“This is incredible…” Bucky floated into the air, hands tightened into fists as he faced towards the sun. “This power… is this how you feel all the time?”
“Pretty much,” Dan scanned over the three newly made Kryptonians, watchful for any changes in their cellular structures. So far, all was well, though Bucky’s growth rate was higher than expected. “Be careful, your strength will only ever grow higher. All of you will need to practise until you can control your new power.”
“These symbiotes are useful little things, if a bit annoying,” Logan extended his claws and Primal wrapped the bone spurs in its metalized flesh. “These things are a lot more useful when they’re sharp.”
“I’m not a fan…” Steve rubbed at the star-spangled body suit made of his personal symbiote. “They’re awfully aggressive and they never shut up.”
“You’re just annoyed that your serum was the worst of the three,” Bucky snorted as he floated above his friend’s head, his own symbiote formed into a black armoured suit with a symbol of EL on his shoulder. He turned to Dan, head tilted to the side. “...so, do we have to take on ‘Super’ titles now?”
“You can call yourselves whatever you like, but I was thinking you could use ‘Winter Soldier’ as your alias,” Dan smiled as Steve jumped upwards to swat at Bucky. “You all seem stable enough to go about your lives, just be certain that your symbiotes maintain a connection with the lab monitors… once we’ve collected enough data, we’ll upgrade Steve to a better serum and…”
“We are receiving a transmission from Howard Stark…” Venom’s snarl interrupted Dan’s words and cut into the Antarctic air. “One of his shield locations has gone rogue, a base under the control of a German defector called Thule.”
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“Prepare the final round of sacrifices!” Blood splattered to the ground as Thule pushed his curved blade deeper into the gut of a chained, filth covered man. The rune covered edge wormed its way inward and up, past the vagrant’s lungs and into his heart. “Today, we shall open the way to a new world, a land where Hydra can prosper without the hounds of Superman on our heels.”
Gore slipped past his wrist as Thule ripped his ritual dagger from the man’s body and tossed him to the ground. It flowed backward, towards an unsightly void at the centre of the room. The Darkdoor, his life's work and the key to the technologies of an advanced but extinct civilization.
“Of course, good Doctor!” Mef, the man who’d made all this possible, gave a short bow as he waved to the attendants. Thin of frame and pale of skin, he still put Thule on edge after years exposure. “I’ve managed to round up more than enough from the streets of New-York. Soon, all your dreams will come true!”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
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“Thule…” Dan narrowed his eyes as he turned toward the coordinates. The base was wrapped in lead, typical of S.H.I.E.L.D to deduce some of Cal and Kara’s weaknesses. “It looks like he’s opening a portal, but the runes on that dagger…”
The library of the Ancient One held vast amounts of knowledge, and these markings were demonic in nature. They were matched to a certain Lord of Hell, another being that sat comfortably above universal power.
“It seems like Mephisto is making trouble,” Dan glanced at the distant Karma-Taj. The Sorcerer Supreme sat with her legs crossed, a smile on her face as she gave him a wave. “I did promise to defend the Earth, but you’d think she’d have let me know about the problem…”
A shake of his head and Dan rose into the air. Logan jumped up after him and joined Bucky at his side. Steve gave a few false starts, but finally levitated to join them.
“You’ve all got the location, so follow at your own pace,” Dan slashed a hand towards the S.H.I.E.L.D base and stepped through the shattered space. He could deal with Mephisto’s avatar, but not the devil himself. “I can’t let that scientist open the door…”
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“Here is the last of them, Doctor,” Mephisto gave the scientist a joyous grin as he pushed a pair of children towards Thule’s bloodsoaked figure. “A final cost to open the way to paradise!”
“Excellent, Mef, excellent indeed!” Thule turned a crazed smile to the terrified twins, blade angled to catch the light. “No price is too high to finish my life's work!”
The dagger slashed forward, driven by the manic Doctor towards the young girl's throat. Light rippled, a wave of force that clamped the weapon in an iron grip. Thule’s eyes bulged, his body ravaged by a violet light that reduced him to ash.
“That was a close one!” a voice rang out from behind, accompanied by a shudder of warped space. “Sorry, Mephisto, but the Earth is closed. No extra dimensional entities or avatars are allowed outside of business hours.”
“Superman,” Mephisto turned, a scowl on his face that warped into a grin. “It seems that you're a bit early to the party… I expected that old crone to intervene, but it seems she’s delegated the work to you.”
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“The Ancient One is watching us, nothing on Earth can truly escape her sight,” Dan shrugged as he drifted toward the void-black portal that remained unopened. A wave of his hands sent a cage of runes to seal the gate away. “She just doesn’t think you’re worth her time.”
Mephisto’s smile flickered, eyes reddened with rage. The humanoid avatar warped, its body replaced by a satanic visage. Red skinned and cloaked, he bared his teeth in Dan’s direction.
“Her time is running out, and you’re no match for me, Superman,” Mephisto squinted his eyes as he looked over Dan’s body. “Although you would make a perfect vessel for my power… where do you hail from, little godling?”
Dan returned the devil’s words with a cold expression. Fist pulled back, he maintained his silence and channelled the infinity stone’s power. Mephisto wasn’t worth talking to, a force for evil that haunted Earth like a cancer.
“The Ancient One’s death will be your own,” the avatar licked its lips as Dan’s fist closed with its temple. “I’ll wear you like a puppet and consume all that you…”
Purple luminance washed away the rest of Mephisto’s words, a destructive force that atomised the avatar and drove the devil’s consciousness back to hell. Dan let the power of his blow spill over into the base, a wave that reduced the fortified structure to ash.
“She’ll live long enough for me to outpace you, demon,” Dan shook his head as he rose from the devastation, a child under each arm. He would have to teach Logan and the others how to ward their minds. There was little doubt that Mephisto would target anything with Kryptonian DNA for possession. “...the power stone really covers for some of my weaknesses. I need to study how its energy functions, maybe my biofield can replicate it on its own.”
“Superman!” Bucky raced in from the horizon, face disappointed as he took in the destroyed base. “You didn’t leave anything for us to do…”