Written by Barry Reese
Solar Eclipse, Part One : The Destroyer
May 20, 4022
What Has Come Before : Magnus, back home in the year 4022, has been busy aiding President Shooter and the Starwatchers in their plan to rebuild North Am. From his freewill friend Glia, Magnus has learned of a rising movement aimed at gaining revenge against him for his role in the attempted genocide of the freewill population. Elsewhere, Solar the Destroyer's mental breakdown has worsened -- convinced he is haunted by Dr. Eclipse, Solar has split himself into yet another variant personality. This one, garbed in all black, has promised to earn the name of Destroyer....
Psi-Lord Precinct Cluster/Designate : "The Palisade."
"<screams, followed by an explosion>...Please, help us! Something has gone wrong -- the Destroyer is--zzt!<crackle>"
"That's the last time we heard from anyone in the Unity Colony. I think it's safe to assume that it's finally happened, just like we always feared." Balaam stood solemnly, his hands interlaced behind his back. At his side was Torque, the newest of the Starwatchers and the son of Magnus. He could sense the lad's nervousness and he understood it all too well.
Psi-Lord Gryffen stroked his chin. "Have you spoke to Shooter? Does he know?"
"North Am's government has, as far as we know, no clue about what's going on. Per yours instructions, we intercepted the transmissions."
Gryffen stood up from his command chair, nodding his approval. "Good. I like Shooter, but like most in North Am, he doesn't always understand what has to be done. Solar has proven himself a threat, just like we always knew he would. It's time to end it."
Torque cleared his throat and fidgeted.
Gryffen locked eyes with the youth. "You have something to say, Starwatcher?"
Torque ignored Balaam's warning stare and stepped forward. "I think you're making a big mistake. Doing this is only going to prove to our enemies on Earth that we're untrustworthy. We're lying to them -- again. Once word gets out, there's going to be a backlash."
Gryffen appeared to consider his words. "But, tell me, won't the people of Earth appreciate the fact that we've dispatch the being who killed so many humans? This might only enhance our reputations... and, of course, there exists the possibility that no one will have to learn of our role in this at all. If my plans are successful, we shall dispatch the Destroyer without attracting public attention...."
"But you're missing the point! Even if no one finds out now, they will eventually! And as for the Destroyer, not everyone on Earth hates him -- those people on Unity consider him their protector and --"
"Some protector, eh? Sounds like he's finally turned on them...."
Torque sighed, clenching his fists. "You're going to do it anyway, aren't you?"
Gryffen smiled softly. "Yes. But I do appreciate the input, Torque." The Psi-Lord turned back to Balaam. "Get your team in place -- and remember our secret weapon. It may be the only thing we have that will turn the tide."
Balaam snapped to attention, but his eyes remained troubled. "And who should use it, Psi-Prime?"
Gryffen shrugged, the smile still in place. "Perhaps the boy. Yes... I think Torque could handle it very well."
Balaam glanced over at the somewhat confused Torque and nodded. "As you command."
North Am Metroplex. Eastern Seaboard. Grid Designate : Bos-411. Gehenna Level.
"Odd. And no one saw anything unusual?" Magnus knelt on the floor of Elzy's living quarters, brushing aside the refuse that the scavenger that decorated her apartment with. He could smell a hint of oil and hot metal, even now. They were smells a robot fighter could detect very easily. He cast a glance at the police robot who stood nearby.
The Pol-Rob shook its head. "No-sir. No-disturbances-were-detected-until-one-of-her-employees-came-to-rouse-her-this-morning. She-had-not-reported-in-to-anyone-in-several-days."
Magnus stood. "I see. I believe she was attacked by several robs -- at least three. They must have taken her with them."
The Pol-Rob cocked its head to the side. "Sir-I-have-transmitted-your-statements-to-central-command. She-shall-be-declared-a-missing-person-immediately."
Magnus stepped out of Elzy's room, his heart heavy. He'd hoped to speak to her this morning, to re-establish their friendship after all the time he'd spent away*. But when he'd arrived, he'd found only a police rob asking questions of her neighbors.
(*Magnus spent almost a year away from Earth, following issue # 64. Much of his adventures during this time are chronicled in Magnus # 65-66.)
Picking up his communicator, he called 1-A. "I'm on my way back. Contact Glia and tell her that I want to speak with her. I need to know if she's aware of any freewills who might have a grudge against Elzy."
Psi-Lord Vessel : Designate "Victory II"
The shuttle was mostly quiet, as the Starwatchers chosen for the mission prepared themselves mentally for the task ahead. Most of them were "gunners", Starwatchers with energy-projecting abilities. A fair number of super-strong Starwatchers were along, as well. In all, there were 12 of them. Twelve against a God.
Two of those twelve walked slowly towards the rear of the ship. Balaam led Torque, having said almost nothing to him since they'd left Gryffen's office an hour before. For Torque, it was becoming unbearably frustrating. "Can we please stop the cloak-and-dagger routine, Balaam? What secret weapon? If it's another thing the Starwatchers lied to my dad about, I'm going to --"
Balaam stopped in front of a door. He entered a code into the alarm and waited until it slid open. "Look for yourself, lad."
Torque stepped in and stared at the metal sphere before him. It hung there, alive with power, like a gleaming thing of beauty. "It's... X-O armor, isn't?"
"We've had this for a few years now. We're not sure if it's the one used by Dacia back in the 20th and 21st Centuries or one of its spores. Regardless, it should do the trick. In the hands of a trained Psi-Lord, it might be the most dangerous weapon in the galaxy."
Torque reached out a hand and lightly touched its surface. "And you want me to wear this...?"
Balaam held up the control ring and nodded. "It's your, if you want to take it. But be careful... even with it, you won't be invulnerable to the Destroyer's attacks."
Torque took the ring and slid it onto his finger. He remembered the stories his father had told him, of the mighty warlord Aric Dacia and the words he'd used when donning his armor. "Good Skin," he whispered, "to me."
The armor responded to the words and the thoughts of its new master, wrapping itself around Torque like a second skin. It interfaced smoothly with Torque's computer-like Starwatcher brain and the young man grinned like a child with a new toy. Good Skin, you and I are going to get along fine, I can tell....
North Am Metroplex. Western Seaboard. Grid Designate : LA-307. Milespire.
Magnus was aware of the many robotic eyes that were upon him as he stood on the people-mover, alongside Glia. An 'honor guard' (actually a set of bodyguards) following them at a polite distance, bristling with weapons. They were there in case anyone tried to strike at the notorious Robot Fighter.
"Your-friend-is-not-known-as-an-enemy-to-freewills. However-we-were-able-to-discover-that-she-did-arrive-in-LA-307-days-ago." Glia, her long tendril-like hair floating in the breeze, stood close enough to Magnus that her metallic breast touched his arm. To the Robot Fighter's surprise, it felt warm and inviting. Freewill technology, he mused, is amazing these days....
"Where did she go after she arrived?"
"That-is-still-unknown. Security-has-been-alerted-however."
Magnus glanced around himself. This area, ceded to the Freewill Consortium after the most recent Malev War, was spotless -- and showed no signs of the War. "Your people have done some amazing work here."
"Thank-you-Magnus. The-Freewill-Council-is-pleased-to-welcome-you."
Magnus smelled the soft scent of perfume and glanced over at Glia. She gazed at him steadily, her stance decidedly sexual. "I'm...pleased...to be welcomed so warmly." A smile played across his lips and Glia tossed her "hair" playfully. 1-A, I wish you could see this. I think this trip might prove very interesting, indeed.
Psi-Lord Vessel : Designate "Victory II" -- just outside Unity Colony.
"Detecting high radiation levels, tolerable levels for Starwatchers but unsafe for humans. Surface is pock-marked by fires and craters. Whatever the Destroyer is doing down there, it's nasty. We better be prepared to transport some survivors when this is over." The female Starwatcher spoke crisply as she read off the scanner reports.
Balaam, in charge of the mission, stood behind her. "We'll call for backup if we can't carry them all, don't worry. Starwatchers -- prepare yourselves. We're going --"
"Sir! Something big and fast incoming -- it's the Destroyer!"
A black-garbed figure swarmed towards the Starwatcher vessel. Energy crackled about him, little bits of starlight that flicked and shone as he moved. He passed through the ship's shields and emerged on the bridge. Though he resembled the Destroyer in almost every way, his costume was pitch-black and a stylized skull had replaced the sunburst emblem on his chest. His visor spewed an inky-black energy that pulsed and diffused in the air.
Balaam shouted an order to attack and the bridge of the Victory II exploded with light. The Gunners unloaded everything they had the Destroyer, but their energy blasts dissipated harmlessly before they ever touched him. Balaam called off the assault and faced the smiling Destroyer calmly. "Why, Destroyer? Why are you doing this?"
The Destroyer cackled. It was a mad sound and so unlike the Destroyer Balaam had known that he wondered for a second if this truly was Solar. "Welcome to Hell, ladies and gents! You'll learn the whys and the wherefores soon enough, Balaam -- but let me assure you, you won't live to tell the tale. It's about time I earned the monicker I was given so long ago -- I mean, why call me the Destroyer unless I'm destroying things, right? I've done that well enough, in the past I guess -- the Malevs, the Spider-Aliens... but I thought I was losing my touch. So -- poof! Away goes Unity Colony!"
Balaam frowned. "You really have gone insane... You spent years defending this place!"
"Yes. Wasted years. But this necromantic energy -- whoo-hoo! I only wish I could tap into it the way I used to!"
Balaam gaped. "Necromantic...?"
The Destroyer smiled and reached up with his hands. He pulled and peeled away the very flesh of his face, revealing a twisted, leering head beneath. His large visor was still spewing the inky-black energy. "Boo! It's me, Dr. Eclipse! But don't tell Phil -- he thinks I'm his imagination! And maybe I am... does it matter? When a godlike being goes nuts, I think reality goes out the window, right?"
The Destroyer began to glow brighter and brighter. Balaam started to attack, but he had no time.
The Victory II exploded in a fireball of light. Most of the Starwatchers onboard floated helplessly in the void, moving closer and closer to doom. They were far hardier than humans, but they weren't invulnerable to the rigors of open space.
Solar the Destroyer floated before them, the fireball that was Unity Colony behind him. He started to turn away, planning to finish his business on Unity before advancing to Earth, when he felt something. He turned, a look of momentary confusion on his face.
There, in the wreckage, he saw it. It was a man, dressed in armor. The figure moved forward and grabbed Balaam. Tendrils snaked out from the armor and connected to Balaam's Psi-Lord suit. Balaam became immersed in a protective cocoon, grown from the X-O armor.
The Destroyer felt a momentary rush of fear as he recognized the armor... but it faded as giddiness overtook him. Oh, yes... This will be good. Talk about destruction!
Torque, cloaked in the X-O Manowar armor, moved forward. He'd sent back an emergency signal -- two, in fact. One was directed as the Palisade, the other to his father. Ion energy crackled about his hands. "It's over, Destroyer. You killed my mother -- but you'll never kill again!"
NEXT ISSUE : "Solar Eclipse" continues, as Torque pits the X-O armor against the Destroyer! Plus : Magnus must choose between helping Elzy and taking part in the battle against the Destroyer, while the other Solar the Destroyer awakens!
THE LETTERS PAGE
There's one little detail at the very beginning of this issue that I was really pleased to see. The narration refers to the Destroyer simply as Solar. No matter how much the Man of the Atom's darker counterpart wants to reinvent himself, he's still both Phil Seleski and Solar at his core.
The North Am Senate debate over the trustworthiness of the Starwatchers was handled nicely. I'm glad that Magnus acknowledged that he's in their debt for saving Torque. The best part of this scene was President Shooter's thoughts on Magnus and vice versa though. It's reassuring to know that they won't necessarily be rivals. I want Shooter to remain a pivotal character in this title.The fight between Magnus and his would-be assassins was refreshing to read since there wasn't much robot conflict in "The Silver Age". I particularly liked the freewill who thought of death as no different than deactivation. ^_^
I was quite surprised to see Obadiah Konishi make a cameo in this issue and I sincerely hope we get to see another Magnus/Rai team-up soon. Given the fact that two Rai issues written byBob Gansler and one by Juris Langins were dropped from the V1F site, Rai fans deserve a story guest starring Obbie that fits smoothly into continuity. Magnus's reunion wih 1-A was probably the most emotional moment yet in this series. I'm impressed that you portrayed Magnus as vulnerable. His gradual progression to develop feelings again has been handled much more realistically than I first expected it could be.
In my opinion, the highlight from MRF #70 is undoubtably the Unity colony scene. Dr.Eclipse, whether he's real or imaginary, showing up in 4022 is the most unexpected villian guest appearance since the Immortal Enemy returned in the pages of Magnus. Anyways, the idea of an unbalanced variant Solar, the Destroyer being let loose on the entire universe could lead to a great cosmic epic.
Keith Ehrich
Thanks, as always, for the great comments. You're right on the mark with regards to the Destroyer/Solar thing. He is, and always will be, Phil Seleski at his core.
Rai will be along eventually, I promise. There are soooooo many great supporting characters in this cast that it takes awhile to focus on each, that's all.
Keep in touch!