Chapter 12: Die, America! Love Haiti (Part Four)
She-Hulk's puissant backhand flies toward Brother Voodoo's vain visage. However, astonishingly, his hand catches the wrist of her amazonian arm. He espouses, "My lord Null is powerful today."
"I'm powerful everyday," She-Hulk speaks truth. The giantess wrests her wrist from the demoniac's strong grip.
The voodoo priest retorts, "So is Sersi here, and she is under my power. I have her."
"I have four superfriends who eat cosmic conquerors for breakfast even on Independence Day morning. And, they have you surrounded right now," She-Hulk mentions the Fantastic Four. Sue is invisible and nearby. Reed is tucked away somewhere and hidden. Johnny patrols the skies around the Statue of Liberty. And, Ben is just outside the museum's doors.
"Both Jericho and I have telepathy, and we know exactly where your fantastic allies are. They will not ambush us," Sersi chimes in.
She-Hulk frowns. She hates to see a fellow Avenger a puppet like this. Brother Voodoo misinterprets her frown, "You will be humiliated again, Jennifer. Your side is five. My allies are legion. Today, they will bring low both proud heroes and a proud land."
Outside, tenebrous stormclouds swell. Ben Grimm notices them and frowns. Then, he notices Chess Roberts and her cameraman approaching. They have easily noticed a rocky, orange-skinned celebrity, and they hope to interview him. Ben frowns again. They might notice the green-skinned notable next.The Thing had better give an interview and delay them. Otherwise, they are in harm's way. Still, the cameraman pans to the Avenger speaking with the ambassador and the socialite. That scene ought to be a good one to broadcast.
Within the scene, the Avenger chastises Voodoo, "Jericho, don't speak to me of humiliation when, you sir, are self-parody. Your name is Brother Voodoo. You join a long line of this world's costumed characters with possibly racist names. For example, Luke Cage and King T'challa are great guys, but Power Man and Black Panther are self-satirical embodiments of the Black Power movement. Other African-American marvels have interesting names: Rage, Man-Ape, Bucky, Nightshade, Tar Baby (of course), etc." The lawyer makes her case.
"Don't judge me, She-Hulk. There are many offensive names around—including your own," the professor replies, "For example, rich white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Janet van Dyne is known as the Wasp. You are known as the She-Hulk in the same way that Giant-Man was once Black Goliath. In further sexism, a mercurial mutant madam is the Scarlet Witch, period. And, you did not mention that Shanna is a she-devil, and Patsy Walker a hellcat."
"Also, Jen forgot to mention me. For years, I was the Invisible Girl, but I became the Invisible Woman. Not that I ever felt demeaned the entire time," Sue Richards retorts from seemingly nowhere. From nowhere, a force column slams Brother Voodoo away from Sersi. He lands farther into the pedestal's interior, closer to where Reed hides. Before Sersi telepathically detects Sue, She-Hulk grabs her by the thin summer dress and throws her in the opposite direction of Voodoo, the outside. The dress rips away. Oops. She-Hulk winces. She knows how it feels.
She-Hulk yells to Voodoo, "I never felt disenfranchised either, for I am proud to be a Hulk. Are you proud when exposed for what you are?" Then, She-Hulk bounds outside confidently. Mr. Fantastic swoops down from the promenade over Brother Voodoo. He grabs the scoundrel's ankles and yanks him harshly up the stairs to the second floor. The villain's back and head bounce off every step. By the time he reaches Richards, Voodoo has lost both some consciousness and some dignity.
Her dignity likewise challenged, regal Sersi is in her underwear outside of the Statue. She is half-naked before the blue-eyed Thing, embarrassed She-Hulk, gawking tourists, Chess Roberts, and the entire CBNC morning show audience. Sersi staggers to her feet. The confident goddess strikes a pose and smirks. By matter manipulation, her typical fighting clothes form over her body: a shoulderless green bodysuit, gloves, and boots.
"I am Ylandris of the S'raphh," speaks a voice from the Eternal's body, "I am the warrior who will conquer this island's defenders before my master Null conquers the entire United States."
"It's clobberin' time," Thing notes calmly while cracking his rocky knuckles. He steps away from Chess and her cameraman.
"Keep filming," Chess Roberts instructs her cameraman.
"Let's not hurt her too badly, Ben. She's a friend," She-Hulk instructs her comrade.
A story above them, Mr. Fantastic stands over Brother Voodoo. In his hands, the hero holds a silver helmet with antennae coming from it. The silly thing looks like something from a '50s b-movie. Brother Voodoo scrambles away from the mad scientist. But, elongated arms slam the widget upon Drumm's head.
"Please be still, Dr. Drumm," Dr. Richards requests, "My son has similar dueling personalities within his head. This device from my colleague Dr. Jankowitz [see Fantastic Four #228] helps him sort his psyche a bit. It might be able to get Null out of you."
From deep within, possessed Jericho lets loose a growl so stentorian that it shakes the very stone walls around the two men. Momentarily, Reed is stunned. He sees the helmet shatter telekinetically from Voodoo's head. From his scalp, black blood flows over a grimacing face. From his mouth, Voodoo froths forth black bile, which hits the floor. Voodoo drums sound from nowhere, and the sorcerer levitates from his shoes into the air. The air smells like death, and the skies preternaturally darken outside. Everyone everywhere around Liberty Island—the Fantastic Four, She-Hulk, Sersi, the news—witness the arrival of the Living Darkness.
Voodoo speaks directly into Mr. Fantastic's great head, "Enough, human, my master Null shall rise this day. I shall rise this day."
Into the ceiling, the possessed passes like an angel of death. Like an unholy ghost, he phases through the pedestal's three remaining floors without leaving a hole. His passing chills all who see it. At the pedestal's balcony, Brother Voodoo stops and solidifies. He admires New York City for a moment. Soon, the great city will be his diabolic king's. The shade of Jericho Drumm sneers. Then, the flame of Johnny Storm blinds him. Human Torch melts the railing upon which Voodoo leans. Null's knight teeters off-balance over the missing railing. Human Torch uppercuts Null's fool right onto his ass. The evil wizard is getting really tired of good's constant defenders.
Suddenly, a Shadow-Cloak falls over Voodoo's face from behind. Devil-Slayer teleports Brother Voodoo all the way to Citrusville, Florida. The cloak falls from Voodoo's face, and Devil-Slayer slams a mace across his jaw before the demoniac knows what hits him. Dislodged teeth hit a barn's filthy floor. Jaw askew, the demon's dog howls into Devil-Slayer's face. The dog yelps, however, when unexpected eldritch bolts strike his back.
"Jericho Drumm, I call upon you to expel the demon within. Null is great. But, you are a champion, and you are greater," Jennifer Kale calls to her fellow master of the mystic arts.
Jericho Drumm howls. In an instant, his master Null reaches into Kale's very sanctum and yanks his tethered hound through a portal a sudden formed within the magically-protected barn.
"The poor soul is probably back in New York," Devil-Slayer postulates, "I had better follow." The Defender teleports after his target. Silently, Kale wishes him good luck and returns to her spells. She has an elder demon to vanquish.
On Liberty Island, She-Hulk and Thing have a possessed Eternal to subdue. However, that task has not been easy—at all. The heroes have had a helluva time with the hellion, and the contest has stretched the length of the island. At the pedestal's foot, Sersi dematerialized the brick walkway beneath She-Hulk's boots. The bulky babe sunk neck-deep into earth. Thing waved a rocky finger at Sersi and told her to calm down. Instead, she flew upward and generated a whirlwind that sucked in sod and timber from the island's landscape. The cyclonic debris threatened Chess Roberts and her cameraman. Thing had to protect them. So, he hugged the two bystanders close instead of confronting Sersi. Impressively, She-Hulk leapt out of the ground and travelled all of the way to aloft Sersi. Titanic arms wrapped godly neck.
"Surrender. Come to your senses," the superbeing told her fellow.
"Let go, beast," Sersi released an ocular energy blast into She-Hulk's mug. Her hands released an incredible plasma blast into She-Hulk's belly. Still, the wondrous woman held-on. She-Hulk head-butted the Eternal and demanded a landing. Smirking, Sersi returned the Sensational One to the earth. Snarling, Sersi rocketed backward with She-Hulk upon her back. The goddess plowed the giantess along the brick walkway cutting a trench all the way to Flagpole Plaza. Still, She-Hulk held on. At Flagpole Plaza, Sersi slammed her unwelcome load into the pole. The great steel pole bent. With a wave of her hand, the witch enfeebled the steel. The forty-foot tall pole toppled forward and threatened to drop Old Glory to the ground this Fourth of July. But, all-American Avenger She-Hulk caught the heavy pole and kept the flag high. She even waved it. "Not on my Independence Day" she said. Liberty Island's bystanders cheered. And, a CBNC camera caught the entire scene.
"Keep the Star-Spangled Banner flying, Jen," Ben Grimm rushed toward Sersi, "I got this troublemaker."
Sersi opened her arms wide, "Yes, come get me." Thing reached her and seized her. Then, slyly, she teleported with him. She-Hulk saw them disappear. Then, the sky grew completely dark. In the dark, She-Hulk kept the flag high. Unexpectedly, someone took the great load from her. "Go, Ms. Walters" said an oddly-dressed figure obscured in the low light. She-Hulk went to find Sersi. Dakimh the Enchanter reversed the sorceress's spell upon the steel. He liked aiding in Jennifer Kale's adventures from time to time. The wizard's ghost returned to the ether.
Sersi and Thing re-appeared far below New York Harbor's surface. Thing wasn't impressed. Neither water pressure nor lack of oxygen affected him much. Then, the demoniac hit him with an unholy energy blast that nearly blasted him to New Jersey. At this revoltin' development, he was impressed. The bedeviled Eternal was most pleased with herself. Thing was eliminated. However, Man-Thing then arrived in the dark depths.
Whoever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing. Man-Thing grabs Sersi, and she burns at his touch. Perhaps, Sersi knows fear in her present bondage to Null. Her gurgling scream agitates the filthy water around her. Within her, warrior Ylandris ejaculates too. She thrashes about in the Eternal's very soul. And, she does not understand why, for Man-Thing was unable to touch her before. That surprise fact alone puts a terrible fear into Ylandris.
In terrible pain, Sersi takes desperate action to escape. She actually manages to ignite Man-Thing ablaze underwater. Her power incinerates the vegetable hands upon her. Dizzily, she flies from the plant-man's stumps. She jets through the water into the air. Swooning, the mighty Sersi drops upon the concrete dock for the Liberty Island ferry. The goddess coughs and cringes as though a lesser being who has just survived an ordeal. Soaking wet, she shivers considering the Man-Thing monster beneath the waters. Then, she notices a giantess's boots standing by her face. Sersi looks up seven feet. She-Hulk stands over her.
She-Hulk hauls-up Sersi by the hair, "I don't want to hurt you, woman. Please surrender now. You look a little discombobulated. Perhaps, you should surrender." Chess Roberts and her cameraman report upon the whole scene. She-Hulk looks good compassionately helping out her fellow good guy this way.
The woozy witch is ungrateful for She-Hulk's care and restraint, however. She swipes at the Jade Giantess and slugs her in the face. She-Hulk lands the big backhand that she could not on Voodoo earlier. Voodoo's puppet drops limply to the dock.
Suddenly, a shape rises high from the harbor. Man-Thing rises high from the water. His giant hands fall upon Sersi with a wet smack. His roots and vines dig into her flesh. She makes a weird moan as the verdant life penetrates, for she seems to protest in two voices. Abruptly, Man-Thing yanks harshly backward. Astonishingly, the green guardian yanks the Ylandris right out of the Eternal. To She-Hulk's amazement, Man-Thing stands high with a fallen angel in his hands. The shrieking shade struggles to escape, but something has changed. Unlike in Citrusville, Man-Thing can handle her ethereal form. He can crush it, squeeze it, burn it. Ylandris screams in fury and pain. Man-Thing's lifeless eyes consider the damned spirit for a moment. Then, Ylandris and Man-Thing simply submerge into the dark depths, and Null's warrior is no more.
"Thank the gods," Sersi murmurs upon the ferry dock. She falls unconscious, and She-Hulk gently cradles her.
"Did she just thank you?" Chess Roberts asks.
"I am not sure. I could not quite hear," She-Hulk strokes Sersi's hair caringly. The formerly savage one has done much to repair her recently damaged reputation. Across the city, viewers are very moved at the clip that CBNC replays throughout the day.
However, the tender moment is broken by the thunderous clamor of 305-feet of steel breaking surreally from stone. She-Hulk and Chess look-up at the Statue of Liberty. What in the hell is happening?
