Zaros System:
Eighteen Parsecs From the Kree System
"Alright, let's do this." Jamal said, floating in space, still bewildered by the power of the Quantum Bands. They were unlike anything he had ever felt. They felt mystical while also cosmic at the same time.
"I'll be with you every step of the way, Jamal. I wish I had a physical body so that I could be more than a simple ghostly backseat driver..." Wendell Vaughn said, floating next to Jamal as a slightly transparent apparition. Jamal had thought Quasar to have died during Annihilation for good, but a few weeks ago, he had appeared in front of him during one of his visits to Earth. Somehow he had become connected to a rod containing quantum fuel in a science facility. Long story. In any case, Jamal was glad that he was back.
"It's fine, really. You've done more than enough. I... I owe you my life. Now, let's see what we can do about Ego." Jamal and Quasar looked up, watching a large yellow tractor beam emerge out of Ego and touch down upon the planet Zaros. "Looks like Nu-Xandar stopped for another recruiting drive. That's what, 12,000 native Zarosians being taken from their homes? We need to end this. So tell me, backseat driver, since you know the quantum powers better than anyone, how do we approach a living planet without getting immediately spotted and squashed like a bug?"
"Ego's cosmic awareness is greater than my own. He will see us coming. So, I suggest using that to our advantage." Quasar said.
"That so?" Jamal began flying at Ego at light speed. "Then if we're gonna make ourselves a target, let's at least make it hard for him to pick which one to hit first." Jamal said, creating construct duplicates of himself.
"Combat spread. Clean house." The powerhouse of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard known as Gladiator ordered the rest of the Guard as he flew above, dousing the landscape in his heatvision.
"Halt Shi'ar aggressor! Under the terms of Nova Corps pans-worlds jurisdiction, you must stand down or suffer--" One of the Nova Corps members called out to him, raising a hand as a signal for Gladiator to stop. He did not. Gladiator, instead, flew through the Corpsman, slicing him in half at the waist.
Without missing a beat, Gladiator landed, allowing the rest of the Guard to clean up the rest of the Corpsmen. It was a fairly simple task for them, despite being outnumbered. The Corpsmen were inexperienced. They failed to understand how to wield their individual power effectively nor did they gasp how to make use of their greater numbers. "I want the faciloids secure in the next 60 minutes."
"Yes, Praetor!" One of the Guard explained as he took out a Corpsman with an eyebeam.
Gladiator heard the approach of someone from behind. "I recommend you surrender." He said, turning to face his assailant.
"Never going to happen." Tarcel said, charging Gladiator. He landed a punch on Gladiator's jaw, but as far as he could tell, it didn't even phase him.
Rather, Gladiator simply retaliated with his heatvision. "You're Shi'ar, how could you be on the wrong side!?" Tarcel raised his left arm, an energy shield forming in front of it and barely blocking the attack in time. Unfortunately, he didn't block the next attack, as Gladiator delivered a powerful punch that sent him flying into the ground. "Tell your people to surrender."
"N-never!" Tarcel said as he struggled to get up.
"You cannot win. I am unsure of why you have taken the position of Nova Prime in the place of the previous holder of the rank, but you are certainly no Jamal Hawkins." Gladiator said, before feeling a blast of energy hit him from behind. "Ow." Turning, he looked down to see Jessica Perez.
"Oh... oh God." Was all Jessica manged to mutter in fear before Gladiator released a beam of heatvision at her right leg. Jessica fell to the ground, screaming in pain.
Gladiator then grabbed Tarcel by the throat and lifted him up. "I could have sliced off her leg. Last chance. Tell your people to stand down or you will be accountable for the lives lost. The waste of their lives will be on your hand."
"[Jessica! Can you hear me!?]" Jessica heard from within her helmet. She recognized the voice as being Qubit, the synthetic robot Centurion who had apparently been recruited before her and the other Earthlings were.
"Y-yes." Jessica responded, close to breaking down in tears. She had been gathered an sat down next to the rest of the remaining Corpsmen. "Nova Prime Tarcel has been forced to surrender. They threatened to kill him -- to kill us all. The beat us like children." Suddenly, Jessica saw a purple woman resembling Gladiator approach him from behind.
Gladiator turned, and a scowl formed on his face. "What are you doing here, Strontian?"
"The emperor ordered me and my Praetorians to take command of this theater of operations. He wants you back at the flagship." Strontian replied.
"...Very well. Secure the prisoners. I am taking this one back for interrogation." Gladiator took to the sky, carrying Tarcel with him. Strontian turned to face the Corpsmen. To her left was what appeared to be an 8 foot bipedal insect and to her right was a similarly tall bipedal fish-man.
"What should we do with the prisoners?" The insect asked.
"Prisoners?" Strontian smiled. "I see no prisoners. All I see are practice targets." Jessica could hold back her tears no longer and she began sobbing uncontrollably.
"Alright, so things are working out pretty well, Wendell. I mean, we haven't died yet, so that's good." Jamal said, flying around and watching his constructs randomly fly around the vicinity, serving as a distraction. "Alright, I think we've got his attention fully. Let's go for the direct approach. Cranial vent, you said?" Jamal entered one of the openings that led directly to Ego's brain. Upon reaching it, a projection of Worldmind floated, facing away from him. The projection began turning around, and Jamal gasped. "Oh, no. Ego!?" The projection was no longer the appearance of an elderly human man dressed in the Nova Prime helmet, and instead, Ego's purple skin and full white beard were visible under the helmet.
Suddenly, the projection fired lasers out of its eyes, indicating that it wasn't a mere holographic projection at all. Jamal barely managed to form an energy shield using the energy of the Quantum Bands in time. "Worldmind!? Can you hear me? Please answer, it's Jamal! Isn't there any part of you that Ego hasn't invaded!?"
"[Your premise is flawed, Jamal Hawkins. There is no Worldmind. There is no Ego. There is only both.]" Jamal's shield broke, sending him flying backwards.
Suddenly however, Jamal started laughing. "I can't believe this, man. I thought you betrayed me! But it was Ego this whole time, huh!?" He again barely managed to put up his shield once more to protect himself from another assault.
"[Ego is Worldmind is Ego. Worldmind sought a home. A protector. And it fond Ego!]" Jamal's shield once again broke under the assault. "[Ego became Worldmind became Ego! Mutual support! Mutual benefit! Mutual security!]"
"Wendell, a little help!?" Jamal shouted as he once again constructed a shield. "I can't manipulate the Quantum Bands like you could. I can barely stop Ego's blasts!"
"Yes, I'm still here." Wendell said, appeared behind Jamal. "Jamal, you're thinking too literally. You're treating the Bands like the Nova Force gravimetrics. Whereas they are a blunt instrument, the Bands require more imagination. Ego's attacks aren't simply concussive or kinetic blasts. They chip away at your confidence and resistance! You need more than a shield to block him out on all levels. You need a sanctuary of some kind."
"So... this?" Jamal said, as suddenly a reconstruction of his apartment bedroom appeared around the two, only, well, entirely yellow.
"Incredible! And you did this entirely from memory!" Wendell marveled, looking around. "So, do have a plan?"
"Kind of. I came here assuming Worldmind was merely crazy, but it's looking like I was wrong. Worldmind was likely unstable and Ego merely took advantage on that and exacerbated the problem. Ego most likely just wants access to the Nova Force and Xandarian knowledge for himself." Jamal said.
"Makes sense. Ego is, well, his name says it all."
"Yeah. So, my thinking is this: When I was infected by the Phalanx virus and almost entirely succumbed to it, Worldmind had locked away a part of my psyche until I was strong enough to resist it and break free. The idea is to do the same... hopefully if I can imagine how Worldmind..." Jamal's eyes glowed and yellow energy surrounded him as he concentrated.
Suddenly, two figures appeared in his room. Sitting on his bed was Ruby, dressed in a Nova Corps Centurion outfit, and standing next tot he bed was D'Vorah dressed in the same uniform. "Yo." Ruby said.
"Hello, Jamal. Have you been eating well?" D'Vorah asked.
"Erm... Worldmind, is that you?"
Ruby and D'Vorah looked at each other. "We're the Worldmind, yeah, but the small part that's not a total dick." Ruby commented.
"What Ruby is trying to say is that Worldmind is using our personality templates to create an interface with you." D'Vorah explained.
"Uh, Jamal?" Quasar interrupted.
"Oh, sorry. Wendell Vaughn, meet Ruby and D'Vorah. They're not actually here. I guess Worldmind just recreated the two strongest personalities in its archive from my memory." Suddenly the room began shaking, and the group looked outside of the window to see Ego trying to force his way in. "Worldmind, quickly, what do I do!? What am I fighting?"
"You're fighting me, Jamal." D'Vorah responded.
"Yeah, I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs." Ruby said. After an awkward silence, Ruby shrugged. "What? I like Cocoa Puffs."
"While she stated it in a silly way, Ruby is right. The Worldmind's sanity is the real issue at hand. Ego is just fanning the flames. From the beginning, when Worldmind uploaded itself in its entirety into you, the risk of you being driven insane was great. It did everything in its power to prevent that, so that you wouldn't follow the same fate as Garthan Saal. As a consequence, it failed to do the same to it." D'Vorah said.
"So... wait. You're the one that was driven insane from the strain of keeping me sane?" Jamal asked in disbelief. "Dammit... and the Phalanx infection must have made things that much worse. I... I'm so sorry."
"There isn't enough time to be sorry. You need to take back the Nova Force and then purge Ego's influence so that Worldmind's higher functions can be repaired and reinstalled." The wall containing the window began spreading outward as Ego pushed his way further and further into the apartment construct. "Go, do it now!" D'Vorah shouted as Jamal flew away to find the repository containing the Nova Force.
"[Attention, to all Centurions located within Systems Operations, it is critical that you pay attention at this time. An attempt is being made to breach my hub sanctum. Defend me! Jamal Hawkins, you will be denied!]" Ego shouted as he chased after him.
"Almost the--" Jamal began before he was hit by gravimetric beams from multiple directions. The bands automatically protected him, thankfully, and he threw concussive blasts at the attacking Centurions powerful enough to get them off of his tail, but not enough to kill them. He then continued. "Wendell, I'm through into the hu-- AGH!" Jamal was hit from behind by more gravimetric beams.
"[You are a threat to me! You will be denied!]" Worldmind's voice exclaimed from his attacker, Irani.
Jamal ignored the pain and with the last of his strength hurled himself into a large sun-like orb at the top of a flight of stairs. An explosion of energy hurled outward and engulfed him. After the lightshow died down, Jamal emerged wearing his Nova Prime outfit once more, with a big grin on his face. "Here you go, these belong to you." Jamal chucked the Quantum Bands at Quasar.
"[You will be denied! You are a thread to me! To ME!]" Ego's projection shouted.
"Oh, shut up already. It's always 'me, me, me,' with you, Ego. You don't have to follow your name, you know." Jamal fired gravimetric beams from both of his hands, destroying the projection.
A few seconds later, a projection of Worldmind appeared where the Nova Force orb was. He was back to his old man looking self.
"So.. how ya feeling?" Jamal asked.
"[Dazed. I am impressed. You lobotomized Ego with such a powerful blast of Nova Force it was off the scale.]"
"Well, not entirely. He should heal himself within a few centuries. Until then, you've got yourself a nice safe place to repair yourself in. No need to thank me." Jamal grinned
"[I will do so anyway. I am grateful, Jamal. So much so that it saddens me greatly to inform you that this is the last time that we will converse.]"
"I... what?" Jamal's grin faded.
"[The instability caused by Ego has significantly affected this personality and it has therefore been irrevocably damaged and compromised. In order to safeguard the integrity of the Worldmind databanks, this personality must be expunged and replaced. It is necessary.]"
"No, you can't." Jamal said with a pained expression. "I... I'll miss you, man."
"[And I will miss you as well. Personality erasure commencing. Goodbye, Jamal.]"
"Dammit, Worldmind!" Jamal shouted.
"[What!?]"
"Worldmind!?" Jamal said, looking around with a confused expression.
"[Stop screaming already. What do you want?]"
"Wait, what just happened?"
"[I removed the old guide personality and installed a new one, like I said I would. Do you pay any attention?]"
Realization dawned upon Jamal as he recognized the voice and his eyes widened. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me. Ruby?"
A projection of Ruby's head wearing a Nova Prime helmet appeared where the previous projection was. "[Well, it was either me in your head 24/7 or D'Vorah.]"
"Uh... can I get D'Vorah?"
"[Well now, I'm going to have to reject you out of sheer spite.]"
"Oh God, this is going to be awful."
It was a string of decisions borne from good intentions -- a decision meant to change all life within the universe. The goal was the betterment of all life, and to accomplish this, the first decision was made. The city of Attilan once again took to the stars, though this time it did so from the Kree capital Hala, rather than Earth's moon. Still, this decision was too made, on a fundamental level, in response to the Inhumans being tired of looked down upon. Lately, war seemed to be all that followed in their wake.
Now, however, the Inhumans were tired of war. Faced with two decisions -- to maintain the prolonged war of attrition with the Shi'ar, or use their trump card to end the war quickly -- they chose the latter.
Attilan was upon the Shi'ar Frontier when Ronan the Accuser tore down the door to the Inhuman Royal Family's War Room. Behind him stood Black Bolt's brother, Maximus, and Medusa's sister, Crystal. "Medusa? What's going on?" Ronan asked. "Maximus informs me that Lilandra is dead."
"Yes. We hedged our bets on Lilandra retaking the throne of the Shi'ar empire and ending the reign of Vulcan, thereby ending this war. Clearly, that is no longer a viable option, and therefore we have been forced to switch to our contingency plan." Medusa replied.
"Which is...? Ronan questioned.
"The one I built." Maximus stated proudly.
Crystal frowned. "You did what? What. Did. You. Build. Maximus?"
"I named it the 'Utterance of Destiny,' but they decided upon a less classy name: the T-Bomb. It is essentially weaponized Terrigen--"
"You cannot be serious!" Crystal exclaimed. Terrigen is a secret mutagen that transforms. It is not fit to be used as a weapon!"
"The war must end now, Crystal." Medusa said. "We cannot forge a better future until the Shi'ar are dealt with. This is not only for our sake, but for theirs as well. Think of how many lives are being wasted in this bloody war. Furthermore, it has always been our King's intention to abolish these arbitrary lines that spurs conflicts throughout the cosmos: genetic difference. The uplift of all species throughout the universe due to the spread of the Terrigen process will cause permanent peace."
"With all due respect, my King..." Ronan addressed Black Bolt. "The statement that all species would be uplifted is not true. The Kree are incompatible with your evolutionary process. We will be left behind while the rest of the galaxy passes us by. We will remain the universe's primitives."
"A situation that will be addressed at a later point. Right now, our immediate concern is--" Medusa began.
"Immediate concern? Our immediate concern should be to scrap this disgusting idea in the first place!" Crystal dropped down to her knees before Black Bolt. "My Lord, I beg you to reconsider. The so-called Guardians of the Galaxy revealed to me of the inevitable consequences of this war. Space itself will collapse. The universe will perish."
"Enough." Medusa silenced them. "I speak for Black Bolt, and know that while we understand your concerns, this is for the best. You will see the error in your doubt soon enough." Roughly an hour passed before Attilan finally entered Shi'ar space. Suddenly a thundering sound reverberated throughout the city.
"What was that noise?" Ronan asked.
"Black Bolt has made up his mind." Medusa simply stated. The city split open and the T-Bomb was ejected from within it. "Finally, Black Bolt shall lead us to a future of peace and equality.
"Yep. Shame he won't be here to see it though." Maximus sighed.
Medusa whipped around to face him, her face filled with fear. "What do you mean?"
"The bomb, obviously." Maximus shrugged.
Medusa's hair wrapped around Maximus and slammed him into a nearby pillar, her fear quickly replaced by pure rage. "Explain, Maximus!"
"Didn't we go over this, like, yesterday? The T-Bomb is powered by Black Bolt's voice. How the hell do you expect the Bomb to be activated without him on it? Don't you get it? He's going to sacrifice himself. Duh!" Maximus smiled. "This was his gift to us -- his decision."
"No!" Medusa pulled a level. "Open all channels! Black Bolt! Hear me! Husband, please! Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me the price you had to pay? We were supposed to share this burden together! Black Bolt, I can't lose you! Don't you dare leave me! Say something!"
Black Bolt ignored the cries from his wife as he looked down at a photo of both she and their son, Ahura. He set the photo aside and sat down inside of a chair, bringing down a device designed to capture and harness the power of his voice to power the bomb around his head. He spoke a single word: "Goodbye." The word echoed as the device and the bomb glowed, beginning to power up.
Suddenly, alarms began blaring and the AI of the ship began speaking. "[Attention...Incoming contract detected. Launching defense sentries. Sentry launch!]" After a few seconds, the AI continued. "[Attention...Attention... Sentries no longer responding...]" The casing of the T-Bomb was torn through as a ball of energy flew into the power room. Black Bolt detached himself from the power device to confront the intruder: Vulcan.
"You! Coward! You thought I'd just let YOU decide the end to this war!?" Vulcan shouted. The tuning fork on Black Bolt's forehead glowed, and it fired a beam of energy at Vulcan. Vulcan interrupted it with his own beam of yellow energy. The two clashed to a standstill for a few seconds. " You're as powerful as the rumors suggest. "Transformative electron manpulation. Must be pretty nice against just about everything, huh? Trouble is, I'm an omega level energy manipulator, which means--" Vulcan was cut off by a powerful punch hitting him square in the face, breaking his nose. "GODDAMN MUTE FREAK!" Vulcan screamed, holding his nose with his right hand and firing a blast of energy with his left.
Black Bolt intercepted the energy with his right arm, channeling it around him like a funnel. Then, using it to charge his own attack, blasted Vulcan with a beam of energy of his own from the fork. Vulcan was sent flying back into a wall. "You aren't using that famous voice of yours on me..." Vulcan wiped blood off of the side of his lip. "You scared of damaging something? Or setting something off?" Vulcan charged at Black Bolt and fired a blast of energy. Black Bolt deflected it, but was then met with a punch imbued with Vulcan's energy. "You think I'll let you wipe Shi'ar off the map with whatever superweapon you've housed here? And people tell ME I'm the dangerous genocidal maniac!" Vulcan shouted and he punched the control interface for the bomb.
"[Detonation threshold in four minutes. Warning... Energy instabilities detected...]" The ship's AI said.
"Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic!" Vulcan blasted the left side of Black Bolt's face with energy. "I came here face to face to kill you personally. Single combat. King versus King." Vulcan punched Black Bolt hard in the jaw, sending him down through the bomb to the lower level. "You just HAD to bring this obscenity into Shi'ar space though." Vulcan crashed down hard on Black Bolt, his body supercharged with his energies. "You're beaten! Your weapon is finished!"
"[69 percent. Detonation threshold in two minutes...Warning... Energy instabilities detected...Weapon integrity compromised...]"
Black Bolt delivered an energy imbued backhand in defiance, only for Vulcan to respond by kicking him in the jaw. Vulcan grabbing Black Bolt, who appeared to be unconscious, by the hair. "I said... you're beaten! I WIN!" Vulcan exclaimed with a sadistic smile.
Black Bolt took a single breath and opened his eyes. They glowed blue, brimming with both power and a refusal to submit. "NOOO!" Black Bolt screamed. Vulcan was hit point blank by the power of his voice, reducing him to a pitiful state where his skin and most of his muscle was ripped off of his body and his left eye destroyed, leaving a mere empty socket.
"[Warning...Energy overload...Weapon integrity compromised...Energy overload...]"
"I'm sorry, My Lord." A voice called out. Black Bolt turned to see Crystal, next to the housing chamber for the source of the Terrigen Mist, the Terrigen Crystals. "I had Lockjaw teleport me here. I can't let you do this, despite how noble your cause is. I've rendered the Crystals inert with my elemental powers. The Bomb is still active, so we should leave. Please, there's nothing more you can do." Black Bolt hung his head and then raised it again.
"[Warning...Energy overload...Weapon integrity compromised...Energy overload...]"
"We have to let this weapon detonate harmlessly in the empty Gulf between the Kree and Shi'ar empires. My Lord, this would not have resulted in peace. You must understand. We do not have the right. You are a King, not a God." Lockjaw then began teleporting.
"[Overload imminent... Overload imminent...]"
Suddenly, a primal scream, filled with rage and anger. And Black Bolt was knocked out of the range of Lockjaw's teleport by the maimed body of Vulcan. Black Bolt heard Crystal desperately call out his name as she teleported away to safety.
"[Overload...Overload...]"
"Omega level! OMEGA LEVEL!" Vulcan screamed, bringing Black Bolt to the floor and wrapping his hands around his neck. "You can't kill me! I'll just rebuild myself! Guess what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna turn this bomb right back around and send it right back to Attilan. Imagine this baby going off in your front yard. Imagine the scarred remains of your family and loved ones! Imagine their screams while they cry out for help as they are incinerated! What do you got to say to THAT!?"
"[Overload...Overload...]"
Black Bolt opened his mouth.
"[Overload...Overload...Overl--]"
The bomb went off. A bright flash of light -- brighter than a supernova. It spread across space, engulfing and decimating everything in it's pace. The Shi'ar Imperial fleet scrambled to get their shields up in time. It would have made no difference either way. The fleet was demolished until nothing was left. Planets belonging to local systems were turned to ash, all evidence of their existence forever wiped away. Some contained life. Where there was life, there was prayer. It did not help. Those on Attilan were lucky, though panic, they did.
"Protector grid to full power!" Karnak shouted. "Compensators at maximum threshold! The grid's holding! We're riding it out! But, what is it? By Randac, is it the T-Bomb?"
"Yes..." Maximus answered. "The T-Bomb detonated it. It's... it's blown a hole in time and space itself. The damn hole's parsec's across!" Maximus looked upon the hole in both wonder and horror. It was as though an unsharpened knife had been driven deep within the heart of the universe itself and used to vigorously slice it open. A beautiful mixture of colors, from yellows and reds to blues and purples surged out of the tear like blood.
"It will be alright. Crystal will return with our King, and everything will be okay." Medusa whispered.
Suddenly a lizard-like Inhuman ran up to Medusa. "My Queen, an urgant communication! The Shi'ar have suing for an immediate ceasefire. They have surrendered to us unconditionally."
"Ah... well, good." Medusa said. Then, a blue flash and Lockjaw and Crystal appeared throug his teleportation. Medusa ran over to Crystal with a wide smile. "Thank the stars!" Then, she realized that Crystal and Lockjaw were alone and her smile faded. "Crystal...where is my husband?"
Crystal looked her sister in the eyes for a single second before averting her gaze. She shook her head, tears streaming down her face. Medusa collapsed to her knees in front of Crystal, sobbing in her arms. "Oh Gods. Oh Gods. What have we done?"
"We've won." Crystal replied.