Fragmented Balance, Part Six
The Everything groaned.
Franklin Richards had returned from a place no one yet knew of and stated he knew his role in the Grand Tapestry to be the Balance. He had sought out the Cosmic Flame, Herald of Galactus, and because he thought him his uncle, Johnny Storm.
He was not.
That act of Imbalance further damaged an already shattered psyche, and Franklin left, declaring that Lord Chaos and Master Order must die.
"H-He doesn’t make sense," Ben-Vell Parker gasped to the assembled crowd on Olympus. "He wants Balance, but sees Balance as Order, even after he told us not to mistake Balance for Order."
"He makes perfect sense to himself," Galactus observed, "and with Franklin … that is all that matters."
"But how does that logic flow?" Ben asked Galactus.
The Planet Devourer said nothing, no longer concerning himself with the crowds of Olympus.
"He said he saw himself as Balance," Eshir added, as the Orphans huddled closer together. These four children had come seeking Franklin, fueled by their growing desire to do something in this Eternal War, believing that they could reach him somehow. "That was what he learned in his time away, but how did he come to that conclusion? Who guided him?"
"He is not Balance at all," Attumidunn the Atlantean/Inhuman Valkyrie scoffed, "but Imbalance. He wants only for himself and his personal vision to dominate. No one man can decide on the Balance of the Everything - that is why Order and Chaos are separate entities."
"Whatever the reason, guys," Angelica summed up, "he’s gone to kill Chaos and Order."
"Is that possible?" Ben asked disbelievingly.
"As Galactus would tell us," Toomi answered, "it matters not to us if he can do it because he clearly is of the mind that he can."
"So what do we do?" Ben asked, frustrated. "Nothing? Just wait for him to decide what to do?"
The air in between the four Orphans shimmered and there appeared the floating face of Lord Chaos. "You four will save me from Death. Now."
The Bunker was in turmoil.
King Balder and the remaining members of the Council: Captain America, Dani Moonstar of the Valkyrior, Skrull 4, Beta Ray Bill, Ash’lin of the Shi’ar and Kovar the Accuser of the Kree watched the 3-DIP’s (Three Dimensional Image Projector) livefeed broadcast from Olympus.
Arguments flowed freely.
"It is clear," Kovar proclaimed, "Franklin Richards is a menace! He should be brought to justice immediately!"
"We are in complete agreement!" Ash’lin echoed. "As much as I detest siding with the Kree, it is clear that Franklin is a force too dangerous and powerful to be left to his own devices!"
"Force at this point would do us no good," Captain America countered. "Franklin can be reasoned with, if we can just reach him."
Balder tried to listen to all of the arguments swirling around him, but it was the quiet rasping of Skrull 4’s voice that somehow cut through the static. "The Orphans have disappeared."
The members of the Council looked up at the 3-DIP’s image of Olympus and saw that the Orphans were, in fact, no longer present.
"What happened?" Balder asked 4.
"They vanished," Skrull 4 answered, as if that really answered anything at all.
OLYMPUS
Santa Claus slumped down a broken wall next to the Easter Bunny. "I hate it when this stuff drags down our fun."
"Me, too," the Easter Bunny replied through his broken jaw.
"Galactus, Franklin Richards, the Elders, a bunch of kids … snooze. Where’s all the fighting? Where’s the comedic relief?"
"Not a cwue," the Bunny answered, disappointed about all the blood on his costume. "I hate it when there’th no fighting."
"And the jokes," Santa replied, brushing dust off his black, leather boots. "Where are all the jokes? You simply can not have a good story without the comedic aspect."
"Good point, Thanta," the Bunny nodded his head. "Lotta comedy in Thakethpeare, for inthtanthe."
"This story ain’t Shakespeare."
"I’ll drink to that."
"Hell, I’ll drink to anything. Too bad this place is in ruins. You used to be able to get some damn fine alcohol in these parts."
"Tho I heard," the Bunny looked around. "Thothe Elderth haven’t done much. They’re jutht thtanding there, looking thilly."
"Bunch of wankers," Santa scoffed. "You hear that little kid give them a plug? Idiot. I’d like to go a few rounds with that Champion dude. He’s supposed to be some kinda tough guy. Hey - what are you looking at?"
Astoria smiled down at her two "creations". "Nothing, Santa. Just thinking."
"Bah, that’s crap," Santa Claus confided in the Easter Bunny. "We’re supposed to get all freaked out now, FYI."
"We are?" the Bunny asked, perplexed.
"Yeah," Santa answered, scratching his flowing white beard. "See, when a mysterious powerful figure says they’re thinking and smiles, we’re supposed to be like, ‘Ooh, what’s she thinking? What’s she got up her sleeve?’ and wonder what crazy scheme is being concocted up in that brain. It’s your standard clichéd villain moment."
"Ith that right?" the Bunny asked Astoria skeptically.
"Patience, my son," she smiled.
"See?" Santa asked. "What did I tell you? Ridiculous. Stupid bitch."
THE DEAD CORNER OF SPACE
Inside the Dead Corner of Space (1), a place that contained no areas of life, Lord Chaos hovered in front of Franklin Richards as a large, purple face. Chaos didn’t know if he had anything to fear from the Earth god or not, but he wasn’t one to take chances - especially when Master Order wasn’t at his side, working with him.
1- The Dead Corner was confirmed by the Cosmic Flame, who searched the area for 150 years for Galactus.
"So, what do we do?" Ben-Vell asked as the four Orphans floated in behind Franklin Richards. The young god hung in front of Lord Chaos, firing blasts of energy at the large purple face.
"You must die, Chaos!" Franklin screamed in his childlike whine.
"You can not kill me, Franklin. Not with all the power at your disposal," Chaos boasted.
The Orphans looked on in awe. "We-we’ve got to do something," Angel blurted out, but the Orphans didn’t, couldn’t, answer.
"You lie!" Franklin challenged. "I can do anything! Why isn’t my uncle the Cosmic Flame? I’ll tell you why, Chaos, it’s because of you! Too much Chaos exists in the Everything!"
"You mistake chaos for your own confusion," Chaos answered. "Never have I seen such arrogance as that which you display."
"What is chaos but confusion?" Franklin asked, dropping the kid’s voice for his older tone - the Orphans still found it hard to accept the wizened tone inside the four year old frame. "What is order but understanding?"
"Again, you view the Everything through your own eyes and not the eyes of the Everything. Whether the Cosmic Flame was your uncle or someone else is cosmically insignificant."
"It’s not insignificant to me!" the child whined.
"You are one person in an Everything filled with a number you couldn’t even begin to understand."
"That’s just like a cosmic concept, Chaos!" Franklin the Wiser yelled. "Too wrapped up in the big picture to not see the beauty of a single person. I can’t kill you with the power of force, Chaos, but I can kill you with the power of another concept, the concept that the individual is more important than the whole!"
"A single person is insignificant to the fate of the Everything," Chaos answered, but the Orphans detected just a bit of wavering in his voice.
"Ask an individual that, Chaos!" Franklin exploded, tears pouring from his eyes like a child who’d lost his dog to the wheels of a truck. "How many of that incalculable number of people care more about themselves than the balance of the universe? If you ceased to exist today, how long would it take the Everything to collapse? A billion years? A billion billion? People can not look that far ahead, Chaos!"
"People are fools, then," Chaos answered, his image shivering.
"But it is people that believe in concepts," Franklin argued, gaining confidence. "Without that belief, you would cease to be."
"Can you believe this?" Ben asked the Orphans. "He’s got a split personality. First he’s a child, than an adult, then a child again! How do you stop someone like this?"
"We’ll find a way, Ben," Angel answered. "That’s what we do." The other Orphans looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Sorry," she shrugged, "read it in the Histories. Always thought it would sound good."
"This isn’t the time for jokes," Toomi scolded.
"Sorry, Toomi," Angel hung her head, but caught the glimpse of the smiles on Ben and Eshir’s faces as they turned back to watch Franklin and Chaos.
"Not true," Chaos answered, but it was becoming clear that Franklin was, if not right, certainly winning the battle. "A concept does not require understanding."
"So you’ve existed since the beginning of time, Chaos?"
"No, I-"
"You evolved along with the rest of the universe," Franklin poured it on. "You have not existed since time began. When there was no sentient life, there was no Chaos."
"You can not know such things," Chaos accused. "There was plenty of Chaos."
"Can’t I know, Chaos? Would you like to know where I was during my absence?" Franklin asked, aware that the Everything itself was his stage. "I was in the Void, but you had guessed that because you hold no influence there. There is no Chaos there, is there? No Order. There is nothing. If there is no Chaos there, Chaos is not a conceptual fact." Franklin smiled. "I’m going to kill you Chaos. Or the next best thing."
He raised his hands, not because he had to, but because he liked the look. He thought it a look of power. Magneto used to use it all the time and he scared people with this simple gesture. Looked good doing it, too, Franklin thought.
"Thor’s Hammer, look at him!" Ben yelled to the Orphans. "He’s really going to do it."
"Killing a concept like Chaos … it can’t be done," Eshir stood in awe. "It’s almost … magnificent."
"Franklin has the power to make real his thoughts," Attumidunn spoke solemnly. "All he needed to do was convince himself that Chaos could be removed, and he can make it happen. Whether it actually can or can’t happen doesn’t really matter. By the souls of all the honored in Valhalla, such power …"
Franklin let energy wash over the wavering face of Chaos.
"Stop it, Franklin!"
The Orphans looked at Angel stunned, but it didn’t compare with the look that Franklin gave her. "Who dares question me?" he asked, energy pouring from his eyes and hands, rippling out beyond him into space.
"Good one, Angel," Eshir chided. "Ben only caused me to lose my hands … if this was a contest to see which of you could cause me the most damage, I think you’re going to win …"
"You four were there at Olympus. You’ve seen what I can do, what hope do you think you have?" Franklin asked as indignantly as he could muster, coming to float by the Orphans.
"You can’t do this, Franklin," Angel pleaded to the child. "If Chaos dies or vanishes or whatever it is you’re going to do with him, the Everything will die."
"There’s too much Chaos, girl," Franklin spoke sternly, an odd sight with his four year old body. "The Eternal War … Thanos … the lack of Olympian gods … Captain America as the Cosmic Protector … I’m lost …"
"As Chaos said, Franklin," Angel spoke softly, "you’re confusing your own confusion for the greater Chaos."
"But I miss my mommy and daddy and Unca Ben and Auntie Licia and Unca Johnny and-"
"I know, Franklin," Angel soothed the child. "You feel alone, like you’ve been orphaned to the greater Everything. We know what that’s like to."
"No you don’t!"
"Yes, Franklin, we do," Angel continued. "Ben and Toomi had their parents slaughtered by Thanos. Eshir’s parents died on a trip when he was a child. And my parents … my dad, I never even knew him, really. And my mom, my mom used to be beat me up, Franklin. She used to hit me real hard." Tears burst from her eyes to run down her cheek.
"That’s not right," Franklin said, coming to float by Angelica, his own concern lost for that of the hurt young girl.
"I know. It’s not, but I … I didn’t blame life or Chaos or Order. Things happen sometimes for no reason. There are parts of the Everything that happen without reason."
"No!" Franklin whined. "There has to be a reason, that is the way it works."
"No, Franklin, it doesn’t. Or heck, maybe there is," Angel shook her head. "But there are some things we don’t have to know. Maybe someone pulls our strings all the time, but I doubt it."
Franklin broke into tears, "I don’t want to be alone!"
"You don’t have to be. We’re not alone. You can come back to Asgard with us. We’ll take care of you, I promise."
Franklin sobbed into his hands for a few moments, leaving the Orphans to look on with nervous looks. "Why did your mommy beat you?"
Angel gasped. "She- she wasn’t right in the head." Please don’t ask me another question, Angel begged to herself.
"Why?"
Angel looked at Franklin, then around to the other Orphans, pleading with them to let this drop.
"My mommy never beat me," Franklin the Child continued.
"My-my mom wasn’t right, Franklin. She was … she was crazy and she hit a lot of people, not just me."
Franklin wiped a tear off Angel’s cheek, "That’s awful. What did she do? For a living, I mean."
Angel turned and looked at Ben, shaking her head. "I-I don’t want to say- I can’t- I just don’t-"
"Shh," Franklin soothed, wiping Angel’s long red hair away from her face. "I want you to tell me. I can make her stop. I can hurt her back."
"No!" Angel shouted. "No, no, please don’t. It’s … it’s not her fault! She doesn’t mean to do it."
The Orphans were stunned at the level of Angel’s dismay. They’d never guessed Angel’s pain ran this deep. They all displayed their concern differently. For Ben, the teasings he had given her suddenly seemed mean and cruel and not playful. For Toomi, she regretted ever rubbing her physical superiority in Angel’s face for anything, particularly for riding her about being a ‘normal’. For Eshir … Eshir wished he had had the courage at some point in his life to let his feelings out for this beautiful creature that was pouring out emotions from her wrenched heart. He wished he could do it now, but he couldn’t. He was too proud … but for what, he didn’t know. He’d heard that many of his ancestors had the same problem - loving fully, but unable to express it.
"Tell me, and I’ll let Chaos live."
The tears that poured from Angelica were not new. She had cried over the actions of her mother a thousand-thousand times. She had been told all the things people always say to try to comfort one who’d been the victim of physical assault: ‘It’s not your fault.’, ‘You’ve got no reason to be ashamed.’, ‘You’ve got to move on.’, but it never did her any good. She hurt inside. Always. Through the years, through the laughter and tears both, there was an aching inside her that she couldn’t ever shake.
"Tell me, or Chaos - and the Everything - dies with it."
The Orphans looked again at the little boy who was putting the fate of the Everything on Angel’s shoulders. They didn’t see Franklin Richards, the god, anymore - they saw a bully.
And the Orphans of War didn’t like it.
"Step away from her, Franklin," Ben-Vell Parker warned, floating to stand between Franklin and Angelica, causing Angel to raise her head in hopeful surprise.
"You would threaten me?" Franklin smiled. "Look at you with your ridiculous costume. Just because you hail from the House of Mar-Vell and the House of Parker does not mean you had to merge the two classic costumes. You haven’t the slightest inkling of what it takes to live up to those legacies. I am above you."
"Maybe so," Toomi threatened, moving to stand beside her boyfriend, "but I am a Valkyrie, and the Valkyrior do not stand idly by and watch allies - nay, friends - be dismissed in such a manner."
"Leave, Franklin," Eshir said from behind the Orphans, raising his hand-less arms in the ‘Magneto-power’ gesture that Franklin had used earlier. "Be gone from this place."
"You dare?!?"
"We’ve seen and studied what you can do, Franklin," Eshir warned. "Do you think we’d step to you with swords drawn if we were not certain we could defeat you?"
"Tha-that’s impossible!"
"Nay," Toomi continued, drawing her sword for emphasis. "Why else would Lord Chaos bring the four of us to this place if he were not confident in our victory? He has a Universe to choose from."
"No!"
Lord Chaos hovered behind Franklin, fully in control of the situation once again. "You have lost control. Leave me in peace, boy, and contemplate what you have become. Your mother and father would not be pleased."
Franklin looked around in panic, his face wide with fear. "I hate it here!" Franklin the Child cried before turning to look straight at Lord Chaos. Fear and chaos played in his eyes, like a child realizing he was lost from his parents. But when he spoke again it was as Franklin the Wiser. "I will see you again, Chaos. We are not through."
And then, as on Olympus, he vanished.
TITAN 3
Canticle hung limply in the darkness. It had been days since The Machine - ISAAC, the Supreme Intelligence - had spoken to her. Through the tubes it had worked throughout her body to keep her alive these 175 years, the Machine kept her hunger satiated. That, and the low humming sound, was the only sign Canticle had that the Machine was still there.
She had given up. After all this time, all the pain, Canticle wanted simply to die.
Not that she’d beg to the Machine, but in her mind, she prayed to every god she could think of, begging for release from this cold, mechanical Hell.
The humming stopped.
Like gears slowly coming to a halt, everything in Canticle’s world slowed to non-movement. In the darkness, she could hear coils of tubing falling to the ground.
It was the scariest moment of her 175 year imprisonment.
Then the rumbling. The low rumbling - not from below this time, but above. Louder it got. Then louder still. She could hear metal being torn apart, things exploding.
It kept getting louder.
She raised her head in the direction of the sound, knowing that whatever it was that was making that noise was coming right for her. Was it the delusional thinking a woman who’d lived too long in captivity? No one could really be coming for her, could they?
The noise was deafening.
Hope, her sometime companion during these long years, came back to her. She tried to push it away, but it didn’t leave her. She allowed herself to embrace it’s presence, knowing it was for the last time, allowing herself to hope that she would be free of this awful place. If this wasn’t a rescue, she’d never have the power to hope again. Despair would be her ticket to the afterlife.
Light came pouring through the far wall as a force punched through the metal and wires. She cried as her eyes squinted shut, rebelling from the intrusive glare.
"What happened to this place?" came the whine of child that caused Canticle to shiver. "This was my second home and I- who are you?" The voice had changed in midstream from childlike to experienced.
Canticle could finally open her eyes and she looked down at a four year old child. She felt the coils around her retract and she fell to the floor below, shivering as the tubes that the Machine had implanted inside her slurped out of her body, tugging at her skin as it was withdrawn.
She collapsed on the floor, spasming from exhaustion. "Hush child," came the wizened voice. "My name is Franklin Richards. I came looking for Mentor, but I see that he is not here. Titan is … not the Titan I knew." He knelt down, padding Canticle’s blonde hair. "You shall be safe with me. Your torture has ended."
Canticle tried to smile through the shivering and spasming, but she couldn’t. She did feel safe, though, and for now, that was enough.
THE DEAD CORNER OF SPACE
Ben, Toomi and Eshir stood by Angel, not knowing what to do, not wanting to think about what would have happened had their bluff failed. Ben wanted to go to her and put his arm around her, but Toomi had grabbed his hand in comfort and he couldn’t move.
He looked at his girlfriend, unsure of the feelings inside him. He was in love with Toomi, wasn’t he? But Angel had always been stuck on him and, as he looked at her, he wanted …
He didn’t know.
"I’m so proud of you," Toomi whispered into his ear. "You were so brave, standing up to Chaos like that." He looked down into the most beautiful face he had ever seen and he knew he wanted the woman in his arms.
But was that love?
Eshir didn’t know what to do and he hated that feeling. He wished Ben would just go put his arm around Angelica, that’s clearly what she wanted, but that damn Toomi had to go show affection for once in her life. He sighed. Too loudly, apparently, as Ben looked over to him. Ben cocked his head towards Angel, but Eshir shook his head No. Ben did it again and mouthed the words, "Go to her." Eshir sighed, again, and floated to Angelica. He hesitated for a moment, then moved an arm to Angelica’s shoulder causing her to jump.
Eshir grimaced, recoiling.
"Sorry, Esh, you just spooked me," Angel started, but Eshir was looking away from her, trying hard to look indifferent.
Angelica looked around at her friends and closed her eyes. Now was the time to tell them what she was.
"Osborn."
"Huh?" Ben asked, not sure he had heard what Angel had said.
Angelica looked at Ben, her heart shattering. She knew there was no way they could ever be together after this. "I said, ‘Osborn’."
Ben pushed a surprised Toomi roughly aside and asked Angel angrily, "Why would you say a thing like that?"
"That’s what I am … an Osborn."
The Orphans looked on stunned. Never in their wildest dreams …
Angel hung her head, she knew Ben was going to rip into her for not telling him. There were some secrets that couldn’t be kept.
"That’s what you meant about the "legacy" that day in the ‘Dall, isn’t it?" (2) Ben asked quietly. Angel looked up in surprise, how could Ben be so … not angry … about it? She nodded ‘Yes’ somehow and Ben continued softly, "I - I had no idea, Angel. Why didn’t you tell me- I mean, us?"
2- ALL GOD’S CHILDREN 2 - DAYS OF THE EXTINGUISHING SUN, PART ONE
"Tell you what?" Angel asked desperately. "That I come from a family that has haunted yours since the First Age? That I’m cursed by the legacy Norman Osborn left his family? The same curse that has caused one child in every Osborn family to go crazy and take up the Goblin ‘legacy of evil’? I was supposed to tell you guys this?" Angel ranted wildly, desperately. "That my mom is the current Green Goblin? How many of my ancestors have betrayed the ones closest to them, Ben? How many? How many tried to kill any number of Parkers? Our Houses are entwined right from the First Age to this one. I know you play up the Mar-Vell side of your lineage, Ben, but you’re still a Parker! Just because there’s no Cosmic Protector in the Parker lineage doesn’t mean they are any less worthy of your attention. My mom kills people, daily, because of the same madness that I know will one day come for me! She was there, Ben! At …" Angel’s voice cracked. "She was there, at the Annihilation of Atlantis, Ben. She fought alongside Thanos on that day … the day you and Toomi lost your parents."
Eshir felt his heart break for this fragile, tormented creature.
"All this time …" Ben said quietly, "all this time, you were worried that you could hurt me?"
"Angel, you’re just a normal," Toomi said, moving in to stand next to Ben. "Even if you did develop the Goblin Madness, what could you do?"
Angel shook her head, her tears trying to stop. They didn’t, but when Angel spoke again it in somber tones. The desperation had, at last, finally left her. "You don’t get it, Toomi. Go read the Histories and tell me then if you think I couldn’t hurt you. If I fall to the Madness …" she looked at the greatest friends she had, "I’ll probably kill every one of you."
"We won’t let that happen." Angel looked up at Ben, but it wasn’t he who had spoken the words. It was Eshir. She turned to him, as he floated regally in the emptiness of space. His arms were open, but this time he wasn’t showing his lack of hands to Ben as a silent slam, he was opening himself to Angel. "As long as you live, Angel, we’ll stand by you."
Angel dropped more tears, but this time they were of thanks and not shame. She tried to speak, but she could find the words.
To the Orphans of War, though, they weren’t needed. They were the next generation of the Eternal War, brought together by tragedy, their friendship formed inside the Golden Realm. They knew, though none of them said it, that the bond between them had been strengthened this day.
They floated there for a while, feeding on the presence of the others.
Lord Chaos could only wait so long, however. "Balance has been betrayed this day, but the betrayal is not yet at an end," he told the Orphans. "Franklin left the Everything, that is true, but no one has asked where he went. I know. He went into the Anti-Everything where there is nothing. The Everything is space filled with life. The Anti-Everything is space filled with nothing, not even death. It is a place where concepts such as myself can not go, but you … lesser beings can. There will come a time when you will need to venture there.
"You know of my role in the death of Xavier the Dreamer, yes? And what did I tell the Defenders on that day?" Chaos asked. "I told them that one day Franklin will not care if the Everything lives or dies. I fear that that day will soon come." 3
3- ALL GOD’S CHILDREN 4 - DAYS OF THE EXTINGUISHING SUN, PART THREE
"He has returned with thoughts of only himself. When there is all Order and no Chaos, we will cease to be. Balance must be maintained at all costs. Balance is the key. Balance. Master Order knows that the Everything can only be truly destroyed when it is dominate over me. When all the matter and energy in the Everything stops moving, entropy will set in, bringing about the end.
"Order and Chaos are the keepers of the Everything. Order has betrayed his position and no longer seeks Balance. Think, Orphans, if your minds can wrap itself around the idea. How has Thanos been able to wipe out galaxies as he has? Why did Galactus send the Cosmic Flame to this other side of the universe and what did his Herald find? He found nothing. The total lack of anything but darkness. That is why he was inflicted with madness upon his return. Look around you. This isn’t a sign of War, this is a sign of The End.
"Listen well my words, Orphans. The Eternal War you fight is only a distraction from the true war that the Everything faces, but that is something that shall be revealed to you in time. For now, you must defeat Thanos. That is the first step. Defeat Thanos and we can go from there.
"Keep the Balance. Always."
Lord Chaos shimmered out of sight, but his words had barely registered with the Orphans.
They held onto each other, not with physical contact, but with the knowledge that they were friends.
And friends, together, can do anything.
END FRAGMENTED BALANCE
NEXT ISSUE: VANISHING STORMS, ONE
-- MBQ ... 13.January.1999
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