HenryJonesJr

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Okay wedding is over. Want to try and get through my next arc in the next few weeks before the Honeymoon. The Guardians will finally be together once it’s done, and I can jump into my endgame if I get back from the honeymoon and the season is wrapping up

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Sorry I’ve been MIA. Pre wedding week has been nuts. Probably won’t be able to post till next week, sadly

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Sorry I haven't been super active. Work has been crazy and I have the wedding next week. Hoping to have a post up tonight or tomorrow though

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

THOR AND STAR-LORD

IN

WAITING FOR THE WORMS

---

Each footfall echoed off the cold, dead walls of the Asgardian vault as Thor walked its corridors with trepidation. This world was dead, he knew that. There was nothing alive here other than himself.

But if that was the case, why did it feel like he was being watched?

It was probably nothing more than his own conscience peering over his shoulder. Ever since he had laid eyes on this place he could not stop thinking about what he could have done to save the people of this forsaken place. He knew they had prayed to him, in the back of his mind. He didn't remember, at least not explicitly he didn't. But he knew. He hadn't been responding to prayers in ages. Not since most of the mortals had stopped really needing him or the rest of the gods. But the people of this planet had been simple creatures until their destruction. They needed him, and he probably ignored them. Instead he probably drank himself into a stupor or spent the night with a curvy wench. Whatever it was, it wasn't more important than saving the people here.

Still, what was housed in the bowls of this cavern would allow him to make right his past deeds. Once again the cosmos would know that Thor Odinson stood for the greater good. He would be the hero he always knew he was.

A bit of rock fell to the floor next to him, startling Thor. He looked up to the ceiling, but found nothing but rock staring back at him. It was beautiful the way it caught the light. It reflected it in a glassy, red hue unlike anything he had ever seen. Probably a reaction from the Asgardian mining techniques with the planet's composition.

The stone passageway came to another door, this one marked with the royal seal of Asgard. He ran his hand over it, and a thousand memories poured over him. Of his father and brother fighting by his side on the frigid plains of Jotunheim. Of his mother singing in the gardens of the palace. Of laughing with the Warriors Three in some tavern as the snow fell on Asgard. Eons worth of memories now felt like sand blowing on the beach. All of them were gone, and Thor was not sure he would ever see them again. not if the Ragnarok cycle had been forever altered.

Suddenly, the sound of thunder echoed through his head and his vision blurred. He fell to his knees as reality around him bent and folded. It was as if the Bifrost has hit him, but only his mind was being transported.

His eyes adjusted, and he found himself in a rolling green field. The soft wind blew the golden wheat in waves like the ripples on a lake. In the distance he saw a figure standing idly in the middle of the swaying rows. He approached with caution, but quickly realized who it was, and broke out into a run.

"Father!" Thor called out in relief. "You have survived!"

But as Thor reached his father, it was clear that was not the case. This was not the King of Asgard standing before him. Instead it was a wraith stripped of all vitality and nobility. His eyes were sunken and his skin palor. His shoulders were slumped, robbing him of any sense of the strength that once radiated from his kingly visage.

"Father...what has happened to you?" Thor was beside himself. In all his years he had done nothing but idolize Odin. He was the king Thor one day hoped to emulate. But what now stood before him was a broken and shamed man. He needed answers as to why.

"Thor?" Odin called out as if unable to see his son standing in front of him. "How are you here?"

"I do not know," Thor shook his head and looked at his father with confusion. "I thought you summoned me to...where ever we are."

"No," Odin shook his head in defeat. "Not here. I do not have that kind of power. Not anymore."

"Where is here?"

"I know not, to tell you the truth," Odin looked over his surroundings. "Tis not Valhalla. I believe that way is shut to me. Possibly to all Asgardians. Perhaps it is a punishment for our failures."

Thor's hands clenched into fists of rage, "I will avenge you. I am searching for the one that did this. I will make them pay and open the gates of Valhalla to our people. That much I promise you, father."

"Valhalla is not my worry," Odin shook his head. "The one who did this. The one who triggered Ragnarok...he is ahead of you, son."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Thor asked as the vision around him began to fade.

"You will see shortly, my son," Odin cautioned. "You have a chance to be better, my son. Protect them. All of them. Protect them from our mistakes."

In a flash, he was back in the tunnel, and the door to the cache was open in front of him.

And it was empty.

He stepped inside to find nothing left. Not the weapon he was hoping to find nor the treasure that he was going to pay Quill with. All hope that had filled his heart when he found this place had fled. The weapon he hoped to find here wasn't going to be a cure all, but it would have been a start. Now he had nothing except more dread. This meant that not only was the person behind Ragnarok still at large, they were also raiding Asgardian caches. They were amassing more weapons to attack the galaxy with.

From the corner of his eye, he saw another flash of movement along the cave wall. He searched for the lever in the treasure chamber that would allow the outside light in. He located it, and pulled it. A single, blinding beam of light shot down from the ceiling, and with it came the hideous scream of a thousand voices. He looked up to find what he thought were shimmering walls was actually thousands of creatures nesting there.

Some fell in front of him, their exoskeletons blazing bright read in the light, their insectoid legs skittering in the sand, and their teethed mandibles chomped towards him. The first reached him, its eyes rolling back into its head as if it thought he would be easy prey. Instead Thor ripped the monster's clawed arm off and drove it through its mouth. In response, dozens of them fell of the ceiling towards him.

He ran back towards the entrance of the cave as a tidal wave of the creatures flowed towards him. They seemed to have only one desire, and that was to tear him apart and devour him. They were ravenous and strong. They tore at him with their sharp claws and many bites snapped just out of reach from him. If he was a hair slower, he'd already be dead.

Thor fumbled through his pocket as he ran, searching for Quill's beacon. He pressed it before he was cut off by a group of the insectoids. The snarled and pounced.

**********

Peter couldn't believe what he found when he landed on the planet. Doors bigger than he had ever seen swung open, revealing a cave within. The crazy bastard wasn't lying. There really was something buried here by the guy's people. Unbelievable.

unfortunately the distress beacon was firing from inside the cave, and he was not looking forward to going inside. But if it was what he had to do to get paid, it was what he had to do. He had to be quick. The Milano wouldn't survive on the surface for long.

Using his rocket boots, he blasted inside, but once he was in the dark caverns, he quickly realized why Thor was asking for help. Giant cockroaches assailed him from every side. He could barely keep his guns firing quick enough, but slowly and surely he came closer and closer to where Thor's beacon was firing.

When he came to the location, all he found was a pile of the dead creepers from floor to ceiling. So that was it. The man was dead, and so was his hope of treasure.

At least that's what he thought before the man burst out of the pile covered in viscera and blood.

"Well met, Peter Quill," he growled. "Now let us leave this place before we are eaten."

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Okay I lied, post will be up tomorrow

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Sorry I've been MIA. Work has been a bear this week. Gonna have a post up finishing off this quick chapter tomorrow hopefully

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

THOR AND STAR-LORD

IN

WAITING FOR THE WORMS

---

The Milano hung in space above a brown and orange marble of a world. Below the sandstorms raged, changing the surface of the world every minute it spun around its red sun. The ship's readings said there was nothing alive on the surface. How could there be? An asteroid had slammed into it centuries ago. It triggered massive volcanic activity that cooked the planet past the point of habitability. Now all that was left was sang, toxic air, and scorching heat.

Thor hadn't been here in ages, and when he had it was nothing like this. He remember cyan oceans flowing over pure white sands. The air smelled of the baths in Asgard, clean and refreshing. The people of the world had been simple. Nothing more than a few fishing villages dotting the planet-covering archipelago. Still, he remembered the feast they had provided him when he slayed a great beast that had fallen to their planet. They had so little, but they gave him much.

Did they pray to him when the end came? He could not even remember.

"You seriously want to go down there, dude?" Peter sounded skeptical of the whole en-devour. Not that Thor could blame him. The planet meant certain death for the unprepared. Even if Quill was the kind of mortal that could face down any fight, an uninhabitable planet meant a different kind of death. It was a painful, lonely one.

"Aye," Thor slapped the shoulder of the pilot. "I...we need what is on that planet. Tis the first step in the road to our final goal."

"Okay, but that surface is not going to be nice to the Milano," Quill shook his head as he looked over the readouts of the world. "I'll have to drop you off then head back up to orbit. You good with that?"

"If it is necessary," the God of Thunder's eyes narrowed at his traveling partner. His explanation made sense, but the attack on Knowhere had made Thor wary. Something about how quickly the Chitauri had shown up there set Thor on edge. They were hunting him. He was sure of that. Whoever had triggered Ragnarok knew he had survived, which meant there was not much time to waste. "I will travel to the cache alone. Do not worry, I will recover enough treasure for you."

"That is music to my ears, my friend," Quill smiled broadly as he took the Milano into the planet's atmosphere.

**********

"Here!" Peter yelled over the howl of the swirling sandstorm outside. He hurried over to the open hatch Thor was about to climb out of, and handed him a distress beacon form the craft. "Just press the button when you need me to pick you up. I'll be hanging out in orbit, shouldn't take long at all for me to swoop in and pick you up."

Thor nodded and pocketed the device. He checked that he had the swords from Knowhere secured to his hips. Nodding to Peter, he said, "I will contact you once we have our boon. Be ready, friend. Today is the start of a great adventure."

"To a full bank account, I hope!" Quill yelled as the blond man jumped into the swirl sand. "You better not die, you Swayze-looking bastard."

The Milano pitched up to escape the storm and the planets gravity. He felt the gusting winds push the craft from side to side, and it took all his strength to keep the ship from crashing back into the sands of the dead planet. The last thing he needed was getting marooned on this planet. He'd been marooned on desert planets before. Yondu loved doing that as a prank, the jerk. Drinking your own urine got really old, really quick.

As he broke the atmosphere, he set the ship's auto-orbit system and headed back to grab a Tamaranian ale he had picked up on Knowhere. It was his favorite, and he never passed up stocking the Milano's fridge when he came across it. Now it was time to kick back with a few brews and wait for the god guy to bring him back his treasure.

Unfortunately, just as he put his feet up and took the first sip, the craft's proximity alarms began blaring in the cockpit of the Milano. The sound startled him, causing him to dropped the bottle. He watched in horror as it smashed against the metal grating below, causing the amber liquid to splatter in waste.

"Are you freaking kidding me!?" Quill yelled in frustration. He brought up the scanners to find out who had followed them here. The ship he found surprised the hell out of him.

He opened up the comms and called out, "Yondu, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Quill, you're gonna dock with our ship, boy. We got some talkin' to do," the Zatoan smiled his snaggle toothed smile at Peter. "You here me?"

"Yondu, what are you-"

Before Quill finished an explosive blast from the Ravager ship exploded above the Milano, rocking Peter out of his pilot's chair.

"What the hell, Yondu!?" Quill raged at his so-called captain over the view screen. "You lost you goddamn mind!?"

"I said dock now," Yondu sneered. "I wasn't playin' with you, boy."

Peter met his gaze over the view screen. He knew Yondu, and he knew he wasn't bluffing. Not this time.

"Fine. On my way."

**********

The sand buffeted Thor's face as his cape did little to deter the blown grains. Once he had lounged in this very sand amongst the people of this planet, and now it was all there was on the world. For all he knew the very sand that hit him now was also made up of the bones of those people. That was a macabre thought, and he shook it out of his head.

He knew the entrance to the cache was close by. He hoped it wouldn't be too covered in the sand too deeply, but the way the planet had deteriorated he had little hope that would be the case. Still, there was the off chance that his mother or one of the other witches of the Asgardians had enchanted it so it would remain uncovered.

Thor trudged through the deep, loose sand with every step taking all of his impressive might to complete. It was as if he had fallen into a mire unlike anything he had ever experienced before. With each passing stride, more thoughts of the world as it once was had come to his mind.

He remembered the way the mammalian creatures of the deep would explode from the foamy waves and soar on gliding wings like bats, catching the large water-born insects that flew over the surface. He thought he saw the skull of one of them as he walked, its bottle-nosed snout stuck out of the grains of sand as if it was struggling for a breath.

Had they prayed to him? He wondered the entire time he traversed the dunes. If they had he surely hadn't heard them. And if he did, he was not listening. Perhaps he was out in the thick of battle, or on a diplomatic mission for the Allfather that kept his attention away from their pleas. But there was a nagging in the back of his heart that told him neither of those were true. No, something told him that he had heard their cries for help like a gnat buzzing in his ear, and he did nothing but ignore them.

Those thoughts were banished from his mind as he came upon the great door buried into the side of a great dune, like a shell of some giant crustacean. The great runes carved into the door by the spells of old were unmistakably Asgardian. Their old magics had kept the door from being buried by the sea of sand. For that he was thankful. He had no desire to spend more time than necessary on this planetary graveyard.

He approached the great door and ran his fingers over the runes. Almost immediately a faint white glow emerged from them, as if he had awoken an ancient being from its slumber. The rune pulsed, synching up with his own heartbeat, before the door opened with a dull crack. The rumble of the doors shook the sand beneath him, and the cache opened for the first time in hundreds of years. The air that escape was damp and cool, a welcomed respite from the dry, harsh conditions above ground.

Stepping into the entrance chamber, he ignited the photon light he had taken from the Milano. The intense, blue light from the torch illuminated the chamber, showing off the detailed scultptures of his father, his brother, and he. something seemed to scurry in the corner of his eye, but when he turned to face it, he found nothing.

The statue of Odin stood in the center, holding the domed roof up with one hand, the other holding his kingly spear. Even now, his lone eye seemed to look down on Thor with disaproval while he kept the universe in order. To the Allfather's left was Loki. The sneer on the thin face of the God of Mischief was as at home as it always had been, his horned helmet held erect as if he had just pulled one of his trademark pranks on Thor. As annoying as his brother had always been, Thor missed him dearly. He would at least liven up this quest. To Odin's right was Thor himself. Mjolnir held aloft over his winged helmet as if he was about to call down the lightning. Thor's heart twinged at the sight. The hammer still floated in the depths of space, and he had no idea how to get it back.

Sighing before drawing a large breath, Thor made his way into the bowels of the treasure vault, hoping to find what he came for.

**********

Thor's face floated in front of Peter as he felt the Ravager gun pressed to the back of his head. The number next to it was astronomically high. He had never seen a bounty like it. He almost kicked himself for not checking for one on his traveling partner first. With that kind of money he could disappear into some forgotten corner of the galaxy and never have to worry about anything again.

The less than optimal situation was the fact that his face was right below Thor's on the bounty. Not for nearly as much money, which he had to admit hurt a little bit. That was probably a dumb thing to feel, but hell, he wasn't above a little bit of price. Okay, a lot of pride.

"Well I mean obviously if I knew about this I would have brought him to you," Quill lied. "This is like a lifetime's worth of scores for all of us."

"Now you gonna bring him to me," Yondu patted Quill on the cheek.

Peter's mind raced. Sure if he brought Thor to Yondu, it would probably end with Thor dying. But Pete's bounty could be paid off. But that'd also mean he'd come out of all of this without anything to show for it, and that really didn't seem all that fair.

"I'll bring him to you," Quill smiled as a plan began to form. "But not yet. He promises he's got treasure. Let me find that. Then I hand him over to you. That way we get the bounty and the treasure. Win-win."

Yondu laughed, "Boy, that is a great plan. But if you screw me, you're head is goin' to whoever posted that bounty, you hear me?"

"Yea, I hear you."

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Should have a post up tomorrow.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

<Snipped quote by HenryJonesJr>

Hey You is a good pick for Rocket because I keep wondering when he's going to come in and where the Hell he is...

@Hound55

Chapter 3

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Thor: "Flash" - Queen
Star-Lord: "Pinball Wizard" - The Who
Hawk: "Lodi" - Creedance Clearwater Revival
Rocket: "Hey You" - Pink Floyd
Groot: "Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin
The Guardians of the Galaxy: "Come Together" - The Beatles