At the same time, in Camp Lehigh, New Jersey,
Two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were casually chatting with each other, standing beside a gamma container.
One agent sipped on a coffee and asked the other, "So, what do you guys think of that Starlance dude?"
"He's good. You gotta give him that much", Agent #2 replied.
"That much?" Agent #1 arched his eyebrow, "He's saved us from so many monsters, criminals, and terrorists."
"Hey! That's nothing", Agent #2 leaned closer and whispered, "I heard Director Carter is a little too close to him."
"Now, that is shocking..." Agent #1 made an ah-hah look and murmured, "Are you sure?"
"Yep!"
"How did you find out, man?", He asked while gushing to find something juicy.
"I think somebody fo—" He was about to reply when suddenly...
* BOOM *
The gamma container beside them burst open, and both quickly ducked to avoid the explosion.
Agent #1 looked up after the explosion and said, "What the fuck was that?"
"I don't know," Agent #2 replied.
They slowly stood up and looked at the Tesseract lying on the ground.
* TISSSS *
The ground near the Tesseract began disintegrating.
* TISSSS *
"Shit! Shit! "Agent #1 shouted, grasped Agent #2's shoulder, and ordered, "Call Director Stark! Hurry!"
Agent #2 hurriedly nodded and rushed out of the room. He ran through the different hallways of the base while ignoring the strange gazes he received from the other agents. Finally, he spotted Howard talking with Hank Pym and ran toward them.
"Stark!" Hank Pym said, "I don't know what to say to you. My advice would be to—"
"I don't need your advice!" Stark replied in frustration, "I want you to li—"
Both of them were interrupted by a frantic shout.
"MR. STARK!!"
Howard turned around and frowned when he gazed at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who was panting heavily with half his hair and suit burnt away.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Mr...Mr. Stark! T-The T...Tesseract..." The agent replied while trying to catch his breath.
"What happened to it?" Stark asked, confused.
The agent took a deep breath before shouting fearfully, "IT HAS AWAKENED!!"
Every agent in the hallway stopped and turned to look at him in surprise.
A few minutes later, Stark, Pym, and others stared at the Tesseract through a glass wall. It had been placed into a huge gamma container.
Pym stared at it briefly, saying, "The rhythmic pulse it's releasing is similar to a heartbeat."
"Yes," Stark nodded and replied, "But a more intelligent deduction of it would be that of a signal. If my theory is correct, the rhythmic pulse of energy it's releasing is like... It's calling out to someone."
"And, keeping in mind that my theory is correct, which it would be, obviously. The most important question would be.... who is the Tesseract calling out to?"
* * *
Val gazed at Apocalypse and burst toward him.
* BOOM *
A huge shockwave reverberated through the surroundings, which threw people around him away due to the intense pressure Val emitted while flying away.
Val arrived before Apocalypse and punched his chest using his full strength.
* KA-BOOM *
* CRACK *
Apocalypse was flung away as if he was a rocket.
* BANG *
* CRASH *
* BOOM *
Val watched as Apocalypse crashed through his pyramid, came out the other side, and chased after him.
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* BOOM *
Apocalypse saw Val arrive before and tried to punch him. But his weak punch was clear to Val, who ducked and targeted his ribs with a devastating punch.
* BANG *
* CRACK *
Val followed through with another punch targeted at Apocalypse's sternum.
* BANG *
* CRACK *
* SPLURT *
Apocalypse coughed up a mouthful of purple blood due to the pain he felt from Val's punches. He gritted his teeth and tried to attack him again with a right hook, but Val caught his fist and twisted his arm around his back.
* CRACK *
Apocalypse gritted his teeth while his face contorted in pain. Val whispered in his ear, "You think you're a God? Let me be the one to inform you - GODS. DON'T. FEEL. PAIN!!"
Val grabbed his shoulder with one hand, and with the other, he pulled Apocalypse's arm away.
* CRACK *
* SPLURT *
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Apocalypse screamed in pain as purple blood gushed out of his severed part.
* * *
Three years ago, in a HYDRA base,
* SCHICKK *
* SPLURT *
Wolverine pulled his claws from a HYDRA soldier's face and popped them back in. He turned around and saw Sabertooth walking toward him with a severed head in his hand while licking the blood off his claws.
"Is everything cleared up?" Wolverine asked.
"Yup!" Sabertooth replied and kicked the severed head in his hand away like a football.
* SHIIING *
"Hmmm?"
They both turned toward the sound and saw Val gazing at a container. They were intrigued by the bright blue light coming from it, so they came beside him. They looked inside the container and saw small cores filled with Tesseract's energy lying around in it.
Wolverine narrowed his eyes and said, "I've seen these cores somewhere before."
"Really?" Val asked with a slight smile, "Where?"
"Aha!" The realization hit Sabertooth, who said, "These were the cores HYDRA used in their weapons back when we were fighting alongside Cap."
He stared at the cores and said, "I didn't know they kept them safely till this day."
Wolverine glanced at Val, staring at the cores with eager eyes, and asked, "Don't tell me you're going to take it?"
Seeing Val nod, he warned, "I don't think you should take them. Playing with things like these is dangerous. Remember what ultimately happened to Red Skull."
"Nah!" Sabertooth dismissively waved his hand at Wolverine and said, "Take what you want. Just like how you took these HYDRA-lowlife lives. Who's stopping you, anyway?"
He glanced at Wolverine and asked, "Are you?"
"No!" Wolverine shook his head and said, "I agreed to raid this HYDRA base with both of you because of what these fuckers did to Kayla."
"What?" Val turned around and asked, "Kayla told you about her past?"
Seeing him nod, Val asked, "Aren't you mad? Your true love turned out to be a HYDRA spy working against you?"
Wolverine shrugged and said, "She didn't do it out of her own volition, bub."
Val nodded and said, "Yeah, you're right."
He turned around and gazed at the cores with a wide smile.
* * *
Back to the present,
Val raised his leg and kicked Apocalypse's back.
* BOOM *
Apocalypse was flung away, but he stabilized himself and turned toward Val.
"You will pay!" Apocalypse shouted, and a thick, purple cosmic beam emerged from his outstretched hands and shot toward Val.
* SHOOM *
* BOOM *
He sneered while thinking, 'It doesn't matter if he's still alive. I would kill him again. He can't defend against my be—'
However, his sneer vanished, and he froze in shock when he saw Val calmly approaching him even though the beam collided with his chest.
"H-How could y-you?!"
Val stood before Apocalypse and said, "Let me tell you another reason why you aren't a God."
He grabbed Apocalypse's hands and said, "GODS. AREN'T. WEAK!!!"
* CRACK *
"AAAAHH!" Apocalypse cried out as Val broke his hands completely. Then, he grabbed Apocalypse's head and banged it with his own.
* BANG *
* CRACK *
Apocalypse's armor cracked and shattered instantly, but Val wasn't done yet. He raised both of his fists and pummeled Apocalypse.
* BANG *
* BOOM *
* WHAM *
* BOOM *
A few seconds later, Val held on to a bruised and battered Apocalypse and said, "It's time to finish this!"
* BOOM *
He flew upwards in the sky with Apocalypse in tow.
* * *
Among the clouds in the sky,
Ajak, Sprite, Ikarus, Sersi, Thena, Kingo, Phastos, Makkari, Druig, and Gilgamesh watched the brutal Apocalypse beatdown.
Ikarus gritted his teeth and turned to Ajak with an angry expression. He shouted, "Why aren't we doing anything?!"
Ajak, however, didn't reply and kept watching the scene.
Ikarus grunted in displeasure and turned back to look at Val beating Apocalypse. When Val caught Apocalypse and flew into the sky, he couldn't control his emotions and again asked Ajak, "Why are we standing here and watching him? He will kill Apocalypse, who is too crucial for the Celestials' plans for evolution."
When she didn't respond, he gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! You can stay here, but I'm going to stop him."
When he was about to go, he heard Ajak say, "Don't do something you will regret later."
Ikarus stopped and asked her with a confused expression, "What?"
"Don't do something you will regret later," Ajak repeated while staring at him without any expression and said, "Is what Arishem told me earlier."
She looked at Val and continued, "I was confused like you before, but seeing this... made me realize the meaning behind Arishem's words. He was warning us not to interfere in this battle."
"What?!" Sprite shouted and asked with a shocked expression, "Arishem mentioned HIM?"
The other Eternals looked at each other and began talking about Val.
Ajak gazed at Val and smiled slightly, thinking, 'Even Arishem recognized this human. Despite not having the most powerful of powers, your heart is a warrior's.
* * *
* WHOOOSH *
Val kept flying upwards until he emerged out of the Earth's atmosphere and into the vast darkness of space. He stopped and turned Apocalypse around, facing Earth.
Val whispered in his ear, "Wanna know the last reason you aren't a God?"
He grabbed Apocalypse's head and drove his fingers in his eyes.
* SPLURT *
"AAAHH!" Apocalypse cried out and grabbed Val's hand, trying to make him let go.
Val increased the pressure and shouted, "Because GODS. DON'T. DIEEE!!"
* CRAAAACK *
* SPLURT *
Val tore Apocalypse apart without holding back anything. Purple blood and flesh flew all over the place.
A purple mist emerged out of his body. Val looked at it with disgust and said, "Get the fuck out of here!"
The purple mist floated before Val for a few seconds before flying away.
Val scoffed and looked at what was left of Apocalypse, then at the sun.
* BOOOOM *
He flew toward the sun and flung Apocalypse's remains into the sun.
He watched Apocalypse slowly disintegrating away and muttered, "Farewell, Pharaoh.."
When he couldn't see his remains, he turned around and flew toward Earth.
* BOOM *
A few minutes later, the people in Cairo looked up and saw a 'meteor' heading toward them. At first, they were scared but...
* BOOM *
When the 'meteor' landed and the dust settled, they were relieved to see it was their symbol, justice, hero... Starlance.
Val looked around, smiled, and shouted, "Why fear when the Starlance is here?"