The Kree
refugee ships slowly settled onto the lush surface of
the planet Avyos. One-by-one, the few surviving Kree
disembarked from their vessels and were met by the
large, broad-shouldered, heavy-winged Avyan
population. It took only a handful of hours for each
Kree to be treated for whatever minor injuries they
had sustained; to be given food; for shelter to be
organised.
All the while,
Gan-Vell - the young Kree warrior possessed of the
incredibly powerful nega-bands - hovered in orbit,
keeping an eye out for any sign of danger:
specifically, the approach of the Ruul and their
tyrranical battle master, Valaar.
I know they're
coming! But what can I do? he wondered. That
Starhawk guy -
Yes, Captain
Marvel?
Gan-Vell shuddered
as he heard Starhawk's voice in his head. Somehow,
the man had established and maintained a psionic link
with him as he travelled through space. The Kree had
no idea how such a thing was possible - but it had
happened. It was happening.
The Kree are
safe, Gan-Vell thought. What should I do
now?
Remain where you
are. The Kree should be safe where they are, and
Valaar should not prove to be of any further concern
- but you must remain to safeguard the Kree just in
case.
And where are
you?
Somewhere I
truly do not wish to be...
Stakar Ogord
materialised aboard the Guardians' ship, the Captain
America III, with no light or sound to mark his
arrival. For a moment, everything around the man's
blue-and-yellow-garbed form seemed to stand still;
like he was the sole figure aboard the ship able to
actively interact with reality.
Eventually, time
caught up with him and his arrival was noticed - by
the person he hoped would be the last to see him.
"STARHAWK!"
Charlie-27's voice
boomed loudly from the ship's cockpit, booming with
such force that it seemed to rattle the very
foundations of the starship. Despite his massive
power, Starhawk could not help but feel
uncomfortable; he was hardly welcome among the
Guardians of the Galaxy anymore, and while he did not
agree with their reasons for disliking and
distrusting him, he certainly understood them.
"Calm yourself,
Captain-27," he said. "I did not come here
to fight."
"There are two
sides to a fight, pal, and just 'cause you didn't
come asking - " Charlie-27 began to reply as he
stomped his way out of the cockpit.
"Shut up,
Charlie," Martinex snapped. "What are you
doing here, Starhawk?"
Starhawk turned to
the crystalline Guardian.
"I have come to
report that the Kree Gan-Vell has managed to ferry
the last Kree refugees to safety," Starhawk
said. "You no longer need to concern yourselves
with them... or the Ruul."
Kay-Den, the former
Kree ambassador to the Galactic Council, could not
remain silent.
"W-what do you
mean?" he asked.
"I mean,
Councillor Kay-Den, that by the time the Ruul find
the Kree and carry out your master's wishes, we will
be long gone - and hopefully, the Kree will be with
us," Starhawk replied.
Martinex and
Charlie-27 looked at Kay-Den.
"Your...
master?" Martinex asked.
"D-don't listen
to - " Kay-Den stammered.
"Guardians,"
Starhawk easily brought the attention back to
himself. "Do not concern yourself with him. The
Snark Rommel can fly this vessel; we, however, must
travel to Earth."
Charlie-27 laughed.
"What makes you
think we would go anywhere with you?"
When Charlie-27
began to speak, he and his fellow Guardians -
Martinex, Nikki, Yondu - were safely aboard the Captain
America III. When he finished, he found himself
standing in the heart of Latveria; in Castle Doom,
just outside the nation's capital of Doomstadt.
"Because you
had no choice, Jovian buffoon."
Charlie-27 whirled
at the sound of Doctor Doom's voice. There was
something... off... about it. Something that
made him uneasy, something he definitely did not
appreciate.
"You're not
Vernard," he said.
"Of course not.
That insolent whelp - " Doom took a deep breath.
"Kristoff Vernard is no longer among us. I am
the true Doom."
Martinex frowned.
"What is this,
Starhawk?" he asked. "Now you are teaming
up with one of Earth's most diabolical
villains?"
"Doctor Doom
now rules the Earth, Martinex,"
Starhawk explained. "Not that this should
concern any of us - for it is not the Earth of our
universe."
Nikki laughed.
"Come on,
Starhawk - out with it already."
Starhawk nodded at
the flame-haired Mercurian.
"Very
well," Starhawk said. "I have tried to
determine the most delicate way of telling you all of
this, but it seems I must be more direct than I would
have liked." He took a long, deep breath.
"This world, this universe, is not
ours."
"Again?"
Martinex asked. "Who caused the trouble this
time?"
"The Sphinx -
and, in a way, the Sphinx will help us undo the
damage our presence here has wrought on the
multiverse," Starhawk explained.
Nikki scratched her
head.
"The Sphinx?
You mean that whacky woman we followed to the
twentieth century? When we fought the New Warriors?*"
[ *
- in NEW WARRIORS #68 - Adrian ]
"I do,"
Starhawk replied. "When we were cast back out of
that time period, the Sphinx's own time manipulation
brought us into another world that was not ours**. We left that world to
arrive here - and although none of you have noticed,
things have been askew ever since."
[ **
- in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #63 - Adrian ]
"What do you
mean?" Yondu asked.
"It is doubtful
that any of you will recall this, but before you went
back through time to thwart the Martian invasion of
Earth my mother, Kismet, and I were undertaking our
own explorations of the galaxy - suddenly, my mother
had vanished," Starhawk offered.
"But that was
because it was the other you... the one from
the fake-Sphinx-reality, right?" Nikki asked.
"No. I
suspected the same and doubted my own memories, but a
detailed investigation into the myriad timelines over
which we have crossed shows that this form was indeed
the one who encountered Kismet and determined his
father's identity, just as the other Starhawk
did.
"In any event,
that is only one instance of mistaken
actuality."
Martinex rubbed his
chin thoughtfully.
"I
understand," he said. "Somehow, the
combination of the Sphinx knocking us off the mark
and our own cross-time capering has confused
things... messed up the continuity of reality."
"Yes,"
Starhawk confirmed.
"So what are we
gonna do about it?" Charlie-27 asked.
"I told you -
the Sphinx will assist us in returning to our
rightful place in the multiverse."
"You trust
her?" Nikki asked.
Starhawk smirked.
"That is not
the Sphinx I meant."
Doctor Doom laughed
loudly.
"Starhawk
refers to the Egyptian megalith, which I have
restored within the sprawling metropolis that is now
Cairea, in Africa," Doom explained. "The
Sphinx will be built some twenty years from now by
Kang the Conqueror, as a time machine, which he will
use to travel back in time and rule Egypt as the
Pharaoh Rama-Tut; the Sphinx will be left behind, for
me to restore and offer to you now."
"I have
determined, with the assistance of Mainframe and
Doctor Doom, that three realities have been
twisted," Starhawk said. "With the Sphinx,
we can enter the space between worlds, something I am
currently unable to do. There, I can effortlessly
undo the damage that has been done; this world,
however, will remain largely unchanged.
"We will return
to our proper reality; the Ruul and the Kree to
theirs."
Nikki's jaw dropped.
"You want us to
abandon the Kree?" she asked.
"Their universe
has its own defenders," Starhawk replied.
"Gan-Vell, Valaar, Cat-Lass and others."
"What about
Vance?" Martinex asked.
"And Giraud?
Autolycus? Mainframe? Hollywood? Yellowjacket? Aleta?
Talon?" Nikki added.
Starhawk looked at
the ground for a moment.
"Everything
that we have endured these past years has happened,
despite our fragile temporal balance," he said.
"I believe that if given the chance to unravel
the twisted timelines, I can undo all that was done
to our fallen friends; however Vance, whose latest
trials took place in yet another reality, will be
unaffected.
"Vance and
Yellowjacket will remain in the twentieth
century." And Aleta will continue on her own
adventures, with my guidance***.
[
*** - was that just a major EXILES spoiler?
Yes, it was. - Adrian ]
"I do not like
this," Yondu said. "You are asking us to
place a lot of trust in you. Trust you have not
proved worthy of in the past."
Starhawk nodded
gravely.
"I appreciate
your concern, Yondu," he said, "but
unfortunately... you have no choice."
For the briefest of
moments, Starhawk closed his eyes and concerntrated
with the full force of his will. He could feel the
universe bending, warping and twisting around him; he
could feel his presence, and that of the
other four Guardians, inside the sandstone Sphinx; he
could feel the time machine's delicate
controls; and he could feel the will of
Doctor Doom, guiding his hands as he manipulated those
controls.
"Yondu!
Martinex!" Charlie-27 shouted. "Stop -
"
He was too late.
Space and time
folded around the Sphinx and, in less than an
instant, the Guardians of the Galaxy no longer
existed in any true reality. For several moments,
Starhawk felt relieved; he knew that no matter what
happened next, the Guardians' erring manipulation of
the timestream would be over - even if they prevented
him from completing his mission, they could never
return to the world they had just left, or any other;
not even Martinex had the ability to control the
Sphinx.
Starhawk blinked and
found himself floating calmly outside the time
machine. He let the chronal energy that surrounded
him flow through him as he moved his hands,
symbolically depicting the rearrangement of reality
itself, a process taking place on a plane far beyond
that which could be perceived by the other Guardians.
Suddenly, something
was wrong.
Starhawk felt pain;
awful, agonising, terrible pain - but it was not any
sort of physical pain he had experience. It
seemed as if his soul itself was being ripped in
half. He did what he could to hold himself together;
he looked back at the Sphinx, desperately seeking
aid, but just as desperately hoping the Guardians did
not see his weakness.
No! I cannot be
defeated now!
He gestured at the
Sphinx, which immediately became surrounded by a
heavy purple mist.
It is done.
The Sphinx slowly
faded from existence, as did Starhawk's
rapidly-weakening form.
I do not know
what is to become of me now, he thought, but
the Guardians will have no memory of this or anything
else they have experienced since our encounter with
the Sphinx.
I do not know what is to become of
me now, he thought, but the Guardians will have no
memory of this or anything else they have experienced
since our encounter with the Sphinx.
The timestream
has been saved. The Guardians have been saved. All is
as it should be.
The timestream has been saved. The
Guardians have been saved. All is as it should be.
Now
I am free to destroy Aleta.
What?!
NEXT ISSUE:
It is a brand new beginning for the Guardians
of the Galaxy! Starhawk, Charlie-27, Martinex, Yondu,
Hollywood and Nicholette finally
find their way home, free of the knowledge of their
torturous encounters in the anomalous timestream. Be
here for the beginning of a brand new era in GotG
history!
AND: To
learn the fate of Gan-Vell, Valaar and Cat-Lass be
sure to read future issues of Exiles, also
here at the Epic Branch!
As always - send
feedback to bella1@netspace.net.au
