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#5
DEC 09 |
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“Empire Earth” Part Two
Universe #180208, Bridge of the Shi’ar command ship the Swooping Talon
Chandilar, jewel of the Shi’ar Empire, was at threat. At present it sat, with barely a defense, against the seemingly unstoppable force of the Terran Empire. The Terran forces approached the planet like a swarm of locusts ready to ravage a ripe and valuable crop.
The Exiles, interdimensional heroes from half a dozen different worlds, were sent here to stop it, but how could six people hold back an army? One member, Longshot, was badly wounded and being treated by a medic, while another, Spider-Man, had been ravaged by torture. They could only watch in horror as the Terrans launched a missile towards the planet, its flight unimpeded by the Shi’ar’s various attempts to stop it.
“Blink, could you ‘port it away?” Sabretooth asked the team’s leader.
“It’s too far away Victor,” she replied, her features a mixture of despair and rage. Above all else she hated being helpless.
“The screens are misleading,” explained the crippled Christopher Summers, human defector to the Shi’ar cause, “They magnify the view, or else we would…Oh god!”
The sight of the Terran missile annihilating Chandilar’s capital city stole the words from Christopher’s mouth. At first, when the missile had failed to detonate on impact, they hoped against all else that it was faulty, but apparently their prayers weren’t answered.
“No!” screamed Empress Deathbird in despair as ash and dust from the destroyed city filled the air and clouded the entire Northern Hemisphere.
“All those innocent people…” Power Princess balled her hands into fists and spared a glance at her comrade Longshot who was being carried away to the med bay by medics. He and Spider-Man had been sent on a reconnaissance mission, to gather information on how to defeat the Terran’s. Presumably the two of them had been captured and badly hurt before being teleported back to safety by Axel Asher, the man who now controlled their lives.
She placed a hand on Miguel’s shoulder and he winced in pain. “Spider-Man, did you gather any useful information?”
He opened his palm to reveal several tiny discs. “Got it all on here. Haven’t had a chance to read it all yet but I’m sure Asher wouldn’t have brought us back if we didn’t have the right stuff.”
Davan Shakari, head of the Shi’ar intelligence network, snatched the discs from Miguel’s hand and bowed towards Deathbird. “My men shall have the data analysed immediately,” and left the bridge.
“I hope so,” replied Deathbird sombrely, while watching Shi’ar and Terran ships do battle. The Shi’ar were sorely outnumbered and it wouldn’t take long for the Terrans to break through their blockade and attack the planet.
The Empress stepped aside, out of earshot of the Exiles, and spoke quietly with Grand Admiral F’Dor.
She failed to realize that both Sabretooth and Spider-Man possessed enhanced hearing and took in every word she said.
“She keeps talkin about the ‘crystal’ and whether it’s safe of not?” explained Victor,
“The old Shi’ar says they still have readings, it wasn’t destroyed in the blast,” added Miguel.
This cryptic conversation only proved to baffle the reality-hopping heroes.
“Maybe Deathbird’s going through a New Age faze?” joked Morph, while dressed in a tie died shirt with a dreamcatcher for a necklace.
“Not now, Morph,” said Blink quietly, sparing a glance at ravaged Chandilar; now wasn’t the time for jokes.
Suddenly the ship rocked as the Terran forces focused fire in their direction. Whether they realized this was Deathbird’s command ship or not was unclear. What was clear though was the fact the weak Shi’ar forces could not stand against the might of the Terran fleet. Even now more ships continued to spew forth from the giant Warpring.
“Why don’t they just blow they damn thing out of the sky?!” demanded a frustrated Sabretooth.
“Just watch,” replied Summers.
Stray laser fire from a Shi’ar Destroyer nearby was headed directly for the ring but at the last second it seemed to fade from existence.
“We suspect the ring’s dimensional vortex creates a ‘dead zone’ around it, a dimensional void if you will, that protects it from harm,” explained F’Dor.
“So we can’t break it. Great,” replied Victor sarcastically.
“There’ll be something on those discs Sabretooth,” replied Spider-Man resolutely; he refused to believe he had suffered through the trauma of torture for nothing.
“In the meantime people are dying out there,” stated Blink. “We need a plan. The forces we called back from Aerie should be here soon, we just need to stall,”
“What do you propose?” asked Power Princess, with just a hint of snideness; after all, she did have five hundred years more experience with warfare than this woman who was barely out of her teens.
“Cut off the head and the body dies,” she stated. “The Shi’ar will focus their fire on the command vessel, while we teleport inside and attack their commander.”
“Their commander is an Eternal,” replied Miguel grimly. “A guy named Ikaris. He seemed pretty cold blooded,”
“Hey, I met Ikaris once,” commented Morph as he took the form of a crispy toga wearing man with wings on his arms. “The Avengers teamed up with him a few times, and once he had us over for dinner. The guy makes a mean risotto. Other than his cooking skills, he’s also pretty damn powerful.”
“Maybe we should take backup?” asked Miguel, sparing a glance at the intimidating cyborg Gladiator nearby.
“Your plan is the best we can do, under the circumstances, but Gladiator will lead the attack with my Imperial Guard,” Deathbird ordered.
For the first time Gladiator showed emotion; what was left of his face contorted in grim anticipation of the battle to come. Zarda couldn’t help but think he was afraid. Of course, something must have reduced him to his partially mechanized state, suggesting there was someone or something out there that could hurt him. Was it on that ship?
The empress immediately began barking out orders, directing the Shi’ar fleet to focus their fire on the large command vessel. All present noted it was the same ship that launched the devastating missile at Chandilar. It was time for payback.
Quickly the Imperial Guard gathered on the bridge, assembled from wherever they were on the Swooping Talon and ready for duty. They recognized most of the faces present: Manta, Starbolt, Electron, Neutron and many others. It would seem the Imperial Guard stayed fairly constant from reality to reality.
There was at least one person they had never seen in the Guard before, Christopher Summers’ daughter Mam’selle. The daughter of Captain Summers and Hepzibah, the young human-Mephistoid hybrid was the reason for Christopher’s defection. Already the team had faced her dangerous energy tendrils; she was not to be reckoned with.
Morph waved at her. “Hi there, kitty cat. I just wanted to say there’re no hard feelings about the whole beheading thing. Obviously I got better. So what do you want to do on our second date?” He gave her a big wink.
She ignored him but Christopher stared at him like he belonged in the loony bin and he probably did.
Oblivious to the silliness going on within it, the Swooping Talon raced towards the Terran command ship. Except for the time Galactus had circumvented her powers, the furthest Blink had ever pushed her teleportation range was from Earth to the Moon, almost four hundred thousand kilometres. In space battles, ships could be many times that distance apart and still strike each other. Hopefully they could draw close enough to teleport in.
She refused to take her eyes off the Terran command ship as it rapidly approached. Their shields were taking a beating from intense laser fire, meaning they would only get one shot at this.
“Get ready!” she yelled, the air practically crackled with energy as she prepared to teleport the group.
BLOONK!
The Exiles and the Imperial Guard disappeared in a blinding flash of pink light, creating a whoosh sound as air raced in to fill the space left behind.
Bridge of the Eternal Hammer
The force reappeared a second later, startling a group of very surprised Terran soldiers sitting at various consoles. Each soldier was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer strength of the Imperial Guard. Above them, on a raised platform, sat who they presumed was Admiral Ikaras.
He was a stern looking man, seemingly in the prime of his life, yet his cold eyes belied a much more significant age. Like the rest of the Terran soldiers, he wore a navy blue uniform, except his was trimmed with blood red stripes on the shoulders and down the sides, likely suggesting his higher rank.
If he was surprised or concerned by the sudden appearance of over a dozen superhumans on his bridge he didn’t show it. Instead he smirked derisively and looked down upon the group as if they were insects, barely worth his notice.
“I must admit, you Shi’ar are a persistent lot, though delusional.” He recognized the maskless Spider-Man. “So you are a Shi’ar agent I see. Richards was convinced you were a dimensional refugee…the fool.”
“Admiral Ikaris, call off your fleet or your life is forfeit!” yelled Gladiator suddenly, surprising the Exiles. That was the most they’d heard the cyborg speak so far.
“Hello Praetor,” smiled Ikaris smugly. “I see you survived your last encounter with my lieutenant, if you can call that mockery of existence life. Perhaps Deathbird should have left your battered corpse in the mud where it belonged?”
Both of Gladiator’s hands, one flesh and one mechanical, we’re balled into fists; Miguel was sure he could feel the rage radiating from the alien. He looked about ready to explode, but instead he asked, “Where is he?”
“He’s furthering the Terran cause, but I’m sure some of your other friend’s would like to catch up,”
At that moment a sliding metal door to either side of the bridge suddenly slipped open and a dozen Terrans soldiers charged into the room. The Exiles recognized most of them such as Cyclops, Gorgon, Wild Child and the Human Torch, whilst others, like a young girl seemingly made of liquid metal, they didn’t.
“Dammit, he was stalling us!” realized Blink too late.
“Vangaurd, kill them!” cried Ikaris.
Both groups charged into battle, quickly colliding in a flurry of fists and feet. It was sheer chaos. Power Princess grabbed a blonde woman by the leg, she recognised her as Darkstar, and swung her like a club at Wildchild. Both went down hard and didn’t get back up.
This earned the warrior woman a few seconds respite to analyse the situation. Both groups were evenly matched; Ikaris had specially chosen each member of his Vangaurd to match the Imperial guard; Human Torch for Starbolt, Emma Frost for Oracle and so on. Such a strategy appears good on the surface, but it was deeply flawed; neither group could gain any ground. Both teams would have to rely on strategy alone to win, or else it would end in a stalemate.
Morph suddenly flew passed her, looking like Astroboy, shaking her from her thoughts. The battle was going as expected, both sides had casualties but neither had the advantage over the other just yet.
Suddenly Gladiator, who had failed to move yet, screamed “Where is he?!” again and rocketed towards Ikaris. Within the blink of an eye Ikaris was on the other side of the room, moving faster than the eye could see, leaving the Praetor to smash through the wall like a cannonball.
The Exiles, as the wild card, were tipping the battle in the Shi’ar’s favor. Sabretooth had savagely slashed both of Giant Man’s Achilles’ tendons leaving the man bleeding on the floor in agony. A flash of pink light showed Blink was hard at work; the Human Torch had just been teleported into the path of Cyclop’s optic blast, taking him down. Morph surprise attacked Wasp, having disguised himself as Emma Frost. The tiny woman found herself smacked by a giant flyswat. Zarda couldn’t see Spider-Man in the madness of battle, though she spied the Inhuman Karnak webbed to the floor.
“Tell me where he his!” screamed Gladiator, smashing back onto the bridge. Ikaris dodged his attacks once again, playing with the rage-addled alien.
The Eternal, too focused on Gladiator, underestimated Zarda’s speed and agility. When he drew close enough to the Exile, she leapt forward, grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and punched him square in the nose. She followed with another two punches, and the Admiral seemed generally surprised by her strength.
Zarda sighed inside; men always underestimated a woman, even one who was six foot three and dressed in armor.
Gladiator took the fight from her hands, tackling Ikaris to the ground hard enough the cause the bridge to shudder. He lifted the Eternal up by the throat and screamed “WHERE IS HE?!”
Ikaris managed to gag out a mocking laugh before looking out the bridge viewscreen. “There he goes,” he stated.
Out in space, shooting towards Chandilar, was a golden streak. At the head of the streak, travelling at tremendous speeds and discharging a surprising amount of energy was a powerfully built man.
“SENTRY!” screamed Gladiator, his one good eye burning with rage.
Buzz Lightyear, who quickly melted back into Morph, began to say, “Oh that’s what the Sentry looks like,” but he was cut short when Gladiator suddenly rocketed forward and blasted through the outer hull of the ship. Explosive decompression rocked the bridge, sucking everybody into the vacuum of space.
As soon as she saw the Praetor rushing towards the hull Blink had leapt into action, charging her crystals and hurling them quickly at each teammate. Gladiator was too fast though, and when he burst through the wall icy coldness almost beyond comprehension immediately struck, numbing every nerve in the Exile’s body. Her javelins struck true though, teleporting Morph, Victor and Zarda back to safety on the Swooping Talon. She assumed the Imperial Guard possessed technology to help them survive in the void of space, as they had on a previous world the Exiles had visited. Sadly, the reality hoppers weren’t so lucky.
Panic set in as she couldn’t see Miguel in the stream of bodies being sucked into space. Already the cold had numbed her fingers, though the lack of pressure would actually kill her first. Teleporting around the crowd as quickly as she could, the pink mutant still failed to find her team mate. Painfully, as her lungs began to ache and the fluid in her eyes began to freeze, she made the extremely difficult decision to teleport back to the Talon.
BLOONK!
She reappeared on the bridge of the Shi’ar command vessel and immediately fell to her knees, due to both physical and emotion agony. Both Morph and Sabretooth knelt down to hold the woman, as she gasped for air, and tears welled in her eyes.
“I couldn’t…save Miguel,” she gasped.
“You did the best you could, darlin,” soothed Victor.
“Yeah…Miggy’s pretty resourceful, I’m sure he’s fine,” said Morph, though he didn’t sound like he believed it himself.
Zarda stood apart from the others, resolute. She would mourn her fallen comrade, but this was not the time. This was war. While waiting for Blink regain her strength the warrior woman gazed through the viewing screen at the battle that was now raging between the Imperial Guard and the Terran Vanguard. It was too much to hope that the Vanguard didn’t possess the technology to survive in space. There was no place for hope in a war; you had to rely on strategy and guile.
“Dammit, Gladiator, the Sentry’s not your mission!” screamed Deathbird into a communicator.
Either the communicator wasn’t working or the cyborg ignored her as he failed to reply. Away from the battle, closer to Chandilar, Gladiator collided with the Sentry and the two engaged in fierce combat.
Something pink glittered in the corner of her eye, drawing her attention to another viewing screen to the left. This one displayed a close-up of Chandilar, the dust clouds gradually clearing from the Terran’s missile attack. The planet’s capital was reduced to nothing more than a crater; it was as if the entire city had been atomized. Everything except a gigantic pink crystal.
“What is that?” asked Power Princess.
“That’s none of your concern, Terran,” spat Admiral F’Dor.
The other Exiles noticed the display too and Morph, recognizing it for what it truly was, gasped.
“Oh God, that’s the M’Kraan crystal!”
The Eternal Hammer>
Miguel, who hadn’t been on the bridge at the time of the decompression, felt the ship shudder after a tremendous crash and ran back to the bridge. Unfortunately the doors to the bridge refused to open, the holographic screen beside them stating there were sealed to prevent further decompression. The battle must have breached the hull of the ship, possibly sucking everybody into space. He had faith in his team mates; even without Longshot’s luck he was confident they survived.
He couldn’t help but feel guilty for leaving the team in the heat of battle but there was something important that needed to be done; he needed to take the cosmic cube away from Reed Richards. With any luck the elastic psychopath was still ensnared in his webbing in Ikaris’ quarters, the cube along with him.
A cosmic cube, one of the greatest instruments of good and evil in the universe, didn’t belong in the hands of a sadistic torturer like Richards. Perhaps more importantly, to Miguel and the Exiles anyway, was that the cube easily had the power bring them home to the Crystal Palace. He didn’t dare speak this plan out loud though, for fear that Asher would be listening, and cut him short by dumping him in some far off reality. Hopefully the man thought he was simply trying to sabotage the ship. A lie he accentuated by stating flatly, “I’m going to sabotage the ship.”
Alarms blared as he made his way through the ship, occasionally having to check a holomap to ensure he was going the right way through the labyrinth of corridors. Every so often his advanced senses would warning him of approaching soldiers, allowing him time to duck into a side room or stick to the ceiling to avoid discovery. One annoying pair of soldiers decided to stop directly beneath him though and chat.
“How’d those Birdies get on the ship?” asked one.
“Dunno, Rick, our tech’s meant to be best in the universe,” said the other.
“Whatever, it’s not going to do them any good anyway. The gods are on our side…”
“Too true, brother. The Celestials chose us above all others to rule,”
“I can’t wait to wipe my boots on some Shi’ar corpses, Thompson,”
Decided he’d had enough eavesdropping, Spider-Man dropped down behind the pair and smacked their heads together before they even had a chance to turn around. It was shocking to see what thousands of years of rule by the Eternals had down to humankind. They believed they were chosen to rule the universe. He couldn’t help but wonder if the Eternals were taken out of the equation would it even make a difference? Was mankind too far gone to be saved?
As much as it pained him, this wasn’t his concern. He needed to get that cube at all costs. After several more minutes of sneaking about the ship he finally made his way back to the Admiral’s quarters. The door, still hacked from the last time he was there, opened easily.
He was dismayed to find upon entering that Richards was gone. Only the large mess of webbing remained, apparently cut apart by some sort of laser. He slapped his head in sudden realization; the cutting tool! When he had escaped from Richard’s torture chamber he had carried along a useful laser cutter. Upon trying to hack Ikaris’ computer he had set it down on the table…where it no longer sat.
“Dammit!” he cursed.
Richards had somehow managed to get a hand, or even a finger, free of the webbing and used the cutter to free himself. The cosmic cube was also gone from where it had rested on the floor.
FFFFFSSSSSSTTTTT!
Agony suddenly arced through his entire body, causing the man to collapse to his knees and nearly releasing the contents of his bladder. Painfully glancing over his shoulder, he saw the sadistically grinning face of Reed Richards fade into view, clutching the cosmic cube. The psychopath had shocked him with some sort of cattle prod like device, likely from his collection of torture implements.
“You must really come from a backwater universe,” he sneered.
The cosmic cube radiated blood red light and suddenly it felt as his very blood was burning. Every pain he had ever felt before paled in comparison to this agony. He screamed wildly and the animalistic sound made Richards smile even wider.
“You’re going to suffer for humiliating me, boy.”
The Swooping Talon
“You moved the M’Kraan crystal?!” asked an incredulous Morph.
“My father thought it more appropriate that the great crystal be placed in a temple on Chandilar, where more of our people could worship it appropriately,” replied Deathbird haughtily.
“This is why Asher is so adamant we repel this attack,” realized Blink. “If Ikaris gets his hands on the crystal the Terrans could spread their empire through the multiverse,”
“The Shi’ar Imperium would die before allowing the crystal to fall into the hands of those Terran currs,” spat Admiral F’Dor.
“The Shi’ar are already dying!” retorted Blink.
Power Princess had remained separate from the debate, instead keeping her focus on the battle outside. The Terran fleet had broken through the Shi’ar blockade at several points and were steadily advancing on Chandilar. If the reinforcements from Aerie didn’t arrive soon the planet was doomed. She shifted her focus to the Eternal Hammer; with its bridge destroyed and commander battling in space the ship had begun to drift. Perhaps if they could direct it towards the Warpring…
“Where did the Vangaurd go?” Ikaris’ elite guard had suddenly teleported away from the battle with the Imperial guard, leaving them confused and floating in space.
Christopher Summers had also been monitoring the situation, more out of concern for his daughter more than anything, and quickly replied, “Tracing their teleport signature…they’re at the crystal!”
“Teleport the guard their immediately!” scream Deathbird.
“Send us down too,” demanded Blink
“Our mission is to turn the tide of the battle,” Zarda reminder her.
“If they get the M’Kraan the battle’s already lost,” replied an angry Blink.
“I’m coming too…” added a voice from nearby.
A pale and weak looking Longshot had joined them on the bridge. For the briefest moment Zarda felt her hard heart melt out of concern for her comrade, but she pushed it aside. This wasn’t the time.
“You’re in no shape to fight,” stated Blink.
“I’m fine, it was only a flesh wound,” he replied confidently, rotating his arm for good measure. A small grimace of pain slipped through but he quickly hid it. This man was a warrior through and through.
“Fine,” Blink conceded. “Send us down,”
Chandilar
Gladiator and the Sentry grappled furiously as they plummeted towards Chandilar like a fiery comet. Despite the roar of burning atmosphere in their ears the two mighty individuals could hear each other clearly.
“You really are a glutton for punishment, Kallark!” laughed Sentry cruelly, his long blonde hair blowing wildly around his face.
“I’ll kill you!” screamed the Praetor, insane with rage, before landing a savage punch to the Terran’s jaw. He laughed it off and retaliated with a punch to the stomach; shard of metals and circuitry flew off like shrapnel.
“How much of your brain did you lose when I beat you to death last time, fool?!” the Terran mocked.
“Die!” the cyborg fired an energy blast from his one good eye, scalding the Sentry’s face and actually making him cry out in pain.
“Is that all you can bring to the fight?” he laughed.
Intense white light radiated from his left fist and a blast of burning energy incinerated Gladiator’s entire right arm. The destruction of his mechanical arm caused him no pain, but it did distract him lock enough for the Sentry to grab him by the throat and strike him repeatedly in the face.
The ground raced up to meet them and both the Terran and the cyborg slammed into it with a tremendous boom. Dust and debris was hurled into the air and, when it settled, a triumphant Sentry was revelled, standing over broken and battered Gladiator.
“I wonder if they’ll send to you the graveyard or the scrapheap?” he pondered cruelly, before shifting his gaze to his true objective nearby: the M’Kraan crystal. The massive crystal glittered in the sunlight, despite the layer of dust from the destruction of Chandilar’s capital. It was truly remarkable and radiated with subtle power.
A brief flash of light followed by the sudden smell ionized air signalled a teleport and the powerful Terran spun about to face his possible foe. Instead he found himself face to face with a smiling Admiral Ikaris and the rest of the Terran Vanguard.
“Well done, Sentry,” praised Ikaris, “but the Shi’ar have realized our goal. I fear they shall arrive any-”
He was interrupted by another teleport and the sudden arrival of the Exiles and Imperial Guard.
“Get away from the crystal, Ikaris!” ordered Blink.
“Must we continue this game?” sighed Ikaris. “It’s an exercise in futility,”
Starbolt, who had stepped up as Praetor of the Guard while Gladiator was out of commission, was in no mood for forming a dialogue, and instead yelled, “Attack!”
For the second time in half an hour, both groups collided violently.
The Eternal Hammer
Richards placed a boot on Miguel’s chest and stood over him like a hunter stands over a prize buck. The cosmic cube was only inches away but he was powerless to take it. Reed’s use of the item had caused him too much pain to even move.
“The pain can go away if you just talk,” said Richard’s soothingly, though he was about as soothing as bag full of knives. “Help me unlock the secrets to dimensional travel and you can go free.”
He wanted to scream at the man, “You have a cosmic cube you idiot, you can do anything!” but he couldn’t get the words out. It was likely for the best; Richard’s limit on this world seemed to be imagination, which was the key to using a cosmic cube.
“Ok…I’ll talk,” he croaked, causing Richards to lean in closer in order to hear better. “What you need to do is stick your head up your own butt, where there’s a vortex in there to a world where you’re not a sadistic whackjob,”
The false warmth on the man’s faced washed away, leaving only hated and rage. Rather than use the cube or the shock prod he punched his victim in the face repeatedly, losing himself in the rage and frustration. Miguel meanwhile, ignored the assault and focused on the screen on the wall behind them. The words WARNING – IMPACT IMMINENT flashed repeatedly and displayed an image to the ship drifting dangerously close to another.
“Why are you smiling?” asked a confused Richards, halting his beating.
“Better brace yourself, stretcho,” his perplexed look was almost comical.
FWA-BOOOOM! CRASH!
The ship shook violently as it collided with another, hurling Reed face first onto the floor. He cried out in surprise when the cosmic cube when tumbling across the room. Almost instantly his hand was stretching across the room to grab it but he was too slow; a thin strand of webbing snared the item and it was yanked into Spider-Man’s hands.
“No!” cried Richards.
Miguel was on his feet in an instant, the cube revitalizing him with a mere thought. The power that radiated from the item was intense, so much so that it almost hurt him to hold it.
He locked eyes with Richards. “You don’t get to hurt anyone anymore,”
Chandilar
This time the battle was squarely in the Terran’s favor. With Ikaris and the Sentry’s might combined, the Shi’ar side had their work cut out for them. In fact, Zarda suspected the pair were just toying with them and could have ended this battle almost effortlessly. They were classic sociopaths, toying with their prey.
Ikaris was currently engaging Mam’selle and Earthquake, neither of who were having must luck. Earthquake’s land based attacks were essentially useless against someone who could fly and Mam’selle’s energy tendrils, which could cut or paralyse, seemed to have little effect on the Eternal. With a casual gesture of his hand Earthquake was destroyed by an energy blast. He didn’t even get a chance to scream.
Mam’selle would have been next but Longshot leapt to her rescue, hurling a useless blade at the Admiral’s face and distracting him long enough for one of the woman’s tendrils to strike true. It must have been due to Longshot’s luck, as the tendril, which had hardly bothered Ikaris before, dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
The Eternal was unsteadily back on his feet almost straight away though. Zarda stepped in immediately and tackled the man to the ground, with an impact like two Mack trucks colliding. While on the ground, the warrior woman wrapped her arms around the villain in a powerful bear hug and squeezed. Ikaris retaliated by head butting her in the face; thankfully her helm took most of the blow.
“You’re a powerful woman. Wherever did the Shi’ar find you?” asked the struggling Admiral.
“I found them, and they’ll thank the gods for the day that happened,” she replied before striking with her own head butt, stunning the man.
Nearby, Morph had disappeared from the field of battle, having spied the battered and broken body of Gladiator. Surprisingly the alien still clung to life, albeit barely. He looked up at Morph, though he didn’t really see the man, as his mind was ravaged with pain and despair.
“You…you just burst out through the bridge without any thought about us,” said Morph, with a hard edge to his voice. “You could have killed us…you did kill one of us!”
Gladiator simply stared up at him, was that regret on what little remained of his face? It didn’t matter, Morph wasn’t himself anymore; his face had taken on an enraged, almost insane appearance. If any of his friend had been present they wouldn’t have recognized him.
“Ye killed me friend, ye bampot!” he screamed with a voice that was not his own.
Before he knew what he was doing his fist, enlarged and hardened, slammed down upon the cyborg’s head. Mechanical components shattered, blowing sparks everywhere, and blood flowed freely from his mouth. His one good eye closed, possibly forever. Was he dead? Morph didn’t even care.
He wandered back to the battle in a dazed and confused state.
The Eternal Hammer
Reed Richards sneered in derision and he rose to his feet. “You don’t have the intelligence to wield such a device,” his hand stretched across the room in an attempt to snatch it but his entire arm suddenly turned to crystal and fell to the floor. The torturer cried out in shock more than pain as he eyed his crystallised arm.
“Cosmic cubes possess a semi-sentience, they’re influenced and shaped by the thoughts and actions of their bearers,” explained Spider-Man. “Sadly, in the short time you’ve had your cube, you’ve taught it little more than the desire to cause pain and suffering,”
“Nonsense. It’s a device, nothing more,” snarled Richards.
The cube flared in Miguel’s hand and Richard’s entire body suddenly matched his crystal arm. It appeared the cube had grown tired of its former master, a frightening thought.
The ship shook violently once more and a horrid screech of metal grinding against metal could be felt more than heard reverberating through the floor. Using the cube, he reached out with his thoughts in an attempt to view the battle outside. To his shock a visual view of the outside was just the tip of the iceberg. He saw things no mere mortal could ever dream of seeing. It was as if the cube was allowing him to witness the very fabric of space; energy fields, electro-magnetism, even people’s life forces.
It all bedazzled his eyes in an amazing display of technicolour more beautiful than he could ever have believed. A new clarity came over him, an insight provided by the aspects of the universe the cube allowed him to see.
I can use this.
Each Terran ship was a brilliant beacon of energy; like fireflies in the night. With barely a thought and the power of the cube, the quantum energy cores in each vessel detonated one by one, becoming gigantic fireworks illuminating the darkness of space. The Eternal Hammer was the last to go, exploding around him and yet not touching him at all. Soon, he floated alone in the vastness of space, with only debris and corpses for company.
The energy of the cube was burning through him now; he had done nothing to quench the desire for destruction and pain instilled in it by Richards. He had fed it and now it hungered for more. From the bridge of the Swooping Talon the Shi’ar could only see the outline of a man, radiating intense golden light.
It was too much power, he knew it, and soon it would consume his fragile mortal body. He needed to separate himself from the cube, before it destroyed him, but first he had to help his friends. To send them home.
This entire time, he could feel a tiny inconsequential ‘tug’ on his body and he realised it was Asher trying to teleport him away from Universe #180208 before he could return the Exiles to the Crystal Palace. The cube had been blocking the attempt as if it was little more than an annoyance.
He followed the trace across reality with his mind, until he could clearly see a frustrated and half mad Asher slamming his fists upon the computer and yelling at the Timebreakers, who cowered in fear. Asher did not look like a well man; his skin was pallid and eyes were bloodshot and rimmed by dark flesh. Every so often a nervous twitch contorted his features and he would glance around nervously, looking for some unseen whisperer.
An intense coldness invaded his insides, despite the burning power of the cube raging through his body. It wasn’t due to Asher; there was something else…something powerful, beyond the Panoptichron, beyond all reality itself. For the briefest moment he caught a glimpse of a small tear in the multiverse brimming with wild white power. Within was something that radiated so much malevolence he almost looked away. Summoning all his self-control he gazed again upon the tear and witnessed a gigantic cluster of long obsidian crystals as big as a sun, radiating malice instead of light.
At the same time as he saw it he felt very certain that it saw him, and it didn’t fill him with joy. Perhaps it was his subconscious acting though the cube, for whatever reasons the connection was suddenly severed. His mind reeled from the revelations; was this what had blasted Axel Asher across reality? The Monolith he mentioned so fearfully?
There was time for thoughts later; now he had to save his friends.
Chandilar
The battle was not going in the Exile’s favor. While Ikaris had been temporarily taken out of the battle, he had soon regained consciousness and assaulted Power Princess with a vicious ferocity unseen before now. It was clear he didn’t appreciate being humiliated and wanted to return the favor ten-fold.
Meanwhile the Sentry had almost dispatched all of the Imperial Guard, save Starbolt and Mam’selle. The pair stood with the Exiles in a brave last stand, defiant to the end and the villain merely laughed. The remaining Vanguard laughed with him, with the appearance of toadies trying to please their master. At this moment Zarda really hated the Eternals for what they had turned the human race into.
She didn’t have time to ponder it though, as Ikaris had his hands around her throat. As hard as she tried to break the hold he was simply too strong, and she was quickly running out of air. She hated the thought that his cruelly grinning face would be the last thing she ever saw.
How could she have fallen so far from grace? She was a Utopian, a warrior queen, a member of the greatest super team of her time, the Squadron Supreme! And yet here she was, failing her mission and dying at the hands of a pathetic worm.
“No…” she choked out.
She refused to go down so pitifully. She was Power Princess! Focusing all her rage, she lashed out with a savage kick to the place no man, even an Eternal, wants to be kicked.
Ikaris let out a loud “oof!” and grimaced in pain but refused to release his hold, so she kicked him repeatedly in the same place until he collapsed in agony clutching his nether regions. She knocked him out cold with a savage punch to the head.
“Woo P.P., way to fight dirty!” shouted Morph only a second before an energy blast from the Sentry blew him into a thousand doughy chunks. He would be fine, but it would take him several minutes to reform himself, another warrior down.
The Sentry, shocked to see Zarda standing over his defeated master, launched himself at the warrior woman in a fit of rage. He never reached her though as a blinding light suddenly appeared in the center of the group which seemed to hold every Terran suspended. The Sentry’s furious visage was only inches from her own.
She focused her attention on the light and realized it was a man whose body was overflowing with energy. He stood suspended several feet above the ground, clutching a small box in his right hand.
“Miguel, you’re alive!” exclaimed a surprised Blink.
“Spider-Man was dead?” asked a confused Longshot, since they had never had the chance to tell him.
“Yes, but not for long…the power is too much,” his voice was eerily calm, despite his morbid words.
“What the hell’s going on Spidey, you an angel now?” asked Sabretooth sarcastically.
“Reed Richards had a cosmic cube, now it’s mine. The battle is over; there is only one more thing I have to do…”
Every Exile and surviving Guardsmen disappeared in an intense flash of light, leaving a dazed and confused Vanguard behind.
The Swooping Talon
“What in Sharra’s name just happened?” demanded an incredulous Deathbird. The entire Terran fleet had just detonated before their very eyes and, while it was an answer to her prayers, she still wanted to know how it had happened.
“I…I don’t know,” replied Admiral F’Dor, dumbfounded.
“The Warpring still remains though,” added Christopher Summers grimly.
Without warning, the Exiles, Starbolt and Mam’selle materialised onboard the bridge in a flash of light so bright they were all left seeing spots for several minutes.
“Whoa Miggy, when did you become dues ex O’Hara?” asked a newly reformed Morph.
Miguel looked sadly upon his friend; with his new insight provided by the cube he could see the cancerous darkness growing within the man. He longed to rid him of the curse he knew nothing about but he only had enough strength for one last task.
“Thank you friends, you gave me a life of adventure,” he said sadly.
“Miguel wait…” Morph reached a hand out to his friend, but he snatched it back quickly, burnt from the barely contained power radiating from his body.
He turned his attention away from his friends; there was no time for goodbyes. Already, large glowing cracks were appearing along his flesh. The power of the cube had burned him up from within and it alone was sustaining him now.
The Terran armada was gone but the Warpring still remained. Already he could sense more ships massing on the other side of the portal, thirsting for Shi’ar blood. Instinctively, he understood the nature of the ring: it was very advanced Celestial technology, but modified, butchered by the Eternals.
The ring itself existed out of synch with the rest of reality but with the cube he saw it clearly and it horrified him. It was not technology that powered the ring but biology, human life to be exact. Thousands of women were entombed within the cold iron of the ring, connected to all manner of machinery, slumbering in a technology induced stupor. Each woman was in fact a clone of the same person; a mutant woman named Lila Chaney.
Disgusted with the Eternals disregard for the sanctity of life, he was half tempted to go through the gate and wipe them from existence himself. Sadly, he lacked the time and the strength. Instead he teleported each clone to a safe world, far from the Terran Empire where they couldn’t be abused anymore. While he had sentenced the soldiers on each Terran vessel to death he couldn’t bring himself to harm these clones; they hadn’t asked for this life.
There wasn’t long now, as patches of flesh had already burned away revealing the white hot supernova of power that the cube had unleashed within him. He mused grimly that perhaps Richards had got his revenge after all; his cube, taught by a madman, hungered for destruction and would consume anyone who wielded it from this day on.
Pushing the thought aside, he used the last of his strength to atomize the Warpring, so it could never be restocked with clones again. Perhaps there were other Warprings in use by the Empire, but something told him there was only one. The thought brought a smile to his dying lips.
His friends looked up at him, their expressions varying from grief to awe to pride. He didn’t want to die, but if he had to go he was proud it was like this. Slowly their voices drifted back to him like whispers on the wind.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” said Blink sadly, the tears running freely down her face.
Victor looked proud, as if Miguel had finally become a man. “You saved the day kid,” though a slight choke in his words betrayed his inner feelings, ever hidden.
“I was proud to fight by your side,” said Zarda, ever the warrior.
“I hope you find peace my friend,” added Longshot, whose face was awash with tears. This was the first death of a friend he had experienced since having his memory wiped. Unlike the others his heart wasn’t hardened by loss.
Lastly, Morph was too much of a wreck to even attempt a joke. His normally comical features hung downcast and distraught. “Not another friend…” he cried.
“Thank you, Morph…for making me funny,” he smiled wryly before pain wracked his body; it wouldn’t be long now. He had to warn them of the evil out there, watching them. “You can’t go home…the Monolith, its watching you…”
There were no more words. Burning light spilled forth from within him and the last remnants of his flesh burned away, leaving a vague mass of energy. Slowly the energy dissipated, like ashes in the wind, leaving the murderous cube lying on the cold steel floor.
The remaining Exiles eyed the device warily, but before they could act they were teleported away to the next world. Their mission was accomplished, but was the cost too high?
Earth…unknown
The woman named Heather Hudson clutched her throbbing head and felt nauseous. For the briefest moment she hoped she was hung over and the events that preceded this were merely a drunken dream, but alas that was not the case.
The last thing she remembered was Axel Asher teleporting her out of the Crystal Palace. Wait, that wasn’t entirely true; she did remember something after that. She remembered the sensation of falling an impossible distance, with nothing but empty darkness the keep her company…until she saw the giants. One red, the other blue, they were each too large for her primitive human brain to process.
After that there was nothing but delirious fever dreams until she awoke in an incredibly humid jungle with a large bump on her head.
“Oh god, it’s my 21st party all over again,” she groaned, grimacing at the sound of her own voice.
“Exile Heather Hudson!” screeched a painful voice nearby. She looked up and saw a Sovereign class Timebreaker running her way. For a moment her hopes rose, had they come to save her? Then she realized this was the Timebreaker Asher had teleported before her. There would be no rescue; she was alone on some far off world with only a giant stick insect for company.
A rustling in the undergrowth behind her caused her to spin about in fear, expecting an attack by a jaguar. Instead she found a man in a costume that strangely resembled a large bat, standing with one boot atop a rotting log, looking down upon her with a penetrating stare.
“You seem lost.”
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The End...
Next: In Exiles #6: A ranger, a barbarian, a crusader, an acrobat, a thief and a magician…need I say more? Fine, how about gods, god eaters and aliens? Also, meet the newest Exile; she’ll rock your world.
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