The Coming of Galactus 2099UG #2

Space

She drifts silently, glowing like a miniature sun in the blackness of the void. The twinkling of the stars is dim in comparison to her gleaming golden form and long, burning locks. Spread out beneath her is the solar system which we call home, the planets look like mere baubles from this distance, against the size of the sun. Her eyes, however, can see perfectly. She watches with a frown and a furrowed brow, the third planet from the blazing sun - the small blue-green orb that we call Earth.

It was her home once, when she was merely Frankie Raye, it seems like eons ago now - but her attachment to Earth has not weakened with time. Although she could no longer call the blue planet her home, not after soaring through the stars, she still does not like to see it threatened. As it is now.

The worst part of all, however, is that the threat comes from none other than her former, beloved master - the Eater of Worlds - Galactus! She can see the Worldship casting its doom-heralding shadow over the place that was once her home, New York City. She feels anger well up inside of her at the thought of her home under threat - but beneath the anger there is a deep gnawing hurt which never goes away.

""Galactus, how could you do this to me?"" a silent tear slips down her cheek as she realizes what she must do. Gritting her teeth and balling her fist - the cosmic power roaring through her body making her fists glow like a pair of comets - she streaks toward Earth. Suddenly she stops in her tracks turning away as she realizes she cannot do it. She covers her face with her hands and sobs heavily, but then her steely determination forces her to push her pain aside.

""I can do it! I must do it - but I will not do it alone!""

Her mind set and her course decided, she turns and streaks off through the void in the other direction, >>There is only one person I know who can deal with this situation.<<

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Meanwhile

The Earth is silent. Every man, woman, and child has ceased their celebration and good cheer in favor of looking up into the sky where the shadow of doom hovers over their heads. The mighty Worldship takes up the whole of the sky above New York City, stretching across the horizon. The mighty entity who came from within stands on a walkway ten times the size of the George Washington Bridge, looking down on those below who are like gnats to him. Eyes which have seen a billion millennia gaze down on the Earth once again - in disgust,

"EARTH - ALTHOUGH IT GAULS ME TO BE HERE AGAIN - MY HUNGER MUST BE SATISFIED."

The booming voice shakes the world beneath and as if the world had been on freeze frame - a mighty throng goes through the crowd and in true New York fashion, the stampede begins. Be it in the rich suburbs of Uptown or the filthy back streets of Downtown - all over New York people flee for their lives, screaming and crying - stopping only to participate in sporadic bouts of looting. New Year festivities in Nueva York have given way to total chaos and Galactus merely frowns. He turns and stalks back up his walkway, the mighty doorway sliding open in the hull of the craft allowing him to enter.

Down among the rooftops overlooking the mass hysteria all around, a lone figure dressed in a dark cape and hood appears in a flash of golden fire. In his hands he holds a staff radiating fiery light, spreading a radiant glow across his shadowed, masked face. He looks up at the mighty space craft which consumes the polluted New York skyline and his lips twist into a wry smile. "Only in New York," he hisses under his breath.

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The Stark Tower

Inside the corridors and halls of this giant structure of glass and steel, there are usually hordes of people running and jostling busily as they go about the business of the biggest corporation in Nueva York. Today, however, the corridors lie empty, like the deck of a ghost ship, host only to the humming of the hi-tech machines which keep the place up and running even in the midst of the maelstrom.

The building is empty, except for the office of the director Hikaru Sama. Hikaru is a man of incredible discipline, taught to him by the elders of his people in the form of many of the noble arts. No matter what the situation, he is always able to keep his head - even when faced with this. Out his window can be seen, far below, the bedlam of people trying to escape a fate which is almost certain. He looks down upon the madness with an expression of disinterest, as if it were no more than an unusually rowdy New York New Year party. This, however, Hikaru knows is much more grave and has many more possibilities.

He turns in his chair and his fingers dance gracefully over the keypad embedded in his pine desk. Instantly, three small sections of the table roll over to reveal small viewscreens on the flip side. They crackle with static for a moment before three pictures of three similar offices appear with three very different people in them.

"Greetings, my friends, I trust you have been expecting my call?" Hikaru bows respectfully before the screens.

The left hand screen shows the tattooed face of the custodian of the Chicago Reserve - the man named Herod. "With all due respect, let's cut to the chase. We may not have a great deal of time," sneers Herod, gesturing upward with his cigarette, blowing smoke into the camera as her speaks.

"Time, is what this one needs to discuss with you," replies Sama, grunting indignantly at Herod's brashness, "Specifically, how to buy ourselves some."

"Exactly, what do you plan on accomplishing that the planet is in chaos even out here," replies the shadowy face of the head of Pixel Technology.

"He's right, it may be rather difficult to get the looter's attention," snaps the man named Crebbs.

"Fear not, my esteemed friends, we here at Stark have the technology to make all our problems - - disappear."

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Outside

Another flash of fire belches from the sky and the dark shape of the hooded, supernatural vigilante named Salem appears in mid-air a few feet from the awesome walkway which protrudes from the open door of the giant spacecraft.

"Oh shock!" he cries as he falls, his portal closing behind him. With one hand he tosses the staff safely onto the walkway where it lands with a clatter, and with the other hand he reaches out just barely grasping the edge of the walkway. A cry of pain escapes his lips as his arm takes the brunt of his fall, and for a moment he hangs dangling a thousand feet from the street below, fighting to hold on. With a gasp from the exertion he grabs on with his other arm and pulls himself up onto the metallic walkway.

""Jammit, Jammit, Jammit."" he curses crawling along toward his staff,

""Why can't I learn to mind my own business! What does an alien spaceship have to do with me anyway? I don't do cosmic...""

He reaches out, grasping his staff but, to his surprise a heavy boot stomps down on it. He looks up to behold odd-looking individuals, looking down at him in a less than friendly manner. One of them is a hunched creature with a hulking build, whose entire body seems to be composed of moss-covered earth; its eyes and mouth glow with a bright green light. Standing beside him is an exceptionally tall female with long flowing red hair. She is dressed in a low-cut, revealing, golden jumpsuit with a red sash tied around her waist.

"Just great!" grunts Salem, snapping himself backward into a perfect backward roll onto his feet. "Prepare to surrender," he offered coldly. ""Hope they buy my bluff...""

"Silence, human!" cries the woman. Her voice seems to reverberate through the air toward, the air almost visibly vibrating.

The soundwave hits the hooded vigilante, sweeping him off his feet like a tidal wave throwing him backward through the air. He lands on the walkway with a meaty thud, and rolls over onto his hands and knees.

""My God! What was that, my head's spinning - I can't even see straight,"" his mind swims, he feels like his innards are spinning in his body, ""My ears ringing so loud I can't even think - - I'm leaving myself wide open...""

While Salem writhes on the cold, steel floor of the walkway trying to get his bearings, the woman walks calmly toward him, grinning like a lioness over an easy kill, "Foolish terran, perhaps that will teach you not to mock the heralds of Galactus!"

Although he can barely think straight, Salem is aware of his female assailant's approach, and through the tears pouring down his face and the shapes dancing before his eyes, he sees the other Herald - with his attention focused on his partner.

Suddenly Salem snaps up onto his knees, reaching out with his hand. Without warning the staff under the earth-covered Herald's foot twitches, pulling free before leaping from the floor and streaking past the female straight into Salem's outstretched hand.

"Sonica! Look out!" cries the earth-like herald.

The warning comes too late as Salem swipes with the staff, swatting Sonica's feet out from under her. With a cry of surprise she crashes down onto her back, striking her head on the cold metal floor. When she opens her eyes she sees the staff coming down in a wide arc for the killing blow. It slices the air with a 'whoosh' coming down straight for her windpipe -before stopping dead, inches from her throat.

She breathes an audible sigh of relief and looks up fearfully at the haggard Salem who still struggles to get his bearings, as the world flows and swirls around him. Salem stares down at her through his mask with hate-filled eyes and with a cracked voice he croaks, "Alright, lady, time to start talking. Who is Galactus... and what am I dealing with??"

Suddenly his attention is caught by an angry roar, like that of a savage beast. He looks up to see the other herald charging toward him. A glance over his shoulder tells Salem that he is too close to the edge of the walkway to take a hit. He holds out his hands in a gesture of mercy but the small, juggernaut keeps coming. "Stop you crazy freak you'll take us both over the eddddddddddggggggggggggeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!" He takes the hit full on the chest and he and the herald are in free-fall....

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Elsewhere

A maglev van makes its way on the tracks along the northern entrance to Uptown Nueva York when it hits upon a slight problem.

"There must be at least a hundred people on the tracks heading this way!!" cries Krystalin, from the front seat of the van, "We're gonna get trampled by a half the population of New York!"

"Isn't there any other routes," asks Tim with a frown as he looks out on the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of New Yorkers trying to flee the city via the maglev tracks.

Krystalin replies, "I don't think so, Tim. Besides, I'm not sure we even have room to turn around!"

"Not likely, put the wheels down and throw it into full throttle they'll soon step aside," snarls Luna, staring hatefully at the oncoming crowd.

"What?!? We'd kill them all - the only way off the tracks is forty feet straight down!" cries Krys agog at such a suggestion.

"Them or us Krys, get with the program," sneers Luna, with a wicked grin.

"My friends, the situation in New York City is dire indeed," warns the Archangel known as Omen, who sits on his haunches in the back of the van, his wings folded at his back, his long dark hair hanging in his face, only his fiery white eyes are visible in the shadow, "We must find a way in - the fate of the CovenantHome rest with us."
Just then the air is filled with a buzzing drone, and they look out to see a battalion of Public Eye officers fleeing the city on Skybikes, looking like a swarm of mechanical bees.

"Good old PE flyboys - loyal to the very last," Krystalin jokes darkly, shaking her head.

"I think out ride to the Big Apple has arrived," smiles Tim, gesturing up as the skybikes pass overhead, "Omen, if you wouldn't mind?"

Omen nods, as a blade of golden fire replaces his right hand, lighting up the van with its bright, radiant warmth. With a the skill of a thousand years of training he slashes the sword above his head in a gleaming arc - cleaving a wide hole in the roof of the van. With one beat of his incredible wings, Omen propels himself upward reaching up with both hands grasping two skycycle's stabilizer with each. The two bikes stop dead in his mighty grasp and the pilots go sailing over the handlebars and crash down in a heap on the maglev tracks behind the van. The angel turns looking down at them and booms cheerfully, "Sorry gentlemen, I'm afraid you will have to walk."

The two flyboys swap confused glances, then get up and limp away as fast as their legs will carry them. With that Omen turns back, looking down through the hole in the van's roof at his awestruck companions, holding the two skybike's aloft in each hand as if they weighed nothing. "Come forth, my friends, we must make haste to the city - time grows short."

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Uptown

At least it was Uptown a few seconds ago... they plummet faster with every second, the gloomy streets of downtown rush up from below to meet them.

""It's funny how a thousand storey fall will clear your head right up, the ringing in my ears should have stopped just in time for me to hear the crunch as I hit the sidewalk,"" thinks Salem as he hurtles downward, gripped by each wrist with the big earthy fists of the herald. He tries to struggle as he falls but he cannot break its grip. ""This is not how I want to go at all, I mean falling from a giant spaceship in the loving embrace of the creature from the black lagoon. When I get to Hell, Obe will never let me live it down...""

"Where are your taunts and jokes now terran," gloats the herald calmly as they fall.

"Jokes aren't my business, fiend! You must have me confused with someone else... maybe Spider-Man?"

Salem jerks his head backward and thrusts the hardest headbutt he can muster into the herald's face. With a cry of pain the creature releases Salem's wrist and plummets ever faster toward the far away street holding his face in his hands. >>Okay mission accomplished, he let me go. All I need to do now is not hit the ground at 400 kilometers a second.<< He thinks as he watches the herald hit the sidewalk and shatter into a carpet of muddy earth all over the Downtown street.

Turning inward Salem calms his mind, and concentrates hard, muttering an ancient incantation and pointing outward at a nearby Uptown cathedral. Perched at the corner of the cathedral's tower is an old, cracked stone gargoyle which is suddenly bathed in a glow of strange ethereal energy. Without warning the statue bursts into life, leaping from its perch and stretching its bat-like stone wings. With a savage cry, the creature swoops down and grasps the fallen Salem's arm in its cold, granite talons, the stony claws biting into his flesh. As the creature begins to fly off with him, there is a burst of magickal fire and the animation spell wears off. The gargoyle becomes stone once more and Salem's fall begins again - but the momentum of the flight carries him across the street and through the window of a nearby tower block. The air is filled with shattering glass as Salem rips his arm from the dead stone grasp. He hits the floor on his shoulder and goes into a forward roll, the glass biting at him as it crunches under his weight. He makes it out of the way just in time for the stone statue to crash through the floor, leaving a jagged gaping hole just inches from where he lies. He just lies on his back for a moment breathing hard trying to get his breath back. Then he is brought back to reality by a loud voice outside.

"You may have escaped Gravus, but you will not escape me!" she snarls, as he opens his eyes to see her hovering a few feet above him.

Completely exasperated, he raises his staff with a wail of exhaustion and the ancient weapon flies from his grasp. She easily swoops aside out of the way of the way before unleashing a cry of intense sonic power. Salem feels the power of the soundwave pin him to the floor so hard that he hears a few of his ribs audibly snap under the pressure, yet his weapon flies back to his grasp. Underneath him, the floor which is already weakened by the hole left by the statue creaks under the strain before it buckles giving way completely. A perfect circle of the floor where the soundwave assaulted it collapses to the floor below, Salem is thrown like a bullet by the soundwave. He plunges straight through the floor of the lower level and all the way down to the lobby's shiny marble floor. His impact on the floor leaves quite a crater of cracked, broken marble. Still he rolls over, his body throbbing all over in agonizing pain, and tries to crawl away. Above Sonica drops through the hole in the roof grinning wickedly at her handiwork. "That was for Gravus," she barks down at him, the force of her voice sending a whipping wind through the lobby, then her voice becomes a shout, "This is for manhandling me!"

The power of the cry sends Salem flying out through the glass windows at the front of the building and crashing out into the street in a shower of broken glass. He rolls across the street and lies still on his back, trying to recover. He can feel blood oozing from several cuts and slashes all over his body, leaking through his soaking, torn costume onto the soft earth.

""Soft earth?? In Downtown, New York??"" his mind warns in a moment of clarity. Salem looks through a red haze at the street which seems to be covered in thick, brown mud. Suddenly the mud begins to slither and move beneath him. Before he can move, it has wrapped itself around him in the shape of a large fist. He is plucked up off the ground as the puddle of mud rises to form the herald Gravus bigger than before.

"Surprised, terran? I am in my element now - I have become one with the soil and earth of this planet. It feeds me and feeds my power. I could sap the world from your whole planet and become like a god!!" Gravus boasts shaking the injured Salem like a rag doll in his massive fist.

Just then a mighty voice from above catches the attention of all, "HERALDS, COME. I HAVE NEED OF YOU."

"Galactus calls, we obey," croons Gravus to the semi-conscious Salem before tossing him aside like an unwanted toy. Sonica flies down and grabs Gravus' hands, pulling him free of the roots he grew into the street below him, and carrying him aloft. They fly up and up, out of Downtown and into the Uptown sky where she sets them down on the walkway at the feet of their master.

"IT IS TIME, GALACTUS MUST FEED."

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Meanwhile

Far, far below Salem lies bruised, battered, bloody and beaten in the center of a Downtown street. Broken, alone and left for dead.

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Space

This quadrant of space is the outskirts of one of the most heavily fortified empires in all the universe - the empire of the Shi'ar. She streaks through the border like a raging comet leaving a fiery trail in her wake. She does not care that the border drone traced her and has raised the alert she simply speeds deeper and deeper into the heart of the Shi'ar empire.

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Earth

Inside the Worldship, the Eater of Worlds Galactus makes his final preparations for his feeding. He stands in his antechamber, adjusting the last piece of equipment which is to be attached to the device his heralds are assembling for him outside.

"AIR-WALKER, GIVE A SYSTEM PERIMETER SCAN," orders Galactus his voice echoing through the ship.

The robotic face of the one-time herald Air-Walker appears on a nearby viewscreen. His mind was downloaded into the Worldship's computer and controls all of the ship's systems and functions.

"Nothing master, I'm afraid Nova has not come," Air-Walker in a cold, digitized voice.

"A SHAME. I BELIEVED SHE, OF ALL OF MY HERALDS, WOULD REALIZE THE NECESSITY OF WHAT I DO. I HUNGER, LIKE NEVER BEFORE," Galactus explains, "I MUST FEED NOW, OR I MAY NOT HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE."

"Why has the hunger gotten worse master?" inquires Air-Walker.

"ANOTHER FROM MY WORLD - THE WORLD THAT EXISTED BEFORE ALL THIS - ANOTHER HAS SURVIVED. MY UNIQUE PLACE AMONG THE COSMOS IS THREATENED. FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THAT IS GALACTUS MUST ENDURE."

"What if this other endures also?"

For a moment Galactus stands in silence, a silence Air-Walker believes may have been tainted by - fear.

"I HAVE NO MORE TIME FOR QUESTIONS. I HUNGER - AND I MUST FEED - SUCH IS THE WILL OF GALACTUS."

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The Shi'ar Empire

Nova rockets toward the center of the empire, covering the distance at an alarming rate. Chandilar is now visible far off in the distance, her goal is in sight and nothing will deter her now.

Suddenly, a fleet of Shi'ar battle cruisers appear out of hyperspace, forming a wall between the fiery herald and her goal. Nova stops, her body roaring with cosmic power, lighting up the void like a newborn sun, she fights back her rage as she feels the crackle of an environment beam being channelled between her and the ship, allowing her to communicate. "I am Nova, former herald of Galactus," she booms, her voice alive with cosmic fire, "I will not allow anything to impede my progress, get out of my way or suffer the consequences."

A reply comes from the loud speaker of the ship, "This is Lady Tyrea of the Shi'ar Imperial Forces, we know who you are and we will not allow you any further, turn back or you will be suffer the consequences!"

"This is your last warning, Imperials," booms Nova, "Move out of my way or I will move you myself!"

"There is the full firepower of an Imperial battalion trained on you as I speak, you have been warned," Tyrea's voice is low and menacing a voice with the guts to carry out such a threat, "Turn back now!"

"Very well, this is on your head!" roars Nova her fists a maelstrom of cosmic energy.

"No!" cries another voice, and it is accompanied by a streak of silver light, which shoots from behind the fleet and stops right in front of Nova. She sees herself reflected in the silver skin of the newcomer, as he regards her with older eyes but which still hold the spark of his past youth. He hovers a few feet from her on his board which is forged from the same silver glaze as his skin. Then he speaks in that same quiet, polite voice she remembers of old, "Nova what are you doing here?"

"Surfer, I found you!" she cries elated, "You have to come with me. There is some trouble - the Earth is in dire straits and you are her only hope."

"Earth? Why? How?" he asks a little confused.

"Galactus has returned!"

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Earth

They soar over the rooftops of the almost empty city, buzzing skyscrapers and Uptown towers. Krystalin is just happy to keep up with the figure flying way ahead of them, kept aloft by the beating of his majestic wings. "Tim, stop fooling around! It's hard enough trying to keep up with Omen without worrying about you crashing into a towerblock!" shouts Krystalin.

"Whatever you say Krys!" cries Tim swooping down on his skycycle, skimming the rooftop of a skyscraper, "Whoo Hoo!"

"You're quite a hot rod on these babies," Luna breathes in Tim's ear, her arms draped around his neck as she sits on the cycle behind him, "I haven't seen you having this much fun in quite a while."

"Yeah, I've been gettin' a little to serious in my old age - maybe I should - Holy shock!"

Tim is struck dumb by the awesome sight which greets them as they pass through a clump of low-lying cloud and the walkway extending from the mighty craft comes into view and standing on it is the awesome former of Galactus himself.

"That's what you brought us here to stop?!" gulps Tim.

"Yes, The Eater of Worlds... Galactus!" confirms Omen, in a reverent tone.

"Oh, mama," whistles Tim, "Time to get serious..."

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Elsewhere

Hikaru Sama smiles broadly as the third of his power connections comes online. He flicks three switches under the three glowing lights of the control panel of the large piece of equipment which was concealed behind a portrait on the east wall. He turns back to his three holographic allies with a low bow.

"This one thanks you for your co-operation, friends," smiles Hikaru, "Once we have dealt with the problem of the public and soothed the chaos then we will worry about what to do with our hostile visitor."

"Just flip the switch you long-winded fool," growls Herod.

"Very well," grunts Hikaru, his brow and his smile becoming a frown, "The holographic generators are now on-line!"

He flips a fourth switch and somewhere in the building an awesome generator kicks into action drawing power from not only Stark Power, but from Hikaru's allies plants as well.

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Outside

The X-Men speed toward the awesome, mammoth ship up ahead, their bike's engines groaning in protest as they are pushed to the limit to keep up with the angel who travels at incredible speed, despite the fact that his wings beat almost casually.

"Omen hold on, we can't keep up," shouts Luna over Tim's shoulder.

"There is not time to lose," cries Omen, "The World-Eater readies himself for his feast, he must be stopped now!"

"Maybe if we ignore him, he'll just disappear," groans Luna.

Suddenly without warning her wish comes true. Galactus and his Worldship disappear, they are simply gone. Replaced by the calm sky behind.

"What trickery is this?!" Omen stops dead, dumbfounded that such an awesome craft could disappear without sound or warning.

In the streets below those people who are scrambling to leave just stop and look up at the now empty sky - the fear in their eyes turning to bright hope. A roaring cheer ripples through the city below them as a million people are given back their lives - or so they think.

"I don't understand how could he just disappear like that - without us seeing him?" questions Krys, scratching her head and searching the sky.

"I know not. I do know that something very odd has just occurred, and it is up to us to find out what."

NEXT: Does Salem live? What happened to Galactus and the Worldship? Be here for an X-Men vs. Heralds throwdown of galactic proportions!



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