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#1
MAY 09 |
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“Welcome to Prism”
Previous In Strange Tales: The Defenders have reformed. Not as a team of superheroes, but as a group of friends who have nobody else. They are a family, a family of loners and out-casts who need each other to complete their lives. Now, faced with a villain outside Stranges’ home, we see if the Defenders reformation is worth it.
The woman hung in the air, her multi-colored costume giving off different bursts of light as her hand shot kaleidoscopic sparks over her body and the floor below. She looked down at Nighthawks limp form and then across to the four gathered before her.
Bruce Banner. Namor. Norrin Radd. Stephen Strange.
“I won’t say it again: Move out of my way.”
Banner looked to Namor as he cracked his knuckles against his open palm. A smile broke out across Banner’s face as he slowly began to unbutton his shirt.
“What is the matter with you?” the woman asked, holding her glowing fist in the air, bursts of energy raining on the ground, obviously meant to intimidate and frighten the grouping.
“You honestly have no idea who we are, do you?”
“WEEEENNNDIIIGOOOO!”
The loud screams of the beast charged through the forest after her. She swallowed harshly and hoped for the best. She’d only been camping near her home, she wasn’t even in Canada, which is where she thought this monster was from.
As she powered through the undergrowth, she heard more and more footsteps charged towards her. Turning around to catch a glimpse of her white assailant she saw that his bounding movements made him much more versatile through the trees and across the grass.
It wasn’t particularly camouflaged. Nor did it need to be given its size and speed. She screamed as it bore down on her, white claws and fur now stained crimson with her blood. As her steaming entrails sent plumes of heat into the atmosphere, the creature let loose another scream. A scream that brought others to its position.
A herd of Wendigo were moving through Central Park.
“No, I don’t know who you are, nor do I care much. All I want is the man child in the eagle suit.”
“I think you’ll find it’s a ‘Hawk”, actually,” Banner added with air quotations.
“Whatever,” Spectrum replied, her hand still raised and spitting kaleidoscopic fury.
Bruce turned to the others and shook his head. “You know, I’m really not feeling that bothered about this situation, maybe the rest of you guys can handle this. You’re supposed to be helping me with my ‘situation’ anyway, so...OWW!”
As Strange had walked past Bruce, his suit melting into his ceremonial sorcerer supreme garb, Cloak of Levitation and Eye of Agamotto manifesting seemingly from nowhere, he kicked Bruce firmly in the shin. A smirk moved across his face, as Namor tore his jacket and turtle neck off and the Surfer simply called his board from the melting drippings of his fingertips.
“Oh, you’re...” Spectrum began, as Namor shot forwards towards her, the wings on his ankles propelling him into her shield. He bounced off as a massive purple mallet smashed him into the ground and through the road foundations into the sewers below.
“Crrraap!” Bruce clawed at the ground as the street gave way, Strange and the Surfer both floating into the air, Nighthawk on the tip of the Surfers board.
“Pathetic,” Spectrum began, casting a glowing fist towards Strange’s body, who threw up a shield to protect himself.
“Norrin, make yourself useful would you?”
“Of course, Stephen.” Norrin shot upwards, Nighthawk sliding down his board to his feet, as the Herald let loose bursts of energy towards Spectrum. They bounced off her shielding and she produced a number of multicoloured spikes that hurtled from her shield and towards him, exploding through his board and throwing the pair towards the ground below.
“Oh,” was all the Surfer could manage as he reached out to grab Nighthawk and shield him from the decent with his own body.
“By the Hoary Hosts!” Stephen exclaimed as the board exploded into pieces. He shot forwards, casting a spell as he went. “Shield to Ice!” Strange spat as he lurched through the now frozen energy shield and straight into the Doctor’s midsection. He threw her towards the ground, his cloak splaying out behind him to steady himself as he delivered a kick to her mask. She fell backwards, a burst of energy catching Strange in the chest, sending him hurtling backwards.
Strange hit the ground as a green blur exploded from the ground, shortly followed by a tan blur. Namor and the Hulk hit Spectrum at the same time, the Hulk’s fists coming down so hard on the blue shield that it warped out of shape from the impact, even as Namor smashed against the other side, warping it even further.
Spectrum grunted as she pushed against the power and threw her hands forwards, her shield turning into a ram’s head, which pummelled itself into Namor’s chest, sending him flying backwards and through the front door of of Strange’s house.
“Damnit.” Alice Nugent was a scientist, not a professional super-villain. She wanted to get a hold of Nighthawk because one of his companies had cut her funding. She didn’t want to have to deal with real heroes, she just wanted to get her funding back and get back to work – She wanted to try and make this Prism she’d found to better man-kind, not just herself, but nobody ever gave her a break. Nobody ever allowed her to just be good at what she does.
“DAMNIT!” She threw her hand forward, a glowing fist smashing into the Hulk’s face. His head snapped to the side, as a growing growl tore through the streets. Windows shook with the vibrations from the growling and the punches Alice was landing on the Hulk’s face. The Green Goliath’s head continued to shoot to the sides with every punch, not raising a fist to the Doctor. Alice smiled underneath her mask. She was beating the Hulk.
The growling became louder and louder, followed by the screams of people as they ran through the streets. Hundreds of city dwellers tore through the area, some falling down the pit that Namor had made previously.
Alice and the Hulk both turned their attention, along with Strange, who was just getting up to face the thing pursuing the inhabitants of the city.
A herd of giant, white monsters, thirty strong in their numbers. The Wendigo plague had struck.
“Wendgios?” Strange said, flying higher into the air to be met along the way with a slightly battered Surfer, still wearing his Hawaiian shirt despite it being torn to tatters. Nighthawk was safely deposited inside the wreckage of Strange’s house.
“White Monster?” Hulk said, narrowing his eyes as the creatures washed over the cars lining the streets, their arms and mouths coated in blood and gore.
“We need to do something, Strange,” Namor said as he met the pair floating above the Hulk and Dr Spectrum.
“Well, obviously, Namor; I wasn’t just going to watch.”
“I wouldn’t have called watching unexpected from the master of the avoidance arts,” Namor retorted, crossing his arms and squaring off against Strange.
“I really feel there are better times and places to be considering this recourse...” Norrin added and was met with icey stares from the pair.
“Of course, we could deal with the situation at hand and find the answer as to why there are a herd of Wendigo running through the streets, when the curse clearly states that there is to be ‘A’ Wendigo, Singular, at all times.”
“Yes, well, as you should know, Strange, things change.” Namor shook his head and dropped from the sky, fists forward and straight into the side of a white beast, knocking him through the car he was on and causing it to explode.
“Well, clearly the arts of deduction are lost on Namor,” Strange said, turning to the Surfer, who had his hands flat while aiming blasts towards the remaining creatures. He dropped his hands and looked at Strange somewhat sheepishly.
“Annoying as he may be, he is somewhat infectious in his attitude.”
Below the quarrelling trio, Spectrum turned to the Hulk and raised her glowing fist once again. This time the Hulk was ready, his fist smashing into hers and causing the construct to collapse. She grabbed her forearm as the pain reverberated across her bones and into her arm. She let it hang limp in shock, energy building and sparking across the ground, blowing chunks out of the pavement and hitting the Hulk squarely in the chest.
The Green Goliath shot backwards, skidding through the asphalt of the pavement and into a lampost, which he quickly tore from its moorings and launched towards Doctor Spectrum. She twisted through the air out of reach from most of it, but she didn’t manage to avoid the remaining wires and connections from it’s former home in the ground.
She hit the surface hard and rolled a few feet. Pulling her torn mask off, she rubbed the blood and dirt from her eyes, opening them just in time to see the Hulk’s angry face, dripping saliva onto her cheek. She threw her glowing hand up, which was met by the Hulk’s fist. She grit her teeth, trying to push his hand off with a construct underneath, but the Hulk clamped his other hand over the top of the one already gripping her. His strength and grip continued to build and she felt her bones beginning to give.
She wouldn’t give in to screaming. She wouldn’t.
The scream rung out with such force that it diverted the attention of all those in battle at the moment. Even the Wendigo put their rage and hunger on hold for the primal scream of power and pain that echoed through the urban valley.
Strange cast his eyes downwards as a burst of light shot up from the Hulk and Spectrum’s battle. He felt the energies being released from below, throwing his cloak out behind him and singing the end of his beard hairs.
“Damnit, Bruce…”
The crystalline structure made it’s way up Spectrum’s arm, turning her flesh from warm and soft into cold and hard, the pain rippling through her nervous system in waves every time a new nerve was petrified.
As the energy built and built, the crystal moved across from Spectrum and into the Hulks body, the light hitting it and casting a variety of colors through its lens. Hot Yellows, Dull Red, Black, White, Shimmering Blue, it was all showcased as it tore and burnt markings into the ground as the Hulk slowly turned into a giant crystal.
Alice Nugent screamed again, trying to pull her arm away. It worked, slightly, as the flesh tore itself free of the Crystalline moorings, leaving spurts of blood jetting onto the giant light-reflecting prism. She fell to the flow, gripping her stump tightly, scrunching her face up in pain. She was a research scientist, all she’d wanted was to scare Richmond into giving her more funding, after he’d cut her out of the new budget.
She only wanted money.
Namor cast a glance from his fight with the White beasts to the Crystal Hulk and shook his head. “That lummox is always getting himself into trouble. Idiot. Strange can’t fix everything.”
Strange looked to the Surfer, who had already dropped from the sky, his board slamming into the ground just before the first Wendigo put it’s hand on Spectrum’s broken body, with Norrin landing on the ground, spidery cracks forming underneath him, inches from her head.
“Something is wrong,” he said, looking across the crystal monster. The Wendigo’s numbers appeared to have grown even large. As he closed his eyes, firing bursts of energy into the monster crowd, his Astral senses allowed him to move into a realm beyond physical harm and form, into the Astral plane.
“..My Stars.” Norrin added, as Strange’s astral form found him. They floated, completely speechless, as they witnessed what was before them.
The Wendigo’s were emanating power, but it was different. They were all linked to a core that was so far away it wasn’t visible, represented only by the replicating glowing strands that grew from the existing Wendigo’s and latched onto people, transforming them.
“It’s a viral spell, Surfer.” Strange turned to his companion as their Astral forms were slammed back into their flesh housing. Strange held his head as he floated down next to his silver companion, throwing a shield around them, casting a glance towards the crystallized Hulk.
The energy grew within the Crystal Hulk again, blinding the area with light, massive cracks forming up and down it’s length. The energy built and built until a glowing, white hot Banner freed from it, landing on the ground on his hands and knees. He looked upwards, sweat on his ghostly features as he adjusted his glasses and looked around at the devastation.
He looked over his shoulder to the cracking Hulk, each of the pieces taking on a different coloured hue before the energy in between them began to push the pieces away from each other. With an explosive force, the energy having reached its head, the pieces where blown apart from each other and high into the sky, where they disappeared, jets of coloured energy taking them far from the city itself, in different directs.
Banner reached upwards, uncurling himself from the fetal position, looking up from his position on his back. Considerably unlucky on this day, as Banner pushed himself to his feet a Wendigo bore down on him.
“Oh shi...” His voice was cut off by the guttural scream of the Wendigo as it closed its jaws around his head.
“Banner!” Strange shouted, as Namor shot seemingly from nowhere, his fists hitting the Wendigo that had bitten through his ‘friend’, slamming the beast into the side of the nearest building. Surfer looked across to where he expected to find the body of Banner as he landed a silver fist against another beast’s head.
The body was nowhere to be seen.
Strange’s kick rebounded off the white beasts chest and he vaulted over Surfer, landing on his companion’s foe and blasting downwards with two bolts of bedevilment, as the Surfer twisted back, his body bending almost unnaturally at the waist to fire a bolt of star energy into Strange’s former combatant’s mouth.
Namor’s body went hurtling past Strange and Surfer, slamming into the asphalt and bouncing him into the air a few feet from the impact. A white glow lit the rubble where the two had just been as an iridescent hand clawing from the brickwork and pulling the rest of it’s glowing, massive body from the wreckage. It stood up, beat it’s hands against it’s chest and let loose a roar that shook the area.
“BANNDIGO!!!”
“Oooooh no….” was all Strange could muster.
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To Be Continued...
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