“Come out Namor,” Dan projected his voice into the Atlantean kingdom, a resonance that flexed its defensive barriers inward. “Or I’ll peel back the walls of your city and fish you out myself!”
The halls of Atlantis vibrated, strained by the pressure of his biofield. The Atlantean king rose from his throne, face set in resigned lines. He waved aside his advisors and floated into the air, headed toward the exit of his palace.
“I’m coming, Superman, no need to take action against my people,” Namor spread his arms wide and took in his underwater kingdom. “Everything that was done, was done in my name. They had no choice in the matter at all…”
Dan rolled his eyes and teleported Namor to his position, several miles above the ocean. He wasn’t a madman. Atlantis would be left alone so long as its king faced his punishment. The power of the ancient kingdom would have made little difference in the battle with Apocalypse, Namor’s treacherous choice was the right one for the wellbeing of his people.
“Your citizens will be left unharmed,” Dan waved his hand and sent a symbiote clone into the Altantean’s body. It burrowed past Namor’s defences and settled under his skin. “You have two options ahead of you, ocean king.”
A snap of his fingers transported them to a newly constructed building, located in the centre of Manhattan Island. It towered above the rest of the reconstructed city, kilometres high and white as snow.
“You can join the Justice League as a full time member, under the monitor of the symbiote inside you,” Dan floated them to the pinnacle of the modern fortress, where a massive golden Superman symbol looked out over the landscape. “Or, you can spend the next hundred years in a Kryptonian prison, set free after your time has been served.”
Dan released his grip on the Atlantean and waved to the reconstruction efforts below. Countless humans worked beside Stark's robotic constructors, motivated to wipe away the ruins of war. They built a better world, one that Dan would properly defend.
“Figure it out on your own, the symbiote inside you will know what you’ve chosen and act accordingly,” Dan left the grim-faced king on the league’s rooftop, focused on an American test flight that laughed on the other side of the country. Carol Danver’s was about to become Captain Marvel, an event he planned to attend. “You’ve got two days to decide, or it’s into prison you go.”
A step carried him into orbit, where Carol and Mar-Vel were currently on the run from a Kree fightercraft. Most of this battle would go uninterrupted, fate left to take its course as Dan observed from the side. Once Carol gained her powers, he would move to intervene.
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The two small spacecraft spiralled through the upper atmosphere, Danver’s impressive piloting skill enough to keep them in the skies. She even managed to get behind her opponent, a temporary victory as the Kree vessel fired backwards and gutted the human-built craft.
Carol managed to guide her damaged ship into a controlled crash, over a lake and onto its sandy shores. Her vessel was destroyed, reduced to a crumpled central frame. Dan extended his biofield as the pilot pulled Mar-Vel from the wreckage, prepared to save the Kree from her death.
Mar-Vel was a valuable asset, one that Stark could put to good use. A blast of energy raced towards the scientist's chest, pushed to the side enough to turn a lethal injury into a flesh wound. The Kree defector dropped to the ground and the rest continued as fate demanded.
Carol fired into the ruined fightercraft, an attack that destroyed the prototype engine and infused her body with cosmic power. Dan drew in a small sample of the energy, enough for him to attempt experiments of his own in the future. The power stone could create all kinds of energy, so it may be possible to replicate Danver’s transformation in others.
“Looks like it’s time for me to get involved,” Dan waved his hand and hoisted the Kree warrior into the air, away from the unconscious Danvers and the injured Mar-Vel. He sent a signal to the Primes, a collection order for the two women next to the wreck. “It will be good to send a message to the Kree, as well as the Skrulls in the shadows…”
“Unhand me!” Yon-Rogg squired against the biofield’s grasp, locked in a struggle to raise his firearm. “Do you know who I am? I’m a Kree Empire Commander and leader of the Starforce!”
Dan ignored the Kree’s protests, focused on a scan of the space around Earth. It took less than a second to locate the alien cruiser that had brought Yon-Rogg to this system. Reality blurred around them, a shift that resolved into the inside of the Kree vessel.
“Come, Yon-Rogg,” Dan incapacitated the crew with a wave of his hand and sent out a legion of symbiote clones with the other. “Let’s go meet with your supreme intelligence…”
----------------------------------------
“Abeloth is unbound by the Force’s will,” the Father’s smile remained in place as he scanned over both Merlyn and May, no change in emotion as he continued to pull Anakin’s group toward the monastery doors. “As are you, May-EL of Krypton. Please do not interfere in this, the Force has made its decision and the boy has been chosen.”
Lightning crackled in a wave, followed by the echo of thunder as May blocked the old man’s path. She recognised this being from Dan’s descriptions, the Father of the last family of Celestials. The entities known as the Ones, who imprisoned Abeloth long ago.
“I won’t let you force them onto a path they haven’t chosen for themselves,” May drew in a slow breath, her new power like fire under her skin. Unfamiliar emotions rolled through her mind, idle thoughts of killing and eating this arrogant Force deity. “They are members of Krypton, free to follow whatever fate they create for themselves.”
“You stand no chance against me, or Abeloth,” the Father’s eyes emptied to black, spotted with countless small stars. He released his hold on Anakin and the others, hands raised toward May. “The only way forward that has any hope, is for the boy to take his place on the throne of balance. Now step aside, or I shall be forced to…”
May’s fist appeared beside the old man’s temple, too fast for him to respond. Ears filled with the roar of a dragon, she battered the Father towards the ground. Her magical energy had been transformed, refined into an unruly ocean of draconic might. It fused seamlessly with her biofield, a combination of power that fractured the space under her feet.
“I told you, Anakin and the others are protected,” May opened her arms to encompass the mythical landscape of Mortis. “If you don’t want to help us against Abeloth, then stay put in your kingdom and let us do our work.”
“INSOLENCE!” The Father exploded from the broken earth, face twisted well beyond a frown. The skies darkened as he raised his hands, a maelstrom of Force energy around his body. “If you wish to stand against the Force, then so be it…”