MAXIMUM VENGEANCE

Continued from Maximum Vengeance issue #1, issue #2, issue #3, issue #4, and issue #5.

Chapter ELEVEN

Sintariis sat in the luminous chamber, that once belonged to the Supreme Intelligence, on Hala, the Kree homeworld.  He had already been the new Supremor for a few days.  It would have been less if the people knew he was an undercover Skrull spy in disguise.  His mission was nearing completion.  There were rumors that Ronan the Accuser sought control of the empire for himself.  That didn't matter.  It wouldn't have an effect on the Skrull's operation.

A Kree commander entered the room, "What do you need, my master?"

"I need exactly three nega-bombs.  Have them shipped to my personal battleship as soon as you obtain them from the base." Sintariis answered.

The commander frowned, "Three!  What are you going to do with such a destructive force?!" he blurted out.  

"Do you forget to whom you're speaking!" Sintariis exclaimed, "It is none of your concern as to what I am planning to do.  Consider yourself lucky I don't have you executed for talking to me in such a manner."

The commander nodded, he managed to stammer, "I'll get those nega bombs as soon as possible, my master." then he strode out of the chamber.

At the Shi'ar throneworld, specifically the Royal Palace, home to Lilandra and her guests, the Avengers.  They were summoned to the conference room where General Nortor was waiting for them.  Lilandra sat at the head of the table with Gladiator at her side.

"So what's happenin' now?" Hawkeye asked.

Nortor walked over to the star chart on the wall.  He highlighted a small section.  "This is one of the Kree's major weapon storage facilities.  It is a rather large space station known as Sector-7.  Our intelligence reports say that a Kree Commander is on his way there for three nega bombs."

Jack of Hearts gasped, "That's enough explosives to wipe out the entire Shi'ar population!"

Lilandra nodded, "And we would most likely be their targets." she said, "The Kree consider us to be their 'most annoying nuisance'."

Nortor didn't even have to ask for help.  As he was about to say more he was interrupted by Hercules, "Verily, my comrades and I would be honored to aid you in preventing the shipments of the nega bombs."

Hawkeye was less enthused.  He still clearly remembered Captain America's death, "Maybe this time we won't loose an Avenger like the last time we decided to help ya!"

Moments later, a shuttle blasted into space.  It's passengers where Warbird, Hawkeye, Jack of Hearts, Starfox, Hercules, and Gladiator.  Normally, Lilandra would have called upon the Shi'ar Imperial Guardsmen to take on this mission, but they were scattered about throughout the galaxy battling the invading Kree forces, so the Avengers went in their stead.  The shuttle was of Kree origin, which would make it easier to get aboard the space station.

Captain America was taken to Ronan's planning room aboard the Conques.  The Accuser and First Officer Del-Mor were already there.  "Since you have decided to cooperate you will no longer be harmed and Earth shall be left alone once I gain command of the Empire.  We all get something out of this." Ronan said.

"That doesn't mean I feel right about helping you plan the overthrow of the Kree Supremor. But I also wouldn't feel right with Earth being just another nameless planet conquered into the Kree Empire, so I don't have too much of an option." Captain America replied.

Ronan smiled, "Believe me, I like this no more than you do.  It is humiliating for my future role of Supremor to rest on a human's tactics and strategies."

The Kree shuttle, carrying Gladiator and the Avengers, neared the Kree space station, Sector-7.  Gladiator spoke over the radio to the Kree technician on the station.  He gave them clearance to dock.  Gladiator then handed each Avenger a small metal cartridge to attach to their belts.

"This will erect a holographic image over your body.  We will all appear to be Kree officers."

The shuttle flew past the open docking bay doors and touched down.  A Sector-7 crewman went over to the shuttle and greeted the super heroes, in the guise of Kree.  "What is it you need?"

Gladiator answered, "Supremor Sintariis sent us to pick up the nega bombs.  We were told you'd have them ready."

Behind them another shuttle landed, the captain who had spoken to Sintariis earlier stepped out.  "Quickly!  I need the weapons for Master Sintariis."

The crewman looked at the Avengers suspiciously.  Hawkeye shrugged, "It's a small universe." They thought that the Kree where coming in two days from now for the weapons.

The crewman shifted to warrior form.  "You are under arrest."  

Hercules punched him hard in the face and much more warriors charged into the docking bay…

Aboard the pirate ship the Sanctuary II.  The ship traveled without a particular destination. They had no where to go, since Thanos' plan to takeover the Kree Empire, by using the Starjammers as pawns, was ruined by the three Avengers, Thor, Vision, and Photon.  He now waited for them to catch up with him so he could crush the life out of them.

At the prison level, Sersi opened her eyes.  This time Thanos and Nartissa were not there to punch her back out into unconsciousness.  She slowly became fully awake and warded off the oncoming headache she felt.

"Maybe now we can get out of here." Black Knight said.

Sersi knew what he meant.  She concentrated hard and altered the molecule structure of their metal bindings into flowers.  They effortlessly ripped themselves free.  "Thanks for the save Sersi.  Now we can get the heck out of here," said Iron Man.

Commander Corbin nodded, "Thanos has delayed us long enough from the invading Kree forces."

Across the room on a table, lay the Blck Knight's sword and Corbin's blaster and knife.  The two adventures reclaimed their possessions.  "First let's go get Thanos." said the Black Knight.

Suddenly, the doors slid open.  Thanos, Nartissa, and about thirty armor clad pirates entered the room.

"You're welcome to try." Thanos goaded.

Then the two armies clashed….

Chapter TWELVE

The Kree soldiers that stormed into the Sector-7 docking bay all wore metallic armor.  They were the Kree Techno soldiers, well trained Kree commandos led by Special Agent Shatterax.  Gladiator and his Avenger allies immediately switched off their holographic disguises and attacked.  Hercules smashed his tight fists through the soldiers' armor without difficulty, as did Gladiator.

As the battle waged on, the newly arrived Kree captain ran out of the room with the Sector-7 technician, "I'll take the nega bombs for Sintariis now, while the humans are occupied."

The captain was taken to the other end of the space station.  He stared out the viewport and saw the image of the three enormous weapons floating in space.  A system of passageways connected each bomb to the next.  At the lead, was the small transport ship, which contained the weapons in a powerful tractor beam.  The captain smiled, "Excellent,"

Hawkeye's arrows simply bounced right back off the Kree's armor plating.  Shatterax hit him from behind, sending him hurling through the air and into Starfox.  Shatterax  walked towards the downed Avengers to finish the kill.  As he moved in, he was struck with a stream of energy that forced him to turn about to see Warbird and Jack of Hearts.

Hercules gathered his strength and punched one Techno soldier directly through the faceplate, "Have at thee!" he shouted as he whirled around to kick a second in the chest, sending sparks in all directions.

Hawkeye realized that the Kree captain was no where to be seen so he took off down the corridor from where he last saw him.  Along the way, he fell three Kree soldiers with a single blast arrow and finally came to the viewport.  The tow ship, with the nega bomb complex, had made just made the jump into subspace. They were well on their way to Hala now.

Gladiator lunged at Shatterax, catching completely by surprise.  Both men toppled over, out through the open docking bay doors into outer space.  "You are most foolish, Shi'ar scum!" Gladiator thought otherwise.  His senses alerted him of an oncoming asteroid.  He dived downwards just as the large rock shot by, swooping into Shatterax.  The asteroid continued on, carrying an angry passenger.

When Gladiator returned to the station, he saw that the remains of Shatterax's forces had been beaten, they were scattered about the docking bay unconscious and Hawkeye had just reappeared, "Hey, that Kree guy got away with those bombs!"

"We had best return to the throneworld." Hercules said.

Thanos' fist hit hard against Iron Man's chest, throwing him back against the wall.

They were at the prison level of the Sanctuary II, where the Avengers had freed themselves only to be confronted by Thanos and his crew.

Black Knight leaped into the crowd of pirates, unsheathing his sword, cutting down the various aliens.  A man drew his blaster and had it aimed to the Black Knight's head.  he was about to fire when the pistol turned into water that dripped through his fingers due to Sersi's alteration of  its molecules.  

Commander Corbin fired his own blaster into the crowd of Thanos' crew.  He then pulled out his combat knife and dived into a rather large Rigellian.  The two combatants fell to the floor and Corbin slid his blade home into his foe.

Thanos was growing weary of this.  He backhanded Sersi across the face, knocking her out cold. Then, he whirled about and delivered a powerful blow to the side of Black Knight's neck, sending him to the floor in a heap.  Thanos turned and gripped the nearby Corbin's neck, squeezing it, he gave a sharp twist, which severed the Shi'ar Commander's spinal cord. "Are you Avengers done now?" he asked with irritation.

Iron Man staggered to his feet only to be kicked down once more by the Titan, "The others will come for us and you will be finished, Thanos."

Thanos only shook his head, "I doubt that, even as we speak, my plan is nearing completion."

Tony Stark frowned inside his helmet, "What are you talking about?  The Starjammers already ruined your operation when they discovered that their orders to annihilate Hala had came from you and not Majestrix Lilandra."

Thanos nodded, "True, but I am always prepared.  Right now I have a Skrull operative posing as the Kree Supremor, who is the only individual who can order the use of a nega bomb. Within just a few hours the Shi'ar Empire will be no more.  That is where I come in.  I reveal to the Kree people that their ruler is a Skrull impostor who murdered the true Supremor under the orders of his superiors.  I will be praised for flushing out the impostor and destroying the Kree's greatest enemies.  Eventually I rise to complete control over the Kree Empire and the Kree-Skrull War starts again."

Iron Man was unable to believe it, "You are going to kill billions just so you can have a little political power?"

"I begin to tire of you," Thanos replied.  A burst of energy hit Iron Man, knocking him into unconsciousness.  Thanos looked over to Nartissa, "Remove the Shi'ar commander's body, it is starting to smell most unpleasant."

At Quasar's place of exile, Reed Richards, if the Fantastic Four, and Hank Pym, of the Avengers, continued their research and experiments concerning the spores of Ego that Quasar's body served as a host to and of the evolved cells that changed the Kree into the Ruul, which were now being rejected by the "blue" Kree.

Reed shook his head, "I tried seven possible antidotes and not a single prevented the evolved cells of killing the 'blues'.  I've attempted everything that I could think of and it still isn't good enough!"

"Who cares 'bout them Kreeps anyways?"  the Thing asked, "With half of'em dead maybe they'll stop tryin' to takeover space."

"I'd hate to say but Ben is right," Quasar stated.

Just then, Goliath came running out from the quinjet.  "I know how to save Quasar!" he exclaimed, holding up a syringe with a thick red liquid in it, "This is the blood sample that I took from you.  I developed a type of antibody that attacked and broke down the Ego cells.

The antibodies will duplicate and spread throughout your body.  I can't be sure though if it will be a permanent solution."

"I'll give it a try," Quasar said hopefully.  He extended his arm and Goliath broke the skin with the needle and injected its contents into Quasar's veins.

The Kree shuttle that was occupied by the Starjammers, Corsair, Hepzibah, Raza, and Ch'od, and the Avengers, Thor, Vision, and Photon, neared Thanos' starship, Sanctuary II.

Vision turned himself intangible and Photon shifted to her form of pure electric energy.  The two Avengers passed through the shuttle's hull and into space.  They floated downwards towards Thanos' vessel and slipped through its hull and into the lower decks of the ship.  A guard immediately rushed over towards them was punched out by Photon.

"Do you have any idea where the prison level is?" Vision asked.

"I've been aboard this ship before, I think that it is two floors up." answered Photon.

"They made it undetected, "Raza stated from the shuttle cockpit.

"Stay that way, we must hope," Thor replied, "Thanos of Titan is filled with treachery."

Aboard the Kree battleship the Conquest, Ronan entered Captain America's quarters in a rage, "What's wrong, Ronan?"

"Del-Mor just informed me, that weasel Sintariis has three nega bombs being delivered to him as we speak!"

Captain America could not believe it, "Three!?  Good God, does he have any idea how much destruction that will cause.  All it took was one of those bombs to wipe out the Kree Empire a few years back."

Ronan nodded, "The situation that your people dubbed as Operation: Galactic Storm. Sintariis has the weapons linked somehow to form one ultimate nega bomb.  I would very much like to know what that little maniac is hoping to accomplish other than the destruction of half of the universe!"

To be concluded.

Thank you for reading this chapter of this new sequel to Marvel's Maximum Security!  Please send comments below or e-mail cpufeedback@yahoo.com  

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