Okay folks this story is technically a continuation, but it was something I had not originally planned on writing. DISH BEST SERVED was supposed to be the last but this is just something I wrote at the behest of some friends for the Hell of it that I did just for fun. So as the reader you can choose to either acknowledge this as a 5th chapter or ignore it completely continuity-wise, tis your choice. Also, not much plot here folks, just mayhem, again I say this one I just wrote for fun.
Anyway...
GUDIS: THE SOUND OF MADNESS
Dawn.
Off the southwest coast of Japan on one of the many tiny islands in the Ryuku chain, a massive army of Baltan seijin were preparing for an invasion. Hundreds teleported down to the Earth's surface but unbeknownst to them, they had an observer.
“Oh, I'm sorry. Is this a bad time?” a telepathic voice suddenly inquired. The Baltans spun around to see the Gudis standing a few meters behind them.
The Baltans opened fire but despite the countless blasts from their claws, the Gudis just stood there and laughed as he absorbed the energy from their attacks. He then fired it back out of his eyes with his own beams. Several of the Baltans threw up their forcefields to shield themselves but others who did not react quickly enough were blown to bits. The Gudis then charged in, engaging in hand-to-hand combat to brutalize the entire lot of them.
One Baltan was torn in half while another got its head crushed down into its torso. A third lost its arms while a fourth had a fist punched clean through its chest and out the back. Other Baltans had formed a firing squad line, trying to fell the Gudis with their claw blasts, even if they had to take down some of their brethren in the process. Some tried to fend off the Gudis with their forcefields but were obliterated by the Gudis' supercharged arm beams which blew right through and eviscerated them. Using a combination of his eye beams, breath ray and arm blasts, the Gudis sent Baltan body parts flying in all directions.
Realizing that they were quickly being taken apart, the Baltans employed a new strategy. Close to two dozen of them split off from the rest of the group and merged together as one. The ability to form a physical and mental symbiosis is an ancient and legendary ability of the Baltan seijin that augments their strength greatly. When the transformation was complete, the newly empowered and far more imposing Baltan attacked. It slammed into the Gudis from behind, sending him skidding across the ground into several other Baltans in front of him. The Gudis turned around just in time to catch a focused beam blast to the chest from the combined Baltans' left claw. His body dug a trench through the earth as he was pushed back by the force of it.
"Well, well, well. What have we here? An upgrade?" the Gudis pondered aloud as he got out of the furrow he had dug. The Gudis then fired the energy he was just hit with back out of his eyes, along with his own but the Baltan brought up a forcefield to deflected the attack. It then went on the offensive and darted in, tackling the Gudis hard as they smashed into the side of a mountain and deep into it. The entire peak shook as the alien brutes battled within. For miles, animals and birds fled in all directions as the landscape rocked from the force of the blows being exchanged. It was quiet for a moment until the Baltan suddenly exploded out of the other side of the mountain from a particularly nasty Gudis punch. The insectoid space creature went rolling across the ground as the Gudis walked out of the side of the mountain, clenching his fists and staring down at the amalgamated alien.
"C'mon! Is that all you've got?!" Gudis challenged with a hiss. The Baltan stood up and seemingly splitting into several copies of itself, surrounded the Gudis which wondered what new trick the Baltan was going to pull out of its hat now. The clones opened fire and dozens of beams slammed into the Gudis from all sides. The Gudis sent out a massive energy shockwave from his body as he crossed his arms in front of himself and then thrust them outward. The wave wiped out all the false clones, leaving only the single Baltan remaining. Gudis laid into the seijin with a devastating punch combination. The Baltan staggered backwards from the assault but retaliated by shoving both of its open claws into the Gudis' face and unleashing a point-blank dual beam blast that briefly stunned its opponent. It then followed up and hammered the Gudis with its club-like claws. The Baltan went for another beam shot but the Gudis quickly grabbed its wrist and twisted the huge claw back towards the alien's own face as it fired. The Gudis shot one of his own arms blasts and the concentrated beam from his right fist but the Baltan managed to bring up its forcefield.
Angered by this, the Gudis unloaded both of the powerful beams from his arms which hit the Baltan hard but still failed to connect. The Baltan then used its ability to teleport and suddenly disappeared. Nearby, it reappeared and absorbed more of its comrades into itself to further strengthen and mutate its form. The seijin's eyes and face slanted almost into a devilish expression as armor plating suddenly sprouted all over its body. The Gudis turned to see the climax of this metamorphosis as the Baltan looked over in his direction, clasping its open claws together into an interlocking design that almost looked like a bizarre organic cannon of some kind as the Baltan emitted its trademark echoing laugh.
"Finally, a real chall--" KABLAM!!! The Gudis was hit by a beam that sent him flying and smashing clean through three mountains in a row. As he tried to clear the cobwebs, the Uber-Baltan advanced quickly. The Gudis fired both of his power beams from his fists but they simply bounced off the Baltan's armor and the alien crashed down directly on top of him.
As they both plummeted into the bowels of the Earth, the ground shook as if it were being afflicted by an earthquake. The Gudis suddenly was blasted up out of the ground, only to land on his head with a sickening splat. The Uber-Baltan hovered above the hole the Gudis' body had made.
"Not bad for a bug," the Gudis mused as he rose to his feet, “What I need is a giant can of Raid.” He joked. In any case he had absorbed the energy of both blasts used against him and now fired it back out of his right fist, sending the Baltan smashing into the mountain they had been fighting in earlier. The entire peak came down on top of the extraterrestrial insect. It blasted its way clear a few moments later and looked up to see the Gudis coming down out of the sky with a huge boulder in his grasp. The Baltan barely side-stepped in time as the massive rock hit the ground and was pulverized into gravel. As the Gudis landed, he was hit by a claw slam that sent him back into another mountain. He roared back out and shoulder tackled his adversary through the rubble of the mountain that had been leveled and pushed him into another with terrible force.
At the base, the Gudis stood over the Baltan, laying in one punch after another until he was hit with a backhand claw that knocked him away. The Baltan utilized his terrible uber beam and struck the Gudis dead on once again but this time, the Gudis fought against the torrent of energy and dug both his arms, legs and dozens of rapidly-sprouting tentacles into the earth to anchor himself. The Gudis was pushed back by the beam but when it finally stopped, he was still within firing range and quickly returned the blast out of his fists. The Baltan was hit hard but started walking towards the Gudis. despite the beam being focused on it.
"Now let's see how much you can really take!" the Gudis roared as he fired both his eye beams and breath beam, along with the reflected energy. The armor plating on the Baltan started to crack and chip from the onslaught.
Desperately, the Baltan summoned its force field, hoping that between it and the armor, it could withstand the barrage but the Gudis kicked it up another notch. On top of the energy he was already blasting forth, the Gudis unleashed even more of his own power to augment the force of his beams. The Baltan was finally overpowered, resulting in a horrendous explosion. When the smoke cleared, only a few charred remains could be seen strewn across the ground. The few surviving Baltans teleported in a hurry, aborting their invasion and returning to deep space.
Gudis had only recently re-emerged, it had taken a full year for him to reconstitute and regenerate his physical body after the battle with Superman and Armor Mothra and an added surprise was that he had retained the power he had previously possessed as well.
“Now I see why Godzilla trashes aliens every time they try to invade Earth, that was more fun than peeling the skin off a screaming baby!” Gudis joked sickly as he shrunk down to human size.
“Verily, your depravity knows no limits monster.” A voice suddenly said behind him as he was struck from behind with incredible force as he went tumbling headfirst.
When Gudis righted himself he saw what had hit him, it was a massive hammer, but not just any hammer…
“Take heed blasphemer, for that was but a taste of the wrath you will feel at the hands of the mighty THOR!”
“So, the thunder god has come to pay me a visit eh?”
“No, I have come to destroy you, wretch.”
“Think you can take me do ya? Well, then c’mon goldilocks…let’s see what ya got.” Gudis taunted.
With that the two super beings rushed toward one another, but it was Thor who managed to strike first as he swung Mjolnir back and forth rocking Gudis with each consecutive blow that connected with his skull. Gudis however threw up his right arm blocking one swing before plunging his left fist into Thor’s face sending him smashing into the side of a rock crag. Gudis leaped up into the air preparing to utilize his carapace slam but Thor threw Mjolnir as the enchanted hammer drilled the alien behemoth square in the chest as he plummeted back down to Earth with a thud. Thor charged back in but at the last second Gudis sidestepped him while simultaneously grabbing his wrist and judo throwing him using the Norse god’s own forward momentum against him as he flipped awkwardly and then crashed face first into the ground. Before Thor could get back up Gudis grabbed him by his cape and swung him up overhead slamming him back down headfirst into the earth as the surrounding area quaked from the force of the impact. Gudis reached down to wrench Thor back up only to have Mjolnir punched directly into his gut doubling him over before the hammer was brought up into his chin in an uppercut motion as it snapped the monster‘s head back.
Before Thor could land a third hit though Gudis fired off one of his forearm beams at point blank range. Catching him off guard Thor went skidding and tumbling across the landscape dropping Mjolnir in the process. Gudis strolled up to the fallen hammer and feeling particularly ballsy reached down and grasped it with his right hand. When it did not move he used both, yet still it did not budge Thor meanwhile had cleared the cobwebs as a strange ripping sound came from Gudis’ direction. Thor looked up to see Gudis sitting on his rump wearing a slightly annoyed expression with both of his arms torn off at the elbows as he looked back and forth at his bloody stumps, his dismembered forearms and the hands at the ends of them were still wrapped around Mjolnir upon the ground.
“Hmmm, there’s a joke in this somewhere, something involving amputees and masturbation but for the life of me I can’t get a grip on it at the moment.” Gudis snorted.
“Demented fool, only he who is worthy can lift Mjolnir, a soulless destroyer such as you could never wield its power.”, Thor proclaimed as he outstretched his hand making Mjolnir fly back to him, “And now in your injured state you will fall before its might!”
“What, do you think I need arms to fight you?” Gudis boasted as his tentacles grew from his torso snaking toward Thor who tried to combat them but was quickly overwhelmed.
As they washed over the god of thunder Gudis sent two stray tentacles out to retrieve his severed limbs as they were brought back to him and reattached. Then several of the Gudis’ coils wrapped around Thor’s right arm.
“I may not be able to wield the hammer, but I can still make use of it while it is within your grasp.” He expounded as his tentacles overpowered Thor’s arm and made him punch himself in the face with Mjolnir repeatedly!
“Stop hitting yourself! What are you hitting yourself for! Stop hitting yourself!” Gudis taunted in a childlike voice all the while.
In a fit of frustrated rage Thor summoned deep reserves of strength finally breaking free of the tentacles and rending them asunder as he did so.
“Vile cretin! You shall pay for such mockery!” Thor swore angrily , but as he looked around he saw no sign of Gudis.
He found him soon enough when he came down right on top of him impacting Thor into the earth, he then backed up and smashed both of his fists into the ground causing an entire section of soil and bedrock nearly a mile in diameter to crack and separate from the terrain around it.
He then lifted it up above his head just as Thor re-emerged, Gudis then smashed it down on top of him.
“When I dig you out I’m gonna shove those stupid little wings on your head right up your buttocks. Pfftt! You didn’t really think you’d win did you?”
“Nope.” Another voice suddenly said above Gudis as he looked up to see Iron Man hovering overhead as a green energy beam shot forth from his chest directly onto him.
“His job was to distract you long enough for me to get close.” Tony finished as Gudis suddenly felt a wave of nausea come over him.
Immediately Gudis realized what he had been hit with, a kryptonite energy beam! It would seem that along with the strength of kryptonian dna there came its weakness as well. Iron Man hit him again this time concentrating the beam and holding it on him. Within Gudis a biological irregularity was taking place as his inherent ability to absorb energy was conflicting with the allergic reaction his Kryptonian cells were having to the kryptonite. To end this biological malfunction and stave off the effects of the kryptonite Gudis was forced to expel the kryptonian dna from his body. And it was at that moment that Thor exploded out of the rubble he was buried under bringing Mjolnir down right on Gudis’ head. The force of the attack obliterated Gudis from the waist up, who without the kryptonian dna could no longer shrug off Thor’s attacks. He was also no longer a physical match for the son of Odin with his superhuman strength now reduced by half of what it had been.
But Gudis was far from being defeated.
“So you’ve managed to weaken me physically, nicely done, but that still doesn’t stop me from doing this.” Gudis said as he regenerated summoning the promethium within him to create an incredible shockwave of power that sent both Thor and Iron Man reeling.
Iron Man’s internal scanners and optical sensors had been knocked offline by the blast. They would reboot in just a few seconds, but it would be a few seconds too late as a hand suddenly wrapped around his ankle. Thor got up only to have Iron Man thrown into him right before they both got nailed with Gudis’ arm beams at full strength as they were sent spiraling into the side of one of the only remaining mountains in the area that hadn’t been leveled during the Baltan fight. Knowing that because of Gudis’ ability to absorb various energy types Tony emerged and flew strait at Gudis for a physical attack pummeling him with one fist after another. But at one point Gudis slapped his hands together on the sides of Iron Man’s head as he brought forth an electromagnetic pulse taking advantage of the energy in the air generated by Thor’s very presence.
“System failure…system failure…syst--”
“Oh damn.” Tony muttered as his armor shut down.
“Guess today just ain’t your day is it tin man? And me without a can opener, oh well, I guess we’ll just have to see if you’re crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside!” Gudis laughed as he opened his jaws wide and prepared to eat Tony’s head!
But just then Thor came in out of nowhere spear tackling Gudis hard as he took him high into the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Once there Thor pulled out his trump card as he summoned the power of the Odinforce.
The resulting explosion could be seen halfway across the globe with the naked eye.
Gudis’ body plummeted back to Earth creating an immense crater when he finally touched down.
For the moment…he was unconscious.
Just then two other beings entered the fray as both Doctor Strange and Dr. Fate appeared on the scene. Using a powerful spell combining both of their magics they restrained Gudis within a series of binds and force fields all mystical in nature, an energy that he could not breach nor assimilate. It was then that they magically teleported him to a pre-determined location.
At around that time Iron Man and Thor showed up.
“Did you get him?” Tony asked them with his helmet removed as he walked up with Thor in tow, seeing how using the Odinforce had left him exhausted as he helped hold Thor up.
“It is done.” Dr. Fate told him.
“Gudis has been neutralized.” Doctor Strange added.
“Good work, all of you.” Tony commended them, “Now since my armor is offline could one of you communicate with my adjutant at S.H.I.E.L.D. and signal him to sanitize the area?” Tony asked.
“No problem.” Doctor Strange answered.
Though weakened Thor stepped away from Tony and prepared to fly off.
“Don’t you think you should give yourself more time to rest first?” Tony asked.
“The Odinforce is something that I am slowly growing accustomed to, it does not weaken me like it once did.” Thor answered without looking back at Tony.
“Thor?”
“…yes?”
“Thank you for your help.”
“Tony Stark, I joined forces with you this day to smite a blasphemous evil for the betterment of this world…but this changes nothing. I will not forget the trespass you committed against me.”
Long moments of silence passed as Doctor Strange and Dr. Fate looked on.
“Fair enough.” Tony replied turning away as Thor lifted off into the sky above.
After the heroes teleported out Sagamihara is targeted by several orbiting satellites as suddenly a powerful concentrated energy beam came down literally disintegrating what remained of the already devastated island, nothing remained afterward.
A few short hours later.
New York City.
The Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane.
Doctor Leonard Samson walked down a long hallway toward the maximum security wing of Ravencroft passing several other cells as he moved along.
“What’s up Doc?” A voice suddenly said to his left as he paused for the moment looking over at the cell in question. Sitting inside of it…was the Joker.
“Nothing to concern yourself with Joker, everything is compos mentis, unlike you may I add.”
“Hmmm, you know you can’t lie worth a damn.”
“And what would I be lying about?”
“That he’s here.”
“That who’s here?”
The Joker leaned in slowly before speaking again, “Gudis.” He muttered with a smile.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t.” The Joker replied with a knowing grin as he leaned back.
“So how are your new accommodations working out for you?” Samson asked attempting to change the subject.
“Bah, I’m bored, dreadfully bored. This place is far too clean, there aren’t any rats or cockroaches to play canasta with and the inmates here aren’t nearly as crazy as my friends in Arkham. I miss the screams and the wailing you know, I can’t sleep at night without it.” He sighed disapprovingly.
“Sorry, Joker, but you’ve escaped from Arkham one time too many, it was hoped that bringing you here would put an end to that.”
“Are you sure that I’m the one who belongs in this cell, Doctor?”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“Why exactly am I here?”
“Because you are criminally Insane.”
“And what is insanity? Other than a state of mind that no one else understands. What about you Doctor?”
“What about me?”
“As a psychiatrist and scientist you seek to understand everything, the mind, the world we live in, the universe and all of existence itself. All things that are truthfully beyond the human mind’s ability to comprehend, so if you will pardon the pun, the joke really is on you. And to top this all off you go off and bombard yourself with Gamma radiation out of some subconscious need to be a superhero and your own scientific curiosity, radiation that has a 90% mortality rate among humans that are exposed to it with a few scant exceptions that are large and green and like to smash things. And now you’re going to go have a one on one with a being older than the cosmos itself that could conceivably be even crazier than me. Are you sure that YOU are not the crazy one here, Doctor? Perhaps we have something in common after all…aside from the same hair color that is.”
“Nice try, but I’m afraid your twisted philosophy won’t effect me.”
“Eh, we’ll see. Such is the nature of chaos, many laughs will be had. After all life is a joke, I’m just here to deliver the punch line.”
“If that’s how you choose to see things, despite the fact that it makes you crazy.”
“And who is really crazy Doctor…the individual who sees the world for what it is…or he who sees it through rose colored glasses? I'm sure Gudis would agree.”
Samson stood motionless and speechless for a few moments and then finally turned to leave.
“Our regular session will be today at 3:00 P.M…we’ll continue this discussion then.” He informed the Joker as he walked away.
Samson continued walking to the end of the hall until he reached a pair of reinforced doors with several implemented security measures like thumb print and retina scan just to name a couple. Before he could proceed to swipe his security card to finally open the doors the Joker abruptly called out to him from his cell.
“Be careful in there Doctor…you’re out of your league.” The Joker echoed throughout the hall as he let out a loud and long cackle.
Samson stopped for a moment looking over his shoulder slightly to regard the comment before he turned back toward the doors and swiped his card causing them to slide apart, he then stepped through.
Within the room still contained inside the mystical barriers created by Dr. Fate and Doctor Strange…was Gudis. The first containment spell resembled a glowing set of binds that restrained Gudis from movement like a strait jacket, considering his mental state and surroundings it was most fitting. The next was a constantly rotating field with Sanskrit letters upon it and the third and last, a stationary field that surrounded the previous two. And to compliment all of this as a precautionary measure the entire shebang was surrounded by heavily armed guards along with robotic ones sent in by Reed Richards.
“Ravencroft? Ravencroft!?!” Gudis scowled unhappily.
“Good morning Gudis.” Samson said.
“Good morning my buttocks! I’ve decimated worlds, wiped out galaxies, killed billions, and I get sent here?! This is humiliating!”
“Don’t like it here?”
“After all the chaos and carnage I’ve caused I’d like to think that I’d at least be worthy of the Negative Zone Prison, but noooooooo! What about the babies I’ve eaten, the puppies I’ve kicked, the old ladies I’ve ran down while crossing the street?! Doesn’t that count for anything?! This is insulting! Now I‘m incarcerated with losers like Shriek, Gale and Cardiac!”
“The Joker’s here.”
“Oh really, could you get me his autogr--ARGH! Um, I mean, NO! This will not due at all!”
“If it makes you feel any better you won’t be here for long, more permanent plans have already been made.”
“What, you gonna get your magical friends tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber to banish me to the land of Oz?”
“Not exactly.”
“So who do I have to thank for this little scenario may I ask?’
“That would be Tony Stark.”
“I see, well then I will have to be sure to show him my gratitude when I get out of here.”
“That won’t be happening.” Tony spoke suddenly walking into the room with both Dr. Fate and Doctor Strange.
“Why not? You know I make your lives so much more entertaining. Just ask the kids at the Westview daycare center.” Gudis snickered, recalling how he recently tainted a shipment of tootsie pops with Amatoxin, “The question wasn’t how long it took to get to the center of a tootsie pop…it was how long did it take them to die once they got there?”
Tony felt a flood of livid disgust rise up in him as he thought back on the incident. Amatoxin was a terrible poison derived from the death cap family of mushrooms, it destroys your liver and kidneys over several days. You remain conscious - and in excruciating pain - until you slip into a coma and expire. It was a truly horrible way to die, especially for a child.
“Gentlemen, are you ready?” Tony asked.
Both of the sorcerers merely nod in unison.
“Do it.” Tony told them as they began a new incantation as they both enunciate in ancient tongues that only the wisest and oldest of mystical beings could even begin to understand.
As they do so a coalescence of magical energies began to form and swirl around Gudis as he struggled in vain.
“You have plagued not only this world but all of the known universe for billions of years, today your reign of terror ends once and for all. You are far too powerful and dangerous to be incarcerated or kept alive, but I know that no prison could hold you forever and you are practically un-killable so I am left with no other recourse than to have you removed from this plane of existence. Where you‘re going you‘ll never harm another living soul ever again.” Tony proclaimed as the spell being cast by Fate and Strange neared its crescendo.
“This isn’t over, I will be back…like a bad rash in a streetwalker’s crotch.” Gudis smiled as the spell overtook him.
Then with a bright sudden flash, he was gone.
“Thank you both.” Tony uttered turning to them.
“It was our pleasure Tony, Gudis was a malignant curse upon all that lived and breathed.” Doctor Strange explained.
“Today is a good day, a terrible force of evil has at last been exiled from our world and this universe.” Dr. Fate added.
“I couldn’t agree more with both of you.” Tony said as he takes note of the somewhat sour expression upon Doc Samson’s face, “Something wrong Doctor?” He asked.
“I know we did what had to be done, but I would’ve loved the chance to study him further.” Samson admitted.
“Reed expressed a similar interest actually, but in the end we made the only choice that could be made.” Tony responded.
“Indeed, Gudis was sick and depraved in ways that defy explanation.” Doctor Strange professed.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” One of the guards suddenly said in a deep demonic tone.
Momentary confusion by all those present gives way to realization and then panic.
“Gudis?!” Tony stammered in disbelief.
Before anyone could do anything the drone morphed into the form of Gudis as his body became the epicenter of a promethium enhanced power discharge that leveled the entire structure!
After the explosion all was quiet when Gudis suddenly burst from beneath the wreckage with a dazed Samson in his grasp.
“Still going! The Energizer bunny’s got nuthin on me!” Gudis gloated as he turned his attention to Samson, “You won’t mind if I borrow a little something will ya?” Gudis grinned as he siphoned dna and Gamma energy from him before clocking him with a punch that sent him flying for miles.
Just then Iron Man freed himself from the debris as did Strange and Fate.
“Search for survivors, I’ll hold off Gudis!” Tony told them as he ignited his propulsion systems barreling toward Gudis as he unloaded with volleys of missiles being careful not to use any energy attacks before closing the gap and landing a series of punches. But with the acquisition of Samson’s gamma energy which was now augmented by Gudis’ own mutagenic powers he was even more powerful than he was before as the onslaught had no effect.
Samson may have been the lowest level Gamma being on Earth, but Gudis could use the promethium in conjunction with his own natural abilities to increase its energy output a 100 fold. His strength level now surpassed that of even the Hulk.
“How did you do this?!” Tony bellowed still driving his fists into Gudis one after the other.
“Quite simple really, I have drones scattered all over the world…” Gudis said as he connected with a punch that took out Tony’s shields with one hit, “…it was just a matter of activating the closest one…” Gudis explained as another punch fractured the armor, “…they were sleeper agents for lack of a better term…” Gudis continued causing further damage as he proceeded to clobber more pieces of Tony’s armor off of him, Gudis was carefully controlling his punches, he didn’t want to send Tony flying like he did Samson. He wanted to methodically strip the armor off of him instead.
“Impossible! We would’ve found something, so would Strange and Fate!” Tony spat defiantly still trying to fight back despite the fact he wasn’t even hurting Gudis.
“Not when you have the power to perfectly mimic the dna of the being you are possessing, why didn’t you think that any of you could pick me out when I was in the room with you no more than a few feet away?” Gudis revealed as another strike took Tony’s helmet clean off!
“I lie dormant within them, my drones have no knowledge that I’m even there…until I have need of one of them that is. Did you know that this guard has a wife and kids? Oh wait, scratch that…HAD a wife and kids. I had plenty of fun with them before I came here.” Gudis taunted grotesquely before hitting Tony with a point blank shot of his arm beams dealing his armor its final and fatal blow as Tony went flying back.
Gudis walked up and grabbed a semi-conscious Tony lifting him up off the ground.
“You get real tired of being blown up and atomized and banished and such and such after so long, sure it’s really nothing more than an irritating annoyance but waiting to return or regenerate and everything else proves to be most frustrating and dull as Hell may I add. So I started leaving little bits of myself all over the place.” Gudis informed him as he charged his other arm full of energy and lifted it up toward Tony’s face.
Meanwhile Doctor Strange and Dr. Fate realized that Tony was in trouble and stopped searching through the rubble to intercede as Dr, Fate made felled steel beams fly up off the ground and wrap around Gudis.
“Cyttorak’s crimson bands!” Doctor Strange cried out as more mystical binds appeared.
But with his now frightening new strength both wizards found it difficult if not impossible to restrain him.
“He’s…too…strong!” Dr. Fate managed to stutter out before Gudis broke free of his confinement with another shockwave that sent both of them tumbling.
“Did you really think your stupid little magic tricks were going to stop me?” Gudis snarled as he reached down and lifted Dr. Fate off the ground slowly crushing his throat. Fate in desperation blasted Gudis with a variety of magical attacks but the spell that Tomak had cast upon Gudis was still in place rendering him immune to direct magical assault.
“I’m gonna crush your stupid little helmet like a soda can…with your head still in it.” Gudis threatened as he reached a hand up and clasped it around Fate’s head.
“Fate no!” Dr. Strange blurted out as just then a blinding golden blur came in out of nowhere plowing into Gudis as Dr. Fate dropped to the ground. When Gudis and his assailant finally stop flying they are no longer on Earth but hover in its orbit instead.
Floating before Gudis in the vacuum of space…was the Sentry.
“Yeeeeeees, now that’s what I’m talking about.” Gudis muttered almost drooling.
Back on Earth…
“Are you alright Fate?” Strange asked weakened by the ordeal as he attempted to get back up.
“Ye-yes.” He eventually choked out rolling over on his back.
Nearby Tony finally heaved himself back up.
“Was that who I think it was?!” He asked with labored breath.
“Yes, Tony, the Sentry is here.” Dr. Strange answered.
“Then we’re all dead.”
Meanwhile…
The Sentry hammered Gudis with crushing blows that if used on Earth the mere shockwaves of would level entire cities. But Gudis retaliated with his own punishing assailment, after which the two awesomely empowered beings locked their hands together as they pushed against one another.
“It appears that physically we are equals Sentry,” Gudis told him with a smile, “So let’s see what happens…” Gudis went on, “When I get inside your head!”
“NO!” The Sentry exclaimed but Gudis’ psychic presence could already be felt within him.
“Sheesh it’s a mess in here. Someone really should talk to the maid.” Gudis quipped as he floated through The Sentry‘s subconscious.
“No! Get out of my head!”
“Let’s see what’s behind this door hmmmm?”
“NO!”
“Oh my, someone was a bed wetter, good to know that kids like you kept the rubber sheet industry alive and kickin!”
“STOP IT!”
“And behind door number 2...hey it’s your wife. Not bad, not bad at all, hey she even takes it in the pooper, oh yeah she’s a keeper!”
“YOU b*****d!!!”
“And what do we have here?” Gudis pondered aloud as he approached a massive reinforced door buried deeper in The Sentry’s mind than anything else.
Gudis giggled like a giddy school girl when he touched the door realizing what was behind it.
“The Void! I think he needs to come out and play!” Gudis squealed excitedly.
“I…SAID…NO!!!!!” The Sentry bellowed in an almost demonic voice as he summoned a powerful surge of psyonic energy that forced Gudis from his mind before he could open the door. Back in our reality before Gudis even knew what was going on the Sentry socked him with a punch that sent him soaring for thousands of miles only stopping when he collided with the moon going deep into the center of it.
The Sentry launched himself at Gudis like a burning comet as the viral titan shot forth from the moon to meet the golden guardian head on. When they collided the force of their impact can be felt upon Earth and Mars setting off tremors on both planets and even shifting the moon‘s orbit for a brief moment.
“I could do this all day captain spandex…can you?” Gudis cracked.
The two powerhouses proceeded to batter each other with mauling shots with neither being budging in the slightest, something had to give…and it was about to.
“Robert Reynolds.” A commanding voice suddenly spoke in his head, but it wasn‘t Gudis.
“Who are you?”
“Gudis is becoming too powerful, he is absorbing your energy and must be stopped.”
“I’m trying!”
“No, it is not enough. You must access the full extent of your power.”
“NO! I can’t!”
“You must.”
“No! You don’t understand, if I do that I’ll destroy everything!”
“We are prepared to assist you.”
“What?’
“We will take you somewhere where YOU CAN use your true power.”
“But even if you could I’m not sure that I even can, I’ve never done that before! And what if Gudis absorbs it?!”
“He won’t and you must, or the Gudis will gain enough strength to end all of existence, he will possess your power and magnify it a million times over. This must end now!”
“But how can you know that he can’t?!”
“Even his power is not limitless.”
“Alright!” The Sentry finally said as the Silver Surfer suddenly appeared next to them.
With a wave of his hand he transported them both to a lifeless galaxy in deep space.
“Here there is nothing that lives nor is there any life for a billion light years from here.” The Surfer pleaded.
“Hey, where’d crome dome go? Meh never mind, I’ll get around to him later, right now I’m having too much fun with you, you’re just full of juice aren’t you phobia boy, lets try it out!” Gudis squealed as he hit the Sentry with both arms beams at full intensity at point blank range as the hero was sent crashing into a nearby planet completely destroying it in the process as it broke apart and exploded!
“Do it now Robert, before he can get any stronger!”
And with that the Sentry did the unbelievable as he finally and truly gave in to the power that dwelled within him as with a savage inhuman scream the Sentry bounded toward Gudis sailing into him with horrendous force as every bone in Gudis’ body was pulverized on contact! But the Sentry didn’t stop there as he streamed through space at unimaginable speed putting Gudis through one planet after another as they ripped and tore through countless celestial bodies as the planets they collided with were decimated on impact! After eviscerating an entire constellation of planets the Sentry finally came to a stop as he then slapped his hands together on Gudis’ head obliterating his skull, kicked his crotch up into his stomach shattering his ribcage and splattering his insides, punched both of his fists through his chest, out his back and then ripped what was left in half down the middle!
All the while he hadn’t stopped screaming…he wasn’t the Sentry anymore, he wasn’t the Void either, nor was he Robert Reynolds, no, he had become…the wrath of God. With one more ghastly scream his body became the focal point of a blast unlike anything ever seen before in all of creation. In an instant the galaxy they were in ceased to exist as the Sentry for the first time in his life fully unleashed the power of a million exploding suns upon the universe!
“YEEEEEESSSS!!!! MAKE ME A GOD!!!!” Gudis howled regenerating as he began to absorb the energy…only to suddenly discover that it was too much!
“THIS…CAN…NOT…BE! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” He managed to shriek before it devoured him.
Billions of light years away at all the distant corners of the cosmos, the most powerful cosmic entities that have ever existed all stood at the ready bringing their own power to bear as the Sentry’s raw unadulterated energy spread out like an intergalactic mushroom cloud annihilating all that it encountered. Thousands of galaxies were wiped out as the power wave rushed through the depths of space. When it finally loomed near threatening to consume the populated galaxies that the cosmic beings now stood in defense of they all concentrated their vast cosmic power to contain and halt the swell of pure death racing to consume them. Beings like The Living Tribunal, Adam Warlock, Nova, Quasar and even Galactus among countless others strained against the Sentry’s long dormant omnipotence as the barrier their combined incomprehensible might had created cracked and fragmented threatening to destruct against the terrible onslaught!
“Just a few…moments…more!” The Silver Surfer agonized.
Then at last….the wave dissipated, and all returned to normal.
His energy expended the Sentry transformed back into Robert Reynolds as the Silver Surfer quickly teleported him away before the cold vacuum of space could claim his life. He returned him to Earth into his wife’s waiting arms.
“Is he okay, is he alive?!” She stuttered.
“Yes, he is in a deep sleep. And will recover without incident.” The Surfer told her, “And now…farewell.” The sentinel of the space ways finished before disappearing from sight.
Sometime later…
After recovering from the battle Tony headed back to Stark Tower, in the aftermath of Ravencroft’s destruction several of the villains contained within were killed, some injured but there were also a few escapees, among them was the Joker.
“Ah yes, the perfect end to a perfect day.” Tony grumbled to himself.
But as he entered Stark Tower and proceeded to open the door to his office he saw his former secretary and friend Pepper Potts sitting in a chair facing him as the door swung open. She didn’t even get a chance to scream before a cluster of blades flew through the air slicing her to ribbons as Tony looked on in shock and horror.
“Pepper!” Tony shrieked rushing up to her, but it was too late…she was already dead.
She had been tied to the chair she was currently sitting in, Tony looked back at the door to see what looked like a wire leading from the door knob to the firing mechanism nearby that had launched the blades.
Tony’s mind raced in a mixture of sorrow, anger and confusion. Who could’ve done this and why?! But just then Pepper’s cell phone began singing as a voicemail indicator went off, eventually Tony reached down with a shaky hand and picked it up.
“Good help is so hard to find…isn’t it Tony?” Gudis mocked with a sigh, “As you can see I decided to make a quick pit stop at your little tower before heading over to Ravencroft, so tell me…how does it feel to know that you are the one who killed her? Ta ta for now.”*click*
Sitting on Pepper’s lap was a media disc of some kind, Tony discovered that it was a video Gudis had made of him torturing Pepper via acupuncture needles as he played with the various pain centers of her nervous system along with making several tiny cuts before setting up the trip wire. Gudis had done all of this hours ago, before the Ravencroft incident and his climactic battle with the Sentry.
The final explanation point was a poem upon the wall of the office scrawled in Pepper’s own blood…
In the house of pain
Blood falls like rain
They scream out in vain
For I am their bane
They beg to die
Pleading in their eyes
Mercy they cry
I promise, I lie
They fester in Hell
In darkness they dwell
Their misery their cell
Wallowing in their shell
Suffering they can’t bear
Their God they offer prayer
They don’t know he doesn’t care
There is no hope…only despair
Gudis was gone…but the scars he had left behind upon all whom he encountered during his return would never be forgotten.
END
*********
Theme song for this story.
'The Sound Of Madness' by Shinedown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeCQUSh1Pyo
Linear Mode
