BOOK ONE, CHAPTER 7

Thena, endowed with the wisdom of her analog Athena, used her remarkable mind to quickly calculate the runaway Seeds of Evil’s most likely destination based on their trajectory.

When the answer came to her, it was even more cause for alarm. Cronos preserve us, she thought to herself, they’re headed for the Shi’ar empire!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ikaris coming for her, and she gasped as she dodged his attack. Had she been distracted a split second longer...

Suddenly, Ikaris began writhing in pain. Thena looked over and saw an enchanted dagger sticking out of Ikaris’s back, and a short distance away was Thanos.

Ikaris imploded and folded in on himself, eventually disappearing completely. The dagger returned to Thanos’s hand as if by command.

No thoughts were exchanged between Thena and Thanos, but it was clear to each other that they both felt that what was done was what had to be done. They turned their attention back to destroying the remaining Seeds.

***********

With the Xunn-Zwar ships destroyed, the Eternals’ ships got out of the way of Galactus’s flagship so that it could open fire on the Xunn-Zwar’s flagship.

Cannons blazed and missiles flew as the two ships exchanged fire. But the crew of Galactus’s ship was superior at steering out of the projectiles’ path, and the ship’s shields were stronger. Seizing the advantage, Galactus’s ship surged forward and rammed the Xunn-Zwar’s ship. It then activated its tractor beam, effectively paralyzing the enemy ship.

“Avengers assemble, and prepare for boarding!” commanded Thor.

A long, transparent boarding tube quickly attached itself to the hull of the Xunn-Zwar’s ship, and the Avengers ran through the tube. Thor had ordered Hercules to take the point, for, as Hercules expressed it when he reached the hull, “Metal, no matter how strong, tears not unlike wet parchment before the strength of the Prince of Power.”

Hercules proved his boast correct, and the Avengers leaped into the ship. Thor was the second one in behind Hercules, and he quickly scanned the grotesque phantasmagoria of weapons-wielding monster warriors that made up the ship’s crew, with the Magus standing front and center. Without a millisecond to spare, Thor hurled his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, directly at the Magus’s head, distracting the Magus before he could work his deadly cosmic black magic on any of the Avengers. The impact of Mjolnir was enough to stagger the Magus, and Thor quickly picked up Mjolnir and pounced on the Magus, beating the cosmic demon relentlessly and without pause.

The crew fired their weapons at the Avengers, and once again, Hercules took the point, the rays of the crew’s pistols doing little more than tickle his impressive form. “Test thy mettle against the Son of Zeus!” taunted Hercules. The crew took him up on his challenge, and soon Hercules was fighting three monsters at once without breaking a sweat.

The rest of the Avengers joined the fray. Thunderstrike’s hammer, while no Mjolnir, was still plenty powerful when he swung it at the monsters. The Black Knight’s neural energy sword was on its next-to-highest setting, shocking unconscious any monster that crossed the Knight’s path. The Vision made himself intangible when cornered, then turned around and bashed the monsters with his diamond-hard fists. Quasar acquitted himself admirably with quantum armor and a quantum mace. Carol Danvers blasted solar heat from her hands, and the Wasp used her bio-electric powers the same way...until one monster seized the Wasp in his hand and began closing it tighter and tighter. The Wasp feared she was going to be crushed to death, when, suddenly, the Black Widow leapt onto the monster’s back, pressed her Widow’s Sting bracelet against his neck, and fired. The monster let the Wasp go, convulsed for a few second, then fell to the ground unconscious.

The Black Widow took a moment to scan the bridge, and was pleasantly surprised to see that, although this environment did not allow Crystal to exercise her elemental powers, the Inhuman princess was more than holding her own, kicking and punching with the best of them. The Black Widow saw that she need not have worried that Crystal might be too sensitive or fragile to be a true fighter.

But while most of the Avengers were winning, Thor abruptly found himself flung across the bridge and against the wall by a tremendous telekinetic push from the Magus. Before Thor could get up, the Magus fired cosmic rays from his hands, re-opening the wounds that Sersi had inflicted earlier.

The Magus was about to turn the tide of battle with the remaining Avengers, when suddenly, Thor, biting the bullet and letting the warrior madness take over, flew at him with tremendous momentum. The collision was such that it sent Thor and Magus through the hull and out into space.

But Thor was winded as a result, and the Magus began beating him savagely into unconsciousness. Once satisfied, he picked up Thor’s body and threw it with all its might. Thor went into freefall.

The Magus was about to return to the ship when his head suddenly felt like would explode. Thena had snuck up behind him and used her telepathy on him.

“GET OUT OF MY MIND!” roared the Magus.

Thena did not yield, and after what seemed like an eternity, the Magus shape-shifted back into Adam Warlock.

Warlock hesitantly approached Thena. His words to her were simple and direct. “Kill me before he emerges again.”

“No.” said Thena. “There must be another way.”

“Kill me, I beg youuuuuuaaaaaAAAARGH!” Warlock transformed back into the Magus and looked at Thena with evil intent.

Thena unleashed a stronger telepathic blast and the Magus began shapeshifting again. But the rustiness of Thena’s telepathic powers severely limited what she could do. Would that I could sort out his mind, she thought ruefully, but...

“KILL ME!!” demanded Warlock.

Thena swallowed hard and activated her cosmic beams at full force. Warlock’s body was incinerated and reduced to a cloud of ashes.

Thena did not feel good about what she had done, but for the moment there were other things to think about, such as rescuing Thor’s body. She calculated his trajectory and flew off in that direction.

***********

Galactus knew the time had come for the final conflict. The monitor on his ship showed the roof of the Xunn-Zwar’s ship sliding open and the Xunn-Zwar avatar arising. The avatar unfolded his wings and stared ahead defiantly, knowing full well that Galactus was watching him.

Galactus exited his ship and went to confront the Xunn-Zwar avatar.

The two cosmic deities locked eyes. No words were exchanged, as they wouldn’t have carried in space, nor were thoughts exchanged telepathically. They were accustomed to this ritual, and nothing needed to be said.

Galactus made the first move, firing enormous cosmic bolts from his hands. The avatar was unfazed, and retaliated by flying straight up and then dive-bombing Galactus, who in turn fired cosmic beams from his eyes, which the avatar dodged by zig-zagging. The avatar sank its fangs into Galactus’s right arm and filled Galactus with cosmic venom. Galactus had a strong immune system, but the momentary effects gave the avatar the opportunity to slash and tear at Galactus’s midsection. Galactus rallied and grabbed the avatar by the arms. The two wrestled each other to a standstill, but Galactus was weakening rapidly from his injuries.

Thanos, watching from a safe distance, decided that there was only one thing to do. He unsheathed his enchanted dagger and carved one last arcane symbol onto his flesh. This was the crucial symbol, and it set off a chain reaction that caused all the symbols on Thanos’s flesh to glow brightly. Thanos flew purposefully towards the avatar, dagger aloft. He landed on a soft spot on the avatar’s back, and plunged his dagger with all the force he could muster.

The avatar let go of Galactus and began thrashing around wildly as the same cosmic chain reaction flowing through Thanos was incompatible with the avatar’s life energies. As with the monster the avatar had turned Ikaris into and Thanos had killed earlier, Thanos caused the avatar to implode and begin folding in on itself. The spectacle was not unlike that of a star dying. A blinding burst of cosmic crackle lit the spaceways, and then both the avatar and Thanos were gone.

The ritual was over, and it appeared that Galactus was once again the one who survived to tell the tale.

***********

After the Avengers and the Terran Eternals had been deposited back home on Earth, Quasar and Carol Danvers sought a private place to talk.

“I think I may have jumped the gun.” she said, biting her lip.

“I’m actually relieved to hear that.” he said.

“Only time and distance will tell if it was anything more than the heat of the moment.” she said.

“So you are going back to the Shi’ar empire?”

“I feel obligated to. I know it like the back of my hand, and those Seeds of Evil that got away need to be hunted down and destroyed.”

“Well, good luck.”

“Same to you, and to all the other Avengers.”

They paused, as if they were both tempted to kiss again. But, in the end, she flew away without a show of affection.

Quasar sighed and watched her disappear into the sky. His melancholy was broken by a friendly and familiar voice.

“Hey, Quazey-Man!” said Makkari of the Eternals, one of Quasar’s best friends. “Guess what? Thena has assigned me to help the Avengers find Sersi!”

“That’s great,” said Quasar, smiling. “We have a lot to catch up on. In the meantime...race you back to Avengers Mansion!”

“You’re on!” laughed Makkari.

**********

“But I insist!” said Thena to the Black Widow. “Since Sersi destroyed the mansion, I feel a responsibility to have the Eternals repair it.”

“Oh, all right,” said the Black Widow, “you talked me into it.”

“One caveat, however – it will take some time, as I have received word that, during the absence of the most powerful Eternals, our home of Olympia has been destroyed by Blastaar, who escaped captivity.”

Out of the corner of her eye, the Black Widow saw Moondragon approaching.

“I was told you are the current leader.” said Moondragon.

“For the moment.” replied the Black Widow. “What can I do for you?”

“I would like to join you, if you will have me.”

“If we’ll have you? That doesn’t sound like you, Moondragon.”

“I have emerged from the traumatic events of the recent past with a great deal of uncertainty of where to go with my life. I am hoping this will help me find direction.”

“Okay,” said the Black Widow, “I can’t promise you anything, but I’ll bring you up for a vote at the next meeting.”

“Thank you.” said Moondragon.

The Black Widow saw Hercules and Thunderstrike approaching her. “Excuse me.” she said to Moondragon, and walked over to them.

“The preparations are ready for Herc and I to take Thor to Asgard.” said Thunderstrike.

“And we can only hope,” added Hercules, “that they will have the means to heal him so he will emerge from his coma.”

“Our prayers will be with him.” said the Black Widow.

Some distance away, the Wasp and the Black Knight were talking.

“So are you gonna stick around and help us find Sersi?” asked the Knight.

“I guess so.” replied the Wasp, as if she wasn’t sure what exactly would be best to do.

“Hey, look,” said the Knight, “we just proved – out in space, no less – the we can all put aside our differences and work as a team. This could be the start of the greatest Avengers era ever, and I don’t want you to be sorry that you missed out on it.”

The Wasp’s mouth curled into a tentative smile. “I’ll think about it.” she said. “But thanks, Dane.” She shrank to insect size and flew away.

It wasn’t what the Knight had hoped for, but the thought that at least there was still hope for the Avengers was enough to make him grin.

**********

In a high-tech chamber beyond space and time, Sersi was imprisoned in a tube that kept her in suspended animation. The mysterious duo who had gathered her stood watching, along with their master.

“In her volatile state,” said the master, “she might have ended up as a consort to the Xunn-Zwar’s avatar. Truly, you have averted an omniversal catastrophe. But her fellow Avengers will inevitably search for her. It is your duty to misdirect them until the time is right. Timing is everything.”

The duo nodded and went to make preparations for their next move, while the master preoccupied himself with other things. Yes, he thought, one cataclysm has been averted, but the next might be the one that cannot be stopped.