When the Spider-Specter had been an Invincible, he’d often hitched a ride with Nightshadow to missions or used the spare teleporter Nightshadow kept hidden down near the docks. With that in mind, Nightshadow switched the system’s security to go back to the old codes. That way, Danny could make his way to the docks and teleport himself over to whatever crisis was going down, if he was going to bother to help.
Nightshadow stepped up onto the platform and took a few soothing, meditative breaths. He hated to admit it, but this part always freaked him out. The teleporter was going to break him down into energy particles and data, shoot that across the globe in an information stream, and re-build him at the other end. He’d never experienced any problems teleporting, but always feared he might end up deformed or disfigured in some way when he reappeared at the other side. Nonetheless, he had no other way to meet up with the other Invincibles most of the time and the probability that a mishap would occur was actually quite low.
Crackling lights swirled around him. His vision blurred and his eyes burned. A sick, tingly feeling filled his gut, and he swallowed back vomit as the world turned to static.
He blinked.
Abruptly, he stood in the Sky Citadel, Invincibles Headquarters, currently hovering over the South African coast, high above the clouds.
***
The Sky Citadel orbited around the world from trouble spot to trouble spot. Heavy cannons ringed the entire citadel-city and a flickering force field enveloped it. For decades, S.I.L.E.N.T. had used the Sky Citadel as one of their main headquarters. When the Invincibles’ old satellite base had crashed into the sun during the Day-Eater invasion, Paul Wrath ordered the construction of Invincibles Tower and that it be a part of the citadel. S.I.L.E.N.T. and the Invincibles had already been sharing resources for years, so it made sense to have a base-within-a-base together.
Nightshadow scurried through back corridors and secret shafts, avoiding the soldiers manning battle stations, drilling in small scattered gyms, and stocking up on weaponry. He emerged near the command center, and after he was given a full body scan, its wide, sleek metal doors curved open for him. Inside, technicians and strategists pounded furiously away at supercomputers, using holograms to help them sift through data and perform complex math. Paul Wrath nodded to Nightshadow from the main control console at the front of the room.
Before him, a massive, ultra-thick window peered down onto the huge, horizon-spanning deck outside. Squadrons of sky-bikes and jump-jets prepared for launch. Soldiers swarmed, climbing into hover-tanks and checking their laser rifles. Just beyond, an angelic, foamy-white cloudscape loomed. Patches of blue sprinkled through the lush white sky and gave off a disorienting sense of just how high up they were.
“
Salutations, Nightshadow,” Gilgamesh said in his regal Iraqi accent. The hulking brute of muscle sat at the head of a wide, round table on a short platform that oversaw the entire command center. His golden scale armor glimmered and gleamed. A lengthy, jeweled spear with a jagged edge hung from his back. Black dreadlocks swept down into his dark-skinned face.
“
Your Majesty,” Nightshadow said, marching up the short, spiraling stairs and respectfully bowing his head to him. He then greeted the other Invincibles present.
Liandra Dark spun around in a chair while shuffling and reshuffling a deck of bloodstained tarot cards. Piercings stuck out of her nostrils, pricked through her lips, and weighed down her ears. A pink Mohawk spiked up on her head and went well with her beat up leather shirt and pants. Despite her brash, youthful appearance, this British Indian had recently become the Master of Tears, the universe’s designated sorcerer-protector.
“
A glimpse of your future, Night?” she asked in a thick British accent. She held up a card showing the Risen Tower collapsing down in fiery pieces into a giant, grinning skull’s mouth.
“
I make my own future,” he replied.
She grinned. “So you think.”
Nearby, Dynamo-Man had sprouted dozens of wires and plugged them into a bank of supercomputers. The supercomputer screens flashed with the megabytes of data the mandroid was downloading into his memory banks. Sleek black-and-gray titanium super-steel made up his bulky armored form. His helmet resembled a samurai’s with horned antennae poking out and a slick chrome faceplate.
Areva, Earth’s Silver Seraph, sat on top of the table Indian-style, striking a meditative pose with her hands splayed open on her knees. A long star-sharpened broadsword lay in the nimble Thai girl’s lap. Two transparent organic-crystal wings grew out of her back. Behind her, the Answer appeared in a psychedelic burst of color. He wore a full white bodysuit covered in swirling, smoky-bright blue, red, and yellow zeroes. He’d inherited the inviso-suit from his father, the S.I.L.E.N.T. scientist who’d created it. Sea Devil hadn’t arrived yet, but he was normally late to meetings anyway, though Nightshadow expected to see Hyperman and the Whorl super-speeding into the room any second now.
“
Let’s get started,” Wrath said, gimping up to the table and clawing his shaky, bony hand through the air. A hologram appeared over the table. Even Areva cracked open her silver-speckled eyes to look up at it. Dynamo-Man unhooked himself from the supercomputers and his wires snapped back inside his armor before he turned around.
“
Phoenix Bright, ladies and gentlemen,” Wrath gruffly said, indicating the holographic figure floating above everyone. “Our favorite asshole’s trying to end the world. Again.”
***
The Invincibles exchanged wary glances. The entire command center tensed up at just the mention of Phoenix Bright’s name. Many technicians whispered amongst themselves or looked anxious, but nonetheless, plowed on with their work. Nightshadow admired their fortitude in carrying on with their duties. Phoenix Bright scared even him and, given he generally dealt with the bloodiest, craziest psychopaths Salome City had to offer, that was saying a lot.
The hologram showed Phoenix Bright in great detail. Hypnotic gray eyes leered out of his robotic skull mask. Bright, bloody-red phoenix wings flamed across his black-spiked armor and matched the color of his hooded cape.
“
You guys know the deal,” Wrath said. “Sorcerer-cyborg who’s rumored to have traveled all across space-time learning the darkest, most forbidden sciences and magics. Ruler of the island nation of Danikabla floating in-between Asia and Africa with hints of both cultures showing in the people there. At his command, an army of robots, demons, robotic demons, demonic robots, or whatever the hell those things are. He’s a perennial top nominee for most terrifying man in the universe.”
“
Don’t we need Hyperman and the Whorl if we’re going to start the briefing?” Nightshadow asked, standing attentively with his hands clasped behind his back. “Sea Devil too.”
“
Sea Devil’s being briefed en route,” Wrath replied. “We’re also in contact with the Whorl. And Hyperman? Well, he’ll show up when he shows up, and we’ll catch him up real quick.”
He registered his dislike with a grunt, which Nightshadow noted and wondered what Cal had done to upset Wrath.
“
What is our justification for taking action?” Gilgamesh asked. “After all, no matter what you want to call it, we’re going to be invading this man’s country.”
Dynamo-Man’s faceplate lit up. “A rash of disappearances began late last night all across the world,” he said in a computerized monotone. “They included senators, scientists, writers, artists, musicians, and even mathematicians.”
“
They’re the best and brightest of the next generation,” Wrath added. “Everyone that’s in the middle of making a name for themselves. S.I.L.E.N.T.’s been keeping the disappearances quiet to avoid a panic, but we made a list of other potential targets and we’ve got the Whorl beating Bright to the punch and snatching them all off to safe houses. Beforehand though, I had Liandra there and S.I.L.E.N.T.’s mystic squad sniff out Phoenix Bright’s magic, so we could make sure it was him.”
“
Spells that powerful have to leave some residue,” Liandra said, tucking her tarot deck into a back pocket.
“
Do we know why he’s kidnapping these people?” Nightshadow asked. “This is Phoenix Bright here. He always has some insane scheme.”
“
These people represent the future and thus Bright is sacrificing the future through them,” Areva said quietly. “It’s a ritual. The stars and planets have aligned perfectly across several different galaxies and he now has the chance to summon Lucifer.”
“
Lucifer?” Gilgamesh asked. “The fallen angel? The devil himself, you mean?”
“
The individual upon whom such myths are based,” Areva replied. “He was actually one of the first Celestials of Prism. He was the renegade. The fallen.”
Nightshadow nodded. He’d made a point of studying up on the Silver Seraphs, just so he’d understand what was going on when their business became Earth’s business. Gods (or rather the advanced super-beings who had been worshipped as gods) from all across the universe had come together centuries ago to create a utopian world called Prism. Most human beings would regard the place as Paradise. Eden, Heaven, Elysium, Valhalla, Shangri-La, Nirvana, and Kolob all existed there as major cities, and their size and beauty made it almost hurtful to look at them.
The Celestials made Prism a center of learning and wisdom throughout the universe. Their libraries, universities, and technologies were legendary and vast. Many beings across space and time dreamed of studying there. However, the Celestials also wanted to protect the universe from itself and give it time to rise up out of its own ignorance. Therefore, they chose a select few from every universal quadrant to become Silver Seraphs that policed and protected the galaxies.
The idea of space angels actually existing made Nightshadow slightly uneasy and feel like he was out of his depth, but he tried to take it in stride. He was more used to street crime, terrorists, and maniac super-villains. Still, alongside the Invincibles, he had faced down a number of threats that bedazzled and broke the mind to even contemplate. Despite that, he thought that he had always held his own, but feared that he was way out of his league, even if his pride wouldn’t let him admit it. He did what he could, though, and hoped it amounted to something. Thankfully, he had Invincible teammates more used to cosmic menaces like Areva. As a Silver Seraph, it was mostly all she handled while performing her duties.
She tightly clutched her sword by its handle. “All communications with Prism have been cut off,” she said. “I can’t even access the wormhole to get there. However, before I lost contact, I heard about some sort of magical plague that had hit everyone hard. It kills me that I can’t be there to help!”
“
Sounds like Bright’s handiwork,” Liandra muttered.
“
So I imagine the deal is Lucifer gets Prism and Phoenix Bright gets Earth, and they divide up the rest of the universe between them?” Nightshadow asked and shook his head. “I don’t buy it. Bright would never settle for anything less than the whole universe, and if Lucifer’s anything like the mythologies say, he knows Bright is going to betray him.”
“
However this all works out, things are definitely going to get ugly,” Wrath said. “The intel we have estimates the ritual needing a couple more hours to complete. The last known disappearance was thirty-seven minutes ago, so we need to get cracking, people.”
***
Nightshadow and Gilgamesh pored over a holographic layout of Danikabla. They bickered a bit about when and where to deploy troops, but Wrath added a few suggestions to help them compromise. Then, finally, after fifteen hurried minutes of planning, everybody received their marching orders in holographic form.
Wrath hit an alert. Agents pounded up and down the corridors, throwing on battle-armor and grabbing guns. The command center’s holographic charts displayed the Sky Citadel itself shifting and hovering down closer to Danikabla. Outside, sky-bikes, hover-tanks, and jump-jets launched in squadrons. The Sky Citadel’s cannons turned and swiveled, their mouths crackling with laser-fire. Wishing each other luck, the Invincibles began filing out, each with their own way of reaching the island.
The command center’s massive front window split open for Areva and Dynamo-Man to soar out. The many zeroes on the Answer’s bodysuit glimmered before he vanished into thin air. Liandra murmured a spell in an indecipherable language and her body evaporated into green flames. Gilgamesh offered Nightshadow a ride on his flight-chariot. Nightshadow thanked him, but declined. He had his own transportation.
He slipped through the frenzied rush of S.I.L.E.N.T. personnel rushing to and fro out of the command center. He stole around tight corners and snuck through doors few knew existed, creeping about areas of the Sky Citadel next to no one had access to without the proper clearance. Eventually, he came to an elevator. When the doors clanged open, Paul Wrath was waiting inside.