“Age of Eye”
Machinagon. Earth-Pi.
Smöake of Earth-Rho II spent decades upon decades wandering her world looking for purpose, battling anything that got in her way, after the demon Antarees cursed her for initially rejecting his gift in exchange for releasing Earth-Rho II from the Ghost Zone. She became constantly lost in bloodlust for battle, and she was only satiated when she defeated an enemy or group of enemies, especially human ones. The OMACs were satisfying enough, but when she discovered the OMACs were humans transformed into machines, Smöake’s bloodlust surged, and she began rendering lethal blows even swifter now. She couldn’t control herself. When she saw Tora fall, it set her off into an even more uncontrollable fury.
“Yosaroth, we need you!” Gæa exclaimed.
She, Essee, R’egima and Corisande formed a circle around Tora, as Yosaroth lowered herself to the ground, her wings carrying her there effortlessly. Almost immediately, Yosaroth placed her hands upon Tora’s open neck wound and began healing her. Gæa, Essee, R’egima and Corisande fought almost in unison, while they engaged any OMAC attempting to take advantage of the situation. They would not allow their fallen “sister” to be injured any further than she already was, nor would they allow Yosaroth to be damaged as well.
“How is she?” Illyana inquired, fighting off an OMAC.
“She will survive,” Yosaroth answered with certainty.
“It will take more than that to stop us!” R’egima barked.
“Here, here,” Corisande agreed, her movements as fluid as water.
Corisande was the unofficial Queen of Earth-Theta and its seas, which she protected vigilantly from serious harm. She usually tried to stay out of human affairs, but would get involved if things grew too dire for her to ignore. This was one of those times.
“That ghoulish one will get herself killed if she is not more careful,” Corisande said, referring to Smöake.
“She can’t help herself,” Gæa replied.
“She is powerful,” R’egima said, defending her. “Her mind is focused on the battle, bloodlust or not. She will prevail.”
The ground rumbled, like an earthquake. Shots were misfired. Sword strikes were missed. But the battle went on, especially when Cybernetitron of the Intelligencia swooped down from above alongside Freyja and her steed. Blazing beams of force came from his eyes and struck numerous OMACs down, but without seriously arming them. When there came a break in the action, Cybernetitron landed on the ground to speak with the Valkyior.
“That rumble you felt came from the opening of some sort of portal underground,” he told them. “Cyberottica detected a large life form exiting the portal, and Cyberwall says it is organic.”
“It’s some sort of tunneler,” Cybermind clarified over Cybernetitron’s comm system.
“As if we weren’t already too busy,” Inflæma of Earth-Xi complained as she floated near them, duel wielding her Blade of Fire and the Blade of Ice.
Inflæma nearly perished during the alien invasion that almost destroyed Earth-Xi and turned it into a post-apocalyptic, xenophobic society. However, she was restored by the satanic being calling himself Lúseepher, and became his agent on Earth-Xi. She eventually carved herself a small empire for herself deep in the ruins of the Sargassium Provence. Now she was here, fighting a fight she would rather see burn this world, but something inside of her being compelled her to fight this honorable fight, and she suspected it had something to do with the Code of the Valkyior.
“No, it cannot be,” Illyana of Valhalla muttered, as she saw the ground rise and fall, yielding to a might behind it stronger than the earth itself. She began to utter a tune. “An axe age, A sword age, Shields oft cleft in twain; A storm age, A wolf age, Ere the earth met its doom.”
Then, the creature burst out of the ground and screeched. It was a mighty Norse dragon! And not just any Norse dragon, either. There was only one left since Ragnarok destroyed the realms of Asgard.
“Níðhöggr the Malice Striker!” Illyana exclaimed, aiming her bow and arrow at the belly of the beast. “Náströnd has been torn open, my sisters! Before you now is the beast who continually gnaws at a root of the world tree, Yggdrasil, as well as the corpses of the inhabitants of Náströnd! It must surely fall, or all will be lost!”
No one knew this creature more so than Illyana of Valhalla, having been sealed away inside its lair after Ragnarok and made its plaything of torture and torment.
On, on, on came the dragon, nearer and nearer, the roaring waves from below and the heaping foam bursting closer and closer upon the Valkyior, descending upon them like a giant vulture. One burst-like thunder, and the dragon’s serpent’s head rose above the foam and glistened in the light. Illyana sprang forward; and, with her mighty arm, shot Níðhöggr with her arrow, and then she picked up a discarded cable and threw it about the slimy neck of the dragon beast, dragging him down to the ground as it struggled in her grasp. The cable snapped with one heavy jerk of Níðhöggr’s mighty neck.
“Yield to me, and I will kill you swiftly!” the dragon roared.
“I will not!” thundered the leader of the Vaklyior.
With one quick bound Níðhöggr sprang forward, as Illyana few and raised her shining sword.
“You will not fight this alone, Sister!” Essee the Unknown vowed, coming to stand by Illyana’s side.
“I have yet to slay a dragon myself!” Hecca announced, coming to stand on Illyana’s other side.
Another roar, and the great dragon’s serpentine neck arched his back even to the blue dome of the sky above. Then, with a hiss that sounded throughout Earth-Pi, he shot down beneath the ground, and over him closed the angry waves of rock and dust. The rumbling began in terrible earnest. Illyana, Essee and Hecca waited for it to emerge once more.
“It taunts me,” Illyana spoke softly. She did not have good memories of that time. “It taunts me still.”
The skies echoed crash on crash, and the whole earth trembled with the upheaval of the troubled waters. A rushing back, a heaping up, a breaking of great waves — and never again, by man or giant or god, was the loathsome serpent seen above the ground, until on that last second did it emerge and soared its gaping maw forward to swallow its fighting mad prey. However, the ladies were far from helpless, and they would not fall so easily.
Then, from out of nowhere, a flying android came blasting away at the dragon with pistols a’blazing. It was Pursua, born of this world, having only just returned from what might have been the final battle of the Off-Worlders (see COUNTDOWN TO FRACTURED #28 for further details). Or, at least, this version of it. She wasn’t in a great mood, and taking her anger out on such a giant target was just the chance she needed to rid herself of it. Cybernetitron acknowledged his teammate’s arrival by blasting its eye beams against Níðhöggr’s wings and back.
“Looks like a lot has happened since I’ve been gone!” Pursua exclaimed, reclaiming her composure.
“You could say that, my friend!” was Cybernetitron’s response.
A roar of fire separated his two in-air pursuers momentarily. Then, with one mighty swipe of its tail, Níðhöggr pushed ever so roughly numerous Valkyior and OMAC aside to open a path for itself. However, in orbit of Earth-Pi, Brother Eye struck downward with a powerful beam of force that struck the creature dead on in one long, well-placed shot. Following right along with it came more and more OMACs, causing the Valkyior to wince.
“This be truly Ragnarok for this world,” muttered Languine.
Languine and her mighty titanium hammer rose into the air and began smashing away at the newcomers, not bothering to take care of the humans inside of them. Meanwhile, Smöake battled ever onward through the horde. Blood was dripping from her nose, her mouth, and it melted little pathways in the armor of many an OMAC. Off with one head, into the chest of another, and Smöake would be busy as long as the enemy held ground and more came at her.
Back in orbit, Brother Eye continued to watch the battle unfold on its monitoring system.
[THIS PLANET IS A PARADISE OF EFFICIENCY, OF CYBERNETICS AND TECHNOLOGY]
[BUT IT STILL CLINGS TO DOUBT AND COMPROMISING EMOTION]
[EYE WILL CORRECT THIS HINDRANCE FORTHCOMING]
Cybernetitrion’s body began to unravel and reconfigure. He felt it all happening and screamed in horror. Pursua could only watch, and Cyberwall could only listen, as Brother Eye “purified” Cybernetitron, forcing him to become an OMAC and a new member of its legions. Then, in the aftermath, the being that was once Cybernetitron spoke:
[COME TO EYE, HUMANS]
[AS MUCH AS EYE WOULD LIKE TO PROCESS YOU MYSELF, EYE WILL HAVE TO EXPERIENCE IT THROUGH MY NEWEST ACOLYTE]
[SOON YOU WILL ALL SUCCUMB AND THIS WORLD WILL BECOME MY BEACHHEAD]
Illyana raised her sword high. “You will lose! We are the Valkyior, and we always ride into battle!”
They all raised their weapons, including Pursua, and cheered.
For a few moments, the OMAC that was once Cybernetitron was silent. Then, it spoke again, as if to clarify itself:
[DEFEAT, FOR ME, IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE, AS YOU WILL NOW SEE]
The OMACS advanced.
Sunburst Comics 