Mumbai, Bollywood - India
Richard didn't possess specific intelligence about Kingo's current residence, but he understood the Eternal's modus operandi perfectly. For centuries, Kingo had maintained his cover by establishing himself as a prominent figure in the entertainment industry, using his extended lifespan to build what appeared to be a multi-generational acting dynasty.
To outside observers, the "family" represented a remarkable lineage of talented performers, each generation producing stars with exceptional charisma and skill. They would never suspect that there was only one individual behind the entire legacy—Kingo himself, periodically reinventing his identity while maintaining his passion for performance.
Since separating from his fellow Eternals thousands of years ago, Kingo had settled in Mumbai to pursue his acting career in earnest. Despite never receiving formal theatrical training, his seven millennia of existence had provided him with life experience that far exceeded anything human actors could achieve.
Within one of Bollywood's bustling production studios, filming was underway for "Shadow Warrior 2," the highly anticipated sequel to a popular action-musical that had dominated Indian box offices the previous year. The production embodied everything characteristic of Bollywood cinema—elaborate costumes, synchronized dance numbers, and dramatic fight sequences seamlessly blended into a single spectacular whole.
Kingo stood center stage among a crowd of backup dancers, his ornate costume glittering under the studio lights as he moved in perfect synchronization with the pulsing musical score. His natural grace and magnetic screen presence made him the undisputed focal point of every shot.
High above the studio complex, floating invisibly at an altitude of several miles, Richard observed the filming through his enhanced vision. Kingo had no awareness that he was being watched by someone with the power to end his existence on a whim.
After arriving through his spatial gateway, Richard had immediately deployed his telepathic abilities to scan the sprawling entertainment district. Locating Kingo among Bollywood's thousands of actors, directors, and production staff had required only minutes of concentrated effort.
Having confirmed his target's location and current activities, Richard began the delicate process of implanting another mental puppet virus into Kingo's consciousness. However, this particular virus carried programming distinctly different from what he'd installed in Sersi and Sprite.
Where the London-based Eternals had been programmed with a simple directive to eliminate other members of their species, Kingo received a more nuanced form of mental manipulation. The virus would convince his subconscious that any Eternals he encountered were actually hostile mutants using shape-shifting abilities to impersonate his ancient companions.
Under normal circumstances, such a deception would never fool someone with Kingo's intelligence and millennia of experience. However, the mental puppet virus bypassed rational thought entirely, operating at a subconscious level where logic and skepticism held no sway. Once the programming activated, Kingo would accept the false information as absolute truth, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.
The psychological setup was elegantly simple: Sersi and Sprite would arrive in Mumbai with murderous intent, driven by their own viral programming to eliminate Kingo at any cost. Meanwhile, Kingo would perceive their approach as an attack by dangerous imposters and respond with lethal force to defend himself.
The result would be a three-way battle to the death, with each participant absolutely convinced they were fighting for survival against mortal enemies.
Richard completed the virus implantation within moments, his mental touch so subtle that Kingo continued his elaborate dance routine without missing a single beat. The actor remained completely unaware that his perception of reality had been fundamentally altered.
Satisfied with his work, Richard severed the telepathic connection and immediately produced the Cosmic Cube from his system space. His next destination would be South Dakota, where Ajak—the Eternals' nominal leader—supposedly maintained a secluded farm.
The spatial gateway formed almost instantly, its edges crackling with cosmic energy as it stabilized into a portal spanning half the globe. Without hesitation, Richard stepped through and emerged above the American Great Plains.
Unfortunately, his streak of easy successes came to an abrupt end in South Dakota. When Richard arrived at the coordinates he remembered from the movies, he found only empty grassland. No farm, no rustic wooden structures, and certainly no sign of Ajak's presence.
The absence was disappointing but not entirely unexpected. Given that the Celestials' emergence was still more than a decade away, Ajak might not have established her final residence yet. The timeline suggested she could be living anywhere on Earth at this point, making her significantly more difficult to locate than his previous targets.
After brief consideration, Richard decided to redirect his efforts toward the Amazon rainforest. Unlike Ajak or the technologically-inclined Phastos, who might be residing in any major city, Druig's preference for isolation made his location more predictable.
For Druig, the remote Amazon village he'd created represented his personal vision of paradise—a place where he could exercise absolute control over a small population without interference from the outside world or his fellow Eternals.
Richard opened another spatial gateway, this time targeting the dense jungle regions of South America. As expected, his aerial survey of the Amazon basin quickly revealed the hidden village Druig had established deep within the rainforest canopy.
The settlement appeared idyllic from above—neat rows of simple dwellings, carefully cultivated gardens, and residents moving about their daily activities with unusual coordination. Only someone familiar with Druig's abilities would recognize the sinister truth: every human in the village was under constant telepathic control, their free will entirely subordinated to Druig's desires.
Druig himself sensed Richard's approach almost immediately. Unlike the other Eternals, who possessed primarily physical enhancements, Druig was the team's specialist in mental manipulation and psychic perception. While his abilities were primitive compared to Richard's cosmic-level telepathy, he was still skilled enough to detect hostile mental presences within his territory.
The moment Richard's consciousness touched the edge of Druig's awareness, the Eternal launched a preemptive psychic assault. Waves of mental energy crashed against Richard's mind as Druig attempted to seize control of his thoughts and motor functions.
The attack was impressively coordinated and carried significant force—certainly enough to overwhelm any normal human or even most enhanced individuals. Against Richard's layered mental defenses, however, it proved completely ineffective.
With casual efficiency, Richard erected a simple psychic barrier that absorbed Druig's assault without strain. More importantly, he used the connection Druig had established to launch a counterattack, forcing his way past the Eternal's mental defenses and directly into his consciousness.
Rather than implanting a mental puppet virus as he had with the others, Richard opted for a more direct approach with Druig. The Eternal's expertise in mental manipulation made him uniquely capable of detecting and potentially removing foreign psychic constructs from his own mind. Even if Richard's virus initially took hold, Druig might eventually develop countermeasures.
Better to eliminate such complications entirely.
Mental Storm.
Richard unleashed the devastating psychic technique directly within Druig's mental landscape. Unlike conventional energy attacks that targeted physical matter, a mental storm exclusively damaged spiritual and psychological structures while leaving the body completely intact.
The assault manifested as a raging tempest of pure psychic force, systematically dismantling the complex neural networks that comprised Druig's personality, memories, and higher cognitive functions. Depending on the intensity of the attack, victims might suffer anything from temporary confusion to complete ego death.
Despite possessing mental defenses far superior to any baseline human, Druig found himself completely outmatched by Richard's overwhelming psychic superiority. The mental storm tore through his consciousness like a hurricane through tissue paper, reducing millennia of accumulated knowledge and experience to scattered fragments.
Richard carefully modulated his attack to avoid immediately fatal damage—not out of mercy, but because he found the alternative outcome more interesting. When the psychic tempest finally subsided, Druig's higher brain functions had been completely destroyed while leaving his basic motor controls and supernatural abilities intact.
The transformation was immediate and dramatic. Where moments before an ancient, sophisticated intellect had resided, now only primal instinct remained. Druig had been reduced from a god-like being to something barely more complex than a wild animal—albeit one that retained access to formidable telepathic powers.
Without rational thought to guide his actions, Druig's mental abilities began operating purely on instinctual drives. He immediately started exerting telepathic control over every human within range, but without the subtle touch that had previously made his influence nearly undetectable.
The villagers who had lived under his gentle mental guidance for years suddenly found themselves subjected to chaotic, contradictory commands as their broken master's psyche broadcast random impulses across the settlement.