Back to GatefoldIssue #12 by Ed Ainsworth
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"Long Time Coming: The Final Battle"
Previously: Mark Diering, AKA Brother Nature brought together a group of heroes to fend off the advance of a group of Celestials, coming to wipe life off Earth. His warning, coming from an alternate timeline Amalgam, secretly holding the consciousness of Gaia, helped him fend off the Celestial’s attack Dogs, the God Killer and even the Unstoppable Eternal Gilgamesh himself. Now, having creating a planet out of the heroes he gathered, Mark Diering is heading to face the Celestials themselves to destroy them, or be destroyed himself.
Brother Nature’s Planetoid slowly orbited the Earth. Roughly half the size of the moon, as that was all the shell Sharon could produce, and almost the maximum limits of Monopoles gravitational powers.
Mark, along with Amalgam, touched the surface of the planet for the first time. The orange plates, now several metres wide in every direction, re-arranged themselves into steps down towards the core. Mark crouched and touched the surface of one of the discs with his left hand.
“Thank you, Sharon. You’re amazing.”
Mark walked down the discs, which had arranged themselves into stairs, leading in a spiral towards the core. Amalgam walked on a separate set of stairs, twisting around each other towards the core, in a helix.
“Oddly appropriate,” she said. Mark nodded slowly. He could see the core room below. Monopole stood in the centre, his eyes closed, and his body glowing with white energy. His hands firmly on Arcadia’s shoulders. The rest of his expansive team stood, awaiting their orders. Chrome and Darwin stood just shy of an additional room to the left of the main Core. Snowbird, Omega Sentinel and Astra stood waiting further orders, while Will O’Wisp monitored the planet itself. Dinah Soar with her wings folded over her chest, and Feron sat in silence, hovering over the ground, his hood pulled over his head. Sundown was quietly talking to Iolande, who was nestled in the arms of Kate Waynesboro, leaving only Mattie Franklin, glowing with power in the far corner, her webbing spread through the air, as a fine mist, with Boost augmented her abilities.
“Where are we at?” Mark asked, not quite stepping foot into the core. Josef Huber, the first step in the evolution of man into the realms of existing in harmony with nature, spoke up.
“They’re reaching the Inner Asteroid Belt,” Josef said, “and they’re heading closer. We need to prevent them getting closer.”
“Yes,” Mark said, “I’d agree with that. Robb? Get us there.”
Monopole offered a slow, but steady nod, increasing his grip on Arcadia’s shoulders. She leant back into him, gripping his forearms.
Mark felt the whole planet shift, beginning to move away from the Earth.
“How long til we reach target?” Mark asked. Josef looked down at the ground, his feet embedded up to the ankles in Sharon’s plates.
“Probably ten minutes?”
Mark nodded again.
“Pretty impressive, Josef,” Mark said.
Josef smirked.
“Isn’t it? Part of it is Mattie joining everyone up through her webs and the other part is Boost…giving us all that extra push.”
Mark scratched his beard gently. Why didn’t he feel anything?
“Mark,” Amalgam took his hand gently, “This is going to get messy. This is going to end badly for quite a few of the people here, but you must promise me something.”
Mark took Amalgam’s hand in his own, and lifted it up.
“What?”
“When we return to Earth, when this is over…”
“Somewhat hopeful,” Mark said.
“You must make amends. You must fix this listless life of yours. You have children, Mark. You have lots of children, and they are without their Father. Without an understanding of who they are, because they have nothing to measure their Fatherly love against. You have left them, in a world of power, in a world of nature, without the Man who gave it to them to guide it.”
Mark squeezed her hand tightly.
“I’ll…see what I can do,” He said. He dropped her hand and made to walk away. Amalgam’s tight grip squeezed his shoulder, her purple fingers driving into his flesh.
“Promise me, Mark Diering,” she said, “Promise me you will make amends.”
Mark snatched Amalgam’s hand off his shoulder, twisting it against her chest. Amalgam took a step back, but Mark pressed, slamming her against the inside of the Core. Silence spread over the pair.
“I might be Brother Nature, Gaia,” he said, quickly through his teeth, “But I am not your damn servant. I do the work of Nature, not the work of the Earth spirit. Despite what you might think, they’re not mutually exclusive.”
He released her and slammed his hands either side of her head, pushing his own inches from her forehead.
“If you were so great and all powerful you wouldn’t need me to put these people’s lives at risk. You wouldn’t need me to fight against a cosmic entity that, presumably, you would be able to take apart if it touched your surface. Instead, we’re cowering inside a planetoid made from heroes that you’ve tasked me with finding and sending to their death. So, promise me, Gaia,” Mark pulled his hands away and gripped her shoulders tightly, “Promise me that at the end of this, you will make amends.”
Amalgam said nothing, waiting for Mark to release his grip. She slid out from his fingertips and headed towards the other end of the Core Room. Mark, holding his breath in gulps refused to let any more of his frustration show. He moved back to Josef and pressed his hand against his friends arm.
“How are we doing?” he whispered.
“Nearly there. I can feel the ships, I can see them,” Josef placed a palm against Mark’s forehead.
Mark’s vision flooded. Before him a ship the size of a small planet drifted, aimlessly in space. A door, the size of a sky scraper opened, released two Celestials. One larger than the other carried an enormous purple staff. Energy leaked from its single, central eye, which sat underneath what appeared to be a metallic mouth, and huge spines of tree-pronged horn structures jutted from its head. The other celestial, a neon green, stood in reserve against the larger, a glowing pattern of circuitry running the length of the left side of its body, its right, dull and rusted.
“Can you patch me through so they can hear me?” Mark asked. Josef nodded and turned to Omega Sentinel. She too nodded, and small patch of metal popped away from her forearm.
“They controlled me once,” she said, her voice small, “Never again.”
Mark cleared his throat and waited for the Omega Sentinel to give him the signal. She dropped her hand and Mark stepped towards her.
“Celestials, this is Mark Diering, Brother Nature. I’m addressing you because, in all likelihood, no species of a planet you’ve seeded has ever spoken back to you before. You sent your attack dogs to prevent us from opposing you, we defeated them. You sent the God Killer? We defeated him. You sent an Eternal who cannot be killed, or stopped. We defeated him. Now you’re here, can you guess what the overall out coming of this attack will be? Because, if I were a betting man, I’m pretty sure I know the answer.”
Mark ran a hand over his throat and Karima cut the signal.
“Give it ten seconds, and then start playing Dinah’s World Song on loop. If you can, aim it at the one who’s providing backup.”
“Why that one?” Karima asked.
“You get yourself an army because you can’t fight what’s in front of you, so you look to your behind. You take out the behind, there’s nothing to rescue you when death comes at your face.”
Karima nodded and Mark narrowed his eyes.
“Josef, prepare the first wave of weapons. Darwin, Chrome, arm the guns and get ready to fire aim at the first celestial. Snowbird? Get yourself ready, you’re going out in the second wave with Humus and Jude.”
A flurry of activity erupted within the Core.
Outside the planetoid, the first celestial advanced towards it. His staff lowered, it looked as though he was prepared to stab at the heart of the Globe. The larger celestial stopped, the Neon green one doubling over, as its hearing was bombarded with the World Song. The celestial, thrusting itself backwards in attempt to throw off the song, stumble away from the ship, towards the Planetoid.
A series of powerful graviton powered geysers propelled small objects towards the Celestial. Small objects which grew in size rapidly, until they were the size of cars. The first shot exploded off the Celestials head with a burst of energy, rending the metal which comprised its face sheared off, the second shot collided and exploded with a tiny mushroom cloud, against the left elbow.
“How are we doing?” Mark yelled.
Darwin had evolved powerful arms, and intense vision augmentations to allow him to aim the gravity gun at the celestial. Chrome, using his alchemically charged powers, was providing an unstable radioactive isotopic reaction within each of the shrunken Elements of Doom. The gun exploded again, firing off another Element of Doom, which exploded against the elbow of the Celestial, the second of such shots to do so, cleaving the arm off and letting it float backwards, bumping off the hull of the ship.
“Aim at the first one now,” Mark said. His vision still full of Josefs channelling powers, he watched the Second celestial turn and grab at its arm.
“Pepper it, I want some rapid fire, this one isn’t weakened by the world song.”
Mark turned around, pulling Josef’s hand off his forehead for a moment. Dinah was on her knees on the floor, her hands at her throat. Whatever the celestial had done in response to her song, had all but wrecked her voice. Mr. Immortal, her husband, was crouched next to her, stroking the small of her back and muttering into her ears.
“Dinah’s down,” Mark said to Josef, replacing his hand on his head. “Arm the second wave.”
“I think they’re planning something similar, Mark,” Josef said. The doors to the huge celestial craft opened, with three more of the gigantic metal gods exiting, each holding cosmic weapons. A huge, triangle topped mace, a sword made from the heart of a sun, and an axe which appeared to have the head floating a good few metres away from the central body of the staff.
“War wear?” Josef said.
“Probably. We’ve never seen Celestials go to War, have we?”
“Second wave?”
“Give us ten seconds!” Darwin yelled, “Jude isn’t going into the chamber.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Have you tried to manipulate Death into a chamber without touching him?” Darwin yelled back, “It’s not exactly easy!”
“Mark?” Snowbird asked. Mark looked away from Josef for a moment, and felt a little kiss on the side of his cheek. “When I return, Mark. We will spend time together.”
“Ok,” Mark said. She squeezed his hand gently, and headed towards the gun room.
There was a quite shuffle, and a cough from Darwin, which Mark took to assume that Snowbird had taken off her costume. The second explosion from the gravity gun sent a small, naked form hurtling out into space. Within seconds, the form grew, and grew, transforming itself into the deadliest of the Great Beasts, Nooqtoq, a great creature of immense size. Spears of tentacles which appeared to be made from bone and sediment, exploded from every possible section of the beast’s body, and face. Nooqtoq grabbed with the first Celestial, the tentacles tearing the spear apart and throwing it away from the creature, while the Celestial itself grappled with it, a monster almost rivalling the height of the cosmic god.
A purple fist collided with Nooqtoq’s head, the bone tentacles snapping off where they joined the face, while hundreds of teeth battered the surface of the planetoid.
“Keep up the fire!” Mark yelled. The soft thumps of the gravity gun continued to pepper the Neon Green celestial with exploding elements of doom. One of the new celestials, wielding the mace, placed it before the wounded Celestial, deflecting some of the impacts, until, it too began to warp and collapse.
The planetoid shook violently, and listed to one side. Nooqtoq and the Purple celestial had hit the surface, which bulged and bent underneath their weight. The ferocious battle continued high above, the impacts ringing in the ears of the gathered heroes.
“Low on Ammo!” Darwin yelled.
“Keep firing, but make them count. Aim for joints and faces,” Mark ordered. The thumps of the gravity gun fell to once or twice a minute, as Darwin aimed each shot. A dull concussive wave washed over the planetoid, bending the already distorted shell even more. Darwin sat back heavily in his seat, and stared across the room to Astra, who was quietly preparing Feron. She nodded to him, and offered a small, wry smile.
“The Neon Green Celestial is down. It…it exploded.” Darwin said. “Did…did I just kill a space god?”
Mark nodded.
“Yes,” he said, “And they’re likely to kill us for it, so make sure you keep it up.”
The celestials all paused for a moment, their attention taken aback by the fact mere mortal weapons and isotopes could fell one of their own. The purple Celestial, energy pumping through its hand, now smashed it down through Nooqtoq’s chest, and sent the beast hurtling through the fissures and rifts which made up Sharon’s extended plates. A whole section of the planet collapsed, while the corresponding side was ravaged with the expulsion of celestial energy.
“Darwin? Release Jude. Release Humus. Give them everything – Kate, Astra? I want Iolande and Feron ready to go in two minutes. Jude isn’t a fighter, even at mega scale, and Humus is just a kid.”
Kate snarled at Mark.
“I hope you’re going to burn for that last comment, Mark. He’s just a kid but he’s giving you everything, while you stand there like some damned general.”
“Yeah,” Mark said, under his breath, “I hope I burn for it as well.”
The gravity gun announced the arrival of Jude, who much like the Elementals of Doom, began to grow immediately after leaving the ejection chamber. His huge black cloak cast a shadow over the planetoid, enough for the fractured surface to absorb Snowbird back inside of itself, and funnel her down into the core room.
“Someone treat her!” Mark yelled. Standing with Josef’s hand on his forehead made him feel useless.
The second blast of the gun was Humus Sapien’s, a Gaia powered teenager, who shot through space like a missile. Mark watched as he drew on the powers of the Earth, a funnel of wind around himself, his skin turning to rock and ice, his core burning with magma and lava. His were eyes intent on the celestial before him.
A human missile, however, before he met his target, his trajectory was destroyed by the Celestial with the axe, hitting him in the body. The axe itself, much to the Celestial’s surprise, exploded into component parts, peppering their ship, and the other celestials with debris. Humus, unable to control his velocity, glanced off the shoulder of the celestial whom had once owned the Mace, blown apart by Elementals of Doom, and hurtled off into the depths of space.
“Damnit!” Mark yelled. He pulled himself away from Josef and stormed over to Iolande and Kate.
“Io,” he said, his voice carefully quiet.
“Mark?” she asked, looking up at him.
“I know this is a big ask,” he said, touching her shoulder. Kate grabbed hold of his hand and yanked it away from the young Inhuman.
“No,” Kate said, pushing him back, “I’ve decided, she’s not doing this. She’s too young.”
Mark grabbed Kate’s wrist, and she struggled for a moment against him.
“What you going to do, Mark? Slap me about? Kick my ass in front of everyone? Our great leader, driven to madness by the terror of what he has to do?”
“A few moments ago, we killed a Celestial. We didn’t know we could do that, until now,” Mark said, releasing Kate. “We’ve run out of bullets, effectively. Humus Sapien’s is…”
“What?” Kate asked, “WHAT?! DEAD? I knew it…You’re mad, and you’ve sent us on a mad death with you.”
Mark hung his head.
“That’s why I want to ask if Io wants to do this. If she wants to go up there. Because Sapien’s is gone, and so are the Elements, because Sundown wants to die by all accounts, and Snowbird is downed. Jude is only going to last so long and I can’t…I cannot send someone I care about to their death because…”
“Because what? You couldn’t live with yourself?” Kate said, “So, you’re admitting you don’t care about anyone else?”
“Of course I care, Kate, for God Sakes, but Io is different. She loves me and…” he shook his head, “I love her, the way I’ve loved everyone I’ve ever been close to. I love them for being a part of me, and for making me better, a little tiny bit at a time. I’m a terrible, terrible person, Kate. I know that.”
Mark turned away from the women, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“When this is over, I need to make amends to everyone. To you, to Io, to those we lost and those we have not. I need to make amends to the women I hurt and to the children I left behind.”
“Children?” Iolande said.
“Yes,” Mark replied, “Children. I have kids. I don’t know how many…”
“Fifteen,” Amalgam said from the other side of the room.
“Fifteen?” Kate and Mark shouted in unison.
“Christ, Mark…”
“Wow,” Mark said, looking back at Iolande, “Probably a good idea we didn’t get it on then, Io.”
She shook her head, her mouth slightly ajar.
“Mark…” Josef warned from behind them, “The purple one is making another move on the Planetoid.”
“So, make sure that Jude is directed towards him.”
“Jude’s made a B-Line for the one that used to have an axe.”
“Io…” Mark said, cupping her face, “Quick recap. I am terrible. Please forgive me. You’re wonderful. I care, I really, really do.”
She touched his face gently, kissed him, and turned towards Darwin and Chrome.
“Shoot me at the purple one. I will keep him from the door.”
Mark shook his head slowly.
“You know what? Strategy is for idiots. Through the whole damn lot at them. Let’s shit on them from a great height.”
Sundown and Iolande were loaded into the guns, one by one. Mark, returning to Josef, watched an ineffective Jude tumble around in zero-G with a celestial. Jude’s wrinkled hands sending plumes of decomposition into space. The celestial, however, armed with something more devastating than the death of time, blasted hole after hole through Judes body, until chunks of Death lord floated through space, shrinking down to their original size.
The Purple celestial made landfall, even as Sundown and Iolande were shot out into space. Iolande, wielding powers comparable to that of Galactus, hurtled towards the celestial that had previously held the Mace. Her energy, building within her chest made the hair on everyone’s body stand upright, and when it was released, she was propelled backwards through space, at a greater velocity than she had been launched at.
“Good God,” Mark said quietly. Iolande, completely spent for the first time in her life, had removed the entire top half of the Celestial, shoulders to head, from existence. A torso and broken legs floated in space, past the remains of the previously destroyed celestial and that of the smouldering ship.
The Purple Celestial, fist deep in the plates of the planetoid, now found itself being drawn in. The orange plates which previously covered the body of Sharon Venture were slowly, and surely, moving themselves up its arm, crunching against the metal and scraping huge sloughs through it. Its head jerked to one side slightly, as the tiny, but powerful, form of Sundown crashed into it, just below the “chin”. One of the prongs on its head cracked.
A small opening in the skin of the planet, allowed a drab, robed form to step onto the orange plates. Immediately, that rob was vaporised. The folding wings of flame exploded out of its back, spreading across half a mile. A flaming beak screamed in cosmic language, leading to the Purple Celestial pulling against the drag of Sharon’s grip, in an attempt to stand up against the onslaught of the energy released. Underneath it all, suspended in the body, was Feron, unleashing the power of the Artificial Phoenix Force.
Its wings, touching the surface of the planet and burning it, spread out further, sending Feron soaring high into space. The remaining two celestials by the ship remained where they were, unable to comprehend that two of their brothers had been destroyed.
Flying forwards, with little velocity, but great power, the Artificial phoenix flew through the purple celestial. Its eye exploded, sending a spray of energy out into the soundless void. A second pass rocked the celestial’s body perfectly, its pronged helmet shattering, remaining cosmic metal on the planetoids surface.
The final pass through, with a burst of white light which leaves Feron tumbling through space onto the orange surface of the planetoid, powerless, singed and shamed, leaves the purple celestial leaking precious energy from its body. It falls back, finally released from its prison by Sharon.
Its left arm crumpled, and scratched, its head beaten and body leaking energy, it slowly drifts through space towards its ship. Following suit, the two other celestials take their cue and climb into their craft. It hangs for a moment, before it slowly begins to move away from the Planetoid, leaving Mark, and his exhausted warriors to wonder if they have indeed won.
As the craft begins to accelerate and dash off into the “horizon” Mark gives a whoop, and turns around to his shattered team.
“Sundown, go and grab Io! Sharon, bring Feron down to the Core Room, and Robb…take us back to Earth.”
Mark slaps Josef on the shoulder, and begins to walk away from the group.
“Where are you going?”
Mark cracked a smile.
“We just beat the shit out of Cosmic Gods, on a planet we made ourselves. I want to ride shotgun to Earth, Josef. I want to stand on the surface of our victory.”
Epilogue
Mark sat quietly on a hill in Ireland, the soft rain falling on his naked body. He’d taken a day to try and come to terms with what he’d done, but he had soon realised a day was an ineffectual amount of time.
“Took some time to find you,” Kate said, from behind Mark. She sat down in the soggy grass next to him, wearing her SHIELD uniform, “You jumped off a planetoid that was moving through the upper atmosphere. If it was anyone else, I would have thought you had gone made and killed yourself. What’s your problem?”
“People died.” Mark said.
“You knew that would happen, and did it anyway. What’s really the problem?”
“I’m not sure if I care or not,” Mark admitted, looking at Kate.
“I’m fairly certain you don’t,” Kate replied. She put a hand on his wrist. “You did the right thing, though Mark.”
“I did?”
“You saved the world, gave a lot of people another chance, and you made a lot of people special. Io? She’s with us now, and her power levels are of a much more reasonable level. Darwin also joined us, with Astra. So we’ve got several new field agents and a scientist of incredible intellect now. You’ve got that to be thankful for.”
“That’s something at least. What about the others?”
“Feron’s gone back to Faerie land or whatever, Wisp has gone off to do some questionable science with Sundown. Robb is dating Mattie now, and Boost is back with his family in Africa.”
“Robb is dating Mattie?”
“Yeah, I know, right?” Kate shook her head. “He was a sweet kid.”
“Arcadia?” Mark asked.
“Not sure, she disappeared with Chrome and Sharon. I think they’ve gone looking for something, but I couldn’t tell you what.”
“Wow. All that work in the team and it’s fallen apart.”
“You broke it,” Kate said, matter of fact, “Team’s need leaders, and you went off to do your lone wolf bit.” Kate shrugged and got to her feet.
“Anyway, you need to get up, Mark.”
“Give me another day or so, this is harder to work out than I thought.”
“Yeah, about that,” Kate said, unholstering her gun, “You’re going to have a lot of time to consider your actions.”
“Excuse me?”
“Mark Diering, by the Authority of the SHIELD Environment Unit, (we’re now called EARTH by the way), you’re to be placed under arrest and await trial for Crimes against nature, crimes against the balance of natural life on the Earth, Evolutionary Obstruction, Evolutionary Tampering and Genetic fostering. Please come with us.”
“With “Us?” Mark said, getting to his feet, the wind rising sharply around him. He turned to face a small heli-carrier, and around forty to fifty SHIELD agents, with varying weaponry aimed at him, including Josef, who looked at the floor with his hood pulled over his bald head.
“Don’t make this awkward, Mark. I’m really inclined to shoot you in the face.”
End of Volume One
Wow. So, apparently, this issue took me three years to write. That’s…shameful. I’ve now completed it, as you can see, and that brings us to a close for Brother Nature Volume 1.
I’ve had a blast writing this series, and considering he’s had all of about six appearances in comics continuity, I’ve loved making Mark my own and giving him something different in this world of Fan Fic.
I am still in two minds to continue to the story. Obviously, there are elements that I can explore further, why is Mark being arrested? How did he manage to make 15 children? At any rate, Mark was a hero for ten minutes, and now, incarcerated by an Ex who doesn’t particularly like him, how can Mark get out of this? Will Mark get out of this?
As ever, any feedback is appreciated, and if you want to chat any potential plans/crossovers or what not? You know my email address!
That’s all for Vol. 1
Cheers
Brother Nature’s Planetoid slowly orbited the Earth. Roughly half the size of the moon, as that was all the shell Sharon could produce, and almost the maximum limits of Monopoles gravitational powers.
Mark, along with Amalgam, touched the surface of the planet for the first time. The orange plates, now several metres wide in every direction, re-arranged themselves into steps down towards the core. Mark crouched and touched the surface of one of the discs with his left hand.
“Thank you, Sharon. You’re amazing.”
Mark walked down the discs, which had arranged themselves into stairs, leading in a spiral towards the core. Amalgam walked on a separate set of stairs, twisting around each other towards the core, in a helix.
“Oddly appropriate,” she said. Mark nodded slowly. He could see the core room below. Monopole stood in the centre, his eyes closed, and his body glowing with white energy. His hands firmly on Arcadia’s shoulders. The rest of his expansive team stood, awaiting their orders. Chrome and Darwin stood just shy of an additional room to the left of the main Core. Snowbird, Omega Sentinel and Astra stood waiting further orders, while Will O’Wisp monitored the planet itself. Dinah Soar with her wings folded over her chest, and Feron sat in silence, hovering over the ground, his hood pulled over his head. Sundown was quietly talking to Iolande, who was nestled in the arms of Kate Waynesboro, leaving only Mattie Franklin, glowing with power in the far corner, her webbing spread through the air, as a fine mist, with Boost augmented her abilities.
“Where are we at?” Mark asked, not quite stepping foot into the core. Josef Huber, the first step in the evolution of man into the realms of existing in harmony with nature, spoke up.
“They’re reaching the Inner Asteroid Belt,” Josef said, “and they’re heading closer. We need to prevent them getting closer.”
“Yes,” Mark said, “I’d agree with that. Robb? Get us there.”
Monopole offered a slow, but steady nod, increasing his grip on Arcadia’s shoulders. She leant back into him, gripping his forearms.
Mark felt the whole planet shift, beginning to move away from the Earth.
“How long til we reach target?” Mark asked. Josef looked down at the ground, his feet embedded up to the ankles in Sharon’s plates.
“Probably ten minutes?”
Mark nodded again.
“Pretty impressive, Josef,” Mark said.
Josef smirked.
“Isn’t it? Part of it is Mattie joining everyone up through her webs and the other part is Boost…giving us all that extra push.”
Mark scratched his beard gently. Why didn’t he feel anything?
“Mark,” Amalgam took his hand gently, “This is going to get messy. This is going to end badly for quite a few of the people here, but you must promise me something.”
Mark took Amalgam’s hand in his own, and lifted it up.
“What?”
“When we return to Earth, when this is over…”
“Somewhat hopeful,” Mark said.
“You must make amends. You must fix this listless life of yours. You have children, Mark. You have lots of children, and they are without their Father. Without an understanding of who they are, because they have nothing to measure their Fatherly love against. You have left them, in a world of power, in a world of nature, without the Man who gave it to them to guide it.”
Mark squeezed her hand tightly.
“I’ll…see what I can do,” He said. He dropped her hand and made to walk away. Amalgam’s tight grip squeezed his shoulder, her purple fingers driving into his flesh.
“Promise me, Mark Diering,” she said, “Promise me you will make amends.”
Mark snatched Amalgam’s hand off his shoulder, twisting it against her chest. Amalgam took a step back, but Mark pressed, slamming her against the inside of the Core. Silence spread over the pair.
“I might be Brother Nature, Gaia,” he said, quickly through his teeth, “But I am not your damn servant. I do the work of Nature, not the work of the Earth spirit. Despite what you might think, they’re not mutually exclusive.”
He released her and slammed his hands either side of her head, pushing his own inches from her forehead.
“If you were so great and all powerful you wouldn’t need me to put these people’s lives at risk. You wouldn’t need me to fight against a cosmic entity that, presumably, you would be able to take apart if it touched your surface. Instead, we’re cowering inside a planetoid made from heroes that you’ve tasked me with finding and sending to their death. So, promise me, Gaia,” Mark pulled his hands away and gripped her shoulders tightly, “Promise me that at the end of this, you will make amends.”
Amalgam said nothing, waiting for Mark to release his grip. She slid out from his fingertips and headed towards the other end of the Core Room. Mark, holding his breath in gulps refused to let any more of his frustration show. He moved back to Josef and pressed his hand against his friends arm.
“How are we doing?” he whispered.
“Nearly there. I can feel the ships, I can see them,” Josef placed a palm against Mark’s forehead.
Mark’s vision flooded. Before him a ship the size of a small planet drifted, aimlessly in space. A door, the size of a sky scraper opened, released two Celestials. One larger than the other carried an enormous purple staff. Energy leaked from its single, central eye, which sat underneath what appeared to be a metallic mouth, and huge spines of tree-pronged horn structures jutted from its head. The other celestial, a neon green, stood in reserve against the larger, a glowing pattern of circuitry running the length of the left side of its body, its right, dull and rusted.
“Can you patch me through so they can hear me?” Mark asked. Josef nodded and turned to Omega Sentinel. She too nodded, and small patch of metal popped away from her forearm.
“They controlled me once,” she said, her voice small, “Never again.”
Mark cleared his throat and waited for the Omega Sentinel to give him the signal. She dropped her hand and Mark stepped towards her.
“Celestials, this is Mark Diering, Brother Nature. I’m addressing you because, in all likelihood, no species of a planet you’ve seeded has ever spoken back to you before. You sent your attack dogs to prevent us from opposing you, we defeated them. You sent the God Killer? We defeated him. You sent an Eternal who cannot be killed, or stopped. We defeated him. Now you’re here, can you guess what the overall out coming of this attack will be? Because, if I were a betting man, I’m pretty sure I know the answer.”
Mark ran a hand over his throat and Karima cut the signal.
“Give it ten seconds, and then start playing Dinah’s World Song on loop. If you can, aim it at the one who’s providing backup.”
“Why that one?” Karima asked.
“You get yourself an army because you can’t fight what’s in front of you, so you look to your behind. You take out the behind, there’s nothing to rescue you when death comes at your face.”
Karima nodded and Mark narrowed his eyes.
“Josef, prepare the first wave of weapons. Darwin, Chrome, arm the guns and get ready to fire aim at the first celestial. Snowbird? Get yourself ready, you’re going out in the second wave with Humus and Jude.”
A flurry of activity erupted within the Core.
Outside the planetoid, the first celestial advanced towards it. His staff lowered, it looked as though he was prepared to stab at the heart of the Globe. The larger celestial stopped, the Neon green one doubling over, as its hearing was bombarded with the World Song. The celestial, thrusting itself backwards in attempt to throw off the song, stumble away from the ship, towards the Planetoid.
A series of powerful graviton powered geysers propelled small objects towards the Celestial. Small objects which grew in size rapidly, until they were the size of cars. The first shot exploded off the Celestials head with a burst of energy, rending the metal which comprised its face sheared off, the second shot collided and exploded with a tiny mushroom cloud, against the left elbow.
“How are we doing?” Mark yelled.
Darwin had evolved powerful arms, and intense vision augmentations to allow him to aim the gravity gun at the celestial. Chrome, using his alchemically charged powers, was providing an unstable radioactive isotopic reaction within each of the shrunken Elements of Doom. The gun exploded again, firing off another Element of Doom, which exploded against the elbow of the Celestial, the second of such shots to do so, cleaving the arm off and letting it float backwards, bumping off the hull of the ship.
“Aim at the first one now,” Mark said. His vision still full of Josefs channelling powers, he watched the Second celestial turn and grab at its arm.
“Pepper it, I want some rapid fire, this one isn’t weakened by the world song.”
Mark turned around, pulling Josef’s hand off his forehead for a moment. Dinah was on her knees on the floor, her hands at her throat. Whatever the celestial had done in response to her song, had all but wrecked her voice. Mr. Immortal, her husband, was crouched next to her, stroking the small of her back and muttering into her ears.
“Dinah’s down,” Mark said to Josef, replacing his hand on his head. “Arm the second wave.”
“I think they’re planning something similar, Mark,” Josef said. The doors to the huge celestial craft opened, with three more of the gigantic metal gods exiting, each holding cosmic weapons. A huge, triangle topped mace, a sword made from the heart of a sun, and an axe which appeared to have the head floating a good few metres away from the central body of the staff.
“War wear?” Josef said.
“Probably. We’ve never seen Celestials go to War, have we?”
“Second wave?”
“Give us ten seconds!” Darwin yelled, “Jude isn’t going into the chamber.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Have you tried to manipulate Death into a chamber without touching him?” Darwin yelled back, “It’s not exactly easy!”
“Mark?” Snowbird asked. Mark looked away from Josef for a moment, and felt a little kiss on the side of his cheek. “When I return, Mark. We will spend time together.”
“Ok,” Mark said. She squeezed his hand gently, and headed towards the gun room.
There was a quite shuffle, and a cough from Darwin, which Mark took to assume that Snowbird had taken off her costume. The second explosion from the gravity gun sent a small, naked form hurtling out into space. Within seconds, the form grew, and grew, transforming itself into the deadliest of the Great Beasts, Nooqtoq, a great creature of immense size. Spears of tentacles which appeared to be made from bone and sediment, exploded from every possible section of the beast’s body, and face. Nooqtoq grabbed with the first Celestial, the tentacles tearing the spear apart and throwing it away from the creature, while the Celestial itself grappled with it, a monster almost rivalling the height of the cosmic god.
A purple fist collided with Nooqtoq’s head, the bone tentacles snapping off where they joined the face, while hundreds of teeth battered the surface of the planetoid.
“Keep up the fire!” Mark yelled. The soft thumps of the gravity gun continued to pepper the Neon Green celestial with exploding elements of doom. One of the new celestials, wielding the mace, placed it before the wounded Celestial, deflecting some of the impacts, until, it too began to warp and collapse.
The planetoid shook violently, and listed to one side. Nooqtoq and the Purple celestial had hit the surface, which bulged and bent underneath their weight. The ferocious battle continued high above, the impacts ringing in the ears of the gathered heroes.
“Low on Ammo!” Darwin yelled.
“Keep firing, but make them count. Aim for joints and faces,” Mark ordered. The thumps of the gravity gun fell to once or twice a minute, as Darwin aimed each shot. A dull concussive wave washed over the planetoid, bending the already distorted shell even more. Darwin sat back heavily in his seat, and stared across the room to Astra, who was quietly preparing Feron. She nodded to him, and offered a small, wry smile.
“The Neon Green Celestial is down. It…it exploded.” Darwin said. “Did…did I just kill a space god?”
Mark nodded.
“Yes,” he said, “And they’re likely to kill us for it, so make sure you keep it up.”
The celestials all paused for a moment, their attention taken aback by the fact mere mortal weapons and isotopes could fell one of their own. The purple Celestial, energy pumping through its hand, now smashed it down through Nooqtoq’s chest, and sent the beast hurtling through the fissures and rifts which made up Sharon’s extended plates. A whole section of the planet collapsed, while the corresponding side was ravaged with the expulsion of celestial energy.
“Darwin? Release Jude. Release Humus. Give them everything – Kate, Astra? I want Iolande and Feron ready to go in two minutes. Jude isn’t a fighter, even at mega scale, and Humus is just a kid.”
Kate snarled at Mark.
“I hope you’re going to burn for that last comment, Mark. He’s just a kid but he’s giving you everything, while you stand there like some damned general.”
“Yeah,” Mark said, under his breath, “I hope I burn for it as well.”
The gravity gun announced the arrival of Jude, who much like the Elementals of Doom, began to grow immediately after leaving the ejection chamber. His huge black cloak cast a shadow over the planetoid, enough for the fractured surface to absorb Snowbird back inside of itself, and funnel her down into the core room.
“Someone treat her!” Mark yelled. Standing with Josef’s hand on his forehead made him feel useless.
The second blast of the gun was Humus Sapien’s, a Gaia powered teenager, who shot through space like a missile. Mark watched as he drew on the powers of the Earth, a funnel of wind around himself, his skin turning to rock and ice, his core burning with magma and lava. His were eyes intent on the celestial before him.
A human missile, however, before he met his target, his trajectory was destroyed by the Celestial with the axe, hitting him in the body. The axe itself, much to the Celestial’s surprise, exploded into component parts, peppering their ship, and the other celestials with debris. Humus, unable to control his velocity, glanced off the shoulder of the celestial whom had once owned the Mace, blown apart by Elementals of Doom, and hurtled off into the depths of space.
“Damnit!” Mark yelled. He pulled himself away from Josef and stormed over to Iolande and Kate.
“Io,” he said, his voice carefully quiet.
“Mark?” she asked, looking up at him.
“I know this is a big ask,” he said, touching her shoulder. Kate grabbed hold of his hand and yanked it away from the young Inhuman.
“No,” Kate said, pushing him back, “I’ve decided, she’s not doing this. She’s too young.”
Mark grabbed Kate’s wrist, and she struggled for a moment against him.
“What you going to do, Mark? Slap me about? Kick my ass in front of everyone? Our great leader, driven to madness by the terror of what he has to do?”
“A few moments ago, we killed a Celestial. We didn’t know we could do that, until now,” Mark said, releasing Kate. “We’ve run out of bullets, effectively. Humus Sapien’s is…”
“What?” Kate asked, “WHAT?! DEAD? I knew it…You’re mad, and you’ve sent us on a mad death with you.”
Mark hung his head.
“That’s why I want to ask if Io wants to do this. If she wants to go up there. Because Sapien’s is gone, and so are the Elements, because Sundown wants to die by all accounts, and Snowbird is downed. Jude is only going to last so long and I can’t…I cannot send someone I care about to their death because…”
“Because what? You couldn’t live with yourself?” Kate said, “So, you’re admitting you don’t care about anyone else?”
“Of course I care, Kate, for God Sakes, but Io is different. She loves me and…” he shook his head, “I love her, the way I’ve loved everyone I’ve ever been close to. I love them for being a part of me, and for making me better, a little tiny bit at a time. I’m a terrible, terrible person, Kate. I know that.”
Mark turned away from the women, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“When this is over, I need to make amends to everyone. To you, to Io, to those we lost and those we have not. I need to make amends to the women I hurt and to the children I left behind.”
“Children?” Iolande said.
“Yes,” Mark replied, “Children. I have kids. I don’t know how many…”
“Fifteen,” Amalgam said from the other side of the room.
“Fifteen?” Kate and Mark shouted in unison.
“Christ, Mark…”
“Wow,” Mark said, looking back at Iolande, “Probably a good idea we didn’t get it on then, Io.”
She shook her head, her mouth slightly ajar.
“Mark…” Josef warned from behind them, “The purple one is making another move on the Planetoid.”
“So, make sure that Jude is directed towards him.”
“Jude’s made a B-Line for the one that used to have an axe.”
“Io…” Mark said, cupping her face, “Quick recap. I am terrible. Please forgive me. You’re wonderful. I care, I really, really do.”
She touched his face gently, kissed him, and turned towards Darwin and Chrome.
“Shoot me at the purple one. I will keep him from the door.”
Mark shook his head slowly.
“You know what? Strategy is for idiots. Through the whole damn lot at them. Let’s shit on them from a great height.”
Sundown and Iolande were loaded into the guns, one by one. Mark, returning to Josef, watched an ineffective Jude tumble around in zero-G with a celestial. Jude’s wrinkled hands sending plumes of decomposition into space. The celestial, however, armed with something more devastating than the death of time, blasted hole after hole through Judes body, until chunks of Death lord floated through space, shrinking down to their original size.
The Purple celestial made landfall, even as Sundown and Iolande were shot out into space. Iolande, wielding powers comparable to that of Galactus, hurtled towards the celestial that had previously held the Mace. Her energy, building within her chest made the hair on everyone’s body stand upright, and when it was released, she was propelled backwards through space, at a greater velocity than she had been launched at.
“Good God,” Mark said quietly. Iolande, completely spent for the first time in her life, had removed the entire top half of the Celestial, shoulders to head, from existence. A torso and broken legs floated in space, past the remains of the previously destroyed celestial and that of the smouldering ship.
The Purple Celestial, fist deep in the plates of the planetoid, now found itself being drawn in. The orange plates which previously covered the body of Sharon Venture were slowly, and surely, moving themselves up its arm, crunching against the metal and scraping huge sloughs through it. Its head jerked to one side slightly, as the tiny, but powerful, form of Sundown crashed into it, just below the “chin”. One of the prongs on its head cracked.
A small opening in the skin of the planet, allowed a drab, robed form to step onto the orange plates. Immediately, that rob was vaporised. The folding wings of flame exploded out of its back, spreading across half a mile. A flaming beak screamed in cosmic language, leading to the Purple Celestial pulling against the drag of Sharon’s grip, in an attempt to stand up against the onslaught of the energy released. Underneath it all, suspended in the body, was Feron, unleashing the power of the Artificial Phoenix Force.
Its wings, touching the surface of the planet and burning it, spread out further, sending Feron soaring high into space. The remaining two celestials by the ship remained where they were, unable to comprehend that two of their brothers had been destroyed.
Flying forwards, with little velocity, but great power, the Artificial phoenix flew through the purple celestial. Its eye exploded, sending a spray of energy out into the soundless void. A second pass rocked the celestial’s body perfectly, its pronged helmet shattering, remaining cosmic metal on the planetoids surface.
The final pass through, with a burst of white light which leaves Feron tumbling through space onto the orange surface of the planetoid, powerless, singed and shamed, leaves the purple celestial leaking precious energy from its body. It falls back, finally released from its prison by Sharon.
Its left arm crumpled, and scratched, its head beaten and body leaking energy, it slowly drifts through space towards its ship. Following suit, the two other celestials take their cue and climb into their craft. It hangs for a moment, before it slowly begins to move away from the Planetoid, leaving Mark, and his exhausted warriors to wonder if they have indeed won.
As the craft begins to accelerate and dash off into the “horizon” Mark gives a whoop, and turns around to his shattered team.
“Sundown, go and grab Io! Sharon, bring Feron down to the Core Room, and Robb…take us back to Earth.”
Mark slaps Josef on the shoulder, and begins to walk away from the group.
“Where are you going?”
Mark cracked a smile.
“We just beat the shit out of Cosmic Gods, on a planet we made ourselves. I want to ride shotgun to Earth, Josef. I want to stand on the surface of our victory.”
Epilogue
Mark sat quietly on a hill in Ireland, the soft rain falling on his naked body. He’d taken a day to try and come to terms with what he’d done, but he had soon realised a day was an ineffectual amount of time.
“Took some time to find you,” Kate said, from behind Mark. She sat down in the soggy grass next to him, wearing her SHIELD uniform, “You jumped off a planetoid that was moving through the upper atmosphere. If it was anyone else, I would have thought you had gone made and killed yourself. What’s your problem?”
“People died.” Mark said.
“You knew that would happen, and did it anyway. What’s really the problem?”
“I’m not sure if I care or not,” Mark admitted, looking at Kate.
“I’m fairly certain you don’t,” Kate replied. She put a hand on his wrist. “You did the right thing, though Mark.”
“I did?”
“You saved the world, gave a lot of people another chance, and you made a lot of people special. Io? She’s with us now, and her power levels are of a much more reasonable level. Darwin also joined us, with Astra. So we’ve got several new field agents and a scientist of incredible intellect now. You’ve got that to be thankful for.”
“That’s something at least. What about the others?”
“Feron’s gone back to Faerie land or whatever, Wisp has gone off to do some questionable science with Sundown. Robb is dating Mattie now, and Boost is back with his family in Africa.”
“Robb is dating Mattie?”
“Yeah, I know, right?” Kate shook her head. “He was a sweet kid.”
“Arcadia?” Mark asked.
“Not sure, she disappeared with Chrome and Sharon. I think they’ve gone looking for something, but I couldn’t tell you what.”
“Wow. All that work in the team and it’s fallen apart.”
“You broke it,” Kate said, matter of fact, “Team’s need leaders, and you went off to do your lone wolf bit.” Kate shrugged and got to her feet.
“Anyway, you need to get up, Mark.”
“Give me another day or so, this is harder to work out than I thought.”
“Yeah, about that,” Kate said, unholstering her gun, “You’re going to have a lot of time to consider your actions.”
“Excuse me?”
“Mark Diering, by the Authority of the SHIELD Environment Unit, (we’re now called EARTH by the way), you’re to be placed under arrest and await trial for Crimes against nature, crimes against the balance of natural life on the Earth, Evolutionary Obstruction, Evolutionary Tampering and Genetic fostering. Please come with us.”
“With “Us?” Mark said, getting to his feet, the wind rising sharply around him. He turned to face a small heli-carrier, and around forty to fifty SHIELD agents, with varying weaponry aimed at him, including Josef, who looked at the floor with his hood pulled over his bald head.
“Don’t make this awkward, Mark. I’m really inclined to shoot you in the face.”
End of Volume One
Wow. So, apparently, this issue took me three years to write. That’s…shameful. I’ve now completed it, as you can see, and that brings us to a close for Brother Nature Volume 1.
I’ve had a blast writing this series, and considering he’s had all of about six appearances in comics continuity, I’ve loved making Mark my own and giving him something different in this world of Fan Fic.
I am still in two minds to continue to the story. Obviously, there are elements that I can explore further, why is Mark being arrested? How did he manage to make 15 children? At any rate, Mark was a hero for ten minutes, and now, incarcerated by an Ex who doesn’t particularly like him, how can Mark get out of this? Will Mark get out of this?
As ever, any feedback is appreciated, and if you want to chat any potential plans/crossovers or what not? You know my email address!
That’s all for Vol. 1
Cheers