Hey guys...I am going to be away for a while so I posted two EXTRA chapters of the book ahead of time while I will be gone. I would like to thank the people who have read this story so far. Give me some input on how you like this story so far. Also I have a Poll up on my Profile page. I would love to hear from you.
ENJOY!
Chapter Nine:
Rumble on the Moon
Thunder lifted Bruce Banner to his feet but made sure he stayed his distance. Thunder began to slowly walk towards this newest incarnation he has seen of Venom.
Trying to be funny and maybe lighten the mood he retorted, "I know that can't be Eddie Brock in there, did you have a sex change or something?"
Venom shrunk back slightly and began to laugh responding in a voice that seemed like three different tones in one, "You know full well that isn't how this works. Well now, look who survived the Great Purge? We know and remember who you are, even though the host wasn't born when you were around."
Thunder tried to reason next but kept a close eye on both Banner, but Fate as well, "We are here for what is in the mines. Let us pass, Venom, and we'll let this situation go. It doesn't need to result in any bloodshed."
"Judging by how you are protecting the one once called the Hulk, I am under the impression he can no longer transform. The other with you claims the helmet of Mordred but doesn't know how to use it fully." She then walked a little closer to Thunder, "The Venom you once knew at some point of time could have been heroic, Defender of the Galaxy. Our incarnation however…" Venom said as large viscous webs shoot from her wrists and smack right into Thunder, "…is entirely evil and without remorse."
Thunder looked at Doctor Fate and Bruce Banner, "Run! I will hold her off! Get what you need in the mines!"
Venom leaped into the air recklessly and smashed into Thunder and tackled him to the ground as Doctor Fate and Bruce ran into the mines. Venom looked backward only to get a thunderous size 12 in her face. Venom flew backwards and slammed into the slate wall of the mine. Thunder levitated himself into the air and broke free with authority of the webs that had him entwined.
"You want to know something, Venom? I have always hated your guts." Thunder replies as in a blink of eye he begins landing blows in blazing speed all over the body of Venom. Venom begins to slink away trying to get away from the onslaught happening to it.
"You were always this arrogant piece of shit, thinking that you were the apex predator or the verified top of the food chain. But to be honest you are just nothing but a small fly compared to my power. But since I am not a cold hearted asshole and do have some compassion for at least the host you inhabit…I will make you a deal. I will spare you the beating if you answer some questions for me…" Thunder asked as he pulled her up with his arms and slammed the symbiote again into the slate wall. The symbiote tried to liquefy itself to try and get away but came to no avail with Thunder's great speed.
Some debris started to come down into the mine itself as Thunder hoped that his friends would hurry and find what they were looking for.
Meanwhile…
Bruce Banner followed Doctor Fate swiftly as possible through the catacombs with break-neck speed. Because of Venom's presence within the mines there were webs everywhere. He didn't know how long Venom had been a part of the tunnel system but it seemed like a while as they were starting to overwhelm the two as Banner got stuck. Doctor Fate was able to blast their way out of the webs and make their way further into the blackened void.
They come to the end of the tunnel they went down and looked around. All they found was the dead bodies of the HLM soldiers Black Kryptonite sent to look around.
"The ring has gotta be in another tunnel…" Doctor Fate said as she looked at Bruce.
Bruce swallowed loudly as he tried to catch his breath and assess his surroundings, "Hannah…you need to focus…don't you have the ability to teleport where you need to go, or at least a spell to open a door or portal?"
Doctor Fate shakes her head, "I do…but for some reason my magic powers are being blocked from within this mine. I can't pinpoint where the ring is. If I could do that this would not be a problem."
Bruce sensing his only choice at this point began to run back the way he came.
Back at the mouth of the mines…
Thunder leaned in close to Venom whose back was up against the wall, "What is this Atlantean gold for? How are you working for the Brainchild?" Thunder asked as spikes protrude from Venom's body slicing Thunder backward. Thunder grins once more and uppercuts Venom slamming her back into the wall once more.
Thunder was getting pissed and this symbiote was seriously trying his patience, "I am not going to ask again."
"I don't work for the Brainchild directly…I work for Sinestro. This gold is important for the plans of the Impergium. With your escapades recently on this world, I have made it a hunch to keep my ears to the grindstone in regards to them. Now, my master knows of your arrival, Defender of the Galaxy and he is on his way here…" Venom laughed uncontrollably as Bruce made his way to the opening of the mine.
Thunder tried to contact his friends on his Nega Bands, "Bruce, you and Fate need to find the ring fast. Apparently Sinestro is on his way…"
Thunder is too late however as he is ripped from Venom's vicinity and is thrown with authority with yellow energy into the vacant foreman house nearby collapsing the building on top of the two foes. A familiar figure uses his power ring to remove some of the rubble and picks up Thunder in his clutches standing him upward and with great ferocity drop kicked him out of the rubble and onto the ground outside into some digging equipment.
Thunder finally opens his eyes and tries to stand as he sees a man with now pure white hair and magenta colored skin looks at him with arms crossed. Sinestro looked thinner as his skin stretched upon his face almost like a skeleton as his eyes shone a bright beaming yellow glow.
Sinestro however was still Sinestro as a condescending grin protruded from his elderly face, "The funny thing about fear…is that everyone feels it. It's just a matter of overcoming it. Thunder…the Defender of the Galaxy…you should have been dead 400 years ago. You should have stayed dead, but now I get the pleasure of something I missed. Now I have a chance to finish you."
Thunder brushed the dust and debris from his body, "It's funny that you mention that I should be dead...you look like a fucking corpse Sinestro. How did you survive all these years?"
"That makes no difference at this point. This confrontation has been on my mind a long time."
Thunder slowly circled his foe, "You better finish me…I would hate to see what you would have to say to the Brainchild if he found out that for all these years you were living on a lie for a reputation."
Thunder zooms with great speed and slams his fists into the sternum of Sinestro sending him through the last remnants of a wall created from the mining. As Thunder smacked into him Sinestro seemed very brittle as if being held up literally by the yellow energy flowing through his body. Maybe that was the only thing keeping him alive.
Meanwhile, Venom looked onward from the cosmic slugfest as Doctor Fate's cape fluttered in the wind distracting the symbiote as they were coming back to the mouth of the mine. She noticed that the mouth of the cave was starting to collapse as she then used some of her magic within the cave to keep it from totally caving in. Venom didn't see Bruce go past her but she realized that her golden cape alerted her of her presence. She then looked back toward Venom and then flew down the tunnel that Bruce Banner had not gone down yet.
Sinestro, still in pain, looked at his cohort Venom, "You get them now! There is no telling what they are going to do…they may find a way to ruin the Master's plans!"
Venom bounded swiftly after Doctor Fate, not knowing that she was creating a diversion and biding Bruce some time.
Thunder laughed as he began to charge his hands full of electrical energy. He had abundance due to the amount of power he took from Mordred's hands days earlier.
Sinestro looked at Thunder with contempt, "What are you laughing at, you baboon?"
Thunder shook his head, "You have no idea what's in there do you? You who could have went back to be an honorable man…you were a Green Lantern once…in this hellacious realm you could have been the greatest!"
Thunder let loose the electrical energy from his hands and slammed into the quivering body of Sinestro. Sinestro's ring however absorbed most of the brunt of the power and he stabilized himself. He then used his ring to create a construct of fear and torture to confine Thunder. Drills of yellow energy began to turn on as a vice held Thunder in a grip of power. The drills then began to slice into the Nega Band energy, trying to drill to the core of his body. Thunder had been able so far to use not much Nega Energy to make sure that the Brainchild would not notice, but he had a fear that it was only a matter of time against Sinestro where he would need to fight fire with fire so to speak.
"Don't be such a goody two shoes, Thunder…If I were to have become a Green Lantern then what, Thunder? Fall like the rest of you to the Brainchild? I wasn't stupid. I know what I am doing. We won that war. And against that sorry excuse of an HLM of yours we will also prevail." Sinestro then began to squeeze once more as hate revealed in his black eyes.
Thunder glanced at him as his brow furrowed in his own rage. He then began to glow bright all over his body from his bands and shattered the constructs ferociously. If he didn't use more of the Nega Bands now, he would be dead. He wasn't going to give Sinestro the satisfaction, "That might have worked a long time ago, asshole, but not this time. Your ability to cause fear in me seems to have faded in your inactivity over the years. Its time I paid you back in kind...I am taking you for a ride."
Thunder zoomed with Nega Energy at Sinestro and slipped his hands under the arms of Sinestro and locked his hands into a full nelson and leaped into the air, setting fire to the air around him as he left Earth's atmosphere, smashing through several satellites in the process.
Within mere seconds, Thunder suplexed Sinestro into a crater on the moon. Sinestro, unable to deal with the strict display of recent power, lay motionless as the Defender of the Galaxy began to pound his fists into the face and midsection of Sinestro. Blood starting to finally leak from the mouth and nose of the wielder of fear.
Sinestro desperately pushed Thunder off of him and staggered to his feet as he blasted Thunder with his power ring sending him backward about five yards. Thunder then dug his feet into the lunar soil to slow his gravity push.
Sinestro flew toward Thunder like a celestial torpedo as he buried his fists into Thunder's chest sending him backward through space once more. He screamed defiantly, "I am going to do what I should have done 400 years ago, Thunder." He then by an act of sheer will created a giant anvil out of yellow energy and slammed it down on top of Thunder, sending the Defender of the Galaxy deep within the lunar soil. Sinestro then created vice grips to lift Thunder back out of the soil and focused his energy on Thunder's Nega Bands. Thunder resisted with all his being as Sinestro tried to remove the bands; the source of his otherworldly power.
Sinestro started to gloat, "Without the Nega Bands you are nothing but a glorified mutant and cannot survive space."
Thunder knew that he needed to go back on the offense or Sinestro was going to win this fight…but what to do he thought to himself? Then amidst his struggle an idea came to him as he unleashed the fury of his bands once more and broke free of the vice grips and then began to fly away from Sinestro. Sinestro began to follow him but soon realized that with Thunder's great speed he was unable to catch up as Thunder flew into the dark side of the moon. Sinestro then noticed that he started to circle the moon surrounding him and dipping into the dark side of the moon and back again. Thunder would then change trajectory at various points and confuse Sinestro as to what golden blur was Thunder.
"Stay still!" Sinestro yelled furiously as Thunder blazed past him with pass after pass. Sinestro then began to make a giant web all around him as Thunder disappeared.
Sinestro looked around as things began to confuse him more as it seemed the passes stopped. He gazed at his fear webs which were not tripped once.
"Did you run away again? Was I too much for you? I knew you were a coward!" Sinestro bantered toward the lunar sky.
Thunder stood quietly behind him as he had teleported behind him and axe handle smashed Sinestro into the head, neck and back area sending him once again to the lunar floor. Thunder smiled, "For someone who uses fear to their advantage, you sure look real scared right now." Sinestro turned back towards Thunder as now for his last resort he wanted to let him have it.
Sinestro poured on all the yellow energy into one giant beam and barraged Thunder as he stood back bracing himself from the impact. Sinestro on the other hand had hoped to roast him into oblivion. The dust kicked up from the battle on the moon began to create an unnatural fog of war which permeated the area of the battle as Sinestro stood up.
"That should take care of you, you simpleton."
Sinestro saw a dark shadow walking toward him as he made out the visage of the Defender of the Galaxy as he walked toward him.
The overcoat given to him by Black Kryptonite much to his own chagrin was burned off but Thunder looked as fine as he did before the battle began. Sinestro, tired and worn from the battle of his life, lifted his arm once again to realize that his yellow ring no longer had power within it. It only had enough to keep Sinestro alive.
"I know you…and I also know that you would use up your resource too quickly and unlike your ring…I never have to recharge my Nega Bands," Thunder said as he caved in Sinestro's gut with a punch sending him hunched forward. Unbeknownst to Thunder however he realized that with that punch his fist went through the midsection of Sinestro as he gazed upon his eyes. The man that is Thunder had killed very few people in his life as a hero, but he had killed before. Killing Sinestro was something he wasn't entirely prepared for, but felt satisfaction in doing so. Sinestro's eyes were as black as obsidian but in that moment, Thunder could see even in those dark orbs the life finally leave his eyes and become dead weight in his arms.
Thunder pulled his bloody fist out of Sinestro as he quietly slumped to the lunar floor as his ring stopped glowing. Thunder picked up Sinestro's hand and took the ring off of his finger, and leaped into space heading back to earth once more. Satellites from New Krypton began shooting at him, but they ended up being outraced to no avail, unable to even catch up to his great speed.
Thunder for the moment…was victorious.
Meanwhile in the main chamber of the Brainchild in New Argo…
Sensors began going off as the Brainchild was about to unhook himself from the mainframe. He hesitates as power energy readings began showing up in an extreme level in Atlantis.
"Computer…analysis of energy signature, and location of activity." Brainchild began to compute. Within seconds the signature is identified.
"Three distinct signatures found…now five. Identified as electrical, yellow fear energy…"
"Apparently Sinestro is on New Krypton…or was." Brainchild quipped.
"…magical energy and now…green willpower energy. The last one is faint…barely noticeable as cosmic energy. The location is the primary mines of Atlantis."
The Brainchild unhooked himself from the mainframe and walked over to an intercom as more reports of satellite fire ring in his head. "I am confident that Sinestro can handle the situation, but I will send several battalions of Impergium Raiders to the mine site."
With a flick of a wrist and a flash of digital data, the order went through in cyberspace with the efficiency that only the Ruler of the World could muster. Then something went wrong...
Several satellites gave forth distress beacons and new pictures and information to the Brainchild in regards to the moon. Extremely high levels of cosmic energy permeated his readings. Yellow fear energy spiked rapidly along with mixed traces of a potent amount of cosmic energy. Brainchild saw the residue of the fog of war and stood from his throne and quickly leaped into the air flying with great fury toward the moon. This time he would not let others take care of it...he would investigate personally.
The thing that worried the Brainchild was the photographs taken by the satellites. Some of them showed a being bathed in a glowing golden light, unable to be seen fully by the sensors of the satellites.
Flying through outer space he saw a golden glimmer out of the corner of his eye, and disappeared. The World Dictator ignored it as he zoomed to the moon and landed swiftly. He used his X-Ray vision to peer through the dust and debris. In the midst of the dust and debris was a small heat signature that was floating slightly ahead. He started slowly flying toward it as he seen the corpse of Sinestro thanks to a round of convulsions and seizures from his death was minimally floating around the weakened gravity of the moon.
The Brainchild held Sinestro in his arms as he saw the gaping hole from the fist that had completed this horrendous task. He analyzed every inch of his body as to what might have caused this.
"You didn't charge your ring, old friend." The Brainchild quipped.
"He wasn't my friend…we have no friends..." came a voice from within him.
The Brainchild ignored the feelings once more. He then started to look around for his power ring which he was sure that was still around, but turned out was absent amidst both corpse and surroundings.
"The Power ring is gone. Makes me wonder if who did this took it?"
"Maybe another avatar of Parallax decided to awaken and decided that Sinestro was no longer worthy of its power…makes sense then about the golden apparition we saw..."
Brainchild could no longer ignore the voice, "Shut up! Even though you have a point, I want you to shut up!" The Brainchild scanned the entire area with a meticulous eye, "Needless to say now that there is a new power player with a new wielder of Sinestro's ring, seeing how it's not here."
He looked upon the corpse once more. It was Sinestro's wishes that if something were to happen to him that instead of being buried on the ghost world of Oa or on his traitorous homeworld of Korugar, before he annihilated it that is, that instead he would be placed in the Hall of Champions on the Continent of New Argo. The Hall of Champions was constructed out of the ruins of an older building to house the champions of the Impergium once they perished. Impergium raiders with great renown, commanders of old, and of course the remains magistrates and powerful allies of the Impergium like Baron Mordo as well as his several descendants were buried here. Mordred unfortunately will be next and the last of his line.
The Brainchild hesitated no further as lifted himself into the air and started flying back to New Krypton. The satellites that were still active parted for him like Moses through the Red Sea as he opened up his radio communication, "I want the Headmaster of the Hall of Champions prepared for another arrival. I should be there momentarily."
His crimson cape fluttered in the wind as he entered the atmosphere of New Krypton as he carried the body of Sinestro in his arms with seemingly great care. Flying to the northern part of his continent to a large domed building on the outskirts of what used to be Old Metropolis. Most of the area was now wasteland thanks to the effects and wars following the Great Purge, and the Impergium never bothered to rebuild, maybe as a warning to the people left behind and to the heroes of the HLM to remind them of what could happen again.
He descended down and landed in front of the marble building which had an entourage as well as a floating gurney waiting for them. Two were attendants with the gurney and two others to act as guards. The Brainchild walked toward the four attendants as they bowed in reverence to their god and king. The Brainchild acknowledged them as he placed Sinestro's corpse on the gurney, "Thank you for your service to me. I wish Sinestro to be taken well care of."
"Your Eminence, we always do our finest work for you. The tomb has been readied and the statue has been molded in his most heroic of forms, your Grace." The headmaster of the Hall replied loudly as he walked from the building toward the Brainchild.
Brainchild ignored the ass kissing of the new nuisance but spoke to him succinctly, "Any word then on when we can have our memorial services for Magistrate Mordred and Sinestro for BCCNN?"
The Headmaster stuttered in fear as he motioned the attendants with the corpse to stop, "We could have the network notified tonight if you wish?"
The Brainchild thought about it, "No...I want BCCNN's attention on the Summit. When the Summit is over, then you can broadcast the tributes." The Headmaster started motioning for the attendants to take Sinestro's corpse away once more when the Brainchild once again began to speak, "Headmaster...one moment."
They continued with Sinestro's corpse as the Headmaster turned back around and bowed once more, "How can I be of further service to you, Your Eminence?"
The Brainchild turned toward the wastes, "How old are you, Headmaster?"
The Headmaster hesitates before responding, unsure of what was about to happen. "Sire...I am 56 years old."
The Brainchild lifted his hands in display, "Do you see this wasteland before us?"
"How can you NOT see it, sire? It is everywhere."
With preternatural speed, the Brainchild seized the Headmaster by the throat and started lifting him up into the air with one arm, "I created this wasteland before your great-great-great grandfather was in diapers. You are to ask and see if I need anything else before leaving without my permission. You are NOT a soldier in the Impergium army to have that directive. In turn, you should have been waiting for me out here along with your attendants, not lagging behind. As Headmaster of this Hall I want to see that my requests come promptly and without blemish, or YOU will end up like that wasteland. Am I understood?"
Choking from the lack of air, the Headmaster nodded vigorously. The Brainchild dropped him and leaped into the air heading west back toward the palace. While in the air the cooler and more collective side of the Brainchild began to come back to his senses.
New Argo Palace...
Daytona quickly grabbed from his underwear the smaller bag with the small surveillance grains and stuffed them in his pocket. He went back to the other man and saw that the case of vodka was an understatement; this thing was almost the size of a large chest.
The man grinned as he noticed the look on Daytona's face, "Ok Brad, I am going to go to furnish the waiting room with the vodka. I need you to take these to the conference room."
Daytona nodded as he helped him into the elevator. The ride up to the waiting room was not long at all as the elevator stopped onto the 5th floor. The man held the door of the elevator open as he took 5 bottles out of the massive case and then looked at Daytona.
"Ok, Brad, take the rest of these up to the 7th floor and enter the conference room and put the bottles by the bar inside. Then make your way downstairs again. I want to stress something though...DON'T touch anything in there. Just get in and out."
"Ok." Daytona said as he let the doors of the elevator close. He pressed the number 7 on the keypad and waited for the elevator to go up once more.
The elevator swiftly made its way upward with great efficiency and stopped at the seventh floor as the doors opened. There was a small contingent of Impergium raiders standing guard with metal detectors stationed there. They looked at Daytona and watched him approach.
"Access code…" They asked in a cold and calculating voice.
Daytona took off his name tag and handed it to the raider who in turn used a bar code scanner to scan the code. He knew that if at any moment that this ruse didn't work that he would be reunited with his buddy Adam Gibson soon enough. The Impergium raiders looked at the Daytona through the lenses of their helmets. He tried to make sure that no stress was detected on his person as other Impergium raiders started to use the metal detectors on him. Luckily, he and Carlos dropped any weapons they had outside, and there had been no alert yet on the men they killed to take these uniforms from them.
He watched as the Impergium raiders conversed with one another and then approached him, "Umberto Sanchez…you may pass."
Daytona smiled as he took back the code card and put his name tag back on. He was so glad that it seemed these people had no sense in guessing that he definitely didn't look like an Umberto. He took the case with him into the room.
Thirty minutes later, Carlos was in another element altogether as he was finishing a flambé when Daytona came up to him obviously disturbed.
Carlos turned off the torch for the flambé and pulled Daytona aside, "You don't want Lyla to see you looking like that. What's going on? Did you plant the bugs?" Carlos asked Daytona in very hushed tones.
"He's here! That mother fucker is here!" Daytona said in an angry voice.
Carlos walked back to the line and looked at his fellow line cook and nodded at him, "Hey man, I am going to go take a smoke break, I will be back in a few minutes."
The line cook, who was more than pleased with his new partner smiled, "That's cool, man. Take your time, we are making great progress."
Carlos nodded as he took off his apron and walks with Daytona outside. Carlos looked around to see if the truck was gone from earlier as it still hid one of the bodies they had stolen the uniforms from. The truck was gone so it was only a matter of time before someone got to another stop and found out what happened.
"Fuck...the truck is gone…" Carlos said in annoying tone, "At this point if you haven't planted those devices, you should find a way to do so now."
"I did...but that is not what pissed me off." Daytona growled.
"Ok…then what has got you all fucking riled up now? What's going on? You can't tell me you are still mad about the walk-in fridge..." Carlos asked.
Daytona slammed his fist against his leg in rage, "Rictus is here! I found out when I came out from the elevator taking the bugs up as he was heading to his room. I was in the same fucking elevator! I wanted to kill that asshole!"
Carlos held his shoulders "Calm the fuck down, soldier. Now you obviously didn't do anything to him or you would already be dead or in the stockades. You remembered our orders, and for that I as well as the rest of the HLM thank you immensely."
"You don't know how hard it was to look the man that killed my best friend in the face and not do something about it."
"Did you know if he recognized you? Was he alone?" Carlos asked curious.
"No...He had Shithead with him and no other guards. Also, I don't think he recognized me at all. I am not even sure that he ever saw my face before. Most of the time us Blackbirds keep to HLM protocol and keep our masks on. God...it would have been awesome though to release some of that bottled up tension…" Daytona said as he smacked his fist in his open hand.
Almost as if in a robotic trance Carlos replied, "No engaging the enemy unless they engage us first. It will surely blow our cover."
Daytona felt a wave of emotion ride over him like the waves in the ocean as tears welled up inside of him, "I know, but I can't stand the fact that this bastard killed Adam."
Carlos smiled and encouraged his compatriot who he knew at this point needed a pep talk, "Listen, Rictus is going to get his, but now is not the time. You are a Lieutenant Colonel. You have been in spots where I couldn't have dreamed of in the years I have been a part of this army. I have faith we will get this done."
Daytona knew now that Carlos meant business by what he said. He knew he could feel loss and sorrow and frustration just like him. He could be trusted for the most part, and Daytona liked that. "Yeah, the good news however outweighs the bad…the job is done. All seven were placed. I also heard from…the bird…"
Carlos knew the reference to the bird meant Condor, "Really, what did…the bird…say?"
"Apparently, it found something on the outskirt of St. Croix and for safety precautions he and Dog Shit are going to go check it out."
"Cool…unless we are found out by the truck driver at his next stop, we have been given lodging here at the palace so we will stay the night here…and then make our way back in the morning."
The two then made their way back into the kitchen area and pretended nothing happened.