The Eighth Tale
Fragmented Balance, Part Three
Fragmented Balance, Part Three
Chapter Five - Torturings
Midgard Standard Year 2200
TITAN 3
The rumbling of machines mark the passage of time. The tortures of the flesh mark the amusement of sand trickling down a narrow funnel. The tortures of the mind refuse to acknowledge anything.
Canticle was a young woman who believed in many unbelievable things. The simple fact that she had been kept alive by the Machine for around 175 years, yet still looked as she did when she was taken as a prisoner of war, left her able to deal with quite a bit.
All things being real, the fact that the Machine was a merged ISAAC, the supercomputer of Titan, and Supreme Intelligence, a collection of the greatest Kree minds was not one of the harder concepts she had to grasp, especially given what the Machine had told her over the years. 1
1 - ALL GOD’S CHILDREN #1 - THE VENGEANCE OF HOPE
She had been it’s prisoner all these years, kept alive to torture her descendants - not that she had ever had any children. At least not that she knew of. But with all the wires and tubes that ran through her body at the machinations and whims of the Machine, she wouldn’t be terribly surprised to discover that she had given birth at some point.
Since revealing itself several days ago about who it was, the Machine had left her alone in the darkness to her thoughts. Sensory depravation was a torture she had been put through before, but never had her fractured mind taken it so hard.
Canticle ached in every part of her body and soul.
When you’ve been kept alive for 175 years without the benefit of night or day or a clock or any way of keeping realistic time, the body simply keeps going, unaware.
But when the body discovers that it’s lived for that long, it revolts on it’s owner in a desperate attempt to set right what it perceives as an error. It begins to feel tired and old and weary and thinks it should brake down. It takes it’s owner under it’s control.
For the first time since she’d been captured, Canticle cried.
And the Machine, the cold Machine, didn’t make any sign that it had heard her.
But it had.
Somewhere in the bowels of wires and metal, it laughed.
Chapter Six - Second Beginnings
MIDGARD - The Florida Everglades
Ben-Vell Parker, Angelica, Eshir and Attumidunn shivered back into existence on the other side of the Man-Thing’s portal, deep inside the Florida Everglades. There were Nexus points across the Everything and this was where the gateway was positioned on Midgard.
As finding Franklin Richards dominated their thoughts, they were struck by the overpowering smell of decay, and the hot, enveloping air that squeezed their lungs. They were made aware of the flies by their incessant buzzing in their ears and their constant landing on exposed skin. It was like the swamp they had just left behind, in the Forest of Midgard on Asgard.
And standing there, alone and silent, but watching with red, pupil-less eyes, was the Man-Thing.
"Whoa …" Ben-Vell gasped. "Didn’t we leave him on Asgard?"
"He’s the Man-Thing," Eshir announced, as if that would explain everything. His words falsely represented the thoughts inside his head, however, as Eshir hadn’t a clue as to how Man-Thing could traverse realms like that.
They stared at the Man-Thing, muck and leaves and roots making up his body and he slowly raised his hand and pointed in the opposite direction.
"I don’t think he wants us sticking around," Eshir proclaimed.
"That took a lot of thought," Ben retorted and Toomi braced themselves for Eshir’s inevitable reply. The hatred between Eshir and Ben was legendary, a result of a childhood prank that Ben had played on Esh, which resulted in Eshir losing both of his hands and scarring his face. Surprisingly, the reply didn’t come.
"Since when does Eshir pass up an opportunity to chide Ben-Vell?" Toomi whispered to Angelica.
Angel said nothing. Her hands were tucked under her elbows, squeezing her arms close to her body. Toomi tried to read her friend’s face, but it was covered by her long, red hair. "Angel, are you well?" Toomi whispered, but Angel made no move to indicate she had heard her friend.
"Time to go," Eshir pronounced. He raised his arms up in front of him, making a point, it seemed to Toomi, to show Ben the lack of hands, and extended an electromagnetic bubble around the four Orphans. Making another point to show that he wasn’t really even concentrating on the complex task at hand, Eshir lifted the group high up into the air and above the swamp.
While Ben, Toomi and Eshir kept their eyes focused on the climb above the treeline, Angel watched the Man-Thing below. She felt drawn to the creature, sharing at what she perceived to be his loneliness. Angel hoped, thought, the creature would acknowledge her by glancing up at her as a sign of their sameness.
The Man-Thing made no move but to disintegrate back down into the muck of his swamp, leaving two red eyes floating for another second before they, too, evaporated in the air.
"How far can you see?" Toomi asked Eshir.
"To the horizon, of course," Eshir responded indignantly. "I shall begin. Enjoy the ride." The young man with stumps instead of hands concentrated, and the world shifted and blurred around the Orphans.
It never failed to amaze Ben when he saw this aspect of Eshir’s power in use. It was simply awesome. He could travel, with amazing velocity, to any distant point that his eye could see. The catch was that Eshir needed to see it. He could know where, for instance, France was, but he couldn’t push himself there automatically. Up this high, he could push to the horizon. Then his powers would stop him there and he could continue to whichever distant point he looked at next.
They’d be in New York City - and at the former headquarters of the Fantastic Four - in seconds.
ASGARD - The Residence of Steve Rogers
Night rolled on in the Golden Realm.
Steve Rogers, the Cosmic Protector known as Captain America, laid on his back in his large bed, listening to the sounds of the Asgardian night. It was still this evening. He knew that the Asgardian people were unnerved at the visit of Thanos2, so they stayed huddled in their houses and clutched their loved ones just a little bit tighter.
2- ALL GOD’S CHILDREN # 5 - THE COMING OF THE LORD
It was an action Steve could relate to, as nestled against him was the love of his life, Dani Moonstar, head of the Valkyrior.
"You’re thinking," she said plainly, though to Steve the words were magical.
"When am I not?" he replied, smiling.
She smiled into his chest and squeezed him a little tighter. "I feel spoiled. After going two whole years without seeing each other, we’ve actually had a few hours to just relax and be alone. It’s … taken some getting used to, hasn’t it? Neither of us have ever been that open with our emotions, but I … it’s like I want to say that after all this time it’s just nice to have somebody warm to hold onto, but it’s so much more than that. I don’t know why, when we’re alone … I don’t know why we can let the walls down the way we do. We’ve know each other for over 200 years, Steve. It boggles the mind that we’ve survived this long … I can’t imagine doing this without you." She sighed, "I don’t know which is more unbelievable to me, the time spent apart … or the time spent together."
"I know. It’s been … a long time. Too long."
They held each other in silence for a long time, enjoying the feel of the other’s body resting up against them, thrilling at the feel of their hearts beating in unison. They each took great comfort in the moment because they knew it could end at any moment.
"Steve?"
"Yeah?"
"Emotions take work, don’t they?"
"Yes, Dani, they can."
MIDGARD - New York City
As the four Orphans approached the legendary city that was the original home to so many of the Marvels (especially those of the First Age), Eshir lowered their EM bubble to the ground of Not Avengers Park.
The city was like many of the old cities on the planet - decaying and rotting, struggling to stay alive and safe. At least, that’s what the intel reports the Orphans had seen had said.
No one without clearance was allowed to come to Midgard without the permission of King Balder. It wasn’t a strictly enforced rule for the older heroes, but most of them were cleared anyways. But Balder did not want Asgardians heading to Earth for any reason, unless it absolutely couldn’t be helped. He had a reason, as he always did.
Midgard had disappeared from existence once, and Balder was conscious of the fact that it could happen again.
He didn’t want to lose any of his Army.
The Orphans tried to fit in as best they could, but a blue skinned Kree/Human wearing a garb that looked like a combination of the First Age’s Mar-Vell and Spider-Man costumes, an aqua green skinned Atlantean/Inhuman Valkyrie wearing traditional Valkyrie garb and a young white male, with white hair, a scarred face, long dark red cape and no hands weren’t able to blend in very easily at all.
Only Angelica, a purebreed Human with no distinguishing features wearing conservative Asgardian garments could hope to fit in with the Earthen population of New York City.
They walked through the sparse human crowd, keeping to themselves as best they could on this grey morning, trying to remember everything they could about Midgard. Beta Ray Bill had always taught them to keep their minds active by thinking of every possible piece of relevant data in relation to the current situation.
At the end of True Ragnarok, Midgard had faded from existence. It had stayed missing for four years, until it suddenly shimmered back into existence.3 Why it had reappeared was a mystery of the space-time continuum.
3 - From UATU the WATCHER’s Histories, Volume Fantastic Four, Chapter MV1 425
"Freakish," Toomi commented.
"What’s that, hon?" Ben asked, putting an arm around his girlfriend as they continued to walk through the park.
"That Ear- I mean, Midgard, would just fade back into existence like it did," Toomi answered, shooting Ben a look that stated rather clearly that she didn’t want to be groped in public like this.
"Not really," Ben answered, warming to the topic. "There’s the theory that Galactus was responsible for it’s return by working back through himself to an earlier time."
"You must be joking," Eshir raised his eye-brows.
"Not at all," Ben enthused. "See, you know how there’s all these multiple realities?" Eshir and Toomi nodded, but Angel kept her head bowed. She listened through her gloom, though. She always listened when Ben talked. "Well, Galactus is a constant of reality, so he’s everywhere at once. Follow?" They nodded, both trying to look like this was already something they knew. "He exits horizontally across existence. I have this theory that he exists vertically across existence, as well."
"Not only does he exist everywhere, but everywhen?" Eshir asked, intrigued despite himself.
"Exactly. So it’s possible for Galactus to effect the past. He can’t just decide to change it, but he can filter that information back to a younger self, who, in turn, doesn’t realize he’s being fed this new information, but just accepts that he knows it somehow. He’s an instinctual being anyways, so he probably doesn’t ever question why he knows things."
"That’s absurd," Eshir said pointedly.
"Ain’t it?" Ben beamed. "But I’ve got limited Cosmic Awareness in me and I can …"
As Ben and Eshir continued their discussion, Toomi dropped back to stand next to Angelica. She hated this … weakness in people. Crying like a babe, withdrawn from the world. They were at War, they needed to be strong … you’d never see Moonstar cry, Toomi knew.
But Angel was a friend and even though they both wanted Ben - and that had caused more than a bit of friction between them - Toomi knew that being a leader meant having to deal with crisises both physical and mental.
And Toomi meant to be a leader.
"What’s shaken you, ‘Gel?" Toomi asked, draping an arm across Angel’s humped forward shoulders. It wasn’t a natural action, but when she was a kid and True Ragnarok was raging she had seen Captain America comforting one of his Avengers - Hawkeye, she thought it was, the guy in purple with all those trick bows - by putting his arm around him just like this. And since Captain America was the greatest of all leaders …
"Nothing," Angel lied, almost tripping over a sleeping man. "Everything. I dunno. I’m so jealous of you guys, sometimes."
"Why, because you’re a normal?" the young Valkyrie asked before she could stop herself.
The "normal" looked up at her friend and rival and wanted nothing more than to smash her perfect face to mush. "You can be so stupid at times, Toomi," she said softly. "Weren’t you listening to me?4 Didn’t you hear anything I said?"
4- ALL GOD’S CHILDREN 7 - FRAGMENTED BALANCE, PART TWO
"Yes, I … I did."
"You guys are all older than me," Angel continued, hating herself for seeking comfort in Toomi, but seemingly unable to stop the revelations from pouring out. "Not by much, just a couple years, but when you’re a new kid trying to fit in with established friends, those few years make all the difference in the world." They walked in silence for a bit, noting they were leaving the park behind and crossing onto Not Beast Avenue, a rubble-strewn street that was one of many in the decaying city. "I wanted to fit in, to gain your acceptance because I didn’t have many friends when I was here," she gazed around quickly at the city. "I mean, a lot of that was my mom’s fault, being who she was and the way we lived, but that kinda life also made me real distrusting of people. I didn’t want to do get too close to anyone cause the only person in my life who I was ever allowed to trust - my mom - did those things to me." (5)
5- Angel revealed that her mother used to physically beat her in AGC 7.
Toomi tried hard to accept all these things and take her tone down a notch when she spoke again. "Is that why you were always at the ‘Dall? Always learning all that history while we were out goofing off?"
"Yeah," Angel forced a smile and hating herself for doing it, "books don’t hit back."
OLYMPUS
"Are they almost done?" the Cosmic Flame asked Astoria as they watched Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny continue to knock each other senseless.
"Oh, no," the Elder smiled, "they can go on for days. Which is fortuitous for us because it gives me the chance to talk to you."
Flames rippled over the Flame’s body in neverending waves. As a Herald of Galactus, they were his gift and his curse.
"You said you had an offer for me, what is it?" the Flame asked indignantly.
Astoria looked at him with bemused contempt. "Ah, the Herald, who crashed into Olympus6 I might remind him, gets his footing under him and regains the imperial tone that seemingly all the Heralds possess."
6- ALL GOD’S CHILDREN 6 - FRAGMENTED BALANCE, PART ONE
"You claim to be an Elder, Astoria, so I respect your potential power," the Flame crossed his arms over his chest in a pose that might frighten a less powerful being. "But I am a Herald of Galactus. Do not forget that."
"Yes, yes you are," Astoria smiled, the wind enabling her dress to mimic the waves of flame on the Flame’s body. "But you don’t remember who were before that. And that will be your downfall, my young friend. People - powerful people whose might dwarfs that of the highest of gods - are coming for you as you stand here in this broken city."
The Cosmic Flame frowned. "Is that what you meant by your offer?" he asked. "You mean to hide me from them?"
"In a manner," she smiled, the light reflecting off her bright pink skin. "I made these two, remember, and I can make you into a new being. One in keeping with my … interests."
The Flame felt his muscles wanting to shudder, but the Herald held his ground. Elders focused on one particular interest to keep them alive. About the only thing that could kill an Elder was boredom. "Go on."
"So righteous, I do love that in a man," Astoria’s smile faded. "That one," she pointed at Santa Claus, "held this same attitude once upon a time, but not any longer."
"Is that a threat?"
"That is a fact. I am unaware if facts can be threats, as well. But no matter," Astoria turned away. "You want to know what I do, so I shall tell you, in terms that you can understand. I am an Elder of the Universe and, as such, I have a singular pursuit that keeps me active and alive. Unlike some of those other fools, my so-called brothers like the Collector, my pursuit is not one that leads me into conflict with the denizens of the Everything. In fact, they consider me a goddess on some planets." She smiled at the Flame. "Yes, I know, it’s funny, is it not? As if an Elder would ever lower themselves to being a god."
"I bet you’re a hoot at parties," the Flame mumbled.
Astoria ignored the shot, smiling as Santa Claus tossed the Easter Bunny through the abandoned Hall of Artemis.
"My pursuit is mythology, Cosmic Flame. I so love reading the stories of creation and all the fables that seek to bring meaning into life that cultures write down. It’s amazing how similar many of the stories are: Father Sky mates with Mother Earth, their son descends from the Heavens to walk amongst the mortals, performing heroic tasks ... Christ, Superman, Hercules … all variations on the same." Astoria looked in pride at Santa Claus. "What I do is absorb these mythologies … and then birth them into physical existence. Santa Claus is such a wondrous concept that I just had to make him real. And if Santa, why not others? Why not the Easter Bunny? Or Sherlock Holmes? Or Scooby Doo?"
"Scooby Doo?"
"Ah, yes, Scooby Doo. I must admit," Astoria confided, "that it took me many centuries to see the appeal of "cartoons". But I met a philosopher once, a fiery man who loved to regale his associates with passionate ramblings. Clell, I called him, though obviously he had a longer name. He had a wondrous theory about that ancient toon, about how Shaggy was representative of childhood, about why he could talk to the dog, Scooby, about how the monsters and ghosts and ghouls and goblins were always revealed to be real people … fascinating."
"So you created Scooby Doo?" the Flame asked, not even caring anymore that this entire scene made no sense to him.
"Alas, no," Astoria said wistfully. "Couldn’t get the copyright. Or the trademark. I forget which - the Intergalactic Council on Creating Life can be such a bothersome lot."
Chapter Seven - Goings
MIDGARD - Not Four Freedoms Plaza
The Orphans of War stood in front of a building that they considered a temple, mouths agape.
Four Freedoms Plaza was in utter decay. Floors had collapsed in on themselves, leaving the floors below with too much disproportionate weight to hold and the floors above with too little support.
"It’s amazing it’s still standing," Toomi remarked. The four Orphans had seen destruction like this before, as children in the wake of True Ragnarok. They looked around at the city, disgusted. It was in total disrepair, total anarchy. People walked around in full body armor, if they bothered to leave their dwelling at all. Graffiti was so commonplace that the few clean spots that remained on buildings looked more jarring than the murals of seemingly haphazard paint.
"I - I can’t believe it," Ben gasped.
"Neither can I," Eshir agreed angrily. "What’s wrong with these people? The origin of the Fantastic Four was the dawn of the First Age of Marvels. This building, the most famous of all their habitats, should be kept in glorious standing. Disgraceful. Earthers," he spat on the ground.
"Remember," Angel reminded them, "Earthers didn’t take it well when the heroes started leaving for the skies. They didn’t care that the Eternal War was raging on. They felt abandoned and betrayed."
Ben blocked out the others and concentrated on Four Freedoms. As he had told Eshir, he had limited cosmic awareness that let him sense for things. After all these years, he still wasn’t sure if it was more cosmic awareness or more of the First Age’s Spider-Man’s "spider sense". Whatever it was, he concentrated on trying to find the touch of Franklin Richards on the building. The others finally saw what Ben was doing and quieted, giving him every chance at full concentration.
The face of the young Kree/Human strained with concentration, sweat droplets beginning to form. Despite all the turmoil rushing through her, Angel felt her heart skip a beat as she watched him struggling to make contact. She had loved Ben from the first moment she had set eyes upon him as a little girl when he did the one thing that her heart, at that very moment, had needed more than anything - he smiled.
Ben’s eyes opened, but he kept his concentration strong. "He was here, but he’s gone. He was searching for his family, the Fantastic Four … by Odin he was confused. There are strong remnants of him arguing with … himself, I think and crying. Then, suddenly he just leaves."
"He didn’t happen to mention where he was going, did he?" Eshir asked.
"He said he was going to … restore Balance."
"Oh yes, I know just where that is," Eshir groused.
Angel looked at Ben with concern. He was pushing too hard, trying too much to find the answer they wanted to hear. She looked to Toomi to see if she’d tell him to stop, but she didn’t. ‘Damn her,’ Angel thought. ‘He pushes for you, Toomi, and you don’t even realize it. Valhalla forbid he look weak in your eyes. The only eyes that matter to him …’
Ben’s body finally gave out and he collapsed onto the ground.
"No luck?" Toomi asked disappointedly.
Ben shook his head, struggling to reach his knees. "He’s going to … Olympus."
"Good boy," Toomi smiled, and only then did she move to help him to his feet. "That’s where we’re going, then."
SPACE
The Planet Devourer Galactus had much to consider.
Franklin Richards had returned and sought vengeance on him for what he considered a crime against the Human Torch 200 years previous.
The Cosmic Flame, a Herald that Galactus had sent on a mission to the farthest reaches of the Everything nearly 150 years previous, had been spotted by Moonstar the Valkyrie in the wreckage of Olympus. Galactus had gone to investigate, only to find him missing. But now, his awareness focused on Olympus, it appeared that the Flame had returned yet again.
Natures collide. Realities converge.
Franklin Richards was heading for Olympus.
So was Galactus.
FRAGMENTED BALANCE TO BE CONTINUED
Natures collide. Realities converge.
Natures collide. Realities converge.
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