* DISCLAIMER * This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction involving characters created and owned by Marvel Comics Group. This story contains plenty of very very EXPLICIT VIOLENCE, gratuitious action without any plot whatsoever and some RELIGIOUS THEMES. If any of these bother you, please do not read the story. * WRITTEN BY * Samy Merchi * ARCHIVED AT * http://mash.yok.utu.fi/corona.html * STARRING * SAMUEL ZACHERY GUTHRIE and THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF APOCALYPSE in ******* * WAR * ******* * CONTINUITY * This story takes place * in my Shadows of the Future timeline http://mash.yok.utu.fi/corona/sotf.html * in year 16 (three years in the future) * in September, the summer's starting to be over * about two months after APOCALYPSO *** ***************** * CHAPTER THREE * ***************** *** A hammer screamed thru the air, leaving behind a crackling trail of magical energy as it streaked down from the stormy skies over Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. The sun was obscured by thick billowing clouds, furious winds whipped thru the streets, occasionally tearing street signs off their posts, rain poured down at such a speed that puddles were already forming in less than half a minute after the rain had abruptly started. Lightning lit up the sky, a crash of thunder roaring down alongside the hammer. Samuel Zachery Guthrie stood on the street, unwavering, his arms crossed over his chest, his jaw set, his expression firm and steady, a dull orange 'blast field' in existence around him and three others. "'The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my *shield*, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my *saviour*; thou *savest* me from *violence*.' 2 Samuel 22:3." KRAKA-DOOMMM! The ground shook as far as five city blocks away, plaster and bricks fell from the walls of buildings, and what few windows were left within a few blocks of the center of what looked like a war zone, exploded inwards as the hammer struck Sam's blast field dead center. "Od's blood!" Thor gasped, his eyes widening slightly as he stared down to the streets in astonishment, his hand absently grabbing the hammer as it returned automatically to its owner. "'tis impossible!" Inside the unwavering blast field, Sam gave a cold smile. "No", he sneered derisively. "'For with God *nothing* shall be impossible.' Luke 1:37." Then, the blast field withdrew from around his three companions, retracting to cover only Sam himself. "Horsemen, handle the others. I will *personally* attend to the false god!" he shouted and then rocketed upwards towards Thor at high speed. "'And it shall be, if thou do at *all* forget the LORD thy God, and walk after *other* gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely *perish*.' Deuteronomy 8:19!" *** Perched atop a pile of debris, a figure, every square inch of him clothed in black, a pair of small catlike ears on the sides of his head, watched in complete and utter silence. He was T'Challa, ruler of the African nation of Wakanda, one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Moreover, he was his country's anointed protector, whose body and senses had been augmented to the best a human's could be by the ingesting of a sacred heart-shaped herb native to Wakanda. He was the Black Panther, and he was one of the most perceptive, one of the most centered individuals in the world. No acting on impulses. No speaking without having carefully planned out every sentence down to the intonation of every single syllable. Not a single muscle moving unless he intended so and had considered every ramification in full. He waited, watched, learned, weighed, considered, and only after being absolutely certain of everything, acted. This, of course, made him one hell of a chess player. And not too bad a leader either. Eyeslits glowing gold with light-amplification lenses, his eyes focused on the three Horsemen on the ground. He noted the positions of their steeds, resembling robotic horses, parked at different locations of the war zone and waiting for their masters with a mechanical patience rivalling the Panther's. He made a memo to himself in the back of his head to keep the steeds under surveillance and prepare for any weaponry or equipment that might be mounted on them. The Horsemen themselves were far less patient. The first to attack was the purple-skinned behemoth, well over six feet tall, with a bald head except for a long braid of hair running from his forehead and down his back, ending in a spiked metal ball like that of a mace or a morning star. A chain of skulls hung around his waist, adorning the Horseman costume that was otherwise uniform with that of his three compatriots. Letting out a ferocious battle-howl as he charged, he reminded the Panther of a lion. "Justice", the Panther spoke softly. "The hair." Silver and blue glittered as a brown-haired young man dressed in those colors, with a large cape that flapped furiously in the winds, hovered down from the skies. "Understood", he said, and his eyes flared with energy as they locked onto the flailing spiked ball at the end of the Horseman's braid. Then, the ball started flying upwards, and Death's eyes widened, as he was yanked off the ground and towards the skies in mid-charge. "Ah. The Avengers", another Horseman, with a long green ponytail cascading down from the top of his bald head, smiled ever-so-confidently as he looked over the heroes that had already joined the battle, and the ones still remaining on the sidelines. A thoughtful expression was in his eyes for a few moments, as if considering odds. He was intelligence and cunning where Death had been strength and fury. He reminded the Panther of a jackal. "Pestilence, if you will?" The last Horseman, with shoulder-length blond hair and a body that was less hulking than Death's, but more so than the merely fit Famine's, roared as a set of half a dozen spears of bone blasted out of his chest. "It'll be my pleasure!" he shouted, and sprouted jagged-edge bone blades from the backs of his hands as he charged forward. T'Challa watched Pestilence's eyes, and found him unlike Death. Where the latter was consumed with a battle-lust that formed the core of his being and was the only thing that brought him joy, the former did not battle because of pleasure, but out of anger. Frustration. Even desperation. He reminded the Panther of a rabid dog that knew it was dying. The target that the bone spears were hurtling towards, took a step back, and an aura of shimmering and shifting rainbow colors sprang into existence in front of the bald, black young man in a black costume that covered him from the neck down. The rainbow colors of his aura were mimicked by an emblem on his chest, much like a crashing wave, as well as his boots, gloves, and belt, which were all shining in all the colors of the rainbow. "I hope you don't mind me synching to you, Vance!" Everett Thomas shouted as his synchronistic aura duplicated the properties of Justice's telekinetics and formed a shield in front of him in the nick of time, the bone spears hitting it dead center and clattering off onto the asphalt. "We need to take these guys out fast!" shouted a figure in a red and blue costume, with a yellow star on his chest, his face hidden by a starfield mask, as he took off from the asphalt, soaring into the air and leaving a glowing trail of glitteries behind him. "The sooner they're down and out, the sooner it's safe for the rescue crews to get in here!" he called out. "Captain Marvel, stand back", Black Panther said, as he finally moved. Streaking forward noticeably faster than even olympic-class runners who had spent their entire lives practicing singlemindedly, he covered several dozen feet of distance in mere eyeblinks. "Await in reserve, assist anyone who is in need, survey the surroundings and prepare to prevent our opponents from fleeing", he stated in a voice that wasn't even breathless, still perfectly modulated, at the same flawless balance as his body and mind. *** "YO! I need some help here!" Dr Claire Temple whirled around to see the doors to the trauma ward be slammed open by a pair of four-foot high shimmering pink disembodied hands, even as a woman -- a shimmering pink stretcher hovering beside her -- landed onto the asphalt just outside the building. "My god!" Dr Temple gasped as she ran out the doors, her eyes focusing onto the unmoving form, broken, bloody, in tattered red clothing, lying on the stretcher. Her eyes widened as he saw the messy eyesockets, and her head snapped towards the doors leading into the trauma ward. "We need a gurney out here, right now!" she shouted. A pair of paramedics rushed out of the building, pushing a gurney over to the energy stretcher Daredevil was lying on, which then moved over the gurney and descended onto it, thinning and laying the hero down gently before dissipating from underneath him. "Thanks, Avenger --" Dr Temple started, glancing over her shoulder to where the person had landed, but she was already long gone, not having stayed behind to await thanks. "Okay, people, go go GO!" she shouted to the paramedics and rushed into the building alongside them. *** "'And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto *other* gods, and provoked to *anger* the LORD God of his fathers.' 2 Chronicles 28:25", War hissed as he rocketed up from the streets towards Thor, ensheathed in his dull orange blast field. "The day o' reckoning's *here*, false god!" WHRAMMM! KRA-KOOOM! "I SAY THEE NAY!" Thor shouted, and a thundercrack lit up the sky as the Norse Thunder God's fist whacked across with force that could easily devastate tanks. It impacted onto War's blast field a fraction of a second before the Horseman hit the Avenger. It was insufficient to do so much as make War blink inside his blast field, but it was enough to redirect and deflect the man flying like a cannonball, sending him hurtling off-course thru the air at near-sonic speeds. BUH-WHOOM! A massive explosion tore thru the area as War smashed down into a gas station. Incinerating everything at ground zero, a pillar of fire rose briefly towards the skies before abating into a mad firestorm grafting itself onto the buildings adjacent to where the gas station had been and setting them ablaze. "Fiery hordes of Muspelheim!" Thor gasped, remaining high in the sky, spinning his mallet so quickly it was just a little circular blur. Then, his eyes narrowed onto the blaze, and he set his jaw. "By my troth, *no* further harm shall be inflicted upon this city because of my actions --!" KRA-KOOOM! Lightning flashed in the sky. "COME RAIN, COME WIND, THY MASTER COMMANDS THEE!" Thor shouted with a heated warrior's gaze even as the near-hurricane-force winds already in the area were whipping his cape and long blond hair around madly. They were nothing compared to what came now. Winds blasted into the area. The ground shook. Buildings trembled. Antennae, lampposts, bicycles got ripped into the air. Not even the loudest shouting could be so much as heard over the roar of the rushing air. Rain intensified. Water started deluging the area, the puddles already on the streets growing rapidly and within seconds becoming streams of water rushing from all over towards the water drains. Then it ended. Thor remained up in the sky, looking down at the war-torn Hell's Kitchen that looked like it had been hosed down like an angry dog. All the fires were gone, small wisps of smoke rising from where the worst fires had been. In the middle of the ground zero at the devastated gas station, a figure stood. Unwavering, immobile. It raised its eyes towards the sky. "Is that the best you can do?" War smiled. Then, he suddenly raised his arm towards the Avenger in the sky. *** "Hala!" Captain Marvel exclaimed as a massive explosion rocked earth and air alike, his head snapping towards the sound just in time to see a blast abate, and a figure rocketing towards the clouds, leaving a thin, smoldering trail behind it, before it vanished from sight in an eyeblink. "Thor?? He's doing escape velocity --!" "Forget about Thor", the Black Panther spoke as he ducked underneath the slash of Pestilence's sharp wrist-blades. "Engage his foe. Defensive tactics only", he intoned as his legs tensed, flexed, and propelled him up into the air, swinging around a streetlight a few times before coming to a halt perching atop it, watching Pestilence like a stalking predator, his golden eyes flaring slightly. "Synch, the remaining one is yours." "DEFENSIVE??" Captain Marvel shouted, the golden nega-bands on his wrists glowing with glittering energy even as he whirled towards War who rocketed into the air. "You've got to be --" The protest was drowned out by Pestilence's roar as the Horseman unleashed a hailfire of bone spears blasting out of his chest and towards Black Panther atop the streetlight, well out of reach. A flip faster than the eye could follow. The figure in black leaped off the streetlight, easily dodging the bone spears and falling towards his attacker, tensing his body up like an arrow, modulating his balance perfectly to focus all his momentum to the heel of his right foot just a moment before it smashed to the side of Pestilence's head. CRACK! *** "You will *pay* for this humiliation", Death snarled as his hand slashed towards the hair by which Justice's telekinetics were holding him high up in the air. Severing his long braid in half, the upper half remained suspended in midair, as he plummeted back towards the streets with a ferocious growl, landing in a crouch onto the asphalt. CRASHHH! Propelled by telekinesis, two cars from the opposite sides of the street rocketed towards Death, squashing him like a bug between two hands, and burying him in a pile of mangled metal. "YOU DARE!?" Death shouted as he tore thru the metal surrounding him, ripping the cars apart with his bare hands, and with a swift motion, tossing the engine from one of the vehicles towards Justice. "'Dare'?" Justice replied as he easily grabbed the engine in midair with his powers, and lay it gently down onto the street as he hovered up in the air ensheathed in his pink telekinetic energies. His temples ached violently from the exertion it had taken to reinforce Songbird's solid-sound bubble that had saved Daredevil's life, but now, of all times, he wasn't going to give up. "Let's talk about 'dare', shall we? *You* have dared to attack this city, injured and killed innocent women and children, caused property damage in the millions and --" He frowned as his telekinetic aura flickered and started to dim, and he sagged in the sky. "What --?" Famine smiled as he raised a shimmering pink telekinetic shield in front of himself, blocking Synch's rainbow-hued telekinetic blast. "Fight fire with fire, they say", he stated, as a pink aura grew strong around him, even as the one around Justice diminished into nothingness. "He's -- stealing my power! Draining it!" Justice gasped, as he plummeted towards the asphalt, powerless, and slammed down onto it hard, eyes blacking out. "VANCE!" Synch shouted, gritted his teeth and increased his telekinetic blasts in power, hammering at Famine's shields in a vain attempt to breach them. "Justice is vulnerable, Death", Famine gritted his teeth behind his telekinetic shields, maintaining them against Synch's assault. "*Eliminate* him." "NO!" Synch yelled, turning towards Death and slamming all the telekinetic force he could muster to the Horseman's abdomen, sending the purple-skinned behemoth crashing into a building. "Fool", Famine smirked as he blasted Synch down when the Avenger was distracted by saving his friend. "Compassion isn't for battles of blood nor money." *** "I don't know how you managed to take out *Thor*, but while any Avenger's on the ball, you're not going to do any more damage here!" Captain Marvel said as he pulled a wide arc around War, leaving a glowing trail of glitteries behind himself. "'Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand?' 2 Chronicles 32:13", War responded as he fixed himself in midair, hovering in place and crossing his arms over his chest as his eyes followed the Avenger. "Not the false god, nor you, nor anyone else can stop our holy mission." "'Holy'?" Genis half-laughed, as he pointed his arms towards War and unleashed a blast of bright photonic energy. "Yeah, right, like the Shi'ar all but destroyed Kree culture because their religion dictates they have to keep conquering new worlds. You're just a bunch of butchers using religious rhetoric as an excuse!" "'As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.' 2 Samuel 22:31", War answered, standing immobile as the bright energy pounded against his blast field to no effect. "Your criticisms ain't nothin' but the empty words of a man who cain't see." "My 'criticisms' are the words of a guy who's seen the bodies of five year old girls torn in half lying on the streets!" Captain Marvel shouted and gritted his teeth as he increased his energy output as much as he dared, starting to glow brightly like a small star. "How do you justify *that*, huh??" War's eyes narrowed slightly, and his forehead furrowed a bit. Maybe from Genis' words, maybe the Avenger's blasts were actually starting to get thru. BUH-WHOOM! "YEARGGHH!" Captain Marvel shouted as thermokinetic energy erupted out of War's blast field without any warning, without the Horseman making any gestures or pointing any appendages towards him. The Avenger flew backwards from the blast, and crashed into the sixth floor of a seven-floor apartment building that was just barely still standing. "'For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.' Genesis 19:13", War hissed. "And *no one* can stop us." "MARVEL!" a female voice cried out. "GNFF!" War gasped as he was taken off-guard by a midair bodyslam and knocked off his position, but within moments, had locked himself back into immobility. He turned his head towards the voice of the person who had slammed into him, to see a woman in a black and light blue costume, her hair white with auburn streaks, hovering on shimmering pink wings. "Ah", he smiled. "The remaining Avenger." "'The remaining Avenger' who's going to *kick* your sorry *ass*!", Songbird snarled as her eyes narrowed and her hands clenched into fists. "Let's do it, buster!" *** But there was at least one other Avenger remaining as well. And the Black Panther was determined to keep it that way, as he streaked along the street, leaping forward, onto the hood of a car, leaping up to grab a streetlight, swinging from it to the wall of a building, ricocheting off it onto an awning, using the fabric as a trampoline to send him high into the air, doing several flips while falling down. All the while a series of Pestilence's bone spears blasted towards him, and always a fraction of a second too late as they clattered onto metal, glass, bricks, cloth. "I've got you now!" Death growled as he leaped towards the Black Panther when the Avenger landed in a crouch no more than a dozen feet from the Horseman. SPLUTCH! "ARGH!" Death roared, as the Panther once more leaped out of the way, and a bone spear blasted right into the Horseman's abdomen. The behemoth's eyes widened, he stopped, and then shot a glare at Pestilence. "You *fool*!" he shouted as he tore the bone spear out of him and broke it in half. "You've infected me!" "He tricked me!" Pestilence snarled. "Drew my fire --" His lips pulled back in a hiss as his eyes fixed onto the Black Panther, now perched upon a piece of debris and once more immobile, watching the Horsemen wordlessly, his golden eyes glowing, and suddenly making Pestilence nervously wonder just who was the predator -- and who was the prey. "UNGH!" Pestilence gasped, awakened from his staring by a purple fist smashing to the side of his face and momentarily making him see stars. "You'd better know how to negate your virus", Death growled as he held Pestilence up by his throat, squeezing it threateningly. "*Death* goes nowhere *alone*." "Death! Pestilence!" Famine snapped. "Control yourselves, you're doing exactly what he wants!" Then, Gideon turned his eyes onto the Panther with a faint smile, and raised his arms high, holding in one hand the throat of Justice, and in another, the throat of Synch. "You're not the only one here who can play games, Avenger", he spoke. "Surrender, or these two *die*." Silence. The three Horsemen watched the Panther as he stood there, not a muscle moving, no limb twitching or shifting, as if nothing fazed him. A cold wind blew thru the streets and fluttered Justice's cape and Famine's ponytail around slightly. Then, the Panther's golden eyes narrowed minutely, and he slowly, very deliberately, shifted his weight forward ever so slightly. Famine's confident smile quickly faded. That's when a form fell down from the skies, crashing to the asphalt. Songbird's pink solid-sound wings flickered and faded away, as she lay there, bruised and battered, her uniform torn in several places, her face bleeding, trying to push herself up with her arms, sobbing weakly as she didn't even manage to find the strength for that, and then collapsed into merciful unconsciousness, slumping down onto the street. "'And the Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set fire on this city, and burn it with the houses, upon whose roofs they have offered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings unto other gods, to provoke me to anger.' Jeremiah 32:29", War proclaimed as he descended from the skies to hover only a few stories above the streets, looking down upon the Black Panther. Then, he smiled, and pointed an arm towards the apartment building where Captain Marvel had been blasted to. BUH-WHOOM! A seven-story apartment building was torn into bits by the thermokinetic release of the Horseman, burning, destroying and annihilating memories and possessions in the blink of an eye. The lifelong savings of an old Italian woman. The teddy bear of a five-year-old Puertorican girl who had an hour ago been skipping rope with her friends but now lay on the streets in two pieces. The only photo a limping Vietnam veteran had of his mother. Everything turned into ashes and dust along with the building. "'Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.' 2 Samuel 22:41-43", War smiled and then spread his arms, holding them outwards to the sides. "'So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.' 2 Samuel 24:13." War lowered his arms, and re-crossed them over his chest. "Choose, Avenger", he spoke to the Panther. Slowly, the Black Panther's eyes rose from Famine, up to War, and the golden glow in his eyes seemed to intensify minutely as he focused on the Horsemen's leader. Then, he spoke. Carefully, in detail, pronouncing every syllable clearly and powerfully, leaving little unclear. "I shall offer you this last chance to surrender", he said. "If you are wise, you will take it." War's eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment, and he seemed to actually consider the words for a few heartbeats. Then, he raised his chin and spoke. "'Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.' 1 Samuel 2:3." The Panther's eyes narrowed. "You have made your choice, then", he said, and gave a minute nod. T-CHINK! "URGKH!" Famine gasped as a chain lashed out from somewhere behind him and wrapped around his throat. Before he could react, the chain was yanked on, and his hold on Justice and Synch slipped, letting them fall to the ground as he hurtled backwards in the air. "Innocent blood has been spilled", spoke a voice like the crackling of burning leaves. At the other end of the chain, a flaming skull burned atop the body of a biker clad in black leather and spikes. "Vengeance", the biker hissed from sitting astride his stationary jet-black flame-wheeled motorcycle, "will be *mine*!" WHAM! A loud crunch came from Famine's face as it met up with the biker's fist. Eyes rolled back, blood appeared from his nose and mouth, and then the Horseman collapsed limply onto the asphalt. "Ghost Rider", War hissed as he glanced over his shoulder towards the latest addition to the battle. "And he's not alone", said a tall green-skinned woman standing off to the side, beside a lamppost, dressed in a grey business suit. "You know, T'Challa", another voice spoke, that of a man in a red and blue costume, a spider emblem on his chest, perched atop the lamppost the woman was standing beside, "if you were a wolverine instead of a panther, and Shulkie here was a guy, this'd make for a nice class reunion.*" [* In FANTASTIC FOUR #347-9, Spider-Man, Hulk, Ghost Rider and Wolverine operated as the Fantastic Four -- Smarmy Samy] "As it is", War declared, raising his arm towards the newcomers, "it'll be yoah *last*." **********************************************************************