Back to GatefoldIssue #6 by Ed Ainsworth
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"Diplomatic Enhancement Stalker"
The Edge of Shi'ar Space
“This isn't looking terribly promising, Astra,” Darwin glanced out of the window, trying to focus his new eyes on the pursuing ships. An imperial guard crusied, and two smaller attack ships edged ever closer to their tiny vehicle.
Astra's stressed face turned to Darwin's violently and scowled in anger and frustration.
“Thank you for the status update, Darwin. Glad to see your powers of adaptation extend to the bloody obvious as well as the physical,” She snapped, turning back to the control panel and the hundreds of wires she'd pulled from the central podium of the craft. She pulled at them.
“I...I think I might need to do something,” David said, looking up from his slouched position in one of the three chairs on the bridge of the ship. Next to him sat a small, white hot cube, containing the Phoenix Shard that the small group had stolen from the Imperial Guard.
“Oh, well, by all means. If that's the caliber of the revelations we've got flowing through this ship then we're all severely fucked,” Astra spat, pulling some twisted wires apart and jutting her bottom jaw out in frustration.
“There really is no need to be like that, Astra,” David began, but was cut short with an extended middle finger. She didn't even turn around to face him.
“Right. Like that is it? Well, who said that scientists cannot get along. Socially retarded are we?” David began, pulling his jacket off to reveal the sun motif that was emblazoned across his chest, against the light green flashing of his new costume. His skin slowly began to change colour, changing from pasty human tones into a much darker, almost mahogany colour.
“Well, allow me to achieve the desired time for little miss muff-et to get off her tuff-et and get some work done,” David marched towards the air lock and pulled the door open, throwing himself out into the void of space, his body lighting up like a comet.
Darwin looked at Astra from his position, and sighed.
“Nursery Rhymes are not smack talk, you pencil necked little arse-ferret.” Astra muttered to herself, as she bit through a wire and tried to force it against another.
“We need speed and I need to reroute the atmospherics through the engines. Darwin, make yourself useful. Turn into something that can support my life,” Astra said, matter of fact, as she turned to him.
“It...it doesn't work like that, Astra. I can only protect myself, and It's an unconscious thing I can't...extend it to someone else, I don't think,” He said, trying to get himself across to her angry features.
“I don't have time for what you think, Darwin. I only have time to do one thing, which is make this work. So, do what I just said, or this mission, and the entire planet is dead.”
He ground his bottom teeth against his top set and let out a long drawn sigh.
“No pressure then?”
“None. Bring me the box, I need to run some data on the Shard, to try and make this thing work. I'm a genius not a miracle worker.”
“I don't remember you being accused of either of those,” Darwin chided, as he looked through the window, transferring the box to her.
“Hmph. How is David doing?” Astra said, taking the box from Darwin and wrapping some wires around it, looking at an impromptu screen she'd erected.
“Well,” Darwin began looking out the window, before his jaw dropped. David was in the void of space, giving off huge amounts of light. It was like his body was just a negative silhouette against the blackness of space. Laser fire bounced off his body and ricochetted back into the pursuing ships shields. His glowing form shot forwards, punching a hole through a smaller attack ship, blowing it to pieces, as he hurled a large chunk of debris towards the large Imperial Guard cruiser.
“Well what?” Astra questioned, panic in her voice.
“I don't think he's going to require much help,” Darwin began, as their own craft rocket with energy fire. The Shi'ar attack blade shot over the front of Darwin's craft, and he could just about see the whites of the eyes of the pilot, as he looked over his shoulder to see the damage.
“This is bad,” Astra began, looking at Darwin. He shook his head and ran towards her, closing his eyes and willing for a transformation to began. As he dove forwards, his body expanded into a gelatinous mixture, absorbing the Shard and Astra into his mass, as the ship began to fall apart and explode in the void of space.
~~~~~~~~~~
David turned around, shrugging off the energy fire from the Shi'ar Imperial Guard cruiser, to witness the ship with his team-mates and their entire purpose explode into the void.
“Shit,” Was all he could manage, as he shot off towards the bright orange explosion. Hopefully they survived somehow, or at least the Shard did.
Hopefully.
~~~~~~~~~~
Amalgam's Chambers, Attilan
“Oh my god,” Sharon said sitting down on the comfortable, but uniquely shaped angular seats of Amalgam's guest quarters, “I cannot actually believe I did that last night.”
“I don't think either of us could have imagined what a...unique experience visiting the Inhumans would become,” Amalgam added, taking a sip from the water and admiring the plants that littered the chamber around her. A gift from Triton.
“So, did you and he...?” Sharon questioned, leaning forwards.
“No, No. A lady never tells and a gentleman never attempts on a first date,” Amalgam said, smiling to herself, “And he was quite a gentleman. I would never have imagined that such a group of fiercely proud and brilliant warriors would generate someone quite like Triton. He is like the Inhumans soul, given life,”
“Hrm,” Sharon began, rubbing her chin with her large orange fingers, “Sounds like you quite like him, Ammie.”
She smiled to herself and twisted her finger through her long, pure white hair, “Yes, I suppose it does, doesn't it?”
Thoughtful silence dropped over the pair for a moment, before Amalgam looked up at Sharon.
“And your experience?” She asked, as Sharon bit her bottom lip in excitement.
“Incredible. It's been...a very, very long time since I felt anything from a man,” She offered a weak smile to Amalgam. It had been a very lonely time for Sharon. Her transformations had been unreliable, and once she was stuck in her She-Thing form, she resigned herself to spending most of her time alone, away from human contact. She was unable to date, or receive any sort of intimacy from people. She did spend a lot of time on-line, but rarely connected to anyone once they knew who and what she was.
“Incredible. I know it must have been a lonely time for you since your change, Sharon,” Amalgam began. Sharon lifted her hand up to stop her and shook her head.
“It was but it doesn't have to be any more. Things change, and sometimes even She-Things change,” She offered a playful smile, before looking over at the banging against the chamber door.
“Maybe we should get that?” Sharon asked, as Amalgam got to her feet and walked towards the source of the noise. Pulling on the handle, a nervous looking Monopole burst through onto the living space, and looked at them both with panic and fear.
“Mark's in prison!” He started. Sharon got to her feet and walked towards him, as Amalgam grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Why?” She asked, concisely.
“He started a big fight with Medusa and Gorgon. He kicked Gorgon's face into the floor!”
“Why?” Amalgam asked again.
“He was asking Medusa about the reason we came here. For that girl, and everyone got really angry and then the fight started. I don't understand why she's so important to either of them, enough for them to fight like this. I've never seen Mark bleed, he nearly got kicked through the wall!” James looked scared, as Sharon pulled him into a deep, and uncomfortably warm hug.
“We need to find him,” Amalgam said, pointing out into the corridor.
~~~~~~~~~~
Attilan, Holding Cells
Mark rubbed the back of his head as he sat up, smacking his lips together and rubbing the bruise on the back of his head.
“Ooh, I feel like someone's scooped my brain out and replaced it with a bean-bag,” He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, as the door before him clanked and clicked, opening slowly. Two large guards stood in the doorway, one with four arms, the other with a number of tentacle like limbs protruding from his back. The parted, and allowed their Queen to step forwards, who slowly walked into the room, and sat down next to Mark.
“Mark,” Medusa began, but Brother Nature held up his hand to stop her talking and closed his eyes for a moment.
“I shouldn't have lost my temper last night. I have a problem. Apparently Impulse control is an element of that problem,” He began, opening his eyes to focus on the Queen, “But, that doesn't mean you should totally block off my ideas here, Meddy.”
“Do not call me that, Mark. You may be a friend, but you still need to show the proper respect,”
“Oh, give it a rest, Medusa. Respect, Royalty, it's all shit that comes with a title and a pretend status. You and me, we're the same, the same way Iolanda and I are the same, and her and you are the same. Only thing that stops you being the same is words,”
“Words hold a lot of power, Mark. Is that not the basis of magic?”
“Wouldn't know. I'm not a bullshit artist.
“Why is she so important to you, Mark?” Medusa asked, her tone changing from irritation to curiosity.
He paused for a moment, thinking the best way to phrase his words.
“I know how she feels about me, Medusa. I know that she wants me to love her the way that she loves me, and I know how this is going to sound,” He paused again, searching her face for any tell-tale signs, “I need her for my plan.”
“Your plan to save the world, correct?”
“Yes, the entire world. Not just myself, I realise this sounds selfish, because she is such a...liability for your people, but I wouldn't be here If I didn't need her, Medusa. There are things coming on the Horizon that are just...they're too big, Medusa. They're not something we can all deal with if we band together, but Iolanda, she's...shes on another scale and you know it,” He looked at her features to try and get a better understanding of what she was thinking. After a few moments of thought, and intense concentration on Medusa she sighed and looked at the ground.
“You've never lied to us before, Mark. Why would you start now?” She said, looking up at him. He offered her a small smile and reached out for her hand.
“Your Majesty, would you do me the honour of allowing me to communicate with Iolanda. To do us all the honour of allowing her to make the first decision of her adult life?”
Medusa shook her head slowly, before looking up at Mark, her features grim. She nodded in silence, looking concerned and desperate at the same time.
“May Randac have mercy on us if you're wrong,” She said to Mark, her voice hushed.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Conquistador
Sangre got to his feet slowly, wiping some darker liquid from his semi-solid bottom lip. It was only his will power and a unique olfactory system that allowed him to keep a physical form, by replacing his organ system with a unique lymphatic system, he could pump chemicals and hormones into his own liquid system to emulsify it at the right points.
Before him stood an entity, at least eight feet in height. It had no features, only a domed head, with two yellow lines running down it's “face”. As it moved forwards, the highlighted ribbed elements of it's body were more pronounced, running down the inside leg, and inner arms. It swung it's massive “scythe” towards Sangre, who managed to twist his liquid body away.
The metallic weapon lodged itself into the frame of the flying boat, as Sangre looked at the large dent in it's hull where one of his family members had once been.
Electricity arced and burnt tiny cracks and spidery marks across the hull where Cadena had fallen. The huge celestial entity had hit her first, their most powerful member. Sangre remembered being on the bridge, looking out over the scenery below them, as the huge scythe hurtled through the air and impaled his lover through the chest, nailing her to the hull of the ship.
He'd called the alarm, when the massive being had pulled his weapon free, and attempting to slice him in half with it.
“Cadena?! Sangre!” Serafina stood in the opening of the hatch that led onto the top deck of the boat, behind her stood Aguja and Perro, staring at the devastation before them.
“Shit,” Aguja said to herself, as Perro charged forwards. His teeth gritted and grinding against each other, he began to pull his mastery of Gravity into play. His fists became more dense, and harder, as Gravity pulled smaller objects towards them, building on their structure.
He had wondered, as he leapt through the air, throwing his fist into the side of the huge entity, why Mark had bothered to find Monopole when he was around. Could Gravity manipulation be that difficult, could it really be mastered more quickly by this boy than by himself?
As he let his mind wander, to ask himself why he was ignored over Monopole, the Celestials attack dog simply backhanded him into, and through, one of the large chimney stacks that protruded from the flying tanker.
Hitting the other side of the boat, he skidded and bounced off the metal hull a few times before finally slamming into the guard rail, and coming to a complete halt.
“Not sure if we're going to do this,” Serafina said, looking at the worried face of her younger sister, as they both drew a long, drawn concerned breath and shot forwards.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Conquistador – Lower Levels
“Did you hear that?” Mattie asked, looking to her two other team-mates, huddled within the bowels of the ship. Boost nodded and glanced around as silence fell overhead.
“I've got a funny feeling that if you're beating the crap out of the Children, we're not really going to fare all that well,” Boost added, looking across at Feron who floated, cross legged in the air, his feet bandaged.
“They're fighting again,” Feron said, facing up at the ceiling, his eyes closed, “This is going to get so much worse, and we don't even have all of our heavy hitters here. They're off somewhere else trying to get the Inhumans to give them something.”
“Mark wouldn't leave us unprotected, Feron,” Boost said, his tone changing slightly. It was clear that Feron didn't trust Mark as a leader, the way Boost did.
“I'm not saying he left us unprotected, Boost. It's just not adequate protection.”
Mattie's eyebrow quirked at the sound of metal being twisted and rendered, and she looked at Boost.
“I can't really argue with that.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The Inner Caves of Attilan
Mark sighed as he saw the huge containment cell before him. He looked over at Monopole, whose attention was captivated. He stepped forwards, as the swarm of matter, a prison of tiny fragments of reflective matter, designed to reflect and refract any cosmic or odd radiation back away from the woman imprisoned within their orbit. Each of the tiny fragments were formed into 26 distinct lines, that all converged at the poles of her body, the top of her head and the bottoms of her feet.
“James...What the hell is that?” Mark asked, looking confused at the orbiting fragments.
“It's called...well, I've only really read the theory, but it's a Dyson Shell. Basically, it's a sort of preliminary stage between what we have now in our solar system, and the entire solar system being encrusted in a 3m thick layer of matter, which is called a Dyson Sphere,” James said, matter of fact, with more than a little hint of excitement in his voice.
Iolanda looked over to the source of the voices. Her eyes locked onto Monopole, and then moved over to Mark. She sighed as she saw him, and looked away.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, looking at her feet. Monopole stood looking up at the woman. She was several feet above the ground, suspended in the air.
“We're here for you, Iolanda,”
“For me? Well, it's nice of you to show some concern for my situation, given how you left last time,” She scowled through the orbiting layers of matter.
Mark rubbed the back of his head and sighed, as Monopole walked around the Dyson Shell.
“I didn't really know how to handle the situation back then, Io,” He said, stepping forwards to look up at her. She was encased, completely, save for her face, in a white body clinging clothe. Instead of tight trousers, it gave her a flowing skirt, but covered all areas of skin. At the top of her suit, was a place for her beautiful strawberry blonde hair to explode outwards, and fall down her shoulders and her back. Her hair was huge, it had grown ever more since she manifested her powers, reaching her feet in it's length.
“I love you, Mark Diering, and you left me here, to this,” she sighed, running a white hand over her face. “I can't even feel my own skin because of this containment suit. I haven't seen the sun since my Terrigenesis,”
“I know, Io. You know that I care for you a lot. We were very close even though I was only here for a short time, you just seemed to understand what I was saying,” As Mark looked up at her, her harsh look broke, and tears flooded her eyes.
“You don't love me, do you?” She asked, her voice breaking. A small noise of alarm came from Medusa's direction, as She-Thing and Amalgam slowly made their way into the room led by Triton, who's hand was firmly clasped around Amalgams. They were stopped by thick strands of Medusa's hair, forcing them to stay where they were.
“Io, it's not that I don't love you, I do. I just don't love you the way I love you, you know? We're very different in age, and in lifestyle,” He said, as she cut in with her own jab.
“My lifestyle is floating in a containment suit surrounded by radiation ablative plates, Mark. I don't think we could get much more different in lifestyle.”
“Maybe that was a poor choice of words then, Io,” Mark looked up at her and rubbed his face, “Look, We're not right for each other. I have someone else outside of this place,” Iolanda's face broke, as tears rolled down her cheeks, and the three women that stood behind Mark all winced as they felt Iolanda's pain.
Mark let his head drop. There is nothing worse than breaking someones heart.
“I'll still love you, Mark,” She said, looking down at him.
“I know you will, but, Io, we need to leave that for another time, I need your help,” He said, looking up at her. She shook her head.
“I need you to make up your mind on this, without anyone else,” He looked across at Medusa, “This isn't about loyalty to your people, or fear of your powers, or you...loving me. This is about making sure everyone has a planet left when the shit hits the fan, and it will, big time.”
“The planet? What is happening?”
Mark looked over at Medusa and back to Iolanda.
“I need you, I need your power, to fight something that's even more powerful than you. You won't go into battle alone, but you're going to be pretty pushed once you get there. Do you know of the Celestials?”
“No,” Iolanda shook her head, as Medusa covered her mouth. Mark hadn't mentioned them to her directly. She knew of their power and their presence, and what that meant for the Earth.
“They're massive, Io. They're huge. We're insects to them, and they want to come back to Earth, as they came here millions of years ago, and wipe the slate clean. They want to kill us all. We're disrupting their experiments. We're a contamination on their little planet.”
“They want us all dead,” He said, his head hung low and his demeanour grim.
“A decision, for me to make?” She asked Mark, looking down at him with a furrowed brow, “You want me to make a decision for myself, without the “pressure of Monarchy” but you're telling me that if I don't help you, the world will die?”
She shook her head, long strands of bushy strawberry strands whipping over her shoulder and resting against her body.
“I don't really have any choice at all, do I Mark? You've told me to make my decision, but given that options are try to save the world, or die here, trapped in prison, I've really not got a lot work with, have I?”
Mark shook his head and offered a weak smile.
“I'm sorry,”
“You're not, but I guess I appreciate the sentiment. I'll agree to your terms, Mark. I'll come with you now, or whenever you need me for this fight.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The Bow of the Conquistador
Mark sighed heavily, as the small group touched down on the surface of the boat. He was tired, his back ached from spending a night in the cell, and he just wanted to crawl into bed with his girlfriend and go to sleep. Iolanda said nothing as they landed silently, the wind underneath the group, generated by Mark and kept powerful by Amalgam dissipated. He rubbed the back of his head, looking apologetically towards the others in the group, as his attention was grabbed by the scene before them.
They'd all been so tired, they hadn't noticed the huge entity that stood on the bow of the ship, slowly making it's way through the layers of the heavy metal boat, smashing it's huge fists through the metallic surfaces, reaching down below for the occupants within. Mark was alerted by the immediacy of the threat by Mattie's high pitched scream.
“Stay here,” He ordered, specifically looking at Iolanda, as he charged forwards. As he got a better view of the creature, he skidded to a halt, forcing himself to swallow the lump in his throat.
It had just noticed him. Standing to it's full height, it grasped it's staff tightly, and made it's way towards Mark, it's huge domed head reflecting the light of the setting sun behind it. Mark balled his fists, and cursed under his breath.
“God-Stalker,” He said, his voice turning to a growl, as the winds kicked up around him, rain falling from the sky, turning to sleet and then to snow. Electricity and fire crackled and licked from his fingers, as he charged forwards, setting about giving the servant of the Celestial's his own special brand of greeting.
His fist flew out and crashed against the armour of the creature, which looked down in stony silence, before pulling it's staff back and knocking Mark into and through a level of the boat with a burst of energy from his staff.
Mark shook his head, rubbing his bloodied and charred face with a hand.
“Grmph. Space-Gods are going to make my organ's explode,” He turned to see the Godstalker drop down to the level he was currently sitting on, and got to his feet slowly.
“Time for a second crack, then?”
NEXT ISSUE: Mark and his tired team vs. God-Stalker!
FROM THE FILES OF BROTHER NATURE
No Alias, AKA Iolanda – Potentially one of the most powerful Inhumans ever, she has been unable to ever fully access her terrible power after the Terrigenesis. Locked away since her first exposure, Mark has never been far from her thoughts. She loves him dearly, and only wants to prove that love to him. - Her love for me worries me. What if she gets jealous and her powers manifest before I need them too? What if she tries to use them to force me to do things I don't want to do, and she doesn't really want me to do?
“This isn't looking terribly promising, Astra,” Darwin glanced out of the window, trying to focus his new eyes on the pursuing ships. An imperial guard crusied, and two smaller attack ships edged ever closer to their tiny vehicle.
Astra's stressed face turned to Darwin's violently and scowled in anger and frustration.
“Thank you for the status update, Darwin. Glad to see your powers of adaptation extend to the bloody obvious as well as the physical,” She snapped, turning back to the control panel and the hundreds of wires she'd pulled from the central podium of the craft. She pulled at them.
“I...I think I might need to do something,” David said, looking up from his slouched position in one of the three chairs on the bridge of the ship. Next to him sat a small, white hot cube, containing the Phoenix Shard that the small group had stolen from the Imperial Guard.
“Oh, well, by all means. If that's the caliber of the revelations we've got flowing through this ship then we're all severely fucked,” Astra spat, pulling some twisted wires apart and jutting her bottom jaw out in frustration.
“There really is no need to be like that, Astra,” David began, but was cut short with an extended middle finger. She didn't even turn around to face him.
“Right. Like that is it? Well, who said that scientists cannot get along. Socially retarded are we?” David began, pulling his jacket off to reveal the sun motif that was emblazoned across his chest, against the light green flashing of his new costume. His skin slowly began to change colour, changing from pasty human tones into a much darker, almost mahogany colour.
“Well, allow me to achieve the desired time for little miss muff-et to get off her tuff-et and get some work done,” David marched towards the air lock and pulled the door open, throwing himself out into the void of space, his body lighting up like a comet.
Darwin looked at Astra from his position, and sighed.
“Nursery Rhymes are not smack talk, you pencil necked little arse-ferret.” Astra muttered to herself, as she bit through a wire and tried to force it against another.
“We need speed and I need to reroute the atmospherics through the engines. Darwin, make yourself useful. Turn into something that can support my life,” Astra said, matter of fact, as she turned to him.
“It...it doesn't work like that, Astra. I can only protect myself, and It's an unconscious thing I can't...extend it to someone else, I don't think,” He said, trying to get himself across to her angry features.
“I don't have time for what you think, Darwin. I only have time to do one thing, which is make this work. So, do what I just said, or this mission, and the entire planet is dead.”
He ground his bottom teeth against his top set and let out a long drawn sigh.
“No pressure then?”
“None. Bring me the box, I need to run some data on the Shard, to try and make this thing work. I'm a genius not a miracle worker.”
“I don't remember you being accused of either of those,” Darwin chided, as he looked through the window, transferring the box to her.
“Hmph. How is David doing?” Astra said, taking the box from Darwin and wrapping some wires around it, looking at an impromptu screen she'd erected.
“Well,” Darwin began looking out the window, before his jaw dropped. David was in the void of space, giving off huge amounts of light. It was like his body was just a negative silhouette against the blackness of space. Laser fire bounced off his body and ricochetted back into the pursuing ships shields. His glowing form shot forwards, punching a hole through a smaller attack ship, blowing it to pieces, as he hurled a large chunk of debris towards the large Imperial Guard cruiser.
“Well what?” Astra questioned, panic in her voice.
“I don't think he's going to require much help,” Darwin began, as their own craft rocket with energy fire. The Shi'ar attack blade shot over the front of Darwin's craft, and he could just about see the whites of the eyes of the pilot, as he looked over his shoulder to see the damage.
“This is bad,” Astra began, looking at Darwin. He shook his head and ran towards her, closing his eyes and willing for a transformation to began. As he dove forwards, his body expanded into a gelatinous mixture, absorbing the Shard and Astra into his mass, as the ship began to fall apart and explode in the void of space.
~~~~~~~~~~
David turned around, shrugging off the energy fire from the Shi'ar Imperial Guard cruiser, to witness the ship with his team-mates and their entire purpose explode into the void.
“Shit,” Was all he could manage, as he shot off towards the bright orange explosion. Hopefully they survived somehow, or at least the Shard did.
Hopefully.
~~~~~~~~~~
Amalgam's Chambers, Attilan
“Oh my god,” Sharon said sitting down on the comfortable, but uniquely shaped angular seats of Amalgam's guest quarters, “I cannot actually believe I did that last night.”
“I don't think either of us could have imagined what a...unique experience visiting the Inhumans would become,” Amalgam added, taking a sip from the water and admiring the plants that littered the chamber around her. A gift from Triton.
“So, did you and he...?” Sharon questioned, leaning forwards.
“No, No. A lady never tells and a gentleman never attempts on a first date,” Amalgam said, smiling to herself, “And he was quite a gentleman. I would never have imagined that such a group of fiercely proud and brilliant warriors would generate someone quite like Triton. He is like the Inhumans soul, given life,”
“Hrm,” Sharon began, rubbing her chin with her large orange fingers, “Sounds like you quite like him, Ammie.”
She smiled to herself and twisted her finger through her long, pure white hair, “Yes, I suppose it does, doesn't it?”
Thoughtful silence dropped over the pair for a moment, before Amalgam looked up at Sharon.
“And your experience?” She asked, as Sharon bit her bottom lip in excitement.
“Incredible. It's been...a very, very long time since I felt anything from a man,” She offered a weak smile to Amalgam. It had been a very lonely time for Sharon. Her transformations had been unreliable, and once she was stuck in her She-Thing form, she resigned herself to spending most of her time alone, away from human contact. She was unable to date, or receive any sort of intimacy from people. She did spend a lot of time on-line, but rarely connected to anyone once they knew who and what she was.
“Incredible. I know it must have been a lonely time for you since your change, Sharon,” Amalgam began. Sharon lifted her hand up to stop her and shook her head.
“It was but it doesn't have to be any more. Things change, and sometimes even She-Things change,” She offered a playful smile, before looking over at the banging against the chamber door.
“Maybe we should get that?” Sharon asked, as Amalgam got to her feet and walked towards the source of the noise. Pulling on the handle, a nervous looking Monopole burst through onto the living space, and looked at them both with panic and fear.
“Mark's in prison!” He started. Sharon got to her feet and walked towards him, as Amalgam grabbed him by the shoulders.
“Why?” She asked, concisely.
“He started a big fight with Medusa and Gorgon. He kicked Gorgon's face into the floor!”
“Why?” Amalgam asked again.
“He was asking Medusa about the reason we came here. For that girl, and everyone got really angry and then the fight started. I don't understand why she's so important to either of them, enough for them to fight like this. I've never seen Mark bleed, he nearly got kicked through the wall!” James looked scared, as Sharon pulled him into a deep, and uncomfortably warm hug.
“We need to find him,” Amalgam said, pointing out into the corridor.
~~~~~~~~~~
Attilan, Holding Cells
Mark rubbed the back of his head as he sat up, smacking his lips together and rubbing the bruise on the back of his head.
“Ooh, I feel like someone's scooped my brain out and replaced it with a bean-bag,” He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, as the door before him clanked and clicked, opening slowly. Two large guards stood in the doorway, one with four arms, the other with a number of tentacle like limbs protruding from his back. The parted, and allowed their Queen to step forwards, who slowly walked into the room, and sat down next to Mark.
“Mark,” Medusa began, but Brother Nature held up his hand to stop her talking and closed his eyes for a moment.
“I shouldn't have lost my temper last night. I have a problem. Apparently Impulse control is an element of that problem,” He began, opening his eyes to focus on the Queen, “But, that doesn't mean you should totally block off my ideas here, Meddy.”
“Do not call me that, Mark. You may be a friend, but you still need to show the proper respect,”
“Oh, give it a rest, Medusa. Respect, Royalty, it's all shit that comes with a title and a pretend status. You and me, we're the same, the same way Iolanda and I are the same, and her and you are the same. Only thing that stops you being the same is words,”
“Words hold a lot of power, Mark. Is that not the basis of magic?”
“Wouldn't know. I'm not a bullshit artist.
“Why is she so important to you, Mark?” Medusa asked, her tone changing from irritation to curiosity.
He paused for a moment, thinking the best way to phrase his words.
“I know how she feels about me, Medusa. I know that she wants me to love her the way that she loves me, and I know how this is going to sound,” He paused again, searching her face for any tell-tale signs, “I need her for my plan.”
“Your plan to save the world, correct?”
“Yes, the entire world. Not just myself, I realise this sounds selfish, because she is such a...liability for your people, but I wouldn't be here If I didn't need her, Medusa. There are things coming on the Horizon that are just...they're too big, Medusa. They're not something we can all deal with if we band together, but Iolanda, she's...shes on another scale and you know it,” He looked at her features to try and get a better understanding of what she was thinking. After a few moments of thought, and intense concentration on Medusa she sighed and looked at the ground.
“You've never lied to us before, Mark. Why would you start now?” She said, looking up at him. He offered her a small smile and reached out for her hand.
“Your Majesty, would you do me the honour of allowing me to communicate with Iolanda. To do us all the honour of allowing her to make the first decision of her adult life?”
Medusa shook her head slowly, before looking up at Mark, her features grim. She nodded in silence, looking concerned and desperate at the same time.
“May Randac have mercy on us if you're wrong,” She said to Mark, her voice hushed.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Conquistador
Sangre got to his feet slowly, wiping some darker liquid from his semi-solid bottom lip. It was only his will power and a unique olfactory system that allowed him to keep a physical form, by replacing his organ system with a unique lymphatic system, he could pump chemicals and hormones into his own liquid system to emulsify it at the right points.
Before him stood an entity, at least eight feet in height. It had no features, only a domed head, with two yellow lines running down it's “face”. As it moved forwards, the highlighted ribbed elements of it's body were more pronounced, running down the inside leg, and inner arms. It swung it's massive “scythe” towards Sangre, who managed to twist his liquid body away.
The metallic weapon lodged itself into the frame of the flying boat, as Sangre looked at the large dent in it's hull where one of his family members had once been.
Electricity arced and burnt tiny cracks and spidery marks across the hull where Cadena had fallen. The huge celestial entity had hit her first, their most powerful member. Sangre remembered being on the bridge, looking out over the scenery below them, as the huge scythe hurtled through the air and impaled his lover through the chest, nailing her to the hull of the ship.
He'd called the alarm, when the massive being had pulled his weapon free, and attempting to slice him in half with it.
“Cadena?! Sangre!” Serafina stood in the opening of the hatch that led onto the top deck of the boat, behind her stood Aguja and Perro, staring at the devastation before them.
“Shit,” Aguja said to herself, as Perro charged forwards. His teeth gritted and grinding against each other, he began to pull his mastery of Gravity into play. His fists became more dense, and harder, as Gravity pulled smaller objects towards them, building on their structure.
He had wondered, as he leapt through the air, throwing his fist into the side of the huge entity, why Mark had bothered to find Monopole when he was around. Could Gravity manipulation be that difficult, could it really be mastered more quickly by this boy than by himself?
As he let his mind wander, to ask himself why he was ignored over Monopole, the Celestials attack dog simply backhanded him into, and through, one of the large chimney stacks that protruded from the flying tanker.
Hitting the other side of the boat, he skidded and bounced off the metal hull a few times before finally slamming into the guard rail, and coming to a complete halt.
“Not sure if we're going to do this,” Serafina said, looking at the worried face of her younger sister, as they both drew a long, drawn concerned breath and shot forwards.
~~~~~~~~~~
The Conquistador – Lower Levels
“Did you hear that?” Mattie asked, looking to her two other team-mates, huddled within the bowels of the ship. Boost nodded and glanced around as silence fell overhead.
“I've got a funny feeling that if you're beating the crap out of the Children, we're not really going to fare all that well,” Boost added, looking across at Feron who floated, cross legged in the air, his feet bandaged.
“They're fighting again,” Feron said, facing up at the ceiling, his eyes closed, “This is going to get so much worse, and we don't even have all of our heavy hitters here. They're off somewhere else trying to get the Inhumans to give them something.”
“Mark wouldn't leave us unprotected, Feron,” Boost said, his tone changing slightly. It was clear that Feron didn't trust Mark as a leader, the way Boost did.
“I'm not saying he left us unprotected, Boost. It's just not adequate protection.”
Mattie's eyebrow quirked at the sound of metal being twisted and rendered, and she looked at Boost.
“I can't really argue with that.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The Inner Caves of Attilan
Mark sighed as he saw the huge containment cell before him. He looked over at Monopole, whose attention was captivated. He stepped forwards, as the swarm of matter, a prison of tiny fragments of reflective matter, designed to reflect and refract any cosmic or odd radiation back away from the woman imprisoned within their orbit. Each of the tiny fragments were formed into 26 distinct lines, that all converged at the poles of her body, the top of her head and the bottoms of her feet.
“James...What the hell is that?” Mark asked, looking confused at the orbiting fragments.
“It's called...well, I've only really read the theory, but it's a Dyson Shell. Basically, it's a sort of preliminary stage between what we have now in our solar system, and the entire solar system being encrusted in a 3m thick layer of matter, which is called a Dyson Sphere,” James said, matter of fact, with more than a little hint of excitement in his voice.
Iolanda looked over to the source of the voices. Her eyes locked onto Monopole, and then moved over to Mark. She sighed as she saw him, and looked away.
“What are you doing here?” She asked, looking at her feet. Monopole stood looking up at the woman. She was several feet above the ground, suspended in the air.
“We're here for you, Iolanda,”
“For me? Well, it's nice of you to show some concern for my situation, given how you left last time,” She scowled through the orbiting layers of matter.
Mark rubbed the back of his head and sighed, as Monopole walked around the Dyson Shell.
“I didn't really know how to handle the situation back then, Io,” He said, stepping forwards to look up at her. She was encased, completely, save for her face, in a white body clinging clothe. Instead of tight trousers, it gave her a flowing skirt, but covered all areas of skin. At the top of her suit, was a place for her beautiful strawberry blonde hair to explode outwards, and fall down her shoulders and her back. Her hair was huge, it had grown ever more since she manifested her powers, reaching her feet in it's length.
“I love you, Mark Diering, and you left me here, to this,” she sighed, running a white hand over her face. “I can't even feel my own skin because of this containment suit. I haven't seen the sun since my Terrigenesis,”
“I know, Io. You know that I care for you a lot. We were very close even though I was only here for a short time, you just seemed to understand what I was saying,” As Mark looked up at her, her harsh look broke, and tears flooded her eyes.
“You don't love me, do you?” She asked, her voice breaking. A small noise of alarm came from Medusa's direction, as She-Thing and Amalgam slowly made their way into the room led by Triton, who's hand was firmly clasped around Amalgams. They were stopped by thick strands of Medusa's hair, forcing them to stay where they were.
“Io, it's not that I don't love you, I do. I just don't love you the way I love you, you know? We're very different in age, and in lifestyle,” He said, as she cut in with her own jab.
“My lifestyle is floating in a containment suit surrounded by radiation ablative plates, Mark. I don't think we could get much more different in lifestyle.”
“Maybe that was a poor choice of words then, Io,” Mark looked up at her and rubbed his face, “Look, We're not right for each other. I have someone else outside of this place,” Iolanda's face broke, as tears rolled down her cheeks, and the three women that stood behind Mark all winced as they felt Iolanda's pain.
Mark let his head drop. There is nothing worse than breaking someones heart.
“I'll still love you, Mark,” She said, looking down at him.
“I know you will, but, Io, we need to leave that for another time, I need your help,” He said, looking up at her. She shook her head.
“I need you to make up your mind on this, without anyone else,” He looked across at Medusa, “This isn't about loyalty to your people, or fear of your powers, or you...loving me. This is about making sure everyone has a planet left when the shit hits the fan, and it will, big time.”
“The planet? What is happening?”
Mark looked over at Medusa and back to Iolanda.
“I need you, I need your power, to fight something that's even more powerful than you. You won't go into battle alone, but you're going to be pretty pushed once you get there. Do you know of the Celestials?”
“No,” Iolanda shook her head, as Medusa covered her mouth. Mark hadn't mentioned them to her directly. She knew of their power and their presence, and what that meant for the Earth.
“They're massive, Io. They're huge. We're insects to them, and they want to come back to Earth, as they came here millions of years ago, and wipe the slate clean. They want to kill us all. We're disrupting their experiments. We're a contamination on their little planet.”
“They want us all dead,” He said, his head hung low and his demeanour grim.
“A decision, for me to make?” She asked Mark, looking down at him with a furrowed brow, “You want me to make a decision for myself, without the “pressure of Monarchy” but you're telling me that if I don't help you, the world will die?”
She shook her head, long strands of bushy strawberry strands whipping over her shoulder and resting against her body.
“I don't really have any choice at all, do I Mark? You've told me to make my decision, but given that options are try to save the world, or die here, trapped in prison, I've really not got a lot work with, have I?”
Mark shook his head and offered a weak smile.
“I'm sorry,”
“You're not, but I guess I appreciate the sentiment. I'll agree to your terms, Mark. I'll come with you now, or whenever you need me for this fight.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The Bow of the Conquistador
Mark sighed heavily, as the small group touched down on the surface of the boat. He was tired, his back ached from spending a night in the cell, and he just wanted to crawl into bed with his girlfriend and go to sleep. Iolanda said nothing as they landed silently, the wind underneath the group, generated by Mark and kept powerful by Amalgam dissipated. He rubbed the back of his head, looking apologetically towards the others in the group, as his attention was grabbed by the scene before them.
They'd all been so tired, they hadn't noticed the huge entity that stood on the bow of the ship, slowly making it's way through the layers of the heavy metal boat, smashing it's huge fists through the metallic surfaces, reaching down below for the occupants within. Mark was alerted by the immediacy of the threat by Mattie's high pitched scream.
“Stay here,” He ordered, specifically looking at Iolanda, as he charged forwards. As he got a better view of the creature, he skidded to a halt, forcing himself to swallow the lump in his throat.
It had just noticed him. Standing to it's full height, it grasped it's staff tightly, and made it's way towards Mark, it's huge domed head reflecting the light of the setting sun behind it. Mark balled his fists, and cursed under his breath.
“God-Stalker,” He said, his voice turning to a growl, as the winds kicked up around him, rain falling from the sky, turning to sleet and then to snow. Electricity and fire crackled and licked from his fingers, as he charged forwards, setting about giving the servant of the Celestial's his own special brand of greeting.
His fist flew out and crashed against the armour of the creature, which looked down in stony silence, before pulling it's staff back and knocking Mark into and through a level of the boat with a burst of energy from his staff.
Mark shook his head, rubbing his bloodied and charred face with a hand.
“Grmph. Space-Gods are going to make my organ's explode,” He turned to see the Godstalker drop down to the level he was currently sitting on, and got to his feet slowly.
“Time for a second crack, then?”
NEXT ISSUE: Mark and his tired team vs. God-Stalker!
FROM THE FILES OF BROTHER NATURE
No Alias, AKA Iolanda – Potentially one of the most powerful Inhumans ever, she has been unable to ever fully access her terrible power after the Terrigenesis. Locked away since her first exposure, Mark has never been far from her thoughts. She loves him dearly, and only wants to prove that love to him. - Her love for me worries me. What if she gets jealous and her powers manifest before I need them too? What if she tries to use them to force me to do things I don't want to do, and she doesn't really want me to do?