---

Wiccan did all he could to hold the field separating his team from the vacuum of space. Magma had just melted away a section of the ship, sucking into space all the opposing Kree that had been on the opposite side of his field. But now Wiccan had to hold the field as his team made a hasty retreat out of the hangar and he could feel the pull of space threatening to break his magic and pull him in.

“Come on, Wiccan!” Magma shouted from the hangar exit. Everyone had made it to safety.

He couldn’t drop the field and run because the pull would be too much and he would be blown out like the Kree. He couldn’t try to run and leave the field up because he wouldn’t be able to maintain the needed concentration so the result would be the same. He only had one real option available to him but he was afraid that it wasn’t going to work.

A teleportation spell was one of the first things that Wiccan had assumed Selene had wards up to protect against. It would be the easiest spell to use to get to her so he didn’t even make the attempt to try one when they fist arrived. Still, he knew that it was going to come down to this when he agreed to Magma’s plan so he had to try.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Wiccan said the necessary incantation in his head and felt the push of wards resisting him. He almost gave up then, as it wouldn’t be long anyways before his shield gave way and he was sucked into the void of space. But he refused to go down without a fight. Wiccan dug into the wards even more and suddenly he popped up behind Magma.

She shut the door to the exit immediately and Damien lifted Wiccan to his feet. Shaking the dust out of his cloak, Wiccan said, “The wards gave way.”

Magma looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

“When I first tried to teleport, Selene’s wards stopped me from doing it, but the next time it happened without effort.”

Damien saw where Wiccan was going with his line of thinking. “She let those wards down. She wanted you to get out.”

Wiccan nodded grimly then looking out at his ten-member team he saw the unasked question. Why? Magma, Moonstone and Thunderstorm looked concerned for him while Satana and Damien had expressions that screamed suspicion.

Klaw was the first one brave enough to pep up a question. “Why would she let you live? Doesn’t strike me as particularly smart.”

“I don’t have the faintest idea,” Wiccan said though possibilities were tumbling around in his mind. Selene had some purpose for him.

Petra interjected and said, “Well, let’s not assume that she just wants Wiccan. The rest of us could be in her sights as well, but Wiccan was just the first to actually pick up on it.”

Her suggestion was every bit logically sound but it didn’t feel right in Wiccan’s gut. Maybe it was ego coming into play but something told him that Selene wanted just him. The question of why still hadn’t been answered for Wiccan, but he had a feeling that it would be soon enough. They were invading the woman’s ship after all.

Damien looked at the long hallway behind him and said, “Well, we certainly cannot sit around here hashing out the reasons Selene might have taken an interest in Mr. Kaplan.”

The animosity in Damien’s words was obviously apparent but Wiccan ignored it. “He’s right. We need to keep moving. If Selene wants me she’ll just have to come and get me.”

A surge of power suddenly flashed across Wiccan’s mind. It was like someone ringing the Liberty Bell right against his ear. With wide eyes, he looked at Damien and the man nodded; he had felt it as well. There wasn’t any time to warn the rest of them to raise defensive shields before the blue tendrils came down from the roof and up from the floor.

A tendril took each of Satana’s appendages and the others watched as her body turned to a dry husk. Magma screamed at the sight and struggled wildly as a tendril wrapped around her throat. It lifted her off of her feet and she struggled for breath. Moonstone fought to avoid the same fate as Satana but a final tendril took her arm and she suffered as Satana had.

“Help!” Klaw screamed as a tendril tried to take his last arm. He was keeping them back with the sonic weapon that had replaced his hand. His other hand was constricted so he wasn’t able to perform any incantations.

Having observed what happened to Satana and Moonstone, Wiccan had an idea what spell it was that they were facing. Clapping his hands together, he summoned forth two black swords in his hands and started using them to cut through the tendrils. “This the Death of Limbs spell!”

Damien was slashing through the tendrils with his sword, Phyrking. At his back was Trapster, who was gluing tendrils to the walls and roof. Having heard Wiccan, Damien said, “You think I didn’t know that mortal! Find the Father Tendril!”

“I’m on it!” Wiccan said as he cut Magma loose from the tendril holding her captive. He caught her in his arms and she gave him a terrified hug. Wiccan smiled at the gesture. “Hey, I need you. You ok?”

Magma nodded as her body took on a volcanic hue. “More than ok.”

Her terror turning to rage, she began to shoot off hot volcanic masses at the tendrils. They seemed to shriek as they melted under Magma’s assault. Unfortunately, her attacks were too late to save Thunderstorm, who was snatched at every limb by one of the tendrils. The son of Thor let out a final cry as he dissipated into nothing. A shockwave reverberated out of him that knocked all of his teammates to their feet and sent the tendrils howling back into the walls and roof.

Murmur, last of their ten person troupe, came to Wiccan and helped him to his feet. She was covered in sweat and looked horrified. All she had was one leg left to be snatched before Thunderstorm had died. His death had guaranteed her life. “What was that? I have never seen such a thing.”

Damien didn’t give Wiccan time to answer. “It is called ‘The Death of Limbs’ spell. An incantation of instant death that requires all five appendages to be restrained,”

Murmur’s expression was now blank and her body unmoving. Magma came to her side and rubbed her shoulders. “It’s ok, we made it.”

“For now,” Damien said sharply, “but we need to keep moving. There is no telling what the others are dealing with.”

“We need to split up again,” Wiccan said.

The statement earned him a harsh glare from Damien. “And what could have inspired such a stupid sentence?”

Wiccan was firm in his stance; he was the leader here and this was going to go his way. “We need to give Selene as many targets as possible. Tax her concentration.”

Magma wasn’t sure she wanted to split up considering what she had just been through, but she was willing to hear Wiccan out even if he looked so young. The boy couldn’t be a day over seventeen. “So what are we going to do?”

“You and Damien come with me while the others search for this ship’s power source. Try to knock it out.”

Trapster had no problem following Wiccan’s orders. The Field Commander wouldn’t have put him in charge if he wasn’t a sound choice. “Sounds like a plan to me boss.”

“Good. You lead them out…and be careful.”

He nodded as he gathered the others to him and they headed away from Wiccan, Damien and Magma. Billy felt like he was making the right choice. Selene wanted him and the less people he put in harm’s way the better, and if they could actually take out the ship’s power source then all the better too.

Damien smacked his teeth and folded his arms across his chest. “You must think me a fool, boy.”

“Look, I don’t–”

“You sent them off to protect them, nothing more. What makes you think you’re so special that Selene wants you personally? You mortals always believe yourselves to be so highly valued.”

“It’s a feeling and I think it’s the right one. My good decisions are why I’m the leader of this attack.”

Damien laughed. “You are only leader because the Field Commander comes from your world. Everyone knows it child.”

Wiccan got in Damien’s face. “I am no one’s child. Now you’re going to can the back talk or I’ll teleport you right into the nearest black hole.”

Magma rolled her eyes at the testosterone contest. “Both of you shut up and look around! We just lost three people in a span of minutes! Three! We’re not looking too good right now. So drop the egos and let’s move.”

Wiccan backed away from Damien and shrugged. “You heard the lady.”

Damien looked her up and down with distaste. “Indeed.”

Magma didn’t much care for the look and she honestly favored Wiccan in all of this, but that wasn’t going to get them off of this ship alive. They were going to have to depend on each other as much as someone like Damien loathed the idea. Her A.R.M.O.R. had worked with his Project Unicorn on a previous mission and she had experienced firsthand how much he hated the presence of others. But he was effective in combat and she could only hope that would balance out against his unpleasant nature.

Wiccan floated off the ground and zipped past Damien. “Try to keep up.”

Damien and Magma ran behind him. Amara kept close to Wiccan while Damien acted like he was taking a leisurely jog. Wiccan didn’t look behind him or he might have been annoyed with the lackadaisical attitude of Damien. They moved past a hallway of living quarters and past a few rooms wired with computers. It was only after they passed those that they ran into a wide open room full of dusty books and dried parchments.

“Stop,” Wiccan ordered.

Magma and Damien came to a halt. Her eyes darted around wildly looking for enemies. “What? What’s wrong?”

“You don’t feel it?” Wiccan asked. The power from that room was screaming at him.

Damien didn’t think the boy was lying but he felt nothing. “She must be trying to call out to you.”

“Then we need to go in and see what she’s trying to say,” Wiccan said as he floated towards the room. He knew Magma was hesitant to follow but Damien was right on his heels. There wasn’t any way he was going to allow the young boy to appear braver than himself.

Suddenly a force rocked the ship and threw Damien to his feet along with Magma. It was as if the ship had been knocked sideways, but Wiccan’s floating kept him from experiencing the impact too much. He took no time to look back at his comrades as he entered into the room. The power emanating from it was too much for him to ignore and it stopped him from caring about all others.

Damien watched him enter into the room and saw the metallic door slide shut behind him. It was only then that he and Magma felt the power that Wiccan had. Cold and slimy, it crept through them like ice cold water sliding down your back. It had a stench to it that reeked of magic interested only in the consumption of flesh and souls. It repulsed both Damien and Magma in its inherent evil.

Damien’s most pressing question was why it had not had the same effect on Wiccan?’

---

The Garm – Cerebro’s Ship

Shigei, Agasa and Chival, all of Earth-770, were being so protective of Gaia that it almost made her puke. It was cute in a way, but even cuteness could soon begin to grate on one’s nerves and Gaia had reached that point about five minutes ago. The three men were all children of deities and took it upon themselves to protect the only woman in their attack group of twenty. Under any other circumstances Gaia wouldn’t have minded the attention if only to assume herself with Charles getting angry.

“You know, you guys don’t have to surround me?” Gaia asked as they made their way to the ship’s central coolants. Destroying those would help create a chain reaction that would destroy the ship.

Agasa, son of Hera, looked like Gaia had reached out to smack him. “We have our duties as men to make sure that you don’t get hurt.”

Gaia laughed. “Do you guys have any idea what I can do?”

Shigei, son of Ku, nodded. “Of course. You can manipulate reality itself.”

Chival, son of Ptah, joined in. “We know you have great power, Gaia, but you are still under our protection.”

“Are there any women in your world’s A.R.M.O.R.?” Gaia asked with a stifled laugh. Annoying or not, she couldn’t help but to be flattered by it. It was like she was a movie star and had her bodyguards.

Agasa was the first to respond. “Emma Frost, and she is certifiably mad. Oh, and there’s Donna Pierce. Just as crazy.”

Chival joined in again. “Don’t forget Ant-Girl and Blade. Talk about headaches.”

All Gaia could do was shake her head and laugh some more. “I take it they don’t get this same treatment.”

The response was unanimous. “NO!”

There was a charm to the three that Gaia had a hard time denying. All three were good looking and had well chiseled bodies that could grace any magazine cover. Agasa had olive skin and long black hair that stretched down to his back. His eyes were amber and had a piercing quality that screamed intensity, but his personality was anything but. Shigei’s short spiky, blonde hair gave off a playful quality and it managed to fit in well with his brown skin. Chival had a complexion like Charles’ and hair to match, but his eyes were completely black as were his lips. Still, he had a mysterious allure about him. Like he was an elegant flower that one had to be sure to pluck carefully. Gaia found them to be good company if not a bit too chivalrous for their own good.

---

The Coldwitch

Wiccan knew that he was alone. He had heard the door shut behind him, but strangely he was not afraid. Truth be told, he found himself comfortable in the currents of power flowing across this room. Dark magic was often misunderstood and taken as automatically evil. It was not the magic that was evil, but only the user. If one approached the darker arts with a pure heart and good intentions then corruption was not a problem. Suggesting that dark magic was the lone source of evil in the magical arts was like blaming a gun for killing someone instead of the person pulling the trigger.

“That is why I wanted to speak with you. You understand.”

Billy turned to the sound of the voice and saw a woman step out from behind a stack of books. She had not been there before. His voice was soft but striking. “Selene.”

---

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To Be Continued...

Next: In A.R.M.O.R. #13: What does Selene want with Wiccan? And who does Gravity bring into the battle?

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The Fault of Earth-97701

The Fault was created by the Axi-Tun Empire in an attempt to create a massive dimensional gateway. They were hoping to reach out across other dimensions for commerce and turn their empire into a multi-dimensional Babylon. Unfortunately, the experiment failed and a rip across the galaxy was created. Stretching for nearly a light-year, the Fault was considered extremely dangerous by the major powers in the area.

All attempts to heal the Fault failed and it was soon discovered what lay on the other side. The Axi-Tun had created a gateway to a universe ruled by the Dark Phoenix.

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