“Impossible…” The flash of light vanished as fast as it appeared and Shaw staggered back. Dan’s fist had connected, its power greatly reduced but not completely absorbed. “No one has that much physical strength.”
A thin line of blood trickled from the mutant’s split lip. The fact that he was alive at all was a shock. Under the might of a moon level attack, Dan expected the man to fall instantly. Yet Shaw only took superficial damage, wounds that already began to heal.
“We’re just getting started, Shaw,” the world flickered around him as he darted behind the Alpha level mutant. This time he would give a bit more juice, enough to ruin a small planet. “Keep those defences up!”
Dan’s knee slammed against the back of Shaw’s skull, accompanied by another flash of auras. The mutant tumbled forward, end over end, until he smashed into the ruins of the laboratory.
Another blow tossed him into the skies, on a course for the distant ocean. Dan had to keep up pressure on Shaw, or he’d turn around and release whatever he’d managed to absorb from his attacks.
A kick bent the man’s spine and launched him higher, an airborne missile set to enter the void of outer space. Blood seeped from Shaw's ears and nose, eyes half-focused as Dan continued to land blows against his head.
“I might be able to take him alive without using magic, if I wanted to,” Dan planted an elbow against the bridge of Shaw’s nose and sent him into a spin, one he corrected with a snap kick to the side. “I could beat him unconscious like Omniman and let Venom do his work…”
An itch travelled down his spine and called his attention to the nearby moon. Blackbolt had returned to his deadpan stare, finger pointed toward Dan. It shifted back and forth between him and Shaw, while Blackbolt shook his head.
“Everyone is in everyone else's business in the Marvel universe,” Dan rolled his eyes and flashed behind Shaw’s battered form. A quick, high powered chop to the neck reaped his consciousness and implanted a symbiote clone at the same time. “If I want to beat a monster to death in orbit, I should be able to without upsetting the Karen’s on the moon…”
He gave Blackbolt a wave and dragged Shaw back into the atmosphere, before the mutant died of vacuum exposure. A living sample was better anyway, especially since Shaw had exceeded his expectations. The man’s human level response time prevented him from putting his powers to their best use, but the durability was there.
“Time to take you to ‘Superman’s’ fortress of solitude and then check on the two teens,” Dan arced toward Antarctica and summoned their ship from its orbit around the sun. Jor-EL had been able to replicate a fortress crystal, one programmed to unfold into a fortified laboratory. “They should be about ready to storm the Red Skull’s base with Captain America…”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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“Thing’s have certainly changed over the years, but at least the Jedi Temple is still the same,” Bastila walked from their transport, onto the temple’s landing pad. She had joined Master Qui-Gon on this trip to Coruscant out of a nostalgic melancholy. “It’s so strange to be in the galaxy of your birth, but thousands of years removed from everything you know.”
“I can only imagine your sense of displacement, but the unchanging nature of this place is not to be praised,” Qui-gon placed a gentle hand on Bastila’s shoulder and guided her toward the opulently carved entrance. “The Master’s of this era have been blinded by the dogma that this stagnant temple represents.”
Bastila squinted up at the domineering towers, highlighted by the glow of the city below. All she experienced from this place was a sense of familiarity, something that this new universe had lacked over the past several weeks on Krypton. Even the scent of industry on the air awoke a deep rooted belonging.
“The Master’s of my time were also lost…” Bastila shook her head to rid it of thoughts of the Jedi punished by May’s glorious sun. “They believed their power allowed them to act without consequence, a belief that Mistress May corrected…”
“Lady May can be quite direct,” Qui-Gon laughed, an honest smile on his face as they stepped into the temple proper. “That’s why she sent me in her place… Krypton would prefer to absorb as many Jedi as possible, and the slaughter of the Council of Masters might make that more difficult.”
Bastila shuddered, again reminded of the cooked scent of the people she had once supported. May’s power had only grown since that day, a mountain that had no summit for her to reach.
“What are we here to do…” a group of younglings, led by a pair of bright eyed Jedi Knights, marched past them and out the door. Headed for an outing to the city, their excitement bubbled over the limited training they’d received. “This place seems so much better than the Order of my youth… can’t we let them be?”
“The most powerful Sith Lord to ever live almost took hold of the Republic, all while he stood shoulder to shoulder with the Jedi in this place,” Qui-Gon shook his head and sighed. His hand waved to the various statues of Jedi long past. “Perhaps these hero’s of old could have seen him for what he was, but the strongest of our era didn’t even know he was force sensitive.”
Bastila’s brow furrowed, but Qui-Gon held up his hand and continued.
“The purpose of the Jedi is to protect life and stand against the darkness, yet they have become beholden to a government they can’t even keep free of corruption,” the normally calm face that Qui-Gon held in place gained a determined edge. “The Order of Krypton will be a place for force sensitive to be free, not used as the lapdogs of the politicians.”
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“That’s Captain America?” Kara trailed after a primitive flying machine, eyes squinted as she peered through its metal casing. A star-spangled man sat next to an attractive woman, while a moustached fellow flew them through the midnight clouds. “He doesn’t seem like much of a soldier… more like a performer from one of those holo-novels in the library.”
“He’s supposed to be an enhanced human, one of the first to be considered a ‘superhero’ by the masses,” Cal banked downward as the Captain leapt from his plane, on the man’s trail with the faithful Bear. “He’s about as strong as the newborn's back home, if they didn’t have their symbiotes to reinforce them.”
Kara spiralled after Cal, face pinched as they closed towards the ground. She wanted to face a challenge, someone like this Captain couldn’t hope to fill the role. The Sorcerer’s had given her hope for the power of this universe, but the non-magical side seemed to lack the same edge.
“Well then, you should go with him and keep him safe,” Kara peeled away, headed for the nearby military base. “I’ll go find that red guy and the cube Master Dan-EL is looking for, once the two of you have been detected I’ll make my move!”
Cal’s cries went ignored as she raced away from Captain America’s position and toward the enemy base. The visions beyond its walls were filled with captured soldiers and a higher level of technology than expected for the world.
“It looks like that cube is some kind of power source, one they’ve weaponized en masse,” Kara frowned. The energy readings from the missiles showed that they had enough power to impact Kryptonian technology. “Now… where are you, Red-Face?”