TITLES: Survivors
AUTHOR: MikeJaffa
SYNOPSIS: Post Heroes Reborn (2021) #1; spoilers for Young Squadron #1, Heroes Return #6 and #7, and Heroes Reborn #1 (all 2021): Zarda must confront an old enemy from the other world and her true nature.
DISCLIAMER: Marvel owns everything. I am making no money off this fic.
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"Won't you come see about me?
I'll be alone dancing you know it baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out…"
-Simple Minds, "Don't You (Forger About Me)"

Princess Zarda stepped out of the back of the armored van. Though dressed in her normal bodice and gauntlets, her hands were bound by high-tech manacles, and a high-tech collar around her neck dampened the neural impulses that controlled her super strength. It was night and the New York Public Library was surrounded by NYPD and police vehicles, and an Avengers quinjet hovering overhead. Flanked by SHIELD SWAT officers who kept rifles trained on her, Zarda crossed to the small knot of people: She recognized Doctor Valerie Cooper, who had been placed in charge of the Squadron supreme, and Thor; but she didn't know the other bearded man who wore a ridiculous red cloak. But he had the stink of a wizard on him.

Val Cooper faced Zarda and said, "You've been briefed?"

Zarda nodded. "Apparently, Salome, an enemy of mine from the world Coulson created, made it here somehow. I'm guessing Salome exists here, too, and you let her run free?"

The cloaked man said, "Actually, I killed Salome a few years ago."

"Indeed?" Zarda said. "And who might you be?"

"Doctor Stephen Strange, master of the mystic arts."

"'Doctor Strange'?" Zarda said, turning the name over. "'Doctor Strange'?" She looked at Thor. "Is that really his name?"

Thor nodded.

Zarda frowned at Strange. "Can't say much for the style, but I can dig the-"

"Focus," Val said. "Somehow, Salome's consciousness came through and took possession of Doctor Strange's librarian, Zelma Stanton."

"That makes sense," Zarda said. "The Zelma I knew was Salome's…let's just say servant."

"And why would she take Ms. Marvel hostage, Zarda?"

"No idea, Val. Who is she?"

"Teenage heroine. You have no idea?"

Zarda shook her head.

"All right," Val said. "Salome has demanded to see you, and she is no longer talking to our hostage negotiator. Turning to you is a last resort, but I am trying to see this as an opportunity. I have been trying to convince the president and the joint chiefs that you and the rest of your squadron can still be assets. Half of them want to see what would happen if we buried you in a mine shaft with twelve gamma bombs and set them off. Don't get me started on how the Avengers are less than thrilled that we are still trying to make the squadron work; it took all I have to convince them to keep Thor from charging in. All you have to do is prove them wrong."

"So this is a test."

"Exactly. We have two hostages—Zelma and Ms. Marvel. Your job is to get them out alive. Minimum of civilian casualties if any at all, and oh yeah, avoid demolishing a New York Landmark."

"Not exactly my typical job."

"Try. The alternative is to go back to your cell while we scope out mine shafts."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Zarda locked eyes with Val and could tell the doctor would not be intimidated.

Zarda nodded.

"Good." Val gestured to one of the SWAT officers. He crossed to Zarda and unlocked the manacles and the inhibitor collar.

Val nodded towards the library.

Zarda lifted off and floated to the steps, touched down, and walked up. She cautiously pushed the door open.

Someone had cut the power to the library, so there were no lights on. But enough light was coming in from the outside for Zarda to see the gagged teenage girl tied to a chair in the middle of the lobby, bound by glowing chains.

Zarda somehow managed not to gasp; no one had given her any details about Ms. Marvel beyond her code name.

Zarda didn't recognize the uniform. But she recognized the slight frame, and even with the mask on recognized the shape of her face.

In a time and place that no longer/had never had existed, she had gone by the name Girl Power.

Her real name was Kamala Khan.

8

8

"One side!" President Coulson said as he came up behind Hyperion, Nighthawk, Blur, and Doctor Spectrum in the corridor down the hall from the conference room in the Squadron Supremes' base. He had just started a meeting with all but Power Princess in attendance when a loud 'POW!' had shaken the room. The other four heroes had raced out ahead of him.

"Coming though," Coulson said as the heroes let him through. "Now, what is….going…on…" He trailed off and managed to remember that the president is not supposed to be slack-jawed. But it was tough. "…here?"

Standing facing them were Power Princess and Girl Power. The warrior woman and the teenager looked as if nothing was unusual, as if they were always splattered from head to toe in bubble gum.

They stood next to the doors to the cafeteria. One of the doors had been blown off its hinges. Coulson peeked into the room. It looked like a bubble gum bomb had gone off. The pink goo was everywhere. Tables and chairs had been overturned and pushed against the wall, and light fixtures and ceiling panels had been knocked from the ceiling. Cafeteria staff peeked from the kitchen.

Coulson turned back to face the heroine and her sidekick. He could hear the male heroes behind him struggling to stifle laughs and not completely succeeding.

Coulson said, "Power Princess. Girl Power."

Zarda said, "Mr. President. You're here. For the meeting. That I've known about since last week."

"That's right," Coulson said.

"I'm sorry, sir," Zarda said. "I was…preoccupied with Americana, that is investigating a part of American culture that I hadn't made time for before."

"That would be blowing bubble gum, I take it?"

"Yes, sir."

"And, ah, how did it go?"

Girl Power said sheepishly, "It doesn't mix well with superpowers, sir."

"I see."

Zarda said, "We'll clean up this mess-"

"No," Coulson said, "it's ok. You two get cleaned up, and I'll have the staff handle this. Then, Zarda, you can stop by the White House later. I'll catch you up. Gentlemen?"

The male heroes turned back to the conference room, as Power Princess and Girl Power went the other way.

'Maybe I should have kept the X-Men around,' Coulson thought. 'Val never said they were this crazy.'

8

8

"Hello, Zarda," the body of Zelma Stanton said as she came around a bookshelf, holding a bejeweled dagger. She was dressed in a revealing dress, and her hairdo was more ornate than Zelma normally wore it.

"Salome," Zarda said. "That body isn't you."

"For once, I have to agree with you. Dear Zelma has let herself go a bit. She does have something of a muffin top. But it's nothing I can't fix with exercise, diet, and a little black magic."

"Excuse me? Have you seen what's outside? Do you think you'll be allowed to waltz out of here in that body?"

"They won't have a choice after midnight."

"Why?" Zarda asked. "What happens at midnight?"

"A little ritual that will erase Zelma's spirit and give me permanent control of this body," Salome said. "It requires a blood sacrifice, which is where Ms. Marvel comes in." She hefted the dagger. "I carve out her heart, offer it to a certain demon, and in return, I get this body. So that's the choice, Zarda—if you don't kill me, and this woman along with me, then I kill you and Ms. Marvel dies. And the last time I looked the stars were 15 minutes from the midnight alignment. Tick tock, Zarda."

"There's another option, Salome: Let Ms. Marvel go. Sacrifice me instead."

"I can't do that Zarda, and not just because I would refuse. The ritual requires the blood of a living being, but seeing you now, I see you're not qualified. You're what we in the craft call a homunculus."

"No belly button," Zarda breathed. "No fingerprints."

"Exactly. So even if I wanted to use you, I can't. The demon would reject you."

"This is beneath you, Salome. You're hurting strangers."

"They're not strangers! Don't tell me you don't recognize Ms. Marvel. And Zelma is mine to do with as I wish-"

"No she isn't! Not here. Not in this world. And Ms. Marvel has never met me. Have you, girl?"

Kamala shook her head.

Salome said, "You're telling me you don't care what happens to her?"

"It doesn't matter," Zarda said, "because she doesn't know me. In fact, I probably sound like a raving lunatic right now. Don't you see? We're the survivors of a world that never existed-"

"It existed! I have centuries worth of memories."

"So do I!"

"So, what, it never happened? It doesn't matter?"

"I don't know!" Zarda cried. "You tell me I'm a fake. SHIELD tells me I didn't exist a year ago. But I have memories going back ages. Growing up on Utopia, fighting the Nazis in World War Two—I remember the night I made love to Namor on the bottom of the ocean. I met him last week and he looked right through me. History doesn't mention me. I don't know what to make of this because I—I—I'm not smart enough. You always told me how dumb I am. Well, you're right. I am dumb. I fight, I screw, and I drink, and that's as much thought a I give anything. I don't know what to make of this. I never saw it coming, even when the evidence was right in front of me…"

8

8

Light and noise announced Zarda's materialization outside her citadel on Liberty Island, the Bifrost Axe glowing in her hand. She heaved out breaths, trying to calm herself. The battle with this Asgardian, Thor, was not only frustratingly inconclusive, but reminded her of some of the bunk she'd been hearing from Hyperion and Blur at their recent Squadron meetings. Zarda didn't want to be bothered with such matters. She would have another bottle or two of wine. Then she would contact the squadron and—

A Russian female voice called from inside the citadel: "Welcome home, 'my princess.'"

"No!" Zarda charged into her quarters to see the image of a red-skinned horned demoness in her Siege Perilous mirror. "You—Darkchilde! I thought I killed you."

"Exactly," Illyana Rasputin said. "You thought you killed me. Obviously, you didn't. I've hacked your mirror—don't be too harsh on poor Perry. He really is loyal to you. He just had no choice. And your little friend, Girl Power, is here with me."

"And that is…where?"

"For me to know and you to find out. And no, Perry won't tell you."

"You think I can't find you?"

Illyana smiled. "I'm counting on it!" She laughed as she vanished.

Perry's voice came out of the mirror: "Mistress, my heartiest apologies-"

"I will deal with you later, Perry," Zarda said as she headed for the door. "I have a demoness to kill. And this time I'll be sure she stays dead." The Squadron could wait until this business was concluded.

Outside, Zarda closed her eyes, and focused her attention inward, on the mystical bond between herself and Girl Power, the bond that linked them through their uru weapons…

…and knew where Kamala was.

"Utopia," she whispered as she opened her eyes. "Foolish demon. Did you think that something would keep me from facing you in my homeland? Guess again."

Zarda knelt and slammed the axe into the ground…

…rainbow light surrounded her…

…and she blinked at her new surroundings as she stood.

It wasn't that it was day that surprised her, for Utopia was in the Pacific Ocean. But the buildings were completely unfamiliar, a cluster of 1-to-3 story domes in a wide clearing the size of a football field.

"Welcome home, Zarda."

Zarda spun. The ruby-skinned armored demoness was behind her, not smiling or gloating but solemn.

"Home?" Zarda asked.

"This is Utopia," Illyana said. "Or more precisely, this is the island that is really at Utopia's location. Just where you thought you were going."

"No," Zarda growled. "This is some kind of trick. You cast some spell that made me think I was going to Utopia but really someplace else."

"I wish that were so. I wish I were that cruel. As it is…please excuse me." Illyana crossed to Zarda. Zarda's eyes widened as Illyana hugged her.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Illyana said.

Zarda pushed her away.

Illyana gestured to the 2-story dome she had been standing by. "Kamala is within; I have lifted the spells of containment. You and she can leave whenever you wish."

"We'll leave after we carve you into pieces!"

"If that makes you feel better, but it won't make a difference."

Zarda entered the house and found herself in a circular with living room. Two couches faced a giant screen TV, and off to one side it looked like a chemistry set had been built around a coffee pot. Plates with half-eaten food and cups that were half empty were on a table in the kitchen.

The kitchen area was off to one side, and Zarda found Kamala pouring over newspapers and magazines on a small table.

Zarda said, "Kamala, are you all right?"

Kamala's head snapped up. "Zarda! Yes, I'm fine. I've been looking through this stuff. Look at this." She passed Zarda a newspaper.

Zarda glanced at it. "Avengers. There's that name again."

"Look at the date. This was two weeks ago."

"So?"

"So? Did you hear about 'Avengers' two weeks ago, Zarda?"

"No, Kamala, I didn't."

"But it's in all the media. I couldn't get their digital stuff working, but all the print stuff mentions heroes I've never heard of before." Kamala slowly walked into the middle of the living room and turned around. "They were having breakfast. Just chilling out. Starting their day. Laughing. Joking. And then…something happened and…poof, they're gone, as if-"

"Kamala," Zarda said as she came to face her side kick, "listen to me. The darkchilde is playing some kind of sick joke. It's all a trick-"

"I don't think so…Zarda, when I look at you…I know we've known each other a while, but when I look at you now, it's like I'm looking at someone I've just met."

"Seriously!?" Zarda saw Illyana enter the house and pointed. "Don't buy into her garbage, Kamala! It's not just a lie, it's a stupid one. I remember my life here. My mother. My sisters. I remember they all died because of a disease I brought home. I had to bury all of them. No one helped me!"

"Yes," Illyana said, "and because of that tragedy, you never wanted to come back. You wouldn't even bring Kamala when she asked. Isn't that convenient?"

"'Convenient'?" Zarda mocked.

"Yes," Illyana said. "I don't know exactly how it was done, but when the world was remade, Krakoa could not be moved. So they went around it. Think about it. The sole survivor of the Utopian civilization has no interest in coming home, and there's nothing of value here, so the lie is not exposed. But that is the truth, Zarda. Kamala is right. They were here, my loves, the brothers and sisters of my soul, erased from existence. But they couldn't get rid of everything. Utopia never existed, and your life and everything you think you know is a lie-"

"I've had enough of this!" Zarda hefted the axe and squared off with Illyana.

Kamala got between Zarda and Illyana. "No, Zarda, I think this is important. I think we should listen to her."

Zarda stepped backed, agitated, puzzled and upset. "You…you're on her side?"

"No," Kamala said, "I just want to know the truth."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with me, Zarda."

"No, no, no, Kamala, I've heard stories. You and your little friend, you've gone soft, ever since you had that run-in with Deadpool. Nighthawk thinks you're hiding that Falcon kid. And now you're in league with her. I can't believe you're turning on me, after all…you…You…you little traitor!"

"No," Kamala said, "I'm not a traitor."

"You are!" Zarda screamed. "That's your nature, to be lying and deceitful and treacherous. You can't help yourself; it's in your heathen blood. You're a treacherous…two-faced…dark-skinned worthless heathen back stabber! I never should have believed in you." She stuck her hand out. "Hand them over."

"What?"

"Your uru circlet and armor. You're no longer worthy of them."

"No, Zarda-"

Zarda took a menacing step forward. "Hand them over, or I'll beat you to death and take them off your corpse. Then I'll chop you up and dump you at your mother's house in pieces. Don't think I won't."

Kamala took a long look into Zarda's eyes. "I never realized…if that's the way you want it…" She took off the circlet, the gauntlets, and the leg shields, and dropped them at Zarda's feet. "Just go. I don't ever want to see you again."

"That won't be a problem." Zarda knelt, scooped the weapons up into one arm, slammed the axe into the floor, and vanished in a flash of rainbow light.

8

8

"…I didn't mention this to the squadron later," Zarda explained to Salome in the New York Public Library, with this world's Kamala bound nearby, "because I didn't think it was any of their business, and we had more than enough stuff about these Avengers, and I was beginning to wonder if I had overreacted. I was thinking I would see what I could do about it after we dispatched these Avengers. But during the fight, I was knocked out, and when I woke up…" She trailed off and spread her hands.

"That's all very tragic, Zarda, but what's your point?"

"My point, Salome, is that if the Darkchilde couldn't figure it out, and you can't figure it out, what am I supposed to tell you? You're right. You were always right. I'm just a dumb busty super strong girl with a ton of weapons. I admit it. And the truth is, I'm a little scared, which is probably why I'm lashing out, and why…why I…" She trailed off, but then went on: "But I know that this is wrong. You shouldn't do it. And I know you, Salome. You still see yourself as one of the good guys. In the long run, you would never forgive yourself. If you want a new body, take mine! You've already said it's fake. And if this world's heroes have to blow it to smithereens, I don't think they'll miss me."

"Wow. I never saw that coming. That…I…it took a lot out of you for you to say that, Zarda. I can respect that."

"And I respect you, Salome. Of all my foes, you were the only one I never defeated, the only one who never ended up in my statue garden. I respect you as a worthy opponent. Don't lose that respect now, not when…when it's all we have, maybe all we really have."

"I appreciate that Zarda. Truly. But that wouldn't work either. The best analogy is that your 'operating system' has been running for too long. And I can't stay in Zelma's body permanently with her in here; she's putting up quite a fight-"

"Then make a new one!" Zarda tapped her own belly. "One with a bellybutton. You just love rocking that bare midriff, don't you?"

"I do, don't I?"

"And you keep telling me what a great sorcerer you are, and there's a mystic master or whatever he is, outside…."

Salome pointed at her own head. "And Zelma just thought of five grimoires that might be helpful."

"So honestly, between the…three of you, how hard could it be?"

"Not hard at all. We could have something conjured by morning."

"I'll get Val to spring for breakfast."

"Hmmm…let's say I go along with this. What's in it for me?"

"Me. You make a new body and transfer into it and I swear I will meet you in battle at a time and place of your choosing and I will give you the biggest fight they have ever seen on this world. You and me, to the death. I won't hold back, and whatever happens, it'll be so awesome that Asgardian blowhard out there will spend eternity talking about it. And if you beat me, you'll be able to say you won in fare combat. Isn't that worth something to you?"

"Welll…." Salome looked back and forth between Zarda and Kamala. "Ok."

"'Ok'? You're agreeing to this?"

"You don't want me to?"

"Well, no, but it is a bit quick."

"Well, the truth, Zarda, the whole human sacrifice thing, I wasn't entirely comfortable with it, and I was kind of hoping that even an admitted moron like you would somehow be lucky enough to blunder into giving me a better option."

"Even admitting that, Salome, you still have to find a way to put me down."

Salome smiled. "It's part of my charm." She turned serious and pointed at Kamala. "She stays bound and powerless until I have the new body."

"Done."

8

8

"Am I good or what?" Salome's new body, like her old one, was about two meters tall, blue-skinned, busty, with wings sprouting from her shoulders and long white hair. Wearing a blue and gold halter and matching sarong, she turned in front of a full-length mirror in Doctor Strange's sanctum while Zarda, Val, Zelma (now in a bathrobe) and Kamala (standing but still wearing glowing manacles), Thor, Doctor Strange, and SHIELD SWAT members looked on.

Zelma tsked, "Somehow submitting to objectification is not how I would use that kind of power."

Salome wrinkled her nose. "Party pooper."

"Yes, well," Zarda said, "you have outdone yourself. Credit where it's due. Now…" She pointed at Kamala. "…your end of the bargain."

"Of course." Salome pointed. Kamala's chains vanished. She rubbed her wrists and made a fist; it enlarged and returned to normal size.

"There," Salome said, "all back to normal?"

"Yeah, think so…" Kamala's fist expanded to the size of a soccer ball, and her arm lengthened, snapping the fist into Salome's face. Then her arm and hand returned to normal. "Oops. Clumsy of me. Must've been a muscle spasm."

Zarda smirked. "Yeah, you have to watch those."

"Zarda," Salome started, "are you sure she isn't-" She broke off and rubbed her belly. "Oh, crap."

"What!?" Zarda yelped.

"It's nothing, Zarda. I was so worried about the exterior I didn't give myself decent bladder capacity. I have to go."

"Are you serious, Salome? After all this-"

"It's no problem, Zarda. I can tweak it later. But right now, I have to go to the little succubus's room."

Val pointed to a female SWAT team member, who led Salome out of the room.

Kamala crossed to Zarda. "Listen…about your friend. I'm not her. I don't know you from Adam. Understand?"

"Yes," Zarda said.

"That said," Kamala went on, "I think that if you and she were really good friends, in time, she could have forgiven you, and maybe you could have patched things up. She wouldn't make it easy, but it could happen. In time."

Zarda was momentarily at a loss for words. "I…That's good to know. Thank you, Kam-"

A BOOM shook the room. Heroes and SWAT team members rushed to the source. They found the female SWAT officer dazed but alive on the floor in the hall. They looked in the bathroom and found a hole in the wall. Outside, the sun was rising over the New York cityscape.

Zarda came up to the hole and found words burned into the wall next to it: 'Call ya—xoxo.'

As Val gave orders to the SWAT teams, Thor came up behind Zarda.

Zarda kept looking at the hole, her back to Thor, and said, "They won't find her. She'll resurface at a time and place of her choosing, and then…" She trailed off and shrugged.

"This was her plan all along," Thor harrumphed.

"She maneuvered me into offering exactly what she wanted. It was the only way Val would accept it." Zarda smiled. "She knows me that well."

"You don't seem too upset about this. If I were you, I would be enraged by this…humiliation."

"'If I were you'?" Zarda turned to the thunder god. "Seriously, Thor, if you were really me right now—if you knew about yourself what I know about myself right now—how would you feel about this?"

Thor's attitude softened as Zarda's words sank in. "Well said," he said.

Zarda nodded.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I will see about getting Ms. Marvel home."

As Thor left, Val came up next to Zarda. She said, "Doctor Strange has been very understanding, and isn't even going to make us fix the house. He said 'it'll take care of himself.' Still, I'm working on some kind of good faith gesture. Somehow being in the sorcerer supreme's good graces seems like a good idea to me."

"Quite possibly. So, tell me, will that mine shaft have Wi-Fi? I may want to do a live stream before the end."

Val waved it off. "When you bargain with supervillains, things go sideways pretty quickly. I'm surprised things turned out this well. Especially if you've come out of this little crisis with some personal issues resolved and that makes you easier to manage."

"You sound like you've seen this before."

"When you run with the X-Men, you see everything."

"Indeed. Perhaps I shouldn't have slaughtered them in the other world."

"Yeah, Zarda, that might not have been a good idea. Explains why the X-Men are not fans of yours now."

"Hmm. But yes, Val, I have…settled some things. And while I don't like the idea of being 'managed,' I think things will be…better from now on."

"Good." Val smiled slightly and added, "Because it turns out Tony Stark has some played out mines he wants to unload, and I don't need the stress of trying to convince the president to pay his asking price."

THE END