“Have you accessed Omniman’s memories yet?” Dan kicked back on an unknown beach, far from civilization.
Venom’s clone had plenty of time as it locked down the Viltrumite’s body and Dan was eager for the knowledge in the man’s head. He would have information on the galaxy at large, as well as on his own - rather aggressive - species.
“We have them… he has lived long, a life of blood and terror,” Venom let the images drift into Dan’s mind’s eye. Genocides and the chaos of battle dominated the majority. “Do you wish to experience them?”
“Not particularly… but it’s the fastest way to find what I’m looking for,” Dan sighed. Who knew if Nolan was the strongest of his kind, or an anomaly? Maybe he was a madman, on the run from his own people. “Let’s get this over with…”
A rush of foreign sensation filled his world. Thoughts and actions that were not his own. They began with a birth into a rigid, callous world. In this place, strength was everything. He trained every day, hard effort spent to grow his body before his powers awakened.
A year after he finally took to the skies, Nolan joined the military. The only real choice for an ambitious young man. More training, extermination exercises against rebellious planets, then a sudden change. He was recalled, alongside all the others, to Viltrum, his home.
The Great Purge. A civil war that ended with the forced cleanse of his race, and the death of the Emperor. Nolan came under the tutelage of Grand Regent Thragg, the new found leader of the Viltrumite empire. After that, everything blurred together. A kaleidoscope of murder and death as he advanced the cause of Viltrum.
It ended with the only colour that had ever pierced his rigid life. His time on Earth. His Wife and Son and the home he had built. The conflict in his heart between duty and the justice he pretended to stand for.
“Jesus…” Dan rubbed his temples as the veil of Nolan’s life fell away. Omniman had lived a tragedy filled with more evil than he could fathom. “I’ll need to deal with this Thragg character, the Viltrumite Empire has taken things to an insane extreme.”
Join or die. Loyalty or death. That was the overall message of Viltrum. If he wanted to expand his own Empire into this universe, Dan would need to bring an end to their reign of terror. Thragg was far stronger than Nolan, a world killer.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Hmmm?” Dan tilted his head. A strange vibration filtered through the air, a series of frequencies that built to a tremor in the sandy beach. “Looks like someone is launching a rocket…“
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“We’ll take the lead!” May accelerated beyond the speed of Padme’s speeder and waved to Anakin. They raced toward the capital, a straight line pointed at the darkness that waited for them. “We’ll work together to deal with whatever’s in there, but let me make the first move, ok?”
“Alright,” Anakin shrugged and scratched at his neck. “I don’t think it should be a problem, we’re pretty much unstoppable!”
May rolled her eyes. The boy had become too arrogant ever since Dan gave him the Superman serum. He was behind her, as far as powers went, but his overbearing talent in the force put them side by side in overall strength. She would need to take him down a peg in the future, or he would become even more broody and reckless.
“Just keep your guard up,” May moved faster. A longer lead on the Jedi would help protect them from whatever remained of the plot. “We’re strong, not immortal, and Merlyn has met force users that he claimed as his match.”
“Yeah-yeah,” Anakin waved his hands as they stormed a landing bay in a rush of wind. “That old goat keeps saying so, but I haven’t been impressed so far…”
He raised his palms and launched a rain of magic arrows. White lances, tinted with a blush of purple, pin-cushioned the bodies of all the droids around them. Famine, Anakin’s symbiote, let out a satisfied roar, a small face extended to snarl at the fallen robots.
“GIVE US YOUR LIVES, VERMIN!” Famine gnashed his teeth, a tint of madness in his miniaturised eyes. “GIVE US YOUR EVERYTHING!”
A long clap interrupted the symbiote and drew their eyes to a hall, off to the side. A white haired, well groomed, bearded man stepped from the shadows. He wore a black cape, well pressed expensive material, and carried an unlit lightsaber on his belt.
“Most impressive, most impressive indeed!” Count Dooku finished his applause and stared at May and Anakin with passionate eyes. “I sense that the two of you have amazing potential,” He turned to Anakin with a smile. “You in particular, young man. You’ve got a spark that should be nurtured!”
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‘Looks like Mark is off on an adventure…’ Dan kept his distance as the young half-viltrumite chased after a rocket. Venom had hacked the thing’s system and determined it was a manned mission to mars. ‘I should get going as well.’
Venom was now ready to jump into the phantom zone. They could only travel within a galactic range, but it was enough to find a new base and make some new friends. The Viltrumites had a wealth of enemies, and he would reach out and seek an exchange of information.
‘I know a lot from Nolan’s memories, but I want more before I make a move.’
“Let’s go Venom, target the closest blue star to Earth and we’ll work outward from there,” Dan put the planet at his back and faced the depths of space. He would scout all the nearby locations for Kryptonian colonies and place the fortress crystal on the best of them. “If we hurry, we'll be done in a couple of months!”
The symbiote grunted in response and Dan fell outside of reality. Horror. Empty, hellish black, as far as his Kryptonian eyes could see. He had eternity to search the empty void, time almost meaningless. For the briefest second, before real space crashed against his senses in all its wondrous glory, he glimpsed a dim and distant light.