I don't own Amalgam Comics.
Slade Murdoch, known and feared to many as Dare the Terminator, grimaced as she swiftly pulled out the small knife from her leg, before pulling out the the string and needle from the medical box next to her, her enhanced senses allowing her to "see" what she was doing. She ignored the pain moving cause her, deciding to focus on the injury she had a chance of fixing. After making sure the string was safely inside the needle and that her sword was close enough for her to use, she began to stitch up her wound.
She knew she wouldn't have long to rest. They were still out there, looking for her in the rain. She was lucky to, quite literally, fall into this warehouse. Judging from the medical box and some of the guns she had found, she would hazard a guess that this used to be a criminal's hideout. Probably the Hyena or Two-Faced Goblin. She tried to ignore the almost deafening sound of the heavy rain outside, trying to stay alert in case the people chasing her
As she continued to stitch up her wound, Dare thought back to the events that had led to this moment. It had been insane and dangerous, but she knew that what was to come was even more dangerous. She was close to figuring out who had framed her, she knew it. But to find out the answers would require her to fight harder and faster than she has ever before. As she finished up on stitching her leg, she heard it. The smallest sound, barely hidden by the rain, the sound of people entering the warehouse. Acting quickly, she leaped to her feet, barely dodging to lightning aimed at her.
"Luke. Fist. How have you been?" Dare asked the two heroes Luke Lightning and Fist, people she had worked with in the past.
"Better than you Slade." Luke told her as he started at the blood at her leg and the cuts covering her face, wearing his custom made shirt with blue pretty lightning bolts and goggles which surprisingly did a lot to hide his identity of Jefferson Lucas.
"Please, we don't want to fight you. Just surrender." Fist begged, who contrasted his best friend by wearing a green and gold uniform similar to that worn for karate, thought with shoes and a golden mask that covers the top half of his head, which his his identity as Val Rand. Slightly hidden by his consumer was a dragon tattoo.
"I can't do that Fist." Dare told them as she grabbed her sword and charged.
Dare swung her sword with precision, cutting through the HYDRA agents with ease. She dodged their desperate and wild attempts to hit her, her enhanced senses giving her an edge over them in the darkness, the lights having been turned off by her friend and ex-girlfriend Elektra Kyle, also known as Catsai.
"So, are you there yet?" Catsai asked through Dare's earpiece.
"Almost." Dare replied as she grabbed one of the agents with a gun and aimed him in the direction of his allies, so he shot them. "And you are sure we can find what we need to prove Edward Fisk and Wilson Whale are working together?"
"Yes, but I don't see why you have to that. We could just kill them." Catsai responded, but Dare ignored her.
Slade knew she wasn't innocent and had murdered many, including some of the HYDRA agents attacking her now. But she always preferred to use that as a last resort and find a way to make the law do what it is supposed to do. She suspected that it was a instinct left in her from her days as a lawyer, working with her best friend Foggy Kane. Dare shook her head and focused, not wanting her thoughts to drift to the man she hasn't seen in twenty years. She eventually defeated all the agents and opened a nearby door, while hearing Catsai arrive behind her and the power turning back on
"Not bad Dare." she said as she looked around at the dead agents, blood having been splattered everywhere. "Huh, looks like HYDRA has gone back to wearing green instead of red. Though then again, I might be wrong seeing how much mess you've made."
"Whatever. Now can you find what we need?" Dare ordered.
"Wow, someone is in a bad mood. What's wrong?" Catsai questioned as she started to open draws in the room.
"Nothing." replied Slade, but that was a lie. In fact there were lots of problems in her life: her antagonistic relationship with her daughter Terra, infamous as the metamutant villain Terra-X; her guilt over killing her second daughter Jericha; her difficult relationship with the general superhero community, including her undead father Boston Murdoch who was the superhero Deaddevil; and not to mention the amount of enemies she has. But most importantly, Dare was starting to feel her age. She first left her life as a lawyer at the age of twenty-seven, making her forty-eight years old now. She trained for five years before being a vigilante for another two until the Big Question did what he did to her. Despite her grey hair she looked like someone half that age and seemed as healthy as one, presumably from the experiments Fisk put her through, but that didn't change the fact that she was older and she could tell she was getting slower. It wasn't obvious and didn't affect her skills that much, but it was there.
"I think I have it." Catsai said, pulling out a file. "Seriously, when will Luthor learn to use computers?"
"If you have it, let's go." she said, and the two made their way to escape the base and deliver the information to SHIELD. While Slade wasn't looking forward to seeing Elektra's other ex Bruce Wayne, she knew she could trust him and preferred him to Dark Claw. As they moved, Dare suddenly heard the unmistakably sound of a gun and acted swiftly, grabbing Catsai.
"Hey! What are you-" Catsai stopped when the bullets went flying, barely missing them, and the two allies span around to see who their attacker was.
"Hello Dare. It's been awhile." said a man wearing black and orange armour, with a mask that had only one eye hole on the left orange side. In his hands was an assault rifle, which was aimed at them, while other weapons were strapped to his body.
"X-Stroke. I thought you were dead." Dare said.
"What can I say? Guess I'm just so amazing death didn't want me." X-Stroke replied with a cruel chuckle.
"Wait, you know this guy?" Catsai questioned. "Who is he?"
"He's me." Dare replied simply.
"Wait, what?" asked a very confused ally, who looked between Dare and X-Stroke in pure bewilderment.
"He's me from another universe. Universe-2, as it is called by Reed Richards." Dare explained, gripping her sword tightly in case X-Stroke attacked. "In that world I was born as a man named Carl Wilson. Him, who ended up here during some dimension hopping bullshit that made no sense."
"X-Stroke the Eliminator, at your service." he told Catsai. "Killer of all metamutant filth and the world's best mercenary. Though technically me and Dare here are more like siblings who just happen to be perfectly identical except for the gender thing."
"I still have many questions." Catsai told them, this situation being completely insane, but Dare ignored her.
"What are you doing here?" Dare asked her alternate universe counterpart, the hatred in her voice impossible to ignore. While Dare knew she had a large role in making Terra the person she now was, Dare knew of X-Stroke's actions and manipulation of her daughter.
"Well, what do you think? Luthor hired me." he said, before firing. The two adventurers dashed in opposition directions, though X-Stroke continued firing at Catsai due to still having the file. Dare leaped towards X-Stroke, swinging her sword at him. However he saw her and used the gun to halt the sword, before kicking her in the stomach. She felt her breath leave her lungs, but her training kicked in and she span around, delivering a swift kick at X-Stroke's head. It hurt to kick the metal mask, but she did enough damage to make him stumble back a bit and drop the gun.
"Dare!" Catsai shouted, who was looking at a nearby computer moniter. "He's just stalling us, more HYDRA agents are coming. We have to move!"
Dare nodded, before crouching low to avoid a kick from X-Stroke. Her hands, guided by her senses, grabbed the gun at X-Stroke's leg and pulling it out of the holster. It was naturally already loaded, so all she had to do was turn the safety off and start firing. She aimed at his face, knowing that it wouldn't do any damage but would surprise him. And when that plan work, though she knew it would only last a few seconds, Dare followed Catsai into the elevator which closed behind her.
"Okay, so there will be about a hundred agents separating us from our ticket out of this mess, which I still hate you for dragging me into." Catsai said as she used the device she used to back the elevator to take them up, while referring to their plane. "And when we get out of this, I want answers on the whole male alternate universe version of you who doesn't have the same name."
"Well I can answer the name thing. He was apparently raised by his mother instead of his father, and Wilson was her maiden name. Slade was what my dad waned to call me, so I assume Carl is a name picked by his mother." Dare explained swiftly.
"Hey I've never gotten round to asking this, but it seems like a good time as any. Why are you called Slade? I mean, that is traditionally a guy's name after all." Elektra asked, as the elevator stopped and doors opened.
"It's complicated." Dare said as she leaped out of the elevator towards the unfortunate HYDRA agent who just happened to be closest. "Now come on, let's get out of this mess!"
Bruce Wayne waited patiently in the Helicarrier control room, having just heard that Catsai and Dare had arrived. He was thankful his wife Barbara wasn't here, as she and Catsai often ended up arguing with each other. Didn't help that Catsai wouldn't stop flirting with him and bringing up their romantic history. Suddenly, he heard the door behind him slide open and he turned around to see the two women he was thinking about walk up to him.
"Bruce." Dare said simply. "It's been awhile."
"Yeah I know. Heard you've been doing well for yourself." Bruce replied, making small talk as he was reluctant to discuss the issue he now had to deal with. An issue Dare won't be happy about.
"Good to see you again Bruce." Catsai told her ex with a grin that was undeniably flirtatious.
"Elektra, I'm married remember." Bruce told her with a sigh of annoyance.
"Oh well. Hey, is Tony here? He was always sweet, so he might be fun to hang out with." Catsai asked.
"No, Tony has gone to talk to his cousin Hal to talk about their company Stark Enterprises, specifically Stark Aircrafts. So he won't be back for a few days." Bruce explained, noticing a file in Catsai's hand. "Is that it."
"Yep. There's some blood on it, but it's still readable." Catsai said as she handed it to Bruce. The director of SHIELD took it, before giving it to a nearby agent.
"Put this in the vault." he told her, before facing the women in front of him.
"So, when is Fisk and Whale going to be taken down? Because I will like to be there when it happens." Dare asked, unable to resist making a vengeful grin at the idea.
"That's the problem." Bruce said hesitantly. "We're going pardon both of them."
"Wait, what? What are you talking about?" Catsai questioned in shock, while Dare just stood there.
"They both have valuable information about more dangerous individuals, like Dr Doomsday and Brother Brood, who pose a much greater threat. In return for a full pardon of all their crimes, they will reveal what plans they have against the world." Bruce explained calmly.
"But, how can every country agree to that?"
"Well, because everyone agrees that Fisk and Whale are insignificant compared to others. So they will give them whatever they want." Bruce explained to Catsai.
"This is fucking bullshit Wayne!" Dare shouted, pulling out a sword and pointing it at Bruce. Instantly the agents all around them stood up and pointed their guns at the two women, but Dare didn't care.
"I know you are upset Dare. Everyone is about this. Hippolyta from Themyscira was dead set against this until Amazon explained why we had to do this." Bruce told her. "Look, everyone is going to a UN meeting to discuss this next week. The news is already out, and the media is having a field day with it. I'm sorry, but we have to do this because if we don't, more people can get hurt."
Dare just kept her sword pointing at Bruce, before angrily walking away. Some agents moved to stop her, but Bruce gestured to them to let her go. Soon she had disappeared behind closed doors, leaving all the agents to focus back on their work while Catsai and Bruce awkwardly looked at each other.
"Shouldn't you go after her?" Bruce asked.
"No, she just needs time to calm down. But don't worry, she won't do anything stupid. She's just angry because of how personal this all is, due to what Fisk did to her." Catsai reassured Bruce. However what the secret agent did not realize, was that Catsai was also trying to reassure herself.
Tell me what you think and if there are any spelling mistakes or sentences that don't make sense. Now Luke Lightning is an amalgam of Luke Cage and Black Lightning while Fist is an amalgam of Iron Fist and Karate Kid. Now I know that them being exes wasn't said in the comic, but in the comic Assassins Catsai hesitated before saying that Dare was a friend, suggesting she was going to say something else, so I think their relationship is similar to Daredevil and Elektra. Deaddevil and X-Stroke are two characters mentioned in Exciting X-Patrol and I figured I might as well connect them in someway to Dare, seeing as the former is part Daredevil and the latter is part Deathstroke. Tony's cousin Hal is naturally Hal Stark/Iron Lantern. Universe-2, based on Earth 2 and New Universe, was mentioned in Challengers of the Fantastic.