Don Brody Maroni

**Don Brody Maroni** was one of the first few generations that descended from Noah after the Great Flood caused by Marn Heirogryph to right the wrongs caused by Gar on Earth 616. When Marn visited Earth in his human vessel, William Ferguson, he founded a crime gang called the Ferguson Clan and formed the Italian Empire. Brody, and his distant relative and practical brother, Jacob Maroni formed the Maroni Clan and allied themselves with the Ferguson Clan, reigning supreme over Italy for several thousand years.

## **Biography**

### **Early Life**

Having been born just thirty-seven years following the Great Flood, Brody and Jacob founded the Maroni Clan and were granted immortality by Marn Heirogryph so they could rule over Italy for thousands of generations. The first millennium of his rule saw nothing but peace, and would be known as the Thousand-Year Prosperity. This era came to an end with the spark of the Italian Civil War around sixty-thousand years B.C.

During this time, Jacob discovered a rift leading between the Earth 616 universe and the Main Universe, and found himself displaced in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during the sacking of the temple, led by Sith Lord Darth Malgus. Intrigued, Jacob joined in on the battle, stealing a pair of lightsabers and killing both Jedi and Sith indiscriminately. He took an admiration for Malgus before returning to his universe to show Brody and Ferguson what he had discovered.

Upon his return, he told Brody about the rift in the forest, and the two established a reconnaissance mission to Coruscant, where the two of them would attempt to locate a base for them to use as a hold out so as to expand their Empire into this new world. During this mission, Brody concluded that this planet must be under Martial Law, rendered by the Sith Empire. The two returned home, where they discussed matters with Ferguson.

They decided to return with a legion of their forces and steal as many starships from the Empire as they could from the Sith, establish a base for their organization on Coruscant and spread themselves across the Main Galaxy. They, along with their right hand, Conker, divided into four groups to battle with the Coruscanti police force. Brody and his team infiltrated the police station, where they were met with the full power of the police.

Brody took out every single person in his path, barely regarding them at all. He sensed that at the highest peak of the tower, were seventeen Sith Lords all waiting for him and his men. So after cutting down all in his path, he made his way up several flights of stairs, his men raging in battle on the lower levels.He finally made his way to the top of the tower, where the plethora of dark warriors believed they had led him into a trap. Brody was about to convey upon them how incorrect that belief was.

Five of them met him at the top of the steps, which put Brody at a small disadvantage as they had the High Ground. However, utilizing the Speed Force, Brody was able to get past them, slicing two of them down in the process. He dispatched the other three in a matter of moments, and was then surrounded by the remaining twelve. After a long, gruesome battle ensued between them, the three Sith left standing were able to pin Brody down. Before they could kill them, however, Conker joined the fun and destroyed the rest of them. Conker explained that he had secured the south territory, and the two of them managed to successfully destroy their remaining opponents.

Immediately after assuming direct control of the precinct, Brody sent Conker elsewhere to complete a different task. It was just then that Jacob, now piloting his own star cruiser, kamikazed into the buliding, knowing that it would not kill him. However, Brody was angry at him for destroying what he had worked so hard to destroy, though he soon got over it. The four regrouped in what Conker had established as their base, where the rift had somehow been transferred to. They concluded that it had to be the work of Marn Heirogryph, and so they agreed.

Ferrguson informed them that he received word from their forces that many of their men were able to escape into the galaxy by jetting into hyperspace. Content with this, they left Conker in charge of overseeing operations in this universe and returned to their own.

### **Italian Civil War**

Cornelius Stefani, originally part of the Maronis disbanded from the Empire over conflicting ideologies and started his own gang, waging war against the Empire. He eventually allied himself with the Fabrigazi Clan, which was formed by a newcomer by the name of Depiano Fabrigazi and funded by an unknown benefactor.

When Marn received word, he discovered that this mysterious benefactor was none other than his arch rival, Sheev-3PO, a Primordial being. Seeing as this being was more powerful than what the Empire could handle, Marn saw that it required divine intervention and took on Ferguson as his vessel to battle Sheev above the Earth. He used his power to shield the planets in the Solar System.

During the battle, a massive explosion erupted and caused the two Dieties to disappear into The Empty, and sending Ferguson back down to Earth. This explosion caused a Black Hole to form, threatening the very existence of Earth 616. As a favor to Marn, the Celestial, Oobi Doob Scooby Dooby Benubi, used his divine powers to stop the Black Hole and save the universe.

With this crisis averted, the Italian Civil War came to a close and the Stefanis and Fabrigazis were hunted down and destroyed. The Italian Empire was restored to its former glory and reigned supreme for several thousand more years.

### **The Bug Problem**

Sixty years after the Civil War came to a close, Brody and Jacob were alerted to a mysterious problem in North Africa, where their subordinates, Georgie and Big Paulie had been sent on a relief mission. Polly was finally able to get word to the Maronis that he and George required backup, though he did not get the chance to explain why. With Ferguson dealing with his own issued among the people of Italy, Jacob and Brody elected to go off and fix this issue themselves.

They journeyed to Africa and found Paulie trapped in a temple, but Georgie was nowhere to be found, Paulie explained that their captors hadn't been ordinary men, but rather eight-foot tall beatles, who, unbeknownst to them at the time, had been sent from Hell by Satan to do reconnaissance before eventually intending to invade Earth.

The trio battled the bugs until they found Georgie suspended over an acid pool created by the bugs. Rescuing him, they managed to escape with their lives. They returned to Italy to gather their forces and return to the temple, where they torched every last beatle, sending them back to Hell.

### **The Resurgence**

After thousands more years of peace, going all the way to 57,102 B.C., there was word that the Fabrigazis were planning a return, though when the Maronis and the Fergusons hunted down any remnants of the old clans and could find no evidence of an apparent resurgence, until they discovered that the one who was planning the return was none other than Depiano himself was planning a return, having alligned himself with Satan. The trio performed a ritual that would allow them to die and come back whenever they so pleased. Having created this ritual, and seeing as the amount of Maronis outnumbered that of the present Fergusons, they so named it the Maroni Ritual.

After spending nearly two thousand Hell years (which to the world above would be only a few seconds) escaping the lowest depths of Hell, they battled demons while infiltrating Satan's Palace. While they put up a valiant stand, they were ultimately captured by the demons and brought before their foe. Using their charm and skills in persuasion, they managed to convince Satan to turn against Fabrigazi, and he sent Depiano to the deepest depths of Chaos. The Italian Empire formed an alliance with Satan, sealing it with a Blood Pact before returning to Earth.

### **Inter-Dimensional Invaders**

Years later, in another universe, Darth Tenebrous and his Sith apprentice, Plagueis were experimenting in Sith Magicks, and accidentally created a portal leading to the Earth 616 universe. It closed immediately after they stepped through, trapping them in the foreign universe. Upon discovering the existence of the Italian Empire, Tenebrous began forming a plan to take control and eventually conquer the entire planet.

They attempted to convert several of the Maroni and Ferguson Clan to serve as their own army, but the men they tried to recruit instead reported them to Brody, Jacob and Ferguson. Displeased, the three personally hunted down these Sith and captured them. Taking them back to their palace, where they were made examples of in front of their subjects. The two Sith were then imprisoned below in their dungeon and tortured for seven years without mercy.

One night, Ferguson ventured to their cell for their daily torture session and discovered them having figured out how to reopen the portal to their universe. In an attempt to stop them, he engaged in a full-fledged brawl with them, being sent through the portal. Tenebrous and Plagueis stepped through and the portal closed behind them, entrapping Ferguson.

It did not take long for Brody and Jacob to figure out what happened, and they devoted themselves to trying to figure out how to reopen the portal. After months of frustratingly getting nowhere, they performed the Maroni Ritual, sending them down to Hell, where they enlisted the help of Satan. He told them that it is outside of his abilities to open breeches to other universes, but he is capable of travelling through different Hells. He explained that Chaos is the version of Hell in the Main Universe, and they just need to figure out how to get out of Chaos.

Jacob and Brody agreed, stepping into Chaos, and then Satan betrayed the Maronis, sealing the door between worlds and trapping them in there. With them out of the way, he sent his two best demons, Beelzebub and Azrael into their Earthly bodies, taking full control of the Italian Empire. He had his demons working day and night to figuring out how to open inter-dimensional portals so that he could invade and conquer other universes.

**Time In Chaos**

In Chaos, Brody and Jacob found themselves opposed by Depiano, who had allied himself with The Dark Underlord, ruler of Chaos. Years later, when Plagueis met his end, his soul was sent to Chaos, and upon learning of the presence of Jacob and Brody, sided with Fabrigazi. Jacob and Brody spent decades on the run from their opposers, constantly having to look over their shoulders, until eventually the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious met his end in what was known in the Main Universe as 4 ABY. Sidious, being an enemy of Plagueis for having been the one who killed him, joined forces with Jacob and Brody, and with their combined knowledge and abilities, were able to escape Chaos and return to the world of the living in the Main Universe. Jacob and Brody took on new vessels as two dead bounty hunters.

### **The World of the Living**

After returning to life, they never saw Sidious again, though they tried to steer clear of his Galactic Empire, which they were not aware existed when they agreed to help him escape. They searched for Ferguson for several years but found that he had already returned to Earth 616 somehow. They also learned that he had formed his own crime organization called the Ferguson Syndicate, which had been destroyed by Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Unfortunately, Jabba had recently been killed, robbing them of their revenge, but the two got to work in the Criminal Underworld to rebuild Ferguson's gang.

By twenty-five years following the Battle of Yavin, the Ferguson Syndicate was at the height of their power, dominating the underworld. Even the Hutt Empire was no match for their forces. Occasionally, the gang would have run-ins with New Republic ships, and would be forced to destroy them so as to conceal their very existence. It was not until the invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong that they revealed themselves to the public, allying themselves with Mandalore, the Jedi, the New Republic and the remnants of the Empire to combat this enemy.

The Vong would eventually overtake the Main Galaxy, basing themselves on the capital world of Coruscant which they renamed after their home planet, Yuuzhan'tar. This victory was short-lived as the allies retook control of the galaxy, forcing the Vong into slavery until they could fix the damage that they had caused. The Ferguson Syndicate came in good standing with the New Republic afterward, and with the Fel Empire when it rose to power.

Brody and Jacob spent over two thousand years in the Main Universe trying to discover how to get back, to no avail. As it happened, Marn Heirogryph had been in a state of recovering ever since his crushing defeat at the hands of Sheev-3PO during the Italian Civil War, and was only now ready to return to the Multiverse. Upon seeing what Satan had done, he brought Jacob and Brody back to Earth 616, casting out and incinerating Beelzebub and Azrael, and reforming his vessel, who had been destroyed by Satan and cast into oblivion shortly after Ferguson returned from the Main Universe.

In his final act of restoration, Marn cast Satan out into The Empty, leaving the throne of Hell open for the taking. Jacob decided it best if he became Hell's new ruler, and no demon dared to oppose him. He took the title "King of Hell", and as a courtesy to his brother, named Brody the Prince of Hell.

### **War of Chaos**

It was not long after this that the Dark Underlord visited Jacob in Hell, surprised to see it being ruled over by a human, albeit strong with the Dark Side of the Force. Jacob explained that their past need not effect their future, and that he would be happy to have a peaceful alliance with Chaos and the other realms of Hell there exists. Instead, the Dark Underlord waged what would be known as the War of Chaos against him, and led any army of Sith spirits to fight against Jacob's demons, promising them life if they did as he asked. The war lasted only a few weeks, though in its time, it caused much damage.

The Dark Underlord was forced to flee back to Chaos and seal the door between the two worlds with powerful magic. Jacob and Brody decided not to concern themselves with this, though Brody still had one of his most loyal men, Johnny leading a team day and night to figuring out how to reopen the portal so that they could conquer Chaos.

The war also came with devastating repercussions, as many Sith who had fought in the world managed to hide out in Hell until it was over, and then discovered a room deep in the caverns of Hell in which you can travel through doors to other universe. The Sith returned to the world of the living in the Earth 616 universe and many others by using essence transfer to attach their spirits to a vessel. Plagueis was one of the many Sith who returned to the Main Universe in the body of a Porg.

The spirit of Darth Maul was one of the many Sith that were captured by the demons when Jacob sent them out to find them, and he was imprisoned in Hell's Dungeon for thousands of years.

### **Hunting The Sith**

With multiple returned Sith displaced throughout every universe, Marn Heirogryph requested unto the Maronis to hunt them down across the multiverse and send them back to Chaos. Jacob and Brody decided that one of them needed to stay and hold the title of Don for the Maronis, and since Jacob had his hands tied as was with Hell, it was decided that Brody, with the help of Paulie and Georgie would go. Marn granted them all the ability to travel between dimensions.

The three divised three teams that became known as the Sith Hunters, and for the next several decades, they battled some of the most ferocious Sith to have escaped. In the Main Universe, around three thousand years after the Battle of Yavin, Brody was nearly killed by Darth Nihilus and Darth Krayt, but eventually his team managed to overpower the two. This, however, caught the unwanted attention of Gar, who was surprised by the fact that Force-sensitive beings had returned despite his having eradicated them thousands of years prior.

Gar killed Brody's team and took him prisoner, where he proceeded to torture him. When Marn saw this, he told Gar to stop, explaining what had happened and that Brody and his team were fixing the problem. Marn forced Gar to let Brody go, and Brody returned to Italy to gather a new team for his hunts.

### **Emperor Vitiate's Reign**

Brody discovered that the Sith Lord, Vitiate took control of the Mushroom Kingdom after escpaing Hell and killing Bowser. Georgie and Paulie considered this a personal matter, and so they joined Toad's Rebellion to defeat the Emperor. They spent nearly five hundred years there fighting what would be known as the Great Koopa War, and for reasons they were unsure of, it seemed as though Vitiate was somehow hindering their abilities to travel inter-dimensionally, so they were unable to breech back to Earth 616 to enlist the Empire's aid.

At one point near the end of the war, Brody allowed himself to be captured by Vitiate so as to gain as much information as he possibly could. Once he was inside Bowser's Castle, now being inhabited by the Sith Lord, he easily escaped his cell and broke for the throne room, where he and Vitiate engaged in a duel. Brody was slain in the battle, though this had been his plan from the start. He awoke in Hell and explained to Jacob that he needed his help. Then the Italian Empire sent a legion of their best men, backed by an army of demons to invade the mushroom kingdom. Vitiate's forces were easily overrun, and he was killed. His soul traveled back down to Hell, where the Maronis imprisoned him in the Sith Prison.

Several thousand years later, Maul would escape and possess a human named Thesius.

### **The Santini Crime Gang**

At some point in the future, the Maronis sent one of their most loyal and deadly servants, Tony Riccotoni Macaroni Balogna Maroni to Earth One to hunt down an escaped Sith Lord by the name of Darth Millenial. While he did not capture the Sith, he and his men were ambushed by a gang of men working for the Santini Crime Family, the operative crime family in Central City. After easily taking them all out by himself, he contacted Brody and Jacob and told them of what happened. They did not consider the Santinis too great a threat, but dispatched Tony to destroy them all, and to not return until they were all dead, Millenial along with them.

### **The Roman Empire**

After thousands more years of prosperity, Brody became bored with how mundane his rule had become, and so he sought to make things more interesting through conflict. He dealt with a man named Julius Caesar, manipulating his mind while not actually revealing his true identity as the one who ruled over all of Italy. He gave him the supplies necessary to build an army, and Caesar sought about conquering Rome and, eventually, bringing the Italian Empire to its knees. In his free time, he also invented a salad.

Upon seeing this, Jacob confronted Brody about this insurgence happening under his nose, demanding an explanation as to why Caesar had not been dealt with swiftly. Brody explained he planned to allow Caesar to conquer Rome and then attempt to take down their Empire, and they would make this both sport and training exercise for their men. Jacob became very fond of this idea, and so he returned to Hell, satisfied.

Caesar managed to take control of Rome, instilling power over the Roman Empire. He made plans to wage war with the Italian Empire, however, he was assassinated before he got the chance by his closest friends, Brutus The Younger and Gaius Cassius Longinus, unforeseen by the Maronis. Brody was angry that all of this had been for naught, and his anger intensified decades later when the Romans killed Jesus Christ. This had apparently been Gar's plan, but Benubi had not wished this of Kenobi and so he told the Maronis that the Romans required punishment.

They allowed him to release a deadly plague upon their subjects, eradicating most of the Romans and causing their pitiful Empire to crumble.

### **Oz the Great and Powerful**

In 1885 A.D., Brody found himself hunting Darth Andeddu, to his own surprise, as he was certain they had killed all of the Sith that had escaped them. Andeddu, however, made a clumsy mistake, and Brody was tasked to finding and killing him. His hunt took him to a state called Kansas, where Andeddu had assumed the life of a mere farmer. The two battled in his barn house, and Brody was surprised at how powerful the ancient Sith Lord was. Though he was easily able to defeat him, the amount of effort required had been more than he anticipated.

After slaying the fallen Sith, Brody became drunk in celebration when a massive Twister hit the barn, knocking him unconscious and carrying him to the universe of Oz. He awoke without any of his memories, and with no idea where he was or where he was supposed to be. Upon discovering his great powers, he became somewhat of a superhero to the people of Oz, as any who dared threaten his new world. The people dubbed him Oz, the Great and Powerful, otherwise known the Wonderful Wizard.

Some time later, Brody had two twin daughters, Glenda and Tabitha. Both of his children exhibited exceptional magical abilities, and he trained them to be witches. In their adult lives, the two would create an order called the Covenant of Witches. They gathered other witches throughout the realm and used this order to aid the Wizard in protecting Oz from threats. However, Tabitha soon became jealous of her sister, who had been praised by their father for creating this order, despite it being Tabitha's idea. Her envy was displayed in a physical form, turning her skin green, and in her rage, she attempted to kill them both.

Brody had become surprised by the attack, and was not prepared for the full force of his daughter's power. The blast killed him, sending him to Hell, where all of his memories were restored. He reunited with Jacob, who had been worriedly scouring the multiverse in search of Brody. Reviving him, they returned to the palace in Italy. Brody exclaimed that he needed to return to Oz where his daughters needed him, but Jacob couldn't allow him to leave the Empire to become some wizard. He knocked him out and used the help of Benubi to erase every one of Brody's memories of Oz. When the Don came to, the last he recalled was hunting down Andeddu, and Jacob lied and said that they found him unconscious in a barn and he's been in a coma ever since.

In Oz, Glenda buried her deceased father. Believing that total anarchy would erupt within the people of Oz upon learning of the Wizard's death, she decided to cover up what had occurred and create the illusion that the Wizard was still alive. She chose a mortal man from Kansas named Walsh to assume the position, and to always hide behind a curtain so that any who visited him would not know the truth.

### **The Battle of Flying Monkeys**

Several years after the fact, Brody encountered his daughter again when she attacked the palace with an army of flying monkeys, invoking the Battle of Flying Monkeys. Tabitha's army was strong, though they were hardly a nuisance to the Maronis. When Tabitha infiltrated the palace and attacked Brody and Jacob, she was easily defeated and imprisoned in the dungeon below for interrogation. Brody was surprised that she knew him, and seemed to believe he was supposed to be dead. She told him she was his daughter, to which he asked if she was Medusa's kid, and if so, he already told that snake whore he wasn't paying child support.

While he was torturing Tabitha, he was surprise-attacked by Glenda, and though the two fought, her objective was not to beat him, understanding that she could not. She, instead, blew a type of dust in his face, which caused him to remember his time in Oz and realize that Jacob lied to him. He then realized what he'd done, apologizing to his two daughters. He went back up to the throne room, where Jacob was consulting with Georgie on their next move against the monkeys. Brody threw a knife into Georgie's chest, ending the man's life and alerting Jacob's attention.

The two engaged in an intense duel, during which either party was nearly killed several times. Brody said he thought they were brothers, but no brother would ever do what Jacob did. Jacob argued with that by telling Brody that *he* thought they were brothers, too, until he threw away everything they'd built for some girls that he'd known for a few measly decades. Brody found that he was barely less than a match for Jacob when he was pinned to the floor, Jacob's sword at his throat. Jacob, however, was knocked back by a blast by Glenda, which gave Brody the advantage and he knocked him out.

Realizing that if he killed Jacob, he would just come back, Brody took to trapping him in Pandora's Box, which would keep him from hurting anyone else. He would have to lie to Ferguson when he asked what had happened to Jacob, but Fergie had been off on his own expedition for several decades at that point, and the likeliness of him returning would be no time soon. Then he dealt with his daughters. Glenda wanted to kill her sister for all she had done to her people, but Brody asked that she spare her, as he still loved her. He promised Glenda she would be kept in the dungeon and would pose no threat to Oz. She thanked her father and returned to Oz once the Italian Empire defeated an wiped out essentially all of the flying monkeys, and over the next few years, Brody would extend his resources to helping Oz heal under Glenda's rule.

#### **The Better Half**

Brody began to struggle in ruling without Jacob or Ferguson when the demons became rowdy without their leader. Brody told the minions in Hell that he was their king now, but they refused to accept anyone but Jacob. Without demons wanting to do their jobs, Hell's security began to slip, allowing for more and more Sith to escape their prison. Eventually, one Sith Lord by the name of Darth Bane convinced a demon to let him go, convincing the demons that Brody was unfit to rule and that without Jacob's iron fist, they no longer had to serve the Empire. He soon lead them into battle against Brody, waging the Sith/Demon Revolt. With Sith and demon alike allying to defeat the Empire, and the Maronis essentially scattered about the multiverse trying to hunt down escaped Sith, causing a strain on Imperial forces, Brody saw no way that his Empire was going to win.

In the 1940s, Brody was desperate enough to ally with the Axis Powers during World War II so that the Nazis could aid his army in his war. However, Adolf Hitler could not be trusted to uphold his ends of the bargain once Italy did their part. After Hitler was defeated by the Allied Powers in 1945 and killed himself, Brody tried to pull out of the war and cut his losses. However, the United States of America would not allow Italy to go quietly, and so he was forced to spread his forces even more thin. Realizing he had no other choice if he intended to save the Empire, he let Jacob out of Pandora's Box.

Jacob was furious with Brody, but, for the time being, the two would have to set aside their differences and work together. Jacob parlayed with Bane, who told him that he was now King of Hell. Jacob scoffed, and after killing the Sith Lord, he showed his head to the army of demons, telling them they had only one king: him. The demons refused to serve him any longer, continuing the war even without a leader. This, however, caused the demons and Sith to become disorganized, which gave the Italian Empire an advantage they could use. The war lasted until the late 1950s, and when the Sith and demons were finally defeated, the Italian Empire was severely weakened,, with two of its central leaders at odds with one another. Also, during the carnage of the war, Tabitha was able to escape her father's clutches and hide out somewhere on Earth 616.

Those who supported Brody sided with him, and the remaining members of the Empire sided with Jacob, causing a divide in powers, and relatively demolished the Empire, splitting it into two powerful gangs, Brody's Gang and Jacob's Syndicate. The two became rivals on the streets of Italy in the days following World War II, however they had to keep their actions under wraps like regular criminal underlings, as Italy was now established under an organized government in the eyes of the rest of the world. It would not be until after the Second Infinity War that they rose to power once again.

### **The Rivalry**

The rivalry between Jacob and Brody became one of legend and folklore, as both of their respective gangs were thought to be myths by the general public, like the Illuminati, which were also real, but considered to be a conspiracy theory. Italy's new government worked hard to erase any records of the Italian Empire from the history books, and killed off anyone outside of Italy who knew about it, and told the people inside their borders not to pass stories onto their children. While some of these citizens disobeyed and were later executed for it, most of these stories became part of the legends of the "immortal" men who once ruled Italy. Meanwhile, there was blood spilled in the streets almost nightly that seemed to go ignored.
Tabitha found Jacob's fortress hidden in the mountains, and she formed an alliance with him, both having the equal desire to have Brody killed. He promised that if she gathered any of the flying monkeys that remained, he would help her retake Oz after Brody was dead, which, of course, was a lie. When she did this, she told all of her monkeys that they were to serve Jacob and do his will, and once this was done, he killed her, now with the control of the remaining flying monkeys. In the early 1990s, the battle officially begun, alerting the attention of Wakanda, and had King T'Chaka send his brother, N'Jobu to see what was happening, though he found nothing, and soon traveled to America for his own dealings.

Brody's gang turned out to be no match for Jacob's Syndicate when allied with the flying monkeys and his small army was defeated. Brody attempted to flee after he realized that he had lost, but was caught by Jacob, who had one final confrontation. Before getting his revenge, he bragged to Brody that he killed his daughter Tabitha, and once he did this, he was going to lead his army into Oz and kill Glenda too, and Brody was powerless to stop him. He then trapped him in Pandora's Box, where Brody would remain for several decades.

#### **Pandora's Box**

Brody woke up inside of a whole new world. The sky was red and all he saw for hundreds of thousands of miles were nothing but woods. He eventually realized that this would go on infinitely and that that was his real punishment. There was nobody else to keep him company, and one hundred years in that place amounted to one day on Earth. He was trapped in that box for nearly thirty years earth time.

### **The Illuminati**

Brody would finally see release from that prison once the Illuminati sent their stealthiest agents to infiltrate Jacob's fortress, where he had been rebuilding the Empire by gathering all of their forces spread throughout the mutliverse, and had amassed a formidable army that scared them. The thieves managed to retrieve the box, which was easily the most fortified possession in Jacob's heavily-guarded vault buried miles underground and accessible only by an elevator that requires Jacob's hand print to open. However, all but two of them were killed, and only one escaped and retreated to the safe house. The other was captured and tortured personally by Jacob.

Jacob demanded to know who the agent was and who he served, though no method of torture was able to make him speak. Finally, Tony entered the room, lending Jacob the news that their spies had tracked the one who escaped and had him surrounded in his safe house. Jacob told them to wait until he arrived to deal with him personally, and when he arrived at the safe house, they stormed the place, cornering him. He simply awaited his fate, as he had already sent word to his superiors of his location and they had used their advanced technology to teleport the Box into their grasp. The agent then set off a bomb, killing himself and a majority of the Maronis inside of the house, say for, of course, Jacob and Tony, who left the building unscathed and angry.

Brody was released from the Box at the secret Illuminati Fortress, hidden deep within Mount Everest and connected to the Everest on every single Earth by portals. He was brought before the Supreme Overlord of the Illuminati: a woman named Grista, who told Brody that they had a common enemy among Jacob. She pointed out his desire to kill him, and her desire to ensure that the Italian Empire did not rise to power again. He told her that despite his and Jacob's differences, they both shared the overall desire that the Empire prosper, and he would sooner die than ally with someone who sought to destroy it. She then had him tortured relentlessly for the next three hundred and forty-five years.

After withstanding a great deal of pain for such a long time, he finally began to crack, and it was through his weakness that she began to brainwash him into obedience. By the year 2366, he was finally and completely subservient to the will of the Illuminati, being renamed "Ashmael", a noble assassin that would command the army to destroy the Italian Empire. The Empire, which had spent the last few centuries becoming stronger, was nearly back to the glory it once was, aside from its apparent lack of both Brody and Ferguson, who was still yet to return from his sabbatical.

However, Ashmael was sitting on the greatest army within the omniverse, that which could have rivaled the Empire even at its strongest, and now his forces invaded Italy, leaving Jacob in a strong, yet rather hopeless defense. When Jacob's fortress was breached, he awaited the mystery man that was leading the attack in his chamber, where Ashmael found him. The two engaged in a vicious duel, with Ashmael much stronger than Brody had been, and far more in tune with his power, more disciplined.

Yet Jacob recognized Brody's fighting technique anywhere, and he called him by his name. Ashmael told Jacob that Brody was no more, before defeating Jacob. Jacob tried to remind Brody that despite everything, they were still brothers, and that caused Ashmael to very briefly hesitate. Before he could finish him off, he was blasted by an electrical current powerful enough to pulverize a Grizzly Eagle Shark, and it disoriented Ashmael long enough for Ferguson, who was possessed by Marn to touch his head and very painfully rearrange his mentality, restoring Brody and destroying Ashmael. After he recovered, he contacted his army General, Jonass, and told him to fall back and await further orders.

Ferguson, still as Marn, explained to the Maronis that the Illuminati was quite possibly the greatest threat they would ever face, as even he had spent millions of years trying to track them down, but he never could, and he had no idea who their leader was. Brody told him that it was some woman by the name of Grista, which came to Marn as an absolutely astonishing revelation, though he didn't explain why to them, but it was obvious he knew who that was. The trio devised a plan to infiltrate the Illuminati fortress by pretending to arrest both Jacob and Ferguson to bring before Grista. Marn explained that whatever power the Illuminati was drawing from, it was able to keep out even him, and so he would not be able to help once they were inside.

Brody contacted Jonass, allowing him entrance in Jacob's fortress, where the Maronis were ordered to stand down by Jacob. They put Jacob and Ferguson into custody and traveled back to Nepal to deliver the prisoners to Grista, and then Brody set them free, slashing Jonass' throat in the process and the three of them fought off her seemingly infinite guards while she watched. It was then that the place was stormed by the Maronis, as Tony Riccotoni Macaroni Balogna Maroni had followed them to the secret fortress. A great battle ensued, allowing Ferguson and the Maronis to duel with Grista, finding her power to be incredible, but nothing compared to all three of them.

They eventually managed to overpower, overwhelming her with force and causing her to explode. Ferguson told the two that there was not a chance they killed her, but they had forced her to retreat from the solitude of her stronghold, and Marn would be able to deal with her from there. In the meantime, they joined in on the battle, knowing they couldn't win, but the objective was to escape. They managed to do so, however many great lives were lost. Brody, Jacob, Ferguson, Tony and a handful of their men would make it out alive, and retreated back to Italy. Marn would later return to Jacob's fortress in his true form, with Grista as his prisoner. Using certain incantations, he trapped her in chains that were inescapable to even Fred (who often used them for sexual foreplay). Marn told them that they were going to need help from Gar in this instance, and when they asked why, he told them that Grista was Gar's mother.

Upon hearing this news, Brody began to freak out, much to the surprise of both Marn and Jacob, though after a good sniff of Brody's person, he deducted that he had lain with Grista as Ashmael, to his and Jacob's disgust. Brody immediately interrogated Grista, who told him that she was, in fact, pregnant with their child, and a pregnancy test confirmed it. Brody told Marn that they couldn't get Gar, and insisted Marn was powerful enough to eliminate this threat. Marn said that he was not concerned about defeating Grista or any of her followers, but it was who they served that he feared, as he was certain now that the Illuminati were servants of Gar's father: Sheev-3PO. After the last time Marn had faced Sheev, he was not eager to do so by himself again.

Marn visited Heaven to explain the situation to Gar, who then stormed into the fortress and nearly obliterated Brody on the scene. Marn told him that if he did he would not hesitate to destroy him, and so Brody was safe for the time being. They discussed what to do with the baby, and Jacob suggested they simply abort it, though Gar and Brody vehemently protested. Marn said they needed to kill Grista as soon as possible and they couldn't wait for the baby to be born. Brody helped Gar in freeing Grista and escaping the stronghold, and just when Marn was prepared to smite all three of them, he was attacked by Sheev and Galactus, who captured Gar, and Grista captured Brody. Marn was left on the street as they all disappeared without a trace.

They were transported to a place within the Cosmic-Verse, where Grista allowed Brody to live for helping her escaped, but kept her prisoner for Satan, who was now apparently in league with Sheev, to torture for revenge. After nine months, the baby was finally born, and Grista named him Graven. Sheev then brought in Gar, who was his prisoner, and called him a disappointment of a son, undeserving of his power, but assured him this mistake would soon be rectified. He began to extract the power from Gar to transplant it into Graven, who would become the apprentice Gar never would be and help him defeat Marn.

Before much power could be tranferred, Marn busted in, along with Oobi Doob Scooby Doobi Benubi, Fred, Jacob, Ferguson and the entire Italian Empire. Sheev realized that he was outmatched, and so he and Galactus teleported away, leaving Grista and Satan to defend themselves. Satan then told Grista she was on her own before literally stabbing her in the back and disappearing, letting her be the bait. She was soon brought back into captivity and killed by Marn. Brody was freed and they promptly returned to the multiverse. Gar was about ready to snap Brody's neck, meriting all of Brody's forces to come to his defense, even though their attempts to defeat Gar would be meager at best, though Marn intervened, reminding Gar what he would do to him should he disobey his will. Gar angrily returned to Heaven.

### **Gar's Revenge**

Fifteen years later, Brody took a teenage Graven on a camping trip, just the two of them, to a cabin in the Canadian wilderness to help him control the immense power Sheev had granted him. While Graven was off collecting firewood, Brody was attacked by a speedster that was so fast, he was a blur even to Brody. The speedster overpowered Brody before he could process the attack that was unfolding, but before they could kill Brody, the speedster was electrocuted by Graven to the point of unconsciousness.

They tied him up in the cabin and Brody taught Graven how to effectively torture somebody, though whoever the speedster was working for had done a number on the speedster, because even after weeks, he did not even slightly crack. The speedster eventually got free and escaped their clutches, retreating to the Speed Force.

### **The New Supreme Overlord**

As Graven entered adulthood, his abilities began to scare Jacob, who warned Brody that just because Graven was his son didn't mean he was not dangerous; any being with even 1% of Gar's power was a viable threat that needed to be dealt with. Brody told Jacob that he had raised his son right, and even if Graven turned on them, they could always rely on Marn to put him down if he stepped out of line. It was on Graven's 29th birthday, when Brody was hosting a massive celebration with his son at a banquet, and Jacob was waiting it out in the throne room, drinking, that Jacob was attacked by an escaped prisoner of theirs, Michael Myers, who was able to get one stab in due to Jacob's drunkenness and thanks to the element of surprise, before Jacob easily overpowered Michael and put him back in his cell.

After this attack, Jacob and Brody launched a full investigation, believing that one of their own must have freed Michael. Graven argued that a dangerous immortal psychopath could have easily found a way to escape his cell, but Jacob assured the boy that he had personally trapped Michael in his inescapable cell with no doors or windows, as well as placed a power-dampening collar around his neck so that he could not teleport to freedom, which Michael was not wearing when he attacked, and the collar was spell-bound to only be removable by the blood of a Maroni. This led Jacob to confront Graven for this treachery, though Brody stepped to his son's defense and told Jacob that if such baseless accusations were brought up again, he was going to snap his neck. Jacob agreed to that, and so he had Tony spy on Graven, knowing that he was the only one capable of doing so without being detected.

That evening, Brody spoke with his son about what happened, and to his own surprise, Graven seemed to abruptly alter the subject, asking if they could take a trip to Oz. Brody had not been there since he lost his memory, but he agreed to go there with his son, where he planned to continue his confrontation. The following morning, they journeyed to Oz and Brody found that Graven had set course for the palace within the Munchkin Kingdom, which was in absolute shambles. Graven told his father that he had recently paid a visit to Oz and learned a great many things about the place. He picked up the sword of Excalibur and told Brody that it had belonged to King Arthur before he was slain by Tabitha, which had happened after Brody abandoned his daughters to rejoin the Italian Empire.

Brody was unsure what his son was getting at until Graven continued, telling him that after Tabitha's defeat and Glenda returned to Oz, they prospered for some time. That was until Jacob led his forces in a full-frontal attack of Oz shortly after trapping Brody in Pandora's Box out of spite. Graven explained that after easily succeeding in the battle, Jacob skinned Glenda alive and tortured her for weeks without mercy, before finally ending her life. Brody was in tears by this point, and Graven asked his father why he never returned to see his only daughter after he was freed from the Box, and Brody admitted that he was afraid Jacob had made good on his promise and killed Glenda.

Graven made the point that Brody was a good person, but Jacob was toxic for him, and always seemed to have Brody under his spell. He said that as long as Jacob was alive, they could never be happy together. As well as that, Jacob had brought pain and death to everyone he was around, and was actively seeking to tear them apart. He then had an imprisoned Tony brought out to them, and to Brody's distaste, the men working for Graven were Illuminati agents. Graven told his father that he had taken his rightful place as Supreme Overlord, as his mother had wanted for him, and he offered Brody a place at his side. Brody pieced together that it *had* been Graven who released Michael, and Graven said that the only thing he knew as an absolute truth was that Jacob needed to die.

Brody attacked Graven, which immediately ended poorly for the former, and he was stabbed with Excalibur, but not fatally. Graven leaned over to his father and asked him to consider his offer, though that request was met with a "Go to hell." Graven and his men disappeared and Brody and Tony were left there. Tony carried his wounded superior home to be patched up, where they explained everything to Jacob and Ferguson. Brody could barely even look at Jacob after learning what he had done to Glenda, but Ferguson told him to set aside his emotions until they beat Graven.

Ferguson tried to reach out to Marn for assistance, but was met with nothing. Jacob said that they defeated the Illuminati before with very minimal assistance from Marn and could dewit again, although he did pull Brody aside later to make sure that if it came to it, he would kill Graven. Brody didn't answer, and instead told Jacob that once the mission was over, they were finished. With the full force of the Italian Empire, they attacked the Illuminati fortress and were met with a defense just as strong, as Graven had been anticipating this. Graven awaited his father, Jacob and Ferguson in his throne room.

When they arrived, Graven froze Jacob and Ferguson in place, though they were still able to see everything, and he gave Brody one final chance to join him before he, too, had to die. Brody pulled a sword out and engaged in a duel with his son, which lasted mere moments before he was on the ground, Excalibur at his throat. Graven pleaded with him not to force him to kill him, but Brody told him it was the only way he was ever going to stop him, and to get on with it. Ultimately, Graven dropped his sword in a frustrated rage, wanting to go through with it but knowing he could not. He was, however, more than willing to kill Jacob.

Before committing the act, he reveled in the fact that the great Maroni heads were on their knees before him, and further monologued to Brody that it was he who destroyed the Munchkin Kingdom and skinned his own sister alive, not Jacob, but that that didn't excuse Jacob of all of the terrible things he had done. Things that he was now going to die for.

He began using his power to slowly torture Jacob, turning his organs to mush and making so that he couldn't breathe. Brody saw an opportunity where his son was distracted, picked up Excalibur and jammed it into Graven's heart. The sword, imbued with the power of Merlin was strong enough to kill a being even with 1% the power of Gar himself. Graven's death did, however, destroy Excalibur in the process. It let out a massive explosion of power that sent Brody, Jacob and Ferguson flying in separate directions. Just then, Tony came rushing in screaming that the building was about to come down and they needed to get out of there. They made it out just in time, and only a few million of their men were killed in the battle, and the Illuminati was finally no more.

After returning to Italy, Brody told Jacob that he was serious when he said that they were over, and that he was leaving the Empire. When Ferguson asked where he was going, he simply had no clue yet. But he was going to forge his own path and see where destiny took him.

### **A New Path**

Brody became a bounty hunter, mainly residing in the main universe but occasionally going elsewhere to find a good score. At one point, he captured a man on Tatooine who had a bounty placed on him by Jauulus the Elder that was large enough to feed all of Africa, were he selfless enough, which he was not. He tracked him down and, for his own amusement, allowed him to beg for his life, because the man thought he was being given a chance at mercy. After Brody had had his fun, he shot the man in the head and delivered the corpse to Jauulus. He spent the money he earned on that bounty mainly on booze to drink away his sorrows.

While drinking at Mos Eisley Cantina, he was approached by a group of thugs who attacked him, and he easily killed them all even in his drunken state. However, when he walked out the bar, he was hit in the head by a large wooden paddle. When he came to, he was told by his captor, a female bounty hunter named Athena Morrah that he had upset a very powerful group of people, and she was going to deliver him for a handsome bounty. He managed to free himself of his binds and jumped out of her speeder.

She chased him into Beggar's Canyon and the two engaged in a bit of a spar, with Brody simply playing with her just a little bit, before eventually growing tired of the games and asking who she was and who she was working for. She refused to answer his questions, so he took her prisoner aboard her own speeder and tracked the coordinates she had last put in. To his surprise, they led to Jabba's Palace, though he knew that the Hutt had been dead for over 50,000 years. He left Athena tied up in the speeder and went inside to investigate and was met by a small army of assassin droids that only barely managed to overpower him.

Brody was brought before none other than Darth Maul, who he didn't recognize at first, as he was still in the form of a human body, albeit deteriorating. Maul told Brody that ever since he escaped Hell, he had been slowly holding onto the vessel he was in while it tried to die, and for nearly 3,000 years now, he had been holding onto life. But his days were numbered, and when he heard that Brody was now bounty hunting in this universe, he seized his opportunity. He said that Brody's body was the perfect vessel to contain a soul for all eternity.

He began to use essence transfer to possess Brody, but then found that something was preventing him. Brody explained that after being possessed by demons, he and Jacob wore special warding tattoos so that no being, no matter their power could take their vessel. Maul became enraged, and sentenced him to be executed. Before the assassin droids could do so, however, Brody was saved by Athena and the two escaped.

The two fled to Mos Eisley Spaceport to buy a ship and get off of the planet, but were caught by Maul's forces and an all-out bash ensued. Brody became distracted by Maul, who sent a barrage of Force lightning his way, much to Brody's surprise, as he hadn't been aware Maul knew that trick. He was able to deflect it, though it put him on the offensive and allowed him to be subdued by a handful of assassin droids. Once he was detained, and seriously weakened, Maul took his knife and sliced the brand off of Brody, which allowed him inside. Brody was overtaken by Maul and he stole a ship to leave the planet before Athena could finish off his droids.

#### **A Vessel in Possession**

Maul planned to return to Earth 616 and kill Jacob, then Ferguson, and take the place as ruler of the Italian Empire, however Brody did not allow it. He used what influence he still retained over his own body to hinder Maul's ability to travel interdimensionally. Enraged, Maul traveled to the planet Dathomir, once a primitive world, now a metropolitan society in resemblance of Coruscant itself. However, deep below the depths of the polished world were a set of catacombs, ancient and mystical, and they housed a cult of monks led by a man named Reeves, whose help Maul enlisted in casting Brody out of the vessel.

They tried to perform a ritual to cast him, but were instead met with great power, blinding them all in a searing blast of light and then turning them rabid with insanity before eventually dying. Maul became extremely frustrated and threw a tantrum, which was then interrupted by Athena, who followed them there via a tracker she put on Brody's back. The two began to fight, a duel which Maul would easily have won given his new power were Brody not withholding them and forcing him to combat her hand-to-hand. After pinning him, she kissed him, and it gave Brody a surge of energy, which allowed him to cast Maul's spirit out of his body. This caused him to lose consciousness,and Brody fell into a coma for six months.

When he did wake, he found Athena at his bedside, having been so concerned for him that she remained beside him for all those months. Brody was confused as to why, as he scarcely had anyone in his past besides Jacob care for him that much. But he was happy to see her, and that very night, they had sex. What started to him as a fling became something much greater, that he refused to acknowledge as it was: love. Two years passed, with the two of them teaming up for heists and other missions together, until one day, Brody awoke to find the last person he expected to be standing at the foot of his bed: Marn Heirogryph.

### **The Final Battle**

#### **Preparation**

Brody told Marn that he was done being his pawn, and he just wanted to live his own life. Marn said that he respected that wish, but that he needed him for one final battle with Sheev-3PO, and after much pestering, Brody reluctantly agreed. He told Athena that he had to return to his own universe, and she said she would go with him. After he reunited with Jacob, who he admitted, it was good to see, he introduced him and Ferguson to Athena. Marn, along with Benubi and Fred then explained that in a state of intoxication, Gar had created Disney Canon, a replica of the main universe but spun in a truly atrocious manner. For that, Marn extracted Gar's power and sent him to Earth 872 as a mere mortal. The power that Gar once possessed, he would now give to Jacob and Brody to split halfway between themselves.

Marn took time to prepare and rally his forces for the final battle, during which Jacob and Brody got into another fight over something neither of them would remember, and their epic battle was enough to level and entirely destroy the Disney Canon universe. Also, right before heading to the New Universe that Marn created specifically for the purpose of not destroying any of his creation in the process, Brody told Athena that after this battle he was giving up all of his power, and the two of them could retire somewhere and grow old together. He proposed to her and she accepted, and he left her to finish things once and for all.