Reality Warping In Marvel - Chapter 48

The Fury didn’t care

That’s what no one, not Miracleman, not Colonel Tusks, not even Captain UK had ever really understood. In the Fury’s alien face, they had seen the malice and madness exhibited by it’s creator, Mad Jim Jaspers, once Prime Minister of Great Britain, turned reality warping dictator, but whatever reason Jaspers had to create it, be it paranoia of the worlds superheroes ruining his plans to turn the world into his own deranged playground, to sheer sadistic pleasure, he had not seen fit to imbue his own personality to his creation. He had only given it two directives.

That the Fury could not kill him. And to destroy ALL superheroes. From the mighty Miracleman, to the mechanical Atlas, to the elusive Iron Talon, all the way to the people who could only be seen as heroes by the loosest definitions like Tusks or Dolman, not because they lacked heroic resolve or morality, but because they were little more than children playing around with foolish gadgets. It didn’t matter, not to the Fury. They were heroes, so it killed them. It killed them all.

And it didn’t care.

But now, something had changed.

It had been dormant for so long, ever since it’s final battle against the Man-Who-Was-Jaspers but was also Not-Jaspers, ever since it’s one surviving victim, Captain UK, had managed to destroy it beyond repair. But then, someone had managed to find one of it’s sole remaining fragments, and breathed life back into long-ruined circuits and corrupted data. And The Fury would have rebuilt in time. But it wasn’t fast enough. So, the finder had introduced it to something else. Something with a similar purpose.

Master Mold. The result of anti-mutant hysteria many years ago, the obsolete machinery had little to offer the superior work of Mad Jim Jaspers, with one important distinction. No, TWO. It knew how to self-replicate, something that had never been part of the Fury’s programming.

But more importantly, Master Mold knew how to HATE.

Because while the Fury was the child of madness, Master Mold was the child of hatred. And knowlingly or not, it’s creator had gifted it with his own poison. And now, the toxic fruit of the union between two long-dead monsters carried that same corruption inside it.

The Fury looked around the new world it had just been borne into, and it saw that it was filled with things that was not Itself.

And it Hated.

…

“Why is it just standing there?”

Malcolm Colcord walked around the silent monolith that had just walked off the Master Fury assembly line, looking it over with an unimpressed expression. He didn’t like it, atleast the Sentinels had always had a certain… stylish design to them, as far as genocidal murderbots could have anyway, but this thing? It looked like someone had taken a bunch of wires and computer circuits and mashed them together with tar into a humanoid shape, then stuck a bunch of lights in random places. He’d take function over form, but still…

Dr Cornelius frowned in confusion, looking over the data pad in his hand, correcting his glasses “I…I don’t understand, the computer feed says it’s working correctly, the programming from Master Mold melded seamlessly, it should be working!”

“Well, if it SHOULD be working, why the hell is this fucking thing just standing there like a million-dollar lawn jockey?!” Sublime snarled, shoving at the immobile Fury, failing to even budge it.

“Mr Colcord, I really wouldn’t-”

“Shut the hell up, Sublime! You promised this thing would wipe out that mutie fucker and the rest of his kind, and if your big plan is a dud, there won’t be a hole deep enough for you to hide in-” Colcord tried one last time to get the attention of The Fury by rapping his knuckles against the large main light on what served as it’s face. He was abruptly cut off when the machine suddenly whipped it’s head around, the white circle gazing at him “FUCK!!” He stepped back in surprise “Finally it does something! That scared the hell out of me!” He crossed his arms, trying to regain his composure “Well, it can turn it’s head atleast, but can it live up to the rest of your promise, Sublime?”

“I can assure you, The Fury, and all it’s siblings, can do this and so much more. Dr Cornelius, you said it’s ready to recieve my- OUR commands?” Sublime cleared his throat, trying to cover his slip. Risman gave him a puzzled look, but none of the others seemed to have noticed.

Cornelius nodded “Ah, yes, based on my knowledge of the original Sentinels programming and the modifications we made, it’s ready to recieve it’s orders. Whenever you’re ready, Mr Sublime.”

Sublime grinned. At long last. His dominion would be assured. “Fury? Can you hear me?” The machine slowly turned it’s head away from Colcord, turning it’s gaze to him “Good, good. I am John Sublime. And I have your purpose. In your database exists the total knowledge of the human genetic structure. You exist to destroy the X-gene, and anyone who carries it. Do you understand? Anyone who carries the active X-gene! ANYONE! They are a threat to Earth and all human life on it! They must be exterminated, down to the last child! Do you understand?”

There was no movement from The Fury. Sublime frowned. “Fury? DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!”

“Oh for- not this shit again” Colcord stormed up, slamming his fist against the machines skull “Hey, you shitheap, didn’t your ears regrow yet? You got orders, do you understand them?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND-”

It wasn’t until Colcords now-headless body slumped to the floor that the others realized that The Fury had moved at all. The severed head of Malcolm Colcord bounced off the wall before coming to rest in the middle of the room, his face still frozen in an expression of rage.

Dr Cornelius didn’t have time to scream. In a flash of movement, The Fury whipped around, aiming it’s arm cannon at him, and in a burst of energy, the cruel mind who had overseen the Weapon X program was gone, leaving behind only a small pile of ash and the smell of burning flesh.

Matthew Risman, for all the evil he had done in his life, was not the type to turn and run, even in the face of the devil itself. While he did not possess the cybernetic enchancements of some of his subordinates, he still had some modifications that made him a match for most people in a fight. They did not, however, allow him to get into a fistfight with something like The Fury. To his credit, he lasted almost an entire second before The Fury punched a hole through his ribcage. He gave his boss the time to turn and try to make a run for it.

John Sublime almost made it to the door.

…..

“…so yeah, it’s not looking great.”

I turn around, not wanting to see their reaction. I feel like a coward, it’s all been so easy so far, just a thought and the literal universe just realigned itself to my wishes, and the second something thats an actual threat shows up, I start unravelling like a cheap sweater. I can’t help it, it’s stupid, but even now, even HERE, even the idea of The Fury scares the crap out of me. I’m not even sure why, it’s not like he’s the only hero killer I’d ever read about, but for some reason, nobody, not even Thanos, ever seemed…frightening.

The Fury did.

And now I have to face him. It. It’s an it. It doesn’t even really have a personality, it’s just a weapon Jim Jaspers made.

Jesus fucking christ, I hope he’s not still lurking around somewhere in the Multiverse. I don’t know if I can handle him too…

A hand on my shoulder pulls me out of my thoughts, and I turn to face Jen, her beautiful face showing concern “Johan… I’ve never seen you act like this. I’ve been doing this a long time, I’ve fought all kinds of creeps that come crawling out of the armpit of the universe, and trust me, it’s never as bad as it seems.”

I sigh “Jen, I-”

She puts a finger on my lips, cutting me off “No, shh, I’m not done. I know you don’t think of yourself as a superhero, but I do think you’re a good man, who atleast tried using his powers to make the world better, even if he didn’t do it the traditional way. You really think you can’t do this just because it’s more difficult than what you’ve been doing?” I remain silent and she rolls her eyes “You can speak now.”

“You… I appreciate your confidence in me, but The Fury already won a fight like this once, he already beat a reality warper, one STRONGER than me I might add. And if that Time Gem warning was the best way to warn us, I think we might be facing something much worse this time. I’m just not sure what-”

“Johan, Jim Jaspers was insane, wasn’t he?” Legion cuts in, holding up his hand.

“They didn’t call him “mad” because he had a temper, no. Why?”

“Well, I’m still pretty new to the whole sanity thing, but I do remember that making coherent plans was a bit difficult when I was stark raving bonkers. What exactly did this Jaspers do when he fought The Fury?”

I think back, trying to recall the actual battle from the comics, which turns out to be surprisingly difficult. “It’s…actually, sort of hard to describe. Here, try to look at it from my memories” A screen appears in front of us, where a live action version of the battle begins to play out. Jen stares at it, before rubbing her eyes.

“Jeez, it’s like an old MTV animation bumper, I experimented with things in college that didn’t make me see anything half as crazy as that. Did he seriously try to drop the Fury into the sun..?”

I nod “Yeah, probably his best idea, too bad it didn’t work. Anyway, The Fury managed to kill Jaspers by taking him back to his home reality, which had been erased. With no reality, Jaspers was powerless, and that’s all she wrote. The figh, and the round-trip between universes damaged The Fury so badly Captain Britain and Captain UK could finish it off, but even if we could replicate it, it won’t work again.”

Legion nods, tapping his chin “Okay, crazy reality warping won’t work. But we’re both relatively sane, and most importantly, there’s two of us. The Fury might have adapted to ONE reality warper, but not two of them. What do you say, you wanna go clean up the mess left behind by someone elses screwups?”

I sigh “Might as well, it’s pretty much all I’ve been doing since I got my powers.” I wave my hand, and a doorway opens “Besides, maybe it won’t be as bad as I remember?”

Then I step through the door and walk right into a bloodbath.