Chapter 76: Chapter 76

Chapter 76

The Fastest Man Alive

By: BigToFu

 

 

Julian O'Tarr

Xander

Standing with her back straight, Julian checked over her dress uniform one last time before she arrived outside the cargo bay of Yondo's ship. After they had made it to the Nova Empire and had set up accounts with the Galactic Banking Guild, she had taken Yondu's offer to show her and the crew that came with her around the galaxy.

She of course knew that Yondu was only in it for the profit that he could smell, but when in the ocean one must always stay within the reef for as long as one can. Karadons tend to pick off stragglers, that was one of the first things they learned growing up in Atlantis.

Walking down the ramp of her shuttle, Julian looked around until she saw Sol standing next to Yondu by the shield control panels. Shaking her head at the sight of her friend still in her flight suit, Julian let out a sigh before walking over to the two, ignoring whatever it was that Yondu was wearing and desperately hoping that he wouldn't ask her advice on the matter.

That thought might as well be killed in its crib as he turned around with that crooked smile of his, by all waters that are holy. When in the hell did aliens learn of the gold tooth trend back on earth? As a matter of fact, Julian was certain that she didn't want to know.

Taking position beside the two, Julian gave her watch one last check before glancing at Yondu, "What's the ETA on the jump?"

Yondu huffed and tried not to act ruffled, "'Bout sixty seconds I reckon."

She nodded her head but the following thwump and shift of scenery outside the cargo bay windows shot a spike of nervousness up her spine. Clearing her throat once, she glanced at Sol who only rolled her eyes in return. The Emperor might not be one for grand statements or shows, but she wasn't about to rock this particular boat since he was happy to have been placed in charge of the away team.

Granted, Julian knew that Andromeda or Namora might have pulled strings in the background, but she wasn't just out here representing Atlantis, no, she was representing the entirety of the Empire. Ignoring Sol for a moment, Julian gave her Spartans one last look before nodding at the sight in appreciation. It was a very massive team but twenty Spartans in gleaming armor was a damn good sight.

Back straight and with a smile on her face, Julian placed her hand on the cargo bay controls and waited for the inevitable knock that came. Shadows shifted as they flew through space and what was a quick ten-minute flight almost felt like hours pass. Then, as she was getting a little twitchy to turn on the shields and gravity emitter, the ship pulled around and she was faced with a black sun on the other side of the viewing windows.

Her breath hitched as she witnessed something so beautiful yet so horrifying and she honestly didn't know what to think. The time to process it all passed her by as the knock came, a shave, and a haircut. Okay, she had to roll her eyes at that one, of course, he would use something so basic when they had one of the most powerful communications devices upon their wrists.

Shaking away her thoughts, Julian gave the control panel one last look before dropping the bay doors. Hovering on the other side of the bay doors were easily some of the most powerful beings that she had ever seen. Even the Nova core golden boys didn't stand up to the men surrounding her Emperor. These had to be the Primarchs that she had gotten the memo about.

Yeah, it was easy to see that these were the next line of the Astartes and, given the state of the Spartans, these Primarchs were clearly on a higher level, granted she loved her team of Spartans. The mountain of muscle on the other side of the bay doors cast easy gazes around but Julian was more than sure that they were capable of slaughtering Yondu and his crew within seconds if the Emperor had given the order.

After the Primarchs were the Emperor and a man sitting on a green and silver throne with a domineering mask upon his face. One delicate eyebrow raised when she noticed the gold and silver orb that was held possessively at his side. Yeah, with that mask and the clear postering, he was definitely Doom. Could he be any more cliche, if the profile on him couldn't be any more accurate?

His pickup line was probably something, like, Doom demands it.

Trying hard not to laugh at such a mental image, Julian went into a salute with a fist over her heart once the Emperor touched down within the cargo bay. A smooth at ease was returned with a wave of his hand though not even seconds after they presented their respect to the one man who uplifted them all.

Standing at parade rest, she tried not to smirk as Yondu fidgeted beside her along with Sol. The Primarchs took up position behind his majesty as he stopped just outside of arms reach. His hands went up towards his face and she heard a soft click before a hiss of pressurized seal opening followed.

Then with one smooth motion, his majesty's helm was removed, then he looked around before turning back towards them with a dazzling smile on his face.

"I see you have been busy," His majesty started with a look around before his gaze settled onto the blue centurion within the room, "And you must be the Captain of this fine ship."

Turning away from the man trying to preen, Julian turned her gaze towards the Primarchs as they had their helmets removed. It was clear that their armor was advanced with the fact that, instead of taking off the helm, there was a hiss before the headpiece resided in the armor around the back of the head and neck. When they had landed inside of the cargo bay, Julian had noticed how each one of them was moving with a sort of liquid grace that reminded her of very large feline predators back home.

The fluidity of their movements were striking compared to the mountain of muscle they carried.

A few of the Primarchs that made eye contact with her gave her nods of acknowledgment before looking towards their spartan brethren. Something was said and that had her tune back into what his majesty was speaking about. From the look on Yondu's face, it was clearly going to make him a lot of profits.

"I haven't seen your crew yet, but from the reports that I have been reading," His majesty said smoothly even as his gaze swept over the very lackluster cargo bay, "It would seem that having such a capable member of my empire as a trade merchant would really help the economy bloom with such exotic trade."

Things proceeded quickly from there and Julian made sure to pay attention as they started to get a tour of the ship, the man known as Doom, though, demanded to know when we would be getting back to Earth. Yondu, of course, said that it would take at least fifteen jumps from their current location.

Then she watched as his majesty shrugged before saying that their ride would arrive within the hour. Apparently, he had called one of the Super Carrier-class ships and a Captain Lasky was already on his way with a contingent of Spartans. Not only that, but if what she knew about the Super Carrier-class ships was correct, then that massive ship had more than enough firepower to either conquer worlds or shatter them.

The reaction from the crew on the bridge and the look that Yondu gave his majesty was one of clear shock. He brushed it off since he clearly had an agenda. She had noticed his reaction to the name Yondu since he obviously didn't even try to hide his interest.

Things spiraled from there, but she was more interested in what was happening outside the ship. So While his majesty was busy, she quickly grabbed Sol and made for their shuttle in the bay. Might as well gather all the data she could before some jerk from home came and tried to muscle in on her turf.

 

{o.O.o}

 

Benjamin Blake

Fed up with the universes bullshit

Ignoring the crew of Yondu's ship, I kept my eyes on Peter as he tried to line up his shot at the target downrange. Funny enough, I wasn't really expecting him to be here when I had arrived since Yondu would have been a worthy enough prize for me to come visit.

Anyone could tell how easy it was to win the blue bastard over to my cause with the way he had dollar signs in his eyes every time he looked in my general direction. Waving Yondu over, I decided to dig a little deeper while keeping him from scheming about my money for a while. Surprisingly, the ship wasn't as dirty as I thought a pirate ship would be. It was clear that the man had swapped out some of his crew or allowed them to just take some time off and said nothing about this little power play he was trying to pull off.

My empire was clearly going to be a power broker in the wider galactic community and whatever super luck the man had allowed him to run across Julian's path. There was no way I was going to brood over finding such an iconic character so quickly even if I was looking for the other shoe to drop.

I watched as he fluffed his leather jacket, checked to make sure that his yaka arrow was in its scabbard, then strolled over with a lazy type of walk.

"What can I do you for, your majesty?" Yondu asked, and I could barely stop myself from laughing at how much he was like a snake oil salesman. Honesty, the only real plus side of Yondu was his honor and love for Quill.

Relaxing by the bulkhead walls, I motioned towards Peter, "Tell me about the Terran. People from my planet don't usually leave off-world."

Yondu shifted and I could see that he was trying to hide the wince from showing. Instead of listening to whatever he had to say, I held up a hand to forestall him.

"It's alright if you don't want to share, I just found the situation interesting is all," I spoke up before he could get a word in edgewise.

Yondu shifted and gave me another once over, "Yeah, well, Terran or not, that's my boy."

In return, I gave a nod of the head as I watched Peter set a blistering pace with what were clearly his Spartax pistols.

"Hmmm, maybe he should meet my son," I mutter as I watch Peter perform a spinning high twist shot that nailed the target center mass. Damn, even now he was goofing off yet all his shots still hit center mass.

Yondu looked at me out of the corner of his eye, "Really now?"

He got a shrug in return, "Yeah, the kid's far too serious."

"Well, everything is negotiable," Yondu muttered looking at Peter. My wrist vibrated and I looked down and smiled at the notification that had alerted me.

Tapping Yondu on the shoulder, I made a motion towards the lower decks and the cargo bay, "My ship's here."

Before Yondu could say anything, my comms chirped and I accepted the incoming video call. Looking down, I cleared my throat before answering the call. A hologram popped up to hang before me, powered by the emitters from my suit and Omni. The communications logo had a wolf entwined with a dragon with the Infinity matrix set as the backdrop.

The image did one full rotation before it faded away to show me the bridge to one of my Empire's flagships. Captain Thomas Lasky stared back across the hologram eyes of hard steel, back straight, head held high.

Lasky slammed a closed fist over his heart, "My Emperor, we have arrived promptly as you requested."

My eyes swept the bridge of my flagship before telling them all to be at ease, "Julian already started scanning the sun, so I want a scout ship sent to each of the planets. Get me a quick survey and send out word that they will be translocated soon."

"Of course, my Emperor," Lasky replied before shifting into a smooth parade rest, "Might I suggest setting up a perimeter around each planet and the local star?"

"You may, and that is a splendid suggestion, make it so," Was my return my eyes flicking to the side for a brief moment noticing the Infinity maneuvering as the pilot brought the ship around, then closer to Yondu's, "Get us with the tractor beams and secure the ship in a berth, I don't wouldn't want it destroyed due to the coming gravitational quakes or hyperspace and warp disturbances."

"Of course, sire," Lasky returned promptly.

"Good, Blake out," With that, I cut the communication before turning to see the stunned expression of Yondu.

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He blinked, then he blinked again before checking his own time. Then I watched as he shrugged, grinned, and then led the way to the cargo hold. Of course, I could already imagine the man asking for ships like ours.

As we walked and talked, I muttered something about keeping my delinquent daughters away from Peter so he didn't lose any limbs. Yondu found this funny and I had to wonder what he would say if Peter ever got his wallet rolled by the trio.

The presence at my side shifted and I had to stop and take a look at the man. Seeing the distraction on his features, I turned towards the direction that he was looking and I could only grin in anticipation. Pulling up in the distance was a massive ship shimmering into view as they dropped the active cloaking which covered so much more than just the visual spectrum, but that was an explanation for another day.

Yondu's ship sirens spun to life, alerting everyone to the ship off our port side. That was all that it took for Yondu to wake up from his little stupor as he ran to the nearest comm station located at a wall junction.

"Ain't nobody fire on them!" Yondu yelled into the comms station. While he was handling that, I was already giving commands. I wanted a perimeter set around the system and a certain weapons platform prepped for a fire solution once I got to the bridge.

Standing at the window, I watched as the Infinity cruised closer and I could see Yondu go a lighter shade of blue. Yeah, his ship might be a little over one thousand meters, but all of my Empire Infinity class SuperCarriers were easily five times the size of this craft. One of the main bays to the Infinity opened up and Yondu paled even further as battlecruisers came out as if someone had disturbed a beehive.

"What in the hell is dat?" Yondu mutters to himself, but it was easy for me to hear since the man wasn't even trying to reinforce any type of self-control.

Thinking for half a second, I decided that some truth would work for now, "That, Yondu, is one of my Empire's Super Carrier-class ships called the Infinity," It was only right to pay back for the quick rescue. Standing there, I allowed Yondu to gather himself as I looked over the sleek lines of my supercarrier. The front looked like a rectangle, sure, but the rounded edges and protrusions meant that she could ram just about anything and survive since her outer hull was coated with a mixture of titanium B and adamantium. A little pricey and extreme overkill, sure, but was going to be well worth it once I commanded a ramming procedure against someone's mother ship.

They can't talk shit if they die by being spaced during hull rupture. And to think, I had four more of these babies roaming around in stealth within the Sol system with another two coming online within a month's time.

Enjoying the warm fuzzies, the thought of destroying my enemies was accompanied by the Infinity pulling up beside this ship and extending two tractor beams. One went to the starboard bow of the ship and the other one went for the starboard quarter near the aft of the ship which was closer to the engines but without bothering them.

As the Infinity used her tractor beams to pull us in, I turned and gave Yondu my best smile, "Since you showed me your ship, let me return the favor."

No way I was going to let the rat bastard escape, he was just far too valuable. He might have been kicked out of the Ravagers, sure, but he still had years of being a pirate and all the best traveling routes inside that head of his. Not only that, but this was Marvel so there had to be a planet or two or an interesting civilization that he came across during his travels.

You know the saying of waste not, want not? Well, I was about to abuse it to hell and back since I had my own planetary transportation tech, I wasn't going to waste this perfect opportunity to gain someone that can help me expand my borders.

Yondu grumbled something but, of course, I ignored him. He was the one that wanted to ride the tiger, it was too late now to realize the moment he slipped up and the tiger would get him by his throat. His death wasn't in the cards, of course, but maybe a little re-education might help, even if I loathe using such a thing on people who haven't broken the worst laws within Pandora.

While those thoughts came and went, Peter Quill came running into the cargo bay with panic on his features. He yelled something towards Yondu while running to check the structural seals on the Milano, yeah, that gave me a chuckle.

Whatever else that Peter was going to say died in his throat as the Infinity engulfed Yondu's ship. Turning to the other side of Yondu's cargo bay, I watched as my Primarchs came out of Julian's ship with relaxed postures before switching back into active mode as they noticed some of the pirates came into the bay.

Ignoring them to take a stand at the exit to the cargo bay, I waited until the tractor beams got us in place before checking my corners. The ship tilted one way and then the other before we were placed in one of the free bays on the wall. As the ship twisted and tilted on its axis, a hard light bridge came from one of the walkways to the drop out of the cargo bay.

Before stepping off the ship, I sent out a system-wide alert not to drop whatever they are doing and salute me. Normally, I would be fine with a salute, but I felt that we were running on a clock and I didn't want to know what would happen once Mephesto finished his gestation within the star's core.

Stepping onto the hard light bridge, I went on my merry way until someone decided that they wanted to yell for me.

"Blake, what are your plans for the star?" Doom asked, his hovering chair coming to settle on my path. Stopping and thinking about my plans, I looked at Doom hard and then gestured for him to follow. If he wanted to demand answers, then fine, I just hoped he could live with the type of answer that I was about to give him.

Doom was a known badass within the comics and even if he wasn't up to the same things within my reality, I had already made a few precautionary plans to deal with his bullshit. The worst of the worst would be to just wipe earth from existence and then remake it with either the Universes Heart or with the Cosmic Cube.

Actually, note to self: Get the Cosmic Rod from the negative zone, Eviscerate Annihilus from my reality to prevent any retaliation or the Annihilation wave incursion.

{o.O.o}

Getting out of the elevator and into the secured armory, I signaled for two of my Primarchs to take up position of security while Doom and I walked over towards the very pale armorer with her hand inside the guts of a railgun torpedo.

In a corner of the armory bay sat a massive chamber where a dense red sphere floated. Standing next to the sphere, I placed my hand on it reverently for a moment before walking over to the workbench and stopping the tech.

Picking up the small stopper-like bottle containing a single drop of the red substance, I turned around and held it so that Doom may see but not touch.

"This is called red matter," I said, holding the small bottle between my fingers so that Doom could see. I knew better than to let the man hold the damn thing, "Made from pure refined decalithium, capable of ripping holes in space."

Doom sat there in his floating throne and I could hear the appalling incredulity in his voice, "You're a madman, why would you create such a thing, it's madness!?"

My grin was straight predatory and that of the monster that I have always tried to push down, "No, Doom, this isn't madness, this is me telling the fucked up reality that we live in that I am more than willing to hit back."

Doom shifted his gaze from the red matter torpedo to look at me and I could see the shock within those eyes of his, "You've gone mad, Doom shall have no hand in this."

Taking a step closer, I then gave him a steely-eyed look, "It's not madness if the entire universe is out to get you. Mephesto might be the first but everyone's going to learn that I'm not the one to fuck with, they're gonna learn that I'll scorch planets, scorch entire spiral arms of Galaxies so that me and mine survive. No, so me and mine can thrive. This is not madness, this is the resolve to fight till the bitter end and come out the victor."

"Does Sue know of the lengths that you are willing to go?" Doom questioned and it was strange to see the man asking for an inch.

My reply was a nod of the head, "She will be the mother of my child. Of course, she was made aware of all my plans and contingencies," This settled the matter into silence and I turned and gave the engineer the codes to activate and prep the torpedo. Before leaving the weapons bay, I gave doom one last parting shot. "Now you know how far I'm willing to go for Earth if someone decides to cross me."

Instantly I could tell that he remembered the situation on the island with his little stunt by the way his emotions roiled within the astral, but I ignored everything as I rode the elevators to the command deck. I had a corrupted sun to destroy. Then I can go home with some gifts: three more planets should make everyone happy.

Ignoring the look Doom gave me, I returned an expected look as I motioned towards the elevators. He caught my meaning, of course, but not before casting a glance towards the red matter module. Yeah, it would need to be secure after this and preferably somewhere out of the system with a lot of security

"This isn't over, Blake, such things aren't for mere mortals to handle," Doom spoke making sure that each of his words were properly enunciated, but I honestly didn't care. I knew what must be done and I didn't plan to pussyfoot around it at all. Procrastination was not about to be the reason for my death.

Snorting, I didn't reply and waited for my Primarchs to board the lift, hitting the interface for the bridge. I took the moment to settle my nerves and prepare for what I plan to do next. When the lift doors opened, I also opened my eyelids and showed the hard adamantium steel that lurked beneath the surface.

Stepping out onto the bridge, I made for the captain's chair, taking a seat as Lasky took the one for the ship's OX.

Staring out into the voice for a cool ten seconds, I then let out a breath before shifting my attention to the pitch-black star that was still somewhere giving off a greyish light, "Lasky, tell me that a firing solution for that star has been prepared."

"Yes, sire, one has been prepared and there is a second red matter torpedo that was prepped in case of any unfortunate developments," Lasky replied smoothly. As he was speaking one of the programmable buttons on my seat glowed red. That same button was also underneath a flip-out hood with biometric authorization before you could press the damn thing.

Once everything was prepped, I waited for the rest of the company to give the all-clear. So far two of the planets were habitable even if one of them was mostly land. That would be good for the empire but also bad at the same time since I would then need to import water for such a planet.

Then again, I might just have to go and poach Ice-men from Xavier. The old man was nearing the end of his use anyway.

With my thumb hovering over the big red button, a chill flowed through the bridge and I had to force down my knee jerk reaction of shivering before running the fuck away.

Standing up from my seat, I placed an arm out so that no one got too excited and got us all smitten, instead, I gave a polite motion of the head in a near bow before speaking up, "How may I be of service this fine afternoon, my lady?"

Some looked at me strangely but they were ignored as I cast my gaze around the bridge. This went on for a full sixty seconds though before she finally decided to show herself. Nearly every officer on the bridge jumped as their hands went towards weapons holsters. Luckily everyone was highly trained and was able to curb such impulses.

Lady Death stood there at the bridge's display planet, glowing eyes within the skull that she called a head as she stayed stoic. Then before anyone could react, a shimmering green portal appeared on her right for the bridge to see.

On the other side of the portal was someone I instantly recognize but had no fucking clue what Death wanted me to do with that murder witch. Hela, everybody wanted a big tiddy goth girl until she tried to sacrifice your soul in a fit of revenge after sucking your balls dry. And honestly, I already had Selene as my murder witch and I really didn't want to mix another super death dealer into my family, but the vibes that I was getting said I had no choice in the matter.

"A soul for a soul," The whisper of Lady Death's words were powerful to the ears no matter how softly she spoke. One of her hands was pointing at the sun on the display and the other was pointing to the goddess in black and green on the other side of the portal.

Turning around, I strolled back to my captain's chair, before pressing the button. I spared Lady Death one last glance. Looking down at the arm the button was located on, I gave it a glare before pressing the fire control keys.

"Torpedos away, sire."

Author Notes: Hot damn!

I'll try and tone down the super-villain monologue, but I'll be honest. That is one of the best ways to get information out there because if I just gloss over it people will completely miss it like they have missed other things. Or if I use it between characters, things get derailed.

Thank you all for having the patience to wait on this chapter since life happens and it took its time to get published.

Let me know what you guys think about the chapter.

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