High above, Frieza lounged in his golden hover-pod, watching the stubborn "heroes."
A wry smile appeared on his lips. "My, my..."
He shook his head and dug a pinky into his ear.
"Earthlings in every Universe—same stubborn stink until the coffin's nailed."
"That shield-carrying soldier, you just said someone named Kang?"
Frieza pointed at the corpse beneath Steve's boot. "The blue clown who played god with dime-store time travel?"
"Comparing trash like that to me..."
Frieza's eyes chilled and purple Ki flickered around him like hell-fire.
"That's a capital offense."
"Capital offense?"
The silent golden figure in the sky, Robert Reynolds, finally moved.
He descended slowly, placing himself between Steve and Antonio. Those golden eyes held no fear, only an almost divine coldness.
"You fancy yourself judge of this world?"
Robert's power began to roil, space warping slightly around him.
"I don't care who you are. No one harms my friends while I stand. Leave now and I'll pretend nothing happened."
"Oh?"
Frieza arched a brow, crimson eyes glinting with curiosity.
"So you're this Universe's 'strongest'?" He sized Robert up.
True, compared to the junkie version he'd one-shot on Planet Frieza 001, this one's aura was steadier, his energy denser.
But still, just a slightly beefier ant.
"Interesting."
Frieza drifted from his pod, brushing imaginary dust from his immaculate white suit.
"Threatening me?"
"Thanos."
"Your liege!"
Thanos bowed instantly.
"Negotiations have failed." Frieza spread his hands in mock helplessness.
"Then we follow protocol."
"The blond one's mine."
"As for the rest of the trash..."
His gaze swept over Steve, Antonio, Thor, and finally settled on Nick Fury.
"Leave the one-eyed man breathing and dispose of the others."
"Remember."
Frieza touched a finger to his lips.
"Quick and stylish."
"Don't disgrace the Frieza Force."
"Understood, Lord Frieza!"
Thanos jerked his head up, violet eyes blazing.
He spun toward the defiant Ultimates, his blade whining through the air.
"Ginyu Force!"
His roar rolled like thunder.
"Assemble!!!"
"Raaaah!!!"
Apocalypse was the first to answer, his blue frame ballooning into a fifty-meter giant.
"Shield-boy! That toy of yours looks tough!"
With a wicked grin, he brought a titanic palm crashing toward Steve.
"Let's see if I can squash you into patty!"
"Erik! Move!"
Loki's daggers flashed as he split into dozens of illusions, darting for Thor mid-spell.
"This Thor may look like a bum, but pounding one is my specialty!"
Erik hovered above, eyeing the blue tin can that was Antonio Stark.
"Iron Man?"
"In any Universe, you canned idiots are my favorite toys."
BZZZZ—
A terrifying magnetic field erupted.
Across the ruins of Manhattan, rebar, cars, even subway tracks screamed. Torrents of metal gathered behind Erik like steel dragons poised to strike.
"ATTACK!!!"
At Thanos's command, the Frieza Force elites sprang, a tide of slaughter.
"Avengers! Defensive line!" Steve raised his shield and roared, but his voice shook.
He could feel it.
This enemy was nothing like any foe before. The sheer, unreasonable might, as though gods themselves had declared judgment.
BOOM!!!
The two sides collided.
Battle exploded into white heat or rather, one-sided carnage.
High above the melee, Frieza still floated, hands in pockets, never glancing down. His gaze locked on the golden man.
Sentry—Robert Reynolds.
"Come, golden retriever." He curled a finger, smile elegant and evil.
"Let me see whether your so-called 'power of a million suns' can even make me break a single drop of sweat."
"You'll regret this!"
Robert howled, golden energy detonating as he shot toward Frieza like a beam of light.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho..."
Frieza's laughter rang through the sky.
"Show me what you've got!"
Frieza's voice had not yet faded from the air when...
BOOM!!!
A golden pillar of light, like a spear of divine judgment, lanced through the clouds above Manhattan.
Robert moved.
No fancy flourishes, only raw speed and brute strength.
Golden fire, almost solid with rage, blazed in his eyes as his fist carried mountain-shattering force. It smashed straight toward Frieza's loathsome smirk.
"Die, invader!"
The punch came so fast that light itself seemed to warp.
Even Thanos and Steve, locked in their own battle below, froze in mid-strike and stared skyward in horror.
Facing this world-ending blow, Frieza did not dodge. He didn't even take his hands out of his pockets, merely tilting his head in the casual gesture he used when watching a show.
"My, my..."
"Too slow."
THUD!
A dull, deafening boom burst in mid-air.
A visible shock-wave swept outward, scattering every cloud for kilometers.
Robert's pupils shrank to pin-pricks.
Blocked?
No, not blocked.
He took it... with his face?!
Frieza still hovered in place, not a hair out of place, while Robert's fist hovered a millimeter from his cheek, held back by a wafer-thin, almost invisible violet aura.
Less than a single millimeter, yet it might as well have been an abyss.
"So this is the so-called strongest of this Universe?"
Frieza turned slightly, his crimson eyes gleaming through the aura, mocking the stunned Robert.
"If that's all the strength you have, you're not even qualified to massage my feet."
"Bastard!!!"
Humiliation like nothing he'd ever felt surged through Robert.
With a roar, he unleashed energy that erupted like a newborn star. Golden light condensed into a miniature sun around him. The temperature soared and the very air began to melt.
"Get... OUT OF MY WAY!!!"
BOOM!
His fists became a meteor shower of gold, hammering Frieza's shield again and again.
Each blow shook the world, a sound so terrible every hero on the ground felt despair.
But—
"Tch."
Frieza frowned in irritation. "Noisy little thing. Since you love boxing so much, I'll play."
He finally drew his hands from his pockets and unbuttoned his suit with the languid grace of a man arriving at a banquet.
"However, this suit is rather expensive. To keep it spotless..."
His gaze turned ice-cold.
"...I'll simply change forms."
HUMMMMMMMMMM!!!
A pressure so suffocating it felt ready to crush the planet exploded from his slight frame.
The sky turned ink-black and violet lightning writhed through the clouds.
"What is this?!"
Robert sensed grave danger and instinctively rocketed backward but it was too late.
In the heart of blinding white light, Frieza's body began to shift.
His costly white suit disintegrated, replaced by a flawless, white physique of perfect streamlined muscle. Purple crystals capped his head and chest and a thick tail lashed lazily behind him.
Frieza—Final Form!
His original, purest self.
"Haa..."
He rolled his neck with audible cracks, gazed at his alabaster hands, and smiled in rapture.
This shape always feels best. No worries about stains or tearing fabric when his power's released.
He lifted his eyes to Robert, now hundreds of meters away, and grinned with cruel delight.
"Hey, golden mutt. Ready to taste real hell?"
WHOOSH!
Before the words faded, Frieza vanished, not merely faster than sight, but teleported beyond any sense.
"Behind me!"
Robert spun and swung but he hit nothing.
"Too slow."
The voice sounded from above.
A white tail whipped down with a shriek of torn air.
CRACK!!!
A sickening snap rang out.
Robert's face distorted as he was smashed volleyball-style toward the ground at dozens of times the speed of sound.
BOOM!
A derelict Manhattan high-rise was punched clean through and dust mushroomed skyward.
"Robert!"
On the ground, Steve roared.
He had just caught Apocalypse's foot on his shield. Turning, he saw his strongest ally swatted down like a fly.
The despair eclipsed even what he'd felt facing Kang.
***
40 Advanced Chapters on
patreon.com/alex_1000