Issue #3
"GATHERING OF SHADOWS"
Part III
by Will Short
Doctor Strange
Namor
Hulk
Luke Cage
Hellcat
Valkyrie
Silver Surfer
Beta Ray Bill
His deceased wife Dorma ... his former consort Merrana ... even Mr. Fantastic's wife, the beautiful and famous Invisible Woman, Susan Richards. Many women, heroines and citizens alike, consider Namor to be an attractive man himself. In fact, the Atlantan King could probably have his choice of female companions ... maybe even certain male companions.
But were Namor given the choice, he would most likely have given the monstrous Hulk as one of his last choices. Nevertheless, as the Submariner comes to his senses, two feelings are most prominent in his mind: the strange but somewhat familiar sensation of zero gravity, and the uncomfortable and disturbing feeling of two large, dry lips pressed to his.
Opening his eyes, Namor only sees a mass of green, and he immediately begins to struggle. "Mmmmmffff...!" he tries to yell, but the vibrations of his vocal cords only find themselves muffled as they travel into the hot, damp mouth of the incredible Hulk. With all of his effort, Namor pushes the green man-monster off of him until the Hulk pulls back.
Through widely opened eyes, the Submariner inspects his surroundings and finds nothing. Nothing meaning empty space ... barren, black abyss inhabited only by distant suns, stars, and planets. He panics, and exhales deeply. As he tries to speak, he finds a burning in his lungs not often felt by the Lord of the Atlantic Ocean, the feeling of suffocation.
"Woah ... woah there, Subby! Don't pass out on me again," the Hulk says, and before Namor drifts back to whence he came, puts his lips to Namor again and empties his mighty lungs into the Atlantan's body. The Submariner struggles only a little, but as he is brought quickly back from the brink of unconsciousness, he stops. As soon as the Hulk as sure his friend is once again awake, he pulls back, waiting for the imminent outburst from Namor.
"Imperious Rex, Hulk! What do you think you're doing?!" Namor exclaims.
"It's called CPR, and it just saved your life."
"How? It was uncalled for!"
"Hey, listen. If you had a little stronger lungs, it wouldn't be a problem. We're lucky that we're both dense enough to survive this vacuum as it is."
"My lungs are perfectly healthy, for my race, Hulk." Namor says, and he finds his supply of oxygen once again running low.
"Hu....kkkKKK...KGGHHH...!" he begins to suffocate again, and the Hulk quickly inhales and then exhales into Namor's mouth.
The king looks uncomfortable in the Hulk's arms, trying to avoid heavy breathing to prolong another touch of the lips between himself and the Hulk.
"Let me fly on my own. I'm no helpless woman," Namor says, and the Hulk complies.
"Suit yourself. I was just trying to help." He is released from the green behemoth's grip. The momentum from their mysterious attacker's blast* continues to send them peeling through space, and Namor allows his own ankle wings to control his speed.
(*In last issue. -Will)
There is an uncomfortable silence between the two Defenders, and after a moment of discomfort from short gasps, Namor is able to speak. "Was it really necessary?"
"Sub ... Namor, unless you want to die out here in the middle of nowhere, it has to happen."
The Submariner frowns and the Hulk looks back from his forward position, noticing.
"Believe me, I didn't enjoy it anymore than you did. Now let's try to keep the chatter to a minimum ... I only have so much oxygen in these beauties of lungs for the both of us."
So the two continue to fly, without controlled direction, through space. After some time, Namor feels the now normal urgency for air, and he flies faster to meet the Hulk and point at his face, begging for air.
The Hulk does his duty quickly, ending it as quickly as possible. "What are we to do now?" Namor asks as he flies parallel to his emerald savior.
"Well," the Hulk thinks for a bit, his uncluttered mind searching for an answer. Namor does not give him enough time to come up with a decision, and speaks again.
"I'm worried for Stephen. The man attacked brutally."
"Yeah ... yeah, I know," The Hulk says, distracted as he racks his brain for ideas. At this time he notices a nagging in the furthest reaches of his thoughts ... almost a calling, like a beacon. He holds his head, shaking it slightly, his eyes closed with the strain of finding the feeling's pleas -- and then he turns his head to Namor.
"What is it?" Namor asks, wondering the state of his partner.
"I ... I've got this feeling. I've had this kind before."
"What do you mean?"
The Hulk thinks again, quicker this time, "I think I know which direction to go ... but we have to do it fast, because I don't have a whole lotta air left."
"Fair enough, but how? We've been on this same path for a while now..."
"It looks like you've got decent control over your movement with those wings of yours," the Hulk says, pointing in the direction of the Submariner's feet. "You can probably change our direction."
"I will try ... but they aren't wings." Namor says, readying himself for the change in trajectory.
Hulk does not quite understand, "Huh?"
As Namor flies above his friend and grabs onto the monster's large back as well as possible, he says into his green ears, "I don't have wings ... they are fins. Now tell me which direction to turn to."
And the Hulk does not say anything, simply pointing in what he feels is the right direction. Namor lets his fins go to work, slowly but surely forcing the King and mighty green mortal into a new and hopefully helpful path.
"Brunnhilde? What's wrong?" Hellcat says, not fully aware of her situation. She has just seen Beta Ray Bill stripped of his Uru mallet by Valkyrie. The plan had worked, the alien hero lost his abilities and having changed back to his "normal" form. Normal for his race, at least. But something is amiss. The Valkyrie turned after retrieving the hammer, and immediately threatened her allies.
"Wrong? Nothing is wrong that I can think of, Hellcat," The blonde Asgardian beauty says as she approaches the feline redhead.
"Uh ... Valkyrie...?" The Valkyrie raises her new toy, the hammer Storm Breaker, looming over Hellcat's skinny frame and threatening to end her newly renewed career.
As the mallet begins to come down, Patsy feels frozen. She is afraid -- she knows she must move as quickly as possible, or else it will all stop, suddenly and horribly. It seems easy enough to jump in any direction out of harm's way ... but for some reason, she just can't.
"Hellcat!" Luke Cage's voice yells in fear for Patsy's life, and she feels the Power Man's own lightning fast reflexes at work as he uses his muscular body to push her out of the way; throwing himself at her entirely in an attempt to save her.
They land in a pile of sweaty, shaking flesh and clothing, and he pulls her up with him. "Jesus ... what was that? You almost get yourself killed, girl!" he exclaims while she stands.
"I ... I don't know, Luke. It just seemed to slow down there for a minute. Thanks for the save, though."
"Least I can do. But forget about it for now, because it looks like our buddy just turned into the next problem," Luke says -- referring to Valkyrie's change in sides.
Luke and Patsy look over to see the battle continuing without them. Valkyrie's abilities have apparently also been enhanced, and she battles their new friend called Regina, who seemed to come from almost nowhere but with welcome growth abilities. Not to mention the cosmic veteran Silver Surfer. Even with two such powerful beings, both fighting full force against a single opponent, the Valkyrie's newfound strength holds it's own.
Patsy notices another figure running through the battle and towards herself and Luke Cage, and quickly sees that it is Beta Ray Bill. He speaks first when he reaches them.
"You are. ... Hellcat?" he asks, recognizing her as one of Earth's many heroes.
"Yes, Bill. You are Beta Ray Bill, right?"
"I am ... but I do not know how I came to be here on Earth, or how my hammer Storm Breaker was taken from me!"
Luke explains, "Beta Ray, we all came here when we heard you kickin' the crap outta the Silver Surfer, there."
Bill looks over and recognizes his friend, the Surfer. "Norrin? I was attacking Norrin? But why...? I do not even remember doing that."
"Your guess is as good as ours, but apparently the grudge has been passed on to Brunnhilde. It happened when she took the hammer from you."
Beta Ray Bill only ponders the situation for a moment before coming to his conclusion, "Yes! That must be it ... the hammer, it is causing it's wielder to attack the others." The alien says.
"Even if that's right," Luke asks, "how does that help us out?"
"You will see, soon enough. If the hammer is separated from me for more than sixty seconds..."
There is a flash of light similar to before, and Valkyrie's new hammer is no longer that at all -- but a plain, wooden staff of little to no use for battle. This makes no difference, though, as the Asgardian woman halts her quarrel with the Surfer and the woman Regina.
"..it changes back to it's other form, a staff," Bill finished.
Hurrying towards their friend, Hellcat and Luke discover that she has dropped the staff and backed away from it, as Regina and the Surfer follow in suit. "Valkyrie, what happened?" Hellcat asks as she hugs her close friend, both former Defenders.
"I know not, Patsy," she answers lightly, holding her head, "No sooner had I taken the mallet from Beta Ray Bill that I lost all recollection and control."
Hellcat and the others explain what she had done while under the influence of the hammer.
"Gods! I apologize for doing such things ... I had no idea!" Brunnhilde says, and the others easily forgive her as all of them gathered around.
"So is this over? Can the battle stop now?" Regina asks the others, still in a hurry.
"Not by a long shot ... how come the hammer stopped working once it became a staff...?" Luke wonders, and Beta Ray Bill tries to answer.
"Whatever force is within my hammer took control of it while it it's mystically enhanced form ... so it's possible that the power it took from Storm Breaker was diminished when it changed back to a staff."
"What do we do now, then?" asks Hellcat.
"I do not know ... when I scan the staff, I find only a small presence, one that is familiar ... but it is very faint, and I cannot identify it." The Surfer informs the others.
"I cannot be without my hammer forever," Beta Ray Bill hints. They all know that they must find something to do with the staff laying before them, but none of them are sure what.
"Perhaps Stephen Strange could investigate the item?" Brunnhilde suggests, but the Silver Surfer shakes his bald, shining head.
"I first came to Doctor Strange when Beta Ray Bill and I landed on Earth*...he is not even on the planet."
(*In Defenders #1 -Will)
"Where? Stephen usually travels in astral form," Hellcat asks, and a booming voice from an unseen speaker answers her.
"The Doc's off on big business, Pats ... and he's in big trouble."
Many of them recognize the voice, and they turn and see the Hulk and the Submariner standing nearby.
"Hulk! Namor!" Patsy cries, and is the first to meet them. "What's going on? Do you know about this?"
"Know about what?" Namor asks, and sees the massive crowd, the fair amount of destruction, and the large collected group of familiar faces. Most of all, he sees the Silver Surfer.
Walking past Hellcat, Namor goes to the Surfer and speaks to him, relieved but confused.
"Norin! You are on Earth?"
"Yes ... there is a long story behind it, but I am here." The Surfer admits.
"But ... you appeared to the Hulk and I. Stephen, too ... you were calling for help?"
The Surfer's metallic brow becomes as wrinkled as his shell-like skin does, "I do not know what you are talking about. I sent no distress call."
"Then ... you do not know about Zenn-La?"
"What of my home planet? What do you mean?"
The Hulk and Hellcat join the rest of the group, and the Hulk catches up on the conversation.
"Aw man, Subby .. .I dunno if we should break this to the poor guy," the Hulk argues passively.
"Break what to me? What do you mean?" The Silver Surfer is loosing his composure, becoming more and more flustered.
Namor makes the decision for himself. He knows what it is like to lose a home ... to want revenge ... to have your basis of life abused and destroyed.
"Norin," he says, beginning lightly, "Zenn-La has been destroyed."
In the crowd surrounding the calmed battle scene, Mark Garney is impressed and a little confused.
His mother left him with the police officer to join the battle, but he had strayed away from the easily distracted young man. He knows his mother is special ... he is reminded of that every time she wakes up, every time she changes from one kind to another. He is used to it, because he deals with it every day.
But he is not used to seeing his mother join in the battle. She usually is merely annoyed with the actions of superhuman battles when they are presented ... he cannot help but wonder why she did it.
His young mind cannot wonder as deeply as yours or mine, but there are many possible reasons. Annoyance? Jealousy? Need for action, or for change? Did she just want to get home?
Perhaps Regina does not even know, herself. It was impulsive, her joining the battle, but she has done it. Even as she stands here listening to the heroes' banter on unknown subjects, she divides her thoughts between her choice of action and her son; still in the crowd.
She looks for him, and once spotting him, waves with her gigantic hand. Mark smiles warmly.
The pain and chaos is beyond unnerving or disturbing ... it is close to insanity, but even further. Stripped, beaten, invaded, submitted --- all these things and more Doctor Strange feels in the middle of the field of debris that used to be the planet Zenn-La.
He does not even know what the mysterious man is doing to him any longer. He cannot see the actions, or his surroundings, or even his attacker. The swirl of sound and fury is all Stephen knows. It is a new experience.
And even in the midst of the astounding amount of input and absorption, giving and taking, destruction and creation going on between the two men in space ... Stephen Strange manages to make out a single phrase from his attacker.
"An irony, Strange ... I am your better, both as your teacher and your replacement!"
Among all other things, Stephen feels cold.
NEXT ISSUE: Stephen's fate is revealed, as is the mystery of the force within Storm Breaker. A battle of epic proportions and a two classic, bittersweet reunions. All mysteries are solved, and all loose ends are tied up in the specially-sized Defenders #4.
