EXISTENCE END

Part One: Homecoming

the 76^th tale of agc

written and created by Mark Bousquet

2202 / JANUARY

THE VOID - MT. OLYMPUS

Franklin Richards sat in the middle of a wading pool, crying hysterically. "It's not fair!" he wailed, slamming his adult fists into the water. "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair! Waaaaaahhhhhhh!"

Standing off to the side, next to a row of statues that had once depicted the Olympian gods, and now depicted the New Pantheon, the three Ladies of the Engine - Luna, Crystal, and Mantis - stood watching. The statues of the Cosmic Flame, Canticle, and Santa Claus had been smashed to the ground.

"You should go to him, daughter," Crystal said gently to Luna. "He is in pain, confused at the turn of events."

Luna shook her head. "He will come out of it. He always does. God forgive the Alliance when the pendulum swings back the other way."

EARTH - FLORIDA EVERGLADES

Angelica Osborn knew this was not the best circumstances under which to grow a relationship.

She had stopped caring right about the time the Soul Infinity Bomb destroyed Asgard. Knowing that the threat of the end of Existence was very real (two-thirds of Existence had been collapsed by the Infinity Bombs, leaving only Earth and the Surf remaining), Angelica found her old arguments about doing this sort of thing to hold no weight.

"This sort of thing" meaning having sex with Brono, wherever and whenever possible.

Not that there was much time (which meant there wasn't much sex), what with the preparations to spare Earth from both the Army of Doom and Franklin Richards' Third Army.

Angelica sat on a tree stump in the middle of the sweltering Florida Everglades. Around her, what was left of the Alliance went about their business. They were down to just over 1,000 refugees of Asgard's destruction. In the few weeks since they'd arrived here from Asgard, they'd turned the Everglades into the base of operations. It was isolated, away from the prying eyes of humanity, whom the United League of Nations still did not want to tell were on the verge of an intergalactic war being waged across their world.

Clenching her fists to keep them from shaking, Angelica found there were no tears left for her to cry. What was the point? And who, exactly, was she crying for?

They were all in shock. Even the Ambassadors. She could read it in their faces as they walked in and out of their makeshift Council meetings. At first she had wondered why they continued to meet, but then she realized that while there might not be a homeworld to represent anymore, there were large numbers here with them - soldiers and staff who had made Asgard their home over the course of the past two centuries.

It was hard to really wrap your head around the destruction of four homeworlds, they all had discovered. That was another reason, Angelica believed, they had all chosen to stay here. So long as they were together, it felt like the closest thing to home they were ever likely to feel again.

NEW YORK CITY - UNITED LEAGUE OF NATIONS - SECURITY COUNCIL

Cable, Rebecca Almond, and Skrull 4 stood before the ULN Security Council. Earth had divided itself over the years into four superpower regions: the United American States, Soviet Europe, the Confederation of Desert Kingdoms, and Pacific China. As a result of this consolidation of power, there were only four members of the Security Council. Their identities were a secret. As a result, the Security Council room was small and dark. Four rectangular screens stood before the visitors. Each was six feet tall, framed in gold, with a central attachment ascending up into the ceiling from the top of the frame, and descending from the bottom of the frame to the floor. The images on each screen were simple, and identical, silhouettes. When the ULN representatives spoke, all four voices sounded exactly alike - monotone and muffled.

"Miss Almond, you are looking better," the Pacific China representative said without feeling.

Cable glanced at Rebecca out of the corner of his eye. She was looking better, that was true, but it was a relative statement. Her left arm was broken and hung in a sling. Several of her ribs had been shattered to the point that the bone had been pulverized beyond repair. A metal construct had been built to replace the damaged ribs. Her face, one thin and unmarked, was now bruised and bloated. Her nose was broken and deep purple bruises sat ugly under her eyes. Her left eye was still swollen shut.

"Thank you," Rebecca answered, trying to stand upright.

"We have read your report," the CDK representative remarked. "We would like to thank Cable and the Earth Ambassadorial staff for assisting in the completion of that report. Do you really find it likely that the Army of Doom will come for Earth next?"

Cable answered. "It is guaranteed."

"And when do you expect the attack to come?" the UAS rep asked in the exact same voice as the other two ULN representatives spoke in.

"It can come at any moment." Cable saw no reason to lie to them, as much as he distrusted the ULN. "Doom is in charge of Chronopolis. The technology of Chronopolis allows him to transport instantly to nearly any point in time. Intel we have received from the Fantastic Colonies, however, conducted in the wake of the four Infinity Bomb detonations, leads us to believe that there is something wrong with time travel at the moment."

"Have you attempted to time travel lately?"

"I have," he admitted. "The attempts have been unsuccessful."

"Why?"

Cable made no effort to hide his anger at the line of questioning. "I don't know. My best guess is that we are nearing the end of this Age of Existence. With the collapse of so much of Existence already, I can only surmise that time has begun to collapse, as well."

The Soviet Europe representative said, "This is troubling. We will take your report under advisement. That is all. You are dismissed."

"With all due respect," Rebecca spoke up. "You had better be prepared to act, and act quickly. I know you think the Vision defense system will keep you protected, but it won't. Not by itself."

"That is all, Miss Almond," the CDK representative said in the same flat voice.

"That isn't all," she said angrily. "I know what you're thinking, what all of you are thinking. You're looking for the political out in all this. Let me make it clear to you - there is no out. Hala sided with Doom. Chandilar's Majestix sided against him, and was murdered by her own people for it. Both worlds were destroyed when the Infinity Bomb detonated. That will happen here. You cannot play politics with Doom anymore."

"Your passion is noted in the official record, Miss Almond," the UAS representative said. "But in your report you write that Franklin Richards informed you that Doom wants Earth to journey with him into the Void."

"He does want the planet," she said, her voice cold and harsh and tired. "He just doesn't want anybody on it."

The three turned to leave. "Not you, Skrull 4," the PC rep called to the Skrull. 4 nodded to Cable and Rebecca that it was okay, and they exited the room without him.

"Yes?" Skrull 4 asked when he was alone.

"Though your government has fallen," the PC rep said, "we still expect you to honor your commitment to the ULN."

The UAS silhouette directed, "You will assassinate Captain America at the time and location of our choosing. That has not changed."

THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES

Angelica walked through the humid Glades just to keep herself busy. If she stayed in one place too long, she would either fall asleep, or get caught in a conversation she couldn't remove herself from. She wanted to be alone.

No, that wasn't quite true, either, she knew.

She wanted to be with Brono, letting her rational mind go and basking in the sensations of a warm bed.

Coming upon a small cluster of trees, she almost forced herself through the thick overgrowth when she heard the voice of Ben-Vell, Eshir, Sigurd, and K'Zan and turned in the other direction. She found it nearly impossible to talk to the Orphans - her relationship with Brono had somehow put up a wall between them and she hated them (not Brono) for it. "I'm not allowed to love?" she wanted to shout every time she saw Eshir avert her eyes, or K'Zan mumble in response to simple questions, or Ben try to do everything possible to make it seem like it was "okay" that she was "in a relationship." That he was "happy" for her. "I'm so glad you approve," she wanted to scoff, but didn't, because …

Well, she supposed, she knew she wasn't going to stay mad at them forever. Even if forever suddenly meant a whole lot less than it had last month.

"Gack," she sighed, running her hands through her sweaty hair. It was, what, fifteen months ago that she couldn't talk freely with the other Orphans because of her Osborn legacy? And now, after they had been told and (to her surprise) they hadn't turned their back on her and the world hadn't ended (poor choice of words, she scolded herself), she was right back where she had started - unable to talk to them openly and freely.

She missed Toomi.

Swatting a large bug away from her face, she felt her legs give out and she collapsed to her knees. She wanted this all to be over. She wanted to sit on her bed and talk with Toomi about how wonderful it was to have a boyfriend. She wanted to be nineteen going on twenty, not nineteen going on middle age, which was how she felt.

"Oh. Hey, you okay, miss?"

Angelica didn't even look up - she wanted to be able to cry and be left alone.

CHRONOPOLIS - THE ANGELUX STABLES

Inside Limbo, time took its own path at its own pace. While weeks had passed in Existence, mere minutes had passed in Limbo, which is how Attumidunn, at this moment, was trying to explain to Doom exactly what she had seen when Doom's adopted son Kang had been murdered.

"It was Ultron-Mark 12," she said, refusing to wilt under the intense glare of Doom.

"She lies!" Bruunhilde shouted, the third and final person in the room.

"We shall determine that in moments," Doom answered, staring down at the dead body.

The door to the stables creaked open, and Bruunhilde and Toomi turned to see Hela enter. "Ultron 12 has been found. Pluto holds him in one of the interrogation tanks." The Norse goddess looked to Toomi. "What will be done with the child? I have told thee she is not to be trusted. Give me the honor of taking her life, as I took the life of Set!"

Doom turned to meet the eyes of Hela. "You presume much, goddess," he said somberly. "Set outlived his usefulness when he proved to be of a Chaotic mind. Do not repeat his mistake."

THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES

"I would offer you a handkerchief, but tears aren't really an issue with me."

Angelica rubbed her face, the tears blurring the grime that had settled there, as she rose to her feet. "That's okay, Cosmic Flame," she said. Angelica closed her eyes tight, making certain she had beat back the tears for good, then opened them as she exhaled a deep sigh. "How are you, Phil? It is Phil, isn't it?"

"It is," the Flame forced a smile of his own.

Angelica repeated the forced gesture. "I know it has been tough for you and Canticle here."

The Cosmic Flame scratched the back of his head. "Aw, heck, it hasn't been easy for anyone."

"That's true," Angelica replied, "but you were standing alongside those who were trying to kill us. Many here think the only reason you came with us was because you missed your opportunity to leave with Franklin and the Third Army into the Void."

"That isn't true," Phil sighed. "We've been uncomfortable with Franklin's actions ever since it was revealed that he and Luna have had some secret alliance going on. I mean, have you seen what they've done to Adam Warlock? Jesus." His head slumped forward. "Hardly anyone believes that, of course, even with Ben-Vell's assurance that's what happened. It's easy for Santa Claus - I mean, Hercules, of course. Everyone loves him."

"He was long a part of our Winter Celebration," Angelica said, the memory bringing a genuine smile to her face. "Many here have known him for years."

"I guess," the Cosmic Flame answered.

"Where's Canticle now?" Angelica asked.

"Sleeping. Hercules is watching over her." Phil kicked at the mossy ground, clearly wanting the conversation to keep going. Angelica couldn't blame him, she supposed, so she asked him about what life was like here on Earth when he was a kid, and listened intently as he answered.

There were worse things in the world than listening to a lonely man, she thought to herself as the former Herald of Galactus talked about friends and school and something called a "Playstation."

"Oh my god!" Angelica said, slapping her forehead.

"What?"

"Galactus! What happened to Galactus?"

"I don't-"

Angelica grabbed him by the arm. "Come on. We've got to find Dani."

THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES - WESTERN CAMP

The Alliance had set up four camps within the Everglades. They were set up in a wide ring, with a shared center. Kovar ran the Western camp, Skrull 4 the South, Cable the East, and Ash'lin the North. Dani had been placed in charge of the settlement's defense.

It was Brono who stopped them from breaking down into Skrull, Shi'ar, Kree, and Human camps, suggesting instead that they mix based on shared friendships that had been cultivated on Asgard.

Many of those friendships had been formed at Logan's Bar and Grill.

It was a surprise to many that Logan had made the trip through the Nexus alongside the Alliance, but here he was - the same fat, green robot they all knew and loved. Among all in the camp, it was Logan who made a point of trying to keep spirits high.

More than anything what Logan loved was to tell stories, and there had never been a better time for him to perform this task. Asgard was destroyed, yes, but he'd lost his Bar and Grill. "Terrible, terrible," he would say, a smile upon his fat, metallic face, "but show me a barkeep who hasn't seen his place burn down and I'll show you a barkeep who hasn't been a barkeep for very long!"

Everywhere he went smiles came to dirty, downtrodden faces. Every corner he rounded, someone new saw him for the first time. "I don't believe it," Glimmer Girl smiled. "Logan."

"Ah, there you are!" Logan exclaimed, raising his hands in joy as he saw Glimmer Girl and Kovar for the first time since they'd arrived on Earth.

"It is good to see you!" Glimmer enthused, moving to hug the barkeep.

"Spill your story," Kovar grinned, reaching out to shake Logan's hand. "How'd you manage to get out?"

A small crowd began to form around Logan, which couldn't have made the robot any happier. Brono's encouragement to set up camps based on interpersonal relationships had been akin to a ray of light penetrating the night. Most of the Ambassadorial staffs had been on Asgard long enough to develop their own friendships outside of their own embassies or settlements. The mixture made everyone relax - there was no office gossip about what the other races were planning in their embassy, or questions about where a small group of Skrulls was off to when they should have been headed to lunch.

The revelation of Kovar and Glimmer Girl's romance helped, as well. If they didn't need to hide their affection for one another any longer, then no one did.

Ash'lin, in fact, had been heard grumbling about the sudden mini-bursts of love and lust, calling the Western Camp the "Love Camp." But even that was done, if not with a smile, than without the vitriol that normally accompanied anything and everything that came out of Ash'lin's mouth.

"Funny story about my grand escape," Logan enthused. "I was just starting to wonder why no one had come into the Bar and Grill, when a troll barged through my front door! Luckily, I always keep a 12-guage under the counter - you would be amazed what you can learn from late 20^th century action films - and blew the troll away! Huzzah!"

Kovar wrapped an arm around Glimmer Girl's waist and pulled her to the back of the group as Logan wildly performed every aspect of his story.

"So there I was, me against a whole army of trolls!"

Glimmer leaned up to whisper in Kovar's ear. "How big do you think this 'army' was? One or two trolls big?"

"Shh," Kovar scolded, unable to keep a smile off his face.

Logan paid them no attention. "When, very suddenly, the floor exploded beneath my feet! I fell down into the cellar, ruining a very reputable barrel of my own private whiskey. Covered in the brew, my olfactory circuits were so engrossed in the sweet smell, that it took me several seconds to realize that my cellar stunk to high heaven. I mean, it stunk something awful! Remember what it was like to sit in the Bar and Grill when Volstagg would join us for Giving of Thanks Day? This was worse! Worse, I tell you!"

"What was it?" someone asked.

"I rose to my feet and turned to face the dark stench," Logan said, though perhaps not as dramatically as he thought. "And what die I spy, but two large, blood-red eyes staring down at me! The Fenris Wolf!"

Gasps went up immediately, and the grin on Logan's face broke into full euphoria.

"I thought I was dead for certain!" Logan continued. "But then the Wolf - the Fenris Wolf, remember - dropped a parchment onto the ground! Hastily I picked it up, and it read, 'Get a move on you fat bastard. Everything's going to be flushed. Get to the Forest of Earth and wait for us. Signed, Amora.' Amora!" Logan feigned fainting. "The lovely Enchantress had seen fit to spare my life! The Fenris Wolf then grabbed me up in its teeth and tore off down a tunnel that eventually led into the Forest, where the Man-Thing waited for us!"

The small crowd clapped and hooted wildly as Logan's tale came to a close.

Even when times were nearing the bleakest hour, there was always room for life to find small pockets of joy.

THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES - THE CENTER

"How goes it, Ash'lin?"

The Shi'ar Ambassador turned to face the approaching Brono. "Not well," she fumed, slamming her hands down onto a small machine that rested atop a makeshift table. "I cannot even reach the human's lunar base, let alone reach out into space!"

Brono frowned. They still had not been able to reach either Captain America or the Fantastic Colonies, let alone any surviving members of the Skrull, Shi'ar, and Kree races. "Do not spend too much time trying," he said gently. "If all goes well, Cable, Skrull 4, and Miss Almond will return with better equipment and we shall have our answers."

"A pleasant though, but unlikely to occur," Ash'lin sighed. "The humans will likely leave us to fight alone, pretending, as they always have, that if they are unaware of impending attack, that attack will never come."

"Have faith in humanity," Brono said. "There are those that will support us."

"How do you know that?" Ash'lin asked.

In response, Brono held aloft the book Ben-Vell had taken from the Heimdall Library.

"What, exactly," Ash'lin asked, "are the Fury Protocols?"

CHRONOPOLIS - INTERROGATION TANK 6

"Still the prisoner," Doom commanded to Pluto. He wasn't about to take any chances. Mark-12 may play the weakling, but he was still an Ultron robot and they, under no circumstances, were to be trifled with.

The Olympian King nodded, reaching for a thick black bucket at his feet. He walked to the chained and immobile Ultron Mark-12, and poured lava down the robot's throat. "Aiiieeeeeeee!" Mark-12 screeched in pain as the lava melted the robot's internal circuits.

Doom released two cables from their wall mounts and attached one to each side of Mark-12's head.

"We will see now if you tell the truth," Bruunhilde leered at Toomi.

Hela added, "We know thou dost lie. It is written plain across thy face." The Norse goddess took a step to the Angelux lieutenant. "Your betrayal and death will be little more than a footnote in the annals of the history of the end of Existence."

"Like Set's death?" Toomi asked, emboldened by the hostility towards her.

Hela's eyes flashed hatred, but Doom had Mark-12's memory unit ready for playback. Their eyes turned to the screen and watched as Mark-12 met the young Kang in the hallway, then through the castle and into the stables. All eyes stole a glance at Attumidunn, who did her best to hide her nervousness. Had Kang - the real Kang - really done what he had promised, or was she being set-up to take the fall?

Toomi kept her composure as she learned that Kang had, indeed, kept his word.

The image that played out - Ultron Mark-12 walking into a stable, then firing out from behind the stall door, killing Kang, then walking forward, his eyes panning to the left to pick up Toomi's scared face, then running for freedom as Toomi sounded the stable alarm - was not what had happened.

Doom did not bother to turn around or disconnect the cables from Mark-12's head. "Get him to recovery," he said, moving to the door. "Lieutenant Attumidunn has been cleared. Tonight's victory celebration goes on as planned."

THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES - SOUTHERN CAMP

Dani raised her hands defensively as Angelica peppered her with questions about Galactus. "How could we forget him?" she asked.

"We didn't," Dani replied. "He was gone."

"Gone? To where?"

"We don't know."

THE VOID

In the eternal darkness of the Void, the body of Galactus floated in place, still in a coma. Standing atop his chest, the Unspeakable Good watched for signs of recovery.

Very soon, a fourth army would enter the fight for the fate of Existence.

EXISTENCE END to be continued …

God forgive the Alliance when the pendulum swings back the other way.

Y G G D R A S I L

comments to bousquet22@earthlink.net

Mark Bousquet

29 June 2003

Northern Bear Productions