Maximum Carnage, Year 2 Issue 15 - "Raicaak" by Justin Anderson Friday, April 22nd. 2:02 PM Jack finished putting away the new clothes he had bought. Shirts, socks, underwear, some pants.... just basic clothing. And a few spare black shirts and pants to go with his "official" clothing. He threw the packages away. He could set his new clock later. He opened the top drawer in his dresser. One final look. The heart pendant sat in one corner, the book of evil in the other. A wrapped cloth sat in the back, tacked down. The drug. A safe place, at least. General Peterson had given orders for no one to enter this room, so at least the Army and NSA weren't going to take it. He looked out the window to see a few vehicles pulling up. They were military. Jack bolted out of the room and down the stairs. He stood beside the couch. "Cletus....GET UP!" Cletus flipped the set off and got up. The door opened. A colonel and a few NSA agents entered. "So....Maximum Carnage. An honor" Cletus sat back down. "Where's the general? And Cletus.... pick up that bag of chips...." "The General is in Washington on a conference. I've been sent to pass this on" He handed Jack an envelope. He opened it. Pulling out the few papers, he looked over the photos. Murder victims. "They were killed in a salvage yard. Aurora, a small town 10 miles north of Rose Well. The manner of death can't be determined, and we can't find evidence of a murderer in the area. The General wanted you to investigate" "Cletus, get your stuff" "We brought a few supplies. We can leave immediately" Jack went up the flight of stairs to get his supplies. He put on his boots, coat, and gloves. Slipping on his shotgun belt, he reached in the closet for the weapon. He accidentally grabbed the sword and put it in his belt. Looking down, he grabbed the shotgun and slipped it in the loop beside the blade. He figures taking the sword couldn't exactly hurt. He had that bad feeling again. The one he had in Alt-World. 2:46 PM, Aurora, AR. Bill's Salvage Yard Jack walked around the area. Mangled, rusted car remnants, old refridgerators, and loads of junk. If someone was hiding out here, he would try to find whatever it was. One of these piles had to have a hollow space inside. And he had seen the pictures. Shredded flesh, resulting from something large. They looked like claw marks, but made no sense. Too big, too uneven. It had to be someone's sick idea of a joke. Cletus met up with him at the corner of one of the large piles. "Find anything?" "Not a thing, Jack...." A can fell off one of the nearby piles. Jack spun as it fell, expecting to see someone crawling out. Nothing. He turned around to his partner again, ready to split up and look more. But more debris started to fall from behind. Both men turned. They watched in awe as the pile stood. It had the shape of a large monster, down to the teeth, claws, and toes. But it was made of junk. Metal fragments, car parts, old cans, and small pieces of metal. Both men began to slowly back up as it moved forward. Cletus reached up and unclipped one of the grenades on his chest belt. He pulled the pin. "Jack....on my signal..." He tossed the grenade into the creature's stomach. "RUN!" They ran off as the grenade went off. Metal fragments flew everywhere, as the creature split and collapsed into several pieces. Jack walked over to inspect the pieces. Nothing odd about them at all. He looked up as a noise above distracted him. Another creature crawled out from the top of the large pile. "Cletus.....how many of these things are there?" He didn't have time to answer. The thing jumped down from the top of the pile of wreckage. Jack reached for his shotgun, but decided it probably wouldn't work. He grabbed the sword, hoping the fact it was a cursed blade of evil might have some impact. "That.....the sword...." Jack stepped back as he raised the sword. It was surprisingly light, despite the size. "It was you.....you imprisoned my king.....ENEMIES OF LORD DOMIENTIUS WILL BE DESTROYED!" Jack ran up and swung the weapon. It dug across the monster's chest, tearing pieces of steel away. The creature didn't flinch. "Jack! Move!" Jack jumped out of the way as Cletus pitched another grenade. The creature was torn apart, it's body falling apart. "Cletus....we either have a new set of creatures.....or one creature" 2:52 PM(4:52 Wash. DC time), Pentagon General Peterson sat at the large table. Terrorists had been attacking embassies in foreign nations, and his advice was requested. The severity wasn't enough to warrant his interference, but he could help in the matter. To be honest, he hated this meeting. It was boring. He secretly enjoyed it when his cell phone rang. "Pardon me a second, gentleman. Hello?......yes, I see.....right. Give me just a minute. Yes.....bye. Pardon me, gentleman. I have a matter to address. It will only take a minute" General Peterson stood and left the conference room. He walked towards an agent, who had been waiting on him. "Get the translation files on the Domientius books ready. Our team needs a little help" 3:08 PM Jack stood by the mobile receiving unit in the Jeep. The agents had set up outside of town in case they needed help. And right now, they needed nothing but help. The fax machine came to life as a stream of papers came through. The phone rang. It was the General. "Hello! Yeah, General....right now... let me look..." Jack picked up the first page. "Yes.... the description is about the same. Forming bodies from junk.... let's see.....Raicaak? Okay.....right. Did you find any weaknesses in the translations?.....read the papers, right.... all right, talk to you later... bye, General" Jack picked up the final paper as it came through the machine. "Cletus, get over here!" Jack ordered the papers as Cletus walked over to the Jeep. He had restocked on his grenades, in case. Jack thumbed through and read aloud. "Raicaak, the Possessor. Once part of the Armies of Domientius, his spirit was given new powers in death. Where he once had the power to take over another's mind and control them, he could now possess bodies. Inanimate forms, created from lifeless matter......" Jack skimmed the text until he found what he wanted. "Here we go..... the being has a weakness. He cannot leave a body unless it is destroyed. Immobilizing a body can trap him for as long as the body remains intact" "Well, Jack, we know how to stop this thing, and what it is. But just how are we going to turn it into a statue?" An agent, dressed in a brown suit, matching his short hair, walked up. "There may be one way. This town has a large recycling facility. They handle aluminum, paper, and glass. They have the means to melt down metal and glass. If....IF we can somehow get this....being into a body of glass or metal, we could try to pour a casing over it from one of the melting vats. It may dissolve his form just enough, so that when it hardens, he can't move" Jack looked over at his partner. "Uhh, agent.....how do you know all of this?" The agent pulled on the small chain around his neck. A small pendant fell put of his shirt. Cletus recognized the shape. "Hey....Jack, that's the same marking that old priest had on his robes" "But that would mean he's..." "Yes. I am part of the order of the Ancient Ones. Not even the NSA works on the highest level. And we fight a different form of crime than the government" "Oooooookay.....Cletus, we'll have to act as a distraction. I figure he may want the sword" "Right. Agent Smith and I will ready the recycling facility. We'll clear out the employees. I'll leave a marking on the floor in any pots where you need to get the being before I can make my move" "Right. Cletus, Agent Johnson, let's get to it!" 3:13 PM, Bill's Salvage Yard Jack and Cletus walked around. They figured Raicaak was still here, since there hadn't been any sign of trouble elsewhere. They would scout this entire town if necessary, though. But they wouldn't need to. A pile shook. Jack turned as it stood. "So..... the ones who captured my Lord. Well.... I will avenge Domientius. But I may offer you a chance. Hand over the sword, and I may spare you" Jack pulled the sword. "Big ugly piece of shit wants the sword. Should I hand it over Cletus?" "No, Jack. Make him come after it' "All right. Catch us, Raicaak, and you can have it!" They ran from the salvage yard, Raicaak running after them. They ran down the sidewalk, forcing themselves past pedestrians. Raicaak barreled down the street, stepping over moving cars as if they were soda cans. "Jack, how much further?" "The plant....is a mile.... just keep going!" They continued on, hoping they wouldn't be caught before they reached the facility. Minutes later, after the maze of streets, they saw it. A large facility. Outside sat piles of crushed glass and flattened cans. The employees had been cleared out by the two agents, despite protests by the plant manager. They stood outside the metal fence, waiting and watching. The two ran inside the front gate. They waited beside a pile of glass. Raicaak ran in and stood before them. If not for his desire to get his master's sword, he may have sniffed out a plan brewing. Too late. Cletus tossed a grenade into his torso, blasting him apart. Among the remaining pile of wreckage, Jack could see it. A near-invisible black cloud, rising into the air. It flew into the pile of glass, like he had hoped. The pile moved as part of it came to life. It was ten feet tall, and had a humanoid shape. The horns, sunken eyes, teeth, fingers, toes, all formed from the broken glass in an almost beautiful display. The two men ran in through the front double doors. Inside, they could see conveyor belts, fork lifts, and melting vats among the piles of paper, glass, and aluminum. A nearby vat sat atop several supports, a belt leading to the top. Jack saw a large red "X" marked on the floor under it. Jack ran to it, and past it, as bait. Cletus stood to the left of him. The creature entered. It moved slowly forward. Jack pulled a pistol and fired a few shots, the bullets reducing patches of the creature to glass dust, but Raicaak didn't feel the wounds. It moved forward, wondering why they were standing still. They had room to run. Then he saw it. The "X". A trap. These humans were smarter than once before, but they were still dumb. He moved towards Cletus instead. But he didn't notice one key piece to the trap. One Jack had seen. A small badge on the floor. Beside the "X", and in front of Cletus by several feet. As Raicaak stood above the badge, an explosion blasted apart the melting vat above. Both men ran as the cascade of molten glass rushed down. A wave hit Raicaak. He screamed as his body heated up. As the wave cleared, a vent above turned on, blasting cold air from the air conditioner downward. The molten glass cooled. It had not only formed a shell, but had also worked to melt a good portion of the creature while it was still warm. But it had now hardened to a degree that Raicaak could not move. He was trapped, and he knew it. As long as this shell was formed, he had no escape. Both men looked up from atop the pile of paper they had climbed on. The two agents left the control room near the conveyor belt. Agent Johnson looked down. "Back way! There's an exit!" 3:26 PM, recycling facility The crane carefully lifted the glass statue and set it on the back of the military truck. It was to be hauled off to a safe place, where it could not be touched. If it ever broke, the creature would escape. Maximum Carnage knew it. They didn't like fighting against the Armies of Domientius. They had hoped it was past them, and with this capture, they hoped it would not come back. The NSA didn't like the idea either. They weren't equipped to fight the undead. Jack was talking with Agent Johnson. "So....the Ancient Order is involved?" "Yes. Ever since Domientius was captured. General Peterson knows about us, but no one else does" "I'll keep it that way. By the way, what about Carnage? What will they do?" "They are storing him in the VCU in a Pentagon lab facility. He can't escape, and no one can get to him to free him. The most dangerous prisoner in the world deserves special attention, regardless of species" Right....well, don't hesitate to help us if more of these show up" He walked over to Cletus. "Jack, do you ever get the feeling we were born to fight spirits?" Jack sighed. "I hope not. Humans are so much easier." THE END Author's Notes: The town is fictitional. If there is an Aurora, AR, I don't know anything about it. It was named after a nearby town where I live in IN. Notes: Basically set in the Marvel Universe, I will be using a lot of my own continuity for this series, and generally focus on the main characters. Appearances by Marvel's universe will be special occurrences. Crossovers with characters/titles from other companies will be treated as "single universe", not as "2 universes crossing temporarily". I will also try to ignore major Marvel comic story arcs. Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and other Marvel characters are copyright Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. Other characters are either my creation(copyright myself), or copyright their specific owners if non- Marvel licensed characters. Characters used without permission/not for profit. These are strictly fan stories. Permission to reprint extends to placing this text, unaltered, elsewhere online. It may not be altered, and especially NOT TO BE SOLD, unless Marvel wishes to license this series from me.