Reign of Krypton: Swamp Thing Part 1
By James Brady
Writer's Note: This issue is set far before the current Swamp Thing story line, sort of like a mini prequel.
Krypton, 25 Year Ago
The Avatar watches the metallic jungle known as Argo City from far on the mountainsides of Krypton. He feels his influence over the vast jungle and swamp lands of Krypton flex as he increases the amount of CO2 being produced and then decreases it like pumping lungs. He feels the bodies around him, fellow Kryptonians who have sided with the great Avatar, a great Kryptonian tradition till technology caught up with them. Their numbers are small but ancient living together in small communities. The Avatar feels the air around him as he spreads his great wings before reconsidering and contracting them.
"Avatar." A tribesman says stepping towards him. "We are ready. We wait your command."
"I am unsure it is the right time, Li'Har. They're powerful, their reach is far. I can't see inside their city. It has been so long. I have no idea what technological and military prowess they contain. They could be gods now all we know."
"Avatar I trust your judgment implicitly but please, we haven't made contact with the City Dwellers for over a thousand years. We probably no longer speak the same language, but they need to know of the terrible affects they're having on our planet. They must know of the problems their drills are causing in the core of the planet. They must be informed before it is too late."
"You are, Li'Har. I don't wish for you, my loyal followers to be harmed during the-" BWAKAM!
Li'Har's head explodes throwing brains and blood in a sudden shock wave of energy. The followers begin to panic and rush off in all directions with many of them also being killed by the shock waves. The Avatar grows large spikes all over his body and has roots explode from the ground. A huge Kryptonian Assault Ship lifts high above the mountain with huge Zeta Cannons all aimed on The Avatar. The doors of the ship ripple away to reveal a large man in power armour stepping out into the sunlight. He then leaps onto the mountain 5 feet away from The Avatar, followed by a huge tank like man and a slender but dangerous woman both dressed in impressive military armour. All of them hold Sonic Rifles. The leader steps forward.
"By The Nightwing, what could this be, Kelex?"
A small robot drone floats beside The Leader.
"This is The Avatar, General Zod. Once thought to be a myth worshipped by Ancient Kryptonian tribes for years but has since been abandoned to a thing of the past since 3,000 Kr. He and his tribe of natives have been spotted by our drones over the past three weeks patrolling through the jungles and mountain ranges around Argo City. The Avatar is believed to be an extremely dangerous force, sir. Caution is advised."
"Hrm. I thought this would be fun." Zod replies.
He turns back to the Avatar who seems to be shouting at them in a language he cannot understand. He rolls his head towards Kelex.
"Translate him will you. He seems to be speaking in ancient Argonian."
"You killed them!" The Avatar bristles with anger.
"They're un-evolved savages siding with a dangerous ally. It is no loss to Krypton."
"We came in peace, you bastard!"
"I'm not a peace talker, Green Man. Now if you're quite finished, you can either hand yourself over to us now, or we will take you by force and hunt down the rest of your uncivilised animal friends and have them killed also."
The Avatar looks towards the huge cannons mounted on the side of the Assault Ship and feels the writhing anger of the green beneath his feet.
"I'll hand myself to you." He says with a gasp. "But you must listen to me first; all of Krypton is in great danger. I can feel at this very moment your drills deep into the Earth and it is causing great instability to the Core. If you continue with your drilling the planet's core could become unstable and combust! You take the drills out now."
"Yeah?"
Zod turns and looks at his fellow soldiers.
"Did you two know about this?"
"No sir. I don't really keep up to current affairs too much though." Faora says.
"Dunno." Nam Ek replies.
"Excellent." Zod says turning back to the Avatar. "Have him sedated."
The Avatar is suddenly overwrought with agony all over his body as he feels plants crying and screaming in his ear as the panic begins to settle into his body, all over like a psychic rash. He falls to his knees, the stabbing tearing sensation all over his body. He tries to jump to another body but concentration just makes the pain worse. He is powerless till he eventually gives out and collapses.
2013, Earth, Louisiana
"I haven't... slept in weeks... This... new body of mine is slow but... never tired... I feel strong but... at the same time tireless... Abbie has been coming more... often now... and... I like it... when she's here... She brings me food and water... but I can't seem to digest it... and I usually end up having... to pull it out of my stomach... a few days later as it just begins to... rot inside of me... I like the way she looks at me like I'm... normal..."
Swamp Thing stops and looks down at the water he's sitting in. He lifts some moss from the murky water and tries desperately to feel it's sensation before dropping it back in the water. He looks over to Abbie, as she finishes writing the last thing he said.
"I'm... sorry about that." He murmurs.
"About what?" Abbie says looking at him from the notepad. She wears a light t-shirt and jeans with the ends rolled up to her knees. A flower sits perfectly in her pale white curly hair that is currently tied up in a bob. She sits on the banking on the small pond above Swamp Thing as he lies in the water.
"I shouldn't have said... what I said... I didn't mean... to make it awkward..."
"No it's fine. I'm glad you um, appreciate the way I look at you, I suppose. You look really nice at the moment. Is it a summer thing? The flowers?"
"I have no idea... Abbie. I've... only been like this for a ...few weeks now. You think... I'll adapt to my surroundings?"
"Yeah. You seem to be able to re grow parts of your body and things seem to grow around you sometimes. It makes sense you'll change depending on the time of year. "
"I can feel... photosynthesis... happening inside of me. The light… rejuvenating my body."
"Could you make me an apple? Have you ever tried growing fruit before?"
"I've never tried… growing anything… before except… healing parts of my body."
He stands up with water splashing off him and plopping back into the pond. He rose out his hand and tries to imagine an apple as hard as he can. He scrunches up his face but nothing seems to happen as he starts growing thick thorns across his body as he begins to take a bark like quality.
Abbie begins to laugh as he looks a bit ridiculous covered in the thorns and bark while scrunching his face up and gritting his teeth. Suddenly the thorns turn into bright pink blossoms all over his body and Abbie stands in the pond, astonished. She begins to notice the trees around her with pink petals fall all around them. Swamp Thing continues to try and grow out the fruit, curled forward his hand still trying to create an apple. When suddenly BWOOF!
Abbie looks up to see the petals all falling from the trees, apples begin to rain down around them Swamp Thing, who is now covered in apples from his own body, takes Abbie under his arm and leads her away from the hailstorm of apples as they all fall from the tree. The get away from the pond and crouch under a tree as they watch the hundreds of apples and pollen begin to cover the small pond falling with loud sploshed into the water.
"Is that enough... for you... Abbie?" Swamp Thing asks.
They both look at each other and begin to laugh as they hold each other. They look into each other's eyes for a few moments feeling scared but also extremely intimate.
"I... I... Abbie..." Swamp Thing begins before Abbie cuts him off.
"I… uh, think the apples have stopped um raining."
"Yeah... I suppose they have..."
Abbie gets up and grabs her notepad. He resets her bob on her head before looking over at Swamp Thing.
"I'd best get going. Great stuff today by the way. This is always really interesting, Alec."
"Okay... I'll see you tomorrow or... whatever."
"Bye, Alec."
She goes to pat him on the shoulder before grabbing her shoes and leaves. He watches her as she goes till she's out of sight. He looks at the cracked apples lying all around him.
The Phantom Zone, 25 Years ago, 4 Days Later
Unconsciousness isn't something The Avatar has felt for almost 20 thousand years and now it's struck him. He bubbles back to consciousness but his every instinct is different. He's not on Krypton anymore. He feels the life around him, almost inexistence but he can still feel the null void left by technology around him. As he grows back into consciousness he feels that he cannot move his limbs. His eyes pop open as he realises that he's being constrained in a large machine with wires sticking into his body. He look around to see Kryptonian Scientists walking around a large laboratory, taking samples from his body and putting them in small jars.
"He's conscious." One of the Scientists says looking over at The Avatar. "Should we call security?"
Another scientist replies, "No. We've got the samples we need. He's powerless off world anyway."
"Where am I? Why can't I feel The Green?"
"You can't feel the Green because there's no Green left to feel." One of the Scientists says stepping toward him. "Krypton is dead."
"Dead?"
"Yes. It turns out you were correct. Krypton's Core was unstable but something went "wrong" with our machines and the drill's got out of control and caused the core to combust. You happy now?"
"You brought this upon yourselves, you know."
"Oh we know, and we've reaped the consequences, dearly green man."
"Where are we?"
"The Phantom Zone; a pocket dimension we used to use for Interstellar travel but turns out to contain land inside of it of which where we are know."
"What did you just take from me?"
"DNA. We're going to attempt to recreate your ability to grow materials to help us grow food. We could be trapped in the Phantom Zone forever now, may as well make the most of it."
"Allow me to go. I wish you no harm. I don't suppose anything matters anymore."
"Probably doesn't."
Now, The Phantom Zone
The Avatar sits high on one of the mountains of The Phantom Zone meditating. His body has grown thinner and less exotic look after the years without the Green. He sits calmly looking away from the Kryptonian Settlement down below him. He hears a young voice call to him.
"Avatar! Mister Green! The Council wants to talk to you!"
"Tell them I'm busy."
"They say it's very important. They say it has something to do with a New Planet!"
"... Does this planet have life on it?"
"I think they said things live there. They said something about making it into a new Krypton."
The Avatar gets to his feet atop the ridge and looks down onto the settlement. He sees the young boy dressed in Kryptonian Casual ware looking up at him.
"You coming or what? ... Sir?"
Suddenly, without warning, The Avatar falls gracefully from his perch down the side of the mountain. The child watches in horror as he is about to his the ground when he suddenly for the first time in years, sprouts magnificent wings and flies off towards the Settlement.
"Hey! C'mon! Don't leave me here."
The Avatar lands outside of the small Kryptonian Tower as troops mobilise around him and the people. No one pays any notice of The Avatar. He enters the tower and walks through a door to see the Council sitting around a table. Zod and Jor-El's seats are empty.
"Hello. You wanted to see me, Council men?"
"Ah, Avatar." An old bearded man says standing up. "According to General Zod, the Phantom Zone was opened on another planet that has suitable living conditions for Krypton, however when the time is right, we want you to go to this land and using your powers to terraform it, to make it seem exactly like Krypton. A new Krypton."
"Very well. Are we expecting any resistance?"
"There are some primitive life forms on the Planet, but I believe we shall be able to cultivate them quickly. This terraformation should help a lot with this process."
"Anything to get back in contact with the Green, Councilman, without it I feel... starved... parched all these years."
"Now now Avatar, we will all be restored shortly."
Earth, The Arctic Circle:
The Avatar surrounded by The Council steps out onto the frozen land and almost instantly connects with the Green, like a beacon of light finally seeing the sun after sailing through endless darkness for years, but this sun is different. It interacts with him in different ways and he doesn't feel fully accepted into the fold. He outstretches his arms and his fingers become long tendrils that burrow deep down through the ice, into the water and to the depths of the sea. The tendrils burrow further until they meet life, algy living at the bottom of the floor and he's in.
He falls through the cracks of the green like a little blue sinking pebble watching out for the ruins of large sinking ships. This green is a mess; there is no segregation between plant life and human life... they live in harmony like some kind of symbiotic hybrid... The Avatar connects himself to a root of life and follows it to a large swirling Galaxy of energy that seems to be at the centre of the Corps. He squints his eyes and see's a man, a tall skinny blonde human at the centre of the nebulous. This is their Avatar.
The Avatar snaps out of his trance like state and turns to the Council.
"Well... what did you see Avatar?"
"I found their Green. It's far more different than the one I dealt with back on Krypton, and it needs to be eviscerated and remade for it to be compatible with our needs. It will take time, but I should be able to designate the segregated areas over time, however, they currently possess and Avatar thus meaning I won't be able to construct this new version of The Green. He is a young avatar and doesn't seem too advanced as of yet. I shall deal with him swiftly."
The Avatar gets to his feet, spreads his wings and flies off into the Sky.
Louisiana, Swamps
"It's been… a couple of days… now, and Abbie hasn't returned. Was it something … I said? Was it… something I did? Oh don't… fool yourself. It's because of… the way you look, a massive… pile of moss… and grass and mud all… slapped together to be… the cruellest joke… the planet's ever seen."
He stares at his ugly reflection in the water before getting up again and wandering off into the Swamps.
"The only time I ever feel… normal is when Abbie looks at me… or when I lie down… and pretend to sleep at night. When I'm at… peace I can… feel some great kind… of powerful sensation writhing in… the ground beneath me… but also all around me, in the trees… and in the soil and… in the air, like some kind of life force… and I feel a part of it. I feel like I'm one… with this life force… but I don't quite understand the language… it's speaking to me. I don't quite understand… the way it wants me to interact with it. I should try… and develop my powers. When… I grew all those apples with Abbie… I felt that force… like sensation around me. I wonder… what else I can do… given the right concentration. Maybe I could... grow a chair?"
Swamp Thing reaches out his arm and begins to envision a chair, with legs and arms woven together with wood and bark used for the back to support it and maybe it could rock back and forth.
Swamp Thing steps back and looks at the mess he's created; it looks like someone tried to draw a chair while not looking at the page, the arms are sticking out at different angles and the legs are all over the place.
Swamp Thing is about to try again when he suddenly feels something come over him, a great powerful shockwave of psychic energy pass over him, it's the nighttimes sensation but channelled into a painful force. He falls to his knees and clutching his head before he throws his head back to see a blip in the sky coming towards him at break neck speeds.
WHAMBOWM!
Trees and earth are thrown into the air for about 100 Meters apart leaving a huge crater in the ground. Swamp Thing hurtles to the ground covered in his own fluids and lands with a loud BAM! He tries desperately to get oxygen into his synthesised lungs but nothing seems to be working in his body. He watches as the forest he once knew rains down around him. He tries to get to his knees but everything is wrought with pain. He stumbles through the crater trying to see through the huge dust clouds all around him. He soon realises that his body is healing again as he feels a new lenses grow over his eyes allowing him to see in through the dust. The green feels closer than ever now. He walks calmly through the dust till he seems a huge man made of exotic looking alien plants, he is almost throbbing with power as he stares at his hands feeling the new power that has been bestowed upon him by the photosynthesis. He has huge powerful wings that slowly fall and lose their texture and become a long extravagant cape.
Swamp Thing approaches him his fists up ready to fight. The Avatar turns slowly to greet him.
"Ah... Planet Earth's Avatar of The Green."
"Why did you… destroy my home? You… will pay for that!"
"Don't try and battle me, I know all about you Alec Holland; a young scientists working to try and take the Green and bend it to the will of mankind and thus became The Avatar of the Green for your arrogance. I find it disgusting that they chose you, but I suppose Earth's Green doesn't have that fantastic of a selection of Avatars as they seem to go through them like falling leaves."
The Avatar begins to stroll in a circle around Swamp Thing with his arms calmly behind his back, his cape following by his heels.
"On my planet I have been the unchallenged Avatar of The Green for thousands of years. I've watched Krypton become the war mongering civilisation that it is today and I sat and bided my time, but now I am here and I've been without The Green for far too long you see."
"Why are you… telling me all this?"
"Because I want you to understand who I am and why I'm about to what I'm about to do."
"What you're… about to do… is leave!"
The Avatar stops circling and looks at Swamp Thing.
"Come then. Force me to leave."
Swamp Thing rushes towards The Avatar and begins to punch him in the face with all his strength, The Avatar backs away allowing the hits to be made as blood begins to be thrown from his mouth with the blood growing small Kryptonian plants as they hit the ground. Swamp Thing punches till he's exhausted. The Avatar stands to his full height and looks down on Swamp Thing.
"I haven't bled in 3 thousand years, little Avatar. Excellent job, but your best wasn't enough, I'm afraid."
Swamp Thing tries to begin to reason with The Avatar but before he can The Avatar's cape turns back to wings that raise high above his head before coming down like kitchen knives cutting Swamp Thing's arms clean off. He cries out in pain with the next thing he knows is that with his left knife wing the Avatar has cut Swamp Thing's legs off and with the other wing which have now turned into thin strips of thick fabric are stabbing into Swamp Thing holding him up above the ground.
"Oh little Avatar... if only they had told you..."
Swamp Thing yells in pain as The Avatar plunges his hand inside of Swamp Thing's chest. He sees a bright green light coming from under his skin as he yells even louder, completely powerless under The Avatar's reign. Life soon falls from him like a leaf from a tree and he falls limply to the ground as the Avatar spreads his wings out to the side.
"Yes..." The Avatar whispers.
Next: The Conclusion to Swamp Thing: Reign!