Chapter 41: The Prime Intelligence
Emily was in sheer awe of everything that had occurred in a single day. Here she stood among actual aliens, she was speaking to one! Kes-Tohn, as he'd addressed himself, was walking around her, examining the armor she was wearing. "Fascinating technology, especially for a people as primitive as Terrans." He observed. "If I may ask what Material that suit is made from?"
"Oh uh...bit of scavenged technology." She told him. "I combined parts found after the Battle of New York, as well as scavenged suits from a Local superhero to build this. It's powered by an Arc reactor, so its energy is almost limited. The metal itself comes from Chitauri technology and weapons-"
"Chitauri?" Kes-tohn's interest seemed peaked. The various clones and aliens present exchanged surprised looks with one another. "You mean to tell me your planet survived an attack from an army of Thanos?"
"What's a Thanos?" Emily asked, confused. "According to the news the Chitauri were lead by some Loki guy using a magic staff."
Kes-Tohn chuckled. "So the Mad Titan found another pawn." He calmly returned to his throne and took a seat, his eyes not leaving Emily. "Still to fight off an attack from his forces is impressive. I did not think Earth had such military capability."
"Actually, it was a team of people my planet called the Avengers." Emily explained. "They're basically a bunch of superheroes."
"Amusing." Kes-Tohn said, smirking. "Now tell me, how is it you made your way onto my ship?"
"I tracked a signal and used a teleporter bracer I designed." She told him, holding up the device on his arm.
"What sort of signal?" Kes-Tohn asked her, intrigued.
"A Unique form of Gamma Radiation." Emily explained. "Traced from the head of a crazed AI, and connected to a scepter used by Loki."
"An AI?" Kes-Tohn went into thought for a moment, and his eyes widened. "My Scepter was on Earth?!"
"Uh, your scepter?" Emily asked, confused. She had been under the belief it belonged to Loki.
Kes-Tohn then turned to face her and knelt to be eye level with her. "You may have noticed my cloned followers and my alien Subordinates who are not of my species." He said with a slight hint of anger in his voice. She silently nodded so he continued. "Once I was an Emperor, ruling over my Homeworld with a firm, but fair touch. And the symbol of my power was my scepter." He walked over to a console and project and image of the scepter before her.
"Oh yeah! That's the thing Loki was using in all the news footage!" She chimed in.
"If he was working with Thanos, that is very likely." Kes-Tohn replied stoically. "Within the gem sat my greatest treasure. The jewel of my empire. The Mind Stone, one of six ancient relics known as Infinity Stones." Emily's eyes lit of at the mention of an ancient power sourced. She at that moment realized it must have been the energy source she traced to his ship. "My world was a peaceful planet for decades under my rule, until the day the Mad Titan descended from the sky."
"Thanos?"
"Indeed." He reaffirmed. "He came seeking the stone within my scepter. And though we resisted valiantly, he destroyed my empire and wrenched the scepter from my hands." Kes-tohn snarled as he spoke. "Then, he undertook his twisted philosophy and culled half my world. Believing a slaughter such as that would 'balance' us." He scoffed as Emily looked horrified. "All it did was force what remained of my people to fight over the ruins of our world. It drove us to extinction, with only myself surviving to flee the devastated planet."
Emily slowly looked around the ship's bridge, noting all of the clones that were either working or standing guard. "So the clones…?"
"My only means of restoring my people." Kes-tohn admitted, "And the others are also victims of Thanos. Having been given to him as a peace offering, or survived his ruthless assaults." He cupped his hands behind his back and turned to look out the window of his vessel. "Together, under my leadership, we work to find a means to slay the Titan, and avenge what we've lost. We are a nameless Horde, united by a similar goal."
"If this Thanos guy is so strong, how do you plan to do that?" Emily asked him quietly.
"Ideally, by finding a power source greater than the Infinity Stones…" Kes-Tohn replied.
"What, like that Black Garnet thing?"
Kes-Tohn froze after Emily spoke. "Black Garnet?" He asked, looking her dead in the eyes.
"Uh...yeah? It was some weird gem that Doctor Santos used. She was my old….I guess boss? Adopted mother? I dunno." Emily rambled, rubbing the back of her head.
"You are speaking of the Black Garnet of Inperatio?" Kes-Tohn again questioned.
"Yeah that's what it was called!" Emily reaffirmed, beaming. "It seemed to give her weird shadowy magic powers."
"It exists on such a backwater world?!" The bipedal octopus that stood beside Kes-Tohn said in shock.
"Indeed Octavia, it is rather shocking." He admitted, turning back to Emily. "Is it still within your master's possession?"
Emily thought for a moment. "No, l;ast I heard the Avengers took down her base, and her with it." She said with a shrug. "Most likely SHIELD has possession of it. They're like some big government defense organization."
Kes-Tohn placed his hand on Emily's shoulder and grinned slightly. "A power like that will be more than enough to end the reign of the Mad Titan." He told her. "We will set course for Earth. Will you be willing to help us recover and utilize the Garnet? For the sake of my people."
"Well, sure!" Emily nodded. "If it's for a good cause. Plus, I'm human, so I won't attract as much attention." Emily began running through calculations in her head. "You'll probably also need some way to utilize the Garnet without its power overtaking you, so I could make a weapon, ooh or a suit for you!"
"Very well. Dar-Eem, lead her to the Laboratories and tell Clone-090285 to allow her full access to my technology." The Scorpion girl saluted and took Emily out of the room gently, several of the other aliens following with her. Kes-Tohn turned back to the front of his bridge and headed for his throne as Octavia followed.
"Sir, with all due respect, why did you not have her chipped?" She asked him, arms folded behind her back.
"Her intellect is useful. A mind like hers could potentially override my control, even with the chips." He replied coldly. "I could barely even read her mind, it was running faster than any of yours." He looked out the window into the vast emptiness of space. "For now… we'll use her as we require. She doesn't need to know the full story."
"Well, that went pretty well." The Scorpion woman cheerily said, patting Emily on the back. "The Prime Intelligence can be reasonable sometimes."
"He's too trusting.." Lohnie said grumbling. "For a Terran to get aboard-"
"Aren't you human?" Emily asked, tilting her head.
Lohnie scoffed and looked away. "Don't compare me to you, Terran, I am Kree!"
"Don't be so rude Lohnie, Not a lot of Terrans leave earth." The Reptillian figure from earlier teased. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves to the young one."
"Oh right! Where are my manners!" The Scorpion face palmed and held a claw out for a handshake. "Lin Dar-Eem." Emily cautiously took the claw and shook it. To her surprise, Lin was quite gentle despite the imposing claws. "I'm a Scorpioni...one of the last actually. You already met Lohnie and Rogelio."
The Large lizard made a small growl and looked away. "Ro doesn't speak a lot.." Lohnie commented. "And yeah, I'm Lohnie. A Kree. Ro here is a Sauros. We've known each other for a long time actually." Rogelio nodded silently, as Emily looked him over in amazement, much to his confusion. "We met when I defected in the middle of our….rather ruthless treatment of the Skrulls…" Lohnie seemed somewhat unnerved as she spoke, "...And ran into each other at Knowhere."
"Nowhere?" Emily asked tilting her head.
"It's a sort of Trade port, Bar, City, whatever you like, built out of the head of a dead Celestial." Lohnie explained. "Think a giant living robot thing. Anyway we encountered Prime during a battle between his forces and some of Thanos's Chitauri. He saved our lives and offered us a place in his empire."
"Yeah and I was sold to him by a criminal who took me from my homeworld." Lin added. "Prime had the guy executed afterword, I guess he also worked for Thanos, or one of Thanos's followers."
"Okay how about you?" Emily asked, looking over at the smaller reptile.
They chuckled a bit. "Well, my name is rather difficult for you Terrans to pronounce, so you can call me DT." They gave a small, theatrical bow as they introduced themselves. "I'm a Changeling, we're a sort of… cousin-race to the Skrull. Only, if you ask me, far prettier." They then shifted their appearance into Emily again, before turning back. "I joined Prime because he makes good use of my shape changing and acting skills. I consider myself a professional."
"You are all SO cool!" Emily said, her eyes practically starry. "I've always wanted to meet aliens. This is a dream come true! Well, my name is Emily Dryl."
"That's a cute name!" Lin said, bringing her to her destination. "Here you are, this is the door to the labs." The door slid open and another Clone was already waiting for her. "She's all yours C-090285." Lin pushed her in and went back on her patrol.
"Welcome, Terran." The Clone said in an eerily tranquil voice. "Your workstation is already ready. Prime has informed me of your arrival." He walked with hjer to a small, makeshift work station. "You will have access to whatever resources you require as we make our way to the Earth."
"How did Kes-Tohn already contact you?" Emily asked as she immediately started removing her armored suit.
"All Clones are linked to Prime." The clone said, motioning to a small port at the back of his neck. "We are a hive-mind."
"Oh that is cool!" Emily said, jumping out of her armor and examining the various tools spread out for her. "Also creepy. So what's your name? I'm Emily!"
"I am designated as Clone-090285" The clone replied stoically.
"That's...a b it hard to say in conversation." Emily said, chuckling. "I should give you a proper name to call you by!"
"Why...why is that necessary?" The Clone stammered out, caught off guard by her insistence.
"I know! I'm gonna call you Hordak!" Emily suddenly shouted in glee.
"Hordak…?"
"Yeah, Hordak! You kinda look like the bad guy from an old cartoon my friends used to watch. Hordak!" Emily replied. "Try it out!"
"Hordak…? I...assume you intend to call me that regardless of what I say?" 'Hordak' asked the eager girl.
"Well yeah it's just easier. Now come on Hordak, show me how these tools work! I can't wait to start tinkering"
Months later on Earth:
Two Months had passed since the Civil War, and things had settled down for Adora. While she was still lonely at the compound, she'd tried to keep her hopes up. Ross had already made himself a pain to work with, so the best Adora could hope for was the Accords blowing up hilariously in the arrogant moron's face. But for now, all she could do was obey orders and follow the accords to the letter.
And she was very quickly realizing just how boring this made her life as an Avenger. She wasn't even allowed to help stop minor crime just to keep her skills sharp. There had barely been any use for the Avengers since the signing of the accords. The most interesting thing in recent days was the incident in New York, involving Spider-Man. Turns out the kid had stumbled on a massive Chitauri tech smuggling ring, and despite a few screw ups along the way,. Brought down their ringleader Adrian Toomes, the Vulture.
Which was most likely the reason Tony had brought the kid to the Compound and offered him the Iron-Spider suit he'd been working on. Adora was expecting to see a new member added to the Avengers...until the kid did something unexpected.
"Thank you, Mr. Stark. But I'm good." He said as Adora was in the middle of making her pitch.
"You're good? Good? How are you good?" tony stammered in disbelief, causing Adora to smirk. Somebody clearly hadn't thought of this.
"Well, I mean, I'm... I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." He said bluntly, causing a genuine smile from Adora. She definitely liked this kid. "Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?"
A suprrised Tony took off his sunglasses and looked Peter in the eye. "You turning me down? You better think about this." He motioned to the Iron Spider suit once again. "Look at that. Look at me. Last chance, yes or no?"
Peter stood firm in his choice. "No."
Tony quickly tried his best to cover his obvious embarrassment. "Okay. It's kind of a Springsteen-y, working class hero vibe that I dig. Uh, Happy will take you home. Yeah?" He said, stammering.
Adora laughed. "I'll do it. I need an excuse to get out of the compound anyway." She offered, Happy being more than willing to let her take over. "Come on kid, let's go."
"Thank you, Mr. Stark." Peter said.
"Yes, Mr. Parker. Very well." Tony replied, shaking his hand as he went to leave.
Peter and Tony exchanged a few more words before Peter turned back around, Tony starting to put the suit away. "That was a test, right? There's, uh, nobody back there?" He asked. Adora face palmed behind him as Tony tried to play it off/
"Yes, you passed. All right, skedaddle there, young buck."
'You're an idiot Tony..' Adora thought. 'Can't wait to see how you get outta this one…'
Adora had rarely been down to Queens, but she found it a nice change of pace from the larger parts of New York./ As she drove, she looked in the rearview mirror at Peter. "What grade are you in anyway, Peter?" She asked.
"I'm a Sophomore." Peter replied. "I go to Midtown High. It's uh...it's a special school"
"Gifted students right?" Adora asked.
"Mostly. I seriously doubt Flash got in on anything other than money." Peter half-joked, causing a giggle from Adora.
"You gotta be...what 15?" She asked out of curiosity. "You happen to know a girl named Kira Moon?"
"Oh yeah!" He said, sitting up. "She's not in my class but I've seen her around. You know her?"
"I've run into her once or twice." Adora commented, pulling onto the street where Peter lived. "I was thinking of trying to see her again, seeing as I'm bored to hell after the Accords."
"I could talk to her for you?" Peter offered. "I did hear her bragging about meeting an Avengers once or twice."
"Honestly, that'd be nice. It would be good to see a friendly face again after everything that's happened…" She unlocked the door of the car and turned around to face him. "You take care of yourself, you hear? We need people as optimistic as you these days." Peter politely said goodbye and left the car, waving as she drove off. Adora ended up driving back to the compound, quiet and alone. Her mind drifted back to Catra, alone in Europe and on the run.
At that moment she made a decision. Damn the consequences...she was going to find Catra. And she would reconcile with her. No matter what it tyook.
To Be Continued…
OKAY SO…. Where have I been?
Long story short...burnout. Lots of burnout. The Holiday season is usually rough for me at work. Add onto that the usual financial stresses of Christmas, and the fact that Canada is currently in the dumpster in terms of our economy...and I've not had any motivation to write…
On Brighter news, I've got the upcoming arc all mapped out and just need to translate it to type. Also if I may plug something, I've resurrected an old Fanfiction from . Power Rangers Mystic Knights. It's a completely original Power Rangers story based on Arthurian Legend. I'd appreciate it if you'd go give that a look.
As for the chapter itself, yeah I've crammed a number of unadapted Horde characters into Kes-Tohn's army, I felt it was the best way to introduce them. Also I hope you appreciate the reference with the name Clone-090285, points if you get it.
I do not own She-Ra or the MCU.
NEXT TIME: A Wizard's aid?