Gar was surrounded by blue energy for a moment, when he appeared he was incredibly high in the sky, barreling toward a Midgard that defied all expectations. The World Serpent was so huge that clouds were being bisected by his arms as he swung them. His tail stretched across the ground, laying over mountains and into the sea. An entire village had been crushed by his presence.
Heroes swarmed around him, blasting powers and throwing large objects at his head. Midgard, red in the eyes, screeched in sounds that were no language but that of a thrashing beast. He lurched to the side after a massive volley of firepower from several heroes, and then turned and went to slam his enormous forearm across the ground, which would have caused a massive earthquake. Several dozen heroes joined together and emitted a collective barrier made up of ice, psychic, and general power. The arm met the barrier and was deflected.
Gar swooped down and flew along the ground, heading for a team of heroes racing toward Midgard. When Gar saw a giant green fist coming down to meet them, he flew hard and body slammed the first, moving it to the side just far enough to crash into the sea. Gar tumbled through the air for a moment before catching himself.
Landing on solid ground, Gar gathered his wits after that attack. Shinobi raced up to his side.
"Thanks for the save, that was impressive." Shinobi quickly jutted both hands forward and huge chunks of earth flew up and crashed into Midgards abdomen.
The Avenger landed near Gar and held up a hand. Energy came flooding off the side of Midgard. Using his other hand he returned the power as a full-on blast.
"What's the situation?" Gar asked The Avenger as he continued his attack.
The Avenger said, "This battle is... strange to say the least."
"Strange? I'd say this is impossible! LOOK OUT!" Gar quickly grabbed The Avenger and took flight as Midgard swept a hand across the ground, razing trees, buildings, and dozens of heroes at once.
Getting back to his feet, The Avenger said, "Thanks. I can't drain enough energy from Midgard, he is too powerful."
"Why did you call it strange?" Gar asked.
The Avenger was already scanning for his next opportunity to attack. "If I'm not mistaken, it's like he's holding back. This battle is.... I don't know, not as bad as it could be."
Gar watched Midgard knock two dozen heroes out of the sky with one blast of his energy breath. "I'd say this is pretty bad."
"I know energy, Gar, there is something not right about this whole thing."
"Are you saying he isn't as dangerous as he seems?"
The Avenger looked at a reading on a screen in his arm armor. "No, this is still bad. If we don't stop him soon, our numbers won't hold and he'll begin a rampage that could cost millions of innocent lives."
Suddenly, Midgard turned to attack their location, energy from his mouth and both fists pummeling the ground.
"Run!" Gar grabbed The Avenger again and flew away as many other heroes around did the same.
The ground exploded and then was crushed, sending seismic waves that rippled out across the Earth. Towns hundreds of miles away shook and took damage from each land crashing strike.
"I can fly!" The Avenger yelled.
Gar let him go and the cybernetic hero zoomed off under his own power, heading directly for Midgard's face. Landing on a cliff over the ocean, Gar thought how he would approach this battle. To his amazement, another Midgard showed up, a hero grew in size to match that of this world serpent and grabbed the real Midgard by the arms. They struggled against one another, each fighting in an epic wrestling match. Heroes continued to shower the real Midgard with powers and other weapons.
Gar's comm device activated, "Justin to Gar, report!"
"You won't believe this, but someone as big and powerful as Midgard is holding him at bay."
"I know, that is one of the mimic heroes. He can't hold out for long."
"What do we do? Do you have a plan?"
Justin said, "I'm sending help. Tell the heroes to go full throttle when they see the signal."
"What signal?"
"You'll know." Justin's voice channel clicked off.
Gar looked around, not sure what to expect. Suddenly, out of a flash of blue light came a large portal. Furious Squirrels Dirigible flew through with a bright blue hero standing on top, it was Strange Quark. Gar ran to the edge and took flight, gliding up closer to the battle balloon. He had his comm ready for the all-signal, unsure what this could mean.
To his great surprise, he saw two enemies standing inside the pilot house of the balloon, Private Eye Peyton and the gangster Rutkowski. Both were completely black and white and glowing with a bright white aura.
Midgard's body flickered and he lost most of his color. All at once, he froze as if all time had stopped. Gar realized this was it, he pressed the all-signal, "HEROES ATTACK, ATTACK, HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING, DON'T HOLD BACK!"
The battle dirigible unleashed a massive volley of rockets and energy beams, Quark shot blue energy from the top, and heroes far and wide joined in and pummeled Midgard with everything they had. Gar simply held his position in the sky as he watched this onslaught of pure power. Was Midgard already finished and they were attacking something dead? Could Midgard even die? What happens if this doesn't work?
A blinding explosion erupted from the center of Midgard and everyone was thrown half a mile away in a perfect radius. The Dirigible faltered and nearly fell into the ocean while Strange Quark fell free from it and splashed in the icy cold waters. When the smoke settled, there was no Midgard to be seen, nothing remained of the bewitched monster of legend.
"Gar! Gar! Report!" Justin came through the comm.
Gar, on his back laying on a beach, held his arm up, "I think it worked. Midgard is gone."
"He can't be gone. He was huge."
"I don't know what happened to him. But, it's over."
Justin clicked off the comm channel and pointed at robot 10915. "I want all our damage control teams to that part of the planet on the double. Get me in touch with every world leader in the vicinity of that battle, I know they will all want an update."
"Understood, Director."
Justin clicked his comm again, "Justin to Arx."
"Arx here. That was one hell of a battle."
Justin said, "I know. I want you to lead the damage control teams on the surface. I want you to ensure the locals that we'll everything in our power to help clean up the mess. And, also send out as many agents and heroes as you can spare, I want to know what happened to Midgard."
Arx, sounding fatigued after that battle, answered, "On it, sir."
Justin left Operations and headed down to Dr. Henderson's main laboratory. The station was strangely quiet, since most of the agents and even the training robots were down on the planet. Justin had ordered every available person and robot to join the conflict. The stakes were far too high.
When he got into the lab, he was met by Dr. Henderson and her nurses. They stood around the body of the agent that Nova had unceremoniously returned to them.
"What did you find?" Was his greeting.
Dr. Henderson said, "This man was killed by a strange power, something seeped into every cell of his body and turned it off. I'd say he didn't suffer, but I don't know for certain..."
"I want to know why Nova returned him and what possible advantage we can garner from this."
Dr. Henderson pointed at the dead agent. "His life mattered."
Justin calmed down from his stiff attitude, "I know. I hate to lose anyone. But, if we don't find a way to stop this, he'll not be the last to die. In fact, many died today, most of them innocent bystanders who were caught in the battle zone. So, I want answers, something to find the solution to this problem."
"I did find something. Nova left us a cryptic clue." She turned to a computer monitor and activated it. There was a fleck on a bit of microscope glass. "We found this in his eye. At first, I thought it was nothing. But, it was unusual to find something buried that deep in his eye. So, I had the computer magnify it. What I found was this." She zoomed and enhanced the image.
"A tiny computer chip?" Justin looked at the small device.
"It is hardly enough to hold any data, but there was a single line. A sentence that reads, 'To defeat your enemy, first you must know who they are', and then a series of numbers." The numbers appeared on the screen. "My guess is these are coordinates."
"Where do they lead?"
She said, "That is the strange part. This leads to the middle of the Mariana Trench."
"Looks like we are diving for clues now."
Dr. Henderson asked, "Are you sure we can trust him?"
"No. But, I have to find out what this is about, it is all we have."
Midgard, in his human form, washed up on the shore of a distant, cold beach. His body battered, his face bruised, and no breath coming or going.
A woman knelt down and turned him over so he was facing the sky.
"You fought well, but not well enough. You held back. I don't know why, but I will find out. Now, come with me, my pet. Your job in ending this world has not been completed." As she touched his face he gasped in a great breath and opened his eyes. They remained glowing red and he expressed no emotions.
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