31st Century
	#72

In a far possible future of the MV1 universe, several heroes of varying races stand together to combat injustices of any kind! They are the Guardians of the Galaxy - Vance Astrovik, Aleta, Charlie-27, Martinex, Starhawk, Nikki, Yondu, Talon, and Hollywood!

"Crime and Punishment, part 2"

Births, Deaths, and Marriages

by Adrian Watts

Doctor Doom's Castle, Earth,  31st Century

"Ah!" exclaimed Thor, the reborn god of Thunder. "By the Rainbow Bridge... Thor the Thunderer has returned!"

Thor was greeting with  a smile and a hug from his beloved  wife, Sif. "Thor, my love..." she remarked. "It has been so very long since thine evil half brother, Loki, trapped thou in thy uru hammer, Mjolnir. Art  thou well?"

"Loki? Loki made me suffer this way? Yes, my lady Sif, I am well... but Loki shall not be once my uru hammer strikes his deceitful form!" Thor cried.

"Er, that's unnecessary," Charlie-27, last survivor from Earth's colony on Jupiter, said.  "We already trapped him in his own helmet. He won't be able to do anything from now on."

That's what you think, Charlie. Vance thought.

As the congregation of Asgardian gods, villains, and Guardians of the Galaxy continued, Rancor, descendant of Wolverine and leader of the surviving mutants from Earth, came bounding into the room.

"Doom!" she yelled. "That Talon guy... some folks called the Punishers have shot him down over whichever planet it was that you sent him to!"

"As was my plan, my dear Rancor." Doom said. "Such is the might of Doom!"

"Wait a second..." Rancor said. "You sent  him to some far off planet, knowing he'd be shot down?!?"

Doom didn't like this tone of voice, and he showed  it,  hitting Rancor with the back of his arm, knocking her across the room. "Do not take such an insolent tone with me, my dear Rancor, or you shall never find Wolverine. My Guardians shall find him, and when they meet him, he shall find the cure he so sought  for his son. So says Doom!"

Charlie thought for a second. He'd said  'my Guardians'. It could have just been a slip-up, but, "Doom, since when are we your Guardians?" he felt  he needed to ask. Doom was, by all accounts, one of the most dispicable men who ever lived. Even if he was planning  to save Earth, the Guardians knew it was only because he wanted an Earth to rule over, one not conquered by the evil Badoon. So he hadn't yet earned the  Guardians respect or trust, regardless of what Aleta said.

"Since now, Jovian." Doom  reached down, and with a press of a button on the side of his belt, electricity sparkled around the gigantic Jovian, and he felt his body wracked in pain. "My dear Aleta here has given me detailed information regarding your powers and abilities," Doom said. "Thanks to her, I am able to convey my displeasure towards you in a more... direct way. You are now forced to do my bidding, or you shall face your Doom!"

"Aleta..." Martinex asked. "How  could you...?" Aleta simply turned away.

"No!" yelled Vance. "We simply won't let him do this! Thor! Sif! Meran! He can't hurt you! Help us!" Vance leaped at Doom, his telekinetic projections slamming into the armoured monarch, knocking him back ever so slightly. But Doom hit another button, and with a similar effect to that which Charlie felt, Vance was knocked unconscious. However, since he kept fighting, it slipped the Guardians' notice*. All except Aleta's. This was the second time such a thing had happened to Vance, the first was in the "limbo zone" the Guardians had found themselves in, a gap between timelines**. She, being the one-who-knows, noticed everything.

[ * - That's because his suit is the Venom symbiote, from Spider-Man! - Second-time-around Adrian ]

[ ** - That was in Guardians of the Galaxy #65-67! - Asterisk-Depleted Adrian ]

Doom, however, was not perturbed by this. He was Doom. No-one challenged him. He struck with his left fist, knocking Vance over to Rancor. Thor, seeing this as  an opportunity to strike, hurled his hammer at Doom. But Doom was prepared. He created an electro-magnetic field that suspended the hammer in mid-air, and then brought it down to his own hand.  He hurled it at the Thunder god, who, along with his wife, Sif, were struck with enough force to knock even them down. Meran was the last  hope for the Guardians. Yet, he didn't move. He simply watched. And beneath his faceplate,  Doom just smiled at  the magician.

"Now, Guardians," Doom said. "Will you do as I say, or die?"

"It seems we have no choice..." Nikki said.

The Planet Nan'ait....

A shuttle crashed down through the planet's  atmosphere, it's hull in tatters. A sonic scream could be heard throughout most of the realm as the metal twisted and bent  at hypersonic speed. On  board, the shuttle's two occupants were terrified. Talon, and his son.

"Hold tight, my  son." Talon said as the shuttle approached the land. "We shall be safe soon."

The child screamed, despite his father's comforting  words. Which child wouldn't, when such doom was near? 

"Ten seconds to impact...." said the shuttle's computer. Talon silently prayed for help as his son continued to cry in his arms.

"Nine...."

Talon kept praying, but something far off, outside the ship, piqued his interest. It looked very familiar...

"Eight... seven...." the computer continued to drone.

Talon kept his eyes on the approaching projectile. That looked like... yes! It was exactly what he thought!

"Six.... five..." the computer's incessant speech was almost as scary as the impending crash itself. "Four... three...." it continued.

Talon kept watching the oncoming object, hoping it would reach him in time.

"Two.... one...." 

BINGO! Mere seconds before impact, the Guardians' new craft collided, gently, with the shuttle Talon and his son occupied. A metallic clamp linked the two, and together, under Charlie-27's guidance, they landed safely. Once on the planet of Nan'ait, the crew of each ship disembarked, with Doctor Doom and Rancor among their number. Thor, Sif, and Meran were noticably missing. Talon approached the armoured villain.

"Doom..." he began. "Is this the planet you thought would help me find a cure for my son?"

"Yes." Doom replied. "This planet, Nan'tai, was the first to pledge allegiance to Doom. As such, they do as I command, forever. This planet, too, is the most medically advanced in the known universe." Doom shot a glance over to Rancor. "But when Rancor relayed your message, we thought you may have been shot down elsewhere." He glared at Rancor, and the mutant knew immediately that she would be punished for not conveying more correct instructions to her master.

"This planet?" Nikki asked. "Sorry, but all I see is a barren desert. No offence, Doom, but I think you've finally lost it." Nikki waved her hand around to emphasise the point. All around them, for as far as the eye could see in every direction, was hot sand. Not even one shelter on the horizon.

"Looks can be deceiving, Mercurian." Doom said. And, as if they had already been alerted to their monarch's arrival,  the people of Nan'tai began approaching from behind  the nearest hill, and within moments, they had reached the Guardians. Talon approached the most vocal native, presuming him to be the leader, and offered up his son. 

"Can.... you help him?" Talon asked. The native looked over the child quickly, and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes.... provided  we have a strong source of ionic energy, we should be able to do fine." replied the native. Talon turned to Hollywood, and looked at him pleadingly.

Something's weird here, Hollywood thought. But Talon's a Guardian. I must help him. "Sure."  he said. "I'll be  that source, if I  can."

"Yes. You should do fine, Hollywood." the native  said. 

Hmmm... this is weird, Hollywood thought again. How did he know my name? But before the ionic Avenger had time to ask, the Guardians had company, by way of the Punishers. Two ships  tore into Nan'tai's atmosphere,  guns blazing. 

"Guardians!" Doom yelled. "Stop those ships! Hollywood, Talon and I shall go with the boy to the medical facility here."

Charlie gave Doom and evil glare. He hated this. Being controlled by Doom was one thing, but fighting while he ran away was another. 

"Okay, Guardians," he said. "You heard the man!  Let's go!" And soon, the battle was joined. Aleta, taking her solid light constructs to the air, was the first to encounter  her foe. Blasting left and right, she  managed to hold her place for less than a  minute before two Punishers beat her down. Nikki was next to fight, and she fared much better, he flame attacks affecting the Punishers' weapon packs. 

These aren't like the Punishers we face before, she thought. They're completely different! 

Yondu was next, his whistle controlled weapons  doing little to harm the Punishers. He was taken down swiftly, by a blast to the back. Next  came Vance,  who was better than even Nikki, his  symbiotic suit aiding  him in the battle, without him even  knowing  it. Charlie-27, who had returned to the Guardians' ship, was using it's weapons in  combat with the two ships the Punishers were based in. And finally, out came Martinex, a scanner report in  one hand, and fire pouring from the next.

"Guardians!"  he yelled. "Get out of here! These are --" He was cut off  as blaster fire struck him on the back, knocking him unconscious. 

Damn! Vance thought. If I was still leading this team, these guys would be toast by now!

The Guardians  knew they couldn't hold out forever. But, as Nikki looked  to the sky, she saw their salvation. A spinning shield, in the shape of a golden falcon, slicing through the air  toward one of the Punishers' spacecraft. It hit dead center, and seconds later, the craft exploded. Nikki and Charlie, seizing the  opportunity, quickly destroyed the other, and the remaining Punishers fled. The Guardians, having  survived yet another fight, turned to see their saviour.

"That's.... um...." Nikki began.

"The US Agent?!?" Vance offered, surprised.

"Sort of, Vance." the figure replied. "I'm...." 

The planet Pluto, on the  edge of our solar system....

The earth-spawned spacecraft called the Deathmonger III landed, unsettling the already damaged landscape. Ice shot off in all directions, and as the ship landed, it left a very visible dent in the land. The ship's disembarkment ramp lowered, and out stepped it's occupants - the men called the Punishers. The walked out onto the ground, followed by several people in chains. The first was the man named Jonathan Raven, also known as Killraven. He was followed by a feline-looking female, and two Kree. At the end of the convoy stood a robot, wearing the 20th century SHIELD logo. They moved to a cave near the landing area, and the Punishers leader, Deathwing, pressed a button on a security panel. The floor beneath them dropped, and they descended several kilometers below the planet's surface before the 'elevator' came to a halt. A door opened, and they got off.

They made their way to a huge chamber, filled with various electronic gadgets from different timelines. These included Avengers Quinjets, medieval suits of armour, helicopters, Kree matter transponders, quantum bands, nega bands, spell books, and even the Guardians' original spacecraft, the Captain America. But all that was nothing compared to the being in the center of the room. He was human in shape, though greatly swollen and with light pink skin. He had dark black hair, and was linked up to hundreds of different monitors and displays. The creature spoke.

"My Punishers...." he said, gasping for breath. "Have you captured the target from the 21st century, as you were ordered?"

"Yes." replied Deathwing. "He is here, Mr. Stark."

Mr. Stark? thought Killraven. T'Chalu, and others who were alive before the Martians invaded, had mentioned that name more than once. He was meant to have been friends with the Avengers.

"Good." the alien commented. "Then we only have three targets left, before our scourge of time is completed."

Deathwing nodded, and led his Punishers back to the Deathmonger, while others dragged Killraven and the other captives away. 

Avengers Mansion, New York, Earth, 2025

"What do you mean, we're not going to Costa Verde?" Maxx asked. 

"Maxx, do you even know where Costa Verde is?" T'Chalu offered in response.

"Well, no, but --"

"It's on the other side of the country! Miles away!" T'Chalu cried. M'Shulla smirked.

"Heh. Don't say that, TC. It'll just make him more likely to want to go!" He laughed. Maxx grumbled. "Well, how was I to know?" Maxx asked.

"Ahhhhh!" came a cry from the back of the room. "M'Shulla!" It was Carmilla Frost, the girlfriend of M'Shulla Scott, and the mother of his unborn baby. M'Shulla ran to where his girlfriend lay, screaming in agony.

"M'Shulla..." she managed to gasp. "It's the baby..." She fainted. At that very moment, another of the Freemen, Dell, ran into the mansion from his post outside.

"Everyone, we have three Tripods coming from the west!" he shouted. M'Shulla took charge. 

"Okay," he said. "Old Skull, T'Chalu, and I will keep Carmilla safe here. Dell, go find Killraven and make sure he's okay! Everyone else, lead those Tripods away from here and destroy them!" he ordered, and then turned back to Carmilla. He lifted her upper half off the ground, and T'Chalu grabbed her legs, lifting her further into the mansion. Old Skull and M'Shulla stopped to take care of her while T'Chalu moved to the entrance to stand guard. Carmilla woke up.

"M'Shulla..." she said, looking at him and smiling. "The baby... it's coming."

"I know, Carmilla. And I'll be here. Always." M'Shulla said, squeezing her hand.

Outside, with Dell....

Dell Johnson stepped lightly as he tried to find the Freemen's "leader", Killraven. T'Chalu had told him that he said he was going hunting. That didn't help at all.

Oh, man! Dell thought. The Tripods probably got him! Dell turned back, and looked at the mansion in the distance behind him. The Tripods were advancing, but Maxx had already taken charge. Maxx was a good leader, so even if Killraven was gone, the Freemen would survive. But still... Dell was still following this train of thought when he tripped across something strewn on the ground. It was Killraven's ZX-90 rifle! He must have dropped it! Now Dell was faced with a dilemma. He could try to find 'Raven, who was probably dead anyway.... or, well, he'd seen what this gun could do. He could take out those Tripods and save the day. He chose the second option. 

Back on Nan'tai....

"Sort of, Vance. I'm the Guardian of the Empire. But I was once known as the US Agent, yes." said the figure that had shown up to save the Guardians of the Galaxy. He stood at eleven feet tall, covered from head to toe with armour, and wielding all sorts of weapons. Repulsor rays, photonic shields... anything and everything. "But I'm also called the Falcon now."

"Well, what gives?" Vance asked. "You were alive when I went to space in 1988. How can you still be alive?"

"Let me tell you a story," the Falcon said. "When the Martians came, SHIELD and the Avengers planned a united attack, known as Operation: Badblast. Essentially, Tony Stark was to create clones of the Avengers to use specially constructed battlesuits, based around their DNA matrices. Unfortunately, only me, as the US Agent, Tony Stark, Goliath, the Wasp, and the original Falcon were cloned before the Martians came and put a stop to the plan. I managed to escape, and, well, the rest is top secret. But I know all about the Guardians of the Galaxy."

"Why is the rest top secret? SHIELD is destroyed, and the Martians are long gone." Martinex asked, recovered now from the Punishers attack.

"That's not important, Martinex. What is is that you share what you found with the other Guardians." the Falcon replied. All eyes turned to Martinex.

"Well," said Martinex, "as I tried to say before the Punishers blasted me, I did some checking. Those weren't the Punishers. In fact, they weren't even human. They were androids, much like the Vision, who we now know as Mainframe. They even have the same ability to become intangible. That renders them super powerful, because if there are as many as we've encountered before, we have an army of Mainframes walking around the universe."

"But why did they shoot down Talon?" Charlie asked. "And why did Doom say it was all part of his plan?"

"That I don't know, Charlie." Martinex replied. "Maybe the Falcon knows?" They all turned to where the Falcon had once been standing. But when they did, they noticed he was gone.

Avengers Mansion, Earth, 2025

"Over here, you ugly Martian bastard!" Maxx cried as he led the Tripods away from the mansion. "Come get me!" Two of the Tripods turned to face him, and he ran. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. With a RAT-A-TAT-TAT and a THWAKOOM of gunfire, one of his legs was simply blown off, and one of the Tripods was moving in for the kill. 

"NO!" yelled Dell, as he came running up with the ZX-90. With a BANG! BANG! BANG!, he took out all three Tripods. "Wow!" he remarked. "We need more of these!" He picked up Maxx and hobbled back to the mansion, where Carmilla was still in labour.

"Push, Carmy!" M'Shulla yelled. "You can do it!" Carmilla Frost pushed. In fact, she had been for several hours now. But finally, with a heave, the baby crowned. It's head came out ever so slightly, into the hands of T'Chalu. Carmilla pushed even harder, and in moments, it was over. The baby was born. It was a boy.

"Carmilla!" M'Shulla cried. "We have a boy!" He leaned over to hug his wife. "Finally." he said. He leaned over to kiss his wife, yet as he did her head rolled to the side, her eyes backwards in her head. She was dead. "Carmilla?" he cried. "CARMILLA?!?" 

T'Chalu leaned over to console him, carrying his baby in her other arm. But M'Shulla just kept crying and crying. And in time, another Tripod heard the noise...

The Nan'tai Medical Offices....

"Yes, yes... very promising indeed." the native said. "We can definitely cure this boy."

"How?" Talon demanded.

"Simple." the native said. "He needs  an infusion of pure ionic energy into his heart. This will not only cure him, but it is quite likely to give him his own super powers, like this ionic entity here."

"But how do you do that?" Hollywood asked.

"Easy. You convert to your ionic energy form, and we feed you through an intra-veinous drip into his bloodstream, where you will gradually envelop his heart. The ionic influx will control his DNA more readily, enabling him to be a perfect specimen of his race, and thus curing his illness." the native said.

"But if Simon is in my son's heart, then how can he...?" Talon began to ask.

"Simple, you feline fool!" Doom interrupted. "For your son to live, Simon Williams, Wonder Man, MUST DIE!"

NEXT ISSUE: The Guardians of the Galaxy battle the Punsihers (again), we find out where Thor  and Sif are, Talon's son's fate is determined, we view the Earth of 2030, and it is quite likely Charlie will thump the living daylights out of Vance. All this next ish, in Guardians of the Galaxy #72: "Crime and Punishment pt3: Births, Deaths, and Marriages, the Sequel!"

Letters to the Stars

Well, there's my second issue of Guardians under my hat. I  hope you're enjoying it. But, alas, I haven't received one crummy letter :(. I really like to receive them, and it was a letter from you, a reader, asking me to inquire about Guardians that led me to do so! So please, stop me from filling this  column with wild rantings and send me a letter! (or maybe I could just raid the Avengers and Thunderbolts mailboxes.... they seem to get a lot).

- Adrian

April 2001