#5 - Crisis In The Ultraverse, Part Two

By Barry Reese

SCENE TWO : "The Man in the Moon"

A tall, cloaked figure strode through the wreckage of the Entity. He spoke to no one in particular, merely enjoying the sound of his own words. "To think that I should be forced to come here, to a barbaric time in a parallel universe...It is so far beneath me that I am almost sickened by the experience! But it is necessary if I am to make good on my plan. My enemy in this game is crafty indeed...as I well know. But he must learn that when it comes to mastering time, there can be only one true victor and ultimately fate has decreed that it shall be me!"

The cloaked figure dressed in purple and green moved further inside the caves, his boots crunching on the Entity's remainders. He reached up idly to stroke his beard, smiling softly. He would wait patiently for his pawns to arrive, tossing out little bones with which to draw them to where he wanted them and then...then he would seize the power that he deserved. And then he would teach his former self a lesson about power...

SCENE THREE : "Gathering the Forces"

"I assume that you each have the breathing equipment that I gave you?"Proctor stood before the Gatherers, tall and fierce. His eyes glowed red as he spoke. The Ebony Blade rested in its scabbard against his hip.

Sandblast held up the small breathing mask and frowned. "Ya sure this is gonna work, boss? I mean, I ain't never been in space before!"

Proctor smiled coldly. "It will work, Sandblast. Trust in me. All of our current equipment was taken from the Ultra known as Contrary. She had amassed quite a bit of alien technology over the years and given her current condition, it would be a shame if no one was using it."

Lord Pumpkin regarded his leader with disdain. So easy it would be to burn Proctor in hellfire and laugh as the human's flesh peeled away...but Pumpkin knew that Proctor was a very powerful individual and worthy of a more cautious approach."When all of this is over, all of us shall have more power than we ever dared dream!"

The jack-o-lantern that served as Pumpkin's head flared with green flame."So put aside your pitiful fears...Together we have captured the Strangers, Solitaire, Prototype, Freex, and many more! This is our time of destiny...and if none of you have the stomach for the mission, stay behind! I shall claim your portion of the power..."

Deathwish snarled. "No! Nothing frightens me...I am beyond death itself. I have transcended -- "

Twin beams of energy erupted from Proctor's eyes, exploding onto the floor in front of Deathwish. "Enough! The time for talk is past. Lord Pumpkin is correct -- come if you wish. If you decide to stay, so be it. But know that you shall miss out on the glories to come..."

Lord Pumpkin chuckled, his eyes flashing with demonic power."I am certain that I can speak for the others, Proctor. We will all come...We have come too far to back down now. If we stop before ultimate power is ours, the heroes will regroup and launch an offensive. We must crush all their hope before they can do so..."

Proctor nodded. Lord Pumpkin was treacherous but vital to his plans -- the other Gatherers feared the demonic sorceror, even the undead Deathwish. Proctor could cow them on his own but he felt time pressing in on him. Since coming to this world, he'd felt like a puppet on a string...ideas came to him with surprising force, driving to certain actions. Such as this whole excursion in pursuit of the Entity...

The alternate earth version of Dane Whitman pushed the thoughts from his mind. He was here, regardless. He was alive once more. And he had the means to accomplish all of his goals within grasp. He placed a hand on the sheathed Ebony Blade, feeling its reassuring eldritch pulse. All would be well...in time.

SCENE FOUR : "Meanwhile, Back on Earth-MV1"

The woman materialized out of thin air, dressed in a futuristic armor reminiscent of the Black Knight's. An energy sword hummed in her hand until she tapped its control node, turning it off upon seeing that there was no threat. In this time period, she had wanted to be prepared for anything. Even if she'd met one of the Legends of this period, she would still have been prepared to defend herself. Battles between 'heroes' of this time had been well recorded by history.

"So what do you think of Mr. Whitman?" The maid's mousy voice carried in the expanse of Garret Castle, echoing slightly.

Karla Whitman ignored the answer, not even caring to whom the maid was talking. As fascinating as this time period was, she was here on business. She raised her left gauntlet and opened the small compartment on her wrist. She tapped a few keys and her armor immediately began scanning the contents of the castle.

She immediately frowned. He wasn't here. "Grife! Where are you, ancestor?" She turned around in the great hall and started to move towards one of the closed doors. She flung it open and stopped. It was obviously his bedroom...Dane Whitman's. She swallowed, worried for a moment of what he'd think of her...shivering in fear and anticipation of meeting him.

The Black Knight of 2099 heard footsteps ascending the stairs to the second floor and she forced herself to move. She moved inside the bedroom, shutting the door behind herself. Swallowing, she removed her helmet, her long auburn hair cascading down her back. "Nothing to do but wait, I guess."

The beautiful girl sat down on the bed, sighing loudly. She was trapped here forever now...and she wondered not for the first time if hadn't been better if she'd died back in her own time, instead of fleeing into the past. But she'd been so frightened...of Doom, of death, of everything. So she'd plunged through the Time Corridor to the place she'd always admired most. Dane Whitman's time. When the name of the Black Knight had first overcome the taint of the past. Before Karla's own father had brought back the shame of their ancestry...

She closed her eyes, seeking some respite from her thoughts...within moments she was asleep.

SCENE FIVE : "Pawns of the Conqueror"

"We have to go after Prototype, Hardcase! We have to!" Prime was up in arms, the veins standing out on his heavily muscled frame. Though he and the armored Ultra had clashed at first, he had eventually come to consider Prototype a true friend.

Hardcase shook his head. "If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them, Prime. We don't know the first thing about where the Gatherers are based. I'm sorry, but we just have to hope for the best."

The Black Knight was sitting silently beside Sersi, impressed in spite of himself. He and the others -- Sersi, Hardcase, Prime, Ghoul, Mantra, and Nightman -- were seated around the meeting room table in the current Ultraforce HQ, trying to formulate a plan. During his stint in the Ultraverse, he'd tried to forge Ultraforce into a real team but had never really succeeded. But this new group...these guys were impressive.

Dane glanced over at Nightman, as the shadowy figure leaned forward. "Well, we know they're targeting us one-by-one. What we need to do now is offer them some bait."

Ghoul rolled his eyes. His decomposing flesh was oozing onto the floor. "Well, geez Louis...I wonder who gets to play bait THIS time around...maybe we should send the dead guy out to get blown up again. We can always velcro him back together later on!"

Nightman smiled. "Actually I was going to suggest myself..."

Mantra stood up suddenly, her eyes alight with energy. "Someone is approaching. Someone who exists outside of...time -- Ugh!" Mantra's head tilted back wildly, her scream piercing the room. She bucked and fell forward.

Hardcase was the first to move towards her. "Mantra! What's -- "

"Leave her be. Her plight is the least of your concerns at the present time..." The booming voice brought the room's residents to a stand-still. The figure floated in the air above the table and Dane Whitman's jaw dropped in recognition.

"Kang?!" The Black Knight drew the Sword of Light quickly and without hesitation. Kang the Conqueror was one of the Avengers' deadliest foes...but what was he doing here?

Kang threw back his head and laughed. "Please, Black Knight, do you think a mere weapon of Avalon will hurt me?! My 40th Century armor is far more advanced than any mystical trinket that your Lady of the Lake can give you!"

Hardcase started to speak but the Black Knight waved him away. The Ultraforce was good...but they didn't know about Kang. He was dangerous, far moreso than Proctor and friends. "What do you want? You're a little far from home, aren't you?"

Kang nodded. "I could say the same of you, Dane Whitman. But suffice to say that I have come to save this little reality from total destruction!"

Dane grunted. "How nice. Care to tell me why we should believe you?"

Sersi knelt beside Mantra, touching the woman's forehead. Mantra was feverish, beads of moisture forming on her cheeks. The mage's lips moved softly and Sersi learned forward to catch the words she spoke. "The...moon...Entity...not...what Proctor thinks it is...Unleashing...Chaos! Nega-time!"

Meanwhile, Kang the Conqueror leaned closer to the Black Knight. "You have no choice. I recently made a rather bold gambit, Avenger. I sought to destroy all of my alternate selves with the Chrono-Neutralizer...and I thought I had succeeded. But it seems that one of my future selves, that damnable Immortus, somehow knew of my schemes. He fled here and cloaked himself from my sight. But now he's exposed himself and I'm just one variant self away from having erased all the other timelords*..."

(*See the immortal "Kang's Quest" storyline from Avengers # 415-418 for more on this. Obviously at least one Immortus was smart enough to keep tabs on the Kang/Scarlet Centurion battle and flee before it was too late.)

"Sounds to me like we should be helping Immortus then...At least he's helped the Avengers on occasion!" The Black Knight made eye contact with Nightman and nodded. The vigilante hero had out a grapple line. It wouldn't hold Kang for long but maybe long enough for the Ultraforce to launch an assault...

Kang sneered and pointed at the Black Knight. "Only when it suited his own purposes. He is no more noble than I, despite his pretenses! But know you this, Avenger, if you do fight in my name and distract his pawns so that I may slay him, all of this universe will die!"

The Black Knight paused for just a moment, something in Kang's words catching his heart. "You're serious aren't you...?"

Kang nodded slowly. "Yes, indeed -- for the Ultraverse dies at dawn!"

Written In Black

From Ralph Angelo :

I just read the set Barry. first off, I always liked your story length. Neither to long, nor to short. Always perfect. The tales you weave never get boring due to length. Secondly, I liked the appearance of Bloodwraith to set things off, he's really Danes only major villain (though I would love to see the Dreadknight Vs. Blacknight somewhere soon). Besides Proctor, who you weaved nicely into the series by issue 3. Also, just so you know, I'm a fan of the Sersi-Dane romance, and I think it could be pretty cool. Just one favor, when you do get around to telling us what costume Sersi is wearing,lets have it be the red and ebony one she had in latter issues of Harras' Avengers run.

That costume looked great, especially compared to the old Kirby-esque suit she wore. I really liked the improvements Ostrander made on the Black Knight as a whole, and you've kept those improvements going strong here. I look forward to this series now, keep up the excellent work!

Thanks, Ralph. Have no fear -- as you see from this issue, Sersi is indeed in red and black and will be for the duration of my run. It's a sexy costume to me, but I'm always a sucker for thigh-high boots. :) Keep in touch, Ralph. Ralph Angelo is the writer of several MV1 titles, including Iron Man, Renegades, and Avengers 2009.

From Mark Bousquet :

Good stuff here, Barry. I should say that I'm not familiar with the Ultraverse at all, so I don't know any of the characters on anything more than a passing level, but that didn't bother me. You did a great job of making this story very accessible to newer readers. Proctor is a great choice for a villain in this series, as well. As for the Dane/Sersi romance, I was never bothered by it and their backstory should provide plenty of great story moments as you move along. The scene in Dane's bedroom was very well written. Looking forward to more.

Glad to know that the Ultraverse stuff isn't too confusing. I was afraid that some people might be left in the dark by the whole thing, so I'm going into too much depth with regards to the Ultraverse stuff. Proctor is a favorite of mine and I'm hoping to use the early issues of my run to firm up Dane's rogues' gallery, hence the appearances of Bloodwraith and Proctor. Look for future appearances by Exodus and Raiod the Swordsman, as well. Two 'yes' votes for the Sersi relationship...We'll see. I'm in favor of it myself, but these sorts of things usually write themselves.

Mark writes All God's Children and Avengers West Coast, amongst other projects. Check out his work for some of MV1's most imaginative writing.

From Randy Lander :

Well, Barry, you should have known I'd be writing eventually. I was a huge fan of Dane during his Stern era, and although he's changed so much since that time as to be almost a different character, I've retained a fondness for him through his leather jacket, stubble, jedi lightsaber phase and his sword-and-sorcery HFH phase.

You've nicely combined all the aspects of the character, including his ill-advised jaunt into the Ultraverse, to give us something Marvel never could have. I enjoyed the first couple issues, with Dane settling into life in England, facing off with Bloodwraith, but you've

really hooked me with #3. Crisis on the Ultraverse...that's just cool. And your Ghoul is a great character to read. I wouldn't mind seeing more Ultraverse stuff from you at some point.

Lord Pumpkin was another character I loved from the Ultraverse, and I'm glad to see him here. And having him team up with the Gatherers, one of the better Avengers foes in recent years? Nifty. I also like that you've got Proctor using an ebony blade (I assume that's what he's going to do with it), and his background makes him an ideal archfoe for Dane.

In short, another great series, and I'm glad to have you once again writing a Marvel character who I feel has been given the shaft in the main universe, as you always pull out a great story and make me wonder "Why can't Marvel do that?"

Wow. I first fell in love with Dane's character during the Stern-era as well and I'm glad you noticed that I'm trying to meld the many portrayals of Dane into one coherent personality. You're right about Proctor and the Ebony Blade -- since we've seen two variant Blades already in the series, I'll spill the beans that you can expect a story arc entitled "Swords and Sorcery" coming up in the near future, that will alter the Ebony Blades for all time. I'm really touched by the kind words in your letter and they mean a lot. Thanks.

Randy Lander writes MV1's classic series, The Vault, as well as Web of Spider-Man (with Mark Bousquet) and New Warriors. Check them out!

Thanks for joining me here -- keep those letters coming. I appreciate any and all feedback.