Chapter 9 - To Stand Against Doomsday!
Inside Galactus's ship, during the battles with the heralds...
The quintet of Ms. Fantastic, Iron Maiden, Yellowjacket, Ms. Marvel, and Doc Samson stared, awestruck, at the sight of Galactus before them. Even with all they'd seen last year in the battle with the Angels, nothing could prepare them for something like the devourer of worlds. Aahno the Watcher had warned them, and the others, that Galactus's true form could not be perceived by most beings in the universe; therefore, it didn't take long for the five people to realize that they were seeing Galactus in a way that their specific minds could comprehend.
Not wishing to dwell on this, Maya took out a scanner and turned it on, its readings telling her immediately what she'd already begun to theorize. "No doubt about it," she said, "Galactus is a being of almost pure energy, all contained within that armor of his. Even still, it's incredible..."
"Not only that," Mana started to say as S.I.D. was running her armor's own energy scanners simultaneously, "the energy levels are dropping. It's like he's a leaky faucet no one's ever bothered fixing." She then turned to Aoi. "I just had a thought-maybe we could take him if he was literally brought down to our level."
Aoi got the meaning as she readied her disc launcher again and aimed it at Galactus. "Fingers crossed..." she said before launching a disc at the devourer. The disc attached to Galactus's foot, and as all human eyes watched with baited breath, Pym Particles soon spread and covered every inch of the giant, causing him to shrink until he seemed to vanish into thin air. The others looked at Aoi, wondering what had happened. Aoi herself rubbed the back of her head absentmindedly. "I thought I'd input the right amount-I was trying to at least get him down to human size." Before she said anything else, a sudden bright flash of light bathed the area as Galactus soon reappeared, back to his normal size. He then looked down at the five, no apparent emotion present on his face.
"Oh boy..." Hitomi muttered as she and the others got into defensive stances.
"No intruders have ever breached my ship, let alone ventured into its interior, until now," Galactus stated, his voice a booming baritone that echoed throughout the room, as his eyes glowed with red energy. "This will be the only time it happens."
Twin energy beams then shot forth from the devourer's eyes that knocked both Doc Samson and Yellowjacket back, and causing Ms. Fantastic, Ms. Marvel, and Iron Maiden to scatter. As they helped Samson and Yellowjacket back up, Galactus's attention was drawn to monitor feeds showing the four towers his heralds had been guarding. Before his eyes, each one suddenly exploded and fell to pieces. To the shock of the five heroes, as they saw Galactus take in the sight of the destruction of his machinery, they finally saw some semblance of emotion as Galactus grit his teeth in a grimace of annoyance, his eyes glowing once more before he teleported out of the ship in a great flash.
Downtown Tokyo-3, around the same time...
By the time She-Hulk and Stature's groups had made it back to the city, the downtown area suddenly became momentarily engulfed by a big, bright flash of light. When they uncovered their eyes, they nearly bulged out of their sockets upon seeing Galactus standing in the middle of the street, dwarfing what skyscrapers were still on the surface.
"You're kidding..." Misato muttered.
It was a feeling shared by those observing from the bridge in Central Dogma.
"Something tells me we might've pissed him off," Shigeru stated.
"Understatement of the millennium," Fitz concurred.
Fuyutsuki, in all his years as a scientist, could find that there were still some things that could genuinely surprise him. "Unbelievable..."
"Even what the Phoenix told me doesn't do him justice," Yui said.
Back out in downtown, Galactus faced the direction of a machine that had just come out of a hatch in his ship, and raised his left hand, which was now glowing with energy. The devourer then shot energy into the machine, which from there distributed it to all the sites where his towers had fallen. Once the beams hit their targets, the piles of scrap that each tower had been reduced to suddenly began to reform into the structures, to the utter shock of those who'd just destroyed them.
On the bridge, Yui immediately turned to Aahno. "What's going on? How's he doing this?"
"Galactus feeds on the worlds he visits by drawing their energy into him using his elemental converter," Aahno explained. "The machine is as very much an extension of Galactus's will as the heralds are, for as long as he has the energy, he can reform the components of his converter instantaneously."
Out on the streets, some of the heroes via their comms had picked up on their conversation and already were beginning to come up with a plan of attack.
"We've gotta keep him distracted-the more time he wastes on us, the more energy he uses!" Mari declared.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Misato added as she and the others broke into sprint towards Galactus, intent on facing the devourer no matter the size disadvantage.
Galactus's ship interior...
The five who had infiltrated the ship looked on through the monitors as their friends and allies bounded towards Galactus, and it didn't take long for one of them to want in on the action. Hitomi's fists glowed yellow with energy as she then flew down at near sub-sonic speeds until she broke through another hatch in the ship. The rest of her soon was glowing with a bright aura as she speeded towards Galactus, fists forward, until finally, she hit him with the force of a ballistic missile square in the chest. Not letting up, the moment she flew upwards, both Misato and Ruby jumped and landed their own powerful blows in the same spot, causing Galactus to stagger backwards, leaving enormous footprints in the pavement below.
Silver Surfer, Spirit, Iron Maiden, and War Machine followed up with concentration of beam attacks that pushed Galactus back further by a few yards, and before he could take even one step forward, a giant pair of arms hooked themselves under his shoulders as Stature drew him into a suplex and tossed him to the ground, she and the newly-arrived Yellowjacket (at giant size herself) struggling to keep the devourer pinned.
On the bridge, Aahno began to glow as he addressed Yui and Fuyustuki. "While they hold him, I will attempt to reason with Galactus. It may not be much, but I must try..." He then vanished in a flash of light, only to reappear where Aoi and Satsuki gritted themselves as they held the devourer down. On seeing Aahno's presence, a look of recognition appeared on Galactus's face.
"A Watcher..." he noted. "So, you were the one who attempted to hide this world from my eyes. Your civilization swears by an oath of non-interference-why would you try to thwart my will?"
"Heed my words, Galactus," Aahno began to reply. "Like the innumerable worlds you have fed upon in your travels, this planet teems with intelligent life! What's more, they have only just prevented a more horrendous calamity from being visited upon them! In the face of defying their own armageddon, for their just beginning to unlock the many wonders possible in this universe, for humanity's sake, I implore you-spare them the fate you bring to each world in your path!"
Galactus said nothing at first, before the devourer answered bluntly, "Of what import are brief, nameless lives to Galactus?" His eyes narrowed as he continued. "You speak of humanity to one whose own has long faded into the hazy ruins of time. Though I myself was once as mortal as the two currently holding me down in vain, my memories of that time...are as fleeting as the beat of my heart. The past is as it is named, for there is no going back...So do not speak to me of the billions who inhabit this world, for I have seen the end of civilization more times than thought possible, all by my hand. Must I weep for each life lost as I seek to satiate my ever-gnawing hunger? I've no tears to shed, for if I could, many an ocean would be filled to the brim. And even then, those lives are still gone, and I would go mad from grief were I to even think about them. My path is set-there is no changing course..."
Suddenly, an intense glow surrounded Galactus, and then he unleashed a great burst of energy that threw Aoi and Satsuki off of him, knocking them into a couple of buildings; Aahno was forced to teleport away, and he returned to the Bridge, winded from the encounter.
"Are you all right?" Yui asked.
"I...will recover," Aahno answered. "For all of my power, which he knows well, Galactus is still a supreme force unto himself. I...I am greatly sorry, I could not sway him."
"It's all right," Yui said reassuringly. "Deep down, I had a feeling he wouldn't back off easily."
"Isn't there any sort of weapon we could use against him?" Simmons posed.
"At one time, there was," Aahno answered grimly. "There exists, across multiple realities, a device called the Ultimate Nullifier, the universe's most devastating weapon. It can eliminate any target the wielder aims it at, along with the wielder themselves if their mind isn't focused enough. In the hands of one with an extremely powerful mind...it can destroy even entire timelines, from beginning to end, or so far as a whole multiverse." His expression grew grimmer on saying this. "It is the one weapon that Galactus himself fears."
The others were momentarily awestruck by what he'd just described to them. "Talk about a major use of psych warfare," Kaji commented. "Any way we can get our hands on this thing?"
"I am afraid not," Aahno replied solemnly. "After having seen worlds where such a strategem was implemented-sometimes successfully, sometimes not-as a precaution, colleagues of mine in positions of leadership ordered that this universe's Ultimate Nullifier be locked away, to keep the temptation out of the reach of any being."
"Just like us and nuclear weapons, more or less," Shigeru said as he shook his head.
"All the more reason we need to have faith in the others," Fuyutsuki noted as he turned to the main monitor. "Whether against the Angels or even graver threats, they've managed to pull off homegrown miracles time and again. We can only hope and pray this will be no different."
Downtown Tokyo-3...
The now-upright Galactus wasted no time as he fired off his eye beams towards Hitomi. The moment she was bathed in the beams, her energy-absorption powers kicked in and she began amassing enough of it around her to channel into a powerful beam attack of her own, joined in concert by Hikari with her halo wave, Rei and Quasar with their pulsating beams, and all manner of explosive projectiles fired off by Iron Maiden, War Machine, Skurge the Executioner, Deadpool, and Domino. Galactus, undeterred, unleashed an energy pulse that knocked the fliers out of the air.
For those without the gift of flight or equipped with heavy weaponry, they readied themselves as Galactus walked towards his elemental converter, each step shaking the ground. Spider-Woman warily looked towards Misato as she asked, "Why aren't you freaking out? We're barely putting a dent in him as it is!"
"Can you hear it?" Misato replied.
"Hear what?" Ritsuko asked.
Doc Samson, who along with Maya had reconvened with the others, soon began to hear a rumbling in the distance behind them. "Wait, now I hear it too."
Mari concurred with him, as she added, "Sounds like..."
"Thunder," Misato finished for her as she looked towards Storm. "Mayumi, I think it's almost time for your cue."
The young wind-rider nodded as she immediately flew towards the source of the sound. Clouds began to gather over the city as Galactus too looked towards the sound of echoing thunder ahead of him. Suddenly, bolts of lightning crashed into the devourer, forcing him staggering back, his hands feeling to grip buildings that crumbled in his grasp as he was forced to one knee.
"Who dares-?!" he queried as he stood and looked for the source of the lightning, only to see two girls-one Storm, the other the just-arrived Thunderstrike-flying within his line of sight, with the two facing each other for a moment.
"Chain lightning?" Maria posed as she held her hammer Storm Bringer up.
"Chain lightning!" Mayumi affirmed, raising her Raijin Yari spear as she used her own elemental powers to call upon all the gathered electricity in the air. From there, a big and powerful bolt was 'caught' by the tip of her spear, and she proceeded to channel it towards Maria's outstretched hammer. Catching the bolt like she did in the Danger Room before, Maria twirled her hammer fast as she built the charge up further, before finally, with a great overhand swing, she threw the hammer headfirst towards Galactus. The hammer made a direct hit on the devourer's chest, forcing him back onto his knee, before it returned to Maria's grasp.
On the ground, the others made no haste in taking advantage of the opening they were given, especially with the reinforcements that joined them just now. "All right, hit him fast and keep him away from the converter!" Misato barked out as she, Doc Samson, and Ruby leaped and hit him in the right shoulder with a couple of kicks that could level an entire city block. More beam attacks followed from Hitomi, Hikari, Rei, Iron Maiden, Quasar, and War Machine, joined by the returned Rescue, Photon and Dazzler. While they covered his front, Galactus was struck from behind by streams of fire unleashed by Maya, Dragon Man, and Ghost Rider, all while Ritsuko, Darkhawk, Aoi, Wasp, and newcomer Nadia the Sub-Mariner took swift swipes at the devourer's face with, respectively, venom blast-covered fists, energy-coated claws, bio-stings, and strikes of a golden, mystically-enhanced trident.
Captain America, from her position, took immediate notice of Nadia in particular. "Who's the girl in the swimsuit?" Mari asked.
"She's from Atlantis, and she's on our side-that's all that matters for now," Hawkeye answered as he and Kyouya fired off shots at Galactus's chest.
Mari nodded. "If we make it out of this, remind me to make a formal introduction," she said as she threw her shield towards Galactus's face.
While Galactus was stunned, Maya then proceeded to stretch herself till she completely had the upper half of Galactus hogtied, while Quasar trapped the devourer's ankles with a set of energy shackles and Satsuki held his wrists in a firm grip. Galactus scowled as his eyes glowed and he was soon surrounded by a powerful aura of energy, before he unleashed another pulse that knocked his captors off of him and flung the others away from him.
The bridge...
"There's something funny going on with Galactus," Shigeru noted.
"What do you mean?" Yui asked.
Kaji immediately picked up on what Shigeru was getting at as he looked at the monitor. "Wasn't he bigger just a few minutes ago?"
She looked at the monitor and soon came to the same realization. "You're right-he must have shrunk at least a few feet than what we previously saw him at."
"The more energy he expends, the more his stature decreases," Aahno elaborated. "Yet even when he starts to weaken, he is still infinitely more than a match for our forces."
The city...
The heroes were regrouping following the hit they took from Galactus's energy pulse, trying to come up with ways to fell him.
"What if we tried sending him out of this universe?" Ritsuko asked as she looked towards Maya who shook her head.
"Not a chance," she firmly said. "If we open a portal to the Negative Zone even for the shortest amount of time, it'd be enough for the Annihilation Wave to run roughshod on the planet-we'd be trading one world-eating force for another!"
While they continued to plan on the fly, Ghost Rider was conversing with her demonic 'roommate' over other possible ideas.
There's gotta be something that'll stop this guy cold...Asuka wondered.
There is one thing we haven't tried yet, Zarathos began to imply. Think for a moment, Young Rider-Galactus, for all his power, is still a living being. And what's one significant thing living beings feel...?
Realization hit Asuka immediately. Gott, that's perfect!...Will it work, though...?
Only one way to find out, Zarathos replied. Allow me to 'take the wheel' for a moment...
It took a minute for Kyoko to notice Asuka suddenly riding straight towards Galactus, inspiring no small amount of fear in the ebon armor-clad woman.
"Asuka...? Wait, what are you doing?!" she asked fearfully.
Not hearing her, Ghost Rider stopped in front of the devourer and stared straight at him, face-to-face. "Hear me, Galactus!" she shouted with an infernal echo in her voice, something that surprised most of the others.
"Asuka-?" Misato said, wondering what was going on.
"That is not Asuka," Rei stated grimly. "I can sense it-that is the demon she is bonded with."
Hearing this shocked the others, Kyoko especially. "...Zarathos...!" she uttered in a fearful whisper.
Galactus looked down at the skull-faced, fiery warrior before him. "Who addresses me with such insolence?"
"They call me Ghost Rider," Zarathos, speaking through Asuka, replied as they pointed at Galactus. "I avenge those whose innocent blood is shed-and you...have shed a lot of innocent blood."
"What're they doing?" Mana asked warily.
It was Hikari who started to get an idea of the answer to Mana's question. "Oh, my-I think I know what it is! I've seen them do this before, when that Mr. Hyde guy attacked the school a few months ago..."
Back with Galactus, Ghost Rider's pointing hand clenched into a fist as they posed to the devourer, "Are you prepared to face the sheer agony of those you have...slain?"
Galactus did not appear to be intimidated. "Mortal or demon, whichever you be, begone-Galactus has no time for games."
"This...is no game," Ghost Rider said in turn, their eyes glowing as they unleashed the full strength of their most powerful ability: the Penance Stare. The force of the Stare hit Galactus dead on, and around the devourer, the battle appeared to grow still...and then, he seemed to gaze all around him, but at what, no one could tell. Soon, his eyes widened and his face paled, two things none of the combatants or observers, save for Aahno, had seen the devourer do till now. Then he heard the voices: the wailing, the despair of countless beings from the many, many worlds he had visited and left lifeless husks in his wake.
"No...NOOOOAAAAAAGGGHH!" he screamed, further shocking the heroes and those in Central Dogma. Amid the din of the cries of his victims, Galactus heard Ghost Rider's voice rise above them.
"You feel it, don't you?" they posed. "The raw, unflinching torment of the billions, upon billions, of extinguished souls. The enduring, relentless pain...of eternal guilt."
Galactus continued to scream, clutching at his head as the wailing and cries did not let up, until finally, unable to withstand it anymore, the devourer collapsed onto his back, shaking the ground for a brief moment. The sight of this left those who watched stunned...and, deep down, a bit terrified of what the Spirit of Vengeance could do.
"It is done," Zarathos, through Asuka, confirmed. "And now, Galactus, I leave your fate...in mortal hands." With that, Zarathos handed control back to Asuka, who was quite astonished that the Penance Stare managed to work on someone who, till now, appeared to be an unstoppable force.
I'm betting I've just made a lot of people uncomfortable...she thought to herself as she turned to face the others, who'd just joined her at where Galactus fell. No one said a word, almost in disbelief over what had happened. Then, a new development disrupted the quiet atmosphere.
"Am I seeing things," Kaede started to ask, "or is Galactus...shrinking?"
Brought out of their reverie, the others took notice and affirmed she was right: Galactus was shrinking, having now become the size of a three-story building compared to his previous proportions.
"Asuka...seriously, what did you do to him?" Mari asked.
"It's called the Penance Stare," Asuka answered. "It forces whoever's hit by it to experience all the pain, sorrow, and fear felt by every one of their victims, stunning them into submission. And considering what Galactus does for a living..."
It didn't take Hitomi long to put it together. "No wonder-Galactus is probably now feeling so guilty for all the worlds, all the people he's destroyed over his lifetime, he's feeding upon his own energies just to try and stay alive. For however long it lasts him..."
It took a moment for the full gravity of Hitomi's words to register with everyone, but once done, it became perfectly clear what was happening:
Galactus, the devourer of worlds, was dying.
To be continued...
**Author's Note(s)**
We're almost to the startling conclusion, True Believers! This chapter was one I had immediately thought of as I was plotting the story out, considering the influences that went into the whole shebang.
-Much of the chapter takes its cues from 1966's Fantastic Four #49 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and 1982's #243 by John Byrne, the latter of which would be adapted into episode 21 of the 1994 Fantastic Four animated series, "When Calls Galactus", written by Jan Strnad. The key difference between the two was that while it was Doctor Strange who cast the spell that helped fell Galactus in the comic, in the cartoon it was Ghost Rider who did the deed using the Penance Stare, in one of my favorite scenes of animated superhero television ever. (Massive props to GR's voice actor, Richard Grieco.) Elements of the fight also came from the final episode of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, "Avengers Assemble", written by Chris Yost.
-The Ultimate Nullifier debuted in 1966's Fantastic Four #50 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in the final part of the classic "Galactus Trilogy". Its animation debut came the following year when Hanna-Barbera adapted the story for its Fantastic Four cartoon.
-The Annihilation Wave, Annihilus's enormous armada of warships and troops, debuted in the 2006 Marvel event Annihilation, specifically in the one-shot Annihilation: Prologue by Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins.
-Mister Hyde first appeared in 1965's Journey Into Mystery #99 by Stan Lee and Don Heck, starting out as a foe of Thor before battling the likes of Daredevil and Captain America. He was part of the Masters of Evil's lineup during the classic 1987 Avengers story arc "Under Siege", and is the father of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson, better known as Quake.
And now, a bit of fun involving me shamelessly recycling a joke used for my first Super-Wackos of EVA story!
OMAKE 5 - A Desperate Plan
The superwomen and their allies stood gathered, staring down the devourer of worlds. They'd triumphed against his heralds, and their initial attacks stalled him, but didn't stop him completely. Galactus stared down his challengers in turn.
"Mortals, begone. You cannot thwart the inevitable," Galactus commanded.
"Sorry to spoil your dinner plans, mister," Captain America said, "but we've got one secret weapon left you can't possibly beat. Every glutton's worst nightmare..." She then tapped the comm-link in her headgear. "Dugan-time for the big gun!"
"Ye can't be serious, lass!" Dum-Dum Dugan exclaimed over the comms. "Are you sure ye mean it?"
"I'm dead serious, Dum-Dum," Mari replied. "Deploy the Richard Simmons Life Model Decoy!"
Dugan solemnly nodded to Fitz and Simmons, who took out their respective keys, and inserted them into the panels under the glass they lifted. The two of them, sweating nervously, slowly turned the keys, activating the sequence. Soon, launch bay doors opened on the SHIELD transport they'd taken, and a pod was launched in the direction of the battle. The pod landed, using retro-rockets, in between the gathered superwomen and Galactus, and then opened to reveal its cargo: an experimental advanced robot built in the image of the legendary exercise guru. The LMD then activated and got straight to work, slipping into a routine of exercise steps.
"Come on, big boy! Shake the butter off those buns!" the LMD said with an electronic tinge to his voice. A small speaker then deployed from the side of its head, with the sound of "(Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine band playing from it.
Galactus's eyes went wide with fear at the sight of the Richard Simmons LMD as it got closer to his foot.
Shake shake shake
Shake shake shake
Shake your booty
Shake your booty
"NOOOOOO!" Galactus cried as he fled back into his ship, which he then set to immediately take off and get as far away from Earth as fast as possible.
Back on Terra Firma, the LMD continued to move, unresponsive to any commands.
"Oh, crap..." Mari said with worry, "I was afraid of this."
"It's out of control!" Spider-Woman alarmingly shouted.
"Stand back," Ghost Rider said with a cocky smirk, "I've seen this movie before."
She quickly drew her hellfire shotgun, cocked it, and fired off a burning round at the LMD's head, scoring a direct hit that left quite a hole in it. The LMD paused, as the wound quickly regenerated in its liquid metal state, much to the shock of everyone around it. It then continued its routine.
"Uh, whoops..." Ghost Rider sheepishly said, "I...forgot about that part."
"Shake shake shake...Shake shake shake...shake shake sha-" the LMD repeated, its voice growing lower and lower while it began to shake violently, especially in its posterior section.
"What's it doing?" asked a confused Ms. Fantastic.
She-Hulk's eyes went wide as she figured it out immediately. She grabbed Mari with one arm.
"Move it!" she shouted. "His ass is gonna blow!"
As soon as the others heard that, they quickly fled and ducked for cover as the shaking of the LMD grew more violent, until finally, it exploded. As soon as the flash and shockwave died down, the superwomen and their allies peered out from where each took cover. They were startled by a falling object that landed at the explosion's epicenter: the LMD's now-damaged head. All were stunned by the sight.
"I may never sleep again," said Iron Maiden.
**I own nothing of FOX or 20th Century Television. Again...I may watch too much TV.**