E.G.G Episode 6: For the Fallen

AND THERE CAME A DAY, A DAY UNLIKE ANY OTHER. WHEN THREE FRIENDS UNITED TO CREATE THE FUTURE THAT WE NEVER COULD. ON THAT DAY, E.G.G WAS BORN.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead! If you have not read E.G.G Episode 5: Agents of Doom, click here to do so now.

E.G.G was invaded by Julian and his agents of doom, who turned out to be the hatchlings in disguise. While Josh and Acacia did all they could to fend off the attack, Eileen was ambushed by Venom (Tanner Powell) outside of the Hall of E.G.G, and killed. Despite their best efforts, Mother Egg crashed, and now Josh and Acacia set their sights on Julian and Tanner for what they did to E.G.G, and their best friend.

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-For the Fallen-

Mother Egg had crash landed in Smith Park. E.G.G agents that weren’t injured rushed about trying to fix what they could. A group of them gathered outside of the Hall of E.G.G. Noticing the unconscious agents of doom, they approached with caution, weapons ready. The one in charge held up his hand, and was about to give the signal to move in when they heard footsteps. They all readied their guns, but soon lowered them. Josh emerged from the destroyed Hall of E.G.G, carrying Eileen in his arms, with Acacia walking close behind him. The agents moved to the sides and made a path as Josh and Acacia passed through, carrying the body of their best friend.

Josh walked into the medical bay and laid Eileen on a bed. Medics rushed over, but Josh knew it was already too late. He walked to the other end of the room, where Acacia silently cried to herself. Josh sat down next to her and put his hand on her back.

“Acacia,” he said. “how are you holding up.”

“I’m not.” Acacia replied through her tears. “This is the single worst thing that’s ever happened to me in my entire life.”

“I know,” Josh said. “It’s the same for me. I… I just can’t believe that Julian would do something like this.” Acacia looked at Josh.

“Eileen is dead.” She said. “Whatever you and Julian were, whatever happened in the past, it’s gone now. He killed Eileen.”

“I know.” Josh said. “I just, I can’t wrap my head around it. Any of this. Just… how did it happen?” Josh buried his face in his hands. “And why couldn’t I stop it?” Just then an agent walked into the room.

“Um, sir.” He said uneasily.

“Agent,” Josh replied. “This had better be the most important thing on the planet…”

“I’m sorry sir, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D is on the line and insisting to speak with you.” Josh inhaled.

“Fine.” He said. He stood up and began to exit. He looked back at Eileen. He stroked her hair, a tear slid down his face. Then he followed the agent out of the room. Acacia watched as Josh exited the room, then she stood up and walked over to Eileen.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” She said. “But I’m here now, and I’ll save you.” Acacia turned to an agent in the corner of the room. “You there, what’s your name?”

“Agent Becket.” The man replied.

“Listen to me carefully Agent Becket, I need you to go into the Humpty Dumpty Hall, open the biological vault, and get me box labeled Extremis.”

Josh walked into the conference room, where four giant screens were mounted on the wall. This is where anyone of importance communicated with him. Josh pressed a button, and all of the screens came on, displaying the face of none other Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Agent Westbrook.” He said. “Do you mind explaining to me exactly what happened down there?”

“It was Julian Woodfin.” Josh said. “He attacked Mother Egg, and apparently knocked it out of the sky.”

“I gathered that much.” He replied. “I’ve got the council all over me about this. I made you director of E.G.G because I thought you could handle it.”

“I can sir.” Josh defended. “This is just a minor setback…”

“Minor setback? Your base cratered into the ground. That doesn’t seem very minor to me.” Josh looked down. Nick Fury exhaled. “I heard what happened to Agent Wuthrich.” Josh quickly looked up.

“I’m fine sir…”

“I know you two were close. I don’t expect you to find Julian, but it’ll be a few hours before I can assemble the Avengers…”

“Really, Director Fury, I’m fine. I’ll find Julian and deal with him on my own.”

“Joshua…”

“I need to do this… alone.”

“You and Julian were friends.”

“Eileen was his friend too, but he killed her. As Agent Blanco pointed out to me earlier today, whatever we had is gone.”

Meanwhile, Agent Becket reentered the room with the box Acacia asked him to get. She stood up grabbed it.

“Perfect, thank you.” She said, taking it from him and ripping it open. Agent Becket watched suspiciously.

“With all due respect,” he began. “What exactly do you plan to do with that?” Acacia looked at him.

“I’m going to inject Eileen.” She replied. Agent Becket’s eyes widened.

“Captain Blanco, do you know what that is?”

“Yes.” She replied, removing a vial of black liquid from the box.

“Captain, the Extremis is a terribly experimental drug, it is absolutely off limits, the fact we even have any on board is questionable in and of itself.”

“Fury asked if we could make it better. We never got around to it, but we know what it can do. We know it works. It worked on Iron Man.”

“Iron Man was lucky!” Becket almost shouted. “Have you heard the story of Agent Mallen? It drove him insane. He was a monster! He, he shot lighting from his fingers, he blew fire out of his mouth, and he almost killed Tony Stark, Black Widow, even Nick Fury! I heard Iron Man had to blow his head off just to stop him!”

“I’m sure that’s an exaggeration.” Acacia said, taking a syringe and inserting it into the vial. “Agent Mallen was a worst case scenario. The Extremis rewrites your biology, undoes you and recreates you. It’s a second chance at life that’ll make you physically superior than you were before. That’s exactly what she needs.” Acacia took a small dose of Extremis into the syringe. “A new beginning.”

“Captain, the risks far outweigh the benefits. And the fact that she’s already dead…”

“We’re out of options.” Acacia replied, pulling up Eileen’s sleeve. “I love Eileen like a sister, and I’m not going to lose her, not today.” With that, Acacia stuck the needle into Eileen’s shoulder and emptied the Extremis into her bloodstream. Suddenly Eileen’s body jerked violently. Both Becket and Acacia jumped back. Eileen continued to jerk, and then she threw up a black and red goo substance. Becket watched in disgust.

“What’s going on?” He asked, horror in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, that’s supposed to happen.” Acacia said. The goo then wrapped around Eileen, encasing her in a black and red cocoon. After that, nothing.

“Did it work?” Becket asked.

“Time will tell.” Acacia replied. Suddenly she heard footsteps. “Josh,” She said to herself. She handed Becket the Extremis. “Put it back where you found it, and Director Westbrook never hears of this, understood?”

“I, uh…”

“Understood!”

“Yes ma’am.” Becket quickly left the room and Acacia covered Eileen’s cocoon with a blanket, just as Josh entered. He looked to see the blanket over Eileen.

“Why is she covered like that?” He asked.

“I just couldn’t bear to see her like she was.” Acacia regretfully lied. Josh nodded.

“I understand.” He said. “Fury’s not happy, and neither am I. Sitting here isn’t bringing Eileen back, and it’s not bringing her killer to justice. So suit up, we’re going after Julian. Now.” Acacia nodded and got up.

After they grabbed their gear and weapons, Josh and Acacia set off. They exited Mother Egg to find fire trucks and police everywhere. Josh spotted Natasha Romanov, aka the Black Widow on a nearby roof, most likely getting a damage assessment for Fury. He kept walking.

“Do you know where he is?” Acacia asked as they made their way through the chaos.

“If I know Julian, he’s gonna be close by, waiting for me.” He replied. Acacia looked at him.

“What the deal with you two anyways.”

“Old friends drifted apart.” Josh said. “Nothing more than that.” Acacia nodded and continued. After a few more minutes of walking, Josh held up his fist, signaling Acacia to stop.

“What’s up?” She asked. Josh pointed to the ground. Lying there was a cracked egg, the yolk spilling onto the ground.

“It’s a sign.” Josh said, looking up to see they had arrived at a power plant. They both entered. “Split up.” Josh said. Acacia nodded and broke off.

“Got rid of the rookie.” Julian said, emerging from the shadows. “Smart move.”

“She’s not a rookie.” Josh replied, taking out the Thwip Blaster. “I just didn’t want her to kill you before I asked why.”

“I already told you why.” Julian said. “Cause it was too easy.”

“Eileen didn’t have to die Julian!” Josh shouted. Julian looked shocked to hear this.

“Old rainbow eyes kicked it?” He asked. Then he looked down and smiled. “I would have liked to see that.” At that point Josh had heard enough. He switched the Thwip Blaster to Ball and assaulted Julian with a string of web balls. Julian was hit a few times, but then he pressed a button on his wrist activating a holographic shield and deflecting Josh’s attack. Josh then set it to Strand and fired a web at the ceiling. He used it to swing across the room and kick Julian to the ground.

Meanwhile Acacia made her way through a room full of large tesla coils constantly generating electricity. Suddenly she stopped. She spun around to see Tanner standing there.

“Who the shell are you?” She asked.

“We are Venom.” He replied, as the symbiote encompassed his body and he roared loudly. Acacia’s eyes widened in fear. She took out a Repulsor Blaster and began to fire. Venom jumped onto the wall and dodged all of Acacia’s blasts. The he flipped off of the wall and kicked Acacia into a tesla coil. Acacia screamed as she was electrocuted and fell to the ground. Venom laughed.

“That was so easy it was funny!” He shouted. But Acacia stood up.

“Not… out… yet…” She replied, pulling out a collapsible bow staff.

“Ugh, you eggheads don’t die easy, I’ll give you that.” Venom replied. Acacia looked up at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“What, you didn’t get the memo?” He replied. “I’m the one that killed Eileen.” Acacia dropped the bow staff.

“What…”

“Yeah, it was me. And I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty fun.” Acacia clenched her fists. “When I stabbed her, you should have seen the look on her face! I think I heard her begging ‘no Tanner, please stop, I can’t take it anymore’. Pathetic.” Acacia screamed, tears in her eyes, and charged at Venom.

Agent Becket walked into the medical bay, dragging a female agent with him by the arm.

“Come on Allyson!” He said, pulling her. “You have to see this.”

“Beck, I don’t think we should be in here,” Agent Allyson Whitcomb replied. “Director Westbrook will fire us for sure!”

“But Allyson, this is like, the freakiest thing you’ll ever see.” He said, grabbing the sheet covering Eileen.

“Beck, don’t!” She shouted, but Agent Becket ripped the sheet away. Allyson buried her face in her hands.

“I take back what I just said. Director Westbrook is going to kill us! Then he’ll fire us!”

“That makes no chronological sense.” Agent Becket replied. “Will you just look at this!”

“I don’t want to see a corpse Beck, that stuff makes me sick…”

“No, look!” Allyson slowly moved her hands to see the giant black and red cocoon Eileen was wrapped in.

“Whoa…” She said.

“Freaky right?”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know, she threw up, and it just covered her body…”

“Ew! Beck!”

“Well you asked!” Suddenly the cocoon began to shake. Allyson screamed and hid behind Agent Becket. It shook and shook until finally Eileen’s arm punched through! She grasped both sides and pulled it open. She slowly sat up and looked around. Allyson screamed and ran out of the room.

“Ew! Ew! Ew!” She shouted all the way down the hall. Agent Becket drew his gun.

“Don’t move zombie!” He shouted. Eileen looked at him. Agent Becket’s hands shook, and he dropped the gun, running right behind Allyson, shouting “Zombie! Zombie! Zombie!” Eileen looked at her hands. Then she felt around her stomach and back where Tanner’s blade pierced her and felt… nothing. She looked up and smiled.

“I’m alive.” She said.

To Be Continued...

Remember to leave questions and comments so that I can address them in the Q&A this Thursday, September 11! Check and see if your question gets answered! And look for Episode 7: Extremis, the next day September 12!