Inhumans #4 (of 6)

APRIL 2002 - #4

Grodd the Mighty!
by Bob Young
editors: Black Condor and Chip Caroon

Shackled and barely conscious, the royal Inhumans Triton and Gorgon were helpless as the simian servants of Grodd raised their daggers to sacrifice them as a part of Grodd's marriage to Medusa. The reluctant bride herself, the queen of Attilan, was on the floor, weak from Grodd's stun gun, unable to do anything but watch as her friends were put to death. All the while, Grodd, conqueror of the Great Refuge watched with excited glee. Once the sacrifice was done, the wedding could be completed and he could have his first night of wedded bliss with Medusa.

But before the sacrifices could be made, an alarm sounded. Grodd grimaced.

"That's the alarm for my subterranean tunnel," Grodd said. "Only one other person knows of it aside from me . . . Solivar!"

Solivar had gotten into the Great Refuge unseen and - he believed - undetected. He was here to convince his simian brethren to rebel against Grodd. Once he left the tunnel, his keen sense of smell led him right to the barracks where most of the gorillas were.

"Brothers and sisters," he yelled. The other apes were all confused. Who was this? All the Inhumans were locked up, and they knew of no other intelligent apes. He bore a passing resemblance to Grodd except for the white hair around his face. Even their voices were similar, although Solivar's wasn't as cold and harsh as Grodd's. Whoever this ape was, he had their attention.

"Listen to me, family," he said. "You must heed my words. My name is Solivar, and I am, in many respects, your father!"

The apes were skeptical of this revelation. Solivar went on to explain that he was the good side of Grodd, and that Grodd was now the embodiment of all that was evil in him. The simian army wasn't sure whether or not to believe this. He did look quite a lot like Grodd. And there had been rumors in the old city of a mysterious twin being held captive in Grodd's tower.

"Grodd is incapable of caring about you," Solivar said. "He has no loyalty to anyone but himself. He has been using you. Think about all that's happened to you since you were born. You've been trained as soldiers to fight people who are not your enemy. You had a nice city of your own. Why did Grodd want you to fight the Inhumans? They made no aggressive moves against you. Grodd is using you to settle his personal vendettas. He would willingly sacrifice you if it suited his purposes. You cannot allow your gratitude to him for creating you dictate your entire lives. Under Grodd you will exist but you will not live! Leave him. Leave this city. Go back to the old city! Please, I implore you!"

The apes considered not only his words but the earnestness in which he spoke them. He made many good points. Why were they fighting the Inhumans? All they had known since birth is training and fighting? Was this all there was to expect under Grodd? Was there nothing more?

"Don't listen to that traitor!" a familiar voice said.

Grodd had arrived, accompanied by the Red Ghost and his three super apes. "Don't let that treacherous villain deceive you!" Grodd yelled. "He wants to turn you against your father - me! He wants to destroy you!"

"For what reason?" Solivar asked. "Why should I want to hurt them? I only want them to think for themselves."

"Liar!" Grodd roared. "You want to destroy me and rule my children! But it won't work!" Grodd looked to his ape army. "Kill this lying cretin!"

"Why force them to fight?" Solivar said. "Do your own dastardly work. Fight me!"

Grodd looked again at his army. "Kill him!"

Some of the apes started to move but some hesitated. When the rest saw that their brothers and sisters were reluctant, they also stopped. The ape army refused to attack.

"How dare you disobey me?!" Grodd bellowed. "I am your master! Do as I command or be punished!"

Too late, Grodd realized he'd said the wrong thing. He'd just convinced them of what Solivar had said. He was losing control of them!

"Fight me, Grodd!" Solivar said. "Just you and I! If you win, I'll leave and you'll never have to hear from me again. But if I win, you give our brother apes the freedom to do as they wish."

Grodd couldn't refuse. If he backed down, it would be an act of cowardice that would destroy whatever credibility he had left. But if he could beat Solivar, maybe he could reclaim his authority.

"Very well, Solivar," Grodd said. "I fight for my beloved children. I will save them from your efforts to turn us against each other. Come, brother! To the victor . . . everything!"

Solivar and Grodd clashed in a savage battle. Despite their vast intelligence, this fight was brutal and primal!

Unaware of these events, a gorilla was guarding the lantern in which Halo was imprisoned. With an ape's sense of smell, he could normally smell the approach of a human . . . but not a human who's skin was like diamond. The Blue Diamond's skin was not only as hard as diamonds, it had no scent either. Blue Diamond crept up on the ape. The guard heard him, turned and fired a shot at the human. The shot had little effect on his dense skin. Blue Diamond punched the ape, who fell unconscious. Then the Blue Diamond grabbed the lantern and smashed it. A flash of light appeared and formed into the pretty, young Inhuman named Halo.

"By great Omega!" she said. "That was horrible. It was so claustrophobic, so dark and lonely! Thank you, Diamond."

"I owed you one," Blue Diamond answered. "And now we free your family. We'll need all the help we can get against Grodd and the Red Ghost and all those apes."

"I have an idea where we can get some extra power from," Halo said. "You free the royal family and I'll add some force to our cause."

Solivar was getting the better of Grodd. Ivan Krakoff, the Red Ghost, was getting nervous. If Grodd fell and the ape army deserted Attilan, then this whole thing would fall apart. He had to do something to turn the tide.

At the Red Ghost's command, his shape-shifting baboon turned itself into a spiked, metal club. "Grodd!" the Ghost yelled, and tossed the club. Grodd caught it and struck Solivar with it. Dazed, Solivar was unable to avoid the next half dozen blows from the club. Solivar fell!

The ape army didn't like this. They stared angrily at Grodd for his cowardice and deviousness.

"I don't like the way they're looking at us," Red Ghost said.

"You're right," Grodd said, "They have become unreliable. Fortunately, I've planned for all eventualities. Code Zeta-Q . . . Sleep!"

Suddenly, all the apes dropped to the ground, asleep. Grodd smiled. "A subconscious command I programmed into their brains when I created them. They'll sleep for at least eight hours."

"We needed them," Red Ghost said.

"Nonsense!" Grodd countered. "The royal family is locked up safely. The masses don't know that the ape army is incapacitated, and even when they figure it out, they are afraid of Titano and your three super-apes. And I plan to build a platoon of mechanoid sentries to guard them. They won't give us any trouble. And your foe, the Blue Diamond, is quite dead, as is my hated brother Black Bolt. And the last obstacle, Solivar, is in my power. We have no one left to fear. We don't need the ape army any longer. We've won! Now go and finish the Dark Energy Field, while I return to the castle. There are still some ape guards who are unaware of what has happened here. Once they do, they'll be slightly miffed. I must attend to them! Trust me, Krakoff. I leave nothing to chance. We've won!"

In the throne room, Medusa was being guarded by a squad of apes who didn't know what had happened between Grodd and the other simian soldiers. Grodd returned.

"Medusa, my dear, we must postpone out nuptials," Grodd said. "I'm so sorry."

"I'll endure the disappointment," she said.

Grodd smiled. He grabbed the stun gun again and zapped Medusa. She dropped, unmoving. Then Grodd looked at his remaining guards. "Code Zeta-Q . . . Sleep!"

The guards slept. Grodd chuckled. "It's just too easy."

He turned and headed for the lab to see how the Red Ghost was proceeding on the Dark Energy Field.

Halo appeared in the chamber of royal artifacts. She focused on one particular piece . . . the Omega stone. The stone had the ability to gather and store spiritual energy and turn it into kinetic energy. Great Omega had used it long ago. And Black Bolt himself had once used it. He absorbed his subjects belief in him into the stone and used that massive energy to blast out a section of the mountain for expanding the city. The stone could save them now, but it required a risk.

She intended to do what no one had ever done before - draw the awesome energy of the stone into herself. In her light form, she believed she could do it. She hoped!

She touched the stone and concentrated. As has been done before, she used the populations belief in Black Bolt to empower the stone. Never before had the Inhumans prayed so for the return of their king, and never before had the Omega stone had so much energy to absorb. Halo began to absorb the power of the stone.

But then her plans went awry. Grodd had to pass nearby the artifact room to get to the lab. He saw the bright lights down the hall and went to investigate. He saw Halo near the stone, in her light form, and realized what she was doing.

He also realized what an opportunity fate had given him. Rushing to the lab, he grabbed the Ener-Rod, which was originally created to harness lightning to power machines. Grodd had experimented which it as a proto-type of the device he used to turn energy into power for Titano. He wasn't sure what effect the Ener-Rod would have on himself if he used it, but he was willing to take the risk. Rarely does fate offer you a chance like this. so whatever the risk, he had to try!

Back in the artifact chamber, Halo had almost absorbed all the energy of the stone! She had become immense and luminescent! She felt glorious, and powerful enough to defeat anyone!

Then it all went wrong! Grodd jabbed the Ener-Rod into her light form. She screamed as the intense energy was quickly and suddenly drained from her.

The incredible power flowed into the body of Grodd! The Ener-Rod did its job. It converted the stolen energy into something that could be absorbed by the human body. He never felt anything like this before. Power, true power!

Halo collapsed to the floor, having reverted to her solid form. She looked up weakly and saw, with horror, the tragic mistake she had made.

Grodd had doubled in size, and his fur had turned golden. His eyes glowed and he was surrounded by an aura. He laughed with intoxicated glee.

"Yes!" he yelled. "I now have real power! The power to crush all my enemies! Power that sets me among the Gods! Now no one dare resist the will of Grodd the mighty!!"

Halo cried.

Crystal sat in her cell, still in a state of despair. Then the door crashed open and in came the Blue Diamond.

"Hi," he said. "Miss me?"

Crystal stared speechless for a moment. She'd believed he was dead. But here he was. Alive and well. And he had rescued her.

"David!" she shouted, and ran over to him. Before he could say another word, she threw her arms around him and gave him a passionate kiss. Blue Diamond was in his glory. She did love him, just as much as he loved her.

"Thank Omega you're alive!" she said.

"When you're in danger, nothing can keep me away," he answered. "I'll never stop until you're safe."

Crystal wiped a tear away. "What about the rest of my family?"

"Halo is fine, she's planning something now. The others are locked up, but they're alive. We'll free them next."

"What about Black Bolt?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know."

Black Bolt was still laying on the table in the old city. He was sleeping off his injuries, as Solivar's ray healed him. Soon, he'd be as good as new. But would he be in time?

The Red Ghost had almost finished the Dark Energy Shield. Once it was done, nothing could enter the Great Refuge unless he or Grodd permitted it. This would be the perfect home-away-from-home, when he needed to operate outside the USSR. An impenetrable sanctuary. He smiled at his handiwork. As Ivan Krakoff, he was one of the greatest scientists in the field of space exploration and in the study of new energy. This was a masterpiece. If this worked, he could try and repeat it for his Soviet superiors. Russia could use a weapon like this.

Grodd entered, still elated from his metamorphosis. The Red Ghost's jaw dropped.

"What . . . what happened to you?"

"I've ascended!" Grodd said gleefully. "I have reached my destiny of greatness!"

"I . . . I see," Krakoff said. "Well, uh, I've almost completed the dark shield. We can activate it in . . . "

"Not yet!" Grodd said. "Not just yet. Now that I have this power, my biggest regret is that I never got the chance to personally destroy my fool of a brother. It's not very likely that he's still alive, but if he is, sooner or later he'll return. And when he does, I can crush him with my bare hands as I've always wanted to do!"

Crystal and the Blue Diamond had freed Gorgon, Triton and Dubbilex. Gorgon had remarkable recuperative powers and had almost recovered from his torture. Triton just needed some water to build his strength up. Now, the five of them were freeing ZZZaxx. He was still large, but smaller than usual. His electrical energy was at a low ebb. It didn't sparkle and crackle as much as usual. ZZZaxx was unsteady on his feet.

"Can you walk, ZZZaxx?" Crystal asked.

"ZZZaxx walkzzz," he answered weakly.

"We need to get him some power," Triton said.

"I have an idea about that," Blue Diamond said.

"And then," Gorgon growled. "Then we crush the tyrant!"

Halo came staggering into view. She collapsed into Triton's arms.

Barely audible, she said, "I . . . I've made a terrible mistake!"

Medusa was confined to her chambers. She didn't know that there were no guards outside, but even if she did, there was still Grodd's force-field wall to deal with. She sat and hoped that somehow Black Bolt was still alive and would come to the rescue.

Grodd entered the chamber. Medusa gasped at his change.

"Yes," Grodd said., "Quite an improvement, eh? Sorry to disturb you, but I just came to see if our royal cousins were here."

"They escaped?" Medusa asked hopefully.

Grodd nodded. "Their cells are empty. But don't be too excited. I am power incarnate now! Soon they'll come for me and I'll squash them! I think I'll go outside and make myself more visible. That might encourage them to attack sooner. I'm so looking forward to slaying them all. And I want my queen at my side as I do so. Come with me, my dear. I want you to see this."

Medusa tried to use her living locks against Grodd. Her hair snaked forward. Grodd pointed at her and let out a small beam of energy. It chopped off a lock of her hair. "Don't make me use my power against you, my sweet. I'd regret having to kill you."

Halo had recovered a bit of her strength and the six royal family members, along with Blue Diamond, raced through the city square, intending to release the populace of Attilan and use them as an army to help overcome Grodd, the Red Ghost, his super Apes and Titano. They weren't sure what the level of Grodd's new power was but it was bound to be formidable.

"I'm trying to locate Black Bolt's mind," Dubbilex said. "I can't detect him yet. He may be unconscious. I'll try to expand my search to the subconscious level."

The Red Ghost saw them crossing the square from a window. He signaled for his super-apes to follow him out.

The Red Ghost and his three apes cut the royals off before they reached their goal. "Hello, Blue Diamond, my good friend!" he said, mockingly.

"Krakoff!" Blue Diamond hissed. "I've been waiting for a chance to get my hands on you!"

The Red Ghost smiled. "You'll have to get through my servants first." He looked to his apes. "Destroy!"

The three super apes attacked the royals and the Blue Diamond.

Grodd stepped out of the royal palace, dragging Medusa along with him. "Ah. A fight. This should be entertaining. The Red Ghost has been of great assistance. Maybe I should let him have the glory of the kill."

The shadow of the monsterous Titano covered the square. "There you are, Titano!" Grodd said, "Go, help our friends destroy our enemies!"

Titano grunted and went to help the Red Ghost. ZZZaxx saw the giant coming, and, despite his weakness, moved to meet Titano. Crystal tried to stop him, but couldn't. ZZZaxx and Titano hooked up, intent on destroying each other. But Titano stood at sixty feet, and at the peak of his strength. No one believed that ZZZaxx had a chance.

Medusa watched in fear. Grodd was having fun. "If the Red Ghost and the apes win, I get the pleasure of watching my pitiful family and that stupid human die! And if the Red Ghost loses, the exhausted nobles will have to face my awesome power. And that is a battle they can not win! They are as good as dead!"

Next issue: The royal family of Attilan fights hopeless odds to free their home from Grodd, who now has the power to destroy them! Will Black Bolt recover in time?