Chapter 104: Issue 104: The Amazing Web Part 18
Now that he was home, Peter felt ready to take on the living planet. Of course, now that he carried a weapon powerful enough to slay Celestials, Peter's confidence was higher than it ever had been before.
He noticed MJ and the others still standing at the same spot and smiled as he waved, "You guys ready to kill a planet hell bent on absorbing everything in the universe?"
"That was fast," Tony smirked.
"For you, I spent almost 2 years making what I needed to take this thing down."
"You spent two years there?" MJ frowned.
"Yeah, it was laborious, but I'm ready," Peter nodded his head before looking towards the Guardians of the Galaxy, "Mantis, I'm going to put you back where you were before I left. We need to make sure that Ego doesn't catch on to our plan."
Mantis nodded her head before she was teleported into the temporal lock. Peter then shut the machine down as he called out, "Hey, J'son. We're ready to go to this place you're talking about."
"And my son?"
"I'll go with," Quill spoke up.
"Then we're going with him," The Guardians and the Avengers stood by his side.
"What do we do with Yondu?" Drax whispered.
"I'll figure something out," Peter replied.
"I am Groot."
"That is a good idea, Yondu can baby sit," MJ said with a smile.
"Alright! When do we leave? Do you have anything you need to grab? Bathroom breaks?" J'son asked.
"I think we're good," MJ scratched the side of her head.
Peter looked around, "Anyone need to use the bathroom?"
"I do!" Scott replied before they all gave him a funny look.
"Bathroom, that way," Peter pointed to a nearby building.
"Thanks!"
Peter went ahead and made Yondu take care of baby-groot while Scott took care of business. After he got back, they all boarded the Milano and took off into the stars. While they followed J'son, he went to bed with Mantis' help and he was none the wiser to what was going on in the ship behind him.
Peter passed out a helmet that would turn invisible when needed.
"What's this for?" Magneto asked.
"Put it on now and keep it one when we arrive at the planet. The plan is simple, while you guys stall for time, MJ, Wasp, Scott, and I will head into the core of the planet. There is a nucleus that we need to destroy in order to kill Ego." Peter created an image of the planet.
"Whoa, that's a big face," Tony looked at the image with interest.
"A living planet, how interesting," Charles rubbed his chin.
"Where is the target?" Magneto asked.
"We have a plan, right?" Scarlet Witch asked.
"The plan is, we shrink down and let Quicksliver take us to the center of the planet without Ego catching on to us. This guy is capable of reality breaking feats, so I'd rather it not turn into a direct confrontation. Star-Lord, that's where you come in."
"What do I have to do?"
"I need you to listen to him, play along and keep his attention on you. When we can leave, we'll head straight towards the target. However, he has a defense system, kind of like anti-bodies," Peter pointed to those he mentioned earlier, "I need you all to help me clear a line to the nucleus."
"Can't we just portal in?" MJ asked.
"No, he has several defenses up. This guy is pretty much a god, so the usual methods don't work. However, he'll be preoccupied with trying to get Quill on board with his plan. That's our best chance at ending this in one fell stroke."
"I assume you have something that can kill this…god?" Charles asked.
"I do, but I don't want to reveal it until I get close enough to use it," Peter nodded his head.
"Then these helemts are for?" Quicksilver spun said helmet on his finger.
"It's so you don't breathe in the pollen of the planet. I'm not kidding when I say that everything on the planet is part of Ego's body. The plants, the air, and the land, all of it is under his control. You breathe it in, and he can basically jack your body from you."
Pietro stopped spinning the headgear he was given and held it with a bit more urgancey.
"Alright, we'll follow your lead, Peter," Tony backed him up.
"So, how long do you think this'll take?" Wasp spoke with a curious expression.
"A couple of hours until we arrive, maybe a day before he tries to coax Quill into his plan…but this is just a guess. I can't see the future, only the past."
"What good is that?" Quill asked.
"It allows me to tell you what kind of person Ego is. He's overconfident, pridful, and won't see us as a threat. However, that'll give us the chance to kill in him. He sees as ants, so let's behave like them," Peter looked at Scott.
"Ooh…I get it. Yeah, I think we can do it. If we have Quicksilver cary us, we can probably sneak past all his guards," Ant-Man replied.
"We can definitely pull it off, but we don't have any spare suits," Wasp replied.
"I'll take care of that too," Peter said as he gave Quicksilver a copy of Webster.
"Holy crap! I'm practically bursting with energy!" Pietro called out as he rushed around the room a few times.
Peter shook his head and said, "Helmets on."
They all did so and waited. During that time, Tony was busy scaniing everything he could get his eyes on, Pietro was chatting with Scott and Janet, MJ and Peter watched the stars pass by outside the window, Rocket looked for stuff to snag, Groot did his best to stop him, Gamora stayed by Quill and tried to keep him calm, Charles and Erik played chess, Wanda practiced her magic while occasionally answering Steve's questions about said magic, and Drax ate a bag of chips.
When they finally arrived, they saw the massive planet and entered the atmosphere, they all gasped at its beauty. As psychotic as Ego was, he had an eye for design.
They landed next to the Ego's ship before a platform suddenly detached from it.
"Come on. I'll give you the tour," Ego declaired as he smiled.
The group looked to Peter. He nodded and jumped up on to the platform before the rest joined him.
"So, are you the leader of Earth or something?"
"Why would you ask that?" Peter looked to Quill.
"I see how the others look at, even my kid. They respect you, I'd even go so far as to say that they revere you," Ego replied.
"No, I'm just a high ranking member of our planet's greatest heroes," Peter replied while hiding his disgust for the being in front of him.
"I see. Don't remember many of them when I was back on Earth in 79. Mutants, huh? Quite strange if you ask me."
"No stranger than…what are you exactly? You're genetic sequence is that of a species called Spartaxians, but it's also something completely different at the same time."
"I'm what's known as a Celestial," Ego bragged, "I just liked the Spartaxian body and chose it as my image."
"Right…" Quill said with a bit of spite in his voice, "Aren't Celestials supposed to be like giants or something? I mean, we've been Knowhere, and you look nothing like that."
Gamora hit in the rib and said, "What he's trying to say is that you're not what we're expecting."
"Oh, that's because I'm a different breed altogether. I'm a newer generation Celestial, not an ancient one. I mean, come on, you don't see me finding it weird that your don't look like apes. Except for that triangle faced monkey, I still haven't figured out what he is."
"A raccoon is closer to being a bear, wolf, or cat. They're part of the procyonid genus," Peter lifted a brow.
"Not very smart for a Celestial," Quill chuckled before Gamora stopped on his foot.
"Will you cut that out?" Quill shouted in hushed tones.
"You first," Gamora huffed.
"Is something wrong?" Ego asked.
"A lovers spat," MJ smirked and did her best to cover up for Quill.
"Oh…so you're my son's mate? You have good taste, Peter."
"Thanks," Peter and and Peter said at the same time.
"Seriously?" Quill lifted a brow.
"Sorry, couldn't help it," Peter laughed.
"You didn't deny it that time," Drax smirked at Gamora.
"Shut up."
"Hah! I'm glad Mary Jane managed to put photo-function on my suit. The look on your face was priceless!" Rocket teased.
"I am Groot,"
"I know right? She blushed!"
"She did?" Quill looked over.
"Anyways, nice planet you got here," Tony spoke up.
"Aw…it's not that impressive. It's only about the size of the Earth's moon."
"Does he ever stop bragging," Wanda sent a telepathic message to her brother.
"His name is Ego, sis," Quicksilver thought back as he leaned against the railing.
"I'd love to catalog all the flora on the planet," Charles spoke up, "I wonder if any of it can be used for medicine."
"Oh, there are plenty of interesting species on my little rock I call home," Ego added as the platform started moving.
"Any rare ore?" Rocket asked.
"I have that too," Ego replied with a smirk.
"This place is quite beautiful," MJ said as she peered out into the vast terrain of greenery.
"Shame about the owner though," Peter thought before he said, "Yeah, it really is something."
They stopped at the tour at a massive looking castle-like structure. There were fountains with strange fish swimming through the water currents, multiple sections or the buildings that overlooked the landscape, materials that were completely unknown to most of the universe, and various pieces of technology that they had never seen before.
He led them inside and a massive hall with beautiful and alien architecture. They all showed signs of wonder and amazement as he held his hands out and said, "Welcome to my house."
Ego turned to his son-not-son and showed the capsule containing images of his early years. One was of a brain that that started to light up.
"You see, I don't know where it was that I came from. My first memory was me flickering, adrift through the cosmos, utterly, and entirely alone. Over millions of years, I learned to control the molecules around me."
The image showed a planet forming around the brain.
"I grew smarter and stronger. Then, I continued building from there. Layer, by layer, the very planet you walk on now."
"Whoa," Quicksilver spoke up as he watched the image forming the planet.
"But I wanted more…I desired meaning," Ego started walking away, "I always thought, there had to be something out there, some kind of intelligent life in the universe besides just me."
He led them to another viewing pod, "And so, I set myself to the task of finding it. However, little did I know, it would find me first."
The image showed a ship making an emergency landing on the planet's surface. A member of the Spartaxian race landed here and I studied his biology. When he left, I recreated the body to suit my current image."
The 3-d image showed a body being built from energy alone.
"Did you make a penis?" Drax asked.
"Dude!" Quill turned around with an annoyed expression.
"What is wrong with you?" Gamora added.
Peter just laughed. He knew that Drax was gullible and probably figured that he thought that Ego was telling the truth or didn't completely pay attention when he explained the living planet's history.
"If he's a planet, how could he make a baby with your mother? He would smush her."
Tony started laughing as well while he leaned into his Peter to stop himself from falling over.
"Yes, Drax. I have a penis," Ego answered.
"Hah! Thank you,"
"And it's not half bad…I also made pain receptor, organs, digestive track, and all the junk that comes with it. I wanted to experience what it truly meant to be mortal as I set out amongst the stars."
Ego walked in front of another projection device, "After many years of searching the vastness of space, I had found what I was searching for, intelligent life. There was so much of it that it was almost blinding."
It showed the image of a bubble-gum pink skinned girl holding a stuffed animal.
"I was no longer alone."
"When did you meet Quill's mother? I would love to hear how you conceived him. I sure one as old as you has much wisdom to share on the matter," Drax asked with a curious expression.
"Dude!" Gamora, Rocket, and a few others in the group shouted in unison.
"Okay, big guy, we're going to have to talk about public and private information," Rocket groaned.
"You humans are so weird," Drax shrugged his shoulders.
"Meredith…ahhh…sweet Meredith…it was with your mother than I first experienced love, I…called her my river-lilly."
The new image appeared of J'son holding and kissing her before it started removing her clothing. Quill's eyes widened in horror while Drax looked on in interest. Quill used his boosters to fly in front of the image.
"Not funny, look away, damn it! And would you quit?! Drax stop! You don't need to see this! None of you need to this! I don't need to see this!"
Ego chuckled a few times and skipped the image forward to showing a pregnant Meredith.
"From that union, you were born…I have searched for you for so long…and when I heard of the hero Star-Lord going by the name of Peter Quill, I knew I had found you," Ego sighed, "Follow me, I want to show you something."
The living planet possing the body of J'son started to lead him away when he turned to the group and said, "I just need a minute with him."
Quill gave a worried look as he looked to Peter. In turn, Spider-Man sent a telepathic message, "Don't worry. Just treat him as your actual father. Ego is probably using his memories and speaking through him anyways. Just try and talk to him as if he were in control."
Peter sat back at the top of the massive compound with MJ while Quill let Ego show him how to use the powers contained within his Celestial Blood. It took all of Star-Lord's willpower to play along, but eventually, he got into the hang of things, actually treating Ego as if he were his father.
Tony was off with Magneto exploring the planet and it's strange technology. Charles studed the plants and environment with Janet, and Scott chilled with Mantis, Gamora, and Drax.
They all bid their time until the moment Peter was waiting for came. They spent most of the night just waisting time and learning what they could from the planet when it finally happened.
Ego attempted to connect with Quill in order to activate the countless spores he has scattered across the universe. However, the moment he tried to create a mental pathway between the father and son, he fell for Peter's trap card.
The helmet he gave Quill trapped him in an illusion that made him think the plan was working.
While he laughed like a lunatic, and completely believed that he had won the day, the Avengers were inacting their plan.
"Uh…how long is he going to be like this?" Quill asked.
"Don't know, prepare for the worst," Peter said as he looked to Quicksilver, "Peitro, you're up."
"Got it!" The Speedster replied as he and the others shrunk down.
They made sure that Ant-Man, Wasp, MJ, and Peter shrank down to a quarter of the size Quicksilver was at and jumped in his hands.
He took off in a flash of speed that couldn't be seen while Wanda started drawing a magic circle around J'son.
"What are you doing?" Quill asked.
"He said prepare for the worst. Figure I'd make a powerful explosive if he wakes up."
"That's my dad's body."
"Okay then, maybe a containment-spell instead?"
"Thank you," Quill said.
"I thought the explosive was a good idea," Drax spoke up.
"Dude," Rocket gave him a 'WTF' expression.
Drax tilted his head with a confused expression, "I thought you liked explosives?"
"What if that was your dad?" Tony asked.
"Impossible, my father wouldn't be dumb enough to be caught in a trap like this."
"I am Groot."
"How am I insensitive? I have very sensitive skin."
"Is he always like this?" Erik asked.
"Always," Rocket groaned as he slapped his forehead.
The secondary team was rushing through the tunnles that led deep into the surface of the planet.
The stopped in front of series winding caves that confused Quicksilver, "The hell is this place?"
"It's the neural network of a Celestial. It's just been hollowed out after years of decay. It's practically a maze." Peter responded.
"I see why you needed me, alright, let's see how good my luck is," The speedster dashed off and started running through thousands upon thousands of tunnels.
While the Quicksilver passed through the pathways, they came across dozens of anti-body creatures. Luckily for them, they were too fast and too small to be noticed. However, all of that was about to change.
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