Greater Magellanic Cloud

5 battered Kree warships fought desperately to hold together as the took fire from several large Shi' Ar craft. The Starjammer approached slowly from the rear while cloaked Ben-Dar and Hal-Lass sat in the hangar bay, Ben in his fighter, Hal in his now modified pursuer ship waiting for their signal to go. Dal-Rogg sat at the helm with Fry and David manning the guns. The crew sat in silence until they moved in to position.

Dal commed Hal,"You ready?"

Hal replied,"Affirmative." He looked to Ben who nodded.

They flew out and opened fire on the command ship drawing its attention as the cloaked Starjammer made its way between the Shi' Ar warships and the Kree.

As Hal and Ben dodged shots from the command ship Hal shouted into the comm,"Anytime you're ready."

Dal ordered the Professor to drop the cloak as they fired the main cannon blasting apart the nearest ship. They took a hard hit to the side as the other ships returned fire. They turned and flew dangerously close to the command ship. 7 and Abomination held on to the outside hull of the Starjammer as the guns temporarily opened a hole in the shields.

Abomination grabbed 7 and launched them on to the Shi'ar ship. He tore a large hole in the hull and they entered as Hal and Ben veered off to aide the outer attack. 7 made his way toward their engineering section as Abomination ran amok through the ship causing panic among the crew.

7 crawled into the ventilation shaft as the ship shook under Abominations attack.

As he found the engine room he over heard the captain demanding everyone with a weapon rush to the bridge leaving the room unguarded. 7 planted several detonators on the engines and crawled back into the vents.

7 checked the seals in his before jumping back out the hole Abomination made and hit his comm, "I'm all done Big man, get out asap."

The Starjammer called the Kree ships and ordered them to pull back as far as they could as they cleared a path for them. Abomination ripped out of the ship as 7 triggered the detonators. Hal snagged them in a tractor beam and reeled them in as the command ship exploded.

The remaining Shi' Ar ships retreated as the Starjammer escorted the Kree back to their armada.

As they meet up with the Armada, Dal recognized Lor-Var as one of the warship captains. He greeted the crew as they boarded the station the ships had gathered around.

The crew were directed into a meeting room with an Admiral Cor-Van. He looked to Hal, "I'm told you're the captain of the Starjammer now, have you given up the Pursuer game then?"

Hal shook his head,"We were trapped on Earth, I had to make due."

Cor-Van then looked to Dal, "You've been restored in rank now that the Skrull have been outed."

He looked down to Dal's wrists,"Are those Nega bands?"

Dal nodded as Hal raised his to show the other pair,"How did you manage to get your hands on those?"

Hal answered, "They were being kept in a storage unit on Earth, given what I saw there it's a good thing they choose to keep them hidden away."

Cor-Van took his seat,"Hal-Lass I here by promote you to captain of the Kree Armada." He looked to Dal, "I would promote you as well if you didn't already out rank me. I hear your crew is from Earth, that alone should make the Shi' Ar nervous."

Hal sat as the admiral continued,"Now we should discuss how to best use this weapon you've brought us."

Hal replies,"Given the cloaking abilities of my ship a more covert use could be advantageous, I could use a few extra hands if you can spare them, my hanger could most likely hold a dozen fighters."

Con-Var nods, "I can spare 20 men and 8 fighters, Dal will need to report back to Hala for a debrief. Have your crew get some rest and I'll have a mission for you in the morning."

Ferrum Warehouse B-38

Several guards sit around a make shift table playing cards when a flash of light appears. They go to investigate and see a man leaning toward a large metal door. They shout,"Freeze." He looks up,"If you say so."

The guards stop frozen in time as the Traveler opens the door and pulls a war hammer from inside.

He stands up hammer in hand and allows the guards to move again, he waves to them and disappears. The security chief looks nervous,"Someone's going to have to call Chicago." He slams the door revealing a sign that reads,'Do not open under penalty of death.'

The Vault Sub Basement 4

The Traveler enters a section of the prison reserved for prisoners in suspended animation. He looks at the combination pad on one of the chamber doors, he ponders for a second then takes the hammer and smashes it in. The door slides open.

He looks in,"Wake up Bill, I have a present for you."

Beta Ray Bill looks up groggily and sees the hammer,"Stormbreaker."

The Traveler then uses it to break Bill's shackles and then catches him as he lurches forward.

A minute later guards arrive as The Traveler and Bill disappear leaving nothing but the empty stasis chamber.

Centuri 6

The Starjammer lands as people flee from Galactus' machines. The Traveler looks up and the Herald who watches from the sky,"We need to get Galactus' attention." He looks to Abomination,"Hey big fella, you think you can knock him off that rock?" Abomination nods and leaps toward the Herald.

He slams into the Herald of Galactus with enough force to shake the ground below and sends him hurtling into a mountain side. He then leaps after him.

A holographic image of Galactus' head appears,"What is the meaning of this?" The Traveler steps in front of the hologram, they eyes focus on him,"Oh, you."

The Traveler nods,"Is there any way we could push this back to like tomorrow or maybe next week?"

The crew stares incredulously at him as Galactus speaks,"No."

The Traveler shrugs,"I'm sure we can cut a deal here." Galactus looks down on him,"My hunger must be sated."

The Traveler drops his head,"Fine, aim you machine at me."

The chaos around them comes to a sudden stop as all attention falls on the Traveler as an arm of the massive machinery positions itself above him.

Galactus asks,"Are you sure?"

The Traveler nods and raises his arm toward the machine, his hand glows with energy which he focuses and sends into the machine for several minutes until the Traveler drops his arm.

He then looks at the hologram,"That ought to hold you for at least 5 cycles." Galactus speaks to his Herald,"We're done here."

The machinery pulls away as the Herald leaps back to his stone platform glaring at Abomination.

Dal steps up to the Traveler,"What did you do?" He looks back to Dal,"Tell you later, I kinda need to pass out now."

Dal catches the Traveler before he hits the ground. As soon as Dal let him go he vanished in a flash of light.

A few seconds later he reappears,"Well that was fun, back to work."

Dal looks at him,"You're on fire."

The Traveler looks at his shoulder and pats out the flame,"Needed a bit of a recharge."

Sam looks astonished,"Why did Galactus just leave like that?"

The Traveler replies, "I fed him." He then looks to the stunned people of Centuri 6, "Ok I'm looking for a metalic blue orb about this big." He shows the size with his hands,"Anyone know where I can find it?"

An old man in a cloak raises his hand and leads him into a large building,"This is one of our sacred relics. Can I ask why you seek it?"

The Traveler looks to him,"I need it to save the Universe from a death worshiping psychopath."

The old man's eyes widened, "By all means, its the least we can do to repay you."

The Traveler gives him a weary glance,"You're not gonna bow are you? I hate when people bow."

The old man shakes his head.

The Traveler meets the crew of the Starjammer a few minutes later,"Thanks for the ride, and remember to keep an eye out for Skrulls. They may be playing lap dog to the Shi' Ar for the time being but they're always plotting. Soren is probably hip deep in trouble and he doesn't even know it yet."

He then disappears as the crew loads back into the ship.

As they take off Hal looks to his brother,"That was interesting. Is there a reason we had to get involved here?" Dal replies,"The Kree owe him a debt that can't be repaid, a ride wasn't much to ask."

Centuri System

Starjammer med bay

The pilot they'd picked up was waking as Hal walked in,"You have a name soldier?" The pilot sat up,"Ben-Dar sir, and you are." Hal sat down,"Pursuer Hal-Lass, you're on board the Starjammer." Ben's eyes went wide,"A pirate ship?"

Hal grinned,"Show some respect, this is the most famous pirate ship in the universe. So tell me, what's happening with the empire?"

Ben looked down,"Majester Soren declared it part of the Shi' ar empire, the boy king thought we'd just hand it to him. He gave us that Shi' Ar nonsense about marrying our cultures, fancy way of saying he planned to bend us over if you ask me."

Hal sat back, "I was busy chasing Dal, I assume everyone knows the man he killed was a Skrull impostor?"

Ben nodded, "How bad was my ship damaged? I'd like to get back to my unit, we were in the middle of battling the Warbird."

Hal looked to him, "You're the only survivor, but if it makes you feel any better my Starjammer turned it into cosmic dust. We'll have you back with the armada in no time."

Engineering bay

Fry and Abomination work as 7 makes some adjustments to the power supply to the weapons systems, Abomination holds a massive coupling as Fry is busy tightening some loose bolts as per 7's instructions. The Creed looks down to Abomination," I'm done up here."

As Abomination fits the coupling back in place Fry asks,"Why exactly are you taking this apart again?" 7 tightens the last few bolts,"Improving the recharge time for the main cannon. It's a good thing that warship didn't put up much of a fight, it would've been an hour before we'd have been able to fire at full power again. Now we can get off 5 full powered shots before we need a recharge."

Fry looked up,"So it's 5 shots and wait an hour?" 7 shook his head,"Nah, 10 ,15 minutes tops."

10 minutes later Mess deck

The crew gathers for a meal as Hal and Ben enter. Ben slowly seats himself next to Dal-Rogg. Half way through the meal a bright flash of light appears and suddenly a man in shorts and a T-shirt stands at the end of the table.

He looks around,"Again with this? I can't wait until this stupid temporal disturbance is over." The crew pulls their weapons but Dal stands up," I know him, he's not a threat. Well not usually any way but rarely intentionally."

Hal looks him over,"The Traveler?" Dal nods

The Traveler hops to the floor,"Where are we?" Dal answers,"Centuri system."

He looks relieved, "Care to drop me off on Centuri 6?"

The professor chimes in,"That doesn't seem wise at the moment."

Hal looks up,"What's the problem?"

The Professor replies," It appears Galactus is preparing to devour it."

The Traveler shrugs,"Not a problem."

The crew looks at him like he was insane. He looks to Dal,"Remember when I said, sometimes just trust me?"

Dal nods,"I almost got eaten by a Brood Queen."

The Traveler shakes his head,"Almost, is the word you should focus on here, this is definitely a time to trust me. I'm 93% sure you'll all survive."

(to be continued)

1 lightyear beyond the Sol System

David Hardy stands in the mess deck in front of the replicator, "Do you have beer?" The Professor speaks,"Clarify?" David looks up,"Beer, its a beverage." The Professor replies,"The beverage known as beer comes in over 4,000,000 varieties from hundreds of civilizations throughout the universe, which is your preferred type?" David steps back,"Okay, Earth style?" The Professor replies,"There are 71 varieties present on Earth, which would you prefer?"

Fry walks up,"He'll take a standard American Lager, make it 2." 2 mugs drop down and are filled. Fry looks to David,"The wise traveler knows how to deal with a smart ass bar tender."

Med bay, 10 minutes later

The professor speaks,"Abomination seems to have the same Titan technology in his system as Creed 7 but the gamma radiation in his blood seems to have destroyed it, I have set the stasis chamber to deliver small doses of the radiation. 7's healing factor keeps the process from being fatal." Molly and Dal sit back as the chamber opens.

7 sits up slowly and asks,"Are you sure its out of my system?" The professor replies,"Scans indicate that you are clear." 7 slides off the table,"Glad to hear it, I believe I'm due for some breakfast."

the Bridge

Hal, Sam and Abomination sit in front of a large view screen watching the stars fly past as Abomination snores from his chair. Sam looks to Hal,"Any idea how long it'll be until we run into someone?" Hal looks over,"It'll be at least a day, most people like to give Earth a wide berth. There's an old Kree saying. No good can come of dealing with Earth."

Sam chuckles, "Are you saying aliens are scared of Earth?" Hal turns back to his instruments,"I'd say cautious is a better word, if you hadn't noticed visits to your planet tend not to end well, The Kree and Skrull were the most powerful empires in the universe, Earth gets involved and now we're shells of our former glory. Your kind even managed to scare off Galactus, caution is wise."

Suddenly an alert goes off as the ship receives a distress signal. Hal focuses the screen and sees a badly damaged Kree fighter floating with only one faint life sign on board. He hits the comm,"Dal, get down to the loading bay, we have an injured Kree coming in."

Loading Bay minutes later

Dal, Fry and David are there to pull the injured pilot out of his ship. He looks at Dal, "Damned Shi' ar caught us off guard." Dal looked down at him, "We'll get you to the Med Bay, see if we can't get you flying again."

The Professor comes in over the comms,"There appears to be a Shi' ar imperial war ship quickly approaching, The captain has asked that you report to the bridge." Dal looks to David, "Get him to the med bay." He then taps his comm,"We're on our way."

The Bridge

The captain of the Shi' ar warship appears on the view screen,"Unidentified ship, our scans indicate you have an enemy combatant on board, stand down and prepare to be boarded." Hal replies, "This is Pursuer Hal Lass, aboard the Starjammer, I'll give you a moment to check your history to see what that means."

The captain hails back, seeing only Sam and Hal on the bridge as Dal and Fry enter,"We aren't worried about a few Kree flying an antique." Sam chimes in, "Actually I'm from Earth and so is most of our crew." The captain's eyes go wide as the screen goes black.

The Professor speaks, "The warship has raised their shields and are powering up their weapons, I suggest we do the same." Dal steps over to the weapon controls, "I've been itching to see what this does." Hal drops into the captains chair,"On my mark."

The Shi' ar warship fires with their main cannon as the professor chimes in,"Shields holding well." Hal nods to Dal who eagerly activates their cannon.

It easily tears through the Shi'ar shields and obliterates the warship. Fry stares at the screen,"Never let it be said that Ferrum goons don't know good weapons."

The professor comes back on,"The warship sent out a message just before we fired, it may be best to move on with haste."

The Traveler finds him self back row center at a movie theater. A man in a white suit sits next to him,"Popcorn?" The man in white sits down,"Traveler, huh? Sounds vague." The Traveler looks over,"Said, The Beyonder." The man nods, "Fair enough."

The Traveler takes the bucket,"I'm kinda in the middle of something here." The Beyonder chuckles,"One should always take time to smell the roses." The movie starts with a cheesy guitar riff, "80's buddy cops?" The Traveler asks. The Beyonder nods as The Traveler goes on," You just keep getting weirder, I can see the Tribunal as the chief but I'm having a little trouble seeing Galactus as the partner 1 day to retirement."

The Beyonder laughs,"Would you rather watch the abstracts stare at each other for a day making grandiose speeches?" The Traveler shakes his head,"Could've been worse,I'm still having nightmares about Death as Foxy Browne."

As a bizarre car chase plays on the screen the Beyonder asks,"Are you sure it has to be him?" The Traveler puts down the popcorn,"Yup, its a fixed point." Beyonder nods, "He doesn't exactly have an altruistic history." The Traveler looks to the screen,"I'll find an angle."

He sighs, "You ever get the feeling the boss is just playing a game and we're just the pawns?" The Beyonder smiles,"Of course not. We'd be Knights or Rooks." The Traveler laughs as he grabs more popcorn.

As the credits roll The Traveler disappears and finds himself between Dr. Doom and Carol Danvers in heated battle.

Blue Area of the Moon

The Traveler appears inside a base,"Damn temporal interference." He turns and sees a man and a woman pulling the pants off an unconscious man,"Oh hell no, I ain't watching this." He disappears before he's noticed.

Doomstadt, Ferrum Tower construction site

A man marches into the site with a purpose. A guard runs up to him, "You can't be here, Sir." The man turns and smiles, "Lord Doom will not allow Ferrum to pollute his land." He then pulls a a small device out and hurls it toward the building as he's teleported away. The device destroys the lower supports bringing the tower down.

Minsk, New Latveria

A dozen men in green cloaks March down the street holding modified plasma cannons. The arrive at a Shield facility and open fire. The blasts tear the place apart as shield agents run out to defend the place. Their bullets bounce harmlessly off an energy shield as the cloaked men continue their mission.

The Geofront

Doom's minion reports,"The Shield Helicarrier approaches my lord." Doom sits in the center,"On my mark drop cloak and open fire." He switches on his comm,"Doomstadt, report." A man replies, "The tower is down." Doom then repeats this process to the half dozen units around New Latveria. He leans back in his chair, "Fire at will." He then orders a minion to take the helm as he walks out.

Shield Helicarrier

Carol stands at a monitor looking at empty sky when something catches her eye. For a second the clouds look blurry. She then hit the P.A., "Battle stations" Suddenly the Geofront drops its cloak and begins firing on the ship. Carol flew to the engineering bay as the ship rocked.

She exited the bay as Holland ran by. He stopped seeing her in full armor,"Don't get killed." She pulls him close and kisses him,"You're in charge until I get back."

The Sky above

As The Geofront commences battle with the Helicarrier Carol flies up to meet Doom, "You've got nerve woman." He shouted as he saw her. She glared at him,"You should've stayed dead Victor." He raised his hand and released an energy beam that knocked her back several yards.

She responded by returning fire.Doom dodged and flew at her top speed slamming into her intending to send her hurtling to the ground. She clutched his arm forcing him to the ground with her. The smashed into a street leaving a crater. She landed on top delivering vicious punches as Doom grabbed her neck and slammed her face hard into the ground. He then got up and kicked her in the gut sending her sliding across what was left of the street.

She leapt into the air and kicked Doom in the head sending him to a knee as she grabbed his arm using it to lift him up and then slam him back down. She followed it up with an intense energy blast to his back causing him to roar in pain and rage. She attempted to fly up to keep her advantage but Doom caught her by the foot and yanked her down as he threw a left hook into her face cracking her helmet and making her dizzy for a moment.

As he moved in for the kill she punched him as hard as she could sending him back a few feet and damaging his chest plate. She then grabbed him and fired several close range energy blasts that knocked the wind out of him. In response he viciously head butted her and raised his hand to punch her when a flash of light distracted them as the Traveler appeared.

He looked at them, "We don't have time for this." He grabbed them both by the shoulder and in a flash of light all 3 were gone.

Doomstadt, near future

Doom and Carol looked out on the barren city, they looked to the clear night sky and noticed very few stars.The Traveler stood in front them, "This is what Earth is going to look like in about 6 months if you 2 don't cut the crap." Carol looks at him,"Was there a war?" The Traveler looks at her,"There was a battle, but that's not what caused this. All life ceased to exist, first on Earth and then it spread like a plague throughout the universe until nothing was left. Now the stars are dying. If this continues all reality, not just this universe but all of them will cease to exist."

Doom looked to him,"How do we know you're telling the truth?" The Traveler glared at Doom,"That new armor has a telepathic function, go have a look." He activated the function and fell to his knees as he quickly turned it back off. He looked up at the Traveler,"What the hell are you?" He answered,"Not important at the moment." Doom got back to his feet,"What can we do to stop this?" The Traveler,"You have to kill Thanos when he comes to Earth in about a month or so from when I picked you up."

Carol's eyes widen,"How do we kill Thanos?" The Traveler shrugs his shoulders and suddenly Carol and Doom are back in the street as a confused crowd stares at them.

Moscow, Russia

A shadow falls over the Kremlin. People fearfully look up in the sky as the Geofront hovers above the city. Suddenly it shifts as Damos leaps from the edge landing squarely on the roof of the Kremlin with enough force to level it. He then smashes his way out of the rubble as a news van pulls up. He snatched the reporter and ordered the camera man to focus on him, "New Latveria shall know no peace until the true master reclaims his throne."

He then tossed the reporter away and began his march toward Doomstadt.

The Geofront control room

Doom watches the view screen nodding with approval as his minions activate their weapons taking aim at the Shield facility just outside the city. The blast shook the city like an earth quake and leveled the facility.

Doom activated his comm,"Do try to keep the damage reasonable, I have no interest in ruling over ashes." Damos replies,"Of course."

Shield Helicarrier

Carol and Holland watch a monitor. Holland looks to Carol," I assume that's Thanos' boy." Carol nods, "I can certainly see the family resemblance. Hopefully the techs are about done with my suit, We're going to need it." Holland looks away,"Are you sure its a good idea for you to use it? You have hundreds of soldiers completely willing to do it."

Carol glares at him, "I'm the best for the job." Holland obviously annoyed,"Damned Avengers, always thinking they know best." Carol began to speak but is cut off," You're the leader of Shield now, the super hero crap is long over. You want to fight him cause in the back of your head you still want to be Ms. Marvel, but right now we need Colonel Danvers." He then stomps out of the room as Carol stares at the screen.

Tunnels beneath Chicago

Sinister enters his empty lab. His few loyal lab techs busy themselves by getting the machinery up and running as Sinister goes into his private study and pulls out a communication device and activates it,"Your son has escaped." A humanoid creature answers,"Lord Thanos has more important matters to attend to, you have served your purpose. Don't call again."

Sinister bursts out of the study, "Deactivate all Stalkers immediately." He looks over and notices the Stalkers that had come with them were now missing as a lab tech speaks up,"Sir, they're off line." A look of clarity comes over Sinister, "I spliced a bit of his son's DNA into all of the Stalkers." The lab techs all look curiously, "Thanos has full control of my army now, he must have slipped something into Damos that has been passed on to all my creations." Sinister drops down in his chair.

The Starjammer, a half a light year passed Pluto

Creed 7 runs to the med lab and injects himself with a massive dose of sedative in front of a shocked Molly Creed. Before he passes out he tells her,"Get my journal and load it into the Professor's mainframe, put me in stasis until he works it out."

The Geofront

Doom sits in his private chambers with a data pad planning his impending attack on the Shield Helicarrier.

Doomstadt

Carol stands looking impatient as a young woman named Lt. Lois Stevens walks up. Carol glares at her, "Can you please explain why I'm doing this?" Stevens answers as she looks over a data pad,"Public relations, if we want the people on our side its best that they see you taking an interest publicly. Its not that bad you over see some new housing coming up, you eat at some rebuilt restaurants. And it humanizes you, you said you don't want to be seen as just another Doom. The best way you do that is not by setting yourself up as an unapproachable god."

Carol rolls her eyes,"Speaking of restaurants, have we come up with any clues who the teleporter was?" Lois shakes her head,"No idea Ma'am, though we have found several videos and pictures of a man matching his description. We're still authenticating." Carol sits down on a bench looking over to her security detail as she talks to Lois,"Any idea how long that will take?" Lois sits down next to her,"We had to carbon date some of them, if they're real this guy hasn't aged a day in over 300 years."

Below the Savage Land, Doom's Lab

Doom puts on his new armor as Damon looks on,"Do you fully understand that technology, even my father is wary of it." Doom looks over as he attaches the face plate, "I've spent over a century studying it." Damos shakes his head, "En Saba Nur had the same kind of tech integrated into his body for thousands of years and he never fully mastered it." Doom glared, "I am Doom, Apocalypse did not compare."

Damos laughed,"Your ego will surely be the death of you Victor." As they left the room an alarm went off and an unknown man in shorts and a T-shirt casually walked past them as if he didn't notice they were there as he read a data pad. Doom shouted, "Halt."

The man turned looking first at Damos and then to Doom, "Son of Thanos, and Dr. Doom wearing Celestial tech, great. Well don't need this now." He tosses aside the data pad and vanishes in a flash of light leaving Doom and Damos confused.

Shield Helicarrier 3 hours later

Carol sits at her desk finishing up her days work and ready for a long nap as a bright flash of light appears bringing the mystery man with it. She jumps to her feet and pulls a gun as he sits down on the other side of her desk," I need to make this quick so can we skip the whole threatening me with a gun thing, it wouldn't work anyway and this is my favorite shirt." Carol lowers her weapon and sits back down as he continues, "Something very bad is coming and I need you to keep Doom from making it worse."

Carol stares at him,"Doom is gone." He shakes his head,"No he's back, with a new body, the borderline psychotic son of Thanos and Celestial tech armor. You need to figure out how to use Apocalypse's armor as quickly as possible and what ever you do, Do not allow Doom or Thanos' kid to get their hands on that infinity gem." He looks at a device on his wrist, "Ok times up, I'll be back at some point."

There's another flash and he's gone. Carol hits her comm,"Is Holland aboard?"

Doomstadt, Feeble Richards'

Carol sits in the newly restored restaurant with Augustus Holland sharing a meal. As Carol finishes her entree there is a flash of light beside the table. When the light fades a man appears. The confused looking man wearing shorts and an obscene T shirt looks around, "Crap, wrong time." He notices Carol and sates, "Okay, don't have a lot of time. We haven't met yet but find a better place to hide your gem." There is another flash and the man is gone, leaving Holland and Danvers very confused.

The Savage Land

Doom, Damos and several minions march through dense jungle stopping at a clearing being grazed by a herd of triceratops. The minions stare in awe but Doom orders them on toward a massive stone. Doom places his hand over a primitive looking drawing and presses in. A small flap opens in the stone revealing a keypad. He then types in a code causing the stone slab to slide away revealing a long corridor.

They walk down a few yards to a massive door that swings open. Inside is a massive lab with a few dozen people working inside.

They are met by a man in a lab coat named Arkady Azarov. He addresses Doom, "We've completed your new armor to your exact specifications, My lord."

Doom marches on as Arkady continues,"We had some trouble assimilating the technology at first but it seems to be auto adaptive, once we stopped trying it pretty much figured itself out."

Doom nodded, "As expected. I assume you've completed all I asked of you." Azarov bowed,"Yes my lord, your enemies will be reminded why they should fear you."

Maryland Institute

Sargent Martin Davis leads a team of Iron soldiers in expecting a war but inside they find nothing. Davis switches on his comm, "Essex is gone, not a sign of him anywhere, and he seems to have taken all his Stalkers with him. I have men covering every inch of the place and so far we haven't found so much as a beaker."

On the other end, Falcon Helfitta sighs, "Its the same with his other labs, He knows how to cover his tracks I'll give him that. You're done there Sargent, we need you back in New York, another riot has broken out and we're short handed."

Chicago

A reporter talks into a camera,"In the days since the assassination of Victor Dominic anti Ferrum sentiment as reached an all time high. We've received reports of rioting in every major city in North America and thus far the Iron Armies attempts at maintaining order only seem to be adding more fuel to the fire. Ferrum released a statement claiming they had nothing to do with Dominic's death but the claim has fallen on deaf ears, still no word from the Supreme Commander on the issue."