Polarity

by Chris Myers

When a Romero-style zombie outbreak hits, three supervillains, led by a long time loser, find themselves doing whatever it takes to save themselves, and eventually, the rest of humanity.

36. Black Magic and Red Lightning

"Whoa." West Drive was lit up with streaks of tracer fire and bolts of blue energy. To the north, on the shores of the Reservoir, yellow repulsor beams split the sky in front of the portal's red glare. And to the south, the sounds of gunfire drifted to our ears, as Osborn's men swept that side of the park, led by the Trapster and Deadpool. "It's like something out of a movie," I said softly, in awe of the canvas of violence and mayhem spread out before me.

"Yeah, 'Avatar' meets 'Night of the Living Dead.'" Ms. Marvel walked over to the double doors leading up to where we stood, a fire axe in her hand. As I stared at the firepower being put up in defense, I heard her say "actually, replace 'Avatar' with 'Apocalypse Now.'" She jammed the axe into the handles of the door. With ease, the long metal handle of the fire axe was twisted into a knot, tying the two handles together. Ms. Marvel clapped her hands together as she stepped back. "Alright. Any zombie that manages to shamble up here isn't going to be able to break through that." She walked back towards where I was standing, the Darkhold still under my arm as I watched the light show. "And if a horde does show up, it'll give us plenty of warning."

Ms. Marvel stood next to me for a moment. In silence, we watched the zombie horde creep towards the barricades. The sheer number of dead bodies scattered all over the Great Lawn was a major impediment to the undead, and they still marched on, crawling and stumbling over the pile of their brethren. "Herman...you're up right this, right?"

"I don't know." I held the ancient tome in front of me. My blood still glistened wetly in the moonlight on its cover. "But what choice do we have? You heard Iron Man when you finally got through to him. Doctor Strange is still missing, no one's seen Thor or Electro since they took their swim in the reservoir, everyone else is still fighting Reaper and his crew, and the last thing we need is to bring the Darkhold to the portal and let the Grim Reaper have a shot as getting this thing back. The only real mystical asset we have is Ares, and there's no way in hell I'm taking the chance of Norman Osborn realizing what we've got. He'd rip it from our hands and probably make Dormammu a counter-offer." I sighed, a bit of resignation and a bit of worry mixed together. "The Darkhold talked to me. I told it to bring you back, and it listened. If Doctor Strange shows up, I will gladly shove this thing in his hands and take my place on the firing line. Until then...well, I'm gonna see if I can figure out what makes this thing tick."

"Don't take it too lightly," Ms. Marvel cautioned. "You might end up way over your head."

"Too freakin' late."

Ms. Marvel and I stood on the roof of Belvedere Castle. Built on Vista Rock, one of the highest points in Central Park, the elevated structure gave us a clear view of the madness that had descended upon the city. And it was also one of the few places that the living dead weren't threatening, which is why we had chosen this location to try to crack the Darkhold, as opposed to staying in the Museum of Natural History, which had been surrounded by zombies. The large majority of them still streamed, like a wave of suicidal soldiers, to the SHIELD barricades, dying in droves in the face of such firepower. But small packs continued to break off, stumbling towards the sound of gunfire coming from the south end of the park, the refugees and their defenders holding their own private war. And a few, in singles or in pairs, wandered their own path, the tell-tale lure of gunfire failing to draw their interest.

"They're not...as organized as they were," I observed. The straps of the compressor bit into my shoulder. "Before," I said, readjusting the weight of the compressor, "damn near every zombie was going for the barricade, and the rest were going after the refugees who split from the pack. Now...they're spreading out. Hell, look at that bunch." I pointed towards the water's edge, where a group of ghouls were splashing in the shallow water. "What are they doing? Going for a swim?"

"They're coming for us, Herman. They know we're up here." Yeah, as I looked closer, the mob was making their way in our direction. "Don't worry," Ms. Marvel said, "they can't get up here. And if they get close, I'll pick them off." She turned to face me, a look of concern etched on her face. "Be careful, and tread lightly. A guy like Doctor Strange is wary of the power this book has. It might swallow your soul or something."

"Thanks for the thought." I set the book on the edge of the parapet, resting it flat on the stone surface. "Just watch my back. The last thing I need is someone jumping me from behind while I'm trying to figure out the magical equivalent of one plus one."

Ms. Marvel rubbed her hands together. "Don't worry." Cracking her knuckles, it sounded like the distant sound of thunder. "No zombie's going to take a bite out of you, I promise."

"Thanks, Ms. Marvel," I said as I reached out for the obscene cover of the Darkhold.

"Carol."

My hand paused, hovering over the book. "Huh?"

"You can call me Carol, Herman." I turned to look at her, one of my eyebrows raised in disbelief. She shrugged her shoulders at the expression on my face. "Mordo called me by my first name, and apparently that book did as well according to what you told me. So...by this point, I think you and I are on a first-name basis, Herman."

"Huh," the only response I really could make. So all it took was the end of the world and fighting side by side to get her attention. I jotted that down for future reference. "Tell you what. As long as you're in the costume, you're Ms. Marvel. If we ever sit down for a cup of coffee, you're Carol. Deal?"

A small grin answered my question before her words did. "Deal." She nodded to the Darkhold. "Go ahead and work your magic, Herman. I got you covered."

I really could have used a drink of water as I cracked open the book. It fell open to a random page, the paper crinkled and yellowed from the ravages of time. The drawing on the page was still legible, the words only a warm sensation on my eyes as opposed to the sharp heat back in the museum. "Alright," I said quietly, "let's you and I have a talk."

_...await your questions..._

The whisper...I would have expected something that came out of the mouth of the Vulture, a high, raspy, scratchy voice that grated on my ears. Instead, the Darkhold's voice was comforting, spoken calmly in a time of great danger and peril. That put me on edge. I had dealt with enough lowlifes and criminals to know that when people got polite and soothing, it was because the knife was going in your back the second your guard went down.

_...do not fear...are yours now..._

...how the hell? "Damn it, don't read my mind."

The whisper gave a low chuckle in response, the sound of an audience in a quiet room trying to hold back their laughter. _...do not have to...your body speaks..._

"Cut the psychiatry," I said, holding myself a little more upright. "We're running out of time. You said back in the Museum you could stop the dead from rising. Were you bs'ing me, or telling the truth?"

_...truth...speak the truth..._

"Alright. How?"

_...emptiness..._

"...ok, that really doesn't help me out here."

_...emptiness..._

"Same thing, still not helping," I sighed. "Come on, can't you be a little less cryptic and a little more direct?"

_...blood..._

Oh, just peachy.

"Man...Darkhold, I said it earlier, I'm not going to keep giving you my blood."

_...blood...communicate...strengthen our bond...belong to you now...blood_

"I get it. So if I give you more blood, you'll stop talking like a fortune teller and start making sense?"

_...strengthen our bond...

"Damn it. I'm going to regret this." But I didn't have a choice, did I? The cut on my forehead had dried itself shut over the past few minutes. I had to dig a bit with my finger, sawing the rough fabric across the wound, wincing as my armor touched the raw flesh underneath. The disapproving stare of Ms. Marvel...Carol...burned on the back of my neck as the blood began to flow again, one drop running down my face like I had cut myself shaving. My teeth ground together as I smeared blood all over my fingers. This was NOT the best idea I ever had. But I had to communicate with this thing somehow. And it wasn't like I was opening a vein and bleeding all over it.

A content sigh breezed through my mind as I pressed my bloody fingers onto the page. The dark liquid was a stark contrast to the yellowed paper. It pooled on the parchment, settling on top of it instead of sinking in and staining the page.

_...our bond strengthens, Herman, through your blood..._

It was still a quiet voice, but the words were much clearer in my head, like they had sliced through the mental background noise.

"Ok, I can hear you now," I acknowledged, pulling my fingers back. "You said blackness and emptiness. What does that have to do with these things?"

_...they are empty...it fills every part of their being...it is what drives them...the craving to fill that void with what they lack..._

"Life," I found myself saying. "They lack life."

_...they lack life...they lack death...they lack anything that makes them more than pure instinct...they seek to fill the most basic need any being in this universe holds..._

Flashes of my high school psychology class flared from my memories. A crusty old teacher with blue hair pointing at a triangle on the blackboard. "Food."

_...you are a smart one, Herman...the hungry dead can't fulfill their most basic need...driven to fill their bellies in vain..._

That cold chill went through my body again. Now I knew why they wanted warm flesh, and why every moan that a zombie made held that sense of need, that soul scraping sound of unfulfilled desires. A hole that they couldn't full, the one thing every human being needed to function...and these parodies of life couldn't fill that hole no matter how much flesh they stuff inside their bodies.

_...can show you..._

The quiet voice brought me back from my thoughts. "Show me? Show me what?"

_...we can show you the emptiness...feel what they feel...see what they see..._

"Uh...no way. I don't want to become one of those things. Not on your damn life."

_...no...see the world through their eyes...the emptiness, Herman...know all about the emptiness...

"Damn it," I growled towards the tome, "we don't have that kind of time."

_...patience, Herman...there is always time enough to do what's necessary...see the world...see the emptiness..._

My fingers twitched. I watched as my bloodstained glove reached out towards the Darkhold of...well, not their own accord, but I damn sure well wasn't about to take the book up on its offer. "I said we don't have time." I tried to pull my hand back, but the same sharp, pressing pain that had kept my hands on the Darkhold back in the museum snapped around my wrist, pulling my hand forward.

_...see the emptiness..._

I tried to resist the force, but with a sudden surge, my hand slammed down on the open book. Tendrils of black energy wrapped around my hand, reaching up from the ink scribbled across the page. My hand went cold, icy veins spreading quickly up my arm.

_...see the emptiness..._

_...see..._

Hunger.

Feet wet. Hunger, a roaring fire in my belly.

Flashes of light. Hunger, a ball of ice rolling about in my stomach.

Movement in front. Hunger, a javelin piercing my insides.

Forward, towards the movement. Hunger, tearing my intestines into pieces.

I could see Belvedere Castle in the distance. I must have...

Hunger. There...

...been down on the shore of Turtle Pond. In front of...

Hunger. Up in the castle...

...me was the stone pile myself and Ms. Marvel...

Hunger. Flesh. Skin. Bone.

...were standing on top of.

Hunger. Muscle. Blood. Sinew. The feeling of hunger crashed over me like a tsunami. _What the hell...what did you do?_

_...need to see what they see...feel what they feel..._

_No, I don't! They're dead, they're killing this planet, and all I need to see is each one of them put back in the ground where they belong! And you said you could help me do it!_

_...you're an engineer...your view is narrow minded...see all facets...all possibilities..._

There wasn't anything to see. The zombie I was riding along with stumbled along the shore of Turtle Pond, at the foot of Belvedere Castle. It was surrounded by a few of its brethren, all moving in the direction of the castle.

That's all I could tell you about what the zombie was doing. Because the hunger was just too much. From the instant the Darkhold shoved me into this zombie's mind, this hollow pit covered every fiber of my being. Every thought...I don't know if you can call it a thought...no, every instinct this zombie had revolved around its hunger, the urge to feed driving it onward.

_Get me out of here!_

_...imagine it, Herman...driven for eternity by one urge..._

_I don't need to, I don't WANT to! Pull me back, damn it!_

It overwhelmed me. I felt it, the pure NEED to sink my teeth into flesh. Imagine craving a cigarette when it's below zero and there's a foot of snow on the ground. Imagine lying in a hospital bed, your body ripped open by an explosion, begging for morphine to dull the pain. Imagine seeing that girl or guy across a crowded bar, the one that causes your heart to ache. Add those sensations together, those senses of longing and want. A cokehead in withdrawal, begging for one line. A coffee addict with a New Year's resolution to quit caffeine cold turkey. Throw them in there. Multiply that total by a factor of one hundred. And you haven't even BEGUN to comprehend the hole that the hunger was tearing at the zombie. There was nothing else. No memories. No personality. No ticks, no quirks. There was nothing inside this zombie to differentiate it from any other corpse, save its mobility.

_...you see now, Herman...nothing...every one...nothing..._

My vision shifted instantly. The Brooklyn Bridge burned at the top of the off-ramp as I wandered towards a Marine reloading his assault rifle, the taste of warm blood copper in my mouth.

_...nothing..._

Shift. The sign on the flat grass read "WELCOME TO IOWA" as I stood, motionless, in a corn field, the only sound the whisper of rustling stalks. Hunger.

_...nothing..._

Shift. I slapped my hand against the fortified door of a movie star's mansion in Los Angeles, moaning to draw the attention of anyone who could help me break through and reach the woman cowering behind it.

_...nothing..._

Shift. My teeth tore into the leg of the handcuffed convict. The screams from my meal did nothing to deter me as I ripped a chunk of his calf away, wet blood quenching the fire.

_...nothing..._

Shibuya Crossing was dark, the screens towering over Tokyo's equivalent to Times Square. In the far distance, a dim light shined from the top of a skyscraper, blinking in a coded pattern. It would take me days to reach it, the hunger ripping at my insides with each step.

_...nothing..._

Bullets tore into my body, slapping at my decaying skin as the bullets from the Russian soldiers were blown off-course due to the howling Siberian wind. Zombies felt into the deep snowdrifts on either side of me, the blood from their head wounds freezing upon contact with the frigid air. I drove myself forward through the howling blizzard towards the source of the gunfire, heedless of the projectiles ripping me apart.

_...nothing..._

_Stop it!_

_...nothing..._

_Stop it!_

_...nothing..._

"STOP IT!"

I pulled away from the Darkhold, the metal of my gauntlets cold against my skin as I pressed my hands against the side of my head. "Stop it! Just stop it!"

"Herman! HERMAN!" Another pair of hands grabbed at my wrists, holding me in place. The blue eyes of Ms. Marvel, wide with alarm, stared at me as she stopped me from staggering across the roof. "Herman, what's wrong! Calm down!"

Deep breaths. I took several, my breath clouding the air between me and the Avenger. "Ok...I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."

"If you have to keep chanting you're fine, Herman, you're not." She slowly let go of my hands, turning to glance at the book of magic sitting on the parapet. "What the hell happened?"

"That damn thing put me in the mind of a zombie." My hands were on my hips now, and I sucked air like I had just finished running from the cops even though it was my mind, not my body, that had just been worked over. "Several of them, in fact. They're hungry. They're so damn hungry...they're like a heroin addict going through withdrawal, but...it'll never end. They're going to starve forever."

"Right. That's it, Herman. You're not playing around with that book anymore. We'll guard it and keep the Grim Reaper or Osborn from getting their hands on it, but you're not going back near that thing," she said in a firm tome.

_...you will...you want to stop the hungry dead...if you don't, no one will..._

"If I don't stop them," I told Ms. Marvel, "no one's going to." The words just came into my mouth, flowing automatically without thought. "We don't have enough firepower to overcome every single zombie. Sooner or later, someone's running out of ammo, that line will get overrun, and it's game over for the Big Apple."

_...you know us...we know you...bound together..._

"I'm fine. It was just overwhelming to get jammed into the head of an undead eating machine." I turned back towards the book. "I know what I'm doing..."

"Like hell you do. Herman..."

"I got this."

A hand on my shoulder. But not of comfort. She pinned me in place as her fingers dug into my skin, causing me to wince in pain. "Herman," Ms. Marvel said from behind me. "No. That book's evil. It's luring you in. It'll tell you lies and toy with you because you don't know a damn thing about magic."

"What about what you said back in the museum? How you had faith that I could pull this off?"

"I might have been wrong. Hell, I probably was wrong. It's not you, Herman, it's that damn book. You're up to your neck in quicksand when it comes to that thing..."

"Yeah...but I got one thing going for me." I tried to turn, but she kept her grip tight. "I'm clever. Hell, you know what? I'm damn brilliant. I built these gloves out of nothing, and I got a better track record against Spider-Man than any other villain. I've committed more crimes than the police ever found out about. I survived this past week with my wits and some damn good luck. The way I'm seeing it, I'm one of the smartest people on the damn planet, Ms. Marvel, and if there's a way to crack that book and stop the living dead, I'm going to find it."

"That's hubris, Herman."

I pointed out towards the battle raging below us. "That's reality, Carol. And we don't have the luxury of denying it anymore. I can pull this off. I know I can."

After a few seconds, she pulled her hand back. "If that thing possesses you, Herman, I will take you out," a cold voice said. "I won't trade one Grim Reaper for another. If I even think you're turning to the dark side..."

She didn't need to finish the sentence.

I laid my hands back on the pages of the book.

_...you know what they are now..._

_So what did Baron Mordo want with you? What makes you so damn important? There was zombies around before he and Eric Williams got their hands on you._

_...it ties into how the zombies came about, Herman...listen carefully...Black Talon discovered another dimension that had been infected by the same plague that now lays waste to this one...he approached Dormammu's servant, who you know as the Hood, with this information...when the Hood turned him away, Dormammu disowned his servant..he chose the Grim Reaper as his new servant on this Earth...he taught the Grim Reaper the proper rituals and spells to bring the plague through space and time...the Hood was the conduit...his ritual sacrifice spilled the necessary blood needed to invest the plague into his body..._

_Ok. Let me make sure I got this. Black Talon somehow finds out that there's another dimension infected with zombies, and when Dormammu found out about it, he sacrificed the Hood and put the Grim Reaper in his place in order to bring whatever caused that plague to our dimension?_

_...accurate enough..._

_So...it all started with the Hood? Ok, so if we find the Hood and shoot him in the head, does that reverse the plague somehow?_

_...the Hood was destroyed by the Wrecker...he was only the initial conduit...his sacrifice allowed the plague to spread around the world instantly...the dead began to rise in all places..._

_Yeah, I saw it on TV. So, why? What did Dormammu have to gain from all of this?_

_...Doctor Strange banished him from this physical plane...the death of human beings releases life energy...the presence of the living dead generates death energy...the two of them together can provide a catalyst for Dormammu to force his way back to this plane..._

_And? What will be do once he gets here?_

_...Dormammu is to dimensions what Galactus is to planets...the Grim Reaper was to spread chaos and fear to add flavor to the energy that Dormammu would devour from this planet..._

_So he's going to eat everything. Great. So where do you fit into the equation? Why did Williams need to get his hands on you?_

_...Dormammu can give his minions power to control the living dead...you experienced it first hand when you fought the being you knew as the Hulk...you experienced it first hand when you fought the being you knew as Aleksei..._

_Get to the point_

_...your anger is justified...their control over the living dead is limited...the more they inhabit, the less control they possess...would have acted as a means to enhance their control...power increasing exponentially...to drive the horde with a purpose...not simply to feed...but to feed from a certain herd...to push towards a location instead of wandering aimlessly..._

_You're a guidance system._

_...much more, Herman...direction...control...purpose...all these things...see for yourself..._

_No, no! Don't you..._

I braced myself for the hunger to slam into my stomach like a wrecking ball.

_...hunger doesn't control...you control...we control..._

_Jesus Christ!_

On either side of me, zombies pawed at the base of Vista Rock. I stepped backwards, trying to quickly extract myself before they realized I was there and decided I'd make a tasty snack...

I felt stiff, like I had just gotten out of bed in the morning. My head lolled to one side as I took a halting step backwards, planting my foot on the ground. The world itself was a bit blurry, but I could easily make out everything around me through a red haze. The sounds of gunfire behind me...they weren't loud, but they resonated in my ears, more distinct than the natural sound of water lapping on shore.

_...you are one of them now, Herman...try to move..._

My arm came up slowly. I could see the two remaining fingers and the large chunk of flesh missing from my wrist. No pain, just a sense of missing digits.

_Whoa._

_...this is but a taste, Herman..._

I don't know how to describe it. It...it was picture-in-picture, but my vision didn't get divided. Another scene was overlaid on top of the view I had, but I could easily make them both out without confusion. This time, the zombie was making its way towards the front door to Belvedere Castle, a few of her fellow ghouls in her wake.

_...control..._

I raised my other arm. Two arms lifted into the air as the second zombie came to a halt and both of them lifted their arms. It felt...natural. I wasn't splitting my attention between security monitors...it was just something easy, like driving stick shift for two cars at the same time. Which is impossible. But I was doing it.

_...control..._

Two jumped to eight, not stopping at four.

_...speak your will, Herman..._

_Ok. Um...I command you to stop._

The crowd moving towards the entrance to the Castle stopped. One fell down, his gnawed ankle snapping as I put all my weight on it, but that was just a dull thump to me even as he slammed into the rocky ground.

And eight jumped to seventeen. Everything was laid out before me. The zombies surrounding Belvedere Castle were stationary and silent, swaying gently in place. Each of them, I knew what they were doing, what they were staring at. No hunger, no thoughts, no actions. All of them, waiting for...me, to tell them what to do.

_...control...power...speak your will, Herman..._

As a test, they all raised their right arms, joining the first two. No delay, no lag, no hesitation.

_...the blood...it's in their eyes...it speaks to them...you speak to them...you learn quick, almost as quick as the being you know as the Grim Reaper and the being you know as Baron Mordo..._

_And the Grim Reaper and Baron Mordo...they could do this? What I'm doing right now?_
_...with my assistance, Herman, controlling such empty minds...such willing puppets...can be easily done..._

I had to test it out. You have seventeen zombies at your beck and call. What the hell else could I have done?

Sixteen zombies clicked their heels together, the seventeenth following an instant later, slapping the foot on his good leg against the one on his bad leg. As a group, they slid to their left, shoulders shaking as they got back up to a standing position. And a bunny hop. And now a shuffling turn...

_...FOOL..._

Pain ripped through my head, jabbing directly at my brain, red hot knitting needles sliding deep into my lobes. I screamed in agony, trying to rip my hands away from the pages of the Darkhold, but something held me in places, unseen thorns piercing my wrists to maintain our physical connection.

_...SUCH POWER IS A GIFT...IT IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE USED IN A MOCKING MANNER..._

"Damn...it...when you get a new car...you...you have to TEST DRIVE it!"

The pain in my skull flared for a moment, before suddenly cutting off. The deep pinpricks in my wrist relaxed as I gasped for breath, my chin on my chest.

"Herman, damn it," I could hear Ms. Marvel say, "talk to me! What the hell is that book doing to you?"

"Apparently," I said between deep breaths, "the Darkhold doesn't got a sense of humor." After a second, I added, "I think the damn thing gave me a hate stroke," as I felt blood trickle out of my nose.

"I'm sorry, Herman, but you really should pull the damn plug on this..."

"I can control them." I turned to look at her. I must have been a sight, with an open cut on my forehead, blood dripping from my nose, and who knows how sunken or bloodshot my eyes were. "I was controlling them, Ms. Marvel. I was in their heads, the one down below us. They danced. I told them to dance, and they danced."

"You...made them dance?"

"How the hell else could I make sure they could do what I wanted them to do, and that it wasn't some kind of Darkhold trick?"

"Herman, it's making you dance to its tune. It's showing you what it wants to show you."

I held up a hand, palm out. "Don't you..."

"I'm not going to stop you, Herman, but just remember this," Ms. Marvel told me. "You're seeing what it wants you to see."

"I know...it's like having vertigo while being in a damn house of mirrors. The damn thing's shoving me in so many different heads, I have to make sure this one's mine." Drums beat in my head as I felt the blood pulse through my brain.

"Damn it." Ms. Marvel crossed her arms, staring at my bleeding visage. "I don't know what to think, Herman. Part of me wants to just pull you out of here and let the professionals handle this, and the other part thinks you're going to make this work. I feel so damn useless."

I put on my best smile, trying hard not to add any smirk to it. "You're my fail-safe. If things really get bad, you're the lab assistant who pulls the plug when the machine starts sparking. Trust me, you're not useless. If you think I'm over my head, I mean REALLY over my head...you know what to do. But I have this. Just...let me do my thing."

As I turned to look back down at the tome, a drop of blood fell from where it had bled from my nose. It impacted the book, and again, a delightful sigh breezed through my brain. "That's the last drop you're getting," I said out loud as I wiped the blood away with my suit's sleeve. "Ms. Marvel's right. You've been kicking my ass, and that stops, now, unless you want to get turned into toilet paper."

_...you needed to see, Herman...you needed to experience it...show, don't tell..._

_Well, it ain't an excuse for abusing me._

_...you will respect...you must respect..._

_Alright, alright, I respect you. But let's save the ass-kissing for later. So, I can control zombies and just make them stand still?_

_...yes...but more...much more...you can control them, Herman...an army of the undead...at your command..._

_...yeah. That's where it starts. You show me the apple and I take a bite, and next thing I know, you have my soul and I'm taking the Grim Reaper's place. Forget that noise. Just show me how to stop the dead from rising, like you said you could._

_...so much wasted potential, Herman...you should have been on the pedestal...you should have the accolades and the press...not Spider-Man...not Norman Osborn..._

_Right now, I don't care._

_...you do..._

_I don't!_

_...your blood lets me know you...your blood seethes...your hearts boils...you fear being forgotten..._

_A couple of days ago, that argument would have worked. Not now, pal._

_...so much more...so much potential..._

_Saving the world and being recognized as a hero by civilians and...what Thor said to me means more than anything than you could offer me. And right now, I've got a damn Avenger watching my back. Anything you can offer right is just a second-rate knockoff that fell off the back of a truck._

_...you could be king..._

_Yeah. Right now, the king's getting his ass kicked by Wonder Man, his right-hand man is pinned to the floor of the Museum of Natural History with a dinosaur bone, and I'm holding the one thing that can stop the king's grand plan. It ain't good to the king._

_...very well...you wish to stop the living dead..._

_Damn right. You said you can help me put these ghouls down and stop them from rising again._

_...the plague that animates the living dead is still present...any living human being will become one of them...can not only put the living dead to rest...but can use the portal currently under Dormammu's control to send the plague back to its dimension of origin..._

_And that'll do it? Dead will stay dead?_

_...yes..._

_Fine. Great. So let's do it._

_...it is difficult..._

_Guess it would be, huh? So, what, we need a real, professional wizard like Doctor Strange as opposed to some schmuck like me, huh?_

_...the rituals and spells are located within my pages..._

_So, you can do it yourself? Automatically?_

_...of a sort..._

_Great! Alright, so what do you need me to do?_

_...cannot cast the spell directly...need a human being to act...the word 'ignition' is the closest to a term you would understand..._

_Got it. You need me to actually start everything. Right. Um...you're not going to possess me or jump into my head, are you?_

_...not required..._

_Good. So...go ahead. Unwind the spell. Reverse the plague. Send these guys back to where they belong, six feet under._

_...it is difficult..._

_Why? You said you can do it, go ahead and do it!_

_...it is difficult..._

_Great. The catch. Always a damn catch._

_...blood..._

_Blood? Of course. How much of my blood are we talking here?_

_...your blood strengthens our bond...no more of yours is required..._

_So you need someone else's blood?_

_...the plague was brought forth by a portal opened through the sacrifice of the Hood upon the altar...only an equal sacrifice can provide the power to open a new portal..._

_So...I...I have to find a HUMAN sacrifice?_

_...yes..._

_Oh, no. Hell no. Forget that. There is NO way I'm going to slice someone open! There has to be another way!_

_...follow the logic, Herman...the death energy of human sacrifice ripped open the portal...only the death energy of human sacrifice can seal it shut..._

_No! It's not a damn option!_

_...it is not an option...it is the only choice..._

_Well forget it!_

_...blood...it is the only way...this city will become a graveyard...the Earth a tomb..._

_Damn it. No...ok, fine. Fine. Me. I'll do it. Use me._

_...you must cast the spell...your blood is what binds us...without you, the tether will be lost..._

_You suckered me in! Ms. Marvel was right! You suckered me!_

_...blood...it is the only way..._

I had been played for the sap. Ms. Marvel was right. I was so far out of my league. But follow the logic. The power source that jumpstarted all this was a human sacrifice. The way to end it? It made sense.

_...her...use her..._

_Who?_

_...the one you know as Carol Danvers..._

_Carol...Ms. Marvel? No! She's got my back! She saved my life!_

_...she is an Avenger...they are prone to sacrifice...just think of her upon the altar...her life force will instantly flow into me, fueling the ritual...she will feel no pain..._

_Forget it!_

_...Spider-Man, then...you loathe him...he has always been your better...his death will fuel your glory..._

_No! Damn it, stop tempting me!_

...Peter Petruski...he poisoned you...think of him upon the altar..._

_Absolutely not! No one else dies!_

_...Osborn...ah...his name...you have thought of killing him recently...his name is painful to your heart...Norman Osborn...you wish your vengeance upon him...use him...think of him upon the altar..._

_No! It's murder! And I won't become a murderer, even to save the world!_

_...being a hero Herman means making the hard choices...if you can't make this one, how can you even consider yourself a hero...Norman Osborn...he is evil, Herman...he killed your best friend...he tried to kill you...you don't think he has a plan...or that the vision the Grim Reaper saw did not have basis in truth...the empire of ashes and rubble will come to pass, Herman...Osborn...Osborn..._

_It would be that easy. Just think about sacrificing him, and that's it?_

_...he can feel agony during his sacrifice, should you so choose..._

_No. No, that's the easy way out. Maybe I'm all for not doing any real work, but I always did my best to make sure no one died...and I'm not going to let the end of the world change that.._

_...you have changed, Herman...the old you has passed away...do not hold on to old feelings and old ideas..._

_There's a way. There's always a way. There's always a third option._

_...blood...it's the only way..._

Who was Norman Osborn?

A former villain. A current villain. Mad man. Schemer. Murderer. The blood of Aleksei was on his hands. He tried to kill me. He was walking around in a suit of armor that looked and probably fought like Iron Man's. He had a team of psychopaths and villains and obviously had big plans for them.

And I had defied him. And more importantly, I had defied him and lived.

What was to stop him from coming after me? A week, a month, a year later, I'm sure I'd wake up to Mac Gargan breaking down my door. Or have a playing card flicked into my head by Bullseye. Or hell, Moonstone giving me death by snu-snu. In any case, even now, in the eyes of Norman Osborn, I was a dead man walking, a loose end to be tied up. Why the hell shouldn't I get him first? If I had had an open shot at the Scourge of the Underworld years ago, I would have popped him in a heartbeat. This wasn't premeditated murder. This was self-defense...

...no. That's the easy way out. The fact that Osborn crossed the line and committed murder time and time again, doing it without a second thought, and I hadn't, was the difference between me and him, maybe the only difference. He might have been living in the jet set and I was counting out dimes for a Cup'O'Noodles, but I never had another human being's blood on my hands. I scraped and bribed and planned and scouted and did everything I could to keep civilians casualties to a bare minimum, while Osborn just dropped a pumpkin bomb or two on a crowd, taking the path of least resistance...

...

...

...bingo.

_Alright. Let's do it your way._

_...you have made the right decision...just think the name..._

_No. No, I won't kill anyone. We're going to do what you suggested before. The zombies. I want them._

_...your army..._

_Damn right. You said you can make me king._

_...control...an eternal army...humanity at your beck and call..._

_I can do anything with them. I can turn them away from the civilians. I can send them at Norman Osborn._

_...yes..._

_I can send them at the Trapster._

_...yes!..._

_And I can send them at Spider-Man._

_...YES!..._

_Alright, then. Put me in control._

_...blood..._

_No. No more blood._

_...it is difficult..._

_I don't care. You've spent the past couple of thousand of millennia putting together enough spells to make a fundamentalist go 'Jesus Christ.' If you're so big and bad, if you're as powerful as you're making yourself out to be, then do what I say._

_...blood..._

_You need me. I'm the engine. I'm the ignition. Without me, you're nothing but a couple of musty pages waiting for the next Harry Potter. You want me to use you? Fine. Then do what I asked...no, what I commanded. Put me in control._

_...yes..._

My head exploded with light for a split second. And then I was looking at Belvedere Castle through seventeen sets of eyes.

_...yours to command...what is thy bidding..._

_Oh, no. Not just these. More. There's about ten thousand zombies in Central Park. Put me in control._

_...blood..._

_You heard me the first time. I gave you my blood, and that means we're bonded. That means I'm your damn boss, and you're going do what I say._

_...no! I am...we are..._

_...no, you ain't. You fight back against me and either I shut this book and let you sit until someone else comes to pick you up, which is unlikely since everyone will be dead, or you kill me and no one else is dumb enough to try to use you. I'm running this monkey farm now, and I wanna know...what the hell are you doing with my time? There's ten thousand zombies out there, and I want them._

_...powerful...sensory overload...too many at once..._

_Don't think so. Try me. Bet I prove you wrong._

_...fine...as you command...open your eyes, Herman...and embrace forever..._

Seventeen became eleven thousand, nine hundred and twenty seven...twenty five...nineteen...as the hail of gunfire at West Drive tore into the horde. Eighteen, now, as a throwing star flicked by Bullseye embedded itself deep in the brain of a ghoul. I saw nearly the whole of the Great Lawn as the zombies strode across the grass, and the large hole in the barricade where they continued to stream through, and the gray plasteel as they shuffled along the sidewalks and avenues towards the open hole. All of it. Every eye, every footstep, I felt. Every motion sensed.

_Stop._

Eleven thousand, nine hundred, and eighteen zombies stopped instantly in their tracks. With a mental snap of my fingers, they all became still, no movement, no motion, nothing. Along the streets, the quiet rustle of clothing and creaking bone was the only sound. In the park, the gunfire never let up, the soldiers and Thunderbolts either not noticing or taking full advantage of the lull.

And Iron Man decked an unmoving Nekra in the face. Her confusion, and the confusion of four other of the Grim Reaper's servants at being unable to move, were the only emotions in my head.

I had them.

I had them all. Every single zombie in Central Park was at my beck and call. I could make them dance. I could push them forward. I could pull them back. Stand still. Sit down. Stand up. Eat. Starve. Feed.

I had an army.

_...impressive...what is your command for your legions, Herman?_

I smiled.

_Simple._

I sent the command out to eleven thousand, eight hundred, and ninety-nine zombies.

_Rest in peace._

X

The anguished whisper in my head scraped across my brain before I pulled my hands away from the Darkhold.

_!!_

Ashes to ashes, they all fell down. My vision snapped back to the top of Belvedere Castle as the sound of over eleven thousand corpses hitting the street and lawn echoed softly over the entire park. The gunfire from the barricade soon slacked off a moment afterwards as the dead bodies settled in their final repose. It took a few seconds for me to recognize the sound of silence at it settled over Central Park. No gunfire. No screaming civilians. No barking orders. Just the sounds of fires burning elsewhere in the city.

With one word, I had just killed over eleven thousand ghouls.

"Top that, Ares," I said quietly.

"Herman," a stunned voice said beside me. "Was that you?"

I looked over at Ms. Marvel. Her jaw was open, her eyes wide as she stared over the carpet of twice-dead bodies that now covered a good bit of central Central Park. "Tell me you did this."

The smile on my face was small and determined, but to me, it felt a mile wide. "Hell yeah, Ms. Marvel. That was all me. And I'm not done yet." She looked at me, head held still in shock, as I jammed my hands back down onto the Darkhold's open pages.

"You and me, book. We're going to finish this."

_...WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?_

_I commanded them to die. And they did. You were right. I am in total control._

_...that was your army...they were your soldiers..._

_What they were was a gathering of eleven thousand corpses. All I did was tell them do what corpses should do. It's simple. The natural state of any body is rest. That's physics. The natural state of a dead body is death. That's biology. Add them together, and that's science, and science trumps magic any day of the damn week. Corpses should be at rest, not walking around hungry, craving human flesh. Basically, to use terms YOU might understand, I told the dead to stop screwing around and go back to being dead._

_...such power...such an army...wasted..._

_Power? You ain't seen power yet. I want you to shove me into the mind of every zombie in the Tri-State Area, right now._

_...you will just kill them..._

_Damn right I will. Now, you're the magic book, I'm the temporary wizard, and I'm commanding you, pal, put me in their heads!_

Instantly, I was there. And the Darkhold took me literally. New York City...Newark...Stamford...Hartford...Albany...Buffalo...New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Zombies numbering in the hundreds of thousands, shuffling, reaching, clawing, feeding...

_Rest now. Rest in peace._

And all across those three states, the ghouls collapsed.

_...how are you doing this...you shouldn't be able to do this...you have no experience...no control..._

_I got plenty of control. Haven't you been paying attention, or have you been too busy being my bitch? The Eastern Seaboard. Now._

From the snow covered pine trees outside Bangor to the palm trees swaying in the warm breezes of a burning Miami, a multitude of images existing simultaneously in my mind.

_ Rest now. Rest in peace._

Even as they fell all across the East Coast, I was moving on. _The Midwest. Rest. Texas. Rest. The Great Lakes. Rest. The United States. Rest. North America. Rest.

It all flashed through my mind like strobe lights, brief images of the continent, white tundra, harsh desert, small towns, large ghettos, rain, wind, moonlight. Each and every ghoul, all across the fruited plain and beyond, crashed at my command, the brief sparks of anti-life that drove them all snuffed out with just a thought from me.

_...fool...you're so foolish, Herman..._

_Nah. I know what game you were playing at, Darkhold. This is easy. Just telling the dead to die? It's easy. Killing Norman Osborn would have been easy. And then who was next? Spider-Man, because he pissed me off? Or how about a guy who owed me money and never paid off? That's where you would have gotten your hooks into me, that slippery slope I've done my best to avoid my whole life. But not now. Now, I'm in control, and we're going to end this in one final stroke. Give me the whole world. Every single stinking zombie on the planet._

Paris. Cairo. Seoul. Brisbane. Cape Town. Sao Paulo. All in my head. I could see humanity wiped out, streets empty of all but the dead. I could see humans fighting on, barricades, locked doors, automatic weapons, baseball bats. The whole world in my head. It would have driven anyone else insane, to see through the eyes of nearly two billion zombies. Not me, though. I had my trick. I had my little technique, my realization of how to end the zombie plague. And it was about to work.

_...throwing it all away! Everything could be yours, Herman! Such power! I can give it to you! Do not do this..._

_Sorry. I like my world old school, where the dead stay dead. Rest now. Rest in peace._

And they all did.

Carefully, I closed the cover to the Darkhold. The pages weighed heavily against my hand, the binding pushing back against my fingers, resisting my efforts. In my mind, the book pleaded, cajoling me, offering me the entire world. Fame. Money. Women. Power. All those things that, barely a week ago, I would have given damn near anything for with hardly a thought to any of the repercussions. Tonight, my hand gave a hard shove. With a small, heavy boom, the book slammed shut. On the cover, my blood still glistened, but already the wetness was beginning to fade.

My head...I don't know how to describe it. Ever had a really good workout? You pushed yourself as far as you could, shoving yourself to the limit and then right beyond it. Your body's sore, your muscles aching, and you know, in your mind, getting out of bed that next morning's really going to blow. But still, you're alive. You feel...awesome. Incredible. Well, that's how I felt at that moment. My brain felt like it was going through caffeine withdrawal, and at some point in the next few hours, odds are I was going to slide down a wall, curl up in the fetal position, and cry as my brain finally decrypts what the hell I just did and why I should be in a coma with no hope of recovery. For the moment, though...

"It's over," I said, one hand on the stone edge of Belvedere Castle. "It's all over. Everywhere. The dead are dead again."

She had been staring out over the parapet, staring into the distance where the zombies, few minutes ago, had attacked the barricades. When I spoke, she half-turned, looking at me a bit askew. "What do you mean?"

"All over the world. No more zombies, no more ghouls, no more flesh eating. They're all resting in peace." A smile formed on my face. It seemed like a while since I had a reason to actually smile with mirth and joy, even if a huge tinge of sadness...screw it. The zombie apocalypse was over. I had earned the right to grin. "I did it," I said, pride creeping into my voice. "I made them all lie down, and they won't be getting back up."

Before the blonde Avenger could respond, the communicator on her belt beeped. She looked down at it for a second, before suddenly snapping it off her waist and holding it tightly on one hand. "It's from a SHIELD unit in Chicago," she said out loud. "It says 'the dead just laid down.' And one from a unit in Honolulu. 'Dead look dead for real.'" Her fingers tapped a few keys on the pad, her eyes staring intently at the screen. "And...SHIELD intra-web is reporting the same thing, all around the world. Havana...Istanbul...Moscow..." After a deep breath, she looked back up at me. The smile on Ms. Marvel's face was warm and full of surprise. "You...you really did it, it looks like. You pulled it off...you pulled it off!"

I couldn't help it. I gave a half-hearted shrug. "Told you I could crack that thing."

"How? How the hell...how did you do it?"

"Ok...this is going to take a bit, so bear with me." I laid it all out for her, trying to keep it simple. Not because I believe she was an idiot, but because I kept it simple myself, trying not to overcomplicate things as much as possible. "When the Darkhold let me control all those zombies, I realized three things. One, there wasn't anything inside of them except that overwhelming hunger, but the Darkhold suppressed that hunger somehow while I was in charge. No feelings, no emotions, no thoughts. Every single ghoul was nothing more than a dead battery, no charge, no positive, no negative, and no polarity. Just a mass of famine and hunger, and without that hunger, they were literally nothing. Two, there wasn't any...lag is the best word to describe it. If I thought it, if I told them to do it, it happened instantly. I was in a whole bunch of zombies at once, and if the Darkhold switched me from one to another, it happened instantly. It was then I realized...magic has no resistance." I held up my hands, gesturing as I laid it out. "Anything that carries energy has some resistance to that energy. It's why you can't send extra electricity from New York City to a grid out in Chicago, because you're going to lose some of that juice because of resistance in the power lines. Think of it like straining water through a towel. Some of that water's going to end up in the towel, and it's the same with electricity in a way. Some of it ends up in the power line. With me?"

She nodded, so I plowed on with the exposition. "Alright. Well, with whatever magic Dormammu and the Darkhold were using, there wasn't any resistance. None. One zombie, two zombies, ten zombies, a thousand zombies...none a single magical watt of power was wasted. I could sense it. Any command I could give, every single zombie reacted at that EXACT moment to the fullest extent of their ability. Now...the third thing...this one's a little weird, so bear with me and listen up. Every try to watch two TV's at once? You can't do it. In my old line of work, multiple security monitors were a blessing, because one rent-a-cop couldn't keep an eye on every single one. When the Darkhold let me ride shotgun in a bunch of zombies at once, I didn't feel like my attention was being split. It was like I was seeing everything at the exact same time, with no overlap or no overlay. There was only one way the Darkhold could pull off that trick. You see...you can't really store electricity. It always has to be moving, which is why they call it a current, right?"

I was getting into it now. "Batteries are a special case, but for the most part, you have to use electricity the second you generate it. Just keep that in mind. When the Darkhold was showing me all those zombies at once, it wasn't. It was just flipping through their brains really, really fast...like a computer monitor with a nearly infinite framerate. Whatever the Darkhold did to my brain, it let me see all these images of the world through the eyes of a whole bunch of zombies and did it by showing them to me so damn fast and doing something to let my mind pick up on each and every single image..."

Ms. Marvel snapped her fingers. "Wait. I think I got it. So the Darkhold was really showing you one image for a really short period of time, and when he moved to show you another image, it was like an electric current moving from one power pylon to another?"

"Bingo," I said, nodding with approval. "All those minds were just one big closed power grid with absolutely no resistance, and absolutely no emotion that I could feel. Emotions would have definitely been too much for my brain to handle, but...in the end, I was looking at nothing more than two billion dead Christmas lights all strung together. And it all boiled down to one very simple rule of physics. Rule #1, Newton's Law of Inertia. A body at rest must stay at rest. And that's what dead bodies are supposed to be doing."

I put new energy into the smile on my face. "So, I had access to a huge power grid, and every single thought I had would instantly reach every single zombie without any drop in power and without any strain on my brain. All I did was tell them to do what their bodies should have been doing in the first place. Rest."

"And you thought all of that up...all that science...came up with a plan off the cuff using science to deal with a book of magic."

"What can I say? I am an engineer first...theoretical sciences give me a Hadron."

After a second, she shook her head. "Wow. You've been hanging around Spider-Man too long."

"I just saved the world, Ms. Marvel. Sorry for the cockiness...but I think I'm entitled to one bad joke."

Ah, what the hell. I'd probably never get this chance again. "And," I said, putting my arms out, "I think I deserve a damn hug. I've gotten my ass kicked all week long, and I just put my brain and my sanity at risk to stop the living dead from walking the Earth. I'm cashing in my chips right now for one hug from a beautiful lady." Cheesy as hell, but screw it. I'm throwing the "I'm the God damn Shocker" card.

She put her hands on her hips. "Seriously? You just saved the entire world and you're using it to try to extort a hug from me?" Ms. Marvel sighed as she shook her head. "That feel you copped earlier wasn't accidental either, was it?"

"No, no! That one was an accident, I promise. Look...yeah, I ain't gonna lie, a hug from one of the hottest female superheroes on the planet...'nuff said. Plus, when we finally find Boomerang, it'll make him as jealous as hell." I still had my hands out, a hint of earnestness dropping into my voice. "Seriously, I had a rough week, I'm tired, I'm exhausted...and in all honesty, damn it, I need a hug right now."

Her lips pursed as she mulled over what I said. I kept my arms extended, one eyebrow raised in the "eh? eh?" manner. Before anything could happen, though...

A yellow beam of light erupted into the sky from near the red portal. "Jesus," I proclaimed as the sound of battle began from that direction. "What the hell's going on now?"

From Ms. Marvel's communicator, a metallic voice spoke. "Ms. Marvel, MACH-IV, Shocker, if any of you are out there...the zombies have all stopped moving, but the Grim Reaper..." A loud metallic shriek filled the air for a second, coming from the small device. "...still active and fighting us to a standstill. We need assistance, ASAP."

"Iron Man, Ms. Marvel. I got the Shocker here. We're on our way, ETA in under sixty seconds. Hang in there, Avenger." She snapped her communicator shut as, in the sky above us, an orange glow suddenly flared up. "That's probably MACH-IV," Ms. Marvel replied as she approached me. One firm arm took me by the waist as the orange glow became a long streak of burning air racing towards the portal. "Guess you're not done getting your ass kicked yet, Herman. Sounds like Eric Williams is making a last stand."

"Lucky me," I groused. "Well...let's get this show on the road."

"Herman...aren't you forgetting something?" Ms. Marvel nodded to the ancient book of magic sitting nearby. "We can't just leave that lying around."

I sighed wearily. "Yeah..." No whispers in my head this time as I grabbed the book. It pulled on my arms, heavy and ponderous again, as I clutched it to my chest. "Just don't drop me," I told her as we became airborne, leaving the roof of Belvedere Castle behind.

"I won't. Too bad, though." She had a hint of a smirk as the two of us turned north towards the red portal. "I think I was probably about to give you a hug too."

"What? Oh, motherfu..."

"Welcome to the party, pal." That was the amplified metallic voice of Abner Jenkins, MACH-IV, who had just come into formation alongside of us as we flew through the air. The paint job on his silver-and-black suit was scratched all to hell, and a few jagged tears and punctures were visible all along its body.

"Glad we could make it," I yelled as I waved to my friend. "Looks like the Vulture gave you the business."

"God...that bastard sure could fly. Tough as hell to get a bead on, too. Toomes gave me a run for my money before he just dropped out of the sky and crashed into the Chess and Checkers House. Apparently, zombies all over the world just decided it was finally time to give up the ghost and the Vulture went right along with them."

"If Toomes is down, that means the rest of the Reaper's bunch should have kicked it as well, right?" Ms. Marvel looked over at me as she held me to her side. "That would make sense."

"Has anything here made sense?" One of her strong arms held me close as I kept the Darkhold close to my body. It had almost fallen free a few times, probably trying to get loose and find a more willing sap than I had been. Between the book in my hands and the air compressor still hanging from my back, physical soreness was rapidly becoming a factor in my continued activity. "This all started with the Grim Reaper. I wouldn't be shocked if he's got a few more tricks up his sleeve."

We passed over confused soldiers and refugees, skimming over them towards the red portal, the cold air whipping at my exposed face. The bodies of the dead were scattered about, a few who had somehow slipped behind the barricade, but none of them were up and walking around. That was good. Lights flashed and the sound of thunderous blows could easily be heard, but it was almost like any other superhuman rumble that took place in New York City on a daily basis.

"When we get there," Ms. Marvel told us, "just beat the hell out of the Grim Reaper. Don't give him a second if you can help it."

"Roger," MACH-IV said.

"And Herman, keep an eye on that book. If the Grim Reaper gets his hands on that book...who knows what he could do with it? Probably jumpstart the zombies all over again or something."

"Hell, why don't you just..." After a second, I realized the answer to the question I had been asking. "Because if you leave me somewhere alone and unguarded, someone might try to steal the Darkhold."

"Bingo. Plus, with that portal open, we might need magic to close it. Or seal it. Or something. Right now, Herman, you're pretty much the Sorcerer Supreme," Ms. Marvel said with all seriousness, not even the hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Wait, what," MACH-IV asked. "Magic book? Sorcerer Supreme? What the hell's going on, Herman?"

"Tell you later, Abner," I said as we dropped into the combat zone. "And man, you ain't gonna believe this..."

To one side, nearest the portal, the Grim Reaper and Wonder Man were slugging it out, and I mean they were tearing into each other. I'm talking Ali/Frazier, Tito/Couture, the Thing/Ironclad. The ground around them was torn apart, Wonder Man's suit was ripped in several places, and Reaper's armor sported numerous cracks and dents. Scattered around the area were the dead bodies of the Reaper's crew of mystics. I recognized Chondu first. His eyes were no longer the color of blood. The lady in the bronze stripper armor, Nekra, stared with white, unseeing eyes at the sky above her. And the others, who's names I couldn't remember. They were unmoving, dead as doornails, as Wonder Man and the Grim Reaper fought each other among the field of corpses. "Come on," MACH-IV said, banking to his left. "Let's give Wonder Man a..."

A bolt of lightning slammed into MACH-IV. The yellow energy rolled over his power armor, crackling into the ripped gashes. Abner immediately went limp, and gravity did the rest. He plowed into the ground, ripping a gash in the manicured lawn. Dirt piled in front of him as he dug a furrow into the grass. Electricity still crackled over him as he came to a stop, his body motionless.

"ABNER!" Ms. Marvel immediately set us down, my arms still clutching the Darkhold to my chest. "Where the heck did that lightning come from?"

"Well, well, well," a buzzing voice responded. "Look who's willingly shown up for their own funeral.

We both turned in the direction of that voice. This time, it was Ms. Marvel who summed up our situation in two perfect words as she saw the devastation laid out in front of us. "Oh, crap."

Nick Fury the closest to us, unconscious, one hand still clutching at a burn wound smoldering on his shoulder. At his feet, the body of Thor, the God of Thunder, was motionless. Mjlonir lay on the ground, inches from his outstretched hand as if he had passed out trying to reach for the legendary weapon. To one side, Iron Man was lying on the ground, electricity pouring over his gold-and-red suit. In the grip of the speaker, the body of Captain America twitched, held off the ground by a hand wrapped around his neck. Three Avengers. The head of SHIELD. All laid out and helpless at the feet of a man who, based on the empirical evidence of the past few minutes, should have been laid out like the rest of the Grim Reaper's crew.

"Hey, Herman," Electro called out to me. "Nice job on destroying all the zombies! I got a reward for you...catch!" His arm reared back, and with a grunt, he hurled Captain America towards me like a Spartan throwing a javelin.

I did what anyone else would have done, and that was dive the hell out of the way. Luckily, Ms. Marvel was there to catch him, one arm reaching out and plucking the hero out of mid-air. "Are you ok?" she asked as she set Captain America back his feet, supporting him as he leaned on her frame.

"I'm fine," he gasped. His Kevlar uniform was scorched in several places, and I'd bet the burn marks on his uniform's neck would match up with Electro's grip. "You guys did it? You're the ones who put the zombies down?"

"Yeah, but I'll explain that later." I pointed towards Electro, instead. "You should be dead, Dillon. You should be dead like everyone else."

He barked out a harsh, crackling laugh. "Yeah, that's the second time tonight you said that to me. Get some new material Herman."

It was Electro. Anyone who had crossed paths or dealt with Maxwell Dillon would have recognized the voice. But, aside from the whole "throwing lightning" thing, that's where the similarities ended. What stood in front of us wasn't a man in a green-and-yellow uniform with small snaps of energy rolling over his body. No, what Electro looked like now was a lightning bolt given human form. His face, his arms, his chest, his legs, each part of his body was a storm of electricity. No green to be seen anywhere, but plenty of yellow bolts. His hair was jagged cornrows, and instead of the red orbs where his eyes should have been were tiny slits that gave off the impression of sockets, along with facsimiles of his nose and mouth, all formed out of the yellow lightning that boiled over him.

"Check it out, Herman! Everyone else is dead...but I ain't!" His hand thrust forward, and a bolt of lightning shot towards Ms. Marvel, who barely pulled Captain America out of the way as she turned to the side to avoid the blast. "All those suckers dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, but who's still standing? I AM!"

"Not for long." I threw my hand out, firing off a level eight at him. A few days ago, throwing a level four blast would have something to write home about, some kind of dire situation. Now, I was doing it as an opening strike, casually aiming a concrete-cracking burst of air in Electro's direction.

"Oh no you don't!" His hand whipped to the side, and my attack dissipated half-way to him, the blue particles fading away in mid-air. "You got damn lucky the first time we fought, Herman. The second time, you had Thor to cover your ass. This time, there isn't anyone who can help you!"

The first bolt was a weak one, Electro sacrificing power for speed. It came at me so fast, I couldn't dodge out of the way. It caught me in the face, locking my body with convulsions. I shook in place, my muscles frozen, as a snarling Electro wound up his second blast, this one a lot more powerful. Both hands shot towards me, a jagged bolt of lightning streaking through the air, its tines aimed right at my heart...

The red-and-white shield intercepted the attack. It whipped in front of me, absorbing the energy of Electro's attack and saving me from being flash-fried. "You're wrong about that, Electro," the voice of Captain America spoke as the shield turned on its axis and curved behind me, turning in mid-air like a boomerang. "The Shocker's got the Avengers looking out for him."

"Hah," Electro boasted as Captain America grabbed his returning shield. "Ain't this just delicious? You're an honorary Avenger now, Herman. Come on, give me a battle cry. What is it? 'Avengers assemble?' Oh, wait, you can't, because there AREN'T any more Avengers!" He motioned around him. "Thor's unconscious, Iron Man's on lock down, and hell, I even have Nick Fury out for the count. Reaper's got Wonder Man under control. All that's left is this World War Two fossil, and a dumb, big-boobed blonde bitch."

"Smile when you say that, Dillon." Ms. Marvel cracked her knuckles together, a dark look on her face. "Better men than you have called me that and lived to regret it."

"Then come over here and take your best shot, blondie." Electro reached out, his pointer finger a small jagged bolt, and tapped his chin, the current of electricity flowing between them. "I'm immortal now, and I can take anything you think you can dish out."

"Immortal NOW? You were immortal before, Max," I pointed out. My hands were at my sides, thumbs on the triggers just in case. Maybe I could get a shot off if he got distracted. "You bragged about it back in the church."

"Oh, that? That wasn't immortality. I was a package of walking meat, Herman, with bullet holes in my chest. Yeah, I had forever in front of me, but I owed that to the Grim Reaper. Now, though..." He held up his lightning hands, arcing bolts between them as he spoke. "...this is all me. Being dead removed any limits on my storage capacity, Herman. I'm not a walking battery anymore. I burned it all away, all the flesh, bone, the sinew. I'm all lightning now. Pure electricity. It's like Frankenstein's monster...forget magic, baby. Lighting, THAT'S the true source of life and death. And I can just keep making more of it. So...yeah. Max Dillon's dead, Herman. There's nothing left of him. Only Electro."

"He's incredibly powerful now," Captain America responded. "Dillon is right. There's nothing left of him but the lightning, and he knows how to use it for proper effect. He overloaded Iron Man's and punched out Thor."

"Wait...he punched out Thor," I asked. "No way!"

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that. I still got that magical tingle from holding his hammer earlier..." A smile stretched across his buzzing face. "Shoving me in the water didn't do anything but cause a whole bunch of sparks and steam, Herman. When I crawled back on the shore, I went right back to slugging it out with Thor...and like Cap said, I knocked him the hell out. Let's face it. You guys are outclassed against me."

"Cap," I said in a quiet voice, "tell me you have a plan."

"Herman, do you think you could help Iron Man get his armor..." That was all I heard Captain America say to me before a bolt of lightning slammed into my chest. I flew backwards like I had been hit with a sledgehammer, slamming in the ground. My heart raced as the power cut across my nerves, sending mix signals and causing my muscles to convulse. The Darkhold bounced to one side, landing in a patch of grass, well out of my reach.

"Herman Schultz is mine," I heard a voice growl. "His actions brought me to this stage, but I owe him for the beatings and embarrassments he's handed me." Electro put his hand out towards Ms. Marvel and Captain America. "You two first. Come on."

I tried to sit up, but my body refused to work with me. The electricity lingered, keeping my muscles locked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the two Avengers rush forward, Captain America leading with his shield, wincing under his half-mask, while Ms. Marvel's fists were outstretched. She reached him first, but Electro snapped out of the way, leaving a trail of sparks in his wake. Ms. Marvel stopped as well, spinning in mid-air and going for a quick roundhouse. As she did so, Captain America swung his shield at Electro. Done right, the poor sap's skull would have been crushed between a rock and a hard place. Instead, one moment he was there, and the next, Electro was two steps to his left. It sounded like hell's bells going off as her fist impacted into Cap's shield. The vibrations rippled through the air, a deep gonging sound that echoed across the lawn.

"Too slow," Electro hissed as he clapped a hand down on the shoulders of Captain America and Ms. Marvel. Both of them instantly went ramrod straight as voltage poured through their bodies. Groaning, I tried to get back to my feet, to push myself up, but my arms gave out from under me, and I fell right back down. The being of pure electricity that was now Electro flooded their bodies with current, the electricity arcing over Captain America's shield and causing Ms. Marvel's blonde hair to float.

I was barely able to get back to my knees by the time Electro let them go. Both Avengers dropped to ground. Ms. Marvel was on her back, gasping for air, while Captain America, flat on his stomach, groaned, his fingers clutching at the ground. "It's funny," Electro buzzed at he passed their fallen bodies. "A few days ago, I would have crapped my pants at the very thought of taking on the damn Avengers. Now, I'm going down in history as the guy who killed them. Huh. THIS is what self-confidence feels like."

He grabbed me, digging two fingers under my chin. I fought for breath as he lifted me up, my skin twitching where his lightning fingers touched me. "Herman, Herman, Herman," Electro said, holding me up so my face was even with where his would have been if he still had one. "Tell me this ain't cosmic comedy. You're the last hero standing, and I'm going to off you for being a goody two-shoes."

One arm tried to raise up, only to be swatted down, the parrying blow feeling like someone held a large 9-volt up to my forearm. "The compressor's a nice trick. It's probably how you managed to take out Baron Mordo and the Rhino. So how did it feel, Herman, killing your best friend?"

"Beating the hell out of you," I said between clenched teeth, "is going to make me feel a lot better."

His laugh sounded like a transformer overloading. "Where the hell did this defiance come from? The old Shocker would have headed for the damn hills by now! Look at you know. Teaming with the Avengers, using a magic book, an air compressor on your back...a week ago, no one on the damn planet could have called any of this. You, a Boy Scout, and me, on the cusp of godhood."

"Really? Take a look around, Electro," I managed to choke out. "You may have beaten the Avengers, but SHIELD's out there somewhere. And you know what else," I added, "Norman Osborn's got himself a super team. Venom, Bullseye, Moonstone...freakin' Ares too. Oh...and every zombie on this planet is back where they're supposed to be. Dead. This is nothing more than a last stand, Electro. You ain't gonna pull this one off..."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe go screw yourself. In any case, I'm done talking to you. You got me killed. I still ain't forgiven you for that." His hand gripped my neck with a firm hold, and I could feel the electricity beginning to run through me. The other arm pulled back over his shoulder, an electric hand clenching a fistful of lightning. "Say good night, Herman..."
"Leave him be."

That voice boomed from behind Electro. In most cases, you think I'd be overjoyed to hear someone tell Electro to refrain from popping my head off my shoulders. This time though, I wasn't too enthralled. All the voice I heard meant was the worst was coming around the bend, a freight train heading my way.

"What? Damn it, man, you let him live earlier and looked what happened!"

"I said, leave...him...be, Dillon. I am still your master, no matter what form you currently hold on this plane of existence."

Electro's eyes narrowed, but he lowered his fist. The current running through me remained, but at a much lower level, paralyzing me as opposed to frying my nerves. "Alright. But you're going to regret letting this guy live. More lives than the Black Cat."

"Not quite." It was the figure of Death that walked towards us, backlit by the red portal, a cape torn and ripped all along its edges, a body thrown over its shoulder, and a wicked scythe where one hand should have been. With restrained glee on his face, the Grim Reaper dumped the unconscious body of Wonder Man alongside that of Ms. Marvel. The red-eyed Avenger's body was bruised, covered in a multitude of scrapes and slashes. His breathing was ragged and shallow, his shoulder shuddering with each breath his lungs took. Reaper wasn't look too much like a spring chicken either. His armor was beat up, scuffed and torn apart. Half his face was covered with a bruise already a deep shade of purple. But he was the last man standing, not his brother, and that was the most important thing. "Herman Schultz is just a man, nothing more. But he's a man who's been at the center of some extraordinary events," the Reaper intoned as he came towards Electro and I. "All the strings of fate, for one brief moment in the history of time, are crossing over the existence of this two-bit safecracker. Do you know what that means, Dillon? It means Herman here has one last role to play."

"Yeah, and it should be that of a corpse," Electro said with snark oozing out of every word. "Come on, Reaper, just kill him right now. You've seen the movies, you know what happens when you let the hero live!"

"Your problem, Dillon, was that you always thought too small." Reaper stopped a few feet away from me. He studied me from the depths of his mask, his eyes sunken in his face. "Isn't this just something? A two-bit villain who couldn't get the time of day from Spider-Man, a thug who couldn't get a full grasp on his power, and me. We're the last ones standing. The fate of the world is in our hands. And it looks like you're outnumbered, Herman," he said with a dark chuckle.

"I kind of like my odds...the way I see it, it's one-on-one," I managed to say with a smirk. "Me vs. a half-wit and a half-wit."

The scythe whipped up. The very tip of it hung centimeters from my nose, a drop of Wonder Man's blood glistening on the end. "Yes, Herman. Please taunt the necromancer who raised up the living dead, beat the Avengers, and is now about to bring a god into this world. For someone so clever, you really are quite stupid."

"I'm not so dumb not to notice, Eric, that the living dead aren't quite so living anymore. Oh," I added, "almost forgot, all those refugees you were going to turn the zombies loose on to power your boss' return to the world are still breathing, and under SHIELD's guns. And I don't think Electro here can generate the type of juice you need."

"True...but you don't think there wasn't a backup plan or any sort? Contingencies weren't planned for, or hiccups weren't taken into consideration? Please, Herman. You don't just start a zombie uprising one night because you were BORED." He turned away, motioning towards the portal with his scythe. "Everything that could be planned for was planned. In a world of superheroes and demigods, Herman, you have to make sure it's all accounted for. You don't think for a second I didn't have a plan to defeat the Avengers? To deal with SHIELD? Look around you, Herman!" He swung his scythe wide to encompass the fallen bodies all around us. "Earth's mightiest heroes prostrate at my feet. Heroes are so damn predictable, always falling within certain parameters. Patterns, known courses of action...all planned over weeks and weeks. Hell, even Norman Osborn was accounted for! You don't think I didn't know he'd be out there, somewhere, waiting for the perfect time to swoop in for maximum media exposure? Or that, somehow, someone would reverse the zombie plague and deprive me of the needed life energy to bring Dormammu to this plane? I...knew...it...ALL!"

Pause.

"Except for you, Herman." He half-turned, glancing back over his shoulder at me as he spoke. "You were never accounted for. You were never taken into consideration. I don't think you even crossed my mind when I was assembling my group of minions and pawns. And yet, here you are. The last one standing. I...I just cannot wrap my mind around it."

"Don't try," Electro hissed. "Just KILL him!"

"No. No, Dillon..."

"Listen to your boss, Max," I suggested.

"You see, Dillon...I don't know the role Herman has yet to play. He's played two very large ones already. Inspiring humanity and wresting control of the Darkhold away from Baron Mordo. Purely stunning, and something VERY unexpected from you. At the very least, he's earned the right to see the ending played out."

He turned back towards the portal. "I may not have been able to sacrifice human beings, but the death energy given off by two billion dead zombies at their moment of de-animation is a worthy substitute. You see, Herman? By ending the zombie apocalypse, you still doomed mankind. Hold him, Dillon. Make sure he doesn't interfere."

A firm hand fell on my shoulder. "You managed to blunder your way into seeing the end of the future, Herman. If I was in charge, you'd be frying from the inside out right now."

"DORMAMMU!" Louder than one would have thought, the voice of Eric Williams, the Grim Reaper, echoed across the Great Lawn of Central Park. "THE SACRIFICE HAS BEEN MADE! THE CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN MET! THE STARS ARE RIGHT!" He raised his arms before the portal, the scythe a long shadow of black against the bright red. "I, YOUR HAND PICKED SERVANT, CALL YOU TO THIS PLANE! COME FORTH, MY LORD! COME FORTH AND CLAIM ALL THAT IS YOURS, NOW AND FOREVER!"

I would have been happy, at this point, to see Norman Osborn and his Thunderbolts flying to the rescue. But instead, the portal suddenly flared a dark, blood red. The tendrils that had swirled around the edges flared outward, a strong wind gusting from inside the magic opening. The sound of wind tore at me, a dagger twisting into my eardrums. Beyond it, behind the rushing air, I heard it. A deep rumble, low in volume, but quickly growing louder. It boomed towards the portal from inside as the Reaper called it onward.

"THE TIME IS NOW! THIS EXISTANCE IS YOURS! COME ON, DREAD LORD! I BEG YOU!"

The booming sounds became a distinct beat, a rapid tempo approaching. I turned my eyes away, the sound squeezing my head, but a firm hand turned me back.

"Hey, this is what you wanted, Herman. Here's the big bad himself, the end of days, the destruction of this world." A buzzing chuckle came from the Villain of Voltage. "This is going to be too cool."

"How can you want this? How can you sit here while the Grim Reaper ends the world, Max!"

"What's the world ever done for me, Herman? This one dies. I go on at Dormammu's side to another one. And another. And another. All the while knowing everyone on this little ball of mud's kicked the bucket. You can't buy that feeling, Herman. You have to earn it."

I found my voice, the words that would probably get me killed. "You are a sad, bitter man, Max."

"Yeah, maybe. But I ain't the one staring at my impending doom, am I?"

"COME FORTH, DORMAMMU...COME FORTH!"

A hand burst from the portal, magical energy splashing like bloody water. The hand glistened with blackness, drops of red running down the dark leather. It sounded like a hole was being ripped in reality, a tear of screaming and agony as the hand, about the size of the Rhino, slammed down on the grass. The portal's edges bulged as a forearm squeezed its way out, fingers clawing at the ground for purchase.

"YES," the Reaper exclaimed as a second hand shot out, stretching the portal to unimaginable dimensions as the cries of the damn echoed across the park. "COME FORTH, MY LORD! COME FORTH!"

A million people experiencing the worst torture imaginable, and only the strong grip of Electro kept me from falling to my knees as my legs threatened to give out at the sound. From the edges of the portal, a ribbon of red ripped across the air, energy lashing out onto the ground. From the portal itself, an orange glow announced his presence. My eyes squeezed shut. I didn't want to see it. A glimpse of him, back in the church, had almost driven me mad. The sound of creation bleeding ripped at my spine, ice cold shivers worse than any jolt Electro could have given me. It built and built and built, a rising crescendo of suffering. Heat blazed across my face, the flames dancing on my eyes even with them squeezed shut.

"Make it stop," I heard myself saying over and over again as the god came into being. "Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop..."

With a loud snap, the screaming suddenly stopped. One moment, the damned wailed, and the next, only the sounds of an empty city.

"Open your eyes, Herman," Electro said. "You want to see this...how often do you get to see a demigod in the damn flesh?"

"I don't want to," I murmured like a scared child. But I did. Electro was right. This was a being more powerful than anything else I had ever encountered, one that strode over worlds and ended dimensions. He was a magical atom bomb...I had to look. I had to see.

He towered in front of the now-normal-sized portal, six stories tall, easily. His arms and legs were covered with segmented black leather armor, and a streak of bright crimson ran up the front. His head was a roiling mass of fire with facial features, no eyes in his sockets, but eternity in his stare. This was him, in the proverbial flesh. Dormammu. The Dread Lord. Here on Earth.

And never in my entire life had I felt so incredibly, incredibly small.

X

"Master!" Reaper's voice held elation and joy as he took a stepped towards him. "You've arrived! Now we can..."

"WILLIAMS! YOU IDIOT!"

His voice was thunder, booming across the park. Instantly, Reaper's arms fell, his shoulders slumping, as in his first actions upon this planet, his master berated him.

"WHERE ARE MY SACRIFICES? WHERE IS THE PRECIOUS LIFE ENERGY? WHY HAVE YOU CALLED ME HERE NOW? IT IS BECAUSE YOU ARE A BLATHERING FOOL!"

"But...but..." The confidence has instantly left him, and the Grim Reaper went from striding conqueror to scolded child in seconds. "...it worked! You're here now, striding this planet like the king you are! The energies were enough to call you forth!"

"THE ENERGIES? YOU SUMMONED ME USING DEATH ENERGY! THE ENERGY FROM TWO BILLION DEAD ZOMBIES DOES NOT COMPARE TO THE LIFE ENERGY OF FIVE THOUSAND LIVING SOULS! I REQUIRED THE SACRIFICES OF THE LIVING TO REACH MY FULL POWER!" The god sighed, disappointed etched on the flames of his skull. "NOW, BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE, INSTEAD OF ENJOYING THE DELIGHTS THIS PLANET HAS TO OFFER, I WILL HAVE TO PERFORM THE SACRIFICES MYSELF! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TIME THAT WILL TAKE! A SIMPLE TASK I PUT BEFORE YOU, AND YOU FAILED MISERABLY!"

I would have enjoyed watching the Grim Reaper getting schooled if I wasn't quaking in fear. The anger of Dormammu was directed at Eric Williams and him alone, and the body language of the necromancer told the entire story. "No," he squeaked, his confidence completely shot, "it wasn't my fault! It was..."

"I WILL BROOK NO EXCUSES! IT WAS YOUR FAULT, AND YOURS ALONE! YOU HAD THE DARKHOLD! YOU HAD MY APPRENTICE BARON MORDO! YOU HAD THE POWERS I BESTOWED UPON YOU! YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE VANGUARD OF THE WAVE OF ZOMBIES, OVERRUNNING SHIELD'S ATTEMPTS TO HOLD BACK THE TIDE OF DEATH! INSTEAD, YOU SNUCK IN THE BACK DOOR LIKE A COWARD AND THREW YOURSELF AT YOUR BROTHER! WITHOUT YOU AT THE FOREFRONT, THESE HAIRLESS APES THREW BACK WHAT WAS TO BE THE KEY TO MY TRIUMPH!"

The black hand reached out slowly, pointing at the now cowering Grim Reaper. "YOUR PETTY VENDETTA AGAINST YOUR BROTHER HAS COST ME THE ULTIMATE VICTORY, ERIC WILLIAMS! YOU HAVE FAILED IN YOUR TRUE TASK!"

"But..."

"YOU ARE NO LONGER OF USE TO ME. BEGONE."

And he walked forward, passing past the Grim Reaper in one stride. The being that had brought the living dead back to life was now begging for attention from a wayward father. "Master..." I could hear the Grim Reaper cry out behind him. "It wasn't my fault! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! IT WAS SCHULTZ'S! IT WAS ALL HIS!"

The large black boot came to a rest in front of me. I averted my eyes, looking down at the ground. Even then, I felt his gaze on my neck, the heat from his stare like a third-degree sunburn.

"HERMAN SCHULTZ. GAZE UPON ME."

When a god tells you to do something, you find yourself doing it, no matter how badly you don't want to. Slowly, I panned my vision up. He towered over me, a giant who would squash me with a flick of his finger. Now, instead of his former lackey Eric Williams, I was taking the full effect of his state, his fiery gaze locked onto me.

"YOU. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO TOOK MY KINGDOM AWAY. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO TOPPLED AN EMPIRE OF THE DEAD. YOU KILLED MY APPRENTICE. HERMAN SCHULTZ... AND YET, WHO ARE YOU?"

He leaned over, giving me a full view of his face hanging in the air like an orange moon. "YOU NEVER EXISTED TO ME. YOU NEVER CROSSED MY PATH. AND YET, HERE AND NOW, FATE'S MADE YOU ITS CHAMPION. YOU HAVE STOOD IN MY WAY, UNKOWINGLY, TIME AND TIME AGAIN. RARELY HAVE I SEEN FATE INTERTWINE AND WEAVE A WICKED WEB ALL OVER ONE PERSON TO STAND AGAINST ME." After a second, Dormammu straightened back up. "AND THOSE SHE HAS CHOSEN, ALL HAVE DIED AT MY HAND. YOU WILL TOO, FOR OBSTRUCTING MY PATH. UNTIL SUCH A TIME, HERMAN SCHULTZ, I GIVE YOU LEAVE TO MULL OVER THE LAST FEW HOURS OF YOUR PITIFUL EXISTANCE." He motioned with a hand, dismissing me. "BEGONE."

Relief filled me even with the impending threat the statement beheld. My eyes were still locked on his gaze as a voice screamed behind us. "What? No! It's his fault!" The Grim Reaper flew towards me, sprinting across the grass. "Everything was his doing! Everything! Punish him," he pleaded his former master. "PUNISH HIM!"

"HERMAN SCHULTZ IS AN INSIGNIFICANT INSECT WHO HAS ACCOMPLISHED GREAT THINGS. YOU, ERIC WILLIAMS, WERE A GREAT INSECT WHO ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING OF SIGNIFICANCE. HERMAN SCHULTZ DEFEATED THE INCREDIBLE HULK. YOU, WITH ASSISTANCE, BARELY DEFEATED YOUR BROTHER. YOU ARE NOT ONE TO MAKE SUCH CALLS."

"Him? HIM! FINE!" Williams raised his scythe. Crimson energy began to glow at the tip. "Then I will punish himself myself! Herm..."

The level six blast ripped across his body, shredding his cloak and slamming him backwards. Reaper crashed into the ground, screaming loudly. The arm holding his scythe was underneath him at an angle, and just above his elbow, a sharp bubble jabbed out, just keeping under the skin.

"Seriously, you should listen to the Dread Lord," I somehow managed to quip. "Pick your battles with a little more care, Eric."

Dormammu ignored the yelling Reaper and myself, walking past us. Where he was going, I had no idea, but you don't ask a guy...thing...god like him what his plans are...

"Hey, Dormammu!"

...unless you're very brave or very, very dumb.

The god stopped. He lifted his head, turning slightly to the side. "MAXWELL DILLON. YOU DEEM TO SPEAK TO ME?"

"Yeah, I deem." Electro had moved away from me, getting closer (closer?) to Dormammu. "Hey, a chance like this only comes along once in a while, and I might as well take it," the living bolt of lightning said. His voice held the confidence that the Grim Reaper's had lacked, talking to Dormammu like they were two thugs passing time on a street corner. "Look, the Grim Reaper screwed up, and you kicked him to the curb. And Herman here offed Baron Mordo and the rest of your crew. It looks to me like you're all out of minions..."

"I DON'T NEED MINIONS. I AM THE DREAD LORD."

"...I know, I know." Electro's voice buzzed, but it never wavered or dipped while he stood there talking to a god. He was ignoring me now, his focus entirely on Dormammu. "But you don't mind having them, do you? A guy to boss around, a guy to give orders to, and a guy who gets stuff done. You need a second in command...a Darth Vader type. And I'm your man."

"Max! What the hell..."

"Shut up, Herman," he said, raising a threatening hand towards me. "You took my bread and butter away. I'm working out a new deal."

"SO YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO SAVE YOUR OWN SKIN?"

"If you screwed this up for me," Electro muttered before responding to Dormammu. "Yeah, maybe I am. This whole week's been about one thing. Me on the winning side. And I never screwed up. I did exactly what I was told, and the whole time, I kept telling Eric here to quit screwing around. I may not be a spell slinger like Mordo was, but I'm loyal, I follow orders...hell, I got shot by the Punisher...and while I don't know anything about magic, I know this. There's nothing more primal than lightning...except maybe fire."

"THERE'S MORE." Now Dormammu turned. His full gaze was on Electro, staring down at the dynamo...and the bastard never flinched. "WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT, MAXWELL DILLON? WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THE DEAL?"

"I hate this world," was Electro's reply. "I hate everything about it. I hate how it treated me. I hate how I was supposed to treat it. It never did a damn thing for me. I want to watch it burn. I want to watch it bleed. I want to watch it...die."

"HMMM...VERY WELL. PERFORM ONE TASK FOR ME, AND I WILL BRING YOU INTO MY FLOCK AS MY NEW APPRENTICE."

"Just like that, huh? Alright, you ain't a guy to dick around." Electro flared brightly, the aura around him flashing with white light. "What do you want me to do, boss?"

"KILL ERIC WILLIAMS."

"...oh, hell, is that all?" Electro spun around without hesitation.

The Grim Reaper was still on the ground, holding his broken arm, when he heard Dormammu's command. His eyes got wide as Electro pointed both hands at him. "No! Don't do this, I can..."

Twin currents of lightning shot from Electro's palms. They snaked through the open holes in the Grim Reaper's armor, and his body suddenly began to convulse, shaking and twitching on the ground. He flopped like a fish, his screams a constant stutter as voltage poured through his entire body. Electro's "face" never flinched, and the current never let up as he obeyed Dormammu's command.

My mind was in shock as the Villain of Voltage as he electrocuted his former boss. My body, however, was moving. The focus of Dormammu didn't seem to be on me, and Electro was too busy frying the Grim Reaper, pumping him full of so much voltage he couldn't even fight back. After maybe a minute, Electro cut off the power supply. Smoke rose from the charred, steaming armor of the Grim Reaper, and the sweet smell of roast pork filled the air. "He ain't gonna get up and look for a snack, is he," Electro asked as the remains of Eric William popped and cracked inside his metal shell.

"NO. THE ZOMBIE PLAGUE HAS PASSED FROM THIS EARTH. BUT ONLY TEMPORARILY. TOGETHER, YOU AND I WILL BRING IT BACK, AND WE WILL FINISH THE APOCALYPSE THAT WAS STARTED." Dormammu stretched out his hand, hovering over the awaiting Electro. "ACCEPT MY GIFTS, MAXWELL DILLON, AND LET US END THIS MISERABLE PLANET!"

Ribbons of red energy fell from Dormammu's outstretched hand, weaving in mid-air like snakes as they slithered down towards Electro. The living dynamo tilted his head back, arms outstretched, as the ribbons reached him. "Now we're talking," Electro proclaimed as they wrapped around him, slowly constricting his electric form. Wherever they touched, the bright white light fell away, darkening as Electro slowly disappeared from view, the ribbons soon covering the entirety of his body.

"MAXWELL DILLON," Dormammu proclaimed, "SHED WHATEVER WAS LEFT OF YOUR OLD LIFE, AND RISE NOW AS MY APPRENTICE!"

As I ducked behind Electro, searching in the tall grass, the red ribbons snapped upwards like bungee cords, pulling back into his hands. What they left behind was a figure of the deepest red, bloody lightning and drops of black ichor racing around its form. It lifted its hands towards its face, staring at the bolts of electricity that arced back and forth between its outstretched palms. "I..." a gruff voice. "...feel...this...this is power!" Red lightning shot into the sky as Electro raised his hands, earth to sky splitting in an instance with a crack of thunder. "It's like I have a nuclear reactor inside of me!"

"THIS IS BUT A SMALL TASTE OF THE POWER I CAN GIVE YOU, MAXWELL DILLON."

"No...I said it earlier, boss, and I'll say it again. Maxwell Dillon's shuffled off this mortal coil. Only Electro's left."

"VERY WELL. CLAIM YOUR MANTLE, ELECTRO. AS YOUR FIRST TASK, I COMMAND YOU TO RECOVER THE DARKHOLD. WITH THAT TOME IN MY PHYSICAL POSSESSION, RAISING THE DEAD WILL BE A SIMPLE MATTER."

"Got it," Electro replied, turning in place as he tried to get his bearings. "Now, when I shot Herman, he was standing..."

"...right here."

It was a level ten that cracked the air between me and Electro. The energy rushed around him, the air exploding and red bolts shooting in every direction. He staggered, just a bit, like being smacked with a stiff wind. As the attack faded away, he turned around slowly. A fist, shaking with pure power, was raised in the air. "Herman."

"Max." I clutched the Darkhold in one arm. The other arm aimed a vibro-smasher at Electro. My feet were planted to absorb as much as recoil as I could. "I know what you're going to say, Max. I'm a fool for even trying to put up a fight. I should just hand the book over. And if I do, you'll kill me quick. Hell, you might even make me an offer to come work for you."

"And your response will be 'screw you.' We know each other too well, Herman. It's too bad in a way. I could see you as my long-term nemesis if you actually survived this night." Electro took a step forward. "But you can't outrun me. You can't fight me. You can't even hold a candle to me. I don't even need to suck the juice from your little work-up you got on your back because it's nothing compared to what I got. So, I'm just gonna kill you for that book, Herman."

_I don't suppose you got a spell in there to help me out,_ I asked the Darkhold...and only got silence in return. No surprise there.

"You made your call, Max, when you stabbed humanity in the back. But if you think you're getting this book without a fight, you're mistaken."

"And if you think you can put up a fight, you're mistaken."

"I beat you once," I replied. "And I can beat you again."

"Why, Herman? Seriously, before I fry you like a fillet of fish, I have to know...look at me." He stretched his arms out, electricity dancing along his limbs like a Jacob's Ladder. "I'm a being of pure magical electricity. I just took on the mantle of a demigod. I killed the Grim Reaper. I beat the hell out of the Avengers. The first time we tussled, you barely pulled it out. What in the world makes you think you have a snowball's chance in hell of standing up to me this time?"

"Simple," I said, rolling my shoulders and adjusting my aim. "Someone's got to. If no one else is going to, it might as well be me."

"And you really believe this, Herman."

"I lasted this long with the world crumbling around me. I bet I can squeeze out a few more minutes." And I believed it. No insight, no second-guessing, no bemoaning my fate. I had made it this far. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Tonight?

I had been both.

Electro's laugh didn't faze me in the least. "How incredible. I guess the zombie apocalypse has made you dumber." His hand blazed with red energy, the color of sky at morning. "I've wasted enough time not killing you." With a small cry, his hand pushed forward. I stood my ground as the lightning flew towards me...

...and at the last moment, turned ninety degrees to the right, avoiding me entirely.

"And I guess," I said, a smirk on my face as Electro's features took on a shocked, no pun intended, look, "that the zombie apocalypse taught you to always check your six. Guess who just got their second wind?"

The red lightning vanished into the stone hammer wielded by the God of Thunder. "You. You don't hurt another soul," Thor's cold voice said through clenched teeth. He stood, bruises all over his arms, cuts on his face, staring at the form of Electro with determination on his face. "No more death. No more pain. No more."

"YOU! THE SON OF ODIN! ELECTRO, TAKE CARE OF HIM!"

Electro's hands slammed together, a thunderclap splitting the air as bolts of lightning exploded towards Thor. The Avenger gripped Mjolnir in both hands, holding it out in front of him, his lips pressed tightly together. The front tine of the bolt of lightning slammed into the hammer's edge, forcing Thor back a step. His teeth gritted together as he pushed the hammer forward, into the current being generated by Electro. "I said no more!"

Electro's arms pushed out, the lightning snapping and whipping like a fishing line being entangled by a great white shark. "And I said, die! Die!"

Thor gritted his teeth, the air around him crackling with naked energy as Electro poured it on. "You fail to hear me, Electro. I am the God of Thunder, and I said...NO...MORE!"

"You are in no position to stop me, Avenger," Electro responded. "I have you pinned in place!"

In response, Thor took a step forward. He pushed the lightning back, shortening the streams of power coming from Electro like he was pushing his way through a wall of water. "You deem yourself worthy of the mantle of a God of Lightning? Your power stems from a false being!" I watched in awe as Thor forced his way towards Electro, Mjolnir in the lead.

"No. Damn it! How are you doing this," Electro screamed as Thor strode towards him with determination. "I beat you! I beat you!"

"We are the Avengers, Dillon," Thor replied. With a roar of defiance, Thor left his feet, Mjolnir propelling him through the air. "We know not the meaning of the word 'defeated!'" Electro barely had time to lower his hands and brace himself before the magical hammer slammed into his electrical form. A bright, white-and-red light flashed over the area at the moment of impact. I raised my arm, shielding my eyes before the scene could permanently scar my retinas, just as the sonic boom washed over me. The hair on my head blew backwards, and I barely stood my ground. The Darkhold jumped and leapt in my grip, trying to squeeze free, but I kept my arm tight around its binding.

The light subsided, the echo of the impact fading in the distance. I peeked over my forearm to see Thor standing tall...

...and Electro staring right back at him.

The ground around Electro had been blown backwards, leaving Max in a damn crater, and he was still standing. "Not enough gun," Electro snarked towards Thor, the red energy still cracking around him. "You just don't get it, Thor," he boasted. "There's no way you can beat me."

"You're the one not getting it, Dillon," a mechanical voice came from nearby. "Do you really think we'd let Thor have all the fun?" Electro's gaze snapped over his shoulder as, hovering about five feet off the ground, Iron Man, his armor scorched silver in several places, crossed his arms and stared down at the Villain of Voltage.

"What...how did you..." Electro stammered.

"Rebooted my armor into safe mode," Iron Man replied. "Backup systems, redundancies, parallel circuits. Worst you could do to me was give me a blue screen of death, Dillon."

"Hell," another voice added, "I want your operating system." Zipping past over head, MACH-IV took an opposite position to Iron Man, the blaster on his arm locked in on Electro. "I know I'm not an Avenger, but this bastard blew me out of the sky. I want a piece of him."

"I think there's going to be plenty to go around." Wonder Man, some of the cuts on his body still dripping blood, was on one knee, supporting himself, red eyes locked on Electro. "That bastard killed my brother. Eric might have been a mass-murdering sociopath, but that doesn't change the fact that you fried him, Dillon. And I'm gonna stripe your hide for that one."

"It's like Thor said, Max." That was Captain America. His armor still popped like a cooling engine, but there wasn't any doubt in my mind, or Electro's, that the fighting spirit hadn't left his body. "We're the Avengers. We don't know the meaning of the word 'quit.' You got lucky before, Electro, that's all."

I bit back a laugh at the look of incredulous shock on Electro's face. "Seriously, Max," I chimed in, waving a hand around my eyes, "you gotta work on this peripheral vision thing. You don't think I wouldn't have been dumb enough to stand against you if the damn Avengers weren't gearing up for round two, do you?"

"AHEM."

It's weird to hear a god cough politely.

"I DO HATE TO INTERRUPT THE HEROIC BOASTING, BUT YOU ALL HAVE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE SIX-STORY DREAD LORD THAT IS TOWERING OVER YOU." Dormammu sounded almost offended as he spoke. "DO YOU SO CASUALLY DISMISS ME?"

"Nay." That was Thor's reply. His eyes never left Electro as he answered Dormammu. "Thou are next."

"NEXT? NO, THOR...I AM NOW!" The hand-shaped shadow at Thor's feet grew rapidly, and the God of Thunder just barely dove out of the way as Dormammu's palm missed flattening him. "I AM THE PAST, I AM NOW, I AM THE FUTURE! I AM ETERNITY!"

Thor simply got back on his feet, refusing to brush the dirt off his shoulders as Iron Man spoke. "I think that's our cue, Avengers. Herman," Iron Man said, nodding towards the being of red lightning, "you know what do to with Electro. Everyone else, and this includes you, MACH-IV...let's go kick the ass of a god."

Wonder Man picked up Captain America as he took off. Even as all five heroes took off into the air, you could hear that famous refrain, voices mixing together as they went, willingly, to fight the Dread Lord Dormammu...a refrain that never failed to put fear in the heart of villains, and inspire the spirits of the good guys.

"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!"

X

The words reached my ears, but I never took my eyes off of Max, even for a second. He was staring up at the ascending heroes, the electricity that composed his face giving off an air of confused rage. "No...don't turn your back on me! DAMN IT, I'M THE GOD OF LIGHTNING!"

"The way I see it, Max," I said snidely, "you're not a threat. You're not even a blip on the radar of the Avengers. I mean, hell, they left the Shocker to deal with you, and I've been getting my ass kicked all week. Shows how concerned you make them, huh?"

Slowly, Electro lowered his head. "You," he hissed like a downed power line. "You, Herman. You tried to take everything from me. My life. My reputation. My rightful place at the table. And even now, when there's no one left to save you, you mock me."

My body was tensed to jump in every direction at once, a biological fly-by-wire system, but I forced myself to stay in place. I knew what to do with Electro, and in about thirty seconds, my job would be done. I just had to be patient, and keep his attention on me. "All that power, Max, enough to blow me off the face of the planet and scatter the atoms, and you still haven't done it. How many times did you have me dead-to-rights, and you just...couldn't...finish the job."

"Herman, watch your..."

"You might have Dormammu's blessing," I interrupted, "and enough juice inside of you to light up Times Square, but that little inferiority complex of yours just won't let you close the deal. Guess what, Max? A loser with the power of a god? HE'S STILL A LOSER!"

Some of you might be thinking "Herman's lost his mind. Electro's going to fry him." Others might be thinking "Herman's obviously got a plan. Let's see what happens." The first half of you? Go screw yourselves. The second half? Thanks for coming along this journey of personal growth. Because you could bet your ass I had a plan.

"I'm going to kill you, Herman." No boasting, no bombast, just a promise.

"You haven't yet, Max. I don't think you have the guts. You fried the Grim Reaper, but that's because he was helpless and had a broken arm. Me?" I pointed my vibro-smasher at him as I taunted him. "I kicked your ass, and I didn't even have my gauntlets at the time. Face it, Max...you're afraid of me."

"Afraid!" Above us, I could hear the sounds of combat as the Avengers engaged Dormammu as Electro raged. "I'm not afraid of you! I'm not afraid of anyone! I control the lightning!"

Man, did I sound this much like a whiny pussy when I was caught doing criminal deeds? Maybe I owe Spider-Man an apology if I ever see him again. "Yeah, well...I got me a secret weapon, Max. Why do you think I'm standing here out in the open, because I'm stupid? Nope. I got a little something up my sleeve that's going to rock your world."

"Really, Herman? What is it?" He took a step towards me, and I did my best not to flinch or move back. "Does that compressor on your back go up to eleven? Did you shove insulating tape in your ridiculous costume? Or do you have some kind of magic trick under your hat?"

"Nah...actually..."

I looked up at the sky, picking just the right moment as I saw the object speeding towards where we stood on the ground. "...I think she just hit terminal velocity."

The sound of a freight train filled the air just as a bright white streak slammed into Electro. I was caught in the blast wave, flung off my feet and onto my back. The compressor knobs digging into my spine were nothing compared to the pressure that washed over me. Guess it was what getting smacked with one of my blasts was like.

I sat up, the Darkhold tucked under my arm, as the residual energies faded away. I pulled my legs up to my chest, just...enjoying the show, as it were.

She floated a foot off the ground, her hair crackling with energy from her attack, spilling out to all side. The bruises on her arms and legs just accentuated how freakin' hot she was, to say nothing about the skin tight bodysuit that not even rushing air and a fast atmospheric descent could dislodge.

"You wanted the Avengers," Ms. Marvel said as she hovered over Electro's prone form. "Well, you got one. Come on, Electro. I've got a package for you, special delivery. Sign on the dotted line so I can hand you your ass."