Chapter Sixty-Nine, Part Three

Violent screams echoed from the bowels of the planet as Dan compressed Ego's giant avatars into fist-sized spheres. The cosmic energy within them was syphoned into the phantom zone, purified of Ego's taint and stored with the rest of Dan's hoarded cosmic power.

"Let's hurry, Logan and the other's are being tested by the Anti-bodies adaptation ability," Dan waved his hand and swept Juggernaut forward, Silver Surfer at his side. "The sooner we lock down Ego's consciousness, the sooner we can limit his ability to reinforce his automated defences."

The Surfer nodded and released another blast of the Power Cosmic, directed straight at Ego's core. It breached the final stretch of rock and revealed a brilliant blue glow, quickly blocked from sight as the living world formed a single, gargantuan avatar.

"You invaders will pay… I'll boil you down to genetic soup, then hunt down your homeworlds and consume them to restore what I've expended in this battle," Ego released a pulse of force that Juggernaut countered with a single blow. "How are you all so powerful? What vendetta do you have against me?"

"As foul as you are, you've done nothing to us directly," Dan let his biofield wrap around Ego's avatar and core, a grip that halted the outpour of cosmic energy and brought stillness to the rock around them. "We just need bait that's too delicious to pass up, and you fit the bill."

"Bait…" Ego's core trembled in Dan's grasp, his voice layered with rage and indignation. "I am Ego - the largest, most powerful intelligence in all of infinity… not the bait to some primitive lifeforms trap!"

Dan shrugged and compressed his hold on the core with enough force to shatter the avatar to dust. The rock followed suit, ground away to reveal the luminous blue brain that sat in the barricaded within. Now was the time to test the first unknown in his plan.

"What do you think, Venom?" Dan placed a hand on the exposed tissue, while the symbiote probed at the unfamiliar structure. "Can you control him, or do we need to move on to plan B?"

"...we can control him, but not with a clone," Venom rippled over his skin, perturbed at Ego's mental strength. "We must fuse with him directly, harvest his will with our own teeth…"

"Then do it," Dna nodded and the symbiote separated itself from his body for the first time since their initial fusion. Its original black was flecked with the smallest pinpricks of gold, a starry sky reflected in the oily liquid. "Be careful, your life is worth more than the success of the plan."

"We will use caution…" Venom's ever present voice vanished from his mind as the symbiote burrowed into Ego's brain and fully detached from Dan's body. It was a strange sensation, as if he'd lost a limb that he constantly used. 

The core twisted in his grip, a vibration that took a real effort for his biofield to contain. Dan frowned as Ego roared in terror, engaged in a battle for his very soul. As Venom infiltrated his cells, the cosmic energy that was his only defence lost its ability to impact the symbiote.

All that stood between Ego and his imminent death was the formidable intellect that the living world had cultivated over the aeons. The planet's screams grew quieter and quieter, drowned out by a rising hiss that Dan recognised well.

"WE ARE VENOM!!!" Venom's voice, overlaid by Ego's, erupted from the core. The brain darkened, a midnight blue that glowed with black light. "Remnants of the one known as Ego have retreated to the edges of consciousness… we will hunt him down and consume him!"

– – – –

"We'll see," Bucky waved Logan back and approached the overpowered Anti-body, fists raised in a loose combat stance. "Let me go a round or two first, then you can jump in if needed."

The electric blue Anti-body straightened from his attack posture, its octogonal head tilted atop its swollen, muscle bound figure. One moment it was there, the next it stood before Bucky, its fist planted into the Kryptonian Mutant's chest.

Thunder sounded, followed by a wave of raw force that swept the dust from the air. Bucky swayed backward, barely moved by the unblocked punch. He tilted his head and grasped the Anti-body's wrist, arm pulled back as his mouth opened in a horrible smile.

"You're strong, but I'm stronger," power rippled outward from Bucky's body, a hurricane of untamed force that battered the Anti-body to its knees. "If I kill you, will a more powerful version of you appear?"

The bone spurs on his knuckles cracked into the Anti-body's octagonal skull, a blow that caved in the bone and ejected its contents into the sky. Bucky gave Logan a smirk, before he turned his gaze back to the ceiling.

It had stopped production of normal Anti-bodies, while a swell of power grew from the rocky womb. Blue light, brighter than a star, blossomed from the stone and seared the backs of the few Anti-bodies that remained.

They melted down and flowed upward, absorbed by the radiance and converted into a far less malformed appearance. Crystal clear and featureless, it clung to the ceiling and assessed the battlefield below.

"This one is different," Cal floated to Bucky's side, Kara on his heels. Both Kryptonians gave the figure cautious looks, on guard as Bucky bent at the knees. "It has a mind, the same as the avatars Dan-EL battled before he went to the core."

"I am no avatar, invader," Ego's voice boomed from within the statue, his figure visible within its transparent form. He wore it like a puppet, eyes set on the machine at their backs. "Step aside and I will let you live, all I need is the Lifebringer, before that cursed symbiote…"

"Shut up and die!" Bucky vaulted toward Ego's avatar, hands extended to strike out as he closed the distance. Before he could blink, the avatar reached out and slapped him downward, bones cracked and dislocated as he crunched into the Lifebringer's surface.

"You are as rude as your master," Ego snorted as he dropped from the ceiling and landed atop Bucky's broken form. "All of you are so set on interrupting…"

Black swelled from the centre of Ego's avatar, accompanied by the living planet's agonised scream. The crystal body flickered, warped and twisted until its features took on a familiar form. Venom roared out in satisfaction, arms extended to the ceiling as he bared his teeth to the world.

"There is no hiding from us, foolish little planet," Venom cracked its neck and cast a disdainful glance over the rest of Krypton's forces. "We are Venom, the strongest symbiote of all!"

– – – –

Venom's black radiance fused with the stone above, a wave of darkness that rippled outward in all directions. The symbiote's energy converted the planet into more of his cells, taking away the final refuge Ego had.

The living world gave a final hopeless scream, before his voice was swallowed by Venom's satisfied hiss. The Core grew still in his grasp, Ego's brain now dyed a gold-flecked black. Dan released his hold and eyed the stone around them. All of it was formed of Venom's true body, shaped into the image of a world.

"You have him under control?" Dan scanned upwards, where the battle had come to an end. "It seems like you've managed to halt the Anti-bodies… how much of Ego is left?"

"A spark remains, buried within a fortress too great for me to scale," Venom formed a bulky avatar and examined his hands. "He cannot regain control, but If we leave his body it will surface and restore his mind."

"Good enough," Dan turned to the Surfer, whose skin now glowed with barely repressed Power Cosmic. "How much longer can you hold out?"

"Minutes… after that he will know my location," Silver Surfer flinched as a wave of energy escaped his control and pulsed into the air. "You should go and help Tony and the others in the conversion of the Lifebringer, I shall remain in orbit and prepare for my master's arrival."