crisis Infinite Marvels ch5

Chapter 5 - Skirmish

 - The original X-men quickly assessed what they were up against. Normally they would have fought their way through all these warriors and made their escape. Now they were trapped here within the M'Kraan chamber with Jahf, as their former opponents fought and unknowingly died for them outside chamber's the very walls. Blood of various races, began to pour through the cracks in the chamber as the door heaved with every barrage of projectile weapons. The fight outside the door went on for far much longer than they would have expected. Eventually, even the screams of the dying faded with the silence of the weapon fire. Then the whir of machinery could be heard. The door was being corrupted and absorbed. Jahf the defender of the crystal had buried under the massive gem's  station in the chamber and had lifted it up.

"Alright, kids, they're coming through the front door. Ready to make a last stand?"

"Not part of the playbook, Jahf. The X-men do not back down from a fight, but we can also appreciate a retreat. Move the battle to a better place of our choosing."

Scott passed on the battle plan to Jean, and Jean linked the original students minds together.

"Bobby, I need a large 'cherry flavored slurpy'. Jean, your going to half to 'work the blender'. I'll add the flavor. Hank, show Jahf what we mean by turning the plan upside down. Warren, you are our eyes in the sky."

The  secured doors to the chamber began to get melted away. The building shook from the explosions outside and from the deep rumbling within. Even now the security panel on the wall began to switch form and color as the Phalanx entities worked their way through the technology and triggered the release mechanism.

The reinforced door but damaged door opened up and the invading hordes of Phalanx bugs were bathed in reed light. They were in. The chamber was empty, but the bugs gazed in wonder at the sight they were witnessing. This was the fabled M'Kraan crystal, one of the Nexus of all realities. Within the lattice of the crystal structures were gateways to all aspects of reality, and deep within was the neutron galaxy. The large gleaming crystals floated in mid air as the crystal rotated off of a main central crystal. The structure was beautiful and awe inspiring that even the basest consciousness of the phalanx was mesmerized. The interior of the crystal glowed with light and intensity, yet the red beams did not burn. Instead they were.... cold.

The phalanx ground troops had never seen the crystal before and wanted to confirm their findings. The mental image was passed along the information to the hive network mind and one of the infected Shi'ar picked up on the signal. Someone who had actually seen the crystal noticed how it looked all wrong. The techno-infected Shi'ar fed back the mental memory of the crystal was one massive grouping of solid glowing red, not this rotating  floating thing. As they bugs got closer, it finally hit them that something was wrong.

The small ice shards floating around the core hurled out and cutting through each of the phalanx bugs before they could register. The secondary massive crystal structures burst free and smashed the invasion force that was coming down the corridor. The crystals lost their ruby red glow once beyond the main core and crushed many phalanx hordes on the way out. It was not the M'Kraan, this was concentrated, polished ice. Iceman generated and ice ramp from behind the crystal and began to ice up and parts of the bugs before they began to regenerate themselves.

"CLEAR!" Bobby shouted.

The main crystal core finally broke down, and the freezing cold Bobby and been channeling leveled off. Scott was sending the tiniest parts of his optic beam within a concentrated ball of psi-energy, an ice prism inside held together by Jean's telekinetic powers and giving off the glow. Scott  then open his eyes wide at the roof building and cut loose. They dome ceiling above them burst open and the beam shot straight up into a large number of the swarm overhead. Jean pushed what was left of the massive ice crystal Bobby had formed through hole in the roof and Cyclops shot it, the massive red explosion seen for miles. With the image of the destruction of the crystal out there for everyone to see, confusion would set in.

Jean lifted up the chamber floor that Jahf had torn open, and dug through into the lower levels. Down below Hank McCoy was carrying the shrinking M'Kraan on his back, moving as fast as Jahf could dig with his legs. Jean closed the recently created trap door behind them, just as another swarm of phalanx bugs from the upper atmosphere had flown in and began to investigate. Jean and Bobby worked to reinforce the tunnel walls they were creating while Scott and Jahf punched through into one of the lower chambers for courtesans of the Shi'ar Empress. The chamber is empty, the coast clear. The F-Factor team make their way through as more of the Shi'ar fortress explodes. Jahf carries the M'Kraan while Beast moves ahead and scouts, Jean's telepathy giving him extra awareness of any friend or foe around every corner. Bobby does his best to chill the rooms and lower any sign of the crystal's energy signature.

High overhead in the exposed roof the Shi'ar Capital Warren Worthington glides from burning structure to burning structure, using the smoke and fire to cover his movements, mentally relaying the position of friend and foe alike. The Kree have managed to push back the swarm from the citadel, Ronan the Accuser and K'lrt the Super-Skrull valiantly leading the way through the Phalanx swarm to retake the sacred M'Kraan chamber. Warren wishes he could tell them not to sacrifice their lives in the vain attempt, but it would give them away. Even from here Warren could tell that the defenders were outnumbered. Fallen ally became foe as the phalanx infection spread. But they didn't know that the X-men were there, and were not looking for them. Best to keep it that way.

"Jean, tell Scott that the royal launch port is half a mile from your position!"

- Subterfuge was also in play on another front. The Silver Surfer, Nova and Mantis lead the emissaries of Roma through their own portal into the Negative Zone. Reed Richards may have discovered the technology to cross over to this pocket reality, but he was not the only one who could do it. Among the few times the Inhumans had visited with or attended the Fantastic Four's gathering's, Karnak had committed the designs of Reed's technology to memory.

Karnak suspected that Reed would know what Black Bolt had assigned to Karnak, but if the Inhumans were trusted to baby-sit his only son, Reed was also smart enough to know that Black Bolt would not violate that trust and recreate his marvelous inventions. Now those inventions helped pave a way for this vital meeting. The Inhuman built a much larger version of Reed's portal. What was lacking in technology was more than compensated for by actual Inhuman's whose biological talents helped open the portal. The full power of the Inhuman army came through the gate, led by Gorgon, as well as the royal family, including Maximus the Mad. Divisions were put aside, and among the Inhumans there was no more powerful telepath.

The chaos of the Negative Zone warped before them. On this distant stretch of floating asteroids they would meet their contacts within the Zone. And they were indeed waiting for the, the three emissaries sent out to set up this meeting of powers. Drax the Destroyer, his daughter Moondragon and the assassin Gamora - the Shadows of Jade. The fourth member of this entourage was among them, Mantis. She and Moondragon kept in telepathic contact. Moondragon and Maximus instantly took a great dislike to one another, but she stood her ground.

"Norrin Radd, Nova, King Black Bolt and members of the Inhuman Royal Family! May I present to you the rulers of the Negative Zone, Blastarr and the death that walks, Annihilus."

More asteroids shifted position and on them stood the two powerhouses. As more asteroids cleared there could be seen hundreds more warriors behind them, of their own alien races, denizens all of the Negative Zone. All under the command of

Blastarr propelled himself using his fists to the nearest clear floating rock close to the assembly. Annihilus swooped and click onto another nearby asteroid, posing like a grim gargoyle overhead.

 Black Bolt and Warlock were not intimated.

"Greetings, lords and masters of the Otherverse. I am glad you have brought your exterminators." said Blastarr with a tinge of sarcasm, menace and glee.  "We have an infestation problem we need your help with."