Dimensional Warrior
Chapter 21
Logan roared, his three claws whistling through the air, slicing through the jugular of a changed human. Black veins released a red arterial spray.
The unfortunate soul kept coming, they're canines enlarging, the wound growing shut.
"They can heal," he called, bringing his claws up in an uppercut that stabbed into the creature's brain.
Calisto stood back to back with Jean, her hand on the side of her helmet, "Neville, Susan, Marrow, Kevin, can you hear me?"
a young woman came charging in from the side hair sprouting all over her body, bat wings emerging from her shoulder blades as she took to the air.
"We've got incoming," she called out, kicking another in the face.
Jean's eyes glowed pink and her hair began to float in an invisible breeze as rubble from alchemical solutions rose into the air and began to rotate. Within moments, a wall of stone spikes hovered before her.
"How do you want to handle this lethal or nonlethal?"
"I don't think we have a choice," Logan called, "only brain shots seem to put them down."
Taking a deep breath, Jean exhaled and flicked her fingers forward.
Her stone weapons flew through the air, sounding like machine-gun fire as they impacted their targets.
Blood, brain matter, and bone splattered the ground as the infected fell.
"They're still coming," Calisto called black blades emerging from the palms of her Ebony armor. Sprinting forward, she ducked under one that tried to grab her. Stabbing her blade into the overweight man's gut, she pulled upwards, slicing him in half from waste to skull.
Letting his body fall, she turned, driving her blade into the face of another.
As they fell to the ground, the familiar voice of Neville Longbottom sounded in her ear, "We're alright Calisto, but we can't get back through the gates, some things blocking them."
"A few tons of rubble are in your way…"
She was cut off as an explosion shook the ground, the asphalt beneath her feet cracked, and dust filled the air. She tensed as shadows within the dust moved.
A clacking sound echoed through the air as scrabbling claws scraped along the street.
A metal hand exploded from the dust, reaching for Calypso's throat.
Dropping into a crouch, Calypso drove her arm forward, a blade extending from the top of her wrist. As she felt the blade come in contact with something, she willed a curved hook to appear on the end of the blade.
Red runes flared along her armor as she spun, ripping the scroll that attacked her out of the smoke and slinging them through the air.
"Jean!"
The psychic redhead flicked her finger forward, sending another stone spike through the Skrull's face. The body slammed onto a wooden bench, snapping it in half.
The trio was forced back to back as more Skrulls emerged from the dust cloud forming a ring around them with the changed humans.
Slapping her hands together, the ground shook and bits of asphalt rocketed into the air is Jean Grey pulled the ground beneath them upwards to form a giant pillar.
"Jeannie, that was a nice gesture, but you need to go and get help."
"I'm not leaving you."
"Can you bring yourself to kill this many people, knowing they are not in control of their actions?"
Jean said nothing as the wind around them picked up and lightning flashed through the sky.
"Storm?" Calisto asked as the ground beneath them rumbled.
"I don't think so," Jean said a small smile curling her lips as she stared at the sea-green bolts of electricity jumping from cloud to cloud.
A sea-green lightning bolt slammed into the ground, arcing off the asphalt to skewer Skrull and transformed human alike.
A purple and red haze filled the air as the blood of those struck boiled and turn to steam.
"Well, he doesn't have a problem taking out the enemy," Logan commented, wondering if he was right about Harry not inheriting his killer instinct.
A sharp snap reverberated through the air and the mist dispersed.
Jean's eyes widened, "Nate?"
Nate grey stood in the center of a circle of bodies, steam rising off them to fill the air with the smell of charred meat. His Brown hair flowed behind him, the moonlight highlighting a white streak in his hair and beard.
White robes were draped over his lean 5'10" muscular frame. A familiar sea-green energy crackled in his left eye.
Jean leaped off the pillar, drifting to the ground.
Touching the ground, she closed the distance between them, her arms shooting out to wrap around his neck, "what are you doing here?"
Nate's lips pressed into a thin line, and his square jaw shifted back and forth, "it appears I am getting you out of a spot of trouble."
Jean stared at the sea-green energy dancing in his left eye socket, "What happened to you?"
Nate's eyes drifted towards the sky, a small smile spreading across his face, "I have been touched by my brother's creation, the Sage force is a wondrous thing."
Jean's hands slid onto his shoulders, her heart soaring at hearing Nate call Harry brother, "Nate," she began slowly, "Where is Harry?"
Stepping back from Jean, Nate sat down in a cross-legged position. Stretching his hand towards the circle of bodies around them, the sea-green energy faded from his left eye, becoming replaced with its usual yellow.
Power washed over the bodies, Golden energy traveling up the veins.
The burned corpses arched a silver cloud billowing from their eyes and mouth as their bodies crumbled to ash.
Calisto, Logan, and Jean tensed as the cloud swirled around them.
Nate cocked his head to the side, "Harry was right?"
"Right about what?" Logan asked.
"It was a virus that had infected humanity." He nodded towards the piles of ash that now encircled them, "These humans were infected by the remains of those Skrulls that did not make it through the atmosphere. Those Skrulls were used as a biological weapon to control the planet's inhabitants"
with a flick of his wrist, the silver clouds swirled in the air disappearing in all directions.
Calisto watched it leave through her featureless black mask, "What did you do?"
"Released antibodies." Rising to his feet he slowly lifted into the air, "Now, I believe there are still some invaders that need to be taken care of."
"Nate," Jean repeated following him into the air, "where is Harry"
Nate glanced at them as Jean psychically lifted the others into the air, "I would've thought that would've been obvious, he's going after Brainiac."
–XX –
Harry shot through the air, wind whipping through his short red hair, and curling around his muscled frame. Sea green energy filled his eyes as he closed the distance between the tendrils that streamed down from Brainiac's ship.
Silver tendril streamed down from the moon-sized sphere that orbited the earth branching out like roots of a tree. At the end of each was an oval-shaped red electronic eye.
Sea green energy flared around Harry's eyes.
A sea-green aura began at the electronic eye spreading up until it reached the main root that connected the branches to the ship. Twisting sharply, the roots became severed from the ship. Floating in the air, Harry spread his arms wide.
The roots tore apart, the sound of screeching metal echoing for miles.
Metal coated Skrull soldiers fell towards the earth.
Glancing down his eyes flared with power once more.
Each soldier screamed as they became engulfed in white flames.
Turning to ash before they even reached the ground.
Turning his attention back to the torn apart roots, he stared at the metal, seeing it with his newly enhanced senses.
After his submerging into the Sage force, the world looked different. He now saw everything as a collection of atoms and energy. Through this new perception, he saw what could be with a little bit of will and imagination.
Pushing the pieces of root, they began to transform under his direction.
Each one took on a torpedo shape.
A complicated runic scripture began to snake its way across the metal.
Once the runes were done, he focused on the inside.
With a bit of power to the runes, light shone from inside within the metal shells. splitting the atoms of each air molecule, and compressing that energy into a single point.
With his weapon done, they pointed upwards.
Rocketing towards the target with a thought.
– XX –
Brainiac snarled as the holographic screen in front of him flashed red. indicating the metal extrusion, he had made towards the earth was no longer attached to his ship by highlighting its three-dimensional representation in red light.
More screens flashed as data changed.
His grip on the arms of his throne tightened as he read the decreasing numbers of his soldiers and that the rate of those infected by his virus on earth was decreasing. While the signal of those that were already infected began to die.
Suddenly, all of his small screens were replaced with a larger one, indicating that several small objects were heading towards his ship.
–XX –
The quartet of Jean, Logan, Calisto, and Nate journeyed through the city, watching as Nate's antivirus caused those infected by Brainiac's contagion to fall to the ground and expel the infection in a black gas that then turned into silver antivirus and spread throughout the area.
A screeching sound caused the group to look up.
They watched as the tree-like appendage extending from Brainiac's ship was ripped away.
White fireballs began to descend from the sky, littering ashes when they were still a few hundred feet up.
Nate watched the fireballs fall, "His attack has begun."
–XX –
Brainiac ground his teeth as thousands of soldiers died in a moment. How was it possible that this small blue planet was giving him so much trouble?
Red lights began to flash through the room.
A chirping from his holographic screens drew his attention back to the battle.
Hundreds of small objects were closing in on his ship.
Red electrical energy danced up the cords trailing from his forehead.
A barrier shimmered into life around the ship, pushing the last of his soldiers in the path of the attack.
–XX –
Yellow-orange light filled the sky as Harry's attack hit and a small trimmer went through the earth.
Logan glanced at Jean, mirth dancing in his eyes, "He gets that from you."
Jean raised an eyebrow, "I'm not the murderous one."
"True, but when I kill people, it's not as dramatic, usually."
–XX –
Sea green energy flared from Harry's eyes as he stretched his power, bolts of green energy danced along the skin as he gathered up everything his bombs produced in the explosion and pushed it forward towards Brainiac's barrier just as it failed.
–XX –
Brainiac's ship shook with the force of the explosion, the chirping from his holographic screens became a blaring siren, before a wave of radiation swept through the ship.
The screens flickered, and explosions burst out from the walls.
The conqueror of worlds hunched on his throne with a cough, spraying purple blood onto the floor.
His eyes widened, his failsafe, his virus, the thing that allowed him to switch bodies with those who defeated him, had been damaged, he was stuck in this body.
–XX –
Harry drifted into space. His eyes locked on Brainiac's sphere.
Metal seemed to corrode away before his eyes, leaving gaping rents in the smooth metal.
Floating forward, an aura of sea-green energy blossomed around his body as he neared one of the rents.
Light from his aura speared the darkness, giving him his first glimpse of the hallway with a circuit-like pattern set into the floor stretching out before him.
Touching down onto the hallway floor, the circuit-like pattern lit up with purple energy.
–XX –
Jean Grey watched as humans began to collapse to the ground, black veins faded from their bodies as what looked like black sand oozed from their pores.
"What's happening?"
Nate grey drifted down.
Kneeling beside a victim, he touched the black sand pooling around her body in a ring.
Yellow energy flared in his left eye as he rubbed it between his fingers, "There is no longer any signal coming from the virus, so my antibodies are no longer converting them and just pushing them from the body," he glanced up at the sky, "be careful, Brother."
–XX –
Being careful not to step on the glowing purple circuit pattern etched into the floor, Harry moved forward. With a delicate touch, he sent a wave of sea-green energy outwards, keeping it away from the glowing purple etchings in the walls, floor, and ceiling.
As he moved deeper into the hallway, radiation from his attack followed him, eating away the metal and its intricate glowing purple pattern behind him.
Drawing closer to the airlock at the end of the hallway, it suddenly hissed open,
A metal-coated Skrull charged in, his arms morphing into curved blades, his legs a blur of motion as he began running on the walls.
Harry stepped forward as sea green energy flowed down his right arm and coalesced into a sea-green katana in his right hand. Raising the sword, Harry tensed his legs, twisting his hips as the creature leaped off the wall.
The sea-green blade cleaved the creature into, flaring with light as it absorbed what little sense of self the Skrull had left.
The legs fell in front of him, while the torso slammed into the ground behind him, purple blood turned to steam on the Psionic aura dancing around his body.
Moving through the airlock the Skrull came through, Harry found that he was standing in the middle of a walkway in a large open room that formed a sphere. Red light bathed the room, making the thousands of people mounted to the walls look as if they were covered in blood.
With a thought, he lifted into the air.
Drifting close to one of the bodies, he reached out with his mind.
After a moment, he withdrew his probe, his eyes sliding to the helmet that rested on top of the person's head before flicking to the shackles that bound their wrist and ankles to the walls.
These were the people the Skrull invaders took the form of. From what he had sensed from this one's mind, Brainiac was keeping him alive, running their brains through multiple scenarios to see how the planet was likely to react.
This would have allowed him to easily take over the earth. Unfortunately for him, he did not know about the measurements Harry set in place or his partnership with Gaia.
The red light in the room began to flicker, the ship shook as the radiation ate away at more of its structure. Already bits were beginning to rain from the ceiling.
As much as he didn't like politicians, he couldn't just leave them here to die. Slowly bringing his hands together, he closed his eyes.
Sea green energy flared out from his body, washing throughout the room.
As it touched each of the hostages, a small but intricately designed spell circle appeared over their bodies. Nate had shown him how to force his will upon the world, changing the very fabric of reality with his thoughts, but decades of mental muscle memory were hard to get rid of.
One by one, people began to vanish in a rush of displaced air.
Soon the air was being displaced so much it pulled at his clothes.
He couldn't afford to take the time to look through each hostage's mind to find where they belong. All he could do is take enough time to find their country of origin and drop them in a populated area.
Soon there were only two left, Robert Callahan and Maria Hill.
Harry stared at Robert Callahan, his mouth hung open, and a stream of drool ran down his chin from whatever he was seeing in Brainiac simulation. He glanced at Maria Hill. With a gesture, a complex symbol appeared on her chest and she vanished.
Her, he knew where to send, he only hoped the people of the shield Helicarrier didn't react too negatively.
Floating forward, he raised his sea-green psionic blade, I know what type of man you are Robert Callahan, the world will be better off without you. Placing the tip of his blade over the man's heart, he pushed.
Energy flared within the helmet and out of the man's open mouth before his body sagged.
Allowing his blade to fade away, Harry floated to the far end of the room, a metal door hissing open at his approach.
–XX –
Brainiac gagged as his ship shook, the last of Harry's bombs impacting it, sending explosions and waves of concentrated radiation through it.
Black veins pushed out against his skin as bloodshot eyes scanned over the flickering holographic screens before him, there must be something he could do.
Movement drew his attention to a particular screen, his lips pressed into a thin line. His arms shook as he pushed himself to his feet, the cables trailing from his forehead stretching taut.
"This is not over, no one defeats Brainiac!"
Behind him, his throne began to dissolve, turning into a metal putty.
Slowly, it began to inch up his body, the cords trailing from ports in his forehead flaring with purple energy.
–XX –
Harry entered a dark space.
Large orbs with landmasses in their centers floated in beams of light.
Sea green energy flared in his eyes as he reached out to the minds of these miniature islands.
Images of Brainiac invading worlds flashed through his mind. He smelt the smoke of the planets burning, heard the screams of terror, tasted the ash on the air.
His body shook, images of his universe being destroyed by the Daemonites overlapping the terror of these people as he watched mechanical spiders attached to the inhabitants. Forcing them to turn on friends and family.
He felt the warm blood run down his fingers as the survivors of these battles were gathered up into their planet's greatest city. As a reminder of his power, a remembrance of his conquests, and a way for him to collect constant information as the people struggled to live after what they had done, and who they had killed.
They were forever trapped just outside of time, keeping them forever youthful, forever available for Brainiac to collect information from.
The glow of purple circuits flaring with new energy brought him back to the present.
His eyes swept over the thousands of floating cities.
"These poor people," he rotated in a slow circle, taking in every city, "what they were forced to do."
The whole ship shook, the suspended cities wavering in their beams of light.
"How am I supposed to get them all out of here before the ship collapses? Where do I take them, how do I return them to their original sizes?" He shook his head.
There was only one person that can answer these questions, it was time for him to face Brainiac, it was time for the collector of worlds to die.
–XX –
Brainiac stood, his entire body consumed by liquid metal, he raised shimmering fingers to his face, the only thing that hadn't transformed but now had a circuit-like design running across the pale green skin.
The virus had managed to eat the radiation but at a cost.
The power this body once held was now greatly diminished.
He glanced at the holographic screen, watching as over half of his ship turned to silver dust before the radiation could spread to the remains.
The silver dust fell into the earth's atmosphere to be burned away as the remainder of the ship cannibalized itself to become a smaller orb now only about the size of a Football Stadium.
He has lost much in this endeavor, but he would rebuild and return, he would show the earth the resilience of Brainiac the collector of worlds.
The door at the far end of the room hissed open.
Harry John Howlett floated through, an aura of sea-green energy dancing around his body like fire.
Brainiac's lips puckered together in frustration.
This insignificant little boy, for he was a boy compared to the millennia that Brainiac had been alive, had cost him everything. His lips spread into a smile, but maybe he could help him regain it.
After all, his body had evolved after their last encounter, if he could learn that secret, he could push himself to even greater heights.
Brainiac waved his hand, the holographic screens around him flickered away.
Harry stared at the creature before him, a metaphorical brother of his home universe, the Savior of their culture by collecting worlds. The monster that forced billions to murder each other.
His hand clenched into a fist as he stared at him.
Every part of his body except for his face was now covered in liquid metal. Wire filament spread across what little skin he had left forming a circuit-like design. Three circles formed a glowing purple triangle in the center of his baldhead.
Brainiac took a deep breath, the symbol on his forehead flaring with light.
Harry tensed as he sensed the screams of those in the bottled cities, their minds connecting to Brainiacs to bolster his power.
In a blur of motion, the collector of worlds disappeared.
Harry ducked as Brainiac appeared before him, his leg sweeping through the air in a roundhouse kick. As the leg closed the space between them it thinned transforming into a blade.
Staying in his crouch, Harry shuffled backward before rising to his feet. Psionic power flared through his body as he raised his fist. In two quick steps, he closed the distance between him and Brainiac, sending quick jabs at the monster's face, making sure never to overextend his arm.
Brainiac stepped back as his head was repeatedly rocked on his shoulders.
Bones in his face broke under Harry's assault, and purple blood flowed.
Slowing his punches, Harry released a snap kick to Brainiac's ribs, driving him sideways.
His senses screamed at him as Psionic power flared through Brainiac's body, purple energy shining from the symbol on his head. He rolled to the side as a Violet beam exploded from the triangle symbol on Brainiac's forehead gouging the floor where he had been.
As the beam passed him his body quivered, he felt the screams of the people Brainiac was using to bolster his power. Every cell of his body reverberated with their psychic cries.
More silver filaments crawled over Brainiac's face, sealing the wounds Harry had inflicted.
Physical attacks weren't going to permanently stop Brainiac, if he wanted to end the world collector, he was going to have to attack his mind.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly exhaled rising to his feet, never removing his eyes from Brainiac's face. Sea green energy flared around his body. In his mind's eye, he began forming his attack, shaping psychic energy into a thin needle that would pierce Brainiac to his core.
Slowly, he brought his hands together.
The moment his fingers touched, he launched his attack, his eyes flaring like a solar flare with Psionic energy.
Brainiac rocked backward, filling Harry psychic-self slam into his mind.
He took a step back, falling to his knees, a cold smile spread across his face as his eyes dimmed and he turned his focus inward.
–XX –
Harry stood in a coliseum, shrouded by marble seats.
Dirt shifted beneath his feet, loud in the silence as he looked around.
People packed the stands around him, glowing purple chains wrapped around their bodies, their eyes vacant, their mouths hanging open as they stared forward, unseeing, all of what they were used to fuel Brainiac strengthen this battle.
Harry flexed his fingers.
These people were his target. He could have defeated Brainiac's body, but that wasn't where he was most dangerous. It was his mind that was a greater threat to the universe.
"You were a fool to challenge me here," he gestured around him, his green skin a contrast to the colors that made up the world, "here, I am a god."
Harry glanced at the people in the stadium once more, he knew what he had to do, but it wasn't going to be easy.
Sea green energy wrapped around his hands, forming into a pair of dark green gloves with green spikes along the knuckles, "Let's test your boast." Raising his fist, he charged forward.
His fist whizzed by Brainiac's head, the collector of worlds twisting at the last moment so that only a knuckle spike grazed his cheek. Raising his knee, he slammed it into Brainiac's chest.
Black clouds rolled to the sky and thunder shook the stadium as Brainiac stumbled backward. Flashes of purple lightning jumped from cloud to cloud and a few of the people in the stands looked upward, the light reflected in their glassy eyes.
Lightning stabbed down from the sky, a purple bolt of pure psychic power.
A slow smile spread across Harry's face.
This was what he had been waiting for.
Harry stood still, his fingers flexing, his breathing controlled.
Just as it was about to hit him, he raised his hand, striking the bolt with his palm in such a way that it veered into the stands.
He staggered backward, black smoke rising from his palm, the mental screams of those controlled by Brainiac reverberating in his head.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the bolts strike the stands arcing away from the point of impact to spread out through the crowd.
Shaking his hand, Harry clenched his fingers, wincing at the pain in his palm and the way it responded.
Brainiac charged; more lightning stabbed down from the sky.
Harry threw himself to the side, rolling away from each impact, hoping his plan would work.
–XX –
The stands shook, dust rising into the air as small bolts danced from person to person.
A few feet away from the point of impact, a man from the planet Tamaran looked down at his hands, his green eyes widening as the purple chains binding his wrist and ankles flickered away.
He tensed, his pale white hair shifting on his shoulders as he looked from side to side to see if anyone noticed, expecting pain at any moment.
His breath caught in his throat as he watched more and more chains disappear.
They were free, they could fight back.
Flashes of purple light drew his attention to the stadium; he watched the man fighting their warden dodge strikes of purple lightning.
Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet.
For so long he had been a shame on his race, shame on their warrior culture.
No more, today, he would fight.
Those around him looked at him for a moment, life coming back into their eyes as they realized what he was doing. Slowly, one by one they too rose.
A few stayed seated, their minds significantly cowed by the years of torture.
As one those standing turned to face the stadium.
The Tamaranean took a deep breath, his broad chest swelling, his Emerald eyes glowing with light, "Charge!"
–XX –
Harry rolled along the ground, dodging another purple lightning bolt, positioning himself ever closer to Brainiac waiting for his moment to strike.
"Charge!"
Brainiac's head snapped around at the sound, his eyes widening as thousands of people charged forward. He raised his arm, a diminished purple glow wrapping around his hand.
His weakened body no longer producing the amount of power he was accustomed to without the minds to focus through.
At that moment, Harry struck.
Lashing out with his leg, he spun in a circle, sweeping Brainiac's feet out from under him just as thousands of people landed atop him.
Harry threw himself away, rising to his feet as everyone Brainiac tortured fought for a chance to tear him to pieces.
Harry watched a twinge of satisfaction in his chest. He knew he could defeat Brainiac in a physical battle, but his mind was always his biggest weapon. He needed a way to make sure Brainiac couldn't transfer his consciousness to another machine or body, hence the radiation to damage his virus, and coming here directly to force him into a confrontation.
In his weakened state, Harry knew he would want to fight him from a position of strength, so, he lured him to a mental battleground where he had thousands of minds to pull strength from.
The world around him fractured before shattering like glass.
–XX –
Harry awoke to find himself kneeling on the floor of Brainiac's ship, Brainiac's body lying a few feet away.
He rose to his feet, the floor shifting as he straightened.
The walls began sinking, collapsing into silver sand.
Ignoring that for the moment, an aura of psychic power wrapped around his body.
Walking over to Brainiac, Harry coalesced his aura into a simple sword with a cross-shape guard. With no finesse, he raised it into the air stabbing it down into Brainiac's chest. With a twist, he pulled it out, pulling the metal-coated heart of Brainiac with it.
The ground shook again, holes began to appear in the floor as it collapsed into powder.
Sprinting out of the room, Harry entered the space holding the world's Brainiac had collected.
As he entered, the lights suspending each one of the stolen cities began to flicker.
Each time the lights would flicker, the spheres would drop a little lower.
Their screams of terror echoed in his mind.
Growling, he lashed out with his telekinetic abilities, catching each one of the orbs.
Sweat rolled down his brow as he fought to keep each one of the world's level. The slightest twitch in his abilities could cost a life now that they were back inside the normal flow of time.
A trickle of silver dust landing on his shoulder brought him back to reality.
In a flare of sea-green energy, Harry John Warkiller, known to the people of earth as Harry John Howlett, vanished from the ship of Brainiac the collector, taking his collection with him.
–XX –
The silver sphere that was Brainiac's ship, slowly collapsed into silver dust, burning away as it entered the earth's atmosphere. Streamers of fire danced through the sky as the powdered metal burned.
If one were there to look, they would see a single body burning. A legend to a forgotten universe, going out not with a bang but a flicker.