Marvel's Avengers: The Extinction Key, page 20
He felt another sting in his back, and whirled. The scorpion-man was there again, and Emil surged toward him, but the air was suddenly very thick, like molten glass. Another horned man, this one with eyes like those of a goat, seized hold of him. His lungs stung as if wasps were nesting in them.
“It’s not Banner,” he heard someone say.
“It doesn’t matter,” the scorpion-man said. “He’ll do as well, if not better.”
Emil lunged forward, batting aside the goat-man, swinging for the scorpion’s head. The lion was back, leaping onto his back and slashing him with claws of flame. He leapt, blasting through the ceiling, shucking his antagonist off him and coming to ground in the street beneath a lowering thunderhead. He still couldn’t breathe and the fire in his veins was starting to work up the back of his skull. There was something like pins and needles reaching deep into his brain. A bull-woman loomed in front of him, and he was suddenly too heavy to move, sinking through the earth.
“Take him,” someone said. He thought it was the scorpion-man. He felt strong hands grab him at ankles, wrist and neck.
Then nothing.
TWENTY-FOUR
“TRAPPED,” Cap said. “We got here, didn’t we? Why can’t we leave the same way?”
“We used Thor’s power to enter the well,” Strange said. “He harnessed the might of Earth’s very atmosphere. There is nothing of the sort here.”
Thor held up his hammer, reached out with his senses, but he felt no stir of air that might be magnified—no vapor, no spark between hot and cold that could be fanned into flame.
“It’s true,” he conceded. “I am god of thunder, but this place has no thunder. There aren’t even any clouds. Neither, strange as it is to say, is this place under the watchful eye of Heimdall. The Bifrost cannot reach us here. I fear I can be of little help.”
“It looked like the Zodiac used their teleportation bracelets,” Cap said. “Why can’t you just—pop us out?”
“It might have looked like that,” Strange said, “but that isn’t what happened. Their bracelets couldn’t have worked in here. Scorpio used the Key to get them out. In doing so he not only returned the Zodiac back to Earth, but he repaired the well itself, erasing the weak point through which we entered. This place is not a normal part of the multiverse; as I said before, it is self-contained—now more so than ever.”
“There must be a way out,” Thor said. “Captain, by your leave, I would at least look.”
“Knock yourself out,” Cap said.
Thor blinked. “If you think ill of the suggestion—”
“No,” Cap said. “It’s an expression. It means give it your best try.”
“That’s a peculiar expression,” Thor said, “and prone to misinterpretation.”
“I see that now,” Cap said. “Believe me, you’re not the only one having trouble with vernacular. I tend to forget that half of what I grew up saying sounds nonsensical.” He turned to the sorcerer. “Strange, is there anything in particular he should keep an eye out for?”
“Anything that seems peculiar,” Strange said. “The more knowledge we have, the better. I will also reconnoiter in astral form.”
“I’m not sure what would stand out as peculiar in this place,” Cap said, “but see what you can find, Thor. While you’re at it, if you see my shield, I’d sure like it back.”
“Of course,” Thor replied. “I shall return anon.” He gazed up at the sky, featureless save for the stones scudding along in orbit. Then he whirled his hammer and flew up.
The planetoid shrank quickly behind him, its pull dwindling to nothing. He passed the larger rugged moons and then a few smaller ones, until all was below him, and the sphere was the size of a small jewel.
After that, it got no smaller, although his every sense told him he was still traveling at terrific speed away from it. He had encountered no barrier; the air still blew against his face with the wind of his own velocity.
Altering his course, he flung his hammer along what he perceived to be the axis of the planetoid, but still the object below showed no outstanding features, and no change. Frustrated, he returned to the belt of debris that orbited the small sphere, searching for Cap’s shield. It would have been like searching for a teardrop in an ocean, except that in this case the “teardrop” was the only thing that had any color to it. So he found the red-white-and-blue disk, snatched it from its orbit, then returned to the surface.
“You found it,” Cap said. “I’m much obliged.”
“That was the easy part,” Thor told him. “I found no escape for us. My quest was fruitless.”
“Perhaps not,” Strange said. “Each of these bubbles of reality is unique; some say they are a product of the Big Bang. I’m beginning to understand this one. Perhaps by factoring in what you’ve learned, we might find a solution.”
Thor explained as best he could what he’d encountered.
Strange considered it for a moment.
“You’ve heard the old conundrum, I take it? Zeno’s Dichotomy Paradox. If you take a step toward a door, and then a step half that distance, with each following step half the distance of the last, how long would it take you to reach the door?”
“You never would,” Cap said. “You would always have half a step to go, although the steps would eventually be microscopic.”
“Yes,” Strange said. “That’s how space behaves here. The farther you get from the planetoid, the more compressed space-time becomes—but it’s still infinite. You can travel as fast as you want, and never get further away.”
“So that leaves us with nothing,” Steve said. “If we can’t teleport, fly out, or open a portal—we’re stuck here.”
“Not necessarily,” Strange said. “Thor’s obser-vations are quite valuable. Space-time in this pocket dimension is organized entirely around the planetoid. It came first, and its properties generated the universe around it.”
“Very well,” Thor said, “but I still don’t understand what that means.”
“For gravity to behave as it does here, the core of this sphere must be incredibly dense, possibly as compressed as the matter of a neutron star. Yet if that were the case, the planet itself should have long ago shrunk to infinitesimal size. So the core of this planet must answer to different laws of physics.
“Therefore, if moving away from the center leads only to infinity, perhaps moving toward it will take us—well, out. Or at least someplace different,” he said. “Of course…”
“Of course what?” Cap asked.
“If I’m wrong, the atoms of which we are composed may collapse.” He shrugged. “We might simply be crushed to death.”
“Is there any way to anticipate which will happen?” Thor asked.
“Since Thor was exploring outward, I thought I should explore the inner,” Strange said. “I’ve been to the core, in my astral form, and found nothing peculiar. There were no ill effects. Our material bodies, however—of those I cannot be certain. Nor is there any indication of what lies beyond. So even if we do pass safely through, it might be into the core of a star or a plane farther removed even than this one. The only way to know for certain is to try.”
“How? By digging a hole to the center of the planet?”
“No,” Strange said, “but it can be done, if we’re agreed on the risk.”
“I don’t see any point in sticking around here,” Cap said. “Thor, what are your feelings?”
“I’m beginning to feel imprisoned,” he said. “I dislike the sensation.”
“We’re agreed, then?” Strange said.
“Yes,” Cap replied.
“Join hands with me, then,” Strange said. “Thor, if you would be so kind as to lay your hammer in the middle of the circle we form.”
Thor placed Mjolnir on the rocky surface, and they linked hands. The hammer quivered.
It shook back and forth.
Then it vanished, sucked into the ground, leaving a black hole behind it—and yanking them along with it. The hole should have been far too small to accommodate them, and yet somehow, they fit. Thor had the peculiar sensation of being stretched out, as if his legs were infinitely long and falling at astonishing speeds while his upper body remained where it was.
Then everything seemed to catch up. All went white, and he felt that instead of being pulled, he was being thrown. Blood rushed to his head, colors flashed all around him, and then the light faded. Still he gripped Strange’s hand, and Cap’s.
But where were they?
They were surrounded by darkness, aside from great glowing clouds in shades ranging from magenta to reds almost too dark to see. Behind them something like a star showed itself, but quickly dwindled with distance. Other stars of assorted colors appeared, but far fewer than in the skies of Asgard or Earth.
As his eyes adjusted, he made out faintly glowing bodies nearby. They looked as if they were formed of glass or some other transparent medium, illuminated gently with light from within. Many had geometrical shapes, while others were more amorphous. All seemed to be moving under their own power, some traveling in groups and others independently. They reminded him a bit of fish in how they moved, if not in how they looked.
He noticed a glowing bubble around them, too.
“Well, we weren’t crushed,” Captain America said. “And it sure looks like we’re someplace else.”
“Indeed,” Strange said, “and we are fortunate—there are an infinite number of realms. This, at least, is one I know, and not so far from home.”
“That’s lucky,” Cap said.
“Yes,” Strange said. “If we survive long enough to reach our own plane, we will be luckier still.” He nodded into the distance, where Thor saw something—large. Like the smaller bodies nearby, it was mostly translucent, but there was enough light inside of it to make out that it was roughly cone-shaped, with a gaping maw that looked hungry.
It turned toward them.
Farther out, similar behemoths appeared, and began moving in their direction—like sharks, scenting blood in the water. Only these sharks appeared large enough to swallow moons.
“Hang on,” Strange said, as spheres of eldritch force appeared around his fists. “This ride may get bumpy.”
TWENTY-FIVE
BRUCE stepped cautiously from the driver’s side of Monica’s car, searching the streets, the sky, the rooftops, before returning his gaze to the fresh ruin of the AIM labs. All of the repairs they and the contractors had done had been erased, and plenty more damage added.
This time, Monica’s lab had been trashed. Only one wall was still standing. Everything else—her computers and other equipment, the incubator and its pulsing green cells—all had been pulverized or scattered by what appeared to be one or several explosions. Fires licked at the periphery of the structure. In the distance, Bruce could hear fire and police sirens, indicating that this had all gone down only moments before.
Yet there was no one to be seen.
He plunged into the ruins, searching for Blonsky, his assistant, Tarleton—anyone who might have been present—but he found the place mercifully free of bodies. As the police arrived, it occurred to him he should probably get out. This looked exactly like something the Hulk might have done. There would be questions.
No.
He wouldn’t run from something he hadn’t done. The police needed answers, and so did Bruce. Tony had warned the Zodiac would return to rob the place. This didn’t look like a robbery. It looked as if they’d come to destroy the labs. It didn’t make any sense.
* * *
WITHIN the hour, Tarleton and most of the security and maintenance personnel had been accounted for. The only person missing was Blonsky. Despite Bruce’s protests, Monica arrived by cab. He watched her pick her way through the ruined lab, feeling helpless, but also feeling… something else. Like he was missing something.
“I’m sorry,” he told her.
She looked genuinely surprised.
“Why?” she asked. “You didn’t do this. You didn’t do any of this.”
“Yes,” he said, “but I should have been able to—” He broke off.
“What? Protect my lab? Bruce, surely you don’t think I expected that. If you had been here, maybe you could have helped, but it also might have been worse.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “They did a pretty good job of wrecking the place.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said softly. “You might be dead.”
“Oh.”
She came over and took his hand. “It’s okay,” she said. “Not the lab, of course—and Blonsky. I hope he’s alright.”
“Me too,” Bruce said.
“He…” She stopped, seeming to think better of whatever she was going to say.
“What?” he pressed gently.
“I caught Blonsky the other night,” she said. “After hours, looking at my gamma experiments. He was evasive when I asked what he was doing. Or so I thought at first—but it must be boring, at times, doing his job. I thought maybe he was just curious.”
“Maybe he was,” Bruce said.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about him,” Monica said. “He was secretive about his past. What if—what if he is one of them? The Zodiac?”
“I doubt that,” Bruce said. “They nearly killed him.”
Monica nodded. “Of course. I’m not thinking straight. He’s probably been hurt or worse, trying to protect our labs.”
“We’ll find him,” Bruce said. “But now that you mention the gamma experiments—what happened to them?”
“The incubator was destroyed,” she said. “What’s left of it is over there in the corner.”
“But what if the Zodiac took some of the cells first? What if that’s what they came back for?”
“It shouldn’t matter,” she said. “Without proper culture they would die within hours. Besides—I wasn’t making any progress.” Her eyes dropped. “I had hoped to help you,” she said. “And others. But the gamma mutations were too unpredictable. Any traits I managed to isolate just mutated again. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve been working on the same problem for years. There might not be an answer.”
He looked over at the wreckage of the barrier isolator. Maybe the Zodiac had thought they could find something there—to harness the same radiation that made the Hulk possible. If they had, they were in for a disappointment.
“Your friends are here,” Monica said.
* * *
“NEW jet,” Bruce observed as he came on board.
Natasha looked up from the satellite images she was reviewing. Bruce was dressed in slacks and a button-up shirt. His hair was combed. If he’d been the green guy since she saw him last, it had been a while.
“Yeah,” Tony replied. “The last one kind of got blown up, back in Taiwan.”
Bruce glanced back and forth between the two of them. “That’s rough,” he said. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad the two of you made it back in one piece.”
“Thanks,” Tony said. “Your concern is touching.”
“Look, Tony—”
Stark waved him off. “Don’t mind me,” he said. “I’m a little cranky from the lack of sleep and the torture. But like you said, here we are, safe and sound. Meanwhile, it looks as if things here got a little out of hand again.”
“Yeah,” Bruce said. “I wasn’t involved this time, though.”
“No, you were too busy dodging my calls,” Tony said. “Cap I understand. He was frozen for a few years. He missed handheld calculators, table-top video games in pizza joints, message boards, chat rooms—everything on which our current civilization is founded. But I figured you would check your messages once in a while.”
“I do,” Bruce said. “Once in a while. Not usually when I’m asleep.”
“Tony,” Natasha said, “lay off. Bruce, listen to me. Do you have any idea what happened here? Did you see anything?”
At first, it looked like he wouldn’t answer. Finally he turned to her.
“No,” he said in a quieter voice. “I didn’t make it in time. I came as soon as I saw the message, but—no, nothing.”
“And since we’ve been gone? Has anything happened?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Look, when Cap gets back—”
“What the hell makes you think Cap is coming back?” Tony shouted. At that moment, Natasha saw that he wasn’t just pissed off. Stark was on the verge of tears.
Bruce saw it, too, and his face crumpled in dismay.
“Wait,” he said. “Why? What happened? Where’s Cap and Thor?”
Tony looked away. Natasha waited, but when it became clear he wasn’t going to say anything, she turned to Bruce.
“Tony and I went to Taiwan to check in on this Capricorn guy. As you might have guessed, things didn’t go so well. Cap and Thor went off with Doctor Strange to try and find the Key before the Zodiac got to it. You were paying attention to all of this when Strange laid it out, right?”
“Yes.”
“Before we escaped from Capricorn’s place,” she continued, “all twelve of them showed up. The whole Zodiac. They had the Key with them, which means Cap and Thor failed to stop them from getting it. Not only that, but we haven’t heard anything from any of them. I don’t know what that suggests to you, but for me that reads… pretty bad.”
“You think they’re dead?”
“Something like that,” she said. “Capricorn suggested they were no longer a factor.”
“God,” he muttered. “That’s… No, there are other explanations. They could have been captured, or they may be hurt. We have to try to find them.”
“We don’t even know where to start,” Tony said. “Strange can teleport. They could be anywhere. They might not even be on Earth. The only place I know to look is in some stretch of mountains in Turkmenistan. That’s almost five hours from here at top speed, and then we would have to find them.”
