BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 5

Carol Danvers stared blankly out the window of Galactus’s spaceship. She was back in the vast reaches of outer space, where she had always felt most at home. But it was no comfort after what she had learned just moments earlier, when all the healed Avengers assembled, along with the Eternals of both Earth and Titan, in Galactus’s chambers for what turned out to be a stern lecture from the cosmic deity.

*********

A short time before...

“The end may well be nigh.” intoned Galactus in his regal, cavernously deep voice. “And it is YOUR FAULT, Avengers.”

The Avengers let out a collective gasp.

“Although...the one most at fault is not among you. I speak of Sersi the Eternal. She appears to be lost to us, as even my technology cannot locate her anywhere in the space-time continuum.

“Talking of time, let us go back eons ago to the birth of an ancient evil, my nemesis, the Xunn-Zwar. It was created at the same time as I, but whereas I exist as an agent of balance and order, the Xunn-Zwar exists only to serve the forces of nihilism and chaos. I have faced it and defeated it several times across millions of years, but each time it is reborn, it comes closer to victory.

“Now, let us consider the Elder, Tanleer Tivan, known to you as the Collector. When he learned he was fated to be the avatar of the Xunn-Zwar, he carefully crafted a long-range plan to ensure his destiny. First he captured the Celestials’ greatest folly, the sentient bacteria known as the Brethren. He then adopted the persona and appearance of an addled, inept eccentric so as to appear harmless to those who could stop him.

“Finally, when the time was right, he freed the Brethren under the pretense of decimating the population of Earth, but in reality it was an elaborate ruse to get the Brethren to form a Uni-Mind. Which they did, thanks to the guidance of Sersi. The Brethren Uni-Mind appeared to destroy Tanleer Tivan and itself, but in reality, Tivan was stronger, and he forced them to teleport to another dimension and merge with him, turning them into his conduit and cocoon towards his ultimate transformation.”

At this moment, Galactus went silent, and Moondragon, the telepathic human with pretensions to godhood, stepped forward. She looked ravaged and barely capable of standing.

“A few hours ago, the Silver Surfer summoned the cosmic team known as the Infinity Watch, of which I was a member, to help him deal with a mysterious object which had just manifested itself in our dimension and which appeared to greatly preoccupy his former master, Galactus.”

*********

A few hours ago...

“Begone, fools!” belted Galactus, “I fight my own battles!”

“I sense the fear beneath your arrogance.” replied the Silver Surfer. “How could I not, when it was you who made me what I am?”

“Hey,” said Pip the Troll, “if the big guy ain’t feelin’ social, why should we stick around?”

“That make sense to me.” said Drax.

“Where is your spine, you cowards?” sneered Gamora.

“Enough prattle.” snapped Warlock. “Moondragon, do you sense anything within that ugly construct?”

“Evil,” replied Moondragon, “pure, uncut evil. It turns my stomach.”

“I shall investigate.” said Warlock. “After all, I am purged of the capacity for both good and evil.”

“You know not the forces you are toying with.” said Galactus. “Leave while you still can.”

“Try and stop me.” laughed Warlock.

Galactus went silent and did nothing.

********

The present.

“Wait just an apple-polishing minute!” said the Black Knight. “Why DIDN’T you stop him, Galactus? And why didn’t you just destroy the Collector BEFORE he could put his plan into motion?”

“Aye.” said Hercules. “And why didst the Collector’s kin, the Elders, do nothing to prevent his treachery?”

“I may appear omnipotent to you mortals,” said Galactus, “but I am merely a servant of the forces of order. And my destiny cannot be averted – I did attempt, in our earliest encounters, to prevent the birth of the Xunn-Zwar, and ended up causing even more pointless destruction. As for the Elders, those fools consider this all terribly amusing and will not lift a finger to help. Continue, Moondragon.”

“Thank you, Galactus.” said Moondragon haughtily.

**********

A few hours ago...

Warlock approached the object cautiously, but caution was not enough to prevent the inevitable. Abruptly, a large piece of the object fell off, and out of the crack emerged a shaft of foul-colored light that struck Warlock point blank. A cosmic shockwave roared through the universe as Warlock’s purification was undone, and the essences of good and evil returned to him. Warlock screamed as he struggled to create balance within himself, but it was not to be.

Warlock’s skin turned purple, his hair white. He grew many inches in height, and sprouted muscles upon muscles. He turned to face the heroes, his eyes red and an evil grin spread across his face.

“And so,” he declared, “the Magus is REBORN!!

“I am grateful to you, Silver Surfer, for making this possible. As a reward, I shall end your life so that you will not have to struggle with the guilt you now feel.”

“No!” said the Silver Surfer. “I will purge Warlock of your influence, for mine is THE POWER COSMIC!!”

The Surfer unleashed cosmic bolts at the Magus, but the monster laughed them off and intoned, “You know nothing of the true power cosmic! NOTHING!!!” And with a wave of his hand, he turned the Silver Surfer inside out, allowing this grotesque travesty of the space hero a moment of helplessness before obliterating him.

There followed a few seconds where time stood still as the Infinity Watch digested the horrifying events that had just unfolded in front of them.

Drax was the first to act, charging blindly at the Magus, who calmly restored Drax to his original powerless human form of Arthur Douglas , which could not survive in outer space and exploded messily. Moondragon, Drax’s daughter, let loose with an agonized scream.

Pip tried to escape, only for the Magus to telekinetically crush him to death.

Gamora declared, “If I am to die, I shall go down fighting!” and raised her deadly knife. The Magus took control of Gamora’s arm, causing her to stab herself through the heart.

“Face the power of a true goddess born!” said Moondragon defiantly as she unleashed the most powerful telepathic offense she was capable of.

The Magus was temporarily staggered as his Adam Warlock side re-emerged to fight for control. But the Magus regained control, and turned Moondragon’s telepathic attack against her.

However, just as he was about to finish her off, she vanished.

“Galactus!” screamed the Magus, “This is your doing!”

“Indeed it is. And you know better than to challenge me, especially as your are bound in servitude to the Xunn-Zwar, who restored you.”

“Yes!” grinned the Magus. “Once my master emerges, I shall captain his vast army, and exterminate all in his path. Go and build your own army, Galactus, it shall avail you none.”

Galactus did not reply, quietly teleporting himself into his ship and setting course first for Titan, then Earth.

*********

“Thus,” declared Galactus, “a war for the very fate of the universe dawns upon us. It disillusions me that Captain America is not among you, for it is crucial that we form an effective plan of battle.”

“I,” said Thor, “doth nominate the Wasp to lead the Avengers in the attack. She did command the Avengers for a great deal of time, and most fruitfully.”

“Thank you, Thor,” replied the Wasp, “but I nominate YOU to lead us.”

Now Hercules spoke up. “The Wasp and I hath had our differences in the past, but I doth second her nomination. Friend Thor, in thy long existence, thou hath gone to battle many more times than all of us Avengers combined. I know thee well enough to understand thy reluctance, but thy time to lead is now.”

From the expression on his face, Thor was clearly at a loss for words.

“It would be the most logical move.” said the Vision. “I calculate 92.348 % probability of victory with you as our commander.”

Thena stepped forward. “There is no place for ifs, ands, buts, or maybes.” she said. “You MUST lead the Avengers, and you WILL lead the Avengers, Thor.”

Thor stayed silent for a moment, then said only one word.

“Aye.”

The chambers erupted into fervourous cheering.

*********

The present.

Carol Danvers continued to play back Galactus’s revelations over and over in her mind.

Quasar approached her and asked, “Penny for your thoughts?”

“I used to be proud of having been an Avenger.” replied Carol. “Even though my stint with them ended horribly, I eventually learned to look at the big picture and see the Avengers in the context of what they stood for. But now...now, I have no idea what they stand for? A house divided? Dupes of evil?”

“I hear you.” said Quasar. “And I was part of the roster that got duped by the Collector. Right now, I feel...worthless.”

“Me, too.” said Carol. “It’s hard to be proud of having been demoted to cannon fodder in a cosmic war.”

Quasar felt a sudden rush of insight. “Being a hero is not always what we want it to be.” he said. “Heroes often die in the course of achieving heroism. That doesn’t make them any less heroic. At least we’ll redeem ourselves for our past mistakes.”

“Thanks.” said Carol. “That makes me feel better.”

“Um...you’re welcome.” said Quasar.

“It’s strange,” said Carol, “I’ve only known you for a short time, but it feels to me like we should have met years ago.”

“I...I feel the same way.” admitted Quasar. “But then again...maybe it’s just because we know we might not be coming back to Earth. In circumstances like this, it’s not unknown for...”

Carol took Quasar’s face in her hands.

“Shut up,” she said, “and kiss me.”

And for a brief, blissful moment, Carol and Quasar believed in fairy-tale romance as they kissed and embraced.