As he floated in space contemplating he was blindsided by a red fist from the ruler of the Shi’ar. Emperor Gladiator and his Imperial Guard had arrived for their cargo.

“Why am I attacked?” Shaper of Worlds bellowed as he repositioned himself for the next attack from Gladiator.

“Come with us without question and you won’t be hurt,” Oracle explained with her arms folded across her chest trying to look imposing.

“And why should I come with you?” Shaper of Worlds asked narrowing his eyes at the lover of Gladiator. His voice seemed to make the foundations of space itself shake. The ancient creature was not use to being assaulted and especially not by the likes of Shi’ar.

“The Mad Titan, Thanos, plots a scheme on Earth that could destroy us all. Your powers could prove to be quite useful in the battle against his forces. I wouldn’t have come all this way if I didn’t think the threat serious,” Gladiator said flying to float beside his queen to be. He had no idea how the Shaper of Worlds would react to all of this especially after getting ambushed, but Kallark knew that was the only way to get the Shaper to listen. Otherwise he would have treated them like specks and dust mites.

“Thanos is not worth my time, but I do know that Earth is often the place of universal events. I’ll come with you, but only because the boredom of space has taken hold of me,” the Shaper said pretending to not be at all interested in the reason Gladiator had come out this far to meet him.

“Excellent. Then let us make haste for Earth. The Avengers need us!” Gladiator exclaimed as an Apocalypse class Shi’ar cruiser appeared from a wormhole.

“So this paltry ship is our transport?” Shaper of Worlds asked trying to sound unimpressed as possible. He didn’t want any of these lowly beings to think that even for a moment he was going to allow himself to be fooled. No one ever wanted the aid of the Shaper of Worlds for purely altruistic purposes. It never happened.

Machine Man turned his body intangible and went midway through Electryon body. Solidifying all his body, except for the tiny portion that was in Electryon’s body, the android sent a powerful energy blast throughout the whole of the Eternal’s body. Dropping his large golden mallet Electryon fell to the ground as Machine Man once again turned intangible and flew high into the air away from his opponent.

“Have at thee foul scum!” Thor yelled as he slammed Mjolnir into the face of Electryon. The Eternal flew high into the air and went crashing into the rich brown soil of the rainforest.

The Thunder God smiled at hearing the thud of the falling body, but that expression of happiness was quickly cut off as a bright beam struck him in the back. Crying out in pain the son of Asgard hit the ground face first. Floating above him on what looked to be a motorcycle without wheels was the son of Darkseid, Kalibak. Next to him a similar device was his partner in crime, Desaad. To both of their backs was a giant portal commonly referred to as a Boom Tube. Hundreds of Parademons poured out to greet the Avengers and Ronan’s Accusers.

“Cyborgs!” Ronan cried outraged at more combatants entering this fray. It had seemed like they were so close to achieving victory. Though, he should have realized that nothing on Earth was ever easy.

“And that’s not all little man. We got a few more surprises up our sleeves,” Desaad, Darkseid’s chief torturer, hissed as something the Avengers hadn’t ever expected to see again came out of the portal.

“Ahh hell naw!” Binary yelled both shocked and upset as clones of her came out of the portal. She had enough of the last experience involving an army of her look a likes. Though, these clones were hardly perfect. In fact, some were downright gross looking. There clones with four arms, spider heads, tails, and spikes protruding from their bodies.

“Not this again,” Scarlet Witch sighed reliving the experience she had in Shi’ar space involving the clones of Binary. It was when the team had been a little bigger and it had happened before Proctor destroyed the entirety of the Shi’ar Empire.

“Smite these foul ones!” Thor yelled angered as he stood up and flung Mjolnir into the barbaric face of Kalibak. The son of Darkseid cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The mystic hammer hadn’t been enough to knock him off his feet, but it did make him kneel in agony.

Ronan seeing the anger of the Thunder God unleashed his wrath as well upon a nearby clone. Grabbing the woman’s head he snapped it like a twig. Turning around to attack another clone he saw Jack-of-Hearts wrapping a dozen Parademons in a negative energy force field and crunching the mechanical monstrosities…slowly.

“Beware Avenger! All is not what it seems here,” Ronan warned as he grabbed another clone and slammed her head into the ground killing her instantly.

“Pray tell what would that be besides for you,” Jack said snidely as he deflected the star powered blasts of four Binary clones. He knew the reputation of Ronan well and it was far from a good one, though anyone under the thumb of the Supreme Intelligence could hardly be trusted.

“Time is urgent so I will ignore your arrogance. Thanos has a new ally who is name is Darkseid. They’ve come to Earth seeking an Avenger to control not one, but two realities. This information came to my master from Tyrant,” Ronan explained as ripped off the arm of a Parademon and slammed it into the chest of another.

Jack laughed, “Tyrant? You honestly want me to believe you now. In fact I’m almost tempted to turn around and whup your tail!”

Ronan began to grow frustrated, “Think boy! If I wanted you to be fooled why would I use the name of someone you hate to do it? This is no game. The universe is at stake here. Put aside your feelings and listen!”

“Okay fine. Lets say I do believe you. Then who is it that Thanos is after?” Jack-of-Hearts asked when he suddenly heard a defiant scream.

“Her,” Ronan said without the slightest bit of emotion as he pointed to Scarlet Witch who was being drug away by Desaad.

Seeing none of the other Avengers could get to her Jack took off in a fury, negative energy blazing behind him. Plowing through the crowds of Parademons, Accusers, and clones he was nearly within reach of Wanda. The sadist Desaad had a smile on his face the entire time as a black bubble began to expand out from his body. Pushing himself faster than he had in quite awhile he hit the bubble head on and vanished.

“Damn it,” Ronan yelled as he lifted his Universal Weapon and slammed it on the crown of a Parademon’s head. The result was bloody ooze all over Ronan’s chest and face. In trying to save Scarlet Witch the foolish Contraxian hybrid had allowed himself to be kidnapped as well.

Golden boots treaded the hall of one of the universe’s evilest and most diabolical creatures. The boots didn’t care though because they were death’s messengers and no matter how fearless and great the creature all things submitted to death. Even in this great and dangerous hall these boots went where they pleased for they belonged to Thanos, the destroyer of worlds and the lover of Death incarnate.

Thanos let a dastardly smirk slide across his face, “Inciting anger might work for you other “lesser” foes, but it would do you well to remember exactly who I am.”

I know who you are and you coming here was a grave mistake.

“No! You interfering with my plans was a mistake. Me coming here might just be your salvation,” Thanos answered sharply.

As if he hadn’t heard a word Supreme Intelligence said Thanos continued on, “Interfering with me only delays the inevitable. If you don’t stop with your meddling hastily I will make you bleed before all this is done!”

“I’m trying to save you from a shameful defeat. The great Kree ruler doesn’t want to be known in the annals of history as one of its greatest mistakes.”

Supreme Intelligence fought the urge to wrack Thanos’ mind with enough pain to make a planet tremble. Anger was what Thanos wanted to incite. It would give him all the victory he needed. To show anger was to show weakness.

Binary blasted a hole through the back of a Parademon as another one jumped on her own backside. White star energy poured from her body and blew the Parademon off of her in pieces.

“Sure blow up easy don’t they?” Binary asked Machine Man who was fighting off a group of said cyborgs below her.

“Easy is hardly the word I would use,” Machine Man replied as he moved with a speed to match Quicksilver. With great accuracy he dismantled six Parademons in six seconds flat. They all fell to the ground in pieces of flesh and metal.

“Dang homeboy. I’ll remember to call you the next time my Momma’s car breaks down,” Binary said slightly in shock at the display.

Scanning the battlefield Binary saw that Thor was beating Kalibak back with the strength of his hammer and will. Nicole decided to stay out of that fight when she suddenly lost her breath. Skybreaker moved out of nowhere and struck Nicole across the face sending her flying through the air.

Binary tried to focus, but not only was she losing consciousness from lack of breath, but Skybreaker was whirling her around a mid-air tornado. There was no way she would be able to get a decent shot.

Skybreaker smiled smugly at his handiwork when something grabbed his long blue hair and flung him through the air. He quickly saw that his assailant was the former Cosmic Protector, Quasar. Before Skybreaker had a chance to react he was being bombarded by the energy of the Quantum Bands.

The hold Skybreaker had over Binary quickly ended and Nicole moved in to go and help Quasar finish off Skybreaker. She knew Wendell could handle the man well enough on his own, but Binary wanted to get her piece in. A person ambushing her was not something she took well to.

“Retreat!” called the man with the bulging head called Phobius. Boom tubes quickly began to open all across the battlefield. The Parademons and clones jumped through them with great haste. Astarte saved Skybreaker from the wrath of Quasar and Kalibak, Gronk, and Phobius soon followed them.

Electryon tried to escape, but he was pinned to the ground by a light shield created by Photon. There was no way Monica was letting all these jerks escape without giving some type of answers. Very quickly, the Eternal was all that remained of the attack force.

“Looks like we got ourselves someone to interrogate,” Nicole said cracking her knuckles eager to get down to business.

“Raise him up fair Monica! I hath many questions to asketh of this man,” Thor said anger streaming from every word that traveled out of his throat.

Photon obeyed and dropped the former Damocles Foundation associate to the ground. He was soon hoisted into the air by Thor who bellowed, “Whom doth thou serve?”

“I can answer some of your questions and save us some time. He works for Thanos and Darkseid. He stole away Wanda because she can help the both of them rule their respective universes,” Ronan the Accuser informed walking through the crowd of Avengers and Accusers to get to where Thor had his prison held high in the air.

“Why Wanda? What can she do for the foul Thanos?” Thor asked. Electryon remained silent for a few seconds before Mjolnir struck him across the face.

“Don’t make me ask again,” Thor growled.

“Wanda will give Darkseid some equation. Something of great power. That’s all I know,” Electryon muttered trying to hold onto consciousness.

“Where is she being held?” Ronan asked cutting off Thor.

“I don’t know. That wasn’t made known to me. If you had captured Kalibak perhaps you would have your answer, but I guess he was too much for Thor,” Electryon smiled weakly. He knew he had struck a nerve and if he could make Thor lose his cool enough perhaps it might actually help him get away from all of this.

“Why Kalibak?” Thor asked ignoring Electryon’s snide comment. If the life of Wanda and Jack weren’t at stake he would have already dismissed this fool, but love of his friends held his anger in check.

“Kalibak is Darkseid’s son. He knows plenty more that I do, but you being the fool you are captured a minor player in this much larger game. You waste your time here,” Electryon laughed though it was barely audible.

“And why is that?” Ronan asked holding his Uni-Weapon prepared to deliver a blow of his own.

“For even as we speak Parademons begin to attack across the globe. Why do you think one of us stayed behind? It was to keep you distracted if even for a little bit. I had hoped Thor’s anger would have made you all feel some degree of sympathy for me, but I see that approach has failed. So the hard truth must be delivered,” Electryon said his giant yellow mallet flying from across the ground and slamming it in Thor’s face. The Asgardian went flying high into the air and the Eternal vanished feeling a very happy man.

“Damn! We must prepare ourselves for this army of Para…whatever he called them,” Photon said to Ronan as Quasar and Binary flew over to check on Thor.

“Indeed we must, but finding your teammate has to be my main priority. All of Thanos’ plots hinge on him having her,” Ronan replied.

“We need to go back to Avengers Mansion and handle this. It’s not right to stand around here and strategize. We need a centralized location we’re all familiar with. Planning under pressure in unfamiliar surroundings will not do for such a lofty situation,” Machine Man suggested.

“I agree Machine Man, but whatever we do we need to do it quick,” Photon said with a great degree of urgency.

“Indeed. The half-breed won’t be able to protect Wanda for long…if at all,” Ronan added making the mood a little bleaker.

Jack-of-Hearts flew forward and punched Desaad in the head with enough force to send the spindly framed man back into a bunch of stacked metal poles almost a half mile away. Wanda slumped down to the ground, but Jack caught her in his arms before she hit the floor. Looking around the Contraxian/human hybrid was in shock. Wherever he was at the place was huge. Empty space stretched in all directions for what had to be at least a mile.

“Ahh the knight comes to save the damsel in distress. Question is; who will save him?” a dark, powerful voice echoed through the massive area. Quickly turning around Jack saw himself staring at a man that would give an armada reason to pause.

“If you think you’re getting Wanda you have another thing coming,” Jack said flaring his body up ready for an attack. He wasn’t going to let Wanda be used for whatever purpose these sick pups had in mind.

“What Darkseid wants he gets,” Darkseid smiled moving calmly towards Jack with his hands behind his back. He feared nothing from this two-toned man. Nothing he could offer would pose any threat to the Lord of Apokolips.

“Stay back before I have to hurt you,” Jack warned moving back two steps for every one that his foe took. Despite his brave protestations, Jack-of-Hearts really didn’t feel all too brave at the moment. In fact he was truthfully scared for the first time in years. This man, or whatever you wanted to call it, resonated incredibly evil power.

“Hurt me? Boy you really do think too much of yourself,” Darkseid said firing off an Omega blast. Jack’s shield stood up to the blast, but he was flung up into the roof of the space station and lost his grip on Wanda. Moving down swiftly Jack fired off dozens of his negative energy bolts at Darkseid.

Darkseid stumbled back a bit surprised that the cretin actually had some power behind him. Smiling he said, “Perhaps I won’t kill you so easily after all.”

“Yea like that’ll happen,” Jack replied defiantly dodging the continuous Omega blasts of Darkseid with great aerial skill. Numerous explosions went off around Jack and a piece of debris blindsided him from the left. Jack-of-Hearts went spiraling through the air and slammed into the ground at Darkseid’s feet.

“Oh believe me it will,” Darkseid laughed lifting Jack into the air by his collar and punching him in the stomach. Then he slammed the man back into the floor and slammed his foot across his shoulders. Jack cried out in pain and Darkseid in response flung him high into the air. Slamming into the nearest wall Jack cried out again and before he could make his descent to the ground two red beams struck him in the chest and kept him pinned there.

“You are nothing! And I will spare you because of it!” Darkseid said disgusted as he ceased his attack and let Jack hit the ground with a loud, resounding smack. Walking over to the fallen body Darkseid hefted it up on his shoulder, “Perhaps you can be of some use to me after all.”

“So Tyrant told Supremor all of this?” Quasar asked again just to make sure he had heard Ronan correctly.

“Indeed he did. Tyrant holds a grudge against Thanos for past insults. Now do you understand why it’s so vital for us to find your missing Avenger?” Ronan asked hoping he had finally made his point clear to all the Avengers.

“Yeah I do, but what can we do?” Binary asked feeling a little small in comparison to the enormity of the situation.

Photon walked into the room with a grim expression on her face, “The Parademons have begun to attack Moscow, London, Paris, and Cairo. I have a feeling New York is soon going to be on that list of cities.”

“Obviously. It makes sense to attack the most powerful places in the world. We have a higher priority at the moment though. Wanda must be saved,” Machine Man implored.

“And Jack as well,” Binary added hoping the others hadn’t forgotten about him.

“He is more than likely dead if Darkseid and Thanos have the forces Ronan fears he does,” Machine Man said coldly.

“Jack is more resilient than you would think. Give him some credit!” Quasar yelled a little angered at Machine Man’s assumption of death.

“Either way the robot speaks the truth. The main priority must be to save Wanda. All hinges on her!” Ronan exclaimed.

Just then the alarms of the Mansion went blaring off. All of the Avengers and Accusers stood to attention. A plasma screen monitor came down from the roof above them and showed an image of Binary clones landing on the lawn.

“Looks like we’ve got a problem! Thor you’ve been quiet so far. What do we do?” Binary asked feeling a little weirded out at the sight of her clones yet again.

“I refuse to leave Migard to these monsters! Though Wanda must be found! We shalt split up into two groups. One shalt handle the threat facing Migard and the other shalt save dearest Wanda!” Thor ordered.

“I know a way to get to Wanda, but I’ll need one of your aircraft to get us there,” Ronan said.

“So be it. Photon and myself will go with Ronan and some of your Accusers to find Wanda. The rest of you shalt stay here and fight bravely,” Thor commanded.

Binary laughed, “You always leave us to do the dirty work.”

“Good luck Thor. Bring back Wanda!” Quasar said.

“Wanda will be back with us Wendell. I promise,” Photon replied not sure if she believed what she was saying, but it felt good to say it nonetheless.

Parademons came crashing down around the city of love and spread their hate across the people with their laser lances and eye beams. The mindless cyborgs served the will of Darkseid and his will was that of indiscriminate hate. A hate that boiled deep within the souls of all sentient beings and it was a hate that the Parademons were experts at expressing.

Suddenly, from above a loud roar came and a bright light filled the sky. Upon looking up the masses of Parademons and people saw armored blue men fill the sky. Each one carried a hammer in their hand and a wicked smile on their face. It was the Kree Accusers of the Supreme Intelligence. They had arrived to do battle with the Parademons not only in Paris, but across the globe.