Grodd pointed at Black Bolt and released a surge of the energy that he now possessed. The energy struck Black Bolt, who was knocked backwards. He staggered stunned. Grodd lunched a volley of bolts of energy at his brother. Black Bolt came to his senses just in time to evade the attack. The ornament on Black Bolt's forehead glowed and he fired his own ray of power. Grodd was struck and fell stunned. Black Bolt dived at Grodd and tackled him. Black Bolt grabbed Grodd by the throat and throttled him. Grodd gasped and, in a panic, released a wave of energy that threw Black Bolt off of him. Black Bolt was only disoriented for a moment. He swooped through the air and made himself a difficult target for Grodd to hit.

Grodd didn't like the fact that Black Bolt had an aerial advantage. With his deepest concentration, Grodd caused the energy of his body to propel him away from the polarity of the Earth. Grodd levitated off the ground. He floated in front of Black Bolt, both fifty feet in the air.

"Now that we are on equal footing, good brother," Grodd said, "shall we begin again?"

The two royals clashed again.

Nearby, Blue Diamond had recovered from the beating that Grodd had given him. Most of the Royal family was still unconscious. He looked up and saw Grodd fighting Black Bolt in the air. He looked around for Crystal. He found her, alive but down for the count. He stroked her hair. "So beautiful."

The Blue Diamond heard a groan. He found Solivar laying nearby. Blue Diamond kneeled down next to him.

"Are you badly hurt?" he asked the simian.

"I believe I am," Solivar said. "But that will not keep me from doing what I must?"

With some help from the Blue Diamond, Solivar managed to stand. They both stared up at the struggle between sovereigns.

"What can we do to help Black Bolt?" Blue Diamond asked.

"I'm not certain," Solivar answered.

Solivar looked around and saw the remains of the gorilla army asleep on the ground, as a result of Grodd's preconditioned response programming. "I must wake them up again," he said, putting his whistle to his mouth, hoping it would wake them as it did before.

"You forget," Grodd said, "I have the savagery of an ape, as well as my great genius."

Something occurred to Black Bolt at that moment. Something that could save them all.

"We can't just stand here!" Blue Diamond said. "I think we should . . . "

"Wait!" Solivar said, pointing. "Look!"

In the distance, they saw the Red Ghost and two of his super apes escaping through the hole in the outer wall of the city.

"We can't let him get away!" Blue Diamond said.

"I concur!" Solivar said. "Let's apprehend him!"

Black Bolt evaded Grodd's latest attack and then signaled for Grodd to come after him. Grodd was shocked and enraged by this show of bravado on Black Bolt's part. Grodd willed himself to levitate upwards, closing in on Black Bolt.

Black Bolt suppressed a smile and flew upwards. What he needed to do, he couldn't do in the city, least he destroy it. Upwards he flew. Grodd willed himself to levitate higher and faster, staying close behind Black Bolt. They vanished into the clouds.

"Hey comrade!" said a familiar voice. "I'm selling hammers and sickles. Can I put you down for a set?"

Blue Diamond, Solivar, and the army of gorillas had caught up with Krakoff and his simian servants.

Red Ghost sneered. "Get them!" he said to his apes.

But his two apes were still groggy from what had befallen them earlier, and they were badly outnumbered by the ape army. They tried to fight as best they could.

Meanwhile, the Red Ghost was left alone with the Blue Diamond.

"Just you and me now, Krakoff!" Blue Diamond said.

Ivan Krakoff backed away, knowing that his powers of intangibility were useless against the Blue Diamond, the only being who could touch him in his unsolid form. He used his power to hide inside a large stone, thinking he'd be safe there, but the angry Blue Diamond broke the big rock in half.

"S . . . stay back!" Krakoff stammered. "I am a citizen of the Soviet Union, and we are out of your jurisdiction. If you touch me . . . "

The Blue Diamond grabbed him by the collar. "You mean like this?!"

"Stop!" Red Ghost said. "I have information for you. Something important. If you release me I'll . . . "

"Shut up!" Blue Diamond yelled, clobbering the Red Ghost.

Without the Red Ghost to command them, the two super apes were confused. Solivar ordered his ape army to stop fighting. He used gestures and body language to communicate with them, making peace. They allowed themselves to be led away to the old city. The Blue Diamond looked down at the Red Ghost, wondering what to do with him now.

"Through running, are you brother?" Grodd asked. "Good. Now I can finish this and claim Attilan for myself!"

Black Bolt cupped his hands around his mouth and prepared to speak. Grodd's jaw dropped in fear when he realized what was about to come. Something he had no defense against. He had foolishly stepped right into the trap Black Bolt had set for him.

Black Bolt almost always remains silent, because the most formidable of his Inhuman powers is the fact that every sound he utters, even the barest whisper, is magnified by millions of decibels. When Black Bolt spoke, the land around him was rocked by a sonic and seismic force capable of cataclysmic destruction.

And now . . . Black Bolt spoke!

The sound could be heard for miles. If there had been any land around, it would have quaked violently. Grodd knew of Black Bolt's power but had never heard it up close. It was like nothing he'd ever imagined. Putting his hands over his ears couldn't help. He screamed as the noise overcame him. He passed out and dropped down towards the Earth.

They then saw the small figure coming closer. Dubbilex used his telepathy.

"It's Black Bolt!" Dubbilex said, joyfully. "He's defeated Grodd and he's bringing him back."

The other Inhumans cheered this news. Victory was theirs. The King had vanquished the conqueror and liberated the city. It seemed that everything was perfect . . .

But then they saw a dark shadow forming around the city. Some kind of . . . dark field!

High in the air, Black Bolt saw the dark field forming. He put on an extra burst of speed and dived down at the city.

"What the hell is that?" Blue Diamond asked.

"I think I know!" Solivar said. "And if I'm right, then may the heavens help the Inhumans."

"Look!" Blue Diamond yelled, pointing up at the small figure that was diving at the city.

"I think it's Black Bolt," Solivar said.

The blue figure and the shaggy form he was carrying managed to pierce the field before it was fully formed. He barely got into the city. But then, the field became fully formed! It was like a black dome that couldn't be seen through.

The Great Refuge was encased in a impenetrable force field.

"Crystal!" Blue Diamond yelled, running toward the city. Solivar followed.

"What is it?" Halo asked.

"I haven't the slightest clue," Dubbilex answered. "Does anyone else?"

No one answered. Everyone looked to Black Bolt. He thought for a minute and signaled for everyone to follow him.

"This machine is what created that black dome over us?" Crystal asked.

Medusa nodded. "Grodd had the Red Ghost working on something. This must be it."

"But with the device ruined, how do we lower the force field?" Triton asked.

"Grodd!" Gorgon yelled. "He's always bragging about his genius! Let him prove it now!"

Black Bolt nodded. He went out to where Grodd was laying. The first thing he did was to take Grodd back to the Orb of Omega to drain away all the super-powers Grodd had gained. Then he carried Grodd to the lab. One there, they managed to wake hin up.

"Grodd," Medusa began. "This shield you've helped create. Get rid of it or face the wrath of the royal family of Attilan!"

Grodd had a strange, confused look on his face. Drool dripped down his jaw. "Loud. Too loud. Hurts. No more loud. Bad."

"What?" Gorgon asked incredulously.

Dubbilex used his telepathy to scan Grodd's thoughts. "Great Omega!" Dubbilex gasped in horror. "His mind is broken! The sensory overload was too much for him. He's insane!"

Crystal went pale. "But . . . Without him, how do we rebuild the machine to get rid of this force field?"

Black Bolt grimaced and then went to the window and flew out of it. He flew upwards and rammed into the force field. He bounced off and fell. Recovering, he tried again. Still no luck. He tried again and again and again.

The final time he fell, he could barely rise. Medusa had come outside and grabbed his arm. "No, my love. You can't break it that way. You'll only injure yourself, and we need you now more than ever. We'll need your wisdom and leadership in the days to come if we are to survive without the sunlight. We're not even able to go out and hunt for food in the hills. Survival will be a challenge. Lead us, my king. My husband."

Black Bolt took his wife's hand. He nodded. He knew she was right. Until a way was discovered to open the shield that now trapped them, he would have to put all his thought into how to keep his people alive.

He would take care of his subjects, just as he always had.

Nearby, Crystal stared, tears in her eyes, at the blackness separating her from her love. "David," she whispered. "My wonderful Blue Diamond."

"My dear friend," Solivar said. "Please stop. You're going to hurt yourself. You know you can't get inside that way."

"I've got to try something!" Blue Diamond said in despair. "I can't just give up! I've got to get to Crystal!"

Solivar pointed to the Red Ghost. "Maybe there's another way."

"Of course!" Blue Diamond said, with a glimmer of hope.

The Red Ghost was shaken awake by his old nemesis. "All right Krakoff! You've got one chance to save yourself from a major beating! Tell me how to get past that force field."

"I tried to tell you," Krakoff said. "You could have stopped it if you'd listen to . . . "

"Shut up!" Blue Diamond yelled, frustrated by the fact that Krakoff was right. "Just tell me how to get rid of that thing!"

"There is no way," Krakoff said.

"There has to be!" the Diamond yelled.

"There isn't. You don't understand what the Dark Force field is," Red Ghost said. "It's a tear in the fabric of our universe, reaching into the universe of dark matter."

"I don't care about all that!" Blue Diamond yelled. "Just tell me how to open it!"

"It can't be opened from here," Krakoff said. "The tear opened outward from the conductor that originated the tear! Closing it from another location could cause trans-dimensional devastation."

"I think what he means is," Solivar interceded. "That the field opens around the device that initiated the dimensional opening. It we try to close it from outside, we could damage the fabric of our dimension. We could destroy everyone in the Great Refuge."

"There has to be something we can do!" Blue Diamond asked. "There has to be!"

"We'll find it," Solivar said. "It may take time, but somehow, some way, we'll find a way."

The Blue Diamond had gone with Solivar and the gorillas to the old city, now officially called Gorilla City. He was waiting to hear if Solivar had any theories on how to rescue the Inhumans.

All the gorillas who were once in Grodd's army were now citizens of Gorilla City and were about their business, building the old city into something that would be a real home.

The orangutang and the gorilla who were once slaves of the Red Ghost were being rehabilitated by their simian brethren to do only good with their powers. They were simple creatures, but trainable. They learned.

Titano had arrived in Gorilla City, too. Apparently, he had staggered confused out of the Great Refuge before the shield went up. Titano had taken to Solivar as a surrogate for Grodd, since the two are, essentially, the same being. Solivar had discovered that Grodd used a sample of the Terrigen Mists to mutate Titano, and that it had also made Titano adaptable and able to remember what he's learned. Solivar was teaching the giant ape to do no harm, and was having Titano help in the remodeling of the city.

The city was shaping up nicely. Solivar had Grodd's genius and was introducing some modern mechanisms to the old city. He added a cloaking device similar to the cloud cloak that hid Attilan. He even created a special cell that could hold the Red Ghost, who they hoped could be made to find a way into Attilan.

The Blue Diamond walked into Solivar's sanctum. Solivar was studying some graphs and charts.

"Anything?" Blue Diamond asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Solivar said. "But be patient. Scientific discoveries take time. I'm going to keep working on the problem, and I hope to get Dr. Krakoff to offer his aid in exchange for his freedom. Don't give up hope."

"Hope is all I have," Blue Diamond said. "The hope that I'll see her again."

"Why don't you get away for awhile?" Solivar said. "Go back home, to your people. They must be missing you by now. Come back and check on us in a few weeks."

"I'll wait a few more days," Blue Diamond said. "If nothing happens, I'm going to go looking for someone who can help."

"You mustn't tell anyone about Gorilla city or the Great Refuge!" Solivar said firmly.

"Of course not," Blue Diamond. "I'll find a way to be subtle. But I have to do something. I have to help. I have to save her!"

"I understand," Solivar said.

Solivar turned Gorilla City into a near utopia, green and fertile but technologically advanced. And always at peace. Titano and the super Apes became happy, friendly denizens of Gorilla city. Even the Baboon was returned to his natural form and joined his simian brothers. The Red Ghost remained a prisoner for several weeks until he agreed to give his assistance. He worked with Solivar for almost a month but came up with nothing. Finally, Solivar let him go, but not until after using a drug to erase his memory of the events of the last six weeks.

Blue Diamond kept searching for years. He'd never give up. And back in Attilan, the Great Refuge, the Inhumans struggled to survive without the sun. And Crystal prayed every day that she would one day be reunited with her lost love.