Against The Darkness -- AND ONE SHALL SURELY FALL!

"The Rage Stone is mine!" the Dweller exults. "And thwarted this long interval, I have stored up

plentiful rage indeed!"

Sue Storm asks over the mind link for Spider-Man to ask the Mind Gem whether or not the Soul Gem can

transform the soul of the Dweller in Darkness into a substance nourishing and tasty for Galactus to eat.

"Then you can warp Galactus here using the space stone, and have him eat the Dweller. I think he still

owes the Fantastic Four a favor. Or we owe him one. Or something."

Spidey says, "I don't have the mind gem anymore. I gave it to someone, remember?"

The Vision coughs discreetly.

Storm says, "I was about to ask, for my request, if we might know where in the universe some great evil

was being done, so we could use the stones one last time to fight evil and wreak justice...

"But perhaps this is the spot!"

She looks at the gem she is holding, having kind of lost track in the merry-go-round of gem juggling. If

it is the will stone, she wills the Dweller to drop Machine Man and the Ragestone. And indeed, it is the

softly glowing green complexity of the Will Stone.

Aloud she says, "Drop Machine Man with the Ragestone still in his hand!"

"Ha! Your pitiful Will Stone indeed possesses the key to the will of Eternity itself," scoffs the

Dweller, "but it cannot enforce more than your puny human will can conceive! Even the most clever

servant cannot do what its master cannot command, and your will ... pah ... aaah ... is nothing ... mfff

... your will is strong, aye, for but a .. hnngh ... mortal, but I am ... hk .. the Dweller in ... your

will really is QUITE strong ... mff  .. argh .. URRR ..."

The Dweller is clearly straining, but also clearly winning. Storm feels her will strained to the utmost,

not bending, but not bending the Dweller, either. If she had slain her best friend Jean to save the

universe, perhaps her will would be stronger ... but then, she would be a different person than she is.

Sue Storm, meanwhile, turns Machine Man invisible.

The Dweller in Darkness can find him anyway. He operates mostly in realms where sight is useless, after

all.

Sue coats Machine Man with a skintight forcefield, which she then slowly forces outward, hoping to keep

the shadow at bay.

The pressure of the Dweller in Darkness upon her forcefield is diffuse, but massive. It weighs down her

soul, pressing harder than even the incredible Hulk could! And as we know, the Hulk can eventually wear

down even Sue's mighty powers ... or at least, that's what she always cries out, so Reed will come and

save her.

But the pressure is of a spiritual kind, and Sue has the ultimate spiritual resource clutched in her

hand!

The Soul Stone banishes the Dweller's onslaught, allowing her to ignore it. And what she can do to

herself ...

She says, "Dweller! You face one who can inflict the endless happiness of enlightened perfection upon

you with the merest thought!

"Withdraw, leaving Machine Man here unharmed and unrobbed! Or I exile you into paradise, and cast you

forever into the joys of a realm of endless light!"

Wanda enters the mind of the Dweller in Darkness and draws forth his most paralyzing fears--which,

hopefully, will only be seen by him. And her.

The Dweller's most paralyzing fear is of a place of eternal light and joy, where he will be not only

powerless, but more importantly, pointless. And Sue Storm has the instrument which can send him there!

"Nooo ... not the LIIIIIIIIGHT!" hisses the Dweller in Darkness, recoiling.

"But hold, Dweller in Darkness!" calls out the In-Betweener. "You well know the impossible difficulty of

making the universe pure darkness. Even in a single spot, the forces of reality conspire to thwart you!

Can it be any easier for the light? I submit to you, Dweller in Darkness, that the place you fear, the

place of ultimate light and perfection, DOES NOT EXIST! And what does not exist, you cannot be theatened

with!"

"Yessss ... YES! Darkness is mighty, and as I strain towards ultimate victory, the forces of the

universe DO conspire to thwart me! Here they are, held in the hands of costumed bipeds! There cannot be

a place of ultimate light and goodness, and therefore, I need not fear it!"

"But there is," says Eternity.

"So now I shall de ... wait, what?" demands the Dweller.

"Such a place does exist," says Eternity firmly.

The Dweller doubts! And as he doubts, his will weakens, and Machine Man emerges from the recoiling

shadows, the Rage Stone still in his hand!

Machine Man says,

"This thing is really not worth the danger it poses to, well, everything," and slams the stone between

his mechanical hands.

The Rage Stone EXPLODES!

And a burst of terrifying CALM washes over everyone, yea, unto the ends of the universe, as its ever-

present influence is shattered and removed.

The Vision says,

"That should have been COMPLETELY impossible. Machine Man, are you a supernatural being?"

"I don't think so, Vision," he replies. "But I got so darn mad at this stupid stone, sitting there

waiting to hurt people. You know, most of them can't be repaired, or even shut down and restarted?

That's seriously scary!"

"Ah," says the Vision. "So that is how you were able to destroy it."

Machine Man calculates for a minute.

"Nope," he concludes. "Didn't understand that."

"Not now," says the Vision. "But you clearly understood before, when it was most needed."

The Watcher bends down to peer at the Vision.

"That was completely true but extremely ambiguous," he says. "Would you consider an apprenticeship?"

Ant Man is content with Eternity's answer regarding the nature of Death, and turns his attention to the

Dweller in the Darkness.

Since he is in a mind link with everyone, he decides to wait for some one to get Machine Man out of the

clutches of the Dweller. Once that has been done, Ant Man will teleport the Dweller in the Darkness out

of the universe. He knows it must exist, for Thanos is ether still there or is not but was. So he will

just send the Dweller in the Darkness "Back from whence he came". And he totally says that when he does.

Like a BOSS.

The darkness recedes into externality, or non-being. From inside the Universe, there is no perceptible

difference.

The Watcher writes furiously in his book.

Eternity seems happier somehow, with the Rage Stone and the Dweller in Darkness no more.

"WITH DARKNESS AND RAGE DEFEATED, THERE MAY BE LITTLE NEED FOR FURTHER HEROICS," says Eternity. "BUT IF

THERE IS, KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE MORE EFFECTIVE WITH THE FIVE REMAINING INFINITY GEMS."

"SUSAN STORM, THE INVISIBLE GIRL ... OF THE SOUL!"

"STORM, MUTANT MISTRESS OF THE WEATHER AND THE WILL!"

"ANT-MAN, CAPABLE OF ANY SIZE AT ANY LOCATION IN SPACE!"

"STAR-LORD, FIGHTER AND LOVER OF THE SPACEWAYS!"

"THE VISION, MASTER OF THE MIND!"

"SPIDER-MAN! WHO ALWAYS TRIES VERY HARD!"

"AND THE SCARLET WITCH!"

"Who also has an Infinity Gem," adds the Vision. "And a bit more besides, since she has me."