MARVEL UNIVERSE - 'HELL ON EARTH'
Story Arc 5 - 'Beginning of the End'
10:15 p.m. - Eastern Standard Time
Hawkeye hated bailing on Ben and the Doc, but he had seen the Vision grab Carol, and as much as he wanted to help Carol, he REALLY wanted another crack at the Vision. He had a couple of arrows that might actually do some damage this time.
Then there was Cap. He was in bad shape, and Hawkeye just hoped that the mutant brothers, Cyclops and Havok, would be able to handle standing guard over Cap. He knew he busted Cyke's balls a little too hard sometimes, but the kid was tough. As much as Hawkeye hated to admit it, Cyclops was also a very good leader.
Hawkeye could see the Vision running his intangible hand through Carol's gloves. Carol screamed in pain as the glove begins to short-circuit. Cold and calculating, the Vision puts his intangible hand into Carol's chest, makes it tangible, and removes Carol's heart.
Hawkeye screams, "Noooo!"
He then begins to fire every arrow in his arsenal at the Vision. Fire, electricity, explosions, super-adhesives, sonics, and even sharp, metallic, points. Yet none find their target.
The Vision turns to Hawkeye, "Are you finished?"
"Not by a longshot," Hawekeye screams. "Get down here so I can kill you with my bare hands!"
The Vision seems to smirk, maybe more human than he realized. "That is doubtful."
As the Vision starts to glide towards Hawkeye, a sonic-boom erupts in the night sky, and a silver flash passes by Hawkeye. Before he can form his next thought, the Vision is gone.
10:22p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
Nova was in agony and not thinking clearly. He could feel Sabretooth's claws tearing his invulnerable skin, just as he had seen them do to Luke. Nova wondered what their claws must be made of in order to do this kind of damage?
With no choice left, Nova decided to crash into a nearby mountain. At the moment of impact, he twisted his body and let Sabretooth take the brunt of the crash. Even then, the impact hurt Nova. Lying injured on the ground, he turned his head to check on Sabretooth.
It wasn't a pretty sight. Sabretooth's skull had been crushed. Nova could feel himself on the verge of passing out. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing, all he needed was to catch his breath.
The sound of rushing wind came zooming towards him. It was Turbo. She took off her helmet and knelt beside Nova, crying hysterically.
"Rich! Rich, are you okay?" she asked, not once expecting any answer other than 'Yes'.
Nova grunted as she lifted him. Her suit's strength made it quite easy for her, and she cradled him in her arms.
Nova chuckled at the silliness of it, "Yeah, I'm okay."
Turbo smiled through her tears, "I don't know what I would do without you, Rich."
Nova smiled. He knew she had feelings for him. Truth was, he liked her as well.
"Is this the part where you kiss me and we ride off into the sunset?" he joked.
She smiled down at him. Then her face changed. Her eyes suddenly stared off into the distance, and her smile faded.
Her body became limp and seemed to levitate off of the ground. A large claw then tossed her lifeless body to the side.
Sabretooth looked down at Nova and growled. The monster's healing factor had kicked in at an alarming rate. Nova cursed himself for taking Sabretooth's death for granted. The savage then grabbed at Nova's chest, pulling him up.
Nova's eyes began to glow, and he cried out, "You killed her!"
Ignoring the pain, Nova grabbed onto Sabretooth's shoulders so he couldn't let go. Then Nova streaked straight up into the night sky.
Even with an animalistic mindset, Sabretooth sensed he was in danger. He began to whine as Nova shot upwards faster and faster. Now in the upper hemisphere, Sabretooth began to turn blue from the lack of oxygen.
Finally, just on the edge of space, Nova stopped. His whole body began to glow. With whatever energy reserve he could muster, he emitted a gravimetric pulse of epic proportions.
Sabretooth was instantly vaporized.
Weak, dizzy, and incoherent, Nova began to fall back towards the landscape below.
10:37p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
No one had kept track of Wolverine after Tigra killed the Scarlet Witch. Havok was still in the camp watching over Cap, and Cyclops had fallen to his knees after killing almost every demon and monster in the vicinity. Not to mention the damage Cyclops did to the forest itself.
Through all the carnage, an occasional zombie or demon would make their way towards Spider-Man and Luke Cage. Spider-Man fought and disposed of every one of them. He had no fear left in him, and simply did not give a shit anymore.
With trouble around every corner since this thing started, his spider-sense hadn't been much good to him, but at this moment, it went off like a siren. Spider-Man ducked, just as Wolverine's claws buzzed above his head. The berserker crouched in front of Spider-Man and snarled.
Spider-man put himself between Wolverine and Cage. This was it. The funny thing was, in the past whenever he'd run into Wolverine, Spider-man always wondered if he'd be able to hold his own against the mutant wild man. He was about to find out.
To Wolverine's surprise, Spider-Man screamed and leapt at him. No other human had done that since the world began to burn. That surprise allowed Spider-Man close enough to get his hands on Wolverine.
They grappled for a while, each of them with the deadliest of intentions. When they finally separated, Spider-man realized he had been stabbed several times. Wolverine realized it too, and smiled at his wounded prey.
Spider-Man took off his mask. If he was going to die today, it would be as Peter Parker. The mask didn't make the hero, the actions of the man did.
Peter used his agility to rush forward and began to pummel Wolverine with all he had left. It was one of those moments that men would sing songs about. Peter landed blow after blow before Wolverine could do anything to defend himself. Captain America would've been proud.
The moment was not long-lived. Wolverine lashed out, stabbing Peter in the arm. The sudden pain was too much for Peter, and he collapsed in agony. Slowly, Wolverine walked over to Peter and kicked him in the stomach. Peter went limp as his body skipped across the ground like a rock skipping across the water.
Peter was done. His strength and stamina had run out. Wolverine stood over the hopeless hero, triumphant. As he was about to step forward, Luke Cage reached out and grabbed Wolverine's ankle. Cage was wounded, weak, and bleeding on the ground…but he wasn't going to let go of Wolverine.
Wolverine growled and turned his attention back to Cage. Neither of these men were the one-eyed man, but their blood would do for….
Wolverine's back snapped at the wrong angle as he flew into the air. When he landed, Ben Grimm stood over him with a large, rocky fist in the air. That fist came crashing down into Wolverine's face. Then the other fist, and so on, and so on.
Ben didn't realize he was yelling as he was punching. Finally, Dr. Strange stood before him.
"Ben," he said calmly, almost sympathetically. "It's over. You've broken him."
Ben took a break from the beating and through haggard breath said, "It's not over, Doc. This little bastard will heal. Every. Single. Time."
Doctor Strange nods. With a grim look on his face, and several motions of his hand, the sorcerer supreme levitates Wolverine's corpse, and all surrounding pieces of his DNA, and disappears.
Ben watches him go before he slowly walks over to check on Spider-Man. The kid was cut up pretty bad, but he looked like he would survive. Then Ben walked over to the badly wounded Luke Cage. Luke was a badass. Damned if he wasn't messed up, but he refused to die.
Ben could feel tears welling up inside of him. Everything was going to shit faster than he could keep track of. Where were the rest of the heroes? Even Falcon's light wasn't as bright as it was earlier.
10:59p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
A fireball begins to pulse excitedly. The host it was looking for was engaged in conflict. It wouldn't be long now before that soul would move on. When they were united, the fireball and the host would obliterate their enemies. It wasn't much farther now.
11:02p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
Falcon had abandoned his post lighting up the sky. With good reason. Several miles away, and falling to his death, was Nova. Nova had given the Falcon a second chance at life by putting the quantam bands on him, and Falcon was determined to pay him back.
Falcon knew all about flying fast, but these bands took it to a whole new level. Falcon streaked towards Nova and caught him with several miles between them and land, to spare. He could feel the strain that he was putting on the bands, but he was able to make it back to camp.
Falcon landed next to Ben Grimm, placed Nova down gently on the ground, and having exhausted himself and the quantum bands, passed out.
11:03p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
The Silver Surfer holds the Vision by the throat. He uses the power cosmic to negate the Vision's ability to turn intangible. The Vision grabbed at the Surfer's hands, struggling to get free.
"Vision," the Surfer says in a raised voice. "I don't understand why you've done all of this, but this will not stand. You will pay dearly for all you have wrought."
The Vision fires energy beams from the gem on his head. None of it affects the Surfer.
"Silver Surfer," the Vision says calmly. "This is not your concern. While you may have adopted this world as a home away from home, the reality is that you belong to the stars."
The Surfer stops flying while continuing to hold the Vision.
"You are wrong, Vision. The Earth is my home."
"That's too bad, Surfer," the Vision says. "Then that means you have to die."
The Vision changes his mass to an alarming denseness. The sudden change surprises the Surfer and he lets go of the Vision. The Vision lands on the Surfer's board, and they both go crashing to the ground.
The Vision lands the first punch and it gives the Surfer pause. The Vision's strength was wrong. He had always possessed super strength, but the Surfer could feel the evil in every blow. The Surfer was well aware that the Vision was working voluntarily with Mephisto, and that made every blow hurt even more.
11:12p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
Doctor Strange materialized at the rim of Maunakea, an active volcano in Hawaii. He uses the Eye of Agamotto to briefly scan the island. It was the same here as everywhere else, zombies everywhere. Such a shame, the island was beautiful.
Sighing, he focused on the task at hand. He was amazed at Wolverine's healing factor. The droplets of blood had joined the rest of Wolverine's pulped corpse, and the mutant's chest was beginning to move up and down with breath again.
This wasn't an easy task for Doctor Strange. Wolverine had done a lot of damage under Mephisto's influence, but he had also done a lot of good as a hero. Be it as an X-Man or an Avenger, Wolverine saved a lot of lives. Sadly though, Doctor Strange didn't have any other options at this point.
The magician began to lower Wolverine into the molten lava below. Thankfully, Wolverine hadn't regained consciousness yet, so there wasn't any struggle. Doctor Strange watched as Wolverine slowly melted into the lava, and forced himself to continue to watch until all traces of the former hero had been melted into nothingness.
A tear fell from the doctor's eye. He removed it with a finger and flicked into towards the lava below. The tear evaporated a long way before it reached the lava.
11:16p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
Back at base camp, Havok rushed back into the camp. Even after witnessing his brother's meltdown, his sense of duty reminded him that he still had to guard a mortally wounded Captain America. Havok was a natural choice for this job, his powers easily killed any trespassers, paranormal or otherwise.
With a false sense of security, Havok takes a moment to try and catch his breath. It was at that moment that a snake slithered into their camp, sidled up next to him, and took its true form, that of the devil himself, Mephisto.
"Alex Summers," he hissed, "You've drawn babysitting duties, I see."
Havok spun back around, his eyes glowing. "Get away from Captain America, Mephisto!"
Mephisto looks down at the weakened Captain America and grins. He then points a finger at Havok and waves it. The glow in Havok's eyes goes out.
"I don't think so, Havok," Mephisto growled. "Even though you and your brother can't kill me with your powers, they hurt like…Hell. And I would know."
Powerless, Havok picks up a fire axe and runs forward at Mephisto. Havok imbeds the axe into Mephisto's chest, knowing that it would have no effect, and knowing that he was now living on very limited borrowed time. Yet he hoped that it was time enough for Scott and the rest of the team to come back and help.
Tragically, that wasn't the case. Mephisto enlarged his claws and wrapped it around Havok's head. He lifted the hero to his eye level and said, "Clever ploy, Havok. Unfortunately for you, all of your comrades are currently occupied. After I kill you, Captain America will finally die."
With that, Mephisto snaps Havok's neck, and tosses him away like a used napkin. He then turns his attention to Captain America.
"Why, Captain," Mephisto taunts. "For all the trouble these other heroes have gone through to keep you alive, here you are…weak, and alone, and about to die."
Unconscious, Captain America has no witty response for Mephisto. Mephisto then puts his hand over Captain America's chest.
"I'll just take this prior to you actually passing away," Mephisto cackles. He then grabs at an invisible string over the Captain's chest, and tugs.
A glowing object lightly pulses in Mephisto's hand.
"Ahh…" Mephisto admired. "A soul always taste so much better prior to its host expiring."
Mephisto taps Captain America on his chest.
"Don't worry, Captain," he teases. "You'll only be without it for a few more moments."
As Mephisto turns around, he is impaled by the giant horn of the Rhino.
"What kind of treachery is this?" Mephisto screams.
With the sudden pause, the Scorpion's tail also impales Mephisto. Then Tiger Shark jumps onto Mephisto and begins raking at the devil's back.
"Enough!" Mephisto screams, and he tosses the three villains against the far wall.
"How dare you! I gave all of you the opportunity to rule by our side!"
It was at that moment that a giant fireball flew past Mephisto's head. The fireball had come a long way, and now it nearly burst at the thought of being so close to its destiny. Mephisto flinched as the fireball punctured Captain America's chest.
Mephisto saw the fireball go by and growled, "No! Vengeance should be no more!"
"I'll show you vengeance," a voice from behind came.
Mephisto turned just in time to see the Taskmaster's sword cut off his head.
Taskmaster stood over the decapitated monster for a moment, and then looked over to Captain America. He thought for sure that the Captain was a goner once that fireball hit him. Yet, the hero's chest now rose up and down with haggard breath.
Taskmaster could see that his three partners were going to be okay, so he ran over to Captain America.
"Captain?" he called gently. "Captain America!" he shouted a little more urgently as his desperation became clear. As he called, the Taskmaster checked the Captain for burns. Oddly, there wasn't the slightest singe.
"Get up!" he called again. He then tore off his mask. "My friends and I risked our asses coming here to help the Avengers. We want a second chance, Captain. We saved you from Mephisto. You have to give us another chance!"
Captain America's eyes begin to flutter but not open. It looked as if the Captain was having a nightmare, and his body shook violently.
Without warning, Captain America shot upwards and screamed, "Behind you!"
The Taskmaster turned just in time for Mephisto to tear him in half.
"How dare you, human?" Mephisto screamed.
"No!" Captain America yelled as he jumped to his feet. His body was now covered in flames, but he felt no pain. The voice in his head told him all he needed to know.
Captain America calmly walked over to Mephisto and grabbed him by the neck.
"My soul?" Captain America asked, oddly disconnected from the heat of the moment.
Mephisto struggled in the Captain's grasp, and refused to make eye contact.
"Too late, demon," Mephisto whispers, "The Captain's soul is mine," Then he vanishes.
11:47p.m. - Eastern Standard Time
The Silver Surfer and the Vision wrestle with each other on the ground. They have abandoned any efforts of communicating with each other, and each spends the time trying to find the other's weakness.
At a nearby tree, blood trickles down to the ground, and Mephisto solidifies from the puddle that had collected on the ground. The energies coming out of the Vision and the Surfer, are so staggering that it even gives the devil a moment of pause. Undeterred, Mephisto places a hand on the Vision, and the two disappear.
The Silver Surfer picks himself up from the ground, wondering where the monsters had gone?
11:58p.m. – Eastern Standard Time
Nova is in tears as he flies back to camp holding the body of Micky Musashi, also known as Turbo, and a teammate of Nova's when they were with the New Warriors. She had been scared since this fiasco started. He was happy that she didn't have to be scared any more.
Ben Grimm carried Cage back to camp. Luke was very weak, but he still had enough fight in him to throw every profanity he knew at Ben for the indignity of having to be carried. Ben smiled. Luke was a proud man, but he was in no shape to walk right now.
Spider-Man followed behind them, the Falcon's arms around his shoulders as the winged hero recovered from the strain of exerting the quantum bands. A solemn Dr. Strange follows them, not wanting to dwell on his final encounter with Wolverine.
Hawkeye landed next to the group. Flying in, he wore what was left of the Iron Man armor that Ms. Marvel had salvaged, and he carried her bloodied, lifeless body with him. Not one of the surviving heroes were surprised to see him with the armor. It was an asset to have the Iron Man armor still on the side of angels.
Hawkeye took the helmet off, the tears burned his cheeks as they dropped from his eyes. His anger was tangible. He quickly surveyed Nova, Spider-Man, and Ben Grimm, and while each of them were obviously heartbroken and devastated, they all shared 'that' look. The look that told Hawkeye that they were all past the point of caring about their own safety. All that mattered now was making the devil and his pawn pay for their sins.
Cyclops was inside the inner wall of their camp. He had placed the body of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, next to the body of his brother, Havok. He already ensured that neither would come back as a zombie, and he covered them as he said a silent prayer. Noticing the rest of the heroes entering the camp, Cyclops wiped the tears from his eyes, covered his brother, and began to take in the rest of their fatalities.
"Did you guys take the proper steps for the ladies?" Cyclops asked Nova and Hawkeye.
Where Hawkeye would have argued with Cyclops about his bedside manner in the recent past, now just didn't seem like the time, as Cyclops had obviously dealt with his brother and Wanda.
Just then, the Silver Surfer streaked into their camp, and as if in the presence of an honest to goodness angel sent down from Heaven, all of the other heroes in attendance, let out a sigh of relief. To a man, they all knew that the Surfer wasn't going to solve all their problems, but it sure felt good to have him there.
Cyclops nodded to the Silver Surfer, and then slowly, but reassuringly, at each and every one of the other heroes. Cyclops saw the carnage the last hour had brought them. Ms. Marvel, Turbo, Scarlet Witch, and Havok. He could only assume that someone had dealt with Wolverine.
"There's something all of you should know," Cyclops began. "It's Cap, he's…"
From behind him, a solemn figure walked into the open. It was Captain America. He was covered in flames. The hair on his head had been burned off, while a large 'A' glowed on his forehead, and two fiery wings adorned the side of each temple. He held his old, red, white, and blue costume in his hand.
"Avengers…" Cap growled, his voice crackling like the fire surrounding him. "Assemble!"
End of Part 5