TENSEN 2099UG	Writer/Artist/Editor: Gary M. Miller  |  Creator: Peter David  Editor-in-Chief: Michael Shirley  |  AEIC: Chris Lough
August, 2001 #13

Click the pictures to see character profiles!

John Tensen	Diseased Paranormals	Antibodies	Stephen Hazzard	Lightmask	Nightmask
The Brute	Thanatos	The Collection Agency

Shortly after returning to his home and finding it had been twisted into a dictatorship by the evil Reed Richards, John Tensen was confronted in a dream by an old friend -- Keith Remsen, the man known in his time as Nightmask. Later, Tensen learned that Keith's Nightmask persona had gone psychotic, in an episode culminating in Tensen's own demise. During an afterlife experience, the once-Justice Warrior learned that he could not die yet because he still had much to accomplish for his world.  He awoke from the death-dream in the camp of the Diseased Paranormals -- a band of his own descendants, headed by his daughter Angela.  Also joining the group is the Witness, secret co-leader of the anti-Richards movement, as well as Nightmask, who now appears in the form of his sister Teddy as result of banishment from his own body.  Together with Stephen Mark Hazzard, human resistance leader and great-grandson of the original Merc, Mark Hazzard, they have begun leading a charge against Richards by striking at his laboratory at the base of the very active Pittburgh volcano.  But Tensen's acts may be in vain, as he believes his life force is linked to his daughter's parability--and if she should die, so shall he!

However, another group has also targeted the volcano -- the cadre of former employees in Richards' army known as the Collection Agency.  They charge the mountain for a secret buried within, and they bring another who believes a piece of his past may be lodged nearby -- the Centurionesque-garbed terror known as Thanatos, he whose name means Death.

At the volcano lab, Richards investigated a disturbance being felt through the volcano.  But war is declared, and he could not stay below ground.  Above ground, the Collection Agency was attacked by the Tzzar and Annihilus of the Negative Zone, as well as their own, Kylie Munro.  Richards saw Kylie murdered by Thanatos as Tensen's army arrives.  Turning to face his lover's killer, Richards finally reveals himself for who he truly is ... the Reed Richards of not Earth-Prime, but rather Counter-Earth -- the cosmically-empowered Brute!

And that's where we pick up in "King of the Mountain!"

This is it, John Tensen thought as he stared at the two behemoths going into battle before his army of paranormals. The Emperor, Richards, finally showed himself -- and we're standing here ready and willing to kill him -- to bring the givernment down. And it looks as though we just might need the entire army to get in even one shot at him -- that monster, that Brute.

Indeed, Richards had transformed, as predicted, into the super-strong, purple-skinned creature known as the Brute, in effect revealing himself to be the selfsame character which Tensen had read about -- in a fellow paranormal's comicbooks -- only scant hours before. From what Tensen could remember, this Reed Richards was from a different planet than the one he had met over a month earlier (In TENSEN 2099UG #0 -- first-in-a-long-series-of-footnotes Gary!). He was an inhabitant of an Earthlike planet which had once revolved around the exact opposite side of the sun as the Marvels-Earth. That planet, called "Counter-Earth" in the comics he'd read, was supposedly created by a godlike being called the High Evolutionary in the 1970's. (The High Ev created it in the now-classic, in 2099-priceless story "And Men Shall Call Him ... WARLOCK!" from MARVEL PREMIERE first series #1, 1972.) It was created to be an Earth free from evil -- but some evil force took control while the High Evolutionary wasn't looking, and manipulated events so that evil would arise and triumph.

From what Tensen could determine in his reading, there were no "super-heroes" or "super-villains" on Counter-Earth save one, a man vaguely referred to as ... a wise man? A magician? ... A warlock -- Adam Warlock. (See MARVEL PREMIERE first series #2, 1972, for details, as well as the first appearance of the Counter-Earth Reed! Now you know what 1972 Marvel Comic has to do with Tensen!) But, if there were no super-heroes or villains, how did that explain Richards' metamorphosis into this creature?

He remembered that the reason the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards included, had gained their super-powers was due to an accident involving cosmic radiation in the group's flight to the stars. On Counter-Earth, that flight had happened, but without the same outcome. On Earth, Susan Storm, Reed's fiancee, had gained the power of invisibility; on Counter-Earth, she fell ill as a result of the accident, eventually going into a deep coma, apparently never to awaken. The others, Reed included, were apparently unaffected by the spaceflight -- that was, until a year after the accident.

During that year, some unspoken evil had shaped the radiation's effects into a malignant mutation, transforming Richards into the Brute, who at the command of the evil force (actually the Man-Beast) battled the super-hero Warlock (in WARLOCK #6-7, 1972 series). After his defeat, apparently cured of the condition which made him the Brute, Richards returned to his work with the United States Government until the day when the High Evolutionary returned to Counter Earth, defending it against the planet-eater known as Galactus (See FANTASTIC FOUR #175). Then, he suggested a course of action to the government, who couldn't be sure of the consequences to their planet after the battle's end.

Richards traveled to an Earth-orbiting asteriod which had appeared to be the point of origin of the High Evolutionary. However, on his way to examine the asteroid, he endured a cosmic radiation storm very similar to that one which had made him the Brute. The radiation caused the ship to explode, but Richards escaped and made his way to the asteroid, which proved to be artificial. Inside was the High Evolutionary's laboratory, which Richards searched, until he caused a metal cannister to fall, impacting square upon his skull. The damage caused by the bruise was more than physical, causing him to lose touch with reality. Somehow Richards , driven to insanity by the loss of Susan and his subsequent immersion into his work, retreated into a new, distinct persona -- that of the evil Brute!

Richards, his mutation not yet manifested, stowed away on board a spacecraft which had been hidden in the asteroid. The craft, which the Fantastic Four piloted home, brought Richards to the Earth opposite his own, and in addition exposed him yet again to the radiation which mutated his cellular makeup further. Upon arriving on Earth, he sought out the Fantastic Four at their then-headquarters, the Baxter Building, when the Frightful Four advertised auditions there for a new member. Transforming into the new, more powerful Brute, Richards took control of the Frightful Four and waged war on the team of which his counterpart, Mister Fantastic, was a member. During that battle, Mister Fantastic lost his stretching powers, presenting a priceless opportunity to his evil other. The Frightful Four lost the battle, but not before the Brute managed to subdue the good Reed and throw him into the Negative Zone, after which he assumed the mantle of Mister Fantastic, determined to lead the Fantastic Four to their doom from within. (See the above two paragraphs' action for yourself in FANTASTIC FOUR #176-178!)

While in the Negative Zone, the real Reed Richards encountered an android created by the Mad Thinker -- an android which stole the Negative Zone resident Annihilus' cosmic control rod, becoming a living creature in the process. Richards helped Annihilus try to recover the rod, but the rod ended up -- along with the creature -- coming through the portal to the Negative Zone inside the Baxter Building. A battle then ensued, not only between the Brute and the Fantastic Four, but also between the Brute and the creature with the control rod.

Eventually, the rest of the Fantastic Four discovered the Brute's secret, and forced him to return Mister Fantastic from the Negative Zone. Afterward, the Brute apparently regained his sanity and exiled himself into the Negative Zone, bringing Annihilus' recovered cosmic control rod back to him. The Brute was seemingly never to return. (Don't trust Tensen's recollections -- run, don't walk to pick your copies of FANTASTIC FOUR #179 and 181-183 out of the back issue bins.)

And that brought Tensen up-to-date. Or did it? Richards' brief flash of sanity was evidently a sham, as evidenced by his behavior here over the last five decades. However, there was no information on the past fifty years' worth of the Brute's history for Tensen to learn (Because Marvel Comics ceased publication in 1989, shortly after the Pittsburgh Disaster of THE PITT #1, so the tale of FANTASTIC FOUR UNLIMITED #3, the Brute's next appearance published in 1993, couldn't be told! --final-footnote-GMM), so he had no idea what had happened during the interim, of why he, upon coming to the New Universe Earth, chose to be its absolute sovereign.

Now, Tensen could do nothing but wait as the two titans circled each other, waiting, strategizing, before throwing even a single punch, landing a single blow. Neither could those around them all -- Angela, Tensen's daughter, who fought even now within her own mind to keep her father alive using her failing paranormal ability. One lapse in concentration now -- especially at her age -- and Tensen would assuredly perish, never to be brought back again. Also with them was a large, formidable group of Diseased Paranormals, armed with all the weapons they could find -- in most cases modified Twentieth-Century guns; there was Stephen Mark Hazzard, one of the human resistance leaders; the evil Nightmask and his counterpart, the enigmatic Lightmask, who had the body of Theodora Remsen but the mind of the displaced, true Nightmask, Keith Remsen; and still more denizens of the surrounding Mount Pittsburgh ruins flocked to their side.

Among the new fighters: the eight-foot tall mountain creature who had once been a man -- Dave Landers, A.K.A. the Wompus; Lenore Fenzl, the energy-vampire known as Twilight; Stephanie Landers, the superheroine healer once called Glitter; Jenny Swensen, A.K.A. Chrome, whose body was encased in a metal-like substance; and an older, red-haired woman named Kayla Barrett, with costume and powers denoting her as the carrier of the last portion of the Star Brand energies. As refugees of the Richards regime, they are five members of a loosely-knit team which, once upon a time, would have called themselves Displaced Paranormals (Read Mark Gruenwald's D.P.7 and QUASAR for more details! --GMM).

But what could Tensen do? What could they all do?

"Look! Up in the sky?"

"What the hell--?"

As the shouts went out, all gazed upward at the strange occurrences which had, unfortunately, become all-too-commonplace on this Earth. The sky grew black as what appeared to be several unnaturally dark clouds moved into position overhead. There had been rumors, indeed, of what had become of the Displaced Paranormal known only as Antibody, who several years ago was exposed to the "Pitt Juice" within the crater nearby. Some among the fighters had known Antibody, knew that the man who created the dark-matter creatures had been trapped within one of those bodies, and could still generate foot-tall Antibodies. There were myriad guesses of what happened after that event. Some said that Antibody had gotten married, had children who manned a special research facility somewhere in the Pittsburgh area; that the children produced in that marriage also sired Antibody-like creatures, a second generation, a third, and more; that these creatures made the grounds surrounding the Pittsburgh volcano their playground, that they bathed in its mutagens and as a result became independent of their former human hosts in that they could indeed survive outside hosts -- that they could multiply at will, seemingly unimpeded. There were rumors that the Antibodies still had ties to their creators, and would protect their research at any cost. They would be the true antibodies of Mount Pittsburgh, battling against any "disease" which might infect it.

As the black clouds came closer, all realized they were not clouds at all, but rather swarms of red-eyed, dark-matter creatures which looked very, very much like the Antibodies created sixty-some years ago.

The rumors were true.

The wraithlike creatures saw through their groupmind eyes that there were indeed people here who were not supposed to be. And they decided with a singular mind that they would swoop from the skies and combat the menace, whatever it may be.

The crowds of rebels screamed in terror as the things sped toward them. They raised their weapons, their rifles, slingshots, and even their own hands, which coursed with paranormal energy -- but it did no good against the blackness which could turn intangible at will.

"Fall back down the mountain!" Tensen shouted at his fellow rebels. His blasts, actually, were doing the most good, forcing the creatures back where they could not come near him. He looked at Hazzard: "Hazzard will lead you!"

"Me?" Hazzard asked, flabbergasted. "Why me, Tensen?"

"Because you're the one with battle instinct, the one with drive, determination. And because I have to stay up here."

"Why do *you* have to remain? Let those monsters up by the volcano rim alone! We'll need you down below to help fight off the creatures!"

"Angela needs me more," Tensen replied, gesturing toward his frail, withered daughter. "Look where the Antibodies are headed -- down toward the majority of the folk here. I can't -- won't risk leaving Angela alone, not for a minute. It'd be difficult to move her from here, and--!"

"Let her go, Tensen. Come fight with us." Hazzard's resolve was complete.

"NO!" cried Tensen, his eyes glowing with red intensity. "You don't know what she means to me. If she dies, I die too. What use would I be to you all dead?" He cast forward his right hand and fired a sword bolt at Hazzard's feet. "Now go down there, or so help me, I'll kill you for telling me how to treat my only daughter!"

A few seconds later, Hazzard was amid the rebel crowds fighting the Antibody hordes. The black creatures seemed to be for the most part leaving Tensen and Angela alone. Tensen kneeled by his daughter's side as they saw the Brute land the first massive blow upon his opponent, sending waves of palpable force down the mountainside.

"Why keep us up here, daddy? You know there's no safe place for us ... either we'll be killed by those black things below, or be noticed soon enough by either the Emperor or Thanatos -- and--!"

Tensen quieted his daughter as rage burned deep within him. "We're not going to die. I won't let you die. In fact, when the opportunity presents itself ... I'm going to save the world." He clenched his fists and gazed at the battle unfolding fifty yards from him. The rage still boiled.

In the mists that rose from the Pittsburgh volcano, two beings flew, their forms costumed similarly. Brother and sister they were, but one wouldn't be able to tell that by the way they were throwing punches at each other.

"Give me my body back!" Keith Remsen, in the form of his sister Theodora, who in turn was clad as the heroine Lightmask, demanded of his opponent. She/he forced the issue with a punch across Nightmask, his/her enemy's, jaw.

"No way, Jose!" Nightmask, the evil force which inhabited the body of Keith Remsen, screamed, laughing maniacally as he looked back at his foe. He felt something give in his mouth, and seconds later spit out a bloody tooth in Lightmask's face. "I ain't doin' nothin', Keithie-Weethie! You can't make me!"

"Then you'll have to die," Lightmask said resolutely, as within the recesses of Keith's essence another voice began to cry out.

Keith! Keith, what do you think you're doing?

In his discontent at seeing his body inhabited by his sinister half, Keith had forgotten all about whose body he was inhabiting now -- he had forgotten all about--"Teddy?!?" As Keith/Lightmask relaxed his grip, Nightmask hit him and they began to tumble earthward until stopping seconds before hitting the edge of the Pittsburgh volcano. They could feel the vapors of the boiling lava beneath them.

"Sorry, Teddy isn't here right now, Keith," the sinister Nightmask said. Then he put his hand to his chin and looked "Lightmask" up and down. "Then again, she is! yes, yes, she most definitely is! If that isn't just a really really clever costume you found, that is!" His claws reached for Lightmask's white mask, which he yanked off and threw downward at the lava in a single motion. Beholding Theodora's aged face, he began to cackle. "Awww, it is you, sis! What's poor Keith doing to your brain? He doing things you don't want done? You don't want to fight me, do ya? Come on, I say we let bygones be bygones, and kiss and make out like all good brothers and sisters do! Whaddaya say, whaddaya say?"

Teddy forced herself up through the veneers of Keith's consciousness, and asserted herself, spitting in Nightmask's face. He wiped the spittle from his eyes, which now flowed red with rage. His fingers now distended several inches, with sharp claws at the ends. In retaliation, he slashed Teddy across the face and watched as the blood flowed freely over the white of her uniform. He then licked his fingers, which were also covered in blood.

"Tasty," he commented. "You've got spunk, little Teddy. But ya gots to have more'n spunk to defeat me, your brother!"

"You're not my brother," Teddy said. "My brother's right here," she continued, pointing to her head.

"Can you be sure?" Nightmask asked. "Last time I checked, he who controls the Nightmask can control reality, in all shapes and forms. See?"

With that, Nightmask snapped his fingers, and all hell broke loose below. And Theodora, with this time Keith trapped within her consciousness, could do nothing but watch.

The Brute leapt eagerly at Thanatos.

"My hatred of you has festered since the time we met, Thanatos!" screamed Richards. "And you can be assured that I'll make each fist count.  I shall conquer over you, so as I have against every person on this entire Earth!"  He made contact with his enemy's faceplate before Thanatos himself batted him away with an arc of his bulky arm.

Richards crashed several feet down the mountain, but he brought himself back to his feet instantly.  As he did so, he saw one figure walk toward him from out of nowhere.  His red eyes soothed for brief seconds.  "Susan?"

Indeed, the form of Susan Storm, the woman whom this Reed had loved but never wed, stood before the grotesque form her once-beloved had become.  She wore a look of anger and resentment on her face.  "Reed?  Oh my God, Reed, you've become -- a monster!"  Her face continued to contort, strangely, like a puppet's.  "Get away!  You frighten me!  You're disgusting!"

"B-but--!" Reed stammered, beginning to relax and resume his normal, human appearance.  As he did so, he saw a long black arm which seemed to be anchored to her head.  He looked above, and saw Nightmask laughing hysterically.

Reed, now resuming the form of the Brute, looked once more at "Susan," only to behold that her face, and in fact her entire form had taken on the appearance of a mannequin.  "Sorry, yer highness, but I couldn't resist!" the mannequin said in Nightmask's twisted tone.  It then leapt upon the Brute and began to pummel him with weak blows -- the kind one would expect from such a puppet.

Reed flexed his giant muscles, breaking the mannequin in several pieces and sending it flying.  But the distraction had allowed Thanatos to close in, and only nanoseconds later, he wound up and decked the Brute, sending him sailing further down the mountain.  When Thanatos closed in for the kill, however, he was met with an unpleasant surprise.

The Brute's arm elongated, stretching outward with such force and utter velocity that it immediately knocked Thanatos back up the mount, closer to the upper ridge.

The Brute leapt upward and crashed down on the body of the still-stunned Thanatos, then stared him in the eyes as he gloated above.  "There's one thing I've learned over my many years of existing on this wretched planet," he said.  "That is, that experimentation -- to prepare for future eventualities -- is the key to survival.  I invented technologies never before seen or thought-of on this mudball.  Genetic mutations, I harnessed them, experimented on myself to bring out abilities which I would need, if ever you were to return -- such as further enhancement of my strength -- and such as the abilities which you have just seen for yourself -- the advent of the powers of the Earth-Prime Reed Richards, of Mister Fantastic, that sanctimonious idiot.  It turns out that he did know what he was doing, after all.  However, my powers are far more formidable than his, or, for that matter, than mine ever were before this moment.  Prepare for your destruction."

Thanatos grasped the Brute's foot with his hands and shoved with all his might, sending him cascading further still upward.  As the Centurion-esque warrior climbed to his feet, however, he was met by the stunning appearance of several people throughout the battlefield, everywhere.  They were villains, ones that he might have recognized from long ago.  But, the way they popped in from nowhere -- but then, that was it; Nightmask was up to his trademark tricks, wasn't he?

That would most certainly make sense, as he saw the Brute, several yards ahead of him, doing battle with a man who vaguely resembled his opposite from Earth-Prime, Mister Fantastic.  But if all these characters had popped up everywhere else, then what was in store for--

"Foul deceiver!  Traitor!"

Thanatos looked toward the source of the thunderous voice, and was confronted by a beam of solid energy impacting his chest, throwing him backward.

The figure walked forward, his husky form proud and regal.  His blue and orange raiments looked out of place here.

His booming voice edchoed:  "I lay claim to this place.  And none may deny the will of Thanos of Titan, proud and dutiful servant of the Mistress Death!"

Thanatos rose to one knee.  "Thanos, eh?"  He chuckled and looked up at the immense creature with the purple skin and terrible red eyes. "There have been many legends of the Titanian Eternal known throughout the cosmos as Thanos, if indeed you are he.  It is said that in times past, he had an Achilles' Heel, that he prized talismans which allowed him to conquest -- but that he always maintained, deep inside himself, that he wasn't worthy of such conquests -- and that subconscious thought proved disastrous.  He would always be such a miserable ... loser."  The words were painful.

The creature known as Thanos looked down at the warrior and grinned.  "What you have heard is irrelevant.  Moreover, it is erroneous."  Energy began to flow once more through the conqueror's hands.

"You were always a loser," Thanatos continued.  "And I am nothing like you."  Anger burned in his heart. "YOU HEAR ME?  I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!!!" he shouted, standing up and charging his blaster into his foe's chest, causing a devastating explosion.  When the smoke cleared, only Thanatos remained.

"Not anymore ... and never again!"

He howled with triumphant laughter, then looked up at Nightmask, and the laugh turned to a snarl.  Then he leapt back up into the middle of the fight between Richardses.

"Sorry to break up this ... party," he said, "but I'm afraid the Brute and I have some pressing business to take care of."  Again he charged up his blaster, and fired it at Mister Fantastic, disintegrating him into nothingness.  He then turned his attention to the Brute himself.

"Richards, you've built this ... society so diabolically well."

The Brute stayed his hand.  "Is that so?"

A gleeful grin spread across Thanatos' face. "Yes.  And I'm going to enjoy parading your dead corpse up and down every single street of every city ... just before I lead all your precious peoples -- human and paranormal both -- into the fiery pits of hell.  For am I not Death incarnate?"

The Brute extended one fist, swung, and missed narrowly as his quarry ducked aside.  "You dare to speak of death and desecration, when you know what you have taken from me?"

Thanatos leapt forward and punched the Brute, who countered with another blow.  "Oh, and what might that be?"

"My wife-to-be Susan, you stole her from me!"  He decked Thanatos, whose helmet went flying off.  The features of Aaron Delgato stood in plain view.  "You stole her brother, stole my best friend -- you stole every single god-damn thing that was important to me back on Counter-Earth.  Everyone I loved -- or could think of loving -- is dead thanks to you!  I wish I could have been with them..."  Again and again he pummeled Thanatos, who was finally beaten, bloody, to the ground.

The man whose name meant Death looked up at the Brute through eyes that were quickly swelling shut.  Through a blood-filled mouth, he spoke.  "Richards, would it be any better for you to know that, had I known you to be so vindictive, I would have come to the Negative Zone and gotten you so that you could have been slaughtered with the rest of your 'loved ones'?"  He sneered.  "No?  Then, I would have you join them now."  Raising a hand, Thanatos charged his blaster and sent a bolt of laser energy into the Brute's chest.

The enemy, however, did not falter.  He stood, absorbing the blast, growing larger.  "You don't see, do you, Thanatos?  I survive because I am fittest -- fittest to rule, to defend that which I claim to be mine.  Obviously you are unaware that the cosmic rays which initially created me, also allow me to absorb and harness any energy, and now I have modified that power -- to not only feel it coursing through my system, but also use that energy as I see fit.  And I now see fit to crush you like the insignificant gnat you have become!"  (For those of you unaware, the Brute only manifested this power in WARLOCK #6-7.  Guess what?  It's back!  --GMM)  Like a flash of lightning, Richards sprang forward, fists flying, as he tackled Thanatos to the ground.

The titans rose up, grappling each other.  The Brute was taller than Thanatos by far -- the tableau unfolding like the battle of David against Goliath.

Just one chance to save this world, Tensen thought, stepping from the shadows.  The shadowy Antibodies were staying away from him and his daughter as they watched the battle between the two enemies.  How does that old saying go?  'The enemy of my enemy is my friend?'  It doesn't seem to apply here, although both my enemies are at each other's throats.  Should I continue to watch, perhaps watch them kill one another?  No, too much relying on chance there.  My hand must be swift; my punishment, just.

"Daddy, let them kill each other.  Don't concern yourself," his daughter, Angela, said.  She was still feeling weak from the previous ordeals.  Tensen felt ill from her weakness, as he believed now that his life was linked to hers.  If she died, so did he.

"This is what your mother wanted," Tensen said, rising up, red glow pervading his eye, green energy from his fists.  He remembered something which had been said nearly seventy years ago, when first he had undertaken his mission as Justice:  My sword, my shield, are merely the surface manifestatiopns of my power, the most convenient to use.  My shields repel attacks.  All manner of attacks.  Since they are created by my mind, they easily repel mental attacks as well as physical.  They are psionic shields, after all.  Not patriotic frisbees.  As for my sword ... it's simply an outward expression of my desire for something not to exist.

Tensen saw the battle continue to rage, with Thanatos pressing the advantage which came with his size as compared to the massive Brute.  A series of hits stunned Richards, enough for the Brute to begin to lift him over his head.  He was strong like no other paranormal he'd ever seen ... and now, he knew that Thanatos was no paranormal at all.  What he was, was another matter entirely.  But this was Tensen's moment, as "David" was ready to throw "Goliath" into the fiery pit of death below.

Swiftly, silently, Tensen charged, his shields at the ready.

"I've won, Richards!  You can't deny that I've beaten you!  You shall be but the first I condemn to death on this sorry planet you claim you rule.  I shall teach your constituents the true meaning of nihilism without boundaries.  Congratulations, you shall set a fine example."  Lifting his enemy high, Thanatos cackled sinisterly, flexing his muscles, readying to throw the creature into the Pittsburgh volcano....

....when a force came from behind.

Tensen impacted into Thanatos' backside with all the force that a paranormal hurricane could create.  His strength, augmented by his will for this inhuman creature not to exist, drove him further than ever it had before.  The dirt beneath his feet buckled as he propelled Thanatos up the side of the volcano, until finally, with a sudden burst of energy, both of the men went flying over the side of the volcano and toward the hot vapors and molten lava below.

Feeling the hot steam on his face, Tensen erected an emerald shield between himself and his enemies.  As he did so, he saw the gigantic arms of the Brute swing out and hang onto the volcano rim.  Damn, I'll have to worry about him later, he thought as he saw the purple creature scale the rim and ascend to his feet.

As Thanatos fell, he turned around and saw the determined look on Tensen's face, and his own expression turned to one of fear; but only for the brieftest of moments, as falling further into the cavernous depths, the look of dread vanished, replaced by one of -- joy?  Tensen's heart chilled at the sight.

Thanatos impacted into the lava and sank deep.  A millisecond later, Tensen landed, the shield he'd made floating like a raft on the hot and bubbly river of molt.  Beneath the transparent projection, he saw the skeleton and armor of his dead enemy turn black and break apart.

Alas, the villain who had plagued him since his time in the limbo dimension known as Virtual Unreality had perished.  And it was fitting that Tensen himself had the pleasure of killing him.  The pleasure?  No, he reminded himself -- the duty.  The day he derived pleasure from the justice would be the day he would become like all those paranormals whom he had killed, those many years ago.  He would be an abuser -- and would have to subject himself to the same punishment as those others.  And if he did that, he would never see Irene again.

Wiping his brow, he looked down at the black bones which finally were covered by the lava torrents, turned up his lip.  It was too maddeningly hot down here for anyone to survive for long, and so he projected his shield so that the "raft" became thicker and propelled him back upward.  When he reached the top, he was met with a shocking sight.

The Brute stood in all his grandeur, looked at Tensen, and laughed.  In his hands was a frail, female form.

"ANGELA!"

"How nice," the Brute observed, his face scowling into an expression of hatred and disgust. "The hero sees his daughter in trouble and wishes to help her, right?  But do you really want to try your luck against me when I'm like this?  When I'm so strong ... it would be an effortless task to crush her like the fragile human piece of wormfood that she is.

"But she's more to you than that, isn't she?  I remember hearing your friends at Coney Island talk about her.  She's the miracle worker of your group?  She who can make the sick well, make the dead walk ... if you know what I'm talking about?  You weren't too spry after your encounter with Nightmask the other day, from what I'd heard.  And yet, here you are, back to be a perpetual thorn in my side.  It seems this Earth can never be rid of you.  I mean, look at your people down there.  They fight needlessly against my forces.  My Antibodies patrol this mountaina nd combat against security breaches.  My M.A.X. Force can combat most any military threat otherwise.  And my Kickers, well, they, too, speak for themselves ... when they do any speaking at all.  My elite forces allow every paranormal to leave in peace and order if they so choose!  Why do you fight against me?  Why don't you submit?  Is order so hard a concept for your feeble mind to grasp?"

Tensen's eye burned deeper red.  "That hurt, Richards.  Or should I call you the Brute, as that's what I seem to remember the books saying was your name when you're in this form?  I know about you, and I know about Susan.  I know what she meant to you.  You can't do this if you believe in her memory.  It isn't the Reed Richards I know ... not the one that I've met."

"If you have read the banned books which tell of my origin," the Brute said, "then you also know that I am not the Reed of the Fantastic Four.  I am not as filthily noble as he was.  Circumstances are different.  Why, with all the knowledge at my fingertips, I was meant to rule!  Susan would have been my queen, to share in my delight ... but her life was cut short.  What you knew of the Reed Richards of Earth does not ring true with who I am.

"My demands are simple: for Angela here to remain alive," he raised her with one hand, upward, her body limp, "you must submit to me.  Pledge your allegiance and work for me to rebuild what is already being torn asunder here, and I shall let you both live.  Anything less and you shall both die."  He smiled, a sight to chill the bone.  A sign of victory.  "Her life -- your lives -- are in my hands.  I give you five seconds to decide."

Tensen shook his fist at the creature that stood before him.  "I'll never bow down to you!  For the souls of my wife, my children and their children, and all the people, both paranormal and human, I won't yield to you!  I'll fight you to the grave and beyond!  Mine shall win!"  His fists blazed red now, the same color as the fury barely contained in his eye.

"Pity, that," the Emperor said.  Wrapping one giant fist around Angela's body, he let the silence between the players linger while the battlecries continued far below.

And then, the Brute's fist squeezed shut.

As Tensen fell to the ground, his legs giving out, the world becoming a black nothingness before him, the earth below slowly began to tremble...

To be continued...

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(Next month: Nightmask versus Nightmask--and Thanatos revealed!)

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