Chapter 9: Die, America! Love, Haiti (Part One)
Thunderheads loom. Eric Payne sees them with eyes stung by sweat dripping down his face. Citrusville is brutally hot on July 3rd. The storm's strong winds approach, and they push the humid, sweltering air into Eric's nose and through his hair. Outside of town, the rain already falls in a deluge over the Everglades. Lightning splits the sky, and then thunder splits one's ear. The threat and the storm are very close. Disguised Devil-Slayer knows that he must hurry lest a force of nature, dark tempest or Null the Living Darkness, overwhelm him. He stands before a Roxxon gas station outdoors.
On a payphone, Payne speaks with an old friend, "Wong, please tell Dr. Strange that I called. I understand that he is very busy with other cosmos-shaking matters right now. However, once he has time, he should please peruse a fax about an elder god's current nefarious activities. I'll send a fax soon. Even Citrusville is bound to have a copy shop in 1990."
Dr. Strange's servant suggests, "Stephen has many houseguests at the current time, so please do send the communication. The Sorcerer Supreme might not be available. However, the sanctum's other current residents know occult matters rather well too. For example, Strange's apprentice Rintrah would gladly teleport to you two Defenders opposing evil in Florida."
"That's good to know since I can't leave Overmind right now—for reasons that are complicated," Payne wipes sweat. Thunder sounds nearby.
"I can hear that a storm approaches," Wong states, "Stay safe, Mr. Payne."
Eric hangs-up the receiver. He cracks a smile. Staying safe is not easy when you are a demon hunter. When you hunt demons, they also constantly hunt you. From his pocket, Payne retrieves a phonecard. He would like to complete his phonecalls before rain falls. Closeby, air explodes, and earth rumbles.
Suddenly, firecrackers explode at Payne's boots. Someone celebrates July Fourth early. The flash and bang startle the warrior. He looks up. A little lass's eyes meet his own, and she giggles in his face. Her green dress's collar has white frill, and her entire garb seems from sixty years ago. Her eyes are amethyst, her complexion sanguine, her hair flaxen, and her grin pearly. Devil-Slayer feels some déjà vu. He knows that he has seen her before. But where?
"You shouldn't play with fireworks at a gas station, kid. Those pumps are full of very dangerous material," the protector chides.
"A'right sir. But, you know, my lord watches over fools and little children," the girl sounds potentially Southern, but something is off about her accent. Hell, something is off about her words. Payne cannot quite put his finger on it.
But, his finger can run the payphone's keypad. Phonecards require a person to call a toll-free number before entering a long code before entering the desired phone number. During this process, firecrackers again discharge nearby. They sound from near the gas pumps! Clenching, Payne expects the explosion from the fuel fumes. But, the little lady and he are seemingly blessed. He hears only whistling wind and girlish giggles instead of deafening detonation. The demon-hunter looks toward the pumps. Devil-Slayer scans the creepy, chortling child's face. He can spot demons and other abominations instantly. However, she is not a demon. At least, she is not one to his knowledge.
"You are one lucky little idiot!" the adult reprimands, "You could have blown us both to Hell!"
The wicked child seems to find Eric and Hell particularly funny. She cackles like a witch. Like a familiar, a dark cat joins her. Its eyes are emerald, its fur charcoal, and its teeth bared. The cat lies at her old-fashioned spectator shoes. Striking a match, the little girl ignites some ladyfingers. Gleefully, she drops the popping petards by the cat on the gas-covered ground, and she dances blithely about in the fire and smoke. The cat moves not one inch as flame and noise bang-bang-bang right by it. Apparently, this cat is not skittish.
"Damn, that kid looks familiar. But, from where?" Eric Payne hates when he cannot remember things.
"Hey! Quit playing with matches and your cat. And, get your ass over here, you little bitch!" a rude man calls the mischievous child. Appearing from nowhere, a man fills his motorcycle at the pumps. Perhaps, Eric had just not noticed the biker before. The biker glares at Eric coldly. Devil-Slayer scrutinizes the man. He seems to be only a man, not a demon, not a ghost, not even a camouflaged serpent-person (see Marvel Team-Up #111). Devil-Slayer's psychic sight is tough to trick. Eric Payne's sight spies an Illinois plate on the bike. The adorable pyromaniac skips to her apparent father.
The cautious Defender keeps an eye on the odd couple while he completes his phonecalls. He enters 212, and someone picks up.
"Hello, Jen," Eric greets Jen Walters in New York.
"Hello, Eric. What's news?" She-Hulk greets Devil-Slayer.
"Well, I face currently some ominous clouds and eerie characters," the demon-hunter replies.
She-Hulk chuckles, "Yeah, that's Citrusville for ya. I've been there [see Savage She-Hulk #7-8]."
"What is news from New York?" Eric asks.
"I'm not fully sure, to be honest," Jen states, "My people have kept an eye on Jericho Drumm, a.k.a Brother Voodoo. However, I have been out-of-town saving the Universe with Howard the Duck [see Sensational She-Hulk 13-17]."
"Your people are doing better than my people. Fellow Defender Dr. Strange might not even know that Null has returned," Devil-Slayer discusses, "What do your people and you know?"
She-Hulk answers, "We know that evil Amb. Drumm has not made an obviously nefarious move. Ally Sersi watches him around the clock. I know that I cannot make an obviously hostile move on Drumm until he does something wrong. The general public does not know that he's a scheming supervillain. I would appear to be rampaging again." The recent Gray Goblin reviews her situation.
"You must be very frustrated. The possessed houngan has put you through hell," Devil-Slayer sympathizes.
The savage one bites back on her rage, "Yeah, I am very angry with Voodoo. I would love to beat Drumm like a drum right now."
The Defender assures, "I have a feeling that Null and his people make a move soon." He notices that the biker and motorcycle have moved across the street without making a sound. Most motorbikes are really loud when they move. Maybe, the biker politely walked his cycle to avoid disrupting Payne's phonecall. But, Devil-Slayer doubts it.
"I hope that something happens soon," She-Hulk comments.
Strong wind spatters rain upon Eric's face. The storm is very nigh. The approaching black billows almost resemble Null. "Something is happening soon," the demonologist assures, "In the meanwhile, you should contact the Fantastic Four. They encountered Null the Living Darkness when you brought him into their home. Reed Richards might have been studying and analyzing the entity since then. I am curious how they have prepared for Null since their last clash with him."
She-Hulk sighs, "I should visit Four Freedoms Plaza. My Fantastic Four friends deserve another apology for the Gray Goblin attack. They and I will have to catch-up and re-connect."
Suddenly, a lightning bolt disconnects She-Hulk and Devil-Slayer. Furious fulguration inflames the sky and quakes the earth. The line goes dead. Temporarily, Eric Payne is semi-blind and half-deaf. "Hello? Hello?" he calls to help a thousand miles away. There is no answer. Devil-Slayer prays that Thor, god of the storm, has come to Citrusville somehow. But, that circumstance isn't very likely. Then, the sky's waters crash over Eric. The tempest arrives.
"Hello? Hello?" Jen calls to Eric, "Oh well, Happy 4th of July if I don't see you." Devil-Slayer is a teleporter. She-Hulk might see him by tomorrow. For now, she must get to Four Freedoms Plaza.
In an instant, torrents flood the Roxxon's parking lot. Rainwater washes over Eric Payne's face and body. Seemingly, the deluge washes the very clothing from his frame, for he drops his psionic illusions. Eric's soaked clinging attire disappears, and Devil-Slayer's blue bodysuit and red cloak replace it. The warrior grimaces in the crashing, cold rain.
Then, an imp calls the demon-hunter, "Hey asshole! Hey [thunderclap]wad! We shall see you in the darkness!"
The drenched demon-hunter looks across the street at the representatives of the Living Darkness. The man, girl, and cat are all perched upon the motorcycle. Like maniacs, they take-off over the half-flooded, rain-slick roads into the swamp. They speed and skid and correct. Curtains of rain soon obscure them. Things have begun. In a flash, Devil-Slayer teleports after them.
Flickering lightning blinds Devil-Slayer upon his arrival. Banging thunder rings in his ears. "Come hither" says a voice inside his head. He is in the Everglades deep outside of Citrusville. His red boots tread forward through the swampwater and muck. The good warrior is determined to reach Overmind before him.
In the gale's winds, Grom the Eternal stands barechested and stone-still. Unblinking red eyes look into his ruddy face. In the squall's winds, the mysterious, mountainous Man-Thing stands perfectly still. Seemingly, the two terrible titans staring each other down. However, Devil-Slayer knows that they are in telepathic mind-meld. Eric Payne's psychic faculties tell him so.
Overmind's psyche contacts his fellow, "The Guardian of the Nexus of All Reality understands our purpose. And, he is our ally."
Devil-Slayer blinks pelting drops from his eyes, "Man-Thing and I have been allies before. Awhile back, the Defenders and the creature out-thought the demon Unnthinnk who wanted to control the Nexus [see Defenders #98]."
"Now, Null needs the Nexus. It provides him a way to invade Earth-616," thunder's rumble punctuates Overmind's ominous words.
"The Living Darkness is nearby," Devil-Slayer states, "I encountered one of his forms in Citrusville. At our first encounter, he took the form of a little malicious girl [see Defenders #103]. I ran into the wench-witch at Citrusville's gas station. I remember her now."
Overmind probes Devil-Slayer's mind, "You encountered another of Null's forms too. The demon once inhabited an Adam Henderson in Illinois [see Ghost Rider #71]. After Zarathos exorcised him, Null found and overtook me in the Microverse. Then, he found and overtook all of Earth-S [see Defenders #112-114]." Lightning flashes ominously off of Overmind's silvery armor sitting to the side. In the flicker, Devil-Slayer sees suddenly a woman and a boy standing in the stormy swamp.
As with the man and child in town, Payne's extra-sensory perception cannot see the demonic presence within these two visitants. Null's awesome abilities disquiet even an experienced adventurer. However, Eric can intuit their eerie origin this time around. They are not of the swamp. The woman wears stockings, a mini-skirt, a lacey outfit, and make-up. Eric notices also her four–inch pumps—levitating inches from the ground.
Before Slayer can speak, a great fogbank rushes forth, and it swallows everyone, both shade and hero. The nebulous miasma removes all sight. The noxious pall stings the eyes and offends the nose. In blindness, Devil-Slayer feels the pouring rain batter and chill him.
"What's going on?" Eric Payne screams.
"Null is here," Overmind's telepathy answers.
The Living Darkness announces himself with a certain hellfire. From mid-air, eldritch lightningbolts fly forth like prongs of a flaming fork. One blasts through Man-Thing and scatters his steaming verdant parts throughout the vegetation. One affixes into
Overmind's huge body and shakes the giant unmercifully. The mighty titan falls to his knees gasping. One strikes Devil-Slayer's chest and hurls him backward screaming. He crashes hard through bruising, tearing foliage. He passes out for a second while white smoke floats from his blistered chest.
The unholy lightning spares Cecelia and Carlos Cardinale, mother and child, standing in the swamp. Rather, it dances around them. Burning trails set the fog luridly aglow. Blazing tendrils flail like Null's sinister fingers about the Cardinales. Cecelia calls into the fire "Come Ylandris!"
The Nexus of All Reality opens wide. Ylandris appears. She howls forth in hellfire and deathstench. She is a fallen S'raphh, one of the beings composing the Living Darkness. Once, she was a part of Cecelia too. Cecelia Cardinale is called Poison when Ylandris is within her. Poison is an agent of death and oblivion when Null is with her. Spider-Man and Man-Thing have met Poison and lived to tell the tale (see Web of Spider-Man Annual #4). However, many men have not. Recently, Poison extracted Ylandris from herself, and Cecelia threw Ylandris into the Nexus of All Reality. Presently, the screeching specter re-enters Cecelia's breast. The cursed woman screams in the agony of her abominable transformation. Around her, three hurting warriors gather themselves for the good fight.
