ULTIMATE AVENGERS

Written by D. Golightly

“Generations”

GERMANY, 1945

“Invaders, assemble!”

The battle cry provoked the other allies of the speaker, calling their attention to his immediate situation. Even though they were otherwise engaged, they knew that the call had not been made needlessly and that their service was required. Dodging enemy gunfire had become second nature to them by now, having been in the trenches for a number of months, fighting for the life of the very world. As the call to arms reached their varied ears, they selflessly threw themselves toward their leader, paying little regard to their own safety.

Shells, freshly launched from enemy mortars, exploded all around them as they raced across the terrain, a muddied and war torn rural area miles inside the German borders. The entire contingent of U.S. enlisted men that had accompanied them in their campaign lay dead, strewn about the field like rag dolls. Their numbers had dwindled since entering the war, but that was the cost of protecting freedom and they gladly embraced it. For some the danger came naturally, for others it was a challenge. For their leader, a chiseled man of perfection marked as a captain in the U.S. Army, it was a way of life.

A walking, living, breathing symbol of the United States, a man garbed in a red, white, and blue costume had been forced down to one knee. His red boots were encrusted with the wet soil of the Earth, sullying an otherwise flawless image that inspired entire platoons of soldiers. His facemask was pulled back from his head, revealing his almost boyish features and blonde hair, and if he weren’t fighting for his life he might have worn his signature smile that caused women to swoon.

Braced against his forearms, the captain balanced a shield that was painted in the same colors as his outfit. It was the only thing keeping a gnarled, green fist bigger than his head at bay, and with each passing moment he was pushed a little deeper into the mud. His own strength was greater than the average man, but nothing in comparison to the vicious ogre that pummeled his shield relentlessly.

Nearly a hundred feet away, a man with blue skin rushed to the captain’s aid, saying, “We’re coming, Captain America!”

The blue-skinned ally of the captain, whose own features were distorted by the swirling water inside his helmet, bounded over a destroyed armored tank in one great leap. When he had first met the captain, he regarded him as any other human: cold, heartless, and irredeemable. But after recognizing the leader for what he was, the lost prince of Atlantis came to see humanity in a different light and joined the captain is his fight.

The prince, born Namor and revered as the hero called the Sub-Mariner, was determined to help his friend and comrade in arms. His containment suit, a gold and blue bodysuit that provided him with recycled water to breath, was more durable than most materials known to the surface-dwellers and would help protect him when he reached the brutish monster that sought to squash Captain America.

Just as Namor landed on the other side of the disabled German tank, a thunderous noise shook the very heavens. A split second later a yellow bolt of lightning struck the prince square in the chest, driving him back into the metal siding of the tank he had leapt over. His suit was scorched from the lightning strike that had been anything but coincidental, but it remained sealed. The water inside his transparent helmet sloshed about, but his eyes, attuned to the depths of the seas and glazed over with a thin film, pierced the liquid as easily as they would the air.

Floating above them all, watching like a guard dog, was the god-like being that had summoned the lightning. Since the battle began the enormous and muscular man had remained hovering above his master and had yet to enter the fray. He wielded a bulky hammer in one hand, made of stone and larger than a bowling ball. The blue electricity that had mixed with the lightning strike still seeped off of his hammer, flashing and dimming with the subtle movements of its bearer.

“Imperious..rex…” Namor managed to mutter as he stared down the hovering guardian.

“Sub-Mariner!” a scratchy, metallic voice called to him. Namor stood up, rubbing his chest, and looked over his shoulder where he saw the clanging steam-powered android trudging toward him. “Do you require assistance?” the robot asked.

“Nay, friend Torch,” Namor replied. “I’ll take the fight to the skies if I must. That oafish brute must be dealt with, but so must the one engaging the captain. Aid our leader, fellow Invader! Do not trouble yourself with the prince of Atlantis.”

Namor bent at the knees before pushing off of the terrain, launching his own body into the air. Whereas most men would simply fall back down to terra firma, the Sub-Mariner, mightiest of warriors from beneath the waves, defied gravity itself and continued to ascend to the heavens. His floating assailant, still resting in space as if in a trance, waited for the battle to come to him. He had been instructed not to leave his master, and as long as Loki stood, so too did Thor.

The image of Namor flying at an alarming rate toward the menacing god reflected off of the Human Torch’s outer casing. Even though his given title included the word human, the robot was anything but. He was cast in tempered iron, and pieced together like any other machine. While his face had been constructed to mimic a man’s face, it was devoid of skin and tissue. His entire body was comprised of nothing but metal, with his extremities powered by a steam engine inside his belly. A pair of smoke stacks attached to his back funneled the white smoke out of him, leaving behind a smoky trail wherever he went.

The world’s first sentient robot, the Torch had been constructed by the renowned genius Dr. Yinsen and debuted at the World’s Fair, shocking all when he fought off the Nazi saboteurs only moments after being unveiled.

After the assassination of Dr. Yinsen, a defected member of the Nazi party, the Torch had been approached by the military to aid their forces overseas along with Captain America. Even though combat was not his original intention, the Torch accepted the offer in search of some form of retribution for his murdered creator.

Together Captain America, Namor, and the Torch had founded the Invaders, the world’s first collection of super-powered men. Their position on the front lines in the war, possibly the greatest of wars, had saved more lives than could be counted. The Human Torch, unable to harness that raw sense known as emotion, fought beside his comrades to his fullest capability, which was more impressive than any other artificial weapon known to man.

The Torch began to trot across the uneven ground again, heading toward the captain. Even though he would rather they stayed together, the Torch knew that once Namor had determined something it would be impossible to convince him to do otherwise.

Nearly a dozen yards away from the green behemoth pounding against the captain’s defenses, the Torch ignited his signature weapons and unleashed a torrent of flame. The red, yellow, and orange flames burned as they leapt forth from his wrist-mounted flamethrowers, instantly charring the green hide of the abomination that had been set upon them by Loki. The fire, spurned on by the same engine that powered his movements, grew hotter and hotter while displaying just why the Torch carried the other half of his title.

The slobbering green giant took a few steps back, finally allowing Captain America to stand back up. Its red tongue lashed back and forth as it roared its discontent at the pair of heroes, licking at the cool evening air once it was away from the flames. It threw its arms over its head and bellowed, spittle running down the length of its thick neck. It tried to charge them, but the veritable wall of flame that the Torch had created kept it at bay.

“Thanks, soldier,” the captain said as he caught his breath. “Loki opened a portal to God knows where and that thing came out.”

“Where are the others?” the Human Torch inquired. “Lady Liberty and Marvel should have answered our summons by now. As strong as we are, the Invaders are nothing without their full roster.”

Captain America affirmed his grip on the strap attached to the back of his shield. “They’ll be here,” was all he said before he ducked under the Torch’s flames and charged the green goliath, chopping his shield at the creature’s knees.

Overhead, Namor collided with the warrior known as Thor head-on, smashing his fists against the blonde thunder god’s chest. Namor had heard of the fabled Norse gods, but didn’t believe they existed until Loki had torn apart the fabric of reality and the Invaders had been called to handle it. Smashing into the hovering god barely moved him, even though the bones in Namor’s hand nearly shattered upon connecting.

“Stand down, oaf!” Namor commanded as he threw a right cross at the god.

With his free hand Thor caught the clubbing fist, stopping it cold only halfway. Namor looked into Thor’s eyes, shocked that such a thing had transpired. The strength of the Sub-Mariner was enough to bend steel, but this silent enemy had not reacted to anything he had done.

“Unhand the prince of Atlantis, vile pig!”

Thor hefted his hammer, and with one quick stroke, smashed it into the clear helmet encasing Namor’s head. The strike pushed through, smacking the Sub-Mariner in the head and rendering him unconscious. Thor let go of Namor’s fist, letting the prince fall to the ground, no longer able to stay aloft under his own power. The emotionless god watched Namor fall, uncaring of his or any other’s fate aside from Loki’s.

Mere feet from the unrelenting ground, a white and green blur swept under Namor, saving him from imminent death. The symbol upon his savior’s chest was foreign to the world, an insignia that marked his rank in an armada he no longer belonged to. He gently touched down on the ground, laying Namor out at his feet carefully.

“Is he all right, commander?” a strong and feminine voice asked.

The tall man watched his partner, a beautiful woman garbed in a blue costume with the American flag wrapped around her waist and a short red cap flapping from her shoulders, touch down beside him. “He’s breathing, Lady Liberty,” he answered. He looked up at the god who had struck Namor, saying, “Take care of him. I’ll handle that one.”

“But what about the captain?” Lady Liberty added quickly. “Prioritize, Marvel. That windbag up there isn’t coming after Namor, but the jolly green giant is throttling our teammates. I’ll get Namor to water, but you need to help the others.”

Marvel, former commander of the Kree armada that very nearly conquered the globe, nodded in agreement. “Aye, aye,” he responded.

Commander Marvel, an alien living among humans, took to the air just as Namor had before him. His green helmet covered most of his face, but Lady Liberty could see that his mouth was held tightly shut in determination. She briefly thought of the similarities that Marvel and the Sub-Mariner shared, but quickly dismissed the notion as she tended to the prince.

She had joined up with the Invaders at the same time as Marvel, during the same mission that had brought them closer together. When the chemicals that empowered Captain America had been accidentally passed on to her, mild-mannered Madeline Joyce had been transformed into the high-flying, super-speeding Lady Liberty. The way the chemical cocktail, an experiment in the highest sense of the word, had developed in her system was dramatically different than how it had affected the captain. Not only were her powers different, but the chemicals had nearly driven her insane. With the help of the commander, whom she had met during his altercation with the Invaders and fallen in love with, she had been brought back from the edge and helped to fight off the Kree armada.

The five of them were the current members of the world-famous Invaders, America’s answer to not only the Axis forces, but the more interesting things that threatened humanity. The unbridled fury of Loki had swept into the area like a storm, riding the heels of a Nazi supplement that was doing its best to retake a particular hill that U.S. troops had acquired. Why Loki had chosen this region was unknown, but Lady Liberty couldn’t worry about that for now. She had more pressing matters to attend to.

She picked the Sub-Mariner up in her arms and focused her power into her legs. A moment later she was racing along the ground, doing her best to dodge stray bullets from the battle that still raged nearby. Her speed built up exponentially with every step, propelling her and the unconscious Namor further and further away. She had to move fast; Namor would suffocate if she didn’t get him to water quickly.

They weren’t far from Bremen, which meant that the North Sea was the closest body of water. She reached the top of a hill, and by combining her powers of flight with the momentum she had built with her tremendous speed, she jumped over the oncoming valley with ease. Seconds later she raced alongside the waterfront of the salty sea and abruptly stopped at the beach’s edge.

The Sub-Mariner began to stir in her arms as she waded a few feet into the sea. She gently placed the dreary Namor into the water, saying, “Relax, sweet prince. You’ve pulled your weight. Let us take it from here.”

The Sub-Mariner sunk into the icy waters of the North Sea as waves created by the rushing wind in Lady Liberty’s wake washed over him. She raced back toward the battlefield, hoping her brief absence hadn’t cost her teammates dearly.

Meanwhile, Commander Marvel had wrestled the green monster away from Captain America and the Human Torch, holding it back in a full nelson arm lock. Marvel’s impressive strength seemed to rival that of the creature’s, even though he was easily a third its size.

Captain America slammed the front of his shield into the creature’s face, forcing it to turn its head but otherwise doing little harm. “Hold him steady, Marvel!” Captain America said.

“I’m trying to,” the commander replied with a sneer. “But Loki outdid himself here. Whatever this…thing is, it’s almost as strong as me!”

The Human Torch, having withheld his flames for fear of harming his teammates in such close proximity, added, “Perhaps the dark mage himself could enlighten us as to this monstrosity’s purpose. My ocular lenses have finally located him, sirs, atop the very hill that the Nazi forces sought to reclaim.”

“Fine,” Marvel spat out. “Then we’re taking the fight to Loki. Follow my lead, Invaders!”

The former Kree commander dug his fingers into the beast’s hide, holding as tight as his inhuman strength would allow. He shot into the sky, tugging the raging monster with him. Captain America and the Human Torch quickly followed below, traveling as fast as their legs would allow. Every few seconds they tossed a look skyward, making sure they were matching Marvel’s trajectory, which was leading directly to the top of the hill.

Flashes of white light sprung from the tip of the mound as they approached, and they saw that both armies had retreated from their positions. Something had interrupted their war, something that only Loki could answer for.

“Be on your guard,” Captain America instructed his artificial comrade as they ran. “The last time we traded blows with Loki, he very nearly wiped out all of France. He’s a dangerous foe; a magician of the highest rank. We need to end this as quickly as possible, soldier.”

“Agreed,” the Torch responded. The joints in his legs squeaked with each step; it had been some time since the automaton had enough downtime to properly maintenance himself. “The sooner we get to the bottom of this altercation, the better.”

Marvel reached the apex of his ascent and began to plunge down toward the flashing lights, pulling the dangerous and thrashing beast with him. Its claws tore at him, shredding his green gloves, but he maintained his grip and dove down to where he saw Loki standing amongst a set of floating multicolored stones.

The wizard saw the approaching pair a hundred feet above the ground and scowled. He had been concentrating on his spells, delicate as they were, and hadn’t paid the so-called heroes any mind. Regretfully, he tore his thoughts away from the glowing stone orbs surrounding him and focused his attention on the pile-driving force heading directly for him. Loki murmured an incantation and his aura shown brightly against the relatively dull color of the stones, surrounding him in a blue hue reminiscent of the moon.

The wizard’s aura hardened and grew, creating an energy cocoon around him that was as thin as an eggshell. Marvel collided headfirst with the shell, bouncing back into the air while the green beast collapsed to the ground at Loki’s feet. “Useless ogre,” Loki scolded as the beast tried to stand back up, only to fall down again.

Commander Marvel righted himself in the air, shaking his head to clear the pain away. His helmet was now dented and bent, getting in the way of his vision. Woefully he removed it, feeling like he was removing a piece of himself. The alien warrior had been bred to fight, and taking off a piece of his armor was like admitting to failure in battle. His pink skin was bruised from trading blows with the abomination, but he was satisfied to see that the monster had not gotten up after the crash. He allowed a slight smirk before angling himself to fly back at the enemy.

He only made it a few feet in the air before something struck the back of his head. He tumbled down, spiraling toward the ground. His vision blurred but as he tossed head over heels through the air he saw that the blonde god had attacked him from behind with his hammer. The legend known as Thor was still enthralled by the dark mage Loki, and still a silent protector of the evil one.

Marvel slammed into the ground, kicking up dirt and rubble with the impact. Captain America, the Human Torch, and Lady Liberty arrived atop the hill just as Marvel tried to push himself back up, only to fall again and pass out.

“Ah, the rest of your little friends have arrived,” Loki said as he stepped between Commander Marvel and the rest of the Invaders. “Welcome, Invaders. Welcome to your doom!”

“What’s going on Loki?” Captain America demanded. He ground his teeth, wishing he had been just a bit faster, but instead held his ground. He watched Thor descend behind the evil wizard and tried to determine their best course of action. “You’ve always been reckless in your disregard for human life, but you’re no fool. Tell us what’s happening?”

Loki parted his golden cloak and rubbed one of the protruding horns from his helmet absentmindedly. The green tunic he wore beneath the cloak was a traditional costume that held a certain magical charge about it, boosting his already impressive powers. His gloves and amulet were also special talismans that he had gathered over the years, each time amassing just a little more power. In their battles with the mage in the past, removing the talismans had been a way for the Invaders to gain leverage against Loki, but with the seven-foot tall blonde god watching them it would prove difficult to get close enough.

“And why should I do that, captain?” Loki pondered aloud. His gaze returned to the floating stones, six in all, and it seemed as if he was paying more attention to them than he was the heroes. “You’re already too late to stop me. Even though you overcame my ogre I still have more than enough power to deal with you myself.”

The Human Torch took a step forward, intending to ignite his flamethrowers once more. Lady Liberty held out her arm, stopping the automaton, saying, “You’ve never used pawns before, Loki. Is your power actually slipping away enough that you need help?”

Loki snarled, scrunching his face together in irritation at the insinuation that he was weak. “Help? The brutal beast you so easily dispatched was a minion I pulled from the fabled realm of Asgard. The terror it instilled in people gave it the pseudonym Destroyer and it was thought to be one of the catalysts for Ragnarok. I see now that the ogre’s reputation was greatly exaggerated and it was a waste of time.”

With a wave of his hand and another spell passing through his barely parted lips, the bulky green creature called the Destroyer evaporated from their dimension. “I’ve returned it to the Iron Woods of Asgard where I found it,” Loki added. “You remember Asgard, don’t you, my Lady?”

“I remember,” she replied. “You abducted me to there in some ridiculous bid to conquer a mythical city. Pure insanity. I also remember how we stopped you then, too.”

“Insanity?” Loki screamed, causing his aura to flare up. “Insanity is refusing my offer of immortality. When I discovered that I was in fact the reincarnation of the actual Loki, god of Asgard, and not just a normal human like you sniveling wastes of life, I sought to share my birthright with you! I thought you would be the only one worthy to produce an heir for me, but I thought wrong. You rejected me, along with your last chance at survival.”

Loki allowed his cloak to slip back around the front of him as he walked between the hovering stones, each a foot in diameter. “Now I’ve not only found a dimensional junction atop this hill, but I’ve used the power of these stones to overcome the mind of my true self’s brother, Thor. He is a god, Invaders. A true god, unlike myself, and he is mine to command. I pulled him to our dimension just as easily as I did the Destroyer, and so long as I possess these stones I will use his awesome strength as a weapon to conquer not only Earth, but Asgard as well!”

“You’re nothing but a simple upstart,” Captain America said. “You learned a few parlor tricks and now you think you have what it takes to be a god. I don’t care about who you claim to be, or what heritage you think you’re entitled to, but I will not stand idle while you senselessly murder innocent lives.” The captain raised his shield overhead and yelled their legendary battle cry, “Invaders, assemble!”

Lady Liberty, using her incredible speed, covered the distance between her and Loki inside of a second. She decked the wizard across his chin and kept running, snagging one of the floating stones out of place as she passed. She kept running, heading back down the hill, determined to put as much distance between Loki and the items of power as she could.

“Kill them!” Loki shouted. “Kill them all!”

Thor roared a mindless challenge to Captain America and the Human Torch, raising his mighty hammer over his head as he charged forward. Captain America bound forward with his shield extended in front of him, intending to use it with lethal force. Few understood the expertise of the captain while using such an odd weapon, but his shield was much more than a simple defense. Its edge was razor sharp, and with his increased agility he ducked under Thor’s sweeping hammer and sliced at the god’s midsection.

Captain America spun around readying his shield to deflect the retaliatory strike that was sure to come. He saw Thor turn but the god was caught in a wave of burning flame, distracting him from his attack. The Torch covered Thor from head to toe in his flame, but the god simply walked through the pyre, steadily approaching the robot.

“Torch!” the captain called out. “Get out of there! He’s too strong!”

The Torch backpedaled, releasing the safety gauges on his flamethrowers. The valves housed inside his wrists opened up, spewing out the special flammable mixture that Dr. Yinsen had invented, covering Thor completely. The mixture ignited once the flames touched it and the tips of Thor’s golden hair began to burn away. Yet, the Asgardian god kept coming.

Thor took one last lunge forward and grasped the android’s metallic head in his hand. He began closing his fingers, crunching the gears inside the Torch’s casing. The flames died off and the Torch went limp, held a few feet in the air by Thor’s now enclosed fist around his crushed head.

“No!” Captain America screamed.

Thor let the Human Torch drop to the ground, content that the robot had been defeated now that its extremities had stopped flailing. Thor lifted his right boot and stomped down on the torso, smashing the internal steam engine, a one of a kind creation by the deceased Dr. Yinsen. Puffs of gas and liquid squirted out of the Torch’s artificial body, effectively killing the robot that had tried so desperately to live.

Captain America raised his shield to slash down at Thor’s face, but the god turned and backhanded him faster than the captain could react. The star-spangled hero of the war rolled along the uneven ground, bumping his head against a pile of bricks that had once been part of a house. Darkness crept into the corners of his eyes and he tried to shake the feeling away, tried to stand, tried to fight. He looked up and saw Thor standing over him, and the last image processed in his mind before he was knocked unconscious by the steel fists of the god was Loki standing in the background, laughing.

“Fools!” Loki said between bouts of maniacal laughter. “You’re defeated at long last! I still have five of the precious stones and a god at my command, and what do you have? This world will bow before me and call me lord and master!”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”

Loki spun to see Lady Liberty swiftly race around him, grabbing another of the five remaining stones. She paused once outside their circle, saying, “I’ll hide these where you’ll never be able to find them again, Loki. It’s over.”

“Never!” the dark mage retorted as he began reciting another ancient incantation.

Bolts of pure magical energy erupted from his finger tips, arcing toward the Mistress of Freedom. She easily dodged the attack, grabbing another large stone as she ran. She leapt into the air to escape with the treasures, hoping that their absence would be enough to reduce Loki’s power.

“Retrieve that which is rightfully mine!” Loki ordered.

Thor jumped into the sky again, but was quickly tackled around the waste by Marvel, who had finally regained consciousness. They tumbled over each other, sprawling out on the ground in a mishmash of arms and legs. Lady Liberty continued to fly away, regretfully leaving her lover behind.

“Imbecile!” Loki charged his magical energies through his fingertips, shocking both the hero and the god alike. Their bodies convulsed, charring their skin and muscle. “I should dispatch you for your uselessness, just as I did the ogre!”

With a growl of disgust, Loki finally ceased his assault and recalled his magicks. Their bodies lay unmoving, with smoke billowing up from their burned forms. At the very least he found satisfaction that some of his enemies had been destroyed, regardless of the fact that he had lost half of stones of power.

When he turned to finish the ritual of unlocking the stones’ potential, he was shocked that they had all been removed from the sight. He swore openly, letting his rage be expressed through a maddening yell that echoed off of the hill. He caught sight of Lady Liberty hovering in the distance, holding the last stone under her arm.

“Wretched witch!” Loki screamed as magical energy seeped out of his eyes. “Return my property to me!”

Lady Liberty took one last look at her fallen lover, the courageous Commander Marvel, and flew off into the clouds. Tears splashed down her face as she departed, but she knew that Marvel would tell her to remove the stone instead of staying to help him anyway. Against her better judgment, she fled. She would hide the last stone where no one would be able to use its power ever again.

Loki, seething with anger, breathed deeply to try and calm himself. His attempt to overthrow a pair of realms had been thwarted, but there would be time to recover the stones. He knew that even though his human body was frail, the spirit of the Asgardian god of mischief inside him would live forever. There would always be time to amass the power again.

A strong hand clamped down on his left shoulder and spun him around. Loki, taken off-guard by someone being so close to his person, prepared to speak a defensive incantation but was knocked down by an explosive punch before he could finish. Thor, seething with a similar rage, stared down at the fallen wizard who had manipulated him and pointed an accusing finger.

“Thou art the insolent one who would dare control the mighty Thor!” the god said in a deep, reverberating voice. “I sense the spirit of my half-brother deep within thee. Whatever magicks thou used have been stolen away. I know not how you overcame the Odinson, but I assure thee that it shall not happen again!”

Thor lifted his hammer to strike down a fatal blow, but as the heavy mallet was raised over the god’s head, some invisible force held it in place. Thor strained to pull his weapon down to crush the skull of his mortal enemy, but found that even his impressive strength would not budge the hammer. It hung over his head, immobilized.

“What madness is this?” Thor demanded.

Clouds hovering overhead started to mix together, eliciting sparks from arcs of lightning. A thunderous roar sounded as the clouds scraped together, shaking the ground that thor stood on. The god of thunder, curious as to the cause of the disturbance, ignored Loki and looked skyward.

A hole formed in the center of the clouds and a golden light pierced through to light both Loki and Thor. A shimmering object, round and as wide as a man, descended through the hole and stopped a few feet above them. The object looked vaguely like an eye, rounded with an artistic pupil in the center that cast the golden light.

“Father,” Thor muttered as he kneeled down.

The eye swiveled slightly to look more directly at Thor, and a voice suddenly echoed into their eyes from somewhere far off. “My sons have quarreled for centuries,” the detached voice said. “Did thou think my eye would not see this? Did thou truly believe that Odin would not know of this mindless feuding?”

“Preposterous,” Loki said as he stood back up. “You’re a dead god, if you really are Odin. If who you claim to be is the truth, then why did you forsake me? Was Loki not your adopted son? Was I not your adopted son?”

The eye turned to face the dark mage, saying, “My word is law, son Loki. Do not question my will. Thou have attempted to push thou way into my kingdom yet again, even though I cast thee soul out into Midgard so you might learn humility. I see that I was wrong, and I must imprison thee in Asgard, the only place where thou truly belongs.”

“Imprison? Ha! There is nothing a dead god can do to a powerful sorcerer like me!” Loki began to mutter another spell, summoning the vast power he still had at his disposal. “So long as my spirit lives I shall never surrender!”

“Father,” Thor said as he stood. “Allow me to dispatch my brother and take my rightful place back at thy side in the Golden City.”

“No!” The eye spun back to Thor, its glow now changing to a deep red. “Even though thou seek my approval, thy own need to brandish violence so hastily makes me wonder if I did not err twice over. The cycle must stop lest the prophecy be completed and Ragnarok comes to claim us all.”

“But…Father…”

“I have spoken! I shall place Loki on the Isle of Silence, long past the Iron Woods and the plains where the wild boar roam, away from any semblance of civilization. His spells, with no manner of speech to propel them, will be useless. And thou, Thor, will be taught the same lesson in humility as thy brother. With hope I foresee that where I failed thy sibling I shall succeed in thou.”

A stream of light shot out of the pupil, engulfing both Loki and Thor. Both brothers cried out in agony, defiance, and anger. Their father, one by adoption and one by blood, whisked both their bodies and souls away from the Earthly plane, leaving nothing in their place.

The eye faded away and the sky returned to normal, leaving the war torn battlefield dark and empty once more. The marks of the cosmic battle remained, scathing the countryside like a scar. The only witness still conscious, an alien that had come to Earth to initially destroy it, tried to raise his head but found he lacked the strength to do so.

Commander Marvel let his head slip back into the mud. It was getting harder and harder for him to breath, and he knew that his life was slipping away. The Sub-Mariner was gone, as was his Lady. He saw the broken mess of gears and wires that used to be the Human Torch. Near the edge of the hill he saw Captain America’s bloodied face and doubted that he was alive.

The Kree warrior closed his eyes and pictured his home world, imagining the soft breeze of the planetary winds covering him. He had hoped to show his home to Madeline some day.

Had Commander Marvel been able to raise his head before he died, he would have seen a silent figure cloaked in a red cape watching him. As Marvel breathed his last breath, the silent figure began to rise into the air. The watcher’s golden helmet hid his features, allowing only a slot for him to see through.

Once the red-caped observer reached the parting clouds overhead, he whispered, “So it begins,” and vanished between the puffs of white heavenly bodies.

AUTHOR’S NOTES

I’m sure some of you are wondering why this issue starred the Ultimate Invaders and not the Ultimate Avengers. Well…I’ll get to that. But first, a bit of behind-the-scenes look at what it took to get here.

When I decided that I wanted to take on a new title at Marvel 2000, I posted my interests on the group message board and solicited votes to decide what I would write. The title ended up being UNCANNY X-MEN and I was really excited about the project, but not soon after the announcement was made I began getting tons of annoying e-mails. Other writers wanted to put their two cents in for what the new X-Men sister title should be like. Some flat out told me what I couldn’t do. Others demanded strange plot points. Still others argued my list of cast members.

Obviously, I decided to dump that project. This is supposed to be fun and it was quickly turning into something that was anything but. It was starting to be more hassle than it was worth, so I decided to screw it and do a project in the Alternate Branch where no one could bother me.

The Beginning of the End. Or perhaps the End of the Beginning, depending on how you look at it. This zero issue was written mainly to set up some things that will happen later down the line in the series, things like those mysterious stones, the Golden Age characters, Loki, and the stranger in the red cloak.

When I sat down to brainstorm for ULTIMATE AVENGERS, the first idea that came to my mind was, “Why are they called the Avengers?” I assume that Stan Lee originally chose the moniker because it sounded cool and would catch the eye of any kid with a spare dime. For this new title, I wanted the team name to actually mean something. Enter – the Invaders.

Obviously, the Invaders are now established in the past history for the Ultimate universe at M2K. Additionally, they are no longer together. I mean, most of them are dead. So how does that tie in to the upcoming Avengers team (set in present day, I might add)? You’ll have to wait and see in the next issue.

Hope you enjoyed what you read. Send me some feedback!

-Dave Golightly

12-08-07