The Onslaught War
Disclaimer: all character are property of their respective owners.
Spoilers: general spoilers for the Amalgam Comics line
Author Note: This was originally written in 2003, and as such based on the DC and Marvel universes as they existed at the time. Also, it's written as if it was a crossover event, with every chapter being a different issue from some time wildly different comics.
A.N. 2: revised by JediKnight, from TtH.
A.N. 3: for those unfamiliar with Amalgam Comics, it was a series of one-shot specials starring characters that were a mix of Marvel and DC characters (SuperSoldier was Superman+Captain America, Dark Claw was Batman+Wolverine, and so on). Also at the end of each chapter I'll do a little glossary of the new characters introduced in the chapter.
The Onslaught War #1
Dark genesis
An island in the Aegean Sea
At the center of a vast stone chamber lit only by a opening in the ceiling that let the moonlight enter, there was a pond of warm water that exhaled steam in the cold air. A black-haired woman, dressed in a red and black tunic, entered the chamber and approached the pond.
"Hecate, mistress of magic, listen the call of your servant Circe." the woman said, kneeling before the pond.
A face began to form where a moonbeam crossed the steam. It was a beautiful face, but as cold and pitiless as the snows of Mount Olympus. It was the face of Hecate, the former High Queen of the Eternal Olympics, banished by her own progeny.
"I'm answering you, Circe, despite your betrayal." a cold voice, that came apparently from everywhere at once, said. "What do you want, treacherous daughter of Perseis?"
"Mistress Hecate, I want your help to break the curse on my love, the Atomic Black Knight." Circe said, her eyes wet by unshed tears, and her voice almost breaking.
There was a pause for a moment, and Circe feared that her former Mistress had abandoned her when Hecate's voice boomed again in the chamber.
"I know about that curse, and I can't help you." she said, her voice as devoid of concern as if she was talking about the weather, "The magic of Merlin is beyond my power, Circe."
"There is no way, mistress? I would do anything for him, anything." Circe almost wailed to her old mistress.
"Anything, Circe? Anything?" Hecate answered, a very dark note in her voice.
Deep space.
The ship of Thorion the Celestial floated peacefully between the stars, oblivious to the scene developing inside it. Thorion clutched his head with both hands, as he started to move spasmodically through the ship, and finally fell to the deck, his flailing members soon quieting down as otherwordly energies started to be discharged from his body.
Some time afterwards, attracted by those energies, the ghostly form of Dr. StrangeFate's astral body appeared on the ship.
"Thorion is unconscious. But, what could be so powerful to bring down the Celestial?" the spiritual projection of the psychical sorcerer said to himself, puzzled by the development.
As he approached the titanic form of the former Asgod, he began to felt the turmoil inside him. Thorion's soul was fighting for control against an evil older than stars. He didn't doubt for an instant, as it was his duty to help the Celestial against the ancient, but strangely familiar, evil. His ghostly form blended with the Celestial, allowing him to enter the space where his soul resided. A moment after he disappeared inside Thorion's body, a magic portal formed on the ship, and a human sized figure stepped from it.
StrangeFate found himself floating over a landscape reminiscent of the Plains of Ygdrassil. Before him, he saw Thorion's old self, fighting against four monstrous forms that he recognized as Kalibak, Ymir, Surtur and Mangog, the Promethean Giants, architects of the End Day. They were completely focused on fighting Thorion, not even acknowledging the arrival of the sorcerer.
The Supreme Sorcerer Lord of Order invoked the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to immobilize them, and strengthened the spell with his own vast power. Even then it would only be a temporary measure as the strength of those primeval titans was too vast to be constrained forever by such means.
"I thank you, sorceror." the soul-self of Thorion said, "I don't know if I could have stopped these beasts without your timely arrival."
"What are the Promethean Giants doing here, Thorion? I though them destroyed when you defeated L'Ok D'Saad."
"Such primeval forces cannot be truly destroyed, even by the power of the Celestial." Thorion said, shaking his head, "The Source made the body of the Celestial from the Ego-Mass and the bodies of the Giants. After the destruction of their temporary bodies in the battle against my deranged brother, I had no other recourse but to imprison their souls inside the body of the Celestial. But until now, I had been able to keep them controlled."
StrangeFate nodded, his mystical senses telling him the other half of the story.
"Yes, I sense that they have been strengthened by mystical means, but who would be so mad to free the Promethean Giants?"
"My deranged half-brother, L'ok D'saad, tried to free the Promethean Giants from the Ego-Mass once." Thorion said, "But this doesn't seem like one of his schemes."
"Indeed. It isn't Asgodian or Apokoliptian magic, Thorion. It is older, like the one used by the Old Beyonders, or their mad followers." he paused for a moment, trying to remember, "I think that I have seen this kind of magic before, but where?"
"When you confronted my servants, wizard, a long time ago for a mortal like you, but only a brief moment for me." somebody said behind them.
Both turned back and saw a figure filled by magic much too familiar to the sorcerer.
"You!" StrangeFate screamed.
Olympia, home of the Eternal Olympics.
The gate to the closed valley that housed the city was guarded, but since millennia ago, only those Eternal Olympics who ventured into the mortal realm, and lately some of the superhuman champions of Humanity, had tried to cross those gates.
No more.
A battle was raging on the gates. The gate guards, aided by a number of Eternal Olympics, were fighting cloaked figures that seemed to match them in power, and unfortunately for the defenders, the attackers were somewhat more numerous. Friend and foe had already been slain, but the defenders were starting to lose ground when Zeus' thunderbolts began to decimate the ranks of the enemy, and then Herakles himself joined the fight. Slowly, but relentlessly, the Eternal Olympics began to regain ground.
A lone cloaked figure had been watching the fight from a hilltop. When Herakles broke through the ranks of the attackers, he went to confront him directly. The cloaked man swiftly dodged the attack, letting the cloak fall, revealing...
"Bald'r Lightbriger!" Heracles said surprised by the sudden reveal, "Why are you fighting us?, I thought that we were friends."
"Friends, half-human mongrel? Our enemies created your polluted relatives to fight us, but Highfather Odin had finally decreed that it is the time to erase your filth from the Universe. You have won this battle, but you aren't going to endure a full onslaught of the New Asgods." he said with a sneer, and waving a hand, he and his lackeys, even the dead, disappeared from there.
Unseen by all, sitting on a nearby mountain, a dark figure had seen all of this and smiled.
New Asgard. Throne Room of Odin Highfather
Odin was conferring with his wife Frivia when a tired messenger arrived. Odin recognized him at a glance as part of the guards deployed to cover the Bifrost.
"Highfather, the Eternal Olympics had attacked Bifrost! They have broken the treaty!" the tired messenger said, kneeling before Odin, "We managed to repeal them with help of the Lightbringer, but they have claimed that they are going to end their work!"
"Are you sure that they really were the Eternal Olympics?" Frivia said, "It wouldn't been the first time that Thanoseid has tried to start a war between Olympia and New Asgard."
"Unfortunately, it's true, Highfather." the messenger said, glumly, "I saw Herakles himself leading the charge."
Apokolips
"Your plan is risky, and could threaten my own position. Mephiston is still intriguing from beyond the Hypercontinuum, and if your plan backfires, he could be set free." Thanoseid said.
"But the prize is worth the risk." the dark being said, "The energy released when the events will reach the climax would suffice for both of us. You will have the Universal Armageddon that you want and I'll have my own objectives fulfilled."
Thanoseid didn't answer immediately, pondering the thing's offer. The risks were tremendous, but the prize...
"I will help you then, Onslaught." he said, after finally reaching a decision, while thinking, 'At least while it suits my plans.'
Latkovia. Castle of Dr. Doomsday.
The gargantuan form of Doctor Doomsday was sitting crosslegged in his chambers meditating. It was something he did often, to clear his mind form the destructive impulses brought by the alien physiology of his improved body. What it wasn't so usual was he coming back after less than an hour of meditation.
'There is a great disturbance in the currents of Magic.' Dr. Doomsday thought,'This could be a great opportunity... or a great menace. I need to contact with an entity so poeerful, to evaluate its ends, and decide if I must side with or oppose it.'
StrangeFate's SanctumSanctorum
Inza Strange was levitating and reading one of the grimoires that StrangeFate had inherited from Nabu, the Ancient One, when a sudden mind-call interrupted his concentration enough time to fall to the floor.
"What do you want, StrangeFate?" she said loudly while trying to get up again.
'A great Evil has seized my spiritual form and my powers. So your time has became before that I thought. Ask Myx for my old cape, amulet and mask. They are mystic artifacts, not as powerful as my current ones, but powerful enough for you. Goodbye, my disciple' the voice on her mind said, fading slowly while pronouncing the words.
She opened the door of the library in the Tower of StrangeFate while she called for Myx.
To Be Continued...
Note: it has been noted that not many people is all that familiar with the original Amalgam Comics line. So I'll add a two-part character guide, one wwith established characters, and other with new (or characters that were throwaway mentions in the original comics), and my canon about them.
Amalgam Canon Characters and Locations:
Asgods [New Gods/Asgardians]: also called New Asgods, god-like beings native of New Asgard.
Bald'r Lightbringer [Lightray/Balder]: New Asgod, friend and ally of Thorion.
Doctor Doomsday [Doomsday/Doctor Doom]: Victor Von Doom, megalomaniacal scientist mutated into an unstoppable behemoth of destruction after he was contaminated with the DNA of an alien creature, without losing a bit of his genius.
Doctor StrangeFate [Doctor Fate/Doctor Strange, Charles Xavier]: mutant mystic, disciple of Nabu the Ancient One, and Supreme Sorcerer Lord of Order.
Latkovia [Markovia, Zandia(?)/Latveria]: Island nation ruled by Doctor Doomsday
New Asgard [New Genesis/Asgard]: world-city of the New Asgods.
Odin Highfather [Highfather/Odin]: also known as All Highfatheer Odin, ruler of New Asgard, adoptive father of Thorion
Thanoseid [Darkseid/Thanos]: ruler of Apokolips, father of Orion.
Thorion the Celestial [Orion, Promethean Giants(?)/Thor, Celestials]: formerly Orion, son of Thanoseid, resurrected, renamed as Thorion and given the Hammer of the Old Asgods, and after the fight with L'ok D'Saad and the Promethean Giants ascended to become Thorion the Celestial.
The New characters :
Atomic Black Knight [Atomic Knight / Black Knight]: Circe's lover, transformed into a stone statue by a curse of Merlin.
Circe [Circe (the enemy of Wonder Woman) / Sersi]: Eternal Olympic sorceress that was an enemy of Wonder Woman and Diana Prince, later she reformed.
Eternal Olympics [Olympic Gods (DC)/Olympic Gods (Marvel), Eternals]: god-like beings that resemble the Greco-Roman pantheon.
Frivia [Frigga/Avia]: Highfather Odin's wife.
Hecate [Hecate/?]: greek goddess of magic and sorcery, the more ancient texts name her as supreme queen of the Olympic gods.
Herakles [Herakles, Hercules/ Hercules, Ikaris?]: one of the Eternal Olympics, half-human son of Zeus.
Inza Strange [Inza Nelson / Strange 2099]: time-displaced disciple of StrangeFate, on time she will replace him.
Olympia [Olympus (DC)/Olympus (Marvel),Olympia]: home of the Eternal Olympics.
Onslaught [?/Onslaught]: shady figure who is manipulating the event behind scenes.