Chapter 49

Life can take the most unexpected forms, and few knew this as well as John Sublime. For a very long time, the most complex life on Earth was simple bacteria, and through some cosmic sense of humor or another, one strain of bacteria learned to think. It learned to think about WHY it wanted to survive so badly rather than just going through the mechanics of life. And for a while, that was enough. Even when new things started to evolve, to the point that they began to leave the primordial oceans to live on the land, it was still fine, because now, the bacteria had a whole world to play in. Because more species meant more hosts. It didn't matter how the environment changed, or which species went extinct, because there were always more hosts, eventually giving rise to it's personal favorite, a particularly vicious breed of bipedal ape that turned out to be a bit more inventive that previous occupants.

If Sublime had known it would eventually lead to him lying on the floor, trying to pull his midsection back together without all the guts of his host body falling out, he'd have tried to keep the dinosaurs around.

His body had begun to heal itself, but he had just realized he'd put the legs on backwards when his gruesome work was interrupted as his would-be anti-mutant superweapon finally turned it's gaze back to him. The Fury stared coldly back down at it's prey, the barrel of it's arm cannon thrumming with energy as it prepared to completely exterminate the bacterial infestation it's sensors were picking up inside the failing human body in front of it.

John Sublime spat out a glob of blood "It's possible I didn't think this whole project through as much as I should have..."

And then, everything went away in a flash of white.

...

"Okay, everyone, be prepared, we don't know what we'll fi-OH SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!!" The state of the room on the other side of the portal can only be described as a charnel house, it looks like Pinhead was the interior decorator! Legion nearly trips over a headless body as he steps out into real space again, and I glimpse what I assume is the head lying in a corner. A figure dressed in Purifier robes is lying face down a few feet away, a hole punched right through his midsection.

It's saying something about the day I'm having when the mutilated bodies aren't even the most terrifying things in here.

At the far side of the chamber, a massive construct sits mounted on a metal throne, with an assembly line sticking out of it's chest. At first glance, it looks like someone tried to patch together parts of Master Mold from the 90's X-Men cartoon with tar, until I take a second look and notice the wires and cybernetics inside the black substance.

Fury. They somehow repaired Master Mold with the goddamn Fury!

I don't have time to process that particular nightmare, because I barely have time to register it when a flash of light pulls my attention away. On the other side of the room, near a large door leading to a corridor, stands a figure I had desperatly hoped I would never have to see in person, it's arm raised as whatever it had just finished off crumbles into a pile of ash. It's head twists around 180 degrees, regarding us with a glare that feels almost... hateful.

I blurt out the first thing that pops into my head "Wow, you're just as ugly as I thought you'd be!"

I wasn't expecting a verbal response, and I don't get one. Instead, the Fury's arm extends across the room and slams right into me, knocking me off my feet and sending me skidding across the floor, through a greasy soot stain that I'm pretty sure was a human being 30 seconds before we got here.

"JOHAN!!" Jen yells, before throwing a punch into the Fury's extended arm "You son of a-Hey!" I stagger to my feet in time to see Jen yanking at her arm, which has gotten stuck inside the Fury's mallable form. And then I see it move behind her, it's other arm changing into a-

"NO!!" I release my power and Jen pops away just before the Fury brings down it's arm, now shaped into a long blade right where her arm had been a second ago. It doesn't miss a step and instead turns towards Legion, the blade swinging towards him to no avail as he also disappears. Jen and Legion reappear across the room as I get back up, floating into the air to give myself more room to move.

"Damn, that thing is fast!" Legion says, joining me in the air.

"Keep moving, don't give it any easy targets!" I wave my hand and Jen gasps as the temporary flight abilities I bestow on her lifts her upwards, but the Fury doesn't even slow down for a second, and in a flash, three black tendril spikes shoot out of it's body in an attempt at skewering us right out of the air. "FUCK!"

"This isn't working, we need more room to fight this thing in" Legion yells, deftly avoiding the spike aiming at him. Jen pushes herself away from the wall, and grabs the spike aiming for her on the way back, using her momentum to toss the Fury into a computer console against the wall next to Master Mold. Predictably, the damn thing isn't even phased, and simply morphs itself back upright from the sparking ruins of the console.

Our battle is interrupted by a loud whirring noise, and much to my horror, I notice that the assembly line inside the Master Mold/Fury abomination is starting up... and something is forming inside the chest cavity. Something black, with wires and lights sticking out of it.

"Okay, NO!" I call up my power and in a panicked shove, I slam the first thing I can think of into the exposed part of the machine, and with a loud screech, the assembly line is torn loose from the rest of the figure, before quickly transforming into a... huge pile of playing cards?

Jen stares dumbfounded at it "Johan, what the-"

"I panicked, okay? Fury, Alice In Wonderland, it's just the first thing that came to me-GAH!" I narrowly dodge an energy blast from The Fury, who's suddenly grown jets on the bottom of it's feet to pursue it's prey in the air. "Jen, tear that fucking thing apart, use the Time Gem if you have to, but destroy any part of it that doesn't have Fury goo all over it! Me and Legion have to deal with this guy fast! Legion, we'll have to take an idea out of Jaspers playbook!"

"Uh, that didn't seem to have turned out too well for him..."

"I know, but I got an idea I think he overlooked! Try to hold him still for a second!" Legion doesn't seem convinced but follows my directive and grabs ahold of the Fury's cannon arm, putting all his effort into keeping it from attacking. It's taking all his power to keep it frozen, but that's all I need. I grab ahold of the Fury's head. "Let's go on a trip, you ugly son of a bitch!"

.....

Despite seemingly being a magnet for every last survivor, cosmic disaster or other assorted universal nonsense, Earth was surprisingly uninformed about the wider goings-on of the universe, even the legendary heroes of the planet usually didn't get involved unless the galaxy turned up at their doorstep. So involved in the petty politics of their world, and for the most part just one particularly chaotic nation at that, that they were mostly unaware of the destructive war unfolding somewhere, far, far out in space. Populations, planets, even solar systems had been laid to waste at the so-called "Annihilation Wave", a massive incursion from the Negative Zone led by the genocidal Annihilus, once again hellbent on subjugating any possible threat to his power. Seemingly unstoppable, the horde had even managed to enslave the mighty Galactus, the World-Eater, to use as a weapon of conquest, and only a last-ditch effort by Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer, foiled Annihilus ambitions, as he released his former master from imprisonment, and allowed him to strike back against the Annihilation Wave.

Few things could surprise Norrin Radd anymore, countless eons roaming the universe as the Herald of Galactus had allowed him to see and experience things that most beings would consider impossible. Even now, as he witnessed Galactus gather his energies, preparing to unleash his wrath on the Negative Zone invaders, it was a terrifying spectacle to behold, but far from new.

What was surprising was the two Earthlings that suddenly popped out of nowhere next to him, just as the energy wave began to flow. One of them nodded at him, just as the two shoved a strange android being, restrained by glowing bands, towards the wave.

"Hey, nice to meet you. I'm a big fan of your work" And then they disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

Norrin Radd didn't have time to ponder the mystery any further as he was forced to leave to avoid Galactus wrath. As he departed, he took one last glimpse backwards, in time to see the android the two Earthlings had left begin to disintegrate in the massive energy attack, even as it began to swallow up the Annihilation Wave around it.

.....

"Professor, I can't... you have NO understanding of what this student of yours is up against, I promise you! The Fury is... it's a threat beyond anything you can possibly imagine!"

Xavier observed the aristocratic man in front of him as he paced around borderline hysterics "First of all, Sir Braddock, Ginnungagap is not my student, and-"

"That's not the-" Brian Braddock sighed, rubbing his temples "I have to get in contact with the others, this is an absolute disaster. What EXACTLY did this Ginnungagap tell you?"

"Simply that he and my son were to deal with something called The Fury, and if he had not returned in 5 minutes, we were to contact you. I thought it better to simply bring you here right away rather than wait, especially since one of our precognitive students seemed very distressed about our near future. As of right now, it's been 4:45 minutes since they left."

Braddock scoffed "I can guarantee you they won't be-" he was cut off as three figures suddenly appeared in the room in a flash of light. As the light cleared, he immediatly recognized Jennifer Walters, though the two men were unfamiliar to him. All three seemed to be rather disleveled, their hair and clothes burned and torn in places. Before Braddock could say anything, the tallest one walked up to him, and shoved a metal container in his arms. Braddock stared in confusion at the contents, which seemed to be nothing but a random collection of machine parts. Then, he took a closer look, and his heart almost stopped, as he recognized the black circuitry fused to some of them. The taller man grabbed him by the chin, staring into his eyes.

"As of right now, these are the last remaining fragments of Fury in existance. You're going to sign a goddamn guarantee that there aren't anymore you idiots missed, then me and David here are going to make sure they're completely erased. After that, we're going to go out there, have Thanksgiving dinner, and we're never speaking of this again. Good? Good."