//|| //^^\\ || || .|. COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS // || \\ || || --X--------------------------------------------- //======================= '|` ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES # 32 // || \\ || || "In Darkness Bound" // || \\__// || || Copyright 2000 by Dave Van Domelen ___________________________________________________________________________ [cover shows ASH, EUROPA and STRAFE gathered together, looking up at the viewer. A shadow falls across them, a shadow that seems to be cast by a pyramid. The tip of the shadow falls between Solar Max, Grind and a third figure who is covered by the shadow and whose identity is concealed. The pyramid marker on the lower left hand corner is red except for a tiny gold capstone. "PYRAMID SCHEME: STEP FOUR!"] ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES ROLL CALL CODENAME REAL NAME POWERS STATUS -------- --------- ------ ------ Solar Max Jonathan Zachary Spacetime Control PSYCH LEAVE "JakZak" Taylor Meteor Sarah Grant-Taylor Superspeed MEDICAL LEAVE Green Knight Salvatore Napier Strength, Regeneration ACTIVE Contact Aaron Zander Psi, Mind-over-Body ACTIVE Scorch Scott Handleman Pyrokinetic ACTIVE Essay Sara Ana Rodriguez Gadgeteer ACTIVE Peregryn Howard Henderson Jr. Elemental Mage ACTIVE Lightfoot Tom Dodson Velocity Control PROBATION Breaker Christina Li Telekinesis PROBATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [September 1, 2024 - Chicago, Illinois Sector] The room was cold and the dressing gown he'd waken up in didn't do much to ward it off, but JakZak didn't even notice the frigid temperatures. For the first time in months, the cold knot in his heart was gone, and that warmed him more than a parka or a roaring fire would have. "Sarah...I don't know if you can hear me, or if there's even a 'you' there to talk to...but if you can..." he trailed off for a moment and reached out towards the ice sculpture that his wife had been transformed into. He stopped short of touching her, but let his hand hover near her cheek. "I think I've finaly gotten a handle on the guilt. It's still there, but...I'm not being angry and stupid and *insane* about it anymore. Everyone says it was just a dream, but I know I spent some time in the past, living with the man who would become Lord Ebon. It gave me time to think about why I was spiraling into a cycle of revenge and hate...and I found I couldn't kill an innocent man just because he would eventually become a monster." He paused, his breath forming small clouds in the refrigerated room. "I'll make sure justice has its way with Radner...and Cockatrice, and everyone else involved in this mess. But I'm not going to kill innocents just to get to the guilty. That was a fever I was having, and it finally broke. Before *I* broke." He turned towards the door, taking his hand from Sarah's icy face. "I need to get caught up on what I missed, but I'll be back." Because he'd turned away, JakZak didn't notice the tear running down Sarah's face where his hand had been.... * * * * [September 4, 2024 - Seattle, Washington Sector] "I don't see why you're so excited to be here," Juliana cocked an eyebrow at Scott. "You've been in space for real!" Scott waved his free hand to take in the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle as they waited to be seated. "But this is more than real, Julie! State of the art holofilm layers on the windows, Santari grav compensators retrofitted to give the illusion of acceleration, programmable vistas that don't exist within lightyears of Earth, or simply don't exist at all! Plus, the added benefit that I'm not expecting to be shot at or blown up at any moment, so I can relax and take in the view," he added, smirking. "I only get to go up into space on missions, and the view bites. Suborbital shells just have a single monitor to keep the passengers from feeling completely like spam in a can, and Galactic Warrior Corps cutters aren't designed for sightseeing." "Okay, okay." "And you work with clothes all the time, but I don't see you not enjoying the occasional shopping trip," Scott added with a devilish grin. "I get the point, Scott," Juiliana snarled playfully as she batted at him with the menu she'd just been handed. "Anyway, our table's ready." "Y'know," Scott mused as they were led to a window seat, "it says a lot about the popularity of this place since the renovation that a couple of celebrities like us have to wait for a table." Juliana shrugged. "I'm not that big a name, Scott. And you're not the kind of celebrity with lots of money to throw around in tips." "Shows how much they know," Scott put on a mock-snooty expression. "I may not be loaded, but I don't have to spend my pay on the basics. I even get my street clothes covered by the government, since they want to make sure we all look good in public. So my pay's all for extras. Like wining and dining a big name in the fashion industry." Juliana stifled a giggle in her menu, then opened it up. "No prices listed, you know what that means. And I expect to be wined and dined in a style befitting my rarified position." "It's all rarified atop the Space Needle, DAH-ling," Scott gushed back. Further conversation was cut short by the start of the periodic "space flight" simulation, and they spent several minutes oohing and aahing at the vistas that streamed past. Scott didn't seem to be fully involved, however. When it ended and the view returned to that of Seattle's cloudy skyline, Juliana sighed. "Okay, Scott. I can tell you're dying to talk shop. You've got that faraway look that has nothing to do with the view." "You've been following the news, right?" "Given that it might be the only way I'll find out if you're breaking a date, yes. This is about Egypt, I presume." Scott nodded. "Specifically Karnak, the temple city of Akhenaten. The CSV's rummaging around for objects of power to go along with the Book of Thoth...although JakZak thinks they might have the Book of Osiris instead. Not that I could really tell you the difference between the two. Anyway, they're doing the equivalent of archeology with bulldozers, magically smashing through thousands of years of history to get at the loot. Not only are the set on conquering the present, they seem intent on destroying the past!" Juliana blinked. "George's passion for history must have really rubbed off on you. I mean, I'd be more worried about what the CSV's going to do with whatever they dug up...but you're really incensed about the damage to Karnak, aren't you?" Scott paused and frowned. "Hm. I guess I am, aren't I. Funny, I didn't really used to care about that sort of thing...I guess I picked up the torch from George. Um, no pun intended." "None accepted," Juliana smirked. * * * * [September 13, 2024 - Chicago, Illinois Sector] "It's good to see you back on active duty," Dan "Grind" Tracey greeted JakZak as the STRAFE leader entered the meeting room and took a seat next to Peregryn. His moderately short hair was slicked back by the rain he'd walked through to get from the helipad to the roof door. JakZak nodded. "I guess this is something all team leaders have to go through eventually," he referred to Grind's own bout of obsession a few months previously. "We can only hope Radner's having a bad day here or there too." Peregryn stifled a chuckle, causing Grind to raise an eyebrow. After a moment's thought, Dan nodded. "I see you and Essay finally found each other." The other two in the room knew Grind too well to be surprised by the deduction. "Anyway, to the task at hand," JakZak brought up the projector screens of the room. "Between Morgan Adams's story, your detective work in Rome," he nodded to Grind, "and some research I had Peregryn do based on my recent 'vision quest,' I think we have most of the pieces put together. Rebus has been manipulating events for years as part of some grand plot. The CSV and the original Conclave served as his pawns in this game...and to a lesser extent, so have we." Grind interrupted. "Before we go setting Archangeli up as some sort of unbeatable planner, it seems clear to me that his real talent has lain in quickly incorporating random elements into a rough plan. He hasn't been manipulating us so much as being quick to take advantage of whatever choices we ended up making. I'm sure he already had plans in place to keep us out of Egypt, for instance, but resentment over the so-called Rockfall was quickly added into his designs." JakZak's expression darkened momentarily, but he recovered quickly. "Do you have proof that Rebus is behind Egypt's stalling?" Grind nodded. "I was helped a bit by some information passed on by Morgan Adams, actually. He decided to un-retire, and went to look up some old friends in the Moslem Confederation. But once it was clear there had to be some interference, it wasn't too hard to find the proof of it. Especially since Rebus left a puzzle in the Egyptian civil service organizational chart." "In the spirit of 'once you know where to look,'" Peregryn called up some data, "looking into the Book of Osiris proved *very* fruitful. I'd never heard of it before JakZak came out of his coma, but it does exist...I suppose the veil of time was pierced after all," he grinned at JakZak. "Even if Lord Ebon wasn't melted by a bucket of water," he added, chuckling. Both of Grind's eyebrows went up at the joke. "I need to rectify the serious lapse in the rumor mill between ASH and STRAFE. Howard Henderson cracking a joke?" Peregryn shrugged. "I've simply found a new balance as my life experiences have expanded to encompass new aspects of life's mysteries. In any case, to resume...the Book of Osiris was written by a court mage near the tail end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. As you both know, the pyramids were designed to channel a dead pharoah's spirit towards the stars, to join the gods. But this unnamed mage reasoned that the pyramids continued to accumulate mystical power after they had done their original job. In theory, a proper spell could channel this power for a new purpose: taking a living being and sending him to join the gods. Furthermore, once enough power had been accumulated by the pyramid, that being could take that power into himself and join the gods as an equal. Of course, just the energy required to channel a living spirit into the heavens would require a hundred years or more to gather, so the mage treated it as a purely academic exercise. After all, he'd be dead and in the afterlife long before even the Pyramid of Khufu would be powerful enough." "But four thousand years or so would be plenty," Grind added. "Four hundred might have been enough, back during the heyday of Egypt, then the locus of a great many forces. A wise apprentice took the Book of Osiris and sought to disguise it. The power of the spells contained within the papyrus was so great that he could not destroy the book, nor could he conceal that it was a thing of great power. So he disguised it as a copy of an older and cruder manual, the Book of Thoth. He bound the spell into an artifact which he then hid in what became a lost temple complex, later destroyed during Akenahten's reign. And so there were two copies of the Book of Thoth drifting about through the hands of mages. Both ended up in the possession of the Eastern Pope during the pre-Islam expeditions to the Holy Land, acquired during quests through Egypt for the Ark of the Covenant. As part of a rare bit of cooperation between the Churches, one copy was given to the Western Pope around 900 AD." "The real Book of Thoth," Grind noted. "Yes. That's my guess based on events of the past few months. Presumably, someone recognized that the 'fake' copy was more important, and it was retained in the Hagia Sophia," Peregryn continued. "This is where the Conclave enters the picture." "Wait. I thought the Conclave was a 20th Century invention of Anchors?" JakZak interrupted. "So did I," Grind nodded. "It wasn't called the Conclave then, nor did it involve Anchors. And had I not been looking specifically for the history of the Book of Osiris, I might not have made the connection either. Somewhere around the time the Templars were founded, a second order was chartered by the Pope to try and find ways to stamp out heretical magic. Real magic, not the false sorcery used as a pretext for eliminating political enemies when the Inquisition was founded. This group traveled the world, acquiring mystical artifacts. They destroyed those they could, hid the rest, and killed a number of mages, but there were few real ones to kill in those days. They spirited the Book of Osiris out of Byzantium before it fell, along with the most powerful of the artifacts hidden in the Hagia. As the creator's apprentice found, the Book of Osiris could not be destroyed, so it was hidden in the secret vaults of the organization. The order effectively died out in the 19th Century, and was little more than a gentlemen's secret society for a few centuries before that. The secrets of the order were passed down through the bloodline of the last member..." "Archangeli?" JakZak suggested. Grind shook his head. "I researched the family extensively. No involvement in anything like this before Pino." "Correct," Peregryn nodded. "In fact, the family's scion was named Calvin Piper. He was the sole non-Anchor involved in forming the Conclave, an organization that grew within the Anchorite bounty hunter 'trade union.' While never an actual member of the Conclave, he gave them resources and a mission: Piper saw in the Anchorites a means to bring his hereditary charge to life once more...for who better to destroy mages and their works than men and women who were anaethmas to magic by their very existence?" "I can fill it in from there," Grind nodded. "I did some digging after finding that nearly empty vault in the Vatican. The Conclave gained access to the Vatican when Pius became Pope, and with the strength of their Anchor abilities, they were able to destroy all of the forbidden works that had not been 'rehabilitated' over time. They used the freed up space to store the Book of Thoth, which Marx acquired in the wake of his first meeting with Adams. Pino, I presume, had managed to spirit away the Book of Osiris himself, intending to use it in his schemes. Move ahead to more recent years, and Rebus replaced the Book of Thoth with the Book of Osiris." He frowned. "But I'm not clear on why, yet." "The disguise was failing in bits and pieces," Peregryn explained. "Without the lost artifact, it could not be dismissed entirely, but being in frequent contact with Anchors had let some of the original hieroglyphs show through. He wanted the CSV to have a 'broken' copy for some reason. It would certainly explain why Montreal is still in the correct place." "And the CSV has taken over Karnak," JakZak noted. "They've been taking mainly mystical sites, and I'd be willing to bet that Karnak is where that key artifact lies." He paused as Peregryn nodded. "They have the pyramids. They no doubt have the Book of Osiris revealed by now. Whether the CSV is knowingly working for Rebus or, given Triton's rift with Archangeli, being manipulated by him, all the pieces are in place for Rebus to use the spell. If his father thought he could cast the spell despite being an Anchor, the son can think no less of his own chances. He intends to become a god." They'd all known that point before the meeting had started, but JakZak paused to let the import sink in. "And I doubt he'll be a forgiving god...." * * * * [September 15, 2024 - Ottawa, Ontario Sector] Aaron looked out the window at the sheets of rain. The city was almost as dark as night in the middle of the day, except for the occasional flash of lightning. The austere snow fields of Baffin were more inviting than the deluge outside the giant armorplas window. Of course, even on a sunny day he didn't feel very welcome here. Oh, the Canadians had demanded a more regular ASH presence in their state after the "Battle of Montreal," but that was a fear reaction. They wanted protectors, but they feared the protectors almsot as much as they did the marauders. Unlike America, where supernormals were tolerated, or Mexico where they were loved, Canada wasn't eager to embrace the "abnormality" that ASH represented. There was no open hostility, and most of Aaron's teammates might not have noticed anything, but it's hard for a telepath to ignore it when people think of him as a pit bull...a necessary defense, but nothing you'd want in your living room. -+Or your bedroom,+- smirked Paul. Paul had been dead over a year, and it had been months since Aaron found out that the voice in his head was just a collection of memories rather than a rescued spirit, but Paul still got a word in edgewise sometimes. It happened less often lately, as Aaron came to grips with his lover's death, but it was still there, a sort of angel on the shoulder. Or devil, depending on Paul's mood. "Come on," came a voice from behind him. He turned and looked down to face Breaker. "You need to get your mind off the climate. And I don't just mean the rain," she jerked her thumb in the direction of the training room. "Let's spar." "I don't know..." Tina reached up to put her hand over Aaron's mouth. "Don't patronize me. My scores in unarmed combat were practically in Grind's class at the Academy, and that was before the Premier died." Having been born in China, Breaker had unwittingly been affected by the global reach of the most powerful Anchor ever to live, the now-dead Premier of China. His death over a year ago had caused her minor telekinetic skills to blossom. "Oh, all right. I suppose you'd just drag me there if I said no." "Yep," she smirked. While the slightly stocky Chinese woman with bleached brown hair looked very little like Gene Clark, her self-confidence reminded Aaron of the MetaPsych director. Which made Aaron even more reluctant to spar with her. But he couldn't think of a good enough excuse to get out of it without making the rest of the week very unpleasant, so he followed. The training room had once been a bank vault. In fact, the entire headquarters had been converted from a failed bank building. The heavy door swung open easily under Tina's hand, although a faint golden glimmer hinted that her hand wasn't the only thing moving the door. They were both already in costume...being visible as "heroes" was part of the mission statement here...but Aaron pointedly put on a padded helmet, motioning for Tina to do the same. "So..." Tina opened, dancing lightly on the balls of her feet, "you think Solar Max has a chance in hell of convincing the UW to let us go into Egypt?" Aaron feinted, then ducked the kick that told him Tina hadn't been fooled by the feint. "I hope so. Politicians," he blocked a punch and then barely missed landing one of his own, "tend to believe whatever's in their best interest. I think they're looking for an excuse to send us in, actually." Tina nodded without breaking eye contact. Then she leapt up over Aaron's head in a telekinetically boosted jump. He simply amped up his leg strength and vaulted up to knock her into a spin. Her landing was ugly, but she was back on her feet almost instantly. "That's my read, too. But I think he really has to convince the MC observers, or we'll be fighting both sides in this war," Tina managed to land a solid kick on Aaron's side, sending him stumbling. Tina snorted and took off her helmet. "Okay, Aaron. You're sandbagging. I'm good, but I'm not so good I should be able to hit you with something like that. And *you* should have tagged me a lot harder when I *gave* you that opening in the leap. What's up?" Aaron sighed and took off his own practice helmet. "It's...I can't get into this. Last time I sparred with...another woman I know, it went badly. I lost control and almost killed her. I guess you remind me enough of her that I'm holding back." "Aaron Zander, master of mind over body, lost control? That's like saying Grind slacked off on something. She must have rattled you good. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were falling for this woman," Tina smirked as she put away her helmet and left the vault. -+You know, I think she has a point,+- Paul's voice whispered. * * * * [September 17, 2024 - United World Building, Australia] The silence in the Grand Chamber of the United World Building was a multitextured sort of quiet. The anticipatory silence of bated breath from the North American Combine representatives...even those minor enough to not know what was planned had some inkling. A nervous hush from the representatives of the various nations of the Eurasian Union, for they were on the border of Khadam's aggression and hoped a solution could be found soon. China's non-voting observers were silent simply because it was not their place to speak, mere months after the People's Republic had managed to wrestle the illusion of stability into place and ask for a seat in the Chamber. Of course, the united Moslem nations contributed a stony and hostile silence to the mix. While all the other politicians in the room knew that the Confederation fought more amongst themselves than anything else, it was also well-established that the Moslems closed ranks against any outside threat. Including threats to national pride. The other nations may not have been able to fathom why Egypt wanted to go it alone against Khadam, but they would never let Egypt be bullied into accepting unwanted aid. Especially from the man who brought climactic havoc to most of their nations so recently, when he dropped an asteroid on northern Africa. And now that very man was mounting the podium to break this many-hued stillness. "Representatives of the nations of the world, you are currently being given data that will prove what I am about to say. Some of you may already know some of this information, or have suspected it, but I bring you the entire picture today. "We have all been manipulated. In some cases for years. But by who and to what end? One man, Lorenzo Archangeli, has used us all as pawns in his mad quest for GODHOOD." The silence of the audience shattered. Fear, disbelief, excitement, shock...as many flavors as the silence had had, its absence had more. "While it was before my birth, I know most of you in this room have personal memories of the chaos and pain of the late 1990s. Archangeli has the means and the desire to bring all of that back, if we don't stop him. The best we can hope for is that he simply destroys all his enemies and then leaves our reality...but he has a LOT of enemies. The worst? That his success convinces the old pagan gods that it's time to return to Earth. We barely survived the last time that happened...we won't survive it again, not this soon." Very few eyes were on Solar Max. Most were reading the files that had arrived on their terminals, trying desperately to find some flaw in the facts, some reason to disregard the young hero's words. "This is no longer just a border war between two African nations...and it never was. This is a war to decide the fate of humanity, and we'd better start fighting it!" * * * * [September 18, 2024 - Somewhere in Northern Italy] "This is the BBC World Service with breaking news. Night has fallen in Canberra, but the United World has reached a decision. The international body will condone any actions taken to aid Egypt against the nation of Khadam and the Conclave of Supervillains. Immediately following this decision, the government of Egypt officially requested aid from the international community, admitting an inability to cope with the paranormal armies marching across its borders." Derek turned away from the radio to look at the eastern sky just starting to lighten with the dawn. The Sun wouldn't crest over the Alps for an hour or more yet, and the darkness in Derek's heart would not be dispelled any time this side of Rebus's death. "Rebus wants ASH in Egypt now. He pulls all the strings in that country...it's written all over their organizational structure. They'd never have asked for aid, even in the face of international determination to give it to them, if Rebus hadn't wanted it now." Tiara snorted. "Derek, you are seeing Rebus's hand in all things. He may be a master of manipulation, but he does not control the entire world!" "Not yet, no. But he does control what he needs to control. He controls my Conclave. He controls my Spear...and no doubt expected me to trap Doublecross in it, the bastard. He controls the right bits of ground in Egypt, and he has the Book of Osiris in his hairy little hands. He must be waiting for something, either a specific day or just the presence of someone in ASH or EUROPA, or he'd have become a god already." Tiara turned off the radio, which had shifted to political analysts pontificating. "I still don't understand how Rebus plans to do this. He's an Anchor...a strong one. How can he even get the spell to affect him?" "That's been puzzling me for a while as well. I think he figures he can overwhelm his own Anchor. Judging from the datafiles you managed to snag from the UWnet, I think the Great Pyramid may have enough accumulated power to ram right past Lorenzo's Anchor and do the job. He's got plenty of mages on his side right now to actually cast the spell, and he's got enough control to keep from interfering in their efforts. He's playing them all for fools, of course...I don't expect he plans to have any of his allies, willing or otherwise, survive the process. But they don't have to know that...and I suspect Miss Viau is too blinded by the promise of power to even consider she might be a sacrifice." "So...do we flee the planet in your pocket starship?" Radner shook his head. "I don't, at least. If Rebus manages to become a god, nowhere in all of creation is safe for me. I might as well plan to be at ground zero, so I have a chance of stopping it. But I need your help with something...once you're done, you can probably buy your way offworld before things get too bad...." * * * * [September 19, 2024 - New Jerusalem, Cyprus] The nation of Israel had changed much in the new millennium, but one thing had not changed: a strong committment to national defense. With the Moslem Confederation to the east, Khadam to the south and random monstrosities still wandering the wastelands of Greece to the northwest, the small military remained one of the best, man for man, in the world. The fact that the Khadamite army didn't really use "men" in the classical sense hardly fazed the troops getting ready on the island. Other forces were being marshaled as well, but the Israelis would form the vanguard, along with the supernormal forces now assembled in a secure bunker at one corner of the proving grounds. Everyone was in full battle dress. EUROPA had abandoned its usual tunics for body armor. ASH members were more motley, but all were as well protected as they could be. STRAFE relied more on not being seen in the first place, and wore stealthwebs developed by their Tesla Branch. And two other figures stood in battle dress. A pink-haired woman and an armored figure. "Before we formulate any specific plans," Solar Max started, "Delta Rose would like to make an...announcement." The pink-haired woman stepped forward. "As most of you should know, the Galactic Warrior Corps is responsible for keeping dangerous technologies from being used. Few things are as dangerous as your world's so-called gods, and it was a very near thing that we didn't take terminal steps to deal with them a generation ago. Make NO MISTAKE. We will NOT allow Rebus to become a danger to the galaxy." She gestured to the silent man in armor beside her. "My lieutenant is leaving now to take an encoded message from me to a secret GWC depot. He will return with a suitably final solution to this problem. If you cannot stop Rebus...we will destroy this world to keep him from becoming a god." Suddenly, a royal blue cloak rippled into view as it flew open, revealing another armored figure. "Well, isn't THAT a cheery thought?" Triton observed. ============================================================================ NEXT ISSUE: The aftermath of the Pyramid Scheme...but first, read the Capstone miniseries for the resolution of the biggest event of 2024! ============================================================================ Author's Notes: Astute observers may have noticed that every scene in this issue takes place inside, usually with darkness outside. It's a theme. }-> Oh, and yes, Triton's cloak of invisibility is a lift from Escaflowne, at least in terms of the visual FX.