|
 While
The ABC Warriors attempt to save Termight, Torquemada is taken back
through his previous lives via hypnotic regression. He goes back
through his time as Adolf Hitler, Witch finder General Mathew Hopkins
and other famous fanatics, and finally discovers the cause of his
strange decay: His past incarnations are being killed by Thoth,
son of The Warlock Nemesis, in revenge for his mothers murder. The
Grand Master regressed further in time to learn he was also the
first Torquemada, the leader of the Spanish Inquisition who led
a campaign of terror against heretics, Jews and Moors in fifteenth
century Spain...
Tomas de Torquemada, head of the Spanish
Inquisition, escorts a procession of prisoners through the streets
of Toledo. The captives, dressed in The Sanbenito (sackcloth robes
painted with dragons and demons, designed to make them look ridiculous
in front of their neighbours), are given one last chance to confess,
but they simply protest their innocence. At the place of judgement,
Torquemada offers comfort to his victims, but after it is refused,
he casts them on to the mercy of the state. By handing prisoners
over to the state to be punished, it meant Torquemada's own hands
were 'clean.' The prisoners are stripped and tied to stakes for
a burning. The woman, Bella, confesses her guilt as Torquemada leaves
the scene (lest the sight of him as they burn should excite them
to further blaspheming), and is given the reward of a quick death
by the garrotte. It was the quicker death for an admission of guilt,
and 'justifying' Torquemada's actions. Bella's husband, however,
refuses to give Torquemada the satisfaction and is duly burnt alive.
Down in the crowd of morbid onlooker
are two Hidalgos (Spanish noblemen). One is Purity Brown, and the
other (under a psychic projection) is Nemesis. They missed Thoth
by a week in Paris where he killed Robespierre, the Grand Masters
eighteenth century incarnation, who specialised in exterminating
aristocrats. They'd missed him by a day in Constantinople when his
target was Peter The Hermit - the incarnation of Torquemada who
began the crusades, exterminating Jews and Infidels. Travelling
forward in time again, they missed Thoth by just two hours in Berlin
- when he took Adolf Hitler's life.
The trail has grown cold now, and
the duo has driven back through time to Spain during the Inquisition
on a hunch. Purity, sickened by the fates of the prisoners, asks
Nemesis why he doesn't do something to help. He tells her it's not
his affair, and his only concern is finding his son. Purity becomes
enraged by Nemesis' uncaring attitude and elects to do something,
but Nemesis stops her.
Torquemada watches execution in a
happy mood. Happy, because by burning those smitten with the disease
of heresy, he was saving hundreds more from infection. As he looks
out at the crowd, he notices two of them are arguing. There is something
about the one with the beard, though, and as he watches, he sees
Nemesis' true face for a split second. In Termight, the second Torquemada
screams an accusation - he has seen his greatest enemy in disguise:
Beelzebub himself!
Back in the fifteenth century, Torquemada
orders the guards to seize Nemesis and Purity. Realising his psychic
aura must have slipped during the argument, Nemesis attacks the
guards. Once free, the pair realise their descriptions will have
been given to police. Nemesis takes Purity to a tailor for a change
of outfit. The tailor, Gonzalo da Goa, seems more interested in
fitting the disguised Purity with a codpiece than anything else
on offer. They leave the shop in time to see 'The Procession of
the Dead' roll by. The first Torquemada decreed that anyone discovered
to be a heretic - even if they'd been dead fifty years - must be
exhumed from the grave and burnt. The dead man's money, and that
of his descendants, can then be confiscated and passed to the state.
Children had to inform on their parents and grandparents, or else
they'd be burnt at the stake, too; they also had to publicly denounce
them.
Nemesis watches the parade and is
in no doubt that the planet must be destroyed. A planet riddled
with fear and superstition can only spawn a series of monsters like
Torquemada - such a world is better off obliterated.
Meanwhile in Termight, Brother Mikron
brings Torquemada back to the present and proceeds to inform him
that the Grand Master is not the most evil man who ever lived -
he is all of the most evil men who ever lived. Armed with the knowledge
that Thoth is responsible for his affliction, he admits to rather
admiring the ingenuity of the plan. He orders his Auto Da Fe prepared
for travel through the Time Tubes, so he can travel back to Spain
and alert the first Torquemada of Thoth's coming. Together, they
will lay a trap for him and his father, and the final act of cleansing
will take place...
After a hazardous journey through
the Time Wastes, Torquemada arrives in Spain during the Inquisition.
Leaving a picked squad of Terminators with his ship, he heads into
Toledo alone to meet the first Torquemada and bring about the downfall
of Nemesis and Thoth. Upon reaching The Casa Santa (headquarters
of the Inquisition), he knows Nemesis will be watching. Unwilling
to reveal he has arrived, the Grand Master throws an urchin into
the path of a galloping horse by way of a distraction. Purity and
Nemesis are watching in an alley; they see the child in front of
the horse, and after some pleading by Purity, Nemesis levitates
the horse out of the way, allowing his enemy to slip away unseen.
Torquemada tells the guard he wants
an audience with Tomas de Torquemada, and when the guard asks who
wants to see him, the answer is simply Tomas de Torquemada. The
guard takes the Grand Master to see the head of the Inquisition,
and the future Torquemada gushes his admiration of his namesake,
who sits patiently, practicing his own doctrines as regards prisoners.
For an hour the Grand Master tells
all, about the future, about how the world is not flat, and his
belief in the heresy of reincarnation. To top it all, he goes on
to admit that he himself is a god. In his arrogance, Torquemada
fails to see that the Inquisition have pulled one of the oldest
police tricks in the book and befriended him. The first Torquemada
takes the second to the dungeons, which the latter believes is guided
tour, but it soon becomes apparent he is to be tortured himself
for his heresies. The first Torquemada, though it means a double
scourging to prevent contamination, decides to plumb the depths
of the Grand Master's wickedness.
Meanwhile, in one of the caves under
Toledo, The Warlock has been at work. In a need to discover what
it delaying Thoth's arrival, Nemesis and Purity have found an alchemist
willing to help. In exchange for the use of his potions, Nemesis
has agreed to give the old man the formulae for turning base metals
into gold, though, as Nemesis points out, such party tricks have
little to do with true alchemy.
Nemesis mixes an elixir and administers
it to himself. Moments later his spirit ascends to the astral planes
where he can search through time and space for his child. He'd been
hesitant to make this trip before, because that was absolute time.
Events there are not variable like in the Time Wastes, they were
irrevocable, unalterable. Searching without success, he finally
reached the last days of the Termight Empire, and he saw who had
survived and who wasn't there. The shock sends him reeling back
through time, hoping against hope there's some other reason that
death for their absence. He knows he has to carry on as if he didn't
have that terrible knowledge.
Finally, he finds Thoth back on Terra,
in a time before man existed. He watches his son and his pet. Satanus,
it seemed, was looking for a mate, so Thoth had brought him back
to that era to allow him some time to indulge his desires. Satisfied,
Nemesis heads back to his body to continue his life, even though
he knows there's no point.
The second Torquemada is still undergoing
torture so the Inquisition can learn more about his evil, but it
proves too much for the first Torquemada. After being branded as
being the most cruel man who ever lived, the second Torquemada admits
he had the best teacher: the original Tomas de Torquemada. Unable
to reconcile the fact that he and this strange rotting creature
are the same entity, the first Torquemada collapses on the floor
of the torture room, racked with pains from the torture of his mind.
Because all the whippings, burnings, and men he'd hung, drawn and
quartered, their hands and other parts cut off, couldn't have been
for a higher purpose after all - not if he was also the most evil
man in the world.
The Grand Master, released by his
'predecessor' returns to the main chamber, and quickly gains the
total obedience of the Spanish Inquisition.
Back in the age of Khaos, Thoth watches
Satanus stalk a young Parasaurolophus. He realises this is where
the Tyrannosaur is most at home; it's not Satanus who is tired of
killing, it's him. Thoth is growing up. He leaves the creature to
it's own devices and heads back into the Time Wastes to handle that
one little detail: killing Tomas de Torquemada.
The last Torquemada orders a special
suit of armour and an equally special chain sword delivered from
his Auto Da Fe, as he puts the final parts of his plan into action.
Nemesis and Purity have been watching The Casa Santa for three days,
seeing the first Torquemada leave every evening surrounded by his
'familiars' - the secret police of the Inquisition. They had traced
his route through the city to his home, looking for the best place
to lay their ambush. The duo notices that he has fewer guards than
normal accompanying him, so they seize their chance. After a brief
skirmish, The Warlock grabs Torquemada and drags him back to the
alchemists cave. Nemesis places him in a circle of necromantic power
to lure Thoth where he wants him.
The alchemist returns, drunk and with
his arms full of gold. Nemesis moves him on so he can complete the
ritual. The Warlock plans to use all his diabolic powers to hold
Thoth in the circle long enough to reason with him, and Torquemada
is the bait.
Thoth arrives and listens to his father,
but with his greater powers, he knew that Nemesis had pursued him
to the end of time and back, simply because he cared. His rage and
hatred of humans had blown itself out, except for the first Torquemada.
Nemesis hands Thoth a blade so he can kill him there and then and
head back to Gandarva, but the young Warlock drops the knife, explaining
to a confused and enraged Purity that Torquemada wants to die. By
killing him, it would justify his crimes and he'd be free of the
burden of his guilt. That's why Thoth is going to let him live.
To be shown mercy by Demons, to be rejected by them as unworthy
of killing was the ultimate humiliation of the first Torquemada's
life.
Purity reminds Nemesis about the black
hole control room, and he agrees to reverse the process and save
Termight. As Nemesis, Purity and Thoth go to leave, the second Torquemada
plays his hand and puts the three at his mercy. His spies have been
scouring the city, with orders to report anything unusual in the
city that would betray their whereabouts. He got reports of the
alchemist suddenly finding a way of transforming base metals into
gold and had him brought in for questioning. He then reduced his
earlier incarnation's guards from the usual fifty, making it easier
for Nemesis and Purity to capture him. Torquemada knew Nemesis would
lead Thoth right into his hands - that his own father would betray
him.
The two Terminator squads attack both
Purity and Nemesis. The Warlock yells for his son to run, while
he deals with the attack. Not even his arch enemy had expected the
fury of The Warlock in his bid to save his son. The Grand Master
chases Thoth, while his earlier incarnation, unable to rid himself
of a lifetime of beliefs, confronts Nemesis, and is quickly dispatched
with a fireball.
Nemesis runs out of the cave just
in time to see Torquemada tear into Thoth with his chain sword.
By killing Thoth, however, Torquemada has probably signed Earth's
death warrant, for the secret of how to save it has died with him.
Not that that would've stopped him, of course.
As Thoth's life ebbs away, Nemesis
diabolic powers return, but Torquemada is prepared. His armour is
demon proof, flame proof, slime proof, and proof of any another
emanation from any of The Warlock's vile orifices. Nemesis calls
on the power of the flies and sends the swarms into every gap, air
vent and hinge in the armour, to feed on the decaying flesh beneath.
Next Nemesis hits him with a fireball; the alien heat is so intense
that, whilst it may not cut through the metal, it welds the joints
and links together, making movement impossible. He's held captive
in the smallest prison in the world. A cell the size of his own
body...
Normally, The Warlock would savour
his victory, but he decides to put his son first. Seizing the chance,
the Terminators grab Torquemada and carry him back to his ship.
Nemesis stays with Thoth so they can share what little time they
have, and he can be there at the end.
Torquemada's Auto Da Fe speeds back
to the Time Lock. Brother Mikron attempts to devise a way to free
the Grand Master from his armour; he orders the ships engines brought
to a halt. If they divert all the power from the ship into a single
point of white heat, they may just cut through the metal, but the
pain will be fearful. There being no need to strap Torquemada down,
Brother Mikron begins. The process is a difficult one for the ruler
of Termight, for there is torment from the flies, the intense heat
and the molten metal on his decaying flesh. And for brother Mikron
(whose love for the Grand Master is legendary), when the inevitable
mistakes are made. Finally he cuts his way in, and the flies are
released through the ships air vents (others too gorged are sucked
out with a vacuum device).
A creature gets to its feet, a melding
of man and metal, a fusion of armour and decaying flesh... And once
more, Torquemada lives!
Nemesis loads Thoth's corpse aboard
the Blitzspear, and he and Purity set off to pursue Torquemada.
Nemesis pilots Seth back into the Time Wastes, vowing to kill his
hated enemy, then the world that spawned him. Purity pleads with
the alien to think his decision through and spare her planet, but
up ahead, they spot the Auto Da Fe.
Aboard the ship, the engines are quickly
restarted. Torquemada lurches forward and takes the controls; the
memories of what he did to Thoth and the desire to do it to the
father distract him from the intense pain.
The two ships hurtle through the Time
Wastes at terrifying speeds, deliberately colliding with each other.
Both Nemesis and Torquemada are expert drivers, and both veterans
of the Great Traffic Wars. These two who have done the most appalling,
most despicable things to one another, and whose earnest desire
is to do so much more...
Suddenly, the tunnel is rocked by
a massive explosion - a time wave. Nemesis and Purity realise that
the question of whether The Warlock destroys Earth or Torquemada
or vice versa is rather academic. Judging by the ferocity of the
flood, there can be only one conclusion.
The A.B.C. Warriors have failed...
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You
know, after reading this, you can't help but feel a certain admiration
for Torquemada's single-mindedness. He travels back through time,
his body decaying, only to get himself welded into his armour and
eaten alive by flies. Then he gets cut out of his prison, still
with bits of metal welded to his skin, and somewhere, he still manages
to find the right amount of hatred to want to nail Nemesis rather
than run off and lick his wounds. This guy could well teach Judge
Dredd a few things...
)
