Written by Brent Lambert
Issue Four

 

A Sinister Land…Pt.1

 

Philadelphia had been one of the few cities where humans still resided in North America.  Sinister had been constantly bombarding it with his mutant troops and the newly formed Liberation Front was the only resistance against these forces.  Terra had been the founder and leader of the Liberation Front.  So it was to her that the entire city looked to when word that the Brotherhood was coming to the city.  The group had been fighting in Siam for months and was renowned for their deadly abilities.  To say that the Liberation Front was in the fight for their life was putting it lightly.

 

“You really think these guys are just going to stroll up the street?” Husk asked.

 

“Yea I mean they aren’t that bold are they?” Skin added.   He had traveled cross-country from the Neurotap ruled Los Angeles and made his way to Philadelphia.  Angelo was one of many wanted criminals in the empire of Essex.

 

“They’re the Brotherhood.  Not only are they that bold they are that fierce.  We have to be at the top of our game if we have any hope of defeating them,” Terra said floating above her teammates on a large piece of rock.

 

“Which means it’s not time for you to be goofing off Chamber,” Impulse warned.   His entire family had been taken from Metro City when it was converted into a giant gas chamber for humans.  He had narrowly escaped the wrath of Shatterstar and when Bart had slain Feral he earned the hate of Essex.

 

“Me? Come on you know me better than that,” Chamber smiled goofishly.  His powers had once wrecked the upper half of his body, but Dr. Maddicks (one of North America’s last human geneticists) had healed his mutation.  The only body scarring that remained on Jono was the scar across his right cheek he had received from Pike.  That mark had been returned ten fold by Terra.

 

“That’s the problem right there,” Speedball said.

 

“Seriously,” Bolt added.  His body was more mechanical than human after the horrible experience he had suffered against Voice of Doom.  He knew the consequences of losing.  Chris was only alive today because Terra had risked it all to save him.

 

“Heads up guys.  Here they come,” Terra, said her voice a mixture of preparation and somberness.

 

Only a block away from the Liberation Front was the six members of the Brotherhood.  Terra had never revealed it but every member of that team had killed someone that she knew and cared for.  Killer Frost had brutally froze Chance’s organs and left her to suffer a horrible death.   Trapster had flooded the esophagus of Gomi with slow burning glue.  Resurrection Man and Midnighter strung out the guts of Cordelia Frost in front of her older sister in Rome.   Ray decapitated the Wonder Twins in Morocco, but it was Raven that Terra hated the most.  She had killed both of Terra’s siblings in front of her.  Then to only torture her more she let the fiendish Horde inhabit the bodies with his disgusting leeches.

 

That had been the day that Terra decided that the violence and war that Essex propagated throughout the world had to cease through any means necessary.  No longer would she have any qualms about maiming, killing, and torturing.  She would do what had to be done to save her world from utter destruction.  This fight was the summation of all that Terra had worked for.  She knew that her team could make no error. 

 

“Well, look what we have here.  Little Terra is still around.  Figured you’d be trying to track down Horde by now,” Raven smiled as she floated at the front of her group.

 

Terra smiled and sent pillars of earth flying from the ground underneath the Brotherhood members.  Resurrection Man disappeared in a flash of lightning and Midnighter dodged the slabs of rock with expert skill.  Ray simply blasted his way through the rocks making his way towards the Liberation Front.  The attack was one that Raven would turn on the young group of would be heroes.

 

“Hezzabeth netrium katal!” Raven yelled as black energy wrapped around all the rocks that Terra had produced.  The large sediments broke into hundreds of pieces and were flung at the Liberation Front with the speed of a runaway train.

 

Terra threw up a shield of rock to protect herself, but not all her teammates were so fortunate.  Chamber blasted and dodged a few of the shrapnel pieces, but was impaled through the abdomen by a larger one.   Blood spurted from the wound and Jono flew backwards.  He was dead before hitting the ground.  Skin suffered a similar fate as a rock spear stabbed him through the forehead and went clear through his skull.  Husk’s metal body prevented any kind of penetration from Raven’s latest weapons and Speedball protected Impulse and Bolt with a kinetic forcefield.

 

Dropping her rock shield Terra leapt off her hovering rock and flew towards Raven.  Rock spikes popped up into the air each of them trying to rip Raven in two.  The ruthless Brotherhood member dodged all of them and blasted the one she couldn’t.  Terra caught a ride on one of her spikes and rode it until she was at Raven’s back.  Leaping into the air once more she wrapped her arms around Raven’s neck and began to pull her to the ground.

 

“You’re going down bitch!” Terra yelled.

 

“Not really,” Raven sighed nonchalantly as she felt a sudden drop in temperature.

 

The entire body of Terra had been turned into ice by a blast from the white skinned Killer Frost.  Maniacal laughter came from the woman as Raven broke off Terra’s body with a quick spell, “Oh you’re just the best Raven!  We must have really pleased Essex to be handed such easy prey.”

 

“Definitely easy prey,” Midnighter exclaimed as he flung the dead body of Bolt high into the air.

 

“You bastard!” Husk cried as she slammed a titanium fist into the black clad warrior.

 

Midnighter went flying back and his mouth refused to speak from the pain of a shattered jaw.  Fighting back this pain, as he learned from Stick, Midnighter launched four star shaped objects into the air.  Each of the objects struck Husk dead in the torso, but instead of piercing her skin they melted into it.  Paige’s body began to glow a wide spectrum of colors before it began to melt.  No scream could even match the pain that the young woman was feeling.

 

Impulse would have come to Husk’s aid, but struggling with the pain of having no legs was occupying his team.  Ray had cut his appendages clean off and left him for dead.  Bart could barely stay conscious let alone help his friend.

 

“Ahh isn’t that sad.  Little man needs some comforting,” Trapster taunted as he held the head of Speedball.  Reaching down the wielder of various sticky substances lifted Bart’s head up to the decapitated Robbie and made them kiss, “Do you feel better now?  All kissy kissy.”

 

Impulse spat up the blood from Robbie’s mouth that he had taken in.  He couldn’t believe that it was ending like this.  All their hard work and dreams had been evaporated by the Brotherhood.  Nothing was left of their hopes for a better world.  Despite himself, Bart Allen began to cry and the tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

 

 

Egypt

 

“We’re ten seconds from the crossing point!  Keep quiet and move quickly,” Silver Sable commanded in a hushed tone as she approached the bridge under which their captured teammate, Dr. Light, was soon to cross.  Two days ago Selene had taken him captive and the Avengers were determined to set him free before the interrogators got to him. 

 

“So I guess that means I go small,” Maul complained as he shifted from his gargantuan purple-skinned state into that of a slim Asian male.

 

“Don’t feel too bad man.  We’ve been doing too much hardcore fighting anyway,” Wildcat said.  He had been fighting in the war against the empire of Essex for quite some time.  He remembered the years before Sinister took over and just how peaceful the world really was back then. 

 

“Hardcore fighting my ass!  I’ve barely begun to bust some heads,” US Agent exclaimed.  After America’s fall what remained of the government went overseas and started to create potential weapons in the hopes of taking back their country from the mad scientist.  John had been one of the most successful of these experiments.  By the time he was created though Sinister had amassed a great deal of troops making a lone solider useless.

 

“Shut up!” Black Widow hissed.  She grew more and more tired of the American’s macho attitude.  The pride of his country had been deeply wounded by Sinister and as such he tried his best to hide that embarrassment.  His attempts were hardly working.

 

Vostok knew of the reputation of Black Widow as they both had served on the Protectorate Elite.  They had been a group formed by Russia to strike Sinister on the West Coast of the United States.  They successfully infiltrated the country, but the Marauders decimated the team.  Vostok and Natasha were only alive today because of Perun hurling them out into the ocean as Wolverine stabbed him through the chest.   Natasha had kept his heavy metal body afloat and he owed his life to her.  Seeing her annoyed made him feel the same emotion as well.

 

“You guys could wake the dead,” a robotic voice said as he cocked his gun.

 

All the Avengers turned to see the deadliest of Sinister’s Marauders staring them in the face.  Deathstroke was a name that was forbidden to say in most free countries.  He was a man that had never lost a fight in his entire life.  When he led the armies of Sinister most opposition simply retreated.  So no one would have blamed the Avengers if they ran and left Dr. Light behind.  They were heroes though and heroes were at their best when staring death in the face.

 

“Attack Plan Zeta!” Silver Sable yelled as she reared back her Moonraker laser gun and fired off multiple shots into the chest plate of Deathstroke. 

 

Wildcat crouched low to the ground and hit Deathstroke in the knees hoping to take him down, but instead it felt like he had slammed into a steel wall.  The middle-aged man fell to the ground not being able to feel most of his body.   The armor of Deathstroke had emitted a tiny sonic wave that numbed the muscles of anyone that even slightly touched it.   Wildcat had just fallen victim to the armor.

 

“Is that the best you—UMPHH!” Deathstroke yelled as he went flying back into the air and slammed into the hard rocky ground. 

 

“Trust me we haven’t even started fighting!” US Agent said.  His muscles were tense, his adrenaline moving like the wheels of a locomotive, and sweat beaded furiously down his brow.  The living weapon hadn’t felt this alive in years.   Lifting his Star Spangled Banner colored shield into the air he flung the weapon at the Marauder hoping to cut his head clean off.

 

Deathstroke dodged out of the way of the shield only to find his head being engulfed by the giant hand of Maul, “You look down.  How about I cheer you up!”

 

With that comment the size controller flipped Deathstroke into the air at a speed that would have broke a normal man’s neck, but the Marauder was no normal man.  As he was flying into the air he pulled a needle from the wrist of his armor and sent his flying towards Maul with extreme precision.   The object struck the beast in the neck and it was a blow that he had hardly felt.  Just like Deathstroke had intended.

 

“Vostok go to work!” Silver Sable commanded.  The metal man simply nodded and lifted his hands to the air to gain control of Deathstroke’s armor.  Instead the liquid metal that composed the Russian’s body began to lose all solidity.  

 

An inaudible scream came from Vostok as he sunk into a puddle form.   Deathstroke landed on the ground and on his feet only a short time after Vostok’s decommissioning, “The Russian made the mistake of trying to control my armor.  The metals of this armor were forged by Sinister hence they are organic to some degree.  They taught the Russian not to try and control them.”

 

“Bastard!” Maul yelled as he bulldozed towards the Marauder.  Holding up his black-gloved hand Deathstroke simply snapped and stopped Maul in his tracks.

 

He turned back towards the Avenger with a grin, “I stuck you with a needle that would freeze and disintegrate your cells upon my command.  I hope it’s not too painful.”

 

Black Widow was seeing flashbacks of the battle in San Diego.  Deathstroke had killed her husband, Red Guardian, with a simple snap of the neck.  Fantasma had been their team’s only hope of defeating any of the Marauders, but in the midst of the fight she turned turncoat.   It didn’t take long for the rest of the Protectorate Elite to fall.  These thoughts of the past had frozen Black Widow stiff. 

 

“Pull it together Natasha!  We’re the last ones left,” Silver Sable bellowed trying to get through to the statuesque Black Widow.   Sable knew that the Avengers as she knew it were through, but she’d be damned if Deathstroke didn’t take a few good licks.  Firing off her Moonraker again the hero of San Marco hoped to at least malfunction the devil’s armor.  

 

At the last moment Deathstroke switched places with the unconscious Wildcat with a teleportation device.  Silver Sable’s blasts killed one of Sinister’s oldest resistors instantly.  The silver haired woman was horrified at what she had done and dropped her weapon as a result.  She knew it was over and so fell to the ground on her knees waiting for it to come to an end.

 

“You piece of shit!” US Agent yelled as charged up behind Deathstroke only to be incarnated once he got within a few feet of the Marauder.

 

Yawning Deathstroke stretched his arms upward, “Intense heat fields can do wonders.”

 

“Just finish it already,” Silver Sable said rising slowly off her knees.

 

 

Tunisia

 

“If Pyro had said one more nasty word to me I swear,” Stepstone groaned as she fought back the urge to vomit.  Each world jump was a bit jaunting for the team and complaining about the last mission was the only way to keep from spilling her food.

                    

“Your feelings are the last thing on my mind right now.  I’m hungry as hell,” Bluestreak replied as she felt a strong rumble surge through her stomach.  The engine was definitely in need of oil.

 

“Hunger?  What an abstract concept,” Reed von Doom laughed as threw what remained of his black cloak off of his shoulder.  Neophyte had burned a good chunk out of it with that flamethrower and it was simply too tacky to be worn now. At least he didn’t have issues like hunger and sleep to worry about.  His father had made sure his genetic structure would rid him of those needs at birth. 

 

“While you may lack hunger you don’t lack the ability to smell.  The lot of you haven’t taken showers in days. I suggest we find some suitable lodging to clean yourselves in,” Mistress Strange commented squinting up her nose as she did so.

 

Hardcase shook his head in disbelief, “Well, if you shared some of that magic to help us all smell better we wouldn’t be in this situation now would we.”

 

“I see no point in wasting my precious magic on any of you,” Mistress Strange replied.

 

“Then shut the hell up about us taking showers!” Blink yelled. 

 

“I just hope this world has Burger King,” Bluestreak complained gripping her stomach.

 

“What the hell is Burger King?” Stepstone asked.

 

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!  Man your world is just lame,” Bluestreak laughed.  Before she knew it the Soulsword was pointed at her throat.

 

“Watch your tongue!” Stepstone hissed.  Every last one of those three words was filled with bitter venom.

 

“I was just joking!  Sheesh!” Bluestreak defended.

 

“Calm down Illyana,” Blink ordered.  She knew the last mission had gotten to Illyana.  Mikhail had been one of the members of The Vault that they had to fight.  Bluestreak had been the one to reluctantly take Mikhail out of the fight.  As much as she joked around the young woman still took the feelings of her teammates into consideration.  She was probably the most considerate of the team and Clarice was finally beginning to notice it.

 

 

Moscow

 

“Where are we at?” Marcus Pezzini asked.   Every jump gave him a problem as the Witchblade wanted to act up differently in every dimension.  His mother, Sara, had taught him well in the various uses of his weapon.  Though Marcus knew that it was unpredictable no matter how long one held it.  The weapon had acted on its own in killing his father, Ian Nottingham.

 

“I have no idea,” Fantomex replied.  He kept his guns ready after the last world they had been on.  Polaris had nearly brought down the Sears Towers atop all their heads.  The former Weapon X operative was not going to be caught unaware again.

 

Darkness attempted to feel where their location was using his abilities, but he could not attain any precise location.  On his world he had been the only guardian against the darkness and used his abilities to send “tendrils” into the very surface of the Earth so as to monitor it.  He couldn’t do the same thing on this world.  Something was blocking him from doing so.

 

“Did you feel anything Estcado?” Vargas asked brandishing his golden broadsword.  The weapon had been forged in the Fires of Mephisto and so was endowed with many different abilities. 

 

“I couldn’t feel anything.  My powers aren’t working right.  Perhaps Cannonball should fly overhead and see if anything looks familiar,” Darkness said.

 

“No need for that.  You’re in Moscow.  I’m going to need for you to explain who you are though and why I shouldn’t kill you all right now,” Iron Man said as he descended from the air.

 

 

Korea

 

Superman was one of Essex’s most prized “children”.  Mole Man in the fields of Kansas had first found the young infant.  The soldier of Sinister fought tooth and nail to deliver this heaven sent child to Essex.  Justin Hammer as consequence of it killed him.  Sinister saw the potential of this young child and molded him into a weapon of pure destruction.  Now this super man lead a group of those who powers were like his.  They were called Factor X and had been the scourge of this peninsula for some time.

 

“Surrender whoever you all are!” Superman ordered as he prepared to blast the Mr. Majestic look alike down.   The real Majestic was behind him along with Supergirl, Supreme, Suprema, and Prime. 

 

Mr. Majestic had been leading The Titans for Timebroker for some time and he had yet to encounter an alternate version of himself.  This was his first encounter with one and he had to admit he wasn’t impressed.  The guy looked like a complete and total pushover.

 

“Surrender?  This guy must not know whom he’s talking to,” Lady Death laughed as she ripped out her Scythe of Lilith.  From the point of the weapon flew forth a giant blast of necromantic energy.  The purple energy streaked across the air and slammed into Superman knocking him through his charges and into the air.

 

Knockout looked to her husband, Superboy, and could tell that fighting Superman and Supergirl was going to be disturbing for him.  He had come from a world where he was the last of his kind so to speak.  An invasion by Martians had killed all the Super clan, leaving Superboy alone.  He was different from the rest of his people in that he was an extremely powerful telekinetic. 

 

“Baby I think its time you went to work on this guys,” Knockout suggested as she watched the splintered Factor X regroup themselves.

 

“If he doesn’t hurry up I’ll knock them to the sun!” Dr. Solar exclaimed.  Knockout had learned to deal with Solar’s rashness.  The man had come from a world completely overrun by aliens who feasted on human eyes.  His people had become food and nothing more.  It wasn’t hard to understand why he was pissed all the time.

 

Superboy reached out with his TK and stopped the circulatory systems of all the Factor X members knocking them out cold.  If they had been lesser beings they would all be dead, but each of them possessed tremendous strength.   Mr. Majestic looked back to Superboy and gave a confident nod, “Good job Superboy.”

 

“We need to move tho.  I’ll provide us with cover,” Invisible Skrull said, but before he could whip out his invisibility net he was frozen solid.

 

“No one move!” Mr. Freeze ordered pointing his gun directly at Superboy, “And don’t even think about trying anything or your green friend will never return from his frozen state!”