Back to GatefoldIssue #5 by Ed Ainsworth
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"Defensive Offensive Pens"
The Elements of Doom's Floating Island
“Well, I don't like this one bit,” Chrome said, floating around his changed team-mate as a scentless and colourless mist of Oxygen. Josef's lumbering form slowly made it's way down the corridors. They were dank, and poorly lit, more like an underground cavern than a hitech machine that was held aloft by concentrated gravitational molecules forged by the catalytic converter that sat silently transforming sheered parts of the elements to create the uplift.
Josef's heavy lead form, slowly lumbered towards the central chamber. His white, pupiless eyes darted around the room, trying to take note and feel what elements where in the room with him. This particular event was going to be the most difficult, how was he going to get his gaseous friend, and their magnetic team-mate who floated outside, into the central lift chamber?
He stopped, as Carbon and Magnesium walked passed, saying nothing to the dense metal that stood out of the way. Hopefully, he knew his place, and the other lesser metals would move from his way as he did for Carbon and Magnesium. He inhaled slowly, taking care not to take in any of his team-mate, as he muttered under his breath.
“We need Arvid to get into the main chamber and set off the weapon,” He said to himself, the scentless Oxygen slowly wafting away from his body, towards the air vents to get himself outside of the floating base. As Josef felt Chrome leave, he rounded a corner, where the original Lead sat, three other elements stood around him, turning their attention to the intruder.
“Oh Dear,” Josef said to himself, as the elements yelled. Charging forwards, the glowing form of Xenon shot forwards, both of it's fists colliding with Josef's body, throwing him into the wall. The Lead form he now held slipped away, leaving the body of a man connected to every element of nature itself. He raised his own fist, which shimmered in the low level lights, now made from Iron.
He smashed it through the element's head, shattering pieces onto the ground, before charging forwards, his body morphing through elements. His torso became made of plant matter, sprouting leaves and vines that whipped across the floor, wrapping themselves around the limbs of lead, pinning it to the ground, and increasing their numbers for every vine that snapped. Mercury was the second element to come after Josef, but he was prepared. As the liquid metal morphed and dripped its way towards him, a jet of water shot from Josef's hand, mixing with the element and spraying it's body against the wall. Torn asunder by the force of Josef's arm, which now ceased to exist, Mercury dripped down the wall, leaving only the final metal in it's place.
It raised it's arms, as Josef's fist of burning, almost molten rock shot forwards, punching a hole through the Boron chest, a feat which in itself was increadible. The element dropped to it's knees, as Josef stood, one arm less, waiting for his comrades to return.
He turned slowly, as the loud noise of Chrome exploding through the side of the floating base peppered him with fragments of rock and exotic metal. Will O'Wisp floated silently through the air, placing the device at the centre of the floating island, allowing it to drop down the central chamber towards the allotropic lift engine.
A loud explosion rocked the base, as Arvid grabbed hold of both Josef and Chrome. They hung motionless for a moment, as the base around them appeared to contract. It was in-fact, shrinking at an incredible rate.
“So, that's the Lang weapon they used to defeat you back in the old days, huh?” Chrome asked, looking at Josef's somewhat perturbed face. It brought back a number of memories, and he almost felt sorry for the monstrous elements that were shrinking to the size of ants.
“Yes, Yes it is.”
“Amazing technology, I am extremely impressed that Serafina could re-engineer something as exotic as a Pym particulate bomb, especially considering all the problems Pym had initially when he was working with the particles. Did you know he was trapped at a size of 12 feet for a long time?” The excitement in Wisp's voice was prominent, giving him an almost child like tone.
“Yes, I did know this. You have mentioned it before, Arvid,” Was all Josef added, looking down at the now basketball sized floating island. He reached out for it, Wisp allowing him to become solid enough to grab hold of the rock, and pull it close to his chest.
“Sorry, you know how I get with Science...” Arvid began, and Josef said nothing. He closed his eyes and shook his head, “We must return to the Conquistador, if only to deliver this weapon. I must try and restore my arm before we travel to Canada.”
Arvid nodded silently, and began to pull them both towards the Horizon.
“It's easier for me to teleport if I have a point of reference, otherwise we could end up anyway, so please, just bare with me while I attempt the geometry.”
“Yeah, attempt away, we'll just hang from our armpits and wait for you to get your shit together. We've got all day,” Chrome chided. It was met with an icey stare from Josef, and after what he'd seen of the man inside the elements floating base, Chrome didn't want to piss that guy off.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Inhuman City of Attilan
"Your Majesty," Mark began, bowing deeply to both King and Queen of the Inhumans. Behind him knelt Sharon Ventura AKA She-Thing, her black body-covering costume seemingly hanging from her body these days, as though she had lost a huge amount of weight, and the reluctant science based hero, James Wilson AKA Monopole. The only person who didn't kneel was Amalgam, who stood, her hands behind her back, gaze averted from Black Bolt and Medusa.
Gorgon growled, taking a step forwards.
"Insolant.." Black Bolts hand whipped out, placing his fingers gently against Gorgon's chest, preventing him from straying too far forwards.
"Your king bids that you stand as you are, Lord Gorgon. The woman before you is no mere member of the human world, she is the spirit of the planet itself. She is the Freedom-Mist," The Queen got from her chair, her long, beautiful and dark red hair knitting itself into a plat behind her as she walked down the steps from her throne towards the small group assembled before her. James gulped loudly, which was met with a smile from Medusa.
The tips of her hair slowly pushed his chin, levering the young man's face towards her own. He was met with a smile, and a gesture to get up from the Queen.
"Please, there is no need to stand on ceremony, Mark Diering, you are a friend of Royalty in Attilan, there is no need for you to be so formal, although it is appreciated, you may approach," Medusa beamed. As Mark, James and She-Thing got to their feet, walking towards the King and Queen, as their green skinned cousin, Triton walked passed towards Amalgam.
"Where's Karnak?" Mark asked, casting glance over at Triton who bowed deeply to Amalgam, her face lighting up. Gorgon glowered and turned his attention back to Brother Nature.
"Karnak now works in the human world with the Avengers. Something I'm not sure I care for, given his status here in Attilan," Gorgon shook his head and slapped Mark on the back.
"Come! We must celebrate your return. A Feast!" Gorgon screamed, as Mark's otherwise jealous features were parted by a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~
A Few Hours Later
The hall was massive, to accommodate all the different forms the Inhumans had mutated through. The small group sat at the royal table, although Amalgam was suspiciously nowhere to be seen, and neither was Triton. Mark rumbled to himself as Gorgon practically slammed another tankard of mead before him.
“Drink Mark! Forgot your worries for this evening! Tonight we celebrate as we did when you were last here, with mead, meat and...women,” The last part of the sentence was an octave or two lower than the start of his loud boast.
Mark ran a hand through his hair and looked around the room, the Inhumans seemed to have gotten a little smaller in size than when he'd last been through Attilan.
“Is there another dining hall, Gorgon?” Mark asked, taking a bite from what appeared to be an extremely meaty insectoid animal leg.
Gorgon's face sunk into a sullen and angry look, his face muscles relaxing and then tensing. “Recently, the Inhuman nation has been up against it's fair share of...problems,” Gorgon began, downing the rest of his tankard of mead and waving for a blue women with six arms to come over and refill him.
“What kind of problems?” Mark asked. Gorgon shook his head and raised a hand.
“To cut a long story short, Maximus transformed us all into Alpha Primitives. In order to be saved from this fate, our powers were removed and we had to go through re-terrigenesis in order to regain our regal forms. Brave soles such as Triton and many other less “human” looking Inhumans retook their original forms, but some decided that if they did not have to live with their “burdens” then they should not have to, and left.”
“Ah,” was all Mark could manage, finishing his mead and accepting a refill from the blue woman again. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“So, speaking of Triton, where is he now?” Gorgon cracked a smile and slapped Mark on the back.
“The woman you came with, the blue skinned female. Triton told me he had a “feeling” about her. He took her to his “pond” to tell her about his time in the Stars and to tell her of her own beauty,” Gorgon cracked a massive smile at Mark's somewhat jealous expression.
“You do realise who that is, don't you?” Mark asked, a tinge of anger in his voice. Gorgon simply shrugged and finished his drink again.
“Why should I care, Mark? A woman is a woman is a woman. It does not matter who she is, it only matters that she is woman and I am man, what more could there be to these things?” Gorgon raised his tankard and tore a huge, wet chunk of meat from his plate, stuffing it into his over-filled mouth.
“I can see why the women all hang off you, Gorgon,” Mark answered sarcastically, before looking over his shoulder at Sharon. She was sat off from another table, as others, with similar mutations sat around, feeling her skin and touching her face. She had a smile on her face, and was enjoying every moment of the extra attention. Mark made an O.K. Symbol with his hand, but she waved him off, as a larger male inhuman, with jutting ridges of coloured rock that rolled over his facial features, constantly moving and whirling, slowly, over his face.
“Ha. I think Sharon's made a new friend – biblical friend that is,” Mark said, thumbing over his shoulder to the rock man. Gorgon smiled, and placed both of his palms flat on the table. Behind him stood the Queen of the Inhumans, her whirling mass of hair rising and falling as though it had breath of it's own.
“I must commend you on bringing such a polite and interesting young man with you, Mark. James is very interesting, particularly his thoughts on Gravity; have you taken the time to talk with him?” Medusa asked, sitting down carefully next to Gorgon, careful to avoid the free flying food from his mouth.
“Not yet. To be honest, his views on gravity are entirely based on the science of it rather than the nature of it. I think we've got somewhat differing views.” Mark looked into Medusa's eyes, and glanced around for her husband.
“Why are you here, Mark? Not that your appearance is unpleasant, we do miss old friends, but with you there is normally always a reason for your appearences,” Medusa's face became hard, as she stared at him.
“We're here for Iolanda, Medusa. I need her,” Mark braced himself. This wasn't going to be met with happiness.
“Iolanda is not to leave Attilan, Mark. You know that. Her powers are far to unstable,” Medusa began. Mark raised a flat palm to stop her, but it was slapped from the air by a branch of her crimson locks.
“Do not presume to silence me, Mark. You may be a friend, but this is our family and our whole race at jeopardy.” Medusa began, as Mark leaned forward on the table.
“It's more than that, Medusa. It's the whole damn planet if you don't hand the girl over to us. She's important to my plan to save us all,” He started. Gorgon slammed his tankard down on the table, and leapt onto it's surface, looking down at Mark.
“Do not speak to my Queen that way, Mark. Friend or no friend, I'll break your face,” Gorgon reached down, as Mark pulled himself out of the way, dodging to the left and swinging his arm backwards, knocking against Gorgon's knees and forcing him to bend backwards, falling into the table.
“I don't want to fight this, or you, Gorgon, but I need Iolanda. We can't do this without her, I don't think you quite realise..” Mark's jaw ached immediately as Gorgon's hoof connected with it, sending him hurtling across the hall and almost through the wall.
Pulling himself free, Mark wiped the blood from his nose and ears, and focused on the charging Gorgon. Typical bullheaded idiot. Mark simply leapt over his charging foe, vaulting with ease and slamming both of his feet into the back of his friends head, sending him smashing into and through the already weakened wall.
Mark landed in a roll, fists up, as the Inhumans gathered around him.
“Perhaps a night in a cell will improve your manners, Brother Nature,” Medusa began, as Mark tried to make his way towards her, only to be pinned to the ground.
“DAMNIT, MEDUSA! YOU'RE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE HERE! WE'RE NOT JUST TRYING TO TAKE ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE, WE NEED HER TOO...” His voice was taken from him, just a few seconds before his consciousness left.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Royal Pond
Triton and Amalgam sat in silence, looking up at the stars above them. He said nothing, as he looked on at her. Beautiful untouched blue skin, and silken weaves of white-hair. She looked down from the night sky to her companion for the evening, and sighed, as he lifted his hand from the waist high warm water they both sat in, holding out a bouquest of flowers he had picked earlier.
“They are beautiful,” She said, taking them from his webbed hand, brushing her fingers across the wet surface of his skin.
“They are an inhuman plant species, they occur only where the Terrigen mists are found. It appears as though the mists affect more than just the genetic make-up of humans,” Triton began, and Amalgam smiled, raising a finger to quiet him.
“I know you are nervous, Triton. You are not considered to be classically attractive, because of your position within the Royal family as well as your appearance,” She moved closer to him, putting her head on his shoulder and looking across as the light from the stars and moon reflected across the still surface of the water, “But you must know, that I am not an ordinary woman, I am far from normal and I cannot ask, or allow you to spend your time with me, thinking that.”
Triton shook his head gently, and rested his head against hers.
“Far from it, Amalgam. I think that you are most definitely not a normal woman, the mere fact that you are here with Mark means that you are far from normal. I do not wish for a normal woman, either. I wish for someone who shares my enjoyment for nature and the simplier things in life – while my Cousins enjoy their regal lifestyle, with their feasts and mead, I much prefer a gentler pace to life,” He looked down at her hands, which had wove themselves together on her lap, and smiled.
“Come, for I know you are only here for a day, and a night. Let us swim and enjoy what we have here, I shall show you the sights of my pond,” Triton smiled, as he pulled away gently from Amalgam, and slipped into the warm water, floating onto his back.
The Blue skinned woman returned his smile, and removed her clothes, diving into the water after him. She hoped they could spend the night together.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sharon Ventura looked up from her position on the bed. She'd never done this before, and for her to go back to the bedroom of a man she'd never met before this night, let alone a man who shared a similar body form to her, was a bit of a novelty. She felt more alive than she had in months, doing something she did not expect herself to be doing.
Perhaps the secret to enjoying life was to not expect anything, but to go with the feelings of the moment, and at this very moment, she was feeling very, very nice. She crained her neck to see the man before her, as he sat up in the covers of his bed, looking down at her with pleasure and lust. His face rolled through the convection of itself, slowly melting fragments of itself away, but always constantly moving. She reached up, her large fingers seemingly delicate in comparison to his own.
She smiled, and stroked his face, as he bore down on her, kissing her lips gently.
“You are beautiful,” He said, in hushed tones of admiration. She smiled, and pulled him into a deeper kiss. She didn't care if she never left this city, provided she could spend her time with him.
~~~~~~~~~~
Canada, Underneath the Aurora Borealis
The trio trudged through the knee deep snow, the cold winds whipping through the air. Josef's hood was pulled up around his head, although the force of the wind continued to blow it down onto his shoulders. Every time it flapped backwards he let out a long drawn sigh. Even his patience was wearing thin - Arctic tundra and knee deep snow were not his favourite habitats, despite being connected to the Earth itself through his abilities.
Dinah Soar, transversely appeared to be having the time of her life. Her white body suit was augmented only by a thick woolly scarf Mr. Immortal had insisted she wore, despite apparently not feeling the cold. Every now and then she'd release an excited whistle or squeak in response to the howling winds, and kicked up snow.
At the front of the group, Mr. Immortal walked ahead. He figured he'd be in the best position to deal with a threat should anything come upon them. Was there a greater warning to his team-mates than his demise, only for him to rise up and tell them of their problem?
Craig's costume was padded in this instance, not only did he wear thermal underwear underneath his costume, but he wore extra clothing underneath and on top of it, an extra long jacket, which billowed behind him, while his jumper afforded his chest extra comfort. His face however, despite the goggles that protected his eyes, was not faring so well. Red from the wind lashing against his features, he was starting to feel a little run down.
At least he wasn't dead. Yet.
"Do you know what that is?" Josef asked, pointing upwards to the coalescent lights that spiralled and wove their way across the sky.
"The Aurora?" Craig answered, to much cooing from his girlfriend. He smiled, and looked at the ground. Sometimes he knew things, and sometimes he didn't. This was the time when he knew something.
"Fascinating, is it not?" Josef asked, looking at Craig. He nodded eagerly.
"I wish I was around for the Carrington event."
"Pardon?" Josef asked, his own body beginning to take on properties of the Aurora, a phosphorescent yellow light display weaving over his skin, his eyes giving off a faint blue glow.
"In 1859, the Earth experienced it's most powerful Geomagnetic event. It was the most powerful Solar Storm ever witnessed by humanity, with a man called Richard Carrington observing the largest flare, which caused this thing called a CME. A Coronal Massive Ejection," Craig paused to look at his girlfriend. Her attention was wandering elsewhere because she knew where this was going. Another one of Craig's little pet ideas.
"You mean something was ejected from the sun?" Josef asked, curious.
"Yeah, exactly. A Solar flare, and magnetic waves, and it shot through space and hit Earth after just 18 hours. Which is incredible, because it would normally take something like that nearly three days to get here. Anyway, it knocked out telegraph wires and all sorts of primitive technology we had then, and caused all sorts of problems. You could see Aurora all over the world, but most prominently in the Caribbean and the Rocky Mountains," Craig smiled, and turned his head to look at the snow drift that was slowly collapsing in front of them.
"How do you know this?" Josef asked.
Craig shook his head, with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"You know people sometimes called Catastrophe theorists Doom-sayers? It's sort of a hobby of mine. I can't die, I've sort of come to terms with that, I guess. Once my powers kicked in, I couldn't die. I cannot get sick, and I cannot age, but I can get drunk, which is great," Craig wrung his hands together, as the colour drained from his face.
"The problem, Josef, is that everyone else I've ever cared about will die. One day. That scares me like you wouldn't believe. How could I ever, ever continue to live my life with some meaning without her?" He looked at Dinah ahead of them, a little forlorn and a little crack in his voice. It was obviously something he spent a lot of time thinking about, a lot of pained thoughts.
"So," Craig began again quickly, his voice back to the normal jaunty, jovial bounce, "I spend my time, when I'm not heroing, looking at these doom-sayer things. Looking at things that might kill the people I care about, and finding ways to either prevent them, or to prepare for them. It's a bit morbid I know, but, you spend your life living and working to get money to enjoy it. I might as well spend mine protecting people, and the people I care about, right?"
Josef nodded, as Craig pointed upwards, as a great snowy owl shot over their heads. Josef looked up at it and snarled in annoyance, he felt as though he were just starting to get to know the proper Mr. Immortal, not the jovial little smile began a truly awful costume.
"And on that note, that's her," Craig said, "We need to follow her. Dinah?"
With a quick glance to Craig, and without so much as a word, Dinah banked hard, and allowed the wind to push her back, chasing after the snowy owl. She called out to the large bird with the a number of different environmental languages, the snow chants and the Northern Lights chimes, but found that the bird did not respond. Perhaps it was not the one they were looking for.
As the bird began to land, it's body morphed and changed, throwing it into the snow. It looked up, now the form of a Polar Bear, and raised itself to it's full height of nearly fifteen feet, swiping at Dinah in the air.
"Dinah!" Craig ran forwards, pushing his shoulder low, and ramming into the bears hard stomach with all the force he could muster. As the bear looked down, Craig looked up at smiled. A back hand from a bear can knock a man's head clean off his shoulders, something that Craig wasn't sure he could survive.
The back hand didn't have the full force behind it, and simply threw Craig backwards through the air. His ribs cracked, and he found it hard to breath in the cold, but he wasn't dead.
"She doesn't mean it!" He called through a cough and a splutter, as the snow tinged form of the Isolationist came running forwards. His body slowly began to convert to snow, his fists becoming soft, and then hardening into ice lumps. He pushed his semi-transparent icicle fingers outwards, and leapt forwards, pushing and pinning the bear to the ground.
With every swipe and kick from the beast, lumps of snow fell from Josef's body, but he was not knocked off.
"Please, Narya, calm down. We don't wish you harm, we just want to talk to you," Josef insisted. She calmed a little underneath his grip, and changed back to her human form. She pouted for a moment, before anger took over her face.
"Talk? You want to talk after you harried me and chased me down, with force? You're as bad as Alpha Flight," She spat. Craig limped towards the pair, and Dinah landed at his side, cooing with concern for him. He smiled and waved her off.
"I'm al right," He said to his wife. Josef moved back, the snowy colour draining from his body, as Narya simply sat up in the snow, and looked up at them.
"What do you want?" She asked, "If you're with Alpha or from my so called "Surrogate" Father, then you know where you can get too." Her anger was obvious, boiling over in her words. Lack of control over syllables, as well as the composition of the sentence was her tell.
"We're not with Alpha, Narya. We're with Brother Nature, we need you to help us sav..."
"Okay. I'll come with you." Narya said, getting to her feet slowly and dusting the snow off her shoulders.
"Just like that?" Craig said.
"Yes. Just like that. I could destroy all of you with little effort, except perhaps the Snow man here, but I can inhabit the forms of the Great Beasts of the North, a pink dinosaur woman and a man who appears to have no powers beyond being annoying offer me little in the way of a challenge." She said, there wasn't any arrogance in her voice. She genuinely believed that they had little in the way of a threat level to her.
"And Brother Nature?" Josef asked, curiously, "Does he present a threat?"
"Mark? No, in fact, I don't understand why he didn't come to me himself, rather than send some de-powered middlemen after me," She offered a sarcastic smile towards Josef, before he gestured back towards the rendezvous point.
"Middlemen indeed," Josef said, making sure his hood was firmly over his head, the strong winds now blowing into his back, rather than into his face. Dinah made sure that the limping Craig managed to get back to their meeting point without further mishap.
"What about Canada, Narya?" Josef asked after a couple of minutes of stony silence.
"What of it?" She replied, barely turning to look at him.
"I was under the impression that if you were unable to leave Canada, or you would loose your abilities. You are a spirit of the North, are you not?" He questioned, barbs entering his voice that he didn't know he had.
"Yes," Narya said, her tone short and annoyed. "In that case I renounce Canada. It can save itself. If Alpha Flight and Shaman really believe themselves to be the premier team for the North, they can have it," She spat, turning to Josef, her anger burned bright.
TO BE CONTINUED...
FROM THE FILES OF BROTHER NATURE
Mckenzie-Thompson, Nayra AKA Snowbird A woman of great anger, as well as power and responsibility, she is able to change into any creature that inhabits the shores of Canada. A child of the Gods of the North, her powers are constantly fighting each other, raging against nature and mythology – Though she is important to the over all scheme of things, Nayra worries me. We have a past that I don't particularly want to delve into, but her powers appear to be more and more erratic. Is she going to be my weak link?
Author's Notes
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who is still reading the series. I really appreciate it, and thanks to Doug Bookey for saying that I made Brother Nature “cool”. I certainly hope I have mate, and I can assure you I will attempt to continue to make him cool, or at least my own version of cool.
“Well, I don't like this one bit,” Chrome said, floating around his changed team-mate as a scentless and colourless mist of Oxygen. Josef's lumbering form slowly made it's way down the corridors. They were dank, and poorly lit, more like an underground cavern than a hitech machine that was held aloft by concentrated gravitational molecules forged by the catalytic converter that sat silently transforming sheered parts of the elements to create the uplift.
Josef's heavy lead form, slowly lumbered towards the central chamber. His white, pupiless eyes darted around the room, trying to take note and feel what elements where in the room with him. This particular event was going to be the most difficult, how was he going to get his gaseous friend, and their magnetic team-mate who floated outside, into the central lift chamber?
He stopped, as Carbon and Magnesium walked passed, saying nothing to the dense metal that stood out of the way. Hopefully, he knew his place, and the other lesser metals would move from his way as he did for Carbon and Magnesium. He inhaled slowly, taking care not to take in any of his team-mate, as he muttered under his breath.
“We need Arvid to get into the main chamber and set off the weapon,” He said to himself, the scentless Oxygen slowly wafting away from his body, towards the air vents to get himself outside of the floating base. As Josef felt Chrome leave, he rounded a corner, where the original Lead sat, three other elements stood around him, turning their attention to the intruder.
“Oh Dear,” Josef said to himself, as the elements yelled. Charging forwards, the glowing form of Xenon shot forwards, both of it's fists colliding with Josef's body, throwing him into the wall. The Lead form he now held slipped away, leaving the body of a man connected to every element of nature itself. He raised his own fist, which shimmered in the low level lights, now made from Iron.
He smashed it through the element's head, shattering pieces onto the ground, before charging forwards, his body morphing through elements. His torso became made of plant matter, sprouting leaves and vines that whipped across the floor, wrapping themselves around the limbs of lead, pinning it to the ground, and increasing their numbers for every vine that snapped. Mercury was the second element to come after Josef, but he was prepared. As the liquid metal morphed and dripped its way towards him, a jet of water shot from Josef's hand, mixing with the element and spraying it's body against the wall. Torn asunder by the force of Josef's arm, which now ceased to exist, Mercury dripped down the wall, leaving only the final metal in it's place.
It raised it's arms, as Josef's fist of burning, almost molten rock shot forwards, punching a hole through the Boron chest, a feat which in itself was increadible. The element dropped to it's knees, as Josef stood, one arm less, waiting for his comrades to return.
He turned slowly, as the loud noise of Chrome exploding through the side of the floating base peppered him with fragments of rock and exotic metal. Will O'Wisp floated silently through the air, placing the device at the centre of the floating island, allowing it to drop down the central chamber towards the allotropic lift engine.
A loud explosion rocked the base, as Arvid grabbed hold of both Josef and Chrome. They hung motionless for a moment, as the base around them appeared to contract. It was in-fact, shrinking at an incredible rate.
“So, that's the Lang weapon they used to defeat you back in the old days, huh?” Chrome asked, looking at Josef's somewhat perturbed face. It brought back a number of memories, and he almost felt sorry for the monstrous elements that were shrinking to the size of ants.
“Yes, Yes it is.”
“Amazing technology, I am extremely impressed that Serafina could re-engineer something as exotic as a Pym particulate bomb, especially considering all the problems Pym had initially when he was working with the particles. Did you know he was trapped at a size of 12 feet for a long time?” The excitement in Wisp's voice was prominent, giving him an almost child like tone.
“Yes, I did know this. You have mentioned it before, Arvid,” Was all Josef added, looking down at the now basketball sized floating island. He reached out for it, Wisp allowing him to become solid enough to grab hold of the rock, and pull it close to his chest.
“Sorry, you know how I get with Science...” Arvid began, and Josef said nothing. He closed his eyes and shook his head, “We must return to the Conquistador, if only to deliver this weapon. I must try and restore my arm before we travel to Canada.”
Arvid nodded silently, and began to pull them both towards the Horizon.
“It's easier for me to teleport if I have a point of reference, otherwise we could end up anyway, so please, just bare with me while I attempt the geometry.”
“Yeah, attempt away, we'll just hang from our armpits and wait for you to get your shit together. We've got all day,” Chrome chided. It was met with an icey stare from Josef, and after what he'd seen of the man inside the elements floating base, Chrome didn't want to piss that guy off.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Inhuman City of Attilan
"Your Majesty," Mark began, bowing deeply to both King and Queen of the Inhumans. Behind him knelt Sharon Ventura AKA She-Thing, her black body-covering costume seemingly hanging from her body these days, as though she had lost a huge amount of weight, and the reluctant science based hero, James Wilson AKA Monopole. The only person who didn't kneel was Amalgam, who stood, her hands behind her back, gaze averted from Black Bolt and Medusa.
Gorgon growled, taking a step forwards.
"Insolant.." Black Bolts hand whipped out, placing his fingers gently against Gorgon's chest, preventing him from straying too far forwards.
"Your king bids that you stand as you are, Lord Gorgon. The woman before you is no mere member of the human world, she is the spirit of the planet itself. She is the Freedom-Mist," The Queen got from her chair, her long, beautiful and dark red hair knitting itself into a plat behind her as she walked down the steps from her throne towards the small group assembled before her. James gulped loudly, which was met with a smile from Medusa.
The tips of her hair slowly pushed his chin, levering the young man's face towards her own. He was met with a smile, and a gesture to get up from the Queen.
"Please, there is no need to stand on ceremony, Mark Diering, you are a friend of Royalty in Attilan, there is no need for you to be so formal, although it is appreciated, you may approach," Medusa beamed. As Mark, James and She-Thing got to their feet, walking towards the King and Queen, as their green skinned cousin, Triton walked passed towards Amalgam.
"Where's Karnak?" Mark asked, casting glance over at Triton who bowed deeply to Amalgam, her face lighting up. Gorgon glowered and turned his attention back to Brother Nature.
"Karnak now works in the human world with the Avengers. Something I'm not sure I care for, given his status here in Attilan," Gorgon shook his head and slapped Mark on the back.
"Come! We must celebrate your return. A Feast!" Gorgon screamed, as Mark's otherwise jealous features were parted by a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~
A Few Hours Later
The hall was massive, to accommodate all the different forms the Inhumans had mutated through. The small group sat at the royal table, although Amalgam was suspiciously nowhere to be seen, and neither was Triton. Mark rumbled to himself as Gorgon practically slammed another tankard of mead before him.
“Drink Mark! Forgot your worries for this evening! Tonight we celebrate as we did when you were last here, with mead, meat and...women,” The last part of the sentence was an octave or two lower than the start of his loud boast.
Mark ran a hand through his hair and looked around the room, the Inhumans seemed to have gotten a little smaller in size than when he'd last been through Attilan.
“Is there another dining hall, Gorgon?” Mark asked, taking a bite from what appeared to be an extremely meaty insectoid animal leg.
Gorgon's face sunk into a sullen and angry look, his face muscles relaxing and then tensing. “Recently, the Inhuman nation has been up against it's fair share of...problems,” Gorgon began, downing the rest of his tankard of mead and waving for a blue women with six arms to come over and refill him.
“What kind of problems?” Mark asked. Gorgon shook his head and raised a hand.
“To cut a long story short, Maximus transformed us all into Alpha Primitives. In order to be saved from this fate, our powers were removed and we had to go through re-terrigenesis in order to regain our regal forms. Brave soles such as Triton and many other less “human” looking Inhumans retook their original forms, but some decided that if they did not have to live with their “burdens” then they should not have to, and left.”
“Ah,” was all Mark could manage, finishing his mead and accepting a refill from the blue woman again. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“So, speaking of Triton, where is he now?” Gorgon cracked a smile and slapped Mark on the back.
“The woman you came with, the blue skinned female. Triton told me he had a “feeling” about her. He took her to his “pond” to tell her about his time in the Stars and to tell her of her own beauty,” Gorgon cracked a massive smile at Mark's somewhat jealous expression.
“You do realise who that is, don't you?” Mark asked, a tinge of anger in his voice. Gorgon simply shrugged and finished his drink again.
“Why should I care, Mark? A woman is a woman is a woman. It does not matter who she is, it only matters that she is woman and I am man, what more could there be to these things?” Gorgon raised his tankard and tore a huge, wet chunk of meat from his plate, stuffing it into his over-filled mouth.
“I can see why the women all hang off you, Gorgon,” Mark answered sarcastically, before looking over his shoulder at Sharon. She was sat off from another table, as others, with similar mutations sat around, feeling her skin and touching her face. She had a smile on her face, and was enjoying every moment of the extra attention. Mark made an O.K. Symbol with his hand, but she waved him off, as a larger male inhuman, with jutting ridges of coloured rock that rolled over his facial features, constantly moving and whirling, slowly, over his face.
“Ha. I think Sharon's made a new friend – biblical friend that is,” Mark said, thumbing over his shoulder to the rock man. Gorgon smiled, and placed both of his palms flat on the table. Behind him stood the Queen of the Inhumans, her whirling mass of hair rising and falling as though it had breath of it's own.
“I must commend you on bringing such a polite and interesting young man with you, Mark. James is very interesting, particularly his thoughts on Gravity; have you taken the time to talk with him?” Medusa asked, sitting down carefully next to Gorgon, careful to avoid the free flying food from his mouth.
“Not yet. To be honest, his views on gravity are entirely based on the science of it rather than the nature of it. I think we've got somewhat differing views.” Mark looked into Medusa's eyes, and glanced around for her husband.
“Why are you here, Mark? Not that your appearance is unpleasant, we do miss old friends, but with you there is normally always a reason for your appearences,” Medusa's face became hard, as she stared at him.
“We're here for Iolanda, Medusa. I need her,” Mark braced himself. This wasn't going to be met with happiness.
“Iolanda is not to leave Attilan, Mark. You know that. Her powers are far to unstable,” Medusa began. Mark raised a flat palm to stop her, but it was slapped from the air by a branch of her crimson locks.
“Do not presume to silence me, Mark. You may be a friend, but this is our family and our whole race at jeopardy.” Medusa began, as Mark leaned forward on the table.
“It's more than that, Medusa. It's the whole damn planet if you don't hand the girl over to us. She's important to my plan to save us all,” He started. Gorgon slammed his tankard down on the table, and leapt onto it's surface, looking down at Mark.
“Do not speak to my Queen that way, Mark. Friend or no friend, I'll break your face,” Gorgon reached down, as Mark pulled himself out of the way, dodging to the left and swinging his arm backwards, knocking against Gorgon's knees and forcing him to bend backwards, falling into the table.
“I don't want to fight this, or you, Gorgon, but I need Iolanda. We can't do this without her, I don't think you quite realise..” Mark's jaw ached immediately as Gorgon's hoof connected with it, sending him hurtling across the hall and almost through the wall.
Pulling himself free, Mark wiped the blood from his nose and ears, and focused on the charging Gorgon. Typical bullheaded idiot. Mark simply leapt over his charging foe, vaulting with ease and slamming both of his feet into the back of his friends head, sending him smashing into and through the already weakened wall.
Mark landed in a roll, fists up, as the Inhumans gathered around him.
“Perhaps a night in a cell will improve your manners, Brother Nature,” Medusa began, as Mark tried to make his way towards her, only to be pinned to the ground.
“DAMNIT, MEDUSA! YOU'RE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE HERE! WE'RE NOT JUST TRYING TO TAKE ONE OF YOUR PEOPLE, WE NEED HER TOO...” His voice was taken from him, just a few seconds before his consciousness left.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Royal Pond
Triton and Amalgam sat in silence, looking up at the stars above them. He said nothing, as he looked on at her. Beautiful untouched blue skin, and silken weaves of white-hair. She looked down from the night sky to her companion for the evening, and sighed, as he lifted his hand from the waist high warm water they both sat in, holding out a bouquest of flowers he had picked earlier.
“They are beautiful,” She said, taking them from his webbed hand, brushing her fingers across the wet surface of his skin.
“They are an inhuman plant species, they occur only where the Terrigen mists are found. It appears as though the mists affect more than just the genetic make-up of humans,” Triton began, and Amalgam smiled, raising a finger to quiet him.
“I know you are nervous, Triton. You are not considered to be classically attractive, because of your position within the Royal family as well as your appearance,” She moved closer to him, putting her head on his shoulder and looking across as the light from the stars and moon reflected across the still surface of the water, “But you must know, that I am not an ordinary woman, I am far from normal and I cannot ask, or allow you to spend your time with me, thinking that.”
Triton shook his head gently, and rested his head against hers.
“Far from it, Amalgam. I think that you are most definitely not a normal woman, the mere fact that you are here with Mark means that you are far from normal. I do not wish for a normal woman, either. I wish for someone who shares my enjoyment for nature and the simplier things in life – while my Cousins enjoy their regal lifestyle, with their feasts and mead, I much prefer a gentler pace to life,” He looked down at her hands, which had wove themselves together on her lap, and smiled.
“Come, for I know you are only here for a day, and a night. Let us swim and enjoy what we have here, I shall show you the sights of my pond,” Triton smiled, as he pulled away gently from Amalgam, and slipped into the warm water, floating onto his back.
The Blue skinned woman returned his smile, and removed her clothes, diving into the water after him. She hoped they could spend the night together.
~~~~~~~~~~
Sharon Ventura looked up from her position on the bed. She'd never done this before, and for her to go back to the bedroom of a man she'd never met before this night, let alone a man who shared a similar body form to her, was a bit of a novelty. She felt more alive than she had in months, doing something she did not expect herself to be doing.
Perhaps the secret to enjoying life was to not expect anything, but to go with the feelings of the moment, and at this very moment, she was feeling very, very nice. She crained her neck to see the man before her, as he sat up in the covers of his bed, looking down at her with pleasure and lust. His face rolled through the convection of itself, slowly melting fragments of itself away, but always constantly moving. She reached up, her large fingers seemingly delicate in comparison to his own.
She smiled, and stroked his face, as he bore down on her, kissing her lips gently.
“You are beautiful,” He said, in hushed tones of admiration. She smiled, and pulled him into a deeper kiss. She didn't care if she never left this city, provided she could spend her time with him.
~~~~~~~~~~
Canada, Underneath the Aurora Borealis
The trio trudged through the knee deep snow, the cold winds whipping through the air. Josef's hood was pulled up around his head, although the force of the wind continued to blow it down onto his shoulders. Every time it flapped backwards he let out a long drawn sigh. Even his patience was wearing thin - Arctic tundra and knee deep snow were not his favourite habitats, despite being connected to the Earth itself through his abilities.
Dinah Soar, transversely appeared to be having the time of her life. Her white body suit was augmented only by a thick woolly scarf Mr. Immortal had insisted she wore, despite apparently not feeling the cold. Every now and then she'd release an excited whistle or squeak in response to the howling winds, and kicked up snow.
At the front of the group, Mr. Immortal walked ahead. He figured he'd be in the best position to deal with a threat should anything come upon them. Was there a greater warning to his team-mates than his demise, only for him to rise up and tell them of their problem?
Craig's costume was padded in this instance, not only did he wear thermal underwear underneath his costume, but he wore extra clothing underneath and on top of it, an extra long jacket, which billowed behind him, while his jumper afforded his chest extra comfort. His face however, despite the goggles that protected his eyes, was not faring so well. Red from the wind lashing against his features, he was starting to feel a little run down.
At least he wasn't dead. Yet.
"Do you know what that is?" Josef asked, pointing upwards to the coalescent lights that spiralled and wove their way across the sky.
"The Aurora?" Craig answered, to much cooing from his girlfriend. He smiled, and looked at the ground. Sometimes he knew things, and sometimes he didn't. This was the time when he knew something.
"Fascinating, is it not?" Josef asked, looking at Craig. He nodded eagerly.
"I wish I was around for the Carrington event."
"Pardon?" Josef asked, his own body beginning to take on properties of the Aurora, a phosphorescent yellow light display weaving over his skin, his eyes giving off a faint blue glow.
"In 1859, the Earth experienced it's most powerful Geomagnetic event. It was the most powerful Solar Storm ever witnessed by humanity, with a man called Richard Carrington observing the largest flare, which caused this thing called a CME. A Coronal Massive Ejection," Craig paused to look at his girlfriend. Her attention was wandering elsewhere because she knew where this was going. Another one of Craig's little pet ideas.
"You mean something was ejected from the sun?" Josef asked, curious.
"Yeah, exactly. A Solar flare, and magnetic waves, and it shot through space and hit Earth after just 18 hours. Which is incredible, because it would normally take something like that nearly three days to get here. Anyway, it knocked out telegraph wires and all sorts of primitive technology we had then, and caused all sorts of problems. You could see Aurora all over the world, but most prominently in the Caribbean and the Rocky Mountains," Craig smiled, and turned his head to look at the snow drift that was slowly collapsing in front of them.
"How do you know this?" Josef asked.
Craig shook his head, with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"You know people sometimes called Catastrophe theorists Doom-sayers? It's sort of a hobby of mine. I can't die, I've sort of come to terms with that, I guess. Once my powers kicked in, I couldn't die. I cannot get sick, and I cannot age, but I can get drunk, which is great," Craig wrung his hands together, as the colour drained from his face.
"The problem, Josef, is that everyone else I've ever cared about will die. One day. That scares me like you wouldn't believe. How could I ever, ever continue to live my life with some meaning without her?" He looked at Dinah ahead of them, a little forlorn and a little crack in his voice. It was obviously something he spent a lot of time thinking about, a lot of pained thoughts.
"So," Craig began again quickly, his voice back to the normal jaunty, jovial bounce, "I spend my time, when I'm not heroing, looking at these doom-sayer things. Looking at things that might kill the people I care about, and finding ways to either prevent them, or to prepare for them. It's a bit morbid I know, but, you spend your life living and working to get money to enjoy it. I might as well spend mine protecting people, and the people I care about, right?"
Josef nodded, as Craig pointed upwards, as a great snowy owl shot over their heads. Josef looked up at it and snarled in annoyance, he felt as though he were just starting to get to know the proper Mr. Immortal, not the jovial little smile began a truly awful costume.
"And on that note, that's her," Craig said, "We need to follow her. Dinah?"
With a quick glance to Craig, and without so much as a word, Dinah banked hard, and allowed the wind to push her back, chasing after the snowy owl. She called out to the large bird with the a number of different environmental languages, the snow chants and the Northern Lights chimes, but found that the bird did not respond. Perhaps it was not the one they were looking for.
As the bird began to land, it's body morphed and changed, throwing it into the snow. It looked up, now the form of a Polar Bear, and raised itself to it's full height of nearly fifteen feet, swiping at Dinah in the air.
"Dinah!" Craig ran forwards, pushing his shoulder low, and ramming into the bears hard stomach with all the force he could muster. As the bear looked down, Craig looked up at smiled. A back hand from a bear can knock a man's head clean off his shoulders, something that Craig wasn't sure he could survive.
The back hand didn't have the full force behind it, and simply threw Craig backwards through the air. His ribs cracked, and he found it hard to breath in the cold, but he wasn't dead.
"She doesn't mean it!" He called through a cough and a splutter, as the snow tinged form of the Isolationist came running forwards. His body slowly began to convert to snow, his fists becoming soft, and then hardening into ice lumps. He pushed his semi-transparent icicle fingers outwards, and leapt forwards, pushing and pinning the bear to the ground.
With every swipe and kick from the beast, lumps of snow fell from Josef's body, but he was not knocked off.
"Please, Narya, calm down. We don't wish you harm, we just want to talk to you," Josef insisted. She calmed a little underneath his grip, and changed back to her human form. She pouted for a moment, before anger took over her face.
"Talk? You want to talk after you harried me and chased me down, with force? You're as bad as Alpha Flight," She spat. Craig limped towards the pair, and Dinah landed at his side, cooing with concern for him. He smiled and waved her off.
"I'm al right," He said to his wife. Josef moved back, the snowy colour draining from his body, as Narya simply sat up in the snow, and looked up at them.
"What do you want?" She asked, "If you're with Alpha or from my so called "Surrogate" Father, then you know where you can get too." Her anger was obvious, boiling over in her words. Lack of control over syllables, as well as the composition of the sentence was her tell.
"We're not with Alpha, Narya. We're with Brother Nature, we need you to help us sav..."
"Okay. I'll come with you." Narya said, getting to her feet slowly and dusting the snow off her shoulders.
"Just like that?" Craig said.
"Yes. Just like that. I could destroy all of you with little effort, except perhaps the Snow man here, but I can inhabit the forms of the Great Beasts of the North, a pink dinosaur woman and a man who appears to have no powers beyond being annoying offer me little in the way of a challenge." She said, there wasn't any arrogance in her voice. She genuinely believed that they had little in the way of a threat level to her.
"And Brother Nature?" Josef asked, curiously, "Does he present a threat?"
"Mark? No, in fact, I don't understand why he didn't come to me himself, rather than send some de-powered middlemen after me," She offered a sarcastic smile towards Josef, before he gestured back towards the rendezvous point.
"Middlemen indeed," Josef said, making sure his hood was firmly over his head, the strong winds now blowing into his back, rather than into his face. Dinah made sure that the limping Craig managed to get back to their meeting point without further mishap.
"What about Canada, Narya?" Josef asked after a couple of minutes of stony silence.
"What of it?" She replied, barely turning to look at him.
"I was under the impression that if you were unable to leave Canada, or you would loose your abilities. You are a spirit of the North, are you not?" He questioned, barbs entering his voice that he didn't know he had.
"Yes," Narya said, her tone short and annoyed. "In that case I renounce Canada. It can save itself. If Alpha Flight and Shaman really believe themselves to be the premier team for the North, they can have it," She spat, turning to Josef, her anger burned bright.
TO BE CONTINUED...
FROM THE FILES OF BROTHER NATURE
Mckenzie-Thompson, Nayra AKA Snowbird A woman of great anger, as well as power and responsibility, she is able to change into any creature that inhabits the shores of Canada. A child of the Gods of the North, her powers are constantly fighting each other, raging against nature and mythology – Though she is important to the over all scheme of things, Nayra worries me. We have a past that I don't particularly want to delve into, but her powers appear to be more and more erratic. Is she going to be my weak link?
Author's Notes
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who is still reading the series. I really appreciate it, and thanks to Doug Bookey for saying that I made Brother Nature “cool”. I certainly hope I have mate, and I can assure you I will attempt to continue to make him cool, or at least my own version of cool.