(Continued from The Rise of Babylon)

T'Shan was arrogant, or perhaps dumb enough, to believe he could take Apocalypse by himself. A man who has beaten all of the X-Men several times, Dracula and even his father Thor. T'Shan was smashed through a building and then slammed around like a plaything. T'Shan couldn't remember the last time he bled but his nose was potentially broken, lip split and he may have some broken ribs, if not more. He was just beginning to work free of Apocalypse's grip when he was thrown clear over the walls that now surrounded the city. He was trying to right himself when he sailed through part of the Hellicarrier that had been stationed outside the city. It was some point after that he lost consciousness. He wasn't even aware of the small plane he took out or the people going on about their business.

It was a small suburb outside Springfield, Illinois. SOme people were heading home for the day while others were heading out for their night shift or maybe a nice date night. Cars were stopped at a fourway intersection, waiting for a green light while others went on their way. As they listened to the radio reports about Central and Keystone Cities they suddenly became aware of a whistling sound. Before they could react T'Shan smashed into the center of the intersection. The impact left a massive crater and turned several of the cars waiting into bombs. The buildings nearby were collapsing, killing or trapping who knows how many people.

Sirens were already filling the air as emergency services began to quickly respond to the explosion. Fire trucks began putting the fires out while police secured the scene and emergency services began to help whom they could. Sounds began to come from the crater as a call for help. They were survivors down there. But as a couple heroic EMTs began searching for a way down T'Shan jumped out of it. He was covered in soot and blood while his clothes were no more than tatters. He was breathing hard and looking around wildly.

'Scion! It's Scion, he must've been thrown fr-'

One massive fist hit the EMT in the chest and sent him through a third story window.

"SCION SMASH!"

People were just now beginning to panic as Scion grabbed an ambulance and hurled it down the street. The police opened fire as one called for backup on a special emergency channel. The channel was monitored by SHIELD and all hero teams. The problem was, almost all heroes were converging on Central and Keystone Cities.

"Scion kill Apocalypse!"

He jumped over the hole and began to march towards where he had last seen Apocalypse. The police kept shooting him as two squad cars stopped in front of him. Four cops got out with shotguns ready, firing.

"Puny men stop shooting Scion!"

He grabbed one squad car and began slamming it around before throwing it behind him. He hadn't even tried to grab the axe on his back, the Warrior's Madness his father had warned him of was happening. Essentially strong, fast and dumb as a rock. It was dangerous but in doing so amplified his own strength. But he wasn't thinking clearly. With each step he took thunder and lightning filled the sky. Whether that was his own anger filtering through him or Thor's at seeing his son this way and not being able to intervene was unclear.

Lydia flew, the conversation still replaying in her head. Phil had diverted her away from Keystone, away from her friends and all the trouble, once reports started coming in about Scion and where he'd landed. Marty hadn't answered his cell phone, Walt hadn't either. She'd finally gotten a hold of them via the titan's comms and she found out on the way, that both those knuckle heads were on the ground, in the thick of it. And Phil had told her to help T'Shan. So that's what she was going to do. Even though her every instinct was to try and save her idiot boyfriend. He had no ring, he had no powers, no protection. Neither did Walt. But once she got here, she could see why Phil had sent her. She thought the reports had been exaggerated.

They had not.

She caught the cop car as he tossed it behind him and gently put it down. She had a brief moment of panic as she was torn on who to help first. The people below her in the crater he'd just come out of or the poor officers standing in his way. The emergency services crews were their for the people. She had to stop T'Shan from doing other things he would regret.

"Scion!" she shouted, flying over to land in front of him putting herself between him and the rest of the cops. "Stop! What are you doing?"

Scion continued to march on his way. With every step the cops, realizing what they were doing was not helping quickly ran for cover. Upon reaching the parked cop cars he kicked one and sent it rolling down the street. T'Shan was far from in his normal frame of mind. Sure he'd taken massive abuse before but nothing like this. Even the Berzerker hadn't hurt him like this, not physically at least. Sure he'd destroyed T'Shan emotionally and mentally but physically he'd never received a beating like that.

As Lydia landed in front of him he stopped briefly. His natural friendly instinct and even protective one was long gone. All he saw now before him was someone in his way trying to stop him. All he knew was Apocalypse was some distantce ahead of him and he was going to do whatever it took to get there and was willing to hurt and even kill anyone who might stop him. Right now that person was Lydia, someone he'd long considered a friend, or at least ever since they spent that time together in the future.

"Marvel in my way."

He said before swinging a powerful backhand at Lydia. There was a lot of power in that swing, enough that may even destroy the building behind his swing if someone didn't take it. T'Shan had no regard for anyone else, he simply wanted to get back to Central City and kill APocalypse, everyone else was just an obstacle in his way.

Ada had woken up with a start in a cold sweat despite the heat. At first she thought it had just been a nightmare, but it seemed so real; as if Bast were trying to tell her something. This dream had been terrible, like the others, but also different. She just knew her brother was in it, even though she couldn’t remember seeing him or hearing him. It was more like she could sense him, and something was very wrong.

Her hand slid to the side, but she was simply met with a warm, empty mattress and rumbled sheets. She’d meant to just brush it off as a dream, but @captain not being there made her sit up with a start, fully awake now. Where was he? She knew he’d fallen asleep beside her, and that he hadn’t been gone long, the sheets were still warm.

She slid out of bed, pulling a silk robe around her and making her way to the balcony. He wasn’t there either. Her robe billowed behind her as she walked through the double doors that led to the sitting room outside her bedroom, where all of this really started, the two of them. She sighed in relief when she found him there.

”Olly. What is going on. Where are you going?”

Just then, there was a knock on the bed room door. Ada opened it to one of the servants. ”Your Majesty...Mr. Madrox.” She handed the Queen her Avenger’s communication device. ”It just started going off.” She took it and looked back at Olly, emotions running over her face. ”Olivier, what is going on.”

Olly had been sound asleep after spending yet another crazy night with S'Fada. He was falling hard and fast for her. He liked it though. Neither of them were really the 'spooning' type, which was fine with him, especially here in Africa. But he was fine with his hand on her butt or holding her hand. But this current slumber had been interrupted by his communicator going off. He was able to shield it from her, mostly since it was in his hand and the vibration went through his bones. He quietly got up and went to answer it.

By time she came to get him he was dressing and coming in from the terrace where he'd just come back from. He was checking his weapons and preparing to go when she came to get him. He pretty much ignored the servant, even though he'd gotten to know them all pretty well.

"Give us a minute Mwanwawa and go prepare the Queen's suit."

He said before taking S'Fada's hand.

"Apocalypse and his Horsemen are attacking Central and Keystone Cities. T'Shan attacked Apocalypse before the other Avengers could arrive. It didn't go well, he's alive but somewhere outside Springfield, Illinois. It....it may be the Warrior's Madness. He's already killed four cops and he likely will kill more if we don't stop him. I have a plan but maybe you can talk him out of it. We leave in five."

He said before opening a portal nearby. He meant what he'd said too. He was leaving in five, with or without her. He needed to get there before SHIELD took action and S'Fada had to plan a funeral. Olly had his own plan, simple. Basically something where he can get T'Shan out of the picture. Either till he calms down or so SHIELD can't kill him.

Keystone and Central Cities were a 20 minute suborbital flight from the apartment Charlie and his family used as a base and embassy in New York City. He'd left Jamie swearing at her ship and hitting it with some tools while she tried to sweet talk it into rebuilding itself. While he was taking a flight around the block, Worldmind informed him that Apocalypse had launched an attack on the entire city.

30 seconds later, Charlie hit the edge of the atmosphere and dove back down in a parabolic course that would take him to the sister cities. Worldmind left his scanners active on the SHIELD and all other bands, scanning for information from the hero teams and coordinating as needed. The fact that Scion had been sent into nearby Springfield and that damage had been done to the helicarrier was concerning. The plan seemed simple enough. Since everyone was occupied, he'd head to Springfield and make sure that Scion was in fighting shape. Then he'd bring the demi-god with him as reinforcements.

Nova nudged his course with a gravimetric burst and adjusted so that he could head into Springfield. He put on a little extra speed and the atmosphere began to shimmer around him with heat. After a few moments at those speeds, he stopped completely, allowing himself to shed excess heat and speed above the city. The clouds and sudden thunder were not a good sign. He accessed his helmet HUD sensors and triangulated that with the emergency calls. His visor array locked on to the Asgardian and zoomed in. Scion was facing off against Captain Marvel? No. The scans indicated that this was Lydia. Not Carol. Though, it appeared she was rocking the same costume as her mother these days.

"Worldmind, I need a hundred percent. Shields and offensive systems, full gravimetric." Charlie felt the power of the Nova Force thrum through his suit. "Time to do something insanely stupid."

The Centurion flew down towards Lydia, pouring on the speed as he went towards the two heroes. He flipped over, feet first and released a negation pulse from his own inertial dampeners, dropping his speed to almost nothing as he hit the pavement and brought his right arm up to block the back hand, willing his shields to full. The inertial dampeners spread an energy field outward, in an attempt to diffuse enough of the blow to save buildings behind them. He'd done the trick once or twice in space to save other ships, but never on a planet before.

The impact rattled his teeth in their sockets. Charlie skidded back several feet as he tried to dig in. The more shocking fact was that fifty percent of his shield had just evaporated with a single blow and his HUD was displaying armor damage and minute fractures in his wrist. Clearly, his power profile on the Asgardian prince was a bit outdated. He really needed to come back to Earth more often.

"What in Blue Blazes are you doing, Marvel?" Nova gritted his teeth beneath the gold helmet. "You don't call, you don't write and then we end up running into each other at the end of the world. People could talk."