The Players

Part Six: Orphans

the 63^rd tale of agc

written and created by Mark Bousquet

NOTE: To assist new readers with this "jumping on" arc, I've created a section for many of the characters appearing in this series on the Cast of Characters Page, accessible from the AGC main page.

2201 / SEPTEMBER

THE EVERYTHING ENGINE - THE VIEWING TUBE

"Magic threatens the stability of Earth," Magus smiled at his previous self, Adam Warlock. "The Generals of Doom prepare for a major assault. Ambassadors to the Asgardian Council of Earth and Skrullos conspire together against the others, as the distrust between Kree and Shi'ar grows ever wider. The rulers of the Council homeworlds are being challenged from within, or are inexperienced at rule. A non-Asgardian sits on the throne of Asgard, the young Richards cowers in a cell of his own making deep inside Chronopolis, and Von Doom waits somewhere, still hiding away from these monitors before us, monitors that are supposed to allow us access to all that is throughout the Eveything." *

* A quick summation of THE PLAYERS arc up to now.

"It is good to see that you've been paying attention, Magus," Warlock replied, nodding to the tube of monitors that surrounded them, extending above and below them for miles. "I wonder, however, what you hope to do with this information. I am trapped within the Everything Engine by the Three Ladies of the Engine, but are you? Could you leave the Engine and venture back into the world?"

Magus laughed, "Why would I want to do that?"

"You cannot be happy trapped here, can you? That is not the Magus I remember."

"I am content here," Magus smiled.

"Then you likely have been promised something," Adam said. "What have the Ladies promised you?"

Magus turned his back to Warlock. "What do you think of Michelangelo Stark's decree that he is going to take over the Earth in order to save it? What are the Fury Protocols, do you think?"

"I do not know," Adam admitted.

"Hmmm," Magus rubbed his chin. "Who are we watching next? The Orphans? Excellent. These young people have come a long way, and it remains to be seen if they are ready to step into the large roles that the Everything now requires them to play. I am most interested to see the newest Herald - Galactus has been missing from this tale for far too long."

Adam's eyes bore into the back of the Magus. Clearly, there was more to his presence than to keep Adam in place. When this was over, perhaps it was time to pay the Ladies a call.

"Ah, look," Magus smiled. "That Toomi girl is about to take a shower. Such a lovely shade of skin she has …"

"The Herald is our first priority," Adam scolded, though his eyes could not help but linger on the Angelux.

K'ZAN

HERALD OF GALACTUS

NEAR THE BORDER OF KREE CONTROLLED SPACE

I am whole.

I am at one with myself.

I am power.

I am potential realized.

Who I am is now as clear to me as what I am, because they have become the same thing. I am a Herald of Galactus, and fear rises before me, wherever I travel. No longer does my presence bring turned backs and snickering whispers. No longer am I allowed to fade into the background. No. Now my presence commands attention for I am a Herald of the most feared being in the Everything. Where once I felt fear, now I am the cause of fear.

My hands no longer shake - the genes of my body that were given to superspeed have been purged by the being I now serve, Galactus.

My mind no longer stumbles over the magical arts - the power cosmic now gives life to my needs. It is said magicians are the conduits between two worlds - the mortal world and the magic world. I no longer have need to be that conduit, for all the power I could ever want is cased within my body.

My body. My new body. Gone is the thin, brittle frame that genetics cursed onto me. Now I am strong. The power cosmic has transformed my body - my flesh is now a bright red, and a yellow stripe snakes over my flesh, or around it when I draw on the deep well of power Galactus has given me.

The Planet Devourer has cured me of all genetic anomalies caused by my mixed heritage. Whenever a man from one timeline mates with a female from another, therein lies the potential for genetic improprieties. They are usually, so Galactus tells me, too small to be of any significance. Typically when the time-crossed child mates, it is with a being from one of the parent's two timelines, and the weaknesses are strengthened, the quirks eradicated by the dominant genes of the shared reality.

My ancestors were not so genetically stringent - they bounced from reality to reality, mating as they went, causing the quirks to become flaws and the anomalies to become standardized.

Galactus, a being who is in all realities and all times at once, purged me off my flaws and recreated me whole, infusing me with the Power Cosmic.

Now I take my place in the long line of Heralds, and fulfill my duty to Galactus.

I find him planets to subside his eternal hunger.

I must find him one soon.

ATTUMIDUNN

ANGELUX - HELLCAT'S REGIMENT

CHRONOPOLIS - ANGELUX REGIMENTAL BARRACKS>

Attumidunn watched her image in the mirror as the water for her shower warmed behind her. She hardly felt like the same person. It was nearly three months since she had subjected herself to Hellstrom's Ceremony of Dark Angels, transforming herself into an Angelux. * In exchange for her soul - if not her loyalty - Hellstrom had given to Brono and Angelica the location of the Celestial Messiah. Toomi barely spent any time thinking about her fellow Orphans anymore, however; it was simply not worth the effort. They had their lives, and she had hers.

* In AGC 57

It was hard to avoid thinking of Ben-Vell, of course. He was a part of nearly every intelligence briefing given to the Angelux. For a while he had been travelling with Captain America, which Toomi found to be the grandest of ironies. One of the reasons he had given for leaving Asgard and siding with the Kree had been that Captain America hadn't properly trained him, and yet, mere months after leaving everyone behind, there he was traversing the galaxy alongside Steve Rogers yet again.

She winced as she pulled off her black, red, and gold shoulder armor, noting the deep bruise that had already formed at the top of her left arm. Hellcat was pushing all of them hard, but Toomi, as the sub-commander of Hellcat's regiment, was pushed even harder.

"Lieutenant Attumidunn!"

Hellcat, Toomi rolled her eyes, and pulled her shoulder armor back on. "Here, General," she called, moving back into the main barracks where Hellcat was waiting for her. Patsy Walker was the ex-wife of Hellstrom, who had kept her soul locked away for nearly two centuries. Attumidunn found it hard to imagine that Patsy could serve the man who had done such a thing to her, but there was nothing save hatred and insanity in her ionic eyes. The Orphan wondered if Hellcat was even aware of what she now did.

"You are needed," Hellcat announced roughly. "Bruunhilde has a mission for you to undertake."

"I care nothing for the missions of Bruunhilde," Toomi replied flatly. "Hellstrom has bought my soul, not my loyalty."

With an agility Attumidunn had not anticipated, Hellcat launched herself across the room at her, knocking her to the ground and landing deftly atop her. Hellcat's gloved hands pinned Toomi's shoulders to the cold floor as her feet locked Toomi's legs into place. "If you defy their whims, you will find yourself tortured in heinous ways."

Toomi tried to wrest herself free, but found that Hellcat's grip was firm. "That supposed to frighten me, Hellcat? Hellstrom will try to take me to bed before he sends me to the torture chambers." She caught a flicker behind the ionic energy that swirled in Hellcat's eyes, and decided to press the issue. "He's a bit old for my tastes, of course, but all that power … you don't think I was sleeping with Ben-Vell all those years because I was in love with him, do you? It was the power I was attracted to."

Hellcat slapped her hard across the face, just as Toomi had hoped. When Hellcat's hand came down, Toomi took advantage and rolled her now-free shoulder upwards, knocking Hellcat off her and to the ground.

"Besides," Toomi said, rising to her feet, "what do you care? Why would you serve a man who locked your soul away?"

"Stupid girl," Hellcat fumed, rising to her feet. They stood five feet away from each other, both ready to continue the fight if the other wanted it. "Why do you think he let me free?"

"To lead this regiment of Angelux."

Hellcat dropped her defensive posture and stood straight, laughing. "My husband trapped my soul, but it was still mine to own. Even after two centuries of entrapment I would not willingly serve him."

"Then why did he free you?"

"It was the price I made him pay, in exchange for my soul," Hellcat said, rage barely contained within her frame. "I chose the freedom of the world and the enslavement of my soul, as opposed to the freedom of my soul that I enjoyed while I was trapped in his cage. I would rather be free in body and caged in soul."

"Even at the cost of your soul?" Toomi asked.

Hellcat laughed. "The Everything is dying. If we all cease to be it won't matter who owns my soul."

"Then why stay loyal to him?" Toomi asked. "Why not put a knife in his back and repay him for the tortures he has inflicted on you?"

Hellcat's laughter faded but the smile remained across her face. She slowly approached Toomi, and took the Orphan's hand in hers, then wrapped her other hand around the young woman's bare waist. Toomi stood her ground, determined not to show weakness. Hellcat whispered, "The folly of humanity, my dear, is that we all want something. There is not a man, woman, or child who has ever walked the mortal plane who's loyalty could not be bought for the right price. Hate is too kind a word to describe the feelings I have for my husband, but he has promised me a gift that ensures my loyalty." She kissed Toomi gently on the cheek, and Toomi couldn't help but flinch. When she looked back at Hellcat's face, the older woman was smiling mischievously, "Oh yes, a fine gift I have been promised."

"And that gift is what?" Attumidunn asked.

Hellcat let Toomi's hand fall free and slowly backed away. "That, my young lieutenant, is none of your business. Now come, I think you will find that there are missions even you would gladly take in the service of Daimon Hellstrom and Bruunhilde."

"Doubtful," Attumidunn answered, but followed nonetheless.

ANGELICA OSBORN

ASGARDIAN LOYALIST - CURRENTLY ON A MISSION WITH BRONO

ASGARDIAN SPACECRAFT, THE RAVEN - HER PRIVATE QUARTERS

Angelica Osborn was alone. For the first time since she had been brought to Asgard, she was on her own.

It was ironic, she thought to herself as she lay on her bed, staring up at the dull grey ceiling. She was the youngest of the Orphans, and had always felt alone or different, despite the physical proximity of the others.

But now she truly was alone.

K'Zan had been the first to depart, first to train with Amora the Enchantress and then to become a Herald of Galactus. She turned her head to look out the small window, taking in a view of space. To think that K'Zan was somewhere out there now, potentially the most powerful of all the Orphans. It made her smile, and it made her sad, and she didn't quite know why.

Ben had followed, chasing his dreams of grandeur, then Toomi did the same. Both departures were not unexpected, and so Angelica, while saddened by them, knew that their absence was inevitable.

Surprisingly, it was this morning's departure of Eshir that shook her deepest, stirring a well of emotions inside of her that she hadn't anticipated. For the first few years she had known him, Eshir hadn't said a kind, unprompted word to her. Lately, however, she had begun to notice a change in him. Where once she attributed his silence to arrogance, or unfriendliness, she now believed it to be his way of coping with his own feelings of difference or isolation from the other Orphans.

The thaw began to melt, she realized, during their trip to find Franklin Richards.* They had included him out of need, but it helped to forge a bond between them. Another shift had occurred out on the ice sheets of Jotunheim.** Though neither he nor Ben spoke much of what had happened, it seemed to her and Toomi that Ben and Esh had reached some kind of understanding.

* AGC 6-11: Fragmented Balance

** Primarily, AGC 30: Jonas

And just what had he experienced during the Jazz Masquerade?* She'd caught him looking sideways at her several times, then hurriedly looking away when she turned to meet his gaze. Then this morning, out of the blue, he announced to her and Brono that he was headed back to Asgard.

* AGC 54-57: The Jazz Masquerade

"Why?" she'd asked.

"It's just something I need to do," he replied, staring towards the window.

"But … why?" she pressed. "For what purpose? We're in the middle of a mission."

"I need to find someo- something."

Angelica hadn't understood; it seemed like Eshir was just giving up. He sounded depressed and confused - two traits she never associated with the powerful mutant. If he needed to find something (or someone), they could do it together, after they'd tracked down the Celestial Messiah. Hellstrom, they discovered, had been true to his word, but not without a twist. The Son of Satan had told them where the Messiah was, but by the time they had reached the location - an empty planet in the Dead Corner of Space - the Messiah had vanished.

Hellstrom apologized (if not sincerely), and given them a new location. This had been going on for months, but it was not, Brono believed, the wild goose chase that it appeared. The Three Ladies of the Everything Engine - Luna, Crystal, Mantis - had confirmed for them that the Messiah (Angelica still didn't know what he looked like but Brono said they would know him when they saw him) moved constantly.

That bothered Angelica, too. Why should they have to find the Messiah for the Three Ladies? If they were as powerful as they claimed, why couldn't they find the Messiah?

A knock on her door shook her from her thoughts. "Enter," she called, sitting up.

The door slid open and Brono (who else?) stood in the doorway. "We are nearing the next location."

Angelica sighed. "Doesn't it bother you, Brono, that we've been chasing this trail for months, with no success?"

Brono smiled and waved a hand as if to brush the thought aside. "'Tis the nature of a quest, Angelica. 'Tis not meant to be easy."

"But the War … Doom …"

"We are best served along this path for now," he said, but his voice dropped low. "Ne'er fear, however. When the battle is joined, we shall be ready to fight it."

"And if we haven't found the Messiah by then?"

Brono's face turned stone serious. "I am the rightful King of Asgard, Angelica. I will not allow my people to die without trying to save them."

Angelica nodded. "That's what I needed to hear."

ESHIR MAXIMOFF

ASGARDIAN LOYALIST - CURRENTLY UNASSIGNED

ASGARDIAN SPACEPOD, JETTISONED FROM THE RAVEN - COCKPIT

Eshir let the craft move across hyperspace at a lazy speed, in no hurry to return to Asgard. The truth was, he wanted to be alone. He'd spent the past few months doing nothing but sinking deeper and deeper into the funk he'd been in since the Jazz Masquerade.

He'd had a one-night stand with a girl … who happened to look like Angelica … who happened to be the daughter of an alternate reality's Angelica Osborn.

Since then he'd been careful around Angelica. Was he in love with her? No, he didn't think so. But he clearly had feelings for her. That in itself wasn't odd, he told himself. But if he used - even subconsciously - Felicia (the daughter alternate Angelica) to live out the fantasy of sex with the "real" Angelica, then shouldn't he feel at least a bit ashamed around the real Angelica? But when he looked at her now he felt things that weren't there before - feelings that weren't uncovered because of Licia, but rather feelings that were created by her.

Feelings were never the strong suit of the Maximoffs, he had learned. At least in that regard he was upholding the family's traditions.

It was better to simply remove himself from the presence of Angelica until he could figure out what it all meant. He would return to Asgard and just let the world happen to him. For once, Eshir was content to let the Everything lead him where it may.

He had done that only once in the past - and it had led him into the arms of Licia Osborn.

Which, he had to admit, was the only place he really wanted to be.

BEN-VELL PARKER

COSMIC PROTECTOR - VOTING MEMBER OF THE ASGARDIAN COUNCIL

KREE CONTROLLED SPACE - SHIPYARD 18896

He was being paraded around like a trophy.

It was not entirely new to Ben-Vell, after the past half-year, but it still made him uneasy. The Supreme Intelligence and General Van'Rogg would send him to Kree outposts for the Kree troops and people to get a glimpse of the Everything's hero.

He was the man who had killed Thanos.

He was the man who had ended the Eternal War.

He was the Cosmic Protector.

As celebrities went, there were few bigger. He served as the face of the Kree at the highest level events in the Everything: be it weddings or trade summits or sporting events. Van'Rogg had explained to him how many of their allies were nervous at the sight of the Supreme Intelligence, so Ben was sent instead. He was the future of the Kree, the cosmic hero, the man everyone wanted to see.

So he traveled everywhere, putting in as many appearances as possible in-between saving this world or that galaxy. In the past two days he had defeated a corps of Deviants trying to overrun a Skrull refugee ship, saved a Shi'ar Governor from assassination, and attended the wedding of prominent children from Kree and Shi'ar families.

Everywhere he went, Thalia was with him. She was both his assistant and lover. He did not love her, nor did she love him. They were merely attracted to one another. She eased the weight of the world from his shoulders and he kept her from being assigned to desk duty - she was his break from the excitement of the world and he was her ticket to that same excitement. Unlike Attumidunn's love, Thalia did not pressure him to be someone he was not.

'Of course,' he thought, 'since Toomi wanted me to be the Cosmic Protector so badly, perhaps she'd be a better girlfriend now than she was then.' He watched rows of Kree privates parade before him, as he stood beside the General in charge of this Shipyard. Thalia stood off to the side, no doubt preparing his next visit, wherever that may be.

He felt a thrill run though him every time he looked at her. Love, no, but most definitely lust. That she was Van'Rogg's daughter no longer mattered. The freedom they enjoyed in each other's company was too intoxicating. Sex, for Toomi, had always been a weapon, something for her to hold over him, to dole out in small rations only when he had met some unknown goal she had set for him. But with Thalia sex was something mutual, something free and wonderful.

Captain America hadn't understood this. They had left Asgard together to go in search of Henry Pym, yet another of Steve's old Avengers' teammates that never seemed to treat death with the proper amount of respect. After leaving the Bliss,* Thalia had rendezvoused with them at the Fantastic Colonies. Shortly, thereafter, Ben and Steve had split ways. He assumed America was still searching for Pym, but Ben couldn't waste his time on a wild-goose chase. Captain America was as trapped by the memories of the Avengers as he himself had once been about the legacy of Mar-Vell.

* In AGC 57

A small crowd stood on the opposite end of the hangar, watching the troops and watching him. He scanned the audience, always looking for one of his fellow Orphans. He knew it a fool's quest, but it kept him from being too bored.

One could only watch so many parades without the eyes glossing over.

"Protector!"

Ben turned his head to the side to see the General (Ben had forgotten his name) looking at him expectantly. "What is it, General?" A small sweat had broken out over the old soldier's face, causing Ben to focus his attention. These old Kree Commanders were professionals through and through; they were not frightened without cause. If this General was worried, Ben knew he had a serious mission before him.

"Protector … I have just been told that … that a planet inside Kree space …" The General shook his head. "On screen!"

Everyone stopped to look towards the large wall monitor behind Ben-Vell. It took one second for the image to register in Ben's mind, then another for his spine to tighten.

Galactus.

Inside the confines of the Kree empire, Galactus devoured the energies of a planet. The entire crew of Shipyard 18896 watched the magnificently terrifying spectacle of a planet being drained simply to sustain one being. For two hundred years, since the start of the Eternal War, Galactus had sided with the Alliance in order to defeat Thanos. The Planet Devourer had pledged to stay clear of any world controlled by any member of the Asgardian Alliance.

Over two centuries, even Galactus can be taken for granted.

Yet now, there he was, feeding on a world that the Kree controlled.

"Why weren't you aware of this?" the General asked Ben, referring to Ben's cosmic awareness. "He is destroying Kree property!"

Ben concentrated, expanding his mind outwards across space. "It is an uninhabited world," he explained. "My awareness doesn't register this as a threat because it isn't a threat."

The image of Galactus on the wall disappeared, replaced by an image of the Supreme Intelligence.

"Cosmic Protector," the Intelligence announced in his characteristic low rumble. "Galactus is destroying a planet that belongs to the Kree Empire. This must not be allowed to occur."

"Supremor," the General cut in, "it is an uninhabited world. No Kree are being lost by this-"

"Silence, General," the Intelligence replied. "That planet is rich in natural resources that benefit all of the Kree people. Galactus has no right to claim it for his own needs. He is in violation of the Asgardian Alliance.

The Supreme Intelligence focused on Ben-Vell. "I have a new mission for you, Ben-Vell. Not as Cosmic Protector, but as a Kree."

"What is it?" Ben asked, knowing the answer.

"Kill Galactus."

It wasn't for another three hours before Ben-Vell realized that going after Galactus meant coming face-to-face with K'Zan.

THE PLAYERS to be concluded …

I think you will find that there are missions even you would gladly take in the service of Daimon Hellstrom.

Y G G D R A S I L

comments to bousquet22@earthlink.net

NEXT ISSUE: THE PLAYERS, PART SEVEN: DOOM

Mark Bousquet

12 April 2003

Northern Bear Productions