Meta Essence Gacha in Marvel-Chapter 108: The Negative Zone

Third Person P.O.V.

Baxter Building

The trio of heroes arrives at the Baxter Building in no time, to Eidolon the distance is the same as a single step. Immediately they are greeted with the sight of the uppermost floor destroyed.

With a slight movement from Eidolon's chin, a huge house-sized force field appears around the top of the Baxter Building.

"See what I did there? I created the shield in a hexa-combed pattern to structural integrity. You should try." Eidolon says to Invisible Woman casually, the ever-expert on powers.

"Is everyone okay?" But Susan is not interested in points about improvements with her powers now. Her eyes didn't leave the destroyed, and obscured by dust, floor.

"Well… Good news… your brother is okay and beyond the people below that are hurt by the debris and glass… The damage seems minimal, no one died at least." While he says that, beneath his mantle and away from everyone's view, two arms appear and make a handsign.

*Poof* Then beside him a shadow clone appears and drops down to heal the injured people.

Hector can make all kinds of clones and duplicates, but shadow clones are his preferred choice to quick, but demanding of focus, jobs. It has his expertise, albeit being pretty fragile, and only a portion of his energies reserves… But the main thing that made Shadow Clone his to-go choice now is the fact that they disappear without leaving traces. No mud or ectoplasm was left behind.

It's clean.

"Did Reed and Ben really disappear in the portal?" Susan asks, worried

"It seems like that…" Eidolon says gravely while they finally land on the now open floor, that was previously the main laboratory of the building.

"Johnny! Johnny! Are you there?" Susan shouts for her brother. Amidst the dust and smoke generated by the explosion.

*Whoosh*

But all gaseous substances are blown away by the wind generated by Eidolon flapping his mantle once.

"Sue!" Johnny appears, close to the elevator, a phone in his hands.

The two siblings walk at each other and meet in a hug, Johnny explaining the details of what happened. How he, Ben, and Alicia are talking with Reed while he was calibrating his portal.

Suddenly the thing opened and exploded, sucking everyone inside before collapsing. Johnny was only able to escape because of his powers and flight ability which gave him the boost necessary to get out the radius of the wormhole.

Unfortunately, the others are not so lucky in having such a useful powerset. Reed doesn't even have the time to stretch away. And Ben only had the time to shield Alicia.

"I could've… Maybe I could've grabbed one of them… Maybe Reed's hand… Maybe Alicia…." Johnny shakes his head while rubbing his face.

Despite being a pretty laidback vain and unserious guy, when it comes to his friends he is earnest and dedicated. Leaving his vanity to the side and caring deeply about them.

While the two siblings are talking, She-Hulk respectfully stands aside while Eidolon looks around the lab. His eyes soak in every part of the now devastated space to research, ending up on the ground zero of the explosion.

The portal is destroyed, blown to pieces… Luckily the lab is pretty big and resistant, if not the whole building would be compromised.

"Cortana, send a Corvette Class Spaceship and some Failsafe androids to guard the perimeter. Ah, and call for Shadow too, she is enough…" Eidolon talks on his A.I. while he pulls the Fantasti-Car from a small portal, he left the car behind in their hurry, but now he can grab it.

He then starts walking around checking and investigating everything with his super senses, abusing his trustworthy All Seeing Eyes of God to read the surroundings.

In the meantime, a ship finally appears above the Baxter building, leaving its camouflage and deploying the Failsafe Androids and other technological devices that quarantine the building.

A forcefield surrounds the upper floors of the building, words of "Caution", "Restricted" and "Stay away" rolling on the shield like an electronic billboard.

Cassandra also jumps from the ship, with Rover in tow, and lands close to Eidolon. She can bypass the shield because of her wristband.

"Thank you for coming, Shadow." Eidolon greets her.

The smaller sidekick nods at him in silence, then greets the rest with nods too.

While Eidolon caresses Rover's head, the dog puts his forefront paws on him for support, he says "Shadow will keep people away while we go rescue Dr. Reed and the others."

"But how will we do that? The portal is destroyed…" She-Hulk says while extending a hand to pat Rover. The black monster dog is not that scary to her.

"Did you forget what I just did?" Eidolon gives her a side glance before disengaging from Rover and then he starts moving around the room.

With the step he took, things started moving, like they were going back in time, rewinding to before they were destroyed.

The people around him can't see it, but Eidolon is making a rare use of his Stand, Mr. Blue Sky. The humanoid Stand finally moves out of his body to touch everything and activate the Restoration of Crazy Diamond.

Obviously, Hector himself is doing his part, with his Power Manipulation, it was not that difficult for him to "edit" the power of Restoration so that he can also use it from his feet.

The two work in tandem and carefully, focusing on this last word because this is a very high-tech laboratory, to repair everything.

On a side note, there's a reason why Hector rarely brings out his Stand… Some people can see it.

...…

"Can you see it?" Back in the past, when he was still visiting the library of Kamar-Taj for the first time, Hector asked Wong.

He pointed above his shoulder, to where the head of Mr. Blue Sky poked out.

Wong narrowed his eyes "There is… something there… energy…" It's his answer.

"..." That made Hector experiment more.

He tried with Jean, Illyana, Raven, and even Ororo… He also tried with many other people, but those four in particular are able to "see" his stand.

Ororo and Jean are able to see a blurry figure, Jean seeing it more clearly.

But Illyana and Raven are able to see it as easily as a Stand user.

"Yes, I'm seeing it. What is it? A guardian spirit? A totemic god?" Raven asked, a little interested.

"Something like that… Don't worry too much, I just want to check if you can see it." He answered casually "I got one in a certain universe where normal people can't see it… There's a rule that only the ones that have one can see it."

"But I don't have one… So you're checking if the rule was broken." Raven concludes

"No, the rule was broken in the instant I took a power from there and brought it here. I'm the cheater and hacker…" Hector sighed "It would be awesome to have this advantage here, but it's okay… It's rare enough that only people who opened their Mind Eye are able to see or feel it. In many degrees…"

He remembered the test he did with Peter Parker… Spider-Man was able to dodge a punch from his stand, from his back.

"Spider-sense is bullshit…" He chuckled "Hehe, at least it was not a Corrupted File, and I can still use the power here. I would not even be able to complain if that was the case."

...

And that's the reason he keeps the existence of his Stand a card under his sleeve.

His stand, Mr. Blue Sky, it's not a super broken Stand that can bend reality so that he can win, but it is a boost of at least 100% on his battle power, better than any way he can duplicate himself.

Using at the right time, he can surprise his opponent and end the fight. It's here what a Stand should be initially, a helper.

The objects in the laboratory continue to fly around, going back to their rightful place, going back to their pristine condition… The walls and glass windows go back to stand, the furniture is repaired and goes back to its place, the equipment, the test tubes, even the liquids fly back…

Obviously, it's not perfect, some restored items have certain parts missing, are completely disintegrated, or have ended up on the other side of the portal…

And talking about the portal…

"Well, too bad, but that was expected…" Eidolon stands in front of the semi-circular form of the portal… imperfect, half destroyed… "In the end, it's the things that took the brunt of the explosion, so it makes sense a lot of parts are on the other side now." The hero holds his chin between two fingers.

"Your powers are really convenient… I'm gonna call you if something breaks at my home." She-Hulk says half-joking.

Eidoloon chuckles and his eyes move to Reed's whiteboards. Restoration is such OP ability that it even restored the equations and formulas written by the elastic scientist.

"Hmm… Maybe I'm too harsh with Reed, his math is not wrong…" Eidolon comments, his eyes moving to the boards "Did someone sabotage it? Doom? From the other side maybe?" He ponders and turns to Susan "Did he constantly test this Portal?"

"Yes. We never send anything through the portal, but with tests its stability every day." Susan answers while approaching.

"So you opened a portal, leading to somewhere that you don't know, every day…" Eidolon gives her a glance "Like, a beacon… 'Hey, I'm here'."

"..."

"Guys, I'm not any scientist or detective, but I think maybe someone on the other side did something." Johnny comments, in a little joking tone. Trying to cheer himself up.

"Well, it's still on Reed. He should have taken into account the situation of the other side… I remember talking about it to him, right?" Eidolon shakes his head

"Yes, and he kept it in mind. Creating a neutral stabilizer field, so that the pressure, energy, or any foreign substances don't pass through the portal." Susan defends.

"Then he forgot the Human Factor. Beyond what is normally in nature, someone can come at it with ill intent." Eidolon declares "Well, not Human Factor per se… more like 'Whatever-Alien-is-on-the-Other-Side Factor'. He should have made countermeasures against tempering."

After saying that, Eidolon approaches Reed's computer and puts his hand on it, a blue light shines from his hand before the lines move from his arm to the computer. On the screen, the footage of the security camera starts playing.

Eidolon doesn't find anything incriminating, nothing out of the ordinary happened before the portal goes haywire, it really looks like it happened all of a sudden… Reinforcing his theory that someone on the other side has a hand in it.

But he paused in a moment when the portal was fully functional and metaphorically rolled up his sleeves.

"Okay, I can do it…" With footage of Reed building the thing, it will be pretty easy for him to do the same.

He starts working immediately. He moves around the lab, leaving a flurry of afterimages behind, no one can keep up with his movement- except Shadow -, they only register a small smidgen of his actions after he has already done that.

Pulling wires, welding the covers, moving an object, recharging the power source… He even wrote on Reed's whiteboards in red markers, pointing out his small mistakes and ways to improve, like a teacher grading a student… Eidolon can be petty sometimes.

He remade the work of a year of Reed Richards in 1 minute.

"Done." He says, finally stopping in front of the portal with a remote, that after a press of a button, makes the orange-reddish portal appear on the previous empty arc "I made a way to control the portal remotely, it can work even on the other side." He says while giving it to Susan.

"..." The woman who receives the control is a little overwhelmed.

"What? Surprised that I can do more than punch villains?" Eidolon gives her a cheeky smile

"Eh? No! No, no… It's just… A little impressive seeing it first-hand… *Ahem* I already knew that you are smart." She answers, afraid that he would misunderstand her.

"Relax, I'm just teasing you…" Eidolon says good-naturedly before his face gets serious and he drops the bomb "Now, all of you stay here while I go to the other side to rescue the three."

"What?"

"No!"

"I'm going!"

To the surprise of no one, the Storm siblings and the green lawyers protest immediately.

Eidolon tries to convince them, even if he knows that it is futile… But he at least needs to try.

"Ugh, it will be safer if only I go." 'And there's nothing that you guys can do that I can't… And I will not need to hide anything…' But this he doesn't say, albeit they take it wrongly… or rightly, because he really means, and thinks, that he is better than them, at least in this specific situation.

"We are not waiting here rolling our thumbs waiting for you, mister." She-Hulk says cocking her hips.

"I did not before, but I'm gonna do it now. You can't stop me." Johnny adds a little aggressively,

"We want to help, Eidolon." Susan says with firmness, staring at him intensely.

"..." The black-clad hero stares at them for a good time

"What?" She-Hulk raises an eyebrow "Say something! "She urges

"Nothing much, I was just thinking about knocking you guys down and proceeding normally." He shrugs casually

"Dude!!" Human Torch is already assuming a half-battle stance.

"Eidolon, don't do that!" Susan says in outrage.

Only the casual stance of the hero keeps the three from taking his threat seriously… Unknown to them… He is really serious.

"Fine then. I already expected that…" He sighs "But if you guys act out of line, I'm knocking you guys down, miniaturizing you, and putting you in my pocket." He says, a little more seriously now "I have nothing against a team-up, I even think it's a great way for us to grow, but this is an important rescue mission… Alicia is a normal woman…" His eyes get hard "You compromise her safety, even unintentionally, I'm taking you out of the equation by force. Are we in understanding?"

They all nod, facing the famous Eidolon's glare, they can't do anything more but agree with his terms. There's no arguing or discussion, things will go his way… And that is the end of the story.

"Good. A minute to prepare yourself." After that, he turns to Cassandra "Shadow, keep everyone away… Everyone. Villain and Hero. If you need to, call for backup… Don't be shy about taking our fellow heroes down a peg too. Fury can be forceful… Don't mind his threats or arguments, I will take responsibility later. Okay?" He talks with her much more softly

"...okay." She nods at her and goes to guard the perimeter after he taps her head, Roven at her heels.

Moving to the front of the portal, Eidolon debates with himself if he should try that little project that he was working on… The Exploration of Other Realities Plan. Where he would possess a spare body and go scout dangerous places, other universes, and dimensions.

Hell is the main one that he plans to go to, hence why he asked the Ancient One for some help.

But in the end, he decided against it. He still hasn't perfected and tested the Soul Pull that would bring him back, making him able to abort the mission without consequences.

Rescuing Alicia is also too important to leave to a weaker and less "capable"(read with fewer powers in his arsenal) body.

And if he remembers well… Annihilus is pretty strong. Thanos-level strong… Enemy of the Nova Corps, who are basically the Green Lanterns from here, so the villain from the Negative Zone is not just anyone.

"..." He stares at the portal while the rest moves behind him, already prepared mentally to go "Can I hope that they are just around the corner and there will be no need to fight Annihilus?"

Pfft. He scoffs at his own thoughts. This is the Marvel Universe, obviously, there will be at least a little altercation.

"Already done?" He looks back at his mission teammates.

"Yeah, we are ready." She-Hulk cracks her knuckles.

Beyond Susan getting some things and putting on a fanny pack around her waist, She-Hulk changed her shoes and that's it. They don't need more preparations, they are all eager to go save their friends.

"I still need some time…" He raises his index finger to them before using it to touch his temple.

They can see his eyes change, his pupils gain a purple color, their shape transforming to a shape not that different to the All Seeing Eyes of God, but not quite the same, much simpler, but still reminding them of gears. His sclera also darkens tillit becomes completely black.

"What is he doing?" Johnny asks them. But Susan, guessing that Eidolon is doing something important, shushes her brother.

Eidolon stops and answers them immediately, his eyes going back to normal when he looks at them "Seeing the future."

"Seeing the future?" She-Hulk parrots in disbelief "You can do that?"

"Like many things, yes I can… But I hate doing that. It's awful and on my code to not abuse any time-related ability." He sighs "But my code gets flexible when is time to jump blindly to save someone…" he looks at the portal, the previous quirk of Nighteye's gave him a rough idea of what will happen.

"So what did you see?" Johnny asks

"It's better that you don't know. And the secret is to not care about the 'main parts' and focus on the small things to discover what you need. Not solve the issue per se, only be a little more prepared." He did that once when he saved Illyana, his ability to see the future helped him make the decision to take Cypher's power of Omni-language because he saw that it would help in getting information on the Limbo.

"I didn't quite understand, but you are the specialist…" Johnny concedes.

"Yes, I am." *Whoosh* And with that, Eidolon suddenly punches the portal, surprising everyone.

His arm stretched not differently from how Mr. Fantastic would be, but it was possible to notice that the speed at which his arms expand surpasses that of the leader of the Fantastic Four many times. The friction with the air is creating its characteristic sound, almost appearing that is burning.

"A little to the left… And there too…" Eidolon murmurs, his arm through the portal, like someone who is reaching for something blindly. "Done." After some good time, he finally nods to himself and starts retracting his stretched arm.

The sound of rubber returning to its normal size echoes when his arms go back in whiplash, but Eidolon is carrying something this time… Or rather, someone…

The alien creature struggles on Eidolon's grasp, choking as the hero squeezes it through. It looks like a humanoid insect, it's green with big yellow and is wearing armor.

"Eidolon, what is that?" She-Hulk asks while pointing to the humanoid insect.

"What are we going to face on the other side. There's more of them on the other side but I took care of it." He says as the Negative Zone inhabitant was finally knocked unconscious.

If some look closely, they would also notice some eyes closing on Eidolon's forearm and hand, he used them to navigate on the other side and scout.

"Anyway, the other side was kinda hostile… The vacuum of the space, but is not all like that." While saying that the hero puts his fingers on the head of the insect in his grasp.

And by "putting his fingers", he really means inserting them… Eidolon's fingers sink on the green head like it's not solid and he pulls, when he pulls, he is holding a long piece of paper… A film strip with the memories of the alien insect.

"Is that what I think it is?" She-Hulk asks once again, looking over the black-clad hero's shoulder.

"Yeah, it's less invasive than simply going through his memories." Eidolon answers without taking his eyes off the film strip, stretching it largely to see everything.

"Less… Invasive…?" Susan asks slowly, remembering how Eidolon literally stabbed the poor insectoid head with his hand, digging into his memories.

"Less invasive to me…" The hero scoffs "Do you know how unpleasant it is to dive into someone's memories? Imagine swimming in a dirt lake… And this guy is an alien, so sorry if I don't wanna his very alien feelings and thoughts clinging to me for hours." He explains "Watching this way is more convenient… Okay, I got some information from him."

Then Eidolon tosses the guy aside, the alien falling into a portal.

"Where did you send him?" Susan asks

"...home." Eidolon answers in a non-convincing way.

"Then why didn't you toss him on the portal to the Negative Zone?" Susan asks with a raised eyebrow

"... I mean, my home…" Eidolon reveals "I'm gonna study his physiology. Beyond finding the worrying knowledge that his race doesn't live longer, I didn't find any weakness."

"Eidolon, you are not gonna dissect him, right?" Susan asks

"And why is worrying that he doesn't live long?" Johnny also asks, confused.

"First…" Eidolon points at Susan "He is a hostile alien, with no human rights. I also saw his memories and he killed quite a few sentient beings. Second…" Now he points at Johnny "Short-lived species tend to reproduce very fast and mature equally quick, and he is an insectoid, so… There's a very high chance that there's a loooot of them, like… I'm talking about dozens of billions. And his boss kidnapped Reed and the others. And we need to invade their nest to rescue them."

This knowledge even makes Susan stop questioning Eidolon's committing war crimes. The weight of the mission dropped on their shoulders at full force.

"And that's why I always prepare, boys and girls." Eidolon says in a boy scout tone before turning to the portal "So, any of you want to stay behind?" He asked one last time.

"Not a chance!" Johnny answers for all of them.

"I expected that much…" Eidolon shrugs, then he snaps his fingers and a force-field bubble envelops the four. "I don't like that cliche of getting separated after going through a portal." He explains that before they can ask and throw some things at them. Wrist bands that latch on their arm instantly.

With that, he enters the Portal.

...….

Negative Zone

The Negative Zone, as its name says, is a universe derived from anti-matter, different from Earth where matter is positively charged, the opposite happens.

"Well… That is a surprise…" She-Hulk says while giving Eidolon a strange look.

Her surprise comes from two things. First, they appeared in the vacuum of space but were not like from their home universe. Instead of the dark matter, here the darkness was substituted by a variety of green, red, and yellow.

The other surprising thing is the fact that floating around them there's a multitude of insectoids, not different from the one Eidolon fished before. They are all unconscious as they slowly move, like space trash.

"What? I cleaned the place before we arrived."

He did not only captured a single soldier,but his arm went around punching everyone here.

The hero doesn't dwell on this small thing, he reaches at the empty space and pulls a small spaceship, as big as a mini-bus from his inventory. "This bubble is not optimal." he says as he takes everyone with him to the sleek and black spaceship.

"Did anyone ever told you that your powers are really convenient?" She-Hulk comments while taking a seat. There are seven seats in the total, to them and to the ones that they will rescue.

"Yes, many times… Cortana, take control of the ship and activate the VI to record our route in case we need to escape and no one can pilot." Eidolon says while the panel lights up.

"Understood, Master." Cortana says and the whole ship starts moving.

"In case you all need to rescue while I stay behind to hold off our pursuers, it will be easy to go back. Still with the control remote of the portal, Invisible Woman?"

"Yes, right here."

"You really are a Boy Scout, prepared for everything." Johnny comments from a seat behind them "I can fly outside, by the way."

"It's just a little precaution stemming from the scenarios with high probability. We are not here to defeat anyone, just take our people back." Eidolon comments "And save your fire, Human Torch. Our destination is a little far away…" While he talks, he has already passed the direction with Cortana, and the spaceship released some drones discreetly.

"I have enough fire to do this all day." Human Torch says with confidence.

'Funny that you say that when Chris Evans is both you and Captain America.' Eidolon chuckles in his mind.

"Do you know where we need to go?" Invisible Woman asks "Did you discover it on those humanoid insect memories?"

"Yes and no." Eidolon makes some final adjustments on the ship and then reclines on his chair in a relaxed way "I can somewhat trace the people I met once, remembering their aura, smell, heartbeat…" He bullshits, not that is a lie, but this is not how he is tracing them "And that!" He points in a direction "It's where the capital of those insects are. And there!" He points in another direction "It's where are we going, and where they took Reed, Ben, and Alicia."

"You can track them even here?"

"I have a lot of talents."

"Are Reed and the others okay?" Susan asks worriedly

"From the memories of that guy, they are alive at least when they are taken away, at least." Eidolon answers "But I think time passes differently here, so I'm not sure… I think at least a month passed since the explosion here… There are too many memories of them moving into a patrolling route."

"Time dilatation??" Susan exclaims, now even more worried. It's common knowledge that the more time passes, the slimmer the chance of rescuing anyone gets, in any situation.

"Don't worry. It seems those guys need Reed and the others, and I can feel that they are alive." Eidolon says in a comforting tone. Just try to calm your nerves because the travel will take a while… We can't jump here because the laws of physics are a little different." This spaceship is designated to their home universe, opening wormholes or entering hyperspace is not possible here without prior preparation.

While Eidolon starts passing some simple plans, together with possible scenarios, and how to act, to them. The Spaceship sped on the vacuum of the space, getting closer to the remaining members of the Fantastic Four.

...….

At their destination, things are not so good for Reed and the others.

It's a strange planet, not complete, like an apple that someone took a huge bite to the core. The planet is open, an impossibility that shouldn't have happened… Anyone with a minimal knowledge in physics would know that gravity would make any incomplete planet/moon collapse in itself and become a smaller, but more perfect, circular form.

But that is not what happens with this planet, it's unknown if is because of the laws of physics of this universe, or if someone is preventing the natural phenomena from happening.

This last one has a very high possibility of happening because if one looks carefully… In truth, one doesn't even need to look carefully. From space, anyone would happen to see some lights shining on the surface of the inner walls of the planet. Like there are cities, people living there… It's like the whole planet is a skyscraper, round and that grows in all directions, there are floors beyond the surface.

In one of those levels, the Ruler of this region compelled Reed Richards to work for him. The elastic man of the Fantastic Four is leaning over a machine, working on the commands, deciphering some ancient inscriptions to bypass the defenses of this place… What he is seeking is still unclear.

"My patience grows thinner, human. Should I motivate your efforts by cutting one or two limbs of your friends?" A creature speaks in a grating, but deep, voice from its throne.

It's the ruler of this place, Annihilus.

Sitting on his throne, he looks as much like an insect as he looks like a demon. This is because of his technological exo-skeleton that he wears to protect himself and increase his battle power. The torso is covered in purple armor while the rest is green, on his back with green demon-like wings sprout, and on his shoulder pads, green spikes.

The main reason why he uses his exoskeleton armor, it's because of a certain "flaw" in his personality… An obsession.

Annihilus wants to live forever.

He is obsessed with any way of extending his lifespan and destroys anything that can threaten his existence. That's why he is more machine than a living being at this point, the low life expectancy of his species disgusts him.

A good part of his conquest crusade is to create a safe empire for his life.

And obviously, the reason why he has Reed Richards working is also related to this obsession of his.

Annihilus is seeking a certain item… The most important artifact of the Negative Zone, the Cosmic Control Rod.

With it, he will live forever. With it, he will control the whole universe. With it, he will not need to fear any enemy, not even his arch-nemesis and main competitor for the title of Ruler of the Negative Zone, Blastaar.

The Cosmic Control Rod will give him the security and peace of mind that he longs for and after that… Maybe his sight can move to bigger and more ambitious prospects… Like conquering other universes.

Mr. Fantastic looks up from his work, his face is weary and a thick beard already grew on it. It seems that thanks to time dilation, he has been here some weeks already.

"Just a little more…" he answers, hiding his defiance in a calm voice.

"You better double your efforts. I was merciful enough to not start torturing your friends… Should I start testing if it will motivate you?" Annihilus aks imperiously

"That… it will not be necessary…" Reed says and goes back to work, his eyes hard.

Beneath his almost subservience act, he is obviously plotting and concocting a way to escape this situation. He knows that the chances of this Alien Overlord will not honor his part of the deal and will probably kill him and his friends.

So he will buy time till he has a feasible chance to escape with Ben and Alicia.

He is being forced by Annihilus to find the Cosmic Control Rod. Well, not finding it per se, Annihilus knows that the Rod is on this planet, so he takes Reed so that he can reach the Rod safely.

Annihilus is a very careful guy when the subject is his lifespan.

He obviously started by excavating the whole planet, but it seems his efforts are fruitless, and he fears that the planet will collapse, taking with it the key to the Cosmic Control Rod.

That's why he put his sights on ways to solve the mystery. Annihilus is an incredibly intelligence living being in his own right, but even he needs to admit that he found himself lacking in this, or maybe he needs some new perspective…

He searched through the whole Negative Zone for people capable of helping him, not that he ever asked for their opinion on willingness… He obviously slaved them till they tried everything they could, before killing them for their incompetence.

Then one day, on a stroke of luck his soldiers noticed the signals of a portal opening in his Realm. The Portal constantly opening, sending signals to this side…

It's obviously made by a sentient life… A very smart sentient life.

So he plotted the sabotage of the Portal, sucking anyone from the other side and forcing them on the search for the Cosmic Control Rod.

It seems Annihilus luck is pretty incredible, after all, he fished not one less than Reed Richard the Smartest(debatable) Man on the other side of the Portal.

Now he is closer than ever in putting his robotic insect hands on the Cosmic Control Rod, and afterward on everything he puts his sights on.

But Reed obviously understood that, he knew that beyond valuing his safety and the safety of his friends, he couldn't allow Annihilus to acquire the Cosmic Control Rod. It will be the beginning of a catastrophe.

He already has a plan… This time working here allowed him to discover that Annihilus, even though he couldn't reach the Cosmic Contro Rod, was able to siphon the energy of the cosmic artifact to empower himself and extend his life.

He is doing it right now on his big throne, Reed is able to see the orange energy going through the stairs of the throne and shining the backrest behind Annihilus, charging his armor and bathing the Alien conqueror.

Every second that Annihilus remained sitting on that throne, was like an extra second of his life, his lifespan is not running out while he remains there, basking on the energy of the Cosmic Control Rod, an item that is able to control the whole foundation of this very universe, the Negative Zone.

So Reed is already making the preparations to increase the energy, reverse the polarity, creating an anti-matter bomb with the goal to explode Annihilus! The problem is how he will escape.

Now he needs to hack one of those alien spaceships, go rescue Ben and Alicia, and fly away before the explosion happens. But even his brilliant mind can't find a way to do that while Annihilus keeps him under his watchful gaze.

The obsessive conqueror is simply too careful not to give Reed any chances of crossing him, personally supervising the human's work, without moving from his throne.

He stays right there, just a dozen meters away from Reed, while the leader of the Fantastic Four unravels the secrets of the Cosmic Control Rod.

During his time as a captive, Reed risked making many demands, claiming that it would help him and that he needed resources to work. He asked for many things, useful to reach the Cosmic Control Rod, useless in general, and finally things that he could use to build something to escape.

He was really careful with it, going little by little to not raise any suspicion… And slowly he built a device that can connect remotely with one of the patrol ships that fly around.

He is close, he just needs to follow the plan… He can't help but reach the Cosmic Control Rod, after all, he needs the opening that finding the Rod will give him. Annihilus will obviously focus his whole attention on his prized item.

That will be his chance!

He is ready!

With a press of a button, the whole place trembles slightly, a humm echoes while many of Reed's creations drain the energy of the planet and direct it to a certain point.

Mr. Fantastic takes some steps back while Annihilus leans forward. That's it… The Cosmic Rod is appearing… It was hidden in a pocket space, the center of the anti-matter of the Negative Zone, Reed used its own energy to revert the polarity on that focal point to force it out.

"Hahahaha! Finally!" As Reed predicted, Annihilus stands up from his throne and slowly floats to the rift in space.

"..." Reed slowly moves out of sight, not making any sudden moves, and slowly going to the second part of his plan to escape. He already memorized the routes of the patrol ships, one of them must be appearing at any moment.

He takes the devices he creates to hack them and stretch to take a ride, then he will rescue Ben and Alicia.

Annihilus continues to observe the rift with great attention, the negative energy being poured out of it makes it clear that the object of great power is inside and emerging.

"Come! To your rightful owner!" Annihilus extends his hand to reach for the rift…

*Boom*

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But at that moment something unexpected happens, a fleet of ships suddenly emerges on the skies of this open planet and starts attacking Annihilus's army.

From the one that seems the main ship a humanoid creature jumps from it and shouts "ANNIHILUSSS!" It's a mix of human and lion, white in the skin and in the mane, wearing a tight blue armor on his torso, not hiding the bulging muscles on his arms.

"Blastaar… You can't stop the inevitable." Annihilus looks up, addressing the newcomer, his old enemy. "I knew that you would try to interfere, I was hoping for it… I will crown myself with the Cosmic Control Rod and your death!"

The Cosmic Control Rod still hadn't emerged, so Annihilus flies to meet the falling Blastaar in combat.

*Boom* *Crash*

A shock wave is emitted when two overlords crash, that part of the planet trembles, destroying many structures and sending many beings flying.

Ignoring the fight, that easily moved to the ground, Reed starts acting fast. He grabs his things and looks up at the chaos of the battle between two armies, searching for the better target.

But is so chaotic, that every time he grabs a small ship or any vehicle, it is destroyed by something, a stray shot, a bomb, missiles, or a corpse crashing against it.

The battle between Annihilus and Blastaar shook at least half of the battlefield. The lion-man seems to be more physically inclined, a brute with great strength, his blows causing great destruction. Although Annihilus keeps fighting at close quarters, tanking every attack, the insectoid still uses energy blasts and other technological means to fight his opponent.

Obviously, his sight is not really on Blastaar, he is keeping him occupied because he knows victory will emerge…

*Zzzrumm* A low hum and the sound of static electricity is the prelude to the emergence of Cosmic Control Rod.

Taking advantage of his armored exoskeleton, Annihilus blasts Blastaar a little far away with the strongest energy beam he can and immediately uses his wings to fly in the direction of the rift.

He can see the ripples in space and the small object surrounded by light finally appearing.

"Mine!" He shouts, hand extended to grab it…

…and he really does.

The Cosmic Control Rod, not bigger than a foot in length falls on his hands. Annihilus raises the cosmic artifact high in the air, basking on its energy… It really like it belongs to him.

An orange force field appears around him, buzzing with power, filling his body. He can't help but want to test his newfound ultimate power.

And he knows the perfect target.

"You have been a thorn in my side for so long, Blastaar." He says while bringing the Cosmic Control Rod down "I will bestow you the honor of being my first kill with ultimate power!" He exclaims and attacks his old enemy.

A ball of energy coalesces above his palm and he sends it flying at Blastaar.

"Aaargh!" Blastaar and a huge area around him exploded by the attack. This attack test made by Annihilus is enough to vaporize the surroundings and send Blastaar flying, his body charred and weak, but still alive.

The lion-man is not weak by any means, durable, and used to the energy of the Negative Zone, and even so he was helpless under the attack.

"Hahahaha! One more time should do the job!" Annihilus laughs, relinquishing the feeling of power. This time, instead of a ball of energy he prepares a more concentrated attack, orange lighting covers his arm while he aims at Blastaar.

And exactly at that moment, a third party arrives.

Many things happen at the same time.

The orange lightning charged with anti-matter flies at Blastaar, the Warlord of the Negative Zone doing his best to avoid. And another attack appeared from somewhere pushing him into the lightning…

A black spaceship suddenly appears from thin air, Human Torch flying around cleaning the space with blasts of fire. Eidolon's spaceship does a manoeuver and stops close to Reed, opening its side's door while a force field surrounds it.

"Hand!" She-Hulk appears from the open door, extending her arm to Reed. The scientist doesn't need to be told twice and stretches his arm to grab Jennifer's hand.

At the same time, Annihilus was also attacked by an attack coming from an impossible direction.

The Insectoid Alien struggles a little but the anti-energy force field around him protects him.

"Hmm…" Inside the cockpit, Eidolon looks at his charred right hand intrigued "Very strong artifact."

"Are you okay?" Susan asks, a worried look on her face while she stares at Eidolon's badly injured hand

"I was a little careless and overeager… I tried stealing the item. It seems it doesn't like me very much." He jokes.

Eidolon then looks back at Reed, checking him thoroughly with his vision, and then with a press of a button, a robotic arm gives Reed a solution filled with nutrients "You look okay. Let's go save Ben and Alicia."

"Incoming." Cortana warns him and Eidolon pulls the yoke to dodge the attacks coming.

"It seems I will need to stay behind to buy time." Eidolon speaks in a very calm voice despite piloting amidst a rain of attack, spinning and dodging expertly. "Typical…"

First, he makes a shadow clone to heal Ben and Alicia, in case they need it. He would normally use Bio-fission, but he can see that Annihilus is pretty strong and he doesn't want to get weaker.

Then, under everyone's eyes, he cuts his charred forearm and opens a portal throwing it at the army in orbit.

"What a fuck?" Jen exclaims.

"It's more problematic to try to heal it while getting rid of the negative energy than cut and grow it back." Eidolon explains while a new hand already appears "That artifact is no joke…"

*BOOOOM*

Then an explosion happens above them, big enough to make the sky change color, and shake Invisible Woman's shield.

"What is that now?" She-Hulk asks

"My hand." Eidolon answers calmly 'I need to try to stop losing hands…'

"What?"

"I miniaturized some anti-proton bombs and kept them on my body." He continues in his calm voice. Thanks to that explosion, an opening was given from Annihilus attacks and the real Eidolon moved out to fight.

Everyone turns to the clone "You keep weapons of mass destruction on your body??" Susan asks incredulously

The clone shrugs "It can be useful in situations like those, no one ever expects an explosive limb… And can also be used to kill me in case someone tries to mind control me or take over my body." He says like is no big deal.

"..."

"..."

"Well, that looks like an exaggerated precaution… An auto-destruction protocol on your own body is kind of…" Reed can't find the word to it.

"...Hardcore." But Jen completes to him.

The clone doesn't comment anymore, he only chuckles and nods. They would not understand. They have no idea how "hardcore" the world they live in is.

.....

Outside, the real Eidolon suddenly appears above the spaceship just in time to block a ball of energy thrown by Annihilus. At the same time, he deals with the attack he pushes the ship and the Human Torch away, to the place where Ben and Alicia are being held captive.

Annihilus was floating above them, his wings outstretched while he looked down on the invaders trying to escape, but something made him pause his flurry of attacks.

The ball of energy that should have exploded at impact starts decreasing in size… Annihilus looks with great attention at his attacks are harmless dispersed, and maybe even absorbed.

This time, Eidolon was ready and used Sebastian Shaw's Kinetic Energy Absorption combined with other powers to negate the attack, and even empower himself.

Eidolon emerges from the chaotic energy with his arm stretched and his hand squeezing the last bit of Annihilus' attack.

Annihilus narrows his eyes while looking at this foe "Who are you that stands in my way?"

"Just a hero from Earth." Eidolon says while removing his mantle, getting ready for a serious battle.

At this moment, with the Cosmic Control Rod, Annihilus has the whole Negative Zone in his hands, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is on the (pseudo) Universal Threat Scale at the moment.

He is not any Cosmic Entity, but he is super dangerous nonetheless, more dangerous than anyone Eidolon fought right now.

"Above my weight class… but what can I do?" Eidolon scoffs while rolling his shoulders. He can't let Annihilus have the Cosmic Control Rod and get better at using it.

The Annihilation Saga started this way, and it was no joke in the comics.

The hero squares up against this stronger enemy.

"Let's put to test all this Hax that I have gathered."

...…..

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