Moonfall

The sky tore open as Elijah grabbed Maxwell by the hair, snarling like an animal. The Earth curved beneath them, shrinking rapidly as Elijah rocketed through the stars with Marvelo-Man clutched in his grip like prey.

Then—

Impact.

Maxwell's body slammed into the surface of the moon, carving a crater miles wide. Dust and rock shot into the void like ash from a volcano. Silence followed. Utter, suffocating silence.

Maxwell tried to rise.

Elijah landed beside him with a cosmic boom.

Then the pummeling began.

Fist after fist, hammering Maxwell into the lunar surface, deeper and deeper. Cracks webbed out around them. Maxwell's red-and-yellow suit was shredded. His cheek split open. One eye swelled shut.

"I'm what you made me!" Elijah screamed into the vacuum, his voice echoing in both their minds through the lingering neural link. "You left me! You watched me die in that place!"

Maxwell didn't scream.

He took it.

Blow after blow.

Blood floated upward in slow, crimson spheres.

And still, he took it.

Until he didn't.

Maxwell's hand shot up.

Caught Elijah's fist.

Stopped it.

Slowly, he rose, muscles trembling, eyes blazing with defiance.

"You're not a god," Maxwell said quietly. "You're just hurt. And you want the world to bleed with you."

Then he hit back.

A single punch—straight into Elijah's ribs.

A sonic quake shook the moon.

Elijah staggered back, shocked.

Another punch. This time to the jaw.

Elijah flew backward, skipping across the crater like a stone.

Maxwell stood tall now, blood dripping from his mouth, fists clenched, lungs aching.

But still standing.

"Let's end this," he said.

Elijah rose in the distance.

Their shadows stretched long across the lunar dust.

And above them, the Earth watched silently.