Chapter 50

Chapter 50

The Fastest Man Alive

So, you want to learn some magic?

Luke Cage & Jessica Jones

It had been a rough investigation over the last few weeks. When they had taken down that safe house, everything had gotten quiet, too quiet. So, Luke and Jessica had to put boots on the ground and ruffle the known dealers. They had been working the streets until they had finally gotten a name, Club G.

Jessica had found out this ‘Club G’ had an underground fighting ring. Humans and meta-humans both went there to buy the Mutant Growth Hormone drug, also known by the street name of MGH. With all of this, there was big money all around. Things had changed there recently with the introduction of the MGH; New York was starting to change. And that was why Luke was riding his bike with Jess riding Bitch on the back to that same club.

They had been able to get themselves an invite after speaking with Turk Barret. At first, he didn’t want to give up his invite, but that changed when they brought up the fun time he had with a certain speedster. Luke had to laugh when he watched Turks face pale at the mention of Ben.

Luke pulled over into the parking lot next to the club, allowing Jessica to jump off the back while he parked his bike. Backing his bike up into the parking space, Luke located guards standing near a door with an exit sign above it. With his kickstand down, Luke pulled his helmet off before placing it in storage along with Jessica’s.

Jessica unzipped her jacket as Luke got up from the bike and they made their way to the front of the Club G’s lines. The bouncers looked at his wrist tag with the invite before checking Jessica’s also as the plus one. One of the guards checked them both for weapons before letting them know someone was going to be at the bar for entertainment.

“Fuck, can we go now?” Jessica said with her general abrasive attitude. “I need a drink, then a good fucking, but I can’t get either standing here all night.”

The guards shared a look before giving Luke a chuckle and allowing them into the club.

“You know, we didn’t have to come out tonight.” Luke said to Jessica as they walked into the club. Jessica chose to ignore him as she listened to the thumping of the beat that blasted out of four massive speakers.

“Yeah well, I wasn’t going to just let you punch these assholes in the face without me.” Jessica replied as she called over a bartender.

“Jessica, I didn’t come out here to punch anyone in the face.” Luke said back as the bartender came over with a couple of beers.

“I’ll bet you the cost of the wall you broke down.” Jessica replied as she brought the beer to her lips.

“You mean the wall you broke down because you couldn’t wait to get to the bedroom?” Luke asked back with a raised brow. “And my belt buckle.”

“Yeah, well, the pounding you gave; broke it down. So it’s your fault.” Jessica said as she placed the beer bottle back down.

There was a sharp breath intake, causing Luke and Jessica to look at the blushing blonde that was on the stool beside their own. The blond was fanning herself but squeaked when she noticed the glare shot in her direction.

“Walk away, bitch,” Jessica said as she eyed the bimbo and her companions. “I’m not sharing.”

“Jessica, can’t you be nice?” Luke asked as he watched the gaggle of party girls back away from Jessica’s glaring face. Jessica turned to give Luke a look, but their time together was interrupted by a nicely dressed man walking up.

“Well, well, well, So big man feeling lucky tonight.” A man that stood five feet tall and was about as high as Luke’s waist spoke.

“Yeah, no words shared, but flashy is the thing around town.” Luke spoke back the code he had gotten from Turk.

“I see, I see, follow along.” The sharply dressed suit said as he turned around.

“Bout fucking time.” Jessica huffed as she downed her beer then a following shot before walking behind the shorter man.

“Jessica.”

“What? I want to punch some face in, and this is just the place.” Jessica replied as Luke shook his head at her statement. There was nothing he could say because he knew that she was not playing up the role. Luke had noticed the smile at the corners of the guide’s lips, but for the life of him. He couldn’t understand why the guide never made introductions or gave his name.

Without saying any more, Luke followed along. What they arrived at was a back room with four people standing guard. Luke noticed nothing else in the room besides four white walls. Then he and Jessica watched as the short man moved a ring before inserting a key. The back wall shifted, and the guards held out a hand for them to step forward and get frisked once more. Luke moved swiftly as a viper to stop one of the guards. Luke had grabbed the man by the wrist and squeezed a little feeling the bones crunch under his grip as he pulled the man’s arm back.

“I would like you to refrain from such actions. Thank you very much.” Luke growled at the man who attempted to grope Jess. The other three guards took a step back as the one’s arm he held went down to his knees from the pain.

“Okay, man, okay.” The guard screamed out as Luke looked down at his begging form. For a moment, Luke wondered if he should break the arm some more, but thought better of it when he noticed the short man come back up the stairs. Jessica gave the downed guard a fake smile before punching his lights out. This caused Luke to drop the arm he held. Without looking back, Luke watched as Jess scowled with a shrug at the short man before following him down those same stairs.

Following along, Luke said nothing as he got to the bottom of the stairs, but couldn’t help his surprise with the size of the fighting pit. It had to be at least twenty feet in diameter with a sand floor and cage surrounding it. There were sounds of thumping that drew Luke’s eyes to the two currently inside the ring fighting. Down in the fighting pit was a lady on fire while the other person looked like they were made out of sand. Ignoring the two, Luke sighed and followed behind Jessica.

He just knew in his heart that it was going to be a long night. Maybe he should have just taken her up on her offer. At least then, he would be back home and doing something far more pleasurable. Luke had stood there for a moment and watched them fight. Hee watched as the man made of sand wrapped the lady up in an attempt to suffocate her.

“Come, come, come.” Their guide spoke as he directed them over to a small hospital next to a betting booth. He sat down next to a man in a white lab coat with no name tag on his front. “So you in the market or wanting a bout.?”

“A fight would be nice.” Jessica muttered under her breath as she looked at the fighting pit.

“We are in the market.” Luke answered before Jessica could end up starting something. The short man took a look at them before waving over one of his guards. The shorter guy then whispered something in his man’s ear before letting him walk off. There was a cheer behind Luke as the lady with flames burst out of her hold. Her fire had scattered the man made up of sand.

Jessica looked at the battle, then scoffed, before grumbling something about her being able to do far better than that bitch. Luke didn’t notice how the short guy took note of that statement before he took the offered seat.

“Where are my manners,” The short man said after he took his seat and someone brought out a hard case for him to sit on the desk. “The names Savage, and your Luke Cage.”

That brought Luke and Jessica up short because they didn’t think these people would know anything about them. He glanced at Jessica and noticed that four more guards had come into view. Jessica let out a low, ‘FUCK!’ before settling in beside his position.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Savage said as he tapped on top of the case on his desk.

“Well, I can always punch your face in.” Jessica said as she punched her left hand into her right palm.

“And I could always have my men fill you with lead.” The man called Savage said as his guys brought up semi-automatics.

“Then, let’s take it easy.” Luke said, his deep voice calming down some of the goons.

“Good, so your broad has been talking smack right. Well, let’s put your life on her skills.” Savage said with a nasty smile. “She won’t be getting a shot of MGH either.”

“And if I beat your guy like a cheap drum?” Jessica asked as her iconic resting bitch face was showing.

“You get to walk out of here with no extra holes.” Savage replied to her; fortunately, Luke was already checking for a way on how to escape.

“Good because if you shoot me, I’ll pull the bullet out of my jacket and shove it up your ass with my pinky finger, and who do you think that will hurt more?” Jessica replied with her resting bitch face.

Before Luke could put a stop to everything, Jessica walked up before ripping the gate from the fighting pits. Savage raised an eyebrow before pressing a button under his desk.

“Bets are open!” Boomed around the arena as numbers started to roll across a screen. The LED screen hung over the pit above the cage.

“This is not going on her date night card.” Luke muttered as he walked down to the stand around the fighting pits.

“Haha! She is a wild one. I would pay for a night if I didn’t know she was with you.” Savage said beside Luke, but Luke never had a chance to answer. Out from one of the locker rooms walked a man that was as large as Luke himself. The brawler had to have been half a foot taller than Luke with thighs for his arms instead of ham chops. The man’s head was bald with tattoos along his neck while he had piercings all over his lips and ears.

Jessica was in the fighting pits with her resting bitch face while the big man waited on the outside. Before he entered, the guy in the white lab coat ran up to him with a blue liquid syringe. The large guy held out his hands, and then the one in the lab coat gave him the injection.

He grunted a bit before dropping to one knee, Jessica had to watch as his skin changed color to a metallic shine. Clang, clangs sounded out as the goon pounded his fist together as he prepared himself to enter the cage.

“You don’t look too worried.” Savage said as he looked over at Luke’s calm exterior.

“I’m not because she is wearing her steel-toed boots,” Luke replied with a chuckle. “Just wait and see.”

Savage wanted to say something, but he had no chance as the announcer started to make his rounds on the competitors. Luke ignored it all to check his smartwatch, that same watch was disguised with a standard clock face and dial. With two quick flicks, Luke called in back up while he also sent out a GPS ping on his location. Luke’s wrist vibrated five times, letting him know that his backup was five minutes from reaching his position.

A waiter came around, and Luke took the offered beer and downed it as Jessica planted her boots right into the groin of the metallic brawler. Everyone winced while Savage noticed the chuckle from Luke at his side. The brawler went down in a scream of pain as he held his caved in privates. Jessica had kicked him so hard you could see the ripple of metal roll up his back and down his legs as the screech of metal rang out.

The brawler’s hips had caved in, giving him comical U shaped innards. Luke knew that when the MGH wore off that he was a dead man because there was just no way of coming back from a shattered hip and pelvis. Savage’s face twisted into a frown and then a growl, but Luke was already moving. Savage yelled out for some more of his men to enter the cage and get Jessica. What he didn’t notice was Luke’s action while he was screaming at the top of his lungs.

With the half-finished beer in his hands, Luke turned and smashed it into the guard standing at his back. He didn’t need the bottle since he was bulletproof, but the surprise factor was his aim. The goon went down with a dazed look, leaving Luke all alone since the others were running to where Jessica was in the fighting pits. With a double-tap on his belt, Luke’s utility belt activated, allowing him to pull out a tracker and place it on the hard case.

Luke noticed Jessica was having far too much fun as she kept punching out the goons. Before Savage could react, Luke went for the guy in the lab coat and stopped him from injecting another person with the MGH.

“You think you fucks can shut me down? I am Savage, bitch!” The short man screamed as his body started to transform into that of a beast. Hair sprouted all over his body as his teeth grew, and claws extended out of his fingers. Luke watched as his body hunched over before having to jump out of the way as Savage launched himself towards his location. Before he could land, Luke had grabbed one of the metal chairs and swung it at Savage. He bounced off the chair and flew towards the fighting pits smashing into the gates.

More guards poured into the area, but a super-powered tap to the head put them down for the count. Who didn’t go down from such a hit was the club owner Savage. He had gotten back up enraged, but to bad for him, he was now within Jessica’s reach now.

Jessica reached her hand through the bars in the cage to grab a fist full of fur. With a mighty heave, she pulled back, yanking Savage into the mesh of the cage. Whoever built that cage did a damn excellent job Luke noted that as a tuft of fur was left in Jessica’s hands. Savage had bounced off the cage springing forward. Noting the trajectory of his path, Luke grabbed up a table and used it as a bat sending Savage into the wall.

A bang sounded out as Jessica kicked open the cage as she stalked out. Before Luke could say anything, Jessica reared back her foot, then unleashed a nasty kick into the side of the club owner.

“See, I told you that I would win, pussy.” Jessica huffed as she gave him one more kick.

“Easy, easy, Jessica.” Luke chuckled as he had to move her away before she gave him another kick. Luke bent down and picked up the club owner but noticed the escape door turning bright red.

The door burst open and in came flying a person on fire.

“Fear not citizens for I have come to- what the what?”

“Alright fire butt you can clean up here, Luke and I are going to go home and get some coffee.” Jessica said before giving out orders to the cleanup crew that followed along behind the human torch.

“Isn’t it too late for coffee?” Johnny Storm asked with apparent confusion on his features.

“Aren’t you a playBoy or something? It’s an innuendo for sex, you wet matchstick.” Jessica replied in clear exasperation as she threw her hands up in the air.

“But don’t you have to file a report, and aren’t you in charge here?” Johnny asked as he turned to Luke.

“He does have a point Jess.” Luke said, agreeing with Johnny Storm.

“You should not agree to his cockblocking,” Jessica snarked with a finger jabbed at the human torch. “People with suits are already here, and our little bands record everything, we aren’t needed.”

“Point, for you, then Jess.” Luke agreed.

“Now, I want my coffee, and I want it with lots of cream.” Jessica replied as she made for the open escape door.

Luke gave Johnny Storm one last look before taking off his smart band. He then tossed Johnny, his smart band, before leaving some parting words.

“Night, kid.”

O.O.O.O

Benjamin Blake

Leader, King

The public sky car flew along the afternoon sky of Pandora while I relaxed into my seat as I looked over my kingdom. I had an intrinsic understanding of how much of a groundbreaking path I currently walked. There was a common understanding within the comics that any happiness that a hero might receive would come along with pain and suffering. The shoe would drop one of these days, but I was no hero and was lying in wait to shoot that metaphorical bullshit down.

Before me floated a hologram depicting all of my kingdom’s reach with comings and goings. I thought it funny that this would remind me of the game civilization. I had a T-rex with a blue fur logo depicting Hank being in the Savage lands. He had made it there without any crashes or mishaps, which made me breathe a sigh of relief. They had set up the small colony and had a link set with portal control. I was going to head there once I had gotten this magic thing down.

I wonder if the girls would like a sabertooth cub, maybe a triceratops egg.

The next mark was located on the west coast, and that was of a water droplet. The west side was where Namors little embassy was going to go next to the trading port of the city. It was the closest to water, and the cliff face on that side allowed for a spectacular construction. We had cut into the side of the cliff face and replaced it all with window and reinforcement. The trading center now looked like a spiraling set of windows and moving elevators connecting directly to the ocean. The stunning sight of watching barges move and float around on anti-gravity fields would never get old.

The next mark was Ororo in the east with the school, Natasha, and Emma in Greenland over Roger’s body. Gwen was in New York at the tower, and Felicia was in a business meeting. A wave of my hand shifted the map to display my military. Out of the two hundred thousand astarts birthed out of the artificial womb pods connected under the island. A very substantial one hundred and twenty thousand made up my military forces. This ranged from logistics to transport and ground forces. The navy was turning out to be one of my service forces’ largest, and I was oddly okay with that.

There was a lot of love for my ground pounders, but sometimes, all you needed was to launch a missile that would kill everything in an area, including the earth itself. Granted, each of my Spartans was just a downright nasty super-soldier trained by Natasha, Raven, and Gunny. Hell, Gunny had brought a small contingent with him when he had moved onto the island. So I was secure in knowing that there was not a military on this planet that could stand up to me.

Not even the Wakandan military could stand up to my own, and Namor’s couldn’t be fielded very far out of the ocean. Hell, once I got my hands on an unsuspecting Atlantean criminal, our underwater disadvantage would be drastically reduced.

Shifting the map allowed it to transition to the budding space station. Once Jean had given the okay on that project. We had opened it, allowing the population of the island to visit once the atmospheric generators were online and a few shops and apartments were built. Some of the reviews had come in, and I couldn’t help smiling at how proud they sounded.

A vibranium ore miner was saying how easy it was to use the specialized tractor beam to mine. Then he went on to talk about how our protocols allowed him to breathe easy, knowing that he doesn’t have to worry about blowouts or caving in with our advancements. Emma had wanted me to put the spider bots and survey squids to mining, but I had to explain to her how idle hands cause more issues, and humans would always need work. The A.I collective on the island was always going through video footage and posted reviews to help ensure that the island ran smoothly and that everyone stayed happy.

The next series of jobs to be released to the public would revolve around space. This would include the shuttles and some of the spacecraft under construction by the spider bots and matrix squids. The sign-up sheet to be on the engineering teams and repair crews were filled within moments once it went live. Everyone was ready to work in a field that could be found nowhere else in the world. They wanted to be masters of their destiny, and it didn’t hurt that most of them grew up watching Star Trek and Star Wars. The flight schools were also flooded with students, and I was alright with that.

Putting my thoughts aside, I noticed the shifting of the holo-map to Jean’s shuttle. That was fine, but it was the glowing red section of my map that had me sitting up in my seat and placed me on high alert. With a wave of my hand, the network promptly started to update me on the situation. It would seem that one of the matrix styled surveyor squids had found an old derelict ship just floating out in space. Of course, we didn’t recognize the make and model, but the collective was running a search through the NOVA EMPIRE’s public networks for something. Jean had pulled up next to the craft and was preparing her boarding team when it hit me.

FUCK, I would have to place a bug in their galactic library once I visit their homeworld of Xandar. I hate dealing with UNKNOWN’s in Marvel. Shit like this was asking for xenomorph eggs. Shit, if I remembered correctly, Xenomorphs and Predators were a small part of the marvel universe!

“ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! OMEGA FOUR FOUR NINE NINE TWO ONE OVERRIDE ALPHA TWO.” I yelled with full-blown panic in my voice. “Shut down protocol six seven one one.”

I watched as the shuttle Jean was flying powered down the gravity drivers. The airlock disengaged, and I took over controls from the sky car and had them retreat one hundred meters from the craft.

“Flight control, this is Phoenix, what’s going on!” Jean started to yell into her comms unit. “I demand answers, dammit!”

“Flight control to Phoenix, we are unsure of what happened.” I heard a reply from the others.

“That was my doing,” I spoke up in the comms unit. “Flight control, dispatch another shuttle with quarantine gear out to Jean’s location now.”

“Yes, my king.”

“Jean, this is not a movie. You can’t dock and just walk onto that ship.” I said with a sigh as the holo-video started.

“And why not?” Jean asked back from her pilot’s seat. She was wearing one of the UMF suits in a flight suit jumper configuration.

“Jean, you’re a fan of horror movies,” I said with a deadpan look on my face. “So please don’t have me explain to you about all of the ways that this can go wrong.”

That statement seemed to pacify her, and I watched as her face paled for a second before her eyes glowed an eerie red.

“Flight suits and full containment protocols then.” Jean replied with a nod of her head. Before I could say anything, she turned and started to give out commands to her crew. I sat with a smile and watched as she whipped them all into action. I sat and waited for a moment as the second shuttle arrived at her location and started to let out small two by two rooms that expanded to surround the derelict ship.

On the outside of the expanding room were attachments allowing Jean’s shuttle to dock. On the other side, she would find a room completely isolated from the other ship. Inside that room, her crew would find food and a full medical suite to run tests and check the air for pathogens and other such things. Yeah, paranoid, I know, but it was better than bringing back xenomorphs or the Brood to earth. I wouldn’t see Jean for another seventy-two hours because of the isolation protocols in place. Yet, I was okay with this over the alternatives.

There was a bing in the cabin of the sky car, noting my arrival to the Archmage’s tower. I looked up and around, noticing my guards standing outside waiting on me. Sending Jean my love, I shut down the call and prepared myself.

O.O.O.O

Arch-Mage Tower.

Standing on the pathway, I looked up at the tower that floated there in silence. The tower stood like a beacon and radiated power for all to feel. Up above gardens floated around on blue whips of light. The tower wasn’t made of stone, no, even here I had opted for crystal and glass to make it pop with the magical interaction. My whole island was made with setting us apart in mind, and having a mages tower was a must with the number of magical threats in Marvel.

I knew that once I stepped beyond the door’s boundary, I would be greeted with a new world of possibilities. Magic was one of those things you didn’t play with. Not only was it one of the most versatile things around, but it was also one of the worst double-edge swords someone could use if abused.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped across the threshold of the mage’s tower. The world exploded with a cacophony of sounds as I found myself at one of the dueling arenas.

“Took you long enough dear.” The Ancient One said as she sipped her tea. Her back was turned to me as she watched the battle rage before her. There was nothing I could say because this lady was just far too fucking terrifying, and I was just happy that she was on my side. There would be no way to defeat her because of the infinity stone she had in her possession.

Hell, I was confident that the only reason why she even died in the movie was that she was ready to pass on. There was no way she went from kicking everyone’s ass throughout the movie to suddenly get stabbed and die. No, that was because Marvel decided to cop out and set up Dr. Strange to replace her. Then there is the other side of it that she might have just been ready to pass on.

“There was an emergency,” I said as I sat in the open chair beside her own. Taking up the empty cup, I held it out for a serving of tea. As the teapot floated over to fill up my cup, I looked down at the two magic users in a heated battle.

Down below, were Marcus and Selene dueling as if their life depended on it. Marcus’s tattoos were on full display and they glowed as he tossed out spells after spells. Marcus was bare-chested as he dodged a nasty spell that melted the golem that was guarding his back. Selene, on the other hand, had glowing red eyes with a manic grin on her face while tossing out spells far faster than when I had faced her.

“Ego, has a way of limiting one, does it not?” The Ancient One spoke serenely as she kept on watching them duel. Honestly, I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing and just kept drinking my tea. The golem that Selene’s spell melted warped before coming back to life and attacking Marcus from the back. Marcus paid it no mind, and when it swung at him, his hair extended and skewered the damn thing before slicing it up into small chunks.

A twist of her fingers sent a blaze the size of a three-story house at Marcus, causing him to slam his hands into the ground. I was wondering what he was trying when the ground turned to water before leaping up and devouring the flames. Setting back in my seat from the steam explosion, I brought up a hologram menu of the field and learned that he changed the entire thing with one move. Since I had arrived, Marcus had been on the defense. I was starting to wonder how he was going to win this.

When the steam cleared out, it showed two Selenes, while Marcus was all bloody with slash marks on his body. Marcus had no chance to escape as the left Selene waved her hand, causing the water beneath him to erupt. This launched him into the air as the Selene on the right had a massive magical circle form before her readying an attack. I couldn’t stay anymore and was already moving to save my astarte, but I was stopped because I couldn’t leave my chair.

“He has not yielded; it would not do for his king to rescue him.” I heard from my right. Before I could say anything, Selene launched her attack towards Marcus. The attack she launched zoomed across the battle arena, I watched as Marcus twisted in the air. As he twisted, a purple shield started to form around his body. Marcus didn’t even land on the water’s surface; he went right through without causing one ripple.

The right Selene raised her hand, pulling up all of the water on that side of the field. I watched transfixed as an Olympic pool’s worth of water was levitated with nothing but a hand gesture. I watched as the water froze with another gesture, but that purple light was still surrounding Marcus. There was a growl and then a burst of power as he broke free, causing icicles to fly all around the battlefield. Selene displayed impeccable control as she summoned all of them back to her sides. They rotated around her once before being transformed into flying monkeys and sent towards Marcus once more.

This fight was over, I could easily see that Selene was by far his superior during this bout.

“This fight is over.” I spoke before entering commands into the holo-deck. The Ancient One sent me a smile, but I was far too busy eyeing the time panel on the holo-deck. The systems were recording the whole bout, and one of the islands AI’s had placed a counter beside the video’s time sensor. The recording was rolling at one hundred times that of standard time, and that was when I understood what the Ancient One meant about ego blocking one’s view.

Selene could have kept up with me at my higher speeds. I knew that Marcus couldn’t do that before this, which meant he learned enhanced speed recently. Then there were the other implications in all of this. I couldn’t stop thinking of all the angles as the Ancient One sat there with her tea watching a hyper-speed battle of magic.

Ignoring the implications of that, I sent in my override code and shut down their battle. A stasis field descended upon both of them mid-battle. Both combatants were frozen within the stasis field while I decided to take my time descending from the viewer’s area. I paid no mind to the all-powerful Sorcerer Supreme that decided to follow behind.

Opening the door that led to their battlefield, I took a moment to look down at the waters below. They had turned a hardened battleground into an ocean with naught but a spell. The only thing that kept the room from collapsing down was the enchanted reinforcements to deflect spellfire.