Part 5 - Blood of the King

Chapter 93 - Chaos

Max knew the stakes. If he failed, a lot could be lost. He sat on top of a skyscraper in 7610, watching his target. Grace was his friend, but asking her out scared him almost as much as Khahrahk. He decided to distract himself for a moment, thinking about everything his mother had shown and told the directors and Conall. Whoever this Death was, the stories made them sound nowhere near as sinister as their name suggested. Max shook his head vigorously, bringing himself back to reality and to his mission. He jumped off the building and fired a web to swing down to Grace, just as his com badge beeped twice. He sighed and swung back onto the rooftops before tapping the Legion insignia emblazoned on his suit.

"Morales speaking."

"The directors are having an emergency meeting."

"Understood. Out."

It seemed the mission wasn't going to be a failure for now, just postponed. Max hammered HQ into his watch and warped there.

The other directors, Gwen and Conall were looking grim.

"What's happening?" Max asked as he walked in.

"Quintari intelligence says Khahrahk is coming for the world between worlds and we have no plan to defeat him." Explained Teresa.

"I guess we have to find another deity who's willing to fight."

"Since Khahrahk has killed everyone he's come across and absorbed their power, we need more than a deity." Answered Conall.

"Then someone like him." Suggested Lisa.

"Good luck finding another Khahrahk. You want to do something to accidentally piss them off and bring us back to square one?" Asked Gwen.

"It's all we've got. Plus, they're probably quite competitive over who can kill more gods." Max reasoned.

"Hey, how did asking out Grace go?" Gwen asked with a grin.

"I didn't because someone called an emergency meeting just as I jumped off a building. Now can we forget that?"

Conall chuckled to himself.

"That sentence would sound so good out of context. These meetings would be enough to make anyone want to jump off a building."

"Not what I meant. I jumped and my badge went off."

"Focus!" Snapped Teresa. "I've just done some Googling. In the Marvel universe, there's a being called the Chaos King who wants to kill all the gods. Khahrahk is a god, and a damn powerful one at that."

"He can't be half as complex as Khahrahk." Robert muttered.

"Nope. Just plain god killing, taking their power and resurrecting them as an army to fight for him."

"Good."

"Where do we find him?" Asked Gwen.

"Noladis, I suppose. He destroyed Olympus, pantheon of the Greek gods. It's a place to start."

"Then let's go. We're all gonna die anyway."

Max, Gwen and Conall were aboard the modified Ares shortly after. It shook a little as it jumped through the dimensional barriers, between multiverses and into what had once been Olympus. The pantheon of the Greek gods was in flames and little was left standing. The jet landed and Gwen was first off. She knelt down by a corpse and looked at the injury. It looked a little like the one she had sustained from her fight with the pattern screamer SCP-096 twenty-five years ago. The Shy Guy had skewered her through the hip and very nearly killed her. However, these corpses were dressed like gods but her spider sense sensed no residual power. Maybe that was because it was too busy telling her to look up. She did and just had time to dodge the hand coming for her to inflict a similar injury. A humanoid, dressed in black so dark they seemed more like a shadow, prepared to strike again.

"Stop! We're here to talk."

"No mortal wishes to speak with me."

"Yeah, and I expected you to be bigger so both our expectations are shattered."

The humanoid stepped back and suddenly became hundreds of times their size. Tendrils flowed from their head like loose hairs. Their teeth reminded the trio of Venom.

"Chaos is king!"

"It won't be if you don't listen." Conall reasoned.

The Chaos King glared down at them, wondering what these people wanted

"Speak."

"I was going to anyway. Have you ever heard of Khahrahk?"

"I have been here since the beginning of this multiverse. I am aware of his conquests."

"Then you'll know he's kinda copying your thing."

"Where is he? I shall slay him as I have slain these...deities."

"The world between worlds, Premis. Or he's on his way there."

"Why should I fight your war, mortal?"

Conall spread his wings and rose up to the Chaos King's head height.

"I'm not mortal, mortal. And you should fight our war because there can't be two kings ruling the same land. And please nobody give me a history lesson on some stupid instance of that."

The Chaos King laughed.

"Khahrahk will bow. Chaos is the only true king."

Klaxons blared in the Ethereal Legion headquarters, joined by an irritating female voice saying the same thing over and over:

"This is a code red alert. All personnel are to evacuate under protocol HQA-1, amendment seventeen."

Teresa blocked out all the noise as she watched the last ship undocking and warp away. For now the fleet had scattered, but it would rendezvous soon enough when the battle was over. Hopefully they would have a headquarters to return to. The former commander entered a hangar just as the modified Ares touched down. From it emerged the trio and a humanoid in such dark black they seemed more like a shadow. The Chaos King stared out the open entrance into the void of the world between worlds.

"Where is Khahrahk? I will destroy him."

"A minute or two out, tops. I assume you're the Chaos King."

"I am the Chaos King, mortal."

"Teresa will do fine. None of this 'mortal' bullshit. We're all just as mortal in Khahrahk's eyes."

Max was tapping his leg impatiently.

"I know this is a bad time, but there's nothing we can do to help Chaos. So...can I go and ask out Grace?"

Gwen laughed.

"You said you weren't doing relationships until all this is over."

"I'm getting a really dark feeling it's not going to be over in a good way."

"Go for it, Max. And good luck. Rendezvous in 9559 tomorrow at 1100 local." Replied Teresa.

"Thanks. Good luck to you too. Don't die."

As Max left, there was a resounding crack. Khahrahk emerged in his usual way, hovering instead of standing due to the lack of floor in the world between worlds. For once, he was being dwarfed; the Legion headquarters was enormous. He grunted, reaching for the Crucible before being interrupted as the Chaos King grew to an equivalent height. Khahrahk narrowed his four eyes, wondering what this being was doing outside of Noladis.

"Chaos is king!" Roared Chaos as he hurled the first punch.

Khahrahk dodged it, catching the fist.

"My reign is eternal."

Chaos was pushed back towards the sphere, but got a strong footing of sorts in the air and began to press back. The giants wrestled, pushing backwards and forwards until Chaos ducked down and rammed his shoulder into Khahrahk's stomach. The Scarlet King found himself suddenly losing to a being he considered inferior. With a hand around his throat, he began to pull at it in an attempt to get free. Chaos only squeezed tighter until his enemy's eyes began to bulge. Khahrahk slashed his clawed hands on Chaos' face, but it had little effect on the darkness. In a final attempt to get free, he reached to the side and clenched his fist. Gwen had never considered what the blue streaks were that seemed to constantly fly by the world between worlds. Now she figured it out as one turned a scarlet red and hurtled into Chaos' head: they were dimensions and Khahrahk was throwing them like pebbles. Now she understood just how powerful the Scarlet King was in his final form. She felt the darkness consuming her soul as she came to the realisation of just how out of depth she was in all this. She was Spiderwoman: she should be stopping bank robberies, helping old ladies across the street, not watching two of the omniverse's most powerful entities fight. Chaos was on the defensive now, covering its face with its arms as Khahrahk hurled dimension after dimension at the supposed god. The Scarlet King relented, reaching for his back to take up the Scarlet Crucible and slay his opponent. The blade glowed under his full power but Chaos dodged its first swing, only to end up slamming against the Legion headquarters. The Scarlet King floated on top as well, both crushing every part of the structure that they touched. As he swung the blade a second time, Chaos caught it with his hand, snarling at the pain as it dug in. Khahrahk looked between his enemy's face and his weapon, wondering if there was something wrong with it.

"The Darkness Below will consume all." He said, spitting in Chaos' face.

"Chaos is the only true king. It is what you create, it is what I am."

"There can only be one king and the Darkness Below will consume all."

"Then our battle will be legendary."

Khahrahk drove the Crucible into headquarters. The structure began to glow red before being torn apart into millions of fragments. When the glowing disappeared, he discarded the weapon with little care. He raised his hands and the debris began to clump together until it formed an enormous battlefield. The Scarlet King took up his weapon once more but sheathed it on his back and created a red crack. From it emerged a single creature: SCP-096. Teresa received confirmation that 096 had breached containment a moment later. Chaos stared down at 096 and laughed.

"You would send your cursed child to fight me?"

"Once the son of A'ghor was mighty. Today I release those bindings."

096 began to transform: its arms and legs became more muscular and it no longer looked as though it hadn't eaten in a thousand years. The crack was still open and from it emerged a Kate holding something in its beaked mouth. Teresa ran to the cockpit of the Ares and zoomed in using the targeting camera. It was a sword on which was inscribed something in Japanese. Khahrahk beckoned for 096 to take the weapon.

"Take up the Grasshopper Sword, my son. Many shall fall to its blade, but first it must slay its true enemy.

"It will be done, father."

Teresa, Conall and Gwen exchanged looks; 096 had spoken in a voice not dissimilar from 682's. Chaos was having none of it.

"You are a cheat. A fraud. Chaos is king."

"Yet chaos fears a blade named after an insect. Ironic that something so small could kill something so big." Khahrahk replied, rubbing salt in the wound.

Chaos seemed to be sucked into nothingness, leaving Khahrahk alone with his son and the lone Ares. The King smiled hauntingly at the jet.

"You have seen that you cannot summon any demon to destroy me. I am the king of the Darkness Below, and my reign is eternal."

He and 096 left through the red crack. Teresa, Gwen and Conall stared at each other, not sure what to make of what they had just witnessed. Conall gave a wiry grin and summed it up:

"Welp...we're fucked."

Max had read the report on what had happened. He scanned through it, sitting on the couch in Ganke's flat. The spider was feeling quite knocked about at the moment. He had asked Grace out; technically she hadn't said no, but she didn't say yes either. Hearing about the destruction of HQ didn't help at all. Ganke sat down and handed him a hot chocolate.

"You good?"

"I don't know. Everything's falling apart and I don't know what to do. We can't kill the Scarlet King, and nobody else can. What would Dad think?"

"I think he'd know you're doing your best. You're fifteen! You shouldn't be in charge of the Legion."

"I know, but that doesn't change any of this."

"Nobody's perfect, Max. Don't try and fight the entire thing at once; just do it a bit at a time. Take a step back for a minute."

"I did step back. I asked out Grace and got rejected. Meanwhile everything went to hell."

"Look: you won't win this by sulking. You have to do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know; I can't look at your app thing and tell you what's happening."

Max sighed, taking a gulp of hot chocolate and switching his iPad on. In the 'alerts' tab of the Legion app, there was a notification about riots breaking out as civilians demanded answers on what the Legion was hiding. He tapped it and a local map appeared. One was happening outside the Legion headquarters here in 7610.

"I guess I'll go and deal with that."

Max found the riot easily from the noise. People were throwing bricks and other projectiles at a line of Legion soldiers in front of a building. The soldiers held riot shields. Max swung down between them and civilians. One of the soldiers tensed up.

"Sir, you can't be here. It's too dangerous."

He ignored the warning, staring at the protestors.

"What does throwing bricks do to help anyone? You realise this is the exact reason the Legion is hiding stuff from you, right?"

"Hey! You're that senior director bastard! You're gonna tell us everything or we'll trash you." Yelled back one of them.

"I've fought bigger people than you. Literally."

"Oh yeah? Let's go then!"

The protestor stepped forward, brandishing a baseball bat. Max raised his fists.

"People don't have to get hurt."

"Hurt is the only language you bastards speak."

"Actually I speak English and Spanish fluently. But I'm sure I can get a translator for this 'hurt'. Like my fist."

Max took the first swipe, landing the punch square in the protestor's face. The were roars from the crowd; the baseball bat came to hit him but he stepped backwards. His opponent leapt on him, knocking both of them to the floor. The soldiers looked at each other, wondering whether or not to intervene. However, they let Max do the dirty work...it was a mistake. It wasn't a mistake because the spider lost, but because he won a little too well. Within a few seconds, he was on top landing blow after blow on the protestor's face. If he didn't have his mask on, the rage in his eyes would have ended the entire riot out of fear. When he had landed twenty punches, he was sick of it and grabbed the baseball bat, smashing it down on his opponent's skull. There was a sickening crack, then dead silence apart from the rumbling of cars a few blocks away. Max breathed heavily as the reality of what he had just done sank in. He let the bat roll away and collapsed onto his back. He had just killed someone, and this time they weren't under the Scarlet King's control.

"Max!" Yelled a familiar voice.

He glanced in the direction of the crowd to confirm it. Two people burst from the frontline: Jacob and a girl, Grace. Max let them haul him to his feet and drag him through a gap made by the soldiers, just as all hell broke loose. Inside the building, the pair sat him down on a couch in the reception area and dragged chairs up in front of him. Max double tapped the side of his head, morphing his mask away. He braced himself for the onslaught of abuse his friends would give him, but their faces only bore expressions of concern. Grace looked the most worried.

"Oh my god, Max. This isn't about me rejecting you, is it? I didn't say no, I just didn't say yes."

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just turning into my mum."

"You've got a long way to go before that." Said Jacob, jokingly.

Grace shot him a look. Max took a deep breath.

"I think I'm just...going crazy. There's too much chaos. Maybe you 'rejecting' me was the last nail in the coffin. Shit...what have I done?"

"He was kinda gonna kill you." Jacob tried to reason.

"But I could have just incapacitated him. I didn't have to kill the guy."

"Nope...you're right."

There was silence, only broken a minute later by the sound of a temporal warp. Gwen double tapped the side of her head, morphing her mask away.

"Teresa sent me to come and get you. She's pretty pissed off."

"So am I."

"Yeah, well don't use me as a role model."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation
- Marvel (I'd specify the comic, but the Chaos King was in multiple)