Morden Man

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

"I will send you back to your master, broken and begging for him to end your life.”

@Lord Wraith

The Raft, New York

The Surfer coughed. Another mouthful of silver blood came splattering from his mouth and onto his chin. He was laid on his back on the battlefield with a piece of lumbar jutting through his chest. If the Surfer could feel pain, he was certain he would be in it. Yet as long as there was still the power cosmic running through his limbs, the Surfer would go on. Whilst his Lord Darkseid’s wishes remained unfulfilled, no physical labour was beyond the herald’s reach.

“CARL CREEL? JUNE MOON? BARBARA NORRIS? YOU SEEK TO LAY THEIR PAIN AT MY FEET?”

The herald’s pink hands wrapped around the piece of metal lodged in his chest. He pulled hard and without a noise dragged the metal free. The wound did not bleed but there was now a gaping hole in the Surfer’s chest. Its edges were pink and fleshy and now the herald’s silver coating seemed to be retreating even from his torso.

He rose to his feet and approached the Asgardian with a hand outstretched. The God of Thunder swung yet more angry fists in his direction but this time the Surfer invoked his intangibility to pass through them. The strain of doing saw even more of his coating slip away from him, but he did not need much more power to see to it that the god’s true tormentor was revealed to him.

“LORD DARKSEID IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF YOUR PAIN, ASGARDIAN – NOR I ON HIS BEHALF. IF YOU SEEK THE TRUTH, YOU MUST SEARCH CLOSER TO HOME.”

The Surfer’s hands grasped Thor’s head and a sudden shockwave of power cosmic passed through him. As with Iris West earlier in the contest, the herald’s power delved deep into the Asgardian’s memories and sifted through them. Carl Creel’s attack on Marville. June Moon’s enshacklement to the goddess Amora. The pain of Blake Donaldson’s love Barbara Morris. All these memories and more were sent tumbling through Thor’s mind.

And through the carnage a figure appeared. One long thought lost to Thor and his kind. He stood in the darkest recesses of Thor’s mind. He was barely visible. The black suit he had wrapped himself in whilst meddling in the affairs of mortals had been discarded. Now the architect of Blake’s many trials was revealed to him. A sudden shock of lightning illuminated the figure for but a second.

It was Loki. Not Darkseid, nor the Silver Surfer, as the herald had explained. Thought long-dead, Thor’s brother had returned – and had brought a maelstrom of discontent and pain with him from the afterlife. The knowledge tore Thor’s inside aparts. The memories, the images, the Surfer was dredging through were like a hot knife being jabbed into the deepest parts of the Asgardian’s brain.

The Surfer’s hands slipped from Thor’s head and the god fell to his knees in pain. He was still trying to process his brother’s part in his suffering – and the physical pain that the Surfer’s mental assault had inflicted upon him – when the herald passed an intangible hand through the still-reeling Thor’s chest. It lingered through his heart as the Surfer prepared to deliver the coup-de-grace.

“YOU HAVE BEEN A WORTHY ADVERSARY, ASGARDIAN. YOUR DEATH WILL BE QUICK. YOU HAVE EARNED THAT KINDNESS.”

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

>>Drops character mid-season
>>Picks character back up in time for event months in the planning
>>Complains when character does not feature heavily in plans

Someone somewhere is playing the world's tiniest violin.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

The Raft, New York

Ben, Reed, and Sue watched on while Thor and the Silver Surfer duked it out like two warring titans. Each blow that exchanged between the two of them felt like it shook the planet. They had seen might before – indeed, they’d stood before a Silver Surfer before, even faced down Galactus – but this was something else. Johnny’s kamikaze attack had lit up the night’s sky but hadn’t been enough to put the Surfer down. They only hoped that Thor would succeed where their brother had failed.

“The Surfer said he was working for Darkseid,” Ben mumbled. “Do you think maybe it’s our Darkseid? Could he have found us here?”

“I’m afraid there’s no way of knowing that n-”

A blast from the Surfer went crashing into one of the Raft’s remaining radio towers and it started to go down. Reed’s eyes locked on it. There were still people inside. He couldn’t tell whether they were prison staff or prisoners, but if someone didn’t help them they were going to drown to death when that tower hit the freezing waters beneath the prison. Within a half-second, Richards’ powerful brain had deduced a means to keep the tower standing. He opened his mouth to bark orders to the others when Spider-Woman's voice cut across him.

"You, skull dude. Mind giving me a ride through the Raft? I'll use what webbing I have left to keep any fracture points we find as structurally sound as I can make them. That will give the rest of you time to get as many people out as possible. Sound good?"

@HenryJonesJr

Reed smiled in recognition of the soundness of the plan the teenager had devised. “What are you waiting for? You heard Spider-Woman.”

The heroes burst into action and what remained of the Fantastic Four did their part assisting the stragglers making desperate escapes from the prison. The damage that Thor and the Surfer were causing was almost immeasurable. If the fight went on for much longer Reed wasn’t sure that there would even be a prison left standing once all was said and done. Where would they put the prisoners? Could they hold them all in one place if things really hit the fan?

He banished the thought from his mind as he heard a distant cry for help. A heavy-duty vehicle carrying around a dozen members of prison staff was clinging to a crumbled edge of the Raft. They were usually used for prison transport but clearly the staff had taken refuge inside it once the breakout had started. Reed signalled to Ben and Sue and the trio dashed towards the vehicle without a second’s hesitation.

Reed’s body at once became as taffy and he caught the vehicle in a hammock of his own making. His stretchy arms and legs shook with the weight of the truck but he soon felt relief as Ben’s rocky hands dragged it from the edge of the cliff and back firmly onto dry land. He tore open its heavy doors and the prison staff members came streaming out of it. There were tears down their faces. They had thought they were staring certain death in the face until the Fantastic Four – or three – had arrived.

A sudden crack announced that another piece of the prison had been knocked free. From high above them a slab of concrete came spiralling towards the newly-freed staff and they let out a scream. Sue extended a hand and caught the slab in a hard-light construct at the last second. With a flick of her wrist she sent it careening towards the sea and the newly-freed civilians breathed a breath of another sigh of relief.

One of them looked towards Ben, Reed, and Sue with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much. I was sure we were goners. Who are you people?”

“There’s no time for that,” Sue shook her head. “Get out of here. You hear me? You get the rest of them out of here and across that bridge.”

The man nodded modestly and shouted directions to his colleagues. Once they were out of eyesight, Ben turned his face up to Thor and Surfer. They were still caught in a furious tussle that could have been torn straight from the pages of classical mythology – and neither of them seemed to be slowing down.

“I should be up there," Ben murmured as a pang of guilt ran over him whilst helplessly watching the battle from the ground. "Thor shouldn’t have to face the Surfer alone. No one should. Get me up there somehow, Stretch, and I'll make Chrome Dome wish he'd never been born.”

Reed shook his head. “We’ve done our part. If anyone can beat the Surfer on their own, it’s Thor. It’s our job now to help get these people out of here and somewhere safe. If the Surfer’s still standing after that? Then we’ll worry about him – and Darkseid – but not a moment before.”

Ben nodded in acceptance and the three of them dashed forwards once more to provide another group with their assistance. Above them, each blast of power cosmic seemed to dance around the New York skyline like a shooting star – and each punch sounded like a thunderclap.

Let the gods be gods, Ben thought to himself in quiet resignation, the Fantastic Four would put people first, as they had done since the start.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

“I would have words.”

@Lord Wraith

The Raft, New York

Silver blood came sprouting from the Surfer’s mouth. The force of the Bifrost Bridge being dropped on him had almost achieved what Johnny Storm’s supernova could not. The herald was barely standing. Yet the challenge Thor posed seemed to invigorate him. He plumbed the depths of his power reserves and steeled himself for the battle ahead. Once Thor had been brought to heel, the heroes would all fall. He was their greatest hope – and if it took every ounce of power cosmic that the Surfer had, he was determined to destroy him for the glory of Darkseid.

“NO MORE WORDS, ASGARDIAN.”

Out of the corner of the Surfer’s eye he saw the Blue Beetle catch the still-falling Human Torch. The other heroes gathered around him to see whether he was still drawing breathe. The Surfer considered firing on them one last time, but the God of Thunder posed a more pressing and immediate threat. Let them have their moment. Now was the time for battle.

Though his silver coating had slipped from his hands and had begun to drip clean from his torso, the power that emanated from his balled fists seemed no weaker than before. It surged with a power so strong that the very foundations of The Raft seemed to weaken with every pulse.

It was almost as if the power cosmic was sustaining the herald, extending what strength his broken body had just long enough to see Darkseid’s will done. The cold, lifeless eyes of the Silver Surfer stared at Thor without a hint of intimidation. The herald would as readily take Thor's life as he would lay down his own for Darkseid.

“THIS WORLD WILL LEARN THE FOLLY OF WORSHIPING FALSE IDOLS. WITH YOUR BLOOD, DARKSEID WILL REIGN SUPREME.”

The Silver Surfer darted towards Thor and sent his hands wrapping around the Asgardian’s neck. The electricity tore at his silver skin but seemed to cause him no harm. He squeezed as tightly as he could, pumping the power cosmic directly into the Asgardian’s body with a determined scowl. Thor let out an angry shout and broke the Surfer’s grip. For the first time, shock crossed the herald’s face.

He was weaker than he’d imagined. A punch sped towards his head that he managed to dodge at the last moment and he saw the intensity in auburn-haired god’s eyes as another was launched in his direction. This time the Surfer managed to parry it. He waved a power-throbbing hand in the direction of The Raft’s tallest tower and sent a blast of energy towards it. It exploded on impact and sent a good portion of the prison tumbling into the sea. The other heroes scattered, alive to the threat to the prisoners and staff contained inside, and assured that his battle with the Asgardian would be uninterrupted, the Surfer sent a hale of cosmic energy blasting towards him.

“COME THEN, ASGARDIAN, THE FATE OF SEVEN BILLIONS LIVES WILL BE DECIDED BETWEEN YOU AND I ALONE THIS NIGHT.”

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Would it be selfish of me to make a claim for it?

I've had my epilogue written up for a while now and I feel like it'll be fairly impactful and may even help shape the direction of the next game a little. But I've played such a role in the MME that I don't want to appear to be hogging the limelight, as it where. I think @Byrd Man and @Lord Wraith are the only two people to have seen it so perhaps they could speak to my claim also.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

With Thor's arrival, we're turning the corner into the last third of the MME. The Thor-Surfer throw-down is obviously going to be pretty central to that. That's not to say that there won't be opportunities for the others to get involved, but if you're at The Raft and not named Blake Donaldson, chances are the longer you're there, the more your character is going to be focused on helping evacuate the remaining staff/prisoners from The Raft.

Not the most glamorous work, but someone has to do it.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

The Raft, New York

The light in the sky had been blinding. Though Johnny had flown Darkseid’s herald far out of sight, the sudden wave of energy that knocked the heroes from their feet could only mean one thing – he’d gone supernova. Sue’s heart had stopped the moment her brother tackled the herald. Johnny had always acted first and thought second. When he’d heard Darkseid’s name, he had seen read, and that much was understandable, but there was no way of knowing whether he’d survive that much heat.

Slowly the light began to fade and the heroes began to murmur amongst themselves. Had Johnny done it? Had he achieved alone what all of them could not do together? And if so, had he paid the ultimate price for it? No, it didn’t bear thinking about, Sue gritted her teeth stared up at the sky in the hope her brother might appear before them. But there was nothing.

Until there was.

It was a lone figure falling from the heavens. There were no flames. Johnny looked like a dead weight as he fell from through the sky at a breakneck speed. There was no way he would survive such a fall, Sue thought, her heart pounding uncontrollably in her mouth. She couldn’t lose him. She screaming to the heroes for help when the sound of an engine revving drowned her out.

”Hold onto your horses, kid! Imma comin’!”

@DocTachyon

The flaming biker revved his engines once more and took to the skies swinging his lariat. Sue muttered a silent prayer that he would reach him in time to break his fall. He inched closer by the second, close enough to throw his lariat towards Johnny, when a shock of silver energy announced the appearance of the Silver Surfer.

He looked near broken, beaten almost, the silver coating on his skin was almost at the point of dripping off him, but he was still alive. His fingers wrapped around Johnny’s uniform and snatched him out of Vigilante’s path at the last second.

“ENOUGH.”

@Byrd Man

Floating in the air atop his surfboard the herald seemed to inspect Johnny the same way a predator might inspect its mortally-wounded prey. There was no look of satisfaction to the Surfer’s gaze, only what appeared to Sue to be a detached, almost surgical desire to be done with Storm and the rest of the heroes.

“No,” Sue muttered under her breath as she looked to Reed, Ben, and the others. “He's going to kill him. Please someone do something!”

They sprung into action. Blue Beetle’s jetpack fired into life, Spider-Woman broke to swing in the Surfer’s direction, and Ben balled Reed into a sphere to launch across the open sea to the hovering herald. But there was something in the pit of Sue’s stomach that told her that they would be unable to reach him in time. They were too far out, the Surfer’s exposed pink, fleshy wrapped tightly around Johnny’s unconscious face.

“HE HAS GIVEN HIS HEART OVER TO WRATH. HE CARES MORE ABOUT VENGENCE THAN HE DOES JUSTICE. HE IS A POOR HERO. HE HAS BEEN FOUND WANTING, AND HE WILL BE DESTROYED IN THE NAME OF DARKSEID.”

@Byrd Man

The power cosmic flowed through the Surfer’s hand into Johnny’s unconscious body and he awoke with a blood-curdling scream. His limbs flailing wildly as the incredible power that the herald possessed began to course through him. Sue’s desperate screams echoed around The Raft as she watched on helpless to stop her baby brother’s suffering.

And then she remembered. The pendant.

Her fingers reached for her pockets and she plucked out the artifact she had been given after her visit to the Triskelion. How did it work? Sue’s nervous, sweaty fingers ran over it as she tried to remember what he’d said. All she had to do was say his name and wherever she was, he would be able to reach her.

For the first time in decades, Sue found herself appealing to god for help. Not the god of love or forgiveness, but the God of Thunder. “Thor…”

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

“I AM THE HERALD OF THE END TIMES FOR YOUR PLANET, CHAMPION OF ANTI-LIFE. I AM THE SILVER SURFER, AND I SERVE DARKSEID.”

@Byrd Man

The Raft, New York

Johnny Storm’s eyes widened with shock as he heard Darkseid’s name leave the SIlver Surfer’s mouth. He hovered mid-air for a moment as he tried to process the information. His eyes met with Reed’s on the ground who looked every bit as shocked as he did. Slowly Johnny’s flame began to burn brighter and hotter as his anger rose. The Surfer was working for the Apokoliptian that had murdered their world. It wasn’t their Darkseid, Johnny understood that much on some level, but as his blazing eyes rested on the herald it seemed to make no difference to him.

He shot towards the herald with arms outstretched. There was a loud thud as Johnny’s shoulder hit the Surfer square in the chest and he wrapped his arms tightly around his shoulders. What Johnny was doing was the next nearest thing to suicide, but his rage – and his desire to see Darkseid pay for what he had done to their world – far outstripped any sense of self-preservation the young man possessed.

“You want death? You want destruction? Well buckle up, you son of a bitch, because there’s no coming back from where we're going!”

From far beneath them, Johnny thought he could hear his sister calling out his name. There was no time for second thoughts. If he hesitated now, he’d be dead, they’d all be dead – just like his world. No, Johnny continued sending the pair of them climbing high above the clouds, until The Raft was barely visible, until New York looked like a scattered handful of lights along the Eastern Seaboard, and the air was so thin that Johnny could barely breathe.

He needed to be this high to do what he had planned. Ever since they had left their world, Storm had been storing up the all the rage and the loss that he felt – but he didn’t need to hold it in anymore. Even as they had thought Namor and Hector Hammond, Johnny had found himself holding back, afraid of hurting someone – or everyone. But he didn’t care if the Surfer could take it.

So long as he served Darkseid, the herald could burn alive if that’s what it took to stop him.

Johnny thought of Peter Parker and Clark Kent. He thought of Crystal and She Hulk. Wyatt Wingfoot and Medusa. He thought of all the friends and foes that had been lost to Darkseid’s murderous campaign on his world. He pictured their faces in his mind. Then he pictured all the people they had lost. A whole world destroyed and for what? One man’s greed. He felt the pain bubbling in his chest, heard it leaving his throat as a guttural scream, and prepared to let the flames tear through his every pore like he had never done before.

Supernova, Reed had called it.

The super scientist had surmised that Johnny possessed within him the power to explode into a burst of flames hotter than the surface of the sun – though he could never safely put that theory to test. Now was the time. He gripped the Surfer close to him, despite the herald’s desperate attempt to prize Johnny’s arms free from him, and gave him every ounce of power that he had. His body was shaking with anticipation. His throat coarse with screams he could no longer hear anymore. But he could feel the light.

There was a sudden silence as Johnny released the supernova. As its flames engulfed him and the Surfer he muttered one word. "Sue."

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Alright, folks. As with yesterday, this is another last call (or at least a last call for the last call) for this round of MME responses.

From the looks of things, @DocTachyon and @Sep are the only people that have yet to contribute something to it, with confirmation from the latter of something – if not direct involvement. Not trying to rush anyone, it's just good to know people's intentions ahead of time.

@Byrd Man has graciously agreed to relieve me from Silver Surfer duty for a little while. So he'll be putting together this round's response.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

“ENOUGH. WHAT MERCY I HAVE EXTENDED YOU ENDS NOW. PREPARE TO FEEL THE FULL FORCE OF THE POWER COSMIC.”

@Morden Man

The Raft, New York

Sue Storm sent a blast of hard-light energy at the Silver Surfer that sent him careening away from the prison. The Fantastic Four landed on the concourse at what appeared to be the exact right moment. There were downed heroes scattered around the prison. The Flash appeared to be laid unconscious in a corner and the shattered remains of a blade marked where another hero had fallen. She sprinted over towards one of them, a young boy from the look of him, and helped him to his feet.

There was a throbbing sound that sounded like the unrestrained power of the Surfer’s power cosmic ahead. She looked up, gulping slightly at the sight of the herald in full pomp, and remembered the exchange they had shared at the Triskelion. There was still good in him, she told herself, despite the blast of power cosmic that was sent in her direction. They needed to reach the man inside, not beat him.

“You know, I always thought surfers were meant to be chill,” Johnny said with a smile as he sent a fireball at the herald. “Whatever happened to that? Is that not a thing anymore? When did surfers stop being chill?”

The flames seemed to do next to no damage to the Surfer but it kept him distracted long enough for Ben to throw a large piece of debris at the herald. The impact of it wobbled him slightly but again wasn’t nearly enough to damage him. The Surfer returned the gesture with a blast of his own. It hit Ben squarely in the chest and sent him flying backwards.

A wounded groan left Grimm’s lungs as he fought to his feet. “Old Chrome Dome really isn’t playing around this time. There was enough on that one to flatten me. You’d better keep your heads on a swivel, people.”

“You heard the man,” Reed shouted to the others as he assumed control. “The Surfer’s not pulling his punches anymore. If he hits you, you’re going down for the count. We need to play this one smart. Johnny, Vigilante, I want you to give him something to think about – keep your distance, pepper him with everything you’ve got, but keep moving. Ben, old buddy, I’m afraid you’re going to have to be our tank.”

“Why do I always gotta be the punching bag, eh?” Ben feigned surprise. “Next you’ll be telling me that my career in male-modelling isn’t going to work out.”

The Thing smiled mischievously at Reed before sprinting off towards the Surfer without a moment’s hesitation. There was a loud shout from behind Reed as Grimm and the Surfer traded punches back and forwards. Richards didn’t even turn to look round, instead he continued to assess the situation and the personnel he had available to him.

“Spider-Woman, we haven’t been introduced yet but I believe you’ve met Johnny. He tells me your powers work just like the Spider-Man on our world. That means you have a … what did Spider-Man call it? A spider-sense?”

The scientist didn’t even wait for a response. He looked towards the boy that Sue had helped to his feet. He was young and clearly nervous, but he seemed powerful. “Put … I’m sorry, I don’t know your name, son … put him on your back, keep swinging, use that spider-sense of yours to sense when the Surfer is going to attack, that ought to give your friend here enough time to blast the Surfer again.”

Sweat was pouring down Reed’s forehead. He was still bleeding from his side from the blast that had levelled the Baxter Building and it was affecting him more than he let him – but there wasn’t time to worry about that. There wasn’t time to think about his lost world. There was just enough time to send the Surfer back to Galactus with a stark warning: Earth will not be bullied. They had done it once, they would do it again.

“What about me?” Sue said from behind Reed. “What’s my role in this, oh fearless leader?”

“You said you spoke to the Surfer at The Triskelion,” Reed said as he rubbed the stubble on his chin. “I need you to do it again, Sue. All of this, everyone, I’m still not sure it’s going to be enough. We might not be able to beat him, but we could still reach him. Just as we reached Norrin.”

Sue smiled upon hearing her fiance echo her own thoughts back to her and then gave him a curt nod. “That I think I can manage.”

The couple sprinted towards the battle. The others had already begun acting on the plan that Reed had set out – with varying success – but one thing was certain: no matter how slim their chances were, they were immeasurably better off facing the herald with their allies at their side.