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Marvel Universe: Heroism
Chapter 21: Aeon vs. Deathblade, the true power revealed
"Ultimate is that you?" Aeon asked, staring at the black armoured warrior standing in front of him.
"You don't have to worry about me copying you anymore Aeon, I've gained power of my own, I am Deathblade!"
Aeon looked at Deathblade and shook his head; he then turned around and began walking away. Deathblade swung his blade and launched a wave of dark energy at Aeon. The energy brushed past Aeon's cheek, he touched the cut it had given him and looked in horror at the building it front of him. It was so sharp and powerful that the energy wave had cut at least a quarter of the already ruined building off. Aeon turned back around to face his rival.
"Listen Deathblade I heard about your actions so far and what your doing isn't helping, we have no idea what this guy is planning but it must be something terrible" Aeon said.
"I already know what the Skrull is planning, I have seen him through the memories I gained from Elemental, and from the Skrull that impersonated the Black Widow I know what he intends to do with the earth"
"Then why are you fighting if you know what he's trying to do?"
"I ALSO KNOW HIS TERRIFYING POWER! He not only enslaves worlds, he converts people into his own private army, Phalanx he calls them, and these "soldiers" are just as terrifying as he is"
"So that's it then, your giving up because of that, I expected someone like you to be better than that" Sven said in disgust.
Deathblade lunged forward, grabbing Aeon by the throat.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME!!"
Aeon cringed under Deathblade's grip, but as always he wasn't swayed.
"Its true I could never understand what you've been through, having parents that never gave a damn about you, all your life thinking why did it have to be me, why couldn't I have the life another person did…wondering how you would have turned out with parents who loved" Aeon began, looking Deathblade in the eye.
Deathblade's mask came alive and revealed Cade's real face. Aeon moved his hand towards his mask and pulled it down.
"And then you've been given the power to make anything possible yet that power failed and left you, and worse it was to a pampered punk who will never understand you. But none of that matters now, someone's trying to threaten our planet, destroy our race. And all's your doing is standing back and saying "oh well it had to end sometime""
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!!"Cade threw Aeon through the window of one of the buildings.
The scythe wielder floated into the office, kicking and throwing aside the desks and files that blocked his way. Much to his surprise, Sven got up off the floor with even more determination on his face. Gravity, Ant-man, Jewel and Darkhawk flew towards the two super humans, until Captain Marvel stopped them.
"Cap, get out of the way, Aeon needs our help" Jewel said.
"No, he's trying to get through to this Deathblade character, leave them be!" The Kree Warrior said firmly.
Deathblade began walking towards Aeon, brandishing his scythe. Aeon ducked under one swing; then side stepped to avoid another. Dark flames surrounded the blade as the wielder swung again. Aeon blocked with a barrier surrounding his arm, then punched the unmasked Cade across the face, sending him falling onto a few books and boxes.
"I don't care what happens to me, I don't care how much I suffer, how much I lose, I'll keep on fighting and saving lives. Fury and other people tried to determine what heroism is, they tried turning super humans into soldiers, but that's not what we are, we aren't organic smart bombs, we are sentient beings who have the right to decide what we're going to do with our life. You've chosen to do as you please haven't you, killing anyone who you feel deserves it. And I've chosen to save lives and fight super villains who threaten them. Heroism isn't something that can be defined by geniuses like Richards of Stark, it varies from one individual from the next, there's no right way to save lives, and sometimes they require sacrifice. I'LL SACRIFICE ONLY MY LIFE IF I HAVE TO SAVE SOMEONE! I'LL FIGHT ANY OPPONENT WHO THREATENS THIS PLANET!!" Aeon yelled. "I don't care how strong they are, I don't care how evil or good the people I save are and I don't care what happens if I do or don't save them! ALLS THAT MATTERS TO ME IS THAT THEY LIVE IF WARS CONTINUE THEN I DONT CARE SO LONG AS THEY LIVE!!"
"How can you save lives and defeat villains if you don't even know what your powers are?" Deathblade asked.
"I think I know what my true power is, the energy manipulation, the second skin and mimicking abilities were just phases towards my real power" Sven said, staring at his hands.
Cade got up off the floor and covered his face with his second skin mask. The two stared at each other for a moment, before Aeon began walking to the edge of the building. Deathblade rested on his scythe and sighed.
"We'll see if you have got what it takes to become a hero, fool!" Deathblade made his scythe disappear before crossing his arms.
Gravity and the other heroes gasped as Aeon jumped off of the building.
"Can he fly?" Ant-man asked.
"No he can't…AEON!!" Gravity, Darkhawk and Jewel flew after Sven.
Sven closed his eyes 'I want to be a hero…I want to be a hero…I want to be a hero' he thought over and over again.
The young teen was inches from touching the ground before he opened his eyes. Suddenly a bright light shined, forcing the other heroes to stop and cover their eyes. A figure flew out of the light, sporting the same red and white colours as Aeon, his muscles were bigger. A Japanese symbol for heroism was emblazed in the middle of his chest, surrounded by a glowing red circle, which separated into lines than ran down to his knees and broad shoulders. His eyes were wide and red like the lenses of a mask, the second skin mask covered his entire head and a bit of white hair stuck out of the back of his head, the figures hands were like black armoured gloves and a black cloth like substance was wrapped around his elbows, knees and shaped like a V near his hips. The white part of his second skin looked more like armour than anything else.
"I finally found what my true power is, Gravity, Jewel, Darkhawk, all of you focus on saving the earth, on what heroes should focus on…for I am FUSION!" The figure yelled.
Realising that the hero standing before them was the one who tried to teach them what heroism was, the three heroes flew close to Aeon and thought about what they truly wanted to do.
'Save lives!'
The three heroes flew close to Aeon as his white armour began to glow, they fought about what true heroism meant. Suddenly Aeon exploded in a bright flash of light, consuming Gravity, Jewel and Darkhawk. Captain Marvel and Ant-man covered their eyes then stared in shock at the being that flew out of the light. It was Aeon, however his armour was now a dark blue and white like Darkhawk's and Gravity's costumes, his shoulder guards were pink and shaped like diamonds, a pair of steel wings also stretched out of his back, his eyes were yellow like the lenses from Gravity's goggles and a beak shaped helmet like Darkhawk's covered his head.
"Aeon!" Mar-vell said.
"Fusion, Aeon whichever I don't really care about names anymore" Sven said.
Sven looked towards the Stadium and saw a blast of purple energy cut through the roof. The hero took off towards the arena, numerous Skrulls and super soldiers blocked his path but that didn't sway him. Aeon cut one of the machine men in half with his wings, then blasted away three Skrulls with Gravity's powers. The young hero then grabbed a super soldier by the arm; span around and hammer threw the young man into a group of Ultron androids. Ant-man and Captain Marvel followed, the Kree warrior punched and kicked away any Doombot or Super soldier that was foolish enough to approach. Scott spoke into his helmet, ordering thousands of ants to swarm upon a group of Skrull warriors, distracting them at least. Gothica flew into Aeon's path, his eyes glowing a silver colour.
"I don't know what you are but you've got plenty of darkness to use" the Goth giggled.
"SEPARATE!!" Aeon yelled.
Suddenly Aeon created the bright light again, returning to his normal form. Too surprised by the turn of events, Gothica had no time to react as Jewel and Gravity grabbed his arms.
"Four minds in one body might be easy, but separate those minds and it becomes harder!" Darkhawk said as he punched Gothica in the chest.
Jewel threw Gothica towards the ground, and Gravity used his powers to increase the gravity around Gothica. Gothica's slammed into the ground like a meteor, leaving a crater beneath him. The young heroes saluted Aeon as he kept flying towards the arena. Even as Super soldiers grabbed him, Aeon kept on flying; even with Loki floating over the Arena Aeon kept on flying. Suddenly an optic beam flew into Loki, pushing him into a ruined building. Aeon threw the super soldiers off of him and looked to see Mimic on one of the rooftops, with muscles as big as Warpath's, fur like Wolfbane's and claws like Wolverine's.
"GO FOR IT AEON!!" Calvin yelled and Aeon gave his best friend the thumbs up before punching a hole through the arena roof.
The Avengers looked up in surprise at Aeon's new form, the last of the Illuminate looked mildly impressed, merely watching the heroes fight with his black armoured guards. Stingray blasted one of the guards in the chest while Daredevil smacked another round the back of the head with his Billy clubs. Captain America threw his shield, beheading three Ultron robots before he began running towards the Illuminate. The man got up off his chair as his ears pointed out, three lines appeared on his chin and most remarkably of all his skin changed purple.
"What the hell, since when were Skrull skins purple?" Hawkeye asked and Goliath shrugged his shoulders.
The Skrull pointed his finger at Captain America, firing a beam out of the tip of his nail. Aeon flew into the path of the beam, to his surprise the beam pushed both him and Cap into the wall.
"Damn I actually thought that was weaker" Aeon said.
"Sven is that you?" Cap asked.
"Yep!" Aeon said.
Tigra yelped in delight and jumped on Aeon, licking his cheek.
"John's got a thing for older women and now this kid could be a beast, what next an incest relationship?" Hawkeye wondered out load.
"Well there are rumours about Magneto's kids!" Goliath said as he batted away three Skrulls.
In Genosha both Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch sneezed.
"PUSH THEM BACK MY BROTHERS!!" Magneto yelled as he used various metal spikes to impale the Skrull invaders.
The whole island of Genosha was quite literally an army, flyers flew around the skrulls mother ship, blasting and bashing its hull. However the mutant nation lost its advantage as soon as the machine men, which were similar in their design to sentinels. The machine men had equipment and armour that neutralised some of the mutant's powers. For Magneto they had counter magnets, effectively making his powers useless against them. One of the machine men aimed its cannon at a group of young mutants hiding amongst the rubble of one of the buildings.
"NO!" Magneto yelled as he desperately flew towards the youths.
But Magneto wasn't fast enough, yet unlike the other Brotherhood members he never gave up hope. Suddenly before the machine man could fire, two missiles flew into its head and arm, blowing both parts to pieces. The mutants looked into the sky to see the Karl Griffon, the Proto-Omega sentinel. A yellow light glowed on the X on his chest and suddenly all the Machine men turned their attention towards him. All of the machine men surrounded Karl, but his X changed to a blue colour and Karl unleashed one of Forge's inventions. An EMP pulse combined with the Omega Sentinel's advanced technology not only deactivated the sentinels, but also blew them apart. All that was left was for Magneto to create a magnetic barrier to protect the citizens of Genosha.
"Please don't thank me!" Karl said seriously as he turned his attention to the Skrull ships.
He used his advanced sensors to detect where the most Skrulls were stationed; he found one point where a large number of Skrulls were working. Karl fired a massive repulsor ray at this one point, which turned out to be the bridge. With no one left to pilot it, the massive machine was sent toppling into the ocean. The mutants looked up at the one who had saved them, and most began to mutter doubts on whether or not the humans were what Magneto claimed they were. With out any thanks Karl flew off.
In New York the battle between the super heroes and the villains reached its climax as the Punisher finally managed to shoot Crossbones kneecaps.
"All right, everybody lets go help Cap!" Luke Cage said and the other heroes nodded their heads.
Aeon got up off the floor and looked towards the last of the Illuminate, ignoring the various Skrulls gathering in front of him. Suddenly black energy consumed the Skrulls and the heroes looked up. Deathblade floated above them, spinning his scythe over his head. The anti-hero landed beside Aeon, keeping his eyes locked on the last remaining enemy.
"This doesn't mean I've given up on kicking your ass!" Deathblade growled.
"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Aeon said nodding his head.
"You fools, you truly think you can stop me from converting every single one of you into a member of my Phalanx army?" The Illuminate asked.
The heroes merely stood there, staring at the Skrull defiantly as he got up off his chair. Tigra and Stingray flinched as the man ripped off his hair. Suddenly the man began to grow in size, standing at least ten feet over the heroes, his muscle span also increased and his facial expressions became more fierce. A fierce aura of purple energy began to surround him and his eyes also glowed a purple colour.
Everyone got into a fighting stance as the Skrull roared "IT IS TIME FOR YOU ALL TO FACE THE TRUE RATH OF THANOS!!"
Next Chapter 22: The Final battle