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The Echo of Destiny
Chapter 26: A shared belief
I am Uatu of the Watcher's, I like Karabai are the last of my kind. My duty is to bear witness to significant events in the Universe. The fall of Karabai was one such event, the destruction of an entire planet. Karabai's real name is Kevin Seyhack, a Karaban from the planet Karabai. They are much like humans in their appearance and culture, but their strength and intelligence allowed them to advance their culture to points the people of Earth would not reach for millennia. All disease had been wiped out, poverty and racial hate was non-existent. The planet was a Utopia, an empire that reached into their solar system and prospered. But a great tragedy befell the planet; an alien invasion, or a being like Galactus, but didn't destroy them rather by their own technology. For them it was another discovery to make, the mastery of robotic AI. They wanted to create a single machine that would link all machinery on the planet and their colonies, one that would grow more intelligent and spread that intelligence to the children of the planet, teaching them acceptance and removing all hate.
But this Artificial Intelligence grew more intelligent than its masters. Intelligence can become arrogance, leading to a shared belief from every machine that they were superior to their own creators. In a single day, half of the world's population was wiped out. Machinery for crops shut down, preventing farmers from growing their own food, elevators, aircraft and vehicles all crashed, leading to thousands of deaths in single moments. The life support systems of space colonies shut down and across the world, people saw the deaths of billions of people that lived in space. Factories that created transport were then given a new purpose, to create weapons.
The Hive mind that was gradually destroying the planet was given a name by the religious cults of the world. They called it Legion! Despite their belief in synthetic superiority, the Legion used its incredible technology to evolve into something that was part machine and part organic. Grey skinned, red eyed, with spikes sticking out of the back of their spines and circuitry running across their legs and chests, the Legion became an army that grew in size till it over ran the entire planet. Millions died, caught in the energy blasts from the Legion ships and rifles. The Karaban's tried to fight back, but their resistance movement was wiped out as soon as it was formed.
And yet despite all the death, all the sorrow and destruction a single hope remained. A scientist had altered his son, making him the strongest and most powerful of Karaban's. Kevin Seyhack was five when he gained his incredible strength. His father was a brilliant man, who had unfortunately proposed the idea of the machine hive-mind.
"Kevin, quickly, step onto the teleport pad" The man said, pulling Kevin into his lab.
"Dad what about Mom?" Kevin asked.
"I'm right here baby!" A beautiful blonde haired woman said as she ran into the lab.
"You are all that's left of ours planet Kevin, you must live, this teleport pad will take you to a world far away from our solar system" Kevin's father explained.
"You and Mom will come with me right?" Kevin asked.
The two parents lowered their heads as they began to activate the teleport pad.
"Mom, Dad please answer me…no your not planning on staying are you?" He asked.
Again they ignored him and tears began to flow down the boy's eyes.
"Mom Dad please you can't leave me like this, I still need you" Kevin pleaded with his parents.
"No boy, you don't need us, you have all the strength you need to survive…remember where you came from Kevin, find a new home to call your own" His father said.
"We love you Kevin, we'll always love you"
The two parents hugged their son and walked him over to the teleport pad. He pleaded with them, but they still ignored him. They wiped the tears from their eyes as they teleported their screaming son across the galaxy. He reappeared in a Shiar world and from there he spent two years learning of alien cultures. During this time he first took note of the power of humans when he witnessed the fall of Emperor D'Ken at the hands of the X-men. Leaving the Shiar home world, he took a ship and flew across space, killing a Brood colony on his journey and even exploring Sakaar at one point. Quickly leaving that world, he then returned to the solar system from which he came from.
Karabai was gone, not a trace had been left of the planet or the Legion. Young Kevin wept for his lost planet and in his sorrow he attempted suicide. He pierced the hull of his ship with his bare hand, but it was then he discovered that he no longer needed to breath. Abandoning the ship, Kevin flew into his systems sun. It was there that he discovered just how powerful he truly was. Instead of being burned by the plasma, he absorbed the suns energy. His cells were capable of absorbing and storing solar energy. Using this energy he flew at light speeds to the planet Torfan. There at age ten he was welcomed as the first alien to make contact with the Torfan's. Some welcomed him; others such as the Tyrannical king sought his destruction.
He spent a year fighting the empire, before he killed the king and became the Defacto ruler of Torfan. People bowed to him and asked him his name.
"Karabai!" That was what he introduced himself as.
Now he was a king, he had achieved fortune, power and now had a home to call his own. People worshipped him and with his power and intelligence he led to many advancements, but never once thought of going into the field of AI technology. He learnt from his fathers mistakes and made robots into mindless slaves that responded to commands. I witnessed the birth of a galactic empire. Karabai moved out into space, conquering other worlds in mere moments. His power and ambition knew no bounds, yet from time to time he would rest, sit atop his throne and send a drone to Earth. He saw the Avengers fight Korvac, the X-men face the Phoenix and countless other events. Humanities concept of heroism had caught his interest. Their ability to survive despite their lack of intelligence and power intrigued Karabai.
"Earth, we'll save that planet for last" Karabai said with a smile as he continued his conquest.
Years passed and he finally had his chance to take the Earth. The Watcher's are not just capable of seeing events, but possible outcomes. Sometimes we ask the question "What if?" and with our power to see we answer these questions. Small differences in events can change entire worlds. For the longest time, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson believed their daughter to be dead. But barely a year after her birth and abduction she had been found. It was one mans decision that changed Peter Parker's history.
Nick Fury looked at the masked man standing before him. It was a simple choice to make and yet he was taking at least an hour to make it. He wore a black suit, with grey sleeves and padding on his joints and knuckles. Two gun blades were strapped to his hips with a brown harness on his chest and a black mask on his face. Blonde hair hung over his red eyes lenses as he looked at two sets of coordinates. The decision was simple, either go to Afghanistan and assist a group of American soldiers or go to the Caribbean or assist in a police investigation into possible terrorist weapons.
In the end he chose to assist his fellow soldiers. But one must ask, What If he chose the Caribbean?
"Those soldiers can handle themselves, those weapons need to be found and stopped" Soldier said as he walked to his jet.
He spent a month investigating the criminal underworld, breaking a few fingers and knocking some teeth out before he got what he was looking for. His leads led him to a bunker set up by an Alison Mongraine. But nowadays she was going by the alias April Saver. Soldier figured it must have been a joke as Alison had apparently kidnapped a child. He broke into the base, analysing the Goblin glider weaponry Mongraine had kept in storage. Then he came into a medical room of some kind. Creeping into the room, Soldier readied his pistol as he walked towards a dusty box. He wiped the dust off of the box and looked upon a small child, She was a few months old and had very thin strands of brown hair growing from her fragile head.
She had been connected to a machine that kept her alive. Judging from the readings she had been forced into stillbirth from a poison. But Mongraine's diary said otherwise. Instead of dying, the child's strange physiology accounted for the poison. Her life had been saved by her apparent developing mutant powers. May Parker was her name, Mongraine had taken her from her parents, made them think she had died and discarded her in this bunker, connecting her to tubes that fed her essential nutrients and kept her in a coma.
"Don't move!" A voice behind Soldier said.
Soldier cursed himself; he should have smelt the bitch coming. She was wearing a goblin glove, with a bag full of Goblin blades. Soldier turned around and looked at Mongraine. She fired a beam from her finger and widened her eyes as Soldier's energy shield erupted, lighting up the room. Easily blocking the beams, Soldier slowly began to walk towards Alison. She threw a flurry of blades at Soldier, but the masked man easily managed to block each blade, until a fifth one flew into his shoulder. In a sudden burst of strength, he threw Alison's workbench on top of the woman, kicking her bag aside and slamming his fist straight through the table. He lifted Alison up off the floor, throwing her across the bunker. She hit her head on a Goblin glider, moaning as she use the gliders wing to pull herself up off the ground.
"You have no idea who your messing with do you? I work for Osborn!" She growled.
"So your just following orders right?" Soldier asked, stopping in his tracks.
"Yes, in fact I could lead you to him, just take me in and I'll…" But she stopped, reaching for a pumpkin bomb attached to the glider.
As soon as the bomb left her hand, Soldier drew his gun blade and fired a shot that intercepted the bomb. It blew up, sending Mongraine flying across the room and crashing into the wall. Soldier walked towards the woman, slamming his heel so hard into her knee that the bone broke. He then grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall.
"ALL RIGHT I SURRENDER!!!" She screamed through the blood.
Soldier stopped with his fist just inches from Mongraine's face. He breathed a heavy sigh as he let go of Mongraine. The woman wiped the blood from her nose.
"The kid's okay, her condition can be reversed, just take her to one of those brainy guys like Richards or Stark" Mongraine said.
"Shut up!" Soldier growled, looking to the baby.
She looked so weak and fragile, she'd been taken from the only people that could give her what she needed. Soldier breathed a heavy sigh again, looking to Mongraine. The woman was just a puppet, but still she had committed the crime. His breathing began to get heavier as he looked to Baby May again. Pulling the blade out of his shoulder, Soldier squeezed it tightly as he looked down at Mongraine. A look of horror crossed her face as she saw Soldier's blood dripping from the blade.
"No please…I didn't want to kill her, she turned out alive anyway"
But that didn't take all the pain away, she could have killed May and since she was working for Osborn she would have told him and he would have used her as a tool to get to Parker. Soldier growled as he raised the blade.
"I'm just a tool of Osborn's I'll testify against him, put him away for life, he might even get the chair this time…PLEASE DON'T!!" She screamed.
Yes, she could be the key that leads to Osborn never being able to get out of prison again. But what would happen to her, what punishment would she get. Evil, whether intentional or not needed to be punished.
"JUST ARREST ME! I'LL SERVE WHATEVER SENTENCE THEY GIVE ME!!!"
Soldier yelled before crashing his blade straight through Mongraine's skull. He left the blade imbedded there and took deep breaths in order to calm himself down.
"Not this time, this time everyone gets punished!" He growled before he turned his back to the woman's body.
He disconnected all the machinery and held May in his arms. Another few days and she probably would have died. But with a little help from James's Crowner, Soldier was sure he could track down Parker in time. As the masked man walked into one of James's safe houses, the said genius looked at Soldier's bleeding hand.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Something good…now get the baby some food and find her god damn parents" Soldier said, giving the child to Gloria before walking back to his jet.
Though Soldier didn't talk about it, Fury and James knew that he had murdered someone out of a sense of justice. And that was exactly what frightened them. But James quickly lost that fear when he left May on Peter Parker's doorstep. A smile crossed his face as he walked away, imagining the happiness that Mary Jane and Peter Parker must have felt. Both parents recognised their daughter instantly and both shed tears as the girl smiled, recognising her parents also.
One choice had given a girl a chance to live and in return that changed everything. During the Civil War, Peter Parker refused to reveal his identity, for he had a daughter to protect and not just a wife and Aunt. Later, he left Stark tower and continued his vigilante activities as a fugitive. However after Peter teamed up with the new Scarlet Spiders, Stark decided that he would leave Peter and his family alone. May went to a regular school, but was always watched by three people that Peter had come to trust, the Scarlet Spider's.
"I wont be responsible for the death of a little girl" Tony said, because he knew that if he revealed Peter's identity then that was exactly what would happen.
After the Civil War, Harry Osborn was discovered to be alive. Apparently it had been a clone that had died in Peter's arms. His son Normie and May became good friends, the best of friends even. That is the result of one man's choice and one mans sacrifice. Now I watch another event, the possible genocide of the Torfan people and the destruction of the Kree, Skrull and Shiar military forces.
The beam ripped through the clouds, out of the Earth's atmosphere. It consumed a satellite and a Crowner drone that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been using to monitor the battles. But suddenly the beam stopped when it went past the moon. Aeon breathed heavily as he poured all his strength into holding the beam back. Genocide was the path that should never be crossed, so he put forward his best effort into saving the Torfan's and every other alien in space. Noh-Varr saw the beam from afar and began ordering the Kree ships to fall back.
"Sir, Karabai's ships are incapable of moving" Kai-Vell said.
"Excellent, that blast will destroy Karabai's entire force in a single swoop" The Commander said.
"But Commander, I heard that the entire population of Torfan was on Karabai's capital ship, that thing cant move either" Kai-Vell explained.
"They're necessary sacrifices to stop a threat Vell"
"I suppose that's why humanity keeps getting invaded, it just keeps giving us reasons to fear it" Kai-Vell sighed as he looked out of the window.
His mother had told him of the greatness of Earth's heroes. Yet he couldn't help but feel that they would like nothing more than an entire alien race to be wiped from the face of the galaxy.
Aeon yelled, his helmet cracking as he pushed the beam back by only a few inches. He began to think, crying out for any telepath on Earth that would listen. On Earth, Xavier stopped what he was doing as he heard Aeon's thoughts. Reaching out with his telepathy, he made contact with the young man. They appeared in a white void, silent just like space.
"What's going on?" Aeon asked.
"Don't worry Aeon, your body is still holding back the beam, what is it you want me to do?" Xavier asked.
"I want you to make telepathic contact with every single Avenger and X-men member, have them direct all of their courageous thoughts into me, help them believe that I can win, tell them that I need them to believe in me" Aeon explained.
"I hope your not expecting me to manipulate them"
"No, just pass the message along"
Xavier nodded and returned Aeon to the world of the conscious. Aeon continued to push the beam in place, pouring all his strength into that action. Xavier concentrated with his powers the way he had never concentrated before. Without Cerebro it took all his concentration to reach into not only the Avengers minds, but also Nick Fury's, some of the former Thunderbolt's, Magneto, the younger heroes, Sentry and his wife, Jarvis and even Peter Parker's family. His voice echoed in their minds, all-pleading for one single thing.
"Please, believe in Aeon, he's the only one that can prevent a genocide"
It took a moment for them to publish that message and then they realised. Aeon was pouring all his strength into preventing the destruction of their enemy. The ones that killed countless humans as well as heroes. But if Aeon couldn't stop that beam, they would have claimed victory over Karabai. That was at least what some heroes thought as they continued their battles. Moon Knight smacked a grunt across the head with his staff and Punisher gunned down two with his M-16. In Korea, Radioactive man bombarded the soldiers with beams from his hands. He wouldn't show them any mercy.
"Why show mercy for the people who killed Jamie?" Siryn asked, hiding in a bunker with Darwin and some of Xavier's students.
"We'd be rid of a threat, it's a tragic sacrifice but the Earth would still be safe" Magneto explained to Wanda and Pietro.
"I CANT BELIEVE YOU LENSHERR!!!" Calvin yelled. "I would have thought you of all people would understand that Genocide is something we should never allow to happen again…I choose to believe in my friend" Calvin said solemnly as he looked at the sky.
Norman cackled, no one would respond to the plea, at least not enough to prevent the beam from killing both him and Karabai's people. Sophia managed to deal a quick blow to Scorpio's head, knocking him out. Rockslide and Mercury both overcame Cancer and Taurus while Laurie reduced Hood to nothing more than a man crying about how sorry he was. Robbie and Michael both fired blasts into Juggernaut, knocking him away from A-Bomb. War Machine then fired his Uni beam into Bulldozer's chest.
"LET THE BEAM STRIKE THEM! VICTORY WILL BE OURS!!!" Ares yelled, punching Pile Driver across the head.
Thor Girl slammed her hammer into Wrecker's head and Namor landed a swift kick to Thunder Ball's. With the Wrecking Krew defeated, the heroes directed their attention on the rest of the Hood's gang. Hank shrunk, flying away from Venom as the feral villain ran after him. Luke and A-Bomb both delivered swift uppercut's to Juggernaut's head, knocking his helmet off.
"PSYLOCKE NOW!!!" They yelled.
Betsy kicked Vargas across the head and directed her attention towards Juggernaut. A butterfly aura appeared over her face as she attacked Juggernaut's mind. Cain yelled in pain before collapsing.
"Now where were we?" Psylocke asked.
"Your second death!" Vargas said.
"In your dreams" Betsy laughed.
She blocked a swipe, and then countered with a swing of her sword. Vargas blocked the sword, slashing at Psylocke horizontally. Psylocke back flipped, dodging the blade. She then performed the splits, ducking underneath Vargas's sword and thrusting her telekinetic Katana into his chest. He yelled in pain as Betsy subsequently lashed out with her telepathy, knocking Vargas out. Hulk's anger rose while Rulk's heat increased and like before it was the true Hulk that dealt the knock out blow. Standing over his defeated foe, Hulk roared.
"HULK IS STRONGEST THERE IS!!!!"
Mystique tried to shoot Tigra, but Luke Cage slid in the way, taking the bullets like pebbles. He then threw his fist into the woman's face, knocking her out cold. Dark Beast threw Hank away from him, growling as the X-man tried to get up off the floor.
"It's too bad, I wanted to dissect you when you were in your cat like form…Oh well I'll dissect you anyway" Dark Beast laughed.
Michael Pointer stepped in Dark Beast's way, removing his cowl and glaring at the man.
"I thought you'd be more thankful Michael, after all I did give you a power boost"
"No! You stole that power from an Eighteen year old kid, you killed him" Michael growled.
"Of course I killed him, and you just stood by an accepted the power, you let yourself be controlled like all ways"
Michael charged energy into his right hand, grinding his teeth together as he took a step towards Dark Beast.
"No one will ever control me again! THIS IS FOR HELLION!!!"
He fired the blast, consuming Dark Beast and burning the skin off his bones. Venom jumped at Spider-man, but Luke Cage grabbed the mans leg and repeatedly slammed him into the ground. Penance then fired an energy blast, knocking Venom into Moonstone. Spider-man then jumped off of Menace's shoulder and flew towards Osborn. Landing on his glider, Peter grabbed the Goblin by his neck. Both sworn enemies glared at one another, ready to finish a battle that had raged since the start of their careers.
In the mountains, Iron Man's team faced Karabai. The Warlord punched Thor, sending him flying away from the mansion. Cyclops and Iron Man both fired blasts into Karabai's chest, knocking him off balance. MVP then slammed his shield into the back of Karabai's head, rolling across the floor to dodge the Warlord's punch.
"YOUR ALL DEAD! I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR KILLING THEM!!!!" Karabai yelled.
"We've done what we've had to" Songbird said, bombarding Karabai with solid sound missiles.
Crusader slammed his fist into Karabai's face and Wonder Man tackled him. Grabbing Simon's hair, Karabai threw him across the mountain. He then fired a blast that cut Crusader's shoulder. The Skrull flew away as She-Hulk and Thing ran at Karabai. He punched both heroes in their chest, gathering air into his lungs; he then blew both heroes into Colossus, Molly and Nightcrawler.
"You took them away! FOR THAT YOU'LL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!!!" Karabai yelled.
His eyes glowed intensively as the heroes surrounded him. Xavier's voice echoed in their minds, begging them to put their faith in Aeon.
"Please, all of you listen to me, we must each share our belief's"
Aeon yelled as the armour on his back cracked. His arms were in agony, but he could afford to give up now. Wanda closed her eyes; her and Pietro mouthed the words.
"Aeon, we believe in you"
Magneto joined his children, putting his hands together in a silent prayer. Sieg ran out of the mansion, looking to the sky he could practically see Aeon holding back the beam.
"AEON I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN MY HERO!!!" Sieg yelled.
But even a single persons faith wouldn't be enough more was needed. Rachel kneeled beside Cable, both siblings putting their hands together they prayed not to a god but to a man. Instead of joining his teammates in their fight, Thor looked to the sky, his thoughts on Aeon. Throwing his sword aside, Captain Britain closed his eyes and thought of the man that saved his country.
"What's the point in winning a war if we become monsters? There's none….A WAR CAN BE WON WITHOUT COMMITTING GENOCIDE! PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME AND I'LL WIN THIS WAR THE RIGHT WAY! IF NOT THEN YOU'RE NOT THE HEROES YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE!!!!"
His voice echoed in their minds and from that moment, the heroes knew what they needed to do. Each one looked to the sky and focused their thoughts on not only Aeon, but also the man that came before him. Slade's image appeared over Aeon and the beam stopped in place. Aeon looked at his hands to see his armour cracking, but he wasn't concerned. Looking to the man behind him, he smiled.
"You showed them all…what they needed to be"
Slade nodded his head, patting Aeon on the shoulder. In New York, Moon Knight and Punisher were grudgingly looking up at the sky. Mary Jane ran out of the safe house, carrying Mayday. The little girl looked up at the sky and cheered.
"Aeon's going to save the day isn't he?" She asked.
"Yeah baby, he is" Mary Jane smiled.
Spider-man slammed his head into the Green Goblin's, knocking him back slightly.
"I don't understand, how can people put their faith in one man who they don't even know?" Osborn asked.
"It's better than putting their faith in a murderer…that's what sets us apart from you Norman…"But Spider-man's words were interrupted as Norman punched him off the glider.
He fired a web onto the Goblin's glider wing and pulled himself towards Norman.
"In order for people to put their faith in us, WE NEED TO PUT OUR FAITH IN PEOPLE!!!" Peter yelled, punching Osborn so hard he knocked a whole row of teeth out.
Spider-man fell into War Machine's arms while Menace caught Osborn and flew away from the scene as fast as they could. Instead of going after them, the heroes turned their attention and focused their faith on one man. A silver light shined through the cracks in Aeon's armour.
"Thank you!"
The ghost of Slade disappeared and in one astonishing moment Aeon's armour shattered. A light shined, engulfing the whole galaxy and the heroes of Earth and space looked on in pride. The beam of light flew back into the Goblin's machine, blowing it to pieces. Karabai looked to the sky and widened his eyes. Flying towards the mountain was Aeon, his armour shattered to reveal his angelic form. A white cloth like second skin covered his entire body, save for his black-gloved hands and apparent boots. He now wore a white mask with glowing red eyes. A red crystal glowed on his chest, with four lines reaching from his hands and knees. A pair of angelic red energy wings stuck out of his back, flapping as he landed in front of Karabai.
"It's time to finish this!" Aeon said.
"Yes, a one on one fight" Karabai said.
"One final ATTACK!!!" Aeon yelled as the two beings flew into the air.
They flew around one another, both preparing to attack. Karabai fired his eyes beams, hitting Aeon's cheek. It ripped the second skin off of his cheek, drawing first blood. Aeon growled as he flew at Karabai. He threw his fist forward, but Karabai easily grabbed his wrist, holding his attack in place.
"This planet really has impressed me, but you're not the one to bring me down" Karabai growled.
"Why? Because you say it is, because I'm destined to, because your more powerful…no, I'll win because I've got the most at stake" Aeon said.
"What do you have at stake, your honour? Your family? Your lover?"
"No!"
"What do you have to lose then?"
"MY HOME!!!" Aeon yelled.
He broke free from Karabai's grip; his energy wings disappeared as a fiery red aura surrounded his left arm. With a brilliant show of speed, Aeon lunged forward and slammed his fist into Karabai's chest. The blow shattered the Warlord's armour and shook his body, sending him flying towards the ground. Coughing as he limped out of the crater he had created, Karabai fell to his knees as Sieg suddenly flew in, catching Aeon before he hit the ground. Karabai lowered his head and sighed.
"Very well, you have proven your strength…I will attack Earth no more" Karabai groaned.
The Warlord teleported back to his throne and with a simple wave of his hand, the ships began to retreat into a portal. Sieg and Aeon landed in front of the Avengers. A grin ran across Sieg's face as Aeon gave them a thumbs up. Once again, the heroes had prevailed and saved the Earth.
Next the Final Chapter: Destiny