the world below
Daredevil, Powerman, Iron Fist, Black Widow, Johnny Bifrost, and Misty Knight reluctantly followed Moon Knight down a long steel ladder into the main sewer tunnels of the city. The tunnels were circular in cross-section, measuring anywhere between six to thirty feet in diameter. On each side of a tunnel was a two-foot-wide walkway, some had rails while others did not. The tunnels were dimly illuminated by light filtering in through manholes and curb grates on the streets above. In some places, phosphorescent algae grew on the walls.
Vapors rose from a putrid stream of raw sewage and foul brown water. The stream ran anywhere from six inches to four feet deep, and even deeper after a rainstorm. Through the murky air the heroes could see numerous pipes intersecting at odd angles. Not only did the sewer smell bad, but it was a bewildering maze that reached virtually everywhere in New York.
As Moon Knight headed off down a walkway above the fetid water, his footsteps echoed eerily off the grimy walls. From his familiar masked visage came an unfamiliar voice. "Follow me! Quickly! I feel that time grows short."
Ahead, the stream of sewage was frothing with vermin. The walkways on both sides were choked with little rats. Many of the heroes gently pushed the rats out of their way with their feet. Many of the rodents fled, scurrying into back down into the sewage or into smaller pipes and crevices. A cloud of famished mosquitoes also filled the tunnels.
In a side tunnel devoid of water, several beggars had a fire of rubbish and other refuse. They eyed the heroes mournfully as they begged and pled for money. There were only a few of these unfortunate forgotten people in the gloomy subterranean atmosphere at that time of the night, and none of them with any useful information.
The heroes continued their trepidatious trek even deeper into bowels of the metropolis. The others spoke in whispers of their incredulous guide, the ever-more-enigmatic Moon Knight. Since the strange occurrence at the arch his companions seemed to believe a new or old-but-yet-undisclosed personality of Marc's had surfaced and was now leading them beneath the city.
-
Having delved even deeper into the labyrinth beneath New York, their environ changed. They were now 250 feet beneath the streets. Between the surface and the heroes now laid the subway tunnels and the sewers they had just passed through. They were in passages similar to the sewers, except that the floors were flat and dry. Much like the sewers, these new passages formed a confusing maze of different-sized tunnels and pipes. They had entered a tunnel system constructed by the federal government during the civil-defense scares of the 1950s. In the event of a nuclear war, the government and the military planned to shelter much of New York's population in them. However, international tensions eased, and the tunnels were forgotten.
They soon entered a vast tunnel, that was at least 70 ft wide and supported by arching ceilings over 50 ft high. The walls were lined with pipes, bulges, and protrusions of all kind, despite their function not being readily apparent. Inside the walls and ceilings were large steel cables that were insulated with rubber and conducted high-voltage electricity. They had entered 'The Alley', one of the tunnels designed to hold half of NY's population and ran north and south across the island of Manhattan.
As the party of heroes studied their new environment, there was a flash of light and scream of pain down the alley. A battle was going on nearby!
Running towards the sound of conflict, the heroes found two women engaged in fierce battle. One of them was a teenager, while the other appeared to be in her forties. The young girl was on the defensive, struggling to protect herself. The girl had short blonde hair in an angular cut dropping over her right sky-blue eye. She wore a black skirt, long-sleeve yellow shirt, and yellow combat boots. However, the girl emanated a weak completely frictionless surface like a force field over herself. The older woman seemed intent on killing her, as she sent her flying into the wall of the tunnel with some sort of powerful shockwave attack that vibrated the air. The older, Vietnamese woman with violet eyes and hair stood triumphantly over the young woman's battered form. The aggressor wore a strange steel armor body suit that bared her left arm to the shoulder.
Even witnessing their metahuman abilities, the band of heroes quickly leapt to the defense of the young woman in the conflict. Except for Moon Knight who seemed strangely detached, and distant to the situation. He slowly trailed behind his companions.
-
Time had no meaning in the realm Marc Spector was in. It was impossible to tell how long he had been there as the only form of light in the dark domain was the eternally burning flames, but it seemed an eternity. Without warning, a bellowing disembodied voice roared out in the air. "I hope you are enjoying your stay in my domain. I have come to make you a bargain, Marc Spector."
Suddenly, Marc was no longer bound in suspension to the obsidian pillar, but standing firmly on gray dunes of sand below a multitude of stars. Pale moonlight glowed down on Marc like a spotlight. But Marc was still no longer alone, as beside him stood three other men he was very familiar with. The fourth presence in attendance was unfamiliar to him. The three men at his side were Jake Lockley, Steven Grant, and Moon Knight. Across from him stood a tall, muscular humanoid with the head of a hound. Anubis, the Egyptian deity of The Underworld.
"Mr. Spector…" the ominous voice of Anubis rang in Marc's head. "Despite how much i would relish keeping your spirit here to sustain myself, your spirit is already spoken for by Knoshu. The defender is not yet willing to release you from his service. However, your freedom will be in exchange for a favor."
"Name your price, Anubis." Marc said.
"The trickster Bartholomew Jacobs intends to betray his sworn oath to me. I know that if he is to retrieve his tome he will restore enough of his former power to escape this domain in your vessel. I will not tolerate his treachery, and if you wish to regain control of your body then you must find his book and see that it is destroyed so that he may never leave or attempt to deceive me again." Anubis commanded.
"It shall be done." Marc stated.
"Then go forth….reclaim your life." Anubis ordered, and pointed a long sharp nail towards a large and ornate golden double-door.
As Marc turned towards it, Moon Knight, Jake Lockley, and Steven Grant followed close behind him. He slowly turned to face them. The Moon Knight persona, in billowing white robes. Jake Lockley, with his cap and pistol on his hip. Steven Grant in an expensive three-piece suit. "I….i can't keep doing this." Marc paused momentarily. Realizing he wore his old space suit, from his time in the space program. All he had ever wanted to be growing up was an astronaut. "I'm sorry, but none of you are real. I wasn't sure i was either...not for a while. But now i know i am."
"I'm sorry, but that's a load of crap! I know exactly who I am! And this!!!! All of this, is some kind of trick!!" Moon Knight spouted frantically and began thrusting his finger into Marc's chest. "Who's behind this?! Who do you work for? The black Spectre?! Stained Glass Scarlet?! Answer me dammit!"
"I know this is hard to accept. It took me a long time to come to terms with it too, but You are all just a part of me. If I'm ever going to be whole again, you all need to go." Marc explained.
"Go?! Go where?!" Moon Knight asked angrily.
"Yeah! And what is all this? Where is this place? How did we get here?" Jake Lockley asked.
"Right! We're all just in your head. Then why are we all here together? What is this place, your mind?" Moon Knight challenged.
"This might be something else. I'm not sure. But, before i can deal with this i need to deal with all of you." Marc admitted.
"This is my film….this is my film…" Steven Grant repeated almost to himself before confiding in the others. "My Moon Knight biopic for Marvel Studios. This was the big 'Neo-Egypt' set piece for a third act. Somehow this is real right now….not a sound-stage."
"There was no movie Steven. I think that whole memory was just some way for me to cope with all the crazy shit i deal with. Sorry, bad choice of words." Marc revealed.
"You know me--" Steven began.
"Of course i do! I've known you the longest." Marc confessed before turning to the others. "And i know you Jake Lockley, and Moon Knight. I thought i had made peace with all of you...i even used to use both of you as aliases. That worked for a while too, until i started getting lost in both of you."
Slowly, Jake Lockley's form slowly turned to grains of sand that was carried away on the desert winds. Moon knight stood shocked and angry before reacting violently and threw a strong punch into Marc's jaw, knocking him to the ground.
"what did you do?!" Moon Knight screamed.
"Just confronting him did it. He was weak, not fully formed. Just a sketch in my mind really." Marc answered.
"I've had enough of this!!" Moon Knight shouted as he drew his truncheon.
"I don't want to fight you! That's what I've always done, and it's led us here. I want to try a new way...a better way. I want to acknowledge you. Accept you. Then move on." Marc pleaded.
"Move on?! Well, isn't that nice for you….i'm sorry, but i will leave this place alive!" Moon Knight shouted hefting the truncheon high above Marc.
"Well, then I'll have to fight you, because all you know is violence!!" Marc screamed and kicked Moon Knight in the stomach, toppling him. In a scramble Marc leapt onto Moon Knight and placed his hands around his throat to strangle him. Steven Grant stood by, locked in fear. "sorry, Knight. It has to be this way! Deep down inside you know it's true! You're too unpredictable on your own. I need to be in control, it's better for all of us!"
Moon Knight used a free hand to knock Marc Spector off of him with his truncheon. Laying, gasping for air he asked "who made you god?!"
"I'm not god!" Marc called back in answer as he went to his feet and hurled a crescent shuriken that had become detached from Moon Knight's utility belt. "But this is my body, my mind, and this is my life! I'm sorry it had to go this way."
"No!" Moon Knight screamed as the shuriken stuck into his chest and he disintegrated into a bursting cloud of sand, to be whisked away over the rolling dunes.
"Yes, I'll always need you. A part of you anyways." Marc whispered to the remnants of Jake that floated on the wind. "Now i guess it's just you and i, Steven. Steven…"
When Marc turned he witnessed Steven Grant fleeing from him over a sand dune and away from the exit to the realm. "Wonderful…" Marc sighed exasperatedly.
-
The two women, Misty Knight and Black Widow, led the charge to the young woman's defense in the assault. Black widow fired darts from the launcher on her wrist but missed, still successfully distracting the Korean woman from her attack on the young woman. Misty Knight followed up Black Widow's shots with a powerful blow from her bionic arm to the woman's temple. The woman was staggered by the blow, but seemed to have superhuman endurance as well. The korean woman glared daggers into Misty as blood ran down her jaw from the cut on her temple.
As Black Widow approached she attempted a jumping kick, but was literally snatched from the air with the woman's incredible strength and slammed to the ground with force the shook the tunnel. The sounds of ribs snapping were audible as Black Widow's air expunged from her lungs in a mighty whoosh. In shock and pain, Black Widow immediately fell unconscious.
"Widow!!" Daredevil cried for his fallen lover, drawing his cane and charging at the woman.
Daredevil and Misty swarmed and jolted around the woman like aggressive wasps, stinging at their opponent. The woman's enhanced strength making even their strongest of blows feel like light swats, more annoying than painful. In agitation, the woman grabbed Misty by her throat and led her back against the wall as she throttled the life out of her. When Misty initiated a round of furious blows from her bionic arm, the woman then slammed her fist hard onto the bicep on the arm itself. As a brutal shockwave rolled through the adamantium and vibranium composites the arm broke apart into fragments. Disarmed and dazed, the woman threw Misty to the ground beside Black Widow.
Johnny Bifrost had run to the young lady with the force-field who, with his help, regained her footing. Powerman and Daredevil squared off against the aggressive assailant. However, Moon Knight appeared to be locked in a daze, mouth agape and staring into space. Though his body was there, he seemed mentally unaware. Iron Fist called to him, as he watched the ongoing battle ensue.
"Knight!!" Iron Fist called.
Suddenly, Moon Knight seemed to snap out of his daze and regain the gravity of the situation. Observing the brawl taking place, Moon Knight slunk back into the shadows and sliding along the wall. It appeared he wished to surpass the brawl altogether and continue down the tunnel unimpeded. He seemed to have no intentions of saving anyone besides himself, and escaping the situation. Iron Fist recalled upon all of Moon Knight's erratic behavior since revisiting the arch, and his strange new inflection of tone. "Knight?" Iron Fist called in inquiry as he began to channel his chi.
Luke Cage laid into the woman with devastating overhead downward strikes to drive her to her knees where Daredevil began to bludgeon her about the head and neck with his cane. Grunting in pain, the woman threw her arms out wide and slammed her open palms together, which in application of her mighty shockwave ability created a nearly deafening clap. Daredevil became immediately disoriented and swooned. Luke cage stepped back, clasping his hands over his abused ear drums, but not quickly enough to avoid an uppercut from the woman as she jumped to her feet. The shockwave punch sprawling Luke Cage out. Johnny, then unleashed his power and directed his beam at the woman. It blasted her into a wall and destroyed a majority of her armor. Shocked, and clearly frightened the woman screamed as she threw a powerful shockwave punch i to the wall of the tunnel. In a loud rumble, cracks began to spread along the wall and ceiling of the tunnel. Massive slabs of debris began to fall as the tunnel began to collapse between the woman and the heroes. Saving the lives of the defeated heroes, the young lady they had saved reached out with her force field to a 30 foot diameter and successfully shielded everyone from the falling rubble. Once the destruction was over her force field ebbed and the heroes stood in a cloud of settling dust.
Reserved for use after a nuclear holocaust, military weapons were hidden in some of the protrusions along the walls of the tunnel. These supplies included firearm ammunition, grenades, and dynamite. When the wall was ruptured the lethal material had detonated, spreading fire and smoking shrapnel about the tunnel. Moon Knight stood from his hidden position against the opposite wall and saw a rift open in the ground. Accompanied by an obsidian pillar, large gouts of flame spat from the crevice. A booming disembodied voice called out to him. "How dare you attempt to deceive me?! Bartholomew Jacobs your soul is mine!!"
Iron Fist watched as Moon Knight cowered in the corner from some unseen terror. "Do not cast me back into the fire, Master!!" Moon Knight cried pathetically in his strange new inflection. "I will do anything you ask!!"
The dark voice laughed maniacally in Moon Knight's head, as Iron Fist placed his palm charged with positive healing energy on his head in an attempt to use his chi to purge Marc's mind. "Come back to us, Marc." Iron Fist whispered.
-
Marc approached Steven Grant who had finally collapsed from exhaustion on the sand. "Steven, please stop running." Marc begged.
"I remember it." Steven panted.
"Remember what?" Marc asked, sitting beside Steven.
"All of it. Everything. My whole life. Corn dogs at Coney Island with my dad every summer, seeing 'The Empire Strikes Back' for the first time, then sneaking in to see it again right after, losing my virginity to Beth Matlin in eleventh grade when we both skipped English. All of it. So how can i not be real?" Steven sobbed.
"Because it was real. You've always been with me. We shared our lives together. You were the first. You came to me when i was very young. At first i thought you were an imaginary friend that i could play with when i was alone at home. Then we weren't playing. I'd be you for a while, then i would go back to being me. Then, when i got older Jake came too. I thought Moon Knight was the answer, as long as i had the mask i could use you and Jake. I could make it all work. I wasn't crazy, i just had alter egos. But, that only worked for a while. Dr. Regina Sparrow could see there was something wrong with me. The alter egos were bleeding together. I was losing control. Losing the real me. i woke up in a hospital. I was losing who i was, the real me slipping away. I need to be me again. I need to be healthy. I can't keep doing this. I can't." Marc told Steven.
"Will...i...will i die?" Steven asked.
"I don't think so. I don't think you can. You're just a part of me, but you need to go back into your place and let me be in control. I've been sick my whole life, and ashamed of that. I've tried to hide it, i think that's what the mask truly was. Another way to hide. But, i don't want to hide anymore. I don't want to be ashamed anymore. I just want to be me. I know I'll never be cured, i just need to find a better way to live with this. Will you help me with this, Steven?" Marc asked.
"Just...just promise me you'll find a way to be happy then." Steven ordered.
"I will...and you'll always be with me. Goodbye, Steven Grant."
Steven sat up and embraced Marc in a hug, before turning to sand. "Goodbye, Marc Spector."
Then Marc was alone. All alone, and it seemed so quiet. He didn't know how long he had been there, in that world of the dead. All that he knew for sure was that for the first time in a long time he felt clear headed enough to do something about it. He felt the cool moonlight on his face and knew that there was only one way for all of this to end. He would have to retrieve the book. The golden exit magically appeared beside him once again, but this time with no one to bar his exit.
-
Luke Cage came to with Iron Fist, Daredevil, Johnny Bifrost, and the young woman they had saved standing over him. Slowly gathering his wits about what had happened he picked himself up and dusted his shoulders off. The badly wounded and unconscious forms of Misty Knight and Black Widow lay nearby. As his companions ensured his well-being they explained to him what their new acquaintance had been involved in. The young woman's name was Skids, and she was both a mutant and a Morlock. In the early 1980s, a mutant outcast named Callisto had discovered the abandoned fallout-shelter tunnels and claimed them for herself. Callisto was soon adopted as the leader of a group of mutant refugees who came to live in the tunnels as well, and were referred to as Morlocks in reference to the subterranean men of the future from H.G. Wells' 'The Time Machine'. Skids' mutant ability was the power to create and manipulate force fields of varying density around herself and others. The force field naturally covers her own body, literally protecting it from any form of physical contact, and she gained her name from her ability granting her freedom to slide along surfaces. These tunnels were her, and her families homes.
The woman she had been fighting was also a mutant, but a member of a group known as the Marauders. Unfortunately, an evil mutant criminal mastermind known as Mister Sinister desired the Morlock Tunnels for his own purposes. Mister Sinister commanded his own elite squad of mutant assassins (the Marauders) to exterminate the Morlocks and claim the tunnels. So, beneath the streets of New York a battle was waged. A fierce war in which most of the Morlocks were massacred by the invading Marauders. The X-Men came to the Morlock's rescue, but had been too late and suffered many casualties of their own. The remaining Morlocks became fragmented, seeking safety on their own. Many wandered off, only to die alone in the dank and forgotten passageways. Skids, as well as Callisto, survived the battle as well as a few of the Marauders who were under order to hunt down the remaining Morlocks to this day.
Using her powers to create stretchers for the two incapacitated female heroes, Skids escorted the heroes back into the Alley and down a few winding and narrow passages to where her and a group of fellow Morlocks still resided. They entered a large processing tank. No river of sewage flowed into the tank, and the floor was covered with dust. Several wooden crates, a few wooden chairs, a wooden stove, and household implements sat scattered around the tank. Luckily, one of the Morlocks in attendance with Skids was a healer that had retained his mutant ability after The Decimation Event, or as the darkest day in Mutant History 'M-Day'.
On 'M-Day' The Scarlet Witch (infamous mutant/former avenger) used her reality-altering ability twice to change the mutant world forever. The first was when she was coerced by her twin brother Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) to create a world where Mutants lived as the dominant species on Earth, and that it were humans forced into persecution, giving rise to 'The House of M' or a global dictatorship in which Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver's own father Magneto ruled sovereignty. The second time, Scarlet Witch uttered the three words: "No More Mutants…" and the world she had created reverted back to the way it had been before….almost. In that instant the Mutant population of earth was decimated from millions to thousands, the majority with the X-Gene present somehow still rendered powerless. Those millions of former mutants altered into humans, even down to their genetic structure. Skids was another who had retained her mutant abilities after that occurrence. However, said event gave rise to Skids' group of Morlocks now known as X-Cell. Made up of mostly ex-mutant Morlocks, X-Cell targeted members of the government in an attempt to regain their powers. They seemed to incorrectly blame the government for their loss of power due to the tenuous-at-best relations the authority figures have always had with Mutants.
Black Widow remained unconscious despite the healing, as she needed rest to fully recuperate, and Musty had once again become alert. In conference with Skids and X-Cell the Heroes For Hire debriefed Moon Knight. He claimed to have been blacked out after visiting the Arch, all the events afterwards seemed a blur. He had no recollection of the fight or why he had led them there. Their one lead regarding Mister Fear and the book was now gone, a capricious whim of a madman.
Overhearing their conversation Skids' soon interjected. "I believe the man you are looking for resides down here, in the tunnels. I could show you the way."
"You must, This villain must be stopped." Moon Knight exclaimed.
"Arclight...the Marauder who i had been fighting...she kidnapped Callisto. That's why i had been after her." Skids explicated.
"These tunnels are a labyrinth, Skids, and we don't know them as well as you do." Misty added, rubbing the nub of her amputated arm where the prostheses had been removed.
"The Marauders have a hideout, and I'm positive that they're holding Callisto captive there. If you guys rescue her, I'll take you to Mister Fear." Skids pled.
"Now hold on," Luke Cage interjected, annoyedly rubbing his temples. "We got wounded. And you want us to go against a gang of supers, this doesn't sound like a bargain."
"We will look after them, and escort them to the surface when it is safe. I can tell you, the odds are in your favor, you guys would've defeated Arclight had she not brought the tunnel down." Skids said.
Misty looked to the five active heroes remaining. "I'll be fine, but I'd be no good in a fight against Mister Fear without my arm."
Daredevil, who knelt beside the sleeping Black Widow nodded in affirmation at Misty's words. He rose and brushed a shock of Natasha's crimson locks from her face.
Johnny Bifrost looked around the tank at the other mutants, and felt pity for their plight. A plight he would learn to sympathize with as he was now a mutant, and could even see himself driven into obscurity by the nature of his deforming mutation. He locked eyes with the pleading Skids, and then the driven and determined Moon Knight. "We'll do it." Johnny offered.
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