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#1
JUL 09 |
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“Summer's Night Dream”
Limbo
In the empty void which some call limbo, a massive vessel slowly plods through the void; a gray spec floating in the sea of white infinity. Its metal hull shines brightly, reflecting the brief time storms erupting from its bow, small events in the timeline which play ghostly movies of events that have been forgotten, happened or are possibly yet to come. Its elongated body covered with a battery of cannons and other designs, a clear indication of its superiority and scientific design. A bluish trail can be seen tailing into the nothingness, its propulsion systems humming softly in its travel. The Chronopolis remained firm in its existence, not expending a great amount of energy in its travel for, in limbo, time is irrelevant.
The Chronopolis’ crew hurried in their duties, each member plucked from different points in time for the ship’s cause. Jumbled dialects reverberate through its interior, as diverse as their clothing, each reflecting a point of origin that none could recall. Only one man onboard the Chronopolis knew that information: its Captain, the First Commander of the gigantic battleship, the Scarlet Centurion.
He sat quietly in a throne-like chair, alone in the center of a glass-enclosed room encircled by Roman-inspired pillars, contemplating his next course of action. Different panels of monitors float in his chamber, each showing various points in time, much like the storms the Chronopolis plowed through in its travels. His eyes fluttered from screen to screen, his mind calculating the possibilities as he grasped his halberd, the controlling device of the vessel. He clutched tighter as a formula appears in his thoughts, calculating the different factors related to their course. It was a complex equation, one few would understand, but it is the constant in his formula that he has overlooked, for though the ship remained unchanged it was the course of the people inside the vessel that made it the most unknown to quantify.
Especially the three undetected individuals racing through the Chronopolis’ corridors.
“Who designed this ship,” Killraven called out.
“It doesn’t matter. We have to get to bridge,” Moonraker replied from a position of unique origin, upturned from Killraven’s point of view that directed him to look upwards.
Free falling downward, Machine Man spoke, “I believe Killraven was referring to the abnormal design of the interior of the vessel that may be hampering our efforts to locate the bridge.”
“I know what he meant, Machine Man, but we have to find our way out of this labyrinth and locate the Centurion. The others are depending on us.”
“And if the information we have is unreliable?” Killraven asked.
“It has gotten us this far undetected,” Moonraker replied. “Therefore I am proceeding according to plan.”
“Moonraker’s logic is sound,” Machine Man said.
“Sounds good. You’re the boss.”
“I’m not the boss. I’m an Avenger.”
Space
Kolum Lo stood silent, shackled at the wrist and ankles as he stared into the depths of darkness that surrounded him. His eyes squinted in pain as a lone pillar of immense light, which seemingly came from nowhere, overwhelmed the spot in which he stood. He could hear the murmurs and whispers run rampant, the inevitability of his future something he had embraced long ago.
“Major Kolum Lo,” a stern voice called out. “How do you plead?”
The Major straightened his back, lifting his head with pride at the mention of his name. He would not give his captors the joy of breaking that that made him a proud Kree. He was the last survivor of his unit, a punishment he loathed. He would rather he’d had all his limbs torn apart while drowning in his own blood then knowing the men who’d admired him were no more. He remembered each one of them, spitting into the darkness as a curse onto the ones whom had decided their fate. Kolum Lo said nothing, wishing for the finality of death that had long awaited him.
A loud heckle could be heard, overwhelming the gasps from his actions. Kolum Lo turned his head toward the direction of the response, showing contempt to the Tribunal with a sinister grin. Silence overcame the onlookers as the look of hatred consumed Kolum’s eyes. It was his stern look which they must have wished dimmed for with a push of a button the floor beneath his feet opened, swallowing the Kree until he ended up outside a vast starship into the void of space.
Drifting into the darkness towards the stars, Kolum Lo smiled as the breath escaped his lungs. The fire in his chest screamed for air but he would not give any onlookers the pride of such agony. He knew death was near and, as he looked at the vessel that had kept him captive for months, a sudden explosion from the gigantic vessel made his eyes widen before the darkness overcame his vision.
Limbo
Killraven remained silent, his pumping heart the only thing he could notice in the hollow halls. His arms and legs braced his weight upon a ledge of corridor, waiting for the right moment to advance. His muscles remained tight, well trained for such conditions, as his respirations barely fluctuated. Killraven’s attention perked, his ears noticing the rising resonance of an oncoming detachment. It was faint at first, but he could see Moonraker in the distance notice the guards which were now directly below him in the corridor.
Killraven still remained shrouded to the guards, the two burly figures below draped in paladin armor from the dark ages with inter-twined circuitry that made Killraven question their true origin. The thought was fleeting as the trained gladiator swooped down upon one of the guards, his weight and descent enough to cripple the man to the floor with a well-placed knee to the upper spine.
With the evident crack of his comrade’s spine, the other guard staggered back, coiling his weapon for attack. Killraven revealed a smile at the attempt, his hands quickly grabbing his katanas and thrusting them into the guard’s chest swiftly. Killraven could see the glimmer in the guard’s eyes fade in death as he retracted his blades.
“I think you enjoyed that,” Moonraker said as he appeared, racing in from the distance with Machine Man behind him.
Killraven smirked, throwing Moonraker the access crystal that had belonged to the dead guard. In mid-stride, Moonraker grabbed the crystal and swiped the device against the scanner, opening the door with a gush of air.
The sound of the entry made the Scarlet Centurion turn his head, his hand grasping his halberd tighter in preparation. His eyes widened as he quickly noticed who was entering.
“Avengers!”
“Hello, Marcus,” Moonraker grinned, the clack of bullet rounds following his introduction upon the Centurion. The air around the Centurion rippled with a blue hue as the bullets fell softly to the ground. His eyes widened in anger at the attempt on his life.
“Why must I be cursed by you, Avengers?” the Scarlet Centurion roared, his halberd unleashing an energy blast at the scattering Avengers.
Bracing himself behind a pillar from the energy attack, Moonraker quickly retorted, “You’re a Kang. What did you expect?”
With a sinister chuckle, the Scarlet Centurion announced his intentions, “You three are too late. The final plan in my equation is already in effect. The death of the Avengers is upon us.”
“I didn’t get that memo,” Moonraker replied, his hand grabbing a ball-like device from his belt, which he flung in the Scarlet Centurion’s direction.
The device struck the Centurion’s energy field with a sudden burst of light, changing the once blue hue of his force field into an orange tinge and eventually shattering it like shards of glass, which caused the Centurion to guard his eyes.
“Yo, Marcus,” Moonraker shouted as the metallic fists of the Machine Man struck the Scarlet Centurion’s face in rapid succession before he could regain his vision.
“…How?” the Scarlet Centurion wondered as he rested on his back, the blade of Killraven positioned on his throat.
“We had a few secrets that we hid from the 31st century, a mixture of Pym particles and Stark technology. It’s an Avenger family secret,” Killraven winked.
The Scarlet Centurion laughed ominously at the comment as a smile stretched across his face under the blue mask of his armor. His hand slowly lifted, directing the Avengers toward a screen that played directly in front of his thrown. On the screen, which appeared from the air itself, a purple mass appeared that was destroying everything in its path.
“What is that thing?” Moonraker asked.
“That is Alioth. He is the end of all.”
Space
Kolum Lo could feel the cold metal of the slab resting below his body. His eyes remained shut as he listened carefully to his environment, his patience the essence of his foundation as the ingrained need of knowing where he was had long left him during his captivity with the War Crimes Tribunal.
The Major noticed nothing and so opened his eyes; his blurred vision quickly focusing into view as he looked at his blue tinted hands with a new amazement. He had escaped death once again but had no idea of who had helped him do so.
Kolum Lo felt the door open, the smell of recycled air into that of a sterile environment too obvious to ignore. Reacting like a trained Kree warrior, he grabbed the closest thing to him while using it as a weapon as he leapt to his feet. His attack was almost effortless, crippling the entry to his knees as he held the sharp scalpel to his neck, the point of the blade drawing a scant amount of blood.
“How did you get this armor,” Kolum Lo asked the new arrival of his adornments, which was eerily similar to his Starsteatlh troopers design.
“Major Kolum Lo,” the man choked, Kolum’s blade still resting firmly on his neck. “We are Kree, like you. I am here to offer our services to you much like my brother did years before me.”
An inquisitive look washed over Kolum’s face. “…Brother?”
The Kree nodded, “I am Galen Bar. Kin to Stug Bar.”
Kolum Lo’s grip on the blade loosened as Galen gasped. “Your brother I knew well. He will always be remembered,” Kolum Lo sadly stated.
Galen looked at Kolum Lo in horror, “Remembered…then he is…”
“I am afraid so,” Kolum Lo replied, unable to look into Galen’s eyes.
“May…may I ask how?”
Kolum paused, his memory flashing back to his imprisonment. “The War Crimes Tribunal placed us on a barren planet as punishment. The planet was frigid in the day while almost unbearable at night. We did not last long. I thought I was going to die too on that planet, but that is when the Tribunal retrieved me…the last survivor of the unit.”
Galen’s eyes sparked with fury while his pink Kree skin reddened. “Then they are lucky they met such a quick demise by our attack. They should have died a slow death.”
“I could not agree more,” Kolum Lo replied. “What offers have you for me, Galen?”
“Lead us much like you did my brother and we shall strike fear across the galaxy. The Kree Empire has softened since the last time you blessed its ranks. It needs a strong leader much like yourself.”
Kolum Lo could feel the zeal from Galen, it reminded him much of his brother. Kolum Lo looked at Galen’s eyes for the first time, seeing the desire in his stare. Kolum Lo nodded; knowing that finishing the revenge of his brother’s loss would fuel their cause.
“Set a course to the Sol system, Galen. With the Tribunal finished, only a few remain who are responsible for your brother’s death and they reside on the planet Earth. We shall show no mercy.”
Limbo
“That thing is massive,” Moonraker said.
“Avenger files have no record of such an entity or disturbance of such magnitude,” Machine Man replied, his memory processor’s cross referencing that which he had obtained from Avenger’s mansion.
“I find that hard to believe. Machine Man…” Killraven began.
Random wires arose from Machine Man’s chest, linking with any possible port for interface. “I am already trying to assess the Chronopolis data files.”
“Great,” Moonraker uttered as he paced toward the fallen Scarlet Centurion. “How do we stop that thing?”
The Scarlet Centurion found the remark by Moonraker humorous, laughing loudly at the suggestion of helping an Avenger. “Do you really think I would help my greatest enemy?”
Moonraker’s temper quickly rose. Thoughts of helpless people perishing as cities he knew quite well perished in the path of the creature called Alioth. Moonraker bit his bottom lip in disgust, quickly grabbing his holstered gun and drawing it onto the Scarlet Centurion’s head. “You have to the count of three.”
“Easy, Moonraker,” Killraven said calmly. “Avengers don’t murder. That is what you always told me.”
“I may have been wrong,” Moonraker replied, his finger ready to pull the trigger on the pistol.
“I have acquired the information requested,” Machine Man interrupted.
“What do you got?” Moonraker asked, his hand still firmly ready on his pistol.
“It seems that there was a file on Alioth within the Avengers files but it had been deleted.”
“I bet it was aided by our good friend here,” Moonraker said.
“I do not think we are capable of currently defeating the Alioth creature,” Machine Man quickly stated.
“How did the Avengers defeat it the first time?”
“The Avengers did not. They managed to acquire aide from Tempus.”
“Immortus’ giant lackey?”
“That is correct.”
“Nothing ever comes good from the Kangs,” Moonraker said, the disgust in his voice easily heard from his allies.
“Like I said, Avenger, the death of your comrades begins now,” the Scarlet Centurion quickly interjected.
Earth
“I just depleted the last of my armaments,” War Machine said. “That blasted thing hardly flinched. Lightning, Songbird, you having any better luck?”
“That would be a negative War Machine,” Songbird responded as she flew away from the crumpling structures which once were part of Time Square. “Maybe Damion is having better luck.”
“How come when things of science don’t work you always think its mystical?” Damion Hellstorm asked as burst of fire spouted around him.
“It usually is, Damion,” War Machine remarked.
“I hate to rain on your parade but it isn’t,” Hellstorm replied, teleporting the falling debris away. “I don’t know what it is but it’s never-ending though.”
“What do you mean?” Songbird asked over her intercom.
“That thing’s presence isn’t only here on Earth. It also is destroying my dimension. If we live through this, there might not be a Hell to freeze over.”
“Then we have to wait for Moonraker and the others to complete their mission,” War Machine said.
“Then I guess I better no keep you guys waiting any longer,” a familiar voice called out from their communication links.
With a thunderous clap, the clear blue sky hovering over the city seemingly split apart, revealing an unknown vessel from the gash, its massive structure dwarfing the city itself.
“What in the hell…”
“You only wish, Damion,” Moonraker smirked to his teammate’s shock while the Chronopolis opened a barrage onto the cloud like creature Alioth. “I thought you guys might need help.”
“Is that the Centurion’s ship,” Songbird asked, her slender body taking flight next to the Chronopolis’ port side.
“Yes it is.”
“Can it stop this thing?”
“I don’t know, but we are going to try…” Moonraker replied but his thought was stopped by the sudden burst of blinding light that filled the sky. “What was that?”
The Scarlet Centurion eyes perked as he too witnessed the flash from his shackled position. “We have to get away from here,” he barked with a desperate look.
“Why,” Moonraker asked as the worry in the Centurion’s voice frightened him.
“That shutter…it’s the timeline collapsing. We have but mere seconds till the timeline is wiped out. You have doomed us…” the Centurion said as the sound of his voice went silent, unable to finish his thought.
Another flash appeared as it appeared to engulf everything in Moonraker’s sight. It was a visual experience Moonraker had never imagined, a collapsing timeline rippling toward him as it engulfed skyscrapers, cars, birds; all vanishing before its approach. He cringed as the wave engulfed his friends, its approach collapsing the Chronopolis’ hull with no sense of any depressurization due to the hull breach. Moonraker stood there, knowing he was unable to do anything but close his eyes and wonder what was next. The easy voice that soon followed was not what he expected.
“I bet you are asking yourself ‘Where am I?’,” a voice said, garnering the attention of Moonraker instantly.
Moonraker patted himself down, amazed he was still in one piece as he looked around for his fellow Avengers. He proceeded cautiously, though the source of the voice presented no apparent visual threat at first glance. A man stood before Moonraker, dressed in a business gray suit, his heavy mustache hiding his facial expressions.
“I assume you are going to tell me,” Moonraker stated with a smirk.
The man shrugged. “The answer you seek isn’t asked by where though, but as of when.”
Moonraker looked at the man. “Are you the Oracle?”
“Excuse me?”
“The Oracle. Neo. Morpheous. Trinity. It’s from the Matrix. It’s an old Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne movie.”
“Oh…a joke,” then man replied, evidently lost in Moonraker’s attempt at levity. “The term you use to date this movie reference has no meaning in the current point in which you now inhabit.”
“What?”
“Let me explain. I am Mobius, middle management in an organization called the Time Variance Authority, or the TVA for short. Our organization is responsible for balancing timelines within the infinite variable multi-verse.”
“Timelines?” Moonraker stumbled back, his hand ready to reach for his pistol. “You a Kang?”
“No…” Mobius quickly denied, a look of repugnance revealing itself at the mention of the time conqueror. “Our organization is one of the many that rival the person you know as Kang, the entity Alioth, who you just met, as well as Revelation and the Delubric Consortium.”
Moonraker slowly relaxed his hand from his pistol, still wary of the events presenting themselves. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
“Precisely,” Mobius responded, snapping his fingers, which echoed forever in the white depths in which they stood. Mobius calmly turned, his back facing the green-garbed Avenger as he directed Moonraker to follow, shuffling away from him.
Moonraker could hear a mumbled roar grow like an approaching stampede. An uneasy feeling filled his gut as he could see symmetrical specs in the distance suddenly appear in every direction. Questioning their appearance, his eyes grew wider as the specs grew in size as he determined their destination.
The approaching quandary roared past him like a subway train passing a bystander. He could feel the vibration of its passing as his head looked upward at the continuous blur which roared past him, his bandana flapping freely by the other blurred objects driving horizontally across him. The blurs slowed, slowly revealing faceless men at desk which seemed to go as far as he could see.
“The place in which you now occupy is called the Null Time-Zone, a place outside the current timeline which you sometimes refer to as Limbo, though not entirely correct,” Mobius said, grabbing a file from a nearby desk. “It has been proposed by my superiors to offer you an opportunity to work for us in order to help prevent a massive temporal paradox that has been calculated to occur with the rise of Kang or Alioth.”
“Could you elaborate?”
“Our boss, He Who Remains, will witness the creation of the last living beings in this universe’s time cycle. That final creation will branch off into various alternate realities. It gets complicated from there but the fact is: He Who Remains is the last witness of such a creation. It is an undeniable fact. If Kang or Alioth alter the balance of that constant in time, it will cause a ripple effect throughout everything in the multi-verse, thus destroying numerous timelines and causing a massive workload for our organization.”
“It sounds cosmic.”
“It is,” Mobius replied as he handed the file to Moonraker.
Moonraker opened the dossier, noticing some familiar photos of people while others perplexed him. “What makes you think I can help?”
“We know who you are. You go by the guise of Moonraker but have gone by numerous others before the title you currently hold. Your bloodline is very vital to the very existence of countless timelines and possibilities. Believe us, if we didn’t think you could help then we wouldn’t have pulled you.”
“And my friends,” Moonraker choked.
An uneasy look revealed itself from Mobius. “Sadly, we cannot help your timeline, 09947/ 7797, due to the interference Alioth presents. We can however, place you in a point of time not directly affected by Alioth and prevent such a disaster at such a point the TVA knows as 0837/0792.”
“How come I don’t get the feeling that all I have to do is seek the aide of the Avengers?”
“If it were that simple then we wouldn’t have pulled you,” Mobius replied. “The prevention of paradoxes and events regarding timelines is not as simple as cause equals event. It is a culmination of many factors which stir factors in such directions.”
“That’s chaos theory”
Mobius agreed. “Alioth was not unleashed onto your world simply. It took many alterations in the timeline to get to such a point in your reality. The job will be tedious but we do not expect you to it alone.”
Alone. It was such a strong word to Moonraker as all the friends and family that he knew were all gone by someone’s grand scheme. He wondered what would be his muse since they were all gone. He halted and then realized the very nature of mission being asked. He was being asked to stop a travesty that occurred in his timeline from occurring to others. It was the sole reason he took up the Moonraker identity.
“How will I know that I am doing the right thing?”
“This data card has all pertinent information on it. Download it and then weigh the percentages.”
“Anything else I should know?”
“Use force.”
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To Be Continued...
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