into the Nether Realm
After the events at the church it was very late, and the streets around beautiful Roxxon Plaza were virtually deserted.
When Matt Murdock and Marc Spector entered the lobby, they saw a security guard sitting behind a large console. After pressing a number of buttons and switches, he looked up and said, "Hello, Doctor Jones informed me to expect some unusual visitors. I guess you must be them. Doctor Jones is waiting for you on the 40th floor. You can take one of the elevators over there."
The guard pointed to a row of elevators along a wall. He pressed a button, and one set of elevator doors quietly opened. As they moved towards the elevator, the guard smirked "Have a nice visit!"
After a short ride in the elevator, the doors swished open. A mechanical voice from a speaker above them said, "40th floor. Offices and laboratories of Dr. Hiram Jones and assistants. Please watch your step."
Ahead of them was a reception area complete with a secretary's desk and chair, a plush sofa, and a variety of potted plants. No one was there.
Beyond the reception area and down a carpeted hallway were a set of beautiful oak doors. As they admired them, the doors suddenly slid apart, revealing a spacious office. Sitting at the end of a long table was Dr. Hiram Jones. He looked fresh and alert, certainly not as overworked as the first time they had seen him. His cheerful voice echoed down the hallway, "It is so nice to see you again. Please come into my office and make yourselves comfortable. We have much to discuss."
Daredevil used his extrasensory perception to determine that the office was not what it appeared to be to Moon Knight. There was some form of hologram illusion being displayed. But, it was too late and they had entered the office. The ornate doors slammed shut with a metallic clang, and Hiram Jones and all the furnishings vanished!
They found themselves standing standing in a high-tech lab. An exotic machine squatted in the middle of the room. Neither of them had ever seen anything like it before. In the center of it was a large hollow bowl, which was surrounded by tall pipes, computer consoles, and glass bubbles filled with swirling gases.
On a huge video screen hanging from the ceiling was the haggard face of Hiram Jones. Mournfully, he looked at them and said, "I am so sorry it had to come to this, but i am going to have to kill you. It is the only way.
"Don't you see? He'll murder my family if i don't kill you.
"I think your departure from this world will be quick and painless. Over the last few days I've managed to bring Cameron's project online. It's hard to say what the results will be. I wish Cameron were here, but he's with the Celestial One.
"Oh well, like my boss said, 'Project: TODE must be completed, Jones! Or I'll have your head on the chopping block!'
"Let's consider this a test, shall we? It's not murder. No, no, it's a dry run. 'Project: TODE must be completed, Jones!'"
With a nervous twitch tugging at his face, Hiram Jones threw a switch. The machine in front of them screamed to life! There was a thundering BOOM! A circle of utter darkness appeared in the bowl of the machine. The circle was a techno-magical gate to the Nether Realm, a horrible place where countless souls suffered an endless torment. Before the heroes could react, a Vortex comprised of mystical energy swirled up from the circle. It looked like a cyclone of black wind filled with a mass of writhing tentacles of pure eldritch energy. Only a portion of the vortex's immense bulk fit through the gate made by the machine. Most of the vortex remained on the other side of the gate, in the Nether Realm. The vortex attempted to entangle the heroes and drag them into the Nether Realm. Moon Knight was struck by a tendril of the vortex, and his body dropped heavily to the ground.
-
After passing through the black portal, Marc Spector's mind was assaulted by a jumble of past memories and fragmented dreams. Confused, he lost consciousness.
He then awoke to find himself standing in a circle of comfortable blue light, which protected him from the world around him.
The sky above was bright red, the color of flame. Black lightning slashed through the fiery atmosphere. As far as his eyes could see, massive pillars of black stone rose from the burning rocky ground.
Souls, tens of thousands of them, were chained to the towering monoliths. Gouts of flame spiraled up the stone columns. As one, the tormented souls screamed in agony, their lamentations echoed through his shaken mind like the melodies of madness.
Marc Spector recognised many of the souls nearest him-- Adolf Hitler shuddered in pain, along with Marquis de Sade after whom sadism was named. He also saw John Wilkes Booth, the presidential assassin of Abraham Lincoln, and Vlad Dracula, the vampire of legend.
One of the souls, who was wearing singed garments of the American Colonial period, met Marc Spector's gaze with glaring eyes. Through clenched teeth he screamed, "Don't you recognize me?! I am Bartholomew Jacobs! My deeds rank above those of any souls you see here, for it is through my genius that the Earth shall be destroyed!"
"Of course i recognize you, foul wizard! What do you mean, the Earth will be destroyed?" Marc asked.
"For many years i was chained next to a spirit who called itself the Celestial One. I told this being of my book, 'A Madman's Mutterings'. I am sure you may have even spoken to him while i was in possession of your body. "Recently, The Celestial One's spirit somehow escaped the Nether Realm. I am certain the Celestial one has returned to earth and has caused the turmoil that rocks the Nether Realm. By using my book, the Celestial One can open a huge gate between worlds, drawing the mystical energies of the nether realm into the earth's dimension. If this is achieved, the earth would be consumed, eventually becoming a replica of the nether realm."
"How can i stop this catastrophe?!" Marc asked.
"Even if i knew, i wouldnt tell you." Bartholomew spat.
Suddenly, Marc was shaken to the ground by a tremendous explosion. The very sky ripped asunder. Swirling gouts of fire twirled up the monoliths. The howls of the tormented became deafening. Though he could not see them, Marc could sense the presence of beings of immense power. They were very close.
A deep voice boomed above the din of shrieking spirits, "You see before you the souls of the most evil men to ever walk upon the surface of your planet. It is upon the vitality of their hatred which we feed. The energy is limitless. Can you imagine what the infinite evil would do to your world? We do not wish you or your living planet harm. What we desire is the return of one of the most potent souls to ever suffer in our realm. In your world, his name was… Fu-Manchu. Send his spirit to us and destroy the Arcane book. The ancient tome must be burned so that others may not use it to bridge dimensions. Let this be your final warning: if you fail to return Fu-Manchu and destroy the book, your soul shall take the place of his on the pillars of retribution! Now...begone from this place!"
-
There was a flash of blinding light. Marc's mind was a sea of confusion. He could not hold on. Consciousness slipped away.
He awoke in the place where his journey to the Nether Realm began -- the laboratory at Roxxon. Lying in a fetal position near the strange machine was Hiram Jones. He waa crying and gibberinf over and over "what have i done? What have i done?"
Hiram's troubled conscience had driven him to the point of insanity having seen what the machine had done to Marc. He had immediately shut it off and ran into the room. When he saw Marc was alive he was overjoyed.
-
"Why did you try to kill us?" Matt asked.
"My family will be killed by the Celestial One if i don't cooperate. I thought the Heroes For Hire meddling was a threat to my family. I don't want to anymore. I need help." Hiram explained.
"What are you being blackmailed to do?" Marc asked.
"I've been asked to supply technological equipment necessary for Cameron to continue his experiments. I was planning to take several large crates of equipment to a drop-off point tonight."
"What was that machines function?" Matt asked.
"It was created by Cameron Seaver as partnof Project: TODE. Tapping Other-Dimensional Energies. It is designed to draw and store energy from other dimensions. I've always suspected that Cameron had some kind of help, but now im thinking this Celestial One might have helped him build it." Hiram explicated.