Supreme: Man of Majesty #6

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Supreme: Man of Majesty #6

Written by Matt Laaksonen (Themanagement)
Edited by Daniel Dyer

Supreme sits down with a heavy thud. Everything in his world has been turned upside down in a matter of seconds. “Darius was mutated by the meteors too...”

“Ruff”

“Radar, I’m not sure what’s going on, but Darius is like us.”

“Grrr...”

“When Damien was turned into a monster, Darius must have been exposed to the radiation as well.”

Staring at the computer screen, Supreme begins to dig deeper into any files he can find that can solidly connect Darius to the Society. All he can find is that the research facility in Chicago that Darius pointed him to is run by a man named Phineus Nirvana. Apparently, in the past, Nirvana was a suspected criminal and was arrested by the late Mighty Man. All the charges were dropped, and Nirvana had dropped off the radar until recently, when Darius contacted him to run Nebula Incorporated.

“Radar, I have to go back to Omegapolis. The only reason that Darius would have told me about his connection to the Warmaker is if he wanted me to know he was a criminal. If he’s behind the Warmaker assaults, than everyone we know is in danger.”

“Ruff”

“Yeah, I think it’d be a good idea for you to come along, but stay out of sight at first. I may need to keep you as my ace in the sleeve.”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

“Sally, at this moment, Supreme may very well be finding out what we’re up to. He’s going to be on his way soon. I’ll need you to hold him off long enough for me to get everything ready.”

Terrified at what has just happened, Sally sits in silence, listening to Darius’s instructions. I have the power to destroy Supreme! “After all this is done, can you return me to normal?”

“I’ll try, Sally. I promise I’ll try. Even if I can’t, though, your sacrifice will not be in vain.”

Sally stairs in the mirror. She still looks human, but she is idealistic. Before, she was somewhat plain looking in her opinion. Now, she is beautiful; she is muscular and curvy. Her hair is bleached completely white, just like Supreme’s. The thing that scares her, is that she can feel the power welling up inside her. Never have her thoughts been so clear and precise. Her muscles feel as tense as iron chords, and she believes that they may be stronger. Everything looks different, instead of normal human sight, she sees energy fields. Looking at Darius, she can see his nerves fire electrical impulses. Dressing in the jumpsuit that he provided her, she lets her thoughts drift.

Spacing out for a moment, she is startled to realize that she is staring through a wall. She can see a young man strapped to a chair, his mouth gagged to keep him silent. “Darius, who is that in the next room?”

“That’s our insurance policy, Sally. He’s Supreme’s best friend.”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Leaving his hideaway in the mountains, Supreme flies back to Omegapolis. Pushing himself to tremendous speeds, he flies as fast as he dares go in an atmosphere. Not even bothering to avoid satellite signals like normal, he reaches the city in a matter of moments. Flying to his apartment, he and Radar enter through the window.

Picking up the phone, he dials quickly. After the fourth ring, he gets connected to voicemail, “Billy, it’s Ethan, this is going to sound really weird, but you need to get out of your apartment. Go somewhere where there is a lot of people. Watch yourself...” Supreme’s words trail off as he notices a note on the inside of his door. Hanging up the phone, he walks across the room. Apprehensively, he tears it from the door and reads the contents out loud to Radar, “Supreme, we have Billy. Go to the shipping district, contact no one. When you get there, you’ll receive more instructions. Oh, and before you get angry, just know, I gave you every opportunity... Darius Dax.”

“Grrr!”

“I know, Radar. What I’m afraid of, is what he meant by ‘we’. I don’t even know what abilities the meteor gave him. If he’s as smart as what we are, then he may just be the most dangerous man on the planet. Follow me, but remember, stay out of sight.”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Completely hidden under the edge of a shipping moor, Sally sits in wait, watching the sky. She can feel every fiber in her being bursting with newfound power. Scanning across the skyline of the city, she waits to see Supreme. Why did Darius have me leave that strange note at his apartment? Everything in her life has been nothing but confusion since she learned that Supreme killed her adoptive parents. Even now, standing at the threshold of her revenge, she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Frankly, she’s afraid. What if I fail? If Darius is right, and Supreme is here to conquer, there would literally be nothing to stand against him.

Suddenly, she stops. Seeing movement above the skyscrapers, she knows that the moment is at hand. Willing all the ambient energy she can feel to coalesce around her, she launches upward with amazing speed, shattering the sound barrier.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The only reason that Darius would be doing this is if he knew how to hurt me. He’s too smart to make a foolish mistake. There is no way that he would actually challenge me without a plan. But I have to play along, because he has Billy.

Flying over the rooftops, Supreme moves with trepidation. Thinking back, he remembers Darius teaching him how to play chess. Even then, Darius had the ability to think ten moves ahead. If his mind was altered by the meteor, I’m scared of what he’s capable of now.

Reaching the shipping district, he flies a slow circuit, hoping to see something. Suddenly, he can feel a massive amount of power, much more than what he sensed around Darius. Could he be capable of giving this power to another person?!

Before he can finish the thought, he is hit from behind with tremendous force, harder than anything has ever hit him. He feels his rib cage flex with the impact. Stunned by the shock to his body, he can do nothing more than feel himself slammed through the air. He feels powerful arms squeeze the air out of him as he is driven backward. Passing over the city, he crashes hard into the ground. Feeling stone shatter under the impact, Supreme attempts to focus his vision, clearing the stars floating before his eyes. Lifting himself to his knees, he can see the edges of the impact crater he made. Before he can gets his bearings, he feels a fist hit his jaw with enough force he can actually feel the bone flex, almost breaking. Immediately, another punch lands, driving him down to the ground again. A foot stomps hard onto his groin, and for the first time in twelve years, he feels nauseous.

“Murderer! Tonight is when you come to justice!”

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Billy can see Darius laugh out loud as he watches the satellite images stream across his computer screen. Sally tackled Supreme so hard and fast that the two cleared the entire city and slammed into farmland miles out. “This is what you get for abandoning me, Ethan. This is what you deserve... destruction at the hands of your own sister.”

Billy’s eyes widen in a combination of surprise and horror. Did Darius just call him Ethan?! It can’t be!!

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hearing the voice, Supreme knows his attacker is a woman. She’s fast, maybe even faster than me! Hard to get a bead on her. Seeing a blur, he enhances his own speed in an attempt to match her, but the punch lands, and he is sent reeling again. Using the momentum of being knocked back, he puts some distance between himself and his assailant. She must be new to her powers. If she’s had them for any length of time, then Darius wouldn’t have bothered asking me to join him. Maybe I can use that inexperience to my advantage.

Hitting him from the side, his attacker slams him with a vicious flurry of blows. Throwing up his hands, he manages to deflect most of the attacks. Throwing his own punches back, he is afraid to push this fight too far. He knows that she is being manipulated by Darius, but if he holds back, she will kill him. Timing his counter attack, he drives his elbow hard into her jawline, sending her reeling.

Using the distance, he attempts to reason, “Who are you...? Why are you attacking me?!”

“You murdered my parents... my brother!”

Startled by the venom in her words, Supreme gets his first good look at his assailant. The woman standing before him is inhumanly beautiful. The frightening resemblance to him is accented by her stark-white hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“LIAR!!” As she screams, the ground cracks beneath her feat and stones float upward into the air and hover there, seemingly under their own power... specks of dirt dance around her feat. He can see the tremendous amount of energy swirling around her body.

Good God! She may be more powerful than me! Seemingly in answer to the thought, he feels his own power diminish slightly, as if she were drawing it away from him. Before he can react, a pulse of sheer force explodes outward from her in every direction. Stones are blasted into sand as the wall of invisible power strikes them. The force drives a perfect crater into the ground below her feet as it spreads outward in a spherical arc. Bracing himself, Supreme is sent sprawling by the energy as it slams into him. I don’t know if she knows it, but her and I are fighting over the same power!

“You have to listen to me! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve never killed anyone!”

“Littlehaven, Indiana... August, 1995! Meteors fell from the sky, killing hundreds! You caused it!” As she says this, she launches forward with blazing speed. Supreme barely braces himself as she slams into him. Catching her wrists, the two struggle to a dead standstill; the ground itself trembles under the terrible forces unleashed.

“No I didn’t, I was mutated by the same radiation as you! My parents were killed in that same meteor shower! Darius lied to you! You have to believe me!”

“Monster!!! Darius is the only person that has ever cared about me! He said that you would lie in order to protect yourself! I know that you’re no hero!”

Supreme realizes that reasoning with her is impossible. Not only that, even if he can defeat her in her current state, Billy is still in danger. Whistling at a high pitch, he calls for help.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Hearing the whistle, Radar rushes toward the sound as fast as he can. I don’t understand why Ethan felt the need to put himself in danger. It was clear that he was walking into a trap. Instead, he goes off all gung-ho, with a complete disregard for his own safety. For all of his power and intelligence, he still thinks like a human, even though he is not one.

Radar shudders at the sight before him. Ethan is fighting a woman with amazing power. She bears a striking resemblance to Ethan, and upon seeing her face, Radar knows at once that they are relatives. All that is beside the point, though. She is trying to kill Ethan, and it is clear that she is every bit his equal. Trees are uprooted, the ground broken and cratered. Both are battered and bruised. Frightened, this is the first time that he has seen Ethan in a fight for his life.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

With Supreme holding her wrists so tight, Sally brings her knee forward, connecting solidly with his abdomen. Knocking him backward, she locks her hands together and slams them into the back of his neck with a double axe-handle strike. Knocking him to the ground, she kicks him in the ribs, sending him sprawling into the forest. She can hear tree trunks shatter as he slams into them. Why is he holding back? If he were such a monster, why is he trying to reason with me? Is he manipulating me, or have I been lied to?

Before she can finish the thought, she feels a terrible pain in her shoulder. Struggling free, she can feel blood streaming down her arm. Turning, she sees a dog lunging at her with speed that exceeds her own. Tumbling through the air, she grapples with the animal, trying to keep it from biting her again. It’s obviously as powerful as she and Supreme. Tossing the dog away, she turns to face Supreme. Before she can react, he hits her hard right in the face.

Tired and hurt, Supreme looks at Radar, “Thanks, boy, I owe you.”

Sally is unconscious on the ground.

“Ruff!”

“Stay here, watch her. I’m going after Darius.”

“GRRR!!”

“Radar! I know that it’s dangerous, but this is my fight. Besides, she’s potentially the most dangerous being in existence. I need you to watch her. If she gets up, stop her from getting back into the city... no matter what the cost!”

Before Radar can respond, Supreme flies back to the city. He’s weakened and feels sluggish. I’m moving like an old man. Apparently, there is a limit to how long I can last. I’ve never been pushed like that before.

Reaching Darius’s tower, he smashes through the window of his office and heads straight for the elevator shaft. Bursting through the door, he flies straight down to the bottom of the shaft. Smashing through the elevator ceiling, he kicks through the doors and storms into Darius’s lab. Even in a weakened state, with split lips and his nose bleeding profusely, Supreme is an imposing sight. With a quick scan of the room, he sees Darius holding a pistol to Billy’s head.

“Ethan, you take one more step, and I’ll kill him!”

Freezing immediately, he knows he can’t move fast enough to save Billy. He tries to jam the firing mechanism with his vision, but his powers are too drained for the tactic to work. Focusing on Billy, all he sees is terror in his friends eyes. Maybe I can alter Billy’s restraints, since they are made of a less dense material.

Seeing Darius eye to eye, Supreme sees a hatred in his former friend’s expression that cuts him to the bone. “Darius, why are you doing this?!” Before he can react, Darius aims the pistol and fires it. A dart similar to a tranquilizer pierces his skin and injects a painful liquid into his bloodstream. Almost immediately, Supreme can feel all of his strength drain away. His vision blurs, his thoughts slow, and his knees wobble. Unsuccessfully attempting to stay on his feet, Supreme pitches forward to the floor.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

When Supreme wakes up, he is strapped to a large table. Attempting to break the restraints, he fails. All of his strength is gone, and he feels sick.

“What did you do to me?”

“I took away your powers. Sally weakened you enough that the dart would pierce your skin. You see, even the meteors that appeared normal were anything but. They used to possess that same mutating radiation. In my studies I found that they were continually trying to absorb the radiation from the meteors that still had it.” Smiling, Darius leans close, his face only an inch away from Supreme’s. “I ground one of them to a fine powder and made it into a solution that I could inject into your bloodstream. I doubt it’s permanent, but your body won’t be able to burn it out before I’m done with you.”

“Why...?”

Before Supreme can finish the sentence, Darius cuts him off. Mockingly he asks, “Why am I doing this? Simple really... you abandoned me!”

“I didn’t...”

“You didn’t know that I was mutated like you? If you gave a damn enough to look me up, you would have found out!”

“I was afraid...”

“So was I! I was going through the exact same thing you were! I didn’t have the physical abilities that you did, but my mind was enhanced to inhuman levels!”

“Darius I’m...”

With absolute scorn in his voice, Darius cut’s Supreme off again, “Don’t even say that you’re sorry, you son of a bitch! If you would have cared in the first place, you wouldn’t have to be sorry now!”

“You said that my parents inspired you...”

“Are you that fucking stupid, Ethan? Any hope and inspiration that I ever had was burned and molested out of me long ago. You know, some of the foster families that I bounced around to were actually worse than my parents?”

“Darius, it’s not too late... we were friends...”

“Fuck you! We were more than friends, Ethan... you were my brother!” Saying this, Darius punches Supreme in the face so hard that one of his knuckles breaks. “When my dad was drunk off his ass, beating the shit out of my mom, who did I come to? YOU! That night, when I ran from the house, looking for help, who do you think I was heading for? YOU! And what happened, Ethan? What happened? You went away! Your parents were murdered in cold blood, and you simply flew away and continued your charmed life elsewhere!”

Spitting out blood, Supreme looks him straight in the eyes. “Darius, that woman at the bank, those people at the police station...”

“Do you think I care? When I sent those men to rob the bank, you interfered! It was like fate. I contacted Phineus, we figured out a plan, and sent in Norman. Who do you think told Warmaker to attack the political rally? It was all a ploy to get in contact with you. Even then, I tried to offer you a chance to join me, and you refused on some skewed moral ground. So I did the next best thing, I got your sister.”

“What...?”

“Sally... the crazy bitch that you just knocked out. She’s your twin sister. You had a dead-beat dad, and your mother died giving birth. The two of you were separated. She went to the Davis’, and you went to the Cranes’. Maybe you would have figured that out if you were half as smart as you pretend to be.”

Suddenly, the lab shudders with tremendous force and the elevator shaft explodes. Ethan can’t turn his head far enough to see her, but he can feel her power, and he can hear the insanity in her voice, “What did you just say Darius?! He’s my brother?! You lied to me, you evil bastard!”

God I hope Radar is okay!

In a blur, Sally is holding Darius by the throat. “Give me one reason that I shouldn’t kill you right now!” With a wild look in her eyes, she has multiple bite marks on her skin. Her clothes are torn and bloodstained.

Supreme pleads with her, “Sally stop, he isn’t worth it!”

“You heard him, Ethan! He’s a monster. He’s insane. He deserves to be put down!” Tossing Darius across the room, she turns to face Supreme. “You’re my brother, and he tried to get us to kill each other!”

“But killing him won’t solve the problem!” Frightened, Supreme hopes that she will talk. He can feel his cells reaching out for the ambient energy radiating from her body. She’s drawing too much power, and he’s scared she won’t be able to control it.

Horrified out of his mind, Billy watches what’s going on. Struggling against his restraints, he’s amazed to find that he can somehow break them. Seeing Darius grab the pistol and struggle to his feet, Billy leaps to action. His body is sore from being strapped to the chair, but adrenaline burns through the pain and propels him forward. Grappling with Darius, he is able to wrestle the gun from his hands.

“Let go of me, you bastard! I’m attempting to save the human race!”

“Ethan is my friend, and what you did to that poor woman...”

Kneeing Billy in the groin, Darius breaks free from the grapple and once again grabs the pistol. Loading it with another dart, he takes aim at Sally. Billy grabs a piece of debris from when Sally crashed into the lab and hits Darius square on the back of the head with it.

“Sally, you’re drawing too much power! You need to stop!” In answer to Supreme’s pleading words, the lights flicker, and the lab goes dark. Supreme gets an idea from their previous fight. Willing his body to feed off the excess energy that her body is generating, he builds enough strength to snap his restraints.

“Supre... Ethan! You’ve seen what he’s done! I’m going to use this power to destroy him.”

With all of his will, Supreme launches forward, grappling Sally with all of his might. Flying upward through the elevator shaft, the two smash through the roof of the skyscraper, launching into the upper atmosphere.

“Sally, look at the city... you’ve blacked out over half of it! Our power is dangerous!”

Nearly struggling free from his grip, Sally shouts at him, “Darius was the only friend I ever had, and he used me like a tool!”

“Sally, the power effects your mind, let go of the power now or you’ll go insane! I don’t know if there is a limit to how much power our bodies can hold! You could kill thousands!” Darius’s chemical burns in Supreme’s bloodstream. The pain is nearly unbearable. The more power he attempts to drain away from Sally, the more excruciating it becomes. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I can’t put her down in this condition, the choice is entirely hers! “Sally, both of us lost our parents in that storm! Darius did too. We were all affected in different ways, but there is one thing that’s the same. You and I are brother and sister! Let me help you. It’s not too late for us to be a family!”

Hearing the word “family,” Sally seems to calm down. Tears well up in her eyes, and Supreme can feel the power drain away from her. In response, the energy starts to drain out of his cells, and he passes out from the strain.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

When Supreme wakes up, he’s at his apartment. Radar is pacing worriedly at the foot of the bed. Jumping up, he feels nauseous. Stumbling sideways, he puts his hand on the wall for support. Seemingly out of no where, Billy rushes into the room catching Ethan before he falls to the floor.

“Hey, buddy, you’re still pretty messed up, you need to lay down.”

“Billy... where’s Sally?”

“I’m here, Ethan.” He hears the voice from the doorway, and turns his head to see her. Completely healed from her fight with Radar, she walks to the bed.

“What happened to Darius? Where is he?”

Billy answers the question. “He was arrested, but there was an attack. They think he got away in the confusion.”

Kneeling beside the bed, Sally says, “Ethan, you’ve had years to get used to these powers. They’re scaring me, sometimes my thoughts run so fast that I can’t even control my mind.”

“I know, Sally, and I have an answer. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time in Tibet, there is a small town there at the base of a mountain. Go there. Climb the pass up the side of the mountain to the temple. Don’t fly. If you do, they will turn you away. There is a man there that helped me come to terms with what I had become. I believe that he can do the same for you.”

“So, you’re really Supreme, right? This isn’t some kind of messed up storyline I’d come up with for Omniman or anything like that, is it?”

“Billy, I really am Supreme. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, but it’s dangerous knowledge, which I’m sure that you’re quite aware of.”

“I’m just psyched that I know how you can draw so many pages so fast. Seriously though, it’s fine, Ethan, I completely understand. I just got kidnaped by your arch-enemy. Anyways, what are you going to do now?”

“Well, I’m going to burn off this chemical that is stealing my power, and I’m going after the Society. Darius is still out there, and I’m sure that they are the ones hiding him. His dreams of politics may be over, but he’s still dangerous out there, with all of his resources and influence.”

“Where you gonna start looking?”

“Well, I have more than one lead that aims me to Chicago.”

Not the end.