Written by Barry Reese
"The Immortal X-O, Part III"
October 25, 1999. The Grand Canyon, 6:45 PM
Phil Seleski had lived to see many things -- the destruction of one reality and the birth of another, the transition from man to God and the horrible Unity War. He had seen all of this and more -- but nothing had moved him quite like the sight before him.
X-O Manowar, strong and proud, stood before him. He held a body in his arms, wrapped in a shroud. Tears stood in the man's eyes and his gaze was cast downward. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse from crying. "I ask you to do this, as a fellow warrior and a friend."
Phil, dressed in his bright garb that served as his Solar uniform, made a small frown. "Aric, I can't... You're asking me to play God. Gamin's dead. You have to let her go."
"No." The force in Aric's voice made Phil hesitate. "I've lost Diedre. I've lost Randy. I won't lose Gamin. Not now. Do you understand me? If you won't help me, I'll find someone else. We live in a world of sorcery and aliens. Someone can bring her back."
A long, weary sigh escaped Phil's lips. He could see the subatomic particles that made up Gamin's body, could see their deterioration. But everything in the universe was composed of energy, and it was only a small thing to shift that energy into new forms... or revert it into older ones. "I'll see what I can do. Why don't you tell me how it came to this?"
Aric set Gamin's body on the ground gently. "It began when Gilad's enemy Cheng came seeking my xo armor. He stole Gamin's body and used it to capture Bekhara -- and then he took possession of me...."
October 24, 1999. Northern California, outside the home of Aric Dacia.
Gilad watched in silence as Turok notched his last arrow. "You think that'll do any good? He's got the armor, Turok. Worse, he's got Aric."
Turok reached up and wiped blood from his forehead, where it had begun streaming down into his eye. The Native American was favoring his left leg, a gaping hole just above his knee. "We have no choice. Aric is my blood-brother but it would be better for him to die with honor, than live in thrall to Cheng."
Gilad Anni-Padda, known to many as the Eternal Warrior, nodded grimly. His leather bodysuit was ripped and torn, his retractable whip dripping with blood. The two great fighters, one immortal and one timelost, stood shoulder to shoulder in the wooded area outside Aric's home. It was their last offensive, there was no doubt of that. Win or lose, it ended here. "Don't let him touch you when he dies -- that's how he jumps into a new body. Kill him from a distance if you can."
Turok raised his bow and took a step forward. "I shall take one shot -- make sure you give me a clear one. And then it will be done." He glanced towards the well-lit house. "Forgive me, brother," he whispered.
The Immortal Enemy hovered in the air before Dacia's home. He wore this new form well, enjoying the muscular nature of it. It suited the armor far more than the feminine Gamin had. Just over an hour ago, Turok and Gilad had attacked the house -- only to be driven back by Cheng's enormous power. Now, he craved battle once more. "Come out, Anni-Padda! Let us end our little dance of death. One final battle, to end all battles!"
Gilad stepped forward into the fading sunlight. "It might be the last one, Cheng -- the Geomancer says your power is waning. That you might not have enough left in you to make the next reincarnation. Are you sure you want to risk what little life you have left?"
Cheng, with Aric's face, laughed. Gilad could feel the hair on his arms standing up as Cheng powered up the armor once more. "You're still a fool, even after all these years! This armor has kept Dacia alive for over 15 centuries! I feel quite confident it can do the same for me."
"Actually," Gilad took a step closer, "he got the armor from Spider Aliens about 10 years ago. They brought him to the 20th Century -- he didn't have the armor the entire time."
Cheng shrugged. "That means nothing."
Gil held his arms out wide. "You really want to end all this? Let's do it the right way, then. You and I, as it should be. No X-O armors, no swords. Hand to hand, the way it always should have been."
"You must think me a fool, Anni-Padda." Cheng fired his ion cannon, blowing Gilad's left arm clean off. Blood spurted into the air as the limb was incinerated.
The Eternal Warrior fell back as Cheng hurtled forward, slamming an armored fist into Gilad's jaw, shattering it. "I wonder, Gilad, how many times I'll have to kill you before your healing factor no longer revives you...."
October 25, 1999. The Grand Canyon, 6:55 PM
"You were conscious during all this?" Solar stared at the micro-strands of energy that made up Gamin's form. The thief was hovering in the air before him, held aloft by the Man of the Atom's power.
X-O Manowar nodded. "Yes. It felt like a dream. I was locked away inside Cheng. I tried to resist, but it was difficult... at first."
Solar glanced at X-O, while continuing to carefully reconstruct the strands of life. He could have done it much more quickly, within seconds in fact, but he didn't want to recreate a zombie -- he wanted to restore as much of Gamin's original essence as possible. "But you were able to exert an influence eventually?"
"Yes... eventually...."
October 24, 1999. Northern California, outside the home of Aric Dacia.
Turok knew that his time was running out. He had gained several clear shots at Cheng during the Immortal Enemy's fight with Gilad, but they would prove useless he either found a weak point in the armor or Gilad was able to remove it from Cheng somehow.
Gilad, even with one arm, had not surrendered. Using his great strength, he pulled a small tree from the Earth and used it to slap at Cheng. The Immortal Enemy had centuries of experience as a fighter but he was a novice in the ways of the armor -- much to Gilad's relief.
The Eternal Warrior pounced on Cheng as his longtime foe lay on the ground, recovering from the tree's impact. Gilad slammed his remaining hand down repeatedly on Cheng's helmet. "Don't you understand, Cheng? You never win -- you can't win! Because even if, somehow, you overcame me -- there'd still be the Geomancer! There would still be Solar! And Aram! And many more!"
A powerful backhand sent Gilad flying off his opponent. Cheng rose slowly, sneering. "Then I'll have to kill each of them, Gilad. One by one, if necessary. I'll have plenty of time to do it, with the armor keeping me alive. I'm a veritable God, now!"
"You're still the same madman you were when I first slew you. Power doesn't make you anything more than that." Gilad staggered to his feet.
Cheng raised his fist, energy swirling about it in long, green tendrils. Gilad saw a strange twitch on Cheng's cheek, as if he were forcing down something distasteful. "Die, Anni-Padda. At long last... DIE!"
For the second time in a single day, Cheng saw a kill escape his grasp. This time, it was the result of Turok's well-timed shot. The arrow embedded itself in the x-shaped disc atop Cheng's armored chest, the focal point of the armor's "heart." Cheng howled as the armor shrieked in agony and he lost track of Gilad, who took the opportunity to once again flee into the thick forest that surrounded Aric's home.
Cheng shouted, "Damn you, Gilad! Damn you!"
Turok leapt onto Cheng's shoulder, brandishing a hunting knife. He struck hard at the man's neck, though the armor caused the knife to break. Cheng reached up and grabbed Turok by his vest. With a powerful throw, he sent the hunter flying. Turok hit a tree hard and slumped down, beaten.
The Immortal Enemy savored the moment, looking about. "Running, Gilad? How unlike you. Still, I don't mind a good chase...." Taking to the air, Cheng suddenly flinched. His face contorted and he felt an odd tugging in his mind. "What's happening?"
Bekhara knows you are not its master... Our bond goes deeper than it merely recognizing the flesh it's protecting, Cheng.
Cheng gasped. His power had weakened since the disappearance of the Darque Power, so much so that the girl Gamin had resisted him earlier, but he never expected this! To hear his host's throats alongside his own!
"Damn you, Dacia! Go away -- your body is mine, now! Your armor is mine!"
No. Bekhara belongs to no one! That's something that the Spider Aliens, Master Darque and so many others have never realized! I've allowed it to become whole, an entity unto itself! It has the right to choose its wearer! And it doesn't want you!
"It's an object, a machine! It will do as I say!"
Not so long ago, Cheng, a man named Paul Bouvier existed within the armor, his consciousness dispersed and overwhelmed by Bekhara. He managed to escape... but this time, you will not.
Cheng's face registered genuine fear. "What do you mean?"
The mighty X-O armor suddenly bonded with the form of Aric Dacia, as it never had before. Its metal tendrils sank into the flesh of its host, its unearthly metal coursing through Aric's veins. In that moment, they were one. No longer would the control ring be necessary, unless Aric voluntarily surrendered the armor. Now and forever, he was X-O Manowar.
The pain and horror of the initial joining sent Cheng's mind into a tailspin. It was one that Bekhara caught hold of. Cheng's mental essence was sucked inside Bekhara, submerged deep within its recesses. How long it would be able to hold him within, Aric didn't know for sure -- but it would be a long while before Cheng was strong enough to vie for control of the armor.
Aric's mind rushed in to fill the void, regaining control of himself. He looked up just in time to see Gilad rushing in on him, a large log in one hand....
October 25, 1999. The Grand Canyon, 7:10 PM
"How did you manage to convince him you were back in control?"
"I pounded the truth into him."
"Hmm." Solar stepped back from Gamin's floating form. "I think I've reassembled her DNA strands the way they were originally. I had to look at the ghost tachyon images to make sure I had it straight. Sorry it took so long."
"You resurrected her in less than 30 mins. I'm satisfied with that."
Solar rubbed his chin. "Mind you, I'm not guaranteeing success... She might be different than before." He looked at Aric critically. "She means a lot to you?"
Aric nodded, moving anxiously towards Gamin. "Very much so. Is she awake?"
"She is now."
Gamin stirred as her feet touched the ground. As soon as her eyes flitted towards Aric, a wry grin spread across her face. "What's the matter, Aric? You look like you've seen a ghost...."
Aric swept her into his arms so quickly it took her breath away. "I'm sorry I failed you, Gamin."
Gamin kissed the side of his head, where the helmet had peeled away to reveal his bare skin. "Hush. You didn't fail me, I failed you. I can't believe I let somebody get the slip on me like that -- and I'm really sorry Cheng used me to kick your ass."
Aric started to reply that his ass had hardly been "kicked", but he held back. At the moment, he felt like doing anything but joking. "I love you."
Gamin pulled back from him and sighed. "Aric, you hardly know me...."
"I know enough." His fierce kiss startled her, but she wrapped her hands around his neck and returned it.
When the kiss broke, she smiled crookedly. "Okay, okay... I guess I love you a little bit, too."
Aric turned towards Solar, eager to thank him once more, but he found the Man of the Atom was gone.
"Aric...?"
"Yes?"
"Let's take a break from our warring for a little while, okay? Get to know one another... see if this is really something we both want. Or need."
X-O Manowar took her into his arms and lifted into the air. "I think that's a very good idea. No more beheading -- for at least a week."
"Two."
"One and a half."
"Two."
Solar, Man of the Atom, watched in silence as they flew away. His invisibility had been both for their privacy and for his own curiosity -- he watched to see how Gamin was going to act.
Their soft verbal sparring made him smile, but he felt troubled as well. Reviving the dead... it seemed like such a large step to take. He wondered if the other Solars he'd glimpsed throughout the multiverse had ever done such a thing... and if it had succeeded. "Good luck to both you," he murmured. "And I hope to God that I did the right thing."
NEXT ISSUE : The Armorines return, while Gamin and Aric spend their first Thanksgiving together.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Well, this wraps up "The Immortal X-O." I hope you found it entertaining. I'm stopping short of renaming the armor Cheng-Bekhara, but the Immortal Enemy is in there, somewhere. Obviously, we know he escapes at some point (since he's been seen in stories set in Valiant's future) but how and why? We'll see.
Those of you who have read Unity 2000 know that Solar-Prime's resurrection of Gayle didn't work the way he'd expected. Will the same happen here? Probably not, since our Solar was very careful and she's seemingly full of life already.
Next issue will skip ahead a bit -- to the end of November, in fact. We'll soon be in the year 2000 and ,boy, do I have some surprises planned once we get there!
Please let me know what you're thinking.