#23
By Michael Sacal

cast of characters:

Ivar The Timewalker: Ivar, the Timewalker has experienced the passage of thousands of years, just like his immortal brothers, Gilad and Aram. Unlike them, or anyone else, Ivar has spent his years skipping around from one point in history to the next. Able to find natural "time arcs" that carry him from era to era, Ivar might be in the present one week, and in 41^st - Century North Am the next. This gets to be tricky for Ivar, who must take care to do nothing that could change history--even though this pledge of non-interference often leads to some difficult choices. But his time jumps aren't motivated by curiosity or adventure, Ivar only hopes that the next time arc will place him back in the arms of his one, great love--lost in another time.

Rebecca Simms: Rebecca Simms is the granddaughter of the Golden Age Dr Tomorrow, and daughter of the Silver Age Dr. Tomorrow. Rebecca lived in the Reality known as VH 2, till she was recruited by "The Director", the leader of the group known as The T.I.M.E. Vaulters, a group dedicated to maintain both temporal and dimensional order across the multiverse.

Magnus MotherGod Fighter: Son of Torque Torkelson and Kris Hathaway, Magnus was send into the future by Ivar after Geoff McHenry, Geomancer of The Late 20^th Century asked him to do so. Magnus was send into the 40^th Century to help mankind against the power of MotherGod Pierce and the devil incarnate, Master Darque.

Rai, The Savior Spirit of Japan: Created to defend Japan from both MotherGod and Master Darque by GrandMother, a freewill mainframe who gained sentience in the early 31^st Century. Rai gains her powers from energy that flows through her veins, and also through nanites that live within her. This nanites originally belonged to MotherGod's enforcer BloodShot, who was named by Ivar himself.

Through The Looking Glass Part VIII:

"The Trip Home, Part I"

November 15, 4000, 9:26 p.m. EST:

A few moments ago Magnus saw his mentor and friend Aram Anni-Padda killed by Aram's own brother, Gilad Anni-Padda, The Warmaster, MotherGod Pierce's enforcer.

A few moments ago Magnus saw how his dreams of a better tomorrow where destroyed as The Warmaster ripped Aram's heart out of his rip cage and then step on it with his boot, breaking it into a hundred pieces.

A few moments ago Magnus threw everything Aram had thought him about how sacred life is out the window, when he rammed himself into The Warmaster's body, with the intention to break his neck.

A few moments ago Magnus became a man.

Magnus started to hit Gilad with all his might, till finally the X-O armor's helmet cracked. Gilad lifted his arm and fired an ion pulse laser into Magnus' chest, point blank. The blast threw Magnus off of Gilad and he landed a few meters away. His tunic absorbed all of the damage, but he was still a little stunt from the force of the blast.

"Is that the best you have killer? I think I'll do something Aram thought me, and open a can of whup ass on you!" said Magnus while getting up.

"My brother always had potential as a speech writer. Now come and get your medicine pup!" responded Gilad.

Magnus jumped and landed feet first inGilad's face, breaking his front teeth, which quickly regenerated.

"You're gonna pay for what you did you bastard!"

Gilad responded by ordering the X-O armor to create a sword from its insights and then ramming it into Magnus' chest. Magnus fell to the floor, the sword sticking out of him.

"You're not worth my time kid. SHOCK Troops, destroy the city!"

"And with that The Warmaster'sSHOCK Troop battalion entered the city of Japan to destroy it."

"And that's all there is to it. In a few hrs the city fell, and Rai and her people became homeless. Some of Rai's samurai warriors took me in and saved me using technologies I'd never seen before, as if they had become from another world." Magnus told Ivar and Rebecca. Ivar was standing next to a bookcase full of porno mags from the late 20^th Century and Rebecca was fixing her belt, which needed maintenance.

"This were Aram's, weren't they?" asked Ivar.

"Yes, they were. I keep them out of sentimental value. I never understood what he saw in them."

"Magnus, I know why and how you were saved. Rai works with me, she's part of The T.I.M.E. Vaulters,” said Rebecca, interrupting them.

"What?!? How's that possible?" yelled Magnus.

"You see, The Vaulters have agents in almost every VH Reality, and Rai is ours. The Director, our leader, made sure that the Japan of this reality evolved over similar lines as the Japan of VH 1, so that eventually GrandMother would be created and then gain sentience, thus creating the Rai lineage. Rai herself doesn't know any of this, she thinks that all her technology comes from GrandMother." said Rebecca, while getting up from her chair and walking to the table to grab her tool box, which as it was touched by her it disappeared into a small time arc.

"Wait, if what you say is true, then whose The Vaulters agent in my reality?" asked Ivar, dropping a stack of mags on the floor.

"Why, you of course." said Rebecca, looking straight at Ivar.

Master Darque approached an altar in the center of the room. In the center of the altar was Sandria's head on a table, inside a bird’s cage.

"Like I told you a year ago dear sister, you are alone, and after I sacrifice your remains to The Heart of Darkness I'll finally have enough power to get rid of the Pierce woman." saidDarquewhile kneeling down on the floor, in front of the table. Darque lifted his hands and a thousand candles lighted up in the room.

"You're a miss guided fool dear brother. The One will come for you, and when he does you will die." was what Sandria said while her face bursts in flames and burned to ashes.

Suddenly rays of necromantic energy came out from the birdcage and enveloped the room. The rays, after crashing into the walls and destroying all the candles centered themselves in Master Darque's left hand.

"Ah, finally she's quiet. Now, The Heart!"

Darque plundered his right hand into his chest and took out The Heart of Darkness from inside himself. Then he opened The Heart with the nails of his left hand, and allowed the necromantic energy to slid inside it. After all the energy was inside The Heart he put it back inside him.

"Ched, Alert My Darque Squads, tell them the time has come to clean house, and get rid of the pests."

"What do you mean I'm an agent?" asked Ivar.

"The truth is that you weren't supposed to exist Ivar, your birth was what created VH 1 in the first place. You are an anomaly, the first one actually,” answered Rebecca.

Ivar dropped to his knees, this was the third time he had been told that his existence was a mistake, or that it endangered the multiverse.

"I know it's hard to believe, but we needed you Ivar. It may not be apparent just yet, but you'll see, soon."

"What...what do you mean by that?"

"Well, tell me. What's the last thing you remember before this particular adventure of yours began?"

"Well, I had been taken to Stonehenge by a group of people who claimed that I had been responsible for them being lost in time *. Then, with Solar's help, I was supposed to go back to Egypt, and be reunited with my love Queen Nefertiti, but something went wrong. A freewill 'bot from the 41^st Century jumped into the time arc with me, and we arrived in North Am, during the Malev War. While I was there I helped Magnus--the one from my Reality that is---to fight a bunch of Malevs. In return he helped me from being captured by The Malev Emperor**. Right after that I arrived at 1992, and had an encounter with the H.A.R.D. Corps***.The time arc I entered at the end of that affair took me to 1991, to the reactor."

*:#11...Mike.

**:#33...Mike.

***:Yearbook #1...Mike.

MotherGod's Tower is being attacked by Master Darque's Darque Squads. MotherGod's generals are commanding MotherGod’s SHOCK Troops:

The Warmaster Gilad Anni-Padda in his X-O Manowar-class armor.

Malev, last survivor of The Malev invasion of 3950, and leader of all freewills in North Am.

Leeja Clane, wilder of a great power known as ectotheric energy.

Spylocke, a Spider Alien under the command of Erica after the failed Spider Alien invasion of3999.

Izaak, a harbinger with the ability to become a monster of incredible power.

Slagger and Felina, two gophs who gladly fight for their MotherGod.

Master Darque's Darque Squads were teleported from a floating battle ship into the streets.

Slagger and Felina entered the battle, accompanied by SHOCK Troops, while Warmaster,Malev and Leeja battled the battle ship. Izaak and Spylocke entered the Tower, looking for Erica.

Spylocke and Izaak reached the doors to Erica's chamber, which had been sealed since the accident that destroyed Pierceville, in the hopes that taking Erica away from the day-to-day management of her empire would prevent another nightmare. Spylocke entered the code for the doors into the access panel, and when the doors opened both he and Izaak were surprised by what they saw...

Ivar walked towards Rebecca and grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to sit down on a chair.

"I've had enough of this. I want to know why you made me bring us here, to this time."

"It's pretty easy Ivar. We're here to fix your mistake. We have to enter The Rainbow Tower at the precise time, so we can witness the rebirth of the multiverse, and the death of this one Reality universe."

"How do you know that?" asked Magnus.

"Because to me it's history. The T.I.M.E. Vaulters send me to investigate the entire timeline of this universe before making contact with Ivar back in 1996. I know everything that's going to happen, even after I distorted the timeline when I made contact. I know who's gonna live...and who's gonna die."

"Great, so you're a Geomancer now! Great!" yelled Ivar.

"Geomancers are dead in this time. The were exterminated by MotherGod so they wouldn't unite heroes against her." replied Rebecca.

"Whatever. What's your plan, and when are we supposed to start?" said Ivar.

"We have 5 minutes before we have to go, and we can get they’re using your time tracker. We'll use it to move in space, not time."

"I've never tried that before, but if you say it can be done I'll have to trust you I guess."

"Well, if we have 10 minutes then let's get ready,” said Magnus as he punched his fist into a wall.

"Today I get my revenge on The Warmaster!!"

Master Darque's Darque Squads are tearing the city apart, killing as many gophs as they can, and after a few seconds each death goph joins Darque's Squad as a zombie.

Malev's freewill 'bots are also falling under Darque's spell, their freewillness proving more of a weakness than an advantage.

The Warmaster and Leeja are having better luck against The Darque Squad, turning them into ashes with their ion cannons and ectotheric energy rays respectably.

Meanwhile in Erica's room Spylocke and Izaak become pry to North Am's biggest kept secret: Their MotherGod is no more! Inside her room Spylocke and Izaak find a suspension chamber filled with energy, energy that was once known as MotherGod Pierce, The Destroyer, The Woman of The Atom.

After the fall of Pierceville, and after 2 invasions from space and 2 millenniums of stress Erica finally lost the most important thing she had: her mind. And with that went her ability to maintain her human form. Now she's no more than a glass chamber filled with nuclear energy, capable of lighting North Am for maybe 100 years.

Spylocke and Izaak left the room, running faster every second, till they reached the balcony.

"It's over, she's dead! SHE'S DEAD!!" yelled Spylocke at the top of his lungs.

"It's beautiful sister, I wish you had been here to see it. This is the day I become a GOD."

Suddenly Ched Boniface entered the room.

"Master, our forces report that there's a disturbance in one of The Tower's balcony's. It seems that there's a man yelling "She's dead" at the top of his lungs."

"Hmmm."

Darque pressed a button on the control console and the image of The Rainbow Tower appeared in the monitor. At the touch of yet another button the image grew, as we get a closer look at the balcony, watching Spylocke yelling, then jumping from the balcony to his death.

"This is interesting. Ched, take the Hover Ship to the top of the Tower, then land on the roof."

"Yes Master."

Ched left the room.

"Most interesting."

"It's time, are you 2 ready?" asked Rebecca.

"I'll never be more ready then this. Where are we going?" responded Magnus.

"Inside the lion's den, Erica's Tower."

Rebecca gave Ivar his time tracker.

"I programmed it to open a time arc that will take us 25 seconds into the future, into Erica's bedroom. Activate it."

Ivar pushed a button and a time arc appeared in front of them. The 3 entered the arc and appeared inside Erica's room. As they appeared Master Darque, along with a handful of his Darque Squad zombies entered the room.

"We finally meet Mr. Anni-Padda, I've heard so much about you from my sister. Beelzebub rests her soul."

" Kill Them!”

Darque's zombies spread out around the room and surrounded our 3 heroes.

"This is bad,” thought Ivar.

To Be Continued: 

---

Next Issue: The Trip Home, Part 2: We learn more secrets about The Heart of Darkness, about Rebecca's prophecy, and how exactly this story will affect the future of not only Ivar, but the entire Valiant Universe as we knew it. Any comments & questions in general can be send to:

Michael Sacal.

Thursday, March 2, 2000