Written by Barry Reese
"Blood Brothers"
Boston, Massachusetts. October 8, 1999. Layton Cemetery.
"So you cremated me? That's not exactly how I wanted to go out..." Ken Clarkson, recently resurrected as holographic being*, pushed his hands deeper into the pockets of his blazer. His hair blew in the chill October wind and he shivered in response. "I can't believe this. I'm freezing. I'm dead and I'm freezing. How can that be? I must be in Hell."
(*See X-O Manowar # 72-73 for the full details.)
Aric Dacia didn't respond immediately, his heart heavy with sorrow. He'd brought Ken here against his better judgment -- but his friend has been insistent about seeing where he was buried. "I destroyed my home, with yours and Randy's bodies inside. It was a fitting end for two great warriors, both of whom died in my stead."
Ken glanced at him, noting how the barbarian's broad shoulders looked out of place squeezed into his suit. Aric always looked like he should be near-naked, covered with sweat and blood. That thought made Ken smile. Aric should always be near-naked. Yes, indeed. "Don't worry about it, Big Guy." He reached out and touched Aric's arm. "I mean, look at me -- I'm doing great. No harm, no foul."
"You exist through modern sorcery, Ken. Your body and soul died with Randy's."
Ken frowned. "Gee, thanks. What am I now, chopped liver?"
Aric shook his head. "I didn't mean --"
"Big Guy?"
"Yes?"
"Give it a freakin' rest, okay?"
Aric's eyes opened wide in indignation, but his temper cooled quickly. "What are you talking about?"
"What I mean is, you're still living in the past. I could understand back when I was... you know... alive. You were still pretty new to the modern world back then -- but now, you've been here for almost ten years. And you still moan about Diedre and the Romans. And now you moan about me and Randy. We died over three years ago, Aric! But the way you talk and act, you'd think it was yesterday. You can't keep playing the same notes over and over again like some high school drama queen. It gets old."
Aric crossed his arms. "I can't let go of this, Ken. You and Randy died because of me. As did Diedre. If you had never met me--"
"We might still be dead!" Ken's voice had risen to the point that it echoed in the empty graveyard. "I was working for Spider Aliens back then, remember? HELL-O? They ate people, Big Guy! I'd probably have ended up on somebody's menu if you hadn't come along. And Randy was a former secret agent! She could have died any number of ways. The world doesn't revolve around you, Aric. The sun rises and sets whether or not you're around to see it!"
Aric hesitated. Those words, from almost anyone else, would have elicited a violent response. But from Ken... they made the Visigoth unusually thoughtful. He sighed wearily. "What would you have me do?"
"Stop wasting your life, for one. Accept that the people who are dead are dead, present company excluded, of course. You've got Orb back, that's a start. Build on it. And do something with that Gamin woman -- she's obviously hot for you." Ken adopted a pouting expression.
Aric blinked and then laughed. He slapped Ken on the back so hard that it sent the smaller man stumbling forward. "Ah! Ken, it is good to have you back! Without you, I have no guidance!"
Ken adjusted his tie. "Thanks." He noticed that Aric had hefted his right hand. The X-O control ring glinted in the afternoon sun as he summoned the armor. Ken turned to see the gleaming sphere that was the xo manowar class armor's resting form. It hurtled towards Aric so fast that Ken had to duck to avoid a collision. The armor's sphere burst open and spilled its contents over the Visigoth. In less than a minute, he was clothed head-to-toe in the sentient armor. "Mind telling me why you've armored up, Big Guy?"
X-O Manowar looked down at his friend as he rose slowly into the air, borne aloft by the armor's repulsors. "You're right. Life is too short for regrets. I have to put my affairs in order."
Ken looked around. "What about me?"
"Gamin is waiting in the car -- she can take you back to the house. In the meantime, I'm going to start making peace with my past. I have a brother to find."
Ken watched with an open mouth as X-O streaked away. "A brother? Good God, you mean there are more like you at home....?"
Columbia. October 10, 1999
Turok, Son of Stone, crouched on cliff's edge, a notched arrow in his grasp. He drew a bead on the Spider Alien below, watching as the alien tended to his downed spacecraft. Turok had pursued the craft's crew for a little over a week, following a trail of rumors that had spread throughout Columbia. "Aliens are among us! I saw their ship, it came down in a fiery blaze!" The rumors had become more lurid as the days had gone by... and the disappearances had begun.
"No more innocents shall die to fill your stomachs," Turok whispered as he drew back on the bowstring. The arrow flew straight and true, its blade striking the back of the alien's neck. The Spider Alien jerked upright, blood spraying. He attempted to shout out something -- a warning, perhaps -- but could not make a sound. He fell forward, twitching.
In a heartbeat, Turok was upon him. He drew his dagger across the alien's throat, finishing it off before its exertions could catch the attention of the others. Turok crouched over his fallen foe, sniffing the air. He smelled at least three more within the vessel, their spoor hanging heavy in the air.
He tensed suddenly as a new scent entered the arena. Male sweat, mixed with cologne. A modern man, then, and human. Turok heard a footstep and whirled towards it. And nearly dropped his knife in surprise. "Aric...?"
Aric Dacia, cloaked only in a loin cloth, was covered with warpaint. His hair, long and unkempt, bore twigs and debris. He held a sword in one hand. "Friend Turok. Blood brother."
Turok set his jaw. "We are Blood Brothers no longer. You chose to turn away from me and pursue your own path. On that day, I swore that you would forever walk alone*."
(*Back in the unforgettable X-O Manowar # 48.)
Aric nodded. "I remember it well. But I was a fool and, as a wise friend has taught me, life is short. I've come to put our differences aside."
For a long moment, it was silent. The two warriors, who had forged a bond of trust and honor, regarded one another. Each of them had found themselves in the strange new world that was the late 20th Century and each had faced terrible dangers in doing so. Together, they had found kinship and understanding in a world that seemed to possess neither quality in abundance.
A laser burst brought a halt to the attempted reconciliation. Turok narrowly avoided being sliced in two as a Spider Alien burst from the ship, armed with a powerful rifle. "Meat! We are under siege from meat!" the alien roared.
Turok glanced up at Aric and nodded. "I have been a fool in the past, as well. It is good to have you back. Shall you join me?"
Aric raised his sword and glared at the alien. He grinned and bared his teeth like a wolf hungering for blood. "I swore a blood oath to kill all the spiders... It's an honor to slay them at the side of my brother." The Visigoth rushed forward, seemingly uncaring as the alien sprayed fire along his path. He brought the sword down hard, smashing the Spider Alien's skull.
Turok, meanwhile, had thrown down his dagger and retrieved his bow. Notching an arrow, he fired just as the third of the aliens stepped through the door. The point of the arrow landed square in the alien's eye.
The third and final alien came forward with a cry, bearing some sort of bladed weapon. He went straight for Aric, his shrill voice ringing out. "No! How could you have found us? We were so close!"
Aric dodged the clumsy attack and drove his sword through the alien's midsection. Hot blood spurted onto Aric's naked chest. "Now you are even closer -- to the Hell you deserve!"
Turok stepped forward as Aric pulled wiped his sword off on the alien's tattered clothing. "You have been gone for some time. Did your sojourn in space suit you well?"
Aric shook his head. "I found only the same as here -- enemies everywhere. I returned to Earth but fell under the spell of a mind-witch called Crescendo."
"The same woman who killed your woman?"
"The same." Aric smiled, pushing away the dark cloud that had threatened to overtake him once more. "But I have reclaimed my empire and found a new... friend. She is named Gamin."
Turok placed a hand on Aric's shoulder. "I am happy for you." He turned towards the alien vessel. "We should investigate this while we talk."
Aric snorted. "We should burn it. Nothing good can come of their creations." He thought then about Gamin and her holographic technology, which he'd only recently learned was Spider Alien in origin. He didn't like that at all, hating the very thought of the aliens. Perhaps she could be convinced to part with it, in exchange for Bekhara growing her new equipment....
"Wait outside if you wish, Aric. But I must learn what they have in there -- something seems... unnerving."
Aric followed his friend. "No, I shall go where you go. Lead on, Turok -- and know that Aric of Dacia guards your back."
Queens, NY
"Why are we here again?" Ken walked quickly, trying to keep pace with Gamin. The beautiful young thief knew these streets like the back of her hand, frequently cutting through alleyways and up fire escapes if they provided short cuts. For Ken, it was quite a workout. He huffed and puffed to keep up, despite the fact that he shouldn't be getting tired at all -- or at least, that's what he told himself. Aric must have pictured me as a real lazy bum....
Gamin glanced over at her companion and smiled. She looked very pretty at the moment and Ken realized that he hadn't really realized how young she really was. "We're here because I left some of my stuff behind when I joined Aric's crusade. I want to pick it up before we head back to California."
"California... Sigh. If I were alive, I could go to the beach, see some movie stars... Instead, I'm accompanying a thief back to her hidey-hole."
"Oh, please. Aric's told me about you -- you've been so shady in the past, you make me look like Little Mary Sunshine." Gamin stopped in an alley and knelt next to a sewer grating. With a grunt, she lifted it aside. "Down here."
Ken made a face. "You lived in a sewer?"
From below, Gamin's voice came back to him. "I didn't live here, I stashed my stuff here. Big difference. I'll be back up in a minute."
Ken pursed his lips. "So... Why did you help the Big Guy, anyway? Because he's a hunk?"
"That helped." Gamin's voice sounded far away now and Ken heard her rummaging through something -- a trunk, from the sound of it. "Really, though? I don't know. He's so noble and savage, like something out of a junior high girl's wet dream. You know?"
Ken nodded thoughtfully. "I think I do."
Gamin reappeared, with a bad slung over her shoulders. "How about you?"
"Aric grafted an artificial arm onto me that kept me from betraying him."
Gamin stared at him. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Damn. Remind me never to turn him down if he tries to kiss me."
Laughter erupted between the two of them and Ken couldn't help but remark, "You're good for him. I've got an eye for these things. He loves you for the same reason he loved Randy. You're gorgeous, you're dangerous and you keep him sane. That's saying something."
Gamin's smile faded somewhat. "He loves me?"
Ken hesitated and then shrugged. "Looks that way to me. You feel the same, right?"
Gamin turned away and started walking. "Come on, Ken. Let's go home."
Ken watched her, a sly smile on his face. "I'll take that as a yes."
Columbia. October 10, 1999
"This does not appear to be standard Spider Alien technology." Turok stared at the large battlesuits that lined one of the interior walls. The ship was big enough to hold a crew of 8-10 easily and had a small, well-tended garden in the very center. That such a violent race could hold such reverence for plants boggled Turok's mind.
Turok had wondered why the Spider Aliens had not summoned assistance to repair their craft, but when they saw the shattered remains of the communications console, those questions had been answered.
Aric grunted. "It's Dromak. They're a warrior race who covets my xo armor -- apparently, they've allied themselves with the Spider Aliens."
"That cannot bode well for us, my friend."
Aric fingered his blade. "It only means that I have that many more enemies to slay."
A metallic ping caught Aric's attention, drawing him away from Turok. He followed the noise down a corridor, hoping that he would find more prey. When the rush of combat was running in his veins, he felt a perpetual need to destroy his enemies. Right now, the tide of adrenaline was flowing strongly.
What he found in the next room turned that battlelust into first confusion and then disgust... a man, obviously taken for food, was hanging from the ceiling. He was thin with dehydration, but he was obviously a strong man in general. The tattered fatigues identifying him a united states officer clung to his body.
Aric muttered a curse under his breath and began hacking at the sticky strands of webbing that held the man in place. Lowering him gently to the floor, he whispered "Be calm... You are safe now."
The man's eyes opened slowly. They flashed with his still unconquered fury. "Who...?"
"I am Aric Dacia."
The man smiled softly. "Dacia... What a coincidence. Pleased...to meet you... name's Banion. Rand...."
Aric watched as Rand faded back into a stupor. He knew firsthand what it was like to suffer at the expense of the Spider Aliens and the memories renewed his anger. He was about to lift the soldier and carry him out when he noticed a strange object on his chest... peering closer, Aric had to stifle a cry of shock.
Rand hadn't been captured just for food.
There, on the man's chest was the key portion of an xo manowar class armor.
It was bonded with him.
Northern California, October 12, 1999.
X-O Manowar waited patiently as Bekhara finished its examination. Long tendrils of cable connected Aric's own armor, which he now wore, to the xo control disc that was embedded in Rand's chest. Aric glanced over at his assembled friends -- Turok, Gamin, Ken and the young archaeologist named Samantha Jones. Jones had journeyed far to meet Aric, though the Visigoth did not understand why. Since learning of his double life as X-O, Aric had allowed her to be stay in his California home. "Bekhara says that the spoor is very new, slightly younger than Bekhara itself."
Gamin, perched on a counter top in the expansive living room, made a puzzled expression. "I thought those things were pretty rare -- how did this guy get one?"
"I have no idea, but I am positive that the Spider Aliens did not give it to him. They consider humans unfit hosts for the armor -- they would have given it to one of their own. They must have captured him and were attempting to remove the spoor without damaging it."
The tendrils pulled back, retreating into their casings. X-O stood up and looked down at the solider, who lay on a sofa. Aric had gotten a nurse employed at Orb's headquarters to check him out and she'd reported that he was mainly suffering from dehydration and shock.
Samantha Jones stared with eyes wide as Aric turned to face them. It was real, all of it. The armor, the imposing Indian next to her who told tales of living dinosaurs, the holographic man named Ken... it was all real. She had to keep pinching herself. "Are you going to contact the military? They must be looking for him...."
"You don't need to call them, Mr. Dacia." Rand Banion was struggling to rise. "I'm not sure where I am, but I do know that I need to return to my base... and you're more than welcome to come along. After all, if what I've read in your dossier is true, you're the expert we need."
Aric reached out a hand and helped him rise. "You're not fit for travel. Just tell me where you got the xo."
Rand straightened and pulled away from Aric. He stood unsteadily, but he did so without any support. His chest puffed out and, for a moment, he looked like the All-American Hero. Broad-shouldered, blond, and handsome. A modern-day Adonis, even under present conditions. "The alien artifact, sir, is owned by the United States of America. I'm proud to introduce myself as Major Rand Banion, Commanding Officer of the new Armorines!"
NEXT ISSUE : X-O Manowar meets up with the Armorines and learns the shocking secrets behind the new xo manowar class armor. How did it end up in the government's hands and what does this mean for the Armorines? Plus : How did Rand end up a captive of the Spider Aliens? The shocking truth is revealed next issue! Be here for "The X-O Project"
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Welcome to issue # 75. Had the real Valiant series not been cancelled with # 68, I'm sure that issue 75 would have been a special one. I tried to make this one special by doing the following :
1) Restoring the friendship between Aric and Turok. Their parting in X-O # 48 was very painful to see and I tried to recapture their give-and-take relationship here. Originally, I'd planned to spend the whole issue on the two of them working out their problems, but as I thought about it I came to the conclusion that neither is a touchy-feely sort. They know who they are and they know who their friends are. In the end, their reconciliation would come quickly once one of them came forward -- and, afterwards, neither would mention the spat again. That's my take, anyway. Turok will appear again soon.
2) Moving forward on the Gamin/Aric relationship. Given that I didn't date issues 69-70 (deliberately), we know that they've spent at *least* 3 months together, plus the months they were together in issues 57-68. I don't think their growing feelings are being rushed all that month. Will they fall madly in love and live happily ever after? Are you kidding? These two?! The months ahead will see some interesting twists and turns in their possible romance.
3) Introducing something I've been playing with in my head for awhile -- the introduction of Rand Banion and the "beefing-up" of the Armorines. While I liked the Armorines in concept, they always suffered in comparison to X-O. So, I bring in a guy who was introduced in X-O/Iron Man as the 'new' X-O Manowar and, at the same time, make a radical change in the Armorines by appointing Rand their field commander. Look for major fireworks next issue.
So, I hope you enjoyed the issue. I have a lot of exciting plans that will take Aric all the way up through issue # 100. Don't worry about Unity 2000 or Acclaim's ongoing woes. In this series, Aric fights on -- just as he always did.