Chapter Sixteen
Of all the battles Steve Rogers had fought through, this one by far was the bloodiest and the most insane. The fight had been raging on for the past four hours and the combined men were all but spent. Steve ripped into two more Brood warriors and took a kick to the spine from a gamma irradiated insectoid.
"Obviously Rogers, Mephisto is planning some sort of invasion force!" the master of magnetism shouted as he crushed another dozen Brood with a magnetic field. "No doubt to try and increase his strength by killing the planet Earth!" Magneto dodged another leaping Brood and continued his effort to keep the Hulk off guard. The Hulk, raving mad at this point, was even destroying and smashing Brood warriors, his efforts were so completely out of control. Wolverine was just as beserk. Rage filled the two of them as they met each other blow for blow. There were times during the fighting when Wolverine's body would crumple to the floor and the Brood insects would start to eat at his body. Once the healing factor kicked back in he would regenerate and come back twice as ferocious. He had died so many times on this hell rock that he was beginning to think he was immortal. Namor's fists and body were caked in mud and he was barely able to stay conscious his Atlantean muscles stretched to the breaking point. He fought relentlessly, but the Brood's numbers were overwhelming. Captain America took out another Brood with his mighty shield, and all of a sudden to his right and left Madrox multiples started dropping to the floor. When the multiples fell to the floor they continued to multiply as they hit the ground, however the new multiples were as limp and lifeless as the ones that had fallen.
"Madrox? Are you okay man!" Steve shouted in panic.
"Cap, we can't stop multiplying, we can't control it," every single one of the million some odd Jamie Madroxes said together. His conscious began to separate and he was all of the instances of himself and none of them. Some of them continued to fight and others continued to drop, however, so many were being created that it didn't matter.
"He's having some kind of seizure!" shouted Magneto as he tried to use his powers to halt the Multiplying man. Distracted by this new objective, Magneto didn't see the rock size boulder that the Hulk hurled in his direction. His guard temporarily down, the boulder smashed into Magneto, cracking his helmet and sending him hurling to the ground. Namor rushed over to him and got him back on his feet.
"Thank you Namor," Magneto said coughing up blood, a gesture of sincerity rarely seen by the once mutant terrorist. "Charles, if you can hear me, we could use some help here."
The fighting continued to rage on and it seemed like no end could be in sight save for the death of the valiant men fighting hopelessly against all odds, the definition of heroism. Then, all of a sudden, a large black shroud began to fall over the battlefield. The men froze in their tracks, and the Brood collective mind was momentarily stopped as the insects tried to discover what was happening. Nearly all the light from the three suns surrounding the Brood homeworld was blocked out and darkness fell across the entire battlefield. Steve smiled as he looked up into the darkness, thinking that at least the device Reed had given him had worked. If they couldn't stop this invasion and rescue Banner, then they were going to end this thing right and for all. Up in the darkness, the object that was blocking the suns was no comet or asteroid. It was as large as a planet and known throughout the universe. The figure was clad in purple and magenta and as he raised his massive hands, his voice shook the ground the heroes stood on.
"I have come to consume, as a favor for a friend named Richards, Reed, human, this planet. Prepare yourselves for destruction," the booming, hollow voice of Galactus, world devourer, rang out into space.
Meanwhile, underneath the planet's core, Ghost Rider and Mephisto engaged in a battle worthy to decide the souls of all those who had ever lived and died. As the two combatants came at each other, each blow caused hellfire and electrical energies to be unleashed and the walls of the cave and the planet quaked. The two continued to hit each other with everything in their arsenal. Having similar powers, it basically became a street fight. Neither said a word, each realizing that to the victor went life and the souls of others, and to the loser nothing but eternal damnation. As the two matched each other blow for blow it soon became clear that their demonic powers were truly and equally matched. The energy they were releasing was incredible and was building in magnitude around them. This too, was how Galactus was able to find the world and Reed's homing device so easily, however, neither of these two demons cared that the world around them was about to be destroyed. This build up of energy, though, was causing some severe problems in another area of the galaxy….
Back on Earth Ben Grimm strained every fiber and inch of his orange rocky exterior.
"I can't hold it much longer Stretch, this could be it!" shouted the Thing over a shower of exploding sparks and machinery. The Thing was holding a large defensive barrier trying to push back the energies of the void that was being created. Reed stood franticly working controls and trying to recalibrate his machinery.
"God damn it Richards pull this thing together and get our boys home!" shouted Fury as he held onto support beams in the lab. Reed whirled his head around and elongated to face Fury.
"I can't get them home Nick! And even if I could, I still need someplace to store all of this energy that is about to reach critical mass! The overload is imminent and there's no way I can dissipate all of that energy through out the proper channels in order to make it harmless and no threatening. That calculations needed to do that are just far too chaotic, there's now way to predict something like that!" Reed screamed as another panel exploded off the back wall.
"That's it Richards, you cocky son of a bitch," Fury mumbled to himself, "Even in a panic you come up with the answers you're looking for, even if you don't know that you did."
"What are you talking about Fury?" Reed asked quizzically.
"Chaos. I know who can control chaos and make those incredible odds happen. I just hope she's found herself enough to help," Fury muttered as he opened up his comlink. "Fury, Delta clearance 003 beta, Priority frequency to reserve member, code named Quicksilver." The line sputtered on the other end and Fury started talking before the other person had a chance to say hello, "Boy, this is Fury, get your sister to the Baxter Building, now! She has to make up for almost destroying the world by quietly saving it."
