laughed.

“You got it!” And all three of them left to get cookies and ice cream.

Tune in on Thursday, January 29 for the Q&A for this episode, and then prepare for Episode 24: And a Side of Rice, on Friday, January 30! More to come in Season 2! See you next week!