Marvel Mayhem - Epilogue (w/ Commentary Notes from the Author, Sean Livingston)

Epilogue: Aftermath

            Three days passed since the Super Skrull’s chaos over Hell’s Kitchen. Much like the Chitauri invasion of 2012, the city managed to get through the shock rather easily. The Avengers once again proved why the world needed them in times of disastrous scenarios like this. The media praised their efforts in defeating the Super Skrull, specifically those of Thor, whose lightning attack to the creature replayed over airwaves at least a dozen times. It overshadowed other news reports, including one of Hell’s Kitchen’s biggest proprietor, Wilson Fisk, and his promise to help rebuild the neighborhood in light of the Skrull’s havoc.

(Marvel Note: Fisk's true ulterior motive in rebuilding Hell's Kitchen is to first tear it down before it can be made in his image, as seen in the Marvel's Daredevil series on Netflix. In retrospect, the Super Skrull made his mission a lot easier than in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.)

            And then there was the corresponding news that also gained worldwide recognition the following morning – the one in which Hydra was exposed of their operation within S.H.I.E.L.D. It came as a terrifying shock to everyone, except for those who knew of it beforehand like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Ciciley and Elendriel Livingston, Genevieve, Mindy, and Natalie.

            Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff’s names were connected to the devastation that occurred in Washington, D.C. with the three Helicarriers of “Project Insight” trained on potential threats to Hydra’s cause – including Stark and Banner themselves. After the Helicarriers were reprogrammed to fire on each other, one was downed into the Triskelion with only one casualty: former Secretary of Defense and Hydra’s top undercover agent, Alexander Pierce.

(Marvel Note: As seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, HYDRA sleeper agent Brock Rumlow survived being crushed and burned under Helicarrier rubble at the battle at the Triskelion, only to suffer horrific facial and body scars. As such, he will form into his Crossbones persona in next year's Captain America: Civil War, donned in a skull mask to hide his scars.)

            Between the Hydra situation and the small invasion they averted, there was definitely much needed time off at Avengers Tower. Most everyone had been recuperating from exhaustion or heavy battle wounds. However, one suffered more internal scars from battle: Ciciley. She mourned the loss of her mother and remained in deep thought over the current whereabouts and condition of her son. The others made sure to give her space until she was ready to open back up. No one figured that possibility to occur any moment soon. She stood quietly near the large window overlooking the majesty of New York’s skyline from the penthouse section. This went on for two days straight.

            After the second day, Genevieve made the bold decision of going to her and making an attempt in comfort. “Hey, Cici,” she warily approached. “I’m sure you already realize this, but…I know exactly what you’re going through. There’s nothing more painful than the loss of a mother. But I promise you that when we find Sean, all that pain will—”

            “Shut…the hell…up.” Ciciley cruelly demanded. It was the first words she spoke in days. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see what we saw. That wasn’t Sean.”

            “I know, I know. Elle told me that he’d…changed…somehow. It sounds a lot like reincarnation, and I know that I can help figure out—”

(Authorial Note: Originally, the result of Saccheri's experiment on Agent Sean was in fact a form of reincarnation in which he would take on different appearances, each one "evolving" into an "ultimate form" that would be as powerful as the Guardian and possess similar abilities. See the commentary notes from the revisited twelfth chapter for why this idea was scrapped.)

            “You can’t help. No one can help. Hydra screwed over S.H.I.E.L.D., taking away any resources we could ever use. They’re either limited or revoked.”

            “Well, you still have the Avengers.”

            Ciciley scoffed. “What difference does that make? Honestly, they’re not the solution, they’re just the problem. All you so-called ‘super heroes’ are just super nuisances.”

(Marvel Note: Ciciley's views are justified from the events of Age of Ultron, which occur months after those in Marvel Mayhem, when the team's fight against Ultron and his army of sentries in Sokovia leads to negative public opinion. In Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Robert Gonzales of S.H.I.E.L.D. felt that the whole war against Ultron was the fault of Tony Stark, his creator. Reporter Christine Everhart, in interviews with the United Nations, expressed the opinion that superheroes needed regulation in their activities. This, of course, alludes to the main story of Captain America: Civil War, which threads with Marvel Evolution.)

            “You don’t mean that, Ciciley.”

            “Oh, no?” Ciciley finally turned from the New York skyline view and fixated her tired, dark-circled ice blue eyes on Genevieve, burning a hole into her with a glare that was beyond threatening. “If you hadn’t come here, to this world, would any of what happened not have happened? Would the lives of those people in Hell’s Kitchen not have been affected? Would I still have my mother and my son standing here with me now? You’re not the superhero you pretend to be. You’re just as much a monster as that thing we fought that night. It was your butt that the Skrulls took a chunk out of to create it. And Yve Ette was only here in the first place because of you.”

(Pop Culture Note: Ciciley's dismissive words to Genevieve are inspired from Joan Redfern's final address to the Doctor in the conclusion of the Doctor Who episode "Family of Blood," nearly word-for-word. In both situations, the intergalactic hero comes to a world, bringing along an enemy that causes the deaths and destruction of many involved, facing the consequences thereafter from a grieving loved one.)

            Genevieve was greatly offended by her indictments. “Look, Cici…”

            “No! You look! And it’s not ‘Cici’ or ‘Ciciley’ to you, it’s ‘Agent Livingston!’ Ya got that, freak? As far as I’m concerned, you can go to hell! And if you ever come back here, I swear that I will end you!”

            Genevieve caught the genuine hatred in her eyes. She meant every word of it. Ciciley might have been physically short compared to Genevieve, but she could back her threats with the tactical skill to do just what she warned would happen to her prey. It was best for Genevieve not to challenge that, especially in her mortal position.

(Character Note: Ciciley's attitude towards Genevieve might also influence that towards reincarnations/Guardians in general, including Mindy. This as of yet remains to be seen but will possibly be explored in Marvel Evolution next year.)

            Her body slightly shaking, Genevieve slowly turned and left Ciciley’s side, letting the desolate young woman return to staring out the window to the New York skyline. She never imagined suffering such a falling out with Ciciley, having become good friends with her and her family there in the Marvel Universe. It was a shame for all that to end on account of Yve Ette, her accursed Super Skrull, and the demented (now deceased) John Saccheri. Prior to her talk with Ciciley, she already felt an immense sense of guilt for what happened to Chrissy and Sean; now it was just amplified to a million.

            The weight of it all overwhelmed her. She covered her mouth with one hand, not wishing for anyone in the tower to hear her wailing as she cried. Tears poured out all the emotion. Her heart ached just thinking about it. She wished that she still had possession of her abilities to make it all right again, but nothing could be done.

            A minute passed and she managed to regain composure. She needed to, in order to rejoin with the others gathered in the lab upstairs. She dried her face with the sleeves of her purple silk blouse, staining them by accident. Her eyes were undoubtedly reddened, but there was nothing she could do about that either. “Allergies” was the popular excuse – it was spring after all.

(Editorial Note: Marvel Mayhem was published online in the spring of 2014, which was the time of release for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it was officially completed close to the summer of 2015 on June 5th. That is approximately one year, two months, and sixteen days of writing one hundred and sixty-six pages and eighteen chapters, including the prologue and epilogue. This duration is three days longer than that of World of Disney - see here.)

            Putting on a pleasant, carefree smile, Genevieve headed upstairs to the lab. She found Stark, Banner, Thor, Mindy, Natalie, Walter, Elendriel, Karter, and Yamila all there, sharing in laughs and reflecting on their recent victory in celebration. It was certainly a more helpful scene to bear witness to, following a dismal, heartbreaking exchange.

            She walked in just at the time Mindy was fitted with a cybernetic arm made from vibranium and designed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner themselves. A medical drone from Stark’s Iron Legion put the finishing touches on the new artificial appendage, which looked close in appearance to an arm from one of his Iron Man suits. Sitting in a steel examination chair situated at the center of the lab, Mindy relished in the awesomeness of the robotic limb, with those around her doing the same.

(Marvel Note: To get a better picture of Mindy's robotic limb, look to one of the arms on the Mark XLI armor code-named "Bones." Although I established in narrative that it could resemble an arm from one of the suits, my thoughts were more on it bearing semblance to one of Ultron's arms, specifically with the vibranium, which Ultron uses to create his final form in Age of Ultron.)

            “I thought you Guardians were like indestructible or something.” Elendriel, who carried Karter in her arms, observed. “Couldn’t you have just grown a new limb?”

            “I could have,” Mindy said, “if that lightsaber Yve Ette came at me with wasn’t made to limit my power or extinguish both it and the life of a Guardian completely.”

            Sorrow filled the battle-scarred face of Yamila as she reflected, “Is that what happened to Sheryl?”

            The positivity of the room went away at the mentioning of the one loss from their side of the recent conflict. Genevieve confirmed, “Yes…it is.”

            Yamila stared down to the floor, brokenhearted. “She saved my life… and there’s no way I can thank her for that.”

            Genevieve smiled, putting a comforting hand on the young lady’s shoulder. “She knows now, Yamila.” She gestured to Mindy, Natalie, and herself. “We are all her.”

            Yamila’s face lit with astonishment. “Really? That’s so cool!”

            Natalie giggled. “And speaking of cool,” she gave a playful nudge to Walter, who sat beside her on examination/x-ray table, “how cool were you, buddy, helping out Genevieve in that rescue!”

            Walter humbly shrugged at the compliment. “Well, you know, I only did what any of the rest of you would’ve done. D-Does that make me an Avenger, too?”

(Authorial Note: Walter would not be the first Muppet I've written to become an honorary member of a Marvel superhero team. In my Marvelous Muppets series from 2005 to 2008, Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker became two extra members of the Fantastic Four and Gonzo, as well as the Fraggles of Fraggle Rock, became part of the X-Men.)

            Natalie smirked, glimpsing over the tittering faces in the room. “We’ll talk more about it on the way back home, lil’ buddy. I made a promise to Sean that we would leave once things were taken care of here.”

            Genevieve sighed. “That reminds me, Natalie, with your ‘amalgamated reincarnation’ jeopardizing the cover Victoria and I kept at the Muppet Theater, we’ve got a butt-load of explaining to do to Christina.” On this thought, she jokingly looked to Stark and asked, “Erm, you wouldn’t mind loaning Pepper’s suit to me, would ya, Tony? I feel like I’m gonna need it, as soon as I’m face-to-face with Christina.”

(Authorial Note: It was my original plan to feature Genevieve in the Rescue suit again in World of Disney 3, during the war on Fantasia. This would have been done to keep her mortal form continued through that installment and to the climax of The Disney Access.)

            “No can do.” Tony denied. “It’s a surprise gift for Pepper. Of course, now that it’s been seen all over the news, I’m guessin’ it’s not so much of a ‘surprise’ anymore.”

            Genevieve nodded understandingly, shifting her attention to Mindy. “So are you leaving with us, too?”

            Mindy shook her head. “Nah. Still got a lot to do here. Ciciley’s gonna need my help to find Sean. Wherever he is, whatever’s happened to him…she’s gonna need me to figure it all out. That is, if I can myself.”

            Genevieve wholeheartedly accepted this decision. She did her best to hold back the tears as she requested of her fellow reincarnation, “Take good care of her, Min. Don’t let her revert back to the woman she was before Project Geo.”

            “You have my word on that.”

            She held out her finished robotic left arm to Genevieve, who grinned with fascination at the construct. They shook hands, Mindy taking care as not to crush Genevieve’s with the resistant vibranium alloy.

            Soon after they said all their goodbyes, Genevieve, Natalie, and Walter gathered together and prepared for their final departure from the Marvel realm. To ensure a “safe travel” back to their home world, Mindy lent her assistance in conjuring the teleportation spell. Channeling her magic through both her real and artificial arms, she created a swirl of gold sparkling energy that she fixed around Genevieve, Natalie, and Walter and enveloped them in it. Within a matter of seconds, the three vanished from the lab.

            Shortly thereafter, two new figures entered the room, walking directly onto the spot where Genevieve, Natalie, and Walter once stood, the golden specks of energy evaporating into the air.

            The group recognized one of the two individuals as Steve Rogers, decked in civilian attire and accompanied by an African American male dressed in the same manner. “Hey, guys,” Rogers greeted before gesturing to his companion. “This is Sam Wilson. He’s going to be staying with us for a while. Show him around the place and get him to know the team.” He then followed with unquestionable witticism: “So…who wants to start explaining what that was in Hell’s Kitchen?”

(Marvel Note: For Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson, this visit to Avengers Tower occurs shortly after their final scene at Nick Fury's fake gravesite in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Both men set out on their mission to search for Bucky Barnes, who went missing in the aftermath of the Triskelion battle, until Rogers is soon called back in action with the Avengers, leaving Wilson to search for Barnes on his own. These events, of course, transition between Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, the latter of which sees Wilson invited to a party at the tower and later becoming a member of the New Avengers with Vision, James Rhodes/War Machine, and Wanda Maximoff.)

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            Dorrek, the emperor of the once-glorified Skrull Empire, mustered whatever humility he could in his visit to Sanctuary, a sector of space inhabited by the Chitauri race. It also was the domain of the Mad Titan himself, Thanos. Though Dorrek dared not to have angered him with that title, which was only used by the galactic communities and not in address to Thanos directly.

(Marvel Note: More than one Dorrek exists in Marvel Comics continuity. There is Emperor Dorrek the First, who was first introduced in the "Mainstream Marvel Universe," or "Earth-616." Then there is Emperor Dorrek VII, the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Dorrek the First and the version featured in this scene. And there is Hulking, a member of the Young Avengers whose Skrull name is "Dorrek VIII," his maternal grandfather being Dorrek VII.)

            In fact, Dorrek’s visit to Thanos’s domain, the piece of asteroid that floated against several others near a majestic nebula and array of stars, was purely of diplomatic intent. Flanked only by his two guards, Dorrek knelt before Thanos, despite the Dark Lord’s back being to him while sitting upon his hovering throne. Dorrek did not care if his royal purple and black robe was tainted by the dark grey gravel that plagued the ground; all he desired was Thanos’s attention and respect.

            “Lord Thanos. I would not have come before you if the affairs of my empire were not so dire. We entrusted the creation of our ultimate destroyer with a sorceress that failed in her promise of dominion over Earth. Now, we are without a warrior to ensure conquest of the planet. These defenders of Earth…I believe you know of them. They are the very obstacle that brought an end to nearly half of your Chitauri army. And they have now challenged the Skrull Empire with their defiance. I implore you, Lord Thanos, to take heed my offer of an alliance. With our combined power, these Earth defenders will not stand in our way.”

(Marvel Note: Thanos is the only villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who has interacted, albeit indirectly, with every major hero in the franchise. He was responsible for the events depicted in The Avengers, which featured all the major heroes of "Phase One," and is the mastermind behind Guardians of the Galaxy. He'll play a huge role in the third story of the Marvel Universe Trilogy, Marvel Invasion, which this scene sets up for and ties directly with the two-part Avengers: Infinity War.)

            Silence fell over the domain, following Dorrek’s plea. He was almost certain Thanos heard not a word of any of it. But Dorrek was patient and waited for the Dark Lord to consider. He waited minutes before the Mad Titan finally spoke, his voice like an galvanizing echo through the cosmos.

            “I applaud you, Emperor Dorrek. You represent for a race plagued by the arrogance of their science and technology. In coming to me, you have put aside that arrogance and pride.” His throne turned during his address, showing his elegant, superior form to Dorrek. “You should be thankful we do share a commonality with these warriors of Earth. They have proven to be a worthy threat. But I possess a gauntlet that will suppress the odds against them substantially. All I require are six stones to power it. Once I have them, these defenders will suffer…and die.”

(Marvel Note: In the comics, Thanos was the master of the Infinity Gauntlet, which he used in the eponymous series in an attempt to court Death. He has no relationships with Loki nor the Chitauri, but he is nevertheless one of the Avengers' most historical foes. When he took a break from being a conqueror, he was entrusted with the Reality Gem of the Infinity Gems - though they are known as "Infinity Stones" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So far, only four of the six stones have been revealed in the films: the Space Stone, introduced in The Avengers as the "Tesseract" and currently on Asgard; the Mind Stone, also introduced in The Avengers but revealed as a stone in Age of Ultron encased in Loki's scepter, currently entrusted with Vision; the Reality Stone, introduced in Thor: The Dark World as the "Aether" and currently in possession of the Collector; and the Power Stone, introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy as the "Orb" and currently guarded by the Nova Corps on Xandar.)

            Dorrek could not have been more satisfied with this settlement. In his immense gratitude, he bowed. “Thank you, Lord Thanos. This battle will be won in our favor!”

            “The battle is over, Dorrek. Only the war has just begun.”

Marvel Mayhem

(WORLD OF DISNEY REVISITED CONCLUDES WITH WORLD OF DISNEY 3 IN OCTOBER!)