E.G.G Episode 62: Rematch

AND THERE CAME A DAY, A DAY UNLIKE ANY OTHER. A DAY WHERE THREE FRIENDS HAD DEALT WITH THE IMPENDING DANGER AT THEIR DOORSTEP, AND FINALLY HAD THE TIME TO DO WHAT THEY DO BEST. ON THAT DAY, E.G.G STARTED OVER.

Josh, Acacia, and Eileen were on top of the world. They got a new base, new gadgets, new friends, and everything was going great... until Josh got arrested! Unbeknownst to them, the Masters of Doom came out of hiding with a plot to take down E.G.G. Using her shape shifting abilities, Ailemara posed as Josh and robbed several banks, finally drawing E.G.G out for a long awaited rematch.

Click here to read E.G.G Episode 61: The S.W.O.R.D, the S.H.I.E.L.D, and the E.G.G

Click here to read Masters of Doom Episode 1: The Plan

-Rematch-

Eileen and Acacia rushed into the detention center on the S.W.O.R.D Peak space station. The cells were empty for the most part, and the few that were occupied contained strange alien creatures. They ran down to the end where Josh was sitting in a cell, hugging his knees.

“Josh!” They exclaimed. He sat up.

“Guys!” He ran forward and slammed against the invisible electric force field holding him in. “Ouch! Okay, they really need to mark where that thing begins and ends, that’s like, the third time today!”

“Are you okay?” Eileen asked.

“Oh, yeah, no, everything’s fine, you know, except for the fact that I’M IN JAIL!!!!”

“Okay calm down,” Acacia said. “We’ll get you out.”

“Great! Eileen, if you just use a little Extremis power…”

“What? Oh no, we’re not gonna break you out!” Eileen clarified.

“Why not!” Josh complained.

“Um, because as Director of E.G.G, I have a responsibility to uphold the…”

“Oh, blah, blah, blah! Whatever! Fine! But if you aren’t gonna spring me, how am I gonna get out!”

“Due process?” Acacia suggested. Josh exhaled deeply.

“I hate you both.”

“Not a wise idea Mr. Westbrook.” Nick Fury said, walking into the room with Kyle and Agent Brand. “They’re your best shot out of here.”

“Fury!” Josh shouted. “I don’t know what this game is, but I promise, when I get out, I’m gonna steal so many pens from the Helicarrier…”

“I think he’s confessing to his next crime.” Kyle said.

“And you…” Josh growled. “Don’t think I forgot who slammed me against the wall and slapped the cuffs on me! I don’t care how many Spider-Man toys you buy me, from this point on consider us back to square one! Rice!”

“Why is he here Director Fury?” Eileen asked.

“Glad you asked.” Fury said, taking out a holographic video projector. “We have surveillance footage of Mr. Westbrook robbing a total of three banks using unregistered weapons technology.”

“Josh!” Acacia exclaimed.

“I… that is not me! I don’t know who it is, but it isn’t me! When were these videos taken?”

“Today.” Fury replied. Josh’s jaw dropped.

“You’re kidding me right!” He shouted. “I was with you the whole shell shocking time! How could I have possibly robbed three banks!”

“We don’t know how you did it, but you’re staying in here until we get to the bottom of this.”

“No! Come on, this is ridiculous! You believe me, don’t you Abs?”

“I don’t associate myself with criminals.” Brand replied. “And he can’t stay here for long Director Fury. These cells are for extraterrestrial criminals. If he’s not cleared within the next ten hours, I’m afraid he’s going to need to be transferred to the Raft.”

“The Vault!?!?” Josh fearfully shouted. “The super villain prison! Oh no, no, no, no, no, I can’t go to the Vault! They’ve got people like Whiplash and Blizzard in there! Not to mention the Mandarin, who’s probably peeved at me for putting him away! I’m chump change to those guys! Without my gadgets I won’t last the night! They’ll use me as a toilet brush!”

“I’m sorry.” Brand replied.

“We’ll look into the matter in good time.” Fury replied, walking off.

“Good time! I have ten hours!” Josh yelled.

“And I have a worldwide peacekeeping organization to run.” Fury replied. “Or did you think you were the only thing on my to-do list?” He turned and left with Kyle and Brand. Josh sank to the ground.

“This is a disaster.” He said.

“Don’t worry Josh, we’ll clear your name!” Acacia said.

“Oh thank you!” Josh replied.

“Well, you can Acacia.” Eileen said. “As Director of E.G.G, it is my duty to ensure that…”

“We get it Eileen!” Josh shouted. “But please, can you at least make an effort?”

“Of course.” Eileen said.

“Great, thank you. Oh, and when you find this imposter, make sure you save him for me.” Josh cracked his knuckles, the punched the force field on accident. “Oooowwwwiiiiieeee!” He shouted, jumping up and down and sucking his knuckles.

“It really is hard to believe he used to lead us.” Acacia said quietly to Eileen.

“It is, isn’t it?” She agreed, as they both turned and left.

Acacia sat in the Humpty Dumpty Hall on one of the many computers as various agents worked around on inventions of their own. She was reviewing the surveillance footage from the bank.

“Okay…” She said, clicking on the video. ‘Josh’ kicked the doors open and aimed his left glove at the camera, taking it out immediately. “Here’s the first robbery, pretty professional, first thing he goes for is the camera.” She clicked and switched to a different angle, where he was seen emerging from the vault. “Missed this one, but it’s too far to get a good…” Suddenly, just before ‘Josh’ was out of frame, he disappeared. “The shell…” Acacia said, rewinding. She slowed it down. “Looks like he’s going… into the wall? Gah, too far off frame.” She loaded up the second robbery.

“Shouldn’t I have access to S.H.I.E.L.D satellites? Heck, aren’t I on a satellite! Or does the Peak not have the satellite app installed yet? Oh well, gotta focus.” She saw ‘Josh’ burst through the windows and take out the cameras. She switched angles, but got nothing. “Ah, he hit all of them this time. What the shell is he using?” She went to the third robbery and saw the wall crumble, as ‘Josh’ walked through the hole. “Wait, what? What kind of tech is this guy rockin?” He ran to counter and jumped over. “Ah forgot the cameras this time! Now I got you…” He used his left glove and everyone fell to the floor, covering their ears. “Must be some sort of sonic weapon…” She saw him toss out a small ball and blow a hole in the safe. “No clue what that is…” A security guard rushed up, but ‘Josh’ used his right glove and the guard began to float in the air. “Anti-grav? Now I’m really curious.” He then looked at the camera and shot it with the left glove.

“Shoot!” Acacia said, banging the table. “Alright, let’s see if I can’t find where you’re headed next…” She pulled up a map of the city and marked the banks that had been hit. Her eyes widened. “Are you serious… he’s just going in a straight line! This almost smells like a trap…” She clicked on the next bank in line. “Big Bucks Banking…” She said, pulling up a S.H.I.E.L.D screen and typing in her login.

“Access granted.” The computer chimed. She clicked on an icon of a satellite, and a loading bar came on the screen. “S.H.I.E.L.D satellite surveillance now loading.”

“No way, sweet!” Acacia said. The computer loaded up and soon Acacia was looking at a live feed of the Earth. “I feel like big brother, or should I say big sister!” She typed in Big Bucks Banking, and in seconds the image honed in on the bank. “Alright, now let’s see you… What the!” She saw ‘Josh’ run through the wall and into the back alley. “Okay, this is all a little too weird. Sonic disrupters, anti-gravity tech, very powerful little ball thingys and an imposter that can phase through walls! Who are we dealing with!” Acacia paused. She thought for a minute. “Ooooohhhhh… Holy shell!” She got up and ran for the Inner Shell.

Acacia and Eileen walked down the halls of the Peak space station. Eileen was pulling on her gloves and Acacia snapping two metal cuffs to her wrists.

“You sure it’s the Masters of Doom?” Eileen asked.

“Well, who else could it be?” Acacia replied. “I’m glad it’s them too, I’ve been itching to test my new regulators and I can’t think of any other jerks I’d rather pound on than them.”

“What are those exactly?” Eileen asked.

“Just to help me control how much fire I put out and which direction it goes.” She said, as a small light on each cuff lit up red. “Good to go!”

“Go where?” Agent Brand asked, standing in the doorway.

“Agent Brand, Josh was framed,” Eileen explained. “By some very dangerous people. We have a hit on where they’re about to go next and can’t miss an opportunity to stop them. With your permission, we’d like to use the teleporter.”

“You could…” Brand said. “Or you could follow me.” Brand turned and walked out of the hall. Eileen looked at Acacia, who shrugged as they followed Brand. She walked into a hanger filled with all kinds of spacecraft. She walked over to the wall and pressed a button. Suddenly, a portion of the floor opened up, and a sleek silver space cruiser with the E.G.G logo on it emerged from beneath. It had two wings and thrusters in the back, along with a window stretched across the front and four visible seats.

“Is this a… space ship!” Acacia excitedly shouted.

“The Egg Starfighter.” Brand said. “I thought you’d like it.”

“Agent Brand, if you weren’t a woman, I’d kiss you right now!” Acacia said. “You know what? Screw it, I’ll kiss you anyways!”

“Please don’t.” Brand said, keeping her at an arm’s length.

“Let’s go Acacia,” Eileen said, opening the cockpit and hopping in. “We’ve gotta clear Josh’s name!” The Egg Starfighter lifted vertically, then zoomed forward, out of the Peak and towards Earth.

Josh was chipping at the wall in his cell when James approached him.

“Hey Josh.” He said.

“What do you want Collins?” He asked. “I’m busy rotting in prison. And wasn’t a S.W.O.R.D agent supposed to be guarding me anyhow?”

“Well, Agent Brand sent someone down here, but I relieved him of his duties.”

“Huh?”

“I’m standing in for him.”

“Oh, okay.”

“… I knocked him unconscious.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m busting you out!”

“OH!” Josh happily stood up. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Ugh,” James said, taking out a remote looking device from 2099. “Okay, now stand back.” Josh backed up as James punched in some buttons and the control panel blew out, lowering the force field.

“Finally.” Josh said, cracking his neck.

“Here,” James said, tossing him the Signal. “The Masters of Doom are behind all this. Eileen and Acacia are already confronting them.”

“Ah, I hate those guys!” Josh said, putting the Signal on his wrist. “Come on, we gotta get to that teleporter.” He and James ran out of the cells and down the halls.

“What the…” A S.W.O.R.D agent said as the two skidded to a halt. “Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!” James quickly blasted him with a stun blaster.

“Alright, we need to hurry.” James said.

“Right…” Josh said, tapping the Signal.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… It’s just a bit… busted…”

“Seriously!”

“I’m working out the bugs okay!” They rounded the corners, James stunning all the agents that tried to stop them. They finally made their way onto the bridge of the Peak, only to find Agent Kyle Rice standing in front of the teleporter, holding his bow staff by his side.

“Get back to your cell Captain.” He said, spinning the staff. “Or this gets ugly.”

“James, power up that teleporter.” Josh said.

“Uh, don’t you think I should…” James began.

“No. This jerk is mine.” Josh made his way towards Kyle. Kyle spun his staff and whacked Josh. Josh slid across the floor and back tumbled up, running back at Kyle. James tapped at the control panel as Kyle smacked Josh this way and that with the staff. Josh finally caught the staff, only for Kyle to kick him in the leg.

“Ahhh!” Josh squealed as he fell. Kyle twisted the staff and pinned Josh down by his chest.

“Sloppy.” He said. “Tell me, do you even know how to fight?”

“Yeah, I know how to fight dirty!” Josh exclaimed. Alerted, Kyle quickly turned as the Joshinator armor hit him from behind and attached itself Josh. At that moment James powered up the teleporter.

“Come on!” He said, jumping through. Josh ran backwards, saluted Kyle, and fell through the teleporter, just as it powered down. Kyle stood up and dusted himself off.

“Oh no, they got away.” He said sarcastically. “Well darn, guess there’s no stopping them now.” He collapsed his staff and walked off.

On Earth, the Egg Starfighter landed on a roof just across the street from a local bank. Eileen and Acacia got out and made their way to the entrance, where police officers were pulling up.

“Are we too late?” Acacia asked. They walked over to see the bank manager talking to the police officers. He looked up and noticed them.

“Oh no, there’s more of you!” He complained.

“What are you talking about?” Eileen asked.

“The guy that just made away with the money was wearing the same uniform!” The manager shouted.

“Is that so?” The officer asked, going for his gun.

“No,” Acacia began. “You got it all wrong, you see…” Suddenly there was an enormous sonic blast that blew everything back. Eileen and Acacia tumbled down the street as squad cars flipped and officers flew through the air. Eileen sat up slowly, holding her head. She looked towards the destruction to see the Masters of Doom walk through the fire. Scramble, Gravity Master, Gyro Man, and Ailemara all made their way towards them.

“Aw shell…” Acacia said, as she and Eileen stood up.

“Time for a rematch.” Scramble said, powering up his gloves.

“Couldn’t agree more.” Eileen said. She and Acacia charged at the Masters of Doom. Eileen took out a stack of Mon Ami’s and tossed them, as they exploded in front of the four villains.

“Ah!” They all screamed, caught off guard by the explosions. Acacia then shot out a blast of fire and, using her regulators, surrounded them in a circle.

“Watch this.” Gyro Man said, rolling out a mini gyro and sucking all the oxygen out of the fire trap, putting it out.

“Really!” Acacia said. Gravity Master looked up at the Egg Starfighter.

“Nice jet.” He said, holding out his hands. Shifting the gravity, he effortlessly lifted the ship into the air and hurled it at them.

“Get down!” Eileen shouted as she and Acacia took cover, the jet crashing down around them. Ailemara lit her arms on fire.

“Grah!” She screamed, slamming the ground and launching a stream of fire at them. Acacia put up a force field and the fire split around her and Eileen.

“Hey, not to tell you how to do your job or anything…” Acacia groaned under the strain. “But you might wanna make with the lightning.”

“Oh, Acacia, I didn’t tell you.” Eileen said. “Miguel’s mutant draining cocktail did more to me than I thought…”

“Like what?”

“Like… It took all my powers. My mutant powers, and my Extremis ones.” Acacia looked at her.

“So wait, you’re just… normal?” Just then the force field shattered. Gyro Man hurled two mini gyros that both created one big black hole and began to draw Eileen and Acacia in.

“Whoa!” Eileen screamed, shooting a Thwip Blast to the ground as Acacia grabbed her legs. Gravity Master held out his hand, and the piece of the ground the web was attached to broke off. “NO!” Eileen screamed as Acacia slammed her chest and they both vanished with a bamf. In seconds the reappeared behind the Masters of Doom and the black holes faded away.

“I… I think we got ‘em!” Gyro Man exclaimed.

“At last.” Scramble said. “Two down, one to go.”

“You fools!” Ailemara shouted. “They’re right behind us!” They all turned as Eileen unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from the Lightstream’s Kiss.

“Guess I still got some power!” She happily exclaimed as the Masters of Doom dove for cover.

“Mara, get the drop on them!” Scramble ordered as she nodded and phased into the ground. Scramble peeked up and shot a sonic blast as Gyro Man tossed out mini gyros. Ailemara came out of the ground behind Eileen and was about to grab her when Acacia tackled her to ground.

“I’m so sick of you!” Acacia growled. “Why are you even still here? Any Skrull that’s not dead is being held by S.H.I.E.L.D! You’re literally the last of your kind! Your invasion failed, and you won’t have this world! Not now! Not ever! I don’t care how it was written!”

“Liar!” Ailemara screamed, shooting fire out of her hands, causing Acacia to roll off of her. Gravity Master peeked out, then ducked back down as the stream of lightning barely missed him.

“I’m ending this!” He shouted. He lifted himself, Scramble, and Gyro Man into the air.

“What are you doin’ man!” Scramble shouted.

“Get her from above! Now!” Gravity Master replied. Eileen, alerted, tried to turn the gun upward, but had little control over the immense blast.

“I got her.” Scramble said, as his gauntlets began to vibrate. Just then a beam of blue light rained down from the sky, and Josh leapt out, tackling Scramble out of the air.

“What?” Gravity Master asked as James flew out on his jet pack and kicked Gravity Master. “Aaahhhh!” He screamed as he hit a building. With the gravitational field down, Gyro Man had nothing to keep him airborne and began to fall.

“Craaaaaaaaaaaaappppppp!!!!!!” He screamed as he threw a mini gyro. It hit the ground and exploded into a green goo, which he splashed down into. Josh slid with Scramble and threw him into the wall.

“Nice armor!” Eileen said. “What’s that one do?”

“Nothing ‘till I get an All 4 One!” Josh called as Eileen tossed him one. He caught it and slammed it into his chest. His armor began to glow, and his arms were covered in orange rocky armor. Scramble was getting up when Josh lit one of his arms on fire and stretched it out to punch him across the street.

“Dude!” He said, looking at Ailemara. “I just knocked off your Super Skrull program without even trying!” He flexed. “In my new Fantastic Armor!”

“Can you do this?” She asked, running and phasing through him.

“Gyah!” Josh shouted, falling to the ground and patting himself down. “That was so freaking weird!”

“Want me to do it again?” She asked. She began to run towards him when James slammed into her and took her into a wall. Gyro Man stood up, and Josh looked over at him.

“Hey, Gyro Man!” He called. “Where’s your stupid ball?”

“You want it?” He took a mini gyro between his hands and expanded it, then rolled it at Josh like a bowling ball. “Eat it!” As it rolled, it became increasingly bigger.

“Shellshock it all!” Josh shouted. He turned to run but was pulled into the rings. “Why… oof… ow… does this always… gah… urk… happen to me!” Acacia sat up to see the giant rolling ball. She shot a large sphere of fire and wrapped the ball inside. The rings melted and ball slid to a stop. Gravity Master sat up, rubbing his head, looking to see he was stuck in a wall.

“Okay then,” He said. He lifted his arms, and soon, cars, trees, and fire hydrants were ripped from the ground and all, along with Eileen, slammed into the wall. Gravity Master stood horizontally as if the wall were the ground. Eileen looked up at him as he kicked a car out of the way and made his way towards her. “You may be a hero, but you’re no wall crawler.”

“Actually…” Suddenly four mechanic spider legs ejected from Eileen’s back and she began to scale the wall.

“What the!” He shouted. She punched him twice, but he blocked the third and kicked her. She fell back but was caught by the legs. She crawled forward and grabbed him by the arms. They both pushed against each other, but then saw something in the window reflection. They pushed back off of each other as a car, still being affected by the shift in gravity, slammed between them.

Scramble stood up, and looked to see James pounding away at Ailemara. He blasted James off of her and helped her up. She wiped blood off of her lip.

“We’re losing.” She growled. Scramble looked.

“No, not again… NOT THIS TIME!” He slammed his vest and was covered in green lightning. “AAAAAHHHHH!!!!” He screamed.

“What are you doing?” Ailemara asked, backing up.

“Overloading the Scramble armor! If we can’t win, no one can!” Acacia punched Gyro Man and looked to see Scramble glowing.

“Oh no!” She exclaimed. She took out a Mon Ami, jumped, slid, and threw it at him. It exploded on contact, and sent Scramble flying.

“Gah!” He shouted, hitting the wall. The armor began to spark. “Aw man, it’s goin’ critical.”

“We’ve got to- gah!” Ailemara was hit from behind, as Josh became visible again. He looked at Scramble.

“That’s not good…” He said, as his visor came over his face. “Jocasta, what’s happening to him?”

“His sonic technology has entered an uncontrollable overload reaction.” She replied. “He will detonate in seconds.”

“Blast radius?”

“Four miles.” Josh stretched his arms out and ripped the vest and gloves off of Scramble. His arm covered in rock, he pitched it high into the sky. He formed a fire ball on his hands, and as he was aiming, Scramble tackled him.

“I’m through losing to you Westbrook!” He yelled, pounding Josh’s face. “You hear me? Through!”

“MOVE!” Josh shouted, punching him across the face and cracking his mask. Josh braced his arm, shot the fire ball, and blew up the Scramble tech. The wave from the explosion blew everyone back. Eileen and Gravity Master hit the ground. There was a huge flash of light, and then, nothing.

Minutes later, Josh sat up and shook his head. He looked to see Scramble lying unconscious.

“Who are you?” He asked, reaching for his mask. Then he was kicked by Ailemara.

“Let’s go!” She shouted as Gyro Man threw a mini gyro, which expanded into a full Gyro Ball. Ailemara picked up Scramble and she and Gravity Master jumped in as Gyro Man rolled them away from the battle, and the Masters of Doom fled the scene. Josh sighed and looked to see James, Eileen, and Acacia slowly coming to.

The four agents of E.G.G teleported onto the bridge of the Peak, and were they were met by Nick Fury, Kyle, and Agent Brand.

“Director Wuthrich.” Fury said. “You want to explain what just happened downtown?”

“I take full responsibility and accept disciplinary action sir.” She said.

“Not necessary.” Fury replied. He turned to Josh. “Well, Captain Westbrook, looks like your name is clear.”

“Thank you!” Josh shouted.

“The Masters of Doom got away though.” Acacia said.

“They’ve made themselves known as a force to be reckoned with.” Fury said. “But we’ll catch them, in time.” Kyle approached Josh and held out hand.

“Hey, no hard feelings, huh.” He said.

“Psh.” Josh said, knocking his arm away and walking past him. “Hey Abs, I think I wanna work out with you from now on.”

“Why’s that?” She asked.

“I could benefit from some combat training.” He replied. She smiled and nodded.

“Let’s go then.” They walked off, followed by Eileen, Acacia and James. Kyle sighed.

“If only he knew it was my plan that cleared his name.” he said to Fury.

“That was pretty smart.” Fury replied. “Arresting Westbrook even though we knew he was innocent. Made it personal for E.G.G, they worked twice as hard to close in on the Masters of Doom.”

“In my long time of observing them, I realized that it’s got to be personal for them to get involved.” Kyle said. “Otherwise the Masters of Doom would’ve been running rampant for months. Even with the Skrull impersonating Josh.”

“I guess adding you to this team was a good call.” Fury replied.

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’m gonna win Westbrook back over with another toy.” Fury smiled and patted Kyle’s back.

“You’ll think of something.” He moved towards the teleporter. “You’re good, right? You got this?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Fury teleported away, and Kyle mad his way back to E.G.G Station.

Tune in tomorrow to see how the Masters of Doom reel from this crushing failure! And don't miss an all new episode of E.G.G next week!