“This place is incredible!” Howard’s eyes couldn’t focus on a single point, called to countless unusual technologies that filled Prime One’s laboratory. “What powers all this?”
“Currently the Fortress draws most of its power from the All-Spark, but it can be fueled by the Tesseract as well,” Prime One sighed as he picked a young Tony from behind a command console. “Please, refrain from disassembling active components. If you wish to study the control systems I shall create a replication…”
“Sorry, tin-man,” Tony gave a sheepish grin and handed over a complicated energy capacitor. “...is there any chance I could take a look at your schematics?”
“My schematics are extremely complicated…” Prime One hastily set down Tony, before the young man could finish prying open a panel on his back. “Please, have patience, I…”
A crimson pulse flared to life, followed by the howl of an alarm. Prime One’s face hardened, his body positioned between the Stark’s and the entrance to the lab. Energy crackled over his metallic skin, projected into a shield that captured an explosion of silver-white.
A purple-grey giant pushed through the ruined wall, eyes bright as he glanced around the laboratory. The oversized humanoid ignored Tony and Howard, greedy eyes focused on the miniaturised genesis chamber in the back of the lab.
“Interesting,” a smile twitched at the corners of the man’s lips as he took a step toward the chamber. “It seems that Superman’s people are less primitive than expected…”
“HEY, APOCALYPSE!” A windstorm stirred up the shattered remnants of the wall, a herald to the arrival of a black-armoured form. Bucky Barnes appeared between the intruder and the genesis chamber, eyes lit by a crimson glow. “Keep your wrinkled fingers off of my boss's stuff!”
Twin explosions echoed from deeper within the Fortress, a wave of force that dimmed the lighting and shook Tony and his Father to their knees. Prime One tilted his head, mechanical face twisted in a frown.
“Four omega level mutants have teleported into the cell block…” the Prime’s eyes flickered, connected to the base’s sensors. “Amahl Farouk, Sebastian Shaw, and Nathaniel Essex have been freed from containment.”
“Quiet, machine,” En Sabah Nur flicked a hand in Prime One’s direction and blasted the mechanical Superman with a wave of silver flame. Driven backward, the Prime sacrificed his own defence and encased the Stark’s in a barrier of light. “Your betters are talking...”
Thunder clapped, a compression of air that staggered Apocalypse back a step. Bucky gave the bigger man a cheeky grin, even as he shook his numbed fist. His power had grown to unimaginable heights over the last few years, a strength he owed to Dan-EL and his kin.
“You’re a durable one, just like Superman said,” Bucky cracked his knuckles, a cold smile on his face. “How about you take off that armour of yours and fight like a man?”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Apocalypse scoffed as he rubbed his jaw, focus finally drawn to Bucky’s smaller figure. The mutant king let out a laugh and pounced forward, eyes hungry as cosmic energy bloomed from under his skin.
“Why would a God lower himself to fight like his lessers?” En Sabah Nur released a wave of cosmic force, strong enough to threaten Prime One’s defence of Tony and his father. “You are not like the other Supermen, your blood is of my blood…”
Bucky frowned, jaw set as he pushed his way through the light. He lashed out with a kick that slammed against Apocalypse’s breastbone and drove him from the laboratory. Superman would be here soon, but until then it was his responsibility to protect the others.
He was still the only person to take the mutant enhanced serum, the strongest on Earth besides Dan-El and the other born Kryptonians. Even Kara and Cal had some trouble keeping pace with his growth, though his mutation had yet to manifest itself.
“My blood is not of your blood,” Bucky unleashed twin lines of crimson heat, deflected and absorbed by Apocalypse’s defences. Dan-EL had warned that the mutant was nearly unkillable, but all he needed to do was buy time. “Just look at you… do you think my beautiful face could be related to that withered mug of yours?”
“Amusing,” Apocalypse vanished in a flash, his voice dispersed around the room. Laughter echoed from the shadows, its true location masked from even Kryptonian senses. “You will make a powerful apostle, once we have awoken your true self…”
A hand reached up from the floor and gripped Bucky’s ankles, tugged downward and twisted to slam him into the ground. An insidious energy forced its way under his skin, black as tar and just as thick.
“What…” strength left Bucky’s body, drawn away by the mutant king's touch. Thoughts came slow, singular moments stretched into years as a shadow rose within the depths of his mind. “What are you doing to me?”
“I am showing you the truth, child,” En Sabah Nur’s voice slipped through him like a snake, dry and cold as it burrowed ever deeper. “You are meant to stand above these foolish mortals, a god in a pantheon of evolution!”
The cells in his body trembled, twisted and reformed as his mutation was forced into the light by Apocalypse’s power. Fire consumed his bone, swept through his soul and turned his thoughts to ash. Nothing remained but the swell of power, a strength that forced a howl from his lips and into the air.
“Rise up, my first apostle!” Apocalypse reformed from the shadow, one hand on Bucky’s shoulder as a spatial crack formed at the centre of the ruined lab. A thunder of power rippled from beyond the portal, a familiar strength that Bucky’s shrouded mind couldn’t place. “You’re too late, Superman, I have what I need…” Apocalypse sneered as he gazed into the portal. “Come, first among my children, let us retreat for now.”
Dan-EL’s figure appeared, fist planted into the bridge of Apocalypse’s nose. The shadowed body evaporated at the slightest touch, a splatter of darkness that twisted itself into a darkened gateway.
Bucky sank into his own shadow, eyes unfocused as he revelled in the new-born energy within him. Superman’s hands snatched out, unable to take hold as the darkness rendered him incorporeal to the touch.
“We shall meet again, and soon, Kryptonian,” En Sabah Nur laughed at the cold wrath within Superman’s eyes, his voice contained within every shadow. “With the connection to my horsemen, my power has already begun to close with your own… thanks to your soft hearted nature, I now have three apostles to close the gap even further.”
The gate of shadow faded, along with the mutant’s voice, until only the sound of the Fortress’ alarms echoed within the lab. A cascade of runes swept through the area, cast from Superman’s hands in an attempt to lock onto Apocalypse’s retreat.
“Soon, this Earth shall once again be mine…”
----------------------------------------
“Is everyone alright?” Dan swept aside the dust in the air with a flick of his biofield. Howard and Tony flinched, huddled behind the back of a battered Prime. “No injuries?”
“We’re fine…” Howard checked Tony for wounds and came up empty. “Who the hell was that ogre faced giant?”
“An enemy that keeps slipping through my fingers,” Dan pulled Prime One to his feet and scanned the fellow’s damaged components. The mechanical Superman had done a great job, his injuries sustained to keep the Stark’s unharmed. “Get the other Primes to help fix you up, I’ll take care of things here.”
Dan scanned the ruined chamber. It would take the Fortress little time to repair itself, but the damage here was irrelevant. Bucky had been taken, captured despite the few seconds that passed before his arrival. Three omega level prisoners had also been freed, mutants that Apocalypse would add to his collection.
“His power was far greater than the last time we met…” Dan shook his head. En Sabah Nur could draw on the power of his chosen. With the addition of Bucky and the others, he would become stronger still. “I need to find a way of detecting his location, or he’ll soon become an even bigger problem.”