The story so far…
The Invincible by Van Plexico "MEDITATIONS ON THE ABYSS" "When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also
gazes into you." The world had vanished. All was whiteness, everywhere. Above, below, in every direction, nothing but blank emptiness. Void. They turned back, even as the sense of a floor beneath them dropped away. Gravity ceased to exist. The doors were gone. The white void extended infinitely in that direction as well. There was nothing any more in the universe but the two of them, floating. Instinctively, they reached out, clung to one another. A radiant white light illuminated them, from somewhere, but nothing else could be seen. "Tony-- what is happening?" "I... I don’t know..." They floated. Drifted. Time passed. *** "Tony?" "Yeah?" "We will die here. We are lost." "No way. Something’ll happen soon." She clung to him. They drifted. *** Time passed. Still they clung to one another, each the only solid thing in the other’s universe. Mon-Dria shivered. "I feel so naked. I--" Tony held her tighter, a slight smile playing over his features. "You are." "No, I... I mean, exposed." "No more than me." He put as much confidence into his voice as he could muster, given the circumstances. "What’s to fear here, anyway? It’s just us." Mon-Dria stared into the void. "It will drive me mad. It is endless. It has no dimensions, no references. It is insane." She shouted out, "What is this place?" Nothing. Not even an echo. She blushed, her blue cheeks lighter. "I am embarrassed, like this." "And you weren’t embarrassed in that slave girl outfit?" She smiled. "We weren’t clinging to one another then." "I wouldn’t have minded," Tony muttered. Why not say it? What does it matter? We could be dead soon! Or just float here, forever. She gazed up at him. "You wouldn’t have?" He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have said that." She thought for a moment. "No, I... I’m glad you did." He looked at her, surprised. "But I do wish I had something to wear right now," she continued. "My flight suit would be perfect." The surface of her skin shimmered, and her snug, white-and-navy flight suit materialized around her. Her mouth dropped open. Tony gawked as well. "Um, well, I’d sort of like my armor back, too, if someone’s taking requests." The armor formed around him, the helmet in place. He was very happy to see that it was his regular armor, rather than his outer space variety. He’d had quite enough of that suit for a while. Mon-Dria was rolling the sleeves and legs up on her suit, revealing the golden bracelets and anklets, still in place.* [*Mondy acquired the bands in IRON MAN #372. --Van] "Still they are with me. Even here." She cursed. "I’d like to get out of this stinking void!" "No, wait--!" Tony gritted his teeth, expecting something catastrophic to happen. They waited. Nothing happened. "Don’t just say vague things like that," he gasped finally. "Why not? How do you know how this place works?" "I-- I don’t. But I mean, I’ve seen enough movies, read enough books-- when you ask the Genie for something that way, you usually regret it!" "Oh." She looked away, then jumped. "Look!" He looked. Far away in the void, a tiny shape had formed, dark and round. As they watched, it grew bigger. "What could it be?" "I can maneuver us closer, I think," Iron Man stated. He activated his boot jets and carried both of them toward the object. As they neared it, it grew larger and larger, until it loomed ahead, huge. "I think it’s a planet," Iron Man observed. "But there’s no way to get a sense of scale here. I can’t tell how large it is..." "I think it is a planet," Mon-Dria replied. As they neared it, they became aware of three other objects floating near it. Human shapes. "What in the--?" Iron Man stared. "They’re huge!" "Larger than any spacecraft I’ve ever seen," Mon-Dria whispered. "Are they... alive?" The three objects were human-shaped, yet far, far larger. By now it was obvious that each shape was almost a quarter the size of the planet itself. As Iron Man and Mon-Dria watched in awe, the three lit up like light bulbs. "That can’t be good," Iron Man muttered. The great figures were seemingly covered in armor or some sort of exoskeleton. Different forms of energy radiated from each, manifesting as titanic bolts, flashing down to strike the planet’s surface. "What are they doing?" Mon-Dria asked. As they watched, the energies apparently pouring out from the three beings increased exponentially, crashing against the planet they orbited. Eventually great gouts of earth ripped loose, shredded by the massive display of power. The onslaught continued. In very little time, the planet came apart, disintegrating from the core, hurling chunks of itself outward in a massive explosion. "It’s going to hit us!" Iron Man moved to shield Mon-Dria, knowing how very little good that would do. Despite his fear, he watched. And he was amazed beyond words. The explosion faded, collapsed in upon itself, before it ever threatened them. The planet fell back together, reforming itself. Still the energies of the three figures played over it. Soon enough, the planet was whole once more, remade. Iron Man and Mon-Dria were speechless. The three figures had vanished. Gravity gripped them. Iron Man and Mon-Dria tumbled towards the planet. Though he fought it with his jets, Tony couldn’t stop their momentum. "We’ll burn up on re-entry," he growled. Mon-Dria clung to him tightly, her eyes closed. They fell. Fell towards the world, all green and bright. Fell... ...And didn’t burn. They hung in the sky over a broad, endless plain of grass. Iron Man activated his jets again, and settled them to a gentle landing. They stood at the bottom of a shallow, bowl-shaped valley. Hills surrounded them. They both turned in a slow circle, looking around. "There!" Mon-Dria grasped Iron Man’s shoulder and pointed. Atop the hill along one side of the valley, three shapes materialized. Three large, human shapes. Iron Man started forward. "It’s them. They’re a lot smaller than before, but it’s obviously them." He stared at the three gargantuan humanoids that had destroyed and remade the world. Then he realized how far away they were. "Okay, they’re still pretty big..." "Three hundred meters tall," Mon-Dria estimated. "I know of no race which produces such gargantuan specimens. Or any who could do what they just did to this world." "Celestials, maybe?" Iron Man eyed them, ran their appearances through his on-board warbook. "Hmm. No matches. I want a closer look." Before Mon-Dria could object, he activated his jets and soared into the air, moving closer. Angling around the nearest one, he hovered between it and the next one. Activating his array of sensors and scanners, he studied the beings in detail. The three were different colors. None had a face. Energy manifested itself around each of them, in different ways. Iron Man moved closer still. One was deep radiant blue, with what seemed like printed circuits across its form. Forks of lightning raked out from all over its surface, playing over the ground and the sky. The second was bright red, seemingly made of crystal. A spiral swirl of crimson energy spun slowly around it, not touching its body at any point. The third was golden, and glowed like the sun. It was radiant. Spikes of light and energy poured from its every surface. The three giants stood unmoving, seemingly oblivious to all. They looked like great statues atop the rise. Iron Man neared the blue one, his sensors probing broadly across the spectrum. "Nothing," he muttered to himself. "No data. They’re impenetrable." He pulled back, soaring away from the three and back towards Mon-Dria, first scanning the horizon. Landing beside her, he reported his slim findings. "And nothing but us and them, as far as I could see." He stepped forward. "I--" The bolt of lightning speared him, lighting him up like a fluorescent bulb. Mon-Dria screamed. "I-- I-- Ahhhh!" Tony stumbled back, with the blue bolt still locked onto him. He glanced back, saw that it traced back up to the blue giant, and then fell to the grass, motionless. Still the lightning played over him. "Nooo! Let him go!" Mon-Dria ran up the hill toward the giants. "Stop it!" The sparkling matrix swirling around the red giant spun outward, a tendril striking her. She screamed again, staggering back, only to have the stream of crimson light spin tightly around her, cocoon-like. She slumped to the grass, the blazing energies flowing over her. She reached blindly out for Tony, felt his hand, grasped it... Consciousness fled. *** And this is what he saw. The world—his own world—in flames. Earth on the brink of annihilation. Vast armies gathering across Europe and Asia, preparing for a final, apocalyptic showdown. The survival of the planet and its people not a concern—only victory, survival, destruction of the enemy. One of the great hosts rolled out of Russia. At its head, as its supreme commander, a regal figure in red and purple, comfortable with command, expecting obedience—but bent by age and the weight of this last great campaign. Tony knew that he should recognize this man, but, for whatever reason, his mind refused to draw the connection. The other great army, gathered from Western Europe and the Baltic region, racing out to meet the first. Commanding it: a grand presence in gray and green. Death filled his eyes, and devastation rested easily in his hands. His armies swarmed before him with a murderous rage. The cities of America, of Europe, of Asia—they all lay in ruins. Much damage had already been wrought by these two adversaries. And now—their final showdown. Tony knew with absolute certainty that his world would not survive this clash. And he knew with equal certainty that this was no fantasy. It was happening now—or would very shortly. The two armies clashed. In his mind, his world was engulfed in flames. He screamed… *** "At last I’ve found you." Tony opened his eyes. The light blinded him at first, and he raised his hand to his brow to shade his eyes. The three giants still towered above them. They were once again immobile, their energies still dancing about them. Surely one of them hadn’t spoken…? Tony half-realized that his helmet was off; it lay beside him on the grass. Stiffly, he picked it up. Then he saw Mon-Dria lying nearby in the grass. "Mondy!" He crawled over to her. "She is alive, and unhurt," the voice said again. Kneeling down next to her, Tony turned, and saw what he’d expected to see. The little man in the gray suit. "Amazing," Tony said to him, cradling Mon-Dria’s head in his lap. "You’re just amazing. I don’t know how you do it, but..." The man crossed his arms. "You did it again! Went and got yourselves lost!" Mon-Dria moaned, opened her eyes, smiled at Tony. Then she saw the little man over his shoulder. She frowned. "How are you?" Iron Man asked her. She groaned. "I would have been better, I think, had he not been here when I awoke." The little man huffed. "Incredible. You’d rather be stranded here --here!-- than have me return you to the station. Incredible." Helping Mon-Dria up, Tony glared at the guy. "Look, it’s not that we really want to be here. Far from it. We’re just tired of you jerking us around!" The man shook his head, oblivious to Iron Man’s words. "This time, you could have been in very real danger. This plane of existence was never intended for beings such as yourselves." Tony tried to follow what the guy was saying, except that he’d just become aware of the fact that the blue giant’s head had turned, and now pointed straight at him. "Um--" "No, no, listen to me," the man continued. "You two are guests, and as such are expected to follow a few simple rules. But ever since your arrival, you have been nothing but trouble." Tony’s eyes widened. He could see that the little man, his back turned to the giants, was totally oblivious to what was happening behind him. As for Mon-Dria, she was glaring at the guy, probably waiting to verbally assault him. The problem was, both the red and blue giants now seemed to stare at them with their featureless faces. And the golden giant actually seemed to have moved closer. Tony felt sweat trailing down his neck, pooling in his armor. "Furthermore, you have continuously ventured outside of the permitted areas of the station. You were expected to provide a random element into the upper strata of the hierarchy, but instead--" Tony couldn’t restrain himself any longer, regardless of the cost. The golden colossus had never appeared to move, yet it now stood very near, towering over them. One mammoth arm slowly began to rise, until it extended out above them. "--instead you continuously have entered the Dead Areas, where I cannot--" Tony grabbed the guy by the lapels, spinning him around. "LOOK!" The golden being had reached out, its gargantuan hand shimmering with unearthly energies. It pointed at them-- "What’s the matter?" the little man asked Tony tiredly, gazing up at the golden colossus. "Oh, it’s you." Casually, almost dismissively, the man waved his hand-- --and the golden behemoth vanished, along with its scarlet and azure associates. Tony and Mon-Dria stood alone on the grassy hill, save for the man in the gray suit; the man whom Tony saw as human and Mon-Dria saw as Kree. The man who had just casually banished three virtual gods. Mon-Dria stared up into the clear blue sky, beyond where the giants had stood. She swallowed once, uneasily, then looked down at the man in the gray suit. She opened her mouth, then, unsure what to say, closed it again Tony, at the same moment, did much the same thing. The little man clapped his hands together. "So much for them. I was finished with them anyway." His expression conveyed distaste. "Annoying chaps. Too quiet, too enigmatic for their own good. They’ll learn, soon enough." He returned his attention to Tony and Mon-Dria. "Now, back to business." Tony fought to grasp what he’d just witnessed. He looked to Mon-Dria; her face was blank with shock. The man held up his ever-present clipboard. "This is our main problem. We’ve had some difficulty with your signature. We cannot verify that you are indeed one Mr. and Mrs. Daffy Duck, as you signed." Tony pursed his lips and looked away. Mon-Dria blinked, frowned, and glanced at Iron Man. "Falsification of registration forms alone would be grounds for expulsion from the program," the man continued. "But with all the other trouble you’ve caused..." He shook his head. "Coming here, for instance. You had absolutely no business here. Those beings have evolved tens of millions of years beyond your present level. Whatever could you have been thinking?" Tony’s eyebrows raised. He shrugged. Mon-Dria leaned toward the man, clearly understanding now that he was both incredibly powerful and very unstable, and that he should not be annoyed any more than could be helped. "We simply wanted to go home," she told him. The man stared back at her for a moment, as if unable to grasp such a concept. At last he sighed. "Home. I see. You simply refuse to cooperate, and see no benefit in doing so. You are expressing some sort of civil disobedience." Again Tony shrugged. He whispered to Mon-Dria, "What is he talking about?" Mon-Dria ignored Iron Man. "Yes," she replied. Another sigh. "But my grand experiment... You do not feel it to be worthy of your time?" He paced in a small circle, speaking softly. "The gathering of so many races from across the cosmos... The interaction of cultures and civilizations, at every imaginable level of development... How can you dare refuse to help advance such a cause?" "This is not our cause," Mon-Dria answered. "We have our own causes." "Selfish," the man replied. "Selfish, and precisely what I would expect from an inferior race." "We are what we are," Mon-Dria said. "Are you so much greater that you cannot understand this? Do you feel no such loyalty to your own people? Your cause is important to you, yes. But ours is important to us as well." The man looked up. "You have a cause?" He smirked. "I assume you refer to the usual for your kind: Killing, exploiting... The one called Bal-Rogg is such a fine example of your kind’s single-minded pursuit of your great cause. For many years I have watched him, from the periphery, as he hides in his little segment of the Dead Areas. He takes what he desires, enslaves his fellow beings, and kills any who dare to stand up to him." Mon-Dria’s eyes grew fierce. "Not anymore." The man frowned. "What?" She glared back at him. "Bal-Rogg, if he still lives at all, will surely not be causing anyone any problems for quite some time." The little man looked at her strangely, then seemed to move into a trance. Several seconds passed --long enough for Mon-Dria and Tony to exchange worried glances-- and then the man opened his eyes again. "Yes... I see what you mean..." He winced. "Oh my, that must have been painful..." He paused, raising a hand to his high forehead. "It is always such a strain, finding ways to see into the Dead Areas...." He studied Mon-Dria carefully, as if seeing her for the first time. His mouth became a flat line. "You brought this about?" "We did," she replied, placing one arm on Tony’s shoulder. The man seemed to consider this. They waited, there on the grassy field, the perfect sky frozen immobile overhead. All sound stopped. The wind was still. They both held their breath. "This, then, is your cause?" he asked at last. "Combatting those who would harm others, harm society?" "Yes." Mon-Dria nodded firmly. "I have served most of my life as an officer of a starfleet dedicated to preserving the peace and ending the threat of beings such as Bal-Rogg-- even though he was originally a fellow officer." She looked to Iron Man. "And this man has fought for years to defeat such menaces. The armor you so casually dismissed represents the peak of his world’s technical prowess-- created solely to help him protect his society from the predators which threaten it!" The little man now looked at both of them with full attention. He stepped back, assessing them. "This is true? Then you are..." "Heroes," Tony stated flatly, getting with the program at last. "It may sound corny, but it’s what I’ve always striven to be. I don’t know how well I’ve ever succeeded-- I've had probably as many setbacks in my life as successes--but that’s the goal, and I’ll never stop trying to reach it. To give back to my society, to my people a bit of the safety and opportunity that I’ve always been so thankful for, myself." Mon-Dria indicated the Golden Avenger again, remembering some of the intelligence she’d studied of Earth, and recalling as well her conversations with Tony aboard her spacecraft. "This man has helped save his entire world, time and again, from beings such as Thanos, Korvac, and Galactus." The little man looked up, seemingly startled, then returned to pacing. Mon-Dria stared back at him. "That represents over six billion sentient beings protected. How is that for a cause?" Tony sensed a possible trap --I’ll keep the heroes here if they’re so unusual!-- and sought to avoid it. "There are lots more here who are at least as noble as we are. We’ve met several just since we’ve been here. Give them a chance." He smiled. "Look for it. It’s there." "I... I never considered such a thing," the little man said softly. "Though your cultures are primitive, your goals could be noble. It seems incomprehensible, and yet..." He rubbed his chin with his free hand. "Perhaps..." Mon-Dria took him gently by the arms, and gazed down into his face. "Perhaps you should return us home. Perhaps we can make some small difference there, where we’re needed." She smiled. "And perhaps intergalactic society can evolve just fine without you conducting your own experiments on it." The little man jerked away, suddenly seeming recalcitrant. But then he turned back to them, his face fallen. "Very well. I’m not admitting that you are right, or that you have persuaded me..." Mon-Dria nodded seriously. Tony followed suit. "But..." He frowned. "I do admit that things are much too complicated with the two of you here. Perhaps it would indeed be better if you were elsewhere..." His voice trailing off, he waved his hand. The light flared around them and swallowed them up. From within the light, a voice seemed to be saying, "...Should’ve never brought another red one aboard. One was enough..." And then the light faded, and they felt solid matter beneath them. They were seated. Seated... ...Back in Mon-Dria’s spacecraft. As the last of the light faded, they looked out the view screen and saw the surface of the Earth’s Moon falling away behind them. Ahead lay the blue-white globe of the Earth. "We did it! We’re back!" Iron Man let out a shout of joy. "Yes..." Tony glanced at Mon-Dria. She didn’t seem as excited. "Hey..." He blinked, realization setting in. "Oh. Maybe he could have sent you back home-- your real home. But..." "No, it’s alright." She smiled at Tony wistfully. "He seemed to know where I need to be." "But you..." Tony paused, thought for a moment, then shut up. They flew on in silence for a while, Mon-Dria checking over the ship’s systems while Tony wrestled with what they’d just witnessed, and all they’d experienced, and all the thoughts spinning around in his brain. Finally Mon-Dria broke the silence. "There were so many others there, on that station. If only we could have freed them, too..." Tony shrugged. "I’m not even really sure how we got ourselves out. Other than that you psyched him out." He grinned at her. "Nice job, by the way. But-- what could we have done for them? Nothing that I know of." He sighed. "Who was that guy?" She hesitated, then, "I was not certain at first, but I think I may have a general idea." She looked at him. "Tony, there are legends among my people, legends that have sometimes closely matched those of other races we associate with. It could be coincidence, of course, but..." She touched her lips with a fingertip. "The legends speak of a great ‘Gatherer...’" "As in, the Collector?" She shook her head. "No. I know of the one you speak, but his work is on a tiny level when compared with the Gatherer." She paused, sorting out her words. "We’ve never had any clues as to what exactly he wanted, or even if he really existed. Until now, perhaps." Tony considered what she had said. "It fits, I suppose. But I’m still not remotely clear on what he wanted." He spread his arms wide. "I mean, just abducting various beings from all over the universe... Sticking them aboard a big space station... Just to see how they all interrelate? Why?" Mon-Dria shook her head slowly. "We may never know." She looked up at him, smiling at last. "But at least we’re free." "Yeah." They watched the globe of the Earth expand, filling the screen. After a while, Tony began to fiddle with a connection on his gauntlet. He snorted. "Why in the world did I make this cyberlink so big?" he asked himself. "It could be microscopic and still do the same work. Heck--" He pulled the glove off and stared into it. "--It could be twice as efficient if I just rerouted the... the..." He paused, blinked, looked up at Mon-Dria. "What was I just saying? What--?" Mon-Dria was staring out the viewport, seemingly oblivious. Then she suddenly snapped out of it and turned, meeting Tony’s eyes. Mon-Dria moved slowly, seemingly lost in thought. "Are we really such heroes, Tony?" she asked softly. "I wonder." "We got the job done with Bal-Rogg," Tony replied, squinting into the scanner. He thought for a moment. "And we helped Arhus and his people, too. We made a difference." He grinned. "We even outfoxed a god, apparently." "These are not the kinds of things I was trained for at the academy," Mon-Dria replied, still uncertain. "I learned about straightforward matters: navigating a starship; translating alien languages; even maneuvering in combat. But confronting godlike beings, with lives on the line --be it six billion, or just our own-- this is not something I thought I’d have to do." Tony straightened up, looked at her firmly. "But we did it." He felt good --really good-- for the first time in days. He held her eyes, sensing her doubts, but also her spirit, her inner fire. "Maybe that’s the distinction. Heck, maybe that’s the job description." He smiled at her, his hand reaching out, covering hers. The good feeling expanded exponentially when she didn’t withdraw. He turned his head back and stared out the viewport, at the stars, and at the Earth slowly drawing near. But Iron Man’s good feeling would not last long at all… Immediately, the images returned to his mind, of war and fire and death engulfing the Earth… Of two great armies surging out to meet one another, and shatter the world itself with their fury. And of two charismatic dictators at their heads, urging their forces onward, heedless of the cost. And then the bitter realization struck him, accompanied by a sick sense of dread: Time moved at a much different speed aboard the Gatherer’s station. Just what kind of Earth were they returning to? Next: More than one
character you did not expect to see here! Whatever
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in thirty short days for: SOCK IT TO SHELLHEAD! This month, Manuel Chavarria writes in: Y'know, I've been waiting for this for a
while. I couldn't ask for higher praise than that, Manuel! And, of course, I'd love to see your more in-depth thoughts, should you find the chance to write 'em up. But for now-- thanks!! See ya next month, folks, for an issue with a surprise or two! --Van Plexico Atlanta, Georgia Story © 2000 - 2001 by Van Allen Plexico |