Cosmic Reunions (Sequel to "A Day Away")
DJ Dubois
October 2011
Notes Part 1: The characters from the Marvel Universe belong to Marvel Studios and Paramount. All others are fictitious and of my own creation.
Notes Part 2: This is the Avengers story I've been hinting at in the earlier pieces…..
Chapter 1
[Somewhere in the Cosmos—During "A Day Away"]
The universe carried on its affairs as it always had. With the passing of each Earthly year, events happened. Stars appeared and died. Planets formed. Life flourished in its own time. A shooting star randomly lit up a sector for a brief second.
Through the darkness, a glowing mass floated aimlessly. It seemed to avoid most asteroids and bigger planets. Although observed by the Hubble telescope among others, it defied explanation and was never seen long enough to get a theory of its nature.
It was almost as if it were sentient….Actually it was….
For the previous seventy Earth years, the wispy cloud had floated on its exile journey. Propelled on by the glowing light in its center, it almost knew what would happen before it did. But being exposed to the cosmic cube would give someone that kind of divine omniscience. The being it had been still retained his Aryan intellect and Hydra based tenacity. Its hatred for a certain star spangled adversary fueled its progress granting it strength to retain this shadow of its former self.
Once it had been human…no super human. An enhanced super being worthy of Hitler's reading of Neitzsche's "super man," Johann Schmitt took the Super Soldier formula and became the Red Skull. With Hydra behind him and Odin's lost energy source at his disposal, he rode a wave of terror and fury across Europe threatening to sweep the Allies and Third Reich aside for his own dreams of conquest.
Europe would've fallen…that is if not for an American. Correction…Captain America. Another who took the serum but retained his looks, the Captain moved like lightning, galvanized the Allied troops behind himself and beat back the Hydra tide. He stopped the plan to bomb America in a pathetic act of sacrifice…both of himself and Schmitt.
Now the mass that had been the Skull floated aimlessly.
Pity that the solitude was about to be broken.
A commanding male voice declared, Youwishtobesaved.Icansaveyou.Come!
In front of the cloud, a man dressed in green with a yellow head covering appeared. The other slender build did not tell of the power bred of both Asgard and Joltenheim within those sinews. His dark eyes glittered purposefully. "Come now. You know of me." Blue energy crackled through his fingers.
And in a bright flash, they were both gone….
[Castle Bahnhoff, Bavaria—Sometime later]
Instead of the cold vacuum of space, familiar cotton sheets lay under and over to the touch. A feather soft pillow cushioned a human head. The scents and feels mirrored that of the old home.
The old home?
And a human form with senses?
A set of blue eyes snapped open against their blood red backdrop. They darted around the large chamber in alarm at first. Seeing the familiar chest of drawers across the varnished pine floor from the bed made them relax. The wall tapestries, writing desk and night table next to himself added to these feelings. "What is this?" he queried in German. Schmitt rose from the bed and considered his reflection.
The Red Skull glared back at him and in uniform no less.
"I trust you're pleased?" his rescuer queried while stepping through the doorway into the room. "Welcome back to the living, Herr Schmitt."
"I thank…you. This can't be my ancestral home though. Where are we?" the Skull demanded.
"It is. I brought you back because I have an offer of sorts. It is a chance at revenge against those we hate the most," the other man indicated. "I am Loki. Perhaps you have heard of me?"
From his studies on Norse mythology, the Red Skull had indeed heard of him. "And why would an Asgardian god have need of me?"
"My father, Odin, considers me dead. Otherwise he'd hunt me down as a threat. That's for good reason, meinFreund." Loki smirked. "I could use someone with your power to deal with my brother and his allies."
"Brother? Thor? He exists?" The Red Skull paced the room. "Of course he exists if you do. But I am mortal. What can I do?"
"You were remade by the stone. Do what you will. Focus the energy and shatter something," Loki directed. "Remake reality to your will."
The Red Skull frowned not believing what the god was saying to him.
Loki arched an eyebrow. "I can put you back if you'd like."
The Skull pointed a finger and focused. From the hand, a bright blue energy burst flew and splintered the desk. "It is true!" He took a deep breath and concentrated again.
The room shimmered and seemed to flow almost like hot maple sugar. Atoms rearranged themselves. Items assumed other purposes. Even the lighting seemed to change. What had been the bedroom was no longer that.
Loki admired the Alpine lab which had taken shape around them. While the technology was primitive by modern Earth or Asgardian standards, he gave his new ally credit for the use of power. Especially the way he could manipulate the All Father's energy rock into such potent weaponry. "And we have your facility?"
"Ja!" The Skull inspected all of his equipment. "I can see what you mean, Loki. This is the power I harnessed against the Allies during the War. I know time has passed but what year is this?"
"In your mortal terms, it is 2011," Loki revealed.
The Skull hesitated. "2011? The world I knew is gone! I will never be avenged on my accursed enemies!" He brought a cosmically charged fist down on the counter splintering it with ease. "I wanted revenge!"
"Most sleep and have gone to their God. One however still remains." Loki waved his hand and created a shimmering view screen. "I trust this is the one?"
The Skull saw Captain America training in one of Stark's combat chambers. "He is still alive? Impossible!"
Loki shook his head. "Just as you survived, so did he. After you were consumed by Odin's energy, the mortal crashed with your ship into the ice. He was in hibernation until recently as well. Now he seeks to help my brother! I could deal with them by myself but where would the fun be in that?" He turned to his revived ally. "Help me and the mortal is yours! That is my bargain."
The Skull felt the hate burning in his heart once more. He reached for the portal and even fired a couple of cobalt blasts into the image but only caused ripples. "What is this?"
"It is only an image. Soon you shall have the real thing. For now, rest and gain your full strength. Practice with your gifts. Soon we shall strike," Loki insisted. He made a table with a seven course banquet appear on it. Beside that a bottle of fine white wine chilled on ice next to a crystal glass and a fine China place setting. "As I said, enjoy the spoils of life. Soon we will make this pathetic mudball tremble!" He vanished from the scene.
The Skull sat down and filled his glass gingerly with the wine. After decades of being discorporate atoms, his physical form felt unfamiliar to himself. Almost like when he took the serum, he had to get used to using hands, walking or even eating to sustain himself. He bit into a pheasant drum stick savoring the poultry's flavor on his tongue and washing it down with another draught of wine. Still his main appetite floated in front of himself.
Captain America, without knowing, was putting on quite a show for his nemesis. His moves seemed as fluid and effortless as they had during the War. Too much so to be natural….
"Soon, Captain, we will dance again." The Skull saluted the image with his glass. "And I will be the victor this time." He drank to that thought with finality.
The dance it seemed would be on again soon enough….
