Chapter 7: Side Ed-fects
It was another busy day of the citizens of Peach Creek. At an old abandoned apartment building, a couple of construction workers are seen working around. One of them is inside a crane with a wrecking ball on it, ready to knock the building down.
"Can't believe they actually pay me for wrecking stuff. I love this job!" the worker cheerfully exclaimed as he sent the wrecking ball crashing onto a part of the old building, making a huge hole on it.
After he moved the ball out of the hole, lots of rubble fell down and one could actually see the inside of the building, which was just as messy and deteriorated as one would assume just by looking at its exterior. However, the place wasn't quite abandoned completely, as a weird bluish-skinned looking man in ragged clothes with dark eyes, long greasy black hair inside his gray hoodie and a goatee, reared out from the hole, glaring at the workers who were bulldozing his place. One of the workers seemed to notice him and signaled his partner to stop his wrecking ball before it crushed the man.
"Get out of our home" the blue-skinned man growled in a quiet, yet audibly threatening tone. There were cockroaches actually walking over his body, but the man didn't seem to faze at this, not even an inch of his body tensed up at the crawling bugs, looking quite used to them and very weirdly…at peace with them.
The construction workers stopped and looked at the man, thinking he was some crazy bum who was occupying the building. "Yeah? I don't think so, buddy. This place was ordered to be torn down by Mayor Berner himself, we have our orders and the demolition contract, we are being paid by the clock, so I'm afraid you can't do much about that now" the worker explained the blue hobo as he stepped out of the crane and casually leaned against it.
"Yeah, this place is coming down whether you want it or not, so get out or be gone" the worker's partner said.
The man clenched his teeth with irritation and anger after hearing this, these people, they are all the same! Always laughing and mocking him, but not his…friends, they were always there for him, since he was a small child. They gave him so much, now it was time to return the favor, he would get rid of the TRUE pests that have plagued the world. He furiously opened his arms and a swarm of bugs emerged from each of his sleeves. The worker was in pure shock at seeing this and, after seeing his partner flee in terror, tried to leap out of the crane and run away too, but the bugs caught him midair. There were so many they were actually able to hold him and even carry him, bringing him face to face with the supposed 'tramp'.
"Get them off me!" the construction worker pleaded in horror as he was trapped by the bug swarm. They were everywhere, touching him, crawling on him, some were even on his face! He prayed to God that none of them enter his body.
"If you think that's bad, wait till you see what's in store…" the man chuckled evilly, he loved the face of terror the captured worker had on his face. It was a look every single person in this wretched city will soon have, he will make sure of that, and will relish that look greatly.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city:
A hot rod car is furiously speeding through the streets, it's ferocious exhaustions tubes roars could be heard from long distances. The thug inside fleeing after just committing a robbery at a near bookmarket. "Haha! They'll never get me!" the thug laughed as he speeded up, confident that he won't be caught. His blood-red devil could reach up to 305 KM/H, and none of the pig's pens with wheels could hope to reach his speeds!
Behind him and in hot pursue is a homemade scooter, seemingly composed of garbage and common objects, driven by two familiar looking boys. One is tall and wears a green jacket and a striped t-shirt, the other is less tall and more skinny, and wears an orange shirt and a black beanie hat on his head.
"We'll never get him!" Ed lamented as he saw the criminal's car speed up and get away from them.
"Don't be so sure, Ed. Look!" Double D pointed out as a black motorcycle, with yellow stripes that seemed like circuitry over it, passed them at a higher speed. The motorcycle also had a big yellow circle at the front, functioning as its eye, and an hourglass symbol in between both wheels.
Ed knew exactly what that meant, and smiled wildly at the sight!
The motorcycle dodged a few cars before going to the sidewalk, dodging the pedestrians as it tried to catch up to the car. "Watch out! I'm coming! Give away! HONK-HONK! Move your child away sir! Run away, cat! Who drives that anymore nowadays!" a robot voice came from the vehicle, the yellow circle on its front flashing whenever it spoke.
The criminal tried to cut through the traffic, dodging the passing cars by. Just as the motorcycle was about to catch up, a car-transporting semi got in between, however the sentient vehicle decided to get through by using the back of the truck as a ramp, jumping over it in the most videogame style possible and getting just behind the thug's car.
Upon noticing this, the criminal speeded up again, barely managing to pass an intersection before the traffic light went green, an RV coming through from the opposite street and blocking the motorcycle's path, though it again managed to pass through thanks to its quick moves, tipping over its side and slipping under the bigger vehicle.
"Save!" the robotic voice exclaimed as it came from under the RV, managing to catch up with the criminal, who was shocked to see a motorcycle with no one on it chasing after him, and it could talk too! The motorcycle then shot a yellow laser blast at the thug's car, blowing up part of its trunk and spilling the money he'd stolen previously all over the street. "NO! COME ON!" the thug cried out with frustration and a bit of sadness, that was his best score yet!
"Man, some people just can't hang onto their money!" the robotic voice exclaimed, he would be one to know about that the best. Then the motorcycle positioned next to the thug's car just as a bright yellow spike, seemingly made out of the vehicle's own energy, came from its wheel and rammed hard into the tire of the criminal's car, causing him to crash. The thug was just recovering when he noticed the motorcycle positioned next to him. "Ah! No way! A ghost motorcycle!" the criminal exclaimed in disbelief as he saw that in fact no one was riding on it!
The Upgraded cycle then spewed exhaust into the criminal's face, making him cough and holding him in place as the police arrived, at the point where the 'ghost' vehicle drove away, leaving the thug to be arrested. The motorcycle went around the corner, parking behind an ice cream truck as Upgrade de-merged from the vehicle and noticed the truck with his infra-vision, that had an advert of the new jawbreaker-flavored ice cream on it. Jawbreakers and ice cream, two things that were amazing on their own, but combined, Upgrade would have drooled if he had a mouth.
"Well, I did just nab the bad guy…" Upgrade muttered to himself, as if searching for approbation while he lifted up the truck's rear door. He had learned his lesson about looking after compensations for doing his superhero duty, but today was a really hot day and this opportunity was too good to pass. "Now we're talking!" the technological alien exclaimed as he saw all the boxes full of delicious ice cream in the truck, his single eye frowning like he was grinning despite not having a mouth.
Meanwhile, the police had arrested the thug Upgrade just caught. "I keep telling you, there was no one on the motorcycle!" the handcuffed criminal repeated at the police men, who rolled their eyes and continued to push him to their car, not buying his story about a 'ghost motorcycle' at all. The two boys who'd been previously chasing after the criminal were now watching the scene from a far corner with satisfied looks, making sure he was apprehended.
"I am glad we were able to catch this wrongdoer" Double D commented brightly as he saw the police take the criminal away, before turning to look at his friend. "Hey Ed, where's Eddy at?" he asked, having not seen his friend return yet despite enough time passing for him to revert back into his regular self.
"Ice cream!" Ed simply pointed at the nearby ice cream truck, which had the motorcycle Upgrade had merged with parked next to it. Double D, however, did not see this.
"Well, I guess there is enough time for us to get some frosty dessert, but first we need to find Eddy-" Double D began to say before Ed rushed to the ice cream truck and lifted its rear door open.
"Found him!" the tallest Ed pointed inside.
Double D peaked in to see that in fact Eddy was shockingly inside the truck, having snot hanging from his nostrils and looking extremely pale as he tried to eat the remains of another jawbreaker-flavored ice cream.
"H-He-Hey g-guys" Eddy saluted while shivering, before sneezing.
Later on:
"ACHU!" Eddy sneezed again as he laid on his bed, covered in his sheets, an ice bag on top of his head and a thermometer in his mouth. "Man, this stinks! Whoever gets sick in summer?" he complained, he just felt like a mess right now.
"I don't want to chastise you or anything Eddy, but people who eat inside an ice cream truck sure do" Double D stated, his face covered by a hospital mask and sterile gloves in his hands as he tended on his sick friend.
"Double D, I think an outer space parasite-bug has laid eggs inside Eddy's head like in my comic 'The pretender from across the stars'!" Ed began to ramble before being cut off by Eddy.
"S-Shut it lumphe-AH-AH-ACHU!" Eddy tried to say but sneezed halfway through.
"I'm sure it's just a common summer cold, Ed. What Eddy needs is a bit of rest and some TLC. Let's see… cold tablets, decongestant, cough-suppressant…" Double D opened a medical kit and began to pull out various medical supplies, putting them over Eddy's nightstand. Eddy appreciated the gesture, but wasn't exactly a fan of pills and that kind of stuff.
"Eh, I don't need all that junk, Sockhead. Just tell Ed to get me some weird-flavored shake from that Smoothie's place" Eddy said as he massaged his sore throat. "But NOT THE GUAVA-GUMBALL-whatever that shake was Ed!"
"Do not worry, Eddy. This stinkweed honey will cover the entire area of your esophagus" the smartest Ed assured as he gave his sick friend a small jar containing the honey. Eddy took out the lid to open it and smelled inside, a disgusting stench coming out of it.
"Ugh! This smells worse than Ed's feet!" Eddy complained, it smelled almost as terrible as whatever the Kankers feed him when he got stuck as Grey Matter. Almost.
"Why, thanks Eddy" the smelly Ed mistook it as a compliment.
"What's with the weird mask, Sockhead?" Eddy asked as he looked at his friend.
"That one is actually for my own protection, Eddy. You see, a cold at any rate can be quite contagious and once a bug like that gets out, there's no stopping it" Double D explained.
"Why don't we lock Eddy in the basement until he gets better, like my parents did with me?" Ed innocently asked, to which both his friends looked at him with concern.
"Actually Ed, I think a bit of rest watching television would be better" Double D said as he turned on the TV in Eddy's room, which had the news on in case some emergency happened. "Oh look, Mayor Berner is giving a speech."
On the TV, Mayor Berner was in fact at a town hall meeting. "Dear ladies and gentlemen of Peach Creek, it is with my greatest honor and gratitude, I've come here today to thank everyone for your continuous support of the new redevelopment program for our beloved city, so that we can improve it, as well as our lives. Truly, it is a dream come true-" the mayor said through a microphone, not noticing there was a wasp standing on it, before being interrupted by a surprise arrival.
"It's going to be more like a nightmare, mayor…" a voice suddenly said and everyone turned around to see the blue-skinned man from earlier, being carried over in the air by a swarm of wasps. His eyes glowed green and suddenly more and more wasps started to come out of nowhere, scaring off the crowd of people, who started to run frantically as the wasps began to attack and sting them.
"You won't destroy our home! We won't let you!" the man threatened as he pointed at Mayor Berner.
The mayor was confused, before it clicked. "Wait, I know who you are, you're that nut job those construction workers talked about, the one that wouldn't leave!" he realized.
"Name's Clancy, but I'm glad I made an impression" the man, named Clancy, cackled as his eyes glowed green again, a cloud of wasps surrounding Mayor Berner, who started screaming as the wasps lifted him up and carried him in the air.
"No, wait! Put me down, please! What are you doing?! Mayor Berner pleaded and demanded to know.
"We're bringing you home for dinner, you'll be the main course!" Clancy evilly chuckled as the wasps started to carry Berner away. The camera recording all this then fell to the floor, either do to the cameraman being attacked by the wasps or running away, as some wasps flew over it, then the screen on the TV turned into static.
The entire scene played at the TV left the trio of Eds wide-eyed and agape. Until Eddy was the first to take action. "It looks like we have a bug infestation in the city!" Eddy exclaimed as he managed to get up from his bed despite the sickness. "It's hero time-" he said before coughing a little.
"Eddy, as much as I think someone has to do something about this, you're in no condition to act. Maybe you should take some rest and let-" Double D tried to advice but was cut off.
"No way, Sockhead! I've got some bugs to squa-AH-AH-ACHU!" Eddy sneezed again as he dialed the watch's core and pressed it down, a green light enveloping him and when it faded, Wildmutt was standing in Eddy's place. However, Wildmutt looked rather strange, as his usual orange fur was paler and the grills on his neck were all runny, like Eddy's nose was.
"Are you okay, Eddy?" Double D asked with concern, noticing his friend's unusual appearance.
Wildmutt managed a weak growl before trying to move over, knocking down the nightstand, then accidentally knocking over the lava lamp on his dressing table as he tried to use his grills to sense his surroundings, but his sensors were clogged with mucus and he couldn't see a single thing. He charged up and knocked over the TV table and the speakers in between it, before quite literary going through the door, then crashing onto some trashcans outside.
"Did Eddy get the rabies?" Ed asked as he watched his friend bump around aimlessly.
Double D watched through the window and pondered about his friend's strange behavior, then came up with a theory. "It seems like Eddy's flu is affecting Wildmutt's sense of smell, and without it he's unable to track his surroundings" he explained as he saw Wildmutt continue to run without caution, with a trashcan on his head, before crashing onto something off their vision cover. "Come on Ed, we must get Eddy back!"
"We gotcha, Eddy!" Ed exclaimed as the two rushed out of the room, looking after their sick friend.
After returning back to his human form, Eddy laid in bed once again, covered in his sheets and drinking the stinkweed honey. Double D is sat in a near spotted chair looking on his laptop while Ed is repairing some of the stuff Wildmutt accidentally destroyed.
"Ugh! I don't know what's worse, the cold or the cure!" Eddy complained as he took his medication, which tasted awfully.
"It smells worse than what it tastes, Eddy" Double D told him as he continued to research on his laptop, before muttering, "Or was it the other way around?"
"Can I taste it?" Ed asked curiously.
"Sure, go ahead" Eddy responded as he handed Ed the jar. The big lump proceeded to smell it.
"Hmm, it smells like fresh-cut spring flowers strewn across a babbling brook with a hint oflemon"Ed commented before taking a drink from the stinkweed honey.
"This stupid cold is getting in the way of me being a hero! While I'm in bed, that crazy bug-boy is holding the mayor hostage and maybe even feeding him to his spiders or something!" Eddy lamented as he stood in bed.
"I'm also worried about you, Eddy. From what we saw with Wildmutt, your cold seems to also transfer to your alien forms whenever you transform. Since we are not familiar with none of the species physiology, I don't know in which ways it may affect them" Double D stated.
"And I though this couldn't get worse…" Eddy rolled his eyes.
"It's sticky! Yum!" Ed exclaimed as he continued to drink the stinkweed honey.
"Wait, I think I found something!" Double D suddenly exclaimed as he looked up from his laptop's screen. "That man said something about destroying their home, and before he appeared Mayor Berner was talking about his redevelopment program. I looked up on it and found that one building in particular that hasn't been demolished yet is an apartment located at 8610 Chester Street" he explained.
"I'm sure he and his bugs must have taken the mayor there!" Eddy deduced.
"And they sure don't have a tea party!" Ed added.
"Come on guys, we've got some bugs to deal with!" Eddy declared as he got up from the bed.
"But Eddy, are you sure about going there? You're still sick and it may spread to your alien forms" Double D said.
"Someone has to save the mayor, and there's no way I'm sitting out and letting you and Lumpy get all the fun" Eddy responded with a playful smirk.
"Eddy's the man!" Ed exclaimed as he picked him up and both went outside for the bug guy.
Double sighed, his friend was stubborn as mule, that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. And now, he wasn't sure what it was.
Meanwhile:
Back at the old abandoned building, Mayor Berner was inside a rundown room, cowering in fear as some spiders crawl all over his body. "P-Please, d-don't hurt me!" he begged.
"Black widows. You shouldn't make any... sudden moves" Clancy informed as he walked from over the shadows of his apartment. "Our grandfather was a war hero, he worked hard to build this building, only for you snakes to take everything he built away from us. We grew up here, me and my little friends. They're the only ones who understand, who understand ME. I don't care who I have to hurt, or even kill, or how many! This is our house, and no one is evicting us!" he explained as the mayor watched over in fear while being covered by the spiders.
Later on:
We see the three Eds arrive at the building in the Garbage Speeder, driven by Double D while Ed is carrying Eddy on his back and inside his jacket to keep him warm since he's still sick.
"Yuck! You really gotta clean this thing up, Lumpy. It smells worse than that stinky honey stuff!" Eddy commented as he got out of Ed's jacket.
"Thank you Eddy! You want some more?" Ed asked as he took the stinkweed honey jar off his jacket, at which Eddy cringed a little.
"Get that thing off my face! We've got a mayor to save!" Eddy responded, waving the jar away as the trio entered the building.
Entering inside the building, it didn't look so bad, just a bit dusty. "This place seems nice to visit." Double D said, but soon took his words back as they ventured further into the building. "Yet I wouldn't want to live in here… It's so messy!" he exclaimed as they walked through the hallways.
The building's structure was deplorable, in fact, it was falling apart, with swarms of insects crawling through the rafters. "This building sure is home to a lot of insects" Double D observed, taking mental notes of every possible details of what he saw.
"Insects bug me" Ed said.
The Eds continued to walk through the building, avoiding some holes and missing boards on the floor, and some fallen beams that were around, until they came to a room which had a wall full of newspapers articles stuck on it. Double D approached it and started to read them, one of them was titled 'BUGS SURVIVE NUCLEAR BLAST' and had related pictures. Meanwhile Ed and Eddy found an insect nest on another wall and were looking at it.
"I saw this thing in a movie. 'I Married a Thorax!'" Ed commented as he saw the bugs crawl onto wall. He wondered if he got bit by one of those spiders, he would get superpowers like in the comics.
"Yep. It's a bug" Eddy simply said. "We must be close…"
Suddenly, a scream was heard. "That must be the mayor!" Eddy pointed out.
"It came from the floor above!" Double D exclaimed as he looked up.
"I got the perfect alien for this!" Eddy said as he dialed the watch's core and pressed it down, the green light enveloped him once again and when it faded, Four Arms was in Eddy's place, though his red skin was noticeably more pale orange, which says that Four Arms was suffering from the cold. "Coming through!" Four Arms exclaimed as he picked up both Ed and Double D and prepared to jump to the next floor.
"Something smells good!" Ed said as he sniffed the air while Double D covered his nose. Four Arms then noticed he had some smelly hives under his armpits.
"It's your hives. The cold must have turned them into pus-filled pockets of pure putridness!" Double D said in disgust while pinching his nose shut.
"I can't help it, I'm sick!" Four Arms responded.
"You're telling me!" Double D exclaimed.
Four Arms then jumped through the ceiling. There, they found Mayor Berner huddled in a corner of the room, covered from head to toes in bugs, and fear.
"Mayor Berner!" Double D called as they approached him. The mayor turned his gaze and saw one of the alien heroes from the news was here! He was saved! But then saw two pre-teens accompanied the alien, and quickly signaled them to stop.
"Don't come any closer, these are Black widows" Mayor Berner quietly warned as the spiders continued to walk all over him.
"Oh, they look like the mutant spiders from my comic-" Ed began to say but was cut off.
"Not the time, Lumpy" Four Arms interrupted.
"The spiders are likely to bite if any sudden movements are made, but there must be a way to help him…" Double D pondered for a bit, perhaps a—
"ACHU!"
Double D didn't get much time to think, as Four Arms suddenly let out a powerful sneeze, accidentally covering Berner in mucus and disposing of the arachnids, who were spilled all over the floor.
"Thanks kids... and big guy?" Berner said as he looked at the two boys and the strange four-armed creature that saved him.
"Ups, sorry mayor…" Four Arms apologized as he cleaned his nose with one of his sixteen fingers.
"What are you kids doing with this alien?" the mayor questioned, however before they could respond, a voice echoed through the room.
"You're trespassing private property…" Clancy said as he leaped from out of the shadows over a rafter. His eyes glowed green and a bunch of insects appeared, stacking together until they formed a giant fist, then punching Four Arms and sending him into a wall. "We'll rule mankind!" the crazy bug-man exclaimed as the insect-fist did a U-turn and went for Ed this time.
"Watch out Ed!" Double D warned as Ed managed to move out of the way and avoid the attack. Clancy's eyes glowed green once again and Double D heard the sound of hundreds of bugs walking on the floor beneath him, instantly recognizing what they are. "Termites!" The smart Ed exclaimed in terror as the termites devoured the part of the floor he was standing on, him falling over and managing to hang on from a ledge to avoid a second floor fall.
Luckily, Mayor Berner was standing next to him to aid a hand and save him. "Thank you, mister mayor!" Double D said as he got back on his feet.
"You want to be king? Get ready to be crowned!" Four Arms angrily exclaimed as he got up and charged at Clancy, only for the latter's eyes to glow again, the insects from before surrounding the red alien and stopping him on his tracks. He then realized they were in fact red ants, which crawled onto his legs and started biting him. "Aaagh! Ants! In my pants!" Four Arms shouted wildly as he scratched his legs, jumping up and down as he did so. It was a miracle that the floor didn't break down with him, considering the state of the building.
"Wow! Those are some sick dance moves!" Ed complimented with a thumbs up as his friend continued to itch.
"Shut it, Ed!" Four Arms said as he went past him and collided into the wall, trying to kill those damn ants that were itching. He then crashed onto a nearby beam before continuing to run around while furiously scratching himself.
"No! Stop! You're destroying our home!" Clancy yelled angrily.
"You should have thought of that before putting ants in my pants, bug lover!" Four Arms retorted back while still scratching and trying to kills the pests.
"Wait, those are the support beams of the building!" Double D tried to warn.
"What's a support beam?" Ed asked just as Four Arms knocked down another of the building's support beams, the walls around starting to shake. "Uh oh!" he exclaimed as the building began to crumble.
"NOOOOO!" Clancy shouted as his eyes glowed green and a swarm of wasps flew in and surrounded him, shielding him from the collapsing building.
"The building is about to collapse!" Double D panicked.
"We have to get out of here!" Mayor Berner exclaimed.
"No time!" Four Arms said as he piled onto everyone to protect them, just as the ceiling collapsed on top of them.
The building collapsed completely, with only lots of rubble and dead insects left over where it once stood. Some of those debris began to shake, as Four Arms emerged from under a large slab of concrete, lifting it up and tossing it over as the hourglass symbol on his shoulder began to beep a red light, before falling backwards as the red light reverted him back to Eddy.
"Oh, my aching head!" Eddy groaned. Next to him, Ed, Double D and Mayor Berner got up from over the ground, having been protected from the collapse by the big red alien, though they were panting heavily and coughing a bit from all the dust.
"I think I swallowed a bug…" Ed muttered.
Just then, Clancy emerged from under some debris near them, covered in bugs and looking very pissed off. He then held some of the insects in his hands, realizing they died while protecting him. "NO! NO! NOOOOO!" he shouted repeatedly. "YOU WILL REGRET THIS! WE WILL DESTROY THE ENTIRE CITY!" he furiously stated as his eyes continued to glow green and another swarm of wasps appeared around him, covering him in a cloud that carried him onto the air and away from the scene.
"This has been quite a day..." Mayor Berner mumbled as he looked at the cloud of wasps disappearing in the distance.
"Welcome to our world, mayor!" Ed said as he patted him on the back. Berner just looked at the boy with a raised eyebrow.
"What my friend Ed is trying to say is that we're glad you're okay, Mr. Mayor sir" Double D quickly interjected.
"Yeah… uh, thanks for the help boys" The mayor said with hints of uncertainty, he completely appreciated the help, but those were kids, they could have been seriously hurt for crying out loud! Not to mention hurt his reputation as a mayor if the public found out kids were involved in this. Where were their parents? And what were they doing with one of the aliens? And where did the third kid come from. He decided not to ponder too much on that now. "But I wonder where did that stinky four arms go? I would like to thank him as well…" Berner asked as he looked around.
"Oh, I'll let him know for ya" Eddy responded.
"Do you know your way home, mayor?" Double D asked Berner, to which the mayor nodded and departed after thanking the boys for their valiant rescue, leaving the three Eds to wonder about Clancy's whereabouts.
"So, where do you think bugs-for-brains go?" Eddy asked.
"He said something about destroying the entire city…" Double D pondered for a while, before the articles on the wall came to his mind, then he came to a VERY terrifying conclusion. "Oh Heaven all mighty! We've got to stop him!"
Later on:
We go to a nuclear plant near Peach Creek's outskirts, where the Eds are just arriving on the Garbage Speeder. "This nuclear power plant is very close to Peach Creek, a massive meltdown from its core could in fact destroy everything in a radio of sixty miles, including the entire city!" Double D finished explaining.
"That's not good!" Ed realized.
"How do we stop him?" Eddy asked.
"Well Eddy, insects are known to be very enduring being with a lot of unique abilities. Ants can lift up to ten times their weight, crickets can jump over one hundred times their longitude, and cockroaches can last up to an hour without breathing…" the smart Ed informed.
"I don't want their CV, Sockhead! Just tell me how to kill 'em!" Eddy interrupted.
Double D rolled his eyes at his companion's impatience. "Short of another ice age or a tanker full of pesticide, I would suggest fire is our best option at hand."
Eddy grinned and looked at his watch. "And I know the perfect chef to hold a bug barbecue!"
"Can I have some ketchup?" Ed wondered, while Eddy gave him a weirded out expression.
The trio proceeded to enter the nuclear plant, but found there were no workers around, just empty halls and corridors. "Looks like no one's home… did they left the AC on? I'm freezing in here!" Eddy exclaimed as he shivered, covering his arms with his bare hands to try and keep himself warm.
"Temperature seems normal in here, at least for the time being. It must be a product of your cold" Double D guessed.
"G-Great!" Eddy shivered, before the lights suddenly went off for a moment, then it came back on and an alarm started sounding while a red light continuously flashed all over the plant.
"What's happening? Is that bad?" Ed asked confused.
"Nah Lumpy, I'm sure anytime an alarm goes off inside a nuclear plant it's good news!" Eddy sarcastically retorted.
Suddenly, a prerecorded voice sounded over the speakers, booming across the whole place. "CORE TEMPERATURE RISING RAPIDLY. APPROACHING CRITICAL STATUS."
"Oh no! He must be playing with the core's controls! We've got no time to lose, gentlemen!" Double D said quickly before they run off to the control room, only to find much to their horror the control panels inside were completely wrecked. "The controls are destroyed! The only way to shut the core down is doing it manually!"
"Not good! Not good!" Ed repeated in panic.
"How do we do that?" Eddy asked.
"There should be an emergency override system inside the reactor core!" Double D quickly pointed out, before noticing some cockroaches coming out of the destroyed controls. Then they heard someone walking behind them and turned to see, unsurprisingly, Clancy's face walking into the room, some more cockroaches occasionally walking over it.
"You want some front row seats, kids?" the blue-skinned man taunted.
"You have a death wish or something, blueberry hobo?" Eddy asked. "If this place explodes, you'll be gone too!" he pointed out, to which Clancy smirked.
"We don't think so…" he said before extending his arms, cockroaches coming from his sleeves and covering his hands, more of them coming from his trousers and all over his body, while red ants were coming from his hoodie and covering his face, a swarm of wasps also flying around him and covering his body. All the insects formed some sort of armor, which shifted up into a humanoid figure that was bigger and buffer.
"Of course! Scientifics theorize that only cockroaches would survive a nuclear blast!" Double D realized.
"And he's going to put on a bug suit to survive the blast? What a nut job!" Eddy exclaimed before stepping forward and dialing the watch's core, switching past Four Arms', Wildmutt's and Grey Matter's silhouettes before finally landing the one he wanted and slamming down the core. A green light enveloped Eddy as red rocks began to grow on his left arm and covered the watch, then quickly spread up his body and circled his eyes, which turned yellow for a minute before then turning blue. When the light died down, Eddy had transformed into Heatblast, although his usually bright-yellow flames were now of a pale blue color.
"Eddy, wait! Your cold is affecting Heatblast too! You don't look like your usual self!" Double D warned.
"At least I don't have any hives now. We don't have time for this, you guys head for the reactor, I've got a bug to fry!" Heatblast declared as he charged at the now bug-suited Clancy, who easily batted him away and sent him crashing to a wall. It seemed like the suit of cockroaches had enhanced his strength. Ed and Double D rushed behind him towards the reactor.
"You honestly thought you can escape us?" Clancy asked as he extended his arm and a swarm of hornets came out of it, giving chase to the boys while the bug-man returned to face the blue-flamed alien.
"That's it! Time to turn up the Heatblast around here!" Heatblast exclaimed as he got up and faced the giant bug, extending his hands and trying to shoot his flames at him, however nothing came out of his hands. "Hey! What ha-AH-AH-ACHU!" the alien wondered before sneezing, vapor coming off his face. "You should be a bunch of briquettes by now!" But then it hit him, as his eyes widened. "Oh crap… Sockhead was right, my cold froze my flames! For crying out lo—ARGH!" he realized, before being punched again.
In a hallway, Ed and Double D were fleeing from the angry hornets. "AAAHH! RUN!" the tallest Ed shouted upon glancing at his rear and seeing the hornets coming after them.
"Not again!" Double D exclaimed as he recalled that time they were stung by a swarm of bees all thanks to one of Eddy's 'brilliant' scams.
"CORE MELTDOWN WILL OCCUR IN FIVE MINUTES" the automated voice said through the speakers as the two Eds continued to run, taking a turn on the hall while being chased by the hornets. Double D then noticed a fire hose on the wall and got an idea. "Ed! Give me a hand!" he instructed as he held the hose, pointing it at the incoming swarm.
"I got it Double D!" Ed exclaimed as he opened the faucet, though he was so scared he did it far too quickly and the pressure of the incoming water was so high that the hose started to fling around, taking Double D along with it.
"AAAAHHH!" he screamed while swinging through the air before Ed pulled him by his leg and held him in position so the water would spray the hornets, soaking them wet and spilling them all over the floor. "Good job, Ed…" Double D managed to say dizzily.
Back at the control room, Heatblast tried his best, but without his flames, it was very difficult to attack and dodge Clancy's attacks. Clancy slammed Heatblast onto a control panel. "Ouch! That hurt…" the fire alien muttered while on the floor as the bug-enhanced human approached him.
"This will be nothing but a scratch, compared to what will happen to you after the reactor blows up" Clancy said as he, step by step, got closer to the blue-flamed alien.
As strong Heatblast was, he doubted he could survive a point blank nuclear blast, especially in this state. "Can we talk about this?" he tried to negotiate and extended his hand for his opponent to stop, however and luckily for him, a happy accident occurred as a blue beam got shot out of his hand and hit Clancy straight on, freezing part of his bug-suit as a result. "Uh? Hey…" Heatblast muttered as he looked at his hands, almost as surprised as the first time he discovered his fire powers back when he found the watch. "Heh, heh, heh…" he got up with a confident look, clenching his fist and feeling the cold in his arms. "Ready for another Ice Age, you dumb beetle?"
Meanwhile, Ed and Double D made it to the main reactor room, only to be surrounded by more cockroaches when they got there, just as the automated voice announced, "ONE MINUTE LEFT BEFORE CORE MELTDOWN."
Back at Heatblast, he was using his abnormal powers to try and freeze Clancy, shooting ice beams with both his hands and managing to freeze one of his bug-suit arms, only for it to fell off and be immediately regenerated by more cockroaches. The bug-human then tackled Heatblast and speared him through a window, the two falling towards the reactor, where Double D was trying to shut it down with the manual controls while Ed fend off the incoming insects with a broom. The automated voice spoke again, "THIRTY SECONDS LEFT BEFORE CORE MELTDOWN."
"TOO MANY INSECTS!" Ed shouted as the number of cockroaches were far too many to repel at the same time, the insects gaining more and more land and surrounding them. Heatblast saw this mid-air and put his hands together to shoot a larger ice beam, managing to freeze most of the cockroaches around them while also making an icicle to slide down to the floor.
"Did someone ask for a superhero?" he asked upon landing.
"Eddy! You're an ice cube maker! GASP! You are Iceblast now!" Ed exclaimed in surprise at his friend's new powers.
"Not bad, Lumpy" 'Iceblast' said with a thumbs up.
"I don't get it, since when does Heatblast gain cryokinetic abilities?" Double D asked in wonder after seeing what he did.
"Eh-heh, I guess for some aliens getting a cold isn't just an expression" Iceblast quipped.
"I can't override it! All the manual controls have overheated!" the smart Ed declared worriedly as he and Iceblast checked over the controls.
"Look out!" Ed pointed as Clancy charged at them, Iceblast turning around and tossing an ice energy ball with his hands, managing to catch the bug-man off-guard and quite literally freezing him in place. "Cool!" Ed punned, however just then the voice declared, "TEN SECONDS LEFT BEFORE CORE MELTDOWN."
"Gentlemen, this may be the finale!" Double D panicked. They did their best, but was not enough! So many lives will be lost and destroyed, if only he thought more quickly!
NINE…
"BIG BOOM GUYS! BIG BOOM BAD FOR ED!" Ed shouted. His mom, his dad, his baby sister, his friends, everyone will go BOOM BOOM! If only he was stronger!
EIGHT…
Ed and Double D huddled each other, terrified of the incoming explosion and thinking they were done for.
SEVEN…
Iceblast was about to do the same, but his mind was quick at work to find a way to stop it, he had to, he was a hero now! And then…he figured it out "Wait! I've got an idea! Pray you guys that it works!" he announced and turned to the reactor.
SIX…
Iceblast shoot a couple of ice beams from the palm of his hands at the reactor, trying to freeze it.
FIVE…
Quickly, the ice started to surround the reactor.
FOUR…
Double D and Ed watched, crossing their fingers that it would work!
THREE…
Iceblast concentrated, giving all his might in his beams, the ice surrounding the reactor even faster.
TWO…
Core temperature falling. Returning to below critical limits" the automated voice announced, bringing the core's temperature down as everyone sighed in relief and Iceblast fell on his knees.
"Way to go, Eddy!" Double D congratulated his friend.
"Happy ending guys! Yay!" Ed cheered as he continued to hug Double D, lifting him up.
"Thanks, heh heh. Now, can we please get some hot chocolate or something?" Iceblast laughed before sneezing.
Later on:
We go back to Eddy's house, more precisely to his room, where Eddy just walks in on his bathrobe after a good shower, vapor coming behind his way as he continued to dry up the back of his head with a towel. "Oh yeah, baby, that villain is frozen up, the nuclear plant didn't melt down and I think the vapor cured my cold out!" he happily sang. His two friends were on his room, waiting for him and wanting to make sure he was alright.
"Quite correct, Eddy. Everything seems to have worked out for the best!" Double D celebrated.
"And so, once again, the day is saved!" Ed exclaimed.
"You've said it!" Eddy said as he jumped onto his bed to relax after the day he's had. "What the-?" he then noticed a cockroach was crawling over it. "Oh no, not more bugs for the day… Hit the road!" he got ready to flick the bug off, he swore after today, he hated bugs way more than he did birds. But suddenly more cockroaches started to come from under his bed, and from out of the door and window, and from almost everywhere!
"What's happening?!" Double D asked in fright as he looked at all the bugs surrounding them.
"Trouble! Big!" Ed shouted as he tiptoed around Eddy's room, so that none of the bugs can touch him.
"Not this again!" Eddy exclaimed as the cockroaches covered all of his room, then pinned him and Double D onto the wall. "M-My watch-!" he struggled while trying to reach for the watch, but the insects held his arms and even covered over the watch.
Some of the bugs got onto the outside door's knob and managed to open it, revealing the still bug-suited Clancy on the other side. The cockroaches on the front part of his suit moved over to show Clancy's angry scowl as he walked in. "We didn't like that cold bath you gave us back at the nuclear plant…"
"I thought I had bug-brain freeze!" Eddy questioned.
"He must have thawed out!" Double D pointed out.
"You got that right, kid" Clancy said as he looked around Eddy's room, observing it, before turning his head to look at Eddy in the eyes. "This is your room. THIS, is your house. Isn't that right…Eddy…?" Clancy said with a matter of fact tone, grinning when he noticed the sweat that was dropping from Eddy's forehead, and how Eddy tried not to look shocked. "Your parents are not home…yet. We should stick around, introduce ourselves. I'm sure they will be excited to meet me and my friends…" Clancy said as giant murder hornets came out from his behind. "Then, we could visit your friends' families, and then everyone from this peaceful Cul-de-sac. Oh, I can just HEAR them SCREAM with 'joy'. You kids reaaaaally should try harder at covering your tracks!" he told the Eds smugly.
All of the Ed's where petrified with horror. He followed them, knows where they live, and plans to hurt their families and friends!
Eddy tried desperately to activate the watch, but was of no use. "ED! Do something!" he pleaded desperately while stuck on the wall. Ed tried to charge at Clancy, but the bug-man just knocked him onto a corner.
"ED!" both Eddy and Double D shouted in concern of their friend. Ed managed to recover from the hit and tried to get up, but then he saw the stinkweed honey jar he'd saved on his jacket had fallen off due to the impact and, in a rare moment of brilliance, an idea struck on him.
"Hey bugs! You want this?" he called over as he grabbed the jar and opened it, its powerful odor quickly flowing over the room and getting all the insects' attention. He then proceeded to run out the door and throw the jar as far away as he could and into the distance, all the bugs, including the ones on Clancy's suit, went after it and out of the room, releasing Eddy and Double D from the wall.
"No! No! Come back!" Clancy called over as his bugs left him, rendering him powerless. He then realized the three boys had him surrounded and the tallest one was walking up to him, looking quite pissed off. "Uh, heh heh…" he tried to laugh the hostilities off, but that didn't work out.
Outside Eddy's house, thumping sounds could be heard before the outside door on his room opened again, Clancy came flying out of it and crashing onto some trashcans, looking quite beaten up and fainting over them.
"Nice throwing, Ed!" Eddy complemented as they looked outside on the doorway.
"Gentlemen, I suggest we may call the police now" Double D said as he grabbed Eddy's old landline phone and started dialing 9-1-1. The police arrived shortly afterwards, after they reported that the guy who had kidnapped the mayor earlier had tried to sneak onto the house and 'accidentally' knocked himself out with some trashcans. The Eds watched over as the police handcuffed Clancy and took him away.
"That guy was really starting to bug me, good thing you knocked him out cold!" Eddy joked. Double D then started sneezing repeatedly. "What's with you?"
"Ooh, I knew it. Curse you, common cold microorganisms! It's all part of the big plan, don't you see? They wait and strike when you're the most vulnerable!" Double D exclaimed as his eyes got watery and his nose got all runny, before sneezing again.
"Oh, you sound sick, Double D! You shouldn't be outside, you just need some GRA-VY-E" Ed said as he picked up his sick friend and started walking over to his house.
"Ed, wait! Don't just stand there, do something! Eddy!" Double D tried calling over his other friend for help.
"Uhhh… I heard my momma's calling!" Eddy quickly lied as he got back into his house, deciding it's best that Ed takes care of the sick Double D. As he went back inside, Clancy's words echoed in his mind, he really messed it up, the freak found out his identity and where he and the guys lived, and threated to hurt everyone in the cul-de-sac because of that! They won the day, but it was too close of a call for comfort. He needed to cover his tracks better, same goes for the other two, and he knew they thought the same, at least Double D. But now he will try to put those thoughts aside, they were stressing him out. Some TV would help him out.
Meanwhile, at the Peach Creek City Council:
"Here you go sir" Mayor Berner's secretary, a woman in her mid-thirties with brown hair and hazel eyes told her boss as she put the medication for stress-relief on his desk.
"Thank, you Agatha" Mayor Berner told his secretary, Agatha, as he took the pills with a water glass, and massaged his template. "Cancel all my meetings for the next few hours please, I need some time to process everything that happened today."
"Of course sir, take your time" Agatha said with empathy, then left his office.
Now alone, Berner could reflect on today's events. He was attacked by a bug-superhuman guy, and rescued by an alien, and some kids. They shouldn't risk their lives like that, that what's cops, firemen and doctors are for! What was their relation with the alien? And where did the alien disappear and how did he do it so fast? Did he go after the blue-skinned guy? And where did the third kid come from? So many questions. But when he played back the events in his mind, something got his attention.
"What my friend Ed is trying to say is that we're glad you're okay, Mr. Mayor sir…"
That was what the Beanie wearing kid said. "Ed…" the mayor mumbled to himself, the kid's friend was named Ed. That was a lead.
He was no detective, but his curiosity and mind were killing him for answers. So he entered the database of known Peach Creek citizen, only available to the mayor and police force, hoping to find more. "Let's see now…" He first entered the name Ed, and found at least 700 people named Ed in the city. He then lowered the numbers by putting it between the ages of 11 to maybe 16, the numbers reduced to 102. He then added red hair to the search, 7 matches. He didn't know what else to add, and typed in monobrow, and surprisingly he got the one match he was looking for.
While he didn't like the idea of looking in someone's personal life, he couldn't just shrug off what happened today. And one thing about the mayor, when he fixated his mind on something, he RARELY backed off from finishing that thing.
The kid, whose name was Ed Horace Lancer, age 14, has a sister named Sarah, goes to Peach Creek Junior High and lives in a cul-de-sac, and to the mayor's surprise, he had a juvenile record on him, something he didn't expected in the least considering he and the others saved him, and really seemed like a nice kid. The record contained just some small property damage, but then he saw Ed wasn't alone, let alone the mind behind those events. His record was tagged along two others. One belonging to the beanie wearing kid, Eddward who was a brilliant mind, and the third kid, whose name was Eddy, from who Berner learned from his record that he was the leader of this "trio of Eds".
This was all nice and all and answered some questions, but still didn't answer all of them. What was their relations with the alien, and if they had any with the other aliens? He decided to check all the records of the alien heroes sighting in Peach Creek in the last month. The oldest one dated back at the beginning of the summer vacation, from which a giant robot attacked a Cul-De-Sac…the same one the kids lived in! It was there that the first alien hero, the crystal-looking one, made his debut.
Berner then decided to check recordings of the security cameras around the area around the Cul-De-Sac, specifically for those Ed kids. After a few minutes of looking at footages, he found something that caught his eye. The kid named Eddy had something on his left wrist, it looked like a watch of some sort, nothing he has ever seen, that's for sure. Zooming in, the camera quality was just good enough to see that the 'watch' had no numbers on it, nor the hands that dictated the minutes. What he saw was a green hourglass… An hourglass he saw on the four-armed alien! There was a connection!
The mayor sunk in his chair, not sure what to do now, or how to handle this situation.
The kids saved his life, and surely had a hand in reducing the crime rate in Peach Creek and the other cities enormously, and it seemed to only fall more, they seemed to know what they were doing. But still, they were just kids, if they got gravely injured or killed, or because the wrong people figured it out, he felt like it was going to be because he didn't do anything about it, not to mention the PR nightmare he will receive if the public found out he knew and didn't do anything.
His train of thoughts was interrupted when he heard his secretary talking to someone on the other room, then a man entered his office uninvited. He was a tall man in his early thirties, about 6.1 feet, with a blonde military buzzcut, blue eyes and a stern disciplinary look on his face, one a drill sergeant would have. His attire consisted of a black turtleneck shirt with two straps, carrying guns in the pockets. In addition, he wore a grey belt with many pouches. He had grey pants, with black boots. "Mayor Berner" The blond man greeted with a serious and professional tone, his hands behind his back.
"Sir you need to leave now" Agatha came in with a warning tone, but Berner raised his hand.
"It's alright Agatha, I will handle this" Berner told his secretary, who reluctantly, decided to leave her boss handle it.
"Understood sir" Agatha composed herself as she left the office and closed the door behind her.
"Now" Berner began with a professional tone of his own as he turned his attention to the blonde man, who hasn't moved an inch since he entered the room. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my office?
"Who am I, mister mayor, is none of your worries" The blonde man said as he got closer to his desk, pulling from behind his left hand a data stick. "And what I am doing here, is my job." He inserted the stick into the mayor's computer, and immediately things started to disappear from it, specifically, the data the mayor found about the aliens and their connection to the Eds.
"Just what do you think you're doing?!" Berner said as he went to take the stick away, only for the blonde man to quickly catch his wrist with precision and strength.
"Like I said, mayor…" The blonde man took a black file from his right hand behind his back, and hand it to the mayor on his caught wrist and let go of it. "…my job."
Berner was very skeptical of all of this, but decided to cooperate, for now. Opening the file and reading through it, his eyes widened as dining plates. It was a lot to digest, but two things stuck with him.
The fact that this man, was Government Authority.
And that this man's authority and jurisdiction, WAY surpassed his.
Berner closed the file, and the Government official took it away, and the stick after it completed its purpose.
"You have a city to run, Mayor Berner" the Government official said as he began to walk out of the office. "These kind of things, are MY specialty."
"Wait!" Berner called out, stopping the Government official on his tracks, not taking his gaze from the door he was about to leave. "…These kids can be trusted, right?"
"…that, I have yet to decide." The Government official told the mayor. "But when I make that decision, I'll deal with it." He left the office, leaving the mayor alone.
Berner let out a long exhausted sigh. "What a day…" he REALLY needed a vacation, and REALLY needed to call his mom and dad to tell them how much he loved them. Didn't know why, but he just felt like it.
Outside, the Government official was walking to a bluish grey armored truck with black windows, entering inside, it could be seen that it was driven by a soldier, along with two other ones in clothing similar to him, but also wearing bulletproof-looking vests, and wearing red glassed cyclops goggles.
"Alright boys" the Government Official said in an authoritative tone. "Our job here is done, we will go back to the base, and then take a chopper to Manhattan, there have been reports of some unusual looking creatures playing in the sewers, and I guarantee you boys it's not some toilet dropped alligator."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers said as the driver took off. The Government official knew there wasn't any time to waste, and his job required his and his people's upmost efficiency.
After all, He wasn't the Director of S.E.C.T. for nothing.
Hey everyone, that's chapter 7 done and dusted! Special thanks go to my beta reader SoulReaver1999 for helping improve this chapter greatly, the last scene is mostly his work and hints at bigger things to come. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always here are some trivia facts about it.
Trivia
1) The title and plot of this chapter are based on the original Ben 10 episode "Side Effects".
2) The title of Ed's comic, 'The pretender from across the stars' is a reference to the popular game Among Us.
3) Mayor Berner is, as I previously mentioned, a character taken from one of my favorite EENE fics on this site, Ed, Edd n Eddy: The Teen Series by Easymac120. He appeared before on chapter 3 of this story.
4) It was Soul's idea to name the ice-form of Heatblast 'Iceblast'.
5) According to Soul, the name of Berner's secretary, Agatha, is a reference to WandaVision (But it's NOT Agatha Harkness, the name is just a reference to her).
6) Also according to Soul, the sewer creatures mentioned by the Government official (any guesses on who he is?) are a reference to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.