| Issue #1 | Issue #2 | Issue #3 | Issue #4 |

01

By Ed Ainsworth

 

SOUTH KOREAN WEAPONS TESTING PLANT: 13:00 HOURS, EARTH-Qwerq

"War-Maker One Deployment Procedures: Over-Ride Scott Dunbar"

Do you know what makes a Human a Human? Is it his thoughts, or his body? If I had these thoughts and I was an ape, would I still be human? I am nothing but a stealth Suit. I am War and Death and Action and Violence and Technology Bastardized with the American Dream, and a techno-geek's Life work.

"Scott, I Swear if you are feelin' sorry for yourself again, I am going to hit you in the gyro."

The Voice was Lea. Lea Corban, 4-D. Oldest Friend, closest Colleague. Only one of the Ultra Marines I have learned to let close.

"Lea, I am fine. I just want this over and done with. Being here gives me strange feelings. We could take over the world, you know that right?"

"Yes, Scott. I know that, but we won't do that. Stop doubting yourself all the time. You know what you have to do."

I know what I have to do. Ever since we came here it's been one military coup after the other. Superbia, how I miss the gentle hum of it's anti-gravity generations, the silence of my room.

"War-Maker One to Ultra Marines: Tactical Deployment of EMP Bullet. Mark."

I watched the Bullet tear free from my wrist mount, I felt it leave my suit, the containment engines within it's framework fired up to stabilize me as I floated some forty feet above the south Korean state. I don't feel like a man. I don't breath, or eat, or have urges anymore. I fight for my country, which takes me for granted. What do I have to live for?

"How did we get here, Lea?"

"Well, Scott. Mostly you flew there."

"Appreciate that, Lea. I mean why am I a transparent half-man in a robot suit, why is Dan made entirely from a liquid, why are we Metahumans? Why Us? Why do we deserve it?"

"For God sakes, Scott. We've been over this. The armed forces took us for a ride, Okay? They experimented on us and made us this way. It's not difficult to get your head around is it? You're just thinking into things too much again."

Maybe she was right? I always think into things too much. Am I doing the right thing here? Ever since our battle with the Universal Man, we abandoned our quest in the main universe and set up shop here. Inside another Universe.

"I got it, Lea. I got it. I just don't want to be this way anymore. It's driving me nuts. Target Destroyed. What was it again?"

"Nuclear Power plant. I suggest moving away in a quick and orderly fashion to prevent being vaporized."

"Wait. What? That was a Nuclear power plant?"

"No, Scott. It was just a weapons testing facility. I'm yanking your chain."

I hate it when she does that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SUPERBIA: 18:00 HOURS: Earth-1

C.O.R.E HQ: 20:00 HOURS: Stratospheric Orbit.

"The Ultra-Marines are long gone, my brethren. The other superheroes concern themselves with their token cities. Their own personal problems, their own rogues, and their own lives. There are none to deal with global disorders. The disjunction of society. The Tectonic movements of religion."

The C.O.R.E brotherhood raise their arms, their rally cry of Latin and Greek and French percolate through the air, virtually dripping from the rafters of the star-ship designed to resemble a church. The starscape visible behind the lead preacher, belting his words out a mile a minute. The Universal Man, a stellarscopic coalescence of astral bodies, whose molten Magma and tectonic plates shift over his form, heated jets of cosmic gas jutting from the large conules on his body. A volcanic expulsion of gas and superheated particles jut from his cones, the angrier he gets, the bigger the jets of steam become. Behind the Standing man the faint green hue of a member of the Green Lantern Corps carves its way through the blackness of space.

His is a planet where the Green Lantern Corps are not even a myth, their power and particular brand of order is known to this alien race. This particular Green Lantern had been chosen as a replacement when the Green Lantern of their section was killed, crashing to the surface of this planet. The ring chose a new rookie to be trained. He had no idea why he was flying, let alone in space. He looks at his hands and around him in disbelief, unaware of the Green hue holding atmosphere and his life on the thread of cosmic-energy.

He didn't know he was a Green Lantern. There is no name for Green when you live on a Planet where there is no colour vision.

"Tomorrow, my brothers we March. ONWARDS AND UPWARDS TOWARDS OUR GOD, TOWARDS OUR SALVATION TOWARDS.What is that on the view screen? Did we hit a small planet again?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EARTH-Qwerq

Why are we here? Why am I allowed to live? Why were we chosen to take the role of leaders of this entire planet? What would happen if we just left it?

"War-Maker one: Docking port One"

I land softly and brush myself off slightly. I want to take my armor off but it upsets the others. Except Dan. He understands what it's like to be disconnected from humanity.

"Scott. John has good news."

John always had something to say. Arrogant and full of pretension, John always wanted to gloat and throw around big words because he was tapped into the Unified field. Hardly a genius, in my opinion.

"What have you got for us, John? Anything decent?"

" A Way home, Scott. A way back to our Earth. To Superbia."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JAPAN : EARTH-1: 21:00 Hours

Goriko is perhaps the most powerful of all the Ultra Marines, allowing them to proceed with some of the most dangerous missions allowed by the Government or their own precious ideals.

However, with great power comes a great deal of responsibility.

"D'we have to hang around here, all the time?" Jack O'Lantern, Ireland 's representative in the former Global Guardians and now member of the Ultra Marine Corps, the "funny guy" stood hanging around looking bored.

"Yes, Dan, or Goriko won't be able to function as well as we want him to. You don't want to be fighting a giant squid and have Goriko's existentialism drives fail on you, do you?" Chrysalis scathed "Besides, just because you don't have any attention span, doesn't mean everyone else isn't enjoying the culture and industrious Japanese environment."

"Ye know for a Bug woman, ye sure are a boring ol' fart. I can nae be bothered to sit around here all day." Dan took a few steps towards the door, for the Little Mermaid to insert herself into the foreground, her diminutive frame, and wide smile causing Dan to roll his eyes.

"Awww Coman, you're making me stay inside whilst she gets asked about existential nihilism, and power-blankets. It's like I heart the Huckabees on steroids in 'ere."

"You're just going to have to wait, Dan. I can entertain you if you like.D'ya wanna play Eye-Spy?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gorilla City : 23.00 Hours

Knight and Squire , England 's answer to Batman and Robin were on a diplomatic mission, away from Superbia. Their mission was to get asylum for a group of hyper-accelerated animals in Gorilla City . Where else could a group of physicist Cephalopods, or artistically inclined Crustaceans, including a Lobster who was going to revolutionize the use of Infra-red colours in paintings, find peace?

"So, can we come to some kind of agreement here?" the Knight was hardly a fine diplomat. "Or are we going to have to tell the brightest insectoid minds on the planet that you hairy apes aren't going to give them asylum." The Knight leant forward at the desk he was seated at, The Squire to his left side, rolling her eyes and trying not to look at her mentor.

"Uhh...Knight, do you have to call them that. I mean, I know they are apes, but its not going to make them more lenient is it?" Beryl was well known for her mind and her diplomatic tendencies, she was often the one to temper the fury of the Knight. He burned with rage, for one reason or another, she'd never really found out why. She suspected either inadequacies in his physique or some psychological trauma. However, having known him for so long, she leaned heavily towards the first option.

"Mr. Knight.I appreciate this is a difficult situation for you, Gods only know why, but your temper isn't helping us come to a conclusion, particularly when you call us Apes."

The Gorilla diplomat pauses and looks to the large Silver Gorilla on his right, and the slightly small Female Gorilla on his left. "To us you are the Apes; however, we appreciate and can see kindred spirits in yourselves, the meta-human populace, as well as these newly developed evolutionary leaps in cognitive Phyla."

The Knight looks at Squire and Beryl sighs again. "They mean the animals that got smart, recently. The Lobster painter and the Crab Physicists?"

"Right. So you giving them a place to live and grow, or am I going to have to get tough with you Monkeys?"

Beryl rolled her eyes again. It was going to be a long, long day.

SUPERBIA: 02.00 Hours: EARTH-1

An invasion of Superbia had begun, not with a crash or explosion, but with a snicker. The C.O.R.E operatives slowly landed on the surface, sneaking through the refugee camps, moving in on families in their sleep, killing them with their silenced firearms.

The remaining Ultra Marines were locked up in their rooms, sleeping, like Olympian and Wild Huntsman, or making love like Impala and Vixen.

The Ultra Marines' rooms were more along the central chimney of the Superbia structure, thus putting them further away from the refugees. As the C.O.R.E Operatives tear their way through the sleeping people, the Ultra Marines, who in their arrogance ignored potential security threats to their island, and installed no security, remained oblivious.

The C.O.R.E Operatives quickly work their way into the main tower. Moving through the stainless steel stairs, they were unable to access the observation deck, or the Crew Quarters.

"C.O.R.E strike team to recon. Team, has the generator been located yet?" spoke a lone gunman into his wrist communicator, lifting a fist to signal his men to stop.

"Yes, Sir. We've found the anti-grav Systems. We're moving into position now," said a garbled voice expressed through the communicator.

A muffled explosion woke Vixen and Impala first. Their endorphin induced slumber was ripped asunder by the thunderous explosion. Superbia toppled slightly, throwing them both from the bed. Vixen managed to land on her feet, but Impala was thrown onto the ground and rolled a few feet, unconscious.

Similarly, the sleeping Tasmanian Devil, Fleur De Lys, and Wild Huntsman where tossed through the air and into the metal trappings of their rooms. Which left only Olympian awake and conscious during the entire ordeal. He struggled through the debris of his room, throwing furniture and other "mortal" trappings across the space, in search of his costume. Donning the Golden Fleece of Greek Legends, he exploded through his door in time to watch Superbia toppled and hit the ground below at a right angle, tossing the few remaining survivors of the C.O.R.E Massacre onto the desert surface below.

Olympian's already shattered mind took a few moments to realize what was occurring before finally fracturing beyond repair. His pupils dilated and his mind splintered, shards of instinct and consciousness now reigning supreme over his conscious mind, the Freudian aspects of male life, and Olympian being driven so much more by Id than superego found himself hurtling towards the massive central chimney of Superbia, his mind set on one thing, and one thing along.

Destruction.