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The Six Emperors: The Bride of Frankenstein Versus Doctor Omega

By Leonard Pigg

 

Art by Michael Kasinger
The Bride of Frankenstein and Captain Nemo stood atop a hi-tech sea vessel as it glided across the ocean. The sleek ship was shaped like a metallic sperm whale. A beeping noise goes off and Nemo looks at his watch. Looking over at the Bride, he smiles and they both say in unison: “Moriarty.” Nemo presses a button on his watch and a life-sized holographic image of Professor James Moriarty appears before the two. He is wearing a smoking jacket with an ascot. “Greetings, fellow Emperors. What bedevilment are you two up to?” Moriarty says in a smooth British accent. The Bride laughs and says, “Well Jimmy, we are en route to Venezuela. I’ve come to bask in the lightning storms. I enjoy going to the Catatumbo River as the storms there are magnificent. I go there to charge my cells periodically. The natural lightning has kept me running for centuries. The good Captain was kind enough to offer a lift. Care to join me, dear Professor?” Moriarty says, “I imagine watching you dance in the lightning might be quite entertaining, but I’ll pass. It seems the Cup of Jamshid went missing from the esoteric archives and ended up in the possession of Strigoi, a sect of blood mages. As a result, Dracula has gotten involved in the matter. By the way, there have been random attacks against other Emperors as of late, so please keep your guard up. Have fun, dear friends. Moriarty out.” With that, the hologram disappears, leaving the two alone at sea again.
Moments later, all is calm until the ship begins to rock from an underwater explosion. “What the devil?!” the Bride exclaims as she stumbles. Nemo falls over, then looks at his watch and says, “Status report!” There is a monotone robotic voice that replies: “The ship is under attack. There is a hull breach. An armored figure is taking evasive maneuvers underwater and firing missiles.” Nemo replies, “Give me a visual, now!” From out of the water, the hi-tech cobalt-colored knight known as the Iron Ace flies out and knocks Nemo into the sea. “Take a load off, Captain!” the armored hero says as he swoops by. The Bride gives a scream of rage as she fires electricity from her hands at the knight. He dodges the attack and flies straight up, while firing down a volley of missiles down at her. She growls, while firing more electrical energy to detonate the missiles before they can touch her. As they explode, there is a strange mist left in their wake. She begins to cough and hack. As her eyes begin to tear up, she falls to one knee. “High-grade pepper spray. Not all of my weapons are deadly, but still quite effective. Glad I’ve got a self-contained air supply in this armor.” Iron Ace says as he lands in front of her. “I suppose capturing you and having you face the world courts is a pretty tall order, given the depth of corruption the Six Emperors has. Perhaps I should just do the world a favor and put you down like a rabid dog?” Ace says as he points his metal gauntlet at her and a small cannon pops out of the wrist mount. A moment later, Iron Ace screams and falls forward. Once he hits the ground, the Bride sees Nemo’s trident in his back. Nemo leaps from the water and kicks the fallen Ace, then driving the trident deeper into the hero. Ace says, “Not dead… yet!” Suddenly, his armor gives off an electric charge, shocking Nemo and sending him on his back, trident in hand. Iron Ace fires a bola from his gauntlet, wrapping up the dazed Captain. He rises to his feet and says, “I’ve got one Hail Mary left. Semtex… and with it, I can take you both out!” Ace takes out a grenade. The Bride quickly punches Iron Ace, sending him skipping across the water like a rock. She kicks the grenade the opposite direction and it detonates. The explosion sends a water spout into the air. She frees Nemo, just as Iron Ace starts to float above the water. Nemo fires energy from his trident, just as the Bride unleashes another barrage of electricity at the floating knight. The energy bolt hits him, disrupting his armor and he falls back into the water. He floats on the water, as his armor smolders. Nemo fires another stream of energy, until the knight sinks into the ocean depths. “Send Davy Jones my regards, you bastard!” Nemo says as he spits in the water. As the Iron Ace sinks into the murky depths of the ocean, he presses a button on his belt and hopes his oxygen supply holds out.
The Bride dusts herself off after the attack and she says, “I should thank Moriarty for the warning, eh?” Nemo checks his watch again and says, “This ship has been compromised. Absolutely wrecked. Don’t worry, dear. I’ve got an escape vehicle that can get us the rest of the way there.”Nemo takes out a remote, which activates a smaller metallic disk that ejects from the side of the ship and shapes itself into a sea chariot. The Captain steps on first, then extends his hand to the Bride. She takes his hand and steps on as well. “Would you like some company while recharging?” Nemo asks. The Bride winks and says, “You’re too kind. I would love your company, dear Nemo. Nice chariot by the way. Quite suitable for Emperors.” As they are sailing away, a flash of light appears in the distance behind them. Captain Nemo points at the storm clouds clustered in the distance. “Heat lightning behind us, I can smell the ozone from here. I normally avoid driving into storms but for you, I’d drive into Hades itself.” The two Emperors coast along towards the stormy region, while a UFO in the sky streaks toward the tumultuous weather. They both look at the ship, then each other. “Ooh, a UFO. I’m glad I came along on this outing. This is starting to look more and more interesting,” Nemo adds. “If the ship belongs to who I think it is, we may very well be in for a fight,” the Bride says as electricity flows between her hands. Nemo conjures up his trident and says, “I always wanted to fly a space ship. Perhaps I’ll get my chance?”
Inside the UFO, Doctor Omega sits in the cockpit adjusting the controls. Calamity Jane is the co-pilot in the adjacent seat. John Henry paces back and forth behind the Doctor, tapping his hammer in the palm of his hand. John is garbed in all black, save for a green Safari jacket, wielding a hammer that appears to be made of glowing jade. He scratches his close-cropped hair and says, “How are we saving that monster in the back again, Doc? If he’s evil, I reckon we should leave him dead.” Omega shakes his head and says, “I can’t do that. He saved my life once and now I’m repaying the favor. He is conflicted, not evil. He’s come a long way from being nearly mindless. I have to at least try to save him. I think the hammer Thoth the Atlantean gave you will be the key. The region is an esoteric hot spot that crackles with Chaos Magic, according to Thoth and the perpetual lightning is a side-effect. When we get there, you can draw down the lightning from the sky into the sacred hammer, thus purifying it and then channel it into him. The resulting charge should be enough to revive him… I hope.” As Omega lands the ship, Koschei walks in and says, “I have prepared the body. He’s wrapped in nano-bandages, which should start repairing the damaged tissue, once his blood starts flowing again. The lightning will hasten the process. By the way John, nice jacket. Very stylish.” John looks confused at the comment and Koschei gives a wink. Jane says, “The Creature ain’t all bad, John. He helped us stop that invasion of Cyborg-Men from another dimension that decided to show up in Antarctica. I don’t think he’ll go all Blue Falcon when he awakes.” The Doctor sighs and says, “His name was Prometheus.” A series of long beeps erupt from the console and Jane presses a button. “Distress signal. Let’s see if I can pinpoint it. Looks like a few miles from here. Somebody named ‘Iron Ace’ is stranded in the ocean a few miles from here.” Omega says to Koschei, “Once we land near the water, I’ll have Jane use Anti-gravity Gauntlets to move Prometheus onto the shore. John and I will handle things from there. You and Jane can check out the distress signal. Be careful.” Once the Doctor and John have the body of Prometheus on the shore, Koschei and Jane re-enter the ship. It goes into the air and begins to vibrate, it makes the sound of a didgeridoo then disappears in a flash of light.

The rain comes down hard as the “Catatumbo Lightning” phenomenon lights up the night sky. Captain Nemo and the Bride arrive on their sea chariot. As they sail down the river, the downpour begins to let up, as the lightning rages on. Nemo sees a platform floating on the water, which he points out to the Bride. She nods and they go towards it. She hops off and gestures for Captain Nemo to back off. He moves the chariot back a safe distance and watches. A smile goes across the Bride’s face as she reaches up towards the air and she draws tendrils of lightning down into her fingertips. Her entire body glows as the electrical energy traces across her body, empowering her. Nemo watches with a certain excitement, realizing just how powerful his ally was and how sexy she looked. “This is exactly what I needed!” she exclaims. Her muscles twitch and her eyes glow, for what seems like an eternity, she crackles with power. Suddenly, the energy begins to decrease and she sees another figure in the distance drawing it down, as well. On land, she notices a swirl of lightning converging down to a humanoid form. She stops pulling the lightning down and she still glows with power. She gestures toward land and Nemo nods, heading that way. She leaps from the platform, projecting electrical energy from her hands behind her to propel her across the water to land. The energy streams gets here there quicker than Nemo’s chariot.

Upon touching down, a few feet away she sees a mummified Prometheus that Doctor Frankenstein first created, lying on the ground. John Henry channels the energy toward the fallen Creature through his glowing hammer. Doctor Omega stands nearby with a hand-held device, taking energy readings as John bombards Prometheus. The energy hits and he convulses, but still not enough to be active. “It’s going to take another mega-dose of energy! We have to save him!” Omega says to John. As she approaches, she glares at Doctor Omega and John Henry with a look of menace. John stops charging Prometheus a moment and takes a defensive position. The Doctor looks at the Bride and says, “I am Doctor Omega and this is John Henry. We didn’t come here for a fight, but to simply save a life. I imagine you know this man, so please help us.” The Bride’s facial expression changes from anger to compassion and she decides to channel her own electricity into the mix. She fires the energy from her hands into Prometheus, just as John stars using lightning from his hammer. The resulting barrage causes Prometheus to give a primal scream, as his nano-bandages burst into flames. He finally springs to his feet. Moving swiftly, he charges past the Bride, the Doctor and John, knocking them away with his hands. He leaps into the air, directly into the lightning that swirled in the sky and he gives out a howl of joy. The night sky brightens Prometheus pulls the energy into his muscular form and lands in the water. John and the Bride, both dazed from the sudden attack, struggle to their feet. A dazed Doctor Omega says, “We did it…” then passes out.

Meanwhile, Calamity Jane and Koschei appear above the ocean a few feet near the distress signal. The duo sit in the cockpit of the ship, zeroing in on the sinking Iron Ace. “Short-range teleporter is activated. Locked on target,” Jane says calmly. Koschei smiles and says, “Engage.” The energy beam pierces the ocean depths and strikes Iron Ace and he disappears. A moment later, he appears on the lower deck of the ship and is greeted by the two. The dazed knight lies motionless a moment, then sits up. He takes his helmet off, hacking and coughing up water. Jane tips her cowboy hat and says, “Welcome aboard, honey. I’m Calamity Jane and this here’s Koschei. We got the distress signal and figured we’d lend a hand. I reckon we’re right on time, too.” Koschei helps Iron Ace to his feet, scanning him with a handheld device. “Vitals are a little erratic, I see. I do think you’ll live to fight another day. By the way, Doctor Omega sent us.” Koschei says. Iron Ace straightens up and says, “He’s back on Earth? I’m flattered you took the time to rescue me.” Koschei grins and says, “We have a time machine, so that’s never really a problem.” Jane says, “I reckon you probably need some time to regroup and repair the armor?” Iron Ace nods and follows the two through the ship to a workshop. Ace smiles as he sees all the technology aboard and says, “I think it might be time for an upgrade.” Koschei pats him on the shoulder and says, “Of course, dear boy. Afterwards, you might be able to find a way to pay our good Doctor back for sending us to rescue you.”

As Prometheus is submerged in the water, he recalls his last battle alongside Doctor Omega against the Cyborg-Men and his subsequent demise. His mind flashes back to his rebirth in Dr. Frankenstein’s lab. The first meeting between he and his would-be bride. In the aftermath of Frankenstein’s death, he lead a crew of biker zombies in England and their war with French Ghouls. All these memories come flooding back all at once and he bursts through the surface of the water, anew. His strong, muscular limbs propel him through the water to the shore. The scars and stitches in his patchwork body glow a bright red, in contrast to his yellowish hue. His every memory comes to the surface as he reaches the shore, only to be struck in the back by a bolt from Captain Nemo’s trident. “Never strike a lady, my friend. Especially, an Empress,” Nemo says coldly. The Bride looks at Nemo and says, “I know him. He’s confused.” Prometheus falls to the ground, grabbing the nearest boulder rooted down in the beach and slings it at Nemo. The Captain blasts the massive rock into pebbles with another blast from the trident. John Henry fires lightning from his hammer at Nemo, who fires energy to deflect it. The two beams hammer away at each other, causing a massive flash of light. Doctor Omega wakes up to the chaos and goes toward the Bride. “Mission accomplished. I appreciate the assist. Prometheus is alive, now call off your friend. I didn’t bring him back only to see him killed.” Omega says defiantly. “Call off yours.” The Bride retorts with a sneer.

Suddenly, the lightning begins to intensify. Gusts of wind begin to sweep across the beach. Nemo backs away in his chariot, as John Henry dives for cover. The Bride heads towards Nemo and the Doctor holds up his wand, scanning the area. “Temporal distortions are interacting with the storms, causing an increase in hostile weather. Koschei, where are you?” the Doctor says to himself. A series of lightning begins to dance around an area as a loud didgeridoo sound drones on and the Doctor’s ship (UFO) appears in the air, above the chaos. Suddenly the Doctor, John and Prometheus de-materialize from sight and reappear aboard the ship. Iron Ace, Calamity Jane and Koschei greet them when they arrive. “Sorry about the delay, old friend. We took a couple of days to upgrade Iron Ace’s armor and give him some recovery time. Our jump to this area was more difficult because of the increased energy activity in the environment. I’m afraid it took a toll on the ship’s power cells.” Koschei says to the Doctor. Omega pauses a moment and says, “I didn’t anticipate a battle with the Seven Emperors.” John replies, “There’s only two of them down there.” Iron Ace chimes in, “Not for long. They will come to aid their allies and probably bring an army. They’re the Six Emperors, actually. Not seven, Doctor.” Doctor Omega smiles and says, “History has been rewritten. I changed that for them in my previous incarnation. They wouldn’t recognize me in my current form and I had a different crew back then.” Prometheus puts a hand on Omega’s shoulder and says, “I remember when you were a little old man with the young companions and the robot. My how things have changed for us both. We are both vital and strong, like new men. I didn’t realize you changed history. I am glad to be alive again, my friend. However, the Emperors are relentless.” A moment later, the ship rocks from a sudden explosion. Everyone is knocked off balance by the attack. Koschei and the Doctor rush to the control room and look at the view screen.

Outside, Captain Nemo stands atop a submarine on the surface of the water. It is firing rockets at the ship as he fires energy from his trident, which is starting to damage the surface of the ship. Meanwhile, the Bride is hovering in the air. Lightning cascades off her body and she propels the energy toward the ship. The bolts strike the ship, sending a ripple through the UFO. “The shields are down!” Koschei yells, as he turns them back on. Omega starts to flip switches and levers, then looking at monitors. “If I can reverse the polarity of the shields, we can use it to power a temporal jump away from all this chaos!” the Doctor says to Koschei. Jane puts on the Anti-gravity Gauntlets and says, “No running this time, Doc. Open the damn ship and I’ll handle that Bride!” Iron Ace says, “I’m not keen on leaving this time, especially when these maniacs are still around. This is a chance to take out two of them! With my upgrades, I can do it!” Omega continues throwing switches ignoring Jane and Ace. “I know what I’m doing! Absorption rate is currently at forty percent! We are leaving!” Omega says frantically. Jane goes to the opposite side of the room, activating the teleport device. She and Iron Ace disappear. “No!” Omega yells, reaching for them as they fade from sight.

Jane suddenly appears in the air above the Bride. Her Anti-gravity Gauntlets surround her in a force field, outlining her body. She strikes downward hitting the Bride, who plummets from the air and crashes into the water. “Yee-hah!” Jane yells triumphantly. Meanwhile, Koschei reverses the tractor beam and uses it to push the submarine back under the water. Nemo sinks, along with the ship. Iron Ace fires down twin energy beams from his hands, which strike the water, turning it to ice and surrounding the submarine. As he toggles the controls to the ship, Doctor Omega says, “We’re at fifty percent! Jane and Ace are actually holding them off!” Prometheus looks over to the Doctor and says, “I’m going back out. A line must be drawn here.” Koschei hits the controls to teleport Prometheus down to the ice covered area. Omega grab Koschei by the collar and asks, “What the hell are you doing?!” Koschei smiles and says, “The same thing we do whenever we get involved: make history. The time for being passive is done. Iron Ace debriefed me on the menace of the Six Emperors.” Prometheus appears atop the ice coated area and is felled by an energy attack from Nemo’s trident. He falls to his knees, smoldering. With his trident raised and crackling with energy, Nemo swings down at Prometheus. Calamity Jane blocks the attack with her gauntlets, causing sparks to fly from them. Her force field blinks on and off, as her gauntlets are damaged. Nemo’s soldiers come out of the water in scuba gear, armed to the teeth and the fire at the Iron Ace to no avail. Iron Ace releases a charged net over the soldiers, shocking them. The Bride climbs from the water, firing another barrage of energy toward Jane. The electricity dances across her force field, as it struggles to maintain integrity. She screams out as the field goes down and her body is shocked. Iron Ace tackles the Bride, knocking her to the ground. He begins to choke her, as she generates electricity to retaliate. Her attack sends him flying back dazed and he is caught mid-air by Prometheus. The injured Jane gets back up with guns blazing, unloading her pistols at Nemo. Pelted with a hail of bullets, he drops the trident and falls back into the water.

Doctor Omega activates a portal which materializes on the ice. He and Koschei come charging out, both firing guns at the Bride. She erects an energy barrier to block the attack. “We’re getting out of here, now! We’ve a sufficient charge to get out of here!” John Henry steps through the portal, projecting a wall of flame toward the bullet-ridden Nemo and his soldiers as they attempt to return to the ice. Prometheus carries the unconscious Iron Ace and steps through. Jane limps through, followed by John. Omega and Koschei bring up the rear and rush through once everyone is safe. The group appear inside the ship, attempting to get their bearings. The enraged Bride screams, “I demand blood!” She unleashes a powerful stream of electricity through the portal. The resulting blast prevents it from closing, electrifying both Jane and Koschei. The beams continue, destroying part of the console. Omega uses his wand to reflect the beams back through, causing the portal to close outright and the ship disappears in a sonic boom and flash of light. Nemo and his soldiers regroup atop the artificial glacier. He scowls as he pulls bullets from the Kevlar vest beneath his coat. “Find my trident and let’s get out of here. Are you okay?” He asks the Bride who crackles with electrical energy. She turns and looks at him with a smile. “Peachy. I think I killed at least two of them and damaged their little ship. All in all, quite an adventure, eh?” The Bride turns off her electrical charge and gives the Captain a kiss. “How long before we would be back to the U.S. in the other ship your crew brought?” Bride asks with a wide smile. The Captain walks her to the ship, licks his lips and says, “We’ve got a few hours to kill, my dear Energizer Bunny.” The two enter the ship, which sinks into the ocean and they leave via the murky depths.

Omega’s ship appears on the moon, landing on the surface. The exterior and interior are both damaged from the battle. Inside, Omega gives Calamity Jane mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He frantically says, “Breathe, Jane! Come on!” He waves his wand over her, checking her vitals and sees they’re failing, then goes back to it. “All systems are damaged… including the medical bay. She’s not going to make it and neither am I from the looks of it,” Koschei says calmly as he limps over to the Doctor. “You’re both going to be fine! I can fix this!” Omega says as he gets between the two fallen adventurers and starts to channel some of his own life-force into them. As he holds the hands of both Jane and Koschei, his hands glow a light blue. Neither of them seem to recover, despite his best efforts. “Doctor, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I’m just a clone… as is Calamity Jane. The real me is out there waiting for you, old friend.” Koschei utters those final words and his body disintegrates. Calamity Jane’s body does the same and Doctor Omega screams in anguish as the woman he loves and his oldest friend expire. Prometheus puts a hand on Omega’s shoulder, as John Henry and Iron Ace also move in to comfort the Doctor. “If you are to avenge your friends, you will need more allies to face the Six Emperors. Consider me one of them,” Prometheus says to the weeping Doctor.

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