Dimensional Warrior
Chapter 20
A silver sphere emerged from a white wormhole a few yards away from the planet Pluto. Brainiac, Elder of the universe, and collector of worlds leaned forward on his blocky throne, the wires attached to his forehead stretching.
His red eyes glowed, and the ship around him faded, giving him a view of open space.
Around him floated his Skrull army.
"Go!"
Hundreds of thousands of lizard humanoids coated in metal flew forward.
–XX –
A sphere in Alchemical Solutions glowed red, a figure 8 in the center of its concentric runes flashing pink.
–XX –
Jean grey strode around the grounds of the Xavier Institute, her mind going a thousand miles an hour. Yesterday, her son from another dimension vanished in a flash of sea-green light.
This morning it was released to the world that aliens had invaded every country, masquerading as leaders of government.
"What happened Harry?" She asked her eyes locked on the half-hidden moon, "where did you go?"
"You're not going to find answers up there, red."
"The world is in a mess Logan."
The stocky Canadian shrugged, a cigar pinched between his teeth, "The world's always been in a mess."
She turned to face him, closing the distance between them within two steps, "so, what do we do?"
Pinching the cigar between two fingers, Logan let the smoke out through his nose before speaking, "What we've always done, we fight."
"How do we even begin to fight this?"
Logan opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as a silver sphere glowing red and covered in concentric runes stopped before them.
A figure 8 in its concentric rings pointed towards Jean.
With a hiss of metal, the Canadians three claws emerged from his right hand, "What is that?"
Raising her right hand, Jean stretched her fingers towards the glowing pink figure 8, "I don't know, but I sense my psychic energy in it"
Tilting his head back, Logan sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring with each breath, "Nothings nearby."
Jean's fingers brushed the figure 8, the red energy surrounding the sphere shot upwards, morphing into a small red holographic version of Harry John Howlett.
"Hello mother, if you are reading this, then the earth is in danger, and I am unable to intervene."
The sphere morphed into a metal helmet, runic lines ran across the surface, glowing with pink energy.
"This is my version of Cerebro, putting on this helmet will amplify your powers in a way that is second only to the Phoenix. I'm sorry to put this burden on you, but you are the only one with the requisite skill set to use this device. Know that you may not have been my birth parents, but I love you and Logan both. Thank you for giving me a semblance of home."
Logan dropped the cigar to the ground, stamping it out with his boot as Jean wiped tears from her eyes, "Looks like our boy has answered your question."
A smile spread across Jean's face, "Makes you proud doesn't it?"
One corner of Logan's mouth curled upwards, "It sure does."
Reaching her hands forward, she slipped the helmet onto her head. She shivered as hundreds of needles extruded from the inside of the helmet, piercing her scalp. A tingle ran down her spine as the needles released energy.
Her eyes flashed pink, and her mind expanded.
In her mind's eye, she could see as much as sense runes running up and down the buildings that housed the branches of Alchemical Solutions in every country glow with the pink energy of her psionic power.
Runes drew in her power amplifying it and condensing it to the top of each building.
Towers of pink energy launched from the top of every branch of Alchemical Solutions.
–XX –
In space, pink beams hit every satellite.
Each satellite glowed, before a beam shot out of them, connecting the satellites in a web of pink energy around the planet.
–XX –
Logan watched as Jean slipped on the helmet provided by his son from another universe. Part of his mind still reeled at that thought.
He had children before, he had even met children of his from another universe before, but none had ever been very well-adjusted.
It was good to see that Harry was part of the rare few that made something of themselves besides becoming killers. He needed to have Harry meet Laura.
Jean froze, her eyes glowing pink.
A small explosion of power wafting off her, lifting her into the air.
He looked up as a web of pink energy surrounded the planet.
–XX –
Brainiac leaned forward as his soldiers closed the distance between Earth and the ship. As the first metal coated lizard man entered the atmosphere, a net of pink energy surrounded the earth.
In a blink, hundreds of his soldiers died, vaporized by the energy.
His grip tightened on the blocky arms of his chair.
Red lightning danced up the cables connected to his forehead as the ship slowly moved forward.
Even though a lot of soldiers died, some manipulated their bodies through the barrier by shape-shifting their bodies into a bullet-shaped that allowed them to pierce the energy.
–XX –
Neville and Susan emerged from a jump gate in the British branch of Alchemical Solutions, their eyes being drawn to the runes that covered the walls and glowed with a pink light.
"You know the drill," Calisto began on the other side of the gate, "evacuate as many magic users with the correct temperament as you can. Kevin and I will be evacuating as many mutants as we can convince to come with us."
Neville stared at the pink runes covering the building, the light reflected in his green eyes, "Another example of magic and technology working together. What would we be capable of if we work together instead of being separated by fear?"
Susan moved towards a set of double doors at the far end of the room, a single grey eye looking at him over her shoulder, "As long as we work hard, Gaia may show us some of those possibilities"
Nodding, Neville moved to follow her.
Both tensed as they open the door to the outside world, an explosion rocking the street as something impacted the building across from them.
Dust and bits of concrete washed over the street in a wave.
Something moved in the dust.
Green energy flared in Neville's eyes.
Spreading his arms wide, the dust parted, revealing a Skrull, his face was the familiar reptilian, his left arm was completely made of metal, along with most of his right except for his hand.
His legs tensed, metal-covered toes spreading out as he prepared to move.
Stretching forth her hand, an invisible wave washed from Susan, freezing the Skrull in place.
Closing her hand into a fist, the body crumpled in on itself, purple blood running from the wrinkled metal to drip onto the ground.
"Remind me never to piss you off."
Despite Neville's joking tone, Susan's face remained serious, "Our job just got a lot harder."
Closing her eyes, she slowly released a breath, "I can sense more of those things landing around here. We need to move fast."
Ebony-colored metal crawled over their skin transforming the two magic users into dark statues with featureless faces. Together, they moved forward at incredible speeds, information appearing on the inside of their mask, giving them the current location of the magic users that would be most receptive to their offer.
–XX –
Jean Grey floated above the ground, an aura of pink energy surrounding her.
Logan watched as what looked like meteors descended from the sky, impacting a layer of pink energy and burning up.
Brighter flares of pink energy hit the shield before disappearing.
"What's going on Jeannie?"
"We are being invaded," her voice was far away, "Skrulls are landing on the earth."
A small screen popped up in front of her left eye, and her hand curled into a fist.
"Brainiac, the elder of the universe, and collector of worlds is here."
"He is the one that hurt our son."
The barrier around the earth flared, and a set of eyes could be seen in the sky.
–XX –
Brainiac watched as the majority of his soldiers continued to burn up in the barrier that surrounded the earth. For everyone that got through, five died.
Raising his left hand, a tentacle emerged from the sphere that was the ship, slamming into the net that surrounded the earth.
The net flared on one of the eyes that appeared in the barrier, the satellites glowing brighter.
–XX –
Jean cried out and fell to the ground as the barrier above them flared.
"Jean," Logan called closing the distance between them. Kneeling beside her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, "what happened?"
"I'm fine, Brainiac has joined the war."
Gently pulling herself away from Logan, she rose to her feet, pink energy exploded around her body.
–XX –
Brainiac gritted his teeth as beams of energy slammed into his ship from the glowing eyes inside the barrier. With that one attack, even more of his soldiers had died.
Slowly, he brought his hands together and closed his eyes.
The cables trailing from his forehead flared with red energy.
Another tentacle emerged from his ship, this one glowing with crimson power.
It shot forward, becoming stiff and pointed like a javelin as it slammed into the barrier.
The energy running along its length washed across the barrier in a wave.
Cracks appeared where the tip of the tentacles struck.
The satellites surrounding the earth flared, now looking like small suns as they pulled more power from the surrounding stars. Another tentacle lashed out from the ship, striking the crack, causing it to widen.
"Moved towards the opening I have made," Brainiac commanded his eyes still closed.
–XX –
Jean fell to her knees, blood running from her nose as a white crack appeared in the sky.
"Brainiac just cracked the shield surrounding the earth, more of his troops are going to start getting through."
"Where are the majority of them located?"
"Everywhere, this isn't a coordinated strike, he plans to wipe out the earth with overwhelming numbers."
"He's the collector of worlds, he has to have at least one city he wants to save. He would do his best to preserve that city. Where are a lot of his soldiers located, but not attacking?"
Jean rose to her feet, the blood leaking from her nose disappearing in specks of pink energy.
"The soldiers are creating a ring around New York and part of Canada. According to what I'm seeing, once the ring is formed, they release a wave from their bodies that incapacitates anyone within the ring."
"I guess we know where we need to go then." Logan looked at Jean, her eyes still glowed with pink energy, "Are you up for this?"
A smile spread across Jean's face, "This helmet is taking a portion of my Psionic abilities to strengthen and heal my body, I'm good."
A pink aura surrounded them as they lifted into the air.
With a sonic boom, they disappeared.
–XX –
Calisto slammed her hand through the chest of another Skrull. Purple blood splattered the ground as she yanked it out, letting the body fall to the floor and complete the ring of bodies that littered the ground around her.
"Alright people, let's move!"
Calisto, Marrow, and Brain Cell formed a ring around a group of mutants as they led the way towards the glowing pink building in New York City, one of the American branches of Alchemical Solutions.
The runes that lined the building flared every few seconds.
With each flare-up, a little more of the building would be burned away.
Slowly the group moved forward, Calisto ground her teeth.
It would be easy for her and her team to Sprint towards the Jump gate in the Alchemical Solutions basement, but doing so would leave these people to be easy prey for the invaders.
She was brought out of her thoughts as she spun away from a lunging Skrull. In a swift move, she maneuvered herself behind the alien. Wrapping an arm around his neck, she gave a sharp twist.
Purple blood fountained into the air as she tore the creature's head from its body.
The body fell to the ground as she gripped the head in her hand, allowing the head to fall to the ground, she looked at the group of mutants her team was escorting, they stared at her with wide eyes, some with all, but most with a bit of fear.
"Let's move," she ordered turning her back on them.
The group closed the distance between Alchemical Solutions in a hurried sprint.
Kevin raised his hand, his eyes flashing yellow as he froze two more alien agents in place.
Marrow bent down her wrist, firing two bone spikes through the heads of the enemy that Kevin froze.
The group shivered as they passed through the pink aura that surrounded the building.
Reaching the back door, Calisto pulled it open, sweeping her right hand in a circle towards the door, "Go, go, go!"
–XX –
Brainiac raised a hand, "Begin phase two."
Around the earth, a black mist began to swirl.
–XX –
Jean Grey twisted her wrist, the necks of four invaders jerking sideways with a sickening crack.
With a roar, Logan fell through the air, driving his claws into the faces of two more.
" The numbers of invaders are increasing."
Jean glanced up at the sky. "The metal tentacle is still piercing the barrier; the invaders are using it as a bridge to get through our defense."
"Any way to remove it?"
"I could cause the barrier to grow shut, severing it, but as large as it is, I'm afraid of the collateral damage. Beyond that, I'm not sure what it will do once it reaches the earth's surface."
A red screen filled Jean's vision.
"Dammit!"
"What is it?"
"Brainiac has released some kind of agent into the atmosphere."
–XX –
Calisto relaxed as the last mutant entered the building. She turned to Kevin and Marrow, take them to the Jump Gate, I'll cover the rear.
Nodding, Kevin, and Marrow moved into the building.
Shutting the door, Calisto put her back to it.
A red message popped up on the inside of her helmet, "what the…"
A growling clicking noise reverberated through the air.
Tensing, she slowly looked around, finding multiple sets of red eyes staring at her from the darkness.
With a thought, yellow runes flared to life all along her armor, beating back the darkness.
Her eyes widened.
People surrounded her, black veins spreading across their bodies as they bared their teeth at her.
As she watched, their fingers and toes morphed into claws.
Allowing her left hand to drop to her side, the appendage elongated, purple runes glowing along the edge of the blade that formed.
Drool trailed through the air as her new enemies leaped forward.
Stepping forward, Calisto spun, ready to decapitate the closest target. She froze as a pink outline held her target in place, "I wouldn't do that."
Jean grey descended to the ground, a sleek looking helmet on her head, her eyes glowing pink.
"Why not?"
Jean glanced at the frozen humans as black veins continued to spread across their bodies. "Their actions are not their own. Brainiac is using some kind of virus to infect them.
"You know who's behind this, all we got is a warning from Gaia."
Jean tapped the helmet, "Harry had a psychic imprint that matches the person who is sending the aliens to earth."
"So, what do we do? I'm a soldier and I don't have enough people to take care of this."
Pink energy flared from the redhead's eyes, "I'm freezing as many of the infected as I can, but it's pushing Harry's Cerebro to its limit, I don't know how long I'll be able to hold them."
–XX –
Brainiac set back on his throne, holographic screens showing him the rate of infection of his virus on earth, and the number of troops that had made it through his impromptu bridge.
Turning away from the screens, he focused on the image provided by the electronic eye on the end of his tentacle.
Buildings covered in pink energy were highlighted in red.
With a thought, the tentacle split, transforming into multiple smaller representations. Each with an electronic eye aimed at the buildings.
"Fire!"
–XX –
"Move!" Jean shouted, spreading an aura of psychic energy around Logan and Calisto, carrying them with her as she soared away from the building.
A red beam slammed into Alchemical Solutions, the building exploded, the shockwave pushing the trio through the air. Hitting the ground, they rolled across the asphalt, impacting small rocks before finally coming to rest against a building.
Calisto pushed herself to her feet, mentally thanking the people of Gaia for her armor.
Logan rose to his feet, the wounds he sustained slowly growing shut.
Jean lay on the ground, smoke rising off the runes etched into her helmet.
"Jeannie!"
Closing the distance between them in two steps, Logan knelt beside her, gently removing the helmet from her head.
At his touch, Jean's eyes fluttered open.
Logan cradled her head, "Are you alright?"
Emerald eyes stared into Logan's light blue, "He destroyed Alchemical Solutions, the barrier around the earth is gone, I can no longer hold the infected in place."
A rattling growl echoed through the air as humans with dark veins and glowing red eyes closed the distance between them.