Wildcats: World's End #17 is an issue of the series WildCats: World's End (Volume 1) with a cover date of January, 2010.
Synopsis for "Pantheon"
Max Faraday has given the Creation Equation to Tao in order to save his wife Susanna. Now that he knows the Equation, Tao intends to tear the universe apart, starting with wiping the Wildcats and Team 7 from existence. But to Tao's surprise, he finds that he can't...and he finds out why from Ladytron. She gleefully reveals to Tao that when Max whispered the Equation to Tao, she heard it and copied it, and then beamed into the ears of all the heroes. Now they ALL know the Creation Equation and have the power comparable to Tao's. Marlowe teleports Tao's surviving men back to Utah, leaving Tao alone and outnumbered in the face of his enemies.
But Tao is unfazed by this before teleporting everyone to the Hollow Realm, to separate the heroes. He makes them each face their personal weaknesses in order to keep them occupied while facing Marlowe and Max. But Void is able to stay out of Tao's influence as she sees him torment the others: Christie Blaze battles what she believes to be John Lynch, while the real Lynch struggles with the specters of his late wife and his son. Warblade relives the death of the woman he loves and the loss of his hands. Jodi and Marc Slayton are tormented by illusions of each other. Dane reluctantly fights vampire-infected members of Wetworks. Maul relives the death of his lover on planet Khera. Voodoo experiences the guilt over hurting the men who loved her and the fear of her Daemonite side. Ladytron relives her abusive childhood. Savant and Zealot are forced to turn on each other while Majestic tries to stop his family from killing each other. Deathblow is forced to witness the death of his parents in graphic detail. Only Grifter sees through Tao's illusions as he guns down a simulacrum of Zealot at a time when his lover left him.
As Void observes Tao's method of torture for each hero, she discovers a pattern. Tao appears to strike more harshly at those who have experienced love, especially among families, and uses that against them. While others he digs deep into their past bringing to the surface horrible memories that Tao makes them re-live. Just then, Susanna Faraday shows up, revealing that she's got a portion of Max's power, enough to stay away from Tao as Void is currently doing. Now that she is free from her husband keeping her blissfully unaware (in which she promises to have a long talk with Max), Susanna is willing to help Void to stop Tao.
They find Max, Marlowe, and Tao battling at the center of the Hollow Realm. They are the only three who understand that whoever controls the Hollow Realm truly controls the power of creation. But Tao still threatens to overpower them as Void and Susanna enact a plan to help. They enter Majestic's mind and see how Tao's life began: he is an artificially created lab experiment, the Tactically Augmented Organism, created by the Optigen Corporation. He had no family and was never loved. Susanna refuses to believe it's that simple but then realizes something for why Tao is behaving this way as she and Void head back to where Tao, Marlowe, and Max are fighting.
Tao finally beats Max and Marlowe. They end up back on the beach where the conflict began. Tao relishes his victory by taking the last of the Void energy from Marlowe and turning him back into Spartan. Susanna and Void show up and they tell Tao that they know what he is and just as he intends to tear down their world, they are about to tear down his.
Appearing in "Pantheon"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Devan Lawless
- Jenny Faraday
- Burnout (Hallucination)
- Wetworks (Hallucination)
- Ab-Death (Hallucination)
- Mother-One (Hallucination)
- Pilgrim (Hallucination)
Locations:
- Wildstorm Universe
- Hollow Realm
- Hollow Realm