Chapter Fourteen

The Brood's numbers were staggering. The insectoids swarmed like a hostile pack of hornets and attacked the pack of black clad heroes relentlessly. Their numbers continued to grow and the fight grew bloodier and bloodier as the time passed on. Blood, guts, insect wings, carcasses, and filth splattered in every direction, drenching the red rock planet with sludge and chaos. The Brood continued to emerge from crevices surrounding the men and swooping down from the skies. Namor and Magneto fought back to back in the skies shielding their teammates from the aerial assault. Few could believe the master of magnetism would be paired with the ruler of Atlantis, especially defending the likes of this team on the homeworld of the Brood. The sweat poured off both men as they strained their powers to the maximum level of output.

"We can't do this all day Captain!" yelled Magneto as he ripped apart five brood who had leapt at him from a nearby mountain perch. Their charred corpses fell to the ground and splattered into a pile of yellow and brown mush. Captain America hurled his shield through a pack of the creatures, cutting a line through a cave opening that was a few kilometers from the group.

"Ghost Rider! Follow that path and find Mephisto, take Namor and Magneto with you!" Steve screamed as his shield returned to his hand covered in Brood blood. Ghost Rider swept his wide chain around his head and decapitated three Brood drones. He floored his motorcycle and headed down the tunnel that Captain America had created. Namor and Magneto flew over to the bike and followed it in. Before they reached the entrance of the tunnel, Namor shouted back to Captain America.

"But Cap! You need our strength to protect you!"

"Go soldiers, that's an order! Find Mephisto and find Banner! That's our mission, so do it now! We'll hold off the majority of the Brood!" Steve shouted as a two Brood tore into his back. He whirled and smashed them together with his bare hands. Ghost Rider, Magneto and Namor vanished into the cavern opening in a burst of smoke and fire.

"So, this is your great plan Rogers?" Wolverine spat as he eviscerated three Brood drones with his left hand.

"Yeah Logan, it is. Just like WWII, let's clean this cancer up. Madrox, do Logan and I a favor, and show us that you're as good as we both hope you are," Cap said icily as he whipped another attacking Brood with a leg sweep.

"Yes sir!" several of the Madroxes said together in unison. This was Jamie Madrox's time to shine. He had always been a "D Level" super hero, never being taken seriously by any of his teammates at X-Factor. Now, he had been hand picked by Captain America himself, and if Cap believed in him and his abilities then so did he. Jamie Madrox cut lose. Multilple Man multiplied. The instances of Madrox became so frequent that the blur of the black clad heroes began to equal and counter the swarm of brown that was the Brood. Within a few minutes there were hundreds of thousands of Jamie Madroxes sparring off against the millions of Brood warriors. Captain America and Wolverine fought back to back as Magneto and Namor had done in the skies. Adamantium claws combined with the blue of the red and white shield that, despite the Brood's best attempts, continued to return to Cap's hand time and time again. The number of casualties on the Brood's side ranged in the thousands already, yet still their numbers came and continued to grow, and countering them, Multiple Man continued to match his own numbers. It got to a point where every second another seven hundred instances were created.

As the brutal fight about the landscape of the Brood homeworld continued to rage, the ground beneath them began to shake and quiver. A few hundred yards behind Logan and Captain America the ground erupted and exploded, and from the Earth emerged a completely enraged, and apparently brainwashed, Incredible Hulk. Surrounding the Hulk were about a thousand other odd Brood insectoids that had the hint of green running through their brown exoskeletons. It appeared they were larger and more ferocious than their brown counterparts, as if they had been irradiated by the same gamma rays as the Hulk.

"My God…" Steve trailed off as a Brood bit into his leg. He kicked violently with his other boot and crushed the insect's head.

"Aw hell. Fuck this shit," Wolverine said through clenched teeth. He ran full sprint towards the Hulk. The Hulk recognized his old sparring partner as Wolverine leapt into the air and sent all six of his adamantium claws into the eyes of the Hulk, who let out a bloodthirsty scream. The Hulk and the hulked out Brood swarmed Logan and began pummeling him. A few hundred Madroxes leapt in to his defense. Captain America reached into his belt for a device Reed had given him secretly before they left. He pushed a tiny red button on the device and sent out a signal to someone. He just prayed they were listening as he continued his assault and war with the Brood.

Ghost Rider ditched the cycle as he and Namor and Magneto entered the dark shaft. Namor and Magneto were both caked with the blood of the Brood and their own as they walked into the darkness. Ghost Rider just had the Brood's blood on him, as he had no flesh from which to bleed.

"Mephisto is in here. I can feel it," Ghost Rider said with his hollow voice. The cavern was illuminated from GR's flames and from the light that Magneto as generating with a magnetic force. Namor was sweating profusely, and he was starting to lose it. His rage was beginning to take over him and he realized he needed to get into the water soon. But he wondered whether or not there was any water on this god forsaken rock.

"Do you really believe, Mr. Ketch, that Mehpisto does not know we are here? Do you really think that he has not decided for us to be here in the first place?" Magneto said as he floated behind Ghost Rider.

"I know Magneto. If there's anything I know in this world, it is Mephisto," Ghost Rider said coldly. The three continued to walk down the dark chamber. Magneto reached into a pouch on the side of his pants and removed a thin folded metal sheet. With a wave of his hand the metal molded and reformed into his signature purple helmet. The helmet floated in the air and came to rest on his head.

"And I am never one to be unprepared as well," Magneto said as both Namor and Ghost Rider looked at him. The three rounded a corner in the dark cave and saw a large room open up around them. The room had an unknown source of illumination and many different levels. Sat perched on the rising levels were several Brood drones that were more green in color than brown and they were larger than the drones they had been fighting outside.

"It would seem these Brood have been altered somehow," Namor said as he clenched his fists.

"Altered, to perhaps mimic…" there was a blinding flash of light, "…the Hulk." Magneto finished his sentence as he stood standing in front of the Incredible Hulk and a swarm of gamma irradiated Brood on the surface of the planet. Namor stood beside him.

"What the hell is Ghost Rider! Well don't just stand there, might as well join the party!" one of a million Madrox clones shouted as Magneto and Namor rejoined the fray. Meanwhile, deep within the cave, Mephisto stood before Ghost Rider.

"I thought it would be better if it was just the two of us," Mephisto hissed behind a devilish grin.

" I don't care what your game is here, Devil," Ghost Rider said with rage. The flames about his head burned brighter and he clenched the chains that were in his hands. "Let's end this!"