DEFENDERS/ TRANZ #3: Free of the Fallen World (Pt. 4, conclusion)

From the shadowy reaches of the violet arena of space surrounding Sharptooth, three mysterious forms of indigo observe a towering man-form, crackling with power, robed with sharp, probing angles that reach like a castle of doom from his shoulders and head. Before him appears a blond, beautiful enchantress dressed in emerald and black, leering. “Even should these meddlesome Defenders discover the double nature of your pawn---pawn, or prince of the world to come---as an immortal of Asgard, I shall live on, either way! “
Fires of Rome "Set in Stone" (EP mix)

http://www.jiwa.fm/#track/1573664

Behold, they advance now from the abyss. You, who bound the warrior to the wolf sorcerer--- what payment do you extract?
“Come what may,” the enchantress replies, “I will take my rewards where I find them. I cast this spell upon her, who is also two people in one; the warrior maiden, the woman beneath. Even as the valkyior come in time to become goddesses of the Norn, so shall I place within her astral aura my spell, to call her to join, bound within the Norn stones...and when they again become mine...but hark now, ‘tis done! Amora takes her leave, Sulinar Vix of Kolpar!”
With a lift of his chin, he regards her. “May you scheme in interesting times!”
With a humorless laugh, at the nimbus of a spell, she vanishes.
The three indigo forms consult with one another telepathically, grateful to have thus escaped notice. They see Sulinar Vix cast a light over the Machine Man, probing him as the heroes advance from the nothingness. Then he turns to an approaching form, a tall, ebony young man, who seems to espy them, by his eyes; to Sulinar Vix, his face reveals nothing. “So now,” he speaks, “upon my birthday visit to this world, I await the completion of the spell of the wolf...”
“Hail to Sennil, Dark Poet,” says Sulinar Vix. “ No doubt, you await also the return of what is taken from Semeicardia.”
“Your fellow Sinister has engineered cells swiped there, to become henchmen to your pawn of pawns. His fate also belongs to Semeicardia.”
“These are the last moments of the Spell of the Wolf,” says Sulinar Vix. “I bid you observe the resolution of this gambit, Dark Poet, and we shall see if the nature of the world yet shall be formed by the Tranz-Rupture.”

The triplet forms observe the dark Poet dissolve into the indigo light as he walks on, while the wolf sorcerer conjures fierce lights, bolts of power escaping his claws. Vix, with a pass, restores his four-armed henchmen and she-wolf by his side, as the Defenders attack before the towering form of the Fire Dragon.
With Madame Blavatsky beside her looking on in awe, Clea's spell to send the Flames of Faltine to the torch of the Marc Kane stretches between two people separated by 150 years...yet once the flame is hers, Marc Kane physically merges within the form of Prince Dragonvayne, who now burns AS the flame.

With the souls of Prince Nicola Dragonvayne and the Marc Kane aligned within Dragonfang, Valkyrie surprises the sorcerer with a strike of that sword, flowing with the Flames of Faltine.


Cleaving his form, now from it springs Remus Sharptooth, grappling viciously with Valkyrie, who calls upon the power of Freya to guide her blows.

To the other side of the immobile form run through with Dragonfang, a cavern appears; the spirits of Nicola and Marc Kane enter. Doctor Strange's projection of the Eye of Agamotto's light into the Flames of Faltine illuminates the cave, revealing its occupant. Inside is the other half of Sharptooth’s form, the essence of the sorcerer is revealed: her lost brother, Ray, taken by the enchantress’ spell between his vanishing at the Break through and Valhalla. The Box they had guarded together is conjured from outside time and space to reappear here and focus the energies of the Tranz-Rupture. They, its final guardians, the last defenders of humanity, have come to this place and time to prevent it once more from being misused: then, as a weapon of war, and now, as an agent to shape all of human consciousness and the earth itself. Their misunderstanding is shelved for another time; they three conclude some manipulation at work, the night before they carried Slay Box to its volcanic ensconcement. As they join in a circle of hand to bond their energies, two words seem to emerge from the hooded girl, the center figure between two males, the lit face of one of those triplet indigo forms as they disappear beyond the shadows from space time:





"Uncle Ray...Father...Mother?"

As those three take leave of the plane of ultra-mentality, so, too, do their ancestors. Swirling, they vanish into destiny, a dimension for a future story.

Remus Sharptooth wrestles and hurls his hex bolts, but he cannot defeat the Valkyrie in time to re-unify his self and complete the spell; already, the summoned “cosmic-blink” M’Krann energies destabilize. He attempts to flee again to the material world; his appearance there precedes a massive explosion of his devices. The Defenders quickly follow him, as the spell-place fades and they return to the world, Valkyrie arriving upon Aragorn. She catches Patsy just before the conflagration. Determined not to be blown into indiscriminate parts and left for scrap, Machine Man accesses his anti-grav units just in time to vacate the shattering mountain top.

With her psychic sensitivities, Patsy (Hellcat) realizes the key to stopping the Tranz-Rupture effects within the minds of humanity lies with Nighthawk, who has once had the awareness of his brain being separated from his form. Doctor Strange and Clea work together to amplify the link; his disembodied state, from his memories, is transferred through the Tranz-Rupture connection between all minds. With that moment of silence, free of the illusion of existence, the peace everyone feels allows the stillness to take hold. The forces throwing together the psyches of humanity cease their torrential, invading nature, and individuality is restored.









Remus Sharptooth attempts his escape in a Gnomlin-built craft---a decision influenced by the Viking Captain, Ray Awen, who still makes up his subconscious mind. As all the heroes pursue Remus Sharptooth, they discover what he has forgotten about all crafts built by Gnomlins: in the end, they stop and they explode.

Just before this explosion, the Wolf Oversoul appears to Remus Sharptooth. He promises the sorcerer another existence to come, an incarnation in the world of Semeicardia. Thus he achieves a strange peace as he experiences his end on Earth.

The essence of the Semeicardia-fated creatures all finds its nexus through the eyes of Hillie, still filming below as the sorcerer’s saucer rockets away. Moments later, he finds himself possessed of an idea for a new film...about the exploits of a wolf sorcerer, reborn on a world called Semeicardia. He decides to begin scribbling notes, post haste.

Many present, in the end, are rallied by Mountie Dave’s call to have a round of Dreadnaughts , which Oakie suggest they have back at the Castles Made of Sand Bar and Grill. Teddy finds himself at peace, feeling understood, prepared to move on after helping save lives here today. And Bali finds himself a new dog...he begins to rub her and check her over for pests, glad to have salvaged the animal from this disaster zone. She looks to be of wolf descent...but placid in his hands.


Having transformed from the Hulk, Doctor Banner finds himself at a distance from all this revelry, as people try to continue on with normal life, after an experience they will try to understand, all their lives.
Needing a way to get on, himself, he takes some clothes found at the fire rescue encampment, and begins to hitchhike beside the Southern California highway.


"End credits music"

Cocteau Twins, "Pandora"



END.








story and art by Lue Lyron, with Eric Joy :)


THE DEFENDERS and all related characters are copyright Marvel Entertainment.

REMUS SHARPTOOTH created by C Lue disharoon with Danny Johannsen, with special thanks to Cody Guinon

MARC KANE, PRINCE NICOLA DRAGONVAYNE,RAY AWEN created by Angela Dawn Disharoon

All Dragon's Line characters and all characters not identified as Marvel trademarks
copyright 2010 Integr8d Soul Productions

original story copyright 2010 Integr8d Soul Productions

GNOMLINS, SEMEICARDIA and DARK POET created by Danny Johanssen


Dedicated to Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema, David Anthony Kraft, and Jack Kirby
(There’s the synopsis! I’ll present it all rewritten in script form over the next couple of days. It will be a treat. Take care!)