WARLOCK

Adam sat at the side of Thanos, his golden eyes filled with emotion. Gamora, the woman to whom Adam had pledged his life, stood nearby, her own heart filled with turmoil. She couldn't imagine what Adam felt at this moment -- was he pleased to see Thanos lying defeated at last? Or did he feel the same sense of loss that Gamora herself felt? Eager to clear such troubling thoughts from her mind, she voiced the question that had nagged at her for an hour now -- "How did he die?"

Warlock looked up from his reverie, seeming to notice his surroundings again for the first time. He and Gamora were inside the monolithic structure built by Thanos on the moon of Dengari Prime, surrounded by the cold architecture favored by the mad Titan. "I'm not... certain. In light of the recent dreams I've been having, I am beginning to wonder if Thanos wasn't trying to contact me somehow." The master of the Soul Gem stood, brushing a hand over the cold, stony features of Thanos. "There are numerous abrasions on his skin, as well as several punctures on his upper torso. Whoever or whatever did this was incredibly powerful -- I've seen Thanos shrug off an attack from mighty Odin himself...."

Gamora glanced around herself, hearing the whispers of nonexistent beings all around her. There was a palpable sense of evil that clung to the stone walls... a lesser woman would have shivered in terror, but Gamora was known in some circles as the Most Dangerous Woman in the Galaxy. It was a title earned through years of battle, but it was also one that she rarely upheld these days. In the last few years, she'd played diplomat and aide to Warlock far more often than she'd charged into battle. Is this what Thanos trained me for -- to be a nursemaid to Adam?

"I have an idea, however...." Warlock's voice came to her from afar, sounding distant and indistinct. Why do I feel so... off-kilter? Something about this place, I think... It makes me feel uncertain somehow. "Gamora?" 

Gamora glanced up at the question, looking as if her mind had been very far away. "Yes?"

Warlock stared at her for a moment before answering. "It has occurred to me that death is a state in which the Titan has found himself before. Indeed, there is no one living whom I would consider more of an expert on the matter... because of his previous dealings with his beloved Lady Death, I believe he would be most unwelcome in her realm. Combine that notion with my dreams, in which Lady Death stood idly by while Thanos floated in the void, and I have to the conclusion that even though Thanos' body is dead... his spirit may not have moved on."

Gamora frowned slightly. "I don't follow you."

"Lady Death would not claim his soul... and my Soul Gem still detects its energies within this inert shell. I believe that my dreams were instigated by the Titan's psychic energy, which still haunts this place."

Gamora blinked. Haunts this place... It's Thanos. I feel him, making me uneasy. "What can you do about it?"

Green energy flared around the Soul Gem embedded on Adam's forehead. He turned back to Thanos, bending low so that his face was near to his old foe's. "I'm going to use the Gem to enter Thanos' spiritual landscape. If I can locate his soul, I may be able to reattach it to his mortal form. Given the inhuman nature of the Titan, it may be enough to reanimate his corpse." Glancing back at Gamora, he added "He doesn't live as you or I do, he's more a force of nature."

Gamora's hand tightened automatically on the blade she wore at her hip. It was a reflexive gesture, performed whenever she felt threatened. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Adam smiled enigmatically. "Of course."

Lilandra sipped her julo-wine and stared out at the stars. Her private quarters were lavishly furnished, but she rarely felt at home in them. Her heart was with another, Charles Xavier, who dwelled far from her. Without him, not even her own chambers could be called 'home.'

The sound of her chamber door hissing open brought her around. She saw Gladiator step inside, immediately falling to kneel. "Rise," she said. Gladiator was a brave soul, but he sometimes relied too much on pomp and circumstance. Such things had led to several humiliating defeats at the hands of Earth heroes. "What brings you to my quarters at this hour?"

The leader of the Imperial Guard rose. "Our long-range monitors indicate that Adam Warlock and his female companion landed on the moon of Dengari Prime over an hour ago. There has been no sign of them since."

Lilandra rose from her chair, her silken nightgown rustling as she moved. She was tall and elegant, with an ethereal beauty that seemed to tantalize almost any man who came into contact with her. She sipped again from her glass before setting it down gently. "I wonder what the odds are that they will destroy one another?"

Gladiator grunted. "We may need to take that matter into our own hands. Let me assemble the Guard and strike now, while the monster is distracted by Warlock!"

"No. I gave my word as Majestrix that I would allow Warlock to deal with this... " she placed a hand on his chest as she spoke, keenly aware of his sudden intake of breath. He'd always considered Xavier unworthy of her... "And if he succeeds, he could be a powerful ally. War is brewing, as you well know. The Skrulls have allied themselves with many of our enemies, and there remains a strong Kree resistance to our occupation. The denizens of Infinity Station might prove useful to us, if we can convince them that we are willing to deal with them on their terms."

Gladiator nodded slowly. He didn't agree, obviously, but knew better than to argue his point. "And if Warlock is merely seeking to form his own alliance with Thanos, right under our noses?"

Lilandra sighed. "Then we destroy them both -- however and whatever that means."

Adam Warlock felt his spirit breaking free of the bonds of the flesh, twisting along the narrow corridor the Soul Gem had forged between he and Thanos. The corridor itself was composed of psychic energy but Adam could nonetheless feel his way down the shaft, pushing through a narrow enclosure to burst free into the midst of the Titan's spiritual landscape.

What he saw first made his head spin. The spiritual plane in which he found himself was fractured and torn, showing ample evidence to the decaying strength of Thanos' soul. All around Warlock was a barren landscape, the plains littered with dying trees and the sky painted a terrible shade of purple.

Beings wandered by, ghostly apparitions of people whom Thanos had known in life. Mentor, the Titan's erstwhile father, staggered right through Warlock, while the woman who had fancied herself the granddaughter of Thanos, Nebula, stood rooted to a spot nearby, shrieking like a banshee.

Adam ignored these glimpses of the past and moved forward. He had been in stranger places than this before, but never had he seen so much desolation -- and so little hope. Is this what drove Thanos to crave death? Or was it his own mad desire for Lady Death's favor that caused this blackness of spirit? Adam wondered to himself.

"Death to Warlock! Death to the one who opposes our master!"

Adam whirled about at the sound of the familiar voice. It was Gamora herself, rushing towards him, knife in hand. The years peeled back like the layers of an onion for Adam -- for this was the Gamora that he had first met, years ago. Unlike the other wraiths, she had substance and could do him grave spiritual harm. Adam narrowly avoided the slash of her blade, all too aware that death here could prevent him from ever returning to his physical body. "Gamora! Where is your master? It is he that I seek!"

Gamora snarled like a tigress, throwing out a leg kick that knocked Warlock's feet out from under him. She pounced upon him, trying to drive her blade into his throat. Warlock managed to catch her arm, straining to hold her at bay while she whispered, "I never loved you. Never!"

Adam blinked, momentarily thrown off balance. It seemed strange to him that a shade of Thanos' memory would attack him so. Or perhaps she's formed not just of his memories, but of his subconscious desires. It makes sense that Thanos wouldn't approve of his young ward falling in love with me... Adam blasted the wraith away himself with a Karmic Blast fired from his Soul Gem. "You are not Gamora, phantasm. As such, your words are meaningless!"

The faux-Gamora recovered quickly, hefting her blade once more. "I am Gamora, Warlock! The Gamora that was, the Gamora that existed before you stole her from Thanos!"

Warlock blocked another blow, though the blade slashed along the outside of his arm. Blood spilled, though it was actually psychic essence that oozed and not true blood. "Gamora came over to my side of her own free will, shade! If you truly had any of her nobility, you would know that!" Adam managed to catch Gamora with a backhand, sending the green-skinned woman flying.

"Pitiful. May I ask why you even bothered to come here if all you are going to do is bash these phantoms?"

Warlock turned, seeing the massive form of Thanos standing on a small hill nearby. A jagged scar of lightning flashed across the sky behind him. "So I've found you. Good. I was growing weary of --" Gamora's shade jumped onto Warlock's back, scratching at his eyes and mouth. Adam tried to dislodge her, to no avail.

Thanos watched for a moment before snapping his fingers. Gamora disappeared, leaving Warlock gasping in surprise. "At least I still have power here... for whatever that is worth."

Warlock reached for his staff, retrieving it from it had fallen. "I come to aid you, Titan. I want to restore you to life."

Something flashed in Thanos' eye, but Adam wasn't sure if it was anger or something else. "Indeed. Are you certain you wouldn't rather gain information from me and then leave me here, trapped between life and death for eternity? It would be safer for you and your allies, I assure you."

"A threat so soon, Thanos? I thought you would appreciate the assistance, not spurn it."

Thanos grunted and moved forward. He eyed Warlock with a wariness that surprised his opponent. "You have no clue as to how I ended up here, do you?"

Warlock felt a sense of unease pass over him, but he pushed it aside. "Should I? All I know is that I've been plagued by dreams of your demise... and when I come here on an errand in the name of the Shi'ar Majestrix, I find your physical body in a state of virtual death."

Thanos laughed then, a hollow sound that echoed through this world of pain and desolation. "This is rich, my old foe. Have you splintered your poor psyche once more? Cast out your masculine sense of domination or your feminine sense of order? Which one of you has gone insane this time? The Magus? The Goddess? Or the poor half-man who calls himself Adam Warlock?"

Warlock ignored the taunts, finding them without meaning. "Your spirit called to me, Thanos. I come offering you a chance to live again -- if you swear to leave Shi'ar space."

"I have no interest in the Shi'ar, not any longer. I came here to the moon of Dengari in hopes of finding a new purpose for myself. My recent attempts at power have been universally regarded as failures, after all. I have found this moon to be a bit of a nexus point between realities -- the walls that separate one realm from another are thin here. Perhaps that explains much," he mused. Adam watched as Thanos locked his hands behind himself, giving the Titan the look of a professor about to begin a lecture. "As I said, I came here seeking a purpose -- I thought perhaps to use the energies that seeped from one reality to another to empower a new weapon of mine. Several weeks ago, while conducting tests on said weapon, I received an unexpected visitor. I greeted him with open arms, having been an ally of his in our most recent encounters. Something seemed amiss, however -- facets of his personality seemed... odd... to me. When the betrayal came, I was almost expecting it. To my surprise, he bested me in physical combat and forced me to undergo a terrible torture before I expired. He wished to know many things... about the universe, about me. I thought him mad, or confused at the least. I had no idea that he might not even be from our reality -- though in hindsight, it makes sense."

Adam clutched his staff tighter. "Your guest... Who was he?"

Thanos smiled now. "Why -- it was you, of course. AAdam Warlock."

Gamora strode through her former master's home, still feeling his overwhelming presence. She'd left Adam alone, confident that there was nothing she could do to help. It was strange to see Thanos like that -- so helpless, so defeated. It's hard to imagine any force powerful enough to....

"Gamora. We have to go." Adam stepped around the corner, his brooding eyes fixed on hers.

For a moment, Gamora could scarecely believe her eyes. Warlock was dressed in his old attire, the red and gold suit that he'd worn when they'd first met, years ago. "Adam? What happened to your clothes?"

"It's difficult to explain -- but I've learned what I needed to know. If our ship is nearby, we can go."

"If...?" Gamora frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Adam looked exasperated for a moment, which was shocking in and of itself. Adam rarely showed much emotion since his return from Soul World. "I'm fine. Thanos was killed by a very powerful threat -- one that's fled to the far corners fo the universe. I don't think we're in any danger from it, but I'd rather not tempt fate. Besides," he said, pointing to a small electronic device wedged onto the wall, "I've just finished arming these. The entire complex will be destroyed -- a fitting monument to Thanos and his evil."

"When did you have time to set those? I left you alone with Thanos not 15 minutes ago...."

"My misson took less time than I expected. Thanos doesn't want to return to life -- in fact, he tried to trap me inside there with him. I barely managed to escape."

Gamora stroked her chin, one hand on her hip. "I don't know. Something doesn't feel right...."

"It's this structure. Thanos has enfused it with his spirit. It makes us both feel... different."

Gamora searched Adam's eyes. He did seem different, but she'd felt odd ever since they'd arrived herself. And this certainly isn't some simulcra -- this is Adam. I can see it in his eyes. "Okay. Let's head to the landing pad and Pip can take us out of here. How long before the place blows?"

Adam took her arm and led her towards the nearest exit. "Not long enough. We'll have to hurry." He glanced at her, his face filled with concern. "Do you need to say goodbye to Thanos?"

"No," she said, a bit too harshly. "I made my peace with him years ago. I can't imagine him not wanting to survive, though."

Adam looked away. "Thanos was always full of surprises... We all are."

Adam Warlock stirred, his hand gripping the side of his head. He could hear Thanos snatching air into his lungs, as his spirit once more reanimated the strange flesh that it normally wore. Adam coughed several times before he felt his vision clear.

They remained in the same chamber as before, though Gamora was gone. Adam glanced at Thanos, who was rising up from the table upon which he lay. "We need to find Gamora -- perhaps this other Adam hasn't gone far."

Thanos narrowed his eyes, pointing at something lodged on the far wall. "I think we have more pressing concerns than the whereabouts of your doppleganger."

Warlock turned, seeing the small detonation device and immediately recognizing it for what it was. "Quickly! We need to --"

His words were never completed, however.

As the shuttlecraft piloted by Pip the Troll sped away from the Dengari moon, a terrible explosion rocked the surface of the moon. The large structure, erected by the mighty Thanos, disappeared in a fireball that eradicated everything around it for miles.

And then all was quiet.

Next Issue : Adam Warlock is back at Infinity Station -- for the first time. What has brought this otherworldly Warlock to this plane of existence? And are our universe's Adam and Thanos gone for good?

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Next issue kicks off in earnest the storyline I'd first imagined when I started this series. Surprises aplenty, I promise.

Barry Reese