WildC.A.T.S. #1

[Spider-Man Beyond]

WildC.A.T.S. #1
Gathering the Pride Part 1

Written by Mike Bowen
Edited by Daniel Dyer

181 years ago...

The two Kherubim generals stood staring out the viewport of their warship at the distant points of light marking of a prison ship hurtling towards the green and blue planet before them.

Both remained motionless in their pristine uniforms, black-gloved hands clasped at the smalls of their backs as the ship began its descent to the planet.

“Do you think this is wise?” the one on the left, clearly much younger than his counterpart finally spoke up. “The men we sacrificed in capturing him will have been in vain if he escapes.”

The older man released his hands and turned towards his protege, his ice-blue eyes drilling a hole in him. “This planet was selected for many reasons, General Teiriam,” he replied. “First of which, is its sheer distance from Kherubim space and the war that rages inside of it. The second of which is ruling council has analyzed the indigent species and decided that they will not develop any sort of space travel until a time when he should be long dead.”

The younger man nodded slightly. “My apologies, General, for questioning yours and the council’s orders,” he said flatly. “It’s just that his capture was such a boon for our cause, to see him on the loose...”

The older gentleman quickly held up a hand silencing the officer. “Precautions have been put in place, Teiriam,” he said, leaving off the man’s rank either out of disrespect or his displeasure with the barrage of questions.

Teiriam’s eyes narrowed. “Such as...”

The older general paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, sorting out the words in his head before he lashed out at his younger colleague. “In addition to the guard complement, the crew also contains Warlord Singtew, a pre-cog and a Hadrian-series cyborg,” he said softly.

The shock rippled across the younger man’s face. “Whe... where did you get those from,” Teiriam stammered, bringing a smile to General Minashew’s face.

The stumbling remarks from the younger man delighted Minashew greatly, but Teiriam quickly regained his composure.

“One final question, General?” he said as the light from the drives of the prison ship started to get fainter and fainter against the backdrop of the planet.

“What is it?” Minashew answered tersely.

“Nothing important, Sir, just the rumors that Lord Emp was last sighted in this sector,” he said with a little hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Emp has been missing for over two hundred years, General. He battled Daemonites across hundreds of sectors of the known galaxy and beyond. I don’t think even he would pursue those foul creatures this far away from Kherubim space.”

The younger general nodded. “Yes Sir!” he said. He glanced quickly at the instrument panels as the view out of the window began to slowly rotate. “The prisoners have touched down. The construction is commencing on the prison apparatus.”

“Very good,” Mineshew said softly. “We have our route back to Khera already in the computer. Prepare the ship to jump.”

Within minutes the large ship vanished out of Earth’s orbit leaving only empty space.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Now...

The lights flickered as darkened monitors came to life. A map of the United States appeared on one as a figure steadily climbed from 0 percent towards 100 on the lower right hand corner.

In the center of the room, surrounded by all the monitors sat the silver body of a petite woman. The dim lights of the monitors flickered off the polished female body, devoid of any signs of life. She was seated in a chair, not unlike a dentist’s chair, in a reclined position, though with a keyboard on a sliding tray in front of her.

This scene has played itself out for decades, every hour the monitors come to life, do a quick scan of the country and just as suddenly fall silent again.

Only this time they remained on and a light began to flash, bathing the chamber in blood-red light. The female’s eyes snapped open, muscles twitching as the solid-white eyes flicked back and forth across the monitors. Her hand moved slightly and the keyboard slid closer, her fingers frantically tapping at the keys.

“Kheran High Command, this is penal outpost 629443,” she spoke softly in a monotone voice. “Kheran High Command, please respond.”

The woman waited silently for several minutes before repeating her request, but heard nothing but static in reply.

She punched a few more buttons. “Voice-overide code Z19KLCA69, threat-level delta, acknowledge.”

This time the wait was nearly an hour. The code she just announced was supposed to be an activation code for the various sleeper security agents that were supposed to be still left on the planet.

“Something’s wrong,” she murmured as she punched keys on the keyboard. “He’s gathering strength and there is no one around to stop him.”

Her pupil-less eyes flicked from monitor to monitor, searching desperately for an answer.

“Initiate a scan for Kherubim lifeforms across sectors 21-B to 512-EA,” she said.

“Scanning,” came the reply from the computer.

The map of the United States started to light up with faint green dots much of them centered around New York City, but they were spread from coast to coast. A few brighter dots emerged as the female remained motionless, staring at the screen. All of the sudden the screen flashed green, washing out the other dots and casting a emerald light over the chamber.

“That’s... that’s impossible,” she stammered. “There was no one of that magnitude on the mission. Computer, focus on New York area, specifically quadrant 17-BD/A4.”

“Acknowledged. Re-scan, focus in progress.”

The green vanished from the map, replaced with the city streets and what appeared to be Central Park of New York City. A few faint dots popped up at the edges of the screen. “They must have been too close together on the first scan,” she said to herself softly. “I knew there was nothing like...”

She stopped as what had been a faint dot in near the center of the park started to steadily grow larger and brighter. Her mouth opened and closed as if she was trying to say something but couldn’t find the words. The dot continued to grow until it again washed out the screen in solid green.

“Computer,” she said faintly. “I want a positive ID on that individual.”

“That file is restricted, and requires a pass-code.”

That bit of news rippled over her silver face noticeably. The only files that were restricted were for the most high-level and important members of Kherubim society. “Command Code Void,” she replied with authority. “Code Delta, Alpha, 6-1-29-1, Beta, Zulu.”

“Accepted.”

The file opened on the computer screen, and scrolled on and on. When it finally finished, Void swung the keyboard away and stood up from the chair gingerly. It had been a long time since she had been on her feet, but this situation called for immediate attention.

She moved slowly across the chamber, stopping before another screen that clearly showed the name of the file she had been reading.

“Lord Emp”

In that moment she disappeared in a glow of silver light. With her gone, the chamber shut down, going back into hibernation.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The large, black dog sniffed at the newspapers covering Jack Marlowe’s feet, before being pulled away by its owner. It wasn’t the first, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last dog to do that. The solace Marlowe could take in the event was that the owner was kind enough to pull the dog away before it relieved itself unlike some of the other people in Central Park that cared little about the homeless man. The fact that a beautiful, young woman just materialized before his eyes in the middle of the park didn’t faze him either. He chalked it up to the several bottles of cheap malt liquor he had drank earlier in the day.

Void slowly walked over to find the small man laying near a park bench and shook her head. How could one so high fall so low, she thought to herself. She knelt beside him, as Marlowe’s eyes fluttered open.

“Who t’hell are you?” he slurred.

Void’s only response was to put a finger to her lips. After a few minutes she finally spoke. “M’lord, we’ve never met, but let me tell you it is an honor to be in your presence. Your present condition notwithstanding.”

Marlowe’s eyes grew fuzzy and he squeezed them tight. He had to be seeing things. “What’re you talkin’ ‘bout?” he mumbled, trying to raise himself up off the pavement. “I’ve no idea what’cher talking about... nonsense.”

Void just watched silently as the small man tried to struggle to his feet. He was definitely drunk, evidenced by the smell of alcohol on his breath and the several empty containers scattered around the area where he had been sleeping. She placed a hand on his forehead and frowned. “Don’t worry M’lord, it seems your memories have been tampered with,” she whispered. “I promise you, if you come with me I can fix all that.”

Marlowe wasn’t believing anything the woman was saying, but hell, he was living on the street so whatever she had to offer had to be better, right? “K,” he muttered. “Do your thing.”

With that Void bent low and scooped up the little man with surprising ease.

Marlowe, even in his drunken stupor, couldn’t help but see the woman’s eyes fog over, turning completely white.

Her head bent slightly to her chest and both vanished in small burst of silver light.

---

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Void reappeared, still holding Marlowe, in a darkened room. As soon as the pair arrived, the fluorescent lights kicked on, revealing a large conference room. A heavy oak table sat in the middle with two dozen ornate chairs arranged around its perimeter. The tinting on the windows lightened revealing a majestic view of the New York skyline from around 80 stories up.

She kicked one of the chairs out from under the table with her foot and placed a slumping Marlowe into it. She kneeled before him and placed a hand on the man’s forehead. A slight hum could be heard in the room and her eyes flashed white again. She removed her hand to find a clear-eyed Marlowe staring back at her. She immediately dropped her head. “Welcome back, M’lord,” she whispered.

Marlowe’s eyes darted back and forth taking in Void and the room. “Where am I?” he said. “And who are you?”

Void looked up. “I am precog designate Void. You are on the planet Earth. I presume you have been here for several hundred years as you disappeared early on in the war against the Daemonites.”

The man nodded. “I remember my ship being damaged and crash-landing on this world after pursuit of a group of Daemonites. How long have I been here without memories?”

“Over five hundred years M’lord,” Void replied in a monotone voice. “I couldn’t raise Kheran High Command and discovered you during a search for someone who could help me. There are several hundred hybrids currently living on the planet, but I needed someone to help me organize them.”

Emp’s eyes narrowed. “Help for what?”

“While you were missing we used this planet as a sort of penal colony,” she started. “That’s why I am here. I was part of the guard team sent with the prisoners. Everything had been fine up until a week ago. Now, the Daemonites we have imprisoned here have found a way out of their captivity and are gathering, probably with hopes to conquer this planet.”

“And you couldn’t stop this rag-tag group of Daemonites pre-cog? I find that hard to believe.”

Her head dropped again.

“It’s not just a group of Daemonite warriors that was imprisoned here Lord Emp. They have someone that I could not hope to contain or defeat by myself.”

“So you need me to organize a team to deal with this threat, correct?”

“Yes, M’lord,” Void answered.

“And just who is this threat that requires my attention?”

Void’s head dropped again in shame. She didn’t want to admit her team failed, but everyone assigned to the party had either long since died, left the planet of simply assimilated into the human populace. “Helspont,” she said quietly.

To be continued...