The Cube

It only took a matter of moments for the tide to completely turn. For a few brief moments, the superhuman holding facility known as the Cube lost power. The Cube, which operated under a self-sustaining power system, possessed several back-up generators just in the event of such an event. Unfortunately, those generators did not seem to be working. And those brief moments were all it took for six of the prisoners to free themselves from their confines.

One of those prisoners was the young Kree named Noh-Varr. While near Earth, Noh-Varr’s ship was shot down. His teammates and his lifemate were all killed in the crash and he was the sole survivor. He attempted to enact vengeance on Earth, but in the end, he found himself at the mercy of SHIELD, shipped off to the Cube.

He viewed the other five inmates who had escaped. Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man. Sybil Dvorak, Gypsy Moth. Flint Marko, the Sandman. Chen Lu, the Radioactive Man. Esteban Diablo.

“I told you I would turn this place around!” he said. “I told you all!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” said the Absorbing Man. “Now let’s get outta here before they call the cavalry.”

“Not so fast,” said Noh-Varr. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”

“We’re listening,” said Gypsy Moth. “But make it quick.”

“We take over the Cube, make it our own,” said Noh-Varr. “Then we go on to take over the entire planet.”

“Right, you and what army?” asked the Radioactive Man.

“The army of the Kree Empire,” replied Noh-Varr with a grin. “You’ll be my own, personal strike force.”

“And what do we gain?” asked Diablo.

“Sky’s the limit, buddy,” replied Noh-Varr. “Sky’s the limit.”

“Why not, count me in,” said the Absorbing Man.

“Yeah… me too,” said Sandman. Other murmers of agreement followed, save for one.

“We need more,” said Diablo. “Bringing your friends will help, but until then, how are six people supposed to overrun this place? We need to start a riot.”

“There are three other inmates I’ve been monitoring over the past months,” said Noh-Varr. “Two of them are fairly new, but one’s been here for awhile. I can get them over to our side, and then we’ll be set.”

“We’ll have company,” said Radioactive Man. “I’m sure SHIELD already knows that we’re free, so chances are they’ve already put in a call to the Avengers or the Fantastic Four.”

“Keep them at bay, then,” said Noh-Varr. “I’ll bring our friends to the party.”

EMPIRE

Part II: Jailbreak

By Logan Polk and Dino Pollard

The Cube sat three hundred miles off the coast of America. A man-made island designed to break even the hardest of super-powered criminals. On the Cube’s landing platform, an Avengers Quinjet hovered and slowly lowered itself down. The landing gear touched down on the platform and a hatch opened from the plane’s hull.

“Fury said there were six escapees,” said Captain America. “Including this Noh-Varr.”

“Six on six then,” said Warbird. “Any word on Namor?”

“He’s en route,” replied Iron Man. “I can’t say I’m too fond of his ‘I’ll show up when I feel like it’ attitude.”

“Now’s not the time,” said Captain America.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Captain Marvel.

“The idea of escaped supervillains doesn’t really give me warm fuzzies, either,” said Cannonball. “Do we got a list of escapees?”

“In addition to Noh-Varr, Fury confirmed Absorbing Man, Gypsy Moth, Diablo, Sandman, and Radioactive Man,” said the Vision.

“Iron Man?” asked Captain America.

“A step ahead of you, Cap,” replied Iron Man. “I’ve got my sensors scanning the area. I’m picking up several–”

Iron Man’s sentence died in his throat as a thick cloud of smoke surrounded the team. Sand particles whipped around, cutting through the air. The particles coalesced into a whirlwind, centered around a specific point and they formed into the physical shape of the Sandman.

“William?” asked Captain America. “William Baker?”

“No!” exclaimed Sandman. His arm formed into a giant hammer of sand that he swung at Captain America. “The name’s Flint Marko!”

Captain America ducked the strike and rolled out of its path. He barely had a chance to stand before vines emerged from the ground, wrapping him in them. Warbird flew to her leader’s aid, using her superhuman strength to aid in freeing him from the vines which held him captive.

“I didn’t hear Vizh mention Plantman,” she said.

“No, but he did mention Diablo,” said Captain America. “Alchemy, remember?”

“Not really,” said Warbird. “Guess I left my supervillain handbook in my other bra.”

Clouds of thick, purple smoke cloaked the battlefield. The Avengers strained their eyes to see, and once the smoke began to dissipate, Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves surrounded by the five inmates Vision had confirmed earlier.

“Absorbing Man, Gypsy Moth, Diablo, Sandman, and Radioactive Man,” said Captain Marvel, repeating the names Vision had uttered just a few moments before. “Y’know, I hate it when you’re right.”

The Absorbing Man launched the opening salvo, swinging his wrecking ball towards the team. The six heroes scattered from it, save for Vision, who phased his body through the attack. He charged forward, shifting his body to its maximum density — which was akin to diamond — and his fist connected with Crusher Creel’s jaw. The Absorbing Man recoiled from the attack, and his body began to shift into a metallic substance, the very same substance the ground they stood on was made from. Before he could move to strike again, the Vision unleashed a blast of solar energy from his eyes, engulfing the criminal.

Cannonball found himself surrounded by hundreds of tiny, demonic creatures courtesy of Diablo. He recalled the training exercise from the Playroom earlier, and activated his kinetic blast field. The kinetic energy generated by Cannonball’s mutant physiology sent the tiny creatures flying. Cannonball crouched low and used the field to propel him through the air towards Diablo. He struck Diablo, and at the last moment, the alchemist transmuted his body into nerveless protoplasm. Cannonball rocketed through the villain, covered in the protoplasmic matter. The matter seemed to crawl off the former X-Man’s body and reformed into the figure of Diablo.

Captain America rolled past a sand spike and leapt to his feet. He hurled his shield at the man he had known as William Baker, but it simply passed right through him. The Sandman solidified his body and reached out behind his back with a massive hand to grab the shield.

“William, this isn’t you,” said Captain America. “You were an Avenger once, remember?”

“Baker’s dead,” said the Sandman. “I ain’t Willie Baker, I’m Flint Marko!”

The Sandman hurled the shield and Captain America leapfrogged over it. The shield struck the ground, and he picked it back up, using it to guard himself against the Sandman’s battering ram as it slammed into him. Captain America regained his bearings and recalled how the Sandman had some identity issues in the past. While he thought William Baker had overcome them, it seems he has reverted back to type as of recently.

The Radioactive Man fired blasts of radiation at Captain Marvel and Iron Man. The aerial heroes moved around them, and Captain Marvel glanced over to Iron Man. The armored Avenger nodded and fired off several repulsor blasts to draw the Radioactive Man’s attention. While he did, Captain Marvel flew towards Radioactive Man and barreled into him at full strength. The man called Chen Lu staggered and held his hand out. A blinding flash of light appeared, stunning Captain Marvel. Radioactive Man uppercutted the hero. Another repulsor blasts from Iron Man caught him off-guard and he used his powers to increase the temperature around Iron Man’s body. While that stunned the Avenger, Radioactive Man fired off another blast of radiation.

The Gypsy Moth hovered in the air, held aloft by her psychokinetic abilities. She nimbly avoided Warbird’s energy blasts and flew closer. Using her powers, she took control of Warbird’s costume, the fabric closing tightly around the heroine’s windpipe. Warbird found herself struggling for breath. She reached for her collar, but she found her arms pinned to her side, her body rendered immobile by the psychokinetic powers of Sybil Dvorak. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her attention. The reply she received was an instant backhand from the latest arrival on the scene — Namor, the Sub-Mariner. He approached Warbird, who gasped for breath.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Honestly, must I always be the one responsible for these last-minute rescues?” asked Namor.

“Get over yourself,” replied Warbird.

Inside the Cube, Noh-Varr broke past a metal door. Held in chains was a massive figure with green, amphibian-like skin and massive, ivory teeth. His yellow eyes opened and eyed the young marvel — a boy of Kree origin.

“Emil Blonsky,” said Noh-Varr. “Looks like they have you held up here pretty well.”

“What do you want?” asked Blonsky.

“To make a deal,” replied Noh-Varr. “How would you like to get out of here?”

“You as dumb as your questions, kid?”

“What would you do to get out?” asked Noh-Varr.

“Anything,” replied Blonsky.

“Even kill these Avengers?” asked Noh-Varr.

“I said anything, didn’t I?”

“Good answer,” said Noh-Varr. He deactivated the restraints which held Blonsky down, and the massive figure rose from his prison cell. He cracked his knuckles and his neck. He stretched his arms out, relishing the freedom he found after months of detainment.

“Ahh… feels much better,” he said.

“Good,” said Noh-Varr. “Now go topside. The party’s already started without you.”

The Abomination grinned and walked past Noh-Varr. The alien watched him go and felt a desire to smile himself. But first, he had other work to do.

The Vision threw a punch at Creel, but the fist was caught. The Absorbing Man’s body began to take on the physical properties of the Vision’s, including his hard density. He grinned and slammed his fist against the Vision’s head. He struck again and sent the synthezoid flying. Namor barreled into the Absorbing Man to knock him back. Creel shook his head and his hand shot out and wrapped around Namor’s throat. Before he could crush the Atlantean’s throat, he was distracted by an energy blast from Warbird.

“C’mon Creel, I thought you wanted a challenge,” she said with a grin. He threw Namor aside and strided towards Warbird. She flew around his grasp, circling his body. She fired another energy blast at him and he grunted in annoyance. He swung the wrecking ball, but before he could throw it, he was suddenly pushed upwards. Courtesy of Cannonball. The two rocketed skywards and Warbird and Namor both shielded their eyes from the light as they looked up to catch sight of them. Then, they saw the two of them rocketing back towards the ground. With Cannonball holding a firm grip on the Absorbing Man as he barreled down against the ground with a resounding SLAM. He got up, Creel didn’t.

“How’d you do that?” asked Warbird.

“Blast field… protects me from harm… makes me invulnerable,” replied Cannonball between gasps of breath. He was winded and he looked as if he had just been through a marathon.

“Yes, you certainly look invulnerable,” said Namor with a sarcastic tone.

“Just… just gimme a minute t’ catch mah… my breath,” said Cannonball.

The ground began to quake and the three Avengers turned to see the Abomination coming towards them.

“Hey Sam?” asked Warbird.

“Yeah?”

“Think you can use that trick again?”

Noh-Varr kicked open the cell door. He found a guard hunched over someone, grunting. He grabbed the guard’s head and pulled him away forcefully. He twisted the guard’s head, and a sickening CRACK signalled to Noh-Varr that the man was dead.

“Trash,” he said. He discarded the lifeless body and approached the young woman with short, blonde hair who lay on the ground. She was entirely naked save for a collar clamped around her neck. He could hear her faint sobs and her pleas. Noh-Varr reached down and pulled the collar from her neck and crushed it in his hand.

She felt her connection with the Earth’s electro-magnetic sphere once more. Her expression shifted from one of fear to one of scorn and contempt. Her eyes narrowed and glowed brightly with magnetic energy. Noh-Varr stepped back and shielded himself from any debris once she burst through the ceiling with detonating force. He left her cell and proceeded to the last one he planned to open. The one which was labeled “PARKS, ARTHUR.”

As he leapt over the Abomination, Captain America’s shield left his fingers and flew across the battlefield. Diablo’s creatures of rock and fire kept Iron Man occupied, until the shield struck him in the back of his skull. He fell unconscious and Iron Man charged towards the Abomination. As he flew, his armor surrounded him with a forcefield and he locked on to the gamma-powered behemoth with his targeting computer. Miniature rockets fired from armaments concealed in his wrist gauntlets. The explosions caused the Abomination to stagger, but he did not fall. Iron Man followed up on the rockets with a unibeam from his chestplate.

The sound of metal scraping against metal tore through the eardrums of all participants, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. The ground burst open and a young, nude woman with short blonde hair emerged forth, surrounded by energy. Iron Man felt his armor magnetically drawn to her body, as did Captain America with his shield.

“Let me guess… Magneta, right?” asked Captain Marvel.

“Siena Blaze,” replied Cannonball, who relied on Warbird for balance. “Think Magneto. Only powerful enough t’ destroy the whole planet. An’ psychotic enough t’ try.”

“Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed in the morning…” muttered Captain Marvel.

Ohmphalos

Above the Cube — above the entire planet — sat the SHIELD Ohmphalos Orbiter. A space station located in Earth’s orbit, Ohmphalos is a global security black ops center. Its existence is virtually unknown — officially, it does not exist. But to the men and women who serve as agents aboard this station, it has become home.

That was a few moments ago. Before Arthur Parks, the Living Laser, began to tear through it.

SHIELD agents mobilized to try and take down the super criminal, but found their weapons ineffective against a being of pure energy. As they attempted to recoup their losses, they failed to notice that the Living Laser’s attack was little more than a distraction from the true threat Ohmphalos was faced with.

Noh-Varr slipped past the security teams, moving carefully through to avoid detection. If he wanted to, he could simply push through and eliminate anyone who stood in his way. But he had neither the time nor the inclination for such an effort. He had more important things to worry about.

When Noh-Varr first entered the Cube, he lost any connection he had with his home. He was alone in the world, with no way of knowing where to go or what to do. But now, he was free once more — free to locate that which rightfully belong to him as a member of the Kree species.

And he found it. Deep within the Ohmphalos Orbiting Space Station sat his key to unlocking the door to the rebirth of the Kree Empire. It was emcompassing, composed of zen fascism and philosophy untranslatable to anything remotely resembling human understanding. But for Noh-Varr, it was the ethics he was raised on.

It is an alien lifeform made from a combination of synthetic and biological materials. It contains the entire history, philosophy, and ways of the Kree. A little over a year ago, it suffered massive neural damage and was unable to function at full capacity. During that time, and thanks to the effots of SHIELD to try and figure out what exactly it was, it has had time to rebuild. To reconnect. Noh-Varr only spoke four words in its presence:

“Hi Plex. I’m back.”