THE WAR OF ORDER AND CHAOS

Part Two: In Chains

the 72^nd tale of agc

written and created by Mark Bousquet

2201 / DECEMBER

ASGARD - THOR ODINSON HALL OF PEACE - FRONT STEPS

The reign of King William of the Beta Ray forever ended with the lighting of a simple match.

His body was lashed to a crucifix that rested atop a funeral pyre. On Odin's word, Skurge the Executioner tossed a lighted torch onto the dry wood. Within minutes, the dead body of Beta Ray Bill was burning.

Odin the One-Eye seemed almost not to be aware of the battle that raged through the Golden Realm. Wherever anyone in the center of Asgard looked, they could see Giants, Frost Giants, and trolls ravaging the city. Defense was raised by the Kree, Skrull, Shi'ar, and Human civilians and troops that made Asgard home, although it was a panicked, desperate defense. Some Asgardians fought against the attackers, but most quickly fell in line once they realized that Odin had returned.

He stood alone of the steps of a building built in honor of his son, Thor, and dedicated to the pursuit of peace. He did not note the irony because Odin cared not for such things.

Below him, the body of the blasphemer (as he would forever know Beta Ray Bill) burned in effigy, a monument to the way things would now be in Asgard.

On the other side of the pyre, forced to watch and shackled in chains stood his prisoners. The Ambassadors were his prize: Ash'lin of the Shi'ar, Kovar of the Kree, Skrull 4 of the Skrull, and Cable of Earth watched the leader of the Alliance burn on the orders of the man who had founded the Alliance nearly two centuries ago. None of them said a word. For each, their thoughts were racing, thinking of their homeworld (not realizing Hala and Chandilar were under attack as well), worried about their people that were out there fighting against the invaders, or huddled away somewhere, afraid to come out and fight. They thought of the injured or dead that had already been claimed. They wondered about Odin's reappearance and his connection to Franklin Richards. They wondered where the other prisoners had been taken. They wondered about the tortures Loki had promised to inflict upon Glimmer Girl.

They were all proud men and women, yet each allowed themselves to wonder if anyone would come to aid them.

"On this day, Asgard is reclaimed for Asgardians," Odin announced, his words seeming to echo out over all that was or would ever be. "'Twas I who built the Alliance to stand against Thanos. E'en after my passing, I didst watch the events of the Eternal War play out from inside the Everything Engine. I grew despondent as Balder the Brave failed over and over to take the war to Thanos, and as the Humans were so easily allowed back to the table they didst abandon." Odin let his words sink in, then continued as he took in the eyes of the Ambassadors. "'Twas your weakness that brought me back. The Celestial Madonna, Luna, came to me in my time of grief and told me of the return of the human god Franklin Richards. I didst scoff at her reverence for a mortal, but o'er time I learned of his power, and his plans for the future.

"At this moment, the Army of Doom assaults the Kree and Shi'ar homeworlds," Odin informed them to their surprise. "We didst see the opportunity in that act to cover our return. There are none that will come to assist you. Midgard will cower in its eternal isolation, and the Skrulls are already defeated. There are none whom will stand against us.

"What of Doom, thou dost inquire?" Odin's face turned momentarily sad. "After my Third Army has crushed thine spirit, we shall depart for the Void. The Army of Doom willst arrive and crush what is left of the Golden Realm, then roll on to the final stand of this age on Midgard. Should Doom fail to conquer Hala and Chandilar, Franklin Richards shall send us to crush either or both of those homeworlds, and then we shall turn to Earth.

"It matters not to Franklin in what order the Alliance worlds fall, only that they all crumble. It matters not to Franklin who wins the War of Order and Chaos, only that the homeworlds are destroyed. For only then shall this age of Existence end.

"And when it does, only the Third Army shall stand at the ready for the next Age of Existence to begin."

Odin's words seemed to magnify as they reached the burning body of Beta Ray Bill, though the two beings that floated unseen at the edge of the town square needed no assistance to hear the words.

"Very powerful," Master Order said.

"Too boastful," Lord Chaos replied.

"Too boastful?" Master Order asked, a smile upon his face. "Do you not see that the forces who stand against him are already defeated?"

"I fail to see how this makes you happy, Master Order," Lord Chaos replied. "It is Doom who represents Order on the mortal plane. It is Doom on whom you have pinned your hopes to end this age and rule over the next. Revealed before you is that Franklin Richards has chosen neither to side with me, nor with you. He has rejected us both."

Master Order nodded thoughtfully. "That is true, Lord Chaos, though Doom has plans in store for Franklin. Though looking at your defeated forces here before us - forces that would not even admit they fought for you - I fail to see how you can take any joy from the day's proceedings."

"I take none, Master Order," Lord Chaos admitted. "Although I will inform you that I am happy to see someone else - Franklin Richards and his Third Army - have risen to stand opposed to you."

"Even though they stand against you, as well?"

"But of course. If I can not defeat you, Master Order, I certainly wish that someone else can."

CHANDILAR - THE UNDERGROUND SEWERS

Teleportation portals opened beneath the city of Chandilar and Set led his snake troops into the tunnels. Doom's mission parameters were simple: cause chaos. They were the lead assault unit, attacking from the bottom up and their mission was to cause as much damage as possible. Simple, Set knew. Too simple, he'd argued.

"Let Hellstrom and his demons overrun the world as they did on Skrullos 2," Set had argued to Doom.

"Chandilar is not Skrullos 2, and Majestrix Deathcry is not Emperor Vog," Doom had replied. "The assault on Chandilar needs a precision the demon hordes of Hellstrom cannot match."

The words had appeased Set, and as he moved his troops - nearly two hundred thousand highly-trained snake troops - through the underground sewage system towards the surface, the Egyptian god could not have been more pleased. When the history of the fall of the Everything was written, it would be Set who had led the assault on the most secure homeworld in the universe.

"All units, attack!" he ordered. Within seconds the sound of explosions blowing open surface hatches echoed throughout the tunnels.

The planet-side assault on Chandilar had begun.

ASGARD - THE FOREST OF EARTH

Dani Moonstar, Ben-Vell Parker, K'Zan, and Eshir Maximoff huddled together in the cold night just inside the Forest of Earth. A few hundred yards away and outside the Forest, Galactus lay unconscious on the Plains of Ida. A few miles away they could make out the assault on Asgard.

Dani Moonstar led the conversation. "We all recognize we have to do something," she said. "The question is who does what."

"We need to contact the outside world," Ben-Vell answered. "Get in touch with the Alliance homeworlds and inform them of what's happened. Either K'Zan or I can do that easily."

"I don't know about easily," K'Zan answered. "My power is way down from Herald-level. I can get there, but just the short trip we took through the Surf drained me pretty bad, and I don't know how fast I can zip through open space. Or for how long. Ben should be the one who goes."

Eshir shook his head. "No. He's the most powerful weapon we've got. To send him away like that is a waste of time. Especially since he's not exactly in favor with the Kree government anymore."

"They're bound by the Alliance treaty to assist us," Ben replied testily. He didn't know why he did it given that they all hated him, but he still felt defensive every time someone put down the Kree.

Dani shook her head. "We can't count on that. With the Eternal War over there's really no reason anyone has to obey the Treaty rules. Besides, there's no way to enforce those rules if someone wanted to break them anyway." Dani picked up some dirt and rubbed it into her hands. "There's other ways to contact those homeworlds, if they haven't already been contacted. We just need to get to a com room in any one of the Embassies and send out a distress signal. Or at least determine that a distress signal has been sent."

K'Zan snapped his fingers, remembering something forgotten. "We don't even need to go into the city," he said excitedly. "Amora has a cabin in these woods somewhere. She's got a small communications center tucked away in the cellar." K'Zan's momentary inspiration turned to a frown. "Normally, of course, she'd just use magic to contact Asgard, but she said something was wrong with … with the Wellsprings, I think they were called. They were messing up her magic." K'Zan paused, thinking, but couldn't come up with anymore to say on the subject of the Wellsprings. "Her com-center isn't as powerful as the ones back in the city, but it's unlikely to be surrounded by trolls, either."

Ben-Vell turned to look at the fire and ice ravaged city of Asgard. "Let's not forget there's someone fighting up there," he said. "The Frost Giants are still active, so someone must be putting up some kind of defense. It'd be nice to know who."

"It's probably not a coordinated defense, either," Eshir remarked. "Perhaps if we could do that, coordinate a defense, we might stand a chance."

"We just need information period," Dani said, her frustrations put away in lieu of the job at hand. Slowly, she looked around at the three Orphans. "Here's what we'll do. Ben-Vell and I will head to the city and try to gather as much intel as possible. While we're doing that, we'll try and coordinate some kind of defense. K'Zan and Esh, you'll go first to Amora's cabin. Be wary of traps; I wouldn't expect Amora to leave her residence unguarded. When you've finished there, head to Jotunheim. Find Persephone."

"Why?" Eshir asked, thinking back to his last trip out onto the ice sheet.

Dani put her face in her hands and rubbed her aching temples. "She's got a weapon we can use. I hate to even ask her for it, but …"

Dani let the words trail away into the stillness of the Forest of Earth, begging her gods for forgiveness for even thinking about asking Persephone what she was about to have Eshir and K'Zan ask her.

CHANDILAR - THE SHI'AR SENATE

Majestrix Deathcry walked into a boiling cauldron. The Shi'ar Senate, a bowl shaped arena in which the Majestrix stood on a platform in the center, was rocking in shock, outrage, confusion, and anger. Accusations flew and a riot seemed inevitable.

Deathcry walked out across the long bridge that led to the platform, absorbing it all with dismay. At her side, the Shi'ar Minister of Defense, the ancient Imperial Guardsman Gladiator, rolled along in a wheel chair. Above them, the ceiling monitor depicted what was happening outside to their city: it was being attacked from beneath its streets by the snake troops of Set.

"This is bad," Gladiator wheezed, his grey mohawk haircut gelled heavily to stay upright.

Deathcry looked down at him and nodded in agreement. "I thank you for coming with me. I know how you frown on public appearances."

Gladiator nodded, knowing that the Senate hated him making public appearances as much as he did. What was unspoken but known to all was that Gladiator was confined to a wheel chair. While his centuries of service to the Shi'ar Empire were unmatched (allowing none to speak publicly against him), it was well known that many saw him as a weak, old relic who had long since outlived whatever time his glory had bought him.

The Majestrix and Gladiator made their way to the center platform, where they waited silently for the Senate to note their arrival. A younger Deathcry would have sprinted down the ramp, demanding silence, but the wizened leader of the Shi'ar people knew to wait. Let the crowd notice you waiting for them, and they will be shamed into silence. Come forward hard with a challenge and they will respond in kind.

The Shi'ar political system was an odd beast, Deathcry had learned. Chandilar assigned Planetary Governors to rule their worlds, and the worlds elected Senators to come and sit before the Majestrix.

Turning her eyes to the ceiling, Deathcry proudly watched the Imperial Guard defend the city.

"They will get the job done," Gladiator said beside her, his voice finding a hidden resource of strength at the site of his troops. "Do not worry."

Deathcry turned down to smile, and noticed that the Senate was busy hushing itself. When they had stilled, Deathcry spoke. "As I'm certain you have noticed, we are under attack from the Army of Doom. I will now turn the debriefing over to Minister of Defense Gladiator."

"Thank you, Majestrix," Gladiator said from his chair, his voice finding a reserve of strength for the public speech. "Within the hour close to 1,000 warships of varying sizes came within range of Chandilar," he said clearly and crisply. "While we have not received any official word from our attackers, we have visual confirmation that the vessels are operating under the banner of the Army of Doom."

Murmurs swept through the crowd as their fears were realized. There were no people in the Everything more frightened of Victor Von Doom than the Shi'ar, for it was two centuries past that Doom, starting with a small insignificant planet named Ak'yen'ja, had conquered the Shi'ar Empire, and led them on an assault of Earth.* Doom's hold over the Shi'ar Empire had ended the day that Kang the Conqueror had killed (or so they had believed) Doom when no one else could stop him. Ashamed at their actions (and even more ashamed that they had lost to Earth), the Shi'ar Empire had limped home and slowly regained control over its controlled worlds, then reasserted itself as one of the true seats of power in the universe.

* See AGC 12-13: Vanishing Storms, and AGC 24: Ascension / Abandonment: The Reign of Doom for details

Though many had been loathe to admit it, and few had in over a century, the Alliance Treaty had saved the Shi'ar Empire in many respects. The Treaty barred the Kree from trying to claim any recognized Shi'ar world, and given how weak their defenses had become when Doom left (and were becoming as more and more of Doom's failsafe devices were activated by his increasing absence), the Shi'ar needed all the help it could get to hold off the circling sharks.

Questions that betrayed hidden fears began to be hurled towards the Majestrix and the Minister of Defense.

"What if Doom has more failsafes implanted in our systems?"

"What if Doom loyalists remain hidden throughout the Empire?"

"We were assured that Doom was dead!"

"Where are our Alliance partners? Why haven't they sent help?"

The Majestrix held aloft her hands to silence the crowd. "There is a very good reason for that, I am afraid. Visual!" she commanded and all eyes turned to the ceiling. "This is Hala."

The gasps and murmuring came back ten-fold as they witnessed Hala being ravaged by demons.

"And this," Deathcry announced, "is Asgard!"

The Shi'ar Senate was beside itself as battle-ravaged Asgard burned before them, as Frost Giants crashed and froze buildings and combatants, as the camera in the Shi'ar Embassy zoomed in on the front steps of the Thor Odinson Hall of Peace.

To the horror of nearly everyone in the room, the barely recognizable body of King William of the Beta Ray smoldered on a crucifix.

One of the Senators shouted, "The Alliance is dead!" and few, in their hearts, found the strength to disagree.

ASGARD - THE HEIMDALL LIBRARY

In an upstairs reading room, Loki sat in a large, stuffed chair, whistling to himself. Across the room and chained to a table that Loki had stood on its end was the Imperial Guardsman, Glimmer Girl.

"Thou art the most exotic woman I hath ever seen," Loki smiled across the wooden room. Bookshelves lined the walls and large chairs and tables were scattered across the floor. To Loki's left and Glimmer's right, a fireplace burned low. "'Tis a pity thou are not here for reasons perverse, my dear." Loki played a frown onto his face. "Doth that disappoint thee?"

Glimmer spit blood onto the floor, her body aching from the constant restraint. "If you're not going to rape me, Loki, what are your plans for me?"

"Much more mundane, I'm afraid," he frowned deeply. "Odin may be the All-Father, but he is far from All-Knowing." Loki reached for a knife that rested atop his desk. "I am afraid thou willst be tortured, my sweet, until I am satisfied thou hast told us everything we need to know."

Loki rose out of his chair, twirling his knife loosely in his hand, and walked across the floor to stand just outside of Glimmer's spitting distance. "These words will ring hollow, Glimmer, but thank thine gods thou are not in the Dungeons. Not e'en Loki wouldst wish his worst enemy torture at the hands of Skurge and Malekith."

ASGARD - THE DUNGEONS

Brigadier General Edward Rhodes sat on the cold stone floor, his back against the wall, his hands and legs in chains. Beside him, the Earth liaison to the Ambassador, Rebecca Almond, lay on her back on the ground. Her breathing was rough, but stabilized. Rhodes no longer feared for her life.

Around them, nearly 100 prisoners of war lay or sat in varying states of injury and containment. For nearly the hundredth time, Rhodes swept his gaze studiously across their large cell, noting who was here, and how badly they were injured.

Rhodes had no intention of rotting away in this cell; not when there were still Earth troops out there somewhere, battling against the Asgardians. Igor Rasputin may be here, nearly dead, but Rosalind Gyrich was out there, he believed, and she would not go down easy.

"'Tis time for the feast!"

Rhodes looked out the cage door as Malekith the Dark Elf tossed a bucket of pig slop into the room, coating the floor (and captives) with a vile mixture. "You expect us to eat this slop?" Rhodes asked.

Malekith shrugged his shoulders gleefully. "I care not what you eat or ignore, General, but unless thou plan to eat stone, I suggest thou hold thy nose and lick that slop off the floor. Thine neighbor doth seem to have no problem with the food."

Beside him, Rhodes saw Miss Almond roll over and scoop some of the slop up into her hand. "I wouldn't," Rhodes said to her, but when Rebecca turned to face him, her eyes dazed over and her lips quivering, Rhodes shut his mouth. That slop, whatever it was, could probably do her some good. He looked through her blouse to the gash in her shoulder. She'd lost a lot of blood and-

"Where is she?" a distinctly human voice roared as the door to their cell was ripped open. "Ah, there she is."

Rhodes watched as a figure out of their past walked forward to stand by the prone Almond. "Get up, you political tramp!" the man roared, reaching down to yank Rebecca up by the hair. Her eyes went wild as her body was soaked in pain.

"I don’t think-" Rhodes started to say when the visitor's boot slammed into Rhodes' jaw.

The man turned back to Rebecca as he pressed her against the wall. "Remember me, Miss Almond?"

Recognition came into Rebecca's red eyes. "Empire? Is that you? You're dead."

"Not Empire," the man said roughly. "That was the name you gave me. The name I took when I sold out all the ideals I held deep within my heart. Not Empire any longer, Rebecca. Now I am who I was before your politically connected claws got to me - Eagle One. Now let's go," he ordered, yanking her hard across the floor by her hair.

"Aie!" she screamed. "This … this isn't happening! You're dead! Dead!"

Eagle One laughed. "Of course I'm dead! But this is the battle for the end of the Everything, Rebecca! Do you think Death has any hold over us any longer? This is the final battle."

"Please," Rebecca begged as Eagle One yanked her along be her hair roughly, her lower body sliding through the slop. "Where are you taking me?"

"To torture you, of course. Until you've told us everything we want to know."

ASGARD - THE FOREST OF EARTH

Eshir and K'Zan made their way through the Forest of Earth, tense and cautious. Of all the Orphans, these were the two who the least in common. Eshir embraced this turn of events. Without the baggage the others brought to the table, Eshir and K'Zan could simply concentrate on getting this mission accomplished.

"Are you certain this is the way?" he asked.

K'Zan nodded.

"I swear we've been by that 'Y' shaped tree four times."

"We have," K'Zan replied. "It's a path-lock. Amora hasn't booby-trapped her cabin with much because no one hardly ever comes into the Forest of Earth. She's built this path-lock because it's simple and effective. You've got to make certain decisions by certain key areas - left at a tree, right at a shrub. That kinda thing. Ah, there it is," he said, smiling proudly as a small log cabin came into view. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Moving quickly across a short green lawn, the two Orphans found the door locked. "Crud!" K'Zan whispered harshly, slamming his fist into his hand.

"You're kidding, right?" Esh asked, a confused look upon his face. "Just smash it down."

"Oh yeah," K'Zan shook his head. Much of the confidence he'd gained from Galactus' transformation was now gone, a combination of the loss of power as well as being back on Asgard and around the other Orphans he'd always felt inferior to. Moving his hand close to the door, K'Zan unleashed a small bolt of the power cosmic into the lock, disabling it. He pushed the door open and they moved inside. "All of the computer stuff is in the basement," he said as they moved quickly across the kitchen and down a short hall to the their right. "I think Amora was ashamed she had to use it." Halfway down the wooden hallway, K'Zan stopped at the door that led to the basement.

"Hang on," Eshir stopped him. "I've got to check something out."

"What could you possibly-?" he started to ask, then stopped as he realized where Eshir was going as Maximoff brushed past him. "C'mon, Esh, this is no time for-"

"Sorry," Esh threw his arms up. "I'm never going to get this chance again." Coming to a door at the end of the hallway, he pushed it open. "Is that it? he asked, looking inside the room.

"Yes," K'Zan whispered from back down the hall. "Now let's go! We are in the middle of a war here, you know."

Eshir seemed mesmerized for another few seconds, then shook himself free and came back to join K'Zan at the door to the basement. "Sorry," he smiled.

K'Zan's anguished face lightened to a smile. "I had to do the same thing when I moved in here, back when she was training me to be a magician."

The impish smile remained on Eshir's face; it was a look K'Zan believed he'd never seen. Esh shook his head. "I can't tell you how many nights growing up I thought about what went on in the Enchantress' bed. I mean, can you imagine what … uh, yeah," Esh coughed. "Let's do this."

K'Zan nodded and pushed open the door.

"Is there a light switch?" Eshir asked, looking down into the darkness with a bit of unease.

"No," K'Zan answered. "Illumination spells are among the lowest ranking spells there are. Amora would bring me down here and then leave."

"You're kidding," Eshir said.

"I wish," K'Zan replied, using the power cosmic to create a ball of light in the palm of his right hand. "First time she did it I thought I was going to … well, you know, just from the fright."

"Harsh," Eshir replied.

K'Zan moved down the dusty, wooden steps slowly. "It's a dirt floor," K'Zan explained. "Amora has got tunnels that shoot out of here, heading to god knows where. Hey," he stopped, snapping the fingers on his left hand. "If I'm remembering correctly, there's a path that leads back to the sub-basement of the Heimdall Library."

Esh pressed K'Zan to keep moving. "That's good to know," he said. "Doubt it'll do us - phew!" Eshir grabbed his hand to his nose. "That smell … seems familiar … what does Amora have … down … here …?"

Eshir's world began to slow before him as the rank odor washed over he and K'Zan as their feet touched the floor of the basement. Before he even turned to his left, Eshir felt his entire childhood flash-fry his brain, and feelt the hands he did not have clench tightly in fear.

"Is that …" K'Zan asked, feeling terror wash over him, as a low rumbling seemed to shake the entire basement.

"It is," Eshir nodded, his voice a harsh whisper as he looked into the saliva-covered maw of his greatest nightmare.

The Fenris Wolf.

THE WAR OF ORDER AND CHAOS to be continued …

Questions that betrayed hidden fears began to be hurled towards the Majestrix and the Minister of Defense.

Y G G D R A S I L

comments to bousquet22@earthlink.net

Mark Bousquet

10 June 2003

Northern Bear Productions