Number of the Beast #5 is an issue of the series Number of the Beast (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 2008.
Synopsis for "Verse Five: This Is How The World Ends"
Rosado and Stringer are forced at gunpoint by Doctor Sin into putting the High's unconscious body inside one of the stasis tubes. When the bunker's perimeter alarm alerts to the presence of the strike team, Sin then has Stringer put into the last unoccupied tube and instantly disintegrating Rosado with his Sintrino Cannon. Sin then returns to the control room and shuts off the bunker's alarm system, alerting General Somerset at command of Sin's actions. The strike team then explodes the bunker's entrance. Alerted by this, Dr. Sin activates the bunker's defense systems which takes out the strike team, except for Lieutenant Welles, the only survivor, to safely enter the bunker.
Back in the program, Cumberland wakes up and quickly subdues the Horseman Pestilence, saving Hotfoot and Johnny Ray-Gun. On Paladin Hill, Mite explained to the Paladins about the High 'murdering' Dr. Sin.
In the bunker, Dr. Sin is amused by the situation going on inside the program and then deactivates the Horsemen, which digitally deletes the Horsemen of War that was fighting Mago and Tumbleweed. Much to their confusion, Mago then tends to a wounded Engine Joe and is surprised to discover that under his body armor are the remains of his heart and lung, thus leaving Joe's impalement from the Horseman without any fatal injuries.
On the other side of the City, Pestilence has also been deleted and Cumberalnd tries to explain to Johnny Ray-Gun and Hotfoot that they and the other heroes and villains are trapped in a virtual reality world. Stringer suddenly catches up and verifies that what the High is telling all of them about the Number of the Beast is true. He also tells them that if they "die" in the program, they'll be sent back to Bunker One.
Annoyed with this new development, Dr. Sin releases Aeronaut from his stasis tube. Sin bashes him in the head and sets him up at the control panel as a decoy. Just then, Lieutenant Welles enters the control room and proceeds to shoot Aeronaut while thinking he's Dr. Sin.
In the program, Cumberland carries Hotfoot and Johnny Ray-Gun to Paladin Hill where they are greeted by Eidolon. After telling Ray-Gun and Hotfoot to tend to their wounds, Cumberland talks to Eidolon, demanding from him why he of all people who knew about the simulation but never fully told anyone but him as Cumberland believed in him. Eidolon replies that he wasn't "ready" for the 'role' he has to free everyone and that in order for everyone to die, they have to believe that they are fighting something real.
When asked by Cumberland about his role in the simulation in which the Eidolon explains to him that he was intended to be the villain (the "Antichrist") for the Paladins to kill him in order to 'save' their City during the 'Apocalypse'. Much to the Eidolon's amusement he had told the Paladins beforehand and Cumberland is then attacked by the heroes, in which Redeemer brings out the High's weakness highnium. However, Cumberland is unfazed by this (as he found a cure to his weakness in 1975) and begins 'killing' every member of the Paladins, allowing them to be awaken in the real world.
After killing Johnny Ray-Gun, Cumberland is then contacted by Lieutenant Welles who informs him that he and everyone in the City will be killed as per orders from the American government. However, the High kills Hotfoot last but tells him that once he wakes up in the bunker, he must locate Welles and stop her. After quickly killing Hotfoot, Cumberland tries to reason with Welles against the government's unjustifiable return for the Paladins after the amount of generosity and good deeds that they have done for the world.
Elsewhere, nestled deep within a remote mountain range, a military hatch opens and reveals rows of stasis tubes that are becoming active.
Appearing in "Verse Five: This Is How The World Ends"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- The Eidolon
- Hotfoot
- Lieutenant Welles
Antagonists:
- Doctor Sin
- General William Somerset
Other Characters
- Captain Rosado (Dies)
- Sergeant Timothy Stringer
- Aeronaut (Dies)
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Wildstorm Universe
- Number of the Beast Bunker #1
- The City
- Number of the Beast Bunker #1
Items:
- Sintrino Cannon
Vehicles:
- None
Notes
- This comic included some ancillary notes on members of the Crime Corps: Tinderbox, Taipan, the Skeleton Crew, Stinkbug, Third Rail, and Ragamuffin.
Trivia
- Sergeant Stringer's first name is reveal to be Timothy.
- Doctor Sin referred to Aeronaut as being "less laughable than that cretin Johnny Rocketman." Johnny Rocketman is another World War II era hero, who carried a jetpack like Aeronaut, and first appeared in The Authority: Revolution.
- Lieutenant Welles' "I control the horizontal. I control the vertical" line is a reference to the opening narration of the American anthology TV series The Outer Limits.
See Also
Recommended Reading
Links and References
World's End Trilogy Crossover The events from this issue or series are related to the "World's End Trilogy". This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the World's End Trilogy Crossover category. Wildstorm: Armageddon
Wildstorm: Revelations
Number of the Beast
Number of the Beast #1 • Number of the Beast #2 • Number of the Beast #3 • Number of the Beast #4 • Number of the Beast #5 • Number of the Beast #6 • Number of the Beast #7 • Number of the Beast #8 |