The Science Cells
Beneath Titan’s Surface

Elysius, the once broken hearted Titan, shivered against the damp cold of the underworld. The Science Cells, complete with bubbling chemicals and arching gothic walls, was a remnant of Titan’s past. It was almost like a forgotten world, uninhabited by all except the lonely beauty. Raven hair shuffled from her exposed shoulders as her eyes, ever-distant, searched the shadows for the figure she sought. ISAAC, the computer mainframe that operated the entirety of their civilisation, had successfully launched its attack and all above, her once beloved included, believed the Mad Titan Thanos was to blame for the destruction. As Mar-Vell, the Kree-born Captain Marvel of Earth, dealt with the peculiar armada aboard the Captain America II. Elysius had slipped away. She was sure she would be missed but a woman of enduring strength, she had a choice to make. Her doe-eyed expressions in the glistening capital city of Titan masked the thoughts that rushed endlessly though her mind.

Captain Marvel, she thought as she relished in even thinking his name. Elysius had watched the life drain from his cancer-ridden corpse in anguish and she had loved him so much that she had even taken his genetic codes and transformed them into the two children she’d “conceived”. Genis and Phyla. Even in death, Mar-Vell had made her a mother and for a while that had contented her mind. However, with the effects of rapid aging the children, she’d no distractions for long and her mind had turned back to the endless nightmare of a lonely existence she endured. Elysius had spent the most recent months of her existence formulating and searching for a way that she could rewind the effects of death and . . . she’d found it. It came at a price but she was undeterred by the cost. Elysius believed it a small price to pay.

“It is time.”

Elysius nodded. “I know.”

She was surprised by how she felt as she turned to face the orchestrator of Mar-Vell’s mysterious resurrection. Who better to assist in raising the dead from their grave than the skeletal puppeteer known as Mistress Death? The very embodiment of Death and the much-sought after “love” of Thanos, Death had allowed her the return of an honourable hero as long as Elysius had given her a sacrifice in return . . . Titan. At first Elysius had agreed readily but now that she had witnessed the purity of the man she loved, her insanity had been removed with a wave of clarity. As if a veil had been lifted and then, with the wisps of smoke that bellowed from her eyes, she witnessed that it had.

Mistress Death was an imposing and maternal figure simultaneously. In a single moment she could harness both life and death in her hands. Elysius could only watch the primordial creature with awe, and fear. The repercussions of the future she was to bring on her people was weighing heavily on her mind but the mistress was not a monstrous being, despite her waifish appearance, and in a moment of further madness . . . Elysius sat forward to defy the woman’s plan, in hope that she had some human emotion such as mercy or forgiveness.

“I can’t . . . I won’t.”

Death moved from the shadows. Her hooded cloak drawn firmly around her pallid face which was simultaneously skeletal and whole. The white skin of her face intricately patterned with shifting black lines and her eyes thickly circled in the same. Beneath her billowing cape was a firm purple laced corset and antique Victorian dress, from the hem – where legs should have been – fog rolled. A tendril of this eerie fog solidified and brushed against the fearful face of the Titan.

“Dearest one,” her voice whispered as if it were a secret on the wind. “Titan will fall. And your hand shall tip the scales.”

“This is my home.”

A vision of Captain Marvel formed in her gloved palm as her cold, dead eyes shifting towards the posed figure. “A deal has been struck.”

“I beg for you to let me change the terms. I can give you something else . . . anything else–”

“Those are not unlike the words of your former agreement. You offered me anything, a thousand lives for the soul of but one man.”

Elysius stood uneasily.

“Where those not terms of our agreement,” continued Death. Her hand balled into a fist and the smoky façade of Mar-Vell dispersed into the open air. “I would hate to see a contract signed in blood to be broken by cowardly short-sightedness.” Her body snapped forward like an asp until she looked directly into the green eyes of the Titan. “You serve me and I will get what I came for.”

Elysius cleared her throat. “But why?”

“Hm,” the malformed version of a smile slithered onto her quickly darkening features. It was an oddity that she could interchangeably be quite so beautiful as she was horrifying. Death spun her waist at an impossible angle as she hovered away. “You did not care then, why do you now?”

Elysius understood her question but struggled to answer it. When she had brokered the deal for the return of Mar-Vell, she had seen no deal as too high but now in the cold light of day, after witnessing his heroism, she struggled with her own villainy. “Conscience.”

“Pathetic humanoid emotion,” whispered the entity. Death was surprising in that her voice gave no sign of emotion but it did not bore the woman. It was not monotonic, just consistently nonchalant. “I have no time for conscience. The price for the Kree soldier was the death of all those in this capital city . . . all those unable to run, that is.”

Elysius stammered. “You don’t need me.”

“No, I do not.”

“Then, why?”

“Tears?” the peculiar smile returned to Death’s features as she rubbed a bony finger across Elysius’ face. “How quaint. Why, my dearest, is that I enjoy the entertainment. I could tear the souls from those who opposed me but you with your frailty must earn them . . . Mar-Vell will live for as long as he can keep himself alive. If you oppose me, I will take you and this city as recompense. This is not a deal with an amateur, Titan. You speak with Death itself.”

She wiped her tears. “I know.”

“Then, it is time.”

“Yes.”

GRANDSTAND

By Gavin McMahon

Titan Airspace

“You seek war with my master, boy.”

Genis-Vell, son of the original Captain Marvel and current bearer of the mantle, gritted his teeth as he looked upon the gnarled, half-hidden face of the assistant of Thanos that stood before him. The youth had never personally experienced the atrocities of Thanos but what he’d heard from his mother and uncle, and various history lessons, made him ready for an attack. “I seek nothing but I’ll happily give him one.”

“Although we meet in a battlefield, we don’t come with intentions of war,” Mar-Vell interjected, placing himself between his son – he was never sure he’d get used to that development – and the Other. His eyes narrowed upon seeing the cloaked alien, he bore the mark of an ally of Titan but there was more to him than that. His instincts, ingrained in him since he’d been a mere soldier of the Kree, led him to see the powerful threat the creature represented. “We cannot simply overlook the attack Thanos has made here.”

“Thanos has made no attack on the people of Titan,” rasped the Other. “He wishes them no prosperity but he has yet to unleash an attack of full force of them. When Thanos wishes Titan to be destroyed, no amount of heroes or brawn will protect your city.”

After the Captain America II had drifted off, a second aircraft had arrived and the Other had urged them to come aboard. ISAAC’s attack had sent reverberations through the galaxy. The Titan stronghold had broken. Captain Marvel and his son, Genis, had boarded in preparation of a battle with Thanos but only his representative was aboard.

“ISAAC said pretty clearly that Thanos was behind his change of programming. He attacked us in your master’s name.”

“The boy is confused. Thanos has no need to launch an attack through your computer,” continued the Other. “He has an army at his disposal.”

Captain Marvel glared. “An army that he could use to assist in the protection of his world instead of constantly seeking to destroy it. I wish to speak with Thanos. There has to be more to his involvement than this.”

“I assure you . . .”

The Kree interjected. “No. Contact your master.”

“I do not take orders from a petulant soldier. What befalls Titan is of no consequence to you, hero. Whether she rises or falls is at the behest of fate,” the Other grimaced. “I fear neither your words nor your attack.”

Genis-Vell cracked his knuckles and postured. “We’ll see about that.”

He hadn’t taken a step before the Other formed a metallic staff in his hands. Genis-Vell’s body shimmered into his more familiar form, skin as black as night amidst the glittering of long-dead stars. His Cosmic Awareness gave him more than just his powers and nigh-omnipresence, it made him a living conduit of the galaxy. He may have taken his father’s mantle out of respect but the name Legacy had always been about more than simply his parentage, it had referred to his entire role within the tapestry of the cosmos. Mar-Vell watched, quickly becoming aware of the less than seemly traits the youth had earned from his genetics. It was clear that he’d inherited the headstrong impetuousness that the blunt Kree soldier had struggled with in both his first life, and this one.

He interjected. “There is no need to fight.”

“Your spawn makes continuous declarations of war. In his body language if not his words,” the Other snarled. “Thanos would not stand for such insolence.”

“Then let us speak to him.”

“I have heard enough.”

The voice echoed as the screens illuminated, revealing the smirking purple features of the Mad Titan – twin to the former Avenger known as Starfox and a destroyer of worlds. Thanos had been watching. It would have been foolish to believe that he’d send an aide across the universe without a motive. Titan could burn but the promise of witnessing the newly resurrected Mar-Vell, who had fought and repelled him in the past, was obviously worth the behemoth’s considerable energy.

“Captain Marvel lives.”

The blond nodded. “And as he lives, he protects, as well you should recall.”

“I do,” grinned Thanos. “I remember how a once great hero became nothing more than a cold corpse because of a silly human ailment. He was a worthy adversary. One I hoped to stomp under my feet. I didn’t get the chance then but I would happily do so now.” His thick lips formed a snarl. “How is it you live, Kree? Death is a stubborn creature, reluctant to let loose the dead she has claimed, yet here you stand before us.”

“I don’t know.”

“Ah.”

He continued. “I wish to speak on behalf of Titan . . .”

“What gives you the right to do so? You are not of her people. Where is my idiotic brother, or does he not dare stand outside the walls of his foolish parties?”

“Eros deals with the aftermath of your attack,” Genis-Vell’s eyes darkened as he looked into the face of the man who had tarnished the lives of the inhabitants of Titan for so long. “You turned Titan upon itself.”

“A tried and tested technique I assure you, but I have played no part in this fortuitous turn of events today–“

“Liar!”

The Other’s staff crashed against the skull of the younger Captain Marvel. Genis-Vell immediately reacted, tearing it from the alien’s hands and cracking it in his enclosed fist. The Other was thrown the ground, his legs seemed to crack under the pressure, but Mar-Vell caught Genis before he could injure the assistant further. He pressed his hand firmly on the youths chest and looked at him with a stern reprimand.

“If this was not you, even though ISAAC claimed to work under you, then who?”

Thanos laughed, his voice booming across the aircraft. “Ah, it appears Titan has a betrayer. Good luck, puny Kree, for I wish Titan to fall by my own hand. Other, return to me. I have need of you.”

Science Suite C

Carol Danvers, the one-time lover and ally of the original Captain Marvel, stepped into the room. Her current guise as Warbird of the Avengers was the most hawkish uniform he’d ever seen her wear. Her body was covered in a tight-fitting spandex with a metallic breastplate. A black mask “hid” her identity. Darkly painted lips formed a brief smile as she approached the man who had transformed her into the heroine for which she was so well renowned. “How could I miss the party?”

“How did you . . .?”

She grinned. “I’m an Avenger, Mar. Interstellar travel is nothing to us these days, even if we have been forced to move to Stark Tower.” Carol shrugged. “Well, the Fantastic Four got me here. I was as curious about your . . . return as anybody.”

Captain Marvel, Genis-Vell, and Starfox stood in the room where they had attempted to test the truth behind Mar-Vell’s statements. Elysius was elsewhere, she’d disappeared in the fray but her attention was needed at the repair of ISAAC. It was her speciality. Eros, the man otherwise known as Starfox, ran his white gloves through his peculiarly positioned red hair. He’d heard the account of the conversation with Thanos and his blood boiled, both from the very idea and the slanderous words of his brother. He’d defeated the giant on more than one occasion and still found their relationship – which could be considered strained at the very least – to be without respect. It irked him, his jovial mood had died under the pressure of ISAAC’s attack.

“These are the remains of ISAAC’s mainframe?” enquired the newly reborn Captain Marvel, lifting the debris in his hands.

“Elysius assures me that he’s still operational,” replied the oft-buffoonish Starfox. “There are other databanks though. She’ll reprogram his consciousness to reboot with one of those as his main hub.”

“This system causes a lot of problems,” countered Warbird. “Wouldn’t it be easier to simply remove it entirely and find a better way of sustaining yourselves? With all of the futuristic technology and skill you have here, a solution must be possible.”

Starfox smirked. “You’re talking about rewriting an entire governmental system, Carol. We’re dependent on ISAAC and that can’t be changed overnight. You speak truths but the practicality of it happening is nigh-on impossible. We’ve worked our way into this hole and now we can’t get out. Technology can be somewhat ironic that way.”

Warbird smiled. “So can politics.”

Captain Marvel moved beside her.

“Before all of this went down, where you able to find anything out?” asked the Avenger. “Maybe discover why your . . . future . . . guy or whatever he was, wanted you to go on this jacked up mission in the first place?”

Captain Marvel replied. “No. We haven’t discerned the means of my resurrection either, and now it’s looking much less likely. Elysius said it could be days before basic power is restored. The amount of power required to run these labs, I imagine that’ll take a lot longer to achieve.”

“You’d be surprised,” said Genis-Vell. “Mom was talking from a worst case scenario point of view. We could be operational in a matter of hours. Titan tends to be quite resilient.”

“At least we have that going for us,” muttered the down-trodden Starfox. “And to think I dreamed of something exciting happening.”

“You could never have expected this.”

“Thank you, Carol,” Starfox said. “I fear this is exactly what I expected.”

There was an explosion. Genis-Vell was thrown to the ground as Warbird steadied herself against the remains of a bed. Captain Marvel took to the sky, avoiding the ramifications of the impact. Starfox followed suit, avoiding the falling debris.

“What was that?” he snapped. “I thought Thanos’ ship had left.”

“We waved it off,” replied Genis-Vell sarcastically.

Warbird frowned. “Now what?” Before she’d even finished her sentence, Captain Marvel had disappeared.

The Citadel

“Elysius, what are you doing?”

Captain Marvel’s memories were somewhat fractured. No longer was he in the amnesiac body of Tim Lee and still he wasn’t sure what fragments really made up his past. As he looked at the green-clad form of Elysius, he was reminded of feelings of intense warmth. The love she so obviously felt for him was void, lost in the memories he couldn’t recall, but Mar-Vell immediately understood that he cared for her and that he may have loved her once. Flanked on either side by what appeared to be genetically modified griffins, which didn’t remember, Elysius held her hands onto a metallic rod that she’d pierced the ground with. He could see the wraithlike form of a pale woman swirling around her, whispering into the deranged Titan woman’s ear.

She turned to him. “What must be done. Do not stop this, my love. For you to live, Titan must die.”

“Hell of a burden,” retorted the quick-witted hero. He launched forward as the griffin’s sprung to life. One clawed at him in the air as he landed a punch into the creature’s chest, the other circled around him. Elysius loved him, these were her creatures, and she was doing all of this so he could live – she’d never have them kill her.

“Don’t ever run off again.”

He looked over his shoulder to see Starfox, Genis-Vell and Warbird – it had been the latter who spoke. The griffins’ flew from him and dove towards the three newly arrived heroes, Elysius had seen them first. Captain Marvel realised that they weren’t diving towards the heroes – they were diving at Warbird – and he unleashed a blast of cosmic energy, knocking the closest from the sky as it skidded along the ground. Warbird reacted in seconds, she thrust her body into the sky and threw herself at the genetic monstrosity. Captain Marvel knew they could look after themselves, Genis-Vell made for the second of his mother’s pets, as he landed beside the cartoonish Starfox.

“There’s another person there. A woman.”

Eros of Titan nodded. “I can’t see her but my control over the emotional spectrum means that I can feel her. It’s Death. She’s manipulating Elysius.”

“How can I stop her?”

“You can’t stop Death.”

Elysius pushed on the device and another wave of blue energy pulsed towards them. It knocked the durable heroes from their feet but those who were weaker were disintegrated. It caused the collapse of several nearby buildings. Starfox fell to the ground clutching his head, the city was in uproar and the emotional backlash – no doubt made worse by the presence of Death – was taking its toll. Captain Marvel patted his friend on the back before taking to the sky.

“Elysius, stop this.”

“I can’t,” screamed the manipulated Titan. “My debt must be paid.”

Captain Marvel crashed at the top of the steps that led to her. His brow was furrowed. “We can find another way to pay your debt.”

“No other way. A debt must be paid. Titan for you.”

He frowned. “I don’t want these people to die so that I can live. I’ll die.”

“I won’t let you.”

“Stop this.”

“You’ll have to kill me.”

Captain Marvel allowed the hero to disappear from his mind. All that was left was the regimental Kree soldier that he’d always been under the surface. “I’m sorry.”

He placed his hand on her chest and Elysius smiled. Captain Marvel pulsed constant surges of cosmic energies into his former lover’s body. Her skin cracked and the crevices glowed with energy until she exploded and he was thrown from his feet and landed at the bottom of the steps. Elysius was dead and the weapon destroyed with her. Captain Marvel looked at the swirling black fog as it took shape and descended towards him.

“I will not claim you this day, Mar-Vell of the Kree. I cannot break my contract and Elysius, although not successful, did fulfil the terms,” Death offered a mischievous smile. “I will claim your wandering soul as I do all things, and when the time comes soldier, I hope we can greet one another as worthy adversaries.”

The fog rolled out, and Captain Marvel fainted.

“How’s Genis?”

Carol smiled weakly, a sign of compassion rather than happiness, as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “His mother is dead. He’s upset but coping. It’s mainly a lot of screaming about other solutions but he’ll survive. Kid just isn’t ready to see you yet. Eros is keeping an eye on him in the meantime.”

Mar-Vell frowned. “I thought as much.”

“Is it true? She swore a debt to Death to bring you back?” The former pilot was confused and cautious as she spoke. Her arms crossed over her chest as she stopped in front of him. Captain Marvel noticed the fear in her eyes, a contrast to the distance he’d often been told was in his.

He nodded. “Yes. She traded the lives lost today for my return.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s your fault, Mar. Elysius made that deal, not you. It’s sad but you can’t focus on it or it’ll take you down with it.” She paused. “It must be strange to love someone so wholly that you’re willing to destroy your world for a second chance. Maddening.”

“Apt,” he replied. “I suppose I loved her once, a long time ago. I did what I had to be done, but I wish there had been another way.”

Silence.

“Come home with me, Mar,” said Carol. “The Avengers would love to have you, I’m sure, especially now all of that resurrection business has been cleared up.”

He considered it for a moment. Earth had always been his home away from home, especially after he had turned his back on the Kree Empire and refused to be their spy. Since he had been reborn, his entire world had changed. He’d become a father and saw the true cost his resurrection. The Avengers had once been a shield against the real world, a protective layer with which to surround himself, but now responsibilities had been formed in the blink of an eye. Genis . . . the daughter, Phyla, that he’d never meant . . . the remains of Titan . . .

“I’m sorry, Carol. I’m needed here.”

THE END

CAPTAIN’S ORDERS

Well, that’s it. There are some aspects of this that probably seem a little bit outdated – one is obviously that Carol Danvers is operating as Warbird rather than Ms. Marvel – but this story arc began in January 2009, a whopping five years ago, and the Marvel Omega universe was in a very different shape then. There was an entirely different roster of the Avengers, for example. It’s best to consider this story as having taken place during that period of time. That was certainly the mind-set I was in as I was writing it, and I attempted to keep the references to that era.

You could also be wondering why this issue is even being written or why I’m the one to be doing it. This is part of an operation to tie up loose ends and allow for these characters to be used easily for future writers without the baggage of never finished stories. This is not Anthony Crute’s plan for this series. This is merely the most reasonable plan I could think of when looking at all of the characters on the board. This is meant to release Captain Marvel [Mar-Vell] from the trapping of whether or not he’s really who he says he is and how his resurrection came around. Much in the same way I wrote the ending to Fantastic Four’s final arc.

I’m sure Anthony had something wonderful planned but we’ll make do with what we have. At the end of the day, we now known that Captain Marvel was risen from the dead by Death at the behest of a desperate and insane Elysius. Mar-Vell has reclaimed his title and is rebuilding Titan, which means that a writer can now jump in and bring him back to life with the excuse that he’s been rebuilding Titan for this entire time.

The placement of this issue is a little tricky. Let’s say it takes place sometime after Avengers #26 when Genis-Vell leaves the Avengers to join Mar-Vell. It means that none of what happened in this issue leaves him out of character. It also happened before Avengers #29, which is when Carol became Ms. Marvel rather than Warbird.

Hope it was an enjoyable conclusion to the series.

Gavin McMahon