October 1st:
“It’s been a week! Shouldn’t that energy girl have returned by now?” Union Jack asked, slamming his fists on the table.
“Probably, Jack but keep your pants on, big boy,” Black Cat answered with a wink. Felicia Hardy was a woman of high upbringing, her levity and flirtatious nature had been instilled in her as a girl, and even cataclysmic events could not rob her of her upbeat attitude.
“Jack is correct, it has been too long. Something must have held them up on the moon,” The Vision said entering the conversation, his android mind racing, searching inwardly for any possible deterrents Photon and the others may have run into.
“Hey…um, what time is it?” Angel asked suddenly, he had been sitting at a chair by a window.
“It is 1:05p.m., Angel,” The Vision answered the winged mutant’s out of place question.
“So it’s probably bad that it’s pitch black out?” Angel asked rhetorically, alerting the others to a new menace. The Avengers rushed to the rooftop of the mansion whereupon the booming voice of the Watcher resonated throughout the whole city.
“So, you would-be heroes attempt to sabotage me at my own home? Backhanded and insidious, what guile you have. Hopefully you’ll appreciate a little game I’ve devised. I just now planted half a dozen bombs in your city, not mere explosives, mind you, but explosive vessels holding miniaturized black holes, the six bombs combined should destroy your city, and the celestial strains from them will eventually decimate the earth.”
“You’re a monster!” Hammond yelled, motioning to Hercules, who picked him up and launched him at the currently levitating Watcher.
Boiling over with blind rage, Hammond’s fists ignited with intense searing flames. Straining his slowly returning pyrokinetic powers to the limit, he strengthened the volume and intensity of the flames as he accelerated towards the Watcher.
“Rudimentary fire? Were you created by a caveman, android?” The Watcher smirked, holding up a hand propelling the airborn Hammond backwards with incendiary cosmic energy.
“Rhodes, catch him!” Warbird roared and Rhodes took off.
“I’ve got you, Hammond,” Rhodes told the falling man, as he created a large cushion out of the prism energies.
“No…I was able to control…and absorb some of the ‘flame’ he hit me with, but there was something else in it, some cosmic power. It’s coursing through me now, empowering me, rebooting old systems…” and suddenly, in a blinding, flash, the old torch was reignited.
“Hammond, are you--?”
“A ‘Human’ Torch once more? Yes. He unwittingly rebooted my old abilities, reigniting my powers,” Hammond replied to Rhodes’ question.
“Avengers!” Warbird cried out, “Reconvene on our rooftop.” Once everyone had gathered on the roof, “as fortuitous as Hammond’s encounter was, we can’t afford to go off half-cocked like that again. We have six bombs to disable, in a city now devoid of electricity and sunlight. Rhodes, Vision, Hammond, Norvell and I can create our own light source. We’ll go off looking for the bombs; Vision’s already told me he can sense the emissions from them. Not sure how we’ll disable them, but we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.”
“And what shall we do, fair Carol?” Hercules asked of his leader.
“Get some flash lights, help people out, hold down the fort and do what you can,” Warbird replied, issuing the orders. The rest of the ad hoc Avengers bound off.
“Rhodes, the closest bomb is on the top of the Empire State Building. Retrieve it, and hopefully we can find a way to dismantle them,” Vision instructed, as Rhodes sped off, the power prism carrying him at fantastic speeds.
September 28th:
To the unaided eye, it seemed there were three falling stars in an alarmingly close proximity. However, instead of falling, they were rapidly rising, and each differed in color. A yellow pure sunlight color, a dark purple and an electric blue; for these were no stars, but three mighty Avengers!
In the upper atmosphere, there was enough air to make sparse conversation possible.
“How long should it take you to get there?” Wonder Man asked of his two companions. They had had more experience with space travel than he.
“Less than two seconds once I’m outside of the atmosphere.” Photon replied.
“Me too,” Living Lightening chimed in.
“I haven’t made the trip since returning as this energy form. I’ll go as fast as I can, though.” Wonder Man replied.
“We’ll wait for yo—“ The words failed to finish, as they had left the last vestiges of atmosphere, and now in open space, at full throttle, Photon and Living Lightening were at the moon in under two seconds. A minute later Wonder Man was with them.
Floating in midair, they soon caught site of the Watcher’s abode, and made straight for it. Covered in a dome, much like the ones now encapsulating the cities of earth, but it wasn’t hard and opaque. It was crystal clear with a sort or fluidity to it. Cautiously, they passed through it, coming out undamaged on the other side, inside the Watcher’s home. Upon entering they felt a rush of oxygen, and once more could resume conversation.
“So this is ol’ Uatu’s crib, huh?” Wonder Man asked facetiously.
“What’s that over there?” Living Lightening asked, his voice a humming electric rasp.
“It looks like an energy pod…with the Watcher inside!” Photon answered as they closed in on the glowing object. “Seems like it’s made of some sort of energy, I’m going to try and absorb it, hopefully soak it up and wake up the Watcher.”
After trying different energy bandwidths, Photon was successful and was able to absorb and soak up the cocoon, leaving only the Watcher’s now waking form.
“What happened here?” Wonder Man asked the bewildered alien.
“Another Watcher…my…brother came; he hid from my vast perceptions, his rage overwhelming--clouding my senses and powers. He took my by surprise and imprisoned me in that cocoon.” Uatu choked out, his hollow cosmic voice weak.
“That sucks—but to up the ante, he’s captured the major cities of earth inside some sort of dome constructs. We can’t find anyway out or in, and he teleports inside of them, causes chaos for hours on end. No one can stop him,” Living Lightening informed the weakened Uatu.
“Taking care of him should be easy…we Watcher’s require the aide of Delta Rays, a…form of radiation that extends our already great life spans. Millions of years ago we…developed a form of radiation to counteract the Delta Rays. It is capable of incapacitating a Watcher and…in large enough doses, of killing a Watcher altogether.”
“Where can we get them? And how can we free our cities?” Wonder Man asked, no nonsense.
“With my brother’s fall, the cosmic domes surrounding your cities will disappear. He is crazed, his actions would be child’s play for a Watcher at full power, however he has been imprisoned for the past few eons. That is fortuitous for us, as he does not remember the full scope of his power, nor does he have the adequate discipline to use it. The cosmic domes surrounding your cities, their upkeep is taxing him,” Uatu informed them, exposing the chink in his brother’s armor.
“So strike while he’s weak, huh?” Wonder Man asked.
“Yes. I am imprinting in your mind the radiation frequencies which will incapacitate my brother, and also plans to create machines to implement them, though I believe Photon can adjust her energy form into the rays,” Uatu finished, as new memories and knowledge were given to the three Avengers.
“How do we get this to our people inside his domes?” Living Lightening asked the one last, crucial question.
“The domes are but solid energy, cosmic—not adhering to your mortal rules of physics and dimensions. I am placing in your mind their energy frequencies as well, Photon should be able to phase through when she adopts the anti-delta ray frequency.”
“Well it’s been dandy, big guy, but we’ve got a world to save. You know how it is,” Living Lightening replied as he and the other two Avengers turned to leave.
Suddenly a new voice was heard in the room, chilling each Avenger to the bone, and filling Uatu, a staunch emotionless Watcher with anxiety and fear.
“Going so soon?” Uatu’s rogue brother asked his odd alien face stretched into an insane grin. With that, he put the three Avengers in suspended animation, and proceeded to beat his already weakened brother to a pulp.
October 1st:
The Vision soared at his top speed; he rapidly crossed the city, passing through buildings in his intangible state. Zoning in on one of the bombs the Watcher had left in the city; he phased through a final building, and descended into the room housing the bomb.
The room was nothing special, which made it a perfect hiding place in fact. A low rent, soon to be condemned, building. No one would notice its placement in there. Vision attempted to tinker with the bomb, trying to find and interface with any electronic signals via his mechanical brain, and by trying to find wires or access ports in it. To no avail though, the bomb was of an advanced cosmic fare with a detonator thousands of years beyond earth’s current technology.
“Avengers,” Vision called to his teammates over a battery powered radio connection, “I’ve found the first bomb, but have devised no way of disabling it. Tell everyone to gather here,” and having given his position, he waited for the others to arrive. Within 10 minutes, everyone had, and they set to devising a plan.
“I can find no way to disable the bombs. We must either find a way to contain or absorb them.” The Vision informed his comrades.
“My power prism may be able to create a bubble to hold in the explosion, but how do we contain a black hole?” Rhodes said, half offering a plan.
“We need somewhere to contain it…evacuate part of the city, or take it underground, maybe?” Angel’s mind wandered, voicing his thoughts.
“The Darkforce dimension can be used to teleport at times, I’ve been wary of entering the dimension lately, as I did not know if the Watcher’s dome somehow extended pan-dimensionally.” Darkstar said, as the ebon energies started to swirl around her hands while she demonstrated her powers.
“Does it need to be teleported away, or can we just seal it in this dimension of yours?” Union Jack enquired of his teammate.
“There appears to be no analogous reactions in our dimension to happenings within the Darkforce. I believe we shall be safe simply sealing it in. I don’t know how a black hole will affect the Darkforce, but we must try.” the Russian beauty answered.
“Though this conference could not have been evaded, we have wasted valuable time. We now have approximately fifteen minutes to find the remaining bombs,” The Vision announced “I have a position on the next three. I will lead Laynia to the next one. Norvell and Rhodes, I will guide you to the next two through the radio. Create a light show to act as a beacon. Warbird and Hammond, as I find the last two, I’ll radio you their locations, find them and make another beacon. Hercules, Angel, Union Jack and Black Cat, do whatever you can to help.” With that, the heroes set off, Vision guiding them via their radio connection.
Darkstar concentrated, created a portal, and enveloped the bomb at their current location. Vision guided her to the next, keeping track of the time all along. It took precious seconds to fly to and devour the bombs into the Darkforce. Ten minutes left. Four bombs to go.
“Rhodes, can you grab yours in a prism construct and take it to us?” Vision called out over the radio, while he and Darkstar headed to the lightening display Norvell had made as a beacon.
“I believe so,” Rhodes answered, while at his end, he started to cover his black hole device in prism energies, lifting it off of the ground. Two more beacons lit up in the sky as the Vision had simultaneously sent the coordinates of the last two bombs to Hammond and Warbird.
Several miles to the north of the Vision, a multicolored prismatic energy display emanated great light; it was Rhodes hoisting his bomb into the air and flying at break neck speed, towing the device along with him, towards the Vision, who was lighting his area via his solar crystal.
“Darkstar, create a large portal facing north,” The Vision instructed, while he sent radio info to Rhodes. As Darkstar’s portal grew in size, covering a good portion of the sky, the Vision radioed Rhodes and Norvell his plan. The lightening display to the east northeast of them stopped. Warbird homed in on the Vision, leaving her bomb behind, she flooded the pitch black sky with energy, rapidly draining her reserves. Seeing the portal in the night sky, Rhodes slung his bomb around, encapsulated in a prism construct, and shot it straight for the Darkforce portal.
Norvell fumbeled for a handhold, but finally grasped the large alien metal object, spinning his mystic hammer, he took to the sky, heading for the light emanated by Warbird, he urged his hammer to go faster, breaking mach speeds, creating a loud reverbrating sonic boom. Creating wind currents behind him to increase his speed, he gripped the bomb tighter. Flying straight at the portal Norvell heaved it into the portal and at the last minute altered his flight path to avoid himself from entering the Darkforce.
Five minutes left.
Rhodes sped off towards the fiery beacon erupting into the sky, courtesy of Hammond. Darkstar, with Carol and Vision guiding the way flew towards the fifth bomb. Hercules had originally gone with Warbird, and in her absence had tried to heft the bomb to the roof, to expediate its dispatch.
“Lady Darkstar! Hurry, the explosive has seemingly sensed the absence of it’s fellows. The timer has sped up!”
Two minutes left.
The Vision toyed with his optic sensors, scanning for Rhodes, as he elevated the last bomb into the sky with his prism.
“We’ve got under two minutes left, Vision,” Rhodes called to his android teammate, while flying towards Darkstar. “I can’t get their fast enough!”
“Your prism reacts to willpower and strength of mind, Rhodes. You’re letting worry cloud your mind, forget the danger, you can go as fast as you need,” The Vision told his comrade, recounting the prism’s details that he’d read about in Avengers files, and encountered first hand.
Hercules strained, grasping the device tightly, he raised it over his head, with his diminished godly sinew straining. Under his breath, in a rare solemn moment for the boisterous demi-god, a prayer was uttered, to Zeus, his father and leader of the Olympians. Hercules wished to curse Zeus, the supposedly loving father, who had shorn him of his immortality and sapped him of his strength. However, the Prince of Power instead called to his father, praying and hoping as a faithful and loving son. Some called Hercules naïve, but he was far from that, he was simply optimistic. Hercules had seen too much darkness in his long life, these days, in this age of Marvels, Hercules instead preferred to search for the good in his life.
Super dense tendons and muscles threatening to tear and rip, Hercules ignored the offers of aid from his fellow Avengers, he had to do this. He had to prove his might. The Prince of Power reeled back, and with Herculean effort, cast the bomb into the Darkforce portal. Spent, Hercules collapsed to the concrete of the building roof which he had been standing on. He felt weak and tired for the first time in a veritable eternity.
A minute left, with Rhodes across the city. Remembering Vision’s words of willpower, Rhodes spun in the air, willing the energy line he was towing the bomb with to slacken, he whipped around and slung it towards the Darkforce portal, clearing his mind, focusing only on speed, willing the bubble surrounding the bomb to go faster.
Something inside Rhodes, deep in his soul, in his unconscious psyche, offered help, offered a partnership. “I can help you, we can save the world,” an alien voice whispered, in an ancient extraterrestrial eldritch tongue. Subconsciously Rhodes accepted the offer, he wanted power and respect. He had been the great War Machine, until accident had taken the armor from him, and then he lost the Eidolon War Wear in service to his former friend Tony Stark. What had Stark done to compensate Rhodes for such a loss? Nothing. Rhodes wanted to be great, to have more power than War Machine and Iron Man combined, to be an arsenal unto himself, to never have to rely upon Stark machineries. He wanted to humiliate and mollify Stark with his power. And so he would. In that moment, his power levels spiked, he bonded with the prism and the hidden Skrull essence inside it. This new bond provided him with more energy than before, in a flash, he pushed the bubble to speeds nearing Mach 5. The bubble entered the Darkforce portal Darkstar collapsed the portal and 30 seconds later fainted, falling to the earth. Black Cat had noticed her weakening condition first, and launched a cable line, swinging by and catching the Russian beauty in mid-air. The recoil from the explosions in the Darkforce dimension had affected Laynia, and she now lay limp in Felicia’s arms, unconscious but breathing.
“Why is he wasting our time like this? It can’t just be for retaliation, that’s too…puerile, he thinks he’s above stuff like that,” The highflying Angel commented. “He’s trying to keep us occupied, there’s something else going on.”
A sudden blinding luminescence filled the domed city as pillars of fire rose from the ground, immolating buildings, cars, people and anything else that had been in their way. The pillars stood stationary, a magnificent, mystifying sight. As a soundtrack to the light show, the echoes of mad laughter and machinery filled the air.
Only one dared to interrupt the hellish din; “By Zeus,” the words slowly trickled from Hercules lips as he, a god himself, stood in awe.