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#5
DEC 10 |
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“Planetary Strike” Part Five
Mindbender hated having to wait around for things to get started. The calm before the storm drove him crazy so he paced around the holding deck all the M.D.A. units had been sent to. He puffed like mad on his cigarette before Dark Angel tapped him on his shoulder. “Luv, I think you might want to calm down. The war has not started yet.”
Palin stopped his pacing and put out the cigarette with his boot. “Sorry. Just hate having to wait. My Mum and Da told me abut this sort of stuff all the time. The heroes going off to war, but I never really have experienced it myself. My old A.R.M.O.R. team wasn’t involved in the Earth-12488 fight.”
Shevaun remembered that bit of an adventure fondly. “That was a tight spot. Braddock had just come on as Director and the whole affair was a bunch of rolled up manure. Portal nearly got his head knocked off by Stalin of all people. We made it through in one piece, though, and Brian got himself a little respect.”
“Enough respect to be made Field Commander for this op,” Mindbender said as he tried to prevent himself from smoking another cigarette. He had promised his Mum that he wouldn’t do the smoking thing anymore and he was having some success. The current situation wasn’t helping his efforts any though.
Shevaun saw that Palin was disturbed by the events swirling around them, but she wasn’t sure what she could do for him because she couldn’t relate. This coming battle had her excited in all the right ways. Something in her yearned for the risk and adventure that the universes had to offer her. Life on Earth had started to become boring for her until she was approached to join A.R.M.O.R. and then all sort of new possibilities opened up. With A.R.M.O.R., there was always going to be a problem that needed to be solved.
She put a hand on his shoulder and said, “You seem like you got a lot of stones about yourself when you want to, Mindbender. Just let this whole rubbish play out how it will and I think you’ll see that you fit in just fine. Weren’t you trained by Xavier, of all people? If there was ever a man who could put a beating on a bloke--"
“Ok, I get it,” Palin said as he held up his hands in defeat. Shevaun had a good point...he had been an X-Man before all of this and they certainly had fought their fair share of big battles. Nothing like this, but they would have been up to the task. “I guess it was stupid of me to start worrying about this fight.”
Motormouth zipped in front of the two moving like a salt and pepper blur until he came to a screeching halt. As fast as she was running, someone would have thought she had super speed. What she did have was a boyish grin on her face and a little line of sweat trickling down her forehead. “Have you guys been around this base? It’s amazing. It’s like they turned the whole Moon into a new Earth.”
“I sometimes forget how primitive some of the other Earths can be,” the Human Blizzard said as he walked up to the three A.R.M.O.R. agents. He looked like a walking bleu lava lamp as different shades of blue swirled across his liquid body. A mouth could barely be made out and his eyes looked like they could display no emotion. “We have been working on terraforming many of the celestial bodies in the solar system.”
Motormouth made it no secret how she felt about the Human Blizzard’s sentiments, but Harley never had a problem telling people how she felt; It was how she got her name in the first place, and London’s East Side had been littered with her trash talking. “Call us primitive one more you big, dumb lamp and I’ll send you right into orbit.”
“Harley! Really, is all that necessary?” Dark Angel asked as she stepped in front of the woman and held out a hand to the Human Blizzard. She hoped her quick move would be enough to make amends and keep things civil. Whatever their attitude was towards each other they were going to have to depend on one another very soon. “Our friend here is a bit sensitive. My name is Shevaun.”
Jonas stared down at the hand like it was filthy. Motormouth felt her patience about t break, but she knew Shevaun well enough to not step in. She wasn’t the kind of woman to let someone insult her, but with this man it was hard to tell. He looked so blank that it could easily have not been an insult. “I know who you are, Dark Angel. Forgive me if I don’t take your hand, but I might freeze and break it off.”
Shevaun wasn’t’ sure whether to take it as a threat, joke, or something completely serious, but Motormouth didn’t giver her time to make that evaluation in any event. “Hey, bloke! You must be really trying to start something. I’m gonna bop you so hard that all of your blue little sparkles are going to feel it. Got me?”
The Human Blizzard didn’t seem annoyed by the threat at all. “No offense was intended. It is simply a condition of who I am. Me touching organics usually returns bad results.”
"Not buying it," Harley said. “So, where do you know Shevaun from? Your world had a version of her?”
“A particularly deadly one,” the Human Blizzard said as he turned to walk away from the group; he had no desire to go into details. “I look forward to working with all of you. Hopefully, we can preserve my world.”
There was a bit of curiosity on Shevaun’s part as she watched him walk away. She wanted to know more about what she was like on this world. It was obvious that whoever she was, she made the Human Blizzard uncomfortable. What could she have done? Her powers came from a slice of reality itself so she could easily have been a number of things across a number of realities.
“That could have gone badly,” Mindbender said as he drove his hands into his pockets and started rocking back and forth on his heels. The urge to get a cigarette was overwhelming, but he had to push through the craving. “I wonder what got him spooked.”
“He had every reason to feel that way, since he was about to get his bum knocked around from the Moon to London, if the bleeding place is even still around,” Motormouth said, completely confident in her ability to have pit the Human Blizzard in his place. She always felt that half the battle with any situation was I; if you believed you could pull it off then, nine times of ten, you could.
Mindbender laughed. Motormouth was red in the face and looked like she could keep going for another hour. “Despite your enthusiasm, Harley, that’s not what sent him off. The Dark Angel of this world was one of the Magus’ most deadly soldiers. There’s a reason there’s no Pluto in this dimension’s solar system.”
Shevaun pointed a finger at herself. “Are you saying I destroyed Pluto?”
“Imploded the baby right on up.”
Harley felt like it was hardly the time to say how cool she thought that was. “So, you reading minds without permission now, Palin? Sounds just like something your namesake might endorse.”
He rolled his eyes at yet another Sarah Palin dig from his teammates. “The thoughts were rolling off of him the minute he saw Shevaun. He was broadcasting too loud for me to ignore. My mind is too broad to simply block everything out.”
“And I thought you were Xavier trained? Feh,” Motormouth said.
“I was. Trust me, without his training I’d see every thought of every single person I encounter. The fact I am blocking out most thoughts most of the time is the best someone like me can hope for.”
Shevaun had no idea that Mindbender’s powers were that strong, but she didn’t have any idea that hers were either.
Presidential War Chambers
“So,now that we know everything that we are up against, what are we going to do about it?” Josiah Rage asked to everyone in the room, but most specifically the President. He had served under four different Presidents and he honestly felt that T’Chaka was the least qualified of them, but he respected the young man for trying to do the right thing and for being willing to do the things that none of his predecessors had been.
President Stark wished now that the strength of his ancestors could flow through him, but it was going to take more than his strength alone to save his world. It would take the combined resolve of everyone in this room and then some to finally beat back the Magus. “We’re going to figure out how to divide our forces and construct a plan of attack, but let me make this clear: this is the end game, people. After this battle, I want this war to be over with once and for all.”
Brian saw that the young man had a lot on his mind and he felt a great swell of sympathy for him. Even though Brian was the Filed Commander for A.R.M.O.R. here, he knew that his Earth was in no danger. Fighting this battle would not determine whether he had a home to go to or whether Meggan and him would have a place to raise children. The stakes were so much higher for Stark, but he seemed to be handling it well. He was a credit to Iron Man and the Black Panther. Brian could only hope he had such a worthy descendant out there in the Multiverse somewhere.
“I am more than willing to help your world end this war. It's In the best interests of the Multidimensional Alliance that your world is stable and at peace. So, have you thought about how you want to approach this?”
T’Chaka stroked his goatee and appeared lost in thought for a moment; he suddenly looked much older than thirty-eight. “I am going to leave the defense of Earth to Josiah and Fire Mage. You two will have the Prime Sentinels and Deathloks at your disposal, along with whatever M.D.A. soldiers that Director Braddock decides to give you.”
Josiah didn’t seem to take the order one way or another. With his hulking frame, square jaw and deep set brown eyes, he didn’t seem to give off more than intimidation. His ebony skin was littered with scars he had earned form his time in the service of Earth. That was another thing you could take away from Josiah at a first glance...he was dedicated to his work. “We’ll make sure the White Gods don’t take a single inch of Los Angeles.”
Fire Mage, the ferocious leader of X-Force, raised her rough, battle-tested hand and said, “If I can make a suggestion: Omega Sentinel should be at the front along with the Deathloks. I would much prefer to have the Horsemen remain behind on Earth. They may not be as numerous as the cyborgs, but they all are deadly powerful.”
President Stark took a moment to consider it. “Any problem with that Josiah?”
“None. I would prefer the front have strength in numbers.”
“Then it’s done. Now we need to figure out how we’re going to attack the Magus’ leadership structure. If we can take out the major players, then The Magus will be exposed for a direct attack.”
“It should be the Argonauts who attack the Magus directly,” Alise said, confident in the Blue Marvel’s ability to put an end to this war of nearly two centuries. He was Earth’s greatest hero and their most respected, and the only one who even came close to him was Technocrat.
T’Chaka didn’t acknowledge the statement to the chagrin of his old friend. “Director Braddock, how many people do you have who can physically handle the rigors of space?”
Pulling out his Starkpad from his pocket, Brian pecked in a few search parameters and said, “I have exactly 43 people who fall into what you’re probably looking for, including yhe Human Blizzard of this world’s A.R.M.O.R.”
The President nodded and looked to Alise. “Good. They’ll be the ones to attack the Magus when that opportunity opens. I want him to be off his game and facing new elements may just do that. Besides, I have other plans for the Argonauts. The Blue Marvel will be dealing with Skaar.”
Alise’s rage caused her hand to start trembling. Skaar? The Blue Marvel deserved better than that. He had been fighting the war since its very beginning. There was no one else who could claim any right to having a go with the Magus. His destruction belonged to The Blue Marvel and now T’Chaka was going to deny him that. She knew there was little point in arguing the decision, as everyone was too focused on planning to think about what was fair. Brian felt the unhappiness that Alise had with Stark’s decision. He couldn’t figure out the reason, but he figured it was most likely because she was embarrassed. No one liked for their ideas to be publicly shut down and especially in such an abrupt manner. Alise probably was going to give the President an earful later. He really hoped that she wouldn’t because President Stark needed to be fully focused on what was to come and not arguing with old friends. Friends who remembered what you were like before you attained power always knew how to throw you off your game. He just hoped Alise was as mature as he thought she was.
Earth-181203
Noh-Varr crumbled at the feet of the man who had held him prisoner for months now. He had no idea why he was still even being kept alive, but he was determined to make every last person involved with it pay. They were fools to keep him alive, because once he got loose there was going to be plenty of payback to go around.
A pink telekinetic noose wrapped around the Kree’s neck and lifted him off the ground to bring him face to face with High Prelate Grey. She was beauty, death and lust all rolled into one. “You will look my Master in the eye when he speaks to you. Is that clear, alien?”
He spat blood on the woman’s cleavage. “Gloat now. You’re gonna be begging me for mercy later.”
You are quite the warrior Noh-Varr. That is why I want to make you a Prelate to lead my armies to a new world.
The Kree looked up at his captor for a moment and started laughing. “You’re joking right?”
Onslaught leaned forward from his throne. I do not joke.
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To Be Continued...
Next: In A.R.M.O.R. #6: Josiah Rage and Fire Mage prepare to prep their troops while the traitor in T’Chaka’s government is revealed. And what consequences will this traitor have for Amiri Nur?
The Heralds
Firelord
Silver Surfer
Nova
Iceman
Dazzler
Venom
Morg
The Horsemen
Exodus (Death)
Moonstar (War)
Rogue (Famine)
Emplate (Pestilence)
Madrox (Genocide)
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