Chapter 10: Die, America! Love, Haiti (Part Two)
Poison hovers over half-naked Overmind in the mud. Aloof Poison considers him with her sunken ebon eyes in her cadaverous white face. Around her terrible visage, umber hair whips in the gale winds. Onto the wind, Poison exhales caliginous vapor. The demoniac pronounces, "I am Ylandris of the S'raphh, and we are legion!"
The champion replies, "I am Grom of the Eyungian, and we are Eternals."
The possessed pronounces, "I am the angel of death of the Living Darkness."
The Defender replies, "I am your destroyer, Poison, just as Captain Universe was your sister Mayhem's [see "Mayhem's Bugle," New York, New York]."
"I'll swallow your souls," the evil dead threatens the composite being.
A shotgun blast interrupts her plans. Shot fractures a huge branch directly above Poison. The bough drives the fallen into the mud. Devil-Slayer steps forth with his tattered, smoking costume and a smoking double-barreled gun pulled from his cape's panoply.
"Groovy," Devil-Slayer quips, "But, where is Cecilia's son? AAAAH!"
Carlos Cardinale bounds from the shadows like a hellhound. Rabidly slobbering, Carlos plants his teeth into Devil-Slayer's arm and shakes his head. Despite great pain, the hero will not simply blow the boy's head off with the boomstick. Instead, he raises the rod like a club. Perhaps, he can knock the attack child unconscious. However, Carlos sees strategy and snarls. His teeth rip flesh from forearm, and his hand gun from grip. The possessed are often very, very strong. Demoniac Carlos punches Devil-Slayer into the brush. By Null's power, the vegetation seizes Devil-Slayer's limbs and pins them to the ground. The cold rain pours over his tender bare chest. Mist swirls around him. From the miasma, the devil-child emerges with blunderbuss. Curiously, he raises it like a spear.
"That ain't gonna happen," the hero declares. In an instant, his Shadow-Cloak encases him, and it teleports him from sight. Carlos plunges the piece into the mud instead of into Devil-Slayer's lower region. He growls. He sniffs the air for his prey. From behind, someone taps him on the shoulder and then spins him around. Devil-Slayer's fist knocks some of the dental work right out of the kid's mouth. The man lifts the child from the ground and slams the little monster against a cypress. The beastling raises his hand to swat the demon-slayer.
"I'm sorry about this, kid," the knight drives a dagger through the raised palm and into the treetrunk, "But, you're Grendel, and I can't fight Grendel all day. I need to fight your mother and the great dragon behind her." The demonologist references Saxon myth.
"You know, fool, Grendel loses a hand in that story," the possessed child displays knowledge that he likely should not have. With a blood-curdling scream, Carlos snaps his own wrist completely. To Eric's shock, the child chomps into his own wrist and tears. Blood spatters Eric's agape lips and eyes.
"Goddam!" the hero exclaims, "Stop!" Payne moves toward the boy.
A moment earlier, Poison frees herself. She levitates from the muck looking a little less dignified in her soiled blouse and torn stockings. Her shoes are lost in the loam. Before she gets her bearings, Overmind seizes her head between his two massive, strong hands. He holds her like a bitch puppy in its master's mitts.
Overmind and Poison lock eyes, and the two psychics lock horns. Grom gores into her mind. Cecelia slithers into his. He wills her to surrender. Her will rejects his wishes. With a grunt, Grom overwhelms Cecelia's psychic defenses temporarily and frees her from Null's influence. Grappling, god Null grabs mortal woman back. Exerting, Overmind probes Poison's mind to find Cecelia amidst the tangle of Null's tenebrous tentacles once again. Icily, Ylindras tells him that all is lost. Adamant Overmind calls to the Chorus within him. The Chorus are the consciousnesses of six powerful deceased psychics residing within Overmind as the Eyungians do. The Chorus's ethereal hands are mighty. Their mighty hands grab Null's limbs and pull them from Cecelia's captive essence.
"We have banished you once, demon," the Chorus say in unison, "We shall do so again." The Chorus members form the titanic composite being that they used to destroy Null the last time (see Defenders #114).
Outside the astral plane, Overmind and Poison have stood stock-still staring the entire time. The fixed giant's hands clamp the woman's head. The levitating woman remains entirely rigid. Within the eldritch ether, Null fights back fiercely. Unmercifully, six tentacles impale the Chorus entity. Within Grom's mind, the Chorus scream in agony. Throughout his body, the Defender jolts and jiggles, shakes and spasms. His hands release Poison. He gasps.
Null the Living Darkness dismembers the Chorus chimera one-by-one. Each member falls from the magnificent united body. "Al Gentle!" Null thunders while ripping Gentle harshly forth like exposed viscera. "Georgia Orr!" Null breaks her off like a limb. "Theodore Kroeber!" Demon pries him loose tooth and nail. "Philip de Guin!" The Living Darkness goes in after the Chorus's one child member, and he rips the Chorus's heart from its very being*. "Mindy Williams and Ursula Richards!" Null the Living Darkness announces finally. Mindy and Ursula are the Chorus's two most powerful psychics. They do not release each other easily. Their spirits cohere tightly. Null stretches them furiously. But, despite great pain, the two hold on to each other. Abruptly, S'raphhs with swords sever their connection. Shocked, Williams and Richards fall away from each other. The evil one coils the Chorus's ethereal beings into his tentacles, and he holds up the Chorus before his multitudinous evil eyes and gnashing mouths. Null's mouths breathe hellfire upon the Chorus. The devil's fires obliterate Al, Georgia, Ted, and Phil instantly. However, Mindy and Ursula survive—to Null's astonishment.
Mentalists Mindy and Ursula have psychically-constructed a huge Captain America shield before them. In life, Captain America helped them both (see Captain America #264 & 268). He is their protector again in this Fourth of July battle. In life, Mindy loved also the hero Nighthawk. His costume appears upon her now. Nighthawk's talons slice through Null's tentacles, and the heroines are free. Mindy spreads her wings and flies at Null determinedly. Her sister-in-arms gesticulates beneath Captain America's grandiose shield. With fervor, she hurls the red, white, and blue into the Living Darkness. The star-spangled shield strikes Null like a musketshot and explodes like a firework this day. For a moment, the Sentinel of Liberty is a beacon of hope, and Nighthawk is like a great eagle. . . . . Then, Null retaliates. Null the Living Darkness is an elder god. Ursula and Mindy are but two brave American women. He obliterates them.
Outside, in empirical reality, Overmind stands stupefied in the pouring rain and the swamp filth. His head is bereft of six powerful voices that have been his conscience, his Chorus. The giant is vulnerable. Poison is dangerous. Her head is full of the million damned voices that are Null. The devil's servant prepares to claim an Eternal Defender. Poison opens her maw wide. Her eyes roll back, and her jaw unhinges. Fetid gas floats from her throat. Inky ichor oozes off her tongue. Then, Poison spits acid into Overmind's face. It fumes and bubbles. Grom stands still shocked at his mental loss.
Then, Poison rips Overmind's damned face off. As is her power, Poison takes a telekinetic grasp of Overmind's flesh. She digs hard into his softened face. It distorts. Then, facialmeat explodes from skull in all directions. Scraps pelt trees and splash water. Momentarily, Poison smiles evilly into an exposed skullface with eyes within. Grom stands yet stock-still.
Without warning, the titan screams sans lips: "POOOISON!" Overmind's telepathy nearly splits Poison's head in-twain. The faceless horror sends his thoughts, "Mortal woman, you are already dead, and so is your son. You died in a Cuban prison years ago, and only Null's unholy influence has kept you animate. You are his member that must be severed. You are his vessel that must be broken."
With these words, Overmind sets his terrible telekinesis upon her. Poison feels an invisible vice bond her. She sees Overmind clench his fist, and the vice squeezes tight. It squeezes the fetid breath from her chest. It constricts her flesh, and she moans bruising. By the gods, Overmind will crush her; he will implode her back to the Darkness. His gargantuan grip crushes her limbs and cracks her ribs. His will breaks her hips and bursts her abdomen. Blood, bone, and bowels blast the water and earth. Poison seems no more. Her intact head and legs dangle upon her mutilated center, and the monster seems destroyed. However, unexpectedly, Poison teleports herself free of Overmind's cincture.
After teleporting, Poison ponders—in agony—what she has gained. Perhaps, she has only gained a few minutes to float nearly helpless and mostly paralyzed in the scummy swampwater. Bilge floods her open abdomen and enters her open fractures. Pulped Poison spreads across the waters. Awful offal bobs upon them. Black blood spreads over them. Effluent air disturbs them. Through the waters, Poison hears Overmind wade toward her. The titan towers above her face. His eyes dangle from exposed bone ringed in raw meat.
Harshly, Overmind rips his own orbs from his skull, "I do not need eyes, for I am a god. An immortal heals over time. You will die today, cursed one, however. Even sans eyes, I shall see you dragged into the underworld." Overmind's lipless teeth are bared.
Poison wonders what the stalwart means. Then, she knows. Through the water's surface, Man-Thing's massive left limb breaks. Its hand grabs Poison by the throat. It chokes her. It burns her fearful skin. Then, the right limb rises high from the depths. Its hand slaps hard on Poison's open abdomen, and it rams itself into her chest cavity. The guardian's right hand literally grabs cursed Cecelia by her very heart. In her agony, the fallen one samples Hell. Restored by the land, tall Man-Thing rises from the water. He is a great tree with a fleshy bauble tangled in its branches. And, she is still alive: miserable, undead thing that she is. Man-Thing prepares to spread his limbs in victory. Poison will be utterly destroyed. Mercifully, Cecelia Cardinale will be free.
"NOOOO!" Null's thunderous voice booms from within Cardinale's carcass. Dark energies explode Poison's body surpassing anything that Man-Thing could have done. Ethereal, stygian Ylandris floats free of the guardian's grasp. Her black hand chops the night sky.
With a great light, the Nexus of All Reality re-opens in mid-air. The rift burns bright like a volcano's chasm. Again, Null's voice roars forth, "Grom and Sallis, you petty, puny godlings! You might embody a hundred million Eternals and all the life on Earth, but I am the Living Darkness incarnate. I claim you now into perdition and the nothingness!"
From the Nexus, a sea of spectral S'raphh arms flow sickly forth like worms. They seize Overmind and Man-Thing and suck them in. Cackling Ylandris follows them into her master's realm. In his realm, Null flings Overmind far away into the Nexus of All Reality. Overmind has proven a most-powerful and very determined foe. The aspiring god does not need the distraction of fighting him further. The Nexus swallows Grom and sends him elsewhere. He reappears. He is in Brooklyn, and he has again a face and eyes. However, Overmind has no memory—including of Null. The Chorus is gone from his head and cannot guide him. The Eternal shuffles off into the night toward other adventures (see Quasar #13). The Defender will protect the world from Null no further.
In the demon's realm, Null's tentacles bind and stretch Man-Thing. From behind, Ylandris mounts him and grabs hold. With another roar, Null flings away Man-Thing and Ylandris in their coupling. The Nexus swallows them and sends them elsewhere. Dark saltwater is the next realm that Man-Thing knows. The heroic guardian immerges into its depths. Ylandris releases Man-Thing to his descent. The fallen angel flies upward toward the surface. She emerges near an island's rocky shore. She looks up. There is a proud, colossal statue holding a torch, symbol of light. The dark thing is amused.
Ylandris declares, "This July 4th, Null the Living Darkness will overwhelm the United States as he has before [see Defenders #114]! Death to America!"
Back in the Everglades, carnivorous Carlos Cardinale chomps into his own wrist. He ogles Devil-Slayer's flesh as though it might be next. Eric considers what to do. The former hitman hates killing kids—although Carlos is already undead. Howling Carlos jerks hard on his remaining wrist; it might actually rip free. Suddenly, an unsentimental gator solves Payne's dilemma for him. With a great splash, it emerges and snaps onto the corpse-boy's leg. With an awful roll, the creature rips the monster from the tree, and the re-animated meal disappears beneath the soup. His dismemberment is nearly assured.
Devil-Slayer falls exhausted in the bank's mud. He can barely stay conscious. He must attend to his wounds soon. The cold rain feels good upon his sore body. In his peripheral, Devil-Slayer sees the Nexus re-open. It is bright light upon his fluttering lids. The demon-hunter would fight the elder god Null. But, he passes-out in the swampslop instead.
He murmurs "Jen" thinking about his ally in New York. She might need help against Null right about now.
"How do you know my name," someone queries. Her voice is female like Jen's, but Eric does not recognize it. Payne cracks his eyes. Next to him, two boots are levitating slightly above the soppy ground.
*Ursula Le Guin and Alfred Louis Kroeber are daughter and father. They are also a noted sci-fi writer and a noted anthropologist respectively. Do you see what Marvel writer J.M. DeMatteis did there?