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in: Valiant Entertainment Publications, 2012, 2012, November,
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X-O Manowar Vol 3 7

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You spent time among my kind, so you understand when I say they have no concept of extravagance. No knowledge of flavor. They're no different from the mindless plants they worship. They don't live. They just survive. Like you, I have no intention of returning to them. Not without a fight. Let me help you. Together, we can both go on enjoying this world.
-- Alexander Dorian

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X-O Manowar vs. Ninjak. To the victor – Earth! Agents of the alien race known as The Vine have been living in secret among us for centuries and now they’ve just been activated for one final mission – purge the Earth of all human life! An invasion fleet is on its way and the only weapon in existence powerful enough to defeat it is the X-O Manowar armor. But first, Aric of Dacia must survive his latest encounter with Ninjak, the covert operative and master weapons specialist charged with taking him down.

Synopsis[]

During the Sack of Rome in 410 AD, the Vine planting Avagis encounters another Vine planting who reveals his true Vine identity to him. She also teaches Avagis how to enter the Gathering Plane, which allows the Vine to communicate telepathically.

Back in the present, Aric of Dacia and the renegade Vine planting Alexander Dorian hide in a safehouse in Georgetown, Guyana. Aric is still bitter about his captivity at the hands of the Vines. Alexander tells him that he wasn't a party to that. He warns Aric that the Vine will never accept that the Manowar armor has bonded with a human and that the Vine would invade Earth. Dorian also pleads with Aric to listen to him since he saved his life.

Aric is unwilling to trust a Vine. Alexander expresses sympathy for the suffering that Aric as a slave including being forbidden to eat fruits based on the Vine belief that they are sacred. To build a rapport with Aric, Alexander shows Aric a cherimoya fruit and expresses his distaste for the Vine practice of leaving fruits to rot and their austere lifestyle. He describes them as being no different from the mindless plants that they worship. Dorian reassures Aric he has not intention of returning to the Vine and says that they can go enjoying the world together.

After offering Aric a fruit, Alexander tells him that ship he escaped from travels the universes searching for planets inhabited by intelligent life. He explains that the Vine leave behind offspring called plantings who can mimic the physiology of virtually all species. Alexander tells Aric that they have left plantings among many civilizations over the centuries. He explains that wide dispersal improves the Vines' chance of survival. If one civilization dies out, the other plantings still flourish. Though the Vine are usually not interested in conquest, Alexander explains that Aric returning gives the Vine a pretext to destroy Earth.

Alexander tells Aric that they can stop the Vine if they work together. Meanwhile, Ninjak is waiting outside a window. However, the Manowar armor senses him and blasts a hole through the wall. Ninjak then climbs down through the ceiling and attacks them. A brief gun battle ensues. Alexander manages to hide behind a table but is taken captive by Ninjak. Aric labels Ninjak a coward, prompting Ninjak to express exasperation that his opponent does not understand his stratagem.

Aric tells Ninjak that using Alexander as a hostage won't work because he is wiling to blast through him. Alexander then speaks up and warns the two men that the Vine are sending an invasion fleet. He also warns Ninjak that Patrick Clement and his MI-6 operatives would eliminate him once he has delivered the Shanhara. Ninjak is dismissive but Alexander counters that Aric's armor generates a lightning sword, proved of its extraterrestrial origins.

Ninjak and Aric agree to a truce. Ninjak refuses to release his sword from Alexander until they pick a diversionary location. Dorian elects Caracas in Venezuela. With Ninjak and Aric's approval, Alexander enters the Gathering Plane and claims that Aric has taken him and the armor captive in Caracas. Meanwhile, Aric offers Ninjak a cherimoya. Falling for Alexander's disinformation, Patrick Clement hires Ninjak to retrieve the Manowar armor from Caracas for double the pay. Following the telephone conversation, Ninjak confides that he never liked Clement and that learning of his alien origins only confirmed his suspicion. The three men agree to join forces to eliminate the Vine plantings, starting with the operatives at MI-6.

Meanwhile, aboard the Vine invasion fleet, Commander Trill supervises a training exercise where Vine commandos test their firearms on Visigoth slaves. The Vine High Priest objects to the brutal killing of the human slaves and deduces that Trill is preparing for an invasion. Trill expresses his disdain for the Manowar armor since it can be bent to the will of an animal. Before testing the commandos' firearms on a second group of slaves, Trill tells the high priest to pray for his success should he want to get his armor back.

Back in Guyana, Alexander visits a Vine planting named Sadiq. Apologizing for the deception, Dorian claims that there is a spy among them and that he needs to get to London discreetly. Alexander claims that Aric is taking the Shanhara there. The two depart on Sadiq's personal jet under the pretext of having an emergency meeting with the Guyanan Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Once aboard, Dorian reveals that he is the traitor and has Ninjak kill Sadiq.

Later in London, Ninjak finds Aric sitting out in the open. Ninjak tells Aric that they are living in a different time where armies don't shack at each other. When Aric remarks that strength is always the superior of subtlety, Ninjak comments that he a is true china-shop bull. He then tells Aric that they are about to attack MI-6 headquarters.

Notes[]

  • The Eternal Warrior makes a secret cameo in this issue. Several issues later he mentions to Aric that he rode alongside Alaric through the streets of Rome after it was sacked.[1] The man next to Alaric in this issue can indeed be seen to have the same facial scars as Eternal Warrior.

Quotes[]

You spent time among my kind, so you understand when I say they have no concept of extravagance. No knowledge of flavor. They're no different from the mindless plants they worship. They don't live. They just survive. Like you, I have no intention of returning to them. Not without a fight. Let me help you. Together, we can both go on enjoying this world.
-- Alexander Dorian
Why is it whenever I employ a stratagem, the idiot I use it against labels me a coward?
-- Ninjak

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This section is for footnotes and citations.

  1. ↑ X-O Manowar (Volume 3) #16

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