1964-08-19 - King's Men 17: Kingdom Come
Summary: Blackagar Boltagon is crowned by Maximus.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
blackagar crystal rogue karnak maximus 


.~{:--------------:}~.


The sparse island in the northern Atlantic has grown further so. What once was a bit of rocky terrain now has deep crevices across its surface and areas of decimation that could be mistaken as nuclear weapon testing sights based on the spread of destruction. No longer does Blackagar even bother with a shelter, for it has long since been destroy too many times over to repair or to build again. He has resorted instead to simply sitting upon a rock at the end of the island that now measures in the dozens of feet rather than hundreds it once did.

Every dilligent effort having been taken over the weeks leading up to protect the surrounding area, to avoid any ships passing nearby but the surging constant pressure of his own self could be felt in waves of sonic energy emenating and pulsing before coming back under control. The Inhuman himself, upon his rock looks much like a stoic, homeless king over the trifling remnants.


Thick mists shrouding the coast reinforce isolation about the lonely nature reserve hanging off the northeastern coast of Svalbard. Not even a fishing boat moors on the coasts. Subs hunting offshore in thicker numbers than usual in the Cold War world may have something to do with that. Regular temblors have sent even the resident polar bear population off to other stable points, higher in the mountains or across the strait to safer climes. But nature at least makes an ally to Blackagar Boltagon's perilous situation, waves and icebergs cutting off people. He hasn't been completely without assistance, either.

A pile of crates, ranging from large cubes to coffin-size, lie piled up on one of the intact glacial tongues. They skid in a line and somehow, they've mostly survived. Now and then supplies arrive, air-dropped from Longyearbyen by Scarlett.


Travel, at least, is rarely a difficulty for the royal family. Not so long as Lockjaw can be found, at least. With the requisite people, material, and knowledge, they've come together to find a way to win Blackagar if not complete freedom, at least relative freedom. Freedom enough to leave this rock.

The trio shimmers into position behind Blackagar - Crystal, Maximus, and Karnak. Plus the ever-cheerful Lockjaw. Crystal turns a circle to look around once they're in place, dismay crossing her features at the state of the island. "Randac," she breathes. "I hope we're not too late."


"The island is still here, so we are not." Karnak sounds pretty confident about that, as much as she sounds confident in her fatalism. She then looks around, "We should try to get that assembled as quickly as possible." She then glances over towards Maximus, no suspicion there… well, of course there's suspicion, but no more than she gives to anyone else. Which, well, for her is about as supportive as she'll get to anyone. Save perhaps Lockjaw, as even Karnak can't be impassive towards the faithful hound.


Maximus has brought with him an incredible assortment of things to help fix the device. All the tools they'll need…and the equipment to power the heat source and so on. Borrowed from Attilan for the most part, but he did bring a totally normal hammer as well. "We are not too late." Maximus says it with confidence, trusting that the inexplicable bond that connects he and his brother would have let him know if Blackagar had broken himself to bits. He drags the equipment case a couple of feet and then looks, deadpan at Karnak, "Do you mind helping me with this?"


The arrival of the Family with Lockjaw along with Scarlett shakes Blackagar out of his state where he was gazing intently at nothing; a state of meditation meant to keep the complete loss of powers and perhaps true disaster at bay. The blink of his eyes comes with a small shudder of energy passing through and then he slowly rises from where he sits. «What news?» It is delivered with a restraint of hope as he starts to move forward.


Scarlett floats high over the cracked ice sheet, mixed by boulders and barren rock shaken free in the blast radius of an unstable psionic field. It takes very little time for the bohemienne to drop out of the sky when anything interrupts that lonely atoll sheltering the meditating scion of House Agon. Her approach might be measured in the disruption of air currents, and not much else, a spectral force guarding the rear flanks when Blackagar is perfectly capable otherwise, himself. She doesn't show much in the way of a smile, her eyes too alert even for someone familiar with the environment. She's up there half the time to conceivably intercept stray Soviet missiles — just in case.

"Salut and all that," she isn't uttering a trace of irony in that, gesturing in a wave to the others. Lockjaw always warrants a second look. She bites back some primal response of 'puppy!' to the giant hound.


"Hey, Scarlett," Crystal smiles tightly to the other woman as they approach the king, dipping her chin formally before she steps forward to try to catch him in a hug. Someone in the family has to be affectionate, at least. "We think we have what we need," she assures him. "It's just going to take a little bit of teamwork. Right?" she asks, looking back over her shoulder at Maximus and Karnak.


Karnak looks at Maximus, then nods slightly, "Not at all." If there's one thing that her talent works well for, it's assembling things. After all, if you can see the weaknesses, you can also see the strengths. Something that she's been meditating on more lately. She then looks towards Blackagar, bowing slightly to him, "Highness." Sure, he might not be the King, but Karnak always gives him the credit he is due.


Lockjaw is proud of himself about something. His paws shuffle over the ice, though he's big enough to slip and wipe out in a pile of brown fur and floppy ears. He scrabbles around Karnak and butts his head against her hand, reminding her where the scritches go. His jowls wobble as he exhales a wheezy, burbled "Whuff!" at Blackagar. All those wrinkles may well be making a smile. His stubby tail wags at an alarmingly quick rate.


A smile, warm, is given to Scarlett before Blackagar looks at the others and nods. «It is my understanding that this device will need to be used to direct my power into. Much like a tuning fork for focusing energy waves?» He glances between the trio to confirm what he has been lead to surmise. Looking between them, he continues, «Will the material be able to handle the energy?» The focus on the situation is settled after a moment as his eyes come to look at Lockjaw, a smile touching Blackagar's lips through his bearded face.


When Maximus sees his brother again, he just stares for a moment, then presses his lips into a quiet, thin line. His thoughts are closely guarded, but one might imagine that he possibly doesn't like the fact that his brother is deteriorating faster by the day. He draws in a deep breath and moves closer as Karnak helps him move the case of tools. "Blackagar…" he finally says, "we are capable. This will work. And if it does not, then…we will move to the moon for a while. Scream all you want in /space/." He covers his concern with a sharpness in his tone.


Scarlett raises a palm; it's midway between a wave and signalling no harm, the subtleties of the gesture carried through her posture. «Hello.» Cast in a visible degree of fondness there, she isn't quick to avert her gaze away from Blackagar and the others. She remains slightly at a remove from Karnak and Maximus, though she nods at the excess of luggage brought along. At least the kind not delivered by Lockjaw in the last fortnight. "I can help if you need to carry that."


"I think…it was made to. More or less," Crystal answers Blackagar as she steps back. "It's been broken, but I should be able to fix it, with Max and Karnak to tell me how to do it. And when it's finished, then perhaps you can return to something that resembles civilization," she teases with a small, crooked smile. "Or at least a roof over your head."


Karnak hmms, "I've studied everything, and it should work." She doesn't make guarantees, finishing the assembly as she then looks at Maximus, "What now, Maximus?" She actually… sounds polite. To Maximus.

Obviously Blackagar's condition worries her more than she lets on.


Lockjaw tips his head sideways, ear perked. His tongue, never long behind his teeth, unspools and flops out with a purpose all its own as he pants in the cool air. Puffs of steam follow. A low rumbling noise agrees to … well, something. Could be encouragement that things will work or that he can go to space. His head turns to Crystal. Tail wagging slows to a marginally more normal rate.


Blackagar's condition worries him more than he let's on; and he seems to be fairly worried. The island groans in fact with a wave of energy washing off his body. But with a closing of his blue eyes the focus of the power dissipates again. Slowly they open once more and he nods towards the others, «Time is of the essence, but doing this correct is most mportant. No margin for error. For if I release control into this device and it cannot hold…» He glances around the island, «A destroyed island in the ocean is the least of problems.»


"Once it is complete, you can put it on and…everyone can move to a safe dista-…" Maximus cuts off when the wave of power threat ripples through the island and he staggers. He reaches out for Karnak's arm and holds fast for a moment. Then he opens the case and pulls out the broken pieces…and the things to repair them. Carefully, he lays it out in order, looking at how it mates together. He turns one piece to look at it and then back again. He shifts things around. Then he starts to forget that anyone is there at all and he crouches in the cold without care for it, and flips things around again. The puzzle isn't hard…three pieces…an idiot would be able to figure it out eventually, but there seems to be something else he's doing. "The particles…merely melting this back together is not enough. It will be uneven. Not that you'd be able to tell exactly, though Karnak will. As you attempt to fix it…I believe you may also experience resistance, Crystal. It is made to absorb…diffuse. When you are ready…here…here…and here, but this spot…this is meant to be as it is." He makes gesture to the open part of what will be the fork.


Danger flares across the buried portion of Scarlett's psyche, for what little she can do about it. Her booted feet leave the ground in an intuitive resistance against being knocked back far, the hurricane of power rolling over Nordauslandet. She drops back down once the rumbling settles through fractured bedrock. On the far side of the island, another rumble signals the collapse of a glacial shelf into the ocean. Her expression settles back into a neutral state, though her hands open and shut to the intense itch plying between her knuckles. To be powerless in this state is an agony not shared.


Crystal sinks into the stone of the island just a few inches and reaches out for Lockjaw to anchor herself against the wave of energy from Blackagar, nodding to Maximus as he explains. Perhaps something useful might come of her long association with the mutant master of magnetism. She's certainly spent more time studying metals and control over them since she's been involved with him. "I can see it," she nods, settling down to sit cross-legged on the ground to better focus. "I'll need you and Karnak to watch it while I work, though. Tell me if something is slipping out of alignment."

She doesn't wait for confirmation. Time is of the essence. The task is a delicate one, taking all of her concentration. But her control of the elements does reach into atoms. The problem with such power at this point, though, is control. And the sheer number of things for her mind to hold at one time. Each atom must slip into place precisely.


Blackagar stands, watching the undertaking from far away as he can manage on the island. His eyes glancing over the work with little understanding, only knowing that what is taking place is delicate; so much so that he is focused intently within as well. Keeping things stable and the energy at bay to provide the others the window to conduct.


Karnak gives Crystal precise instructions, studying the metal very carefully. She focuses her full attention on that, knowing that while they do have other chances at this… the first time being successful is the best. And so she guides Crystal's power along with her words, indicating what precisely needs to be done… and to what degree.


Among all their other failings, the Kree do excel at producing certain tempered substances with highly surprising and innovative functions. Maybe not so entirely surprising; they are space-faring imperialists absorbing conquered studies into their own body of knowledge. But this narrow ring, to all appearances something possibly coated in platinum, defies expectations beyond just a glance. Never mind the pieces that Maximus assembles are far too light for that metal. The deeper components opening up reveal minute fractures and cracks to be lined up just so along the neatly cleaved breaking points. Karnak has her work cut out for her, staring at the pieces. The weak points aren't in the breaks: they're in the central forks, connecting up the interlaced channel. No one says the work was going to be easy. The atomic keystone is pretty obvious to Crystal once those faults are found, considering the thing almost hums in response to its ambient presence of electrons flowing off a man some many yards off.


Maximus looks up and towards Blackagar, "Fine, there, brother?" In an elegant, singsong voice, "If you lack the control for the present, perhaps you'd allow me." He grins crookedly, then lifts a piece of sheet metal to create a windbreak for the more delicate work being done.


Scarlett tucks her hair behind her ear, the relentless tug on her braids not alleviating the low-level tension trying to become a headache. Curiosity holds her to watch what the trio perform over the tripartite segments of the circlet, but it's as personal to them as reciting their genealogy before the Genetic Council. So she bides her time, focused between the Inhumans and their suffering king. A quick movement and the distance separating them might vanish, but she's content to reside in contemplative silence. It's familiar.


"Maximus…" Crystal spares just a modicum of attention for a warning to the King's brother, then catches her breath as the alignment of the atoms almost slips from her grasp. One by one, a billion in a moment, she delicately weaves the material back together. It seems like nothing at first. Nothing to be seen. But as she works, the gaps between the pieces start to disappear.


Karnak says, "Easy Crystal, you can do this. Just… carefully, a bit more spin on that, yes… that's it precisely." She can also sense Crystal's exhaustion, so tries something new. Positive reinforcement. It seemed to work with young Kamala, so perhaps it could avert the weakness in others. It would be interesting to try, anyway.


Maximus looks up at Crystal at the warning, then gives his head a toss. "I volunteer to linger and put it on him…" he offers with a soft exhale. "There's little else that could be done to me at this point, and I'm a little depressed anyway." He offers morosely, though he may just be offering a sort of white noise conversation. "That platinum coating…don't forget that."


Blackagar remains at a distance, patient as a person can be when facing potential doom. Microquakes shudder under his feet. The rocks flex and groan, pebbles dropping down into the folded ocean at a distance. He casts a wordless look at them, waiting on the inevitable.


"Mmmhmm," Crystal murmurs to Maximus, taking a deep breath and concentrating on the task at hand. The metal is soon bonded, any visible gap closed, but even as the visual gap disappears, she raises a hand. "Just a few more touches," she murmurs, aligning a few more channels, tracking the hum of energy along the metal, until she finally lets out her breath with a nod. "Check it. But I think that should do it."


Karnak nods, "This should… yes, it is perfect." She looks at it carefully, then looks over at Maximus, "Very well, you can place it on Blackagar, and it will work." She sounds pretty certain of that, and nods towards the inventor.


Maximus takes the creation and then nods. Its some insanity, to get closer to the man who could break apart all his bones and stop his heart if he coughed. Its some insanity, but also some therapy to do it, and he casts a look to Karnak, then heads to his one, true sibling. Its not a crown, but its a bit like crowning him and the paralell is not lost on him as he reaches up to nestle the object on his head, eager to see if it provides the relief, finally.


It's some insanity to approach a man who could vaporize the island they stand on and awaken seams in between continental plates, welling up magma and vaporizing the fragile crust that human civilization rides on every day. Blackagar so much as says 'Thank you' to his brother, it's game over for the sum and mass of Inhuman and human society alike. No pressure, really.

Scarlett notches two fingers behind her ear, scaling a gentle caress up along her hairline and down again. The diversionary tactic from the shudder of anticipation and worse emotional upheaval stirring in her veins goes only so far while Maximus walks the length of that rocky spit to bestow a coronet of a kind on his brother. She murmurs softly to Karnak and Crystal, "You did well. Now we shall see what audacity nets us."

The response doesn't take long. Not really. Lockjaw is probably the first to notice beyond the elder brother himself, ears perking up. The hound straightens from his lolling, seated position. His blunt nails scratch the ice and he leans hard into Crystal, uttering a squeaky, loud yawn. In its absence is a silence matched by a pale blue fire around Blackagar's head as the restored metal fillet absorbs some of that power he casts off and directs it in a diffuse nimbus.


Crystal lets out a slow breath as the pressure of ambient sound eases. Any last extension of will head ready against the chance that the circlet might fail is released, and her weight sinks back against Lockjaw in exhaustion. "Well done, family," she says softly, smile weary.


Maximus meanders back to Karnak and says, "So…since we're not dead…and there are no volcanoes erupting…" It sounds schmoozy, for sure. Its the start of a cheesy, ridiculous /line/. Except that before he can finish it, he falls to his knees and just starts crying.


Karnak looks over at Maximus, and actually does something that surprises. She places a hand on Maximus' shoulder, the hand that can pulverize a stone statue actually gentle as she gives the shoulder a squeeze that could almost be comforting. She says, "It's done, Maximus."

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