After they’d got their roles, they all went to position.
“Turning off anti-gravity shield,” Kai announced.
“Turning off all electricity,” Chris said, and instantly all the lights went off. They were in pitch black darkness.
Someone suddenly caught Q’s hand. He yelped in surprise, making the others scared as well.
“Got you!” said Elizabeth excitedly.
“Don’t do that again,” Q sighed. He wondered what part of ‘Be serious’ she didn’t get.
“Apocalypse is sucking us in,” Taylor said.
They could feel the ship rumble. Though Q had all the theory figured out, he still didn’t know whether the ship would still be functional after entering the black hole.
They stood in silence as they felt themselves being pulled inside the black hole. Though it was said to have a huge gravitational field, they didn’t seem to feel it. Something that was supposed to pull you into noodles wasn’t making them the slightest bit uncomfortable.
There’s so much to still figure out. So much that could go wrong, Q thought. Then he realized that that was the least helpful thought he could have.
Suddenly the ship surged forward. The windshield filled with white light. Q closed his eyes, waiting for the glare to die down. When nothing changed he realized that they’d just have to get down.
“Get your suits on,” he ordered.
“Ethosien,” they all yelled.
They all activated their suits. The visors immediately dimmed down the glare. They could see everything clearly.
It was a pure white room. There seemed to be light radiating from every nook and corner.
“So what now?” Kai asked Q.
Honest truth? Q hadn't thought about it. Now would be a good time to think up something though. They were stranded in a white room, no entrance, no exit, not even a sign.
Q looked around him as he thought.
He noticed that everyone was staring over his shoulder. Taylor pointed behind him.
He turned around. There stood a humanoid. He seemed strikingly familiar.
This was Carlos himself!
Q stared hard. It was possible that Apocalypse took on the form of his brother. But he felt that it wasn’t so.
“Hello, Q,” Carlos said. “No doubt you’re surprised.”
Q’s eyes were bloodshot. His mind was blank. His brother was the villain. The only person he could call family. The only person he’d shared his feelings with.
Kai walked up to Carlos and faced the others.
“Wait, what’re you doing Kai?” Q asked.
“Sorry Q, but my alliances were never with you.”
“Wait, what?” Taylor asked. She had no idea what was going on.
Carlos spoke up. “You kids have entertained me very well. I’ll tell you everything.”
He cleared his throat and began.
“Kai and I are on the opposite side of the battle. I don't like how this universe is. Apocalypse offers the best solution. Destroy it! We can start afresh. A new world. A world with order and unity.”
Taylor glared at Carlos “You! You were the one who sent the patrol after us?”
“Why, yes. I had a feeling the Pandora Cannon wouldn't disintegrate Q here, but I’d hoped he’d never come back for at least a few decades and by then there wouldn't be anything to come back to,” Carlos chuckled.
Kai interrupted Carlos. “I knew Q would sacrifice himself. I had everything planned with the commander. I made sure all the cadets left and then destroyed the ship.”
Chris was infuriated “Why? Why are you people doing this?”
“For power, Chris” Kai said. “How do you think I turned into my Nova form? Apocalypse helped me. Just like how he helped Elizabeth.”
Q perked up. He stared at Elizabeth. She was staring at the ground, trying not to meet his eyes.
Q’s mind was going crazy. Were all these people on Apocalypse’s side?
Elizabeth looked at Q with tears in her eyes. “You don't understand. He said I could see my mom,” she sobbed.
“What do you mean?” Taylor asked. She felt that Elizabeth was just making up that statement.
“Apocalypse has my mom’s prana. He promised to let me see her again. He promised to bring her back.”
“You can't, Elizabeth. You can't try to bring your mom back. It’s against the laws of the universe!” Chris said. “Trying to use the prana to bring your mom back from the dead will have disastrous effects.”
“So it was you that night, wasn't it” Q asked, his voice a deadly whisper.
Elizabeth nodded.
“She’s the girl I saw in the lab. She’s the intruder.”
“It was all Apocalypse’s plan. He wanted me to kill you. He figured you’d run into the lab anyway. I set up the bomb knowing that you wouldn't be able to diffuse. He even knocked out Taylor so that she couldn't help. He didn't expect her to wake up so quickly though,” Elizabeth said.
Carlos seemed to be irritated that the attention wasn't on him.
“Do you know what happened that night, Q?” he turned to Taylor, a smile appeared on his lips. “The night of your New Year’s Eve Party?”
“No,” Taylor pleaded. “Don’t.”
He turned to Q. “Q! Don't you want to know what secrets were locked inside your brain by this she-devil?” he said.
Tears started to form in Q’s eyes. His eyes looked bloodshot.
“Not Taylor. It can't be Taylor. It just can't be,” he muttered.
“No, Q! You don’t understand,” she pleaded.
Chris looked on helplessly. There was nothing she could do to console Q. His mind was beyond control.
Carlos started to change form. He slowly grew larger. Suddenly his body turned black. When he changed again, he was a...a…
Werewolf!
He looked exactly like the werewolf that Q had fought in the Temple of Last Hope.
“I came after you in the Temple of Last Hope. But I didn't expect you to be so good already,” Carlos confessed.
“Just for Taylor’s pleasure. I shall tell you what happened that night,” Carlos continued.
“Never!” Taylor charged at Carlos.
Carlos pushed her to the floor effortlessly. Taylor slid on the ground till she stopped twenty feet away. She lifted her head.
“Q” she managed to croak.
“So sad,” Kai joined in.
“So this is what happened,” Carlos began.
Chris put her hand on Q’s shoulder. He felt happy that at least she didn't betray him.
“It was a cold night, yes. You walked into the woods, Taylor following you. I was ready that day. Ready to take your ultimate power. I saw you two fight. I made sure Taylor followed you. When you reached the lake I took the Ultimate Power out of you.”
Carlos held out his hand. A purple light glowed above his hand.
“Without that, you’d never be able to control your powers. But I must say you managed to do quite a bit without it though. Anyway, I managed to change form and come back after Taylor.”
He gave Taylor a murderous look. Q held onto Chris tighter. The only person he ever loved in the world. His brother.
And now he learnt that he was a traitor and a murderer.
“It’s okay Q,” Chris consoled him. Tears started to flow down his cheeks.
What had made his brother turn into something like this?
Carlos laughed madly “I convinced her to wipe your memory by telling her that you’d face trauma. She actually went and did it!”
Kai joined in the laughter.
“Not only that,” Carlos took in puffs of air. “She wiped out the entire memory of your childhood!”
“What?” Q asked. “I remember everything perfectly,” he argued.
“Well you never remembered little missy here,” Kai pointed to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth came closer to Q. Q readied himself. He stretched his hand out and a sphere of energy emerged.
&n
bsp; Elizabeth removed something from her long hair and placed it in her palm. It was a butterfly brooch!
Memories flooded into Q. His mind was finding it too difficult to take it all in.
His whole childhood. Ten years of his life replaced with false memories.
Chris held him tightly. She was afraid he’d make a rampage. He broke free from her grip easily.
“You,” he said, pointing at Carlos “Leave Carlos alone!”
No one understood what Q had just said. How could Carlos leave himself alone?
The figurine seemed to have understood perfectly. A wicked grin crossed his face.
“I should never have let you live,” he said, his voice turning deeper.
A black aura radiated around Carlos. A black cloud emerged from him. Carlos turned back to normal and fell to the floor unconscious. The cloud slowly formed into a humanoid. The same thing happened with Kai as well.
The figures merged together. The werewolf stood there.
“You were the one who attacked me that night,” Q accused him. “Weren’t you, Apocalypse?”
“You guess well. Anyway, first of all...” he bowed “My name is Apocalypse. I also go by names like ‘Your Worst Nightmare’, ‘Fearsome One’ and stuff. You know, the usual.”
Q looked him in the eye. A smoky black aura rose from him. He looked like dry ice melting. Only that it was black.
“You think it’s a joke?” Taylor burst out. “Possessing Carlos and Kai? You think it’s funny?” She sounded like a teacher scolding a guilty five-year old.
“Well, I’ve got to have some fun around here, don’t I?” he asked her, like he had justified her accusations.
“What did you do?” Chris asked.
“I was able to get to Carlos easily. Then I got him to take Kai to moon base and I possessed Kai there. I just made sure Kai didn’t do anything evil and give away the plot. I possessed him just for fun actually. Carlos was my main pawn. I got him to do everything to stop you. Then I hired those Corein and Indiff giants to destroy S.P.A.C.E and kill you. Fat lot of good they did me. By the time I possessed Carlos, you’d already left on your adventure. The Pandora Cannon finally got rid of you; trapping you in the Noverse. But then your friends became a threat.”
“Why not kill us with Kai?” Chris asked. She couldn’t see why a super-villain would miss something like that.
“Now, now. Where’s the fun in killing you like that? Oragon was my last hope at killing your friends but Q had to show up. Overall, I wasn’t such a bad villain I think. I can of course make up for it…” A mad laugh followed.
Apocalypse’s voice turned deadly “…by killing you now.”
Taylor was fuming. He had hurt Q. He had hurt her. He had hurt everyone. She wasn’t going to let him go just like that.
As if he knew what she was thinking, Q put her hand on her shoulder. She turned her head. He was shaking her head.
“Leave it to me,” he said “I don't believe this guy one bit,” he smiled at Taylor and Elizabeth.
He put the brooch back on Elizabeth’s hair.
Apocalypse was dancing about in joy. Q was getting tired of listening to him. He thrust his hand out. “Hand of Gandalf” he yelled. An energy beam blast from his hand.
Apocalypse just yawned and threw his hand up. The beam immediately disappeared.
Apocalypse laughed madly “That’s all you’ve got?”
Q was frustrated. He was angry.
“You are so dead!” Q charged at him.
“IS THAT SO?” Apocalypse’s voice changed. It boomed with so much power that Q could feel himself being pushed back!
“Who do you think I am? I may act like a pushover but......” Apocalypse waved his hand.
The scenery changed. It became a rocky terrain. It was some other planet. Everyone else was blocked out. Q and Apocalypse were the only ones on the planet.
“I am ever powerful!” he roared.
“Let us see how your friends help you now,” Apocalypse taunted.
“I can't beat this guy with my power. I’m too weak. I need strategy” Q realized.
But what?
“The Ultimate Weapon,” Q muttered. That had the potential to unlock his full strength. That was his only option.
He charged at Apocalypse. He put all his energy into it. He attacked his chest. Apocalypse yanked him off and kicked him into the air. Q fell hard on the ground.
His breath was knocked out of him. He spat out blood.
He looked at Apocalypse. A smile on his face.
“What is so funny?” Apocalypse asked.
Right then, Apocalypse clutched his chest and knelt on the ground.
“What have you done?” he managed to say.
Black smoke came out of Apocalypse until he was no longer a werewolf. He was a dark being that looked exactly like the energy beings, but just that he was black instead of orange.
Q held out his palm. A globe of purple energy glowed above it. “I stole it back,” he smiled.
“The Ultimate Weapon,” Apocalypse croaked.
Q closed his eyes and focused. The purple sphere glowed brighter. It floated up to his head and sunk in.
Q’s anger was building up inside him. He felt the need to let it out. He opened up his arms. His eyes turned golden. He had lost control completely. This was his prana talking.
“Finally, I have come out. Beware Apocalypse. I am thy worst nightmare,” Q said, his voice sounding ancient.
Apocalypse readied himself. He started charging at Q at amazing speed. He would’ve been invisible to the naked eye. Just as he came to hit him, Q said,
“Aligarh.” A glowing fist materialized in the air and hit Apocalypse smack in the stomach.
He bent over. “How?” he managed to ask.
“Q may fall for that, but I am the true force. I am all the power Q was, I am energy,” he said. His voice showed his authority at the problem. Apocalypse might have beaten Q, but this new form was way out of his league.
“Now you may die,” Q said.
“No, I may not.” Apocalypse might be relatively weak but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
He vanished. Q knew that he wouldn’t have run away. He searched for Apocalypse.
He was on a nearby star trying to absorb all that power.
Q waited for him to come back. Apocalypse came back, but only after he had an army of black hole humanoids.
“Didn’t see that coming,” Q muttered.
All the soldiers had a sword and shield each. They rode on some sort of horses that seemed like black holes as well.
They slashed at Q with terrifying force. Q managed to create a force field to hold off the attacks. But even that could hold only for so long and soon it shattered into nothing.
The soldiers rammed into Q, sending him to the ground. Dust blew all around the site of impact. When it cleared away, Q lay down in a crater the size of a football field. The soldiers seemed to have disappeared.
Apocalypse probably couldn’t control them for long enough.
Q groaned as he stood up again.
His bones felt like lead, he felt as though his blood had frozen. His whole body ached in pain.
He began to doubt himself. Was he really that powerful? He had the Ultimate Weapon now. But was that enough?
“It has to be,” he murmured.
Suddenly a huge rock came out of nowhere and slammed into Q, sending him flying.
He landed on the ground hard, the air knocked out of his lungs.
He coughed as he got up. His body felt like it had reached its limit. It was slowly wearing away.
He wasn’t sure he could take anymore of this.
He shook the thought out of his mind and took a deep breath.
”‘I am not going to give up,” Q assured himself.
“I am the Hand of God!”
He looked up. Apocalypse floated above him.
Apocalypse thrust his hand out and a sphere of energy trapped Q inside it.
He felt like someone had turned him into a statue.
Now he floated inside the sphere. Completely immobilized. Unable to even save himself, let alone the entire universe.
“Now what do you say?” he asked.
A grin crossed Q’s face. “I say goodbye.”
The sphere shattered into nothing. Q floated above the ground. A burning aura radiating from him.
The planet started to hum softly. It started vibrating.
Apocalypse tried moving. He seemed to be stuck.
“W...what is this?”
“I’ve got tricks of my own as well,” Q said, his eyes still golden.
He opened a portal. He could see the white room on the other side. He looked one last time at Apocalypse. The latter’s face filled with terror. This was for hurting his friends.
He entered the portal. The planet started to shake vigorously.
“Looks like I finally met my match,” Apocalypse laughed madly. “Remember. I can never be destroyed. I will meet you again. Beware of Apocalypse! You have made an immortal enemy, Hand of God. Pray I be merciful in our next encounter.”
The planet got blasted to bits.
No, there weren’t even bits of it left.
Every atom had annihilated itself, a disaster which would have no survivors.
A disaster worthy of the name of Q.
Happily Ever After?
Q crossed the portal onto the other side to meet the worried faces of all his friends.
Kai had regained consciousness though Carlos was still knocked out cold. They all sat together, hands around there legs. Q thought he saw Kai biting his fingernails.
As soon as they saw Q, they ran over. Taylor ran over and gave him a hug. She charged into him so hard that he fell down.
“Um... Taylor? A little uncomfortable here,” he said.
She got up, grinning broadly.
“So what happened?” Kai asked Q.
So he told them all about the battle with Apocalypse and everything.
“Hey, why are your eyes golden?” Chris asked.
Q smiled and the color went back to grey. He immediately fell to the floor. Taylor helped him up.
“I’ll get some water,” Kai ran. He came back right away. “I forgot we’re in a black hole.”
ConQuest (The Quest Saga) Page 23