The Sanctum Sanctorum

Leonard Samson stood out on the front lawn of Doctor Stephen Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village. His arms were crossed and he wore sunglasses as he stared up into the bright sky. The door to the Sanctum opened and Wong, the faithful servant of the Sorcerer Supreme, came forth.

“Dr. Samson? I thought you were with Mr. Reynolds?”

“I was,” said Doc Samson.

“But where is he?”

“Wong, what time is it?” asked Samson.

“I don’t—”

“It’s seven o’clock in the evening.”

“But that light…”

“I know,” said Samson. “Look closer.”

Wong held his hand at his brow and squinted, trying to get a glimpse of the bright sunlight. Far up in the stratosphere, Wong could barely make out something in the heart of the sun. Something almost human.

“At the moment, I’d say he’s illuminated at least half of the eastern seaboard,” said Samson.

“The Sentry is giving off all that energy?”

“Exactly,” said Samson. “And if my preliminary diagnosis is correct, that means he’s a delusional agoraphobic with dissociative identity disorder who also happens to possess the power of a god. Or to put it in simpler terms, we’re up Shit Creek without a paddle.”

“Doctor Strange mentioned some great threat, do you think it’s possible that the Sentry is this threat?”

“I’d say it’s a pretty good possibility if nothing else,” said Samson. “But let’s not forget some of the other Defenders who have signed on—namely an irradiated behemoth with a bad attitude and a Lord of Hell.”

“Master Daimon may make you uncomfortable, but he is a good man, sir.”

“There’s something else about him, something that bothers me,” said Samson. “Have you ever noticed that Daimon seems to look at the rest of us like we’re insects?”

“He’s always been that way.”

“But there’s more. He looks at Blaze differently. And then when Nighthawk came by, I noticed that Daimon looked at him in the exact same way. Hellstrom is up to something, I’m sure of it.”

“And the Sentry? How does Master Daimon regard him?”

“The same as the rest of us—with complete indifference,” said Samson. “And even though that should relieve me, it actually makes me even more worried.”

In the upper limits of Earth’s atmosphere, the Sentry hovered with his arms crossed over his chest, his gaze fixed on the silver orb in the distance. During his conversation with Doc Samson—or rather, Robert Reynolds’ conversation with him—the Sentry emerged once more and departed in a burst of light.

{Perhaps not the most diplomatic way to make your exit. Especially considering the hole you left in my ceiling.}

“I apologize for that, Stephen. But you know as well as I do that you can repair it in minutes,” said the Sentry.

{Be that as it may, it’s the principle.}

The ghostly image of Doctor Strange appeared before the Sentry. {Is there a reason you chose to depart in such an abrupt fashion?}

“I wanted to see the moon, simple as that,” said the Sentry.

{And you couldn’t tell Samson where you were going?}

“I didn’t think Len would care. After all, he was speaking to Bob and Bob had reverted back inside me. So there’s nothing I could do to answer his questions. Besides, I’m not really in the mood to speak to a man who thinks I’m delusional. It’s a bit condescending when you’re speaking to someone who thinks you’re batshit insane, wouldn’t you agree?”

{I would. Then perhaps you would consent to speaking with me?}

The Sentry smirked. “Of course.”

STARLIGHT RUN

Part III

By Dino Pollard

Siberia

The flaming trident of a Lord of Hell tore through space and time, creating a big enough rift for the gathered Defenders to emerge. Hellstorm closed the rift once more and the other Defenders—Sleepwalker, Nighthawk, the Hulk, Ghost Rider and Starlight—looked around the area.

“Where are we?” asked Sleepwalker.

“A storage facility for some of Russia’s nuclear arsenal,” said Starlight. “Sergei means to wipe out all life on Earth and with these weapons, he could do just that.”

“Why would he want to do that?” asked Sleepwalker.

Starlight lowered her head in shame. “Because he and I would be the only survivors. He thinks this will make me love him.”

“Most guys would just send flowers. My specialty was showing up in a tuxedo and a helicopter,” said Nighthawk. “But nuclear winter? Gotta give him points for originality.”

“And how are the six of us supposed to stop him?” asked Sleepwalker. “Maybe we should’ve convinced Strange or the Sentry to join us.”

“Don’t need ’em,” said the Hulk.

“Someone’s awfully sure of themselves,” said Nighthawk.

“Trust me, I got a plan,” said the Hulk.

“Is that so?” asked Hellstorm as he leaned against his trident. “Would you care to enlighten the rest of us on this so-called plan of yours?”

The Hulk shook his head and moved further into the facility. “Nope.”

“I can see he’s a team player,” said Nighthawk.

“When have the Defenders ever been made up of team players?” asked Hellstorm.

Nighthawk glared at the Son of Satan. “Some of us worked pretty well together. Val, Tania, Patsy, Luke, Isaac, me…even the Doc and Hulk.” He glanced at the crimson behemoth. “Well, the other Hulk.”

The Hulk huffed. “Really couldn’t care less what you fuckers think. Especially not some rich boy with a hero complex.”

“We are wasting time,” said the Ghost Rider.

“Much as I hate to admit it, he’s right,” said Sleepwalker. “We’ve gotta find the Presence before he turns this planet into a lifeless husk. Starlight, do you—”

Sleepwalker turned around, his gaze striking every area around him, but found nothing. He looked to his fellow Defenders. “Where did she go?”

The Presence hovered over the remnants of the Cold War, a veritable storehouse of nuclear weapons capable of destroying the entire planet several times over. A few of these strategically placed across the globe is all he needed to ensure his plan would come to fruition—a world without humanity, where the only surviving lifeforms would be himself and the love of his life, a woman who had recently spurned him.

“Ah, Tania my love,” he said with a wide smile once he detected her presence. “Have you come to witness the birth of our new Eden?”

Starlight shook her head. “No Sergei, I’ve come to stop you.”

“Oh have you?” The Presence turned to face her. “And I suppose you’re here to offer yourself to me once again in exchange for the fate of the world?”

Starlight looked down at her hands which began to glow with the radioactive energies burning inside her slender body. In the past, that is what she would have done. And as strong as she once was, now she still found it difficult to break the Presence’s hold over her. Even after all this time. And, with tears in her eyes, she began to nod.

“…yes. If you spare everyone, I’ll return to the Forbidden Zone. I’ll be with you forever.”

“It is a convincing offer, but it’s not enough. Not anymore,” said the Presence. “You see, I know you, Tania. I know you are just sacrificing yourself to spare the rest of the world. And if you view being with me as a sacrifice, then you are not truly mine, are you?”

“Sergei, you’re mad.”

“In love, yes. And once you see the new world I’ve created, you’ll see that I am the only one for you in the universe. You will be mine, completely. I will make you love me, Tania.”

“I am not alone, Sergei. You won’t win,” said Starlight.

“Yes, I know about your Defenders,” said the Presence. “And I’ve already seen to them.”

The Ghost Rider’s upper body twisted and one of his chains shot out from his arm. From the darkness, he pulled some strange creature, a hybrid of machinery and flesh. It raised its arm, which had been converted into a gun and fired at the Spirit of Vengeance. The Ghost Rider ducked the blast and pulled his chain harder, severing the creature in half.

“Did you see that?” asked Sleepwalker, examining the remnants of the creature. “It’s like something out of Cronenberg’s nightmares.”

“Save the film school lecture for later, kid,” said Nighthawk. The Defenders moved closer to each other as more of those strange creatures emerged from the shadows. “Looks like he brought some friends.”

The Hulk grinned and cracked his knuckles. “This is what I’ve been waitin’ for.” He reached out, grabbing a creature with each massive hand and squeezing until they popped in his grip.

Nighthawk extended his fingers, the claw tips on the points of his gloves emerging. With his jetpack wings, he rocketed towards one of the creatures, tearing it into shreds. Another tried to ambush him from behind and he shot his arm out, a laser firing from the palm of his gauntlet and severing its head.

Sleepwalker hovered in the air, avoiding an armblade strike from one of the creatures. He turned his eye beams on it, warping the creature into a distorted, pretzel-like shape. “Just what are these things anyway?”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” said the Hulk, smashing one with a massive clap.

“Whatever they are, they’re not human,” said Hellstorm, bursts of flaming energy emitting from his trident. “Not anymore, that is.”

“How do you know that?” asked Nighthawk.

“Because I can’t sense their souls,” said Hellstorm. “They may have once been human, but now they are just empty husks.”

“And thus, immune to my Penance Stare.” The Ghost Rider drew the shotgun from his back and fired a burst of hellfire at another of the creatures.

“Bozhe moi…” muttered Starlight, watching her teammates battle the strange creatures on a monitor. “What are those things?”

“Meatspores, biological weapons of mass destruction,” said the Presence. “Developed during the Cold War for use as sleeper agents within cities across America. But they were deemed too uncontrollable and left to rot. I have simply awakened them once more.”

The Sanctum Sanctorum

{There is something very strange about you, Sentry.}

“That’s what Len keeps hinting at,” said the Sentry, still hovering above Greenwich Village, lighting up the night sky as if it were high noon. “I understand that none of you can remember who I really am and that’s fine. But you should realize that I’m not crazy and I’m going to remain here with you until I’m sure the Void is completely eliminated.”

{There’s more to it than that,} said Doctor Strange. {You are a mystic anomaly.}

“What do you mean?”

{I’m the Sorcerer Supreme, I traverse other worlds the way most people walk around the block. I know when the fabric of reality has been tampered with. And when you are around, I sense that there has been a great tampering.}

“I don’t understand what you mean, Stephen,” said the Sentry. “In all the years we’ve known each other, I—”

{That’s just it—we have never known each other. You are a new addition to this world and you are here as part of someone else’s agenda. Both you and the Void.}

“I—” The Sentry shut his eyes and Doctor Strange’s astral form watched as the superman before him began to tightly clench his fists. When his eyes opened once more, they burned with golden fire. “No!”

An orb of golden light emitted from the Sentry, enough to knock back Doctor Strange’s body in his study. The Sentry looked at the Doctor’s astral form, an anger burning within him.

“I’m not going to stand for any of your tricks, Stephen. I know who I am and I know you’re simply playing games with me.”

{No, that isn’t what I’m doing at all…}

“GO AWAY!” shouted the Sentry, another burst of energy emitting from him as he rocketed up into the heavens.

Back in his study, Strange’s eyes opened abruptly and he found himself screaming. He felt hands on his shoulders and finally allowed himself to look up and gaze upon the face of his loyal servant.

“Doctor, are you—?”

“I’m fine, Wong, thank you,” said Doctor Strange, gently removing his old friend’s hands. In the doorway of the study stood Doc Samson as well, muscular arms crossed over his barreled chest.

“What happened?” he asked.

“The Sentry is gone,” said Doctor Strange.

Siberia

Hellstorm drove his trident into another of the Meatspores, lodging it inside the creature and then pulling it up to tear it in three. With each kill he claimed, the pentagram on his chest burned ever brighter.

“We’re wasting time here!” he spat. “We need to find the Presence before it’s too late!”

“Take it easy, Rosemary’s Baby,” said the Hulk. “I know exactly where they are.”

“Then perhaps you’d care to tell the rest of us?” grunted Hellstorm.

The Hulk shook his head. “Bitch, bitch, bitch, that’s all I ever hear.” He tore apart the Meatspores he had been contending with. “Just tryin’ to have some fun and everyone’s gotta ruin it.”

“There’s a little thing called the fate of the world at stake here!” said Nighthawk.

“The world’s not gonna end,” said the Hulk. He drove his fists into the wall and pulled it apart, tearing it like paper. In the next room, the Presence turned suddenly with Starlight by his side. The Hulk stomped in and smiled.

“Hi honey, I’m home.”

“Insufferable beast!” shouted the Presence. His eyes burned and beams of radioactive energy emitted from them, engulfing the Hulk. “Did you think the Meatspores were all I had to throw at you? Did you think me incapable of defending myself?”

The Hulk fell to his knees under the assault. The Presence piled on more and more of his power. “Soon, your body will begin to wither under the assault as you succumb to radiation poisoning at an advanced rate.”

“Sergei, stop this!” shouted Starlight.

“You care for this…this creature?” asked the Presence. “He is inhuman! An abomination!”

“Oh am I?” The Hulk slowly raised his head, his eyes glowing bright yellow.

“What…what is this?”

The Hulk stood even under the assault, his body apparently growing larger and larger, and grabbed the Presence’s wrists. He leaned back and head-butted the Russian scientist. “What the hell does that make you, Blinky?”

The Hulk tore the Presence from his chair, raised him over his head and slammed him to the ground. “There’s somethin’ you should know about me, pal. Y’see the hotterHulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets! And your stupid ass just gave me all the heat I need!”

“Hulk stop!”

The Hulk looked up at Starlight, who now laid a hand on his body. She stared down at the man who was her consort and knelt beside him. “The rest is now up to me.”

Slowly, the Hulk backed away from her and Starlight placed her hand behind the Presence’s head. She slowly raised it so she could look into his eyes.

“….Tan….ia….?”

“Your time for speaking is done, Sergei,” she said. “Since you defiled me, cursed me with the same fate as you, I’ve felt connected to you. And whenever I tried to break away, I felt a longing to be by your side. But now, after what you’ve done here, I realize I have finally recovered my strength.”

“Y-you can’t…”

“I already have,” said Starlight as she rose to her feet. She extended her hand, as she stared into the Presence’s eyes. “Your hold over me is broken. As the Americans say, I hope we can still be friends.”

Powerful energy emitted from Starlight’s palm, energy enough to end the life of even a being as powerful as the Presence. When the act was done, she turned and walked past her fellow Defenders.

“Let’s go. There’s nothing more to see here.”

One Week Later

Kyle Richmond stood on the balcony of his penthouse apartment with a scotch in hand, taking in the view of New York City. Slowly, that view became a little brighter in the form of a beautiful woman clad in red hovering from the sky.

“I was wondering if I’d see you again,” he said. “You disappeared after Siberia.”

“May I come in?”

Kyle nodded and opened the balcony door for her. Tania stepped inside and once she did, the energy that made up her body completely vanished. Kyle stood back in surprise at what he had just witnessed.

“What…?”

“I suppose we can thank the Hulk for that,” she said. “Not only did he absorb energy from the Presence but when I touched him, his body drained much of my own power. I’m no longer as powerful as I once was, but I’m also not at risk of giving anyone around me radiation poisoning.”

“And the Presence?”

“Dead,” said Tania. “I can’t feel any connection to him any more.”

“So what do you feel?”

“I…” Tania smiled. “For the first time in years, I feel…liberated. It’s like waking up from a terrible nightmare.”

“What now?” asked Kyle.

“I still have family in Russia, I would like to spend some time getting to know them once more,” said Tania.

“And then?”

Tania walked up to Kyle and placed a small slip of paper in his hand. “If you or the Defenders need Starlight, this is where you can reach me.” She leaned closer and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Kyle. You helped save me.”

Kyle tried to hide his slight blush. “Hey, call it a debt long past due. You did the same for me once.”

She walked back out the balcony, her Starlight powers engaging once more as she began to rise into the air. Kyle walked out and watched her ascent. “Guess I’ll see you around, huh?”

Starlight offered one final smile. “Perhaps.”

Siberia

In the installation, the power had died out. The nuclear arsenal contained there lay dormant as did the remaining Meatspores. But somewhere, deep inside, a body lay motionless.

And it began to hum with energy and what could only be described as laughter.

NEXT: City of Dead