MS.MARVEL #41
THE APOTHEOSIS PART THREE: THE HEROINE REALIZED!
CAST: MS. MARVEL (Carol Danvers):        Former NASA security chief and magazine editor, Carol Danvers gained the powers of a Kree warrior after being subjected to the effects of an alien machine. As Ms. Marvel, she fought alongside her fellow AVENGERS for a time, before her powers and memories were temporarily stolen by the X-Man Rogue. Her powers were somewhat restored; she represented the height of merged Human and Kree genetic potential.  CAPTAIN MARVEL I:        Mar-Vell, otherwise known as Captain Marvel to Earthlings was a celebrated Kree Warrior before he defied the unethical regime of his extra-terrestrial race, making the beleaguered planet Earth his own. After saving Earth, the Solar System, even the Galaxy many times over and being appointed the "Protector of the Universe Entire", Captain Marvel ironically met his demise when he contracted cancer. THE PSYCHE-MAGNITRON:       A device of unimaginable power created by Kree scientists millennia ago, the Psyche-Magnitron has recently undergone some startling changes. This device was the one that supposedly exploded years ago giving Carol Danvers her first wave of metahuman powers. VELVET: A mysterious assassin from an unknown humanoid alien race. Her and her mentor Paramour's fates seem tied to a mysterious figure who sits beside a scrying pool at a desolate location in Norway. PARAMOUR: Velvet's elder and teacher. She and Velvet claim to be "Grellian Assassins" from another planet. The mystery behind these two trained killers remains intact as they hunt quarry with indeterminate purpose.

1. All Within An Instant

    Bruised, battered, feeling strange pains in her body that she'd never known, an unexplained wind racing over her shivering form in that giant, dark, fetid chamber Carol Danvers stared up at a man who she never thought she'd see again. 'Man' in the loosest sense of the word because he was Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree Empire, a highly humanoid extraterrestrial; man in the greater sense for the qualities of his character, this was a being who had literally saved what could be thought of as the known Universe from bizarre threats of mind-staggering proportions. Known as Captain Marvel to people of the Earth, a "super-hero "according to the news media, he embodied the selfless credo and spiritual presence of a true warrior. His name was legend amongst the star-faring races of the known Universe and his exploits were known across the Galaxy.

    He had also died a few years back- of cancer no less. Carol had visited his grave once or twice; she couldn't remember, at the time her mind and emotions were distant due to an attack by the mutant parasite, Rogue. Mar-Vell's death was one of the more traumatic events in her already 'eventful' life because despite the brief love affair they had shared she had always felt a great bond with Mar-Vell. Ironically, this link was physically manifested when Carol gained her original superhuman powers from an exploding Kree machine that caused the energy from Mar-Vell's Kree cells to become 'imprinted' on Carol's more adaptable human cells.

    She would always be in love with him.

    Now, she stared upwards at the levitating Mar-Vell, tears in her eyes, shaking her head, "No. No. No. No! Oh God, what is happening?"

    Mar-Vell touched ground next to her, the exotic-looking photonic energy residue of his abilities coruscating about his body. He gestured to the two enormous, dark blue-skinned, semi-humanoid Autochrons to release Carol. As they did this she collapsed to the ground.

    Kneeling down beside her, Mar-Vell softly whispered in her ear, "I can... I will explain. Come with me Carol," with this he scooped her up in his arms. Carol, broken in body and mind by the insane events of the recent past did nothing, her head lolling, and the thought of how good it was to be held like that seemed distant for some reason. Whatever happened now didn't matter; Carol felt the scenario was just too wrong to be truly real.

    Suddenly, on impulse, she told Mar-Vell, "Here let me walk. I'm fine," he set her down and as they began walking he took her hand in his, the motley assortment of aliens in the cavernous chamber following them out into the tunnels as if in procession and as if Mar-Vell and Carol were King and Queen.

    "Darling?" she said squeezing Mar-vell's hand, an old familiar dark urge taking hold of her being, "Could you get me a drink when we get to where we're going?"

    "Of course my love," said Mar-Vell in very non-characteristic manner, failing to further convince Carol that anything taking place at this point was real. She kept her doubts to herself though, in the hope's of later finding out exactly what was going on.

    Carol, weary and feeling drugged, stared down the weirdly lit tunnel while they walked. Mar-Vell was silent but when she looked over at him from time to time, he smiled down at her. "If this is death, it's not that bad," thought Carol, half jokingly. Soon, they came to a section of tunnel that had bars running up and down it as in a prison. Within the chambers were the darkened figures of various aliens all screaming and shrilling in discordant cacophony, yet above the din Carol heard a voice, a small voice that came from within her head.

    "... Here you may choose between contentment and oblivion, or destiny and glory...", said the small incidental voice and as she heard this Carol spied one of the strange little humans, the old woman she saw near the alien pavilion earlier. Something snapped in her mind and another flash of insight flooded through her being: the Seventh Sense. With it came a surge of strength and the knowledge of a chance at getting to the bottom of her bizarre predicament.

    All but forgetting the procession she tore from Mar-vell's grip and rushed to the cell that held the old woman. With an inexplicable burst of strength she yanked the bars from their stone settings and looked straight at the aged lady. The old woman's eyes flashed a primordial bluish-white and another voice erupted into Carol's brain, "All within an instant." Then white light flooded her body as well as everything else. Then she was gone as was that strange 'world' Carol had found herself in days ago.

    There was a sensation of falling and so she did, right 'out' of her bedroom mirror and onto the floor.

    "It's only 4:37 A.M.," she thought looking at her clock, "If I remember correctly that means I was 'in' the mirror for about 1 minute, or so! Must've have been some sort of time distortion there," a pause then, "What's this?"

    On the floor before, at her feet was the crystal she had stepped into the extra-dimensional portal/mirror to retrieve. Bewildered she nevertheless bent down to pick her gem up and as she did so the crystal flew upwards at her as if she were a magnet! The crystal hit her chest, near the base of her throat and promptly disappeared as if it was absorbed into her skin, which led to a blast of pain wracking her body like none she ever felt before; then she once again found herself somewhere else.
 

2. The Scrying Pool

    The strange light that filled the enormous circular chamber came from a pool of what would seem to be water at one end of it. In a gigantic oak chair a cowled man of equally gigantic stature attended to the pool as if it were a machine, waving his enormous hands around it in a calculating manner. A woman with long, dark hair came into the chamber from elsewhere, her nearly perfect body draped in long white robes. She glided towards the man and draped her body about him as if she were to clothe him with her flesh.

    "What have you found my Lord?" her voice was like that of a feline predator, "Found the clues that you seek?"

    "As a matter of fact my dear Paramour," rumbled the huge man, "I have; since you have awakened perhaps we should check in with our dear Velvet."

    Looking over his shoulder, Paramour gazed into the ghostly images on the surface of the glowing bluish water. Fading into view was the image of a woman much like herself, except with very short dark hair climbing out of a window in a modern skyscraper building, a look of disgust on her face. Demonstrating an incredible ability to scale sheer walls this woman began to climb down the face of the building.

    "So it seems as if Velvet has missed her charge again," said the man, "Strange I saw Miss Danvers in bed earlier this evening with my Scrying Pool."

    "Maybe the pool is malfunctioning, my darling," mused Paramour, both venomously and cautiously.

    "Nay, I think not," the behemoth softly intoned, then chuckled in a low rumble, "Maybe it's Velvet who is malfunctioning. No matter. By the time her flight gets her back to Norway, we will have all the information we need to accomplish our task," then suddenly picking Paramour up, throwing her over his shoulder and laughing with great gusto he bellowed, "Now woman! I grow tired of this!"

    As Paramour swooned in the man's arms, he striding to the bedchambers with lustful purpose the pool's light slowly dying, but before it did the eerie tableau changed on it's surface. On the murky surface of the waning glow you could have seen Velvet from below climbing down the building. Then you would have seen a bright light flashing in the window directly above her; with this she turned around to witness a titanic force erupt form said window. This event would have been very interesting to the giant man and Paramour had they been there to see it.
 

3. Answers and Apothoesis!

    Carol Danvers stood on what looked like a small meadow with the horizon abruptly terminating about 50 feet away. She knew the incredibly brilliant sky that formed a dome over this ground was no sky of Earth for in it's panorama was comprised of nebula and interstellar formations even she had never seen. At the end of the patch of ground, near the edge of the outer space island- obviously outfitted with a dome of air for Carol could still breath- a figure erupted from the very Earth. It was a bent old woman wearing pinkish/purple robes, the crone from her stay in that bizarre 'Wonderland'!

    About to speak, Carol was cut-off abruptly by another voice in her head, this time with great force and 'volume', "Now all shall be revealed to you Carol Danvers!"

    Suddenly the old woman grew to great height towering above Carol, the dome of the cosmos framing her robed figure. Carol noted that all she could see within the old woman's cowl were the hint of a bony chin and nose, and two white pin-points for eyes.

    "At death's door you did travel through the corridors of your own mind to reveal the secrets of your destiny. You initially chose a more difficult path than that which was set before you, and with that choice, the path of Truth and Balance, I was able to channel the powers back to you that are your birth-right!"

    "But who are you? Why..." stammered Carol.

    "Be silent my child," the voice boomed within her head and Carol was suddenly transfixed by the new majesty of this woman. "Hear me now Carol Danvers, nothing within the Multiverse as you know it happens in isolation, there is purpose and grandeur within all of existence. As such there is great purpose to your regaining the Kree-born powers of the Cosmic Radiation. I have tipped this balance only slightly, for such as I may not affect reality directly without dire consequences yet I can reveal to you what is transpiring... and I can give you a final choice!

    "The accident that changed you years ago will now be seen to be no mere mishap of chance!

    "Behold Carol Danvers!" With this the gigantic crone gestured and the scene of whole planets engulfed in strange energies appeared overhead, "The recent explosion of the Kree Nega-Bomb, a device that all but wiped out the far-reaching Kree race!" She gestured further and the scenes overhead followed her narrative, "Though devastating to that paradoxically most advanced yet foolish race, the Nega-Bomb's energies- energies and forces based upon arcane Kree research into the fundamental Cosmic Background Radiation, did act to cause a most wondrous yet for yourself dire occurrence. The most advanced Kree device ever, though deactivated recently, hummed back into activity and this time, sentiency. Yes Carol Danvers, the Psyche-Magnitron, which fate had caused to force you into your powered state has attained a 'soul' of sorts but to be complete it needs you, for human beings above most races in your known Universe possess the latent ability to harness titanic forces of nature within their very cellular structures!

    "The Psyche-Magnitron, in a way that I cannot explain to you at the present, became rudimentarily sentient when it was enveloped by the far-reaching energies of the Nega-Bomb. To be... 'complete' though it needs you, for you, Carol Danvers, hold the key to the ultimate power of the Psyche-Magnitron manifested in your 'Seventh Sense'. This is nothing short than a oneness... or knowledge of relevant phenomenon within the framework of the fundamental structure of the Universe itself! Now, at this aleph... this point... there is an obsession within the Psyche-Magniton to merge with you, just as the psychic residue of this state had been echoed by certain other individuals you have come into contact with you and that machine turned deity! Your very cellular structure, your neural engrams, mayhap even your very soul is the prize here!"

    As Carol's head raced with questions she began speaking, only to be silenced by the gargantuan woman's booming voice, "No Carol Danvers! There is no time within this timeless space for questions and investigations. You are the conduit for a marvelous power... you have always been such, yet this power has caused you untold grief within your life. That crystal you received recently is the essence of your power, Carol," now the booming woman's voice had become softer and her form, though still gigantic against that backdrop of All-Space, was as ephemeral as a ghost, "I sent it to you as a crude object of your essence. When the Psyche-Magnitron manifested an astral from and stole it, I reached into the psionic scenario that it had lured you into and subtly altered it. This was a world based upon your own mind as interpreted by the Magnitron, that once within you could have, with my aid, retrieved the crystal-essence from that astral dimension of the God-Machine's creation. Now it has come to pass for the crystal was merely a symbol of your spirit and it is now within you again... pure. None may separate you from your birth-right yet... I can also return the Magnitron's power back to it, leaving your spirit intact and return you to the human-state before that fateful explosion so many of your years ago," an unexplainable wind rushed about and Carol felt very small of the sudden.

    The giant woman was a glowing nebula now, "I can give you but two choices Carol: The Power and with it all the inherit turmoil's of your past come to task, or a return to a relatively peaceful normal terrestrial state." With this a giant hand extended outwards in what seemed to be a gesture of benediction from the ghostly figure, her voice now a tremendous whisper on the cosmic wind, "Decide."

    Carol felt her knees buckle under her. It had come down to this, a god-like female entity had engineered all the strangeness of the past few months, perhaps of most of her life! What she had done, according to her own words, was to prevent the now sentient Psyche-Magnitron from essentially dissecting Carol in mind, body and spirit and using that... 'material' to attain even more power than it already had. This was something others had done in the past, much to her constant chagrin. Yet, how was Carol to know whether this was so? The science involved here was impossible to understand by her standards... And what was to say that this giant ghost/crone wasn't lying?

    As if in answer, Carol Danvers' closed her eyes and saw a panorama of the events in her life: the Psyche-Magnitron's explosion 'imprinting' Mar-Vell's powers 'into' her body, Kerwin Corman 'the Destructor' one of the many who would greedily attempt to steal her body and life-force for their own purposes, the enmity of the mutant shape-changer Mystique, her father taking her to the local gym, the alien Super-Skrull and that bizarre 'broadcast' crystal it had attempted to use for power, the quiet strength of her mother on a sunny Sunday afternoon teaching Carol to build a shelf, the cameraderie within the Avengers' training room, the tension yet burgeoning friendship between her and the celebrated 'Marvel' Captain America, the ghastly after-effects of Rogues' energy/ mind siphoning attack, time-lord Marcus Immortus and his damnable rape of her body, her supposed assencion into the power of Binary as flawed genetic engineering by the alien monsters the Brood, saving Earth's Sun from destruction with the help of Quasar the Protector of the Universe, the Binary power returning to the tragic extra-dimensional entity from wence it had originally came, her gradual loss of power apparently from the machinations of the Psyche-Magnitron itself, being 'human' again, the crystal arriving in the mail, the lovers she had taken in her time, the bright warmth of her Manhattan office, the pain of her craving for alcohol, the grueling rigors of intelligence training, and finally the warrior-spirit: Mar-Vell. The few times in her life she had known true purpose beyond her own tragedy came to her then, did it all lead up to this? Then another thought occurred to her, as her eyes once again became moist with tears.

    Carol knew that this being before her had engineered a 'morality play' of sorts for her, yet had not once used her for it's own ends! The being had never attempted to weaken Carol's existence or undermine her spirit, this 'cosmic giant' had merely created certain pathways in space/time for Carol to wander in: to learn. Now Carol had the ability to return to the time when the Psyche-Magnitron had burned the superhuman powers of a man she loved into her body, or to go back to square one: normal humanity.

    Then, Carol Danvers decided, and in a tear-filled shout of defiance cried out, "Do it! Whoever you are, I choose to keep The Power! I'm tired of running! Do you hear me? I'm tired of running!"

    As the giant woman's form coalesced out the nebula above and the cosmic panorama about her became even brighter, as there seemed to suddenly come into motion a million celestial bodies and voices, Carol felt enormous elation and could not help but think, "When's humanity been normal anyway?"

    "With your decision comes hope eternal Carol Danvers!" roared the titanic woman as she formed into another humanoid shape, this time a gigantic, beautiful female figure who seemed to reflect the cosmos back at all around her, "I am Kosmos, She Who Has Emerged Yet Who Always Has Been! Destiny unfolds eternal, out of reach of even the gods themselves and it is with this destiny set before us that I have been granted the power to bring you to your true state! None may covet your energies again Carol for you are complete and beyond such machinations now. You are now a new Protector of the Universe; may your enemies and the enemies of life beware!"

    Every shred of Carol's being screamed with power, insight and energy, "I will aid you on your path of service from time to time, now go forth!" Up came that tremendous star-laden hand and there was flash of blinding light wherein Carol thought she could see a thousand galaxies in an instant, and then... it was over!

    Carol stood in her bedroom, in her apartment back on Earth, yet everything had changed; she knew it, her powers were the same as when the Psyche-Magnitron had exploded yet much greater, and all contained within her body. She noticed a blue and red suit had formed on her- the costume of Mar-Vell- and she also saw that a 'sparkle' effect was all about her. This was the final gift of Captain Mar-Vell: she was to take up the mission he had devoted his life to and this final realization felt very good.

    A Seventh Sense flash hit her all of the sudden, an airliner was losing altitude over Puget Sound; the insight that this preternatural knowledge brought, told her exactly where this potential disaster was happening. Without a second to spare, her time of timelesseness behind her, Carol leapt out of the window taking flight into the night air. This danger would take tremendous power to overcome, the power of the heroine given a new lease on life, the power of the heroine realized: the Power of Ms. Marvel!
 

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