Chapter 27 The Darkside of the Moon Part 3; The Thanos Imperative
Disclaimer: As usual don't own shit bla di bla.
On a completely unrelated note RIP Roger Ebert, you were a true influence to all movie lovers like me, may you rest in peace and now that you have inspired thousands including myself to love movies no matter what other people might think of your tastes.
What? Oh the chapter, erm Thanos everybody!
Maximus groaned in pain as he awoke to find himself in an energy like jail cell on a ship he didn't recognise, he could hear shouting and cursing in front of him and he recognised the voice as Drax, "Drax is that you?!" he said, "Shut up you idiot!" Drax shouted back as he looked back at Maximus the two were in a cell together.
"So he has awoken has he?" came a deep voice and a man appeared in front of Maximus's cell. He was tall and muscular, his skin was purple and he was dressed in blue and gold armour, his white soulless eyes stared at Maximus as he grinned, "I have heard much about you, Schism. My mistress will be most glad that I have found you, she had much interest in you and I live to please my love" he said as Maximus looked at him in confusion.
"I'll kill you Thanos, as soon as I get out of this cell your head will be mine" spat Drax, "All in good time my friend, I however am not ready to join with my true love just yet, there are still things to do" replied Thanos as he left the cell blocks.
"Drax who is that guy?" said Maximus as he punched the energy wall only to be knocked back, "That is Thanos, better known as the Mad Titan, the God of Death too many. He's the reason I joined the Guardians in the first place, I was made for the sole purpose of destroying him" said Drax.
"And what did he mean by his "mistress" being interested in me?" Maximus said with worry as he had a bad feeling about whatever this person wanted with him, it wouldn't be the first time someone wanted him for his powers.
"His mistress is none other than Lady Death herself" said Drax, "Wait, Death is a woman?" said Maximus in shock, "Not the true Death, rather a cosmic entity that oversees the souls of the dead, Thanos is fascinated by death and as such does anything she commands in hope that she will love him as much as he worships her" said Drax.
"That's messed up" said Maximus in disgust, he then looked out from the bars, he couldn't see much but he could see in the cell across from him was Terra, she looked like she was asleep, "Terra!" he shouted only to be shushed from Drax, "Hold your tongue, don't want to be causing a racket" said Drax before Maximus heard an almighty crash from above.
"I'am Groot!" he heard from above, "Groot must have woken up" said Drax as Maximus once again punched the bars, "It's no use, those bars are solid ki energy. We're not going anywhere until Thanos decides where his mistress wants him" said Drax as he crossed his arms and sighed in frustration.
"Dammit!" shouted Maximus. "Where is everyone else?" he said, Drax shrugged. "Hell if I know, they're probably somewhere else in this ship, whatever you guys were doing down on Hollow Bastion has been cancelled I'm afraid" he said as Maximus stared at him in horror, "What do you mean?" he said in fear, "Thanos blew it up once we left in his ship, took the Firefly with it as well" said Drax as Maximus punched the wall in frustration, "God fucking dammit!" he shouted, no there was no way he could sure if Aht was still alive or not, he knew he had sensed her while they were there but now it was hopeless.
"Maximus?" he heard Terra say in concern and looked up to see Terra looking at him in worry, her face was bruised and she looked tired and ill, Maximus said nothing and slumped against the wall. Drax looked out of the window and into space, "We're getting close" he said as he looked at the white planet, "The Moon, I should have known. Thanos must be meeting Lady Death there, but why there of all places?" said Drax as Maximus closed his eyes.
"I can sense several extremely high power levels down there, Beezlemon, Wesker, Ridley, Giygas and many others that I don't recognise" said Maximus, he could sense Giygas's power and it baffled him "Even from here I can sense that Giygas is amazingly strong and not just that but there's something else, something…..familiar" said Maximus as he sensed a new power, it was incredibly faint. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that he had felt it somewhere before.
Then he perked up and he sensed four familiar powers, "Its Sora, Kairi, Loki and Thor!?" he said in surprise, "If their down there then that means the others are on their way, we might have a chance to stop these guys once and for all" he though as the planet came closer and closer. He could also sense Chitari, Shadows of all shapes and sizes and more Daleks.
Maximus could feel them descending, "So what do we do when we land?" said Maximus to Drax, "Just keep your head down, I've gotta a plan" whispered Drax as Maximus felt the ship land, then he heard footsteps and Thanos appeared in front of them again. "It is time for us to converse with my mistress, come" he said.
ROS
Maximus found himself standing in what looked like a throne room, around him was Terra and the other Guardians, they were all chained up and unconscious except for Drax who was still awake, Maximus could sense he was faking being unconscious. In front of him was a long staircase and at the end a huge white door covered in symbols he didn't recognise, the ceiling was covered in shadows that were hanging there like bats.
All around him and the others were several Chitari that were pointing their weapons at them; he could see Thanos in front of him. He was speaking loudly to someone and Maximus had to look around him to see and woman sitting at the top of the stair case. She was dressed in a purple robe and she looked like a robot displaying no emotion at all.
"I have brought you the one that you seek my lady, now will you accept me as your one true love?" gloated Thanos as he grabbed Maximus and pushed him forward, Maximus looked up to her. She looked at him with the same deadpan expression before looking away and scowling at Thanos, "What? Is he not the one My Love?" he said in concern as she looked away from him.
Thanos turned to Maximus and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up, "You! You are the Schism Maximus are you not?! Answer me you worm!" he shouted, "Yes I'am now put me down you ugly sack of shit" spat Maximus, Thanos punched him the gut. Maximus collapsed as he gasped in pain, at that moment Drax threw something small towards Thanos; a tiny land mine like device landed in front of him and shot up before exploding in his face blinding everyone with a bright light.
"Move!" Maximus heard Drax shout and he punched Thanos in the face before turning round and kicking the Chitari away as he set Terra free while Drax cut through the others, then they ran as fast as they could.
"After them!" shouted Thanos as he flailed around blindly, he regained sight quickly but all he could see was the disapproving face Lady Death gave him, "My Love, fear not I shall apprehend those fools and bring them back to you, then will you finally accept me?" he said as she continued to stare at him in silence.
"Star Lord what do we do now?" shouted Maximus as he ran carrying Terra, all the other Guardians were awake and fighting off Chitari and Shadows as they made their escape from the palace. "We need to get as far away from here as possible, I don't know what it is but I feel something incredibly powerful and it's not just Thanos and Lady Death but something else" said Star Lord as he shot through several Chitari.
Maximus knew what he meant, while he was in that room he couldn't help but fell incredibly intimidated by the power he felt, whatever was behind that door was incredibly powerful, "The Devils Machine, it must be back there" he said as the kept moving, "But wait isn't that not the source of the Shadows and what they've been working on this entire time?" said Rocket Racoon as he flipped and shot more Shadows.
They kept moving until they were outside the palace and far away, the Chitari seized their chase as their master approached them, "Sir, they haven't gotten far should we send a Leviathan to apprehend them?" said one of them, Thanos scoffed and cracked his knuckles, "No I will deal with them personally, they have insulted Lady Death for the last time" he snarled before he leapt into the air and flew away.
ROS
Maximus rested Terra against the bottom of a cliff, she was still sleeping and her bruises were still there. "We need to get somewhere safe so that Terra can rest!" said Maximus. "Going somewhere?" came the voice of Thanos from above them, Maximus looked up at him in anger as Thanos looked down at him and grinned.
"Thanos!" growled Drax as he pointed his swords at him while Star Lord and Rocket Racoon aimed their guns at him. "I'am afraid you are not going anywhere Schism, Lady Death is not done with you and I do not like my mistress to be kept waiting, why she wants you and not me I do not understand" he said, muttering the last part under his breath.
He landed down in front of them as the Guardians shielded Maximus and Terra, "Maximus go, we'll hold of Thanos, you get yourself and Terra as far away from here as possible" said Star Lord as Gamora drew her sword and Groot pounded his fists together.
Maximus stared in them in shock and then frowned and clenched his fists, "No way, I'm not leaving you guys! Your my friends and I'm not going to just run away, It's not happening" he said as he looked back to Terra, he stroked her hair gently as rested her as carefully as he could against the wall of the cliff, "Just rest Terra, I'll be back soon and then we can go find the others, I love you" he said gently before kissing her on the head and then walking to join the others.
The other Guardians looked at him as he stood next to them, "Maximus please, we didn't come all the way out here just so you could get yourself killed, we've faced Thanos before we know what we're doing" said Star Lord, Thanos growled and ran forward "No-one's going anywhere!" he shouted as he punched at Star Lord.
Star Lord somersaulted away as Rocket Racoon opened fire at Thanos; Thanos raised his hands and blocked the bullets with an energy shield. Drax rushed forward and swung his swords at Thanos, Thanos blocked with his glove as Gamora leapt and tried to spear him from above, Thanos kicked away at Drax and grabbed Gamora's blade with his teeth before throwing her away.
Maximus leapt forward and kicked at Thanos as Star Lord shot at him, Thanos blocked Maximus's attack and punched out at him but Maximus disappeared and reappeared behind him and elbowed him in the back, Thanos scoffed in annoyance and grabbed Maximus with both hands and threw him away, Maximus collided with Groot who fell over with a crash.
"I'am Groot!" shouted Groot in anger as Maximus jumped off the tree monster, Star Lord ran forward and punched Thanos, the hit didn't faze Thanos but it gave enough time for Drax to slash down his back, Thanos yelled in pain as he elbowed Drax from behind and punched Star Lord away.
"What's going on?" said Rocket Racoon, Maximus looked at him in concern; he had never seen Rocket Racoon loose his cool but right now he looked terrified, "Thanos was not this strong before" he said as Maximus growled and changed into his Trance form, "Let's see how he likes this!" he shouted before he flew forward and punched at Thanos.
Thanos grinned and disappeared before the attack could hit him, he appeared behind Maximus and grabbed bot his hands and started pulling them back as he pressed his knee onto Maximus's back, "Maximus!" shouted Star Lord as he shot at Thanos but the bullets had no effect, Maximus cried out in pain as he felt his arms being twisted out of their sockets.
"So much for the infamous Schism, did you really think you had a chance against me? I'am Thanos the God of Death! You're but a fly in front of a tidal wave and now you will give Lady Death what she wants and then you will die!" Thanos shouted in anger as he twisted Maximus's arms even further.
Maximus growled in pain and started to slowly bring his arms forward, just enough so that he could flip back and knee Thanos in the face hard causing him to let go. Thanos yelled in pain as Maximus flipped back and kicked him in the stomach just as Groot grabbed him from behind and suplexed him.
Thanos groaned in pain as he picked himself up, "Maximus are you ok?" said Star Lord as Maximus held one of his shoulders in pain, "I'm fine but this isn't looking good, he's a lot stronger than I thought" said Maximus as he stared at Thanos, "He is a god, what did you expect?" said Gamora as Drax scowled, "Yeah but something is not right, Thanos is strong but there's something different about him" he said.
Thanos growled and charged forward, he punched away Groot and took a hit from Gamora straight to the face, to Gamora's surprised her blade shattered as soon as it made contact with him, he elbowed her in the chest before karate chopping her on the neck, she gasped as she collapsed in unconsciousness.
"Dammit Thanos!" shouted Drax as he charged forward, his body began to change. He became a lot bigger and more muscular to the point where he was nearly the same size as Thanos; he punched at Thanos who blocked his attack easily and pulled him forward before slamming Drax on his knee hard, Maximus noticed that his armour glowed red briefly and veins began to appear on his head.
Maximus yelled in shock as he realised why Thanos was so strong, "I don't believe it, Thanos he's drawing power directly from Giygas!" said Maximus as the others looked at him in horror, "You can't be serious!" said Rocket Racoon as Thanos walked closer and closer, both Drax and Gamora were out cold and Groot was quickly thrown aside as he tried to flank Thanos from the side.
"It's true, however by the looks of things Thanos is struggling to keep all that power in him, his body isn't strong enough to handle it" said Maximus as more and more veins kept popping out of Thanos's arms and head. Thanos gasped and breathed heavily as a red aura surrounded him, his pure white eyes continued to stare at them as he growled in frustration.
"Lady Death, you're giving me too much power. I can only maintain so much, I'll have to finish them quickly" he thought before he charged forward and punched Star Lord sending him flying, he landed on the ground several feet away and lay still, "Peter!" shouted Rocket Racoon only for Thanos's fist to catch him in the face, Rocket Racoon was smashed into a nearby cliff and didn't resurface.
"No" said Maximus in shock as he looked round, all of them were knocked out. "Shit! Their all unconscious and now it's up to me to beat this guy but I'm not sure if I can, this guys really something else" he thought as Thanos smirked at him.
"Has it finally occurred to you how foolish it was to fight against me, if you had come quietly we could have avoided any casualties but now it seems that my patience has ended both with you and them, I don't care if Lady Death wished to speak with you, the only thing that matter is the complete control of the universe and that will make her finally realise that I am the one for her!" he shouted before launching himself towards Maximus.
He punched at Maximus who could only dodge and teleport away, for someone so big Thanos could move fast, Thanos caught him with a punch to the chest and Maximus coughed out blood as he fell to his knees. "Damn it, even with Trance I can't beat this guy! Then I guess there's no other option I'll have to use my true form to beat him" he thought as he stood up tall and tried to ignore the pain.
Thanos looked at him in confusion as Maximus crossed his arms in front of him, "What is this? Giving up are we? So much for the "Super powerful warrior" I was told so much about, you are nothing to me" said Thanos as Maximus glared at him, "Yeah well we'll see after I fight you in my true form" said Maximus as Thanos looked at him in shock.
"What? What do you mean by true form?" he said in confusion, "The form you see before you is not my real body, this human form is what my body created for itself when I was born. However it can only utilise 25% of my power and clearly that isn't enough to destroy you" he said as Thanos growled in shock before smirking "You're bluffing, there's no way you're fighting with that little power!" he said as Maximus merely smirked.
"Don't believe me? That's fine but it's not like it'll change anything, you should be thankful very little have seen this form in its true power" said Maximus as he began to glow, his skin started to crack with black wisps of smoke beginning to burst out of him. He yelled as his entire body was engulfed in black smoke and a red and black aura pulsed from him.
Black leathery wings shot from his back, his eyes became yellow and lizard like. Large sharp talons grew from his hands and feet as a long tail ending with a long sharp arrowhead at the end erupted from him. His skin became scaly and black, his body increased in size as his muscles expanded. Thanos couldn't help but look on in terror as the giant dragon like beast leered down at him.
Maximus grinned toothily as he spoke in a deep dark voice, "Time to die" he said before he opened his wings and rushed forward and punched Thanos in the face sending him flying, Maximus rushed forward and brought Thanos down on his knee, Thanos cried out in pain as Maximus brought both of his fists together and slammed them down on his face sending Thanos flying down to the ground with an almighty crash.
Maximus laughed as Thanos picked himself up, "How can a mere mortal have that much power?" he said as he looked up to Maximus in anger, "This has gone on far enough, I'am the God of Death and all will bow to me, that includes you Maximus!" he shouted and he teleported and reappeared in front of Maximus, he wrapped his hands around Maximus's throat.
Maximus didn't even seemed fazed as Thanos tried to crush his throat, Thanos looked at him in confusion as he tried to squeeze the life out of Maximus but no matter how tightly he gripped his throat nothing appeared to be happening. Then Maximus sneered and Thanos cried out in pain as Maximus impaled him through the back with his tail, Thanos looked down to the spike producing from his chest in horror.
Maximus the punched Thanos in the face so hard that Thanos's neck snapped, Thanos was sent plummeting to the ground and crashed into the dirt, Maximus flew down and kicked down on Thanos driving him further and further under the crust until he was close to hitting the edge of it, then he stopped and flew back up to the surface. "That should hold him off for a while" said Maximus as he stared at the crater he had just created.
He then relaxed and returned back to his normal state, he floated down to where Terra was slowly. He started to fell weak as he stumbled towards where she was lying, "Damn I must have used way too much energy while I was in my true form, that's what I get for only being in the form for a few seconds" he thought as he collapsed to his knees and lay down beside her, he cradled her in his arms as he felt his eyes close.
"Maximus?" she purred as he stroked her hair, "Hey your awake" said Maximus gently as he opened his eyes to see her rubbing her eyes and smiling at him sleepily. He rested the back of his head against the cliff and watched her as she looked round, "What happened?" she said as she looked round at the destruction, then she heard Maximus groan in pain.
"Max? What's wrong? Are you ok?" she said in panic as she cupped his face, "I'm fine just tired that's all" he said as he closed his eyes, "Let me get my strength back, then we can go find our friends" he said before falling into sleep.
She smiled and sat next to him, hugging her knees to her chest, "This time, I'll protect you"
A/N Nothing much to say, just more shit going down and everyone arriving at the Moon, the next Chapter will be Chapter 28 The Darkside of the Moon Part 4; The Leviathan Seed