Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin
Chapter 31: This Light of Mine
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!"
"…whuh?" Vincent could only stare in total bafflement as the corrupted form of Remy Laveau doubled over in what he could only assume was pain. The sudden scream and explosive dispersal of the miasma around the slab had caught everyone off guard. That whatever had happened had somehow adversely affected the undead thralls, halting them in place, was the only reason that the group had not been overwhelmed by the horde after several minutes of staring at the possessed man screaming.
Shaking his head, Vincent immediately took the opportunity to strike down several undead thralls surrounding him. The others were quick to follow as the sounds of spells and weapons being swung quickly resumed.
"…so, um," Sarah ventured as she spun around several conjured blades around her in an orbit at the unmoving undead. "Anyone have any idea what happened just now?" She glanced at everyone present, looking for an explanation.
Sol, having taken a moment to get his bearings during the brief respite, could only shrug when Sarah's gaze fell on him. "Honestly, I could not tell you." He looked towards the mutated Remy and winced when he noticed that the screaming monster in human flesh was clutching at his groin as he howled in agony. "…although, from what I could see it was apparently a very painful experience."
Sarah turned her attention to the female cultist. "Do you have anything to do with this?"
The woman frantically shook her head. "N-no! No, no! I-I have no idea what just happened!"
"That doesn't matter," Vincent finally spoke up. "Right now, it seems like something has happened to the dark power residing in him! Now's our chance to- Guh!" Vincent stumbled a bit as he was suddenly pushed aside. Getting his feet back under him, he watched as Isaac's body began to approach the center of the chamber. "I-Isaac?"
The boy did not heed him. His unconscious form continued to the slab, striking down any undead thrall in his way. Vincent quickly followed after him, H2H in tow.
Eventually, the boy reached the slab with the half-corpse. The tentacles on his back reached forward and grabbed at the spikes in pinning the corpse down through its hands and feet. The tentacles tugged at the spikes but was met with resistance, violent green sparks shooting off at the point of contact.
"H2H, what's Isaac's status," Vincent inquired. "Is his mind being compromised?"
The android's eyes lit up for a moment. "NEGATIVE. CREATOR DUAL BRAINWAVES DO NOT SHOW SIGNS OF SUBVERSION."
Vincent watched as Isaac's body began to glow as it channeled cosmic rays into his tentacles. Where the prongs contacted the spikes, the green sparks grew more erratic as the spikes were pulled.
"I… I think… I think that whatever he's doing, he's almost put an end to all of this." Elation began to rise up within Vincent and he couldn't help but laugh.
The others, despite the situation, couldn't help but sag a bit in relief at that declaration.
"Oh, oh thank goodness!" Had it not been for the presence of the undead still present, Sol would have sunk to his knees. "I think I'm going to take a nice long vacation when this is all over."
"It'S nOT oVEr…"
Everyone immediately went back on guard as the possessed Remy slowly rose back up. By this point some of his skin had peeled off and one of his eyes had become completely pale green. The remaining eye, looking bloodshot glared out at them.
"I wIll NOt bE SToppED…"
The monster then grabbed at the corpse's head. Before anyone could attempt to strike at him, a sphere of that same dark power materialized around Isaac, the corpse, and the evil god.
"ISAAC!" Vincent struck at the barrier with all the strength he could muster, but to no avail. "ISAAC! ISAAC! ISAAAAAAAAAAAC!"
"VINCENT!" Sarah's voice snapped Vincent out of his growing panic, and he whipped around to find that the thralls had renewed their assault. He quickly conjured a pair of blades and swung at the thralls as they approached.
"DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!" Vincent vented his frustration with the situation at the undead. 'And to think I was getting all excited,' Vincent berated himself. Rather than give up though, he pushed on along with his fellow mages. 'Isaac… I hope you're okay in there!'
'Go! Go! Go! Go! GO!' I could feel my heart pounding in my own damn throat as I swung from building to building. Behind me I could hear the barking from the gamma wolves as they chased after me. Before me I could see the ball of green fire above slowly begin to dissipate as it was no longer feeding on the spirits trapped in this place.
A chill went up my spine and one of my tentacles snapped out to the right and pulled me out of the way as a gamma wolf flew through the space, I had been in not a second ago. A second tentacle joined the one that had pulled me out of the way, and I launched myself through the air as a gamma wolf crashed through the wall.
'God DAMN!' A quick glance showed the other wolves still in pursuit, two of them from the rooftops on either side of me and the one from before following below. The one above to my right slid as it turned then jumped at me, its jaws wide open. I had barely managed to swing out of the way before it crashed into the wall. Before I could swing again, another snarling wolf was already on a collision course with me and my two upper tentacles came up to defend me.
Pain shot up my back as the wolf's momentum took us through the wall behind me. My lower tentacles planted themselves on the ground as the wolf tried to pin me down, snapping its jaws all the while. 'SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!' This thing was heavy, and it was all I could do to keep its teeth off biting into me!
Another wolf quickly ran up and leapt at me. Panicking, I drew on that warmth and swung my first wildly. Something cracked and the gamma wolf yelped as several broken fangs came loose from its mouth. "GET OFF ME!" I swung my fist into the wolf on top of me and the damned thing yelped as I managed to knock one of its teeth loose. As it reeled from the pain, I swung up to its back and stabbed into its skull with a spike. The moment it collapsed, I hopped off and quickly shot off towards the clearing, more barking coming from behind me.
Looking around frantically as I swung, my eyes finally found something I could use, and I swung forward quickly. Behind me I could hear one of the wolves catching up. 'Okay have to time this right annnnnnnnd… NOW!' I reached out to the bar and used it to swing up and over onto the gamma wolf's back. The beast immediately began to buck me off, but I held firm. My upper right tentacle immediately drove a blade into the wolf's head, and it went still.
Pushing off from its body, I just managed to avoid the teeth of another gamma wolf. As I swung forward, I could see that it was the only one left. I needed to take care of it and fast! I don't know how long I've got until Remy/Logos/OBA gets back up, but I'd bet it won't be too long now. Looking around at the few buildings that were still relatively intact, I spotted one with a hole in the wall and threw myself through it.
As soon as my feet hit the floor inside, I ran as fast as I could, weaving in and out of gaps to try and get some breathing room from the gamma wolf. Looking around I spotted a hole in the ceiling and made a beeline for it, the sound of gnashing teeth barely feet away. As soon as I was in reach, one of my tentacles reached out and pulled me through. As soon as my feet hit solid ground I swung back to the hole and drew on the cosmic rays within me, charging up a blast in my tentacles.
Seconds went by as I waited for the gamma wolf to charge at me. When a minute went by, I crept up to the hole and peeked through it. Grabbing onto the edge of the hole, I leaned into the room a gave a thorough look around. "…no sign of it…" I pulled myself back up. "Where did it go?" With my nerves frayed, I strained my senses to try and figure out where it went-
Low growling from the other side of the wall and-
*CRASH*
Without thinking my legs kicked off the ground and my body spun. My tentacles began to fire off bolt after bolt as the wolf crashed into me sending us both down to the floor below. With a hard smack, my back hit the ground-
"FUCK!" Fighting through the pain I scrambled to my feet to try and shoot some more bolts and-
"Oh…" I blinked at the sight of the headless corpse. "Huh… must have got a few shots into its mouth…" A throb of pain shot up my back and it was all I could do not to curl up a bit.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGRRRGH!"
"Of course." Gritting my teeth, I reached out to a window and flung myself outward. Barely seconds later, the sound of crashing could be heard as the gamma monster started charging to the building I was in.
'Don't look back! Move!' Everything went by in a blur as I swung myself forward. With my tentacles doing the moving, I began to put my focus on gathering as much cosmic ray energy as possible.
"ISAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC!" Behind me more buildings began to crash as the big bastard came charging after me.
'Don't look back! Don't look back! Move!'
Just ahead was the clearing. Behind me I could hear the literal source of all evil getting closer.
'Don't look back! Don't look back! Move! Move!' I needed to-
A growing shadow coming up behind me had me turn and-
"OH SHIT!"
"SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"
A fist as big as I was coming in a back hand.
'TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE! TOO CLOSE!'
Whether by instinct or quick thinking, my tentacles quickly wrapped around me in a ball and-
*BAM*
I was sent flying to-
With a crash I landed just a few yards from the slab, up above the ball of green flame was still dumping fire onto the mage. Gathering up the cosmic ray energy into a ball and-
PAIN went up my spine as I was pulled back by my tentacles. I landed several feet away. Before I could begin to shake off the pain a shadow falling down on me had my tentacles shooting up to-
PAIN shot up my back as the gamma monster's foot was barely held back from crushing me.
Its face twisted in into an inhuman grin. "No mORe RunNING… ThiS ENdS Now…"
"Couldn't… agree… more…" Mustering up what strength I could spare, I threw the ball in my hand as hard as I could-
The monster dodged it with a grin.
"YoU MISSed…"
I responded with a grin of my own. "Wasn't… aiming… for you…"
Confusion crossed its face. "wHAT ArE You-"
*FWOOOOOM*
A bright light from behind it caused the monster spin around to find-
"No… nonononononononononononononono!"
Up above, the green ball of flame had turned a brilliant white as my ball of energy consumed it.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" In genuine panic, the monster ran to the slab as that brilliant ball pulsed then-
*BOOOOOOOOOM*
The ball of light exploded, and everything went white.
When my vision cleared, I found the blood red clouds had been replaced by what looked like the beginning of an amazing sunset.
"uGH…"
Going alert, I quickly found the monster, and wow he really didn't look good. The skin, which had already been cracking apart now looked more like charcoal, half of the monster's face was burned well past a third degree burn and its eyes were completely bloodshot. Its right arm hung uselessly swinging about as the monster struggled to maintain its balance. Its gaze turned towards me, and I got ready to move when-
*BZZZT*
Turning my attention to the slab, I found the source of the noise: on the slab, the stakes pinning down the mage trembled and crackled with green sparks.
Before I knew it, my feet were moving on their own.
"NOoOOOOOooooo!" Despite its weakened state, the monster still had enough power to chase after me.
'Move! Move! MOVE!'
My tentacles reached forward-
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Crunching behind me.
I leapt forward.
I grabbed the stakes and pulled!
They came free and-
*CRACK*
The green vortex in the arc shattered and a red vacuum began to pull everything in.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Before I could be sucked in, I grabbed onto the slab with my two upper tentacles. When something flew by, I grabbed it without thinking-
The mage flung about helplessly as I held onto him with a tentacle.
The vacuum grew stronger still. How long was-
"GYAAAGH!" Another sharp pain in my back and-
"I WON'T GO BACK!" The monster had grabbed the other tentacle.
Fighting through the pain, I aimed a finger at the beast.
"Begone!" A bolt of cosmic ray shot it right between the eyes.
Like glass, the corrupted form of Remy shattered as the One-Below-All was finally exorcised and dragged back in. The moment the apparition hit the red vacuum-
*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*
Everything went white.
As the others continued to fight, Vincent fired bolt after bolt into the dark miasma. "Come on! Come on! COME ON!"
"Vincent! We have to withdraw," Sarah shouted. Slowly she made her way over to Sol. The undead thralls had become more aggressive than ever, and fatigue was beginning to set in.
"NOT WITHOUT ISAAC," Vincent snapped back.
"Sir," the female cultist cried out as she took down another thrall. "I know it is not right, but we have to go!"
"NOT! WITHOUT! ISAAC!" Vincent continued his barrage headless of the dangers around him.
"VINCENT," Sol shouted. "WE NEED TO RETREAT BACK TO THE ANCIENT ONE! WE CAN'T JUST-"
"WARNING!" H2H interrupted. "DETECTING CRITICAL BUILD UP OF COSMIC RADIATION!"
"Wai- what-" Before Vincent could finish, a pulse of energy swept through the chamber. Vincent's attention returned to the dark sphere at the center of the chamber.
"W-what is going on," one of the male cultists got out.
Taking a moment to strike down several of the suddenly still thralls, Sarah turned back to Vincent. "Vincent, what's going on-"
The sound of glass breaking drowned her out. The sphere of darkness began to crack. Before anyone could do anything, a brilliant white light exploded outwards swallowing everything.
The Ancient One took several deep breaths as she prepared another series of spells to battle the corrupted Ogun, when the corrupted God froze mid-step.
Surprise briefly flashed across her face, before her eyes narrowed. This had been the second time Ogun had paused mid-fight. While she did appreciate the short break, she kept her guard up lest the Vodu warrior take advantage of any openings.
"What is going on why did it stop again?" Yaro's grip tightened on her shoulders and the Ancient One fought off a wince as she felt his shaking. The poor thing had nearly had his head taken off several times throughout the confrontation. She really would have to make it up to the poor ape. That being said-
"I don't know but-"
"Do you feel that," Shango said, interrupting her.
"What?" Confusion crossed the Ancient One's face.
"Something has happened," Shango stated.
Closing her eyes, the Ancient One focused her senses and-
Her eyes snapped towards the path to the inner chamber. A pulse washed over her.
"Ancient One," one of the mages (Miguel by the sound of it) called out. "The thralls have stopped again what's goin-" he stopped as the Sorcerer Supreme lifted a hand.
Another pulse, much more powerful than the last. 'Vincent what is happening over the-'
Her eyes widened as a wave of energy washed over them. The startled cries of the mages were drowned out by a booming noise.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM*
On a helicopter, Nick Fury let a stream of curses as his vision was overtaken by a sudden burst of light shooting up to the sky, followed by a deafening boom.
In their observation post, several onsite Wakandan war-dogs let out startled cries from the sudden burst of light and noise.
"HOLY SHIT!" In a command room, Tony Stark slapped his hands over his eyes at the sudden light show.
Next to him, Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes barely held back his own cursing and began to bark out orders. "SOMEONE TURN DOWN THE BRIGHTNESS!"
"SIR, YES SIR!"
"DAMMIT!" Druig, caught off-guard by the sudden light, was forced to land on an outcropping of rocks.
"What in the world is that," Heimdall hissed. 'What in the nine realms is going on?!'
All across the world, equipment and sensors went haywire as the burst of cosmic radiation shot up into the sky and dispersed the red cloud above. For one moment, colors normally invisible to the naked eye, danced across the clear night sky.
Beyond Earth's skies, individuals and forces within and beyond the galaxy were surprised as their sensory tools picked up an unusual spike of energy coming from an unknown source in an unknown sector in the cosmos. While most would eventually shrug it off, others…
Others would find their curiosity piqued.
With a groan, I slowly sat up from where I was lying on the ground. It took me a moment to blink the dots out of my vision. "Fuuuuuuck… that… sucked!"
Leaning up to rest on my arms it took me a few moments to take in the sudden changes to the sky. Where before there had been nothing but red clouds and arcs of green lightning, now there were just a few fluffy white clouds travelling along a clear blue sky.
"Huh…" Now that I was looking, it wasn't just the sky that had taken a turn for the pleasant. While the buildings still looked like they had been caught in a bombing run, slowly they were being overtaken by all sorts of plants growing up from the ground.
Looking down, I finally noticed that I was lying down on a bed of soft grass. Grabbing some, I held some grass up to my face for a bit, then let it go, just in time for it to be swept up by a pleasant breeze.
"Well… this is nice…" I laid back down on the surprisingly comfortable patch of grass. "Ohhhh… that feels goooooood…" I stretched a bit and winced a bit at the sore feeling in my back. "So… I guess… this means it's over now…" A small feeling of triumph began to swell up in me. "…that's good… that's really good…" A small throb forced a hiss from my lips. "…although I'm probably not gonna be able to enjoy it as much as I want anytime soon."
"Yeeeaah, sorry about that…"
I immediately got back to my feet and looked around to find the new voice, getting ready for a fight while doing my best to ignore the soreness in my back.
"Who's there?!"
"Over here!"
Turning to where the arc with the vortex once was, I found-
"Hello, Isaac."
A… clean-shaven old man sitting in a bean bag chair. He was wearing a polo-shirt and slacks. On his feet were-
'Are those… spider-man slippers?'
"Oh, you like 'em?" The old man lifted up his feet. "I got 'em on sale." The old man smiled a bit before he turned his gaze back to me. Concern filled his expression as he looked me over. "Yeah, sorry about that." He scratched his head, looking a bit guilty. "I should probably work out a way to keep that locked up better."
My eyes narrowed. "Who. Are. You?"
The old man raised an eyebrow. "Isaac… come on now…" The man's gaze became more focused, and I felt a weight come over me. "You know who I am…"
A sudden pulse of that warm power washed over me, and I couldn't quite stop myself from taking in a breath as realization came over me. "…oh… it's you…"
The old man nodded as his eyes flashed gold. "Yup… me…"
The old man was enveloped in a bright light, and I had to cover my eyes for a bit. When the light died down, I was met with… a man (for lack of better term) made of solid gold light.
My mouth suddenly felt dry as I struggled to get the next bit past my lips. "T-the… the… One… One-Above-All."