#where the original gang survived the crash but left behind for dead by their captain

[ryr-art]

Toy Soldiers Au idea I was messing with.

[ahecktonoffandomsinoneblog]

What Comes After

Title: What Comes After

Rating: teen and up

Type: Angsty

Warnings: death mentions, some events from row are alluded to

Word Count: 1677

Snippet:

Opening that door, letting the world in, it was supposed to make her stronger. It was supposed to make her whole, but no matter what she tried, the world kept ripping at her anyway.

Zoya sat and listened to the wind. She had loved to tuck herself in the cracks and crevices of the world when she was younger, had loved to listen to the wind whisper in her ear like a song. She knew her friends would have laughed. Fearless Zoya, hiding from the world to listen to the sky? Ridiculous.

They didn’t do much laughing these days.

Nikolai and Genya had stayed - had lived -  with her as the others had gone. First Mal, then Alina, then Captain Ghafa and her Brekker. They had mourned with her each time a life faded as theirs kept going, and she had been grateful for their presence. Losing the people she had grown to let herself love had nearly driven her back inside herself, back behind the wall that protected her from the pain of love. Back up the cliff she had leaped from. Survive the fall. But they had stayed with her, and she knew they would not leave, and the walls came back down again.

You are strong enough to survive the fall.

She knew now that the strength to keep going came from those she loved. Those she had loved, and those she had lost. She had thought she could keep going through anything because love would always be on her side.

Then she had lost Nikolai. He had lived longer than any had expected, and she had rejoiced in it. In private, of course. Publicly she had bantered with him all the same. She had lost so many already, she was grateful she would not have to lose another. But death had taken him too, and she was left with Genya. Sweet Genya, spine of steel and heart of love, heart of courage.

It would be the two of them against the world, then. So she picked herself up. She had long since shifted Ravka to a government led by the people. They chose their own leaders every so often, but she had stayed on as general. The most trusted one in her whole country, in fact. She had duties to attend to, and she was not alone. She could go on.

Then Genya went too, and she didn’t understand. Opening that door, letting the world in, it was supposed to make her stronger. It was supposed to make her whole, but no matter what she tried, the world kept ripping at her anyway.

She had kept going. She had walked through the halls of the Little Palace, taught new Grisha and watched them develop their own family even as the loss of hers ached like the world was ending. Maybe it was.

----

“Zoya, come here.” Laughter. “Please, my dearest Zoya, love of my life, would you come over here?”

“Yes, fine.” she stormed over. “What is it?”

“I know you have been working all day. Would you like a cup of tea? A biscuit?”

Alina swatted Nikolai’s shoulder. “She’s practically a dragon, Nikolai. Show some respect.” she paused. “Dragons eat meat. Zoya, would you like a steak?”

She sighed. It was unfair of them to gang up on her like this. “Of course, my dear Alina. The bloodiest one you have, and no silverware if you please.”

The three of them burst out laughing, and Zoya noticed Alina nearly fall out of her chair when Genya gasped, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. My abs hurt so much, and I can’t breathe. Screw you, Zoya.”

She wasn’t sure why it was so funny, but she knew she needed the laugh, and she was among friends.

“Sunshine, what was it you called Nikolai that annoyed him so much? You see,” she said, sitting and crossing her legs with pointed delicacy. “He’s been rather bold lately, and I’m wondering how I might be bold in return.”

“Well,” she said, folding her hands in her lap. “The children do love their stories, and I suppose I shall share one of their favorites for my favorite children.”

Genya laughed. “We get it, Alina, you’re the best at storytelling and we are all children. Do tell the story.”

Alina huffed. “Yes, alright, I’m trying.” More laughter. “Once upon a time, there was a very dashing prince who decided that no orphan should go without a gift. Out of options, but determined to deliver a piece of joy to any child he could, he set sail in the skies, carrying with him a bag of toys for all the little children who were well behaved. He visited in the night and gave each child a gift before returning to the palace to rule the kingdom. And now, the prince delivers these gifts yearly, to all the children who are kind and diligent. They call him Sankt Nik.”

Zoya raised her eyebrows at Nikolai while Genya huffed. “Am I the only one who isn’t a saint? You’d think someone would figure out I was excluded and, I don’t know, include me.”

Zoya turned from Genya to Nikolai. “Maybe jolly good old Nik here will give you sainthood as a gift this year.”

Nikolai huffed, and Alina and Genya continued chattering, but Zoya wasn’t listening to anything but the warm feeling in her chest. She had found the people her heart called home.

----

“General, ma’am. The Council requests your presence at the noontime meeting, if you are able.”

She waved her hand in dismissal, but only she knew she was dismissing the ache her friends’ deaths had left her with, not the boy. “Tell him I will be there. I have matters to attend to first.”

The boy saluted, and she continued on. Genya and Alina’s rooms in the Little Palace had been left untouched - or mostly so - as a mark of respect. They were open to her, but she hadn’t visited in years. The ache grew too large when she did.

----

“Alina,” said Genya. “If you don’t start making an effort to walk in a straight line, you are going to walk directly into that wall and there will be no helping you.”

Alina smiled, but corrected her course. “You can tailor a boy back to his original face nearly perfectly, but you can’t fix a bruise? My, how far you have fallen.”

Genya tsked. “Be careful who you tease, Ms. Starkov, or you will find yourself with a few unhealed bruises from whatever accident you get yourself into next.”

“Of course, of course, I will be most careful. Thank you for the warning.”

“Not a problem at all, just doing my duty.”

They laughed, and Zoya smiled.

----

The hallways were crowded, but without her friends’ laughter filling them, they felt as empty as a tomb. She would know. She’d been in several.

She carried on until the halls really were empty, until they turned into the bitter air of the gardens. She would visit her garden soon enough, but she would visit her friends first.

Each of her friends had wanted something different in death, so instead of a tomb where they all lay at rest, there was a tomb where no one did. It was more of a memorial, with rooms dedicated to the history of the Sun Summoner - the secret history of after the Fold hadn’t been revealed to the public yet, but it was hidden there so any who looked for it would find it - and rooms dedicated to Nikolai and Genya as well. There was one for David’s life, many for his lists of achievements and what he had intended to do with them. They were all here, all remembered. But not like she remembered them. They were shown as heroes here. They were heroes; they were also people. She was the only one left in this world who remembered that.

How long would she be here to remember them?

She felt a twisting in her gut, and she clutched the side of the wall, gasping. She could feel Juris again. When she had braved the fall all those years ago, she had stopped feeling the distinction between the two of them so wholly, but for whatever reason she could feel Juris’s presence now.

“What do you want,” she hissed.

You are strong enough to survive the fall.

And everything started to fall with her.

“General? Are you alright? The meeting-”

Zoya rolled her shoulders back. “Yes, of course.” She turned on her heel and marched to the meeting room. Assembled were the councilmen and women that had been elected a year ago.

“General Nazyalensky. We have news.” She nodded her head, both a greeting and an order to continue. “You have served this country since before the Crown became only a symbol. You have lost friends, family, soldiers. We have decided you deserve a break. You will keep your title of General and will have access to the grounds as such, but you will not be allowed to participate in official duties.”

She had survived the fall. Now the cliff she had jumped from was crashing down on her. “For how long?”

“Until everyone in this room is dead, except for yourself.”

She pressed her lips into a line and walked out the room without another word. If they wanted her gone, fine. No reason to ask if she needed a break. If she even wanted one. What would she do without a country to help run? She had no friends, no family, and a quiet life watching grass grow was not something she could stomach, no matter how long she had been living.

She felt Juris sigh in annoyance - at what, she didn’t know - but she ignored him. She had reached the balcony now, and she took no heed of what was behind her or below her or above her as she launched herself into the sky.

The wind would make her forget. The sky would scream its joy and pain until she did the same. She didn’t know what to do without her friends beside her, the threat of work looming over her.

She had survived the fall. Was she strong enough to survive what came after?

[tentwars2k21]

Meteors and Myths: Chapter 1

Space looks out of the window of her ship, expecting to see the serene image of faraway Saturn against a background of thousands of impossibly faraway stars, but--

“Why are we-- what’s going on?!” she yells, alarmed, and rightly so - after all, instead of their intended course several thousand kilometres away from the planet, they’re zooming towards it with - from what she can tell - close to light speed, meaning they only have a few minutes before it’s too late to escape the huge planet’s gravitational pull, and if they’re really unlucky, they’ll crash into the rings.

Space jumps up and runs out of her room, sprinting along the hallway towards the front of the ship. The gravity drives must be beginning to malfunction, because she can feel herself slowing down as some of her steps push her up instead of forwards as she runs along, desperate to reach the cockpit.

She skids to a halt when she reaches the door and promptly slams into it from the lack of gravity to keep her on her feet. “Sir! What’s going on?”

Nobody answers, so she instead grabs the handle and turns it herself. The door nearly hits her as it swings forward. She dodges it and dashes inside. “Sir! We--” She breaks off. The captain is nowhere to be seen. A flashing red light on the control board labelled “COLLISION” is indicating what she’s been hoping against. A robotic voice is repeatedly saying “Abort immediately. Abort immediately.”

There’s a loud thunk from outside and the engine’s hum stops abruptly, causing a ringing to surface in her ears. It sputters for a few seconds, and Space regains hope, thinking of the backup generator, but then the noise completely dies.

Realising it’s too late to do anything to save the ship, Space turns around and sprints back along the corridor, passing her own room and heading straight to the escape pod. She throws the door open, dashes inside, nearly tripping over the threshold, and slams the door shut. It hisses slowly as the airlock seals itself.

Space turns and runs over to the control panel of the escape pad. It’s labelled simply enough for anyone to understand - arrow buttons for the directional control, a button for “EMERGENCY LANDING” and a button for “ACTIVATE”. Praying she won’t have to use the former, Space slams her hand on the latter and sits down in the driver’s seat, hoping against hope she’ll somehow turn out alright.

“The escape pod will deploy in ten seconds,” a robotic voice announces over the intercom. Briefly, Space thinks she hears a shout from outside the door, but when she turns to check the window that shows the corridor beyond, there’s nobody to be seen.

“Five,” says the intercom. “Four. Three. Two. One. Deploying…” There’s a clunk, and then a hiss as the pod detaches itself from the ship.

Space presses down on the backwards arrow as hard as she can. The pod struggles against the pull of Saturn’s gravity for a moment, giving Space a tiny bit of hope, but then it stops again, sending her panic through the roof and causing her spirits to plummet.

“No, no, no,” she mutters, mashing the button with her whole hand. “No, you have to work, you have to!”

There’s a loud thunk as a small rock hits the pod’s windshield, and she realises too late that the planet’s rings are right in front of her, a collision unavoidable.

She looks around frantically, looking for something, anything that might help her, and luck is evidently on her side, because she spots a large, asteroid-shaped piece of what looks to be ordinary rock drifting along not too far from her. She doesn’t know what else to do, so she just holds down the left arrow and hits the “EMERGENCY LANDING” button before abandoning the control panel to run across the the pod’s back window.

If she’s going to die, the last thing she wants to see are the stars.

~~~

“Hello?”

Space looks up, bleary-eyed. Her entire body hurts.

“Hell-o?” the voice repeats.

She looks up to its source and nearly blacks out again. Am I dreaming? Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? If so, what the fuck?

“Are you alright?”

“I-- yeah I don’t-- Who-- what are you?”

In front of her is standing somebody - something - the likes of which she’s never seen. It’s glimmering purple, with three arm-like tentacles protruding from it, and standing on six spider-like legs. About halfway up its body is an opening she can only assume to be its mouth, and there’s one large eye staring at her from above it.

“Oh, sorry, I--” The creature turns around and morphs in front of her eyes, growing taller and losing its purple sheen to instead turn an ordinary tan brown. A few seconds later, a human is standing in front of her, fully clothed in some sort of orange rubber jumpsuit, reminding her absurdly of Vector from Despicable Me, and smiling cheerfully.

“Hi! I’m Max. They/them pronouns. Sorry about that, I was just taking care of the baby Oozeling that crashed in Sector D a while back. It’s comforting to it to see someone from its own home, y’know?” He smiles, as if he didn’t just spout complete jargon, and kneels down beside her. “So, what planet are you from?”

“Wha-- Earth, where else would I--”

“Oh, I thought you might be! You look like an Original. What’s it like on Earth? I’ve heard all the stories, but it’s always different hearing it from someone who’s actually been there!”

“Stop, hang on a second. Are you saying you’re not from Earth? What’s an Original? What the hell was that…” Space gestures vaguely, looking for a word. “Transformation? Whatever you just did? What--”

“Max!” another voice calls from somewhere behind Max. “Have you found them y-- oh.” A figure comes into view, running towards them. They’re wearing the same jumpsuit as Max. “Max, why didn’t you call us? They must be terrified! Hi,” the new arrival adds, turning to Space. “I’m Alec. He/they. What’s your name?”

“Space. I go by Space. She/her,” she manages to say. Alec looks like a normal human, at least, but…

“Where am I?”

“Max, you didn’t tell her?” Alec rubs his temples for a second. “Listen, I’m sorry about them. You’re on Satellite 87, Sector B,” he informs her. “We’re part of the ring patrol, we’ll get you back to the main planet in a jiffy. How did you even get up here? Wait…” Alec eyes her suspiciously. “Are you part of that gang who stole that ship last week?”

“Alec, she’s from Earth!” Max interrupts excitedly. “A real Original!”

“Which planet is this?” Space asks, confusion and panic mounting. Logically, she should be near Saturn, but that’s impossible, because how would these people live on a planet that’s made entirely of gas?”

“Saturn!” Max announces proudly. “And you just happen to have crash-landed on part of its rings!”

“I’m dead,” Space mutters to herself. “This can’t be real.”

...Wait. This can’t be real, because--

“How am I breathing?!”

“We have oxygen shells!” Alec says cheerfully. “Normally they don’t extend to the satellites - way too much work to keep shells intact for all of them - but us members of the ring patrol have portable ones to use in emergencies!” They gesture behind them. Space raises her head to peer past Max, who’s still kneeling next to her, and sees a yellow pod about the size of the escape pod she crashed in, with two more orange jumpsuit-clad people standing in front of it.

“We’ll take you over to our ship and fly you down to the planet. I expect Saturn will want to see you,” Alec continues.

“Wait, hang on, how am I gonna talk to an entire planet? And where are we gonna land? Saturn is gas, how do you--”

“Oh, I forgot people from Earth don’t know about this stuff!” Max says gleefully. “You’re going to love this!”

“I’ll tell you on the way down,” Alec says. “For now, let’s get you away from this wreck.”

Space cranes her neck to look behind her. The escape pod is in pieces, its landing claws half out, windows shattered, the control board broken completely in two.

“How did I survive?” Space asks, shaken.

“I dunno, but lucky you did, isn’t it?” Max says brightly. “Come on, it’s best if you forget about that thing. You’re with us now.”

“Yeah...yeah, I guess.” Space heaves a sigh and pushes herself to her feet, wincing as pain shoots through her left arm.

“Are you hurt?” Max inquires, sounding worried.

“I-- I’m fine,” Space lies. “I just… I’m a bit shaken up.”

“We have healers, they’ll fix you up in no time,” Alec reassures her. “Come on. It’s time for you to meet our leader.”

-

AWESOME

-dean

[m2009u]

Chapter 3: Ravage 2099 #1

Stan Lee have created many memorable characters.  I mean why do you think the Marvel Cinematic Universe exist in the first place.  He made all of them (as well as Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby).  He made SpiderMan, The Fantastic Four, XMen, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, Wasp, Thor, Doctor Doom, Loki, The Sinister Six, Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, etc.  The last Marvel Hero he made before retiring from writing for Marvel for a period of time was She Hulk, IIRC.

That is until Marvel 2099, where he decided to throw his hat in the pool and use his magic to create an original hero for the line of comics: Ravage 2099.  Will this character win over the audience like many of the past Stan Lee heroes he made during his hey day?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The story opens up with a guy being chased by a police state version of the EPA called Eco Patrol for the crime of polluting.

Yep, in the future society takes “Going Green” way too seriously.  How seriously?  Well apparently crimes for polluting is punishible by death.

Makes you want to think twice about littering, doesn’t it?

No, this isn’t typical Eco Patrol protocols as evidenced with CEO of Eco Patrol Paul Phillip (yep, Paul Phillip cause Stan Lee can’t get enough of that alliterative names) voice displeasure in his squad killing another polluter.

Y’know I hate to rip off a criticism from Linkara’s review of this comic, but fuck it the dialogue sucks.  Having Stan Lee, a writer prominent during the Silver Age, write a 90s comic was not good idea seeing how the dialogue characters are completely out of place.  I mean just read the next panel.  

See what I mean?  Its not out of place for a 60s comic book character to spout out some form of exposition.  But one from the 90s, who is from the shocking future of 2099?  Consider my immersion dead.

Anyway, Tiana tell Paul the story of how her father once tried to investigate Alchemax and ended up deported to Hellrock, which is a toxic wasteland of an island where no human life can survive.

Originally I was going to make fun of Tiana for telling this story to showcase how corrupt Alchmax is.  But considering how ridiculously naive Paul is, I think she should of just made a graphical chart illustrating why the company is bad.

After ignoring Tiana’s warning, Paul heads to Alchemax only to be mugged by a punch of street punks.

And no the dialogue did not improve at all.  So much so that as he fights them he exposits as he fights.

After kicking the gang’s ass through the power of 

 Really?  You called bullshit on your hot, loyal secretary’s story about how the corruption in Alchemax led to her father’s disappearance, but when some random street punk tells you that his gunned down father “Dindu Nuffin” you believe him?  You know nothing, Paul Phillip! 

So the two head to Alchemax Headquarters to meet with Director General Anderthorp Henton on the matters of corruption in the company.

Something tells he is going to fuck a bunch of holograms later on.  Anyway Henton welcomes Paul Phillip by addressing him by his last name Ravage . . . yeah I can see why he doesn’t want to be called that as its a stupid surname.  So Dack, the kid Paul bring, tells Henton the story and being an understanding company figure head he

I think we all know where this is obviously going.

Yep, bad guy.  And of the Bond villain variety.

So Henton called on a private conference call with the directors of the company to discuss what they must do with Ravage who grows suspicious of the company (but not really since Ravage is too much of a loyalist to Alchemax to notice their obvious corruption).

Unbeknownts to him, Tiana heard the entire conversation which proves how much of a Bond villain to not check and make sure no one else is on the line in the call. 

But seriously, I know she is the one who established the call but Henton could of checked to make sure none of his employees are a part of the private conference call through caller ID.  This is the future for God’s sake.  If they can have holophones as seen in Spider-Man 1099 #1 and 2, surely they would have some sort of tab that shows who is in the call just like any work meeting tool like Web EX.

Ravage meanwhile walks Dack out after blindly accepting what Henton said.

Clearly this is not a comic written by an old man behind times.  I can totally relate with the main character in his rule abiding ways and civil minded attitude.

As he got back to his office, Tiana tries (and fail) to warn Paul of the impending danger.

But just as they are about to walk out, a Metroid crash into the bui

Writer’s Note: Yes, this totally did happen!  Anderthrop sends a Metroid at Paul!  I did not Photoshop’d this panel whatsoever! Seriously, I didn’t!  I am super cereal!

The Metroid is a part of these “Mutroids” from Hellrock.  They are pretty much a whole army of Duke Nukems (the villain from Captain Planet, not the 3D Realms character) in that they want to pollute the world.  The Metroid believes that Ravage is the secret benefactor from the humans who called him to help in their cause.

After hearing that, members of the Eco Patrol now believes that Ravage is a traitor.

Oh Ravage.  Did you forget that your whole department is a far left authoritarian group who refuse to listen to logic and reason, especially those that are too the contrary.  Plus this is America: anything that is different must die as evidenced with Aaron’s reaction to Spider-Vamp.

What happens next is that Ravage fights Eco Patrol.  But instead of posting pictures, I’ll just give you only the dialogue from the fight itself just to show you how ridiculous they are.

“All right, you two-bit cretins!  If it’s a fight you want -- COME AND GET IT!” Ravage shouts as he throws a chair.

“It’s easy to hit someone who’s standing still! How come your shots are wild now?  My fault!  I should’a trained you better!” he exposited as he clothesline two of the members of Eco Patrol.

“Hey, if it’s a clear shot you want -- How’s this?” Ravage quipped as he picks up a gun and shoots his attacker.

“You think that’ll save you?” said the Eco Patrol after dodging a vase thrown by Ravage.  “It might -- considering who you back into!” Ravage retorted as the guard is absorbed by the Metroid.

God the dialogue is so Silver Age-y.  Though I find it funny that the whole fight actually starts the moment Ravage throws a chair.

In his office getting a message and a possible “Happy Ending”, Anderthrop watches the fight cementing his status as a Bond villain.

And I mean REALLY cementing that status.  He’s going to pull that Bond Villain Stupidity of not witnessing his victim’s demise.  Don’t he know that just by missing every second of what happens increase the hero’s chance of escape?

Well an explosion would of certainly do the job . . . if he pressed it a couple of seconds earlier before Ravage smashed open the window to allow for himself and Tiana to evade the explosion in time!

If he kept watching the video, he could of either detonate the bomb before they got out in time or contact more Eco Patrol guys to scout the area for the surviving Paul Phillip.  Way to Bond Villain that up, Anderthrop!

The two were then seen hiding out in who I assumed Dack’s apartment.

You do realize Ravage is your surname, right?

Ravage then goes to a junkyard to gear himself up with trash.

And then he finds and steals a garbage truck to use as his mode of transportation.

First off, I am now noticing how his dialogue have shifted from being a stick up his ass law abiding executive and now he sounds like a Casey Jones style New Yorker from the Bronx.  Second off, why did he just go to the black market to arm himself actual useful weapons instead of garbage?  Third, Ravage isn’t a fitting name to his character now.  Sure it means “beating up somebody violently”, but with that name that could apply to any hero who is a brutal fighter.  No, from now on, he shall hence forth be known as: The Garbage Avenger!

Meanwhile on Hellrock, we get a glimpse of the Big Bad of this series.  Dethstryk: Discount Doctor Doom.

And that’s Ravage 2099 #1; boy that’s a step down from the last comic. The comic suffers from it dialogue of the characters which would of worked if they were made during the Silver Age or early Bronze Age, but feels out of place during this period in comic books.  The protagonist and antagonist are stupid as the former blindly follows the corrupt company he was working for and the latter is pretty much a cliche Bond villain.  And upon reading this story, it feels out of place in this universe besides the fact Alchemax is involved in the story.  But positives I would give is that unlike all the other comics in this line it’s not a future version of an established hero in the Marvel Universe and I have some fun reading it’s out of place dialogue.

But let this comic be a lesson to us all to never allow Stan Lee come up with new ideas for super heroes!

Besides this whore.

And these F.A.G.s (I’m assuming they’re aliens, have not watch nor read this team).

And this Ahnuld.

And this alternate DC Universe.  Seriously, how the hell this guy still writing even though he is way past his prime?

Next time: Spider-Man 2099 #3.  The thrilling conclusion of the origin story that in hindsight I should have covered first before Ravage 2099 #1.  DAMN YOU CONTINUITY ORDER!